BOHFS CLASSICAL LIBKAKY. 
 
 SIR A BO. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
THE 
 
 GEOGRAPHY 
 
 STRABO, 
 
 LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES. 
 
 THE FIRST SIX BOOKS 
 
 BY H, C, HAMILTON, ESQ. 
 
 THE REMAINDER 
 
 BY W, FALCONER, M.A., 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 IV. 
 
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 THE present translation of Strabo, the great Geographer 
 of Antiquity, is the first which has been laid before the 
 English public. It is curious that a classic of so much 
 renown and intrinsic value should have remained a 
 comparatively sealed book to this country for so many 
 centuries ; yet such is the fact. It is true that the im- 
 perfect state of the Greek text, and the difficulty of 
 geographical identification, have always been appalling- 
 obstacles ; yet, after the acute and valuable labours of 
 Gossellin, Du Theil, Groskurd, and especially of Gustav 
 Cramer of Berlin, (whose text is followed in the pre- 
 sent volume,) we might fairly have expected that some 
 English scholar would have ventured to enter the field. 
 But the task, like many in a similar position, has been 
 reserved for the publisher of the Classical Library, and 
 he trusts it will be found conscientiously fulfilled. 
 
 The translation was, in the first instance, intrusted to 
 Mr. H. C. Hamilton, whose knowledge of the subject, 
 and familiarity with the various languages concerned, 
 peculiarly fitted him for the undertaking. His official 
 
 1O314 I 
 
VI NOTICE. 
 
 duties, however, added to his anxious examination of 
 every thing which tended to illustrate his author, pre- 
 vented his proceeding with much speed; and it was 
 only after the lapse of three years that he had reached 
 the end of the sixth book. In the mean time it transpired 
 that Mr. W. Falconer, son of the editor of the Oxford 
 edition of the Greek text, had, after several years of 
 care and attention, produced a very excellent transla- 
 tion, meaning to publish it. Under the circumstances 
 it was deemed advisable to amalgamate the rival under- 
 takings, and it is a source of gratification to the pub- 
 lisher that the respective translators were each so well 
 satisfied with the labours of the other, that they as- 
 sented readily to his proposal of associating their names. 
 This is all it seems necessary to state here. Jn the 
 third volume will be given some account of the life and 
 labours of Strabo, and of the manuscripts and principal 
 editions ; also a complete index of the places mentioned 
 in the text, accompanied, where possible, by the modern 
 names. 
 
 H. G. B. 
 
"VvO^i ^^ 
 
 N ^ORN\* 
 
 STRABO'S GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 That geographical investigation is not inconsistent with philosophy. That 
 Homer gives proof of it throughout his poems. That they who first wrote 
 on the science have omitted much, or given disjointed, defective, false, or 
 inconsistent accounts. Proofs and demonstrations of the correctness of 
 this statement, with general heads containing a summary description of the 
 disposition of the whole habitable earth. Credit to be attached to the 
 probabilities and evident proofs that in many regions the land and sea have 
 been shifted, and exchanged places with each other. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I. 1 IF the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper 
 avocation of the philosopher, Geography, the science of which 
 we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a high place ; and 
 this is evident from many considerations. They who first 
 ventured to handle the matter were distinguished men. 
 Homer, Anaximander the Milesian, and Hecataeus, (his fel- 
 low-citizen according to Eratosthenes,) Democritus, Eudoxus, 
 Dicsearchus, Ephorus, with many others, and after these 
 Erastosthenes, Polybius, and Posidonius, all of them phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 ISor is the great learning, through which alone this sub- 
 ject can be approached, possessed by any but a person acquaint- 
 ed with both human and divine things, 2 and these attainments 
 constitute what is called philosophy. In addition to its vast 
 importance in regard to social life, and the art of government, 
 Geography unfolds to us the celestial phenomena, acquaints us 
 
 1 The chapters and sectional divisions of Kramer's edition of the Greek 
 text have been generally followed in this translation. 
 
 2 TO. 9da Kal avQpwirtia, " the productions of nature and art." 
 VOL. i. B 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 with the occupants of the land and ocean, and the vegetation, 
 fruits, and peculiarities of the various quarters of the earth, 
 a knowledge of which marks him who cultivates it as a man 
 earnest in the great problem of life and happiness. 
 
 2. Admitting this, let us examine more in detail the points 
 we have advanced. 
 
 And first, [we maintain,] that both we and our predecessors, 
 amongst whom is Hipparchus, do justly regard Hefner as the 
 founder of geographical science, for he not only excelled all, 
 ancient as well as modern, in the sublimity of his poetry, but 
 also in his experience of social Jife. Thus it was that he not 
 only exjr^ed himself to become familiar with as many histQ- 
 ric facts as possible, and transmit fTiern to posterity, but also 
 with the various regions of The inliabited land and sea, some 
 intimately, others in a more general manner. For otherwise 
 he would not have reached the utmost limits of the earth, tra- 
 versing it in his imagination. 
 
 3. First, he stated that the earth was entirely encompassed 
 by the ocean, as in truth it is ; afterwards he described the 
 countries, specifying some by name, others more generally by 
 various indications, explicitly defining Libjja, 1 Ethiopia, the 
 Sidonians, and the t Erembi (by which latter are probably in- 
 tended the Troglodyte Arabians) ; and alluding to those far- 
 ther east and west as the lands washed by the ocean, for in 
 ocean he believed both the sun and constellations t<3 rise and 
 set. 
 
 " Now from the gently-swelling flood profound 
 The sun arising, with his earliest rays, 
 In his ascent to heaven smote on the fields." 2 
 " And now the radiant sun in ocean sank, 
 Dragging night after him o'er all the earth." 3 
 
 The stars also he describes as bathed in the ocean. 4 
 
 1 Africa. 
 
 2 T^Ten indeed the sun freshly struck the fields [with its rays], ascend- 
 ing heaven from the calmly-flowing, deep-moving ocean. Iliad vii. 421 ; 
 Odyssey xix. 433. These references relate to the Greek text ; any one 
 wishing to verify the poetic translation will find the place in Cowper, 
 by adding a few lines to the number adapted to the Greek. The prose 
 version is taken from Bohn's edition. 
 
 3 And the bright light of the sun fell into the ocean, drawing dark 
 night over the fruitful earth. Iliad viii. 485. 
 
 4 " Bright and steady as the star 
 
 Autumnal, which in ocean newly bathed, 
 Assumes fresh beauty." Iliad v. 6. 
 
CHAP. T. 46. INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 4. He portrays the happiness of the people of the West, and 
 the salubrity of their climate, having no doubt heard of the 
 abundance of Iberia, 1 which had attracted the arms of Hep- 
 cules, 2 afterwards of the Phoenjcians, who acquired there an 
 extended rule, and finally of the Romans. There the airs of 
 Zephyr breathe, there the poet feigned the fields of Elysium, 
 when he tells us Menelaus was sent thither by the gods : 
 
 " Thee the gods 
 
 Have destined to the blest Elysian isles, 
 Earth's utmost boundaries. Rha^ajpianthus there 
 For ever reigns, and there the human kind 
 Enjoy the easiest life ; no snow is there, 
 No biting winter, and no drenching shower, 
 But Zephyr always gently from the sea 
 Breathes on them, to refresh the happy race." 3 
 
 5. The Isles of the Blest 4 are on the extreme west of 
 Maurusia, 5 near where its shore runs parallel to the opposite 
 coast of Spain ; and it is clear he considered these regions also 
 Blest, from their contiguity to the Islands. 
 
 6. He tells us also, that the Ethiopians are far removed, and 
 bounded by the ocean : far removed, 
 
 " The Ethiopians, utmost of mankind, 
 
 These eastward situate, those toward the west." 6 
 
 1 Gosselin remarks that in his opinion Strabo frequently attributes to 
 Homer much information of which the great poet was entirely ignorant : 
 the present is an instance, for Spain was to Homer a perfect terra in- 
 cognita. 
 
 2 The Phoenician Hercules, anterior to the Grecian hero by two or 
 three centuries. The date of his expedition, supposing it to have ac- 
 tually occurred, was about sixteen or seventeen hundred years before the 
 Christian era. 
 
 3 But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the bound- 
 aries of the Earth, where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus ; there of a 
 truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow, nor long winter, 
 nor even a shower, but every day the ocean sends forth the gently blowing 
 breezes of the west wind to refresh men." Odyssey iv. 563. 
 
 4 The Isles of the Blest are the same as the Fortunate Isles of other 
 geographers. It is clear from Strabo's description that he alludes to the 
 Canary Islands ; but as it is certain that Homer had never heard of these, 
 irlS'probab'le that the passages adduced by Strabo have reference to the 
 Elysian Fields of Ba'ia in Campania. 
 
 5 The Maurusia of the Greeks (the Mauritania of the Latins) is now 
 known as Algiers and Fez in Africa. 
 
 6 The Ethiopians, who are divided into two divisions, the most dis- 
 tant of men. Odyssey i. 23. 
 
 B 2 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 Nor was he mistaken in calling them separated into two 
 divisions, as we shall presently show : and next to the ocean, 
 
 " For to the banks of the Oceanus, 
 Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove, 
 He journey'd yesterday." * 
 
 Speaking of the Bear, he implies that the most northern part 
 of the earth is bounded by the ocean : 
 
 " Only star of these denied 
 To slake his beams in Ocean's briny baths." 2 
 
 Now, by the " Bear " and the " Wain," he means the Arctic 
 Circle ; otherwise he would never have said, " It alone is de- 
 prived of the baths of the ocean," when such an infinity of 
 stars is to be seen continually revolving in that part of the 
 hemisphere. Let no one any longer blame his ignorance for 
 being merely acquainted with one Bear, when there are two. 
 It is probable that the second was not considered a constella- 
 tion until, on the Phoenicians specially designating it, and em- 
 ploying it in navigation, it became known as one to the Greeks. 3 
 Such is the case with the Hair of Berenice, and Canopus. 
 whose names are but of yesterday ; and, as Aratus remarks, 
 there are numbers which have not yet received any designa- 
 tion. Crates, therefore, is mistaken when, endeavouring to 
 amend what is correct, he reads the verse thus : 
 
 Otof S' dfifjiopog tan \otrpCjv, 
 replacing 0177 by oloc,, with a view to make the adjective agree 
 
 1 For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus, to the blameless Ethiopians, 
 to a banquet. Iliad i. 423. The ancients gave the name of Ethi- 
 opians, generally, to the inhabitants of Interior Africa, the people who 
 occupied the sea-coast of the Atlantic, and the shores of the Arabian Gulf. 
 It is with this view of the name that Strabo explains the passage of 
 Homer; but the Mediterranean was the boundary of the poet's geographi- 
 cal knowledge ; and the people he speaks of were doubtless the inhabitants 
 of the southern parts of Phoenicia, who at one time were called Ethi- 
 opians. We may here remark too, that Homer's. ocean frequently means 
 the Mediterranean, sometimes probably the Nile. See also p. 48, n. 2. 
 
 2 But it alone is free from the baths of the ocean. Iliad xviii. 489 ; 
 Odyssey v. 275. 
 
 3 We are informed by Diogenes Laertius, that Thales was the first to 
 make known to the Greeks the constellation of the Lesser Bear. Now 
 this philosopher flourished 600 years before the Christian era, and conse- 
 quently some centuries after Homer's death. The name of &OIVIKIJ which 
 it received from the Greeks, is proof that Thales owed his knowledge of it to 
 the Phoenicians. Conf. Humboldl's Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 1GO, Bonn's edition. 
 
CHAP. i. 7. INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 with the Arctic Circle, which is masculine ; instead of the 
 Arctic Constellation, which is feminine. The expression of 
 Heraclitus is far more preferable and Homeric, who thus figu- 
 ratively describes the Arctic Circle as the Bear, " The Bear 
 is the limit of the dawn and of the evening, and from the re- 
 gion of the Bear we have fine weather." Now it is not the 
 constellation of the Bear, but the Arctic Circle, which is the 
 limit of the rising and the setting stars. 
 
 By the Bear, then, which he elsewhere calls the Wain, 
 and describes as pursuing Orion, Homer means us to under- 
 stand the Arctic Circle ; and by the ocean, that horizon into 
 which, and out of which, the stars rise and set. When he 
 says that the Bear turns round and is deprived of the ocean, 
 he was aware that the Arctic Circle [always] extended to the 
 sign opposite the most northern point of the horizon. Adapt- 
 ing the words of the poet to this view, by that part of the 
 earth nearest to the ocean we must understand the horizon, and 
 by the Arctic Circle that which extends to the signs which 
 seem to our senses to touch in succession the most northern 
 point of the horizon. Thus, according to him, this portion of 
 the earth is washed by the ocean. With the nations of the 
 North he was well acquainted, although he does not mention 
 them by name, and indeed at the present day there is no re- 
 gular title by which they are all distinguished. He informs 
 us of their mode of life, describing them as "wanderers," 
 " noble milkers of mares," " living on cheese," and " without 
 wealth." 1 
 
 7. In the following speech of Juno, he states that the ocean 
 surrounds the earth. 
 
 " For to the green earth's utmost bounds I go, 
 To visit there the parent of the gods, 
 Oceanus." 2 
 
 Does he not here assert that ocean bounds all its extremities, 
 and does it not surround these extremities ? Again, in the 
 
 1 Iliad xiii. 5. Gosselin says, Thrace (the present Roumelia) was in- 
 disputably the most northern nation known to Homer. He names the people 
 'iTTTTjjjuoXyoi, or living on mares' milk, because in his time they were a 
 nomade race. Strabo evidently gives a forced meaning to the words of 
 the poet, when he attempts to prove his acquaintance with the Scythians 
 and Sarmatians. 
 
 2 For I go to visit the limits of the fertile earth, and Oceanus, the 
 parent of the gods. Iliad xiv. 200. 
 
o STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 Hoplopoeia, 1 he places the ocean in a circle round the border 
 of Achilles' shield. Another proof of the extent of his know- 
 ledge, is his acquaintance with the ebb and flow of the sea, 
 calling it " the ebbing ocean." 2 Again, 
 
 " Each day she thrice disgorges, and again 
 Thrice drinks, insatiate, the deluge down." 3 
 
 The assertion of thrice, instead of twice, is either an error of 
 the author, or a blunder of the scribe, but the phenomenon is 
 the same, and the expression soft-flowing, 4 has reference to 
 the flood-tide, which has a gentle swell, and does not flow with 
 a full rush. Posidonius believes that where Homer describes 
 the rocks as at one time covered with the waves, and at an- 
 other left bare, and when he compares the ocean to a river, he 
 alludes to the flow of the ocean. The first supposition is cor- 
 rect, but for the second there is no ground ; inasmuch as there 
 can be no comparison between the flow, much less the ebb of 
 the sea, and the current of a river. There is more probability 
 in the explanation of Crates, that Homer describes the whole 
 ocean as deep-flowing, ebbing, and also calls it a river, and 
 that he also describes a part of the ocean as a river, and the 
 flow of a river ; and that he is speaking of a part, and not the 
 whole, when he thus writes : 
 
 " When down the smooth Oceanus impell'd 
 By prosperous gales, my galley, once again, 
 Cleaving the billows of the spacious deep, 
 Had reach'd the ^Eaean isle." 5 
 
 He does not, however, mean the whole, but the flow of the river 
 in the ocean, which forms but a part of the ocean. Crates 
 
 1 The eighteenth book of the Iliad. 
 
 2 Iliad xviii. 399 ; Odyss. xx. 65. 
 
 3 Thrice indeed each day it lets loose its waves, and thrice it ebbs 
 them back. Odyss. xii. 105. 
 
 Gosselin remarks, " I do not find any thing in these different passages of 
 Homer to warrant the conclusion that he was aware of the ebb and flow 
 of the tide ; every one knows that the movement is hardly perceptible in 
 the Mediterranean. In the Euripus, which divides the Isle of Negropont 
 from Bo20tia, the waters are observed to flow in opposite directions seve- 
 ral times a day. It was from this that Homer probably drew his ideas ; 
 and the regiilar current of the Hellespont, which carries the waters of the 
 Black Sea into the Mediterranean, led him to think that the whole ocean, 
 or Mediterranean, had one continued flow like the current of a river." 
 
 * Iliad vii. 422. 
 
 5 But when the ship left the stream of the river-ocean, and entered 
 on the wave of the wide-wayed sea. Odyssey xii. 1. 
 
CHAP. I. 8. INTRODUCTION. / 
 
 says, he speaks of an estuary or gulf, extending from the 
 winter tropic towards the south pole. 1 Now any one quitting 
 this, might still be in the ocean ; but for a person to leave 
 the whole and still to be in the whole, is an impossibility. 
 But Homer says, that leaving the flow of the river, the 
 ship entered on the waves of the sea, which is the same as the 
 ocean. If you take it otherwise you make him say, that de- 
 parting from the ocean he came to the ocean. But this re- 
 quires further discussion. >j 
 
 8. Perception and experience alike inform us, that the earth^^ 
 we inhabit is an island : since wherever men have approached 
 the termination of the land, the sea, which we designate ocean, 
 has been met with : and reason assures us of the similarity of 
 those places which our senses have not been permitted to sur- 
 vey. For in the east 2 the land occupied by the Indians, and 
 in the west by the Iberians and Maurusians, 3 is wholly en- 
 compassed [by water], and so is the greater part on the south 4 
 and north. 5 And as to what remains as yet unexplored by 
 us, because navigators, sailing from opposite points, have not 
 hitherto fallen in with each other, it is not much, as any one 
 may see who will compare the distances between those places 
 with which we are already acquainted. Nor is it likely that 
 the Atlantic Ocean is divided into two seas by narrow 
 isthmuses so placed as to prevent circumnavigation: how 
 much more probable that it is confluent and uninterrupted ! 
 Those who have returned from an attempt to circumnavigate 
 
 1 This direction would indicate a gulf, the seaward side of which 
 should be opposite the Libo-notus of the ancients. Now the mutilated 
 passage of Crates has reference to the opening of the twelfth book of the 
 Odyssey, descriptive of Ulysses' departure from Cimmeria, after his visit 
 to the infernal regions. Those Cimmerians were the people who inha- 
 bited Campania, and the land round Bam, near to lake Avernus, and the 
 entrance into Hades. As these places are situated close to the bay of 
 Naples, which occupies the exact position described by Crates, it is pro- 
 bable this was the bay he intended. 
 
 2 What Strabo calls the eastern side of the continent, comprises that 
 portion of India between Cape Comorin and Tana-serim, to the west of 
 the kingdom of Siam : further than which he was not acquainted. 
 
 3 Strabo's acquaintance with Western Africa did not go further than 
 Cape Nun, 214 leagues distant from the Strait of Gibraltar. 
 
 4 By the south is intended the whole land from the Arabian Gulf or 
 Red Sea to Cape Comorin. 
 
 5 From Cape Finisterre to the mouth of the Elbe. 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 the earth, do not say they have been prevented from con- 
 tinuing their voyage by any opposing continent, for the sea re- 
 mained perfectly open, but through want of resolution, and 
 the scarcity of provision. This theory too accords better with 
 the ebb and flow of the ocean, for the phenomenon, both in the 
 increase and diminution, is every where identical, or at all 
 events has but little difference, as if produced by the agita- 
 tion of one sea, and resulting from one cause. 
 
 9. We must not credit Hipparchus, who combats this opinion, 
 denying that the ocean is every where similarly affected ; or that 
 even if it were, it would not follow that the Atlantic flowed in 
 a circle, and thus continually returned into itself. Seleucus, 
 the Babvlonian, is his authority for this assertion. For a further 
 investigation of the ocearTand its tides we refer to Posidonius 
 and Athenodorus, who have fully discussed this subject : we 
 will now only remark that this view agrees better with the uni- 
 formity of the phenomenon ; and that the greater the amount 
 of moisture surrounding the earth, the easier would the 
 heavenly bodies be supplied with vapours from thence. 
 
 10. Homer, besides the boundaries of the earth, which he 
 fully describes, was likewise well acquainted with the Medi- 
 terranean. Starting from the Pillars, 1 this sea is encom- 
 passed by Libya, E^vpt, and Phoenicia, then by the coasts 
 opposite Cyprus, the Solymi, 2 Lv_cia, and Caria, and then by 
 the shore winch stretches between Mycale^and Troas, and 
 the adjacent islands, every one of which he mentions, as well 
 as those of the Propontis 4 and the Euxine, as far as Colchis, 
 and the locality of Jason's expedition. Furthermore, he was 
 acquainted with the Cimmerian Bosphorus, 5 having known 
 the Cimmerians, 6 and that not merelyhSy name, but as being 
 familiar with themselves. About his time, or a little be- 
 fore, they had ravaged the whole country, from the Bos- 
 
 1 The rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta. 
 
 2 The mountaineers of the Taurus, between Lycia and Pisidia. 
 
 3 A mountain of Ionia near To~the Meander, and opposite the Isle of 
 Samos. 
 
 <T ~the Sea of Marmora. 
 
 5 The Strait of Caffa, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of 
 Azof. 
 
 6 The Cimmerians, spoken of in Homer, were undoubtedly the in- 
 habitants of Campania, not those of the Bosphorus. 
 
CHAP. i. $ 10. INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 phorus to Ionia. Their climate he characterizes as dismal, in 
 the following lines : 
 
 " With clouds and darkness veil'd, on whom the sun 
 Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye, 
 * * * * 
 
 But sad night canopies the woeful race." l 
 
 He must also have been acquainted with the Ister, 2 since he 
 speaks of the Mysians, a Thracian race, dwelling on the banks 
 of the Ister. He knew also the whole Thracian 3 coast ad- 
 jacent thereto, as far as the Peneus, 4 for he mentions indi- 
 vidually the Preonians, Athos, the Axius, 5 and the neigh- 
 bouring islands. From hence to Thesprotis 6 is the Grecian 
 shore, with the whole of which he was acquainted. He was 
 besides familiar with the whole of Italy, and speaks of Te- 
 mese 7 and the Sicilians, as well as the Whole of Spain 8 and 
 its fertility, as we have said, before. If he omits various in- 
 termediate places this must be pardoned, for even the compiler 
 of a Geography overlooks numerous details. We must for- 
 give him too for intermingling fabulous narrative with his his- 
 torical and instructive work. This should not be complained 
 of ; nevertheless, what Eratosthenes says is false, that the 
 poets aim at amusement, not instruction, since those who have 
 treated upon the subject most profoundly, regard poesy in 
 the light of a primitive philosophy. But we shall refute 
 Eratosthenes 9 more at length, when we have occasion again 
 to speak of Homer. 
 
 1 They are covered with shadows and darkness, nor does the shining 
 
 sun behold them with his beams but pernicious night 
 
 is spread over hapless mortals. Odyssey xi. 15 and 19. 
 
 The Danube. 
 
 Ancient Thrace consisted of the modern provinces of Bulgaria and 
 Roumelia. 
 
 A river of Thessaly, named at present Salampria. 
 
 Now the river Vardari. 
 
 Thesprotis, in Epirus, opposite Corfu. 
 
 Afterwards named Temsa. This town was in Citerior Calabria. 
 Sone think Torre de Nocera stands on the ancient site. 
 
 This is a misstatement, as before remarked. 
 
 This writer occupies so prominent a position in Strabo's work, that 
 no apology I think will be needed for the following extract from Smith's 
 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 
 
 "Eratosthenes of Cyrene was, according to Suidas, the son of Aglaus, 
 according to others, the son of Ambrosius, and was born B. c. 276. He 
 was taught by Ariston of Chius, the philosopher, Lysanias of Cyrene, the 
 grammarian, and Callimachus, the poet. He left Athens at the invitation 
 
STRABO. 
 
 11. What we have already advanced is sufficient to prove 
 the father^of geography. Those who followed in 
 
 of Ptolemy Euergetes, who placed him over the library at Alexandria. 
 Here he continued till the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes. He died at the 
 age of eighty, about B. c. 196, of voluntary starvation, having lost his 
 sight, and being tired of life. He was a man of very extensive learning : 
 we shall first speak of him as a geometer and astronomer. 
 
 " It is supposed that Eratosthenes suggested to Ptolemy Euergetes the 
 construction of the large armillte, or fixed circular instruments, which 
 were long in use at Alexandria ; but only because it is difficult to imagine 
 to whom else they are to be assigned, for Ptolemy the astronomer, though 
 he mentions them, and incidentally their antiquity, does not state to whom 
 they were due. In these circles each degree Avas divided into six parts. 
 We know of no observations of Eratosthenes in which they were probably 
 employed, except those which led him to the obliquity of the ecliptic, 
 which he must have made to be 23 51' 20"; for he states the distance of 
 the tropics to be eleven times the eighty -third part of the circumference. 
 This was a good observation for the times. Ptolemy the astronomer was 
 content with it, and according to him Hipparchus used no other. Of his 
 measure of the earth we shall presently speak. According to Nicoma- 
 chus, he was the inventor of the KOVKIVOV, or Cribrum Arithmeticum, as it 
 has since been called, being the well-known method of detecting the 
 prime numbers by writing down all odd numbers which do not end 
 with 5, and striking out successively the multiples of each, one after the 
 other, so that only prime numbers remain. 
 
 " We still possess under the name of Eratosthenes a work, entitled 
 KaraTtpioym, giving a slight account of the constellations, their fabulous 
 history, and the stars in them. It is however acknowledged on all hands 
 that this is not a work of Eratosthenes. * * * The only other writ- 
 ing of Eratosthenes which remains, is a letter to Ptolemy on the dupli- 
 cation of the cube, for the mechanical performance of which he had 
 contrived an instrument, of which he seems to contemplate actual use in 
 measuring the contents of vessels, &c. He seems to say that he has had 
 his method engraved in some temple or public building, with some verses, 
 which he adds. Eutocius has preserved this letter in his comment on 
 book ii. prop. 2, of the sphere and cylinder of Archimedes. 
 
 " The greatest work of Eratosthenes, and that which must always make 
 his name conspicuous in scientific history, is the attempt which he made 
 to measure the magnitude of the earth, in which he brought forward and 
 used the method which is employed to this day. Whether or no he was 
 successful cannot be told, as we shall see ; but it is not the less true that 
 he was the originator of the process by which we now know, very nearly 
 indeed, the magnitude of our own planet. Delambre says that if it were 
 he who advised the erection of the circular instruments above alluded to, 
 he must be considered as the founder of astronomy : to which it may be 
 added, that he was the founder of geodesy without any if in the case. 
 The number of ancient writers who have alluded to this remarkable oper- 
 ation (which seems to have obtained its full measure of fame) is very great, 
 and we shall not attempt to combine their remarks or surmises : it is 
 enough to say that the most distinct account, and one of the earliest, is 
 found in the remaining work of Cleomedes. 
 
CHAP. i. 11. INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 his track are also well known as great men and true philoso- 
 phers. The two immediately succeeding Homer, according 
 
 " At Syene in Upper Egypt, which is supposed to be the same as, or near 
 to, the town of Assouan, (Lat. 24 10' N., Long. 32 59' E. of Greenwich,) 
 Eratosthenes was told (that he observed is very doubtful) that deep w^ells 
 were enlightened to the bottom on the day of the summer solstice, and 
 that vertical objects cast no shadows. He concluded therefore, that Syehe 
 was on the tropic, and its latitude equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, 
 which, as we have seen, he had determined : he presumed that it was in 
 the same longitude as Alexandria, in which he was out about 3, which 
 is not enough to produce what would at that time have been a sensible 
 error. By observations made at Alexandria, he determined the zenith of 
 that place to be distant by the fiftieth part of the circumference from the 
 solstice, which was equivalent to saying that the arc of the meridian be- 
 tween the two places is 7 12'. Cleomedes says that he used the (TKO^J/, 
 or hemispherical dial of Berosus, in the determination of this latitude. 
 Delambre rejects the idea with infinite scorn, and pronounces Cleomedes 
 unworthy of credit ; and indeed it is not easy to see why Eratosthenes 
 should have rejected the gnomon and the large circular instruments, un- 
 less, perhaps, for the following reason. There is a sentiment of Cleomedes 
 which seems to imply that the disappearance of the shadows at Syene on 
 the day of the summer solstice was noticed to take place for 300 stadia 
 every way round Syene. If Eratosthenes took his report about the phe- 
 nomenon (and we have no evidence that he went to Syene himself) from 
 those who could give no better account than this, we may easily under- 
 stand why he would think the GKCL^I] quite accurate enough to observe 
 with at his own end of the arc, since the other end of it was uncertain by 
 as much as 300 stadia. He gives 500 stadia for the distance from Alex- 
 andria to Syene, and this round number seems further to justify* us in 
 concluding that he thought the process to be as rough as in truth it was. 
 Martianus Capella states that he obtained this distance from the measures 
 made by order of the Ptolemies (which had been commenced by Alex- 
 ander) : this writer then implies that Eratosthenes did not go to Syene 
 himself. 
 
 " The result is 250,000 stadia for the circumference of the earth, which 
 Eratosthenes altered into 252,000, that his result might give an exact 
 number of stadia for the degree, namely, 700 ; this of course should 
 have been 694|. Pliny calls this 31,500 Roman miles, and therefore 
 supposes the stadium to be the eighth part of a Roman mile, or takes 
 for granted that Eratosthenes used the Olympic stadium. It is likely 
 enough that the Ptolemies naturalized this stadium in Egypt ; but never- 
 theless, it is not unlikely that an Egyptian stadium was employed. If 
 we assume the Olympic stadium, (202 yards,) the degree of Eratos- 
 thenes is more than 79 miles, upwards of 10 miles too great. Nothing 
 is known of any Egyptian stadium. Pliny asserts that Hipparchus, but 
 for what reason he does not say, wanted to add 25,000 stadia to the cir- 
 cumference as found by Eratosthenes. According to Plutarch, Eratos- 
 thenes made the sun to be 804 millions of stadia from the earth, and the 
 moon 780,000. According to Macrobius, he made the diameter of the 
 sun to be 27 times that of the earth. With regard to the other merits of 
 
12 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 to Eratosthenes, were Anaximander, the disciple and fellow- 
 citizen of Thales, and Hecatasus the Milesian. Anaximander 
 
 Eratosthenes, we must first of all mention what he did for geography, 
 which was closely connected with his mathematical pursuits. It was 
 Eratosthenes who raised geography to the rank of a science ; for previ- 
 ous to his time it seems to have consisted, more or less, of a mass of in- 
 formation scattered in books of travel, descriptions of particular countries, 
 and the like. All these treasures were accessible to Eratosthenes in the 
 libraries of Alexandria ; and he made the most profitable use of them, 
 by collecting the scattered materials, and uniting them into an organic 
 system of geography, in his comprehensive work entitled Tewypa^tica, or 
 as it is sometimes but erroneously called, ytwypa^otJ/ifj/a or yfwypa^ta. 
 It consisted of three books, the first of which, forming a sort of Intro- 
 duction, contained a critical review of the labours of his predecessors 
 from the earliest to his own times, and investigations concerning the form 
 and nature of the earth, which, according to him, was an immoveable 
 globe, on the surface of which traces of a series of great revolutions were 
 still visible. He conceived that in one of these revolutions the Mediter- 
 ranean had acquired its present form ; for according to him it was at one 
 time a large lake covering portions of the adjacent countries of Asia and 
 Libya, until a passage was forced open by which it entered into commu- 
 nication with the ocean in the west. The second book contained what is 
 now called mathematical geography. His attempt to measure the magni- 
 tude of the earth has been spoken of above. The third book contained 
 the political geography, and gave descriptions of the various countries, 
 derived from the works of earlier travellers and geographers. In order 
 to be able to determine the accurate site of each place, he drew a line 
 parallel with the equator, running from the Pillars of Hercules to the 
 extreme east of Asia, and dividing the whole of the inhabited earth into 
 two halves. Connected with this work was a new map of the earth, in 
 which towns, mountains, rivers, lakes, and climates were marked accord- 
 ing to his own improved measurements. This important work of Eratos- 
 thenes forms an epoch in the history of ancient geography : but unfor- 
 tunately it is lost, and all that has survived consists in fragments quoted 
 by later geographers and historians, such as Polybius, Strabo, Marcianus, 
 Pliny, and others, who often judge of him unfavourably, and controvert 
 his statements ; while it can be proved that in a great many passages they 
 adopt his opinions without mentioning his name. Marcianus charges 
 Eratosthenes with having copied tBe substance of the work of Timos- 
 thenes on Ports, (irfpi Xt/isvw?',) to which he added but very little of his 
 own. This charge may be well-founded, but cannot have diminished the 
 value of the work of Eratosthenes, in which that of Timosthenes can 
 have formed only a very small portion. It seems to have been the very 
 overwhelming importance of the geography of Eratosthenes, that called 
 forth a number of opponents, among whom we meet with the names of 
 Polemon, Hipparchus, Polybius, Serapion, and Marcianus of Heracleia. 
 * * * Another work of a somewhat similar nature, entitled 'Epjwi/c, was 
 written in verse, and treated of the form of the earth, its temperature, 
 the different zones, the constellations, and the like. * * * Eratosthenes 
 distinguished himself also as a philosopher, historian, grammarian, &c." 
 
CHAP. i. $ 12-14. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was the first to publish a geo<rraphical_chart. Heca' 
 
 a work [on the same subject], wliich we" can identity ao ms 
 
 by means of his other writings. 
 
 12. Many have testified to the amount of knowledge which 
 this subject requires, and Hipparchus, in his Strictures on 
 Eratosthenes, well observes, " that no one can become really 
 proficient in geography, either as a private individual or as a 
 professor, without an acquaintance with astronomy, and a 
 knowledge of eclipses. For instance, no one could tell whe- 
 ther Alexandria~~m Egypt were north or south of Babylon, 
 nor yet the intervening distance, without observing the lati- 
 tudes. 1 Again, the only means we possess of becoming ac- 
 
 "quainted with the longitudes of different places is afforded by 
 the eclipses of the sun and moon." Such are the very words 
 of Hipparchus. 
 
 13. Every one who undertakes to give an accurate descrip- 
 tion of a place, should be particular to add its astronomical 
 and geometrical relations, explaining carefully its extent, dis- 
 tance, degrees of latitude, and " climate." 2 Even a builder 
 before constructing a house, or an architect before laying out 
 a city, wxmld take these things into consideration ; much 
 more should he who examines the whole earth : for such 
 things in a peculiar manner belong to him. In small dis- 
 tances a little deviation north or south does not signify, but 
 when it is the whole circle of the earth, the north extends to 
 the furthest confines of Scv.thia, 3 or Keltica, 4 and the south to 
 the extremities of Ethiopia : there is" a wide difference here. 
 The case is the same~~sliould we inhabit India or Spain, one 
 in the east, the other far w^est, and, as we are aware, life anti- 
 podes 5 to each other. 
 
 14. The [motions] of the sun and stars, and the centripetal 
 
 1 The ancients "portioned out the globe by bands or zones parallel to 
 the equator, which they named K\ip.ara. The extent of each zone was 
 determined by the length of the solstitial day, and thus each diminished 
 in extent according as it became more distant from the equator. The 
 moderns have substituted a mode of reckoning the degrees by the eleva- 
 tion of the pole, which gives the latitudes with much greater accuracy. 
 
 2 Literally, the heat, cold, and temperature of the atmosphere. 
 
 3 Tartary. 4 Frajipc. 
 
 Kylander and Casaubon remark that Strabohere 
 use of the term antipodes ; the antipodes of Spain and India being" in 
 
 5 Xylander and Casaubon remark that Strabo here makes an improper 
 se of the term antipodes 
 the southern hemisphere. 
 
14 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 force meet us on the very threshold of such subjects, and 
 compel us to the study of astronomy, and the observation of 
 such phenomena as each of us may notice ; in which too, very 
 considerable differences appear, according to the various 
 points of observation. How could any one undertake to 
 write accurately and with propriety on the differences of the 
 various parts of the earth, who was ignorant of these matters ? 
 and although, if the undertaking were of a popular charac- 
 ter, it might not be advisable to enter thoroughly into detail, 
 still we should endeavour to include every thing which could 
 be comprehended by the general reader. 
 
 15. He who has thus elevated his mind, will he be satisfied 
 with any thing less than the whole world ? If in his anxiety 
 accurately to portray the inhabited earth, he has dared to 
 survey heaven, and make use thereof for purposes of instruc- 
 tion, would it not seem childish were he to refrain from ex- 
 amining -the whole earth, of which the inhabited is but a part, 
 its size, its features, and its position in the universe ; whether 
 other portions are inhabited besides those on which we dwell, 
 and if so, their amount ? What is the extent of the regions 
 not peopled ? what their peculiarities, and the cause of their 
 remaining as they are ? Thus it appears that the knowledge 
 of geography is connected with meteorology ] and geometry, 
 that it unites the things of earth to the things of heaven, as 
 though they were nearly allied, and not separated. 
 
 " As far as heaven from earth." 2 
 
 16. To the various subjects which it embraces let us add 
 natural history, or the history of the animals, plants, and 
 other~cftfferent productions oT the earth and~sea, whether ser- 
 viceable or useless, and my original statement will, I think, 
 carry perfect conviction with it. 
 
 That he who should undertake this work would be a bene- 
 factor to mankind, reason and the voice of antiquity agree. 
 The poets feign that they were the wisest heroes who tra- 
 velled and wandered most in foreign climes : and to be fami- 
 liar with many countries, and the disposition of the inhabitants, 
 is, according to them, of vast importance. Nestor prides him- 
 
 1 Meteorology, from juercwpoc, aloft, is the science which describes and 
 explains the various phenomena which occur in the region of the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 2 Homer, Iliad viii. 16. 
 
CHAP. i. 16. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 self on having associated with the Lapithae, 1 to whon 
 " having been invited thither from the Apian 2 land 
 So does Menelaus : 
 
 <( Cyprus, Phoenicia, Sidon, and the shores 
 
 Of Egypt, roaming without hope I reach'd ; 
 
 In distant Ethiopia thence arrived, 
 
 And Lib^'a, where the lambs their foreheads show 
 
 With budding horns defended soon as yean'd." 3 
 
 Adding as a peculiarity of the country, 
 
 " There thrice within the year the flocks produce."* Y 
 
 And of Egypt : " Where the sustaining earth is most pro- 
 lific." 5 And Thebes, 
 
 " the city with an hundred gates, 
 Whence twenjjMLhousand chariots rush to war." 6 
 
 Such information greatly enlarges our sphere of knowledge, 
 by informing us of the nature of the country, its botanical and 
 zoological peculiarities. To these should be added its marine 
 history ; for we are in a certain sense amphibious, not exclu- 
 sively connected with the land, but with the sea as well. 
 Hercules, on account of his vast experience and observation, 
 was described as " skilled in mighty works." 7 
 
 All that we have previously stated is confirmed both by the 
 testimony of antiquity and by reason. fOne consideration 
 however appears to bear in a peculiar manner on the case in 
 point ; viz. the importance of geography in a political view. 
 For the sea and the earth in which we dwell furnish theatres 
 
 1 A people of Thessaly, on the banks of the Peneus. 
 
 2 The former name of the Morea, and more ancient than Peloponnesus. 
 Iliad i. 270. 
 
 3 Having wandered to Cyprus, and Phoenice, and the Egyptians, I 
 came to the Ethiopians, and Sidonians, and Erembi, and Libya, where 
 the lambs immediately become horned. Odyssey iv. 83. 
 
 4 Odyssey iv. 86. 
 3 Homer says, 
 
 ry TrXtTcrra (p'spei ^ti'^wpoc dpovpa 
 
 fcapjuaica. Odyssey iv. 229. 
 
 Which Cowper properly renders : 
 
 " Egypt teems 
 
 With drugs of various powers. " 
 
 Strabo, by omitting the word (pap^aica from his citation, alters to a 
 certain degree the meaning of the sentence. 
 
 6 Iliad ix. 383, et seq. 7 Odyssey xxi. 26. 
 
16 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK. I 
 
 for action ; limited, for limited actions ; vast, for grander 
 deeds ; but that which contains them all, and is the scene of 
 the greatest undertakings, constitutes what we term the habit- 
 able earth ; and they are the greatest generals who, subduing 
 nations and kingdoms under one sceptre, and one political 
 administration, have acquired dominion over land and sea. It is 
 clear then, that geography is essential to all the transactions of 
 the statesman, informing us, as it does, of the position of the 
 continents, seas, and oceans of the whole habitable earth. In- 
 formation of especial interest to those who are concerned to 
 know the exact truth of such particulars, and whether the places 
 have been explored or not : for government will certainly be bet- 
 ter administered where the size and position of the country, its 
 own peculiarities, and those of the surrounding districts, are 
 understood. Forasmuch as there are many sovereigns who rule 
 in different regions, and some stretch their dominion overofrhers' 
 territories, and undertake the government of different nations 
 and kingdoms, and thus enlarge the extent of their dominion, 
 it is not possible that either themselves, nor yet writers on 
 geography, should be equally acquainted with the whole, but 
 to both there is a great deal more or less known. Indeed, 
 were the whole earth under one government and one adminis- 
 tration, it is hardly possible that we should be informed of 
 every locality in an equal degree; for even then we should be 
 most acquainted with the places nearest us : and after all, it 
 is better that we should have a more perfect description of 
 these, since, on account of their proximity, there is greater 
 need for it. We see there is no reason to be surprised that 
 there should be one chorographer l for the Indians, another for 
 the Ethiopians, and a third for the Greeks and Romans. 
 What use would it be to the Indians if a geographer should 
 thus describe Boeotia to them, in the words of Homer : 
 
 " The dwellers on the rocks 
 Of Aulis follow'd, with the hardy clans 
 Of Hyria, Schcenus, Scolus." 2 
 
 To us this is of value, while to be acquainted with the Indies 
 
 1 Chorography, a term used by Greek writers, meaning the description 
 of particular districts. 
 
 2 Iliad ii. 496. Four cities of Boeotia. The present name of Aulis is 
 Vathi, situated on the Strait of Negropont The modern names of the 
 other three cities are unknown. 
 
CHAP. i. 17. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and their various territorial divisions would be use 
 could lead to no advantage, which is the only criter 
 worth of such knowledge. 
 
 17. Even if we descend to the consideration of such trivial 
 matters as hunting, the case is still the same ; for he will be 
 most successful in the chase who is acquainted with the size 
 and nature of the wood, and one familiar with the locality 
 will be the most competent to superintend an encampment, 
 an ambush, or a march. But it is in great undertakings that 
 the truth shines out in all its brilliancy, for here, while the 
 success resulting from knowledge is grand, the consequences 
 of ignorance are disastrous. The fleet of Agamemnon, for in- 
 stance, ravaging Mysia, as if it had been the Trojan territory, 
 was compelled to a shameful retreat. Likewise the Persians 
 and Libyans, 1 supposing certain straits to be impassable, were 
 very near falling into great perils, and have left behind them 
 memorials of their ignorance; the former a monument to 
 Salganeus on the Euripus, near Chalcis, whom the Persians 
 slew, for, as they thought, falsely conducting their fleet from the 
 Gulf of Malea 2 to the Euripus ; and the latter to the memory 
 of Pelorus, who was executed on a like occasion. At the time 
 of the expedition of Xerxes, the coasts of Greece were covered 
 with wrecks, and the emigrations from JEolia and Ionia furn- 
 ish numerous instances of the same calamity. On the other 
 hand, matters have come to a prosperous termination, when 
 judiciously directed by a knowledge of the locality. Thus it 
 was at the pass of Thermopylae that Ephialtes is reported to 
 have pointed out to the Persians a pathway over the moun- 
 tains, and so placed the band of Leonidas at their mercy, and 
 opened to the Barbarians a passage into Pylae. But passing 
 over ancient occurrences, we think that the late expeditions 
 
 1 By Libyans are here intended Carthaginians. The events alluded to Y 
 by Strabo may be found in Pomponius Mela and Valerius Maximus, whose 
 accounts however do not entirely accord. That of Valerius Maximus, who 
 
 is followed by Servius, tells us that Hannibal, on his return to Africa, 
 observed his pilot Pelorus was taking the sEips by the coast of Italy, and 
 suspecting him therefore of treachery, caused him to be executed. He 
 did not know at the time the intention of Pelorus to take him through 
 the Strait of Messina, but afterwards, when aware of the excellence of the 
 passage, caused a monument It) be raised to the memory of the unfor- 
 tunate pilot. Strabo, in his ninth book, gives us the history of Salganeus, 
 and the monument erected to him on the shores of Negropont. 
 
 2 The Gulf of Zeitun. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
18 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 of the Romans against the Parthians furnish an excellent ex- 
 ample, where, as in those against the Germans and Kelte, the 
 Barbarians, taking advantage of their situation, [carriecTon the 
 war] in marsjies, woods, and pathless deserts, deceiving the 
 ignorant enemy as to the position of different places, and con- 
 cealing the roads, and the means of obtaining food and 
 necessaries. 
 
 18. As we have said, this science has an especial reference 
 to the occupations and requirements of statesmen, with whom 
 also political and ethical philosophy is mainly concerned ; and 
 here is an evidence. We distinguish the different kinds of 
 civil government by the office of their chief men, denominat- 
 ing one government a monarchy, or kingdom, another an 
 aristocracy, a third a democracy ; for so many we consider 
 are the forms of government, and we designate them by 
 these names, because from them they derive their primary 
 characteristic. For the laws which emanate from the sove- 
 reign, from the aristocracy, and from the people all are differ- 
 ent. The law is in fact a type of the form of government. 
 It is on this account that some define right to be the in- 
 terest of the strongest. If, therefore, political philosophy 
 is advantageous to the ruler, and geography in the actual 
 government of the country, this latter seems to possess some 
 little superiority. This superiority is most observable in 
 real service. 
 
 19. But even the theoretical portion of geography is by no 
 means contemptible. On the one hand, it embraces the arts^ 
 mathematics, and natural, science ; on the other, history and 
 fa^le. Not that this latter can have any distinct advantage : 
 for instance, if any one should relate to us the wanderings of 
 Ulysses, Menelaus, and Jason, he would not seem to have 
 added directly to our fund of practical knowledge thereby, 
 (which is the only thing men of the world are interested in,) 
 unless he should convey useful examples of what those wan- 
 derers were compelled to suffer, and at the same time afford 
 matter of rational amusement to those who interest themselves 
 in the places which gave birth to such fables. Practical men 
 interest themselves in these pursuits, since they are at once 
 commendable, and afford them pleasure ; but yet not to any 
 great extent. In this class, too, will be found those whose 
 main object in life is pleasure and respectability : but these 
 
CHAP. i. 20. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by no means constitute the majority of mankind, wl 
 ally prefer that which holds out some direct advantage. The 
 geographer should therefore chiefly devote himself to what is 
 practically important. He should follow the same rule in 
 regard to history and the mathematics, selecting always 
 that which is most useful, most intelligible, and most au- 
 thentic. 
 
 20. Geometry and astronomy, as we before remarked, seem 
 absolutely indispensable in this science. This, in fact, is evi- 
 dent, that without some such assistance, it would be impossi- 
 ble to be accurately acquainted with the configuration of the 
 earth ; its climat a, l dimensions, and the like information. 
 
 As the size of the earth has been demonstrated by other 
 writers, we shall here take for granted and receive as accurate 
 what they have advanced. We shall also assume that the 
 earth is spheroidal, that its surface is likewise""spheroidal, and 
 above all, that bodies have a tendency towards its centre, 
 which latter point is clear to the perception of the most aver- 
 age understanding. However we may show summarily that 
 the earth is spheroidal, from the consideration that all things 
 however distant tend to its centre, and that every body is at- 
 tracted towards its^ centre 
 pToved from observations 
 evidence of the senses, and common observation, is alone re- 
 quisite. The convexity of the sea is a further proof of this 
 to those who have sailed ; for tliey cannot perceive lights at a 
 distance when placed at the same_level as tKeTr J^yes, but if 
 raised on^high, they at once become perceptible to vision, 
 tKough at the same time further removed. So, when the eye 
 is raised, it sees what before was utterly imperceptible. 
 Homer speaks of this when he says, 
 
 Lifted up on the vast wave he quickly beheld afar. 2 
 
 Sailors, as they approach their destination, behold the shore 
 continually raising itself to their view ; and objects which 
 had at first seemed low, begin to elevate themselves. Our 
 gnomons, also, are, among other things, evidence of the revolu- 
 tiorfof the heavenly bodies ; and common seTTse at once shows us, 
 
 1 Vide preceding note on this word, p. 13, n. 1. 
 
 2 Odyssey v. 393. 
 
 c 2 
 
 5 centre, and that every body is at- 
 of Jjravity ; this is more distinctly 
 of the sea and sky, for here the 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 that if the depth of the earth were infinite, 1 such a revolution 
 
 ^_ 
 
 'Every information respecting the climata 2 is contained in 
 the " Treatises on Positions." 3 
 
 21. Now there are some facts which we take to be estab- 
 lished, viz. those with which every politician and general 
 should be familiar. For on no account should they be so 
 uninformed as to the heavens and the position of the earth, 4 
 that when they are in strange countries, where some of the 
 heavenly phenomena wear a different aspect to what they 
 have been accustomed, they should be in a consternation, and 
 exclaim, 
 
 " Neither west 
 
 Know we, nor east, where rises or where sets 
 The all-enlightening sun." 5 
 
 Still, we do -not expect that they should be such thorough 
 masters of the subject as to know what stars rise and set 
 together for the different quarters of the earth ; those which 
 have the same meridian line, the elevation of the poles, the 
 signs which are in the zenith, with all the various phenomena 
 which differ as well in appearance as reality with the varia- 
 tions of the horizon and arctic circle. With some of these 
 matters, unless as philosophical pursuits, they should not bur- 
 den themselves at all ; others they must take for granted with- 
 out searching into their causes. This must be left to the care 
 of the philosopher ; the statesman can have no leisure, or very 
 little, for such pursuits. Those who, through carelessness and 
 ignorance, are not familiar with the glo^e and the circles 
 traced uponjt, some parallel to each other, some at right 
 angles to the former, others, again, in an oblique direction ; 
 nor yet with the position of the trogics, equator, and zodiac, 
 (that circle through which the sun travels in his course, and 
 by which we reckon the changes of season and the winds,) 
 such persons we caution against the perusal of our work. For 
 
 1 Allusion is here made to the theory of Xenophanes of Colophon and 
 Anaximenes his disciple, who imagined the earth bore the form of a vast 
 mountain, inhabited at the summit, but whose roots stretched into in- 
 finity. The Siamese at the present day hold a similar idea. 
 
 2 See note l , p. 13. 3 Iltpi ru>v OIK^CTEWV. 
 
 4 Meaning, the different appearances of the heavenly bodies at various 
 parts of the earth. 
 
 5 Odyssey x. 190. 
 
CHAP. i. 22, 23. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 if a man is neither properly acquainted with ti 
 nor with the variations of the horizon and arctic 
 such similar elements of mathematics, how ca> 
 prehend the matters treated of here ? So for one wno does 
 not know a right line from a curve, nor yet a circle, nor a 
 plane or spherical surface, nor the seven stars in the firm- 
 ament composing the Great Bear, and such like, our work is 
 entirely useless, at least for the present. Unless he first ac- 
 quires such information, he is utterly incompetent to the study 
 of geography. * So those who have written the works en- 
 titled " On Ports," and " Voj^ges Roufld the V^orld," have 
 performed their task imperfectly, since they have omitted to 
 supply the requisite information from mathematics and as- 
 tronomy.* l 
 
 "22. The present undertaking is composed in a lucid style, 
 suitable alike to the statesman and the general reader, after 
 the fashion of nwHisiory. 2 By a statesman we do not intend 
 an illiterate person, but one who has gone through the course 
 of a liberal and philosophical education. For a man who has 
 bestowed no attention on virtue or intelligence, nor what 
 constitutes them, must be incompetent either to blame or 
 praise, still less to decide what actions are worthy to be placed 
 on record. 
 
 23. Having already compiled o^ur Historical Memoirs, which, 
 as we conceive, are a valuable addition both to political and 
 moral philosophy, we have now determined to follow itjip with 
 the present work, which has been prepared on the same sy_s-^ 
 tern as tn"e former, and for the same class of readers, but more 
 particularly for those who are in high stations of life. And 
 as our former production contains only the most striking 
 events in the lives of distinguished men, omitting trifling and 
 unimportant incidents ; so here it will be proper to dismiss 
 small and doubtful particulars, and merely call attention 
 to great and remarkable transactions, such in fact as are use- 
 
 1 This sentence has been restored to what was evidently its original 
 position. In the Greek text it appears immediately before section 23, 
 commencing, " Having already compiled," &c. The alteration is borne 
 out by the French and German translators. 
 
 2 Strabo here alludes to his 'Icrropiica 'IVo^vT/ftara, cited by Plutarch 
 (Lucullus, 28, Sulla. 26). This work, in forty-three books, began where 
 the HistOTfof Polypius ended, and was probably continued to the battle *. 
 of Actium. Smith, Gr. and Rom. Biog. 
 
2 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 ful, memorable, and entertaining. In the colossal works of 
 the sculptor we do not descend into a minute examination of 
 particulars, but look principally for perfection in the general 
 ensemble. This is the only method of criticism applicable to 
 the present work. Its proportions, so to speak, are colossal ; it 
 deals in the generalities and main outlines of things, except 
 now and then, when some minor detail can be selected, calcu- 
 lated to be serviceable to the seeker after knowledge, or the 
 man of business. 
 
 We now think we have demonstrated that our present un- 
 dertaking is one that requires great care, and is well worthy 
 of a philosopher. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. No one can [justly] blame us for having undertaken to 
 write on a subject already often treated of, unless it appears 
 that we have done nothing more than copy the works of former 
 writers. In our opinion, though they may have perfectly 
 treated some subjects, in others they have still left much to 
 be completed ; and we shall be justified in our performance, 
 if we can add to their information even in a trifling degree. 
 At the present moment the conquests of the Romans and Par- 
 thians have added much to our knowledge, which (as was well 
 observed by Eratosthenes) had been considerably increased by 
 the expedition of Alexander. This prince laid open to our 
 view the greater part of Asia, and the whole north of Europe 
 as far as the Danube. And the Romans [have discovered Cous] 
 the entire wesToF Eupope as far as the river Elbe, which di- 
 vides Germany, and the country beyond theTster to the river 
 Dniester. The country beyond this to the MaBOtis, 1 and the 
 coasts extending along Colchis, 2 was brought to light by Mithri- 
 dates, surnamed Eupator, and his generals. To the Parthians 
 we are indebted for a better acquaintance with Hyrcania, 3 Bac- 
 
 1 The Sea of Azof. 2 Mingrelia ; east of the Euxine. 
 
 3 A large country of Asia to the south of the eastern part of the Cas- 
 pian Sea. It became much restricted during the Parthian rule, contain- 
 
CHAP. ii. 2. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 triana, 1 and the land of the Scythians 2 lying beyond 
 before we knew but little. Thus we can add much ii 
 not supplied by former writers, but this will best be seen wiien 
 we come to treat on the writers who have preceded us ; and 
 this method we shall pursue, not so much in regard to the 
 primitive geographers, as to Eratosthenes and those subsequent 
 to him. As these writers far surpassed the generality in the 
 amount of their knowledge, so naturally it is more difficult to 
 detect their errors when such occur. If I seem to contradict 
 those most whom I take chiefly for my guides, I must claim 
 indulgence on the plea, that it w r as never intended to criticise 
 the whole body of geographers, the larger number of whom 
 are not worthy of consideration, but to give an opinion of 
 those only who are generally found correct. Still, while 
 many are beneath discussion, such men as Eratosthenes. Po- 
 sidonius, Hipparchus, Poly^bius, and others of their stamp, 
 deserve our hignjest consideration. 
 
 2. Let us first examine Eratosthenes, reviewing at the same 
 time what Hipparchus has advanced against him. Eratos- 
 thenes is much too creditable an historian for us to believe 
 what Polemon endeavours to charge against him, that he had 
 not even seen Athens. At the same time he does not merit 
 that unbounded confidence which some seem to repose in him, 
 although, as he himself tells us, he passed much of his time 
 with first-rate [characters]. Never, says he, at one period, 
 and in one city, were there so many philosophers flourishing 
 together as in my time. In their number was Ariston and 
 Arcesilaus. This, however, it seems is not sufficient, nbut you 
 musTalso be able to choose who are the real guides whom it is 
 your interest to follow. He considers Arcesilaus and Ariston 
 to be the coryphaei of the philosophers who flourished in his 
 time, and is ceaseless in his eulogies of Apelles and Bion, 
 
 ing only the north of Comis, east of Masanderan, the country near Corcan 
 or Jorjan, (Dshiordshian, ) and the west of the province of Khorassan. 
 
 1 A country of Asia, on the west bounded by Aria, south by the moun- 
 tains of Paropamisus, east by the Emodi montes, north by Sogdiana, 
 now belongs to the kingdom of Afhganistan. Bactriana was anciently 
 the centre of Asiatic commerce. 
 
 2 A general name given by the Greeks and Romans to a large portion 
 of Asia, and divided by them into Scythia intra et extra Imaum, that is, 
 on either side of Mount Imaus. This mountain is generally thought to 
 answer to the Himalaya mountains of Thibet. 
 
24 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 the latter of whom, says he, was the first to deck himself in 
 the flowers of philosophy, but concerning whom one is often 
 likewise tempted to exclaim, " How great is Bion in spite of 
 his rags ! " 1 It is in such instances as the following that the 
 mediocrity of his genius shows itself. 
 
 Although at Athens he became a disciple of Zeno 2 of 
 Citium, he makes no mention of his followers ; while those 
 who opposed that philosopher, and of whose sect not a trace 
 remains, he thinks fit to set down amongst the [great charac- 
 ters] who flourished in his time. His real character appears 
 in his Treatise on Moral Philosophy, 3 his Meditations, and 
 some similar productions. He seems to have held a middle 
 course between the man who devotes himself to philosophy, 
 and the man who cannot make up his mind to dedicate hjm- 
 self to it : and to have studied the science merely as a relief 
 from*liTs other pursuits, or as a pleasing and instructive recre- 
 ation. In his other writings he is just the same; but let 
 these things pass. We will now proceed as well as we can to 
 the task of rectifying his geography. 
 
 First, then, let us return to the point which we lately de- 
 ferred. 
 
 3. Eratosthenes says that the poet directs his whole atten- 
 tion to the amusement of the mind, and not at all to its in- 
 struction. In opposition to his idea, the anpients define poesy 
 a,s a primjtive philosophy, guiding our lijeTrom infancy, and 
 pleasantly regulating our morals, our tastes, and our actions. 
 *The [Stoj-es] oT'our day affirm that the only^ wise man is the 
 poet. On this account the earliest lessons which the citizens 
 oF Greece convey to their children are from the poets ; cer- 
 
 1 This seems to be a paraphrase of Homer's verse on Ulysses, Odyssey 
 xviii. 74. 
 
 O'irjv K paiciwv 6 yepwv tTTiyovvida <f>aivei. 
 
 What thews 
 And what a haunch the senior's tatters hide. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 2 Zeno, of Citium, a city in the island of Cyprus, founded by Phoenician 
 settlers, was the son of Mnaseas. 
 
 3 Hepi rutv 'AyaOaiv, is the title given by Strabo, but we find from 
 Harpocrates and Clemens Alexandrinus, that properly it was Hepi 'Aya- 
 
 Kai KctKuiv, or " Conceniinj^Go/)d and EyjJJThmgs," which we have 
 rendered in the text " Morarphiloiophy." 
 
CHAP. ii. 3. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tainly not alone for the purpose of amusing their mine 
 for their instruction. Nay, even the professors of music, who 
 give lessons on the harp, lyre, and pipe, lay claim to our con- 
 sideration on the same account, since they say that [the ac- 
 complishments which they teach] are calculated to form and 
 improve the character. It is not only among the Pythagoreans 
 that one hears this claim supported, for Aristoxenus is of that 
 opinion, and Homer too regarded the bards as amongst the 
 wjgest of mankind. 
 
 Of this number was the guardian of Clytemnestra, " to 
 whom the s_on of Atreus, when he set out forTroy, gave 
 earnest charge to preserve his ,wife," 1 whom ^Egisthus was 
 unabje to seduce, until " leading the bard to a desert island, 
 heleft him," 2 and then 
 
 " The queen he led, not willing less than he, 
 To his own mansion." 3 
 
 But apart from all such considerations, Eratosthenes con- 
 tradicts himself; for a little previously to the sentence which 
 we have quoted, at the commencement of his Essay on Geo- 
 graphy, he says, that " all the ancient poets took delight in 
 showing their knowledge of such matters. Homer inserted 
 into his poetry all that he knew about the Ethiopians, Egypt, 
 and Libya. Of all that related to Greece and the neighbour- 
 ing places he entered even too minutely into the details, de- 
 scribing Thisbe as " abounding in doves," Haliartus, " grassy," 
 Anthedon, the " far distant," Litaea, " situated on the sources 
 of the Cephissus," 4 and none of his epithets are without their 
 meaning." But in pursuing this method, what object has he 
 in view, to amuse [merely], or to instruct ? The latter, doubt- 
 less. Well, perhaps he has told the truth in these instances, 
 but in what was beyond his observation both he and the other 
 writers have indulged in all the marvels of fable. If such be 
 the case the statement should have been, that the poets relate 
 some things for mere amusement, others for instruction ; but 
 he affirms that they do it altogether for amusement, without 
 any view to information ; and by way of climax, inquires, 
 What can it add to Homer's worth to be familiar with many 
 
 1 Odyssey iii. 267. 2 Ib. iii. 270. 3 Ib. iii. 272. 
 
 4 Thisbe, Haliartus, Anthedon, cities of Boeotia; Litaea, a city of Phocis. 
 The Cephissus, a large river, rising in the west of Phocis. 
 
26 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 lands, and skilled in strategy, agriculture, rhetoric, and simi- 
 lar information, which some persons seem desirous to make 
 him possessed of. To seek to invest him with all this know- 
 ledge is most likely the effect of too great a zeal for his honour. 
 Hipparchus observes, that to assert he was acquainted with 
 every art and science, is like saying that an Attic eiresion& l 
 bears pears and apples. 
 
 As far as this goes, Eratosthenes, you are right enough ; 
 not so, however, when you not only deny that Homer was 
 possessed of these vast acquirements, but represent poetry in 
 general as a tissue of old wives' fables, where, to use your 
 own expression, every thing thought likely to amuse is 
 cooked up. I ask, is it of no value to the auditors 2 of the 
 poets to be made acquainted with [the history of] different 
 countries, with strategy, agriculture, and rhetoric, and such- 
 like things, which the lecture generally contains. 
 
 4. One thing is certain, that the poet has bestowed all these 
 gifts upon Ulysses, whom beyond any of his other [heroes] 
 he loves to adorn with every virtue. He says of him, that he 
 
 " Discover'd various cities, and the mind 
 And manners learn'd of men in lands remote." 3 
 
 That he was 
 
 " Of a piercing^wit and deeply wise."* 
 
 He is continually described as " the destroyer of cities," and 
 as having vanquished Troy, by his counsels, his advice, and 
 his deceptive art. Diomede says of him, 
 
 " Let him attend me, and through fire itself 
 We shall return ; for none is wise as he." 5 
 
 He prides himself on his skill in husbandry, for at the har- 
 vest [he says], 
 
 1 A harvest-wreath of laurel or olive wound round with wool, and 
 adorned with fruits, borne about by singing-boys at the Hvavt-fyia and 
 6apy?7\ia, while offerings were made to Helios and the Hours : it was 
 afterwards hung up at the house-door. The song was likewise called 
 eiresione, which became the general name for all begging-songs. 
 
 2 Auditors,] a.Kpow/igj/oig. In Greece there was a class of lectures 
 where the only duty of the professors was to explain the works of the 
 poets, and point out the beauties which they contained. The students 
 who attended these lectures were styled a*cpoarae, or auditors, and the 
 method of instruction a*:p6a<7ic. 
 
 3 Odyssey i 3. * Iliad iii. 202. s Ib. x. 246. 
 
CHAP, n, 5, 6. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " I with my well-bent sickle in my hand, 
 Thou arm'd with, one as keen." l 
 
 And also in tillage, 
 
 " Then shonldst thou see 
 How straight my furrow should be cut and true." 2 
 
 And Homer was not singular in his opinion regarding 
 these matters, for all educated people appeal to him in favour 
 of the idea that such practical knowledge is one of the chief 
 means of acquiring understanding. 
 
 5. That eloquence is regarded as the wisdom of sgeech, 
 Ulysses manifests throughout the whole poem, both in the 
 Trial, 3 the Petitions, 4 and the Embassy. 5 Of him it is said by 
 Antenor, 
 
 " But when he spake, forth from his breast did flow 
 A torrent swift as winter's feather'd snow." 6 
 
 Who can suppose that a poet capable of effectively intro- 
 ducing into his scenes rhetonCfens, generals, and various other 
 characters, each displacing some peculiar excellence, was na- 
 thing more than a dipll or juggler, "capable only of cheating 
 or flattering his hearer, and notjof instructing hjm. 
 
 Are we not all agreed that the chiej^merit of a poej; con ^ 
 
 sists in his accurate representation of the antics of litp ? Can 
 this be done by a mere driveller, unacquainted with the world ? 
 The excellence of a goej is not to be measured by the sajoe 
 standard asTEat of a mecjianic or a blacksmith, where hojiour 
 and~"vTrtue have nothing to do with our_estimate. But the 
 poet and the individual are connected, and he only can be- 
 come a good_j)oet, who is in the firsj^ instance a worthy man. 
 ^6. To denytKat our poet possesses the graces of oratory is 
 using us hardly indeed. What is so befitting an orator, what 
 so poetical as eloquence, and who so sweetly eloquent as Ho- 
 mer ? But, by heaven ! you'll say, there are other styles of 
 eloquence than those peculiar to poetry. Of course [I admit 
 this] ; in poetry itself there is the tragic and the comic style ; 
 in prose, the historic and the forensic. But is not language 
 
 1 Odyssey xviii. 367. 2 Ib. xviii. 374. 
 
 3 The second book of the Iliad. 4 The ninth book of the Iliad. 
 
 5 The deputation of Menelaus and Ulysses to demand back Helen, 
 alluded to by Antenor, in the third book of the Iliad. 
 
 6 But when he did send forth the mighty voice from his breast, and 
 words like unto wintry flakes of snow, no longer then would another 
 mortal contend with Ulysses. Iliad iii. 221. 
 
28 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 a generality, of which poetry and prose are forms ? Yes, lan- 
 guage is; but are not the rhetorical, the eloquent, and the 
 florid styles also ? I answer, that flowery prose is nothing but 
 an imitation of poetry. Ornatepoetry was the first to make 
 its appearance, and was well received. Afterwards it ^vas 
 closely imitated by writers in the time of Cadmus, Phere- 
 cydes, and Hecatseus. The mejre was the only thing Dis- 
 pensed with, every other poetic grace being carefully preserved. 
 As time" advanced, one after another of its b^ajaties was 
 discarded, till at last it camejiawn from its glory into our 
 commoi^prose. In the same way we may say that conaedy 
 took its rise from tragedy, but descended from its loft}? gran- 
 deur into what we now call the common parlance of claily ^ e - 
 And when [we find] the ancient writers making use of the 
 expression " to sing," to designate eloquence of style, this 
 in itself is an "eTtctence that poetry is the source and ojigin 
 of all ornamented and rhetorical language. Poetry in an- 
 cient days was on every occasion accompanied by melody. 
 The song or ode was but^a modulated speecji,irom wheffceme 
 words rhapsody, tragedy, comecfy, 1 are derived ; and since 
 originally eloquence was the term made use of for the poetical 
 effusions which were always of the nature of a song, it soon 
 happened [that in speaking of poetry] some said, to sing, others, 
 to be eloquent ; and as the one term was early misapplied to 
 prose compositions, the other also was soon applied in the 
 same way. Lastly, the very term ppose, which is applied to 
 language not clothed in metre, seems to indicate, as it were, 
 its descent from an elevation or chariot to the ground. 2 
 
 7. Homer accurately describes many distant countries, and 
 not only Greece and the neighbouring places, as Eratosthenes 
 asserts. His romance, too, is in better style than that of his suc- 
 cessors. He does not make up wondrous tales on every occasion, 
 
 1 So much of the meaning of this sentence depends upon the orthogra- 
 phy, that its force is not fully perceptible in English ; the Greek is as 
 follows: TOVTO 8' f)v r} ySrj Aoyoc ^iijjii\i(r}ikvoQ ' at])' ov dij pa^^Siav r' 
 tXeyov teal TpayySiav Kai KWfKpdiav. 
 
 2 This last sentence can convey little or no meaning to the English 
 reader ; its whole force in the original depending on verbal association. 
 Its general scope however will be evident, when it is stated that in 
 Greek, the same word, 7rtdc, which means a " foot-soldier," signifies also 
 " arose composition." Hence Strabo's allusion to the chariot. The 
 Latins borrowed the expression, and used sermo pedestris in the same 
 sense. 
 
CHAP. ii. 8. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but to instruct us the better often, and especially in the 
 sey, adds to the circumstances which have come under his 
 actual observation, allegories, wise harangues, and enticing 
 narrations. Concerning which, Eratosthenes is much mis- 
 taken when he says that both Homer and his commentators 
 are a pack of fools. But this subject demands a little more of 
 our attention. 
 
 8. To begin. The poets were by no means the first to 
 avail themselves of myths. States and lawgivers had taken 
 advantage of them long before, having observed the consti- 
 tutional bias of mankind. Man is eager after knowledge, and 
 the love of legend is but tEeTprelude thereto. This is why 
 childfeh begm fo~ listen [to fables], and are acquainted with 
 them before any other kind of knowledge ; the cause of this is 
 that the myth introduces them to a new train of ideas, relating 
 not to every-day occurrences, but something in addition to 
 these. 
 
 A charm hangs round whatever is new and hitherto un- 
 kQOwn,~inspiring us with a desire to become acquainted with 
 it, but when the wonderful and the marvellous are likewise 
 present, our delight is increased until at last it becomes a 
 philtre of study. To children we are obliged to hold out such 
 enticements, in order that in riper years, when the mind is 
 powerful, and no longer needs such stimulants, it may be 
 prepared to enter on the study of actuaLcejalities. 
 
 Every illiteFate and uninstructed man is yet a child, and 
 takes delight in fable. With the partially informed it is much 
 the same ; reason is not all-powerful wifhiEThim, and he still 
 possesses the tastes of a child. But the marvellous, which 
 is capable of excitingjjear as well as pleasure, influences not 
 childhood only, but age as well. As we relate to children 
 pleasing tales to incite them [to any course] of action, and 
 frightful ones to deter them, such as those of Lamia, 1 
 Ephialtes, 3 and Mormolyca. 4 So numbers of our citize*ns 
 
 1 A female phantom said to devour children, used by nurses as a bug- 
 bear to intimidate their refractory^ charges. 
 
 2 In later times there were thrgfi-Horgons, Stheino, Euryale, and Me- 
 dusa, but Homer seems to have known but one. 
 
 3 One of the giants, who in the waragainst the_g_ods was deprived of 
 his left eye by Apollo, and of the righfby Hercules. 
 
 4 The same^hantom as Mormo, with which the Greeks used to frighten 
 little children. 
 
 xorgo,* 
 
 Jns are \ 
 
V 
 
 30 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 incited to deeds of virtue by the beauties of fable, when they 
 hear the poets in a strain of enthusiasm recording noble ac- 
 tions, such as the labours of Hercules or Theseus, and the 
 honours bestowed on them by tfie gods, or even when they 
 see paintings, sculptures, or figures bearing their romantic 
 evidence to sucli""events. In the same way they are re- 
 strained from vicious courses, when they think they have 
 received from the gods by oracles or some other invisible in- 
 timations, threats, menaces, or chastisements, or even if they^ 
 only believe they have befallen others. The great mass of 
 women and common people, cannot be induced by mere force 
 of reason to devote themselves to EJetypvIrtue, ancf lionesty ; 
 superstition must_ therefore be_employed, and even this is in- 
 sufficient without the aid of the marvellous and the terrible. 
 For what are the thunderbolts, the asgis, the trident, the 
 torches, the dragons, the barbed thyrses, the arms oTtne gods, 
 and all the paraphernalia of antique tlieology, but fables em- 
 ployed by the founders of states, as bugbears to frighten 
 timorous minds. 
 
 Such was mythology ; and when our ancestors found it ca- 
 pable oi subserving the purposes of social and political life, 
 and even contributing to the knowledge of truth, they conti- 
 nued the education of childhood to rnaturer years, and main- 
 tained that poetry was sufficient to form the understanding of 
 every age. In course of time history and our present philo- 
 sophy were introduced; these, however, suffice but for the 
 chosen few,, and to the present day poetry is the main agent 
 which instructs our people and crowds our theatres. Homer 
 here stands pre-eminent, but in truth all the early historians 
 and natural philosophers were mythologists as well. 
 
 9. Thus it is that our_poet, though he sometimes employs 
 fiction for the purposes of instruction, always gives the pre- 
 ferejQce to truth ; he makes use of what is false, merely toler- 
 ating it in order the more easily to lead and govern the mul- 
 titude. As a man 
 
 "Binds with a golden verge 
 Bright silver: " l 
 
 so Hgmer, heightening by fiction actual occurrences, adorns 
 and embellishes his subject ; but his end is always the same 
 as that of the historian, who relates nothing but facts. In 
 1 Odyssey vfm 
 
CHAP. ii. 10- INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 this manner he undertook the narration of the Trojan war, 
 gilding it with the beauties of fancy and the wanderings of 
 Ulysses ; but we shall never find Homer inventing an empty 
 fable apart from the inculcation of truth. It is ever the case 
 that a person lies most successfully, when he intermingles 
 [into the falsehood] a sprinkling of truth. Such is the re- 
 mark of Polybius in treating of the wanderings of Ulysses ; 
 such is alsoTlTe' meaning of the verse, 
 
 " He fabricated many falsehoods, relating them like truths :" l 
 
 not all, but many falsehoods, otherwise it would not have 
 looked like the truth. Homer's narrative is founded on history. 
 He tells us that king ^olus governed the Lipari Islands, that 
 around Mount JEtna and Leontini dwelt the Cyclopae, and cer- 
 tain Loestrygonians inhospitable to strangers. That at that 
 time the districts surrounding the strait were unapproachable ; 
 and Scylla and Charybdis were infested by banditti. In like 
 manner in the writings of Homer we are informed of other 
 freebooters, who dwelt in divers regions. Being aware that 
 the Cimmerians dwelt on the Cimmerian Bosphorus, a dark 
 northern country, he felicitously locates them in a gloomy re- 
 gion close by Hades, a fit theatre for the scene in the wander- 
 ings of Ulysses. That he was acquainted with these people 
 we may satisfy ourselves from the chroniclers, who report an 
 incursion made by the Cimmerians either during his life-time 
 or just before. 
 
 10. Being acquainted with Colchis, and the voyage of Ja- 
 scp to JEa, and also with the historical and fabulous relations 
 concerning Circe and Medea, their enchantments and their 
 various other points of e *re1Temblance, he feigns there was a 
 relationship between them, notwithstanding the vast distance 
 by which they were separated, the one dwelling in an inland 
 creek of the Euxine, and the other in Italy, and both of them 
 beyond the ocean. 
 
 It is possible that Jason -himself wandered as far as Italy, 
 for traces of the Argonautic expedition are pointed out 
 near the Ceraunian 2 mountains, by the Adriatic, 3 at the Pos- 
 sidonian 4 Gulf, and the isles adjacent to Tyrrhenia. 5 The 
 
 1 Odyssey xix. 203. 
 
 2 The mountains of Chimera in Albania. 3 The Gulf of Venice. 
 4 The Gulf of Salerno. 5 The Grecian name for Tuscany. 
 
32 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Cyaneae, called by some the Symplegades, 1 or Jostling Rocks, 
 which render the passage through the Strait of Constanti- 
 nople so difficult, also afforded matter to our poet. The 
 actual existence of a place named -5Sa, stamped credibility 
 upon his -ZEsea ; so did the Symplegades upon the Planctae, 
 (the Jostling Rocks upon the Wandering Rocks,) aid the 
 passage of Jason through the midst of them ; in the same 
 way Scylla and Charybdis accredited the passage [of Ulysses] 
 past those rocks. In his time people absolutely regarded the 
 Euxine as a kind of second ocean, and placed those who had 
 crossed it in the same list with navigators who had passed the 
 Pillars. 2 It was looked upon as the largest of our seas, 
 and was therefore par excellence styled the Sea, in the 
 same way as Homer [is called] the Poet. In order there- 
 fore to be well received, it is probable he transferred the scenes 
 from the Euxine to the ocean, so as not to stagger the general 
 belief. And in my opinion those Solymi who possess the 
 highest ridges of Taurus, lying between Lycia and Pisidia, 
 and those who in their southern heights stand out most con- 
 spicuously to the dwellers on this side Taurus, and the inha- 
 bitants of the Euxine by a figure of speech, he describes as 
 being beyond the ocean. For narrating the voyage of Ulysses 
 in his ship, he says, 
 
 " But Neptune, traversing in his return 
 From Ethiopia's sons, the mountain heights 
 Of Solymfe, descried him from afar." 3 
 
 It is probable he took his account of the one-eyed Cyclopae 
 from Scythian history, for the Arimaspi, whom Aristseus 
 of Proconnesus describes in his Tales of the Arimaspi, are 
 said to be distinguished by this peculiarity. 
 
 1 1 . Having premised thus much, we must now take into 
 consideration the reasons of those who assert that Homer 
 
 1 Several small islands, or rather reefs, at the entrance of the Strait of 
 Constantinople. They took their name of Symplegades from the varying 
 positions they assumed to the eyes of the voyager, owing to the sinuosities 
 of the Strait. 
 
 2 Unfortunately for Strabo's illustration, no Grecian navigator had ever 
 passed the Strait of Gibraltar in Homer's time. 
 
 3 The powerful Shaker of the Earth, as he was returning from the 
 Ethiopians, beheld him from a distance, from the mountains of the So- 
 lymi. Odyssey v. 282. 
 
CHAP. ii. 12. INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 makes Ulysses wander to Sicily or Italy, and also of those who 
 denied this. The truth is, he may be equally interpreted on 
 this subject either way, according as we take a correct or in- 
 correct view of the case. Correct, if we understand that he 
 was convinced of the reality of Ulysses' wanderings there, 
 and taking this truth as a foundation, raised thereon a poet- 
 ical superstructure. And so far this description of him is 
 right ; for not about Italy only, but to the farthest extremities 
 of Spain, traces of his wanderings and those of similar adven- 
 turers may still be found. Incorrect, if the scene-painting is 
 received as fact, his Ocean, and Hades, the oxen of the sun, 
 his hospitable reception by the goddesses, the metamorphoses, 
 the gigantic size of the Cyclopa? and Lasstrygonians, the mon- 
 strous appearance of Scylla, the distance of the voyage, and 
 other similar particulars, all alike manifestly fabulous. It is 
 as idle to waste words with a person who thus openly maligns 
 our poet, as it would be with one who should assert as true 
 all the particulars of Ulysses' return to Ithaca, 1 the slaughter 
 of the suitors, and the pitched battle between him and the 
 Ithacans in the field. But nothing can be said against the 
 man who understands the words of the poet in a rational way. 
 12. Eratosthenes, though on no sufficient grounds for so 
 doing, rejects both these opinions, endeavouring in his attack 
 on the latter, to refute by lengthened arguments what is mani- 
 festly absurd and unworthy of consideration, and in regard to 
 the former, maintaining a poet to be a mere gossip, to whose 
 worth an acquaintance with science or geography could not 
 add in the least degree : since the scenes of certain of Homer's 
 fables are cast in actual localities, as Ilium, 2 Pelion, 3 and Ida; 4 
 others in purely imaginary regions, such as those of the Gor- 
 gons and Geryon. " Of this latter class," he says, " are the 
 places mentioned in the wanderings of Ulysses, and those who 
 pretend that they are not mere fabrications of the poet, but 
 
 1 There is some doubt as to the modern name of the island of Ithaca. 
 D'Anville supposes it to be the island of Thiaki, between the island of 
 Cephalonia and Acarnania, while Wheeler and others, who object to this 
 island as being too large to answer the description of Ithaca given by 
 Strabo, identify it with the little isle of Ithaco, between Thiaki and the 
 main-land. 
 
 2 A name of the city of Troy, from Ilus, son of Tros. 
 
 3 A mountain of Magnesia in Thessaly. 
 
 4 A mountain in the Troad. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 have an actual existence, are proved to be mistaken by the 
 differences of opinion existing among themselves : for some of 
 them assert that the Sirenes of Homer are situated close to 
 Pelorus, 1 and others that they are more than two thousand 
 stadia distant, 2 near the Sirenussss, 3 a three-peaked rock 
 which separates the Gulfs of Cumasa and Posidonium." 
 Now, in the first place, this rock is not three-peaked, nor 
 does it form a crest at the summit at all, but a long and nar- 
 row angle reaching from the territory of Surrentum 4 to the 
 Strait of Capria, 5 having on one side of the mountain the 
 temple of the Sirens, and on the other side, next the Gulf 
 of Posidonius, three little rocky and uninhabited islands, 
 named the Sirenes; upon the strait, is situated the Athe- 
 naeum, from which the rocky angle itself takes its name. 
 
 13. Further, if those who describe the geography of certain 
 places do not agree in every particular, are we justified in at 
 once rejecting their whole narration ? Frequently this is a 
 reason why it should receive the greater credit. For exam- 
 ple, in the investigation whether the scene of Ulysses' wan- 
 derings were Sicily or Italy, and the proper position of the 
 Sirenes, they differ in so far that one places them at Pelorus, 
 and the other at Sirenussas, but neither of them dissents from 
 the idea that it was some where near Sicily or Italy. They 
 add thereby strength to this view, inasmuch as though they 
 are not agreed as to the exact locality, neither of them makes 
 any question but that it was some where contiguous to Italy or 
 Sicily. If a third party should add, that the monument of 
 Parthenope, who was one of the Sirens, is shown at Naples, 
 this only confirms us the more in our belief, for though a 
 third place is introduced to our notice, still as Naples is situ- 
 ated in the gulf called by Eratosthenes the Cumasan, and 
 
 1 Cape Faro in Sicily. 
 
 2 The stadia here mentioned are 700 to a degree; thus 2000 stadia 
 amount to rather more than 57 marine leagues, which is the distance in 
 a direct line from Cape Faro to the Capo della Minerva. 
 
 3 The Sirenussoe are the rocks which form the southern cape of the 
 Gulf of Naples, and at the same time separate it from the Gulf of Salerno. 
 This cape, which was also called the promontory of Minerva, from the 
 Athenaeum which stood there, preserves to this day the name of Capo 
 della Minerva. 
 
 4 Now Surrento. 
 
 5 The island of Capri is opposite to the Capo della Minerva. 
 
CHAP. ii. $ 14, 15. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which is formed by the Sirenussae, we are n 
 
 still that the position of the Sirenes was some w 
 
 That the poet did not search for accuracy it 
 
 detail we admit, but neither ought we to expect , 
 
 at the same time we are not to believe that he composed his 
 poem without inquiring into the history of the Wandering, 
 nor where and how it occurred. 
 
 14. Eratosthenes "thinks it probable that Hesiod, having 
 heard of the wanderings of Ulysses, and of their having taken 
 place near to Sicily and Italy, embraced this view of the case, 
 and not only describes the places spoken of by Homer, but 
 also JEtna, the Isle of Ortygia, 1 near to Syracuse, and Tyr- 
 rhenia. As for Homer, he was altogether unacquainted with 
 these places, and further, had no wish to lay the scene of the 
 wanderings in any well-known locality." What ! are then 
 jEtna and Tyrrhenia such well-known places, and Scyllaeum, 
 Charybdis, Circseum, 2 and the Sirenussae, so obscure ? Or is 
 Hesiod so correct as never to write nonsense, but always fol- 
 low in the wake of received opinions, while Homer blurts out 
 whatever comes uppermost ? Without taking into consider- 
 ation our remarks on the character and aptitude of Homer's 
 myths, a large array of writers who bear evidence to his state- 
 ments, and the additional testimony of local tradition, are 
 sufficient proof that his are not the inventions of poets or con- 
 temporary scribblers, but the record of real actors and real 
 scenes. 
 
 15. The conjecture of Polybius in regard to the particulars 
 of the wandering of Ulysses is excellent. He says that jEplus 
 instructed sailors how to navigate the strait, a difficult matter 
 on account of the currents occasioned by the ebb and flow, 
 and was therefore called the dispenser of the winds, and re- 
 puted their king. 
 
 In like manner Danaus for pointing out the springs of 
 water that were in Argos, and Ajjreus for showjng the re- 
 trograde movement of the sun in tfi*e heavens, from being" 
 merer soothsayers and diviners, were raised to the dignity of 
 kings. And the priests of the Egyptians, the Chaldeajis, f 
 and Magi, distinguished for their wisdom above those around* 
 them, ootained from our predecessors honour and authority ; 
 
 1 Now the Island of St. Marcian. 2 Monte Circello, near to Terracina. 
 
 D 2 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 and so it is that in each of the gods, we worship the discoverer 
 of some useful art. 
 
 Having thus introduced his subject, he does not allow us to 
 consider the account of ^Eolus, nor yet the rest of the Odys- 
 sey, as altogether mythical. There is a spice of the fabulous 
 here, as well as in the Trojan War, 1 but as respects Sicily, 
 the poet accords entirely with the other historians who 
 have written on the local traditions of Sicily and Italy. He 
 altogether denies the justness of Eratosthenes' dictum, "that 
 we may hope to discover the whereabout of Ulysses' wander- 
 ings, when we can find the cobbler who sewed up the winds 
 in the leathern sack." " And [adds Polybius] his description 
 of the hunt of the galeotes 2 at Scylla, 
 
 ' Plunged to her middle in the horrid den 
 She lurks, protruding from the black abyss 
 Her heads, with which the ravening monster dives 
 In quest of dolphins, dog-fish, or of prey 
 More bulky,' 3 
 
 accords well with what takes place around Scyllaeum : for the 
 thunny-fish, carried in shoals by Italy, and not being able to 
 reach Sicily, fall into [the Strait], where they become the 
 prey of larger fish, such as dolphins, dog-fish, and other ceta- 
 cea, and it is by this means that the galeotes (which are also 
 called sword-fish) and dogs fatten themselves. For the same 
 thing occurs here, and at the rising of the Nile and other . 
 rivers, as takes place when a forest is on fire. Vast crowds 
 of animals, in flying from the fire or the water, become the 
 prey of beasts more powerful than themselves." 
 
 16. He then goes on to describe the manner in which they 
 catch the sword-fish at Scyllaeum. One look-out directs the 
 whole body of fishers, who are in a vast number of small 
 boats, each furnished with two oars, and two men to each 
 boat. One man rows, the other stands on the prow, spear in 
 hand, while the look-out has to signal the appearance of a 
 sword-fish. (Thisjish, when swimming, has about a tlu'rd of 
 its body above wjiter.) As it passes the boat, the fisjier. darts 
 the sgear from his hand, and when this is withdrawn, it leaves 
 the shargjxnnt with which it is furnished sticking in the flesh 
 
 1 The Iliad. 2 Sword-fish. 
 
 3 And fishes there, watching about the rock for dolphins and dogs, and 
 if she can any where take a larger whale. Odyssey xii. 95. 
 
CHAP. ii. 17. INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 of the fish : this point is barbed, and loosely fixed to the spear 
 for the purpose ; it has a long'end fastened to it ; this they pay 
 out to the wounded fish, till it is exhausted with its struggling 
 and endeavours at escape. Afterwards they trail it to the 
 shore, or, unless it is too large and full-grown, haul it into 
 the boat. If the spear should fall into the sea, it is not lost, 
 for it is jointed of oak and pine, so that when the oak sinks 
 on account of its weight, it causes the other end to rise, and 
 thus is easily recovered. It sometimes happens that the rower 
 is wounded, even through the boat, and such is the size of the 
 sword with which the galeote is armed, such the strength of 
 the fish, and the method of the capture, that [in danger] it is 
 not surpassed by the chase of the wild boar. From these facts 
 (he says) we may conclude that Ulysses' wanderings were close 
 to Sicily, since Homer describes Scylla l as engaging in a pur- 
 suit exactly similar to that which is carried on at ScyllaBum. 
 As to Charybdis, he describes just what takes place at the 
 Strait of Messina : 
 
 " Each day she thrice disgorges," 2 
 
 instead of twice, being only a mistake, either of the scribe or 
 the historian. 
 
 17. The customs of the inhabitants of Meninx 3 closely cor- 
 respond to the description of the Lotophagi. If any thing 
 does not correspond, it should be attributed to change, or to 
 misconception, or to poetical licence, which is made up of 
 history, rhetoric, and fiction. Truth is the aim of the histo- 
 rical portion, as for instance in the Catalogue of jShips, 4 where 
 the poet informs us of the peculiarities of each place, that one 
 is rocky, another the furthest city, that this abounds in doves, 
 and that is maritime. A lively interest is the end of the 
 rhetorical, as when he points to us the combat ; and of the 
 fiction, pleasure and astonishment. A mere fabrication would 
 neither be persuasive nor Homeric ; and we know that his poem 
 
 1 There is a very fine medallion in the Bibliothfeque Nationale de 
 France, portraying Scylla as half woman, half dolphin, with a trident 
 in her left hand, and seizing a fish with her right. From her middle pro- 
 trude two half-bodied dogs, who assist the monster in swimming. 
 
 2 Odyssey xii. 105. 
 
 3 At this place there was an altar consecrated to Ulysses. Meninx is 
 now known as the island of Zerbi, on the side of the Bay of Cabus, on 
 the coast of Africa. 
 
 4 The second book of the Iliad. 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 is generally considered a scientific treatise, notwithstanding 
 what Eratosthenes may say, when he bids us not to judge poems 
 by the standard of intellect, nor yet look to them for history. 
 It is most probable that the line 
 
 " Nine days by cruel storms thence was I borne 
 Athwart the fishy deep," 1 
 
 should be understood of merely a short distance, (for cruel 
 storms do not blow in a right, course,) and not of being carried 
 beyond the ocean, as if impelled by favourable winds. " And," 
 says Polybius, "allowing the distance from Malea 2 to the 
 Pillars to be 22,500 stadia, and supposing the rate of 
 passage was the same throughout the nine days, the voyage 
 must have been accomplished at the speed of 2500 stadia per 
 diem : now who has ever recorded that the passage from Lycia 
 or Rhodes to Alexandria, a distance of 4000 stadia, has been 
 made in two days ? To those who demand how it was that 
 Ulysses, though he journeyed thrice to Sicily, never once na- 
 vigated the Strait, we reply that, long after his time, voyagers 
 always sedulously avoided that route." 
 
 18. Such are the sentiments of Polybius; and in many 
 respects they are correct enough ; but when he discusses the 
 voyage beyond the ocean, and enters on minute calculations 
 of the proportion borne by the distance to the number of days, 
 he is greatly mistaken. He alleges perpetually the words of 
 the poet, 
 
 "Nine days by cruel storms thence was I borne ;" 
 
 but at the same time he takes no notice of this expression, 
 which is his as well, 
 
 " And now borne sea-ward from the river stream 
 Of the Ocean us;" 3 
 
 and this, 
 
 " In the island of Ogygia, the centre of the sea," 4 
 
 1 And from thence I was carried for nine days over the fishy sea by 
 baleful winds. Odyssey ix. 82. 
 
 2 Cape Maleo off the Morea. The distance from this point to Gibraltar 
 is now estimated at 28 34'. The 22,500 stadia of Polybius would equal 
 32o 8' 34". He was therefore out in his calculation by 3 34' 34". 
 
 3 But when the ship left the stream of the river ocean. Odyss. xii. 1. 
 
 4 Vide Odyssey i. 50. 
 
CHAP. ii. 19. INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 and that the daughter of Atlas 1 dwells there. And the follow- 
 ing concerning the PliaeaciafTs. 
 
 " Remote amid the billowy deep, we hold 
 Our dwelling, utmost of all human kind, 
 And free from mixture with a foreign race." 2 
 
 These passages clearly refer to the Atlantic Ocean, 3 but 
 though so plainly expressed, Polybius slily manages to overlook 
 them. iHere he is altogether wrong, though quite correct 
 about tne wandering of Ulysses having taken place round 
 Sicily and Italy, a fact which Homer establishes himself. 
 Otherwise, what poet or writer could have persuaded the 
 Neapolitans to assert that they possessed the tomb of Parthe- 
 nope 4 the Siren, or the inhabitants of Cuma3, DicaBarchia, 5 
 and Vesuvius [to bear their testimony] to Pyriphlegethoii, the 
 Marsh of Acherusia, 6 to the oracle of the dead which was near 
 Aornus, 7 and to Baius and Misenus, 8 the companions of Ulys- 
 ses. The same is the case with the Sirenussae, and the Strait 
 of Messina, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and JEolus, all which 
 things should neither be examined into too rigorously, nor 
 yet [despised] as groundless and without foundation, alike re- 
 mote from truth ancl historic value. 
 
 19. Eratosthenes seems to have had something like this 
 view of the case himself, when he says, " Any one would be- 
 lieve that the poet intended the western regions as the scene 
 of Ulysses' wanderings, but that he has departed from fact, 
 sometimes through want of perfect information, at other times 
 because he wished to give to scenes a more terrific and mar- 
 vellous appearance than they actually possessed." So far 
 this is true, but his idea of the object which the poet had in 
 
 1 Calypso. 
 
 2 And we dwell at a distance, the farthest in the sea of many waves, 
 nor does any other of mortals mingle with us. Odyssey vi. 204. 
 
 3 Gosselin has satisfactorily demonstrated that Strabo is wrong in sup- 
 posing that these passages relate to the Atlantic Ocean, and most of our 
 readers will come at once themselves to the same conclusion. Those, 
 however, who wish for proofs, may refer to the French translation, vol. i. 
 p. 51, n. 
 
 * The ancient name of the city of Naples. 
 
 5 Puteoli, now Pozzuolo, in Campania. 
 
 6 Mare Morto, south of Bai'a, and near to the ruins of Mycene. 
 
 7 Aornus or Avernus : this lake, which lies about one mile north of 
 Bai'a, still retains its ancient appellation. 
 
 8 Vide Virgil, ^neid vi. 162. 
 
40 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 view while composing, is false; real advantage, not trifling, 
 being his aim. We may justly reprehend his assertion on this 
 point, as also where he says, that Homer places the scene of 
 his marvels in distant lands that he may lie the more easily. 
 Remote localities have not furnished him with near so many 
 wonderful narrations as Greece, and the countries thereto ad- 
 jacent; witness the labours of Hercules, and Theseus, the 
 fables concerning Crete, Sicily, and the other islands ; besides 
 those connected with Cithaerum, Helicon, 1 Parnassus, 2 Pelion, 3 
 and the whole of Attica and the Peloponnesus. Let us not 
 therefore tax the poets with ignorance on account of the myths 
 which they employ, and since, so far from myth being the 
 staple, they for the most part avail themselves of actual oc- 
 currences, (and Homer does this in a remarkable degree,) the 
 inquirer who will seek how far these ancient writers have 
 wandered into fiction, ought not to scrutinize to what extent 
 the fiction was carried, but rather what is the truth concern- 
 ing those places and persons to which the fictions have been 
 applied ; for instance, whether the wanderings of Ulysses did 
 actually occur, and where. 
 
 20. On the whole, however, it is not proper to place the 
 works of Homer in the common catalogue of other poets, 
 without challenging for him a superiority both in respect of 
 his other [excellences] and also for the geography on which 
 our attention is now engaged. 
 
 If any one were to do no more than merely read through 
 the Triptolemus of Sophocles, or the prologue to the Bacchce 
 of Euripides, and then compare them with the care taken by 
 Homer in his geographical descriptions, he would at once 
 perceive both the difference and superiority of the latter, for 
 wherever there is necessity for arrangement in the localities 
 he has immortalized, he is careful to preserve it as well in 
 regard to Greece, as to foreign countries. 
 
 " They 
 
 On the Olympian summit thought to fix 
 
 Huge Ossa, and on Ossa's towering head 
 
 Pelion with all his forests," 4 
 
 1 Cytheeron and Helicon, two mountains of Boeotia, the latter of which 
 is now named Zagaro Voreni. 
 
 2 Parnassus, a mountain of Phocis, near Delphi. 
 
 3 Pelion, a mountain of Magnesia, in Thessaly. 
 
 4 They attempted to place Ossa upon Olympus, and upon Ossa leafy 
 
CHAP. ii. 20. INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 " And Juno starting from the Olympian height 
 O'erflew Pieria and the lovely plains 
 Of broad Emathia ; l soaring thence she swept 
 The snow-clad summit of the Thracian hills 2 
 Steed-famed, nor printed, as she pass'd, the soil, 
 
 ******* 
 From Athos 3 o'er the foaming billows borne." 4 
 
 In the Catalogue he does noj describe his cities in regular 
 order, because here there was no necessity, but both the 
 people and foreign countries he arranges correctly. " Having 
 wandered to Cyprus, and Phcenice, and the Egyptians, I came 
 to the Ethiopians, and Sidonians, and Erembi, and Libya." 5 
 Hipparchus has drawn attention to this. But the two tra- 
 gedians, where there was great necessity for proper arrange- 
 ment, one 6 where he introduces Bacchus visiting the nations, 
 the other 7 Triptolemus sowing the earth, have brought in 
 juxta-position places far remote, and separated those which 
 were near. 
 
 " And having left the wealthy lands of the Lydians and 
 Phrygians, and the sunny plains of the Persians and the Bac- 
 trian walls, and having come over the stormy land of the 
 Medes, and the Happy Arabia." 8 And the Triptolemus is 
 just as inaccurate. 
 
 Further, in respect to the winds and climates, Homer shows 
 the wide extent of his geographical knowledge, for in his 
 
 Pelion. Odyssey xi. 314. The mountains Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus, 
 bounded the eastern coasts of Thcssaly. 
 
 1 Pieria and Emathia, two countries of Macedonia. 
 
 2 The mountains of Macedonia ; this latter name was unknown to Ho- 
 mer, who consequently describes as Thracian, the whole of the people 
 north of Thessaly. 
 
 3 The Mount Santo of the moderns. 
 
 4 Juno, hastening, quitted the summit of Olympus, and having passed 
 over Pieria, and fertile Emathia, she hastened over the snowy mountains 
 of equestrian Thrace, most lofty summits. * * * * From Athos she 
 descended to the foaming deep. Iliad xiv. 225. 
 
 5 Odyssey iv. 83. 
 
 6 Euripides, Bacchse, towards commencement. 
 
 7 Sophocles. 
 
 8 The inaccuracy of the description consists in this ; that Bacchus 
 leaving Lydia and Phrygia should have taken his course by Media into 
 Bactriana, and returned by Persia into Arabia Felix. Perhaps too, for 
 greater exactness, Strabo would have had the god mention particularly 
 the intermediate countries through which he necessarily passed, as Cap- 
 padocia, Armenia, Syria, &c. 
 
42 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 topographical descriptions he not unfrequently informs us of 
 both these matters. Thus, 
 
 " My abode 
 Is sun-burnt Ithaca. 
 
 Flat on the deep she lies, farthest removed 
 Toward the west, while situate apart, 
 Her sister islands face the rising day." l 
 
 And, 
 
 " It has a two-fold entrance, 
 
 One towards the north, the other south." - 
 
 And again, 
 
 " Which I alike despise, speed they their course 
 With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east, 
 Or leftward down into the shades of eve." 3 
 
 Ignorance of such matters he reckons no less than confusion. 
 
 " Alas ! my friends, for neither west 
 
 Know we, nor east ; where rises or where sets 
 
 The all-enlightening sun."* 
 
 Where the poet has said properly enough, 
 
 " As when two adverse winds, blowing from Thrace, 
 Boreas and Zephyrus," 5 
 
 Eratosthenes ill-naturedly misrepresents him as saying in an 
 absolute sense, that the west wind blows from Thrace ; where- 
 as he is not speaking in an absolute sense at all, but merely of 
 the meeting of contrary winds near the bay of Melas, 6 on the 
 Thracian sea, itself a part of the ^Egrean. For where Thrace 
 forms a kind of promontory, where it borders on Macedonia, 7 
 
 1 But it lies low, the highest in the sea towards the west, but those 
 that are separated from it [lie] towards the east and the sun. Odyssey 
 ix. 25. 
 
 2 Vide Odyssey xiii. 109, 111. 
 
 3 Which I very little regard, nor do I care for them whether they fly 
 to the right, towards the morn and the sun, or to the left, towards the 
 darkening west. Iliad xii. 239. 
 
 4 O my friends, since we know not where is the west, nor where the 
 morning, nor where the sun. Odyssey x. 190. 
 
 5 The north and west winds, which both blow from Thrace. Iliad 
 ix. 5. 
 
 6 Now the Bay of Saros. 
 
 7 These two provinces are comprised in the modern division of Rou- 
 melia. A portion of Macedonia still maintains its ancient name Maki- 
 dunia. 
 
CHAP. ii. 20. INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 it takes a turn to the south-west, and projects into the ocean, 
 and from this point it seems to the inhabitants of Thasos, 
 Lemnos, Imbros, Samothracia, 1 and the surrounding sea, that 
 the west winds blow. 2 So in regard to Attica, they seem to 
 come from the rocks of Sciros, 3 and this is the reason why 
 all the westerly winds, the north-west more particularly, are 
 called the Scirones. Of this Eratosthenes was not aware, 
 though he suspected as much, for it was he who described 
 this bending of the land [towards the south-west] which we 
 have mentioned. But he interprets our poet in an absolute 
 sense, and then taxes him with ignorance, because, says he, 
 " Zephyr blows from the west, and off Spain, and Thrace does 
 not extend so far." Does he then think that Homer was not 
 aware that Zephyr came from the west, notwithstanding the 
 careful manner in which he distinguishes its position when he 
 writes as follows : 
 
 " The east, the south, the heavy-blowing Zephyr, 
 And the cold north- wind clear." 4 
 
 Or was he ignorant that Thrace did not extend beyond the 
 Pjeonian and Thessalian mountains. 5 To be sure he was well 
 acquainted with the position of the countries adjoining Thrace 
 in that direction, and does he not mention by name both the 
 maritime and inland districts, and tells us of the Magnetae, 6 
 the Malians, 7 and other Grecian [territories], all in order, as 
 far as Thesprotis; 8 also of the Dolopes 9 bordering on Paeo- 
 
 1 The modern names of these places are Thaso, Stalimene, Imbro, and 
 Samothraki, 
 
 2 Strabo, as well as Casaubon in his notes on this passage, seems to 
 have made an imperfect defence of Homer. The difficulty experienced, 
 as well by them as Eratosthenes, arose from their overlooking the fact 
 that Macedonia was a part of Thrace in Homer's time, and that the 
 name of Macedon did not exist. 
 
 3 These rocks were situated between the city of Megara and the isth- 
 mus of Corinth. 
 
 4 And the south-east and the south rushed together, and the hard- 
 blowing west, and the cold-producing north. Odyssey v. 295. 
 
 5 The western part of Thrace, afterwards named Macedonia ; having 
 Pfeonia on the north, and Thessaly on the south. 
 
 6 The Magnetae dwelt near to Mount Pelion and the Pelasgic Gulf, 
 now the Bay of Volo. 
 
 7 These people dwelt between Mount Othrys, and the Maliac Gulf, 
 now the Gulf of Zeitun. 
 
 8 The maritime portion of Epirus opposite Corfu. 
 
 9 In the time of Homer the Dolopes were the neighbours of the Paeo- 
 
44 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 nia, and the Sellae who inhabit the territory around Dodona 1 
 as far as the [river] Achelous, 2 but he never mentions 
 Thrace, as being beyond these. He has evidently a predilec- 
 tion for the sea which is nearest to him, and with which he is 
 most familiar, as where he says, 
 
 " Commotion shook 
 
 The whole assembly, such as heaves the flood 
 Of the Icarian deep." 3 
 
 21. Some writers tell us there are but two principal winds, 
 the north and south, and that the other winds are only a 
 slight difference in the direction of these two. That is, (sup- 
 posing only two winds, the north and south,) the south wind 
 from the commencement of the summer quarter blows in a 
 south-easterly direction ; and from the commencement of the 
 winter quarter from the east. The north wind from the de- 
 cline of the .summer, blows in a westerly direction, and from 
 the decline of the winter, in a north-westerly direction. 
 
 In support of this opinion of the two winds they adduce 
 Thrasyalces and our poet himself, forasmuch as he mentions 
 the north-west with the south, 
 
 " From the north-west south," 4 
 and the west with the north, 
 
 " As when two adverse winds, blowing from Thrace, 
 Boreas and Zephyrus." 5 
 
 But Posidonius remarks that none of those who are really 
 acquainted with these subjects, such as Aristotle, Timosthenes, 
 
 mans, and dwelt in the north of that part of Thrace which afterwards 
 formed Macedonia. Later, however, they descended into Thessaly, and 
 established themselves around Pindus. 
 
 1 Dodona was in Epirus, but its exact position is not known. 
 
 2 Now Aspro-potamo, or the White River ; this river flows into the 
 sea at the entrance of the Gulf of Corinth. 
 
 3 And the assembly was moved, as the great waves of the Icarian sea. 
 Iliad ii. 144. 
 
 4 'Apylcrrcro Noroio, Iliad xi. 306, xxi. 334. ' Apygffrjje strictly speak- 
 ing means the north-west, and although, to an English ear, the north-west 
 south seems at first absurd, yet in following up the argument which Strabo 
 is engaged in, it is impossible to make use of any other terms than those 
 which he has brought forward, and merely to have translated dpyserrao 
 Noroio by Argest-south, would have mystified the passage without cause. 
 We do not here attempt to reconcile the various renderings of dpygorao 
 Noroio by Homeric critics, as Strabo's sense alone concerns us. 
 
 5 The north and west winds, which both blow from Thrace. Iliad ix. 5. 
 
CHAP. ii. $ 22. INTRODUCTION. 45 
 
 and Bion the astronomer, entertain so mistaken an opinion in 
 regard to the winds. They say that the north-east (Caecias) 
 blows from the commencement of summer, and that the south- 
 west wind (Libs), which is exactly opposite to this, blows from 
 the decline of winter. And again, the south-east wind (Eurus), 
 which is opposite to the north-west wind ( Argestes), from the 
 commencement of winter. The east and west winds being 
 intermediate. 
 
 When our poet makes use of the expression "stormy zephyr," 
 he means the wind which is now called by us the north-west ; 
 and by the "clear-blowing zephyr" our west wind ; our Leuco- 
 notus is his Argestes-notus, or clearing south wind, 1 for this 
 wind brings but few clouds, all the other southern winds 
 bringing clouds and rain, 2 
 
 " As when whirlwinds of the west 
 A storm encounter from the clearing south." 3 
 
 Here he alludes to the stormy zephyr, which very frequently 
 scatters the feathery clouds brought up by the Leuconotus, 
 or, as it is called by way of epithet, the clearing south. 
 
 The statements made by Eratosthenes in the first book of 
 his Geography, require some such correction as this. 
 
 22. Persisting in his false views in relation to Homer, he 
 goes on to say, " He was ignorant that the Nile separated into 
 many mouths, nay, he was not even acquainted with the name 
 of the river, though Hesiod knew it well, for he even 
 mentions it." 4 In respect of the name, it is probable that it 
 
 Noroc, the clearing south wind, Horace's Notus Albus ; 
 in the improved compass of Aristotle, dpyscrr/jf was the north-west wind, 
 the Athenian GKEIOWV. 
 
 2 Tou XoiTroy Norow o\ov Evpoy TTWC OVTOQ. MSS. i. e. all the other 
 southern winds having an easterly direction. We have adopted the sug- 
 gestion of Kramer, and translated the passage as if it stood thus, TOV Xoi- 
 TTOV Norow oAfpow TTWQ OVTOQ. 
 
 3 As when the west wind agitates the light clouds of the clearing 
 south, striking them with a dreadful gale. Iliad xi. 305. 
 
 4 Gosselin observes that Hesiod lived about forty years after Homer, and 
 he mentions not only the Nile, but also the Po, with which certainly Homer 
 was unacquainted. He speaks too of the Western Ocean, where he places 
 the Gorgons, and the garden of the Hesperides. It is very likely that these 
 various points of information were brought into Greece by the Car- 
 thaginians. The name Nile seems to be merely a descriptive title ; it is 
 still in use in many countries of India, where it signifies water. The 
 river known subsequently as the Nile, was, in Homer's time, called the 
 
46 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 had not then been given to the river, and as to the mouths, if 
 they were obscure and little known, will not every one excuse 
 him for not being aware whether there were several or merely 
 one ? At that time, the river, its rising, and its mouths were 
 considered, as they are at the present day, amongst the most 
 remarkable, the most wonderful, and most worthy of record- 
 ing of all the peculiarities of Egypt : who can suppose that 
 those who told our poet of the country and river of Egypt, of 
 Egyptian Thebes, and of Pharos, were unaware of the many 
 embouchures of the Nile ; or that being aware, they would 
 not have described them, were it not that they were too ge- 
 nerally known? "But is it not inconceivable that Homer 
 should describe Ethiopia, and the Sidonians, the Erembi, and 
 the Exterior Sea, 1 should tell us that Ethiopia was divided 
 into two parts, and yet nothing about those things which were 
 nearer and better known ?" Certainly not, his not describing 
 these things is no proof that he was not acquainted with them. 
 He does not tell us of his own country, nor yet many other 
 things. The most probable reason is, they were so generally 
 known that they did not appear to him worth recording. 2 
 
 23. Again, they are entirely wrong when they allege as a 
 mark of Homer's ignorance, that he describes the island of 
 Pharos 3 as entirely surrounded by the sea. On the contrary, 
 it might be taken advantage of as a proof that our poet was 
 not unacquainted with a single one of the points concerning 
 Egypt which we have just been speaking of: and thus we 
 
 River of Egypt, or the River Egyptus; by the latter of which titles he 
 was acquainted with it. See Odyssey xvii. 448. 
 
 1 By this expression is intended the Atlantic. 
 
 2 Gosselin remarks that the arguments made use of by Strabo are not 
 sufficiently conclusive. The country with which the Greeks were best 
 acquainted was Greece, undoubtedly, and it is this land which Homer 
 has described with the greatest exactness of detail. 
 
 3 An island opposite to Alexandria, and seven stadia distant therefrom. 
 The Ptolemies united it to the main-land by means of a pier, named 
 Hepta-stadium, in allusion to its length. The sands which accumulated 
 against the pier became the site of the present city of Alexandria. It 
 was not on this island that the celebrated Pharos of Alexandria was 
 erected, but on a desolate rock a little to the N. E. It received the same 
 name as the island, to which it was joined by another pier. As to the 
 passage of Homer, (Odyssey iv. 354 357,) where he says that Pharos is 
 one day's sail from the Egyptus, he does not mean Egypt, as Strabo fan- 
 cies, but the mouth of the Nile, which river in his time was called the 
 Egyptus, and probably fell into the sea about one day's sail from Pharos. 
 
CHAP. ii. $ 24. INTRODUCTION. 47 
 
 demonstrate it : Every one is prone to romance a little in 
 narrating his travels, and Menelaus was no exception to the 
 rule. He had been to Ethiopia, 1 and there heard much dis- 
 cussion concerning the sources of the Nile, and the alluvium 
 which it deposited, both along its course, and also at its 
 mouths, and the large additions which it had thereby made to 
 the main-land, so as fully to justify the remark of Herodotus 2 
 that the whole of Egypt was a gift from the river ; or if not 
 the whole, at all events that part of it below the Delta, called 
 Lower Egypt. He had heard too that Pharos was entirely 
 surrounded by sea, and therefore misrepresented it as entirely 
 surrounded by the sea, although it had long ago ceased so to 
 be. Now the author of all this was Homer, and we therefore 
 infer that he was not ignorant concerning either the sources 
 or the mouths of the Nile. 
 
 24. They are again mistaken when they say that he was 
 not aware of the isthmus between the sea of Egypt and the 
 Arabian Gulf, and that his description is false, 
 
 " The Ethiopians, utmost of mankind, 
 
 These eastward situate, those toward the west." 3 
 
 Nevertheless he is correct, and the criticism of the moderns 
 is quite out of place : indeed, there is so little truth in the 
 assertion that Homer was ignorant of this isthmus, that I will 
 venture to affirm he was not only acquainted with it, but has 
 also accurately defined it. But none of the grammarians, not 
 
 1 We have before remarked that the Ethiopia visited by Menelaus 
 was not the country above Egypt, generally known by that name, but an 
 Ethiopia lying round Jaffa, the ancient Joppa. 
 
 2 " The priests stated also that Menes was the first of mortals that 
 ever ruled over Egypt ; to this they added that in the days of that 
 king, all Egypt, with the exception of the Thebaic nome, was but a 
 morass ; and that none of the lands now seen below Lake Moeris, then 
 existed ; from the sea up to this place is a voyage by the river of seven 
 days. I myself am perfectly convinced the account of the priests in this 
 particular is correct ; for the thing is evident to every one who sees and 
 has common sense, although he may not have heard the fact, that the 
 Egypt to which the Hellenes navigate, is a land annexed to the Egyp- 
 tians, and a gift from the river ; and that even in the parts above the lake 
 just mentioned, for three days' sail, concerning which the priests relate 
 nothing, the country is just of the same description." Herod, ii. 5. 
 
 3 The Ethiopians, who are divided into two parts, the most distant of 
 men, some at the setting of the sun, others at the rising. Odyssey i. 23. 
 
48 STRABO. BOOK. i. 
 
 even the chiefs of their number, Aristarchus and Crates, have 
 understood the words of our poet on this subject. For they 
 disagree as to the words which follow this expression of 
 Homer, 
 
 " The Ethiopians, utmost of mankind, 
 
 These eastward situate, those towards the west," 1 
 
 Aristarchus writing, 
 
 " These towards the west, and those towards the east," 
 and Crates, 
 
 " As well in the west as also in the east." 
 
 However, in regard to their hypotheses, it makes no difference 
 whether the passage were written this way or that. One of 
 them, in fact, takes what he considers the mathematical 
 view of the case, and says that the torrid zone is occupied by 
 the ocean, 2 and that on each side of this there is a temperate 
 zone, one inhabited by us and another opposite thereto. And 
 as we call the Ethiopians, who are situated to the south, and 
 dwell along the shores of the ocean, the most distant on the 
 face of the inhabited globe ; so he supposed that on the other 
 side of the ocean, 3 there were certain Ethiopians dwelling 
 along the shores, who would in like manner be considered the 
 most distant 4 by the inhabitants of the other temperate zone ; 
 and thus that the Ethiopians were double, separated into two 
 divisions by the ocean. He adds, " as well in the west as also 
 in the east," because as the celestial zodiac always corresponds 
 to the terrestrial, and never exceeds in its obliquity the space 
 occupied by the two Ethiopias, the sun's entire course must 
 necessarily be within this space, and also his rising and setting, 
 as it appears to different nations according to the sign which 
 he may be in. 
 
 He (Crates) adopted this version, because he considered it 
 the more astronomical. But it would have maintained his 
 opinion of the division of the Ethiopians into two parts, and 
 
 1 Odyssey i. 23. 
 
 2 Many ancient writers entertained the opinion that the regions sur- 
 rounding the terrestrial equator were occupied by the ocean, which formed 
 a circular zone, separating our continent from that which they supposed 
 to exist in the southern hemisphere. To the inhabitants of this second 
 continent they gave the name of Antichthones. 
 
 3 The Southern Ocean. 
 
 4 Or nearest to the equator. 
 
CHAP. II. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 49 
 
 at the same time have been much more simple, had he said 
 that the Ethiopians dwelt on either side of the ocean from the 
 rising to the setting of the sun. In this case what difference 
 does it make whether we follow his version, or adopt the 
 reading of Aristarchus, 
 
 " These towards the west, and those towards the east ? " 
 
 which also means, that whether east or west, on either side 
 of the ocean, Ethiopians dwell. But Aristarchus rejects this 
 hypothesis. He says, " The Ethiopians with whom we are 
 acquainted, and who are farthest south from the Greeks, 
 are those described by the poet as being separated into two 
 divisions. But Ethiopia is not so separated as to form two 
 countries, one situated towards the west, the other towards 
 the east, but only one, that which lies south of the Greeks 
 and adjoins Egypt ; but of this the poet was ignorant, as well 
 as of other matters enumerated by Apollodorus, which he has 
 falsely stated concerning various places in his second book, 
 containing the catalogue of the ships." 
 
 25. To refute Crates would require a lengthened argu- 
 ment, which here perhaps may be considered out of place. 
 Aristarchus we commend for rejecting the hypothesis of 
 Crates, which is open to many objections, and for referring 
 the expression of the poet to our Ethiopia. But the remain- 
 der of his statement we must discuss. First, his minute ex- 
 amination of the reading is altogether fruitless, for whichever 
 way it may have been written, his interpretation is equally 
 applicable to both ; for what difference is there whether you 
 say thus In our opinion there are two Ethiopian, one to- 
 wards the east, the other to the west; or thus For they 
 are as well towards the east as the west ? Secondly, He 
 makes false assumptions. For admitting that the poet was 
 ignorant of the isthmus, 1 and that he alludes to the Ethiopia 
 contiguous to Egypt, when he says, 
 
 The Ethiopians separated into two divisions ; 2 
 
 what then ? Are they not separated into two divisions, and 
 could the poet have thus expressed himself if he had been in 
 ignorance ? Is not Egypt, nay, are not the Egyptians, sepa- 
 
 1 The isthmus of Suez. 2 Odyssey i. 23. 
 
 VOL. i. E 
 
50 STUABO. BOOK i. 
 
 rated into two divisions by the Nile from the Delta to Syene, 1 
 These towards the west, those towards the east ? 
 
 And what else is Egypt, with the exception of the island 
 formed by the river and overflowed by its waters ; does it not 
 lie on either side of the river both east and west ? 
 
 Ethiopia runs in the same direction as Egypt, and resem- 
 bles it both in its position with respect to the Nile, and 
 in its other geographical circumstances. It is narrow, long, 
 and subject to inundation ; beyond the reach of this inunda- 
 tion it is desolate and parched, and unfitted for the habitation 
 of man ; some districts lying to the east and some to the west 
 of [the river]. How then can we deny that it is separated into 
 two divisions ? Shall the Nile, which is looked upon by some 
 people as the proper boundary line between Asia and Libya, 2 
 and which extends southward in length more than 10,000 stadia, 
 embracing in its breadth islands which contain populations of 
 above ten thousand men, the largest of these being Meroe, the 
 seat of empire and metropolis of the Ethiopians, be regarded 
 as too insignificant to divide Ethiopia into two parts ? The 
 greatest obstacle which they who object to the river being 
 made the line of demarcation between the two continents are 
 able to allege, is, that Egypt and Ethiopia are by this means 
 divided, one part of each being assigned to Libya, and the 
 other to Asia, or, if this will not suit, the continents cannot 
 be divided at all, or at least not by the river. 
 
 26. But besides these there is another method of dividing 
 Ethiopia. All those who have 'sailed along the coasts of 
 Libya, whether starting from the Arabian Gulf, 3 or the 
 Pillars, 4 after proceeding a certain distance, have been 
 obliged to turn back again on account of a variety of 
 accidents ; and thus originated a general belief that it was 
 divided midway by some isthmus, although the whole of 
 
 1 This explanation falls to the ground when we remember, that prior to 
 the reign of Psammeticus no stranger had ever succeeded in penetrating 
 into the interior of Egypt. This was the statement of the Greeks them- 
 selves. Now as Psammeticus did riot flourish till two and a half centu- 
 ries after Homer, that poet could not possibly have been aware of the 
 circumstances which Strabo brings forward to justify his interpretation 
 of this passage which he has undertaken to defend. 
 
 2 Africa. 3 The Red Sea. 
 4 The Strait of Gibraltar. 
 
CHAP. ii. 27. INTRODUCTION. 51 
 
 the Atlantic Ocean is confluent, more especially towards 
 the south. Besides, all of these navigators called the final 
 country which they reached, Ethiopia, and described it 
 under that name. Is it therefore at all incredible, that 
 Homer, misled by such reports, separated them into two 
 divisions, one towards the east and the other west, not 
 knowing whether there were any intermediate countries 
 or not? But there is another ancient tradition related by 
 Ephorus, which Homer had probably fallen in with. He 
 tells us it is reported by the Tartessians, 1 that some of the 
 Ethiopians, on their arrival in Libya, 2 penetrated into the 
 extreme west, and settled down there, while the rest occupied 
 the greater part of the sea-coast ; and in support of this state- 
 ment he quotes the passage of Homer, 
 
 The Ethiopians, the farthest removed of men, separated into two 
 divisions. 
 
 27. These and other more stringent arguments may be 
 urged against Aristarchus and those of his school, to clear 
 our poet from the charge of such gross ignorance. I assert 
 that the ancient Greeks, in the same way as they classed all 
 the northern nations" with which they were familiar under the 
 one name of Scythians, or, according to Homer, INomades, and 
 
 1 The Tartessians were the inhabitants of the island of Tartessus, formed 
 by the two arms of the Baetis, (the present Guadalquiver,) near the mouth 
 of this river. One of these arms being now dried up, the island is re- 
 united to the mainland. It forms part of the present district of Andalusia. 
 The tradition, says Gosselin, reported by Ephorus, seems to me to resem- 
 ble that still preserved at Tingis, a city of Mauritania, so late as the sixth 
 century. Procopius (Vandalicor. ii. 10) relates that there were two 
 columns at Tingis bearing the following inscription in the Phoenician 
 language, " We are they who fled before the brigand Joshua, the son of 
 Naue (Nun)." It does not concern us to inquire whether these columns 
 actually existed in the time of Procopius, but merely to remark two in- 
 dependent facts. The first is the tradition generally received for more 
 than twenty centuries, that the coming of the Israelites into Palestine 
 drove one body of Canaanites, its ancient inhabitants, to the extremities 
 of the Mediterranean, while another party went to establish, among the 
 savage tribes of the Peloponnesus and Attica, the earliest kingdoms known 
 in Europe. The second observation has reference to the name of Ethio- 
 pians given by Ephorus to this fugitive people, as confirming what we 
 have before stated, that the environs of Jaffa, and possibly the entire of 
 Palestine, anciently bore the name of Ethiopia : and it is here we must 
 seek for the Ethiopians of Homer, and not in the interior of Africa. 
 
 3 Africa. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 afterwards becoming acquainted with those towards the west, 
 styled them Islts and Iberians ; sometimes compounding the 
 names into Keltiberians, or Keltoscythians, thus ignorantly 
 uniting various distinct nations ; so I affirm they designated 
 as Ethiopia the whole of the southern countries towards the 
 ocean. Of this there is evidence, for ^Eschylus, in the Pro- 
 metheus Loosed, 1 thus speaks: 
 
 There [is] the sacred wave, and the coralled bed of the Erythraean 
 Sea, and [there] the luxuriant marsh of the Ethiopians, situated near 
 the ocean, glitters like polished brass ; where dafly"m the soft and tepid 
 stream, the all-seeing sun bathes his undying self, and refreshes his weary 
 steeds. 
 
 And as the ocean holds the same position in respect to the 
 sun, and serves the same purpose throughout the whole south- 
 ern region, 2 he 3 therefore concludes that the Ethiopians inha- 
 bited the whole of the region. 
 
 And Euripides in his Phaeton 4 says that Clymene was 
 given 
 
 " To Merops, sovereign of that land 
 Which from his four-horsed chariot first 
 The rising sun strikes with his golden rays ; 
 And which its swarthy neighbours call 
 The radiant stable of the Morn and Sun." 
 
 Here the poet merely describes them as the common stables 
 of the Morning and of the Sun ; but further on he tells us 
 they were near to the dwellings of Merops, and in fact the 
 whole plot of the piece has reference to this. This does not 
 therefore refer alone to the [land] next to Egypt, but rather 
 to the whole southern country extending along the sea-coast. 
 28. Ephorus likewise shows us the opinion of the ancients 
 respecting Ethiopia, in his Treatise on Europe. He says, " If 
 the whole celestial and terrestrial globe were divided into 
 four parts, the Indians would possess that towards the east, 
 theHEthiopians towards the south, the Kelts towards the 
 west, and the Scythians towards" the north." He adds that 
 Ethiopia is largerTEan Scythia ; for, says"he, it appears that 
 the country of the Ethiopians extends from the rising to the 
 setting of the sun in winter ; and Scythia is opposite to it. 
 
 1 This piece is now lost. 2 TO /u<7jju/3piv6v i 
 
 3 ^Eschylus. 4 This piece is now lost. 
 
CHAP. ii. 28. INTRODUCTION. 53 
 
 It is evident this was the opinion of Homer, since he places 
 Ithaca 
 
 Towards the gloomy region, 1 
 
 that is, towards the north, 2 but the others apart, 
 Towards the morning and the sun, 
 
 by which he means the whole southern hemisphere : and again 
 
 when he says, 
 
 " speed they their course 
 With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east, 
 Or leftward down into the shades of eve." 3 
 
 Ami again, 
 
 " Alas ! my friends, for neither west 
 
 Know we, nor east, where rises or where sets 
 
 The all-enlightening sun." 4 
 
 Which we shall explain more fully when we come to speak 
 of Ithaca. 5 
 
 When therefore he says, 
 
 " For to the banks of the Oceanus, 
 Where Ethiopia holds a feast to Jove, 
 Hejourney'd yesterday," 6 
 
 we should take this in a general sense, and understand by it 
 the whole of the ocean which washes Ethiopia and the south- 
 ern region, for to whatever part of this region you direct 
 your attention, you will there find both the ocean and Ethi- 
 opia. It is in a similar style he says, 
 
 " But Neptune, traversing in his return 
 From Ethiopia's sons the mountain heights 
 Of Solyme, descried him from afar." 7 
 
 1 Odyssey ix. 26. 
 
 2 Strabo is mistaken in interpreting TrpoQ Z,6<f>ov towards the north. 
 It means here, as every where else, " towards the west," and allusion in 
 the passage is made to Ithaca as lying west of Greece. 
 
 3 Whether they fly to the right towards the morn and the sun, or to 
 the left towards the darkening west. Iliad xii. 239. 
 
 4 O my friends ! since we know not where is the west, nor where the 
 morning, nor where the sun that gives light to mortals descends beneath 
 the earth, nor where he rises up again. Odyssey x. 190. 
 
 5 In Book x. 
 
 6 For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus to the blameless Ethiopians, to 
 a banquet. Iliad i. 423. 
 
 7 The powerful shaker of the earth, as he was returning from the 
 Ethiopians, beheld him from a distance, from the mountains of the Solymi. 
 Odyssey v. 282. 
 
54 STRABO. HOOK i. 
 
 which is equal to saying, " in his return from the southern 
 regions," l meaning by the Solymi, as I remarked before, not 
 those of Pisidia, but certain others merely imaginary, having 
 the same name, and bearing the like relation to the naviga- 
 tors in [Ulysses'] ship, and the southern inhabitants there 
 called Ethiopians, as those of Pisidia do in regard to Pontus 
 and the inhabitants of Egyptian Ethiopia. What he says 
 about the cranes must likewise be understood in a general 
 sense. 
 
 " Such clang is heard 
 
 Along the skies, when from incessant showers 
 Escaping, and i'rom winter's cold, the cranes 
 Take wing, and over ocean speed away. 
 Woe to the land of dwarfs ! prepared they fly 
 For slaughter of the small Pygmaean race." l 
 
 For it is not in Greece alone that the crane is observed to 
 emigrate to more southern regions, but likewise from Italy 
 and Iberia, 3 from [the shores of] the Caspian, and from Bac- 
 triana. But since the ocean extends along the whole south- 
 ern coast, and the cranes fly to all parts of it indiscriminately 
 at the approach of winter, we must likewise believe that the 
 Pygmies 4 were equally considered to inhabit the whole of it. 
 
 1 This would be true if Homer had lived two or three centuries later, 
 when the Greeks became acquainted with the Ethiopians on the eastern 
 and western coasts of Africa. But as the poet was only familiar with 
 the Mediterranean, there is no question that the Ethiopians mentioned in 
 this passage are those of Phoenicia and Palestine. 
 
 2 Which, after they have escaped the winter and immeasurable shower, 
 with a clamour wing their way towards the streams of the ocean, bearing 
 slaughter and fate to the Pygmaean men. Iliad iii. 3. 
 
 3 Gosselin is of opinion that this Iberia has no reference to Spain, but 
 is a country situated between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, and forms 
 part of the present Georgia. He assigns as his reason, that if Strabo had 
 meant to refer to Spain, he would have mentioned it before Italy, so as 
 not to interrupt the geographical order, which he is always careful to 
 observe. 
 
 4 Pygmy, (Trwyjuatoc,) a being \vhose length is a Trvyju./}, that is, from the 
 elbow to the hand. The Pygmaei were a fabulous nation of dwarfs, the 
 Lilliputians of antiquity, who, according to Homer, had every spring to 
 sustain a war against the cranes on the banks of Oceanus. They were 
 believed to have been descended from Pygmasus, a son of Dorus and 
 grandson of Epaphus. Later writers usually place them near the sources 
 of the Nile, whither the cranes are said to have migrated every year 
 to take possession of the field of the Pygmies. The reports of them have 
 been embellished in a variety of ways by the ancients. Hecatajus, for 
 
CHAP. ii. $ 28. INTRODUCTION. oo 
 
 And if the moderns have confined the term of Ethiopians 
 to those only who dwell near to Egypt, and have also re- 
 stricted the Pygmies in like manner, this must not be 
 allowed to interfere with the meaning of the ancients. "VVe 
 do not speak of all the people who fought against Troy as 
 merely Acha^ans and Argives, though Homer describes the 
 whole under those two names. Similar to this is my remark 
 concerning the separation of the Ethiopians into two divi- 
 sions, that under thaFrlesignation we snould understand the 
 whole of the nations inhabiting the sea-board from east to 
 west. The Ethiopians taken in this sense are naturally se- 
 parated into two parts by the Arabian Gulf, which occupies 
 a considerable portion of a meridian circle, 1 and resembles a 
 river, being in length nearly 15,000 stadia, 2 and in breadth not 
 above 1000 at the widest point. In addition to the length, 
 the recess of the Gulf is distant from the sea at Pelusium only 
 three or four days' journey across the isthmus. On this ac- 
 count those who are most felicitous in their division of Asia 
 and Africa, prefer the Gulf 3 as a better boundary line for the 
 
 example, related that they cut down every corn -ear with an axe, for they 
 were conceived to be an agricultural people. When Hercules came into 
 their country, they climbed with ladders to the edge of his goblet to 
 drink from it ; and when they attacked the hero, a whole army of them 
 made an assault upon his left hand, while two made the attack on his 
 right. Aristotle did not believe that the accounts of the Pygmies were 
 altogether fabulous, but thought that they were a tribe in Upper Egypt, 
 who had exceedingly small horses, and lived in caves. In later times we 
 also hear of Northern Pygmies, who lived in the neighbourhood of Thule : 
 they are described as very short-lived, small, and armed with spears like 
 needles. Lastly, we also have mention of Indian Pygmies, who lived 
 under the earth on the east of the river Ganges. Smith, Diet. Biog. and 
 Mythol. Various attempts have been made to account for this singular 
 belief, which however seems to have its only origin in the love of the 
 marvellous. 
 
 1 It must be observed that the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea, does not run 
 parallel to the equator, consequently it could not form any considerable 
 part of a meridian circle ; thus Strabo is wrong even as to the physical po- 
 sition of the Gulf, but this is not much to be wondered at, as he supposed 
 an equatorial division of the earth into two hemispheres by the ocean. 
 
 2 15,000 of the stadia employed by Strabo were equivalent to 21 25' 
 43". The distance from the Isthmus of Suez to the Strait of Bab-el- 
 Mandeb, following our better charts, is 20 15'. Strabo says nearly 15,000 
 stadia ; and this length may be considered just equal to that of the Arabian 
 Gulf. Its breadth, so fur as we know, is in some places equal to 1800 
 stadia. 
 
 3 The Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea. 
 
56 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 two continents than the Nile, since it extends almost entirely 
 from sea to sea, whereas the Nile is so remote from the ocean 
 that it does not by any means divide the whole of Asia from 
 Africa. On this account I believe it was the Gulf which the 
 poet looked upon as dividing into two portions the whole 
 southern regions of the inhabited earth. Is it possible, then, 
 that he was unacquainted with the isthmus which separates 
 this Gulf from the Egyptian Sea ? 1 
 
 29. It is quite irrational to suppose that he could be accu- 
 rately acquainted with Egyptian Thebes, 2 which is separated 
 from our sea 3 by a little less than 5000 4 stadia ; and yet ig^ 
 norant of the recess of the Arabian Gulf, and of the isthmus 
 there, whose breadth is not more than 1000 stadia. Still 
 more, would it not be ridiculous to believe that Homer was 
 aware the Nile was called by the same name as the vast country 
 [of Egypt], and yet unacquainted with the reason why? 
 especially since the saying of Herodotus would occur to him, 
 that the country was a gift from the river, and it ought there- 
 
 1 The Mediterranean. 
 
 2 Aristotle accounts for Homer's mentioning Thebes rather than Mem- 
 phis, by saying that, at the time of the poet, the formation of that part of 
 Egypt by alluvial deposit was very recent. So that Memphis either did 
 not then exist, or at all events had not then obtained its after celebrity. 
 Aristotle likewise seems to say that anciently Egypt consisted only of the 
 territory of the Thebaid, mi TO apxalov 17 AiyvTrroc, 0i?/3ai KaXovpsvai. 
 
 3 The Mediterranean. 
 
 4 Gosselin says, " Read 4000, as in lib. xvii. This correction is indi- 
 cated by the following measure given by Herodotus ; 
 
 From the sea to Heliopolis 1500 stadia 
 
 From Heliopolis to Thebes . . . . 4860 
 
 6360 
 
 The stadium made use of in Egypt at the time of Herodotus consisted of 
 lllli to a degree on the grand circle, as may be seen by comparing the 
 measure of the coasts of the Delta furnished by that historian with our 
 actual information. The length of this stadium may likewise be ascer- 
 tained by reference to Aristotle. In the time of Eratosthenes and Strabo, 
 the stadium of 700 to a degree was employed in Egypt. Now 6360 sta- 
 dia of 1111^ to a degree make just 4006 stadia of 700: consequently 
 these two measures are identical, their apparent inconsistency merely re- 
 sulting from the different scales by which preceding authors had expressed 
 them." This reasoning seems very plausible, but we must remark that 
 Col. Leake, in a valuable paper " On the Stade as a Linear Measure," 
 published in vol. ix. of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, is 
 of opinion that Gosselin's system of stadia of different lengths cannot be 
 maintained. 
 
CHAP. ii. 30. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fore to bear its name. Further, the best known pec 
 of a country are those which have something of the 
 a paradox, and are likely to arrest general attention, ui tnis 
 kind are the rising of the Kile, and the alluvial depo- 
 sition at its mouth. There is nothing in the whole country to 
 which travellers in Egypt so immediately direct their inquiries, 
 as the character of the Nile ; nor do the inhabitants possess 
 any thing else equally wonderful and curious, of which to in- 
 form foreigners ; for in fact, to give them a description of the 
 river, is to lay open to their view every main characteristic of 
 the country. It is the question put before every other by 
 those who have never seen Egypt themselves. To these con- 
 siderations we must add Homer's thirst after knowledge, and 
 his delight in visiting foreign lands, (tastes which we are as- 
 sured both by those who have written histories of his life, and 
 also by innumerable testimonies throughout his own poems, 
 he possessed in an eminent degree,) and we shall have abund- 
 ant evidence both of the extent of his information, and the 
 felicity with which he described objects he deemed important, 
 and passed over altogether, or with slight allusion, matters 
 which were generally known. 
 
 30. These Egyptians and Syrians 1 whom we have been 
 criticising fill one with amazement. They do not understand 
 [Homer], even ^when he is describing their own, countries, 
 but accuse himof ignorance where, as our argument proves, 
 they are open to the charge themselves. Not to mention a 
 thing is clearly no evidence that a person is not acquainted 
 with it. 2 Homer does not tell us of the change in the cur- 
 rent of the Euripus, nor of Thermopylae, nor of many other re- 
 markable things well known to the Greeks ; but was he there- 
 fore unacquainted with them ? He describes to us, although 
 these men, who are obstinately deaf, will not hear : they have 
 themselves to blame. 
 
 Our poet applies to rivers the epithet of " heaven-sent." 
 And this not only to mountain torrents, but to all rivers alike, 
 since they are all replenished by the showers. But even what 
 
 1 Namely Crates and Aristarchus. The last was of Alexandria, and 
 consequently an Egyptian^ Crates was of Cilicia, which was regarded 
 as a part of Syria. *^~ ^ 
 
 2 This is a very favourite axiom with Strabo, notwithstanding he too 
 often forgets it himself. 
 
STEABO. BOOK i. 
 
 is general becomes particular when it is bestowed on any 
 object par excellence. Heaven-sent, when applied to a moun- 
 tain torrent, means something else than when it is the epithet 
 of the ever-flowing river ; but the force of the term is doubly 
 felt when attributed to the Nile. For as there are hyperboles 
 of hyperboles, for instance, to be " lighter than the shadow of 
 a cork," " more timid than a Phrygian hare," 1 " to possess an 
 estate shorter than a Lacedaemonian epistle ; " so excellence 
 becomes more excellent, when the title of " heaven-sent " is 
 given to the Nile. The mountain torrent has a better claim 
 to be called heaven-sent than other rivers, but the Nile ex- 
 ceeds the mountain torrents, both in its size and the lengthened 
 period of its overflow. Since, then, the wonders of this river 
 were known to our poet, as we have shown in this defence, 
 when he applies this epithet to the Nile, it must only be un- 
 derstood in the way we have explained. Homer did not 
 think it worth mentioning, especially to those who were ac- 
 quainted with the fact, that the Nile had many mouths, since 
 this is a common feature of numerous other rivers. Alcasus 2 
 does not mention it, although he tells us he had been in 
 Egypt. One might infer the fact of its alluvial deposit, both 
 from the rising [of the river] and what Homer tells us con- 
 cerning Pharos. For his account, or rather the vulgar report 
 
 1 The Phrygians were considered to be more timid than any other 
 people, and consequently the hares of their country more timid than those 
 of any other. We see then a twofold hyperbole in the expression that 
 a man is more timid than a Phrygian hare. 
 
 2 Alceeus of Mitylene in the island of Lesbos, the earliest of the JEo- 
 lian lyric poets, began to flourish in the forty-second Olympiad (B. c. 
 610). In the second year of this Olympiad we find Cicis and Antime- 
 nidas, the brothers of Alcams, fighting under Pittacus against Melan- 
 chrus, who is described as the tyrant of Lesbos, and who fell in the conflict 
 Alcaeus does not appear to have taken part with his brothers on this occa- 
 sion ; on the contrary, he speaks of Melanchrus in terms of high praise. 
 Alcseus is mentioned in connexion with the war in Troas, between the 
 Athenians and Mitylenaeans, for the possession of Sigaeum. During the 
 period which followed this war, the contest between the nobles and the 
 people of Mitylene was brought to a crisis. The party of Alcaeus en- 
 gaged actively on the side of the nobles, and was defeated. When he and 
 his brother Antimenidas perceived that all hope of their restoration to 
 Mitylene was gone, they travelled over different countries. Alcaeus visited 
 Egypt, and appears to have written poems in which his adventures by 
 sea were described. Horace, Carm. ii. 13. 26. See Smith's Diet, of 
 Biog. and Mythol. 
 
CHAP. ii. $ 31. INTRODUCTION. 59 
 
 concerning Pharos, that it was distant from the mainland a 
 whole day's voyage, ought not to be looked upon as a down- 
 right falsehood. 
 
 It is clear that Homer was only acquainted with the rising 
 and deposit of the river in a general way, and concluding 
 from what he heard that the island had been further removed 
 in the time of Menelaus from the mainland, than it was in 
 his own, he magnified the distance, simply that he might 
 heighten the fiction. Fictions however are not the offspring 
 of ignorance, as is sufficiently plain from those concerning 
 Proteus, the Pygmies, the efficacy of charms, and many others 
 similar to these fabricated by the poets. They narrate these 
 things not through ignorance of the localities, but for the sake 
 of giving pleasure and enjoyment. But [some one may in- 
 quire], how could he describe [Pharos], which is without 
 water as possessed of that necessary ? 
 
 " The haven there is good, and many a ship 
 Finds watering there from rivulets on the coast." l 
 
 [I answer,] It is not impossible that the sources of water may 
 since have failed. Besides, he does not say that the water 
 was procured from the island, but that they went thither on 
 account of the safety of the harbour ; the water was probably 
 obtained from the mainland, and by the expression the poet 
 seems to admit that what he had before said of its being 
 wholly surrounded by sea was not the actual fact, but a hy- 
 perbole or fiction. 
 
 31. As his description of the wanderings of Menelaus may 
 seem to authenticate the charge of ignorance made against 
 him in respect to those regions, it will perhaps be best to 
 point out the difficulties of the narrative, and their explana- 
 tion, and at the same time enter into a fuller defence of our 
 poet. Menelaus thus addresses Telemachus, who is admiring 
 the splendour of his palace : 
 
 " After numerous toils 
 
 And perilous wanderings o'er the stormy deep, 
 In the eighth year at last I brought them home. 
 Cyprus, Phrenioia, Sidon, and the shores 
 Of Egypt, roaming without hope, I reach'd, 
 
 1 But in it there is a haven with good mooring, from whence they take 
 equal ships into the sea, having drawn black water. Odyssey iv. 358. 
 
60 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 In distant Ethiopia thence arrived, 
 And Libya." l 
 
 It is asked, What Ethiopians cou'd he have met with on 
 his voyage from Egypt ? None are to be found dwelling by our 
 sea, 2 and with his vessels 3 he could never have reached the 
 cataracts of the Nile. Next, who are the Sidonians ? Cer- 
 tainly not the inhabitants of Phoenicia ; for having mentioned 
 the genus, he would assuredly not particularize the species. 4 
 And then the Erembi ; this is altogether a new name. Our 
 contemporary Aristonicus, the grammarian, in his [observ- 
 ations] on the wanderings of Menelaus, has recorded the 
 opinions of numerous writers on each of the heads under 
 discussion. It will be sufficient for us to refer to them 
 very briefly. They who assert that Menelaus went by sea to 
 Ethiopia, tell us he directed his course past Cadiz into the 
 Indian Ocean ; 5 with which, say they, the long duration of his 
 wanderings agrees, since he did not arrive there till the eighth 
 year. Others, that he passed through the isthmus 6 which 
 enters the Arabian Gulf; and others again, through one of 
 the canals. At the same time the idea of this circumnaviga- 
 tion, which owes its origin to Crates, is not necessary ; we do 
 not mean it was impossible, (for the wanderings of Ulysses are 
 
 1 Certainly having suffered many things, and having wandered much, 
 I was brought in my ships, and I returned in the eighth year ; having 
 wandered to Cyprus, and Phoenice, and the Egyptians, I came to the 
 Ethiopians and Sidonians, and Erembians, and Libya. Odyssey iv. 81. 
 
 2 On the coasts of the Mediterranean. 
 
 3 Strabo intends to say that the ships of Menelaus were not constructed 
 so as to be capable of being taken to pieces, and carried on the backs of 
 the sailors, as those of the Ethiopians were. 
 
 4 Having mentioned the Phoenicians, amongst whom the Sidonians are 
 comprised, he certainly would not have enumerated these latter as a 
 separate people. 
 
 5 That is to say, that he made the entire circuit of Africa, starting 
 from Cadiz, and doubling the Cape of Good Hope. Such was the opinion 
 of Crates, who endeavoured to explain all the expressions of Homer after 
 mathematical hypotheses. If any one were to inquire how Menelaus, who 
 was wandering about the Mediterranean, could have come into Ethiopia, 
 Crates would answer, that Menelaus left the Mediterranean and entered 
 the Atlantic, whence he could easily travel by sea into Ethiopia. In 
 this he merely followed the hypothesis of the mathematicians, who said 
 that the inhabited earth in all its southern portion was traversed by the 
 Atlantic Ocean, and the other seas contiguous thereto. 
 
 6 The Isthmus of Suez. This isthmus they supposed to be covered 
 by the sea, as Strabo explains further on. 
 
CHAP. ii. 31. INTRODUCTION. 61 
 
 not impossible,) but neither the mathematical hypothesis, nor 
 yet the duration of the wandering, require such an explan- 
 ation ; for he was both retarded against his will by accidents 
 in the voyage, as by [the tempest] which he narrates five 
 only of his sixty ships survived ; and also by voluntary delays 
 for the sake of amassing wealth. Nestor says [of him], 
 
 " Thus he, provision gathering as he went, 
 And gold abundant, roam'd to distant lands." l 
 
 [And Menelaus himself], 
 
 " Cyprus, Phoenicia, and the Egyptians' land 
 I wandered through." 2 
 
 As to the navigation of the isthmus, or one of the canals, 
 if it had been related by Homer himself, we should have 
 counted it a myth ; but as he does not relate it, we regard 
 it as entirely extravagant and unworthy of belief. We 
 say unworthy of belief, because at the time of the Trojan war 
 no canal was in existence. It is recorded that Sesostris, who 
 had planned the formation of one, apprehending that the level 
 of the sea was too high to admit of it, desisted from the un- 
 dertaking. 3 
 
 Moreover the isthmus itself was not passable for ships, and 
 Eratosthenes is unfortunate in his conjecture, for he con- 
 siders that the strait at the Pillars was not .then formed, 
 
 1 Thus far he, collecting much property and gold, wandered with his 
 ships. Odyssey iii. 301. 
 
 2 Odyssey iv. 83. 
 
 3 Strabo here appears to have followed Aristotle, who attributes to Se- 
 sostris the construction of the first canal connecting the Mediterranean, 
 or rather the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, with the Red Sea. Pliny has 
 followed the same tradition. Strabo, Book xvii., informs us, that 
 other authors attribute the canal to Necho the son of Psammeticus ; and 
 this is the opinion of Herodotus and Diodorus. It is possible these au- 
 thors may be speaking of two different attempts to cut this canal. Sesos- 
 tris nourished about 1356 years before Christ, Necho 615 years before the 
 same era. About a century after Necho, Darius the son of Hystaspes 
 made the undertaking, but desisted under the false impression that the 
 level of the Red Sea was higher than that of the Mediterranean. Ptolemy 
 Philadelphus proved this to be an error, by uniting the Red Sea to the 
 Nile without causing any inundation. At the time of Trajan and Hadrian 
 the communication was still in existence, though subsequently it became 
 choked up by an accumulation of sand. It will be remembered that a 
 recent proposition for opening the canal was opposed in Egypt oil similar 
 grounds. 
 
62 STEABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 so that the Atlantic should by that channel communicate 
 with the Mediterranean, and that this sea being higher 
 than the Isthmus [of Suez], covered it ; but when the Strait 
 [of Gibraltar] was formed, the sea subsided considerably ; and 
 left the land about Casium 1 and Pelusium 2 dry as far over 
 as the Red Sea. 
 
 But what account have we of the formation of this strait, 
 supposing it were not in existence prior to the Trojan war ? 
 Is it likely that our poet would make Ulysses sail out through 
 the Strait [of Gibraltar] into the Atlantic Ocean, as if that 
 strait already existed, and at the same time describe Mene- 
 laus conducting his ships from Egypt to the Red Sea, as if it 
 did not exist. Further, the poet introduces Proteus as say- 
 ing to him, 
 
 " Thee the gods 
 
 Have destined to the blest Elysian Isles, 
 Earth's utmost boundaries." 3 
 
 And what this place was, namely, some far western region, 
 is evident from [the mention of] the Zephyr in connexion 
 with it : 
 
 " But Zephyr always gently from the sea 
 Breathes on them." 4 
 
 This, however, is very enigmatical. 
 
 32. But if our poet speaks of the Isthmus of Suez as ever 
 having been the strait of confluence between the Mediterra- 
 nean and the Red Seas, how much more credit may we attri- 
 bute to his division of the Ethiopians into two portions, being 
 thus separated by so grand a strait ! And what commerce 
 could he have carried on with the Ethiopians who dwelt by 
 the shores of the exterior sea and the ocean ? Telemachus 
 and his companions admire the multitude of ornaments that 
 were in the palace, 
 
 "Of gold, electrum, silver, ivory." 5 
 
 Now the Ethiopians are possessed of none of these produc- 
 tions in any abundance, excepting ivory, being for the most 
 
 1 Mount El Kas. 2 Tineh. 
 
 3 But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the bound- 
 aries of the earth. Odyssey iv. 563. 
 
 4 But ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing breezes of the 
 west wind. Odyssey iv. 567. 
 
 5 Odyssey iv. 7,3. See Strabo's description of electrum, Book iii, c. 
 ii. 8. 
 
CHAP. ii. 32. INTRODUCTION. 63 
 
 part a needy and nomad race. True, [you say,] but adjoin- 
 ing them is Arabia, and the whole country as far as India. 
 One of these is distinguished above all other lands by the 
 title of Felix, 1 and the other, though not dignified by that 
 name, is both generally believed and also said to be pre- 
 eminently Blessed. 
 
 But [we reply], Homer was not acquainted with India, or 
 he would have described it. And though he knew of the 
 Arabia which is now named Felix, at that time it was by no 
 means wealthy, but a wild country, the inhabitants of which 
 dwelt for the most part in tents. It is only a small district 
 which produces the aromatics from which the whole territory 
 afterwards received its name, 2 owing to the rarity of the com- 
 modity amongst us, and the value set upon it. That the 
 Arabians are now flourishing and wealthy is due to their vast 
 and extended traffic, but formerly it does not appear to have 
 been considerable. A merchant or camel-driver might attain 
 to opulence by the sale of these aromatics and similar com- 
 modities ; but Menelaus could only become so either by plun- 
 der, or presents conferred on him by kings and nobles, who 
 had the means at their disposal, and wished to gratify one so 
 distinguished by glory and renown. The Egyptians, it is 
 true, and the neighbouring Ethiopians and Arabians, were 
 not so entirely destitute of the luxuries of civilization, nor so 
 unacquainted with the fame of Agamemnon, especially after the 
 termination of the Trojan war, but that Menelaus might have 
 expected some benefits from their generosity, even as the 
 breastplate of Agamemnon is said to be 
 " The gift 
 
 Of Cinyras long since ; for rumour loud 
 
 Had Cyprus reached." 3 
 
 And we are told that the greater part of his wanderings were 
 in Phoenicia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, around Cyprus, and, in 
 fact, the whole of our coasts and islands. 4 Here, indeed, he 
 might hope to enrich himself both by the gifts of friendship 
 
 1 Blessed. 
 
 2 The name of Arabia Felix is now confined to Yemen. A much 
 larger territory was anciently comprehended under this designation, con- 
 taining the whole of Hedjaz, and even Nedjed-el-Ared. It is probable 
 that Strata) here speaks of Hedjaz, situated about two days' journey 
 south of Mecca. 
 
 3 Iliad xi. 20. 4 Of the Mediterranean. 
 
64 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 and by violence, and especially by the plunder of those who had 
 been the allies of Troy. They however who dwelt on the ex- 
 terior ocean, and the distant barbarians, held out no such en- 
 couragement : and when Menelaus is said to have been in 
 Ethiopia, it is because he had reached the frontiers of that coun- 
 try next Egypt. But perhaps at that time the frontiers lay more 
 contiguous to Thebes than they do now. At the present day the 
 nearest are the districts adjacent to Syene and Philse, 1 the former 
 town being entirely in Egypt, while PhilaB is inhabited by a 
 mixed population of Ethiopians and Egyptians. Supposing 
 therefore he had arrived at Thebes, and thus reached the 
 boundary -line of Ethiopia, where he experienced the munifi- 
 cence of the king, we must not be surprised if he is described 
 as having passed through the country. 2 On no better au- 
 thority Ulysses declares he has been to the land of the Cy- 
 clops, although he merely left the sea to enter a cavern which 
 he himself tells us was situated on the very borders of the 
 country : and, in fact, wherever he came to anchor, whether 
 at -ZEolia, Laestrygonia, or elsewhere, he is stated to have 
 visited those places. In the same manner Menelaus is said 
 to have been to Ethiopia and Libya, because here and there 
 he touched at those places, and the port near Ardania above 
 Parcetonium 3 is called after him "the port of Menelaus." 4 
 
 33. When, after mentioning Phoenicia, he talks of Sidon, 
 its metropolis, he merely employs a common form of expres- 
 sion, for example, 
 
 He urged the Trojans and Hector to the ships. 5 
 
 For the sons of magnanimous CEneus were no more, nor was he himself 
 surviving ; moreover, fair-haired Meleager was dead. 8 
 
 He came to Ida and to Gargarus. 7 
 
 1 Philse was built on a little island formed by the Nile, now called 
 El-Heif. 
 
 2 This is evidently Strabo's meaning ; but the text, as it now stands, 
 is manifestly corrupt. 
 
 3 El-Baretun. A description of this place will be found in the 
 17th book. 
 
 4 At this port it was that Agesilaus terminated his glorious career. 
 
 5 Iliad xiii. 1. Strabo means that Homer, after having spoken of the 
 Trojans in general, mentions Hector in particular. 
 
 6 Iliad ii. 641. Having mentioned the sons of CEneus collectively, he 
 afterwards distinguishes one of them by name. 
 
 7 Iliad viii. 47. Gargarus was one of the highest peaks of Ida. 
 
CHAP. ii. 33. INTRODUCTION. 65 
 
 He possessed Euboea, Chalcis, and Eretria. 1 
 Sappho likewise [says], 
 
 Whether Cyprus, or the spacious-harboured Paphos. 2 
 
 But he had some other cause besides this for mentioning 
 Sidon immediately after having spoken of the Phoenicians : 
 for had he merely desired to recount the nations in order, it 
 would have been quite sufficient to say, 
 
 Having wandered to Cyprus, Phcenice, and the Egyptians, I came to 
 the Ethiopians. 3 
 
 But that he might record his sojourn amongst the Sidonians, 
 which was considerably prolonged, he thought it well to refer 
 to it repeatedly. Thus he praises their prosperity and skill 
 in the arts, and alludes to the hospitality the citizens had 
 shown to Helen and Alexander. Thus he tells us of the 
 many [treasures] of this nature laid up in store by Alex- 
 ander. 4 
 
 " There his treasures lay, 
 Works of Sidonian women, whom her son, 
 The godlike Paris, when he crossed the seas 
 With Jove-begotten Helen, brought to Troy." 5 
 
 And also by Menelaus, who says to Telemachus, 
 
 ' I give thee this bright beaker, argent all, 
 But round encircled with a lip of gold. 
 It is the work of Vulcan, which to me 
 The hero Phaedimus presented, king 
 Of the Sidonians, when on my return 
 Beneath his roof I lodged. I make it thine." 6 
 
 Here the expression, " work of Vulcan," must be looked upon 
 as a hyperbole : in the same way all elegant productions are 
 
 1 Iliad ii. 536. Chalcis and Eretria were two cities of Euboea. 
 
 2 We have here taken advantage of Casaubon's suggestion to read 
 17 Travopp-og instead of 77 UdvopfjioQ, the Greek name for Palermo in 
 Sicily, which was not founded in the time of Sappho. 
 
 3 Odyssey iv. 83. * Paris. 
 
 5 Where were her variously embroidered robes, the works of Sidonian 
 females, which godlike Alexander himself had brought from Sidon, sailing 
 over the broad ocean, in that voyage in which he carried off Helen, sprung 
 from a noble sire. Iliad vi. 289. 
 
 6 I will give thee a wrought bowl : it is all silver, and the lips are 
 bound with gold; it is the work of "Vulcan: the hero Phaedimus, king 
 of the Sidonians, gave it [to me], when his home sheltered me, as I was 
 returning from thence, i wish to give this to thee. Odyssey xv. 115. 
 
68 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 said to be the work of Minerva, of the Graces, or of the Muses. 
 But that the Sidonians were skilful artists, is clear from the 
 praises bestowed [by Homer] on the bowl which Euneos gave 
 in exchange for Lycaon : 
 
 " Earth 
 
 Own'd not its like for elegance of form. 
 
 Skilful Sidonian artists had around 
 
 Etnbellish'd it, and o'er the sable deep 
 
 Phoenician merchants into Lemnos' port 
 
 Had borne it." l 
 
 34. Many conjectures have been hazarded as to who the 
 Erembi were : they who suppose the Arabs are intended, seem 
 to deserve the most credit. 
 
 Our Zeno reads the passage thus : 
 I came to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Arabians. 
 But there is no occasion to tamper with the text, which is of 
 great antiquity; it is a far preferable course to suppose a 
 change in the name itself, which is of frequent and ordinary 
 occurrence in every nation : and in fact certain grammarians 
 establish this view by a comparison of the radical letters. 
 Posidonius seems to me to adopt the better plan after all, in 
 looking for the etymology of names in nations of one stock and 
 community ; [thus between, the Armenians, Syrians, and Ara- 
 bians there is a strong affinity both in regard to dialect, mode 
 of life, peculiarities of physical conformation, and above all 
 in the contiguity of the countries. Mesopotamia, which is a 
 motley of the three nations, is a proof of this ; for the similar- 
 ity amongst these three is very remarkable. And though in 
 consequence of the various latitudes there may be some differ- 
 ence between those who dwell in the north 2 and those of the 
 the south, 3 and again between each of these and the inhabit- 
 ants of the middle region, 4 still the same characteristics are 
 dominant in all.] Also the Assyrians and Arians have a great 
 affinity both to these people and to each other. And [Posi- 
 donius] believes there is a similarity in the names of these 
 different nations. Those whom we call Syrians style them- 
 selves Armenians and ArammaBans, names greatly like those of 
 the Armenians, Arabs, and Erembi. Perhaps this [last] term 
 
 1 But in beauty it much excelled [all] upon the whole earth, for the in- 
 genious Sidonians had wrought it cunningly, and Phoenician men had 
 carried it. Iliad xxiii. 742. 
 
 2 The Armenians. 3 The Arabs. * The Syrians. 
 
CHAP. ii. 35. INTRODUCTION. 67 
 
 is that by which the Greeks anciently designated the Arabs ; 
 the etymon of the word certainly strengthens the idea. Many 
 deduce the etymology of the Erembi from '{par ^ucuv<j/, (to go 
 into the earth,) which [they say] was altered by the people of a 
 later generation into the more intelligible name of Troglodytes, 1 
 by which are intended those Arabs who dwell on that side of 
 the Arabian Gulf next to Egypt and Ethiopia. It is probable 
 then that the poet describes Menelaus as having visited these 
 people in the same way that he says he visited the Ethiopians ; 
 for they are likewise near to the Thebaid ; and he mentions them 
 not on account of any commerce or gain, (for of these there 
 was not much,) but probably to enhance the length of the 
 journey and his meed of praise : for such distant travelling 
 was highly thought of. For example, 
 
 " Discover'd various cities, and the mind 
 
 And manners learn'd of men in lands remote.'' 2 
 
 And again : 
 
 " After numerous toils 
 
 And perilous wanderings o'er the stormy deep, 
 In the eighth year at last I brought them home." 3 
 
 Hesiod, in his Catalogue, 4 writes, 
 
 And the daughter of Arabus, whom gracious Hermes and Thronia, 
 descended from king Belus, brought forth. 
 
 Thus, too, says Stesichorus. Whence it seems that at that 
 time the country was from him named Arabia, though it is 
 not likely this was the case in the heroic period. 5 
 
 35. There are many who would make the Erembi a tribe 
 of the Ethiopians, or of the Cephenes, or again of the Pygmies, 
 and a thousand other fancies. These ought to be regarded 
 with little trust ; since their opinion is not only incredible, 
 but they evidently labour under a certain confusion as to the 
 
 1 Dwelling in caverns. 
 
 2 He saw the cities of many men, and learned their manners. Odyssey 
 i. 3. 
 
 3 Having suffered many things, and having wandered much, I was 
 brouaht. Odyssey iv. 81. 
 
 4 See Hesiod, Fragments, ed. Loesner, p. 434. 
 
 5 This derivation of Arabia is as problematical as the existence of the 
 hero from whom it is said to have received its name ; a far more probable 
 etymology is derived from ereb, signifying the west, a name supposed to 
 have been conferred upon it at a very early period by a people inhabiting 
 Persia. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 different characters of history and fable. In the same category 
 must be reckoned those who place the Sidonians and Phosni- 
 cians in the Persian Gulf, or somewhere else in the Ocean, and 
 make the wanderings of Menelaus to have happened there. 
 Not the least cause for mistrusting these writers is the man- 
 ner in which they contradict each other. One half would have 
 us believe that the Sidonians are a colony from the people 
 whom they describe as located on the shores of the [Indian] 
 Ocean, and who they say were called Pho3nicians from the 
 colour of the Erythraan Sea, while the others declare the 
 opposite. 1 
 
 Some again would transport Ethiopia into our Phoenicia, 
 and make Joppa the scene of the adventures of Andromeda ; 2 
 and this not from any ignorance of the topography of those 
 places, but by a kind of mythic fiction similar to those of 
 Hesiod and other writers censured by Apollodorus, who, how- 
 ever, couples Homer with them, without, as it appears, any 
 cause. He cites as instances what Homer relates of the 
 Euxine and Egypt, and accuses him of ignorance for pretend- 
 ing to speak the actual truth, and then recounting fable, all the 
 while ignorantly mistaking it for fact. Will anyone then accuse 
 Hesiod of ignorance on account of his Hemicynes* his Macro- 
 cephalif and his Pygmies ; or Homer for his like fables, and 
 amongst others the Pygmies themselves ; or Alcman 5 for de- 
 scribing the Steganopodes;* or ^Eschylus for his Cyno- 
 cephali? Sternophthalmi* and Monommati; 9 when amongst 
 prose writers, and in works bearing the appearance of verit- 
 able history, we frequently meet with similar narrations, and 
 that without any admission of their having inserted such 
 myths. Indeed it becomes immediately evident that they 
 have woven together a tissue of myths not through ignorance 
 
 1 That is, that the Phoenicians and Sidonians dwelling around the Per- 
 sian Gulf are colonies from those inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 2 As to this fact, upon which almost all geographers are agreed, it is 
 only rejected by Strabo because it stands in the way of his hypothesis. 
 
 3 Half men, half dogs. * Long-headed men. 
 
 5 A celebrated poet who flourished about seven centuries before the 
 Christian era, said to have been a native of Sardis in Lydia. Only three 
 short fragments of his writings are known to be in existence. 
 
 6 Men who covered themselves with their feet. 
 : Dog-headed men. 
 
 ' People having their eyes in their breasts. 9 One-eyed. 
 
CHAP. ii. 36. INTRODUCTION. 69 
 
 of the real facts, but merely to amuse by a deceptive narra- 
 tion of the impossible and marvellous. If they appear to do 
 this in ignorance, it is because they can romance more fre- 
 quently and with greater plausibility on those things which 
 are uncertain and unknown. This Theopompus plainly con- 
 fesses in the announcement of his intention to relate the fables 
 in his history in a better style than Herodotus, Ctesias, Hel- 
 lanicus, and those who had written on the affairs of India. 
 
 36. Homer has described to us the phenomena of the ocean 
 under the form of a myth ; this [art] is very desirable in a 
 poet ; the idea of his Charybdis was taken from the ebb 
 and flow of the tide, and w r as by no means a pure inven- 
 tion of his own, but derived from what he knew concerning 
 the Strait of Sicily. 1 And although he states that the ebb 
 and flow occurred thrice during the four and twenty hours, 
 instead of twice, 
 
 " (Each day she thrice disgorges, and each day 
 Thrice swallows it,") 2 
 
 we must suppose that he said this not through any ignorance 
 of the fact, but for tragic effect, and to excite the fear which 
 Circe endeavours to infuse into her arguments to deter 
 Ulysses from departing, even at a little expense of truth. 
 The following is the language Circe makes use of in her 
 speech to him : 
 
 " Each day she thrice disgorges, and each day 
 Thrice swallows it. Ah! we 11 -forewarn'd beware 
 What time she swallows, that thou come not nigh, 
 For not himself, Neptune, could snatch thee thence." 3 
 
 And yet when Ulysses was ingulfed in the eddy he was not 
 lost. He tells us himself, 
 
 ' It was the time when she absorb'd profound 
 The briny flood, but by a wave upborne, 
 I seized the branches fast of the wild fig, 
 To which bat-like I clung." 4 
 
 1 The Strait of Messina. 
 
 2 For thrice in a day she sends it out, and thrice she sucks it in. 
 Odyssey xii. 105. 
 
 3 For thrice in a day she sends it out, and thrice she sucks it in terribly. 
 Mayest thou not come hither when she is gulping it ; for not even Nep- 
 tune could free thee from ill. Odyssey xii. 1U5. 
 
 4 She gulped up the briny water of the sea ; but I, raised on high to 
 the lofty fig-tree, held clinging to it, as a bat. Odyssey xii. 431. 
 
70 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 And then having waited for the timbers of the wreck he seized 
 hold of them, and thus saved himself. Circe, therefore, had 
 exaggerated both the peril, and also the fact of its vomiting 
 forth thrice a day instead of twice. However, this latter is a 
 hyperbole which every one makes use of ; thus we say thrice- 
 happy and thrice-miserable. 
 So the poet, 
 
 " Thrice-happy Greeks ! " l 
 Again, 
 
 " O delightful, thrice-wished for ! " 2 
 And again, 
 
 " O thrice and four times." 3 
 
 Any one, too, might conclude from the passage itself that 
 Homer even here hinted at the truth, for the long time which 
 the remains of the wreck lay under water, which Ulysses, who 
 was all the while hanging suspended to the branches, so anxi- 
 ously desired to rise, accords much better with the ebb and 
 flow taking place but twice during the night and day instead 
 of thrice. 
 
 " Therefore hard 
 
 I clench'd the boughs, till she disgorged again 
 
 Both keel and mast. Not undesired by me 
 
 They came, though late ; for at what hour the judge, 
 
 After decision made of numerous strifes 
 
 Between young candidates for honour, leaves 
 
 The forum, for refreshment's sake at home, 
 
 Then was it that the mast and keel emerged." 4 
 
 Every word of this indicates a considerable length of time, 
 especially when he prolongs it to the evening, not merely say- 
 ing at that time when the judge has risen, but having adju- 
 dicated on a vast number of cases, and therefore detained 
 longer than usual. Otherwise his account of the return of the 
 wreck would not have appeared likely, if he had brought it 
 back again with the return of the wave, before it had been 
 first carried a long way off. 
 
 37. Apollodorus, who agrees with Eratosthenes, throws 
 much blame upon Callimachus for asserting, in spite of his 
 
 1 Odyssey v. 306. 2 Iliad viii. 488. 3 Iliad iii. 363. 
 
 4 But I held without ceasing, until she vomited out again the mast and 
 keel ; and it came late to me wishing for it : as late as a man has risen 
 from the forum to go to supper, adjudging many contests of disputing 
 youths, so late these planks appeared from Charybdis. Odyssey xii. 437. 
 
CHAP. ii. 38. INTRODUCTION. 71 
 
 character as a grammarian, that Gaudus 1 and Corcyra 2 were 
 among the scenes of Ulysses' wandering, such an opinion 
 being altogether in defiance of Homer's statement, and his de- 
 scription of the places as situated in the exterior ocean. 3 
 
 This criticism is just if we suppose the wandering to have 
 never actually occurred, and to be merely the result of Ho- 
 mer's imagination ; but if it did take place, although in other 
 regions, Apollodorus ought plainly to have stated which they 
 were, and thus set right the mistake of Callimachus. Since, 
 however, after such evidence as we have produced, we cannot 
 believe the whole account to be a fiction, and since no other more 
 likely places have as yet been named, we hold that the gram- 
 marian is absolved from blame. 
 
 38. Demetrius of Skepsis is also wrong, and, in fact, the 
 cause of some of the mistakes of Apollodorus. He eagerly 
 objects to the statement of Neanthes of Cyzicus, that the 
 Argonauts, when they sailed to the Phasis, 4 founded at 
 Cyzicus the temples of the Idsean Mother. 5 Though their 
 voyage is attested both by Homer and other writers, he 
 denies that Homer had any knowledge whatever of the de- 
 parture of Jason to the Phasis. In so doing, he not only 
 contradicts the very words of Homer, but even his own asser- 
 tions. The poet informs us that Achilles, having ravaged 
 Lesbos 6 and other districts, spared Lemnos 7 and the adjoining 
 islands, on account of his relationship with Jason and his son 
 Euneos, 8 who then had possession of the island. How should 
 he know of a relationship, identity of race, or other con- 
 nexion existing between Achilles and Jason, which, after all, 
 was nothing else than that they were both Thessalians, one 
 being of lolcos, 9 the other of the Achaean Pthiotis, 10 and yet 
 
 1 Gaudus, the little island of Gozo near Malta, supposed by Callima- 
 chus to have been the Isle of Calypso. 
 
 2 It seems more probable that Callimachus intended the island of Cor- 
 sura, now Pantalaria, a small island between Africa and Sicily. 
 
 8 The Atlantic. 4 A river of Colchis, hodie Fasz or Rion. 
 
 5 Cybele, so named because she had a temple on Mount Ida. 
 
 6 An island in the ^Egaean, now Meteline. 
 
 7 Hodie Lemno or Stalimene. 
 
 8 Euneos was the eldest of the children which Hypsipele, daxighter of 
 Thoas, king of Lemnos, had by Jason during his stay in that island. 
 
 9 A town sitiiated at the bottom of the Pelasgic Gulf, hodie Volo. 
 
 10 A country of Thessaly, which received its designation of Achaean, 
 from the same sovereign who left his name to Achaia in Peloponnesus. 
 
72 
 
 STRABO. 
 
 was not aware how it happened that Jason, who was a Thes- 
 salian of lolcos, should leave no descendants in the land of his 
 nativity, but establish his son as ruler of Lemnos ? Homer 
 then was familiar with the history of Pelias and the daughters 
 of Pelias, of Alcestis, who was the most charming of them 
 all, and of her son 
 
 " Eumelus, whom Alcestis, praised 
 For beauty above all her sisters fair, 
 In Thessaly to king Admetus bore," 1 
 
 and was yet ignorant of all that befell Jason, and Argo, and 
 the Argonauts, matters on the actual occurrence of which all 
 the world is agreed. The tale then of their voyage in the 
 ocean from JEeta, was a mere fiction, for which he had no 
 authority in history. 
 
 39. If, however, the expedition to the Phasis, fitted out by 
 Pelias, its return, and the conquest of several islands, have at 
 the bottom any truth whatever, as all say they have, so also 
 has the account of their wanderings, no less than those of 
 Ulysses and Menelaus ; monuments of the actual occurrence 
 of which remain to this day elsewhere than in the writings of 
 Homer. The city of ^Ea, close by the Phasis, is still pointed 
 out. -ZEetes is generally believed to have reigned in Colchis, 
 the name is still common throughout the country, tales of the 
 sorceress Medea are yet abroad, and the riches of the country 
 in gold, silver, and iron, proclaim the motive of Jason's ex- 
 pedition, as well as of that which Phrixus had formerly un- 
 dertaken. Traces both of one and the other still remain. 
 Such is Phrixium, 2 midway between Colchis and Iberia, and 
 the Jasonia, or towns of Jason, which are every where met 
 with in Armenia, Media, and the surrounding countries. 
 Many are the witnesses to the reality of the expeditions of 
 Jason and Phrixus at Sinope 3 and its shore, at Propontis, at the 
 Hellespont, and even at Lemnos. Of Jason and his Colchian 
 followers there are traces even as far as Crete, 4 Italy, and the 
 Adriatic. Callimachus himself alludes to it where he says, 
 
 ' Eumelus, whom Alcestis, divine amongst women, most beautiful in 
 form of the daughters of Pelias, brought forth to Admetus. Iliad 
 ii. 714. 
 
 2 Named Ideessa in the time of Strabo. Strabo, book xi. c. ii. 18. 
 
 3 Sinub. * Candia. 
 
CHAP. ii. 40. INTRODUCTION. 73 
 
 " [The temple of] Apollo and [the Isle of] Anaphe, 1 
 Near to Laconian Thera." 2 
 
 In the verses which commence, 
 
 " I sing how the heroes from Cytaean ^Eeta, 
 Return'd again to ancient ^Emonia." 3 
 
 And again concerning the Colchians, who, 
 
 " Ceasing to plough with oars the Illyrian Sea, 4 
 Near to the tomb of fair Harmonia, 
 Who was transform'd into a dragon's shape, 
 Founded their city, which a Greek would call 
 The Town of Fugitives, but in their tongue 
 Is Pola named." 
 
 Some writers assert that Jason and his companions sailed 
 high up the Ister, others say he sailed only so far as to be 
 able to gain the Adriatic : the first statement results altogether 
 from ignorance ; the second, which supposes there is a second 
 Ister having its source from the larger river of the same name, 
 and discharging its waters into the Adriatic, is neither incredi- 
 ble nor even improbable. 5 
 
 40. Starting from these premises, the poet, in conformity 
 both with general custom and his own practice, narrates some 
 circumstances as they actually occurred, and paints others in 
 the colours of fiction. He follows history when he tells us of 
 JE>etes and Jason also, when he talks of Argo, and on the au- 
 thority of [the actual city of -fl2a], feigns his city of ^Ea3a, 
 when he settles Euneos in Lemnos, and makes that island 
 friendly to Achilles, and when, in imitation of Medea, he makes 
 the sorceress Circe 
 
 " Sister by birth of the all-wise ^etes," e 
 
 he adds the fiction of the entrance of the Argonauts into the 
 exterior ocean as the sequel to their wanderings on their re- 
 turn home. Here, supposing the previous statements admit- 
 ted, the truth of the phrase " the renowned Argo," 7 is evident, 
 
 1 Hodie The Isle of Nanfio. 
 
 2 Now the Island of Callistb, founded by Theras the Lacedaemonian 
 more than ten centuries before the Christian era. 
 
 3 A name of Thessaly. 4 The Gulf of Venice. 
 
 5 The erroneous opinion that one of the mouths of the Danube emptied 
 itself into the Adriatic is very ancient, being spoken of by Aristotle as a 
 well-known fact, and likewise supported by Theopompus, Hipparchus, 
 and many other writers. 
 
 6 Odyssey x. 137. 7 Odyssey xii. 70. 
 
74 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 since, in that case, the expedition was directed to a populous 
 and well-known country. But if, as [Demetrius] of Skep- 
 sis asserts, on the authority of Miranermus, ^Eetes dwelt by 
 the Ocean, and Jason was sent thither far east by Pelias, 
 to bring back the fleece, it neither seems probable that such 
 an expedition would have been undertaken into unknown and 
 obscure countries after the Fleece, nor could a voyage to 
 lands desert, uninhabited, and so far remote from us, be con- 
 sidered either glorious or renowned. 
 [Here follow the words of Demetrius. J. 
 
 " Nor as yet had Jason, having accomplished the arduous journey, car- 
 ried off the splendid fleece from ^Ea, fulfilling the dangerous mission of 
 the insolent Felias, nor had they ploughed the glorious wave of the 
 ocean." 
 
 And again : 
 
 " The city of ./Eetes, where the rays of the swift sun recline on their 
 golden bed by the shore of the ocean, which the noble Jason visited." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. ERATOSTHENES is guilty of another fault in so fre- 
 quently referring to the works of men beneath his notice, 
 sometimes for the purpose of refuting them ; at others, 
 when he agrees with them, in order to cite them as authori- 
 ties. I allude to Damastes, and such as him, who even when 
 they speak the truth, are utterly unworthy of being appealed 
 to as authorities, or vouchers for the credibility of a statement. 
 For such purposes the writings of trustworthy men should only 
 be employed, who have accurately described much; and though 
 perhaps they may have omitted many points altogether, and 
 barely touched on others, are yet never guilty of wilfully falsi- 
 fying their statements. To cite Damastes as an authority is 
 little better than to quote the Bergaean, 1 or Euemerus the 
 Messenian, and those other scribblers whom Eratosthenes 
 
 1 Antiphanes of Berga, a city of Thrace. This writer was so noted for 
 his falsehoods, that flepyai&tv came to be a proverbial term for design- 
 ating that vice. 
 
CHAP. in. 2. INTRODUCTION. To 
 
 himself sneers at for their absurdities. Why, he even points 
 out as one of the follies of this Damastes, his observation that 
 the Arabian Gulf was a lake ; 1 likewise the statement that 
 Diotimus, the son of Strombicus and chief of the Athenian 
 legation, sailed through Cilicia up the Cydnus 2 into the river 
 Choaspes, 3 which flows by Susa, 4 and so arrived at that capital 
 after forty days' journey. This particular he professes to state 
 on the authority of Diotimus himself, and then expresses his 
 wonder whether the Cydnus could actually cross the Euphrates 
 and Tigris in order to disgorge itself into the Choaspes. 5 
 
 2. However, this is not all we have to say against him. 
 Of many places he tells us that nothing is known, when 
 in fact they have every one been accurately described. Then 
 he warns us to be very cautious in believing what we are 
 told on such matters, and endeavours by long and tedious 
 arguments to show the value of his advice ; swallowing at 
 the same time the most ridiculous absurdities himself con- 
 cerning the Euxine and Adriatic. Thus he believed the 
 Bay of Issus 6 to be the most easterly point of the Mediterra- 
 nean, though Dioscurias, 7 which is nearly at the bottom of the 
 Pontus Euxinus, is, according to his own calculations, farther 
 east by a distance of 3000 stadia. 8 In describing the northern 
 and farther parts of the Adriatic he cannot refrain from simi- 
 lar romancing, and gives credit to many strange narrations 
 concerning what lies beyond the Pillars of Hercules, inform- 
 ing us of an Isle of Kerne there, and other places now no- 
 where to be found, which we shall speak of presently. 
 
 Having remarked that the ancients, whether out on piratical 
 
 1 Thirty years before the time of this Damastes, Herodotus had de- 
 monstrated to the Greeks the real nature of the Arabian Gulf. 
 
 2 This river, called by the Turks Kara-sui, rises somewhere in Mount 
 Taurus, and before emptying itself into the sea, runs through Tarsus. 
 
 3 The Ab-Zal of oriental writers. 
 
 4 The ancient capital cf the kings of Persia, now Schuss. 
 
 5 The very idea that Diotimus could sail from the Cydnus into the Eu- 
 phrates is most absurd, since, besides the distance between the two rivers, 
 they are separated by lofty mountain-ridges. 
 
 6 Now the Bay of Ajazzo. 7 Iskuriah. 
 
 8 Gosselin justly remarks that this is a mere disputing about terms, 
 since, though it is true the Mediterranean and Euxine flow into each 
 other, it is fully admissible to describe them as separate. The same au- 
 thority proves that we ought to read 3600 and not 3000 stadia, which he 
 supposes to be a transcriber's error. 
 
76 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 excursions, or for the purposes of commerce, never ventured 
 into the high seas, but crept along the coast, and instancing 
 Jason, who leaving his vessels at Colchis penetrated into Ar- 
 menia and Media on foot, he proceeds to tell us that formerly 
 no one dared to navigate either the Euxine or the seas by 
 Libya, Syria, and Cilicia. If by formerly he means pe- 
 riods so long past that we possess no record of them, it is of 
 little consequence to us whether they navigated those seas or 
 not, but if [he speaks] of times of which we know any thing, 
 and if we are to place any trust in the accounts which have 
 come down to us, everj_one will admit that the anciejits appear 
 to have made longer journeys both by sea ancLlan,d than_thir 
 successors ; witness Bacchus, Hercules, nay Jason himself, 
 and" again Uly_sses and Menelaus, of whom itomer tells us. 
 It seems most probable thaF^Theseus and Pirithous are in- 
 debted to some long voyages for the credit they afterwards 
 obtained of having visited the infernal regions ; and in like 
 manner the Dioscuri l gained the appellation of guardians of 
 the sea, and the deliverers of sailors. 2 The sovereignty of 
 the seaa-exeCJd by Minos, and the navigation carried on 
 by thejPhoemciajja^is weljjiiiown. A little after the period 
 of the Trojan war they had penetrated beyond the Pillars of 
 Hercules, and founded cities as well there as to the midst of 
 the African coast. 3 Is it not correct to number amongst the 
 ancients "^cieas, 4 An tenor, 5 the Heneti, and all the crowd of 
 warriors, who, after the destruction of Troy, wandered over 
 the face of the whole earth ? For at the conclusion of the war 
 
 1 Castor and Pollux. 
 
 2 Castor and Pollux were amongst the number of the Argonauts. On 
 their return they destroyed the pirates who infested the seas of Greece 
 and the Archipelago, and were in consequence worshipped by sailors as 
 tutelary deities. 
 
 3 The Phoenicians or Carthaginians despatched Hanno to found certain 
 colonies on the western coast of Africa, about a thousand years before 
 the Christian era. 
 
 * Strabo here follows the general belief that JEneas escaped to Italy 
 after the sack of Troy, a fact clearly disproved by Homer, Iliad xx. 307, 
 who states that the posterity of JEneas were in his time reigning at 
 Troy. To this passage Strabo alludes in his 13th book, and, contrary 
 to his general custom, hesitates whether to follow Homer's authority or 
 that of certain grammarians who had mutilated the passage in order to 
 flatter the vanity of the Romans, who took pride in looking up to ^Eneas 
 and the Trojans as their ancestors. 
 
 6 Antenor having betrayed his Trojan countrymen was forced to fly. 
 
CHAP. m. 3, 4. INTRODUCTION. < ' 
 
 both the Greeks and Barbarians found themselves deprived, 
 *TKe one oTfKeir livelihood at .home, the ojther of the fruits of 
 their expedition ; ?o that when Troy was overthrown, the 
 victors, and still more the vanquished, who had survived the 
 conflict, were compelled by want to a life of .piracy ; and we 
 learn that they became the founders of many cities along the 
 sea^cpast beyond Greece, 1 besides several inland jejfctlements. 2 
 
 3. Again, having discoursed on the advance of knowledge 
 respecting the Geography of the inhabited earth, between the 
 time of Alexander and the period when he was writing, Era- 
 tosthenes goes into a description of the figure of the earth ; 
 not merely of the habitable earth, an account of which would 
 have been very suitable, but of the whole earth, which should 
 certainly have been given too, but not in this disorderly man- 
 ner. He proceeds to tell us that the earth is spheroidal, not 
 however perfectly so, inasmuch as it has certain irregula- 
 rities, he then enlarges on the successive changes of its form, 
 occasioned by water, fire, earthquakes, eruptions, and the 
 like; all of whichTs entirely out of place, for"" the spheroidal 
 form of the whole earth is the result of the system of the uni- 
 verse, and the phenomena which he mentions do not in the 
 least change its general form ; such little matters being en- 
 tirely ^ost in the great mass of the earth. Still they cause 
 variouspeTJuliarities m different parts of our globe, and result 
 from a variety of causes. 
 
 4. He points out as a most interesting subject for disquisi- 
 tion the fact of our^finding, often quite inland, two or three 
 thousand stadia fronTthe sea, vast numbers of muscle, ouster, 
 and scallop-shells, and salt-water lakes. 3 He gives as an 
 
 It is generally stated that, taking with him a party of the Heneti, (a peo- 
 ple of Asia Minor close to the Euxine,) who had come to the assistance of 
 Priam, he founded the city of Padua in Italy. From this people the dis- 
 trict in which Padua is situated received the name of Henetia, afterwards 
 Venetia or Venice. 
 
 1 The coasts of Italy. 
 
 2 It is generally ^admitted that the events of the Trojan war gave rise 
 to numerous^ colonies. 
 
 3 lire word~Xr^i/o0dXa(7<7a frequently signifies a salt marsh. The 
 French editors remark that it was a name given by the Greeks to 
 lagoons mostly found in the vicinity of the sea, though entirely sepa- 
 rated therefrom. Those which communicated with the sea were termed 
 OTOiiaXiuvai. 
 
78 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 instance, that about the temple ofAmmon. 1 and along the road 
 to it for the space of SOOOstadia, there are yet found a vast 
 amount of oyster shells, many salt-beds, and salt springs bub- 
 bling up, besides which are pointed out numerous fragments 
 of wreck which they say have been cast up througlisome 
 opem!lg, and dolphins placed on pedestals with the inscription, 
 Of the delegates from Gyrene. Herein he agrees with the 
 opinion of Siralo the naturjd^^hilosppher, and Xanthus of 
 Lydia. Xanthus mentioned that in the reign of Arfaxerxes 
 tnere was so great a drought, that every river, lake, and well 
 was dried up : and that in many places he had seen a long way 
 from the sea fossil shells, some like cockles, others resembling 
 scallop shells, "also salt lakes in Arjmenia, Matiana, 2 and 
 LowexJPhrygia, which induced him to believe that sea had 
 formerly been where the land now was. Sirato, who went more 
 deeply into the causes of these phenomena, was of opinion that 
 formerly there was np_exit to the Euxine as now at Byzan- 
 tium, but that the rivers running into it had forced a way 
 through, and thus let the waters escape into the Propontis, 
 and thence to the Hellespont. 3 And that a like change had 
 occurred in the Mediterranean. For the sea being overflowed 
 by the rivers, had opened for itself a passage by the Pillars of 
 Hercules, and thus, much that was formerly covered by water, 
 had been left dry. 4 He gives as the cause of this, that An- 
 ciently the levels of the Mediterranean and Atlantic werejnpt 
 TGe same, and states that a bank of earth, the remains of 
 tlifTancient separation of the two seas, is still stretched under 
 water from Europe to ^Africa. He adds, that the Euxine is 
 fEe~most shallow, and the seasof Crete, Sicily, and Sardinia 
 much deeper, which is occasioned by the number of large 
 
 1 See book xvii. c. iii. 
 
 2 A country close upon the Euxine. 
 
 3 The Strait of the Dardanelles. 
 
 4 At the time of Diodorus Siculus, the people of the Isle of Samo- 
 thracia preserved the tradition of an inundation caused by a sudden ris- 
 ing of the waters of the Mediterranean, which compelled the inhabitants 
 to fly for refuge to the summits of the mountains; and long after, the 
 fishermen's nets used to be caught by columns, which, prior to the catas- 
 trophe, had adorned their edifices. It is said that the inundation origin- 
 ated in a rupture of the chain of mountains which enclosed the valley which 
 has since become the Thracian Bosphorus or Strait of Constantinople, 
 through which the waters of the Black Sea flow into the Mediterranean. 
 
CHAP. in. 4. INTRODUCTION. 79 
 
 rivers flowing into the Euxine both from the north and east, 
 and so filling it up with mud, whilst the others preserve their 
 depth. This is the cause of the remarkable sweetness of the 
 Euxine Sea, and of the currents which regularly set towards the 
 deepest part. He gives it as his opinion, that should the rivers 
 continue to flow in the same direction, the Euxine will in time 
 be filled up [by the deposits], since already the left side of the 
 sea is little else than shallows, as also Salmydessus, 1 and the 
 shoals at the mouth of the Ister, and the desert of Scythia, 2 
 which the sailors call the Breasts. Probably too the temple of 
 Ammon was originally close to the sea, though now, by the con- 
 tinual deposit of the waters, it is quite inland : and he con- 
 jectures that it was owing to its being so near the sea that it be- 
 came so celebrated and illustrious, and that it never would have 
 enjoyed the credit it now possesses had it always been equally 
 remote from the sea. Egypt too [he says] was formerly 
 covered by sea as far_as the jmarshes nearJPelusium, 3 Mount 
 Castus,"* and the Lake'^irHomsT Everi~at the~present time, 
 when salt is being "Hug in Egypt, the beds are found under 
 layers > 6l r sand andmingled with fossil shells, as if this district 
 liacl ibrnferly been unoer"water, and as if the whole region 
 about Casium and Gerrha 6 had been shallows reaching to the 
 Arabian Gulf. The sea afterwards receding left the land un- 
 covered, and the Lake Sirbonis remained, which having after- 
 wards forced itself a passage, became a marsh. In like 
 manner the borders of the Lake Moeris resemble a sea-beach 
 rather than the banks of a river] Every one will admit that 
 formerly at various periods a great portion of the mainland 
 has been covered and again left bare by the sea. Likewise 
 that the land now covered by the sea is not all on the same 
 level, any more than that whereon we dwell ; which is now 
 
 1 Now Midjeh, in Roumelia, on the borders of the Black Sea. Strabo 
 alludes rather to the banks surrounding Salmydessus than to the town 
 itself. 
 
 2 The part of Bulgaria next the sea, between Varna and the Danube, 
 now Dobrudzie. 
 
 vLXineh. * El-Kas. 
 
 5 Lake Sebaket-Bardoil. 
 
 6 Probably the present Maseli. Most likely the place was so named 
 from the ytppa, or wattled huts, of the troops stationed there to prevent 
 the ingress of foreign armies into Egypt. 
 
80 STEABO. BOOK i. 
 
 uncovered and has experienced so many changes, as Eratos- 
 thenes has observed. Consequently in the reasoning of Xan- 
 thus there does not appear to be any thing out of place. 
 
 5. In regard to Strato, however, we must remark that, 
 leaving out of the question the many arguments he has pro- 
 perly stated, some of those which he has brought forward are 
 quite inadmissible. For first he is inaccurate in stating that 
 the beds of the interior and the exterior seas have not the 
 same level, and that the depth of those two seas is different : 
 whereas the cause why the sea is at one time raised, at an- 
 other depressed, that it inundates certain places and again 
 retreats, is not that the beds have different levels, some 
 higher and some lower, but simply this, that the same beds 
 are at one time raised, at another depressed, causing the sea 
 to rise or subside with them ; for having risen they cause 
 an inundation, and when they subside the waters return to 
 their former places. For if it is so, an inundation will of 
 course accompany every sudden increase of the waters of 
 the sea, [as in the spring-tides,] or the periodical swelling 
 of rivers, in the one instance the waters being brought to- 
 gether from distant parts of the ocean, in the other, their 
 volume being increased. But the risings of rivers are not 
 violent and sudden, nor do the tides continue any length of 
 time, nor occur irregularly ; nor yet along the coasts of our 
 sea do they cause inundations, nor any where else. Con- 
 sequently we must seek for an explanation of the cause 
 either in the stratum composing the bed of the sea, or in that 
 which is overflowed ; we prefer to look for it in the former, 
 since by reason of its humidity it is more liable to shiftings 
 and sudden changes of position, and we shall find that in these 
 matters the wind is the great agent after all. But, I repeat 
 it, the immediate cause of these phenomena, is not in the fact 
 of one part of the bed of the ocean being higher or lower than 
 another, but in the upheaving or depression of the strata on 
 which the waters rest. Strato's hypothesis evidently originated 
 in the belief that that which occurs in rivers is also the case in 
 regard to the sea ; viz. that there is a flow of water from the 
 higher places. Otherwise he would not have attempted to ac- 
 count for the current he observed at the Strait of Byzantium in 
 the manner he does, attributing it to the bed of the Euxine being 
 
CHAP. in. 6, 7. INTRODUCTION. 81 
 
 higher than that of the Propontis and adjoining ocean, and 
 even attempting to explain the cause thereof: viz. that the 
 bed of the Euxine is filled up and choked by the deposit of 
 the rivers which flow into it ; and its waters in consequence 
 driven out into the neighbouring sea. The same theory he 
 would apply in respect to the Mediterranean and Atlantic, 
 alleging that the bed of the former is higher than that of the 
 latter, in consequence of the number of rivers which flow into 
 it, and the alluvium they carry along with them. In that case 
 there ought to be a like influx at the Pillars and Calpe, 1 as 
 there is at Byzantium. But I waive this objection, as it might 
 be asserted that the influx was the same in both places, but 
 owing to the interference of the ebb and flow of the sea, be- 
 came imperceptible. 
 
 6. I rather make this inquiry : If there were any reason 
 why, before the outlet was opened at Byzantium, the bed of the 
 Euxine (being deeper than either that of the Propontis 2 or of 
 the adjoining sea 3 ) should not gradually have become more 
 shallow by the deposit of the rivers which flow into it, allow- 
 ing it formerly either to have been a sea, or merely a vast 
 lake greater than the Palus Maeotis ? This proposition being 
 conceded, I would next ask, whether before this the bed of 
 the Euxine would not have been brought to the same level as 
 the Propontis, and in that case, the pressure being counter- 
 poised, the overflowing of the water have been thus avoided ; 
 and if after the Euxine had been filled up, the superfluous waters 
 would not naturally have forced a passage and flowed off, and 
 by their commingling and power have caused the Euxine and 
 Propontis to flow into each other, and thus become one sea ? 
 no matter, as I said above, whether formerly it were a sea or a 
 lake, though latterly certainly a sea. This also being conceded, 
 they must allow that the present efflux depends neither upon 
 the elevation nor the inclination of the bed, as Strato's theory 
 would have us consider it. 
 
 7. We would apply the same arguments to the whole of the 
 Mediterranean and Atlantic, and account for the efflux of the 
 former, not by any [supposed] difference between the elevation 
 and inclination of its bed and of that of the Atlantic, but at- 
 
 1 This city of Calpe was near Mount Calpe, one of the Pillars of Her- 
 cules. 
 
 2 Sea of Marmora. * The ./Egaean. 
 
82 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK. 1. 
 
 tribute it to the number of rivers which empty themselves into 
 it. Since, according to this supposition, it is not incredible that, 
 had the whole of the Mediterranean Sea in times past been but 
 a lake filled by the rivers, and having overflowed, it might have 
 broken through the Strait at the Pillars, as through a cataract; 
 and still continuing to swell more and more, the Atlantic in 
 course of time would have become confluent by that channel, 
 and have run into one level, the Mediterranean thus becoming 
 a sea. In fine, the Physician did wrong in comparing the sea 
 to rivers, for the latter are borne down as a descending stream, 
 but the sea always maintains its level. The currents of 
 straits depend upon other causes, not upon the accumulation 
 of earth formed by the alluvial deposit from rivers, filling up 
 the bed of the sea. This accumulation only goes on at the 
 mouths of rivers. Such are what are called the Stethe or 
 Breasts at the mouth of the Ister, 1 the desert of the Scythians, 
 and Salmydessus, which are partially occasioned by other 
 winter-torrents as well ; witness the sandy, low, and even coast 
 of Colchis, 2 at the mouth of the Phasis, 3 the whole of the coast 
 of Themiscyra, 4 named the plain of the Amazons, near the 
 mouths of the Thermodon 5 and Iris, 6 and the greater part of 
 Sidene. 7 It is the same with other rivers, they all resemble 
 the Nile in forming an alluvial deposit at their mouths, some 
 more, some less than others. Those rivers which carry but 
 little soil with them deposit least, while others, which traverse 
 an extended and soft country, and receive many torrents in 
 their course, deposit the greatest quantity. Such for example 
 is the river Pyramus, 8 by which Cilicia has been considerably 
 augmented, and concerning which an oracle has declared, " This 
 shall occur when the wide waters of the Pyramus have enlarged 
 their banks as far as sacred Cyprus." 9 This river becomes na- 
 vigable from the middle of the plains of Cataonia, and entering 
 Cilicia 10 by the defiles of the Taurus, discharges itself into the 
 sea which flows between that country and the island of Cyprus. 
 
 Danube, 2 Mingrelia. 3 The river Fasz. 
 
 Now Djanik. The river Thermeh. 6 The Jekil-Irmak. 
 
 Sidin, or Valisa, is comprised in the territory of Djanik, being part of 
 th ancient kingdom of Pontus. 
 
 The river Geihun. 
 
 Gosselin remarks that the alluvial deposit of this river is now no 
 nearer to Cyprus than it was at the time of the prediction. 
 10 Cilicia and Cataonia are comprised in the modern Aladeuli. 
 
CHAP. in. 8, 9. INTRODUCTION. 83 
 
 8. These river deposits are prevented from advancing fur- 
 ther into the sea by the regularity of the ebb and flow, which 
 continually drive them back. For after the manner of living 
 creatures, which go on inhaling and exhaling their breath con- 
 tinually, so the sea in a like way keeps up a constant motion 
 in and out of itself. Any one may observe who stands on the 
 sea-shore when the waves are in motion, the regularity with 
 which they cover, then leave bare, and then again cover up 
 his feet. This agitation of the sea produces a continual move- 
 ment on its surface, which even when it is most tranquil has 
 considerable force, and so throws all extraneous matters on 
 to the land, and 
 
 " Flings forth the salt weed on the shore." l 
 
 This effect is certainly most considerable when the wind is on 
 the water, but it continues when all is hushed, and even when 
 it blows from land the swell is still carried to the shore against 
 the wind, as if by a peculiar motion of the sea itself. To this 
 the verses refer 
 
 " O'er the rocks that breast the flood 
 Borne turgid, scatter far the showery spray," 2 
 and, 
 
 " Loud sounds the roar of waves ejected wide." 3 
 
 9. The wave, as it advances, possesses a kind of power, 
 which some call the purging of the sea, to eject all foreign 
 substances. It is by this force that dead bodies and wrecks 
 are cast on shore. But on retiring it does not possess suffi- 
 cient power to carry back into the sea either dead bodies, 
 wood, or even the lightest substances, such as cork, which 
 may have been cast out by the waves. And by this means 
 when places next the sea fall down, being undermined by the 
 wave, the earth and the water charged with it are cast "back 
 again ; and the weight [of the mud] working at the same 
 time in conjunction with the force of the advancing tide, it is 
 the sooner brought to settle at the bottom, instead of being 
 
 1 Iliad ix. 7. 
 
 1 Being swollen it rises high around the projecting points, and spits 
 from it the foam of the sea. Iliad iv. 4'25. 
 
 3 The lofty shores resound, the wave being ejected [upon the beach]. 
 Iliad xvii. 265. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 carried out far into the sea. The force of the river current 
 ceases at a very little distance beyond its mouth. Otherwise, 
 supposing the rivers had an uninterrupted flow, by degrees 
 the whole ocean would be filled in. from the beach on- 
 wards, by the alluvial deposits. And this would be inevitable 
 even were the Euxine deeper than the sea of Sardinia, than 
 which a deeper sea has never been sounded, measuring, as it 
 does, according to Posidonius, about 1000 fathoms. 1 
 
 10. Some, however, may be disinclined to admit this ex- 
 planation, and would rather have proof from things more 
 manifest to the senses, and which seem to meet us at every 
 turn. Now deluges, earthquakes, eruptions of wind, and 
 risings in the bed of the sea, these things cause the rising 
 of the ocean, as sinking of the bottom causes it to become 
 lower. It is not the case that small volcanic or other islands 
 can be raised up from the sea, and not large ones, nor that 
 all islands can, but not continents, since extensive sinkings 
 of the land no less than small ones have been known ; 
 witness the yawning of those chasms which have ingulfed 
 whole districts no less than their cities, as is said to have 
 happened to Bura, 2 Bizone, 3 and many other towns at the 
 time of earthquakes : and there is no more reason why one 
 should rather think Sicily to have been disjoined from the 
 main-land of Italy than cast up from the bottom of the sea by 
 the fires of JEtna, as the Lipari and Pithecussan 4 Isles have 
 been. 
 
 11. However, so nice a fellow is Eratosthenes, that though 
 
 1 The word opywia, here rendered fathoms, strictly means the length 
 of the outstretched arms. As a measure of length it equals four TTTJXHC, 
 or six feet one inch. Gosselin seems to doubt with reason whether they 
 ever sounded such a depth as this would give, and proposes to compute 
 it by a smaller stadium in use at the time of Herodotus, which would 
 have the effect of diminishing the depth by almost one half. 
 
 2 A city of Achaia near to the Gulf of Corinth. Pliny tells us it was 
 submerged during an earthquake, about 371 years before the Christian 
 era. According to Pausanias, it was a second time destroyed by the 
 shock of an earthquake, but again rebuilt by the inhabitants who survived. 
 
 3 A city placed by some in Thrace, but by others in Pontus ; a more 
 probable opinion seems to be that Bizone was in Lower Moesia, on the 
 westei-n side of the Euxine. Pomponius Mela asserts that Bizone was 
 entirely destroyed by an earthquake, but according to Strabo, (lib. vii.,) 
 who places it about 40 stadia from the sea, it was only partially de- 
 molished. 4 Ischia. 
 
CHAP. in. 11. INTRODUCTION. 85 
 
 he professes himself a mathematician, 1 he rejects entirely the 
 dictum of Archimedes, who, in his work " On Bodies in Suspen- 
 sion," says that all liquids when left at rest assume a spherical 
 form, having a centre of gravity similar to that of the earth. 
 jTdictum which is~acknowledged by all who have the slight- 
 est pretensions to mathematical sagacity. He says that the 
 Mediterranean, which, according to his own description, is one 
 entire sea, has not the same level even at points quite close 
 to each other ; and offers us the authority of engineers for 
 this piece of folly, notwithstanding the affirmation of mathe- 
 maticians that engineering is itself only one division of the 
 mathematics. He tells us that Demetrius 2 intended to cut 
 through the Isthmus of Corinth, to open a passage for his 
 fleet, but was prevented by his engineers, who, having taken 
 measurements, reported that the level of the sea at the Gulf 
 of Corinth was higher than at Cenchrea, 3 so that if he cut 
 through the isthmus, not only the coasts near ^Egina, but 
 even JEgina itself, with the neighbouring islands, would be 
 laid completely under water, while the passage would prove 
 of little value. According to Eratosthenes, it is this which 
 occasions the current in straits, especially the current in the 
 Strait of Sicily, 4 where effects similar to the flow and ebb of 
 the tide are remarked. The current there changes twice in 
 the course of a day and night, like as in that period the 
 tides of the sea flow and ebb twice. In the Tyrrhenian sea 5 
 the current which is called descendent, and which runs to- 
 wards the sea of Sicily, as if it followed an inclined plane, 
 corresponds to the flow of the tide in the ocean. We may 
 remark, that this current corresponds to the flow both in the 
 time of its commencement arid cessation. For it commences 
 at the rising and setting of the moon, and recedes when that 
 satellite attains its meridian, whether above [in the zenith] or 
 below the earth [in the nadir]. In the same way occurs the 
 opposite or ascending current, as it is called. It corresponds to 
 
 1 We have here followed the earlier editions, as preferable to Kramer, 
 who supplies firi before fJ.a9rjnaTiKOQ. 
 
 2 Demetrius Poliorcetes : the same intention is narrated by Pliny and 
 other historians of Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero. 
 
 3 Kankri. 4 Strait of Messina. 
 
 4 The sea which washes the shores of Tuscany. Strabo applies the 
 term to the whole sea from the mouth of the Arno to Sicily. 
 
86 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 the ebb of the ocean, and commences as soon as the moon has 
 reached either zenith or nadir, and ceases the moment she 
 reaches the point of her rising or setting. [So far Eratosthenes.] 
 12. The nature of the ebb and flow has been sufficiently treat- 
 ed of by Posidonius and Athenodorus. Concerning the flux and 
 reflux of the currents, which also may be explained by phy- 
 sics, it will suffice our present purpose to observe, that in the 
 various straits these do not resemble each other, but each strait 
 has its own peculiar current. Were they to resemble each other, 
 the current at the Strait of Sicily l would not change merely 
 twice during the day, (as Eratosthenes himself tells us it does,) 
 and at Chalcis seven times ; 2 nor again that of Constantinople, 
 which does not change at all, but runs always in one direction 
 from the Euxine to the Propontis, and, as Hipparchus tells us, 
 sometimes ceases altogether. However, if they did all de- 
 pend on one cause, it would not be that which Eratosthenes 
 has assigned, namely, that the various seas have different levels. 
 The kind of inequality he supposes would not even be found 
 in rivers only for the cataracts ; and where these cataracts 
 occur, they occasion no ebbing, but have one continued down- 
 ward flow, which is caused by the inclination both of the flow 
 and the surface ; and therefore though they have no flux or 
 reflux they do not remain still, on account of a principle of 
 flowing which is inherent in them ; at the same time they 
 cannot be on the same level, but one must be higher and one 
 lower than another. But who ever imagined the surface of 
 the ocean to be on a slope, especially those who follow a sys- 
 tem which supposes the four bodies we call elementary, to be 
 spherical. 3 For water is not like the earth, which being of a 
 solid nature is capable of permanent depressions and risings, 
 but by its force of gravity spreads equally over the earth, 
 
 1 Strait of Messina. 
 
 2 Gosselin observes that Le Pfere Babin, who had carefully examined 
 the currents of the Euripus of Chalcis, says that they are regular during 
 eighteen or nineteen days of every month, the flux and reflux occurring 
 twice in the twenty-four hours, and following the same laws as in 
 the ocean ; but from the ninth to the thirteenth, and from the twenty- 
 first to the twenty-sixth, of each lunar month they become irregular, the 
 flux occurring from twelve to fourteen times in the twenty-four hours, 
 and the reflux as often. 
 
 3 See Plutarch, de Plac. Philos. lib. i. c. 14, and Stobams, Eel. Phys. 
 lib. i. c. 18. 
 
CHAP. in. 13. INTRODUCTION. 87 
 
 and assumes that kind of level which Archimedes has assign- 
 ed it. 
 
 13. To what we cited before concerning the temple of Am- 
 mon and Egypt, Eratosthenes adds, that to judge from ap- 
 pearances, Mount Casius 1 was formerly covered by sea, and 
 the whole district now" known as Gerra lay under shoal water 
 touching the bay of the ErythraeanTSea, 2 but was left dry on 
 the union 3 of the [Mediterranean] Sea [with the ocean]. A 
 certain amphibology lurks here under this description of the 
 district lying under shoal water and touching the bay of the 
 Erythraean Sea; for to touch 4 both means to be close to, and 
 also to be in actual contact with, so that when applied to 
 water it would signify that one flows into the other. I under- 
 stand him to mean, that so long as the strait by the PijjarsVf 
 Hercules remained closed, these marshes covered with shoal- 
 water extended as faras the ^AnibiajU^ulf, but on that pas- 
 sage being forced. .open, the Mediterranean, discharging itself 
 by the strait, became lower, and the land was left dry. 
 
 On the otherTiand, Hipparchus understands by the term 
 touching, that the Mediterranean, being over-full, flowed into 
 the Erythraean Sea, and he inquires how it could happen, 
 that as the Mediterranean flowed out by this new vent at the 
 Pillars of Hercules, the Erythraean Sea, which was all one 
 with it, did not flow away too, and thus become lower, but has 
 always retained the same level ? and since Eratosthenes sup- 
 poses the whole exterior sea to be confluent, it follows that the 
 Western Ocean 5 and the Erythraean Sea are all one ; and thus 
 [remarks Hipparchus] as a necessary consequence, the sea be- 
 yond the Pillars of Hercules, the Erythraean Sea, and that also 
 which is confluent with it, 6 have all the same level. 
 
 1 El-K^g. 2 The Arabian Gulf. Mr. Stephenson, while examin- 
 
 ing flie~Temsah Lakes, anciently called the Bitter Lakes, discovered re- 
 cent marine remains similar to those on the shores of the present sea, 
 clearly showing that the basin of the Temsah Lakes was the head of the 
 Arabian Gulf at a period geologically recent. 
 
 * We have here followed MSS. which all read vvveXOovviiG & T% $a- 
 \arrrjs. The French editors propose ovvevSovcrriG e TYIQ flaXarrjjc, with 
 the sense of " but on the retiring of the Mediterranean," &c. 
 
 4 This accusation may not seem quite fair to the English reader. 
 Touch is the nearest term in our language by which we can express the 
 Greek vvvaTTTU), the use of which Strabo objects to in this passage ; still 
 the meaning of the English word is much too definite for the Greek. 
 
 5 The Atlantic. Viz. the Mediterranean. 
 
STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 14. But, Eratosthenes would reply, I never said that, in con- 
 sequence of the repletion of the Mediterranean, it actually 
 flowed into the Erythraean Sea, but only that it approached 
 very near thereto : besides, it does not follow, that in one and 
 the self-same sea, the level of its surface must be all the same; 
 to instance the Mediterranean itself, no one, surely, will say it 
 is of the same height at Lechjeum l and at Cenchrea. 2 This 
 answer Hipparchus anticipated in his Critique ; and being 
 aware of the opinion of Eratosthenes, was justified in attacking 
 his arguments. But he ought not to have taken it for granted, 
 that when Eratosthenes said the exterior sea was all one, he 
 necessarily implied that its level was every where the same. 
 
 15. Hipparchus rejects as false the [account] of the inscrip- 
 tion on the dolphins " by the delegates from Gyrene," but the 
 reason he assigns for this is insufficient, viz. that though Gyrene 
 was built in times of which we have record, no one mentions the 
 oracle, 3 as being situated on the sea-shore. But what matters 
 it that no historian has recorded this, when amongst the other 
 proofs from which we infer that this place was formerly on 
 the sea-shore, we number this of the dolphins which were set 
 up, and the inscription, "by the delegates from Gyrene ?" 4 Hip- 
 parchus agrees that if the bottom of the sea were raised up, 
 it would lift the water with it, and might therefore overflow 
 the land as far as the locality of the oracle, or more than 3000 
 stadia from the shore ; but he will not allow that the rising 
 would be sufficient to overflow the Island of Pharos and the 
 major portion of Egypt, since [he says] the elevation would 
 not be sufficient to submerge these. He alleges that if before 
 the opening of the passage at the Pillars of Hercules, the 
 Mediterranean had been swollen to such an extent as Eratos- 
 thenes affirms, the whole of Libya, and the greater part of 
 Europe and Asia, must long ago have been buried beneath its 
 
 1 The western part of the town of Corinth, situated in the sea of 
 Crissa. Its modern name is Pelagio. 
 
 2 Kankri. 3 Viz. the temple of Jupiter Ammon, mentioned above. 
 4 Gosselin remarks, Gyrene was founded 631 years before the Christian 
 
 era, and at that time the limits of the Mediterranean were the same as 
 they are now. Amongst the Greeks, dolphins were the ordinary symbols 
 of the principal seaport towns ; and if the delegates from Gyrene set up 
 this symbol of their country in the temple of Ammon, I see no reason 
 why Eratosthenes and Strabo should regard the offering as a proof that 
 the temple was on the sea-shore. 
 
CHAP. in. 16. INTRODUCTION. 89 
 
 waves. Besides, he adds, in this case the Euxine would in 
 certain places have been connected with the Adriatic, since 
 in the vicinity of the Euxine, [near to its source,] 1 the Ister 
 is divided in its course, and flows into either sea, owing to the 
 peculiarities of the ground. 2 To this we object, that the Ister 
 does not take its rise at all in the vicinity of the Euxine, but, 
 on the contrary, beyond the mountains of the Adriatic; neither 
 does it flow into both the seas, but into the Euxine alone, and 
 only becomes divided just above its mouths. This latter, 
 however, was an error into which he fell in common with 
 many of his predecessors. They supposed that there was 
 another river in addition to the former Ister, bearing the 
 same name, which emptied itself into the Adriatic, and from 
 which the country of Istria, through which it flowed, gained 
 that appellation. It was by this river they believed Jason 
 returned on his voyage from Colchis. 
 
 16. In order to lessen surprise at such changes as we have 
 mentioned as causes of the inundations and other similar 
 phenomena which are supposed to have produced Sicily, the 
 islands of JEolus, 3 and the Pithecussas, it may be as well to 
 compare with these others of a similar nature, which either 
 now are, or else have been observed in other localities. A 
 large array of such facts placed at once before the eye would 
 serve to allay our astonishment ; while that which is uncommon 
 startles our perception, and manifests our general ignorance of 
 the occurrences which take place in nature and physical ex- 
 istence. For instance, supposing any one should narrate the 
 circumstances concerning Thera and the Therasian JEslands, 
 situafecTin the strait between Crete and the Cyrenaic, 4 Thera 
 being itself the metropolis of Cyrene ; or those [in connexion 
 
 1 We have thought it necessary, with the French translators, to insert 
 these words, since although they are found in no MS. of Strabo, the ar- 
 gument which follows is clearly unintelligible without them. 
 
 2 Hipparchus, believing that the Danube emptied itself by one mouth 
 into the Euxine, and by another into the Adriatic Gulf, imagined that 
 if the waters of the Mediterranean were raised in the manner proposed 
 by Eratosthenes, the valley through which that river flows would have 
 been submerged, and so formed a kind of strait by which the Euxine 
 would have been connected to the Adriatic Gulf. 
 
 3 The Lipari Islands. 
 
 * There is some mistake here. Strabo himself elsewhere tells us that / 
 the islands of Thera and Therasia were situated in the ^gaean Sea, near V 
 to the island of Nanfio. ** 
 
9 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 with] Ejpjt, and many parts of Greece. For midway be- 
 T&gcasia. flames rushed forth frorrPthe sea 
 for the^spSce of four.jlays ; causing the whole of it to boil 
 and be ajT~on^Hre ; and after a little an island tweTgfijjtaflia 
 in circumference, composed of the burning mass, was thrown 
 Jip. as if raised by machinery. After the cessation of this 
 phenomenon, the Rhodians, then masters of the sea, were 
 the first who dared to sail to the place, and Ifiey built 
 there on the island a temple to the Asphalian 1 Neptune. 
 Posidonius remarks, that during an earthquake which occur- 
 recTm Phoenicia, a city situated above Si don was swallowed 
 up, and tliatriearly two-thirds of Sidon~aTso fell, but not sud- 
 denly, and therefore with no greatToss of life. That the same 
 occurred, though in a lighter form, throughout nearly the whole 
 of Syria, and was felt even in some of the Cyclades and the 
 Island of Euboea, 2 so that the fountains of Arethusa, a spring 
 in Chalcis, were completely obstructed, and after some time 
 forced for themselves another opening, and the whole island 
 ceased not to experience shocks until a chasm was rent open 
 in the earth in the plain of Lelanto, 3 from which poured a 
 river of burning mud. 
 
 T7. Many writers have recorded similar occurrences, but it 
 will suffice us to narrate those which have been collected by* 
 Demetrius of Skepsis. 
 
 Apropos of that passage of Homer : 
 
 " And now they reach'd the running rivulets clear, 
 
 Where from Scamander's dizzy flood arise 
 
 Two fountains, tepid one, from which a smoke 
 
 Issues voluminous as from a fire, 
 
 The other, even in summer heats, like hail 
 
 For cold, or snow, or crystal stream frost-bound :" 4 
 
 this writer tells us we must not be surprised, that although 
 the cold spring still remains, the hot cannot be discovered ; 
 
 1 " Defending from danger." More probably, in this instance, the 
 Securer of Foundations. 
 
 2 Egripo. 
 
 3 This plain was near the city of Chalcis, which at the present day 
 bears the same name as the island itself. 
 
 4 And reached the two fair -flowing springs, where the two springs of 
 the eddying Scamander rise. The one, indeed, flows with tepid water, 
 and a steam arises from it around, as of burning fire ; whilst the other 
 flows forth in the summer time, like unto hail, or cold snow, or ice from 
 water. Iliad xxii. 147. 
 
CHAP. in. 18. INTRODUCTION. 91 
 
 and says we must reckon the failing of the Lot spring as the 
 cause. He goes on to relate certain catastrophes recorded by 
 Democles, how formerly in the reign of Tantalus l there were 
 great earthquakes in Lydia and Ionia as far as the Troad, 2 
 which swallowed up whole, villages lind overturned Mount 
 Sipylus ; 3 marshes then became lakes, and the city of Trov was 
 covered by the waters. 4 Pharos, near Egypt, which anciently 
 was an_Mand, may now be called a peninsula, and the same 
 may be said of J?y_re and Clazpmenae. 5 
 
 During my stay at Alexandria in Egypt the sea rose so 
 high near Pelusium 6 and Mount Casius 7 as to overflow the 
 land, and convert the mountain into an island, so that a 
 journey from Casius into Phoenicia might have been under- 
 taken by water. We should not be surprised therefore if in 
 time to come the isthmus 8 which separates the Egyptian sea 9 
 from the Erythraean, 10 should part asunder or subside, and be- 
 coming a strait, connect the outer and inner seas, 11 similarly 
 to what has taken place at the strait of the Pillars. 
 
 At the commencement of this work will be found some 
 other narrations of a similar kind, which should be considered 
 at the same time, and which will greatly tend to strengthen our 
 belief both in these works of nature and also in its other changes. 
 
 18. The Piraeus having been formerly an, island, and lying 
 Wpav, or ofFThe shore, is said to have thus received its name. 
 Leucas, 12 on the contrary, has been made an island by the 
 Corinthians, who cut through the isthmus which connected it 
 with the shore [of tHe mainland]. It is concerning this place 
 that Laertes is made to say, 
 
 1 Tantalus lived about 1387, B. c. 
 
 * Lydia and Ionia form the modern provinces of Aidin and Sarukan 
 in Anadoli. A part of the Troad still preserves the name of Troiaki. 
 
 2 A mountain in Maeonia, close to the city of Magnesia. 
 
 4 Ilus, who ascended the throne about 1400 years before the Christian 
 era, founded the city, to which he gave the name of Ilium. The old city 
 of Troy stood on a hill, and was safe from the inundation. 
 
 5 These two cities were built on little islets adjoining the continent. 
 Alexander connected them with the mainland by means of jetties. 
 Clazomenae was situated on the Gulf of Smyrna, near to a place now called 
 Vurla or Burla. The present appellation of Tyre, on the coast of Pho2- 
 nicia, is Sur. 
 
 6 Tineh. T El-Kas. 8 Of Suez. 
 
 9 That part of the Mediterranean adjoining Egypt. 
 
 10 The Red Sea. " The Red Sea and Mediterranean. 12 Sta. Maura. 
 
92 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 " Oh that I posscss'd 
 Such vigour now as when in arms \ took 
 Nericus, continental city fair." ! 
 
 Here man devoted his labour to make a separation, in 
 other instances to the construction of moles and bridges. 
 Such is that which connects the island opposite to Syracuse 2 
 with the mainland. This junction is now effected by means 
 of a bridge, but formerly, according to Ibycus, by a pier of 
 picked stones, which he calls elect. Of Bura 3 and Helice, 4 
 one has been swallowed by an earthquake, the other covered 
 by the waves. Near to Methone, 5 which is on the Hermionic 
 Gulf, 6 a mountain seven stadia in height was cast up during a 
 fiery eruption ; during the day it could not be approached on 
 account of the heat and sulphureous smell ; at night it 
 emitted an agreeable odour, appeared brilliant at a distance, 
 and was so hot that the sea boiled all around it to a distance 
 of five stadia, and appeared in a state of agitation for twenty 
 stadia, the heap being formed of fragments of rock as large as 
 towers. Both Arne and Mideia 7 have been buried in the 
 waters of Lake Copais. 8 These towns the poet in his Cata- 
 logue 9 thus speaks of; 
 
 " Arne claims 
 
 A record next for her illustrious sons, 
 
 Vine-bearing Arne. Thou wast also there 
 
 Mideia." 10 
 
 It seems that several Thracian cities have been submerged by 
 the Lake Bistonis, 11 and that now called Aphnitis. 12 Some also 
 
 1 Odyss. xxiv. 376. 
 
 I The island of Ortygia, now St. Marcian. * Diakopton. 
 4 Probably Bulika, according to others Trypia or Niora. 
 
 * Methone is the same town which Pausanias (1. ii. c.3'2) names Methona, 
 it was situated in the Argolis between Troezene and Epidaurus. The above 
 writer tells us that in the reign of Antigonus, son of Demetrius king of 
 Macedonia, there was a breaking out of subterranean fires close to Me- 
 thona. This event, which it is probable Strabo alludes to, occurred some 
 where between the year 277 and 244, oefore the Christian era. The town 
 still exists under its ancient name of Methona. 
 
 6 An error in all the MSS. The Saronic Gulf is intended. 
 
 r Vide Strabo, b. ix. c. ii. 34, 35. 8 In Bceotia. 
 
 9 The Second Iliad, or Catalogue of Ships. 
 
 10 And those who inhabited grape-clustered Arne, and those [who in- 
 habited] Mideia. Iliad ii. 007. 
 
 II This Thracian lake or lagoon is now called Burum. It is formed by 
 the mouths of several rivers, and lies to the north of the isle of Thaso. 
 
 12 Diaskillo, a/. Biga. 
 
CHAP. in. 19. INTRODUCTION. 93 
 
 affirm that certain cities of Trerus were also overwhelmed, in 
 the neighbourhood of Thrace. Artemita, formerly one of the 
 Echinades, 1 is now part of the mainland; the same has hap- 
 pened to some other of the islets near the Achelous, occasioned, 
 it is said, in the same way, by the alluvium carried into the 
 sea by that river, and Hesiod 2 assures us that a like fate 
 awaits them all. Some of ihe ^Etoljan ^promontories were 
 formerlj^Jslands. Asteria, 3 called by Homer Asteris, is no^ 
 longer what it was. 
 
 " There is a rocky isle 
 
 In the mid-sea, Samos the rudebetween 
 
 And Ithaca, not large, named Asteris. 
 
 It hath commodious havens, into which 
 
 A passage clear opens on either side." 4 
 
 There is no good anchorage there now. Neither is there in 
 Ithaca the cavern, nor yet the temple of the nymphs described 
 to us by Homer. It seems more correct to attribute this to 
 change having come over the places, than either to the ignor- 
 ance or the romancing of the poet. This however, being 
 uncertain, must be left to every man's opinion. 
 
 19. Myrsilus tells us that Antissa 5 was formerly an island, 
 and so called because it was opposite to Lesbos, 6 then named 
 Issa. Now, however, it forms one of the towns of Lesbos. 7 
 Seme have believed that Lesbos itself has been disjoined from 
 Mount Ida in the same way as Prochytas 8 and Pithecussa 9 
 from Misenum, 10 CapreaB n from the Athenaeum, Sicily from 
 
 1 These are certain little islands at the mouth of the river Achelous, the 
 modern Aspropotamo, which formed the boundary between Acarnania 
 and ^Etolia. Now Curzolari. 
 
 2 It is supposed we should here read Herodotus. Conf. Herod, ii. 10, 
 
 3 Daskalio. 
 
 4 Now there is a certain rocky island in the middle of the sea, between 
 Ithaca and the rugged Samos, Asteris, not large ; and in it there are 
 havens fit for ships, with two entrances. Odyssey iv. 844. 
 
 5 That is to say, the territory opposite Issa ; probably the ruins near to 
 Kalas Limenaias. 
 
 6 The present island of Metelino. 
 
 7 'H. df'AvTiffffa v7)ffoq i\v Trportpoj/, we Mwpffi'Xof r\GC rijg [ete] AeajScv 
 KaXovfitvrjQ 7rp6repoj>*I<r!777c, Kai rrjv vfjtrov'AvTifftrav KaXtlaOai avvefli). 
 Our rendering of this passage, though rather free, seemed necessary to the 
 clear explication of the Greek. 
 
 8 Procita. * Ischia. 
 
 10 Miseno, the northern cape of the Gulf of Naples. 
 
 11 Capri. 
 
94 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Rhegium, 1 and Ossa from Olympus. 2 Many changes similar 
 to these have occurred elsewhere. The river Ladon in Ar- 
 cadia ceased for some time its flow. Duris informs us that 
 the Rhagas 3 in Media gained that appellation from chasms 
 made in the ground near the Gates of the Caspian 4 by earth- 
 quakes, in which many cities and villages were destroyed, and 
 the rivers underwent various changes. Ion, in his satirical 
 composition of Omphale, has said of Eubcea, 
 
 " The light wave of the Euripus has divided the land of Euboea from 
 Bo2otia; separating the projecting land by a strait." 
 
 20. Demetrius of Callatis, speaking of the earthquakes 
 which formerly occurred throughout the whole of Greece, 
 states that a great portion of the Lichadian Islands and of 
 Kenaeum 5 were submerged ; that the hot springs 'of ./Edepsus 6 
 and Thermopylae were suppressed for three days, and that 
 when they commenced to run again those of .ZEdepsus gushed 
 from new fountains. That at Oreus 7 on the sea-coast the 
 wall and nearly seven hundred houses fell at once. That the 
 greater part of Echinus, 8 Phalara, 9 and Heraclaea of Trachis 10 
 were thrown down, Phalara being overturned from its very 
 foundations. That almost the same misfortune occurred to 
 the Lamians 11 and inhabitants of Larissa; that Scarpheia 12 
 was overthrown from its foundations, not less than one 
 thousand seven hundred persons being swallowed up, and at 
 
 I Reggio. 
 
 * These two mountains are separated from each other by the river 
 Penaeus. 
 
 3 'Payac, a rent or chink. This town was sixty miles from Ecbatana ; 
 it was named by the Arabs Rai, and is now in ruins. It is the Rhages 
 in Tobias. 
 
 4 Certain mountain defiles, now called Firouz-Koh. 
 
 * A western promontory of Euboea, called by the modern Greeks 
 Kabo Lithari. The Lichadian Islands, which now bear the name of Li- 
 tada, are close by. 
 
 6 A city of Eubcea ; hod. Dipso. 7 In Euboea, now Orio. 
 
 8 Now Echino ; belonged to Thessaly and was near the sea. 
 
 9 Now Stillida ; situated on the Bay of Zeitoun. 
 
 10 A little town situated in a plain amongst the mountains. It received 
 its name from a tradition that Hercules abode there during the lime that 
 the pyre on Mount CEta was being prepared, into which he cast himself. 
 
 II Lamia in Thessaly. 
 
 12 A city of the Epi-Cnemidian Locrians in Achaia ; its present name 
 is Bondoniza. 
 
CHAP. in. 21. INTRODUCTION. 95 
 
 Thronium 1 more than half that number. That a torrent of water 
 gushed forth taking three directions, one to Scarphe and Thro- 
 nium, another to Thermopylae, and a third to the plains of 
 Daphnus in Phocis. That the springs of [many] rivers were 
 for several days dried up ; that the course of the Sperchius 2 
 was changed, thus rendering navigable what formerly were high- 
 ways ; that the Boagrius 3 flowed through another channel; 
 that many parts of Alope, Cynus, and Opus were injured, 4 
 and the castle of CEum. which commands the latter city, en- 
 tirely overturned. That part of the wall of Elateia 5 was 
 thrown down ; and that at Alponus, 6 during the celebration of 
 the games in honour of Ceres, twenty-five maidens, who had 
 mounted a tower to enjoy the show exhibited in the port, 
 were precipitated into the sea by the falling of the tower. 
 They also record that a large fissure was made [by the water] 
 through the midst of the island of Atalanta, 7 opposite Eubrea, 8 
 sufficient for ships to sail in ; that the course of the channel 
 was in places as broad as twenty stadia between the plains ; 
 and that a trireme being raised [thereby] out of the docks, 
 was carried over the walls. 
 
 21. Those who desire to instil into us that more perfect free- 
 dom from [ignorant] wonder, which Democritus and all other 
 philosophers so highly extol, should add the changes which have 
 been produced by the migrations of various tribes : we should 
 thus be inspired with courage, steadiness, and composure. 
 For instance, the Western Iberians, 9 removed to the regions 
 beyond the Euxine and Colchis, being separated from Arme- 
 
 1 A town close to Scarpheia ; its ruins are said to be still visible at 
 Palaio Kastro. 
 
 2 Now Agriomela or Ellada, a river descending from Mount (Eta, and 
 emptying itself into the Bay of Zeitoun. 
 
 3 A torrent near Thronium ; its present name is Boagrio. 
 
 4 Three cities of the Opuntian Locrians ; Cynus, the port of Opus, is 
 now called Kyno. 
 
 5 One of the principal cities of Phocis, near the river Cephissus ; a 
 little village called Leuta stands on the ancient site. 
 
 6 Probably the Alpene in Locris mentioned by Herodotus. 
 
 7 The modern Talanta. 8 Egripo. 
 
 9 The Western Iberians are the people who inhabited Spain, and were 
 said to have removed into Eastern Iberia, a country situated in the centre 
 of the isthmus which separates the Euxine from the Caspian Sea. The 
 district is now called Carduel, and is a region of Georgia. 
 
96 
 
 STRABO. 
 
 nia, according to Apollodorus, by the Araxes, 1 but rather by 
 the Cyrus 2 and Moschican mountains. 3 ' The expedition of 
 the Egyptians into Ethiopia 4 and Colchis. The migration of 
 the Heneti, 5 who passed from Paphlagonia into the country 
 I bordering on the Adriatic Gulf. Similar ennVratipns were also 
 undertaken by the nations of Greece, tTuTlonians, Dorians, 
 Achaians, and .^Eolians ; and thlT^Enians, 6 now next neighbours 
 ttTtHe jEtolians, formerly dwelt nealrTDotium 7 and Ossa, beyond 
 the Perrhsebi ; 8 ffie~" PerrhaelSI too are but wanderers here 
 theroselves. Our present work furnishes, numerous instances 
 of the same kind. Some of these are familiar to most readers, 
 but the migrations of the Carians. the Treres, the_Teucrians, 
 and" the jjjatae^or Gauls, 9 are not so generally known. Nor 
 yet for ~tne mosTparT are the expeditions of their chiefs, for 
 instance, Madys the__^ythian, Tearko the Ethiopian, Cobus 
 of Trerus, Sesostris and Psammeticus the Egyptians ; uoj^are 
 those of the Persians from Cyrus to Xerxes familiar to every 
 one. The Kimmerians, or a~separ"ate tribe of them, called the 
 Treres, have frequently overrun the countries to the right of 
 the Euxine and those adjacent to them, bursting now into 
 Paphlagonia, now into Phrjgia, as they did when, according 
 to report, Midas 1() came to his death by drinking bull's blood. 
 Lygdamis lecl his followers into Lydia, passed througlTTonia, 
 jtoojTj-Jardis, but was slain in Cilicia. The Kioomerians and 
 jTreres frequently made similaFlncursions, until at last, as it 
 is reported, these latter, togetherlvTtlTftheir chief] Cobus, were 
 
 1 The river Aras. 2 The river Kur. 
 
 3 The mountains which border Colchis or Mingrelia on the south. 
 
 * According to Herodotus, Sesostris was the only Egyptian monarch 
 who ever reigned in Ethiopia. Pliny says he penetrated as far as the 
 promontory of Mosylon. 
 
 5 Veneti. 
 
 6 A small people of Thessaly, who latterly dwelt near Mount CEta, 
 which separated them from ^Etolia and Phocis. 
 
 A city and plahijnjrjiessaly, near to Mount Ossa. 
 
 Lacedon, at the time of Strabo dwelling north of the 
 river ' 
 
 9 Few nations have wandered so far and wide as the Galatse. We meet 
 with them in Europe, Asia, and Africa, under the various names of Galatae, 
 Galatians, Gauls, and Kelts. Galatia, in Asia Minor, was settled by one 
 of these hordes. 
 
 10 There were many kings of Phrygia of this name. 
 
CHAP. in. 22. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 driven out by Madys, king of the " Scythians." ] Bu' 
 
 has been said in this place on the general history of tl , 
 
 as each country will have a particular account. 
 
 22. We must now return to the point whence we digressed. 
 Herodotus hayingobserved that there-could be no such people 
 as ^HypejjjQiean s, inasmuch as there were no Hypernotii, 2 
 Eratosthenes calls this argument ridiculous, and compares 
 it to the sophisnf, that" there are no epichserekaki, 3 inasmuch 
 as there are no epichaeragathi ; 4 [adding] perhaps there are 
 Hypernotii ; since at all events in Ethiopia Notus does not 
 blow, although lower down it does. 
 
 It would indeed be strange, since winds blow under every 
 latitude, and especially the southern wind called Notus, if any 
 region could be found where this latter was not felt. On 
 the contrary, not only does Ethiopia experience our Notus, 
 but also the whole country which lies above as far as the 
 equator. 5 
 
 If Herodotus must be blamed at all, it is for supposing that 
 the Hyperboreans were so named in consequence of Boreas, or 
 the north wind, not blowing upon them. The poets are allowed 
 much licence in their modes of expression ; but their com- 
 mentators, who endeavour always to give us the correct view, 
 tell us that the people who dwelt in the extreme north, were 
 styled Hyperboreans. The pole is the boundary of the northern 
 
 1 The text of Kramer follows most MSS. in reading " Kimmerians," 
 but he points it out as a manifest error ; and refers to Herodotus i. 103. 
 
 2 By Hyperboreans are meant people who dwelt beyond the point from 
 whence the north wind proceeded : Hypernotii therefore should be those 
 who lived beyond the point of the procession of the south wind. The 
 remark of Herodotus will be found, lib. iv. 36. It is simply this : Sup- 
 posing Hyperboreans, there ought likewise to be Hypernotii. 
 
 3 Those who exult over the misfortunes of their neighbours. 
 
 4 Those who rejoice in others' prosperity. 
 
 5 Gosselin observes, that what Strabo here says, is in accordance with 
 the geographical system of the ancients, who supposed that Africa did 
 not extend as far as the equator. As they distinguished the continent 
 situated in the northern from a continent which they believed to exist 
 in the southern hemisphere, and which they styled the Antichthones, 
 they called the wind, blowing from the neighbourhood of the equator, 
 in the direction of the two poles, a south wind for either hemisphere. 
 For example, if sailors should be brought to the equator by a north 
 wind, and that same wind should continue to waft them on their course 
 after having passed the line, it would no longer be called a north, but a 
 south wind. 
 
 VOL. i. ii 
 
98 STEABO. BOOK i. 
 
 winds, and the equator of the southern ; these winds have no 
 other limit. 
 
 23. Eratosthenes next finds fault with the writers who fill 
 their narrative with stories evidently feigned and impossible ; 
 some as mere fable, but others as history, which did not de- 
 serve mention. In the discussion of a subject like his, he 
 should not have wasted his time about such trifles. Such is 
 the way in which this writer completes the First Book of his 
 Memoirs. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. IN his Second Book Eratosthenes endeavours to correct 
 some errors in geography, and offers his own views on the 
 subject, any mistakes in which we shall endeavour in our turn 
 to set right. He is correct in saying that the inductions of 
 mathematics and natural philosophy should be employed, and 
 
 t thatif^the earth is spheroidal like_the u ni verse, it is inhabited 
 
 ^* mall j>arts ; together with some other things of this nature. 
 
 Later writers do not agree with him as to the size of the 
 
 earth, 1 nor admit his measurement. However Hipparchus, 
 
 when noting the cj]^sjial^rjD^aj^ances for each particular lo- 
 
 / cality, adoptsjiis admeasurements, saying thaTtHose~fa^eri for 
 tTip: rnfirufinn of Mprn^ 2 Alftyapdria. and the Dnieper, dif- 
 fer but very slightly from the truth. JEratosthenes then en- 
 ters into a long discussion concerning the figure of the globe, 
 proving that the form of the earth together with the water is 
 
 / -^spheroidal, as jls^_jhej^eaf!ns. ^This however we imagine 
 
 ^*~ was foreign to his purpose, and should have been disposed of 
 in the compass of a few words. 
 
 2. After this he proceeds to determine the breadth of the 
 habitable earth : he tells us, that measuring from the meridian 
 of Meroe 3 to Alexandria, there are 10,000 stadia. 
 
 1 According to Gosselin, this does not allude to the size of the whole 
 earth, but merely that part of it which, according to the theory of the 
 ancients, was alone, habitable. 
 
 - Most probably Gherri in Sennaar. 
 
 3 Eratosthenes supposed that Meroe, Alexandria, the Hellespont, and 
 
CHAP. iv. 3, 4. INTRODUCTION. 99 
 
 From thence to the Hellespont 1 about 8100. Again; 
 from thence to the Dnieper, 50l)0 ; and thence to the parallel 
 of Thule, 2 which Pytheas says is six (jays' sail north from 
 Britain, and near the Frozen Sea, other 11,500. To"whlch 
 iFw-e add 3400 stadia a5ove~T5Teroe in order to include the 
 Island of the Egyptians, 3 the Cinnamon country, and Tapro- 
 bane, 4 there will be in all 38,000 stadia. 
 
 3. We will let pass the rest of his distances, since they are 
 something near, but that the Dnieper is under the same 
 parallel as Thule, what man in his senses could ever agree to 
 this ? Pytheas, who has given us the history of Thule, is known 
 to be a man upon whom no reliance can be placed, and other 
 writers who have seen Britain andj^rne, 5 although they tell 
 us of many small islaricfsround Britain, make no mention 
 whatever of Thule. The length^f Britain itself is nearly the 
 saine ^_t]iat_oJ^eltica, 6 opposite to which it extends. Alto- 
 gether it is not more than 5000 stadia in length, its outer- 
 most points corresponding to those of the opposite continent. 
 In fact the extreme points of the two countries lie opposite to 
 each other, the eastern extremity to the eastern, and the 
 western to the western: the eastern points are situated so 
 close as to be within sight of each other^ both at Kent and at 
 the mouths oT th^Tthme] But Pytheas tells us that the is- 
 land [of Britain] is more than 20,000 stadia in length, and 
 that Kent is some days' sail from France. With regard to 
 the locality of the Ostimii, and the countries beyond the 
 Rhine, 7 as far as Scythia, he is altogether mistaken. The 
 veracity of a writer who has been thus false in describing 
 countries with which we are well acquainted, should not be 
 too much trusted in regard to unknown places. 
 
 4. Further, Hipparchus and many others are of opinion 
 that the parallel of latitude of the Dnieper does not differ 
 
 the inoxith of the Borysthenes or Dnieper, were all under the same 
 meridian. 
 
 1 The Dardanelles. 2 Iceland. 
 
 3 This Island of the Egyptians is the same which Strabo elsewhere calls 
 the Island of the Exiles, because it was inhabited by Egyptians who had 
 revolted from Psammeticus, and established themselves in the island. Its 
 exact situation is unknown. 
 
 4 Ceylon. 5 Ireland. 
 
 6 France. 7 Between the Rhine and Elbe. 
 
 H 2 
 
STRABO. 
 
 from that of Britain ; since that of Byzantium and Marseilles 
 argjhe^arae. The degree of shadowlrom the jgnomon which 
 Ptheasstates he oBsSe3La]Haiseilles beineecual 
 
 from that of Britain ; since that of Byzantium and Marseilles 
 1 a 
 
 yt 
 
 to that which Hipparchus says he fbmid_j.t_Byzantiuni ; the 
 periods of observation being in both cases~snmTar7 r Now 
 irom Marseilles to the cejitre_gf..^ritain is ^ot~more__than 
 5000 stadia ; and if from the centre of Britain we advance 
 "norOfnot more than 4000 stadia, we arrive at a temDerature in 
 s which it is scarcely fjossible to exist. Such indeed is that of 
 ^^lerne.^ Consequently the far region in which Eratosthenes 
 / places Thule must be totally uninhabitable. By what guess- 
 work he arrived at the conclusion that between the latitude 
 of Thule and the Dnieper there was a distance of 11,500 
 stadia I am unable to divine. 
 
 5. Eratosthenes being mistaken as to the breadth [of the 
 habitable earth], is necessarily wrong as to its length. The 
 most accurate observers, both ancient and modern, agree that 
 the known length of the habitable earth is more than twice 
 its breadth. Its length I take to be^frpm the [eastern] ex- 
 tremity of Xpdja 3 to the [westernmost] point of Spain ; 4 and 
 its breadth from [the south of] EthiojDia to theTatituae_pf lerne. 
 Eratosthenes, as we have said, reckoning its breadth from the 
 extremity of Ejhiogia toJThule, was forced to extend its length 
 beyond the true limits, that he might make it more than twice 
 as long as the breadth he had assigned to it. He says that 
 India, measured where it is narrowest, 5 is 16,000 stadia to the 
 riyerlndus. If measured from its most prominent capes it 
 extenoTSDOO more. 6 Thence to the Caspian Gates, 14,000. 
 From the Caspian Gates to the Euphrates, 7 10,000. From 
 
 1 The latitudes of Marseilles and Constantinople differ by 2 16' 21". 
 Gosselin enters into a lengthened explanation on this subject, i. 158. 
 
 2 Ireland. 3 The eastern mouth of the Ganges. 
 ' ' '^CapT'St. Vincent. 
 
 5 In the opinion of Strabo and Eratosthenes, the narrowest portion of 
 India was measured by a line running direct from the eastern embouchure 
 of the Ganges to the sources of the Indus, that is, the northern side of India 
 bounded by the great chain of the Taurus. 
 
 6 Cape Comorin is the farthest point on the eastern coast. Strabo 
 probably uses the plural to indicate the capes generally, not confining 
 himself to those which project a few leagues farther than the rest. 
 
 7 The Euphrates at Thapsacus, the most frequented passage; hod, 
 El-Der. 
 
CHAP. iv. $ 6. INTRODUCTION. 101 
 
 the Euphrates to the Nile, 5000. J Thence to the Cano- 
 pic 2 mouth. 1300. From the Canopic mouth to Carthage. 
 13,500. From thence to the Pillars at least 8000. Which 
 make in all 70,800 stadia. To these [he says] should be add- 
 ed the curvature of Europe beyond the Pillars of Hercules, 
 fronting the Iberians, and inclining west, not less than 3000 
 stadia, and theTTeadlands, including that of the Ostimii, named 
 Cabasum, 3 and the adjoining islands, the last of which, named 
 Uxisama, 4 is distant, according to Pytheas, a three days' sail. 
 But he added nothing to its length by enumerating these last, 
 viz. the headlands, including that of the Ostimii, the island of 
 Uxisama, and the rest ; they are not situated so as affect the 
 length of the earth, for they all lie to the north, and belong to 
 Keltica, not to Iberia ; indeed it seems but an invention of 
 Pytheas. Lastly, to fall in with the general opinion that the 
 breadth ought not 5 to exceed half the length, he adds to the 
 stated measure of its length 2000 stadia west, and as many east. 
 6. Further, endeavouring to support the opinion that it 
 is in accordance with natural philosophy to reckon the great- 
 est dimension of the habitable earth from east to west, he 
 says that, according to the laws of natural philosophy, the 
 habitable earth ought to occupy a greater length from east to 
 west, than its breadth from north to south. The temperate 
 zone, which we have already designated as the longest zone, 
 is that which the mathematicians denominate a continuous 
 circle returning upon itself. So that if the extent of the 
 Atlantic Ocean were not an obstacle, we might easily pass by 
 sea from Iberia to India, 6 still keeping in the same parallel ; 
 the remaining portion of which parallel, measured as above 
 in stadia, occupies more than a third of the whole circle : 
 since the parallel drawn through Athens, 7 on which we have 
 taken the distances from India to Iberia, does not contain in 
 the whole 200,000 stadia. 
 
 1 The Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, now Thineh or Farameh. 
 
 2 Close by Aboukir. 3 Cape S. Mahe. 4 Ushant. 
 
 * The text has TO irX'tov, but we have followed the suggestions of the 
 commentators in reading TO fir/ irXiov. 
 
 6 It is remarkable that this is the same idea which led Columbus to 
 the discovery of America, and gave to the islands off that continent the 
 name of the West Indies. 
 
 7 We have followed Kramer in reading Si "\Br}vSJv t instead of the ta 
 Oiv&r of former editions. 
 
102 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 Here too his reasoning is incorrect. For this speculation 
 respecting the temperate zone which wejnhabit. and whereof 
 the habitable earth is a part, devolves properly on. those who 
 make mathematics their study. But it is not equally the 
 province of one treating of the habitable earth. For by this 
 term we mean only that portion of the temperate zone where 
 we dwell, and with which we are acquainted. But it is quite 
 possible that in the temperate zone there may be two or even 
 more habitable earths, especially near the circle of latitude 
 which is drawn through Athens and the Atlantic Ocean. After 
 this he returns to the form of_the earth, which he again 
 declares to be sr^heroidal. Here he exhibits the same churl- 
 ishness we have previously pointed out, and goes on abusing 
 Homer in his old style. He proceeds : 
 
 7. " There has been much argument respecting the conti- 
 nents. Some, considering them to be divided by the rivers Nile 
 and Tanais, 1 have described them as islands ; while others sup- 
 pose itKenTto be peninsulas connected by the isthmuses between 
 the Caspian and the Euxine Seas, and between the Erythraean 
 Sea 2 and Ecregma." 3 He adds, that this question does not ap- 
 pear to him to be of any practical importance, but rather, as 
 Democritus observed, a bonej)fj2ojitenj;^^ 
 Where there are no preciselxmndary marks, columns, or walls, 
 as at Colvjttus and Melite, 4 it is easy for us to say such a place 
 is Colyttus, and such another Melite ; but not so easy to show 
 the exact limits: thus disputes have frequently arisen con- 
 cerning certain districts ; that, for instance, between the 
 Argives and Lacedaemonians concerning [the possession of] 
 Thyrea, 5 and that between the Athenians and Bo30tians re- 
 lative to Oropus. 6 Further, in giving names to the three con- 
 tinents, the Greeks did not take into consideration the whole 
 habitable eafttlTtmt merely^jtJieinjQffin_country and the land 
 exactly opposite, namely, Caria, which is now inhabitecf~Dy 
 
 1 The Nile being thought to separate Africa from Asia, and the Tanais, 
 
 pxDo^Eujiipe^ 2 The Red Sea - 
 
 3~Th"e~~namebf the mouth of the lake Sirbonis or Sebaket-Bardoil, 
 which opens into the Mediterranean. A line drawn from this embouch- 
 ure to the bottom of the Arabian Gulf, would give the boundary between 
 Africa and Asia. 4 Places in Attica. 
 
 5 Probably Thyrqs, a place situated close to the sea, just at the bound 
 ary of the two countries. 
 
 6 Oropo, on the confines of Attica and Boeotia. 
 
CHAP. iv. 8. INTRODUCTION. 103 
 
 the lonians and other neighbouring tribes. In course of time, 
 as HleyHdvanced further and daily became acquainted with, 
 new countries, this their division came to be general." 
 
 I take this last part first, and (to use Eratosthenes' own 
 words, not those of Democritus) willing to pick my bone of con- 
 tention, inquire, whether they who first made the division of 
 the three continents were the same persons as those who first 
 desired to distinguish their own land from that of the Carians 
 opposite, or whether they were only acquainted with Greece, 
 Caria, and some few other adjoining countries, and not with 
 Europe, Asia, or Africa ; but that others who followed them, 
 and were able to write a description of the habitable earth, 
 were the real authors of the division into three continents. 
 How did he know that these were not the men who made this 
 division of the habitable earth? And he who divided the 
 earth into three parts, giving to each portion the name of 
 " continent," could he not form in his mind a just idea of that 
 taken as a whole, which he had so parcelled out. But if in- 
 deed he were not acquainted with the whole habitable earth, 
 but merely made a division of some part thereof, pray what 
 portion of that part did he denominate Asia, or Europe, or 
 simply continent ? Such talk is altogether nonsense. 
 
 8. The reasoning of Eratosthenes, however, is still more 
 absurd, when he declares that he sees no advantage in being 
 acquainted with the exact boundaries of countries, and then 
 cites the example of Colyttus and Melite, which prove just 
 the contrary of his assertion. Surely if a want of certainty 
 respecting the boundaries of Thyrea and Oropus gave rise to 
 war, a knowledge of the limits of different districts must be 
 of practical importance. Will he tell us that the boundaries 
 of districts, or the limits of kingdoms, may be of some service, 
 but when applied to continents it is carrying the matter too 
 far. We reply, it is of equal consequence here. Suppose a 
 dispute between two powerful princes, one claiming the posses- 
 sion of Asia and the other of Africa, to which of these should 
 Egypt, I mean the country called Lower Egypt, appertain. 
 Will any one pass over such cases on account of their rarity ? 
 By no means. It is acknowledged by every one that the 
 limits of each continent ought to be defined by some notable 
 boundary, indicated by the configuration of the whole habit- 
 able earth. In following out this principle, we should not be 
 
104 STRABO. BOOK i. 
 
 very particular if they who determine boundaries by the rivers 
 leave some districts undefined, since the rivers do not reach 
 from sea to sea, nor leave the continents altogether as islands. 
 9. At the close of the book Eratosthenes blames the system 
 of those who would divide all mankind into Greeks and Bar- 
 barians, and likewise those who recommended Alexander to 
 treat the Greeks as friends, but the Barbarians as enemies. 1 
 He suggests, as a better course, to distinguish them ac- 
 cording to their virtues and their vices, " since amongst the 
 Greeks there are many worthless characters, andjuanvhighly 
 civilized are to be found amongst the Barbarians ; witness the 
 Indians ancTArijjai^oT still better the Romans and Carthagi- 
 "mans7 whose pqliticaJLs^stem is so beautii'nl|y perfect. Alex- 
 fancier, considering this, disregarded the advice which had been 
 offered him, and patronized without distinction any man he 
 considered to be deserving." But we would inquire whether 
 those men who thus divided the human race, abandoning one 
 portion to contempt, and exalting to dignity the other, were 
 not actuated to this because they found that on one side justice, 
 knowledge, and the force of reason reigned supreme, but their 
 contraries on the other. Alexander did not disregard the 
 advice tendered him, but gladly embraced and followed it, 
 respecting the wisdom of those w r ho gave it ; and so far from 
 taking the opposite course, he closely pursued that which they 
 pointed out. 
 
 1 Aristotle was the giver of this sage counsel. 2 A people of Asia. 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 In the Second Book, having proposed for discussion the [opinions] of Era- 
 tosthenes, he examines and refutes whatever that writer may have incor- 
 rectly said, determined, or laid down. He likewise brings forward many 
 statements of Hipparchus, which he disproves, and finishes with a short 
 exposition or synopsis of the whole subject, namely, geographical know- 
 ledge. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. IN the Third Book of his Geography Eratosthenes furnishes 
 us with a chart of the habitable earth. This he divides into 
 two portions, by a line running from east to west parallel to 
 the equator. He makes the Pillars of Hercules the boundary 
 of this line to the west, and to the east the farthest ridges of 
 those mountains which bound India on the north. From the 
 Pillars he draws ihe line through the Strait of Sicily, 1 and the 
 southern extremities of Peloponnesus and Attica, tqjlh^des 
 and the Gulf of Issus. 2 He says, " Through the whole of this 
 distance the line mentioned is drawn across the sea 3 and ad- 
 jacent continents ; the whole length of the Mediterranean as 
 far_asjCilicia extending in that direction. Thence it runs 
 nearly in a straight line along the whjp chain nf the Taurus 
 to India. The Taurus continuing in a straight line from the 
 "Pillars divides Asia through its whole length into two halves, 
 So that both the Taurus and the sea from 
 
 ^ 
 the Pillars hither 4 lie under the parallel of Athens." 
 
 2. He then declares that the ancient geographical chart 
 wants revision ; that in it the eastern portion of the Taurus 
 
 1 The Strait of Messina. 
 
 2 The Gulf of Aias. The town of Ai'as has replaced Issus, at the eastern 
 extremity of the Mediterranean. 
 
 3 The Mediterranean. 
 
 4 That is, the Mediterranean on the coast of Syria. 
 
106 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 is made to run too far north, India itself being also too much 
 drawn in the same direction. One proof which he offers in 
 support of this is, that the most southern extremities of India- 
 are under the same latitude as Mejro"e7^as~attested by many, 
 both from astrono^icaT~observations and the temjp_erature of 
 the climate. From thence to the most northerly point by the 
 mountains of the Caucasus, 1 there are 15,000 stadia, accord- 
 ing to Patrocles, a writer whom we are bound to believe, both 
 on account of his worth, and the vast amount of his geogra- 
 phical attainments. Now since the distance from Meroe to 
 the parallel of Athens is nearly the same, the most northerly 
 points of India next to the Caucasian mountains ought to be 
 under the same degree of latitude. 
 
 3. But there is another method (says Eratosthenes) of 
 proving this. The distance from the Gulf of Issus to the 
 Euxine, proceeding in a northerly direction towards Amisus 2 
 and Sinope, 3 is about 3000 stadia, which is as much as the 
 supposed extent of the mountains [of the Taurus]. 4 The tra- 
 veller who directs his course from Amisus due east, 5 arrives 
 first at Colchis, then at the high lands by the Hyrcanian 
 Sea, 6 afterwards at the road leading to Bactra, 7 and beyond to 
 the Scythians; having the mountains always on the right. 
 The same line drawn through Amisus westward, crosses the 
 Propontis and Hellespont. From Meroe to the Hellespont 
 there are not more than 18,000 stadia. 8 The distance is just 
 the same from the southern extremity of India to the land of 
 Bactria, if we add to the 15,000 stadia of that country the 
 3000 which its mountains occupy in breadth. 
 
 4. Hipparchus tries to invalidate this view of Eratosthenes, 
 by sneering at the proofs on which it rests. Patrocles, he 
 says, merits little credit, being contradicted by the two writers 
 
 1 Strabo does not here mean the Caucasus or Balkan, but the moun- 
 tains which stretch from Persia to Cochin China. At a later period the 
 several chains were known to the Greeks by the names of Paropamisus, 
 Emodi Montes, Imaiis, &c. 
 
 2 Samsun. 3 Sinub. 
 
 4 The great chain of the Taurus was supposed to occupy the whole 
 breadth of Asia Minor, a space of 3000 stadia. Eratosthenes is here at- 
 tempting to prove that these mountains occupy a like space in the north 
 of India. 
 
 5 Lit. to the equinoctial rising. 6 Another designation of the Caspian. 
 7 Balk. 8 Read 18,100 stadia. 
 
CHAP. i. 5, 6. INTRODUCTION. 107 
 
 Deimachus and Megasthenes, who say that the distance 1 
 taken from the southern ocean, is in some places 20,000, in 
 others 30,000 stadia ; that in this assertion they are supported 
 by the ancient charts, and he considers it absurd to require 
 us to put implicit faith in Patrocles alone, when there is so 
 much testimony against him ; or that the ancient charts should 
 be corrected ; but rather that they should be left as they are 
 until we have something more certain on the subject. 
 
 5. This argument, I think, is in many instances unfounded. 
 Eratosthenes availed himself of the statements of many 
 writers, although Hipparchus alleges he was solely led by 
 Patrocles. Who then are the authors of the statement that 
 the southern extremity of India is under the same parallel 
 as Meroe ; and who are they who estimate 2 the distance from 
 Meroe to the parallel passing through Athens ? Or who, again, 
 were those who asserted that the whole breadth occupied by 
 the mountains 3 was equal to the distance from Cilicia to 
 Amisus ? Or who made known that, travelling from Amisus, 
 the course lay in a straight line due east through Colchis, the 
 [sea of] Hyrcania, so on to Bactria, and beyond this to the 
 eastern ocean, 4 the mountains being always on the right hand ; 
 and that this same line carried west in a straight line, tra- 
 verses the Propontis and the Hellespont ? These things Era- 
 tosthenes advances on the testimony of men who had been on 
 the spot, and from the study of those numerous memoirs which 
 he had for reference in that noble library 5 which Hipparchus 
 himself acknowledges to be gigantic. 
 
 6. Besides, the credibility of Patrocles can be proved by a 
 variety of evidence the princes 6 who confided to him so im- 
 portant trusts the authors who follow his statements and 
 those, too, who criticise them, whose names Hipparchus has 
 recorded. Since whenever these are refuted, the credit of 
 Patrocles is by so much advanced. Nor does Patrocles ap- 
 pear to state any thing improbable when he says that the army 
 
 1 i. e. The breadth of India. 
 
 2 Literally, " estimate at so much," referring to the estimate at the 
 conclusion of 2. 
 
 3 Caucasus, in the north of India. 
 
 4 By the term t'y'a fldXarra, rendered " eastern ocean," we must 
 understand Strabo to mean the Bay of Bengal. 
 
 5 The Alexandrian. 
 
 6 Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus Soter. 
 
108 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 of Alexander took but a very hasty view of every thing [in 
 India], but Alexander himself a more exact one, causing the 
 whole country to be described by men well acquainted with 
 it. Which description he says was afterwards put into his 
 hands by Xenocles the treasurer. 
 
 7. Again, in the second volume of his Commentaries, Hip- 
 parchus accuses Eratosthenes of himself throwing discredit on 
 the statement of Patrocles, on account of his differing with Me- 
 gasthenes, as to the length of India on its northern side ; 1 Me- 
 gasthenes stating the length at 16,000 stadia, and Patrocles 
 at 1000 less. Being biassed by a certain Itinerary, Eratos- 
 thenes was led to reject. them both on account of this discre- 
 pancy, and to follow the Itinerary. If then merely the differ- 
 ence of 1000 stadia is sufficient to cause the authority of 
 Patrocles to be rejected, how much more should this be the 
 case when we find a difference of 8000 stadia between his 
 statement and that of two writers who agree perfectly in 
 theirs, that the breadth of India is 20,000 stadia, while he 
 gives only 12,000 ! 
 
 8. We reply, that [Eratosthenes] did not object [to the 
 statement of Patrocles] merely because it differed [from that 
 of Megasthenes], but because the statement of this latter as to 
 the stadia was confirmed by the Itinerary, an authority of no 
 mean importance. There is nothing wonderful in this, that 
 though a certain statement may be credible, another may be 
 more credible ; and that while in some instances we follow the 
 former, in others we may dissent from it on finding a more 
 trust-worthy guide. It is ridiculous to say that the greater 
 the difference of one writer from others, the less he should be 
 trusted. On the contrary, such a rule would be more applica- 
 ble in regard to small differences ; for in little particulars 
 the ordinary observer and the man of great ability are equally 
 liable to err. On the other hand, in great matters, the ordi- 
 nary run of men are more like to be deceived than the man 
 of superior talent, to whom consequently in such cases greater 
 deference is paid. 
 
 9. Generally speaking, the men who hitherto have written 
 on the affairs of India, were a set of liars. Deimachus holds 
 the first place in the list, Megasthenes comes next, while 
 
 1 The length of India is its measurement from -west to east. 
 
CHAP. i. $ 10, 11. INTRODUCTION. 109 
 
 Onesicritus and Nearchus, with others of the same class, 
 manage to stammer out a few words [of truth]. Of this we 
 became the more convinced whilst writing the history of 
 Alexander. No faith whatever can be placed in Deimachus 
 and Megasthenes. They coined the fables concerning men 
 with ears large enough to sleep in, men without any mouths, 
 without noses, with only one eye, with spider-legs, and with 
 fingers bent backward. They renewed Homer's fable con- 
 cerning the battles of the Cranes and Pygmies, and asserted 
 the latter to be three spans high. They told of ants digging 
 for gold, of Pans with wedge-shaped heads, of serpents swal- 
 lowing down oxen and stags, horns and all; meantime, as 
 Eratosthenes has observed, reciprocally accusing each other 
 of falsehood. Both of these men were sent ambassadors to 
 Palimbothra, 1 Megasthenes to Sandrocottus, Deimachus to 
 Allitrochades his son ; and such are the notes of their residence 
 abroad, which, I know not why, they thought fit to leave. 
 Patrocles certainly does not resemble them ; nor do any other 
 of the authorities consulted by Eratosthenes contain such 
 absurdities. 
 
 10. 2 If the meridian of__Rhodes and Byzantium has 
 been rightly determined to be the same, then that of Cili- 
 cia and Amisus has likewise been rightly determined ; many 
 observation^ having proved that the lines are parallel, and 
 that they never impinge on each other. 
 
 11. In like manner, that the voyage from Amisus to 
 Colchis, and the route to the Caspian, and thence on to 
 Bactra, are both due east, is proved by the winds, the sea- 
 sons, the fruits, and even the sun-risings. Frequently evi- 
 dence such as this, and general agreement, are more to be 
 relied on than the measurement taken by means of instru- 
 ments. Hipparchus himself was not wholly indebted to 
 instruments and geometrical calculations for his statement 
 that the Pillars and Cilicia lie in a direct line due east. For 
 
 1 Not Allahabad, as supposed by D'Anville, but Patelputer, or Patali- 
 putra, near Patna. 
 
 2 There would seem to be some omission here, although none of the 
 MSS. have any blank space left to indicate it. Groskurd has been at con- 
 siderable pains to supply what he thinks requisite to complete the sense, 
 but in a matter so doubtful we deemed it a surer course to follow the 
 Greek text as it stands. 
 
STIIABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 that part of it included between the Pillars and the Strait of 
 Sicily he rests entirely on the assertion of sailors. It is 
 therefore incorrect to say that, because we cannot exactly 
 determine the duration of the longest and shortest days, nor 
 the degree of shadow of the gnomon throughout the moun- 
 tainous region between Cilicia and India, that therefore we 
 are unable to decide whether the line traced obliquely on 
 the ancient charts should or should not be parallel, and 
 consequently must leave it unreformed, keeping it oblique 
 as the ancient charts have it. For in the first place, not 
 to determine any thing is to leave it undetermined; and 
 to leave a thing undetermined, is neither to take one view 
 of the matter nor the other : but to agree to leave it as 
 the ancients have, that is to take a view of the case. It 
 would have been more consistent with his reasoning, if he 
 had told us to leave Geography alone altogether, since we 
 are similarly unable to determine the position of the Alps, 
 the Pyrenees, and the mountains of Thrace, 1 Illyria, 2 and 
 Germany. Wherefore should we give more credit to the 
 ancient writers than to the modern, when we call to mind 
 the numerous errors of their charts which have been pointed 
 out by Eratosthenes, and which Hipparchus has not attempted 
 to defend. 
 
 12. But the system of Hipparchus altogether teems with dif- 
 ficulties. Reflect for an instant on the following absurdity ; after 
 admitting that the southern extremity of India is under the 
 same degree of latitude as Meroe, and that the distance from 
 Meroe to the Strait of Byzantium is about 18,000 3 stadia, 
 he then makes the distance from the southern extremity of 
 India to the mountains 30,000 stadia. Since Byzantium 
 and Marseilles are under the same parallel of latitude, as 
 Hipparchus tells us they are, on the authority of Pytheas, 
 and since Byzantium and the Dnieper 4 have also the same 
 meridian, as Hipparchus equally assures us, if we take his 
 assertion that there is a distance of 3700 5 stadia between 
 Byzantium and the Dnieper, there will of course be a 
 like difference between the latitude of Marseilles and the 
 
 1 Thrace, now Roumelia. 
 
 - The situation of Illyria was on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Venice. 
 
 3 Read 18,100 stadia. 4 The mouth of the Dnieper. 
 
 5 Hipparchus stated 3800 stadia, not 3700. 
 
CHAP. i. 13, 14. INTRODUCTION. 1 1 1 
 
 Dnieper. This would make the latitude of the Dnieper 
 identical with that of Keltica next the Ocean ; for on pro- 
 ceeding 3700 stadia [north of Marseilles], we reach the 
 ocean. 1 
 
 13. Again, we know that the Cinnamon Country is the 
 most southerly point of the habitable earth. According to 
 Hipparchus's own statement, the latitude of this country, 
 which marks the commencement of the temperate zone, and 
 likewise of the habitable earth, is distant from the equator 
 about 8800 stadia. 2 And since he likewise says that from 
 the equator to the parallel of the Dnieper there are 34,000 
 stadia, there will remain a distance of 25,200 stadia be- 
 tween the parallel of the Dnieper (which is the same as 
 that which passes over the side of Keltica next the Ocean) 
 to that which separates the torrid from the temperate zone. 
 It is said that the farthest voyages now made north of Keltica 
 are to lerne, 3 which lies beyond Britain, and, on account of 
 its extreme cold, barely sustains life ; beyond this it is thought 
 to be uninhabitable. Now the distance between Keltica and 
 lerne is estimated at not more than 5000 stadia ; so that on 
 this view they must have estimated the whole breadth of the 
 habitable earth at 30,000 stadia, or just above. 
 
 14. Let us then transport ourselves to the land opposite the 
 Cinnamon Country, and lying to the east under the same 
 parallel of latitude ; we shall there find the country named 
 Taprobane. 4 This Taprobane is universally believed to be a 
 large island situated in the high seas, and lying to the south 
 opposite India. Its length in the direction of Ethiopia is above 
 5000 stadia, as they say. There are brought from thence to 
 the Indian markets, ivory, tortoise-shells, and other wares in 
 large quantities. Now if this island is broad in proportion to 
 
 1 Gosselin remarks that these 3700, or rather 3800 stadia, on proceed- 
 ing from Marseilles, would reach the latitude of Paris, and that of the 
 coasts in the neighbourhood of Treguier. Eratosthenes and Hipparchus 
 were out but 14' and some seconds in their calculation of the latitude of 
 Marseilles; but Strabo's error touching the same amounted to 3 43' 28"; 
 he consequently fixed the northern coasts of France at 45 17' 18'', which 
 is about the latitude of the mouth of the Garonne. 
 
 2 These 8800 stadia, at 700 to a degree, amount to 12 34' 17" of lati- 
 tude. This would be about the middle of Abyssinia. 
 
 3 Ireland. * The island of Ceylon. 
 
STRABO. BOOH n. 
 
 its length, we cannot suppose that the whole distance, 1 inclu- 
 sive of the space which separates it from India, is less than 
 3000 stadia, which is equal to the distance of the [southern] 
 extremity of the habitable earth from Meroe, since the 
 [southern] extremities of India and Meroe are under the same 
 parallel. It is likely there are more than 3000 stadia, 2 but 
 taking this number, if we add thereto the 30,000 stadia, which 
 Deimachus states there are between [the southern extremity 
 of India] and the country of the Bactrians and Sogdians, we 
 shall find both of these nations lie beyond the temperate zone 
 and habitable earth. 3 Who will venture to affirm such to be 
 the case, hearing, as they must, the statement made both by 
 ancients and moderns of the genial climate and fertility of 
 northern India, Hyrcania, Aria, Margiana, 4 and Bactriana 
 also ? These countries are all equally close to the northern 
 side of the Taurus, Bactriana being contiguous to that part 
 of the chain 5 which forms the boundary of India. A country 
 blessed with such advantages must be very far from uninha- 
 bitable. It is said that in Hyrcania each vine produces a 
 metrete 6 of wine, and each fig tree 60 medimni 7 of fruit. That 
 the grains of wheat which fall from the husk on to the earth 
 spring up the year following ; that bee-hives are in the trees, 
 and the leaves flow with honey. The same may be met 
 with in the part of Media called Matiana, 8 and also in Saca- 
 
 1 Viz. between its southern extremity and that of India. 
 
 2 Strabo and Eratosthenes supposed the extremity of India farther 
 south than Meroe; Hipparchus fixes it a little north of that city, at a 
 distance of 12,600 stadia from the equator. 
 
 3 These 30,000 stadia, added to the 12,600 of the preceding note, would 
 place Bactria under 60 51' 26" north latitude, which is more than 24 
 degrees too far north. 
 
 * Both Aria and Margiana are in the present Khorasan. 
 
 5 This portion of the Taurus is called by the Indians Hindou Kho. 
 
 6 This was the principal Greek liquid measure, and was 3-4ths of the 
 medimnus, the chief dry measure. The Attic metretes was half as large 
 again as the Roman Amphora quadrantal, and contained a little less than 
 7 gallons. Smith. 
 
 7 The medimnus contained nearly 12 imperial gallons, or If bushel. 
 This was the Attic medimnus ; the JEginetan and Ptolemaic was half as 
 much again, or in the ratio of 3 : 2 to the Attic. Smith. 
 
 8 Matiana was a province of Media on the frontiers of the present 
 Kurdistan ; Sacasena, a country of Armenia on the confines of Albania 
 or Sehirvan ; Araxena, a province traversed by the river Araxes. 
 
CHA.P. i. 15, 16. INTRODUCTION. 113 
 
 sena and Araxena, countries of Armenia. In these three it 
 is not so much to be wondered at, since they lie more to the 
 south than Hyrcania, and surpass the rest of the country in 
 the beauty of their climate ; but in Hyrcania it is more re- 
 markable. It is said that in Margiana you may frequently 
 meet with a vine whose stock would require two men with 
 outstretched arms to clasp it, and clusters of grapes two cubits 
 long. Aria is described as similarly fertile, the wine being 
 still richer, and keeping perfectly for three generations in 
 unpitched casks. Bactviana, which adjoins Aria, abounds in 
 the same productions, if we except olives. 
 
 15. That there are cold regions in the high and mountainpus 
 
 Erts of these countries is not to be wondered at ; since in the 
 lore] southern climates the mountains, and even the table- 
 ids, are cold. The districts next the Euxine, in Cappadocia, 
 are much farther north than those adjoining the Taurus. 
 Bagadania, a vast plain, situated between the mountains of 
 Argaeus l and Taurus, hardly produces any fruit trees, although 
 south of the Euxine Sea by 3000 stadia ; while the territory 
 round Sinope, 2 Amisus, 3 and Phanarrea abounds in olives. 
 
 The Oxus, 4 which divides Bactriana from Sogdiana, is said 
 to be of such easy navigation that the wares of India are 
 brought up it into the sea of Hyrcania, 5 and thence successively 
 by various other rivers to the districts near the Euxine. 6 
 
 16. Can one find any fertility to compare with this near 
 to the Dnieper, or that part of Keltica next the ocean, 7 where 
 the vine either does not grow at all, or attains no maturity. 8 
 However, in the more southerly portions of these districts, 9 
 
 1 Mount Argaeus still preserves the name of Ardgeh. The part of the 
 Taurus here alluded to is called Ardoxt Dag. 2 Sinub. 
 
 3 Samsoun. * The Gihon of the oriental writers. 5 The Caspian. 
 
 6 Gosselin says, the Oxus, or Abi-amu, which now discharges itself into 
 Lake Aral, anciently communicated with the Caspian. The vessels car- 
 rying Indian merchandise used to come down the Oxus into the Caspian ; 
 they then steered along the southern coasts till they reached the mouth 
 of the Cyrus ; up this river they sailed to the sources of the Phasis, (the 
 Fasch,) and so descended into the Black Sea and Mediterranean. About 
 the middle of the 17th century the Russians endeavoured to re-open this 
 ancient route, but this effort was unsuccessful. 
 
 7 The north of France. 
 
 8 At the time of Strabo France was covered with forests and stagnant 
 water, which rendered its temperature damp and cold. It was not until 
 after considerable drainage about the fourth century that the vine began 
 to attain any perfection. 9 The Crimea. 
 
114 
 
 STRABO. 
 
 close to the sea, and those next the Bosphorus, 1 the vine brings 
 its fruit to maturity, although the grapes are exceedingly- 
 small, and the vines are covered up all the winter. And in 
 the parts near the mouth of the Palus Mseotis, the frost is so 
 strong that a general of Mithridates defeated the barbarians 
 here in a cavalry engagement during the winter, and on the 
 very same spot in a naval fight in summer, when the ice 
 was thawed. Eratosthenes furnishes us with the following 
 inscription, which he found in the temple of JEsculapius at 
 Panticapaseon, 2 on a brazen vase which had been broken by 
 the frost : 
 
 '.' If any one doubts the intensity of our winter's cold, let 
 him believe when he sees this vase. The priest Stratius 
 placed it here, not because he considered it a worthy offering 
 to the god, but as a proof of the severity of our winter." 
 
 Since therefore the provinces we have just enumerated 
 [are so superior in climate, that they] cannot be compared 
 with the countries surrounding the Bosphorus, nor even the 
 regions of Amisus and Sinope, (for every one will admit that 
 they are much superior to these latter,) it would be idle to 
 compare them with the districts near the Borysthenes and 
 the north of Keltica ; for we have shown that their tem- 
 perature is not so low as Amisus, Sinope, Byzantium, and 
 Marseilles, which are universally acknowledged to be 3700 
 stadia south of the Dnieper and Keltica. 
 
 17. If the followers of Deiraachus add to the 30.000 sta- 
 dia the distance to Taprobanc and the boundaries of the 
 torrid zone, which cannot be reckoned less than 4000 stadia, 3 
 they will then remove Bactria and Aria from their actual 
 localities and place them 34,000 stadia from the torrid zone, 
 a distance equal to that which Hipparchus states to be be- 
 tween the equator and [the mouth of] the Dnieper, and 
 the two countries will therefore be removed 8800 stadia 
 north of [the mouth of] the Dnieper and Keltica ; for 
 there are reckoned to be 8800 stadia from the equator to the 
 parallel of latitude which separates the temperate from the tor- 
 
 1 The Strait of Zabache. 2 Kertsch in the Crimea. 
 
 3 Strabo is too fond of this kind of special pleading : before, in order to 
 controvert Hipparchus, he estimated this distance at 3000 stadia; now he 
 adds an additional thousand stadia in order to get a latitude which shall 
 be the southern limit of the habitable earth. 
 
CHAP. i. 17. INTRODUCTION. Ho 
 
 rid zone, and which crosses the Cinnamon Country. 1 We have 
 proved that the regions not more than 5000 stadia north of 
 Keltica, as fur as lerne, 2 are scarcely habitable, but their rea- 
 soning leads to the conclusion that there is another circle fitted 
 for the habitation of man, although 3800 stadia north of lerne. 3 
 And that Bactra is still farther north than the mouth of the 
 Caspian or Hyrcanian Sea, which is distant about 6000 stadia 
 from the recess of the Caspian and the mountains of Armenia 
 and Media, and which appears to be the most northerly point 
 of the whole coast as far as India, with a sea navigable to 
 India all the way, as Patrocles, who had the government of 
 these regions, affirms. Now Bactriana stretches 1000 stadia 
 farther north. Beyond this the Scythians occupy a much 
 larger territory, bounded by the Northern Ocean : here they 
 dwell, though to be sure theirs is a nomade life. But we ask 
 how they could exist here at all, supposing even Bactra to be 
 beyond the limits of the habitable globe. The distance from 
 the Caucasus to the Northern Sea through Bactra would be 
 
 1 The Greek has Kiva/iw/to^opov 'ivdiKijg. We have omitted the lat- 
 ter word altogether from the translation, as being a slip of the pen. 
 Strabo certainly never supposed the Cinnamon Country to be any where in 
 India. 2 Ireland. 
 
 3 Perhaps it may aid the reader in realizing these different reasonings 
 if we give a summary of them in figures. 
 
 Strabo supposes that Hipparchus, reckoning from the 
 equator to the limits of the inhabited earth, . . 8,800 stadia 
 
 should have fixed the southern extremity of India more 
 to the north by ........ 4,000 
 
 and the northern extremity of India, according to the 
 measures of Deimachus, still more to the north by . . 30,000 
 
 Total 42,800 
 
 Now, Strabo adds, following Hipparchus, the northern 
 shores of Keltica and the mouth of the Dnieper, are 
 distant from the equator ....... 34,000 
 
 lerne, in a climate almost uninhabitable, was, according to 
 Strabo's own impression, situated to the north of Keltica . 5,000 
 
 39,000 
 
 Then, according to Hipparchus, the habitable latitudes 
 would extend still farther than lerne by . . . 3,800 
 
 Total 42,800 
 
 The great fertility of Bactriana, according to Strabo, appeared to be in- 
 consistent with a position so far towards the north. In this he was 
 correct. 
 
 i 2 
 
STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 e than 4000 stadia. 1 This being added to the 
 ? stadia north of lerne 3 above-mentioned, will give 
 us the whole amount of uninhabitable land from lerne north- 
 ward 7800 stadia, and even omitting the 4000 stadia alto- 
 gether, those parts of Bactriana next the Caucasus will still 
 be 3800 stadia farther north than lerne, and 8800 farther 
 north than Keltica, 4 and [the mouth] of the Dnieper. 
 
 18. Hipparchus narrates that at the Dnieper and [the 
 north of] Keltica, during the whole of the summer nights there 
 is one continued twilight from sun-set to sun-rise, but at the 
 winter solstice the sun never rises more than njjie cujriis above 
 the horizon. 5 He adds that this phenomenon is yet more re- 
 markable in regions 6300 6 stadia north of Marseilles, (these 
 regions he supposes to be peopled by~Kelts, but I believe are 
 inhabited by Britons, and 2$00 stadia north of Keltica,) where 
 the sun at the winter solstice 7 rises only six cubits above the 
 horizon. That at 9100 8 stadia north of Marseilles it only rises 
 four cubits, and not so much as three in the countries beyond, 
 and which I consider much farther north than le^rne. 9 How- 
 ever, Hipparchus, on the authority of Pytheas, peaces them 
 south of Britain, and says that the longest day there consists 
 only of 19 hours ; 10 while in countries where the sun rises but 
 four cubits above the horizon, and which are situated 9100 11 
 
 1 These 4000 stadia do not accord with the distances elsewhere pro- 
 pounded by Strabo. Possibly he had before him various charts con- 
 structed on different hypotheses, and made his computations not always 
 from the same. 
 
 2 Viz. 3800. 3 Ireland. 4 France. 
 
 5 The astronomical cubit of the ancients equalled 2 degrees. It there- 
 fore follows that in the regions alluded to by Hipparchus, the sun at the 
 winter solstice rose no higher than 18 degrees above the horizon. This 
 would give a latitude of a little above 48 degrees. We afterwards find that 
 Hipparchus placed the mouth of the Dnieper, and that part of France 
 here alluded to. under 48 29' 19", and we know that at this latitude, which 
 is only 20' 56" different from that of Paris, there is no real night during 
 the longest days of the summer. 6 Read 7700. 
 
 7 Lit., during the winter days, but the winter solstice is evidently 
 intended. 
 
 ' 8 Read about 10,500. This correction is borne out by the astronomical 
 indications added by Hipparchus. 
 
 9 Strabo supposed the latitude of Ireland to be 52 25' 42". Countries 
 north of this he considered to be altogether uninhabitable on account of 
 their inclemency. 
 
 10 Equinoctial hours. " Read 10,500, as above. 
 
CHAP. i. $ 19. INTRODUCTION. 117 
 
 stadia north of Marseilles, the day has 18 hours. Conse- 
 quently [according to his hypothesis] the most southerly parts 
 of Britain must be north of these regions. They must therefore 
 be under the same parallel, or almost the same, as the parts of 
 Bactriana next to the Caucasus, which I have shown are, ac- 
 cording to the followers of Deimachus, 3800 stadia farther 
 north than lerne. 1 Now if we add this to the number be- 
 tween Marseilles and lerne, we shall get 12,500 stadia. But 
 who ever made known to us that, in those parts, I mean, in 
 the vicinity of Bactra, this was the duration of the longest 
 day, or the height which the sun attains in the meridian at the 
 winter solstice ? All these things are patent to the eyes of 
 every man, and require no mathematical investigation ; there- 
 fore they certainly would have been mentioned by numerous 
 writers both amongst the ancients who have left us histories 
 of Persia, and by the later writers too, who have carried them 
 down to our own time. How, too, would their fertility, 
 which I have described above, harmonize with such a lati- 
 tude ? The facts here advanced are sufficient to give an 
 idea of the learned manner in which Hipparchus attempts to 
 controvert the reasoning of Eratosthenes by mere petitiones 
 principii. 
 
 19. Again, Eratosthenes wished to show the ignorance of 
 Deimachus, and his want of information concerning such mat- 
 ters, as proved by his assertion that India lies between the 
 autumnal equinox 2 and winter tropic. 3 Also in his blaming 
 Megasthenes, where he says that in the southern parts of India 
 the Greater and Lesser Bear are seen to set, and the shadows 
 
 1 Ireland. 2 The equinoctial line. 
 
 3 There is no doubt that the expressions which Deimachus appears to 
 have used were correct. It seems that he wished to show that beyond 
 the Indus the coasts of India, instead of running in a direction almost due 
 east, as the Greeks imagined they did, sloped in a direction between the 
 south and the north-east, which is correct enough. As Deimachus had 
 resided at Palibothra, he had had an opportunity of obtaining more exact 
 information relative to the form of India than that which was current at 
 Alexandria. This seems the more certain, as Megasthenes, who had also 
 lived at Palibothra, stated that by measuring India from the Caucasus to the 
 southern extremity of the continent, you would obtain, not its length, as 
 the Greeks imagined, but its breadth. These correct accounts were ob- 
 stinately rejected by the speculative geographers of Alexandria, because 
 they imagined a certain uninhabitable zone, into which India ought not to 
 penetrate. 
 
118 STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 to fall both ways ; assuring us that such is not the case in 
 India. 1 These assertions, says Eratosthenes, arise from the 
 ignorance of Deimachus. For it is nothing else than ignor- 
 ance to suppose that the autumnal equinox is not equally 
 distant from the tropics with the vernal ; since in both 
 equinoxes the sun rises at the same point, and performs a si- 
 milar revolution. Further, [he continues,] the distance from 
 the terrestrial tropic to the equator, between which, according 
 to Deimachus himself, India is situated, has been proved by 
 measurement to be much less than 20,000 stadia, consequently 
 his own statements prove that my assertion is correct, and not 
 his. For supposing India to be twenty or thirty thousand 
 stadia [in breadth] it could not be contained in the given 
 space, but if my estimate be taken it is simple enough. It 
 is another evidence of his want of information, to say that the 
 two Bears are not seen to set, or the shadows to fall both ways, 
 in any part of India, since 5000 stadia south of Alexandria 2 
 both of these phenomena are observable. Thus reasons Eratos- 
 thenes ; whom Hipparchus again criticises in the same mis- 
 taken way. First he substitutes [in the text of Deimachus] 
 the summer in place of the winter tropic ; then he says that 
 the evidence of a man ignorant of astronomy ought not to be 
 received in a mathematical question ; as if Eratosthenes in the 
 main had actually been guided by the authority of Dei- 
 machus. Could he not see that Eratosthenes had followed 
 
 1 The truth of these facts depends on the locality where the observa- 
 tions are made. In the time of Alexander the most southern of the seven 
 principal stars which compose the Greater Bear had a declination of 
 about 61 degrees, so that for all latitudes above 29 degrees, the Wain 
 never set. Consequently if Deimachus were speaking of the aspect of 
 the heavens as seen from the northern provinces of India, the Punjaub 
 for instance, there was truth in his assertion, that the two Bears were 
 never seen to set there, nor the shadows to fall in contrary directions. 
 On the other hand, as Megasthenes appears to be-speaking of the south of 
 India, that is, of the peninsula situated entirely south of the tropic, it is 
 certain that he was right in saying that the shadows cast by the sun fell 
 sometimes towards the north, at others towards the south, and that ac- 
 cordingly, as we proceeded towards the south, the Bears would be seen 
 to set. The whole of Ursa Major at that time set at 29 degrees, and our 
 present polar star at 13 degrees. (3 of the Lesser Bear was at that time 
 the most northern of the seven principal stars of that constellation, and 
 set at 8 45'. So that both Bears entirely disappeared beneath the ho- 
 rizon of Cape Comorin. 
 
 2 This would be at Syene under the tropic. 
 
CHAP. i. 20. INTRODUCTION. 119 
 
 the general custom in regard to idle reasoners, one means of 
 refuting whom is to show that their arguments, whatever 
 they may be, go only to confirm our views. 
 
 20. It is by assuming as a fact that the southern extremity 
 of India is under the same parallel as Meroe, a thing affirmed 
 and believed by most writers, that we shall be best able to 
 show the absurdities of the system of Hipparchus. In the first 
 book of his Commentaries he does not object to this hypothe- 
 sis, but in the second book he no longer admits it ; we must 
 examine his reasons for this. He says, " when two countries 
 are situated under the same parallel, but separated by a great 
 distance, you cannot be certain that they are exactly under the 
 same parallel, unless the climata * of both the places are found 
 to be similar. Now Philo, in his account of a voyage by sea 
 to Ethiopia, has given us the clima of Meroe. He says that at 
 that place the sun is vertical forty-five days before the sum- 
 mer solstice, 2 he also informs us of the proportion of shadow 
 thrown by the gnomon both at the equinoxes and solstices. 
 Eratosthenes agrees almost exactly with Philo. But not a 
 single writer, not even Eratosthenes, has informed us of the 
 clima of India ; but if it is the case, as many are inclined to 
 believe on the authority of Nearchus, 3 that the two Bears 
 are seen to set in that country, then certainly Meroe and 
 the southern extremity of India cannot be under the same 
 parallel." 4 [Such is the reasoning of Hipparchus, but we 
 reply,] If Eratosthenes confirms the statement of those authors 
 
 1 Small zones parallel to the equator ; they were placed at such a dis- 
 tance from each other, that there might be half an hour's difference be- 
 tween each on the longest day of summer. So by taking an observ- 
 ation on the longest day, you could determine the clima and consequently 
 the position of a place. This was equivalent to observing the elevation 
 of the pole. At the end of this second book Strabo enters into a long 
 description of the climata. 
 
 2 This observation, taken at the time of Hipparchus, would indicate a 
 latitude of 16 48' 34." 
 
 3 Nearchus in speaking of the southern extremity of India, near Cape 
 Comorin, was correct in the assertion that in his time the two Bears 
 were there seen to set. 
 
 4 Hipparchus fixed the latitude of Meroe at 16 51' 25", and the ex- 
 tremity of India at 18. In the time of Alexander, the Lesser Bear was 
 not observed to set for either of these latitudes. Strabo therefore drew 
 the conclusion, that if Hipparchus had adopted the opinion of Nearchus, 
 he would have fixed the extremity of India south of Meroe, instead of 
 north of that city. 
 
120 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 who tell us that in India the two Bears are observed to set, 
 how can it be said that not a single person, not even Eratos- 
 thenes, has informed us of any thing concerning the clima of 
 India? This is itself information on that point. If, how- 
 ever, he has not confirmed this statement, let him be exoner- 
 ated from the error. Certain it is he never did confirm the 
 statement. Only when Deimachus affirmed that there was no 
 place in India from which the two Bears might be seen to set, 
 or the shadows fall both ways, as Megasthenes had asserted, 
 Eratosthenes thereupon taxed him with ignorance, regard- 
 ing as absolutely false this two-fold assertion, one half of 
 which, namely, that concerning the shadows not falling both 
 ways, Hipparchus himself acknowledged to be false ; for if 
 the southern extremity of India were not under the same 
 parallel as Meroe, still Hipparchus appears to have considered 
 it south of Syene. 
 
 21. In the instances which follow, Hipparchus, treating of 
 these subjects, either asserts things similar to those which we 
 have already refuted, or takes for granted matters which are 
 not so, or draws improper sequences. For instance, from the 
 computation [of Eratosthenes] that the distance from Baby- 
 lon to Thapsacus 1 is 4800 stadia, and thence northward to 
 the mountains of Armenia 2 2100 stadia more, it does not fol- 
 low that, starting from the meridian of that city, the distance 
 to the northern mountains is above 6000 stadia. Besides, 
 Eratosthenes never says that the distance from Thapsacus to 
 these mountains is 2100 stadia, but that a part thereof has 
 never yet been measured ; so that this argument [of Hippar- 
 chus], founded on a false hypothesis, amounts to nothing. Nor 
 did Eratosthenes ever assert that Thapsacus lies more than 
 4500 stadia north of Babylon. 
 
 22. Again, Hipparchus, ever anxious to defend the [accu- 
 racy of the] ancient charts, instead of fairly stating the words 
 of Eratosthenes concerning his third section of the habitable 
 earth, wilfully makes him the author of an assertion easy of 
 disproof. For Eratosthenes, following the opinion we before 
 mentioned, that a line drawn from the Pillars of Hercules 
 across the Mediterranean, and the length of the Taurus, would 
 
 1 Now Ruins, near Jerobolos, or Jerabees, the ancient Etiropus ; not 
 Deer or Deir. 
 
 2 Probably the present Barena, a branch of the Taurus. 
 
CHAP. i. 23. INTRODUCTION. 121 
 
 run due west and east, 1 divides, by means of this line, the habit- 
 able earth into two portions, which he calls the northern and 
 southern divisions ; each of these he again essays to subdivide 
 into as many smaller partitions as practicable, which he deno- 
 minates sections. 2 He makes India the first section of the 
 southern part, and Ariana 3 the second; these two countries pos- 
 sessing a good outline, he has been able not only to give us an 
 accurate statement of their length and breadth, but an almost 
 geometrically exact description of their figure. He tells us that 
 the form of India is rhomboidal, being washed on two of its sides 
 by the southern and eastern oceans [respectively], which do not 
 deeply indent its shores. The two remaining sides are contained 
 by its mountains and the river [Indus], so that it presents a 
 kind of rectilinear figure. 4 As to Ariana, he considered three 
 of its sides well fitted to form a parallelogram ; but of the 
 western side he could give no regular definition, as it was in- 
 habited by various nations ; nevertheless he attempts an idea 
 of it by a line drawn from the Caspian Gates 5 to the limits 
 of Carmania, which border on the Persian Gulf. This side 
 he calls western, and that next the Indus eastern, but he does 
 not tell us they are parallel to each other ; neither does he say 
 this of the other sides, one bounded by the mountains, and the 
 other by the sea ; he simply calls them north and south. 
 
 23. Having in this manner but imperfectly traced the out- 
 lines of his second section, the third section, for various rea- 
 sons, is still less exact. The first cause has been already 
 explained, viz. that the line from the Caspian Gates to Car- 
 mania is not clearly defined, as the side of the section is 
 common both to the third and second sections. Secondly, 
 on account of the Persian Gulf interrupting the continuity of 
 
 1 This is rather free, but the text could not well otherwise be rendered 
 intelligibly. 
 
 2 atypayidaQ is the Greek word ; for which section is a poor equivalent, 
 but the best we believe the language affords. 
 
 3 The name of a considerable portion of Asia. 
 
 4 From Eratosthenes' description of India, preserved by our author in 
 his 1 5th book, we gather that he conceived the country to be something in 
 the form of an irregular quadrilateral, having one right, two obtuse, and 
 one acute angle, consequently none of its sides parallel to each other. On 
 the whole Eratosthenes' idea of the country was not near so exact as 
 that of Megasthenes. 
 
 5 The Caspian Gates are now known as the Strait of Firouz Koh. 
 
122 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 the southern side, as he himself tells us, he has been obliged to 
 take the measured road running through Susa and Persepolis to 
 the boundaries of Carmania and Persia, and suppose it straight. 1 
 This road, which he calls the southern side, is a little more than 
 9000 stadia. He does not, however, tell us, that it runs parallel 
 to the northern side. It is also clear that the Euphrates, which 
 he makes the western boundary, is any thing but a straight 
 line. On leaving the mountains it flows south, but soon shifts 
 its course to the east ; it then again pursues a southerly di- 
 rection till it reaches the sea. In fact, Eratosthenes himself 
 acknowledges the indirect course of this river, when he com- 
 pares the shape of Mesopotamia, which is formed by the junc- 
 tion of the Tigris and Euphrates, to the cushion on a rower's 
 bench. The western side bounded by the Euphrates is not 
 entirely measured ; for he tells us that he does not know the 
 extent of the portion between Armenia and the northern 
 mountains, 2 as it has not been measured. By reason of these 
 hinderances he states that he has been only able to give a very 
 superficial view of the third section, and that his estimate of 
 the distances is borrowed from various Itineraries, some of 
 them, according to his own description, anonymous. Hippar- 
 chus therefore must be considered guilty of unfairness, for 
 criticising with geometrical precision a work of this general 
 nature. We ought rather to be grateful to a person who gives 
 us any description at all of the character of such [unknown] 
 places. But when he urges his geometrical objections not 
 against any real statement of Eratosthenes, but merely against 
 imaginary hypotheses of his own creation, he shows too plainly 
 the contradictory bent of his mind. 
 
 24. It is in this general kind of description of the third 
 section that Eratosthenes supposes 10,000 stadia from the 
 Caspian Gates to the Euphrates. This he again divides 
 according to former admeasurements which he found pre- 
 served. Starting from the point where the Euphrates passes 
 near to Thapsacus, he computes from thence to the place 
 where Alexander crossed the Tigris 2400 stadia. The route 
 
 1 The ruins of Babylon, still called Babil, are on the Euphrates, near 
 Hilleh. Susa is now Suz or Schuss, and not Schoster or Toster. The 
 ruins of Persepolis remain, and may be seen near Istakar, Tchilminar, 
 and Nakchi-Rustan. 
 
 2 Between Thapsacus and Armenia. 
 
CHAP. i. 25, 26. INTRODUCTION. 123 
 
 thence through Gaugamela, 1 the Lycus, 2 Arbela, 3 and Ecba- 
 tana, 4 whither Darius fled from Gaugamela to the Caspian 
 Gates, makes up the 10,000 stadia, which is only 300 stadia 
 too much. Such is the measure of the northern side given 
 by Eratosthenes, which he could not have supposed to be pa- 
 rallel to the mountains, nor yet to the line drawn 'from the 
 Pillars of Hercules through Athens and Rhodes. For Thap- 
 sacus is far removed from the mountains, and the route from 
 Thapsacus to the Caspian Gates only falls in with the moun- 
 tains at that point. 5 Such is the boundary on the northern 
 side. 
 
 25. Thus, says Eratosthenes, we have given you a description 
 of the northern side ; as for the southern, we cannot take its 
 measure along the sea, on account of the Persian Gulf, 
 which intercepts [its continuity], but from Babylon through 
 Susa and Persepolis to the confines of Persia and Carmania 
 there are 9200 stadia. This he calls the southern side, but 
 he does not say it is parallel to the northern. The differ- 
 ence of length between the northern and southern sides is 
 caused, he tells us, by the Euphrates, which after running 
 south some distance shifts its course almost due east. 
 
 26. Of the two remaining sides, he describes the western 
 first, but whether we are to regard it as one single straight 
 line, or two, seems to be undecided. He says, From Thap- 
 sacus to Babylon, following the course of the Euphrates, there 
 are 4800 stadia ; from thence to the mouth of the Euphrates 6 
 and the city of Teredon, 3000 7 more ; from Thapsacus north- 
 ward to the Gates of Armenia, having been measured, is 
 stated to be 1100 stadia, but the distance through Gordysea 
 and Armenia, not having yet been measured, is not given. 
 The eastern side, which stretches lengthwise through 
 Persia from the Red Sea towards Media and the north, 
 does not appear to be less than 8000 stadia, and measured 
 from certain headlands above 9000, the rest of the distance 
 through Parsetacena and Media to the Caspian Gates being 
 3000 stadia. The rivers Tigris and Euphrates flowing 
 from Armenia towards the south, after having passed the 
 
 1 Karmelis. 2 The Altun-Suyi, or River of Gold. 3 Erbil. 
 
 4 Hamedan. 5 Viz. at the Gates of the Caspian. 
 
 6 This ancient embouchure of the Euphrates is now known as Khor- 
 Abdillah. , 7 Read 3300. 
 
STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 Gordysean mountains, and having formed a great circle which 
 embraces the vast country of Mesopotamia, turn towards the 
 rising of the sun in winter and the south, particularly the 
 Euphrates, which, continually approaching nearer and nearer 
 to the Tigris, passes by the rampart of Semiramis, 1 and at 
 about 200 stadia from the village of Opis, 2 thence it flows 
 through Babylon, and so discharges itself into the Persian 
 Gulf. Thus the figure of Mesopotamia and Babylon resem- 
 bles the cushion of a rower's bench. Such are the words of 
 Eratosthenes. 
 
 27. In the Third Section it is true he does make some mis- 
 takes, which we shall take into consideration ; but they are 
 nothing like the amount which Hipparchus attributes to 
 him. However, we will examine his objections. [In the 
 first place,] he would have the ancient charts left just as 
 they are, and by no means India brought more to the south, 
 as Eratosthenes thinks proper. Indeed, he asserts that the 
 very arguments adduced by that writer only confirm him the 
 more in his opinion. He says, " According to Eratosthenes, 
 the northern side of the third section is bounded by a line of 
 10,000 stadia drawn from the Caspian Gates to the Euphrates, 
 the southern side from Babylon to the confines of Carmania 
 is a little more than 9000 stadia. On the western side, follow- 
 ing the course of the Euphrates, from Thapsacus to Babylon 
 there are 4800 stadia, and thence to the outlets of the river 
 3000 stadia more. Northward from Thapsacus [to the Gates 
 of Armenia] is reckoned 1100 stadia; the rest has not been 
 measured. Now since Eratosthenes says that the northern 
 side of this Third Section is about 10.000 stadia, and that the 
 right line parallel thereto drawn from Babylon to the eastern 
 side is computed at just above 9000 stadia, it follows that 
 Babylon is not much more than 1000 stadia east of the pas- 
 sage of [the Euphrates] near Thapsacus." 
 
 28. We answer, that if the Caspian Gates and the boundary 
 line of Carmania and Persia were exactly under the same me- 
 ridian, and if right lines drawn in the direction of Thapsacus 
 and Babylon would intersect such meridian at right angles, 
 
 1 Thought by Col. Rawlinson to be the Chal-i-Nimrud, usually sup- 
 posed to mark the site of the Median wall of Xenophon. 
 
 2 Situated on the Tigris. 
 
CHAP. i. 29. INTRODUCTION. 125 
 
 the inference would be just. 1 For then the line [from the 
 common frontier of Carmania and Persia] to Babylon, if pro- 
 duced to the meridian of Thapsacus, would appear to the eye 
 equal, or nearly equal, to that from the Caspian Gates to 
 Thapsacus. Consequently, Babylon would only be east of 
 Thapsacus in the same proportion as the line drawn from the 
 Caspian Gates to Thapsacus exceeds the line drawn from the 
 frontier of Carmania to Babylon. 2 Eratosthenes, however, 
 does not tell us that the line which bounds the western coast 
 of Ariana follows the direction of the meridian ; nor yet that 
 a line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Thapsacus would form 
 right angles with the meridian of the Caspian Gates. But 
 rather, that the line which would form right angles with the 
 meridian, would be one which should follow the course of the 
 Taurus, and with which the line drawn from the Caspian 
 Gates to Thapsacus would form an acute angle. Nor, again, 
 does he ever say that a line drawn from Carmania to Babylon 
 would be parallel to that drawn [from the Caspian Gates] to 
 Thapsacus ; and even if it were parallel, this would prove 
 nothing for the argument of Hipparchus, since it does not 
 form right angles with the meridian of the Caspian Gates. 
 
 29. But taking this for granted, and proving, as he imagines, 
 that, according to Eratosthenes, Babylon is east of Thapsacus 
 rather more than 1000 stadia, he draws from this false hy- 
 pothesis a new argument, which he uses to the following 
 purpose ; and says, If we suppose a right line drawn from 
 Thapsacus towards the south, and another from Babylon per- 
 pendicular thereto, a right-angled triangle would be the result; 
 whose sides should be, LA line drawn from Thapsacus to 
 Babylon ; 2. A perpendicular drawn from Babylon to the 
 meridian of Thapsacus ; 3. The meridian line of Thapsacus. 
 The hypotenuse of this triangle would be a right line drawn 
 from Thapsacus to Babylon, which he estimates at 4800 stadia. 
 The perpendicular drawn from Babylon to the meridian of 
 Thapsacus is scarcely more than 1000 stadia, the same 
 amount by which the line drawn [from the Caspian Gates] to 
 
 1 A line drawn from the frontiers of Carmania to Babylon would form 
 with the meridian an angle of about 50. One from the Caspian Gates 
 to Thapsacus would form with the parallel merely an angle of about 30. 
 
 2 Namely, 1000 stadia, by the hypothesis of Hipparchus, or 800 ac- 
 cording to Eratosthenes. 
 
STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 Thapsacus exceeds that [from the common frontier of Car- 
 mania and Persia] to Babylon. The two sides [of the tri- 
 angle] being given, Hipparchus proceeds to find the third, 
 which is much greater than the perpendicular l aforesaid. To 
 this he adds the line drawn from Thapsacus northwards to 
 the mountains of Armenia, one part of which, according to 
 Eratosthenes, was measured, and found to be 1100 stadia ; the 
 other, or part unmeasured by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus esti- 
 mates to be 1000 stadia at the least : so that the two together 
 amount to 2100 stadia. Adding this to the [length of the] 
 side upon which falls the perpendicular drawn from Babylon, 
 Hipparchus estimated a distance of many thousand stadia 
 from the mountains of Armenia and the parallel of Athens 
 to this perpendicular, which falls on the parallel of Babylon. 2 
 From the parallel of Athens 3 to that of Babylon he shows 
 that there cannot be a greater distance than 2400 stadia, even 
 admitting the estimate supplied by Eratosthenes himself of 
 the number of stadia which the entire meridian contains; 4 
 and that if this be so, the mountains of Armenia and the 
 Taurus cannot be under the same parallel of latitude as 
 Athens, (which is the opinion of Eratosthenes,) but many 
 thousand stadia to the north, as the data supplied by that 
 writer himself prove. 
 
 But here, for the formation of his right-angled triangle, Hip- 
 parchus not only makes use of propositions already overturned, 
 but assumes what was never granted, namely, that the hypo- 
 tenuse subtending his right angle, which is the straight line 
 from Thapsacus to Babylon, is 4800 stadia in length. What 
 Eratosthenes says is, that this route follows the course of the 
 Euphrates, and adds, that Mesopotamia and Babylon are encom- 
 passed as it were by a great circle formed by the Euphrates and 
 Tigris, but principally by the former of these rivers. So that 
 a straight line from Thapsacus to Babylon would neither follow 
 the course of the Euphrates, nor yet be near so many stadia 
 in length. Thus the argument [of Hipparchus] is overturned. 
 We have stated before, that supposing two lines drawn from 
 
 1 Or second side. 
 
 2 Hipparchus found by this operation that the distance from the paral- 
 lel of Babylon to that of the mountains of Armenia was 6795 stadia. 
 
 3 See Humboldt, Cosmos ii. p. 556, note, Bohn's edition. 
 
 4 Eratosthenes estimated 252,000 stadia for the circumference of the 
 earth. 
 
CHAP. i. $ 30. INTRODUCTION. 127 
 
 the Caspian Gates, one to Thapsacus, and the other to 
 the mountains of Armenia opposite Thapsacus, and distant 
 therefrom, according to Hipparchus's own estimate, 2100 
 stadia at the very least, neither of them would be parallel to 
 each other, nor yet to that line which, passing through Baby- 
 lon, is styled by Eratosthenes the southern side [of the third 
 section]. As he could not inform us of the exact length of 
 the route by the mountains, Eratosthenes tells us the dis- 
 tance between Thapsacus and the Caspian Gates ; in fact, to 
 speak in a general way, he puts this distance in place of the 
 other ; besides, as he merely wanted to give the length of the 
 territory between Ariana and the Euphrates, he was not par- 
 ticular to have the exact measure of either route. To pretend 
 that he considered the lines to be parallel to each other, is 
 evidently to accuse the man of more than childish ignorance, 
 and we dismiss the insinuation as nonsense forthwith. 
 
 30. There, however, are some instances in which one may 
 justly accuse Eratosthenes. There is a difference in dissect- 
 ing limb by limb, or merely cutting off portions [indiscrimin- 
 ately], (for in the former you may only separate parts having 
 a natural outline, and distinguished by a regular form ; this 
 the poet alludes to in the expression, 
 
 " Cutting them limb from limb;" ' 
 
 whereas in regard to the latter this is not the case,) and we 
 may adopt with propriety either one or other of these plans 
 according to the time and necessity. So in Geography, if you 
 enter into every detail, you may sometimes be compelled to 
 divide your territories into portions, so to speak, but it is a more 
 preferable way to separate them into limbs, than into such 
 chance pieces ; for thus only you can define accurately particular 
 points and boundaries, a thing so necessary to the geographer. 
 When it can be done, the best way to define a country is by 
 the rivers, mountains, or sea ; also, where possible, by the 
 nation or nations [who inhabit it], and by its size and con- 
 figuration. However, in default of a geometrical definition, 
 a simple and general description may be said always to an- 
 swer the purpose. In regard to size, it is sufficient to state 
 the greatest length and breadth ; for example, that the habit - 
 
 1 Odyssey ix. 291 ; Iliad x*iv. 409. 
 
128 STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 able earth is 70,000 stadia long, and that its breadth is scarcely 
 half its length. 1 And as to form, to compare a country to 
 any geometrical or other well-known figure. For example, 
 Sicily to a triangle, Spain to an ox-hide, or the Peloponnesus 
 to a plane-leaf. 2 The larger the territory to be divided, the 
 more general also ought its divisions to be. 
 
 31. [In the system of Eratosthenes], the habitable earth 
 has been admirably divided into two parts by the Taurus and 
 the Mediterranean Sea, which reaches to the Pillars. On the 
 southern side, the limits of India have been described by a 
 variety of methods ; by its mountains, 3 its river, 4 its seas, 5 
 and its name, 6 which seems to indicate that it is inhabited 
 only by ojoej^eople. 7 It is with justice too that he attributes 
 to it the form of a quadrilateral or rhomboid. Ariana is not 
 so accurately described, on account of its western side being 
 interwoven with the adjacent land. Still it is pretty well 
 distinguished by its three other sides, which are formed by 
 three nearly straight lines, and also by its name, which shows 
 it to be only one nation. 8 As to the Third Section of Eratos- 
 thenes, it cannot be considered to be denned or circumscribed 
 at all; for that side of it which is common to Ariana is but 
 ill defined, as before remarked. The southern side, too, 
 is most negligently taken : it is, in fact, no boundary to the 
 section at all, for it passes right through its centre, leaving 
 entirely outside of it many of the southern portions. Nor 
 
 1 Strabo estimated the length of the continent at 70,000 stadia from 
 Cape St. Vincent to Cape Comorin, and 29,300 stadia as its breadth. 
 
 2 The ancient geographers often speak of these kind of resemblances. 
 They have compared the whole habitable earth to a soldier's cloak or 
 mantle, as also the town of Alexandria, which they styled %\ajuvoad. 
 Italy at one time to a leaf of parsley, at another to an oak-leaf. Sar- 
 dinia to a human foot-print. The isle of Naxos to a vine-leaf. Cyprus 
 to a sheep-skin; and the Black Sea to a Scythian bow, bent. The ear- 
 liest coins of Peloponnesus, struck about 750 years before the Christian 
 era, bear the impress of a tortoise, because that animal abounded on 
 the shores, and the divisions and height of its shell were thought to offer 
 some likeness to the territorial divisions of the little states of Pelopon- 
 nesus and the mountain-ridges which run through the middle of that 
 country. The Sicilians took for their symbol three thighs and legs, 
 arranged in such an order that the bended knees might resemble the 
 three capes of that island and its triangular form. 
 
 3 The chain of the Taurus. 4 The Indus. 
 
 3 The Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. 6 India. 
 
 7 Viz. Indians. 8 Ariana, or the nation of the Arians. 
 
CHAP. i. $ 31. INTRODUCTION. 129 
 
 yet does it represent the greatest length of the section, for 
 the northern side is the longest. 1 Nor, lastly, can the Eu- 
 phrates be its western boundary, not even if it flowed in a 
 right line, since its two extremes 2 do not lie under the same 
 meridian. How then is it the western rather than the south- 
 ern boundary ? Apart from this, the distance to the Seas of 
 Cilicia and Syria is so inconsiderable, that there can be_no 
 reason why he should not have enlargedj the third section, 
 so as to include the kingdoms of Semiicamis and Ninus, who 
 are both of them known as Syrian monarch s ; the~first built 
 Babylon, which he made his royal residence ; the ^second 
 Nmus, 3 the capital ofJSyjria; 4 and the same dialect still ex- 
 iss~on both sides of the Euphrates^*" The idea of thus dis- 
 membering so renowned a nation, and allotting its portions 
 to strange nations with which it had no connexion, is as pe- 
 culiarly unfortunate. Eratosthenes cannot plead that he was 
 compelled to do this on account of its size, for had it extended 
 as far as the sea and the frontiers of Arabia Felix and Egypt, 
 even then it would not have been as large as India, or even 
 Ariana. It would have therefore been much better to have 
 enlarged the third section, making it comprehend the whole 
 space as far as the Sea of Syria ; but if this were done, the 
 southern side would not be as he represents it, nor yet in a 
 straight line, but starting from Carmania would follow the 
 right side of the sea-shore from the Persian Gulf to the 
 mouth of the Euphrates ; it would then approach the limits 
 of Mesene 5 and Babylon, where the Isthmus commences 
 which separates Arabia Felix from the rest of the continent. 
 Traversing the Isthmus, it would continue its course to the 
 recess of the Arabian Gulf and Pelusium, 6 thence to the 
 mouth of the Nile at Canopus. 7 Such would be the southern 
 
 1 By 800 stadia. 2 Viz. of the Euphrates. 3 Or Nineveh. 
 
 4 Syria, properly so called, extended from the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean to the Euphrates. Between the Euphrates^and the Tigris lay 
 Mesopotamia, andTeyond the Tigris. Assyria. The wjiole of these 
 countries formerly bore the name of Syria?"" The Hebrews denominated 
 Mesopotamia^ Syria of the Rivers. The name Assyria seems to be no- 
 thing more than Syria with the article prefixed. Nineveh stood on the 
 eastern bank of the Tigris. 
 
 5 Mesene comprehends the low and sandy grounds traversed by the 
 Euphrates, immediately before it discharges itself into the Persian Gulf. 
 
 6 Tineh. 7 Moadieh, near to Aboukir. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
STRABO. BOOK TI. 
 
 side. The west would be traced by the sea-shore from the 
 [river's] mouth at Canopus to Cilicia. 1 
 
 32. The fourth section would consist of Arabia Felix, 
 the Arabian Gulf, and the whole of Egypt and Ethiopia. Its 
 length bounded by two meridians, one drawn through its most 
 western point, the other through its most eastern ; and its 
 breadth by two parallels through its most northern and south- 
 ern points. For this is the best way to describe the extent 
 of irregular figures, whose length and breadth cannot be de- 
 termined by their sides. 
 
 In general it is to be observed, that length and breadth are 
 to be understood in different ways, according as you speak of 
 the whole or a part. Of a whole, the greater distance is 
 called its length, and the lesser its breadth ; of a part, that 
 is to be considered the length which is parallel to the length 
 of the whole, without any regard whether it, or that 
 which is left for the breadth, be the greater distance. The 
 length of the whole habitable earth is measured from east to 
 west by a line drawn parallel to the equator, and its breadth 
 from north to south in the direction of the meridian ; conse- 
 quently, the length of any of the parts ought to be portions 
 of a line drawn parallel to the length of the whole, and their 
 breadth to the breadth of the whole. For, in the first place, 
 by this means the size of the whole habitable earth will be 
 best described ; and secondly, the disposition and configuration 
 of its parts, and the manner in which one may be said to be 
 greater or less than another, will be made manifest by thus 
 comparing them. 
 
 33. Eratosthenes, however, measures the length of the 
 habitable earth by a line which he considers straight, drawn 
 from the Pillars of Hercules, in the direction of the Caspian 
 Gates and the Caucasus. The length of the third section, 
 by a line drawn from the Caspian Gates to Thapsacus, 
 and of the fourth, by one running from Thapsacus through 
 Heroopolis to the country surrounded by the Nile : this 
 must necessarily be deflected to Canopus and Alexandria, 
 for there is the last mouth of the Nile, which goes by the 
 name of the Canopic 2 or Heracleotic mouth. Whether 
 
 1 Along the coasts of Egypt, past Palestine and Syria, to the recess 
 of the Gulf of Issus, where Cilicia commences. 
 
 2 Canopus, near to Aboukir. 
 
CHAP, i, 34. INTRODUCTION. 131 
 
 therefore these two lengths be considered to form one 
 straight line, or to make an angle with Thapsacus, cer- 
 tain it is that neither of them is parallel to the length of the 
 habitable earth ; this is evident from what Eratosthenes has 
 himself said concerning them. According to him the length 
 of the habitable earth is described by a right line running 
 through the Taurus to the Pillars of Hercules, in the direc- 
 tion of the Caucasus, Rhodes, and Athens. From Rhodes to 
 Alexandria, following the meridian of the two cities, he says 
 there cannot be much less than 4000 stadia, 1 consequently there 
 must be the same difference between the latitudes of Rhodes 
 and Alexandria. Now the latitude of Heroopolis is about the 
 same as Alexandria, or rather more south. So that a line, 
 whether straight or broken, which intersects the parallel of 
 Heroopolis, Rhodes, or the Gates of the Caspian, cannot be 
 parallel to either of these. These lengths therefore are 
 not properly indicated, nor are the northern sections any 
 better. 
 
 34. We will now return at once to Hipparchus, and see 
 what comes next. Continuing to palm assumptions of his own 
 [upon Eratosthenes], he goes on to refute, with geometrical 
 accuracy, statements which that author had made in a mere 
 general way. " Eratosthenes," he says, " estimates that there 
 are 6700 stadia between Babylon and the Caspian Gates, 
 and from Babylon to the frontiers of Carmania and Persia 
 above 9000 stadia ; this he supposes to lie in a direct line 
 towards the equinoctial rising, 2 and perpendicular to the com- 
 mon side of his second and third sections. Thus, according 
 to his plan, we should have a right-angled triangle, with the 
 right angle next to the frontiers of Carmania, and its hypo- 
 tenuse less than one of the sides about the right angle ! 
 Consequently Persia should be included in the second sec- 
 tion." 3 
 
 1 It was a mistake common to Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Strabo, 
 to fancy that Rhodes and Alexandria were under the same meridian. The 
 longitude of the two cities differs by 2<> 22' 45". 
 
 2 Due east. 
 
 3 The following is a Resume of the argument of Hipparchus, " The 
 hypotenuse of the supposed triangle, or the line drawn from Babylon to 
 the Caspian Gates being only 6700 stadia, would be necessarily shorter 
 than either of the other sides, since the line from Babylon to the fron- 
 tiers of Carmania is estimated by Eratosthenes at 9170, and that from 
 the frontiers of Carmania to the Caspian Gates above 9000 stadia. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 To this we reply, that the line drawn from Babylon to Car- 
 mania was never intended as a parallel, nor yet that which 
 divides the two sections as a meridian, and that therefore no- 
 thing has been laid to his charge, at all events with any just 
 foundation. In fact, Eratosthenes having stated the number 
 of stadia from the Caspian Gates to Babylon as above 
 given, 1 [from the Caspian Gates] to Susa 4900 stadia, 
 and from Babylon [to Susa] 3400 stadia, Hipparchus runs 
 away from his former hypothesis, and says that [by draw- 
 ing lines from] the Caspian Gates, Susa, and Babylon, 
 an -obtuse-angled triangle would be the result, whose sides 
 should be of the length laid down, and of which Susa 
 would form the obtuse angle. He then argues, that "accord- 
 ing to these premises, the meridian drawn from the Gates of 
 the Caspian will intersect the parallel of Babylon and Susa 
 4400 stadia more to the west, than would a straight line 
 drawn from the Caspian to the confines of Carmania and 
 Persia ; and that this last line, forming with the meridian of 
 the Caspian Gates half a right angle, would lie exactly 
 in a direction midway between the south and the equinoctial 
 rising. Now as the course of the Indus is parallel to this 
 line, it cannot flow south on its descent from the mountains, as 
 Eratosthenes asserts, but in a direction lying between the 
 south and the equinoctial rising, as laid down in the ancient 
 charts." But who is there who will admit this to be an ob- 
 tuse-angled triangle, without also admitting that it contains a 
 right angle ? Who will agree that the line from Babylon to 
 Susa, which forms one side of this obtuse-angled triangle, lies 
 parallel, without admitting the same of the whole line as far 
 as Carmania ? or that the line drawn from the Caspian Gates 
 to the frontiers of Carmania is parallel to the Indus ? Never- 
 theless, without this the reasoning [of Hipparchus] is worth 
 nothing. 
 
 " Eratosthenes himself also states," [continues Hipparchus, 2 ] 
 
 The frontiers of Carmania would thus be east of the Caspian Gates, 
 and Persia would consequently be comprised, not in the third, but in the 
 second section of Eratosthenes, being east of the meridian of the Caspian 
 Gates, which was the boundary of the two sections." Strabo, in the text, 
 points out the falsity of this argument. 
 
 1 Viz. 6700 stadia. 
 
 2 These two words, continues Hipparchus, are not in the text, but the ar- 
 gument is undoubtedly his. 
 
CIIAI-. i. 35. INTRODUCTION. 133 
 
 "that the form of India is rhomboidal ; and since the whole 
 eastern border of that country has a decided tendency to- 
 wards the east, but more particularly the extremest cape, 1 
 which lies more to the south than any other part of the coast, 
 the side next the Indus must be the same." 
 
 35. These arguments may be very geometrical, but they 
 are not convincing. After having himself invented these 
 various difficulties, he dismisses them, saying, " Had [Eratos- 
 thenes] been chargeable for small distances only, he might 
 have been excused ; but since his mistakes involve thousands 
 of stadia, we cannot pardon him, more especially since he has 
 laid it down that at a mere distance of 400 stadia, 2 such as 
 that between the parallels of Athens and Rhodes, there is a 
 sensible variation [of latitude]." But these sensible variations 
 are not all of the same kind, the distance [involved therein] 
 being in some instances greater, in others less ; greater, when 
 for our estimate of the climata we trust merely to the eye, or 
 are guided by the vegetable productions and the temperature 
 of the air ; less, when we employ gnomons and dioptric in- 
 struments. Nothing is more likely than that if you measure 
 the parallel of Athens, or that of Rhodes and Caria, by means 
 of a gnomon, the difference resulting from so many stadia 3 
 will be sensible. But when a geographer, in order to trace a 
 line from west to east, 3000 stadia broad, makes use of a chain 
 of mountains 40,000 stadia long, and also of a sea which ex- 
 tends still farther 30,000 stadia, and farther wishing to point 
 out the situation of the different parts of the habitable earth 
 relative to this line, calls some southern, others northern, and 
 finally lays out what he calls the sections, each section con- 
 sisting of divers countries, then we ought carefully to examine 
 in what acceptation he uses his terms ; in what sense he says 
 that such a side [of any section] is the north side, and what 
 other is the south, or east, or west side. If he does not take 
 pains to avoid great errors, he deserves to be blamed, but 
 should he be guilty merely of trifling inaccuracies, he should 
 be forgiven. But here nothing shows thoroughly that Era- 
 
 1 Cape Comorin. 
 
 - 400 stadia, allowing 700 to a degree, would give 34' 17" latitude. 
 According to present astronomical calculations, the distance between the 
 parallels of Rhodes and Athens is 1 36' 30". 
 
 3 Viz. 400 stadia, or 34' 17" of latitude. 
 
134 STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 tosthenes has committed either serious or slight errors, for on 
 one hand what he may have said concerning such great dis- 
 tances, can never be verified by a geometrical test, and on 
 the other, his accuser, while endeavouring to reason like a 
 geometrician, does not found his arguments on any real data, 
 but on gratuitous suppositions. 
 
 36. The fourth section Hipparchus certainly manages 
 better, though he still maintains the same censorious tone, 
 and obstinacy in sticking to his first hypotheses, or others 
 similar. He properly objects to Eratosthenes giving as the 
 length of this section a line drawn from Thapsacus to Egypt, 
 as being similar to the case of a man who should tell us that 
 the diagonal of a parallelogram was its length. For Thap- 
 sacus and the coasts of Egypt are by no means under the 
 same parallel of latitude, but under parallels considerably 
 distant from each other, 1 and a line drawn from Thapsacus to 
 Egypt would lie in a kind of diagonal or oblique direction 
 between them. But he is wrong when he expresses his sur- 
 prise that Eratosthenes should dare to state the distance be- 
 tween Pelusium and Thapsacus at 6000 stadia, when he says 
 there are above 8000. In proof of this he advances that the 
 parallel of Pelusium is south of that of Babylon by more than 
 2500 stadia, and that according to Eratosthenes (as he supposes) 
 the latitude of Thapsacus is above 4800 stadia north of that 
 of Babylon ; from which Hipparchus tells us it results that 
 [between Thapsacus and Pelusium] there are more than 
 8000 stadia. But I would inquire how he can prove that 
 Eratosthenes supposed so great a distance between the pa- 
 rallels of Babylon and Thapsacus ? He says, indeed, that such 
 is the distance from Thapsacus to Babylon, but not that there 
 is this distance between their parallels, nor yet that Thapsacus 
 and Babylon are under the same meridian. So much the 
 contrary, that Hipparchus has himself pointed out, that, accord- 
 ing to Eratosthenes, Babylon ought to be east of Thapsacus 
 more than 2000 stadia. We have before cited the statement 
 of Eratosthenes, that Mesopotamia and Babylon are encircled 
 by the Tigris and Euphrates, and that the greater portion of 
 the Circle is formed by this latter river, which flowing north 
 and south takes a turn to the east, and then, returning to a 
 
 1 The difference of latitude between Thapsacus and Pelusium is about 
 4 27'. 
 
CHAP. i. 36, 37. INTRODUCTION. 135 
 
 southerly direction, discharges itself [into the sea]. So long 
 as it flows from north to south, it may be said to follow a 
 southerly direction ; but the turning towards the east and 
 Babylon is a decided deviation from the southerly direction, 
 and it never recovers a straight course, but forms the circuit 
 we have mentioned above. When he tells us that the journey 
 from Babylon to Thapsacus is 4800 stadia, he adds, following 
 the course of the Euphrates, as if on purpose lest any one 
 should understand such to be the distance in a direct line, or 
 between the two parallels. If this be not granted, it is alto- 
 gether a vain attempt to show that if a right-angled triangle 
 were constructed by lines drawn from Pelusium and Thap- 
 sacus to the point where the parallel of Thapsacus intercepts 
 the meridian of Pelusium, that one of the lines which form the 
 right angle, and is in the direction of the meridian, would be 
 longer than that forming the hypotenuse drawn from Thap- 
 sacus to Pelusium. 1 Worthless, too, is the argument in con- 
 nexion with this, being the inference from a proposition not 
 admitted ; for Eratosthenes never asserts that from Babylon to 
 the meridian of the Caspian Gates is a distance of 4800 
 stadia. We have shown that Hipparchus deduces this from 
 data not admitted by Eratosthenes ; but desirous to controvert 
 every thing advanced by that writer, he assumes that from 
 Babylon to the line drawn from the Caspian Gates to the 
 mountains of Carmania, according to Eratosthenes' descrip- 
 tion, there are above 9000 stadia, and from thence draws his 
 conclusions. 
 
 37. Eratosthenes 2 cannot, therefore, be found fault with on 
 these grounds ; what may be objected against him is as follows. 
 When you wish to give a general outline of size and confi- 
 guration, you should devise for yourself some rule which 
 may be adhered to more or less. After having laid down 
 that the breadth of the space occupied by the mountains 
 which run in a direction due east, as well as by the sea which 
 reaches to the Pillars of Hercules, is 3000 stadia, would you 
 pretend to estimate different lines, which you may draw within 
 the breadth of that space, as one and the same line ? We 
 
 1 The text here is evidently corrupt. 
 
 2 Gosselin makes some sensible remarks on this section ; we have 
 endeavoured to render it accurately, but much fear that the true meaning 
 of Strabo is now obscured by corruptions in the text. 
 
136 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 should be more willing to grant you the power of doing so 
 with respect to the lines which run parallel to that space than 
 with those which fall upon it; and among these latter, 
 rather with respect to those which fall within it than to 
 those which extend without it; and also rather for those 
 which, in regard to the shortness of their extent, would not 
 pass out of the said space than for those which would. And 
 again, rather for lines of some considerable length than for any 
 thing very short, for the inequality of lengths is less percep- 
 tible in great extents than the difference of configuration. 
 For example, if you give 3000 stadia for the breadth at the 
 Taurus, as well as for the sea which extends to the Pillars of 
 Hercules, you will form a parallelogram entirely enclosing 
 both the mountains of the Taurus and the sea ; if you divide it 
 in its length into several other parallelograms, and draw first 
 the diagonal of the great parallelogram, and next that of 
 each smaller parallelogram, surely the diagonal of the great 
 parallelogram will be regarded as a line more nearly parallel 
 and equal to the side forming the length of that figure than 
 the diagonal of any of the smaller parallelograms : and the 
 more your lesser parallelograms should be multiplied, the 
 more will this become evident. Certainly, it is in great 
 figures that the obliquity of the diagonal and its difference 
 from the side forming the length are the less perceptible, so that 
 you would have but little scruple in taking the diagonal as 
 the length of the figure. But if you draw the diagonal more 
 inclined, so that it falls beyond both sides, or at least beyond 
 one of the sides, then will this no longer be the case ; and 
 this is the sense in which we have observed, that when you at- 
 tempted to draw even in a very general way the extents of 
 the figures, you ought to adopt some rule. But Eratosthenes 
 takes a line from the Caspian Gates along the mountains, 
 running as it were in the same parallel as far as the Pillars, 
 and then a second line, starting directly from the mountains 
 to touch Thapsacus ; and again a third line from Thapsacus 
 to the frontiers of Egypt, occupying so great a breadth. If then 
 in proceeding you give the length of the two last lines [taken 
 together] as the measure of the length of the district, you will 
 appear to measure the length of one of your parallelograms by 
 its diagonal. And if, farther, this diagonal should consist of 
 a broken line, as that would be which stretches from the 
 
CHAP. i. 38, 39. INTRODUCTION. 137 
 
 Caspian Gates to the embouchure of the Nile, passing by 
 Thapsacus, your error will appear much greater. This is the 
 sum of what may be alleged against Eratosthenes. 
 
 38. In another respect also we have to complain of Hip- 
 parchus, because, as he had given a category of the state- 
 ments of Eratosthenes, he ought to have corrected his mis- 
 takes, in the same way that we have done ; but whenever he 
 has any thing particular to remark, he tells us to follow the 
 ancient charts, which, to say the least, need correction infi- 
 nitely .more than the map of Eratosthenes. 
 
 The argument which follows is equally objectionable, being 
 founded on the consequences of a proposition which, as we 
 have shown, is inadmissible, namely, that Babylon was not 
 more than 1000 stadia east of Thapsacus ; when it was 
 quite clear, from Eratosthenes' own words, that Babylon 
 was above 2400 stadia east of that place ; since from Thap- 
 sacus to the passage of the Euphrates where it was crossed 
 by Alexander, the shortest route is 2400 stadia, and the 
 Tigris and Euphrates, having encompassed Mesopotamia, 
 flow towards the east, and afterwards take a southerly direc- 
 tion and approach nearer to each other and to Babylon at 
 the same time : nothing appears absurd in this statement of 
 Eratosthenes. 
 
 39. The next objection of Hipparchus is likewise false. 
 He attempts to prove that Eratosthenes, in his statement 
 that the route from Thapsacus to the Caspian Gates is 
 10,000 stadia, gives this as the distance taken in a straight 
 line ; such not being the case, as in that instance the distance 
 would be much shorter. His mode of reasoning is after this 
 fashion. He says, " According to Eratosthenes, the mouth 
 of the Nile at Canopus, 1 and the Cyanea?, 2 are under the 
 same meridian, which is distant from that of Thapsacus 6300 
 stadia. Now from the Cyaneas to Mount Caspius, which is 
 situated close to the defile 3 leading from Colchis to the Cas- 
 
 1 Moadieh, the mouth of the river close to Aboukir. 
 
 2 Certain little islets at the mouth of the canal of Constantinople, in the 
 Black Sea. These islands want about a degree and a quarter of being 
 under the same meridian as Moadieh. 
 
 3 Gosselin remarks, that the defile intended by Strabo, was probably 
 the valley of the river Kur, or the ancient Cyrus, in Georgia; and by 
 Mount Caspius we are to understand the high mountains of Georgia, 
 
138 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 pian Sea, there are 6600 stadia, 1 so that, with the exception 
 of about 300 stadia, the distance from the meridian of the 
 Cyaneas to that of Thapsacus, or to that of Mount Caspius, is 
 the same : and both Thapsacus and Mount Caspius are, so 
 to speak, under the same meridian. 2 It follows from this 
 that the Caspian Gates are about equi-distant between Thap- 
 sacus and Mount Caspius, but that the distance between 
 them and Thapsacus is much less than the 10,000 stadia men- 
 tioned by Eratosthenes. Consequently, as the distance in a 
 right line is much less than 10,000 stadia, this route, which 
 he considered to be in a straight course from the Caspian 
 Gates to Thapsacus, must have been a circumbendibus." 
 
 To this we reply, that Eratosthenes, as is usual in Geogra- 
 phy, speaks of right lines, meridians, and parallels to the 
 equator, with considerable latitude, whereas Hipparchus cri- 
 ticizes him with geometrical nicety, as if every line had been 
 measured with rule and compass. Hipparchus at the same 
 time himself frequently deciding as to right lines and paral- 
 lels, not by actual measurement, but mere conjecture. Such 
 is the first error of this writer. A second is, that he never 
 lays down the distances as Eratosthenes has given them, nor 
 yet reasons on the data furnished by that writer, but from 
 mere assumptions of his own coinage. Thus, where Era- 
 tosthenes states that the distance from the mouth of the 
 [Thracian Bosphorus] to the Phasis is 8000 stadia, from 
 thence to Dioscurias 600 stadia, 3 and from Dioscurias to Cas- 
 pius five days' journey, (which Hipparchus estimates at 1000 
 stadia,) the sum of these, as stated by Eratosthenes, would 
 amount to 9600 stadia. This Hipparchus abridges in the fol- 
 lowing manner. From the Cyanese to the Phasis are 5600 
 stadia, and from the Phasis to the Caspius 1000 more. 4 There- 
 
 whence the waters, which fall on one side into the Black Sea, and on the 
 other into the Caspian, take their rise. 
 
 1 Gosselin also observes, that on our charts this distance is about 8100 
 stadia of 700 to a degree. Consequently the difference between the 
 meridian of Thapsacus and that of Mount Caspius is as much as 4 45', 
 in place of the 300 stadia, or from 25' to 26' supposed by Hipparchus. 
 
 2 On the contrary, Mount Caspius is east of the meridian of Thapsacus 
 by about 2500 stadia, of 700 to a degree. 
 
 3 Now Iskouriah. Dioscurias, however, is 800 stadia from the Phasis, 
 of 700 to a degree. 
 
 4 According to our improved charts, the distance from the meridian of 
 
CHAP. i. 40. INTRODUCTION. 139 
 
 fore it is no statement of Eratosthenes that the Caspius and 
 Thapsacus are under the same meridian, but of Hipparchus 
 himself. However, supposing Eratosthenes says so, does it 
 follow that the distance from the Caspius to the Caspian 
 Gates, and that from Thapsacus to the same point, are 
 equal. 1 
 
 40. In the second book of his Commentaries, Hipparchus, 
 having again mooted the question concerning the mountains 
 of the Taurus, of which we have spoken sufficiently, proceeds 
 with the northern parts of the habitable earth. He then 
 notices the statement of Eratosthenes concerning the coun- 
 tries situated west of the Euxine, 2 namely, that the three 
 [principal] headlands [of this continent], the first the Pelo- 
 ponnesian, the second the Italian, the third the Ligurian, run 
 from north [to south], enclosing the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian 
 Gulfs. 3 After this general exposition, Hipparchus proceeds 
 to criticise each point in detail, but rather on geometrical than 
 geographical grounds ; on these subjects, however, the number 
 of Eratosthenes' errors is so overwhelming, as also of Timos- 
 thenes the author of the Treatise on the Ports, (whom Eratos- 
 thenes prefers above every other writer, though he often decides 
 even against him,) that it does not seem to be worth my time 
 to review their faulty productions, nor even what Hipparchus 
 has to say about them ; since he neither enumerates all their 
 blunders, nor yet sets them right, but only points out how 
 
 the Cyaneas to that of the Phasis is 6800 stadia, of 700 to a degree ; from 
 the Cyaneato Mount Caspius, 8080. 
 
 1 The meridian of Mount Caspius is about 2625 stadia nearer the 
 Caspian Gates than that of Thapsacus. 
 
 2 fitTa TOV Tlovrov, literally, after the Pontus. 
 
 3 Gosselin observes, that Eratosthenes took a general view of the salient 
 points of land that jutted into the Mediterranean, as some of the learned 
 of our own time have done, when remarking that most of the continents 
 terminated in capes, extending towards the south. The first promontory that 
 Eratosthenes speaks of terminated in Cape Malea of the Peloponnesus, 
 and comprised the whole of Greece ; the Italian promontory likewise ter- 
 minated Italy ; the Ligurian promontory was reckoned to include all Spain, 
 it terminated at Cape Tarifa, near to the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar. 
 As the Ligurians had obtained possession of a considerable portion of the 
 coasts of France and Spain, that part of the Mediterranean which washes 
 the shores of those countries was named the Ligurian Sea. It extended 
 from the Arno to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is in accordance with this 
 nomenclature that Eratosthenes called Cape Tarifa, which projects far- 
 thest into the Strait, the Ligurian promontory. 
 
HO STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 they falsify and contradict each other. Still any one might cer- 
 tainly object to the saying of Eratosthenes, that Europe has but 
 three headlands, and considering as one that which terminates 
 by the Peloponnesus, notwithstanding it is broken up into so 
 many divisions. In fact, Sunium 1 is as much a promontory as 
 Laconia, and not very much less south than Malea, 2 forming a 
 considerable bay. 3 and the Thracian Chersonesus 4 and Suni- 
 um 5 form the Gulf of Melas, 6 and likewise those of Macedonia. 7 
 Added to this, it is manifest that the majority of the distances 
 are falsely stated, thus arguing an ignorance of geography 
 scarcely credible, and so far from requiring geometrical de- 
 monstration that it stands out prominent on the very face of 
 the statements. For example, the distance from Epidamnus 8 
 to the Thermaic Gulf 9 is above 2000 stadia ; Eratosthenes 
 gives it at 900. So too he states the distance from Alexandria 
 to Carthage at 13,000 10 stadia ; it is not more than 9000, that 
 is, if, as he himself tells us, Caria and Rhodes are under 
 the same meridian as Alexandria, 11 and the Strait of Messina 
 under the same as Carthage, 12 for every one is agreed that the 
 voyage from Caria to the Strait of Sicily does not exceed 
 9000 stadia. 
 
 It is doubtless permissible in very great distances to con- 
 sider as under one and the same meridian places which are 
 not more east and west of each other than Carthage is west 
 of the Strait ; 13 but an error of 3000 stadia is too much ; and 
 when he places Rome under the same meridian as Carthage, 
 notwithstanding its being so far west of that city, it is but 
 
 I Cape Colonna. 2 Cape Malio, or St. Angelo. 
 
 3 Strabo means the Saronic Gulf, now the Bay of Engia. 
 
 4 The peninsula of Gallipoli by the Dardanelles. 
 
 5 Trpoe TO Sounoi/. Strabo's meaning is, that the entire space of sea, 
 bounded on the north by the Thracian Chersonesus, and on the south by 
 Sunium, or Cape Colonna, forms a kind of large gulf. 
 
 6 Or Black Gulf; the Gulf of Saros. 
 
 7 The Gulfs of Contessa, Monte-Santo, Cassandra, and Salonica. 
 
 8 Durazzo, on the coast of Albania. 
 
 9 The Gulf of Salonica. 10 Read 13,500 stadia. 
 
 II It was an error alike shared in by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and 
 Strabo, that Alexandria and Rhodes were under the same meridian, not- 
 withstanding the former of these cities is 2 22' 45" east of the latter. 
 
 12 This is an error peculiar to Eratosthenes. The meridians of Carthage 
 and the Strait of Messina differ by 5 45'. 
 
 13 The Strait of Messina. 
 
CHAP. i. 41. INTRODUCTION. 141 
 
 the crowning proof of his extreme ignorance both of these 
 places, and likewise of the other countries farther west as far 
 as the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 41. Since Hipparchus does not furnish a Geography of his 
 own, but merely reviews what is said in that of Eratosthenes, 
 he ought to have gone farther, and corrected the whole of 
 that writer's mistakes. As for ourselves, it is only in those 
 particulars where Eratosthenes is correct (and we acknow- 
 ledge that he frequently errs) that we have thought it our 
 duty to quote his own words, in order to reinstate them in 
 their position, and to defend him when he could be acquitted 
 of the charges of Hipparchus ; never failing to break a 
 lance with the latter writer whenever his objections seemed 
 to be the result of a mere propensity to find fault. But when 
 Eratosthenes is grossly mistaken, and the animadversions of 
 Hipparchus are just, we have thought it sufficient in our 
 Geography to set him (Eratosthenes) right by merely stating 
 facts as they are. As the mistakes were so continual and 
 numerous, it was better not to mention them except in a 
 sparse and general manner. This principle in the details we 
 shall strive to carry out. In the present instance we shall 
 only remark, that Timosthenes, Eratosthenes, and those who 
 preceded them, were but ill acquainted with Iberia and Kel- 
 tica, 1 and a thousand times less with Germany, Britain, 
 and the land of the Getae and Bastarnae. 2 Their want of 
 knowledge is also great in regard to Italy, the Adriatic, the 
 Euxine, and the countries north of these. Possibly this last 
 remark may be regarded as captious, since Eratosthenes states, 
 that as to distant countries, he has merely given the admea- 
 surements as he finds them supplied by others, without vouch- 
 ing for their accuracy, although he sometimes adds whether 
 the route indicated is more or less in a right line. We should 
 not therefore subject to a too rigorous examination distances 
 as to which no one is agreed, after the manner Hipparchus 
 does, both in regard to the places already mentioned, and also 
 to those of which Eratosthenes has given the distance from 
 Hyrcania to Bactria and the countries beyond, and those from 
 
 1 Spain and France. 
 
 2 The Getae occupied the east of Moldavia and Bessarabia, between 
 the Danube and the Dniester. The Bastarnae inhabited the north of 
 Moldavia and a part of the Ukraine. 
 
142 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 Colchis to the Sea of Hyrcania. These are points where we 
 should not scrutinize him so narrowly as [when he describes] 
 places situated in the heart of our continent, 1 or others equally 
 well known ; and even these should be regarded from a geo- 
 graphical rather than a geometrical point of view. Hippar- 
 chus, at the end of the second book of his Commentaries on 
 the Geography of Eratosthenes, having found fault with cer- 
 tain statements relative to Ethiopia, tells us at the commence- 
 ment of the third, that his strictures, though to a certain 
 point geographical, will be mathematical for the most part. 
 As for myself, I cannot find any geography there. To me 
 it seems entirely mathematical ; but Eratosthenes himself 
 set the example ; for he frequently runs into scientific specu- 
 lations, having little to do with the subject in hand, and 
 which result in vague and inexact conclusions. Thus he is 
 a mathematician in geography, and in mathematics a geogra- 
 pher ; and so lies open to the attacks of both parties. In this 
 third book, both he and Timosthenes get such severe justice, 
 that there seems nothing left for us to do; Hipparchus is 
 quite enough. 
 
 1 The Greek has simply, Kara TTJV riireip&riv, in the continent, but 
 Strabo, by this expression, only meant to designate those parts of the 
 continent best known and nearest to the Greeks. The other countries, 
 in regard to which he pleads for some indulgence to be shown to Eratos- 
 thenes, are equally in the same continent. Kramer and other editors 
 suspect an error in the text here. 
 
CHAP. ii. 1, 2. INTRODUCTION. 143 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. WE will now proceed to examine the statements made 
 by Posidonius in his Treatise on the Ocean. ThFs Treatise 
 contains much geographical info7rniatTon7^olnetimes given in a 
 manner conformable to the subject, at others too mathematical. 
 It will not, therefore, be amiss to look into some of his state- 
 ments, both now and afterwards, as opportunity occurs, taking 
 care to confine ourselves within bounds. Pie deals simply 
 with geography, when he tg.lla ns, t.hqt the ear {.h is spheroidal 
 and the universe too, and admits the necessary consequences 
 ot this hypothesis^ one of which is, that the earth contains 
 five zone's. 
 
 2. Posidonius informs us that Parmenides was the first to 
 make this division of the earth into five zones, but tEaT he 
 almost doubled the size of the torrid zone, which is situated 
 between the_ tropics, by bringing it beyond these into the 
 temperate zones. 1 But according to Aristotle the torrid zone 
 is contained between the tropics, the temperate zones occupy- 
 ing the whole space between the tropics and the arctic cir- 
 cles. 2 Both of these divisions Posidonius justly condemns, 
 for the torrid zone is properly the space rendered uninhabit- 
 able by the heat. Whereas more than half of the space be- 
 tween the tropics is inhabited, as we may judge by the 
 Ethiopians who dwell above Egypt. The equator divides the 
 whole of this space into two equal parts. Now from Syene, 
 
 1 According to Plutarch, both Thales and Pythagoras had divided the 
 earth into five zones. Since Parmenides lived one hundred and fifty years 
 after the first of these philosophers, lie cannot be considered the author 
 of this division. As Posidonius and Strabo estimated the breadth of the 
 torrid zone at 8800 stadia, and Parmenides is said to have nearly doubled 
 it, this would give 17,600 stadia, or 25 &' 34", taking this at 25 it would 
 appear that Parmenides extended the torrid zone one degree beyond the 
 tropics. 
 
 2 The Arctic Circles of the ancients were not the same as ours, but 
 varied for every latitude. Aristotle limited the temperate zone to those 
 countries which had the constellation of the crown in their Arctic Circle, 
 the brilliant star of that constellation in his time had a northern declina- 
 tion of about 36 30', consequently he did not reckon that the temperate 
 zone reached farther north or south than 53 and a half. We shall see 
 that Strabo adopted much the same opinion, fixing the northern bounds 
 of the habitable earth at 54 25' 42". Gosselin. 
 
STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 which is the limit of the summer tropic, to Meroe, there are 
 5000 stadia, and thence to the parallel of the Cinnamon 
 region, where the torrid zone commences, 3000 stadia. The 
 whole of this distance has been measured, and it may be gone 
 over either by sea or land ; the remaining portion to the equa- 
 tor is, if we adopt the measure of the earth supplied by Era- 
 tosthenes, 8800 stadia. Therefore, as 16,800 is to 8800, so is 
 the space comprised between the tropics to the breadth of the 
 torrid zone. 
 
 If of the more recent measurements we prefer those which 
 diminish the size of the earth, such as that adopted by Posi- 
 donius, which is about 180,000 stadia, 1 the torrid zone will still 
 only occupy half, or rather more than half, of the space com- 
 prised between the tropics ; but never an equal space. [Re- 
 specting the system of Aristotle, Posidonius farther says,] 
 " Since it is not every latitude which has Arctic Circles, 2 and 
 even those which do possess them have not the same, how 
 can any one determine by them the bounds of the temperate 
 zones, which are immutable?" Nothing however is proved 
 [against Aristotle] from the fact that there are not Arctic 
 Circles for every latitude, since they exist for all the inhabit- 
 ants of the temperate zone, on whose account alone the 
 zone receives its name of temperate. But the objection that 
 the Arctic Circles do not remain the same for every latitude, 
 but shift their places, is excellent. 3 
 
 3. Posidonius, who himself divides the earth into zones, tells 
 us that " five is the number best suited for the explanation 
 of the celestial appearances, two of these are periscii, 4 which 
 reach from the poles to the point where the tropics serve for 
 Arctic Circles ; two more are heteroscii, 5 which extend from 
 
 1 JFor the circumference . 
 
 ' r *"vlz7 TioulTfor ' thols e who dwell under the equator, or at the poles. 
 
 3 Strabo's argument seems to be this. It matters but little that there 
 may not be Arctic Circles for every latitude, since for the inhabitants of 
 the temperate zone they do certainly exist, and these are the only people 
 of whom we have any knowledge. But at the same time the objection is 
 unanswerable, that as these circles differ in respect to various countries, 
 it is quite impossible that they can fix uniformly the limits of the temper- 
 ate zone. 
 
 4 The polar circles, where the shadow, in the summer season, travels all 
 round in the twenty-four hours. 
 
 5 Those who live north and south of the tropics, or in the temperate 
 zones, and at noon have a shadow only falling one way. 
 
CHAP. in. $ 1. INTRODUCTION. 14o 
 
 the former to the inhabitants of the tropics, and one between 
 the tropics, which is called amphiscius, 1 but for matters re- 
 lative to the earth, it is convenient to suppose two other nar- 
 row zones placed under the tropics, and divided by them into 
 two halves, over which [every year] for the space of a 
 fortnight, the sun is vertical." 2 These zones are remarkable 
 for being exrame_ly arid and sandy, producing noj^egetation 
 with the exception of silphium, 3 and a parched grain somewhat 
 resembling wheat. This is caused by there being jip^moun- 
 tajns to attract the clouds and pn)duce._jcain, nor any rivers 
 flowing 4 through the country. The consequence is that the 
 various species 5 are born with woolly hair, crumpled horns, 
 protrudingjips, and wide nostrilsT their extremities being as 
 it were gnarled. Within these zones also dwell the Ichthyo- 
 phagi. 6 He further remarks, that these peculiarities are 
 quite sufficient to distinguish the zones in question : those 
 which are farther south having a more salubrious atmosphere, 
 and being more fruitful and better supplied with water. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. POLYBIUS supposes six zones: two situated between the 
 poles and the arctic circles ; two between the arctic circles 
 and the tropics ; and two between the tropics which are di- 
 vided by the equator. However, it appears to me that the 
 
 1 Having at mid-day in alternate seasons the shadow falling north and 
 south. 
 
 2 Viz. Posidonius allowed for each of these small zones a breadth of 
 about 30', or 350 stadia, of 700 to a degree. 
 
 3 A plant, the juice of which was used in food and medicine. Bentley 
 supposes it to be the asa-foetida, still much eaten as a relish in the East. 
 
 * Posidonius was here mistaken ; witness the Niger, the Senegal, the 
 Gambia, &c. 
 
 5 The expression of Strabo is so concise as to leave it extremely doubt- 
 ful whether or not he meant to include the human race in his statement. 
 Looking at this passage, however, in connexion with another in the 15th 
 Book, we are inclined to answer the question in the affirmative. 
 
 8 Or living on fish, a name given by the Greek geographers to various 
 tribes of barbarians ; but it seems most frequently to a people of Gedrosia 
 on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. It is probably to these that Strabo 
 refers. 
 
 VOL. i. L 
 
146 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 division into five zones accords best both with the order of ex- 
 ternal nature and geography. With external nature, as re- 
 spects the celestial phenomena, and the temperature of the 
 atmosphere. With respect to the celestial phenomena, as the 
 Periscii and Amphiscii are thereby divided in the best pos- 
 sible manner, and it also forms an excellent line of separation 
 in regard to those who behold the stars from an opposite point 
 of view. 1 With respect to the temperature of the atmosphere, 
 inasmuch as looked at in connexion with the sun, there are 
 three main divisions, which influence in a remarkable degree 
 both plants, animals, and every other animated thing, existing 
 either in the air, or exposed to it, namely, excess of heat, 
 want of heat, and a moderate supply of heat. In the division 
 into [five] zones, each of these is correctly distinguished. 
 The two frigid zones indicate the want of heat, being alike in 
 the temperature of their atmosphere ; the temperate zones 
 possess a moderate heat, and the remaining, or torrid zone, is 
 remarkable for its excess of heat. 
 
 The propriety of this division in regard to geography is 
 equally apparent ; the object of this science being to determine 
 the limits of that one of the temperate zones which we in- 
 habit. To the east and west, it is true, the boundaries are 
 formed by the sea, but to the north and south they are in- 
 dicated by the atmosphere ; which in the middle is of a grate- 
 ful temperature both to animals and plants, but on either 
 side is rendered intemperate either through excess or defect 
 of heat. To manifest this threefold difference, the division 
 of the globe into five zones becomes necessary. In fact, 
 the division of the globe, by means of the equator, into two 
 hemispheres, the one northern, wherein we dwell, and the 
 other southern, points to this threefold division, for the re- 
 gions next the equator and torrid zone are uninhabitable on 
 account of the heat, those next the poles on account of the 
 cold, but those in the middle are mild, and fitted for the habit- 
 ation of man. 
 
 Posidonius, in placing two zones under the tropics, pays no 
 regard to the reasons which influenced the division into five 
 zones, nor is his division equally appropriate. It is no more 
 than if he were to form his division into zones merely according 
 to the [countries inhabited] by different nations, calling one 
 1 Viz. the Heteroscii, or inhabitants of the temperate zones. 
 
CHAP. in. 2. INTRODUCTION. 147 
 
 the Ethiopian, another the Scythian and Keltic, 1 and a third 
 the Intermediate zone. 
 
 2. Polybius, indeed, is wrong in bounding certain of his 
 zones by the arctic circles, 2 namely, the two which lie under 
 them, and the two between these and the tropics. The im- 
 propriety of using shifting points to mark the limits of those 
 which are fixed has been remarked before ; and we have 
 likewise objected to the plan of making the tropics the 
 boundary of the torrid zone. However, in dividing the 
 torrid zone into two parts [Polybius] seems to have been 
 influenced by no inconsiderable reason, the same which led 
 us to regard the whole earth as properly divided by the equa- 
 tor into two hemispheres, north and south. We at once see 
 that by means of this division the torrid zone is divided into 
 two parts, thus establishing a kind of uniformity ; each hemi- 
 sphere consisting of three entire zones, respectively similar to 
 each other. Thus this partition 3 will admit of a division 
 into six zones, but the other does not allow of it at all. Sup- 
 posing you cut the earth into two portions by a line drawn 
 through the poles, you can find no sufficient cause for di- 
 viding the eastern and western hemispheres into six zones ; 
 on the other hand, five would be preferable. For since both 
 the portions of the torrid zone, divided by the equator, are 
 similar and contiguous to each other, it would seem out of 
 place and superfluous to separate them ; whereas the temperate 
 and frigid zones respectively resemble each other, although 
 lying apart. Wherefore, supposing the whole earth to con- 
 sist of these two hemispheres, it is sufficient to divide them 
 into five zones. If there be a temperate region under the 
 equator, as Eratosthenes asserts, and is admitted by Poly- 
 bius, (who adds, that it is the most elevated part of the 
 earth, 4 and consequently subject to the drenching rains occa- 
 
 1 The ancients named the people of southern Africa, Ethiopians ; those 
 of the north of Asia and Europe, Scythians; and those of the north-west of 
 Europe, Kelts. 
 
 2 That is, by arctic circles which differed in respect to various lati- 
 tudes. See Book ii. chap. ii. 2, p. 144. 
 
 3 Viz. The partition of the earth into two hemispheres, by means of 
 the equator. 
 
 4 Gosselin concludes from this that Eratosthenes and Polybius gave to 
 the earth the form of a spheroid flattened at the poles. Other philoso- 
 phers supposed it was elongated at the poles, and flattened at the equator. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 sioned by the monsoons bringing up from the north innumer- 
 able clouds, which discharge themselves on the highest lands,) 
 it-would be better to suppose this a third narrow temperate 
 zone, than to extend the two temperate zones within the 
 circles of the tropics. This supposition is supported by the 
 statements of Posidonius, that the course of the sun, whether 
 in the ecliptic, or from east to west, appears most rapid in 
 the region [of which we are speaking], because the rotations 
 of that luminary are performed with a speed increased in 
 proportion to the greater size of the circle. 1 
 
 3. Posidonius blames Polybius for asserting that the region 
 of the earth, situated under the equator, is the highest, since 
 a spherical body being equal all round, no part can be de- 
 scribed as high ; and as to mountainous districts, there are 
 none under the equator, it is on the contrary a flat country, 
 about the same level as the sea ; as for the rains which swell 
 the Nile, they descend from the mountains of Ethiopia. Al- 
 though advancing this, he afterwards seems to adopt the other 
 opinion, for he says that he fancies there may be mountains 
 under the equator, around which the clouds assembling from 
 both of the temperate zones, produce violent rains. Here is 
 one manifest contradiction; again, in stating that the land 
 under the equator is mountainous, another contradiction ap- 
 pears. For they say that the ocean is confluent, how then 
 can they place mountains in the midst of it ? unless they 
 mean to say that there are islands. However, whether such 
 be the fact does not lie within the province of geography to 
 determine, the inquiry would better be left to him who makes 
 the ocean in particular his study. 
 
 4. Posidonius, in speaking of those who have sailed round 
 Africa, tells us that Herodotus was of opinion that some of those 
 sent out by Darius actually performed this enterprise; 2 and 
 
 1 Gosselin justly observes that this passage, which is so concise as to 
 appear doubtful to some, is properly explained by a quotation from Ge- 
 minus, which states the arguments adduced by Polybius for believing that 
 there was a temperate region within the torrid zones. 
 
 2 Strabo seems to confound the account (Herodotus iv. 44) of the ex- 
 pedition sent by Darius round southern Persia and Arabia with the cir- 
 cumnavigation of Libya, (Herod, iv. 4'2,) which Necho II. confided to 
 the Phosnicians about 600 B. c., commanding them distinctly " to return 
 to Egypt through the passage of the Pillars of Hercules." See Humboldt's 
 Cosmos, ii. 4b8, note, Bonn's edition. 
 
CHAP. in. 4. INTRODUCTION. 149 
 
 that Heraclides of Pontus, in a certain dialogue, introduces 
 one of the Magi presenting himself to Gelon, 1 and declaring 
 that he had performed this voyage ; but he remarks that this 
 wants proof. He also narrates how a certain Eudoxus of 
 Cyzicus, 2 sent with sacrifices and oblations to the Corean 
 games, 3 travelled into Egypt in the reign of Euergetes II. ; 4 
 and being a learned man, and much interested in the pecu- 
 liarities of different countries, he made interest with the king 
 and his ministers on the subject, but especially for exploring 
 the Nile. It chanced that a certain Indian was brought to the 
 king by the [coastj-guard of the Arabian Gulf. They reported 
 that they had found him in a ship, alone, and half dead: but 
 that they neither knew who he was, nor where he came from, 
 as he spoke a language they could not understand. He was 
 placed in the hands of preceptors appointed to teach him the 
 Greek language. On acquiring which, he related how he had 
 started from the coasts of India, but lost his course, and 
 reached Egypt alone, all his companions having perished with 
 hunger ; but that if he were restored to his country he would 
 point out to those sent with him by the king, the route by sea 
 to India. Eudoxus was of the number thus sent. He set 
 sail with a good supply of presents, and brought back with 
 him in exchange aromatics and precious stones, some of which 
 the Indians collect from amongst the pebbles of the rivers, 
 others they dig out of the earth, where they have been formed 
 by the moisture, as crystals are formed with us. 5 
 
 [He fancied that he had made his fortune], however, he 
 was greatly deceived, for Euergetes took possession of the 
 whole treasure. On the death of that prince, his widow, 
 Cleopatra, 6 assumed the reins of government, and Eudoxus 
 was again despatched with a richer cargo than before. On 
 
 1 Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, flourished towards the end of the fifth 
 century before Christ. 
 
 2 The ruins of this city still preserve the name of Cyzik. It was 
 situated on the peninsula of Artaki, on the south of the Sea of Marmora. 
 
 3 Games in honour of Proserpine, or Cora. 
 
 4 Ptolemy VII., king of Egypt, also styled Euergetes II.; he is more 
 commonly known by the surname of Physcon. His reign commenced 
 B. c. 170. 
 
 5 The ancients believed that crystals consisted of water which had been 
 frozen by excessive cold, and remained congealed for centuries. Vide 
 Pliny, lib. xxxvii. c. 9. 
 
 6 Cleopatra, besides being the wife, was also the niece of Ptolemy, 
 
150 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK. II. 
 
 his journey back, he was carried by the winds above Ethi- 
 opia, and being thrown on certain [unknown] regions, he 
 conciliated the inhabitants by presents of grain, wine, and 
 cakes of pressed figs, articles which they were without; 
 receiving in exchange a supply of water, and guides for the 
 journey. He also wrote down several words of their lan- 
 guage, and having found the end of a prow, with a horse 
 carved on it, which he was told formed part of the wreck 
 of a vessel coming from the west, he took it with him, and 
 proceeded on his homeward course. He arrived safely in 
 Egypt, where no longer Cleopatra, but her son, 1 ruled ; but 
 he was again stripped of every thing on the accusation of 
 having appropriated to his own uses a large portion of the 
 merchandise sent out. 
 
 However, he carried the prow into the market-place, and 
 exhibited it to the pilots, who recognised it as being come 
 from Gades. 2 The merchants [of that place] employing 
 large vessels, but the lesser traders small ships, which they 
 style horses, from the figures of that animal borne on the 
 prow, and in which they go out fishing around Maurusia, 3 as 
 far as the Lixus. 4 Some of the pilots professed to recognise 
 the prow as that of a vessel which had sailed beyond the river 
 Lixus, but had not returned. 5 
 
 From this Eudoxus drew the conclusion, that it was possi- 
 ble to circumnavigate Libya; he therefore returned home, 
 and having collected together the whole of his substance, set 
 out on his travels. First he visited Dicsearchia, 6 and then 
 Marseilles, and afterwards traversed the whole coast as far as 
 Gades. Declaring his enterprise everywhere as he journeyed, 
 he gathered money sufficient to equip a great ship, and two 
 boats, resembling those used by pirates. On board these he 
 placed singing girls, physicians, and artisans of various kinds, 
 
 being the offspring of his former wife, whom he had divorced, by her 
 former marriage with Philometor. 
 
 ' Ptolemy VIII. was nominally king, but his mother Cleopatra still 
 held most of the real authority in her hands. 2 Cadiz. 
 
 3 Western Mauritania, the modern kingdom of Fez. 
 
 4 This river is now named Lucos, and its mouth, which is about 30 
 leagues distant from Cadiz, is called Larais or Larache. 
 
 5 Humboldt, Cosmos ii. 489, note, mentions the remains of a ship of 
 the Red Sea having been brought to the coast of Crete by westerly currents. 
 
 Pozzuolo, close by Naples. 
 
CHAP. in. 4. INTRODUCTION. 151 
 
 and launching into open sea, was carried towards India by 
 steady westerly winds. 1 However, they who accompanied 
 him becoming wearied with the voyage, steered their course 
 towards land, but much against his will, as he dreaded the 
 force of the ebb and flow. What he feared actually occurred. 
 The ship grounded, but gently, so that it did not break up at 
 once, but fell to pieces gradually, the goods and much of the 
 timber of the ship being saved. With these he built a third 
 vessel, closely resembling a ship of fifty oars, and continuing 
 his voyage, came amongst a people who spoke the same lan- 
 guage as that some words of which he had on a former occa- 
 sion committed to writing. He further discovered, that they 
 were men of the same stock as those other Ethiopians, and 
 also resembled those of the kingdom of Bogus. 2 However, 
 he abandoned his [intended] voyage to India, and returned 
 home. On his voyage back he observed an uninhabited island, 
 well watered and wooded, and carefully noted its position. 
 Having reached Maurusia in safety, he disposed of his ves- 
 sels, and travelled by land to the court of Bogus. He recom- 
 mended that sovereign to undertake an expedition thither. 
 
 This, however, was prevented on account of the fear of the 
 [king's] advisers, lest the district should chance to expose them 
 to treachery, by making known a route by which foreigners 
 might come to attack them. Eudoxus, however, became aware, 
 that although it was given out that he was himself to be sent 
 on this proposed expedition, the real intent was to aban- 
 don him on some desert island. He therefore fled to the 
 Roman territory, and passed thence into Iberia. Again, he 
 equipped two vessels, one round and the other long, furnished 
 with fifty oars, the latter framed for voyaging in the high seas, 
 the other for coasting along the shores. He placed on board 
 agricultural implements, seed, and builders, and hastened on 
 the same voyage, determined, if it should prove too long, to 
 winter on the island he had before observed, sow his seed, 
 
 1 Gosselin observes, that this steady westerly wind, so far from carry- 
 ing him towards India, would be entirely adverse to him in coasting along 
 Africa, and doubling Cape Bojador ; and infers from hence that Eudoxus 
 never really went that expedition, and that Strabo himself was ignorant 
 of the true position of Africa. 
 
 2 A name common to many sovereigns of the different parts of Mauri- 
 tania ; the king Bogus, or Bocchus, here spoken of, governed the king- 
 dom of Fez. 
 
152 STRABO 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 and having reaped the harvest, complete the expedition he 
 had intended from the beginning. 
 
 5. " Thus far," says Posidonius, " I have followed the history 
 of Eudoxus. What happened afterwards is probably known 
 to the people of Gades and Iberia ;" " but," says he, " all these 
 things only demonstrate more clearly the fact, that the in- 
 habited earth is entirely surrounded by the ocean." 
 
 " By no continent fettered in, 
 But boundless in its flow, and free from soil." 
 
 Posidonius is certainly a most strange writer ; he considers 
 that the voyage of the Magus, 1 related by Heraclides, wants 
 sufficient evidence, and also the account given by Herodotus 
 of those sent out [to explore] by Darius. But this Bergcean 2 
 nonsense, either the coinage of his own brain, or of some other 
 story-teller, in whom he trusts, he pretends to be worthy of 
 our belief. But in the first place, what is there credible in this 
 tale of the Indian missing his way ? The Arabian Gulf, which 
 resembles a river, is narrow, and in length is from 5000 to 
 10,000 stadia up to its mouth, where it is narrowest of all. It 
 is not likely that the Indians in their voyage out would have en- 
 tered this Gulf by mistake. The extreme narrowness of the 
 mouth must have warned them of their error. And if they en- 
 tered it voluntarily, then there was no excuse for introducing 
 the pretext of mistake and uncertain winds. And how did they 
 suffer all of themselves but one to perish through hunger ? And 
 how was it that this surviver was able to manage the ship, which 
 could not have been a small one either, fitted as it was for 
 traversing such vast seas ? What must have been his apti- 
 tude in learning the language of the country, and thus being 
 able to persuade the king of his competence, as leader of the 
 expedition ? And how came it that Euergetes was in want of 
 such guides, so many being already acquainted with this 'sea ? 
 How was it that he who was sent by the inhabitants of Cy- 
 zicus to carry libations and sacrifices, should forsake his city 
 and sail for India ? How was it that so great an affair was 
 
 1 Round Africa. 
 
 2 A term by which incredible narrations were designated. It owes its 
 origin to Antiphanes, a writer born at Berge, a city of Thrace, and famous 
 for trumping up false and auld- world stories. 'Btpyai&tv, was a pro- 
 verbial and polite term for lying. 
 
CHAP. m. 5. INTRODUCTION. -O55 
 
 intrusted to him ? And how came it that on his return, after 
 being deprived of every thing contrary to expectation, and 
 disgraced, a yet larger cargo of goods was intrusted to him ? 
 And when he had again returned into Ethiopia, what cause 
 induced him to write down the words, or to inquire whence 
 came the portion of the prow of the boat ? For to learn that 
 it was a ship of some sailing from the west, would have been 
 no information to him, as he himself would have to sail from the 
 west on his voyage back. When, on his return to Alexandria, 
 he was detected in having appropriated to himself much of 
 the merchandise, how came it that he was not punished, but 
 allowed to go about interrogating the pilots, and exhibiting 
 his bit of prow ? And that one of these fellows actually re- 
 cognised the relic, is it not delicious ! Eudoxus too believed it, 
 this is still richer ; and inspired by the hope, hastens home, 
 and then starts on a voyage beyond the Pillars of Hercules ! 
 But he could never have left Alexandria without a pass- 
 port, still less after having stolen the royal property. To set 
 sail on the sly was impossible, as the port and every other 
 exit was kept by a numerous guard, which still exists, as we 
 very well know who have lived in Alexandria for a long time, 
 although it is not so strict since the Romans have had posses- 
 sion, but under the kings the guards were infinitely more alert. 
 But allowing that he reached Gades, that he there constructed 
 ships, and sailed thence with quite a royal fleet, when his vessel 
 was shattered, by what means was he able to construct a third 
 boat in a desert land ? And when, being again on his voyage, he 
 found that the Ethiopians of the West spoke the same language 
 as those of the East, how came it that he, so proud of his 
 travelling propensities, forgot the completion of his voyage, 
 when he must have had so good an expectation that there 
 was but little now left unexplored, but relinquishing these 
 prospects, set his mind on the expedition being undertaken 
 by Bogus ? HOAV did he become acquainted with the snare 
 spread for him by that king ? And what advantage would 
 have accrued to Bogus by making away with the man, rather 
 than by dismissing him ? When Eudoxus learned the plot 
 against himself, what means had he to- escape to safer quar- 
 ters ? It is true that not one of these situations was actually 
 impossible, but still they were difficult circumstances, such as 
 one rarely escapes from by any prosperous fortune. How- 
 
STRABO. 
 
 <ys came off with good luck, notwithstanding he 
 of danger. Besides this, how did it happen, that 
 ed from Bogus, he was not afraid to sail round 
 nd time, with all the requisites for taking up his 
 aDoae on me island ? All this too closely resembles the false- 
 hoods of Pytheas, Euhemerus, and Antiphanes. They how- 
 ever may be pardoned ; for their only aim was that of the 
 juggler. But who can forgive a demonstrator and philoso- 
 pher, and one too striving to be at the head of their order ? it 
 is really too bad ! 
 
 6. However, he is right in attributing to earthquakes and 
 other similar causes, which we also have enumerated, the 
 risings, slips, and changes which at various periods come over 
 the earth. He did well, too, in citing the opinion of Plato, 
 " that the tradition concerning the Island of Atlantis might 
 be received as something more than a mere fiction, it having 
 been related by Solon on the authority of the Egyptian priests, 
 that tnis island, almost as large, as a. continent- wn.a formerly 
 in existence, although now: it had^disappeared." Posidonius 
 thinks it better to quote this than to say, " He who brought it 
 into existence can also cause it to disappear, as the poet did 
 the wall of the Achivi." l He (Posidonius) is also of opinion 
 that the emigration of the Cimbrians and other kindred races 
 from their native territory, was gradual, and occasioned by 
 the inundation of the sea, and by no means a sudden move- 
 ment. 2 He supposes that the length of the inhabited earth is 
 about 70,000 stadia, being the half of the whole circle on 
 which it is taken ; so that, says he, starting from the west, 
 one might, aided by a continual east wind, reach India in so 
 many thousand stadia. 
 
 7. Next he undertakes to find fault with those who gave 
 
 1 The wall mentioned in Iliad, vii. 436, et seq. Gosselin says that 
 in the time of Aristotle the commentators of the Iliad, having vainly 
 sought for the ruins or other traces of the wall, the Philosopher came 
 to the conclusion that the wall was altogether a fiction of Homer's. 
 Strabo speaks further on this subject in the 13th Book. 
 
 2 As the above assertion is at variance with the statement of Strabo, 
 in his 7th Book, concerning Posidonius's views on this subject, it seems 
 probable that the passage as it stands is corrupt. It is more likely 
 Strabo wrote, " It is the opinion of Posidonius that the emigration of the 
 Cimbrians and other kindred races from their native territory was not 
 occasioned by an inundation of the sea, since their departure took place 
 at various times." 
 
CHAP. in. 7. INTRODUCTION. 155 
 
 to the continents their present division, instead of marking 
 them out by lines drawn parallel to the equator, by which 
 means the different animals, plants, and temperatures would 
 have been distinguished, according as they approached the 
 frigid or the torrid zones ; so that each continent would have 
 formed a kind of zone. Afterwards, however, he overturns 
 and gives up altogether this view, bestowing every commend- 
 ation on the existing system, and thus making his argument 
 altogether worthless and of no avail. | In fact, the va- 
 rious arrangements [of a country] are not the result of pre- 
 meditation, any more than the diversities of nations or lan- 
 guages ; they all depend on circumstances and chance. Arts, 
 forms of government, and modes of life, arising from certain 
 [internal] springs, flourish under whatever climate they may 
 be situated ; climate, however, has its influence, and therefore 
 while some peculiarites are due to the nature of the country, 
 others are the result of institutions and education. It is not 
 owing to the nature of the country, but rather to their educa- 
 tion, that the Athenians cultivate eloquence, while the Lace- 
 daemonians do not ; nor yet the Thebans, who are nearer still. 
 Neither are the Babylonians and Egyptians philosophers by 
 nature, but by reason of their institutions and education. In 
 like manner the excellence of horses, oxen, and other animals, 
 results not alone from the places where they dwell, but also 
 from their breeding. Posidonius confounds all these distinc- 
 tions. 7 
 
 In praising the division of the continents as it now stands, 
 he advances as an argument the difference between the In- 
 dians and the Ethiopians of Libya, the former being more 
 robust, and less dried by the heat of the climate. It is on this 
 account that Homer, who includes them all under the title of 
 Ethiopians, describes them as being separated into two divi- 
 sions, 
 
 " These eastward situate, those toward the west." 1 
 
 [Crates], to support his hypothesis, supposes another inhabited 
 earth, of which Homer certainly knew nothing ; and says that 
 the passage ought to be read thus, " towards the descending 
 sun," viz. when having passed the meridian, it begins to de- 
 cline. 
 
 1 Odyssey i. 23. 
 
156 STRABO. BOOK IT. 
 
 8. First, then, the Ethiopians next Egypt are actually se- 
 parated into two divisions ; one part being in Asia, the other 
 in Libya, otherwise there is no distinction between them. But 
 it was not on this account that Homer divided the Ethiopians, 
 nor yet because he was acquainted with the physical supe- 
 riority of the Indians, (for it is not probable that Homer had 
 the slightest idea of the Indians, since, according to the asser- 
 tion of Eudoxus, Euergetes was both ignorant of India, and of 
 the voyage thither,) but his division rather resulted from the 
 cause we formerly mentioned. We have shown that as for 
 the alteration of Crates, it makes no difference whether it be 
 read so or not. Posidonius, however, says that it does make 
 a difference, and would be better altered into " towards the 
 descending [sun]." But in what can this be said to differ 
 from " towards the west," since the whole section of the he- 
 misphere west of the meridian is styled " the west," not only 
 the mere semicircle of the horizon. This is manifested by the 
 following expression of Aratus, 
 
 " Where the extremities of the west and east blend together." l 
 However, if the reading of Posidonius be preferable to that of 
 Crates, any one may likewise claim for it a superiority over 
 that of Aristarchus. So much for Posidonius. There are, how- 
 ever, many particulars relating to Geography, which we shall 
 bring under discussion ; others relating to Physics, which 
 must be examined elsewhere, or altogether disregarded ; for 
 he is much too fond of imitating Aristotle's propensity for 
 diving into causes, a subject which we [Stoics] scrupulously 
 avoid, simply because of the extreme darkness in which all 
 causes are enveloped. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. POLYBIUS, in his Chorography of Europe, tells us that it is 
 not his intention to examine the writings of the ancient geo- 
 graphers, but the statements of those who have criticised them, 
 
 1 Aratus, who lived about B. c. 270, was the author of two Greek 
 astronomical poems, called ^aivofisva and Aioa^t/a. It is from the 
 former of these that the above quotation is taken. Aratus, PhaDnom. v. 61. 
 
CHAP. iv. 2. INTRODUCTION. 157 
 
 such as Diccearchus, Eratosthenes, (who was the last of those 
 who [in his time] had laboured on geography,) and Pytheas, 
 by svhom many have been deceived. It is this last writer 
 who states that he travelled all over Britain on foot, and that 
 the island is above 40,000 stadia in circumference. It is like- 
 wise he who describes Thule and other neighbouring places, 
 where, according to him, neither earth, water, nor air exist, 
 separately, but a sort of concretion of all these, resembling 
 marine sponge, in which the earth, the sea, and all things 
 were suspended, thus forming, as it were, a link to unite the 
 whole together. It can neither be travelled over nor sailed 
 through. As for the substance, he affirms that he has beheld 
 it with his own eyes ; the rest, he reports on the authority o*f 
 others. So much for the statements of Pytheas, who tells us, 
 besides, that after he had returned thence, he traversed the 
 whole coasts of Europe from Gades to the Don. 
 
 2. Polybius asks, " How is it possible that a private indi- 
 vidual, and one too in narrow circumstances, could ever have 
 performed such vast expeditions by sea and land ? And how 
 could Eratosthenes, who hesitates whether he may rely on his 
 statements in general, place such entire confidence in what 
 that writer narrates concerning Britain, Gades, and Iberia?" 
 says he, " it would have been better had Eratosthenes trusted 
 to the Messenian 1 rather than to this writer. The former 
 
 1 Evemerus, or Euhemerus, a Sicilian author of the time of Alexander 
 the Great and his immediate successors, and a native of Messina. He is 
 said to have sailed down the Red Sea and round the southern coasts of 
 Asia to a very great distance, until he came to an island called Pancheca. 
 After his return from this voyage, he wrote a work entitled 'Ispa 'Ava~ 
 ypaQr], which consisted of at least nine books. The title of this " Sacred 
 History," as we may call it, was taken from the avaypcr^at, or the in- 
 scriptions on columns and walls, which existed in great numbers in the 
 temples of Greece ; and Euhemerus chose it, because he pretended to have 
 derived his information from public documents of that kind, which he 
 had discovered in his travels, especially in the island of Panchsea. The 
 work contained accounts of the several gods, whom Euhemerus represented 
 as having originally been men who had distinguished themselves either 
 as warriors, kings, inventors, or benefactors of mankind, and who, after 
 their death, were worshipped as gods by the grateful people. This book, 
 which seems to have been w r ritten in a popular style, must have been 
 very attractive ; for all the fables of mythology were dressed up in it as 
 so many true narratives ; and many of the subsequent-historians adopted 
 his mode of dealing with myths, or at least followed in his track, as we 
 rind to be the case with Polybius and Dionysius. Vide Smith. 
 
158 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 merely pretends to have sailed into one [unknown] country, 
 viz. Panchaea, but the latter, that he has visited the whole of 
 the north of Europe as far as the ends of the earth ; which 
 statement, even had it been made by Mercury, we should not 
 have believed. Nevertheless Eratosthenes, who terms Euhe- 
 merus a Bergaean, gives credit to Pytheas, although even 
 Diccearchus would not believe him." 
 
 This argument, " although even Dica3archus would not be- 
 lieve him," is ridiculous, just as if Eratosthenes ought to take 
 for his standard a writer whom Polybius is himself for ever 
 complaining of. 1 
 
 The ignorance of Eratosthenes respecting the western and 
 northern portions of Europe, we have before remarked. But 
 both he and Dicaearchus must be pardoned for this, as neither 
 of them were personally familiar with those localities. But 
 how can one excuse Polybius and Posidonius ? especially Po- 
 lybius, who treats as mere hearsay what Eratosthenes and 
 Dicaearchus report concerning the distances of various places ; 
 and many other matters, about which, though he blames them, 
 he is not himself free from error. Dicaearchus states that 
 there are 10,000 stadia from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars, 
 and something above this number from the Peloponnesus to 
 the recess of the Adriatic. 2 He supposes 3000 stadia between 
 the Peloponnesus and the Strait of Sicily ; thus there would 
 remain 7000 between the Strait of Sicily and the Pillars. 3 
 
 " I will not inquire," says Polybius, " whether the statement 
 concerning the 3000 stadia is correct or not, but 7000 stadia 
 
 1 Every one will observe, that this criticism of Strabo is entirely gra- 
 tuitous and captious. Polybius cites Dicaearchus as a most credulous 
 writer, but states that even he would not believe Pytheas : how then 
 could so distinguished a writer as Eratosthenes put faith in his non- 
 sense ? 
 
 2 On the contrary, the distance in a right line from Cape Tenarum, off 
 the Peloponnesus, to the recess of the Adriatic Gulf, is only about half 
 the distance from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules. This 
 mistake of Dicsearchus is a proof of the very slight acquaintance the 
 Greeks could have had with the western portions of the Mediterranean 
 in his time, about 320 years before the Christian era. 
 
 3 Literally, " He assigns 3000 to the interval which stretches towards 
 the Pillars as far as the Strait, and 7000 from the Strait to the Pillars." 
 The distance from Cape Tenarum to the Strait of Messina is in pro- 
 portion to the distance from the Strait of Messina to Gibraltar, about 
 3 to 10, not 3 to 7, as given by Dicaearchus. 
 
CHAP. iv. 3. INTRODUCTION. 159 
 
 is not the correct measure [from the Strait of Messina to tfie 
 Pillars of Hercules], whether taken along the sea-shore, or 
 right across the sea. The coast closely resembles an obtuse 
 angle, one side reaching to the Strait of Sicily, the other to 
 the Pillars, the vertex being Narbonne. Now lei a triangle 
 be constructed, having for its base a right line drawn through 
 the sea, and its sides forming the aforementioned angle. The 
 side reaching from the Strait of Sicily to Narbonne is above 
 1 1,200 stadia, while the other is below 8000. Now the great- 
 est distance from Europe to Libya, across the Tyrrhenian 
 Sea, 1 is not above 3000 stadia, and across the Sea of Sar- 
 dinia 2 it is less still. But supposing that it too is 3000 stadia, 
 add to this 2000 stadia, the depth of the bay at Narbonne, 
 as a perpendicular from the vertex to the base of the obtuse- 
 angled triangle. It will, then, be clear even to the geo- 
 metrical powers of a child, that the entire coast from the Strait 
 of Sicily to the Pillars, does not exceed by more than 500 
 stadia the right line drawn across the sea ; adding to these 
 the 3000 stadia from the Peloponnesus to the Strait of Sicily, 
 the whole taken together will give a straight line 3 above 
 double the length assigned by Dica3archus -, and, according to 
 his system, you must add in addition to these the stadia at the 
 recess of the Adriatic." 
 
 3. True, dear Polybius, (one might say,) this error [of Di- 
 casarchus] is manifested by the proof which you yourself 
 have given when you inform us that from the Peloponnesus 
 to Leucas 4 there are 700 stadia ; from thence to Corcyra 5 the 
 same number ; and the same number again from Corcyra to 
 the Ceraunian Mountains; 6 and from the Ceraunian Moun- 
 tains to lapygia, 7 following the coast of Illyria on the right, 
 6150 stadia. 8 But the statement of Dicrearchus, that the 
 
 1 That part of the Mediterranean which lies on the coast of Italy, 
 from the mouth of the Arno to Naples. 
 
 2 The sea which washes the western coast of Sardinia. 
 
 J Viz. from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules. 
 * Santa Maura, an island in the Ionian Sea. 6 Corfu. 
 
 6 The mountains of Chimera, forming the Cape della Linguetta on the 
 coast of Albania. 
 
 7 The maritime portion of Liburnia, comprised between the coasts of 
 Dalmatia and Istria. It is now comprehended in the district of Murlaka. 
 
 8 In all 6250 stadia. 
 
160 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 distance from the Strait of Sicily to the Pillars is 7000 stadia, 
 and also your view of the matter, are both of them equally 
 incorrect. For almost every one is agreed that the distance 
 measured straight across the sea is 12,000 stadia, and this co- 
 incides with the received calculation of the length of the in- 
 habited earth, which is estimated at above 70,000 stadia ; the 
 western portion of this from the Gulf of Issus l to the ex- 
 treme western point of Iberia is little less than 30,000 stadia, 
 and is thus calculated : from the Gulf of Issus to Rhodes 5000 
 stadia ; from thence to Cape Salmonium, 2 which forms the 
 eastern extremity of Crete, 1000; the length of Crete to 
 Criu-metopon 3 above 2000; thence to Cape Pachynus 4 in 
 Sicily 4500, and from Pachynus to the Strait of Sicily above 
 1000 stadia; the run from the Strait to the Pillars 12,000; 
 and lastly, from the Pillars to the extremity of the said pro- 
 montory 5 of Iberia, about 3000 stadia. 6 
 
 In addition to this, the perpendicular 7 is not correct, sup- 
 posing it true that Narbonne lies under almost the same pa- 
 rallel as Marseilles, and that this latter place is under the 
 same parallel as Byzantium ; which is the opinion of Hippar- 
 chus. Now the line drawn across the sea lies under the same 
 parallel as the Strait [of the Pillars] and Rhodes ; and the dis- 
 tance from Rhodes to Byzantium, which both lie under the same 
 meridian, is estimated at about 5000 stadia; to which the 
 above-mentioned perpendicular ought to be equal. But since 
 they say that from the recess of the Galatic Gulf, the great- 
 est distance across the sea from Europe to Libya is 5000 
 stadia, it seems to me that either there is some error in this 
 statement, or that at this point Libya must incline very much 
 to the north, and so come under the same parallel as the Pil- 
 lars. Polybius is likewise mistaken in telling us that this 
 said perpendicular terminates close to Sardinia ; for instead 
 of being close to Sardinia, it is far west thereof, having 
 almost the whole of the sea of Liguria 8 between it and that 
 
 1 Issus, now Aias, a town of Cilicia on the confines of Syria, famous 
 for the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius, in consequence 
 of which it was called Nicopolis. 
 
 2 Salamoni. 3 Cape Krio. 
 
 4 Cape Passaro. 5 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 6 Total 28,500 stadia. 7 Spoken of by Polybius. 
 
 8 The Gulf of Genoa. 
 
CHAP. iv. 4, 5. INTRODUCTION. 161 
 
 island. Besides this he makes the length of the sea-coast too 
 great ; but this [error] is not so considerable [as the two 
 preceding]. 
 
 4. After this Polybius proceeds to set right the mistakes of 
 Eratosthenes. In this he is sometimes successful ; at others 
 his corrections are for the worse. For example, Eratos- 
 thenes gives 300 stadia from Ithaca to Corcyra; Poly- 
 bius makes it above 900. From Epidamnus to Thessa- 
 lonica Eratosthenes allows 900 stadia ; Polybius says above 
 2000. In these instances he is correct. But where Era- 
 tosthenes states that from Marseilles to the Pillars there 
 are 7000 stadia, and from the Pyrenees [to the same place] 
 6000, and Polybius alters this to more than 9000 from Mar- 
 seilles, and little less than 8000 from the Pyrenees, 1 he is 
 quite mistaken, and not so near to the truth as Eratos- 
 thenes. For all are now agreed that, barring the indirect- 
 ness of the roads, the whole length of Iberia is not more 
 than 6000 stadia 2 from the Pyrenees to its western limits; 
 notwithstanding Polybius gives 8000 stadia for the length 
 of the river Tagus, from its source to its outlets, and this 
 in a straight line without any reference to its sinuosities, 
 which in fact never enter into the geographical estimate, 
 although the sources of the Tagus are above 1000 stadia from 
 the Pyrenees. His remark is quite correct, that Eratosthenes 
 knew little about Iberia, and on this account sometimes 
 makes conflicting statements concerning it. He tells us, for 
 example, that the portion of this country situated on the sea- 
 coast as far as Gades is inhabited by Galatse, 3 who possess 
 western Europe as far as Gades ; nevertheless, in his account 
 of Iberia he seems quite to have forgotten this, and makes 
 no mention of these Galatae whatever. 
 
 5. Again, however, Polybius makes an incorrect assertion, 
 in stating that the whole length of Europe is unequal to that 
 of Africa and Asia taken together. He tells us " that the en- 
 
 1 These measures are taken along the coast, in stadia of 700 to a de- 
 gree. Of these, from Marseilles to Gibraltar there are 9300, and from 
 the ancient promontory of Pyrenseum to Gibraltar 7380. Consequently 
 the corrections of Polybius were neither inaccurate nor uncalled for. 
 
 2 These 6000 stadia, taken in a direct line, are just the distance from 
 Cape St. Vincent to the chain of the Pyrenees. 
 
 3 Kelts. 
 
16'2 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 trance at the Pillars corresponds in direction to the equinoctial 
 west, and that the Don flows from the summer rising, con- 
 sequently the length of Europe is less than that of Asia and 
 Africa taken together by the space between the summer rising l 
 and the equinoctial rising, 2 since Asia occupies the eastern 
 portion of the northern semicircle. Now, in addition to 
 the obscurity which Polybius throws over subjects which 
 might have been simply stated, it is false that the river 
 Don flows from the summer rising. For all who are ac- 
 quainted with these localities inform us that this river flows 
 from the north into the Mseotis, so that the mouth of the 
 river lies under the same meridian as that of the Mseotis ; 
 and so in fact does the whole river as far as is known. 3 
 
 6. Equally unworthy of credit is the statement of those 
 who tell us, that the Don rises in the vicinity of the Danube, 
 and flows from the west ; they do not remember that between 
 these are the Dniester, the Dnieper, and the Bog, all great 
 rivers, which flow [into the Euxine Sea] ; one runs parallel to 
 the Danube, the other two to the Don. Now if at the present 
 day we are ignorant of the sources both of the Dniester, and also 
 of the Dnieper and Bog, the regions farther north must cer- 
 tainly be still less known. It is therefore a fictitious and 
 idle assertion, that the Don crosses these rivers, and then 
 turns northward on its way to discharge itself into the 
 Masotis, it being well known that the outlets to this river are 
 in the most northern and eastern portions of the lake. 4 
 
 No less idle is the statement which has also been advanced, 
 that the Don, after crossing the Caucasus, flows northward; 
 and then turns towards the Moeotis. 5 No one, however, [with 
 the exception of Polybius,] made this river flow from the east. 
 If such were its course, our best geographers would never 
 
 1 The rising of the sun in summer. 2 The east. 
 
 3 This- is an error into which Strabo fell with most of the ancient geo- 
 graphers. The course of the Don certainly begins from the north, but 
 afterwards it turns eastward, and then suddenly shifts to the west. So 
 that its entire course as known in the time of Strabo, differed from the 
 Palus Mseotis and Sea of Azof by about 9 degrees of longitude. Polybius 
 is here more exact than Strabo. 
 
 4 Palus Meeotis. 
 
 5 This was the opinion of Theophanes of Mytilene, who followed Pom- 
 pey in his expeditions to the East. The Caucasus here mentioned is that 
 which bounds Georgia in the north, and from whence the modern river 
 Kuban (the Vardanus of Pompey) takes its rise. This river does incline 
 
CHAP. iv. 7,8. INTRODUCTION. 163 
 
 have told us that its direction was contrary to that of the 
 Nile, and, so to speak, diametrically opposite thereto, as if the 
 course of both rivers lay under the same meridian. 
 
 7. Further, the length of the inhabited earth is measured 
 on a line parallel with the equator, as it is in this direction 
 that its greatest length lies : in the same way with respect 
 to each of the continents, we must take their length as it lies 
 between two meridians. The measure of these lengths con- 
 sists of a certain number of stadia, which we obtain either 
 by going over the places themselves, or roads or ways parallel 
 thereto. Polybius abandons this method, and adopts the new 
 way of taking the segment of the northern semicircle com- 
 prised between the summer rising and the equinoctial rising. 
 But no one ought to calculate by variable rules or measures 
 in determining the length of fixed distances : nor yet should 
 he make use of the phenomena of the heavens, which appear 
 different when observed from different points, for distances 
 which have their length determined by themselves and re- 
 main unchanged. The length of a country never varies, 
 but depends upon itself; whereas, the equinoctial rising and 
 setting, and the summer and winter rising and setting, de- 
 pend not on themselves, but on our position [with respect, 
 to them]. As we shift from place to place, the equinoctial 
 rising and setting, and the winter and summer rising and 
 setting, shift with us ; but the length 'of a continent always 
 remains the same. To make the Don and the Nile the bounds 
 of these continents, is nothing out of the way, but it is some- 
 thing strange to employ for this purpose the equinoctial rising 
 and the summer rising. 
 
 8. Of the many promontories formed by Europe, a better de- 
 scription is given by Polybius than by Eratosthenes ; but even 
 his is not sufficient. Eratosthenes only names three ; one at 
 the Pillars of Hercules, where Iberia is situated ; a second at 
 the Strait of Sicily, and containing Italy ; the third termin- 
 ated by the Cape of Malea, 1 comprising all the countries situ- 
 ated between the Adriatic, the Euxine, and the Don. The 
 two former of these Polybius describes in the same manner 
 
 slightly to the north, and afterwards turns westward in its course to the 
 Palus Maoris. It is possible that some confusion between this river and 
 the Don gave occasion to the belief that the latter rose in the Caucasus. 
 1 Cape Malio, in the Morea. See also Humboldt's Cosmos ii. 482. 
 M '2 
 
164 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 as Eratosthenes, but the third, which is equally terminated 
 by the Cape of Malea 1 and Cape Sunium, 2 [he makes to] 
 comprehend the whole of Greece, Illyria, and some portion 
 of Thrace. [He supposes] a fourth, containing the Thracian 
 Chersonesus and the countries contiguous to the Strait, 3 be- 
 twixt Sestos and Abydos. This is occupied by the Thracians. 
 Also a fifth, about the Kimmerian Bosphorus and the mouth 
 of the Maeotis. Let us allow [to Polybius] his two former 
 [promontories], they are clearly distinguished by unmistake- 
 able bays; the first by the bay between Calpe 4 and the Sacred 
 Promontory 5 where Gades 6 is situated, as also by the sea 
 between the Pillars and Sicily ; the second 7 by the latter sea 
 and the Adriatic, 8 although it may be objected that the ex- 
 tremity of lapygia, 9 being a promontory in itself, causes 
 Italy to have a double cape. But as for the remaining [pro- 
 montories of Polybius], they are plainly much more irregular, 
 and composed of many parts, and require some other division. 
 So likewise his plan of dividing [Europe] into six parts, 
 similar to that of the promontories, is liable to objection. 
 
 However, we will set to rights each of these errors sepa- 
 rately, as we meet with them, as well as the other blunders 
 into which he has fallen in his description of Europe, and the 
 journey round Africa. For the present we think that we have 
 sufficiently dwelt on those of our predecessors whom we have 
 thought proper to introduce as testimonies in our behalf, that 
 both in the matter of correction and addition we had ample 
 cause to undertake the present work. 
 
 1 Cape Malio. Gosselin is of opinion that some omission has occurred 
 in this passage, and proposes to substitute the following: "The two 
 former of these Polybius describes in the same manner as Eratosthenes, 
 but he subdivides the third. He comprehends within Cape Malea all 
 the Peloponnesus ; within Cape Sunium the whole of Greece, Illyria, 
 and a part of Thrace." 
 
 2 Cape Colonna. 3 The Strait of the Dardanelles. 
 
 4 The Rock of Gibraltar. 5 Cape St. Vincent. 6 Cadiz. 
 
 7 The Italian Promontory. 8 The Gulf of Venice. 
 
 9 Capo di Leuca. 
 
CHAP. v. & 1. INTRODUCTION. 167 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1. AFTER these criticisms on the writers who have pre- 
 ceded us, we must now confine our attention to the ful- 
 filment of our promise. We start with a maxim we laid 
 down at the commencement, that whoever undertakes to 
 write a Chorography, should receive as axioms certain phy- 
 sical and mathematical propositions, and frame the rest of 
 his work in accordance with, and in full reliance on, these 
 principles. We have already stated [our opinion], that 
 neither builder nor architect could build house or city pro- 
 perly and as it ought to be, unless acquainted with the clima 
 of the place, its position in respect to celestial appearances, 
 its shape, magnitude, degree of heat and cold, and similar 
 facts ; much less should he [be without such information] who 
 undertakes to describe the situation of the various regions of 
 the inhabited earth. 
 
 Represent to the mind on one and the same plane-surface 
 Iberia and India with the intermediate countries, and define 
 likewise the west, the east, and the south, which are common 
 to every country. To a man already acquainted with the ar- 
 rangement and motions of the heavens, and aware that in 
 reality the surface of the earth is spherical, although here for 
 the sake of illustration represented as a plane, this will give a 
 sufficiently exact idea of the geographical [position of the va- 
 rious countries], but not to one who is unacquainted with those 
 matters. The tourist travelling over vast plains like those of 
 Babylon, or journeying by sea, may fancy that the whole 
 country stretched before, behind, and on either side of him is 
 a plane-surface ; he may be unacquainted with the counter- 
 indications of the celestial phenomena, and with the motions 
 and appearance of the sun and stars, in respect to us. But 
 such facts as these should ever be present to the mind of 
 those who compose Geographies, The traveller, whether 
 by sea or land, is directed by certain common appearances, 
 which answer equally for the direction both of the unlearned 
 and of the man of the world. Ignorant of astronomy, and 
 unacquainted with the varied aspect of the heavens, he be- 
 
STEABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 rise and set, and attain the meridian, but with- 
 how this takes place. Such knowledge could 
 Ibject he has in view, any more than to know 
 the country he chances to be in may be under the 
 same latitude as his own or not. Even should he bestow a 
 slight attention to the subject, on all mathematical points he 
 will adopt the opinions of the place ; and every country has 
 certain mistaken views of these matters. But it is not for 
 any particular nation, nor for the man of the world who cares 
 nothing for abstract mathematics, still less is it for the reaper 
 or ditcher, that the geographer labours ; but it is for him who 
 is convinced that the earth is such as mathematicians declare 
 it to be, and who admits every other fact resulting from this 
 hypothesis. He requests that those who approach him shall 
 have already settled this in their minds as a fact, that they 
 may be able to lend their whole attention to other points. 
 He will advance nothing which is not a consequence of these 
 primary facts ; therefore those who hear him, if they have 
 a knowledge of mathematics, will readily be able to turn his 
 instructions to account ; for those who are destitute of this 
 information he does not pretend to expound Geography. 
 
 2. Those^ffiJiQ write ,jon__the science^of Geography should 
 trust entirely for the arrangement of the subject they^aTS 
 engagecTon to the geometersTwho have measured the whole 
 earth; they in thejr.jLurn to astrojiomersT~and these again to 
 ^natural philosophers. Now natural philosophy iTpneoT the 
 
 The "perfect sciences" they define 
 
 in^onno external_Jiyj3othesi s, have the^^>rigi5^and the 
 ^ 
 
 _ 
 
 evidence of^their propositions^ in themselves^ Here are a 
 fe^Tof fhe faHifestablished by natural philosophers. 2 
 
 The^eurth arid heavens arespheroidal. 
 
 The tendency of all bodies havingweight, is to a centre. 
 
 Further, the earth being spheroidal, and having the same 
 
 1 fi Se QvffiKi} apiTf) rig. We learn from the work entitled De Placitis 
 Philosophorum, commonly attributed to Plutarch, that the Stoics digni- 
 fied with the name of dperou, the three sciences of Physics, Ethics, and 
 Logic, QvaiKr), 'H0uc?}, Aoyiic/}. The exact meaning of dper?) in these 
 instances it is impossible to give, and Strabo's own explanation is perhaps 
 the best that can be had ; we have here rendered it, " perfect science," for 
 want of a better phrase. 
 
 2 <&VfflKOt. 
 
CHAP. v. 3. INTRODUCTION. 167 
 
 centre as the heavens, is motionless, as well as the axis which /* 
 pass^sjErpjigh_botb_i^and the heavens. The hea*vens turn V 
 found both the~earth and itsTaxis, from east^to wes The i/ 
 fixed stars^turn round with it, at the same rate ~asT5e whole. 1 
 These fixed stars follow in their course parallel circles ; 
 the principal of which are, the equator, the two tropicT, and 
 the arctic circles. While the planets, the sun, and the moon, 
 describe_certain obli^ue^ circTeT^m^reTiendeJ within theTzo- ^ 
 diac. AdmittingTTiese'points in whole or in partTastronomers 
 proceed to treat of other matters, [such as] the motions [of 
 the stars], their revolutions, eclipses, size, relative distance, 
 and a thousand similar particulars. On their side, geometers, 
 when measuring the size of the entire earth, avail themselves 
 of the data furnished by the natural philosopher and astro- 
 nomer ; and the geographer on his part makes use of those of 
 the geometer. 
 
 3. The heavens and the earth must be supposed to be 
 divided each into five zones, and the celestial zones to possess 
 the same names as those below. The motives for such a 
 division into zones we have already detailed. These zones 
 may be distinguished by circles drawn parallel to the equator, 
 on either side of it. Two of these will separate the torrid 
 from the temperate zones, and the remaining two, the tem- 
 perate from the frigid. To each celestial circle there shall 
 be one corresponding on earth, and bearing the same name, 
 and likewise zone for zone. The [two] zones capable of be- 
 ing inhabited, are styled temperate. The remaining [three] 
 are uninhabitable, one on account of the heat, the others be- 
 cause of the extreme cold. The same is the case with re- 
 gard to the tropical, and also to the arctic circles, in respect 
 of those countries for which arctic circles can be said to ex- 
 ist. Circles on the earth are supposed, corresponding to those 
 in the heavens, and bearing the same name, one for one. 
 
 As the whole heaven is separated into two parts by its 
 equator, it follows that the earth must, by its equator, be 
 similarly divided. The two hemispheres, both celestial and 
 
 1 We have followed the suggestion of Gosselin in reading T$ o\y, the 
 whole, instead of T<JJ TroXy, the pole, as in the text. Strabo having just 
 previously stated Uiat the axis of the earth was stationary, it does not 
 seem probable that he would immediately after speak of the motion of 
 the pole. 
 
168 STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 terrestrial, are distinguished into north and south. Likewise 
 the torrid zone, which is divided into two halves by the equa- 
 tor, is distinguished as having a northern and southern side. 
 Hence it is evident that of the two temperate zones, one 
 should be called northern, the other southern, according to 
 the hemisphere to which it belongs. The northern hemi- 
 sphere is that containing the temperate zone, in which looking 
 from east to west, you will have the pole on your right hand, 
 and the equator on the left, or, in which, looking south, the 
 west will be on the right hand, and the east on the left. The 
 southern hemisphere is exactly the contrary to this. 
 
 It is clear that we are in one or other of these hemi- 
 spheres, namely, the north ; we cannot be in both : 
 
 " Broad rivers roll, and awful floods between, 
 But chief the ocean." l 
 
 And next is the torrid zone. But neither is there any ocean 
 in the midst of the earth wherein we dwell, dividing the 
 whole thereof, nor yet have we any torrid region. Nor is 
 there any portion of it to be found in which the climata are 
 opposite to those which have been described as characterizing 
 the northern temperate zone. 
 
 4. Assuming these data, and availing himself likewise of 
 astronomical observations, by which the position of every 
 place is properly determined, whether with respect to the 
 circles parallel to the equator, or to those which cut these 
 latter at right angles, in the direction of the poles, the ge- 
 ometer measures the region in which he dwells, and [judges 
 of the extent of] others by comparing the distance [between 
 the corresponding celestial signs]. By this means he dis- 
 covers the distance from the equator to the pole, which is a 
 quarter of the largest circle of the earth ; having obtained 
 this, he has only to multiply by four, the result is the [mea- 
 sure of the] perimeter of the globe. 
 
 In the same manner as he who takes the measures of the 
 earth, borrows the foundation of his calculations from the 
 astronomer, who himself is indebted to the natural philosopher, 
 so in like manner the geographer adopts certain facts laid 
 down as established by the geometer, before setting forth his 
 
 1 Odyssey xi. 156, 157. 
 
CHAP. v. 5. INTRODUCTION. 169 
 
 description of the earth we inhabit ; its size, form, nature, and 
 the proportion it bears to the whole earth. These latter points >i 
 are the peculiar business of the geographer. He will next I 
 enter on a particular description of every thing deserving no- 
 tice, whether on land or sea ; he will likewise point out what- 
 ever has been improperly stated by those who have preceded 
 him, especially by those who are regarded as chief authorities 
 in these matters. 1 
 
 5. Let it be supposed that the earth and sea together form 
 a spheroidal body, and preserve one and the same level in all 
 the seas. For though some portions of the earth may be 
 higher, yet this bears so small a relation to the size of the 
 whole mass, as need not be noticed. The spheroid in conse- 
 quence is not so minutely exact as one might be made by the aid 
 of a turner's instrument, or as would answer the definition of a 
 geometer, still in general appearance, and looked at rough- 
 ly, it is a spheroid. Let the earth be supposed to consist of 
 five zones, with (1.) the equatorial circle described round it, 
 (2.) another parallel to this, 2 and defining the frigid zone of 
 the northern hemisphere, and (3.) a circle passing through 
 the poles, and cutting the two preceding circles at right angles. 
 The northern hemisphere contains two quarters of the earth, 
 which are bounded by the equator and the circle passing 
 through the poles. 
 
 Each of these [quarters] should be supposed to contain a 
 four-sided district, its northern side being composed of one 
 half of the parallel next the pole ; its southern, by the half of 
 the equator ; and its remaining sides, by [two] segments of the 
 circle drawn through the poles, opposite to each other, and 
 equal in length. In one of these quadrilaterals (which of 
 them is of no consequence) the earth that we inhabit is situ- 
 ated, surrounded by sea, and similar to an island. This, as we 
 said before, is evident both to our senses and to our reason. 
 But should any one doubt thereof, it makes no difference so 
 far as Geography is concerned, whether you suppose the por- 
 tion of the earth we inhabit to be an island, or only admit 
 what we know from experience, viz. that whether you start 
 
 1 From this point Strabo, strictly speaking, commences his exposition 
 of the principles of Geography. 
 
 2 Strabo supposed this circle at a distance of 38,100 stadia from the 
 equator, or 54 25' 42" of latitude. 
 
170 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 from the east or west, you may sail all round it. Certain 
 intermediate spaces may have been left [unexplored], but 
 these are as likely to be occupied by sea, as uninhabited 
 lands. The object of the geographer is to describe known 
 countries ; those which are unknown he passes over equally 
 with those beyond the limits of the inhabited earth. It 
 will therefore be sufficient for describing the contour of the 
 island we have been speaking of, if we join by a right line 
 the utmost points which, up to this time, have been explored 
 by voyagers along the coast on either side. 
 
 6. Let it be supposed that this island is contained in one 
 of the above quadrilaterals ; we must obtain its apparent mag- 
 nitude by subtracting our hemisphere from the whole extent 
 of the earth, from this take the half, and from this again the 
 quadrilateral, in which we state our earth to be situated. We 
 may judge also by analogy of the figure of the whole earth, by 
 supposing that it accords with those parts with whicli we are 
 acquainted. Now as the portion of the northern hemisphere, 
 between the equator and the parallel next the [north] pole, re- 
 sembles a vertebre or joint of the back-bone in shape, and as the 
 circle which passes through the pole divides at the same time 
 the hemisphere and the vertebre into two halves, thus forming 
 the quadrilateral ; it is clear that this quadrilateral to which 
 the Atlantic is adjacent, is but the half of the vertebre ; while at 
 the same time the inhabited earth, which is an island in this, 
 and shaped like a chlamys or soldiers cloak, occupies less than 
 the half of the quadrilateral. This is evident from geometry, 
 also 1 from the extent of the surrounding sea, which covers 
 the extremities of the continents on either side, compressing 
 them into a smaller figure, and thirdly, by the greatest length 
 and breadth [of the earth itself]. The length being 70,000 
 stadia, enclosed almost entirely by a sea, impossible to navigate 
 owing to its wildness and vast extent, and the breadth 30,000 
 stadia, bounded by regions rendered uninhabitable on account 
 either of their intense heat or cold. That portion of the qua- 
 drilateral which is unfitted for habitation on account of the 
 heat, contains in breadth 8800 stadia, and in its greatest length 
 126,000 stadia, which is equal to one half of the equator, and 
 
 1 The whole of what follows to the end of the section is extremely em- 
 barrassing in the original ; we must therefore claim the indulgence of 
 the reader for any obscurity he may find in the translation. 
 
CHAP. v. 7. INTRODUCTION. 171 
 
 larger than one half the inhabited earth ; and what is left is 
 still more. 
 
 7. These calculations are nearly synonymous with those 
 furnished by Hipparchus, who tells us, that supposing the 
 size of the globe as stated by Eratosthenes to be correct, we 
 can then subtract from it the extent of the inhabited earth, 
 since in noting the celestial appearances [as they are seen] in 
 different countries, it is not of much importance whether we 
 make use of this measure, or that furnished by later writers. 
 Now as the whole circle of the equator according to Eratos* 
 thenes contains 252,000 stadia, the quarter of this would be 
 63,000, that is, the space from the equator to the pole contains 
 fifteen of the sixty divisions l into which the equator itself is 
 divided. There are four [divisions] between the equator and 
 the summer tropic or parallel passing through Syene. The 
 distances for each locality are calculated by the astronomical 
 observations. 
 
 It is evident that Syene is under the tropic,' from the fact 
 that during the summer solstice the gnomon at mid-day casts 
 no shadow there. As for the meridian of Syene, it follows 
 very nearly the course of the Nile from Meroe to Alexandria, 
 a distance of about 10,000 stadia. Syene itself is situated 
 about mid-way between these places, consequently from thence 
 to Meroe is a distance of 5000 stadia. Advancing 3000 
 stadia southward in a right line, we come to lands unfitted for 
 habitation on account of the heat. Consequently the parallel 
 which bounds these places, and which is the same as that of 
 the Cinnamon Country, is to be regarded as the boundary and 
 commencement of the habitable earth on the south. If, then, 
 3000 stadia be added to the 5000 between Syene and Meroe, 
 there will be altogether 8000 stadia [from Syene] to the 
 [southern] extremity of the habitable earth. But from Syene 
 to the equator there are 16,800 stadia, (for such is the amount 
 of the four-sixtieths, each sixtieth being equivalent to 
 4200 stadia,) and consequently from the [southern] bound- 
 aries of the habitable earth to the equator there are 8800 
 stadia, and from Alexandria 21,800. 2 Again, every one is 
 
 1 The Greeks, besides the division of the equator into 360 degrees, had 
 also another method of dividing it into sixty portions -or degrees. 
 
 2 These 21,800 stadia would give to Alexandria a latitude of 31 8' 
 34" ; according to modern calculation it is 31 1 1' 20" of latitude. The 
 
172 
 
 STRABO. 
 
 agreed that the voyage from Alexandria to Rhodes, and thence 
 by Caria and Ionia to the Troad, Byzantium, and the Dnieper, 
 is in a straight line with the course of the Nile. 1 
 
 Taking therefore these distances, which have been ascer- 
 tained by voyages, we have only to find out how far beyond 
 the Dnieper the land is habitable, (being careful always to 
 continue in the same straight line,) and we shall arrive at 
 a knowledge of the northern boundaries of our earth. 
 
 Beyond the Dnieper dwell the Roxolani, 2 the last of the 
 Scythians with which we are acquainted ; they are never- 
 theless more south than the farthest nations 3 we know of 
 beyond Britain. Beyond these Roxolani the country is unin- 
 habitable on account of the severity of the climate. The Sau- 
 romatse 4 who live around the Ma30tis, and the other Scythians 5 
 as far as the Scythians of the East, dwell farther south. 
 
 following presents Strabo's calculations of the latitude of the preceding 
 places in a tabular form. 
 
 Names of places. 
 
 Particular 
 Distance. 
 
 Total 
 Distance. 
 
 Latitudes. 
 
 Equator 
 
 Stadia. 
 
 o 
 
 Stadia. 
 
 o 
 
 0' 0" 
 
 Limits of the habitable earth 
 
 8800 
 3000 
 
 8800 
 11800 
 
 12 34' 17" 
 16 51' 25" 
 
 Syene and the Tropic . . 
 Alexandria 
 
 5000 
 5000 
 
 16800 
 21800 
 
 24 0' 0" 
 31 8' 34" 
 
 1 Eratosthenes, Hipparehus, and Strabo, all believed that the longitude 
 of Rhodes was the same as that of Alexandria, although actually it is 2 
 22' 45" west of that place. The coasts of Caria, Ionia, and the Troad 
 incline considerably to the west, while Byzantium is about 3 east of the 
 Troad, and the mouth of the Dnieper is above 3 46' east of Byzantium. 
 
 * The Roxolani inhabited the Ukraine. It has been thought that from 
 these people the Russians derived their name. 
 
 3 Strabo here alludes to Ireland, which he placed north of England, and 
 believed to be the most northerly region fitted for the habitation of man. 
 He gave it a latitude of 36,700 stadia, equivalent to 52 25' 42", which 
 answers to the southern portions of that island. 
 
 4 The Sauromatae, or Sarmatians, occupied the lands north of the sea of 
 Azof on either side of the Don. 
 
 6 The Scythians here spoken of dwelt between the Don and the 
 Wolga ; east of this last river were the Eastern Scythians, who were 
 thought to occupy the whole north of Asia. 
 
CHAP. v. 8. INTRODUCTION. 173 
 
 8. It is true that Pytheas of Marseilles affirms that the 
 farthest country north of the British island* is Thule ; for 
 which place he says the summer tropic and the arctic circle 
 is all one. But he records no other particulars concerning 
 it ; [he does not say] whether Thule is an island, or whether 
 it continues habitable up to the point where the summer 
 tropic becomes one with the arctic circle. 1 For myself, I 
 fancy that the northern boundaries of the habitable earth are 
 greatly south of this. Modern writers tell us of nothing be- 
 yond lerne, which lies just north of Britain, where the peo- 
 ple live miserably and like savages on account of the severity 
 of the cold. It is here in my opinion the bounds of the ha- 
 bitable earth ought to be fixed. 
 
 If on the one hand the parallels of Byzantium and Mar- 
 seilles are the same, as Hipparchus asserts on the faith of 
 Pytheas, (for he 2 says that at Byzantium the gnomon in- 
 dicates the same amount of shadow as Pytheas gives for 
 Marseilles,) and at the same time the parallel of the Dnieper 
 is distant from Byzantium about 3800 stadia, it follows, if 
 we take into consideration the distance between Marseilles 
 and Britain, that the circle which passes over the Dnieper 
 traverses Britain as well. 3 But the truth is that Pytheas, 
 who so frequently misleads people, deceives in this instance 
 too. 
 
 It is generally admitted that a line drawn from the Pillars 
 of Hercules, and passing over the Strait [of Messina], Athens, 
 and Rhodes, would lie under the same parallel of latitude. 4 It 
 is likewise admitted, that the line in passing from the Pillars to 
 the Strait of Sicily divides the Mediterranean through the 
 
 1 The tropic being placed at 24 from the equator by Strabo, and most 
 probably by Pytheas also, the latitude of Thule, according to the observ- 
 ation of this traveller, would be fixed at 66, which corresponds with the 
 north of Iceland. 
 
 2 Hipparchus. 
 
 3 Hipparchus placed Marseilles and Byzantium 'at 30,142 stadia, or 
 43 3' 38" of latitude, and estimated the parallel for the centre of Britain 
 at 33,942 stadia, or 48 29' 19". Whereas Strabo only allowed for this 
 latter 32,700 stadia, or 46 42' 51". 
 
 4 Viz. the 36 of latitude. The actual latitudes are as follow : 
 The Pillars of Hercules, or Strait of Gibraltar, 36. 
 
 The Strait of Messina, 38 12'. 
 
 Athens, 38<> 5'. 
 
 The middle of the Isle of Rhodes, 36 18' ; and the city, 36o 28' 30". 
 
174 STRABO. BOOK 11. 
 
 midst. 1 Navigators tell us that the greatest distance from 
 Keltica to Libya, starting from the bottom of the Galatic Bay, is 
 5000 stadia, and that this is likewise the greatest breadth of 
 the Mediterranean. Consequently from the said line to the 
 bottom of the bay is 2500 stadia ; but to Marseilles the dis- 
 tance is rather less, in consequence of that city being more to 
 the south than the bottom of the bay. 2 But since from 
 Rhodes to Byzantium is about 4900 3 stadia, it follows that 
 Byzantium must be far north of Marseilles. 4 The distance 
 from this latter city to Britain is about the same as from By- 
 zantium to the Dnieper. 5 How far it may be from Bri- 
 tain to the island of lerne is not known. As to whether 
 beyond it there may still be habitable lands, it is not our bu- 
 siness to inquire, as we stated before. It is sufficient for our 
 science to determine this in the same manner that we did the 
 southern boundaries. We there fixed the bounds of the ha- 
 bitable earth at 3000 stadia south of Meroe (not that these 
 were its exact limits, but because they were sufficiently near) ; 
 so in this instance they should be placed about the same num- 
 ber of stadia north of Britain, certainly not more than 4000. 6 
 
 1 This mistake of Strabo caused the derangement in his chart of the 
 whole contour of this portion of the Mediterranean, and falsifies the posi- 
 tion of the surrounding districts. 
 
 2 Strabo having allowed 25,400 stadia, or 36 17' 8", for the latitude 
 of Rhodes and the Strait of Messina, determined the latitude of Marseilles 
 at 27,700 stadia, or 39 34' 17"; its real latitude being 43 17' 45", as 
 exactly stated by Pytheas. 
 
 3 Or about 7. The actual difference in latitude between Rhodes and 
 Byzantium is 4 32' 54". 
 
 4 On the contrary, Marseilles is 2 16' 21" north of Byzantium. 
 
 5 3800 stadia, or 5o 25' 43". 
 
 6 The following is a tabular form of the latitudes as stated by Strabo : 
 
 Stadia. Latitude. 
 
 From the equator to Alexandria 21,800 31 8' 34" 
 
 From Alexandria to Rhodes, he computes in this ' 
 
 instance 3600 stadia 25,400 36<> 17' 8" 
 
 From the parallel of Rhodes to Marseilles, about 
 
 2300 stadia 27,700 39 34' 1 7" 
 
 From the parallel of Rhodes to the bottom of the 
 
 Galatic Gulf, 2500 stadia 27,900 39o 51' 25" 
 
 From Marseilles to the northern extremity of Gaul, 
 
 or the southern extremity of Britain, 3800 
 
 stadia 31,500 45 0' 0" 
 
 From Marseilles to the middle of Britain, 50ft) 
 
 stadia 32,700 46o 42' 51" 
 
CHAP. v. 9. INTRODUCTION. 175 
 
 It would not serve any political purpose to be well ac- 
 quainted with these distant places and the people who inhabit 
 them; especially if they are islands whose inhabitants can 
 neither injure us, nor yet benefit us by their commerce. The 
 Romans might easily have conquered Britain, but they did 
 not care to do so, as they perceived there was nothing to fear 
 from the inhabitants, (they not being powerful enough to at- 
 tack us,) and that they would gain nothing by occupying the 
 land. Even now it appears that we gain more by the customs 
 they pay, than we could raise by tribute, after deducting the 
 wages of the soldiers necessary for guarding the island and 
 exacting the taxes. And the other islands adjacent to this 
 would be still more unproductive. 
 
 9. If, then, to the distance between Rhodes and the Dnie- 
 per be added four thousand stadia north of the latter place, 
 the whole would come to 12,700 stadia; and since from 
 Rhodes to the southern limit of the habitable earth there are 
 16,600 stadia, its total breadth from north to south would be 
 under 30.000 stadia. 1 Its length from west to east is stated 
 at 70,000 stadia, the distance being measured from the ex- 
 tremities of Iberia to those of India, partly over the land and 
 partly across the sea. That this length is contained within the 
 quadrilateral aforesaid, is proved by the proportion borne by 
 these parallels to the equator. Thus the length of the habit- 
 able earth is above twice its breadth. It has been compared 
 
 From the northern extremity of Gaul to the parallel Stadia. Latitude. 
 
 of the northern extremity of Britain, 2500 stadia 34,000 48 34' 17" 
 From the northern extremity of Gaul to lerne, 5000 
 
 stadia 36,500 52 8' 34" 
 
 From the northern extremity of Britain to the limits 
 
 of the habitable earth, 4000 stadia 38,000 54 17' 9" 
 
 1 Namely, 29,300. stadia. 
 
 From Rhodes to Byzantium Strabo estimated 4900 
 
 From Byzantium to the Dnieper 3800 
 
 8700 
 From the Dnieper to the northern limits of the habitable 
 
 earth 4000 
 
 12,700 
 From Rhodes to the southern limits of the habitable earth 16,600 
 
 Total 29,300 
 
176 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 in figure to a chlamys, or soldier's cloak, because if every part 
 be carefully examined, it will be found that its breadth 
 is greatly diminished towards the extremities, especially in 
 the west. 
 
 10. We have now been tracing upon a spherical surface the 
 region which we state to be occupied by the habitable earth ; 
 and whoever would represent the real earth as near as possible 
 by artificial means, should make a globe like that of Crates, and 
 upon this describe the quadrilateral within which his chart of 
 geography is to be placed. For this purpose, however, a large 
 globe is necessary, since the section mentioned, though but a 
 very small portion of the entire sphere, must be capable of 
 properly containing all the regions of the habitable earth, and 
 presenting an accurate view of them to all those who wish to 
 consult it. Any one who is able will certainly do well to ob- 
 tain such a globe. But it should have a diameter of not less 
 than ten feet : those who cannot obtain a globe of this size, 
 or one nearly as large, had better draw their chart on a plane- 
 surface, of not less than seven feet. Draw straight lines, 
 some parallel, for the parallels [of latitude], and others at 
 right angles to these ; we may easily imagine how the eye 
 can transfer the figure and extent [of these lines] from a 
 plane-surface to one that is spherical. What we have just 
 observed of the circles in general, may be said with equal 
 truth touching the oblique circles. On the globe it is true 
 that the meridians of each country passing the pole have a 
 tendency to unite in a single point, nevertheless on the plane- 
 surface of the map, there would be no advantage if the right 
 lines alone which should represent the meridians were drawn 
 slightly to converge. The necessity for such a proceeding 
 would scarcely ever be really felt. Even on our globe itself 1 
 the tendency of those meridians (which are transferred to the 
 map as right lines) to converge is not much, nor any thing 
 near so obvious as their circular tendency. 
 
 1 1. In what follows we shall suppose the chart drawn on 
 a plane-surface ; and our descriptions shall consist of what we 
 ourselves have observed in our travels by land and sea, and 
 of what we conceive to be credible in the statements and 
 writings of others. For ourselves, in a westerly direction we 
 
 1 The artificial globe of 10 ft. diameter. 
 
CHAP. v. 12. INTRODUCTION. 177 
 
 have travelled from Armenia to that part of Tyrrhenia 1 which 
 is over against Sardinia ; and southward, from the Euxine to 
 the frontiers of Ethiopia. 2 Of all the writers on Geography, 
 not one can be mentioned who has travelled over a wider ex- 
 tent of the countries described than we have. Some may 
 have gone farther to the west, but then they have never been 
 so far east as we have ; again, others may have been farther 
 east, but not so far west ; and the same with respect to north 
 and south. However, in the main, both we and they have 
 availed ourselves of the reports of others, from which to 
 describe the form, the size, and the other peculiarities of the 
 country, what they are and how many, in the same way that 
 the mind forms its conceptions from the information of the 
 senses. The figure, colour, and size of an apple, its scent, 
 feel to the touch, and its flavour, are particulars communi- 
 cated by the senses, from which the mind forms its concep- 
 tion of an apple. So in large figures, the senses observe the 
 various parts, while the mind combines into one conception 
 what is thus seen. And in like manner, men eager after know- 
 ledge, trusting to those who have been to various places, 
 and to [the descriptions of] travellers in this or that country, 
 gather into one sketch a view of the whole habitable earth. 
 
 In the same way, the generals perform every thing, never- 
 theless, they are not present every where, but most of their 
 success depends on others, since they are obliged to trust to 
 messengers, and issue their commands in accordance with the 
 reports of others. To pretend that those only can know who 
 have themselves seen, is to deprive hearing of all confidence, 
 which, after all, is a better servant of knowledge than sight 
 itself. 
 
 12. Writers of the present day can describe with more cer- 
 tainty [than formerly] the Britons, the Germans, and the dwell- 
 ers on either side of the Danube, the Getae, 3 the Tyrigetae, the 
 Bastarnae, 4 the tribes dwelling by the Caucasus, such as the 
 
 1 Tuscany. 
 
 2 Strabo was of Amasea, a city of Pontus, close to the Euxine. He 
 travelled through Egypt and reached Philae, which is about 100 stadia 
 above Syene, the commencement of Ethiopia. 
 
 3 The Gets occupied a portion of present Moldavia ; the Tyrigetae 
 were those of the Getae who dwelt along the banks of the Tyras or 
 Dniester. 
 
 4 The Bastarnae occupied the south and eastern portions of Poland. 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK IT. 
 
 Albanians and Iberians. 1 We are besides possessed of a de- 
 scription of Hyrcania 2 and Bactriana in the Histories of Par- 
 thia written by such men as Apollodorus of Artemita, 3 who 
 have detailed the boundaries [of those countries] with greater 
 accuracy than other geographers. 
 
 The entrance of a Roman army into Arabia Felix under 
 the command of my friend and companion JElius Gallus, 4 
 and the traffic of the Alexandrian merchants whose vessels 
 pass up the Nile and Arabian Gulf 5 to India, have rendered 
 us much better acquainted with these countries than our pre- 
 decessors were. I was with Gallus at the time he was prefect 
 of Egypt, and accompanied him as far as Syene and the fron- 
 tiers of Ethiopia, and I found that about one hundred and 
 twenty ships sail from Myos-hormos 6 to India, although, in 
 the time of the Ptolemies, scarcely any one would venture 
 on this voyage and the commerce with the Indies. 
 
 13. Our first and most imperative duty 7 then, both in re- 
 spect to science and to the necessities of the man of business, 
 is to undertake to lay down the projection of the different coun- 
 tries on the chart in as clear a style as possible, and to signify 
 at the same time the relation and proportion they bear to the 
 whole earth. For such is the geographer's peculiar province. 
 It belongs to another science to give an exact description of 
 the whole earth, and of the entire vertebre of either zone, and 
 
 1 The Georgians of the present day. 2 Corcan. 
 
 3 The precise time when this writer lived is unknown. The work here 
 referred to is also mentioned by Athenseus, xv. p. 682. 
 
 4 Prefect of Egypt in the reign of Augustus. This expedition into Ara- 
 bia completely failed, through the treachery of the guide, a Roman named 
 Syllaeus. A long account of it is given by Strabo in the 16th book. " It 
 would be extremely interesting," says Professor Schmitz, " to trace this 
 expedition of ^Elius Gallus into Arabia, but our knowledge of that coun- 
 try is as yet too scanty to enable us to identify the route as described 
 by Strabo, who derived most of his information about Arabia from his 
 friend ^Elius Gallus." 
 
 5 Red Sea. 
 
 6 Myos-hormos, Mouse's Harbour, a sea-port of Egypt on the coast of 
 the Red Sea. Arrian says that it was one of the most celebrated ports 
 on fhis sea. It was chosen by Ptolemy Philadelphus for the convenience 
 of commerce, in preference to Arsinoe or Suez, on account of the diffi- 
 culty of navigating the western extremity of the gulf. It was called also 
 Aphroditis Portus, or the Port of Venus. Its modern name is Suffange- 
 el-Bahri, or " Sponge of the Sea." Lempriere. 
 
 7 Humboldt commends Strabo's zeal in prosecuting his gigantic work, 
 Cosmos ii. 557. 
 
CHAP. v. $ U. INTRODUCTION. 179 
 
 as to whether the vertebre in the opposite quarter of the earth 
 is inhabited. That such is the case is most probable, but not 
 that it is inhabited by the same race of men as dwell with us. 
 And it must therefore be regarded as another habitable earth. 
 We however have only to describe our own. 
 
 14. In its figure the habitable earth resembles a chlamys, 
 or soldier's cloak, the greatest breadth of which would be 
 indicated by a line drawn in the direction of the Nile, com- 
 mencing from the parallel of the Cinnamon Country, and the 
 Island of the Egyptian Exiles, and terminating at the parallel 
 of lerna ; and its length by a line drawn from the west at 
 right angles to the former, passing by the Pillars of Hercules 
 and the Strait of Sicily to Rhodes and the Gulf of Issus, 1 
 then proceeding along the chain of the Taurus, which divides 
 Asia, and terminating in the Eastern Ocean, 2 between India 
 and the Scythians dwelling beyond Bactriana. 
 
 We must therefore fancy to ourselves a parallelogram, and 
 within it a chlamys-shaped figure, described in such a manner 
 that the length of the one figure may correspond to the length 
 and size of the other, and likewise breadth to breadth. The 
 habitable earth will therefore be represented by this kind of 
 chlamys. We have before said that its breadth is marked 
 out by parallels bounding its sides, and separating on either 
 side the portions that are habitable from those that are not. 
 On the north [these parallels] pass over lerna, 3 and on the 
 side of the torrid zone over the Cinnamon Country. These 
 lines being produced east and west to the opposite extremities 
 of the habitable earth, form, when joined by the perpendicu- 
 lars falling from their extremities, a kind of parallelogram. 
 That within this the habitable earth is contained is evident, 
 since neither its greatest breadth nor length project beyond. 
 That in configuration it resembles a chlamys is also clear, 
 from the fact that at either end of its length, the extremities 
 taper to a point. 4 Owing to the encroachments of the sea, it 
 
 1 The Gulf of Ai'as. 2 The Bay of Bengal. 
 
 3 Strabo seems here to confound the parallel of lerna with that of the 
 northern limits of the habitable earth, although a little above, as we have 
 seen, he determines these limits at 15,000 stadia north of lerna. 
 
 4 These narrowed extremities of the continent are, Spain on the west, 
 terminated by Cape St. Vincent, and on the east the peninsula of India, 
 terminated by Cape Comorin. This cape Strabo supposed w.as continued 
 in an easterly direction, and thus formed the most eastern portion of Asia. 
 
 K 2 
 
180 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 also loses something in breadth. This we know from those 
 who have sailed round its eastern and western points. They 
 inform us that the island called Taprobana l is much to the 
 south of India, but that it is nevertheless inhabited, and is 
 situated opposite to the island of the Egyptians and the Cin- 
 namon Country, as the temperature of their atmospheres is 
 similar. On the other side the country about the embouchure 
 of the Hyrcanian Sea 2 is farther north than the farthest Scy- 
 thians who dwell beyond India, and lerna still more so. It 
 is likewise stated of the country beyond the Pillars of Her- 
 cules, that the most western point of the habitable earth is 
 the promontory of the Iberians named the Sacred Promontory. 3 
 It lies nearly in a line with Gades, the Pillars of Hercules, 
 the Strait of Sicily, and Rhodes ; 4 for they say that the ho- 
 rologes accord, as also the periodical winds, and the duration 
 of the longest nights and days, which consist of fourteen and 
 a half equinoctial hours. From the coast of Gades and Iberia 
 is said to have been formerly observed. 5 
 
 Posidonius relates, that from the top of a high house in 
 a town about 400 stadia distant from the places men- 
 tioned, he perceived a star which he believed to be Canopus, 
 both in consequence of the testimony of those who having 
 proceeded a little to the south of Iberia affirmed that they 
 could perceive it, and also of the tradition preserved at Cni- 
 dus ; for the observatory of Eudoxus, from whence he is re- 
 ported to have viewed Canopus, is not much higher than these 
 houses ; and Cnidus is under the" same parallel as Rhodes, 
 which is likewise that of Gades and its sea-coast. 
 
 15. Sailing thence, Libya lies to the south. Its most 
 western portions project a little beyond Gades ; it afterwards 
 
 1 The island of Ceylon. 
 
 2 Strabo supposed the Hyrcanian or Caspian Sea communicated with 
 the northern ocean. 
 
 3 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 4 Cape St. Vincent is north of Cadiz by 30' 30", north of the Strait of 
 Gibraltar, or Pillars of Hercules, by 1 2', south of the Strait of Mes- 
 sina by 1 10', and north of Rhodes by 33' 30". 
 
 5 Casaubon conjectures that the words TQV Kavo>/3ov originally occu- 
 pied the space of the lacuna. The passage would then stand thus From 
 the coast of Cadiz and Iberia the star Canopus is said to have been for- 
 merly observed. Groskurd rejects this, and proposes to read TOVQ TrXrj- 
 aia.iTa.TovQ TOV KavdjjSov aarkctciQ, " the stars nearest to Canopus." But 
 this too is not certain, and the passage is otherwise evidently corrupt. 
 
CHAP. v. 16. INTRODUCTION. 181 
 
 forms a narrow promontory receding towards the east and 
 south, and becoming slightly broader, till it touches upon the 
 western Ethiopians, who are the last l of the nations situated 
 below Carthage, and adjoin the parallel of the Cinnamon Coun- 
 try. They, on the contrary, who sail from the Sacred Promon- 
 tory, 2 towards the Artabri, 3 journey northwards, having 
 Lusitania 4 on the right hand. The remaining portion forms 
 an obtuse angle towards the east as far as the extremities 
 of the Pyrenees which terminate at the ocean. North- 
 ward and opposite to this are the western coasts of Britain. 
 Northward and opposite to the Artabri are the islands de- 
 nominated Cassiterides, 5 situated in the high seas, but under 
 nearly the same latitude as Britain. From this it appears to 
 what a degree the extremities of the habitable earth are nar- 
 rowed by the surrounding sea. 
 
 16. Such being the configuration of the whole earth, it 
 will be convenient to take two straight lines, cutting each 
 other at right angles, and running the one through its greatest 
 length, and the other through its breadth. The former of these 
 lines will represent one of the parallels, and the latter one of 
 the meridians. 6 Afterwards we must imagine other lines 
 parallel to either of these respectively, and dividing both the 
 
 1 The most southern. 2 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 3 The Artabri inhabited the country around Cape Finisterre. 
 
 4 Principally contained in the modern kingdom of Portugal. 
 
 5 The Scilly Islands off the Cornwall coast. 
 
 6 We have long had the custom of tracing on every map the parallels 
 of latitude and longitude at every degree, or every five or ten degrees, as 
 the case may be. By means of these lines drawn at equal distances, the 
 eye at once recognises the relative position of any place in the map. 
 This method was not in use when Strabo wrote : at that time it was 
 customary to draw a meridian or longitude, and a parallel of latitude, for 
 
 ^every important place of which the position was considered as determined. 
 This was certainly an obscure way of dividing the globe ; nevertheless it 
 is requisite to keep it in mind, in order that we may the more readily 
 understand the general language of our geographer, who instead of simply 
 stating the latitude and longitude of places, says such a place is situated 
 under the same latitude, or about the same latitude, as such another place, 
 &c. Ptolemy seems to have been the first who freed the study of geogra- 
 phy from the confusion inseparable from the ancient method. He substi- 
 tuted tables easy of construction and amendment ; where the position 
 of each place was marked by isolated numbers, which denoted the exact 
 latitude and longitude. 
 
182 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 land and sea with which we are acquainted. By this means 
 the form of the habitable earth will appear more clearly to be 
 such as we have described it ; likewise the extent of the va- 
 rious lines, whether traced through its length or breadth, and 
 the latitudes [of places], will also be more clearly distinguish- 
 ed, whether north or south, as also [the longitudes] whether 
 east or west. However, these right lines should be drawn 
 through places that are known. Two have already been thus 
 fixed upon, I mean the two middle [lines] running through its 
 length and breadth, which have been already explained, and 
 by means of these the others may easily be determined. These 
 lines will serve us as marks to distinguish countries situated 
 under the same parallel, and otherwise to determine different 
 positions both in respect to the other portions of the earth, and 
 also of the celestial appearances. 
 
 17. The ocean it is which principally divides the earth into 
 various countries, and moulds its form. It creates bays, seas, 
 straits, isthmuses, peninsulas, and capes ; while rivers and 
 mountains serve to the same purpose. It is by these means 
 that continents, nations, and the position of cities are capable 
 of being clearly distinguished, together with those various 
 other details of which a chorographical chart is full. Amongst 
 these latter are the multitude of islands scattered throughout 
 the seas, and along every coast ; each of them distinguished 
 by some good or bad quality, by certain advantages or dis- 
 advantages, due either to nature or to art. 
 
 The natural advantages [of a place] should always be men- 
 tioned, since they are permanent. Advantages which are ad- 
 ventitious are liable to change, although the majority of those 
 which have continued for any length of time should not be 
 passed over, nor even those which, although but recent, have 
 yet acquired some note and celebrity. For those which con- 
 tinue, come to be regarded by posterity not as works of art, 
 but as the natural advantages of the place ; these therefore it 
 is evident we must notice. True it is, that to many a city 
 we may apply the reflection of Demosthenes 1 on Olynthus 
 
 1 Demosthenes, Philipp. III. edit. Reisk. t. i. p. 117, 1. 22. Demos- 
 thenes is here alluding to the cities which different Grecian colonies had 
 founded in the maritime districts of Thrace. The principal of these was 
 the opulent and populous city of Olynthus, which, together with others, 
 
CHAP. v. 18. INTRODUCTION. 183 
 
 and its neighbouring towns : " So completely have they van- 
 ished, that no one who should now visit their sites could say 
 that they had ever been inhabited ! " 
 
 Still we are gratified by visiting these and similar localities, 
 being desirous of beholding the traces of such celebrated 
 places, and the tombs of famous men. In like manner we 
 should record laws and forms of government no longer in ex- 
 istence, since these are serviceable to have in mind, equally 
 with the remembrance of actions, whether for the sake of imi- 
 tating or avoiding the like. 
 
 18. Continuing our former sketch, we now state that the 
 earth which we inhabit contains numerous gulfs, formed by 
 the exterior sea or ocean which surrounds it. Of these there 
 are four principal. The northern, called the Caspian, by 
 others designated the Hyrcanian Sea, the Persian and Ara- 
 bian Gulfs, formed by the [Southern] Sea, the one being 
 nearly opposite to the Caspian, the other to the Euxine ; the 
 fourth, which in size is much more considerable than the 
 others, is called the Internal and Our Sea. 1 It commences 
 in the Avest at the Strait of the Pillars of Hercules, and 
 continues in an easterly direction, but with varying breadth. 
 Farther in, it becomes divided, and terminates in two gulfs ; 
 that on the left being called the Euxine Sea, while the other 
 consists of the seas of Egypt, Pamphylia, and Issus. All 
 these gulfs formed by the exterior sea, have a narrow en- 
 trance ; those of the Arabian Gulf, however, and the Pillars 
 of Hercules are smaller than the rest. 2 The land which 
 surrounds these, as before remarked, consists of three divisions. 
 Of these, the configuration of Europe is the most irregular. 
 Libya, on the contrary, is the most regular ; while Asia holds a 
 middle place between the two. In all of these continents, the 
 regularity or irregularity of form relates merely to the inte- 
 rior coasts ; the exterior, with the exception of the gulfs be- 
 
 was taken, and razed to its foundations, by Philip of Macedon. Olyn- 
 thus has become famous through the three orations of Demosthenes, 
 urging the Athenians to its succour. 
 
 1 The Mediterranean. 
 
 2 The entrance to the Arabian Gulf is about six or seven marine 
 leagues, that of the Mediterranean two and three-fourths. The entrance 
 to the Persian Gulf is seven or eight leagues in extent ; while the Caspian, 
 being a lake, has of course no outlet whatever. 
 
184 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 fore mentioned, is unin dented, and, as I have stated, resembles 
 a chlamys in its form; any slight differences being of course 
 overlooked, as in large matters what is insignificant passes for 
 nothing. Since in geographical descriptions we not only aim at 
 portraying the configuration and extent of various places, but 
 also their common boundaries, we will remark here, as we have 
 done before, that the coasts of the Internal Sea 1 present a 
 greater variety in their appearance than those of the Exterior 
 [Ocean] ; the former is also much better known, its climate is 
 more temperate, and more civilized cities and nations are 
 here than there. We are also anxious to be informed where 
 the form of government, the arts, and whatever else ministers 
 to intelligence, produce the greatest results. Interest will 
 always lead us to where the relations of commerce and society 
 are most easily established, and these are advantages to be 
 found where government is administered, or rather where it is 
 well administered. In each of these particulars, as before 
 remarked, Our Sea 2 possesses great advantages, and here 
 therefore we will begin our description. 
 
 19. This gulf, 3 as before stated, commences at the Strait 
 of the Pillars ; this at its narrowest part is said to be 70 stadia. 
 Having sailed down a distance of 120 stadia, the shores widen 
 considerably, especially to the left, and you behold a vast sea, 
 bounded on the right by the shore of Libya as far as Carthage, 
 and on the opposite side by those of Iberia and Keltica as far 
 as Narbonne and Marseilles, thence by the Ligurian, 4 and 
 finally by the Italian coast to the Strait of Sicily. The 
 eastern side of this sea is formed by Sicily and the straits on 
 either side of it. That next Italy being 7 stadia [in breadth], 
 and that next Carthage 1500 stadia. The line drawn from 
 the Pillars to the lesser strait of 7 stadia, forms part of the 
 line to Rhodes and the Taurus, and intersects the sea under 
 discussion about its middle ; this line is said to be 12,000 stadia, 
 which is accordingly the length of the sea. Its greatest 
 breadth is about 5000 stadia, and extends from the Galatic 
 Gulf, between Marseilles and Narbonne, to the opposite coast 
 of Libya. 
 
 1 Mediterranean. 
 
 2 Strabo here means the countries bordering the Mediterranean. 
 
 3 Viz. the Mediterranean. * The state of Genoa. 
 
CHAP. v. 20. INTRODUCTION. 185 
 
 The portion of the sea which washes Libya is called the 
 Libyan Sea; that surrounding the land opposite is desig- 
 nated by the respective names of the Iberian, the Ligurian, 1 
 and the Sardinian Seas, while the remaining portion as far as 
 Sicily is named the Tyrrhenian Sea. 2 All along the coast 
 between the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas, there are numer- 
 ous islands, the largest of which are Sardinia and Cyrnus, 3 
 always excepting Sicily, which is larger and more fertile than 
 any of our islands. The remainder are much smaller. Of 
 this number are, in the high sea, Pandataria 4 and Pontia, 5 
 and close to the shore JEthalia, 6 Planasia, 7 Pithecussa, 8 Pro- 
 chyta, 9 Capriae, 10 Leucosia, 11 and many others On the other 12 
 side of the Ligurian shore, and along the rest of the coast 
 as far as the Pillars, there are but few islands ; the Gymnasiae 13 
 and Ebusus 14 are of this number. There are likewise but 
 few islands along the coasts of Libya and Sicily. We may 
 mention however Cossura, 15 JEgimurus, 16 and the Lipari 
 Islands, likewise called the Islands of -ZEolus. 
 
 20. After Sicily and the straits on either side of it, 17 there 
 are other seas, for instance, that opposite the Syrtes and the Cy- 
 renaic, 18 the Syrtes themselves, and the sea formerly called the 
 Ausonian, but which, as it flows into and forms part of the 
 Sea of Sicily, is now included under the latter name. The 
 sea opposite to the Syrtes and the Cyrenaic is called the Li- 
 byan Sea ; it extends as. far as the Sea of Egypt. 
 
 The Lesser Syrtes 19 is about 1600 stadia in circumference. 
 On either side of its mouth lie the islands of Meninx 20 and 
 Kerkina. 21 The Greater Syrtes 22 is (according to Eratosthenes) 
 5000 stadia in circuit, and in depth 1800, from the Hes- 
 
 I The Gulf of Genoa. 2 Vide Huraboldt's Cosmos, ii. 480. 
 3 Corsica. 4 Vento Tiene. 5 Ponza. 
 
 6 Elba. 7 Saint Honorat. 8 Ischia. 
 
 9 Procida. 10 Capri. 
 
 II A small island off the Capo della Licosa. 12 The western side. 
 13 Majorca and Minorca. 14 Ivi^a. 
 
 15 The island of Pantalaria. 
 
 18 Al Djamur, at the entrance of the Gulf of Tunis. 
 
 17 The Strait of Messina, and the strait separating Sicily and Cape 
 Bona on the African coast. 
 
 18 Of which Gyrene, now Curen, was the capital. 
 
 19 The Gulf of Cabes. 20 The Island of Gerbi. 
 21 The Island of Kerkeni. m Sidra, or Zalscho. 
 
186 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 perides l to Automala, 2 and the frontier which separates the 
 Cyrenaic from the rest of Libya. According to others, its 
 circumference is only 4000 stadia, its depth 1500 stadia, and 
 the breadth at its mouth the same. 
 
 The Sea of Sicily washes Italy, from the Strait of Rhegium 3 
 to Locris, 4 and also the eastern coast of Sicily from Messene 5 
 to Syracuse 6 and Pachynus. 7 On the eastern side it reaches 
 to the promontories of Crete, surrounds the greater part of 
 Peloponnesus, and fills the Gulf of Corinth. 8 On the north 
 it advances to the lapygian Promontory, 9 the mouth of the 
 Ionian Gulf, 10 the southern parts of Epirus, 11 as far as the Am- 
 bracic Gulf, 12 and the continuation of the coast which forms 
 the Corinthian Gulf, near the Peloponnesus. 
 
 The Ionian Gulf forms part of what we now call the Adri- 
 atic. 13 Illyria forms its right side, and Italy as far as the 
 recess where Aquileia is situated, the left. 
 
 The Adriatic stretches north and west ; it is long and nar- 
 row, being in length about 6000 stadia, and its greatest breadth 
 1200. There are many islands situated here opposite the coasts 
 of Illyria, such as the Absyrtides, 14 Cyrictica, 15 and the Libyr- 
 nides, 16 also Issa, 17 Tragurium, 18 the Black Corcyra, 19 and 
 Pharos. 20 Opposite to Italy are the Islands of Diomede. 21 The 
 
 * Hesperides is the same city which the sovereigns of Alexandria after- 
 wards called Berenice. It is the modern Bernic or Bengazi. 
 
 2 Automala appears to have been situated on the most northern point 
 of the Greater Syrtes, on the confines of a small gulf, near to a place called 
 Tine, or the Marsh. 
 
 3 Now Reggio, on the Strait of Messina, which was also sometimes 
 called the Strait of Rhegium. 
 
 4 These were the Epizephyrian Locrians, or dwellers near the promon- 
 tory of Zephyrium. They were situated towards the extremity of Italy, 
 near Rhegium. Traces of their city are seen at Motta di Bourzano on the 
 eastern coast of Ulterior Calabria. 
 
 5 Messina. 6 Syragusa. 7 Cape Passaro. 
 
 8 The Gulf of Lepanto. 9 Cape Leuca or Finisterre. 
 
 10 The lower part of the Adriatic was designated the Ionian Gulf. 
 
 11 The portion of Greece opposite Corfu. 12 The Gulf of Arta. 
 13 The Gulf of Venice. u The Islands of Cherso and Ossero. 
 
 15 Apparently the Curicta of Pliny and Ptolemy, corresponding to the 
 island of Veglia. 
 
 16 The Libyrnides are the islands of Arbo, Pago, Isola Longa, Coronata, 
 &c., which border the coasts of ancient Liburnia, now Murlaka. 
 
 17 Lissa. 18 The Island of Traw. 19 Curzola. 20 Lesina. 
 21 The Islands of Tremiti. 
 
CHAP. v. 21. INTRODUCTION. 187 
 
 Sea of Sicily is said to be 4500 stadia from Pachynus to 
 Crete, and the same distance to Tasnarus in Laconia. 1 From 
 the extremities of lapygia to the bottom of the Gulf of Corinth 
 the distance is less than 3000 stadia, while from lapygia to 
 Libya it is more than 4000. In this sea are the Islands of 
 Corcyra 2 and Sybota, 3 opposite the coasts of Epirus ; and be- 
 yond these, opposite the Gulf of Corinth, Cephallenia, 4 Ithaca, 
 Zacynth, 5 and the Echinades. 6 
 
 21. Next to the Sea of Sicily, are the Cretan, Saronic, 7 
 and Myrtoan Seas, comprised between Crete, Argia, 8 and 
 Attica. 9 Their greatest breadth, measured from Attica, is 
 1200 stadia, and their length not quite double the distance. 
 Within are included the Islands of Cythera, 10 Calauria, 11 
 JEgina, 12 Salamis, 13 and certain of the Cyclades. 14 Adjacent to 
 these arethe^Egean Sea, 15 the Gulf of Melas, 16 the Hellespont, 17 
 the Icarian and Carpathian Seas, 18 as far as Rhodes, Crete, 
 Cnidus, and the commencement of Asia. [In these seas] are 
 the Cyclades, the Sporades, and the islands opposite Caria, 
 Ionia, and JEolia, as far as the Troad, namely, Cos, 19 Samos, 20 
 Chios, 21 Lesbos, 22 and Tenedos ; 23 likewise on the Grecian side 
 as far as Macedonia and the borders of Thrace, Eubrea, 24 Scy- 
 ros, 25 Peparethus, 26 Lemnos, 27 Thasos, 28 Imbros, 29 Samothra- 
 cia, 30 and numerous others, of which it is our intention to speak 
 in detail. The length of this sea is about 4000 stadia, or rather 
 
 1 From Cape Pachynus or Passaro to Cape Krio, the ancient Criu- 
 metopon, on the western extremity of the Island of Crete, measures 4516 
 stadia of 700 to a degree. 
 
 2 Corfu. 
 
 3 Sibota, Sajades ; certain small islands between Epirus and Corcyra. 
 
 4 Cefalonia. 5 Zante. 
 
 6 The Curzolari Islands at the mouth of the Aspro-Potamo. 
 
 7 The Gulf of Engia. 8 A district of the Peloponnesus. 
 9 A part of the modern Livadia. 10 Cerigo. 
 
 11 Poro, or Poros, near the little Island of Damala, and connected to it 
 by a sand-bank. 
 
 12 Egina or Engia. 13 Koluri. 14 Islands surrounding Delos. 
 15 Egio-Pelago. I8 The Gulf of Saros. 17 The Dardanelles. 
 
 1S The sea surrounding the Islands of Icaria and Carpathos, now Ni- 
 karia and Scarpanto. 
 
 19 Stanko. Same. 21 Skio. Mytileni. 
 
 13 Tenedo. 24 Egripo, or Negropont. Skyro. 
 
 26 Probably Piperi ; others suppose it to be Skopelo or Pelagonesi. 
 
 27 Stalimene. Thaso. 29 Imbro. 30 Samothraki. 
 
188 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK. II, 
 
 more, 1 its breadth about 2000. 2 It is surrounded by the 
 coast of Asia above mentioned, and by those of Greece from 
 Sunium 3 northwards to the Thermaic Gulf 4 and the Gulfs 
 of Macedonia, 5 and as far as the Thracian Chersonesus. 6 
 
 22. Here too is the strait, seven stadia in length, which is be- 
 tween Sestos 7 and Abydos, 8 and through which the JEgaean 
 and Hellespont communicate with another sea to the north, 
 named the Propontis, 9 and this again with another called the 
 Euxine. This latter is, so to speak, a double sea, for towards 
 its middle are two projecting promontories, one to the north, 
 on the side of Europe, and the other opposite from the coast 
 of Asia, which leave only a narrow passage between them, 
 and thus form two great seas. The European promontory 
 is named Criu-metopon ; 10 that of Asia, Carambis. 11 They 
 are distant from each other about 2500 stadia.- 12 The length 
 of the western portion of this sea 13 from Byzantium to 
 the outlets of the Dnieper is 3800 stadia, its breadth 
 2000. Here is situated the Island of Leuca. 14 The eastern 
 portion is oblong and terminates in the narrow recess 
 in which Dioscurias is situated. In length it is 5000 stadia, 
 or rather more, and in breadth about 3000. The entire cir- 
 cumference of the Euxine is about 25,000 stadia. Some have 
 compared the shape of its circumference to a Scythian bow 
 when bent, the string representing the southern portions of 
 the Euxine, (viz. the coast, from its mouth to the recess in 
 which Dioscurias is situated ; for, with the exception of Ca- 
 rambis, the sinuosities of the shore are but trifling, so that it 
 
 I The distance from the southern coast of Crete to the northern shores 
 of the ^Egaean is just 4200 stadia, or 120 marine leagues. 
 
 This is just the distance from Cape Colonna to Rhodes. 
 
 Cape Colonna. * The Gulf of Saloniki. 
 
 Those of Kassandra, Monte-Santo, and Contessa. 
 
 The peninsula of Gallipoli. 
 
 Semenik, or according to others, Jalowa. 
 
 8 Maito, or according to others, Avido. 9 Sea of Marmora. 
 
 10 Karadje-Burun, the southern point of the Crimea. 
 
 II Kerempi-Burun. 
 
 12 We should here read 1500 stadia. See French Translation, vol. i. p. 
 344, n. 3. 
 
 13 The Euxine. 
 
 14 Also called the Island of Achilles, and the Island of the Blessed, 
 now Ilan-Adassi. 
 
CHAP. v. 23, 24. INTRODUCTION. 189 
 
 may be justly compared to a straight line,) and the remainder 
 [of the circumference representing] the wood of the bow with 
 its double curve, the uppermost very much rounded, the lower 
 more in a straight line. So this sea forms two gulfs, the 
 western much more rounded than the other. 
 
 23. To the north of the eastern Gulf of the Pontus, is the 
 Lake Mceotis, whose perimeter is 9000 stadia or rather more. 
 It communicates with the Euxine by means of the Cimmerian 
 Bosphbrus, 1 and the Euxine with the Propontis 2 by the Thra- 
 cian Bosphorus, for such is the name given to the Strait of 
 Byzantium, which is four stadia in breadth. The length of 
 the Propontis from the Troad to Byzantium is stated to be 
 1500 stadia. Its breadth is about the same. It is in this 
 sea that the Island of the Cyziceni 3 is situated, with the other 
 islands around it. 
 
 24. Such and so great is the extent of the jEgsean Sea to- 
 wards the north. 4 Again, starting from Rhodes, the [Medi- 
 terranean] forms the seas of Egypt, Pamphylia, and Issus, 
 extending in an easterly direction from Cilicia to Issus, a dis- 
 tance of 5000 stadia, along the coasts of Lycia, Pamphylia, 
 and the whole of Cilicia. From thence Syria, Phosnicia, and 
 Egypt surround the sea to the south and west as far as Alex- 
 andria. The Island of Cyprus is situated in the Gulfs of 
 Issus and Pamphylia, close to the Sea of Egypt. The passage 
 between Rhodes and Alexandria from north [to south] is 
 about 4000 stadia ; 5 sailing round the coasts it is double this 
 distance. Eratosthenes informs us that, although the above 
 
 1 The Strait of Zabache. 2 The Sea of Marmora. 
 
 3 The Island of Cyzicus was joined to the mainland by Alexander, and 
 thus formed a peninsula, notwithstanding Strabo describes it as an is- 
 land. Its present name is Artaki. 
 
 4 The extent of the jEgaean amongst the ancients was the same as the 
 Egio-Pelago, or Archipelago, with us. It was comprehended between the 
 southern coasts of Crete, the western coasts of Peloponnesus, the southern 
 coasts of Macedonia and Thrace, and the western borders of Asia Minor. 
 Strabo 'however, in his description, seems to comprise under the name of 
 the ^Egaean not only those parts of the Mediterranean south of the meri- 
 dian of Cape Matapan, but also the Propontis and the Euxine, as far as 
 the mouth of the river Halys, now Kizil-Ermak. In this however he 
 seems to be unique. 
 
 5 This is just the distance, says Gosselin, from the northern part of 
 Rhodes to Alexandria, but the route, instead of being from north to south, 
 as supposed by the ancients, is S. S. W. 
 
190 STRABO. BOOK IT. 
 
 is the distance according to some mariners, others avow dis- 
 tinctly that it amounts to 5000 stadia ; while he himself, from 
 observations of the shadows indicated by the gnomon, calcu- 
 lates it at 3750. 
 
 That part of the Mediterranean Sea which washes the coasts 
 of Cilicia and Pamphylia together with the right side of the 
 Euxine,. the Propontis, and the sea-coast beyond this as far as 
 Pamphylia, form a kind of extensive Chersonesus, the isthmus 
 of which is also large, and reaches from the sea near Tarsus l 
 to the city of Amisus, 2 and thence to the Themiscyran 3 plain 
 of the Amazons. In fact the whole region within this line as 
 far as Caria and Ionia, and the nations dwelling on this side 
 the Halys, 4 is entirely surrounded by the JEgseau and the 
 aforementioned parts of the Mediterranean and Euxine Seas. 5 
 This is what we call Asia properly, 6 although the whole con- 
 tinent bears the same name. 
 
 25. To speak shortly, the southernmost point of Our Sea 
 is the recess of the Greater Syrtes ; 7 next to this Alexandria 
 in Egypt, and the mouths of the Nile ; while the most north- 
 erly is the mouth of the Dnieper, or if the Maoris be con- 
 sidered to belong to the Euxine, (and it certainly does appear 
 to form a part of it,) the mouth of the Don. The Strait 
 at the Pillars is the most westerly point, and the most easterly 
 is the said recess, in which Dioscurias 8 is situated ; and not, 
 as Eratosthenes falsely states, the Gulf of Issus, 9 which is 
 under the same meridian as Amisus 10 and Themiscyra, and, 
 if you will have it so, Sidene as far as Pharnacia. 11 Proceed- 
 ing thence in an easterly direction to Dioscurias, the distance 
 by sea is above 3000 stadia, as will be seen more plainly in 
 my detailed account of those countries. Such then is the Me- 
 diterranean. 
 
 I Tarsous. 2 Samsonn. 
 
 3 Themiscyra, a town of Cappadocia at" the mouth of the Thermodon, 
 (now the Termeh,) belonging to the kingdom of the Amazons. The ter- 
 ritories around it bore the same name. The plain is now comprehended 
 in the modern Djanik. 
 
 4 Kizil-Ermak. 
 
 5 Lit. the before-mentioned parts of the sea on either side. 
 
 6 Asia Minor, or Anadoli. 7 The Sidra of the moderns. 
 8 Iskouriah. 9 The Gulf of Aias. 10 Samsoun. 
 
 II The ruins of this city are said to be called by the modern Greeks 
 $i ovaKr] or TlXarkva indiscriminately. 
 
CHAP. v. $ 26. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 26. We must now describe the countries which 
 it ; and here we will begin from the same point, w 
 commenced our description of the sea itself. 
 
 Entering the Strait at the Pillars, Libya, as far as the river 
 Nile, is on the right hand, and to the left, on the other side of 
 the Strait, is Europe, as far as the Don. Asia bounds both 
 these continents. We will commence with Europe, both be- 
 cause its figure is more varied, and also because it is the 
 quarter most favourable to the mental and social ennoblement 
 of man, and produces a greater portion of comforts than the 
 other continents. 
 
 Now the whole of Europe is habitable with the exception 
 of a small part, which cannot be dwelt in, on account of the 
 severity of the cold, and which borders on the Hamaxoeci, 1 
 who dwell by the Don, Maeotis, and Dnieper. ~[ The win~ 
 try and mountainous parts of the habitable earth would 
 seem to afford by nature but a miserable means of exist- 
 ence ; nevertheless, by good management, places scarcely in- 
 habited by any but robbers, may be got into condition. Thus 
 the Greeks, though dwelling amidst rocks and mountains, 
 live in comfort, owing to their economy in government and 
 the arts, and all the other appliances of life. Thus too the 
 JRomans, after subduing numprpns nntipna who were leading 
 a savage life, either induced by the rockiness of their coun- 
 tries, or want of ports, or severity of the cold, or for other 
 reasons scarcely habitable, have taught the arts of commerce 
 to many who were formerly in total ignorance, and spread 
 civilization amongst the most savage. Where 'the climate is 
 equable and mild, nature herself does much towards the pro- 
 duction of these advantages. As in such favoured regions 
 every thing inclines to peace, so those which are sterile gene- 
 rate bravery and a disposition to war. These two races re- 
 ceive mutual advantages from each other, the one aiding by 
 their arms, the other by their husbandry, arts, and institutions. 
 Harm must result to both when failing to act in concert, but 
 the advantage will lie on the side of those accustomed to arms, 
 except in instances where they are overpowered by multitudes. 
 This continent is very much favoured in this respect, being in- 
 
 1 Dwellers in waggons, or huts fixed^n wheels for the purpose of trans - 
 from one pasturage to another, as necessity might require. 
 
192 STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 terspersed with plains and mountains, so that every where the 
 foundations of husbandry, civilization, and hardihood lie side by 
 side. The number of those who cultivate the arts of peace, is, 
 however, the most numerous, which preponderance over the 
 whole is mainly due to the influence of the government, first of 
 the Greeks, and afterwards of the Macedonians and Romans.^! 
 Europe has thus within itself resources both for war [and 
 JjeaceJTlt is amply supplied with warriors, and also with men 
 fitted for the labours of agriculture, and the life of the towns. 
 It is likewise distinguished for producing in perfection those 
 fruits of the earth necessary to life, and all the useful metals. 
 Perfumes and precious stones must be imported from abroad, 
 but as far as the comfort of life is concerned, the want or the 
 possession of these can make no difference. The country like- 
 wise abounds in cattle, while of wild beasts the number is but 
 small. Such is the general nature of this continent. 
 
 27. We will now describe separately the various countries 
 into which it is divided. The first of these on the west is Iberia, 
 which resembles the liide^of an ox ^sjread_out] ; the eastern 
 portions, which correspond tcTthe neck, adjoining the neigh- 
 bouring country of Gaul. The two countries are divided on 
 this side by the chain" of mountains called the Pyrenees ; on 
 all its other sides it is surrounded by sea ; on the south, as 
 far as the Pillars, by jOur Sea ; and thence to the northern 
 extremity of the PyreneesHfry the Atlantic. The greatest 
 length of this country is about 6000 staSia^ its breadth 5000. * 
 
 28. JCast ofjjiis^is Keltica, which extends, as far as the 
 
 Itsnorthern side is washed by the entire of the 
 BritishjDhannel, for this island lies opposite and parallel to 
 it throughout, extending as much as 5000 stadia in length. Its 
 eastern side is bounded by the river Rhine, whose stream runs 
 gajiallel with the Pyrenees ; and its southern side commencing 
 from the Rhine, [is bounded] partly by the Alps, and partly by 
 Our__Sea ; where what is called the Galatic TJulf 2 runs in, and 
 on this are situated the far-famed cities of Marseilles and Nar- 
 bonne. Right opposite to the Gulf on the other side of the 
 land, lies another Gulf, called by the same name, Galatic, 3 look- 
 
 1 From Cape Gata in Granada to the borders of Asturias the distance 
 is about 5000 stadia. But the greatest breadth of Spain is from Cape Gata 
 to Cape Belem in Gallicia, which equals 5890 stadia of 700 to a degree. 
 
 2 The Gulf of Lyon. 3 The Gulf of Aquitaine or Gascony. 
 
 \ 
 
CHAP. v. $ 29, 30. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ing towards the north and Britain. It is here tl 
 breadth of Keltica is the narrowest, being contracte 
 an isthmus less than 3000 stadia, but more than 2000. \\ 
 this region there is a mountain ridge, named Mount Cemme- 
 nus, 1 which runs nearly at right angles to the Pyrenees, and 
 terminates in the central plains of Keltica. 2 The Alps, which 
 are a very lofty range of mountains, form a curved line, the 
 convex side ofwhich is turnedLtowardalhe plains of Keltica, 
 "mentioned before^ and Mount Cemmenus, and the concave 
 towards JLiguria 3 ajid J/taly. 
 
 The^Alps afe'mhabited by numerousjaations, but all Keltic 
 with the exception of the Ligurians, and these, though oi" a 
 different race, closely reseniblethem in their manner of life. 
 They inhabit that portion of the Alps which is next the Apen- 
 nines, and also a part of the Apennines themselves. This 
 latter mountain ridge traverses the whole length ojLItaly from 
 north to south, and terminates at the Straff of Sicily. 
 
 29. The first parts of Italy are the plains situated under 
 the Alps, as far as the recess of the Adriatic and the neigh- 
 bouring places. 4 The parts beyond form a narrow and long 
 slip, resembling a peninsula, traversed, as I have said, 
 throughout its length by the Apennines ; its length is 7000 
 stadia, but its breadth is very unequal. The seas which form 
 the peninsula of Italy are, the Tyrrhenian, which commences 
 from the Ligurian, the Ausonian, and the Adriatic. 5 
 
 30. j^tjr^talv_and_^eltica, the remainder of Europe ex- 
 tendstpwardstheeast, and is divided into two_by the Danube. 
 This riveFITows'lroPl west to.. .east, fl.nd disp.ha.rgp.a it.sp.1f into 
 the Euxine Sea, leaving on its left the entire of Germany com- 
 mencing from the Rhine, as wej^ as the whole of the Getre, 
 
 1 The Cevennes. 
 
 2 This ridge commences at the eastern part of the Pyrenees. Its 
 ramifications extend to about Dijon. 
 
 3 Genoa. 
 
 4 The Romans gave to the whole of this country, which was peopled by 
 a race of Keltic extraction, the name of Cisalpine Gaul, because situated 
 on this side the Alps, with respect to them. France was designated Trans- 
 alpine Gaul. 
 
 5 The Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Sea commenced about the mouth of the 
 Arno, and extended as far as Naples. The Ligurian Sea is the Gulf of 
 Genoa. The Ausonian Sea, afterwards called the Sea of Sicily, washes 
 the southern parts of Italy. The Adriatic Gulf, is the Gulf of Venice. 
 
 VOL. i. o 
 
STRABO. BOOK n. 
 
 the Tyrigetae, the Bastarni, and the Sauromati, as far as the 
 river Don, and the Lake Maaotis, 1 on its right being the 
 whole of Thrace and Illyrja, 2 andin fine the rest of Greece. 
 
 fronting Europe lie the islands~which we have mentioned. 
 Without the Pillars, Gadeira, 3 the Cassiterides, 4 and the 
 Britannic Isles. Within the Pillars are the Gymnesian Is- 
 lands, 5 the other little islands of the Phrenicians, 6 the Mar- 
 seillais, and the Ligurians ; those fronting Italy as far as the 
 islands of ^Eolus and Sicily, and the whole of those 7 along 
 Epirus and Greece, as far as Macedonia and the Thracian 
 Chersonesus. 
 
 31. From the Don and the Maaotis 8 commences [Asia] on 
 this side the Taurus ; beyond these is [Asia] beyond the 
 Taurus. For since this continent is divided into two by 
 the chain of the Taurus, which extends from the extremities 
 of Pamphylia to the shores of the Eastern Sea, 9 inhabited 
 by the Indians and neighbouring Scythians, the Greeks 
 naturally called that part of the continent situated north 
 of these mountains [Asia] on this side the Taurus, and 
 that on the south [Asia] beyond the Taurus. Consequently 
 the parts adjacent to the Maeotis and Don are on this side 
 the Taurus. The first of these is the territory between the 
 Caspian Sea and the Euxine, bounded on one side 10 by the 
 Don, the Exterior Ocean, 11 and the Sea of Hyrcania; on the 
 other 12 by the Isthmus where it is narrowest from the recess 
 of the Euxine to the Caspian. 
 
 Secondly, but still on this side the Taurus, are the coun- 
 tries above the Sea of Hyrcania as far as the Indians and 
 
 1 The Getae inhabited Moldavia. The Tyrigetae, or Getae of Tyras or 
 the Dniester, dwelt on the banks of that river. The Bastarni inhabited 
 the Ukraine. The Sarmatians, or Sauromatians, extended along either 
 bank of the Don and the environs of the Sea of Azof, the ancient Palus 
 Maeotis. 
 
 2 Thrace and Macedonia form part of the modern Roumelia : Illyria 
 comprehended Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia, &c. 
 
 3 Cadiz. 4 The Scilly Isles. 5 Majorca and Minorca. 
 
 6 Ivi^a, Formentera, Spalmador, &c. They were called Phoenician 
 Islands, because the Carthaginians had sent out a colony thither 160 years 
 after the founding of their city. 
 
 7 Namely all the islands of the Ionian and -ZEgaean Seas, from Corfu to 
 the Dardanelles. 
 
 8 The Sea of Azof. 9 The Bay of Bengal. 10 The North. 
 11 The Northern Ocean. 12 The south. 
 
CHAP. v. 32. INTRODUCTION. 195 
 
 Scythians, who dwell along the said sea l and Mount Imaus. 
 These countries are possessed on the one side by the Mseotse, 2 
 and the people dwelling between the Sea of Hyrcania and the 
 Euxine as far as the. Caucasus, the Iberians 3 and Albanians, 4 
 viz. the Sauromatians, Scythians, 5 Achaeans, Zygi, and Heni- 
 ochi : on the other side beyond the Sea of Hyrcania, 6 by the 
 Scythians, 7 Hyrcanians, Parthians, Bactrians, Sogdians, and 
 the other nations of India farther towards the north. To the 
 south, partly by the Sea of Hyrcania, and partly by the whole 
 isthmus which separates this sea from the Euxine, is situated the 
 greater part of Armenia, Colchis, 8 the whole of Cappadocia 9 as 
 far as the Euxine, and the Tibaranic nations. 10 Further [west] 
 is the country designated on this side the Halys, 11 containing 
 on the side of the Euxine and Propontis the Paphlagonians, 
 Bithynians, Mysians, and Phrygia on the Hellespont, which 
 comprehends the Troad ; and on the side of the ^Egasan and 
 adjacent seas JEolia, Ionia, Caria, and Lycia. Inland is the 
 Phrygia which contains that portion of Gallo-Graecia styled 
 Galatia, Phrygia Epictetus, 12 the Lycaonians, and the Lydians. 
 32. Next these on this side the Taurus are the mountaineers 
 of Paropamisus, and various tribes of Parthians, Medes, Ar- 
 menians, Cilicians, with "the Lycaonians," 13 and Pisidians. 14 
 
 1 The Bay of Bengal. 
 
 2 Sarmatian Meeotae in the Greek text, but apparently incorrect. 
 
 3 Inhabitants of Georgia. * Inhabitants of Shirvan. 
 
 5 The Scythians here alluded to are the Tartars of Kuban ; the Achse- 
 ans and Zygi are the modern Ziketi ; the Heniochi are the Abkazeti. 
 
 6 East of the Caspian. 
 
 7 These Scythians are the Tartars of the Kharasm. The Hyrcanians 
 are the inhabitants of Daghistan and the Corcan. The Parthians occu- 
 pied the north of Khorasan ; the Bactrians the country of Balk. The 
 Sogdians inhabited Bukaria, where are Samarcand and the valley of 
 Al-Sogd. 8 Mingrelia. 
 
 9 Cappadocia comprehended a portion of the modern Roum and Kara- 
 mania between the Euphrates and the river Halys. 
 
 10 Under this name Strabo included a portion of the kingdom of Pontus 
 and other small tribes as far as Colchis. 
 
 11 Now the Kizil-Irmak. 
 
 12 The northern and western portions of Phrygia. 
 
 13 Probably an interpolation. 
 
 14 The mountaineers of Paropamisus were those who inhabited the 
 mountains which separate Bactriana from India. The Parthians occu- 
 pied the mountains north of the modern Khorasan. Under the name of 
 Medians Strabo comprehends the various nations who inhabited the 
 mountainous country between Parthia and Armenia. The Cilicians in- 
 
 o 2 
 
196 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 After these mountaineers come the people dwelling beyond 
 the Taurus. First amongst these is India, a nation greater 
 and more flourishing than any other ; they extend as far as 
 the Eastern Sea l and the southern part of the Atlantic. In 
 the most southerly part of this sea opposite to India is situated 
 the island of Taprobana, 2 which is not less than Britain. 
 Beyond India to the west, and leaving the mountains [of the 
 Taurus] on the right, is a vast region, miserably inhabited, 
 on account of the sterility of its soil, by men of different 
 races, who are absolutely in a savage state. They are 
 named Arians, and extend from the mountains to Gedrosia 
 and Carmania. 3 Beyond these towards the sea are the Per- 
 sians, 4 the Susians, 5 and the Babylonians, 6 situated along the 
 Persian Gulf, besides several smaller neighbouring states. On 
 the side of the mountains and amidst the mountains are the 
 Parthians, the Medes, the Armenians, and the nations adjoin- 
 ing these, together with Mesopotamia. 7 Beyond Mesopotamia 
 are the countries on this side the Euphrates ; viz. the whole 
 of Arabia Felix, bounded by the entire Arabian and Persian 
 G-ulfs, together with the country of the Scenitae and Phylarchi, 
 who are situated along the Euphrates and in Syria. Beyond 
 the Arabian Gulf and as far as the Nile dwell the Ethiopians 8 
 and Arabians, 9 and next these the Egyptians, Syrians, and 
 Cilicians, 10 both those styled Trachiotse and others besides, 
 and last of all the Pamphylians. 11 
 
 habited Aladeuli ; the Lycaonian mountaineers the mountains which se- 
 parate Karaman from Itch-iili ; and the Pisidians the country of Hamjd. 
 
 I The Bay of Bengal. 2 Ceylon. 
 
 3 The Arians inhabited Sigistan and a part of modern Persia. Strabo 
 gave the name of Arians to all the people who occupied the portions of 
 Asia comprised between the Indus and Persia, and between the chain of 
 the Taurus and Gedrosia and Carmania. In after-times the designation 
 of Arians was restricted to the inhabitants of the modern Khorasaii. 
 Gedrosia is Mekran ; Carmania yet preserves the name of Kerman. 
 
 4 Ancient Persia is the modern province of Pars, Pars, or Paras ; our 
 Persia being much more extensive than the ancient country designated 
 by the same name. 
 
 The Susians inhabited the modern Khosistan. 
 The Babylonians occupied the present Irak-Arabi. 
 Now al-Djezira. 
 
 Viz. the Ethiopians occupying the territory from Syene to Abyssinia. 
 The Troglodyte Arabians. 
 10 The Cilicians occupied the modern Itch-iili and Aladeuli ; the 
 Trachiotoe or mountaineers, the former of these countries. 
 
 II Pamphylia is the modern Tekieh. 
 
CHAP. v. 33. INTRODUCTION. 197 
 
 33. After Asia comes Libya, which adjoins Egypt and 
 Ethiopia. The coast next us, from Alexandria almost to the 
 Pillars, is in a straight line, with the exception of the Syrtes, 
 the sinuosities of some moderately sized bays, and the projec- 
 tion of the promontories by which they are formed. The side 
 next the ocean from Ethiopia up to a certain point is almost 
 parallel to the former ; but after this the southern portions 
 become narrowed into a sharp peak, extending a little beyond 
 the Pillars of Hercules, and giving to the country something 
 the figure of .a trapezium. Its appearance, both by the ac- 
 counts of other writers, and also the description given to our- 
 selves by Cnasus Piso, who was governor of this province, is 
 that of a panther's skin, being dotted over with habitations 
 surrounded by parched and desert land : these habitations 
 the Egyptians call Auases. 1 This continent offers besides 
 several other peculiarities, which may be said to divide it 
 into three distinct portions. Most of the coast next us is very 
 fertile, more especially about the Cyrenaic and the parts about 
 Carthage, as far as Maurusia and. the Pillars of Hercules. 2 
 Next the ocean it is likewise tolerably fitted for the habitation 
 of man ; but not so the centre of the country, which produces 
 silphium ; 3 this for the most part is barren, rugged, arid sandy; 
 and the same is the case with regard to the whole of Asia 
 lying under the same right line which traverses Ethiopia, the 
 Troglodytic, 4 Arabia, and the part of Gedrosia occupied by 
 the Ichthyophagi. 5 The people inhabiting Libya are for the 
 most part unknown to us, as it has rarely been entered, either 
 by armies or adventurers. But few of its inhabitants from 
 the farther parts come amongst us, and their accounts are 
 both incomplete and not to be relied on. The sum of what 
 they say is as follows. Those which are most southern are 
 called Ethiopians. 6 North of these the principal nations are 
 
 1 Or Oases, according to the common spelling. 
 
 2 That is to say, from Tunis to Gibraltar. The Maurusians, called by 
 the Latins Mauritanians, occupied the present Algiers and Fez. 
 
 3 Probably asa-foetida. * The Troglodytic extended along 
 the western coast of the Arabian Gulf. 
 
 5 The Ichthyophagi of Gedrosia inhabited the barren coasts of Mekran. 
 
 6 The term of Ethiopians was a generic name given by the Greeks and 
 Romans to the most southern inhabitants of Africa they at any time hap- 
 pened to be acquainted with ; consequently the position of this country 
 frequently shifted. 
 
STRABO. BOOK ii. 
 
 the Garamantes, the Pharusians, and the Nigritae. 1 Still 
 farther north are the Gaetuli. Close to the sea, and adjoin- 
 ing it next Egypt, and as far as the Cyrenaic, dwell the 
 Marmaridce. 2 Above 3 the Cyrenaic and the Syrtes 4 are the 
 Psylli and Nasamones, 5 and certain of the Gaetuli ; and after 
 them the Asbysta3 6 and Byzacii, 7 as far as Carthage. Car- 
 thage is vast. Adjoining it are the Numidae ; 8 of these people 
 the tribes best known to us are called the Masylies and the 
 Masaesylii. The most westerly are the Maurusians. 9 The 
 whole land, from Carthage to the Pillars of Hercules, is fer- 
 tile. Nevertheless it abounds in wild beasts no less than 
 the interior ; and it does not seem improbable that the cause 
 why the name of Nomades, 10 or Wanderers, was bestowed on 
 certain of these people originated in their not being able 
 anciently to devote themselves to husbandry on account of 
 the wild beasts. At the present day, when they are well 
 skilled in hunting, and are besides assisted by the Romans in 
 their rage for the spectacle of fights with beasts, they are both 
 masters of the beasts and of husbandry. This finishes what 
 we have to say on the continents. 
 
 34. It now remains for us to speak of the climata. 11 Of 
 
 1 The Garamantas inhabited the Kawan ; Garama, their capital, is now 
 named Gherma. The Pharusians and Nigritae dwelt south of the present 
 kingdom of Morocco. 
 
 2 The Marmaridae extended west from Egypt, as far as Catabathmus, 
 near the present Cape Luco. 
 
 3 Viz. to the south and west. 4 The Gulfs of Sydra and Cabes. 
 
 5 The Psylli and Nasamones inhabited the eastern parts of the present 
 kingdom of Tripoli, above the Greater Syrtes and the desert of Barca. 
 
 6 The Asbystse were a people of Libya above Cyrene, where the temple 
 of Ammon stood ; Jupiter is sometimes called on that account Asbysteus. 
 
 7 The Byzacii occupied the southern parts of the kingdom of Tunis. 
 
 8 Greek, Nomades, or wandering shepherds, from which the Latins 
 formed the name Numidae. These people inhabited Algiers. 
 
 9 Carthage extended as far west as the promontory of Tretum, now 
 Sebta-Ras or the Seven Heads. From thence the Masylies inhabited as 
 far as Cape Carbon ; and from thence the Masaesylii possessed the country 
 as far as the river Molochath, now the Maluia, beyond which were the 
 Maurusians extending to the Atlantic. 
 
 10 Numidee. 
 
 11 The climata are zones parallel to the equator. The ancients ge- 
 nerally reckoned seven climata, which in the time of Hipparchus termi- 
 nated at 48 30' 35", where the longest day consisted of sixteen hours. 
 He however multiplied these divisions and extended them farther towards 
 the poles. It is a great pity that Strabo has not noted all of them. 
 
CHAP. v. $ 34. INTRODUCTION. 199 
 
 these too we shall give but a general description, commencing 
 with those lines which we have denominated elementary, 
 namely, those which determine the greatest length and breadth 
 of the [habitable earth], but especially its breadth. 
 
 To enter fully into this subject is the duty of astronomers. 
 This has been done by Hipparchus, who has noted down (as 
 he says) the differences of the heavenly appearances for every 
 degree of that quarter of the globe in which our habitable 
 earth is situated, namely, from the equator to the north pole. 
 
 What is beyond our habitable earth it is not however the 
 business of the geographer to consider. Nor yet even in re- 
 gard to the various parts of the habitable earth must too mi- 
 nute and numerous differences be noticed, since to the man 
 of the world they are perplexing ; it will suffice to give the 
 most striking and simple of the statements of Hipparchus. 
 Assuming, as he does himself after the assertion of Eratos- 
 thenes, that the circumference of the earth is 252,000 stadia, 
 the differences oi' the [celestial] phenomena, will not be great 
 for each [degree] within the limits between which the habitable 
 earth is contained. Supposing we cut the grand circle of the 
 earth into 360 divisions, each of these divisions will consist 
 of 700 stadia. This is the calculation adopted by [Hippar- 
 chus] to fix the distances, which [as we said] should be taken 
 under the before-mentioned meridian of Meroe. He com- 
 mences at the regions situated under the equator, and stopping 
 from time to time at every 700 stadia along the whole length 
 of the meridian above mentioned, proceeds to describe the 
 celestial phenomena as they appear from each. But the 
 equator is not the place for us to start from. For even if 
 there be there a habitable region, as some suppose, it forms a 
 habitable earth to itself, a narrow slip enclosed by the regions 
 uninhabitable on account of the heat ; and can be no part of 
 our habitable earth. Now the geographer should attend 
 to none but our own habitable earth, which is confined 
 by certain boundaries ; on the south by the parallel which 
 passes Over the Cinnamon Country ; l on the north by that 
 which passes over lerna. 2 But keeping in mind the scheme 
 of our geography, we have no occasion to mark all the 
 places comprehended within this distance, nor yet all the ce- 
 
 1 According to Strabo, 12o 34' 17". * According to Strabo, 52o 25' 42 '. 
 
200 STRABO. BOOK IT. 
 
 lestial phenomena. We must however commence, as Hippar- 
 chus does, with the southern regions. 
 
 35. He tells us that the people who dwell under the parallel 
 of the Cinnamon Country, which he places at 3000 stadia 
 south of Meroe, 1 and 8800 [north] of the equator, live nearly 
 at equal distances between the equator and the summer tropic 
 which passes by Syene ; for Syene is 5000 stadia [north] of 
 Meroe. They are the first 2 for whom the whole [constellation] 
 of the Lesser Bear is comprised within the Artie Circle, and 
 to whom it is always visible. For the bright and most southern 
 star, at the tip of the tail, is here contained within the Arctic 
 Circle, and appears to touch the horizon. 
 
 The Arabian Gulf lies eastward parallel to the said meri- 
 dian. Its egress 3 into the Exterior Ocean is [in the same 
 latitude as] the Cinnamon Country, the place where anciently 
 they used to hunt the elephants. The parallel of the Cinna- 
 mon Country on the one side 4 passes a little south of Tapro- 
 bana, or perhaps over its southern extremit/'; and on the 
 other side 5 over the most southern parts of Libya. 6 
 
 36. At Meroe and Ptolemais 7 in the Troglodytic the longest 
 day consists of thirteen equinoctial hours. These cities are at 
 nearly equal distances between the equator and Alexandria, 
 the preponderance on the side of the equator being only 1800 
 stadia. The parallel of Meroe passes on one side 8 over un- 
 known countries, and on the other 9 over the extremities of 
 India. 10 At Syene, and at Berenice, which is situated on the 
 Arabian Gulf and in the Troglodytic, at the summer sol- 
 stice the sun is vertical, and the longest day consists of thirteen 
 equinoctial hours and a half, and the whole of the Greater 
 Bear appears within the Arctic Circle, with the exception of 
 his thighs, the tip of his tail, and one of the stars composing 
 his body. The parallel of Syene traverses on one side 11 the 
 
 1 Now Gherri, on the banks of the Nile. 
 
 2 i. e. they are the most southern of those for whom, &c. 
 
 3 Bab-el-mandeb, The Gate of Tears. 4 The east. 5 The west. 
 
 6 This passage proves that in Strabo's opinion the continent of Africa 
 did not extend so far south as the equator, 
 
 7 This town was sometimes called Ptolemais Epitheras, having been 
 built by Eumedes in the reign of Philadelphus for the chase of elephants 
 and other wild animals. 
 
 8 On the west. 9 The east. 10 About Cape Comorin. 
 11 The east. 
 
CHAP. v. 37-39. INTRODUCTION. 201 
 
 portion of Gedrosia occupied by the Ichthyophagi, and India ; 
 and on the other side l the countries situated south of Gyrene 
 by rather less than 5000 stadia. 
 
 37. In all the countries situated between the tropic and 
 the equatorial circle, the shadows fall [alternately] on either 
 side, north and south. In those which are north of Syene 
 and beyond the summer tropic the shadows at mid-day fall to 
 the north. The former are called amphiscii, the latter hete- 
 roscii. There is also another method of determining what 
 places are under the tropic, which we spoke of in our observ- 
 ations on the zones. The soil is sandy, arid, and produces 
 nothing but silphium, while more to the south the land is 
 well irrigated and fertile. 
 
 38. In the countries situated about 400 stadia south of the 
 parallel of Alexandria and Cyrene, where the longest day con- 
 sists of fourteen equinoctial hours, Arcturus passes the zenith, 
 slightly declining towards the south. At Alexandria at the 
 time of the equinox the proportion which the gnomon bears 
 to the shadow is as five to seven. 2 Thus they are south of 
 Carthage 1300 stadia, that is, admitting that in Carthage at 
 the time of the equinox the proportion which the gnomon 
 bears to the shadow is as eleven to seven. This parallel on 
 the one side 3 passes by Cyrene and the regions 900 stadia 
 south of Carthage as far as. the midst of Maurusia; 4 and on 
 the other side 5 through Egypt, 6 Crelosyria, Upper Syria, 
 Babylonia, Susiana, 7 Persia, 8 Carmania, 9 Upper Gedrosia, 10 
 and India. 
 
 39. AtPtolemais in Phoenicia, 11 and at Sidon 12 and Tyre, 13 
 the longest day consists of fourteen hours and a quarter. These 
 cities are north of Alexandria by about 1600 stadia, and 
 north of Carthage about 700. In the Peloponnesus, and about 
 the middle of Rhodes, at Xanthus 14 in Lycia, or a little to the 
 south of this place, and at 400 stadia south of Syracuse, 15 the 
 longest day consists of fourteen and a half equinoctial hours. 
 These places are distant from Alexandria 3640 stadia .... 
 
 I The west. - Kramer follows Gosselin in proposing to substitute 
 rpi'a in place of tTrra. 3 The west side. 4 Algiers and Fez. 
 
 5 The eastern side. e Lower Egypt is intended. 7 Khosistan. 
 8 The modern province of Pars. Kerman. 10 Upper Mekran. 
 
 II S. Jean d' Acre. 12 Seide. " Tsur. 
 14 Eksenide. 15 Siragusa 
 
202 STRABO. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 This parallel, according to Eratosthenes, passes through Caria, 
 Lycaonia, Cataonia, Media, the Caspian Gates, and India next 
 the Caucasus. 1 
 
 40. In the parts of the Troad next Alexandria 2 in Am- 
 phipolis, 3 Apollonia in Epirus, 4 the countries just south of 
 Rome and north of Neapolis, the longest day consists of fif- 
 teen hours. This parallel is distant from that of Alexandria 
 in Egypt 7000 stadia to the north, above 28,800 stadia north 
 of the equator, and 3400 stadia from the parallel of Rhodes ; 
 it is south of Byzantium, Nicoea, 5 and Marseilles 1500 stadia. 
 The parallel of Lysimachia 6 is a little to the north, and ac- 
 cording to Eratosthenes passes through Mysia, 7 Paphlagonia, 
 Sinope, 8 Hyrcania, 9 and Bactra. 10 
 
 41. About Byzantium the longest day consists of fifteen 
 and a quarter equinoctial hours ; the proportion borne by the 
 gnomon to the shadow at the summer solstice, is as 120 to 
 42, minus one-fifth. These places are distant 11 from the mid- 
 dle of Rhodes about 4900 stadia, and 30,300 from the equator. 
 Sailing into the Euxine and advancing 1400 stadia to the 
 north, the longest day is found to consist of fifteen and a half 
 equinoctial hours. These places are equi-distant between the 
 pole and equatorial circle ; the arctic circle is at their zenith, 
 the star in the neck of Cassiopeia is within this circle, the 
 star forming the right elbow of Pejseus being a little more to 
 the north. 
 
 42. In regions 3800 stadia north of Byzantium the longest 
 day consists of sixteen equinoctial hours ; the constellation 
 Cassiopeia being brought within the arctic circle. These 
 regions are situated around [the mouth of] the Dnieper and 
 the southern parts of the Masotis, at a distance from the equa- 
 tor of 34,100 stadia; and the northern part of the horizon 
 during almost all the summer nights is illuminated by the 
 light of the sun ; a certain degree of light continuing from 
 sunset to sunrise. For the summer tropic is distant from the 
 
 1 Caria occupied the southern and western parts of Anadoli, near the 
 Island of Rhodes. Lycaonia formed a part of the modern Karaman. Ca- 
 taonia was comprised in Aladeuli. Media is now Irak-Adjami. The 
 Caspian Gates are the defiles of Firouz-Koh. 
 
 2 Eski-Stambul. 3 Emboli or Jamboli. 4 Polina. 
 
 5 Isnik. 6 Eksemil. 7 Karasi in Anadoli. 8 Sinoub. 
 
 9 Corcan and Daghistan. 10 Balk. " To the north. 
 
CHAP. v. 43. INTRODUCTION. 203 
 
 horizon only the half and the twelfth part of a sign l [of the 
 zodiac], and this therefore is the greatest distance of the sun 
 below the horizon at midnight. With us when the sun is at 
 this distance from the horizon before sunrise and after sunset, 
 the atmosphere is enlightened to the east and west respect- 
 ively. In the winter the sun when at the highest is nine 
 cubits above the horizon. 2 These places, according to Era- 
 tosthenes, are distant from Meroe rather more than 23,000 
 stadia, 3 for he says that [from the parallel of Meroe] to the 
 Hellespont 4 there are 18,000 stadia, and thence to the Dnieper 
 5000 more. In regions distant 6300 stadia from Byzan- 
 tium, and north of the Maeotis, the sun during the winter 
 time is, when highest, six cubits [above the horizon]. The 
 longest day consists of seventeen hours. 
 
 43. The countries beyond this which border upon the 
 regions uninhabitable on account of their cold, have no inter- 
 est to the geographer. He who desires to learn about them, 
 and the celestial phenomena which Hipparchus has de- 
 scribed, but which we pass over as being too much 'in detail 
 for our present undertaking, must seek for them in that author. 
 The statements of Posidonius concerning the periscii, the am- 
 phiscii, and the heteroscii are likewise too detailed. Still we 
 must touch on these points sufficiently to explain his view, 
 and to point out how far such matters are serviceable in geo- 
 graphy, and how far not. The terms made use of refer to 
 the shadows cast from the sun. The sun appears to the senses 
 to describe a circle parallel to that of the earth. 5 Of those 
 people for whom each revolution of the earth produces a day 
 and a night, the sun being carried first over, then under, 
 the earth, some are denominated amphiscii, others hete- 
 roscii. The amphiscii are the inhabitants of countries in 
 which when a gnomon is placed perpendicularly on a plane 
 surface, the shadow which it casts at mid-day, falls first to 
 one side then to the other, as the sun illumines first this side, 
 then that. This however only occurs in places situated be- 
 tween the tropics. The heteroscii are those amongst whom 
 the shadow always falls to the north, as with us ; or to the 
 
 1 Or 17 30'. This would indicate a latitude of 48 38' 40". 
 8 The astronomical cubit was equal to two degrees. 
 3 Read 23,100. * The northern extremity of the Hellespont, 
 
 the universe. 
 
204 STRABO. B. ii. c. v. 43. 
 
 south, as amongst those who inhabit the other temperate zone. 
 This occurs in all those regions where the arctic circle is less 
 than the tropic. Where however it becomes the same as or 
 greater than the tropic, this shows the commencement of the 
 periscii, who extend thence to the pole. In regions where 
 the sun remains above the horizon during an entire revolution 
 of the earth, the shadow must evidently have turned in a com- 
 plete circle round the gnomon. On this account he named 
 them periscii. However they have nought to do with geo- 
 graphy, inasmuch as the regions are not habitable on account 
 of the cold, as we stated in our review of Pytheas. Nor is 
 there any use in determining the size of this uninhabitable 
 region, [it is enough to have established] that those countries, 
 having the tropic for their arctic circle, are situated beneath 
 the circle which is described by the pole of the zodiac l in the 
 [diurnal] revolution of the earth, and that the distance be- 
 tween the equator and the tropic equals four-sixtieths of the 
 great circle [of the earth]. 
 
 1 The pole of the ecliptic. 
 
BOOK III. 
 SPAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 . HAVING thus given a general view of Geography, it will 
 now be proper to describe each separate country in detail, as 
 we engaged to do. We fancy that the method which we have 
 adopted in the division of our subject, up to this point, has 
 been correct ; and we now re-commence with Europe and the 
 various countries into which it is divided, on the same prin- 
 ciples as formerly, and induced by the same reasons. 
 
 2. The first division of this continent towards the west is 
 Iberia, as we before stated. The greater part of this country 
 is~but little fitted_fbr habitation ; consisting chiefly of moun- 
 tamsT^ooo 1 ^ and plains~covered with a light meagre soil, the 
 
 ^irrigation of which is likewise uncertain. The part next the 
 north, which borders on the oceanTTs extremely cold, and be- 
 sides its rugged character, has no communication or inter- 
 course with other [countries], and thus to dwell there is at- 
 tended with peculiar hardship. Such is the character of this 
 portion ; on the other hand, almost the whole of the south^is 
 fertile, especially what is bevond_Jhe JE > !U. ars [f Hercules]. 
 "TRis however will be shown more in detail, but we must first 
 describe the figure and extent [of the country]. 
 
 3. In shape it resembles a hide stretched out in length from 
 west to east, the forepart l towards the east, its breadth being 
 from north to south. Its length is about 6000 stadia ; the 
 greatest breadth is 5000; while there are parts considerably less 
 
 1 The neck, &c. 
 
206 STRABO. CAS. 137.* 
 
 than 3000, particularly in the vicinity of the Pyrenees, which 
 form the eastern side. This chain of mountains stretches with- 
 out interruption from north to south, 1 and divides Keltica 2 
 from Iberia. The breadth both of Keltica and Iberia is irre- 
 gular, the narrowest part in both of them from the Mediter- 
 ranean to the [Atlantic] Ocean being near the Pyrenees, 
 particularly on either side of that chain ; this gives rise to 
 gulfs both on the side of the Ocean, and also of the Mediterra- 
 nean ; the largest of these are denominated the Keltic or Ga- 
 latic Gulfs, 3 and they render the [Keltic] Isthmus narrower 
 than that of Iberia. 4 The Pyrenees form the. eastern side of 
 I jlberia, and the MediterranealTThTsouTEer^fi'om the Pyrenees 
 to the Pillars of Hercules, thence the extenoSFTocean'T r "a's far 
 as the Sacred Promontory. 6 The third or western side runs 
 V nearlyjg'arallel tojthe Pyrenees from the Sacred "Promontory 
 f to thepromontbry of the Artabri, called [Cape] Nerium. 7 
 The fourth side extends hence to the northern extremity of 
 the Pyrenees. 
 
 4. We will now commence our detailed account, beginning 
 from the Sacred Promontory. This is the most_westem jDoint 
 not only of Europe, but of the whole habitable earth. For 
 the habitable earth is bounded to the west by two continents, 
 namely, the extremities of Europe and Libya, 8 which are inha- 
 bited respectively by the Iberians and the Maurusians. 9 But 
 the Iberian extremity, at the promontory 10 we have mentioned, 
 juts out beyond the other as much as 1500 stadia. 11 The re- 
 gion adjacent to this cape they call in the Latin tongue Cu- 
 
 * Note. The pages of Casaubon's edition of 1620 are given to facili- 
 tate reference to various editions and translations of Strabo. 
 
 1 The Pyrenees, on the contrary, range from east to west, with a slight 
 inclination towards the north. This error gives occasion to several of the 
 mistakes made by Strabo respecting the course of certain of the rivers in 
 France. 
 
 2 France. 3 The Gulfs of Lyons and Gascony. 
 
 * Gosselin remarks that the distance between S. Jean de Luz and Tar- 
 ragona, is rather less than that between Bayonne and Narbonne. 
 
 5 The Atlantic. 6 Cape St. Vincent. 7 Cape Finisterre. 
 
 8 Africa. 9 The Mauritanians. " 10 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 11 Cape St. Vincent is about 1600 stadia west of Cape Spartel in Africa. 
 Strabo imagined that beyond this cape the African coast inclined to the 
 south-east. In reality it advances eleven degrees and a half farther west 
 to Cape Verd, which is 8 '29' west of Cape St. Vincent. 
 
B. in. c. i. { 5 SPAIN 207 
 
 neum, 1 which signifies a wedge. The promontory which 
 projects into the sea, Artemidorus (who states that he has 
 himself been at the place) compares to a ship ; three little 
 islands, [he says,] each having a small harbour, contribute 
 to give it this form ; the former island resembling the beak 
 of the ship, and the two latter the beams on each side 
 of the ship's bows. [He adds] that there is no temple of 
 Hercules shown there, as Ephorus falsely states, nor yet 
 any altar [to him] nor to any other divinity ; but m many 
 parts there are three or four stones placed together, which are 
 turned by all travellers who arrive there, m "accordance with 
 a certain local custom, and are changed in position by such as 
 turn them incorrectly. 2 It is not lawful to offer sacrifice there, 
 nor yet to approach the place during the night, for it is 
 said that then the gods take^u^_their_abode at the place. 
 Those who go thither to view it stay at a neighbouring village 
 over-night, and proceed to the place on the morrow, carrying 
 water with them, as there is none to be procured there. 
 
 5. It is quite possible that these things are so, and we ought 
 not to disbelieve them. Not so however with regard to the 
 other common and vulgar reports ; for Posidonius tells us the 
 common people say that in the countries next the ocean the 
 sun appears larger jts^ he sets, and makes a noise resembling 
 ^Ee^oumTof hot metal in cold water, as though the sea were 
 hissing as the sun was submerged in its depths. The state- 
 ment [of Artemidorus] is also false, that night folio wsjmme- 
 diately on the setting of the sun : it does not follow immedi- 
 ately, although certainJYjhe interval is short, as in other great 
 seas. For when he setsbehind mountains the agency of the 
 false light continues the day for a long period ; over the sea 
 the twilight is shorter, still darkness does not immediately 
 supervene. The same thing may be remarked in large plains. 
 The image of the sun is enlarged on the seas at its rising as 
 well as at its setting, because at these times a larger mass of 
 
 1 Herodotus is the first who speaks of a people of Iberia, to whom he 
 gives the name of Kuvr/o-toi or KvvijTeg: he describes them as inhabiting 
 the most western part of Europe, beyond the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 2 This passage of Strabo relative to the rocking-stones has occasioned 
 much perplexity to the critics. We have attempted to render the Greek 
 words as near as possible. Many curious facts relative to rocking and 
 amber stones have been collected by Jabez Allies, F. S. A., in his work 
 on the Antiquities of Worcestershire, now in the press. 
 
208 STEABO. CAS. 138. 
 
 exhalations rises from the humid element ; and the eye looking 
 through these exhalations, sees images refracted into larger 
 forms, as observed through tubes. The same thing happens 
 when the setting sun or moon is seen through a dry and thin 
 cloud, when those bodies likewise appear reddish. l Posidonius 
 tells us that, having himself passed thirty days at Gades, 2 
 during which time he carefully observed the setting of the 
 sun, he is convinced of the falsity of Artemidorus's account. 
 This latter writer tells us, that at the time of its setting the 
 sun appears a hundred times larger than its ordinary size, and 
 that night immediately succeeds. If we attend to his account, 
 we cannot believe that he himself remarked this phenomenon 
 at the Sacred Promontory, 3 for he tells us that no one can 
 approach during the night ; therefore they cannot approach at 
 sunset, since night immediately supervenes thereupon. Nei- 
 ther did he observe it from any other part of the coast washed 
 by the ocean, for Gades is upon the ocean, and both Posido- 
 nius and many others testify that there such is not the case. 
 
 6. The sea-coast next the Sacred Promontory forms on 
 one side the commencement of the western coast of Spain as 
 far as the outlet of the river Tagus ; and on the other forms 
 the southern coast as far as the outlet of another river, named 
 the Guadiana. 4 Both of these rivers descend from the eastern 
 parts [of Spain] ; but the former, which is much larger than 
 the other, pursues a straight course towards the west, while the 
 Guadiana bends its course towards the south. 5 They enclose 
 an extent of country peopled for the most part by Kelts and 
 
 1 We extract the following notice on this passage from Humboldt (Cos- 
 mos, vol. iii. 54, Bonn's edition). " This passage has recently been 
 pronounced corrupt, (Kramer i. 211,) and di vdXwv (through glass 
 spheres) substituted for Si av\u>v (Schneider, Eclog. Phys. ii. 273). 
 The magnifying power of hollow glass spheres, filled with water, (Seneca 
 i. 6,) was, indeed, as familiar to the ancients as the action of burning 
 glasses or crystals, (Aristoph. Nub. v. 765,) and that of Nero's emerald 
 (Plin. xxxvii. 5) ; but these spheres most assuredly could not have been 
 employed as astronomical measuring instruments. (Compare Cosmos i. p. 
 619.) Solar altitudes taken through thin light clouds, or through volcanic 
 vapours, exhibit no trace of the influence of refraction." 
 
 2 Cadiz. 3 Cape St. Vincent. * "Avag. 
 
 5 The Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquiver, pursue a course 
 nearly parallel to each other, and all incline towards the south before dis- 
 charging themselves into the sea ; the inclination of the Tagus is not equal 
 to that of the other rivers. 
 
B. in. c. i. 6. SPAIN. 209 
 
 certain Lusitanians, 1 whom the Romans caused to settle here 
 from the opposite side of the Tagus. Higher up, the country 
 is inhabited by the Carpetani, 2 the Oretani, 3 and a large num- 
 ber of Vettones. 4 . This district is moderately fertile, but that 
 which is beyond it to the east and south, does not give place 
 in superiority to any part of the habitable earth with which 
 it may be compared, in the excellence of its productions both 
 of land and sea. This is the country through which the river 
 Guadalquiver 5 flows. This river takes its rise irom the same 
 *paHs as the Guadiaha 6 and the Taguo, and is between these 
 two in size. 7 Like the Guadiana, the commencement of its 
 course flows towards the west, but it afterwards turns to the 
 south, and discharges itself at the same side of the coast as 
 that river. 
 
 From this river 5 the country has received the name of 
 Beetica ; it is called Turdetania by the inhabitants, who are 
 "themselves denominated Turdetani, and Turduli. Some think 
 these two names refer to one nation, while others believe that 
 they designate two distinct people. Of this latter opinion 
 is Polybius, who imagines that the Turduli dwell more to 
 the north than the Turdetani. At the present day however 
 there does not appear to be any distinction between them. 
 These people are esteemed to be the most intelligent of all 
 the_Iberians ; they have a^njalphabet, and possess ancient 
 writings, oems, and metrical laws six thousand Ygars^old. as 
 tKejTsay. The other Iberians are likewise furnished with an 
 aTghaBet, altboughliot or the same form, nor do they speak the 
 samejanguage. TEeTr country,*~~which Ts~on tins ""side"* the 
 
 1 Lusitania occupied the greater part of the present kingdom of Portu- 
 gal. It was from the countries north of the Tagus that the Romans 
 caused certain of the inhabitants to emigrate to the south side of that 
 river. 
 
 2 The Carpetani occupied a portion of New Castile, where the cities of 
 Madrid, Toledo, &c. are now situated. 
 
 3 These people inhabited the southern portions of New Castile, now oc- 
 cupied by the cities of Calatrava, Ciudad-real, Alcaraz, &c. They also 
 possessed a part of the Sierra-Morena. 
 
 4 The Vettones inhabited that part of Estremadura, where the cities 
 of Alcantara, Truxillo, &c. are now situated. 
 
 5 Baetis. Anas. 
 
 7 The course of the Guadiana is longer than that of the Guadal- 
 quiver. 
 
 8 Viz. Turdetania. 
 
 VOL. i. P 
 
210 STRABO. CASAUB. 139 
 
 Guadiana, extends eastward as far as Oretania, 1 and southward 
 along the sea-coast from the outlets of the Guadiana to the 
 Pillars [of Hercules]. But it is necessary that I should enter 
 into "further particulars concerning this and the neighbouring 
 places, in order to illustrate their excellence and fertility. 
 
 7. Between this coast, where the Guadalquiver and Guadi- 
 ana discharge themselves, and the extremities of Maurusia, 
 the Atlantic Ocean forms the strait at the Pillars [of Hercules] 
 by which it is connected with the Mediterranean. Here is 
 situated Calpe, 2 the mountain of the Iberians who are de- 
 nominated Bastetani, by others Bastuli. Its circumference is 
 not large, but it is so high and steep as to resemble an island in 
 the distance. Sailing from the Mediterranean into the At- 
 lantic, it is left on the right hand. At a distance of 40 stadia 
 from this [mountain] is the considerable and ancient city of 
 Carteia, formerly a marine jiraenal of the Iberians. Some 
 assert that it was foundedby Hercules ; of tEis number is 
 Timosthenes, 3 who tells us it was anciently called Heraclasa, 
 and that vas^ walls and ship-sheds are still shown. 
 
 8. Next to these is Mellaria, 4 where they make salted pro- 
 visions. After this the city and river 5 of Belo. Here the 
 
 merchandise and salted provisions for Tingis in Maurusia are 
 principally shipped. There was a city named Zelis 6 near to 
 Tingis, but the Romans transferred it to the opposite coast 
 [of Spain], and having placed there in addition some of the 
 inhabitants of Tingis, and sent over also some of their own 
 people, they then gave to the city the name of Julia Joza. 7 
 Beyond this is Gadeira, 8 an island separated from Turdetania 
 by a narrow strait, and distant from Calpe about 750 stadia, 
 or, as others say, 800. This island has nothing to distinguish 
 it above others, but owing to the boldness of its people in 
 
 1 The mountainous country in which the Guadalquiver takes its source. 
 
 2 The rock of Gibraltar. 
 
 3 This Timosthenes was the admiral of Ptolemy II. Strabo mentions 
 him repeatedly. 
 
 4 The place on which this town formerly stood is now designated Val 
 de Vacca. 
 
 5 Rio Barbate. 6 Now Azzila. 
 
 7 Called by Pliny and Ptolemy Julia Tramducta. It appears to have 
 been situated at the western entrance of the Bay of Gibraltar, at the place 
 now called Al-Gesira. 
 
 8 jCadiz. 
 
B. in. c. i. 9. SPAIN. 
 
 their expeditions by sea, and their friendship witl 
 mans, has attained to that pitch of good fortune, that 
 situated at the farthest extremities of the earth, it pL^coses a 
 greater celebrity than any other island. But we will describe 
 it when we come to speak of the other islands. 
 
 9. Next after [Cadiz] is the port of Menestheus, 1 and the 
 estuary near to Asta and Nebrissa. 2 These estuaries are val- 
 leys filled by the sea during its flood-tides, up which you may 
 sail into the interior, and to the cities built on them, in the same 
 way as you sail up a river. Immediately after are the two out- 
 lets of the Guadalquiver. 3 The island embraced by these mouths 
 has a coast of a hundred stadia, or rather more according to 
 others. Hereabouts is the Orjacje of Menestheus, 4 and the tower 
 of Caspio, 5 built upon a pock and washed on all sides by the 
 sea. This is an admirable w r ork, resembling the Pharos, and 
 constructed for the safety of vessels. For the mud carried 
 out by the river forms shallows, and sunken rocks are also 
 scattered before it, so that a beacon was greatly needed. 
 Thence sailing up the river is the city of Ebura. 6 and the 
 temple of Phosphorus, 7 which they call Lux Dubia. s You 
 then pass up the other estuaries ; and after these the river 
 Guadiana, which has also two mouths, 9 up either of which you 
 may sail. Lastly, beyond is the Sacred Promontory, 10 distant 
 from Gadeira 11 less than 2000 stadia. Some say that from 
 the Sacred Promontory to the mouth of the Guadiana there 
 are 60 miles ; thence to the mouth of the Guadalquiver 100 ; 
 and from this latter place to Gadeira 70. 
 
 1 An Athenian king, who led the Athenians against Troy. The port 
 of Menestheus is now Puerto Sta. Maria. 
 
 2 Hodie Lebrixa. 3 Baetis. 
 
 4 At or near the port of Menestheus, just mentioned. 
 
 5 Quintus Servilius Ceepio, a famous Roman general. Vide lib. iv. c. 
 i. 13. 
 
 6 This city is not to be confounded with others of the same name in Spain. 
 
 7 Strabo is the only writer who speaks of this temple of Phosphorus. 
 It was no doubt a temple to Diana, who was named "Aprtyuc *wff0opog. 
 This temple, according to the "Spanish authors quoted by Lopez in his 
 translation of Strabo, corresponds to the present San-Lucar de Barrameda. 
 
 8 Strabo here gives the Latin Lucem ditbiam in Greek characters, 
 A-OVKep Sovfiiav. 
 
 9 The Guadiaua at-the present day has but one mouth. 
 
 10 Cape St. Vincent. u Cadiz. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 STRABO. CASAUB. 141. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. TURDETANIA lies above the coast on this side the Guadi- 
 ana, 1 and is intersected by the river GuajMcjuiver. 2 It is 
 bounded on the west and north by the river Guadiana ; on the 
 east by certain of the Carpetani and the Oretani ; on the south 
 by those of the Bastetani who inhabit the narrow slip of coast 
 between Calpe and Gadeira, and by the sea beyond as far as the 
 Guadiana. The Bastetani whom I have mentioned, together 
 with the people on the other side the Guadiana, and many of 
 the places adjacent, belong to Turdetania. The size of this 
 country in its length and breadth does not exceed two thousand 
 stadia, still it contains a vast^umiber of towns ; twojyiadred, it 
 is said. Those best knownare^ituated / onthe rivers, estuaries, 
 and sea ; but the two which have acquired the greatest name and 
 importance are, Corduba, foundeji^X-M^C.eJlus, 3 and the city 
 of the Gaditanians. 4 The latter for its naval importance, and 
 its alliance with the Romans ; and the former on account of its 
 fertility and extent, a considerable portion of the Guadalquiver 
 flowing by it ; in addition to this it has been from its com- 
 mencement inhabited by picked men, whether natives or Ro- 
 mans ; and it was the first colony planted by the Romans in 
 these parts. 
 
 After this city and that of the Gaditanians, Hispalis 5 is the 
 most noted. Thisalso is a Roman colony. Commerce is still 
 
 1 Anas. 2 Baetis. 
 
 3 Cordova, situated on the Guadalquiver in Andalusia. We do not 
 know~"wn"ether it were founded by the Marcellus who was praetor in 
 Thither Iberia, and created consul in the year of Rome 601, or Mar- 
 cellus who joined Pompey's party against Caesar. This city served for 
 the winter quarters of the Jiofflans, who during: summer made war on the 
 inhabitants"of the westein and nor thern^^rts ~of_S p aim It was the na- 
 trveTplace of the two Senecas and Lucan, and the chief emporium of 
 Ibejria. We may f5rm some idea "oftEe amount "of its popukticm from 
 the number of those who perished when taken by Csesar, as narrated by 
 Hirtius, Spanish War, 34. But the period in which Cordova's glory 
 was at its zenith was during the empire of the Moors, in the eighth, ninth, 
 and tenth centuries, when it numbered 300,000 inhabitants. 
 
 4 Cadijs. 
 
 5 Seville. This city was surnamed Julia Romulensis. It was founded 
 by_Cjesar, and regarded as the second city of the province, alth~ougn7~as 
 we see, in the time of Strabo it was only third-rate. 
 
B. in. c. ii. $ 2, 3. SPAIN. 213 
 
 carried on here, although at the present moment the city or * 
 Baetis l though not so finely built, is outshining it, on account 
 of the honour it has received from the soldiers of Caesar tak- 
 ing up their quarters there. 
 
 2. After these are Italica, 2 and Ilipa, 3 situated on the Gua- 
 dalquiver ; farther on are Astygis, 4 Carmo, 5 and Obulco ; 
 and besides these Munda, 6 Ategua, Urso, 7 Tukkis, 8 Julia, 9 
 and -ZEgua, where the sons of Pompey were defeated. None of 
 these places_are far from Corduba. " Munda is in some sort' 
 regardecTas thelnetropolis of the whole district. This place 
 is distant from Carteia 1400 10 stadia, and it was here that 
 Cnreus fled after his defeat, and sailing thence landed on a 
 rocky height overlooking the sea, where he was murdered. 
 His brother Sextus, having escaped from Corduba, after car- 
 rying on the war for a short time in Spain, caused a revolt 
 in Sicily. Flying thence into Asia he was seized at Mi- 
 letus n by the generals 12 of Antony, and executed. Amongst 
 theJKelts the most famous place is Conistorgis. 13 Upon the 
 estuaries is Asta, 14 in which the Gaditani mostly hold their 
 assemblies ; it is opposite the sea-port of the island, at a dis- 
 tance of not more than 100 stadia. 
 
 3. A vast number of people dwell along the Guadalquiver ; 
 
 and you may sail up it almost 1200 stadia from the sea to Cor- 
 duba, and the' places a little higher up. The banks and little 
 islets of this river are cultivated with the greatest diligence. 
 
 1 Strabo is the only writer who mentions this city of Bsetis. Casanbon 
 and others are inclined to the opinion that the MSS. are corrupted, and 
 that formerly another name stood here. 
 
 2 This city, the native place of the emperors Trajan and Adrian, and 
 the poet Silius Italicus, was founded by Publius Scipio in the second 
 Punic war, who placed here the soldiers inca.p.fyUa fp( l frf)m tne perform- 
 ance of military service. It is supposed to correspond to Sevilla la Vieja, 
 about a league distant from Seville. 
 
 3 The Ilipa Ilia of Pliny and Illipula Magna of Ptolemy. Its exact 
 position is not determined. 
 
 4 Hodie Ecija on the Xenil. 5 Carmona. 
 
 6 Mjonda, sevenJeagues west of Malaga. 7 Osuna. 
 
 8 Hodie Martos, Pliny gave it the surname of Augusta Gemella. 
 
 9 The Itucci of Pliny, to which he gives the surname Virtus Julia. 
 We should probably read 430. 
 
 11 Kramer, using the criticism of Lachmann, observes that this is a mis- 
 reading for Midaium, and that a like mistake occurs in Appian. 
 
 12 Furnius and Titius. 13 In Lusitania. 
 
 14 About the spot where this city is supposed to have stood, between 
 Xerez and Tribugena, there is still a place called Mesa de Asta. 
 
214 STRABO. CASAUB. 142. 
 
 The eye is also delighted with groves and gardens, which in 
 this district are met with in the highest perfection. As far 
 as Ispalis, which is a distance of not less than 500 stadia, the 
 river^is navigable for ships l of considerable size; buTlor the 
 cities higher up, as far as Ilipas, smaller vessels are employed, 
 and thence to Corduba river-boats. These are now con- 
 structed of _plan.ks joined together, but they were formerly 
 niade out of a single jrunk. Above this to Castlon the river is 
 no longer navigable. A chain of mountains, rich jn metal, 
 runs parallel to the Guadalquiver, 2 approaching the river some- 
 times more, sometimes less, towards the north. 
 
 There is much silver found in the parts about Ilipas and 
 Sisapo, boj;h in that which is called the old town and the new. 
 There are copper and gold about the CotinaB. 3 These moun- 
 tains are on the left as you sail up the river ; on the right 
 there is a vast and elevated plain^Jertile, full of large trees, and 
 containing excellent pasturage. The Guadiana 4 is likewise 
 navigable, but not for vessels equally large, nor yet so far up. 
 It is also bordered by mountains containing metal, and ex- 
 tends as far as the Tagus. Districts which contain metals must, 
 of necessity, be rugged and poor T 5 as indeed are those ad- 
 joining Carpetania, and still more those next the jelti- 
 berians. The same is the case with Baeturia, the plains of 
 "which, bordering on the Guadiana, are arid. 
 
 4. Turdetania, on the other hand, is marvellously fertile, 
 and abounds in every species of produce. The value of its 
 productions is doubled by means of exportation, the sur- 
 plus products finding a ready sale amongst the numerous 
 ship-owners. This results from its rivers and estuaries, which, 
 as we have said, resemble rivers, and by which you may sail 
 from the sea to the inland towns, not only in small, but even 
 in large-sized skiifs. For the whole country above the 
 coast, and situated between the Sacred Promontory 6 and the 
 Pillars, consists of an extended plain. Here in many places 
 anTliollowls running inland Irom the sea, which resemble 
 moderately-sized ravines or the beds of rivers, and extend 
 
 1 Strabo uses o\icdffiv ato\6yoi, but the English hulk would not bear 
 the same import in this place as the Greek. 
 
 2 Bcetis. 3 Cotillas, or perhaps Constantina near Almaden. * Anas. 
 5 Experience does not seem to warrant this conclusion. 
 
 8 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
n. in. c. ii. 5. SPAIN. 215 
 
 for many stadia. These are filled by the approach of the sea 
 at high tide, and may be navigated as easily, or even more 
 so than rivers. They are navigated much the same as rivers ; 
 the sea, meeting with no obstacle, enters like the flow of a river 
 at flood-tide. The sea comes in here with greater force than 
 in the other places ; for being forced from the wide ocean in- 
 to the narrow strait, 1 formed by the coast of Maurusia and 
 Iberia, it experiences recoils, and thus is borne full into the 
 retiring parts of the land. Some of these shallows are left 
 dry as the tide ebbs, while others are never destitute of water ; 
 others again contain islands, of this kind are the estuaries 
 between the Sacred Promontory 2 and the Pillars, where the 
 tide comes in with more violence than at other places. Such 
 a tide is of considerable advantage to sailors, since it makes 
 the estuaries both fuller and more spacious, frequently swell- 
 ing them to a breadth of eight 3 stadia, so that the whole land, so 
 to speak, is rendered navigable, thus giving wonderful facility 
 both for the export and import of merchandise. Nevertheless 
 there is some inconvenience. For in the navigation of the 
 rivers, the sailors run considerable danger both in ascend- 
 ing and descending, owing to the violence with which the 
 flood-tide encounters the current of the stream as it flows 
 down. The ebb-tides are likewise the cause of much damage 
 in these estuaries, for resulting as they do from the same 
 cause as the flood-tides, they are frequently so rapid as to 
 leave the vessel on dry land ; and herds in passing over to the 
 islands that are in these estuaries are sometimes drowned [in 
 the passage] and sometimes surprised in the islands, and en- 
 deavouring to cross back again to the continent, are unable, 
 and perish in the attempt. They say that certain of the 
 cattle, having narrowly observed what takes place, wait till 
 the sea has retired, and then cross over to the main-land. 
 
 5. The men [of the country], being well acquainted with 
 the nature of these places, and that the estuaries would very 
 well answer the same purpose as rivers, founded cities and 
 other settlements along them the same as along rivers. Of 
 this number are Asta, Nebrissa, 4 Onoba, 5 Ossonoba, Maenoba, 
 
 1 Of Gibraltar. 2 Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 3 The text here is evidently corrupt, but it is not easy to determine to 
 what extent the overflow reached at the time Strabo wrote. 
 
 4 Lebrixa. 5 Gibraleon. 
 
21 6 STRABO. CASAUB. 143. 
 
 besides many others. The canals which have been cut in 
 various directions are also found usefujjnjbhe^tiaffic which is 
 carriecTon between place and place, both amongst the people 
 themselves and with foreigners. The conflux of water at the 
 flood-tides is also valuable, as rendering navigable the isthmuses 
 which separate the different pieces of water, thus making it 
 possible to ferry over from the rivers into the estuaries, and 
 from the estuaries into the rivers. Their trade is wholly carried 
 on with Italy and Rome. The navigation is excellent as far 
 as the Pillars, (excepting perhaps some little difficulties at the 
 Strait,) and equally so on the Mediterranean, where the voyages 
 are very calm, especially to those who keep the high seas. This 
 is a great advantage to merchant-vessels. The winds on the 
 high seas blow regularly ; and peace reigns there now, the 
 pirates having been put down, so that in every respect the 
 voyage is facile. Posidonius tells us he observed the singular 
 phenomenon in his journey from Iberia, 1 that in this sea, as 
 far as the Gulf of Sardinia, the south-east 2 winds blow pe- 
 riodically. And on this account he strove in vain for three 
 whole months to reach Italy, being driven about by the winds 
 against the Gymnesian islands, 3 Sardinia, and the opposite 
 coasts of Libya. 
 
 6. Large quantities of ^orn and wine are exported from 
 Turdetania, besides much. oil, which is of the first quality; 4 
 also wax, honey, pitch, large quantities of the kermes- 
 berryj^nd vermilion not inferior to that of Sinope. 6 The 
 country furnishes the timber for their shipbuilding. They 
 have likewise imnraL_salt, and not a few salt streams. 
 A considerable quantity of salted fish is exported, not 
 only from hence, but also from the remainder of the coast 
 beyond the Pillars, equal to that of Pontus. Formerly they 
 exported large quantities of garments, but they now send the 
 [unmanufactured] wool, which is superior even to that of 
 
 1 Spain. 2 oe Evpoi. 3 Majorca and Minorca. 
 
 4 In his third book, Strabo, speaking of Campania, regards the oil of 
 Vcnai'rum as superior to any other. In this he agrees with Pliny, who 
 places in the second class the oils of Baetica and Istria. Pausanias con- 
 siders these two oils, both for beauty of colour and excellence of flavour, 
 inferior to that produced at Tithorea in Phocis, and which was sent to 
 Rome for the service of the emperor's table. 
 
 5 Coccus tinctorius, used to dye scarlet. 
 
 6 Sinoub, still a Turkish city of importance. 
 
B. in. c. ii. 6. SPAIN. 217 
 
 the Coraxi, 1 and remarkable for its beauty. Rams for the pur- 
 pose of covering fetch a talent. The stuffs manufactured by 
 the Saltiatae 2 are of incomparable texture. There is a super- 
 abundance of cattle, and a great variety of game : while, on 
 the other hand, of destructive animals there are scarcely any, 
 with the exception of certain little hares which burrow in the 
 ground, and are called by some leberides. 3 These creatures 
 destroy both seeds and trees by gnawing their roots. They 
 are met with throughout almost the whole of Iberia, 4 and 
 extend to Marseilles, infesting likewise the islands. It is said 
 that formerly the inhabitants of the Gymnesian islandaJ, 
 sent a deputation to the Romans soliciting that a new land 
 might be given them, as they were quite driven out of their 
 country by these animals, being no longer able to stand against 
 their vast multitudes. 6 It is possible that people should be 
 obliged to Iiave recourse to such an expedient for help in 
 waging war in so great an extremity, which however but sel- 
 dom happens, and is a plague produced by some pestilential 
 state of the atmosphere, which at other times has produced 
 serpents and rats in like abundance ; but for the ordinary in- 
 crease of these little hares, many ways of hunting have been 
 devised, amongst others by wild cats from Africa, 7 trained for 
 the purpose. Having muzzled these, they turn them into the 
 holes, when they either drag out the animals they find there 
 with their claws, or compel them to fly to the surface of the 
 earth, where they are taken by people standing by for that 
 purpose. The large amount of the exports from Turdetania 
 is evinced by the size and number of their ships. Merchant- 
 izesail thence to Dicaearch'ia 8 and 
 
 1 A people inhabiting the western parts of the Caucasus. 
 
 2 This name occurs only irTStrabo: of the various conjectures which 
 have been hazarded on the subject, one of the most probable seems to be that 
 we should read Saltigetse, a people of Bastetania, mentioned by Ptolemy. 
 
 3 These were evidently rabbits. * Spain. 
 
 5 Majorca and Minorca., 
 
 6 According to Pliny, (lib. viii. c. 55,) this deputation was sent to 
 Augustus to demand of him a military force, apparently for the purpose 
 of assisting the inhabitants in destroying the rabbits. The same writer 
 has brought together a variety of instances in which cities have been 
 abandoned or destroyed through similar causes. Vide lib. viii. c. 29. The 
 inhabitants of Abdera in Thrace were forced to quit their city on account 
 of the rats and frogs, and settled on the frontiers of Macedonia. (Justin. 
 lib. xv. c. 2.) 7 Ferrets. 8 Pozzuolo. 
 
218 STRABO. CASAUB. 115. 
 
 Ostia, a Roman port ; they are in number nearly equal to thgge 
 which arrive from Libya: " > /J/T./l^V^C- 
 
 V. Such is the wealth of tM inlanapart of Turdetania, 
 and its maritime portions are found fully to equal it in the 
 richness of their sea-productions. In fact, oysters and 
 every variety of shell-fish, remarkable both for their number 
 and size, are found along the whole of the exterior sea, but 
 here in particular. It is probable that the flow and ebb tides, 
 which are particularly strong here, contribute both to their 
 quantity and size, on account of the great number of pools and 
 standing waters which they form. 1 The same is the case with 
 regard to all kinds of cetacea, narwhals, whales, and physe- 
 teri, 2 which when they blow [up the water from their snouts] 
 appear to observers from a distance to resemble a cloud shaped 
 like a column. The congers are quite monstrous, far surpass- 
 ing in size those of our [sea] ; 3 so are the lampreys, and many 
 other fish of the same kind. It is said that in Carteia there 
 are kerukae 4 and cuttle-fish which would contain as much as 
 ten cotylae. 5 In the parts more exterior there are lampreys 
 and congers weighing 80 mince, 6 and polypes" a talent, 7 also 
 teuthidae 8 two cubits in length, with other fish in proportion. 
 jShoak^of rich fat thmmj_are driven hither from the sea-coast 
 beyond. They feed on the fruit of a species of stunted oak, 
 which grows_at the bottom of jhe_sea. and produces very large 
 acorns. The same_oaks grow in large numbers ^throughout 
 theland of Iberia, their roots are~oTT;he same size as those of 
 tn~e full-grown oak, although the tree itself never attains the 
 height of a low shrub. So great is the quantity of fruit which 
 it produces, that at the season when they are ripe, the whole 
 coast on either side of the Pillars is covered with acorns 
 which have been thrown up by the tides : the quantity however 
 
 1 We have here followed Gosselin's suggestion of Xi^vaaiav instead 
 of yvp.va.aiav, the reading of MSS. 
 
 2 A kind of whale, mentioned also by Aristotle, but which does not 
 seem to have been identified. 
 
 3 The Mediterranean. 
 
 4 A kind of shell-fish with a wreathed shell, which might be used as a 
 sort of trumpet. It is mentioned by Aristotle. 
 
 5 The cotyla held about three-fourths of a pint. 
 
 6 This weight equalled 15 oz. 83| grs. 
 
 7 The Euboic or Attic talent, which is here meant, equalled almost 
 57 Ib. 
 
 8 A kind of cuttle-fish or squid. 
 
B. in. c. ii. 8. SPAIN. 219 
 
 is always less on this side the Pillars [than on the other]. Po- 
 lybius states that these acorns are ejected [by the sea] as far 
 as [the shores of] Latium, unless, he adds, Sardo l and the 
 neighbouring districts also produce them. The thunny-fish 
 become gradually thinner, owing to the failure of their food, 
 as they approach the Pillars from the outer sea. This fish, 
 in fact, may be regarded as a kind of sea-hog, being fond of 
 the acorn, and growing marvellously fat upon it ; and when- 
 ever acorns are abundant, thunny-fish are abundant likewise. 
 8. Of the various riches of the aforenamed country, 2 not 
 the least is its wealth in metals : this every one will particu- 
 larly esteem and admire. Of metals, in fact, the whole country 
 of the Iberians is full, although it is not equally fertile and 
 flourishing throughout, especially in those parts where the 
 metals most abound. It is seldom that any place is blessed 
 with both these advantages, and likewise seldom that the dif- 
 ferent kinds of metals abound in one small territory. Tur- 
 detania, however, and~the surrounding" districts surpass so 
 entirely in this respect, that however you may wish, words 
 cannot convey their excellence. Gold, silver, copper, and 
 iron^-QMLJD a mount and of similar quality, not having been 
 hitherto discovered in any'other part of the world. 3 Gold is 
 not only dug from the mines, but likewise collected; sand 
 containing gold being washed downJjYjhe rivers andUorrents. 
 It is frequently met with in aricTdistricts^ but here the gold 
 is not visible to the sight, whereas in those which are over- 
 flowed the grains of gold are seen glittering. On this account 
 they cause water to flow over the arid places in order to make 
 the grains shine ; they also dig pits, and make use of other 
 contrivances for washing the sand, and separating the gold 
 from it ; so that at the presentTcTay more gold is procured by 
 washing than by digging it from the mines. The Galataj 
 affirm that the mines along the Kemmenus mountains 4 and 
 their side of the Pyrenees are superior ; but most people prefer 
 those on this side. They say that sometimes amongst the 
 
 1 Sardinia. 2 Turdetania. 
 
 3 The, mineral riches of Spain are lauded in egtmLtenns by Herodo-, 
 tug, Aristotle^ Pliny, and many other writers. Wecan only remark, that 
 STthe present day the mineral wealth of that country scarcely justifies 
 such descriptions. 
 
 4 The Cevennes. 
 
220 STRABO. CASAUB. 146. 
 
 grains of gold lumps havejeenjbund weighingjhalf apoand T 
 these they"call palce; they need but little refining? 1 They 
 also say that in splitting open stones they find small lumps, 
 resembling paps. And that when they have melted the gold. 
 and purified it by means of a. kind of alnn^innna partly the re- 
 sidue left is electrum. This, which contains a mixture -of 
 silver_and gold, blsing again subjected to the fire, the silver is 
 separated and the gold left [pure] ; for this metal is easily 
 dissipated and fat, 2 and on this account gold is most easily 
 melted by straw, the flame of which is soft, and bearing a simi- 
 larity [to the gold], causes it easily to dissolve : whereas coal, 
 besides wasting a great deal, melts it too much by reason of 
 its vehemence, and carries it off [in vapour]. In the beds of 
 the rivers the sand is either collected and washed in boats 
 close by, or else a pit is dug to which the earth is carried and 
 there washed. The furnaces for silver are constructed lofty, 
 in order that the vapour, which is dense and pestilent, may be 
 raised and carried off. Certain of the copper mines are called 
 gold mines, which would seem to show that formerly gold was 
 dug from them. 
 
 9. Posidonius, in praising the amount and excellence of the 
 metals, cannot refrain from his accustomed rhetoric, and be- 
 comes quite enthusiastic in exaggeration. He tells us we 
 are not to disbelieve the fable, that formerly the forests hav- 
 ing been set on fire, the earth, which was loaded with silver 
 and gold, melted, and threw up these metals to the surface, 
 forasmuch as every mountain and wooded hill seemed to be 
 heaped up with money by a lavish fortune. Altogether (he 
 remarks) any one seeing these places, could only describe them 
 as the inexhaustible treasuries of nature, or the unfailing ex- 
 chequer of some potentate ; for not only, he tells us, is this land 
 rich itself, but riches abound beneath it. So that amongst 
 these people the subterraneous regions should not be regarded 
 as the realms of Pluto, but of Plutus. Such is the flourished 
 style in which he speaks on this subject, that you would fancy 
 
 1 Pliny, (lib. xxxiii. c. 4,) writing on the same subject, says, " Inveni- 
 untur ita massse ; necnon in puteis etiam denas excedentes libras. 
 Palacras Hispani, alii palacranas, iidem quod minutum est balucem 
 vocant." 
 
 2 This passage is evidently corrupt, nor do any of the readings which 
 have been proposed seem to clear up the difficulties which it presents. 
 
B. in. c. ii. 9. SPAIN. 221 
 
 his turgid language had been dug from a mine itself. Dis- 
 coursing on the diligence of the miners, he applies to them the 
 remark [of Demetrius] of Phalaris, who, speaking of the sil- 
 ver mines of Attica, said that the men there dug with as 
 much energy as if they thought they could grub up Plutus 
 himself. He compares with these the activity and diligence 
 of the Turdetani, who are in the habit of cutting tortuous and 
 deep tunnels, and draining the streams which they frequently 
 encounter by means ot iLJgypfTan screws. 1 As for the rest, 2 
 they are quite different from the Attic miners, whose mining 
 (he remarks) may be justly compared to that enigma, 3 What 
 I have taken up I have not kept, and what I have got I have 
 thrown away. Whereas the Turdetanians make a good profit, 
 since a fourth part of the ore which they extract from the 
 copper mines is [pure] copper, while from the silver mines 
 one person has taken as much as a Euboean talent. He says 
 that lin is not found upon the surface, as authors commonly 
 relate, but that it is dug up ; and that it is produced both in 
 places among the barbarians who dwell beyond the Lusjtanians 
 and in the islands Cassiterides ; and that from the Britannic Is- 
 lands it is carried to Marseilles. Amongst the Artabri, 4 who are 
 flie last of the Lusitanians towards the north and west, he tells 
 us that the earth is powdered with silver, tin, and white gold, 
 that is, mixed with silver, the earth having been brought down 
 by the rivers : this the women scrape up with spades, and wash 
 in sieves, woven after the fashion of baskets. Such is the 
 
 1 Archimedes' Screw. It was called the Egyptian screw because in- 
 vented by Archimedes when in Egypt, and also because it was much 
 employed by the Egyptians in raising water from the Nile for the irri- 
 gation of their lands. 
 
 2 We read TO tit XOITTOV, according to Kramer's suggestion. 
 
 3 The following is the enigma alluded to. We have extracted it from 
 Mackenzie's Translation of the Life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus of 
 Halicarnassus. While the sailors and the towns-people of the Isle of los 
 (Nio) were speaking with Homer, some fishermen's children ran their ves- 
 sel on shore, and descending to the sands, addressed these words to the 
 assembled persons : " Hear us, strangers, explain our riddle if ye can." 
 Then some of those who were present ordered them to speak. " We 
 leave," say they, " what we take, and we carry with us that we cannot 
 take." No one being able to solve the enigma, they thus expounded it. 
 " Having had an unproductive fishery/' say they in explanation, "we sat 
 down on the sand, and being annoyed by the vermin, left the fish we 
 had taken on the shore, taking with us the vermin we could not catch." 
 
 4 These people inhabited the province of Gallicia in Spain. 
 
222 STRABO. CASAUB. H7- 
 
 substance of what [Posidonius] tells us concerning the mines 
 [of Iberia]. 
 
 10. Poly bi us, speaking of the silver mines of New Car- 
 thage, 1 Tells us that they are extremely large, distant from 
 the city about 20 stadia, and occupy a circuit of 400 stadia, 
 that there are 40,000 men regularly engaged in them, and 
 that they yield^cTafly to the Kornan people [a revenue of] 
 25,000 drachmae. The rest of the process I pass over, as it 
 is too long, but as for the silver ore collected, he tells us that 
 it is broken up, and sifted through sieves over water ; that 
 what remains is to be again broken, and the water having 
 been strained off, it is to be sifted and broken a third time. 
 The dregs which remain after the fifth time are to be melted, 
 and the lead being poured off, the silver is obtained pure. 
 These silver mines still exist ; however they are no longer the 
 property"!" the state, neither these nor those elsewhere, but 
 are possessed by private individuals. The goldjnines, on the 
 contrary, nearly all belong to the state. Both at Castlon 2 
 and other places there are singular lead mines worked.. They 
 contain a small proportion of silver, but not sufficient to pay 
 for the expense of refining. 
 
 11. Not far from Castlon is the mountain in which they re- 
 port that the [river] Guadalquiver 3 takes its rise. They call it 
 silver mountain on account of the silver mines which it con- 
 tains. 4 Polybius asserts that both the Guadiana 5 and this river 
 have their sources in Keltiberia, notwithstanding they are 
 separated from each other by a distance of 900 stadia ; G [this we 
 are to attribute to] the Keltiberians having increased in power, 
 and having consequently conferred their name on the surround- 
 ing country. It appears the ajncientsjuiew the Gruadalgjiiver 
 under the name of the Tart&sus, and grades 7 with the neigh- 
 bouring islands under that of Erythia ; and it is thought that 
 we should understand in this sense the words of Stesichorus 8 
 concerning the pastoral poet Geryon, that he was born " al- 
 
 1 Carthagena. 2 Caslona. 3 Baetis. 
 
 4 'llie Sierra Cazorla. 5 Anas. 
 
 6 These 900 stadia are equal to from 25 to 26 leagues, which is exactly 
 the distance from the sources of the Guadalquiver near to Cazorla to the 
 lagoons named Ojos de Guadiana, adjacent to Villa-Harta. 7 Cadiz. 
 
 8 A Greek poet born at Himera m Sicily, and who nourished about 
 B. c. 570: he lived in the time of Phalaris, and was contemporary with 
 Sappho, Alceeus, and Pittacus. 
 
B. in. c. ii. J 12. SPAIN. 223 
 
 most opposite to the renowned Erythia, in a rocky cave near 
 to the abundant springs of the silver-bedded river Tartessus." 
 They say that on the piece of land enclosed between the two 
 outlets of this river there lormerTy stood a city, named^like 
 tKe~ river, Tartessus, and that the district was called Tartessis, 
 which the Turduli now inhabit. Eratosthenes likewise tells 
 us that the [country] near to Calpe l was called Tartessis, and 
 also Erythia the Fortunate Island. This Artemidorus con- 
 tradicts, and says that it is as false as his other statements, 
 that the Sacred Promontory 2 is distant from Gades 3 five 
 days' sail, when in fact they are [distant from each other] not 
 more than 1700 stadia. 4 Likewise that the tide ceased at this 
 point, whereas it passes round the whole circuit of the habit- 
 able earth. That it is easier to pass from the northern parts 
 of Iberia into Keltica, 5 than to proceed thither by sea ; with 
 many other things which he asserted on the faith of that 
 charlatan Pytheas. 
 
 12. Our_poet_IIcjner] being very explicit, and possessing 
 great experience, gives one cause to believe that he was not 
 unfamiliar with_these localities. Of this any one may"T)e 
 convinced who wiH examine carefully what has been written 
 on these points, both the incorrect [comments], and likewise 
 those which are better and more truthful. One amongst these 
 incorrect ideas is, that he considered f Tartessis] to be the 
 farthest country towards the west, where, as he himself ex- 
 presses TfT" 
 
 The radiant sun in ocean sank, 
 Drawing night after him o'er all the earth. 6 
 
 Now, since it is evident that night is ominous, and near to 
 Hades, arid Hades to Tartarus, it seems probable that [Homer], 
 having heard of Tartessus, took thence the name of Tartarus 
 to distinguish the farthest of the places beneath the earth, also 
 embellishing it with fable in virtue of the poetic licence. In 
 the same way, knowing that the Cimmerians dwelt in northern 
 and dismal territories near to the Bosphorus, he located them 
 
 1 The rock of Gibraltar. 2 Cape St. Vincent. 3 Cadiz. 
 
 4 This is exactly the distance from Cadiz to Cape St. Vincent, follow- 
 ing the coasts. It is from 48 to 49 leagues. 
 
 5 Gaul. 
 
 6 The bright light of the sun fell into the ocean, drawing dark night 
 over the fruitful earth. Iliad viii. 485. 
 
224 STRABO. CASAUB. 149- 
 
 in the vicinity of Hades ; perhaps also on account of the com- 
 mon hatred of the lonians against this people. For they say 
 that in the time of Homer, or a little before, the Cimmerians 
 made an incursion as far as JEolia and Ionia. Always draw- 
 ing his fables from certain real facts, his Planetse l are modelled 
 on the Cyaneae. He describes them as dangerous rocks, as 
 they tell us the Cyaneasan rocks are, [and] on which account [in 
 fact] they are called Symplegades. 2 He adds to this [the 
 account of] Jason's navigating through the midst of them. 
 The Straits of the Pillars 3 and Sicily, 4 likewise, suggested to 
 him the fable of the Planetae. Thus, even according to the 
 worst comments, from the fiction of Tartarus any one might 
 gather that Homer was acquainted with the regions about 
 Tartessus. 
 
 13. Of these facts, notwithstanding, there are better proofs. 
 For instance, the expeditions of Hercules and the Phoenicians 
 to this country were evidence to him of the wealth and luxury 
 of the people. They fell so entirely under the dominion of 
 the Phosnicians, that at the present day almost the whole of 
 the cities of Turdetania and the neighbouring places are in- 
 habited by them. It also seems to me that the expedition of 
 Ulysses hither, as it took place and was recorded, was the 
 foundation both of his Odyssey and Iliad, which he framed 
 upon facts collected into a poem, and embellished as usual 
 with poetical mythology. It is not only in Italy, Sicily, and a 
 few other places that vestiges of these [events] occur ; even in 
 Iberia a city is shown named Ulyssea, 5 also a temple of 
 Minerva, and a myriad other traces both of the wandering 
 of Ulysses and also of other survivors of the Trojan war, which 
 was equally fatal to the vanquished and those who took Troy. 
 These latter in fact gained a Cadmean victory, 6 for their 
 homes were destroyed, and the portion of booty which fell 
 to each was exceedingly minute. Consequently not only those 
 who had survived the perils [of their country], but the Greeks 
 as well, betook themselves to piracy, the former because they 
 
 1 Wandering rocks. 
 
 2 Entwining or conflicting rocks. Euripides, Medea, verse 2, gives 
 them the title of Symplegades. 
 
 3 Gibraltar. * The Strait of Messina. 
 
 5 Ulisipo or Lisbon. 
 
 6 A proverbial expression by which the Greeks described a victory 
 equally prejudicial to the victors and the vanquished. 
 
B. in. c. ii. 13. SPAIN. 225 
 
 had been pillaged of every thing ; the latter, on account of the 
 shame which each one anticipated to himself: 
 " The shame 
 
 That must attend us, after absence long 
 
 Returning unsuccessful, who can bear ? " l 
 
 In the same way is related the wandering of -ZEneas, of An- 
 tenor, and of the Heneti ; likewise of Diomedes, of Menelaus, 
 of Ulysses, 2 and of many others. Hence the poet, knowing of 
 similar expeditions to the extremities of Iberia, and having 
 heard of its wealth and other excellencies, (which the Phoe- 
 nicians had made known,) feigned this to be the region of the 
 Blessed, and the Plain of Elysium, where Proteus informs 
 Menelaus that he is to depart to : 
 
 " But far hence the gods 
 Will send thee to Elysium, and the earth's 
 Extremest bounds ; there Rhadamanthus dwells, 
 The golden-haired, and there the human kind 
 Enjoy the easiest life ; no snow is there, 
 No biting winter, and no drenching shower, 
 But zephyr always gently from the sea 
 Breathes on them to refresh the happy race." 3 
 
 Now the purity of the air, arid the gentle breathing of the 
 zephyr, are both applicable to this country, as well as the 
 softness of the climate, its position in the west, and its 
 place at the extremities of the earth, where, as we have said, 
 he feigned that Hades was. By coupling Rhadamanthus 
 with it, he signifies that the place was near to Minos, of whom 
 he says, 
 
 " There saw I Minos, offspring famed of Jove; 
 
 His golden sceptre in his hand, he sat 
 
 Judge of the dead." 4 
 
 Similar to these are the fables related by later poets ; such, for 
 instance, as the expeditions after the oxen of Geryon, and the 
 
 1 But still it would be disgraceful to remain here so long, and to return 
 home without fitting booty. Iliad ii. 2S8. 
 
 2 We should probably here read Menestheus. 
 
 3 But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the bound- 
 aries of the earth, where is auburn -haired Rhadamanthus ; there of a truth 
 is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow nor long winter, nor 
 ever a shower, but ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing 
 breezes of the west wind to refresh men. Odyssey iv. 063. 
 
 * There then I beheld Minos, the illustrious son of Jove, having a golden 
 sceptre, giving laws to the dead. Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn's edition. 
 VOL. i. Q 
 
226 STRABO. CASAUB. 150. 
 
 golden apples of the Hesperides, the Islands of the Blessed l 
 they speak of, which we know are still pointed out to us not 
 far distant from the extremities of Maurusia, and opposite 
 to Gades. 
 
 14. I repeat that the Phoenicians were the discoverers [of 
 these countries], for they possessed the better part of Iberia 
 and Libya before ting t ( JIHftJ^'^ rmip!T 'j and continued masters 
 oT those places until their empire was overthrown by the 
 Romans. This also is an evidence of the wealth of Iberia : 
 in the expedition of the Carthaginians under Barcas, 2 they 
 found, according to historians, that the people of Turdetania 
 used silver goblets 3 and casks. One might guess too that it 
 was on account of this great_oprulence that the men of the 
 country, and their chiefs in particular, were styled long-lived. 
 Wherefore Anacreon thus sings, <P 
 
 " Neither would I desire the horn of Amalthea, nor to reign over Tar- 
 tessus one hundred and fifty years." 
 
 Herodotus too has preserved the name of the king, whom he 
 calls ^Arganthonius. 4 The passage of Anacreon must there- 
 fore either be^understood [of this king], or some other like 
 him ; or else more generally thus, " nor to reign for a length- 
 ened period in Tartessus." Some writers 5 are of opinion that 
 Tartessus is the present Carteia. 
 
 15. The Turdejani not only enjoy a salubrious_climate, but 
 their manners are polished and urbane, as also^ar^e those 
 of the people_ojveltica, by reason of their vicinity [to the 
 TurdetaniJ, or, According to Folybius, on account of their 
 
 1 The Canary Islands. 2 Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal. 
 
 3 We have preferred, in common with the French translation, and the 
 manuscript cited by Xylander, to read fyia\aiQ, instead of Qarvaig, think- 
 ing it probable that Strabo referred in the first instance to the drinking 
 vessels, and afterwards to the wine barrels, as being made of silver. 
 
 4 Herodotus, who wrote about a century after the time of Anacreon, ex- 
 pressly tells us that Arganthonius reigned during eighty years, and lived 
 one hundred and twenty (1. i. c. 163). Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and 
 Pliny report the same, apparently on the testimony of Herodotus. 
 Lucian, Phlegon, and Appian however state the life of Arganthonius at 
 one hundred and fifty years ; and what is remarkable, the two former, 
 Lucian and Phlegon, cite as their authority Anacreon and Herodotus. 
 Pliny, citing Anacreon, has taken the reign of one hundred and fifty years, 
 mentioned by the poet, as a life of that duration. The passage of Strabo 
 is evidently changed from its original form. 
 
 * Of the number are Pomponius Mela and Pliny. 
 
B. in. c. in. $ 1. SPAIN. 227 
 
 being of the same stock, but not to so great a degree, for they 
 live for the mosTpart scattered in villages. The Turdetani, on 
 the other hand, especially those who dwell about the Guadal- 
 o^uiyer, 1 have so entirely adooted the Roman mode of life, as 
 even to have forgotten their own language. They have for 
 the most part becqmcjJLatins, 2 and received Roman colonists ; 
 so that a short time only is wanted before they will be all 
 Romans. The very names of .many of the .lawns at present, 
 such as Pax Augusta 3 amongst the Keltici, Augusta-Eme- 
 rita 4 amongst the Turduli, Caesar- Augusta 5 amongst the 
 Keltiberians and certain other colonies, are proof of the change 
 of manners I have spoken of. Those of the Iberians who 
 adopt these new modes of life are styled togati. Amongst 
 their number are the Keltiberians, who formerly were re- 
 garded as the most uncivilized of them all. So much for 
 these. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. STARTING again from the Sacred Promontory, 6 and con- 
 tinuing along the other side of the coast, we come to the gulf 
 near the Tagus, afterwards Cape Barbarium, 7 and near to this 
 the outlets of the Tagus, which may be reached by sailing in 
 a straight course for a distance of 10 stadia. 8 Here are estu- 
 aries, one of them more than 400 stadia from the said tower, 
 on a part of which Laccoea is situated. 9 The breadth of 
 the mouth of the Tagus is about 20 stadia, its depth is so great 
 as to be capable of navigation by vessels of the greatest bur- 
 den. At the flood-tide the Tagus forms two estuaries in the 
 
 1 Baetis. 
 
 2 That is, been admitted to all the privileges of Roman citizenship. 
 Pliny tells us that in Baetica alone there were thirty cities enjoying this 
 distinction. 
 
 3 Bejain Alentejo: others, with less show of probability, say Badajoz the 
 capital of Estremadura. 
 
 4 Merida. ^Saragossa. 9 Cape St. Vincent. 7 Capo Espichel. 
 
 8 Coray reads two hundred and ten stadia, Groskurd and the French 
 translators adopt 200 ; but the whole passage is so manifestly corrupt, 
 that it scarcely seemed safe to hazard the correction. 
 
 9 The text is here very corrupt, and the explanations of the editors 
 and translators unsatisfactory. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 STRABO. CASATJK. 152. 
 
 plains which lie above it, so that the plain is inundated and 
 rendered navigable for a distance of 150 stadia. In the upper 
 estuary an island is formed about 30 stadia in length, and 
 nearly equal in breadth, which is fertile, and has excellent 
 vines. The island lies near to Moro, 1 a city happily situ- 
 ated on a mountain close to the river, and about 500 stadia 
 from the sea. The country surrounding it is very fine, and 
 the ascent [of the Tagus] for a considerable way practicable 
 for vessels of a large size, the remainder is performed in river- 
 boats. Above Moro it is navigable for a yet longer distance. 
 Brutus, surnamed the Gallician, made use of this city as a 
 military station, when fighting against the Lusitanians, whom 
 he subdued. On the sides of the river he fortified Olysipo, in 
 order that the passage up the river and the carriage of neces- 
 saries might be preserved unimpeded. These therefore are 
 the finest cities near the Tagus. The river contains much 
 fish, and is full of oysters. It takes its rise amongst the Kel- 
 tiberians, and flows through the [country of the] Vettones, 
 Carpetani, and Lusitani, towards thejwest ; 2 to a certain dis- 
 tance it runs parallel with the Guadiana 3 and Guadalquiver, 4 
 but parts from them as they decline towards the southern 
 coast. 
 
 2. Of those who dwell above the aforesaid mountains, the 
 Oretani are the most southern, extending in part as far as the 
 sea-coast on this side the Pillars. Next these towards the 
 north are the Carpetani, then the Vettones and Vaccasi, through 
 whose [country] the Douro 5 flows as it passes Acontia, 6 a 
 city of the Vaccaei. TEeTGallician s are the last, and inhabit 
 for the most part a mountainous country : on this account 
 they were the most difficult To subdue, and furnished his sur- 
 name to the conqueror of the Lusitanians ; in fact at the 
 present day the greater part of the Lusitanians are beginning 
 to call themselves Gallicians. The finest cities of Oretania 
 are Qa^tulo "' and Oria. 8 
 
 3. North of the Tagus is Ljisitania, the principal of the na- 
 tions of Iberia, and the one which has most frequently en- 
 countered the arms of the Romans. On the southern side 
 
 / A city of Lusitania, hod. Al-Merim. 
 2 Literally towards the sunset at the equinox. 3 Anas. 4 Baetis. 
 5 During. This city is not mentioned elsewhere in Strabo. 
 
 Casloria. 8 Oreto. 
 
B. in. c. in. 4. SPAIN. 229 
 
 this country is bounded by the Tagus, on the west and north 
 by the ocean, on the east by the well-known nations of the 
 CarpetamTthe Vettones, the Vaccasi, the Gallicians, and by 
 others not worthy to be mentioned on account of their insig- 
 nificance and obscurity. On the other hand, certain his- 
 torians of the present day give the name of Lusitanians to all 
 of these nations. 
 
 To the east the Gallicians border on the nation of the As- 
 turians and Keltiberians, the others [border] on the Keltibe- 
 rians. In length Lusitaniais 3000 * stadia ; its breadth, which 
 is comprised between the eastern side and the opposite sea- 
 coast, is much less. The eastern part is mountainous and 
 rugged, while the country beyond, as far as the sea, consists 
 entirely of plains, with the exception of a few inconsiderable 
 mountains. On this account Ppsidomus remarks that Aristotle 
 was not correct in supposing that the ebb and flow of the tide 
 was occasioned by the sea-coast of Iberia and Maurusia. 2 For 
 Aristotle asserted that the tides of the sea were caused by the 
 extremities of the land being mountainous and rugged, and 
 therefore both receiving the wave violently and also casting 
 it back. Whereas Posidonius truly remarks that they are for 
 the most part low andsandy. 
 
 4. The country which we are describing is fertile, and ir- 
 rigated by rivers both large and small, all of whichJlow from 
 the eastern parts parallel with the Tagus : most of them are 
 navigable and full of goldjust After the Tagus, the most 
 noted rivers are the Mondego 3 and the Vouga, 4 which are 
 navigable but for a short distance. After these is the Douro, 5 
 which flows from afar by Numaritia, 6 and many other colonies 
 of the Keltiberians and Vaccaei ; it is capable of being navi- 
 gated in large vessels for a distance of nearly 800 stadia. 
 Besides these there are other rivers, after which is the [river] 
 of Lethe, which some call the Limaea, 7 others the Belio, 8 it 
 likewise rises amongst the Keltiberians and Vaccrei. After 
 
 1 nvpiuv Kai Tpia\i\'n>jv, in text, but plainly the result of some error. 
 
 2 We have followed the suggestion of Kramer in the rendering of this 
 passage, the Greek text being evidently corrupt. 
 
 3 Munda. 4 Vacua. 5 Durius. 
 
 6 A city situated near Soria in Old Castile. ' Now the Lima. 
 
 8 Xylander and many of the commentators propose to read 'OfiXiomiuva, 
 or Oblivion, in place of BtXiuiva. The conjecture seems extremely 
 probable. 
 
230 STRABO. CASAUB. 153. 
 
 this is the Bsenis, (some call it the Minius, 1 ) by far the largest 
 river of Lusitania, 2 being navigable for a distance of 800 
 stadia. Posidonius says this too rises amongst the Canta- 
 brians. 3 An island 4 lies before its outlet, and two moles 
 affording anchorage for vessels. A natural advantage [of 
 this country] well deserving of commendation is, that the 
 banks of the rivers are so lofty as to be capable of containing 
 the entire of the water raised by the high tides of the sea, 
 without either being overfilled, or overflowing the plains. This 
 was the limitjof Brutug's expedition. Beyond there are many 
 other rivers parallel to those I have named. 
 
 5. The Artabri are the last of the people [on this coast]. 
 They inhabit the promontory called Nerium, which* is the 
 boundary [of Iberia] on its western and northern sides. 
 Around it dwell the Keltici, a kindred race to those who are 
 situated along the Guadiana. 6 They say that these lat- 
 ter, together with the Turduli, having undertaken an expedition 
 thither, quarrelled after they had crossed the river Lima, 7 
 and, besides the sedition, their leader having also died, they re- 
 mained scattered there, and from this circumstance the river 
 was called the Lethe. 8 The Artabri have besides many cities 
 established round the Gulf, which mariners and those familiar 
 with the places designate as the Port of the Artabri. 
 At the present day the Artabri are denominated the 
 Arotrebae. About tl^i^ty 9 different nations occupy the coun- 
 try between the T'agusand the Artabri. Notwithstanding 
 the fertility of the country in corn, Battle, gold, silver, and 
 
 1 The Minho of the present day. 
 
 2 The Minho is far surpassed in size, both by the Duero and the 
 Tagus. 
 
 3 The text here is evidently incorrect. In the first place, the icai 
 avrov, which we have rendered this too, evidently sustained some 
 relation, no longer subsisting, to what preceded ; and in the second, the 
 sources of the Minho were not in Cantabria, but Gallicia. 
 
 * Strabo here appears to confound the mouth of the Minho with a 
 small bay about five leagues distant, near to the city of Bayona in 
 Gallicia, and before which there is still the small island of Bayona. 
 
 5 Cape Finisterre. 6 Anas. 7 Limaea. 
 
 8 Or the river of Oblivion, apparently because they forgot to return to 
 their owi 
 
 few of the MSS. read fifty, which number seems to be counte- 
 nanced by the statement of Pliny, that forty-six nations inhabited Lusi- 
 tania : but then the limits he set to the country were more extended than 
 those allowed by Strabo. 
 
B. in. c. in. 6. SPAIN. 231 
 
 numerous other similar productions, the majority of its inhabit- 
 ants, neglecting to gain their subsistence from the ground, 
 parsed their lives in pillage and continual warfare, both be- 
 tween themselves and their neighbours, whom they used to 
 cross the Tagus [to plunder]. To this the Romans at length 
 put a stop by subduing them, and changing many of their 
 cities into villages, besides colonizing some of them better. / 
 The mountaineers, as was natural, were the first to com- 
 mence this lawless mode of life : for living but scantily, and 
 possessing little, they coveted the goods of others, who being 
 obliged to repulse them, of necessity relinquished their proper 
 employments, and instead of pursuing agriculture took up 
 arms. Thus it happened that their country, being neglected, 
 became barren notwithstanding its natural advantages, and 
 inhabited by bandits. 
 
 6. The Lusitanians are reported to be clever in laying am- 
 bushes, sharp, swift of foot, light, 1 and easily disciplined as 
 soldiers. The small shield they make use of is two feet in 
 diameter, its outer surface Qpncave, and suspended by leather 
 tEongs ; it neither has rings nor handles. They have in addi- 
 tion 2 a poignard or dagger. Their corselets are for the most 
 part made of Hnen ; a lew have chain-coats and helmets with 
 triple crests, but the others use helmets composed of sinews. 
 The infantry wear greaves, each man is furnished with a 
 number of javelins ; some also use spears pointed with brass. 
 They report that some of those who dwell near to the river 
 Douro 3 imitate the Lacedaemonians in anointing their bodies 
 with oil, using hot air-baths made of heated stones, bathing 
 in cold water, and taking but one tidy and frugal meal 
 a day. The Lusitanians are frequent in the performance of 
 sacrifice ; they examine the entrails, but without cutting them 
 out of the body ; they also examine the veins of the side, and 
 practise augury by the touch. They likewise divine by the 
 entmih_of^ativje_enemies, whom they first cover with a mili- 
 tary cloak, and when stricken under the entrails by the 
 haruspex, they draw their first auguries from the fall [of the 
 
 1 The KovQoQ of the text signifies also a volatile disposition. 
 
 2 Some part of the sentence seems here to be wanting. It probably 
 contained a description of the kind of sword made use of. 
 
 3 Durius. 
 
232 STRABO. CASAUB. 155. 
 
 t 
 
 victiml. They pjit. nfFlbp. rjg}]t ha-ndfl pf their prisoners., and 
 
 7. All the mountaineers are frugal, their beverage is water, 
 they sleep on the ground, and wear a profuse quantity of long 
 hairafter thejashion of w^men, which, they bind around the 
 Torehead when they go to battle. 1 They subsist principally 
 on the^esh of the goat,, which animal they sacrifice to Mars ? 
 as also prisoners taken in war, and , horses. They likewise 
 offer hecatombs of each kind after the manner of the Greeks, 
 described by Pindar, 
 
 ,' "To sacrifice a hundred of every [species]." 2 
 
 They practise gymnastic exercises, 3 both as heavy-armed 
 soldiers, and cavalry, also tjoxing, running, skirmishing, and 
 fighting in bands. For two-thirds of the year the mountaineers 
 feed on the.asprn, which they dry, bruise, and afterwards grind 
 and make intoakind of bread, which may be stored up for a long 
 period. They also usejbeer ; wine is very scarce, and what is 
 made they speedily consume in feasting with their relatives. In 
 ^lace of oil thevjiise butter. Their meals they take sitting, 
 on seats put ujTround the walls, and they take place on these 
 according to their age and rank. The supper is carried round, 
 and wjhilstdrmkinp; they dance to the sound Q f f h p flntgjind 
 
 . trumpetTsprfngmg up and fljnlo'nor upon the knees. 4 
 
 In JSastetania the wnnTen^daTK^ promiscuously jwjth_the 
 men^each holding the otEeps hand. They all dress in black, 
 Tfie majority of themin cloaks called saga, in which they 
 sleep on beds of straw. They make use of wooden vessels 
 
 Tike the Kelts. The women wear dresses and embroidered 
 garments. Instead of money, those who dwell far in the in- 
 terior exchange merchandise, or give pieces of silver cut off 
 
 1 This reminds one of the glibs the Irish used to wear down to a recent 
 period. 
 
 2 This passage is not found in any of the odes of Pindar now remaining. 
 
 3 The French translators observe, that we should probably understand 
 this passage as follows, They exercise themselves as light-armed infantry, 
 heavy-ai-med infantry, cavalry, &c. 
 
 4 Xenophon describes this, or one very similar, as the Eisian_dance : 
 
 TsXof # TO HtpOlKOV Wp^lTO, KQOT&V TO.Q Trk\TO.Q' KO.I WJfAtte, KOI ct- 
 
 viaTctTo. " Last of all he danced the Persian dance, clashing his bucklers, 
 and in dancing fell on his knees.then sprang up again." Xen. Anab. 
 b. vi. c. I, lU. 
 
B. III. C. III. 
 
 SPAIN. 233 
 
 from plates of that metal. Those condemned to death are 
 executedby stoning ; parricides are put to death without the 
 Frontiers or the "cities. They maxry according to the Qu^toms 
 of the Greeks. 1 Their sick they expose upon the highways, 
 in the same way as the Egyptians 2 did anciently, in .the 
 hope that some one who has experienced the malady may 
 be able to give them i advice. Up to the time of [the ex- 
 pedition of] Brutus tftey made use of vessels constructed of 
 skins for crossing the lagoons formed' by the tides } they 
 now have them formed out of the single jrujik of a tree, but 
 these are scarce. Their salt_is_purple, but beco^ies white 
 by pounding. The life of the mountaineers is such as I 
 have described, I mean those bordering the northern side of 
 Iberia, the Gallicians, the Asturians, and the Cantabrians, 3 
 as far as the Vascons 4 and the Pyrenees. The mode of life 
 amongst all these is similar. But I am reluctant to fill my 
 page with their names, and would fain escape the disagree- 
 able task of writing them, unless perchance the Pleutauri, 
 the Bardyetse, the Allotriges, 5 and other names still worse 
 and more out of the way than these might be grateful to 
 the ear of some one. 
 
 8. The rough and savage manners of these people is not 
 alone owing to their wars, tut likewise to their isolated posi- 
 tion, it being a long distance to reach them, whether by sea 
 or land. Thus the difficulty of communication has deprived 
 
 1 This is said to distinguish them from their neighbours, the inhabitants 
 of Majorca and Minorca, whose peculiar marriage ceremonies are thus 
 described by Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 18: Hapd8oov *e TI icai 
 Kara. TOVQ ya/iovg vouifiov Trap' OVTOIQ iariv' iv yap ralq Kara rot'f 
 ydfjLOVQ tvioxiat^, oiKtiwv re icai tpiXaiv Kara ri)v 7/Xuciav 6 TrpuJrog dti 
 Kal 6 dtvTtpog, icai oi \onrol Kara. TO t)7, jui'cryoirai rai vvutpaig dvd 
 /us/r>0, la%a.rov TOV vv[i<piov rvy\dvovroQ ravrjjQ TTJQ Tifiijg. 
 
 2 The mention of Egyptians here seems surprising, inasmuch as no 
 writer appears to have recorded this as one of their customs. Of the 
 Assyrians it is stated, both by Herodotus, i. 197, and also by Strabo him- 
 self, xvi. cap. i. 746. It seems therefore most probable that Assyrians are 
 intended, Egyptians being merely an error of the transcriber. 
 
 3 Inhabitants of Biscay. 4 People of Navarre. 
 
 5 Who the Pleutauri were, we do not know. The Bardyetae appear to 
 be the same people whom Strabo afterwards speaks of as Bardyiti, or 
 Bardyali, who occupied a narrow slip of land between the east of Alava 
 and the west of Navarre. The Allotriges Casaubon supposes to be the 
 same as the Autrigones, who occupied the coast from Laredo to the Gulf 
 of Bilboa. 
 
234 STRABO. CASAUB. 156. 
 
 them both of generosity of manners and of courtesy. At the 
 present time, however, they suffer less from this both on 
 account of their being at peace and the intermixture of 
 Romans. Wherever these [influences] are not so much ex- 
 perienced people are harsher and more savage. It is probable 
 that this ruggedness of character is increased by the barren- 
 ness of the mountains and some of the places which they 
 inhabit. At the present day, as I have remarked, all warfare 
 is put an end to, Augustus Csesar having subdued the Can- 
 tabrians l and the neighbouring nations, amongst whom the 
 system of pillage was mainly carried on in our day. So that 
 at the present time, instead of plundering the allies of the 
 Romans, the Coniaci and those who dwell by the sources of 
 the Ebro, 2 with the exception of the Tuisi, 3 bear arms 
 for the Romans. Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus Caesar, 
 carried out his intention of placing a military force of three 
 legions in these parts, by which means he has not only pre- 
 served peace, but introduced amongst some of them a civil 
 polity. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. WHAT remains [to be described] of Iberia, is the sea- 
 coast of the Mediterranean from the Pillars to the Pyrenees, 
 and the whole of the inland country which lies above. The 
 breadth of this is irregular, its length a little above 4000 
 stadia. It has been remarked that the sea-coast 4 is above 
 2000 stadia, and they say that from Mount Calpe, 5 which is 
 near the Pillars, to New Carthage, 6 there are 2200 stadia. 
 This coast is inhabited by the Bastetani, also called the Bas- 
 tuli, and in part by the Oretani. Thence 7 to the Ebro the 
 distance is nearly as great. This [region] is inhabited by 
 the ^detani. On this side the Ebro to the Pyrenees and the 
 TrophieToF Pompey there are 1600 stadia. It is peopled by 
 
 1 Inhabitants of Biscay. 2 Iberus. 
 
 3 rrXrjv Towiffot : these words are manifestly corrupt, but none of the 
 various conjectural readings seem at all probable. 
 
 4 From the Pillars to the Sacred Promontory, or Cape St. Vincent. 
 
 5 The rock of Gibraltar. 6 Carthagena. 7 Viz. from Carthagena. 
 
B. in. c. iv. 2, 3. SPAIN. 235 
 
 a small portion of the Edetani, and the rest by a people named 
 the Indicetes, divided into four cantons. 
 
 2T^ Commencing our particular description from Calpe, 
 there is [first] the mountain-chain of Bastetania and the 
 Oretani. This is covered with thick woods and gigantic trees, 
 and separates the sea-coast from the interior. In many places 
 it also contains gold and other mines. The first city along 
 the coast is Malaca, 1 which is about as far distant from 
 Calpe as Calpe. is from Gades. 2 It is a maxtet for the 
 nomade tribes from the opposite coast, and there are great 
 stores of salt-fish there. Some suppose it to be the same as 
 Mamaca, which tradition reports to be the farthest west of 
 the cities of the Phocaei ; but this is not the case, for Maenaca, 
 which was situated at a greater distance from Calpe, is in ruins, 
 and preserves traces of having been a Grecian city, whereas 
 Malaca is nearer, and Pho3nician in its configuration. Next 
 in order is the city of the Exitani, 3 from which the salted fish 4 
 bearing that name takes its appellation. 
 
 3. After these comes Abdera, 5 founded likewise by the 
 Phoenicians. Above these places, in the mountains, the city / 
 oTUlyssea 6 is shown, containing atf-rnplp. t Minerva t ac- rr 
 cording to the testimony of PojiiJonius^ Artemidorus, and 
 Asclepiades the Myrlean, 7 a man who taught literature in 
 Turdetania, and published a description of the nations dwell- 
 ing there. He says that in thft *pmp1<Ljyn nprva were hung 
 up spears and prows of vessels, monuments of the_jyjLndrings 
 
 1 Malaga. 2 Cadiz. 
 
 3 Pomponius Mela gives this city the name of Hexi, or Ex, according 
 to another reading; Pliny names, it Sexi, with the surname of Firmum 
 Julium ; and Ptolemy, Sex. This is merely a difference relative to the 
 aspiration of the word, which was sometimes omitted, at other times ex- 
 pressed by the letters H or S indifferently. 
 
 4 Mentioned by Pliny, Athenaeus, Galen, and also by Martial, lib. vii. 
 Epigramm. 78, 
 
 Cum Saxetani ponatur cauda lacerti ; 
 
 Et bene si coenas, conchis immcta tibi est ; 
 Sumen, aprum, leporem. boletos, ostrea, mullos, 
 
 Mittis ; habes nee cor, Papile, nee genium. 
 
 5 Adra. 6 Lisbon. ? 
 
 ^~A~sclepiades of MyrTea^a city of Bithynia, was a grammarian, and dis- 
 Jiipte of the celebrated grammarian, ApoUomjis. According to Suidas he 
 taught literature at Rome, under Pompey the Great. And it is probable 
 that it was with Pompey he afterwards passed into Spain. 
 
 
236 STRABO. CASAUB. 157. 
 
 of Ulysses. That some of those who followed Teucer in his 
 expedition settled among the Gallicians ; l and that two cities 
 were there, the one called Hellenes, 2 the other Amphilochi ; 
 but Amphilochus 3 having died, his followers wandered into 
 the interior. He adds, that it is said, that some of the 
 followers of Hercules, and certain also of the inhabitants of 
 Messene, settled in Iberia. Both he and others assert that a 
 portion of Cantabria was occupied by Laconians. Here is 
 the city named Opsicella, 4 founded by Ocela, 5 who passed 
 into Italy with Antenor and his children. Some believe the 
 account of the merchants of Gades, asserted by Artemidorus, 
 that in Libya there are people living above Maurusia, near 
 to the Western Ethiopians, named Lotorjhagi, because they 
 feed on th~teaves ami root of the lotus 15 without wanting to 
 
 1 Teucer, the son of Telamon, king of the island of Salamis, being 
 driven out of the country by his father, founded in Cyprus the city of 
 Salamis. Justin adds, that after the death of his father he returned to the 
 island of Salamis; but being prevented by the son of Ajax, his brother, 
 from debarking, he went into Iberia, and took up his abode on the spot 
 where Cgrthagena was after warclsjmilt : that subsequently he removed 
 into the cbunrry of the Gallicians, and settled amongst them. 
 
 2 The Hellenes derived their name from Hellen the son of Deucalion 
 and Pyrrha. This name, which at first designated only a smallpeople of 
 Thgssajy, became afterwards the general appellation of the irmaDTtants of 
 the whole of Greece. 
 
 3 Amphilochus, on his return from Troy, founded with Mopsus the city 
 of Mallos in Qilicia. He afterwards retired to Argps, but not being con- 
 tented there he rejoined Mopsus, who however would no longer divide 
 with him the government of their common colony. This dispute resulted 
 in a remarkable combat, which cost the life of both. (Compare Strabo, 1. 
 xiv. c. 4.) Sophocles and other tragic poets have taken advantage of this 
 tradition. Herodotus likewise speaks of the voyages of Amphilochus into 
 Cilicia, and of the city of Poside'ium which he founded there, but he tells 
 us nothing of his death. Thucydides merely says that Amphilochus on his 
 return home after the Trojan war, being discontented with his compatriots, 
 founded in the Gulf of Ambracia a city which he named after his father- 
 land, Argos. Nojie of these traditions mention a voyage to Iberia. 
 
 4 Siebenkees suspects that thisTname sTTould be read Ocella. The Oce- 
 lenses in Lusitania are commended by Pliny. 
 
 5 Some MSS. read Opsicella. 
 
 6 Strabo, or rather Artemidorus, seems to have confused the two kinds 
 of lotus mentioned by the ancients. That whereof they ate the roo.ts and 
 the grajn is the lqtus_of the liile, and a plant of the species nymphcea. 
 The lotus alluded to in this instance is a shrub, (the rhamnus lotus of 
 Linnaeus,) named seedra by the inhabitants of Barbary, with whom the 
 fruit is an article of food. Herodotus mentions both kinds, (lib. ii. c. 92, 
 ancTiv. c. 177,) and Polybius describes the second, as an eye_-witness. 
 
B. in. c. iv. 4, 5. SPAIN. 
 
 drink ; for they possess [no drink], being without 
 These people they say extend as i'ar as the region^ 
 Cyrene. There are others also called Lotpj)hagi, who inhabit 
 Memnx, 1 one of the islands situated opposite the Lesser 
 Syrtes. 2 
 
 4. No one should be surprised that the poet, in his fiction 
 descriptive of the wanderings of Ulysses, should have located 
 the majority of the ^scenes which he narrates without the Pil^ 
 Jars,"nrthe Atlantic! For historical events of a sinularjchar- 
 
 acter did actually occur nejar tcTthe places, so that the other 
 circumstances which he feigned did not make his fiction in- 
 credible ; nor [should anyone be surprised] if certain persons, 
 putting faith in the historical accuracy and extensive know- 
 ledge of the poet, should have attempted to explain the poem 
 of Homer on scientific principles ; a proceeding undertaken 
 by Crates of Mallos, 3 and some others. On the other hand, 
 there have been those who have treated the undertaking of 
 Homer so contemptuously, as not only 'to'cleny any such know- 
 ledge tcTtne poet, as though he were a ditcher or reaper, but 
 have stigmatized as fools those who commented on his writings. 
 And not one either of the grammarians, or of those skilled in 
 the mathematics, has dared to undertake their defence, or to 
 set right any mistakes in what they have advanced, or any 
 thing else ; although it seems to me possible both to grove 
 correct much that they have said, and also" to set right other 
 points, especially where they have been misled by putting 
 faith, in Pytheas, who was ignorant of the countries situated 
 along the ocean, both to the west and north. But we must 
 let these matters pass, as they require a particular and length- 
 ened discussion. 
 
 5. The settlement of the Grecians amongst these barbarous 
 nations may EeTegarded as theTesult of the division ^Fthese 
 latter into small tribes and sovereignties, having' on account 
 of thdrjaQroaej^ess nojunion amongst themselves, and there- 
 fore~powerless~against attacks from without. This morose- 
 ness is remarkably^grevalent amongst the Iberians, who are 
 
 1 The Island of Zerbi. 2 The Gulf of Cabes. 
 
 3 A celebrated stoic philosopher and grammarian contemporary with 
 Aristarchus. He was of Mallos, a city of Cilicia, and surnamed the 
 Critic and the Homeric, on account of the corrections, explanations, and 
 remarks which he composed in nme_J>poks on the poems of Homer. 
 
238 STRABO. CASATJB. 158. 
 
 besides crafty in their manner, devoid of sincerity, insidious, 
 and predatory in their mode of life ; they are bold in little 
 adventures, but never undertake any thing of magnitude, 
 inasmuch as they have never formed any extended power or 
 confederacy. If they had had but the will to assist each other, 
 
 neither could the Carthaginians by making an incursion have 
 
 hem of the greater part 
 nor before__lhejn the Tvians, then Jjie Kelts, now called the 
 
 ^^^^^Mi"^*. 
 
 so easily depriyejLthem of the greater part of their country, 
 
 Keltiberians and Berones, nor after these the brigand Viria- 
 thus, and Sertorius, 1 nor any others who desired power. 
 On this account the Romans, having carried the war into 
 Iberia, lo^muchjtime by reason of the number of different 
 sovereignties, having to conguer^first^one, tben^an other ; in 
 fact, it occjirjiejljnejirj^^ or even longer, before 
 
 they had gubdued the whole. I return to my description. 
 ><- 6. After Abdera 2 is New_Carthage, 3 founded by Asdrubal, 
 ""*- who ^succeededJBarca s, tEe father QJLHannibal. It is by for 
 the most powerful^ city of this country, being impregnable, 
 and furnished with a noble wall, harbours, and a lake, besides 
 the silver mines already mentioned. The places in the vicinity 
 have an abundance of salted_fish, and it is besides the great 
 emporium of the sea merchandise for the interior, and like- 
 wise for the merchandise from the interior for exportation. 
 About midway along the coast between this city and the 
 Ebro, we meet with the outlet of the river Xucar, 4 and a city 
 bearing the same name. 5 It rises in a mountain belonging to 
 the chain which overlooks Malaca, 6 and the regions around 
 Carthage, and may be forded on foot ; it is nearly parallel to 
 the Ebro, but not quite so far distant from Carthage as 
 from the Ebro. Between the XjJcaTand^Carth age are three f 
 small^ towns of the~peop^or^Iarseilles, not i'ar from thel 
 v "~rivei\ Of these thlTbest lEnown is He^i^rcs^opiumJ On the 
 T/ promontory there is a^templejto Diana of Ejphesus, held in c" 
 ~^ great veneration. Sertorius used it as an arsenal, convenient 
 to the sea, both on account of its being fortifiecTand fitted for 
 piratical uses, and because it is visible from a great distance 
 
 1 Sertorius, on the return of Sylla to Rome, took refuge in Spain, 
 where he put himself at the head of the Romans who had revolted against 
 the republic ; he was assassinated by one of his officers. 
 
 2 Adra. 3 Carthagena. 4 Sucro. 
 
 5 That is, the ancient name, Sucro. 6 Malaga". r Denia or Artemus. 
 
B. in. c. iv. 7, 8. SPAIN. 239 
 
 to vessels approaching. It is called Dianium, 1 from Diana. 
 Near to it are some fine iroj>works, andtwo small islands, 
 Planesia 2 and Plumbaria, 3 with a sea- water lake lying above, 
 of 400 stadia in circumference. Next is the island of Hercules, > 
 near to Carthage, and called Scombraria, 4 on account of the 
 mackerel taken there, from which the finest garum 5 is 
 made". It is distant 24 stadia from Carthage. On the 
 other side of the Xucar, going towards the outlet of the 
 Ebro, is Saguntum. founded by the Zacynthians. The_de_- 
 strnction of thisjmty_hy_jTannibal T contrary to his treaties with 
 the Romans, kindled the sejcond^^unic^war. Near to it are 
 the cities of Cherronesus, 6 Oleastrum, and Cartalia, and the 
 colony of Dertossa, 7 on the very passage of the Ebro. The 
 Ebro takes its source amongst the Cantabrians_; it flows 
 through an extended plain towards the south, running parallel 
 with the Pyrenees. 
 
 7. The first city between the windings of the Ebro and 
 the extremities of the Pyrenees, near to where the Trophies of 
 Pompey are erected, is Tarraco; 8 it has no harbour, but is 
 situated on a bay, and possessied of many other advantages. 
 At the present day it is as well peopled as Carthage ; 9 for it is 
 admirably suited for the stay of the prefects, 10 and is as it were 
 the metropolis, not only of [the country lying] on this side 
 the Ebro, but also of a great part of what lies beyond. The 
 near vicinity of the Gymnesian Islands, 11 and Ebusus, 12 which 
 are all of considerable importance, are sufficient to inform one 
 of the felicitous position of the city. Eratosthenes tells us 
 that it has a road-stead, but Artemidorus contradicts this, and 
 affirms that it scarcely possesses an anchorage. 
 
 8. The whole coast from the Pillars up to this place wants 
 harbours, but all the way from here to Emporium, 13 the coun- 
 tries of the Leetani, the Lartokeetoe, and others, are both 
 furnished with excellent harbours and fertile. Emporium was 
 f'oundecTby the^eop^ofM^rseilles, and is about 4000 14 stadia 
 
 I Denia. 2 IsolaPlana. 3 S. Pola. 4 Islote. 
 5 *^Tsauce so named from the garus, a small fish, from which originally 
 
 it was prepared. Afterwards it was made with mackerel and other fish. 
 Vide Pliny 1. xxxi. c.'7, 8. 
 
 6 Peniscola. Tortosa. 8 Tarragona. 
 
 9 New Carthage, or Carthagena, is intended. lo Sent from Rome. 
 
 II Majorca and Minorca. ^Jviqa. l3 Ampurias. 
 
 4 "The text is here manifestly corrupt. Various other numbers, from 
 
240 STRABO. CASAUB. 160. 
 
 distant from the Pyrenees, and the confines of Iberia and 
 Keltica. This is a very fine region, and possesses good ports. 
 Here also is Rhodope, 1 a small town of the Emporitae, but 
 some say it was Joujid^,^yjybe^iiodians. Both here and in 
 Emporium they revejnce the Ephesian Diana. The cause of 
 this we will explain when we come to speak of Massalia. 2 In 
 former times the Emporita3 dwelt on a small island opposite, 
 now called the old city, but at the present day they inhabit 
 the mainland. The city is double, being divided by a Avail, 
 for in past times some of the Indiceti dwelt close by, who, 
 although they had a separate polity to themselves, desired, for 
 the sake of safety, to be shut in by a common enclosure with 
 the Grecians ; but at the same time that this enclosure should 
 be two- fold, being divided through its middle by a wall. In 
 time, however, they came to have but one government, a mix- 
 ture of Barbarian and Grecian laws ; a result which has taken 
 place in many other [states^]. 
 
 9. A river 3 flows near to it, which has its sources in the 
 Pyrenees ; its outlet forms a port for the Emporitas, who 
 are skilful workers in flax. Of the interior of their country 
 some parts ^re fertile, others covered with spartum, a rush 
 which flourishes in marshes, and is entirely useless : they 
 call this the June Plain. There are some who inhabit the 
 Pyrenean mountains as far as the Trophies of Pompey, on the 
 route which leads from Italy into Ulterior Iberia, 4 and par- 
 ticularly into Bastica. This road runs sometimes close to the 
 sea, sometimes at a distance therefrom, particularly in the 
 western parts. From the Trophies of Pompey it leads to 
 Tarraco, 5 through the June Plain, the Betteres, 6 and the plain 
 called in the Latin tongue [the plain] of Marathon, on account 
 
 4 to 400, have been conjectured as the true reading. Gosselin and Gros- 
 kurd are in favour of 200. 
 
 1 Sic text. Siebenkees and Coray propose to read 'Po^of , and Casau- 
 bon also 'Pod?;, now Rosas. a Marseilles. 
 
 3 Probably the river Fluvia, the Alba of the ancients. 
 
 4 Iberia, or Spain, was anciently divided into two grand divisions, to 
 which the Romans gave the names of Citerior and Ulterior Iberia. Augus- 
 tus subdivided this latter into the two provinces of Baetica and Lusitania, 
 giving the name of Tarraco to Citerior Iberia. Nevertheless the ancient 
 names of Citerior and Ulterior continued in use long after this division. 
 
 5 Tarragona. 
 
 6 We are not exactly acquainted with this place, it is probably Vidre- 
 ras; though others suppose it to be Colonia Sagerra. 
 
n. in, c. iv. 10. SPAIN. 241 
 
 of the quantity of fennel growing there. From Tarraco [the 
 road runs] towards the passage of the Ebro at the city 
 of Dertossa; 1 from thence having traversed the city of 
 Saguntum, 2 and Setabis, 3 it follows a course more and more 
 distant from the sea, till it approaches the Plain of Sparta- 
 rium, which signifies the Plain of Rushes. This is a vastjirid 
 j^lam, producing the species of - rush from which co?ds are 
 made, and which are exported to all parts, but particularly to 
 Jtalv. 4 Formerly the road passed on through the midst of the 
 "plain, and [the city of] Egelastaa, 5 which was both difficult 
 and long, but they have now constructed a new road close to 
 the sea, whichanerely touches upon the Plain of Rushes, and 
 leads to the same places as the former, [viz.] Castlon, 6 and 
 Obulco, 7 through which runs the road to Conduba and Gades. 8 X 
 the two greatest emporia^^ofjberia"!. Obulco is distant about r 
 300 stadia from Corduba. Historians report that Caesar came 
 from Rome to Obulco, and to his army there, within the space 
 of twenty-seven days, when about to fight the battle of Munda. 9 
 10. Such is the whole sea-coast from the Pillars to the 
 confines of the Iberians and Kelts. The interior of the 
 country lying above, and included between the mountains of 
 the Pyrenees and the northern side [of Iberia], as far as the 
 Asture^ is principally divided by two mountain chains ; the 
 one of these is parallel to the Pyjrenees, and takes its com- 
 mencement fromThlTcountry of the Cantabri, terminating at 
 the Mediterranean. This is called the Idubeda. 10 Thejsecond, 
 springing from the middle [of this first], runs_towards the 
 west, inclining however to the south and t^e^sea-coast to- 
 wards the Pillars. At the commencement it consTst^oTlbare 
 hills, but after traversing the Plain of Spartarium, falls in 
 with the jorest lying abov^ Carthage, 11 and the regions round 
 Malaca. 12 It is named OrosgedaT 13 The river Ebro flows be- 
 tween the Pyrenees ancTTxkibeda, and parallericTboth these 
 mountains. It is fed by the rivers and other waters carried down 
 
 I Tortosa. 2 Murviedro. 3 Xativa. 
 
 * The cordage of the famous vessel built by Hiero of Syracuse was 
 formed from the spartum of Iberia. Vid. Athenaeus, lib. v. p. 206. 
 5 Yniesta. 6 Caslona. 7 Porcuna. 8 Cordova and Cadiz. 
 
 9 Fought against Pompey. 
 
 10 The mountains of Burgos and Cuen^a, the Sierras of Oca, Lorenzo, 
 and Moncayo. 
 
 II Carthagena. Ia Malaga. 13 The Sierra de Toledo. 
 
STRABO. CASATJB. 161. 
 
 from [the mountains]. Situated on the Ebro is the city of 
 Caesar Augusta, 1 and the colony of Celsa, 2 where there is a 
 stone bridge across the river. This country is inhabited by 
 many nations, the best known being that of the Jaccetani. 3 
 Commencing at the foot of the Pyrenees, it widens out into 
 the plains, and reaches to the districts around Ilerda 4 and 
 Osca, 5 [cities] of the Hergetes not far distant from the Ebro. 
 It was in these cities, and in Calaguris, 6 a city of the Gascons, 
 as well as those of Tarraco 7 and Hemeroscopium, 8 situated 
 on the coast, that Sertorius sustained the last efforts of the 
 war, after being ejected from the country of the Keltiberians. 
 He died at Osca, and it was near to Ilerda that Afranius and 
 Petreius, Pompey's generals, were afterwards defeated by 
 divus 9 Cassar. Ilerda is distant 160 stadia from the Ebro, which 
 is on its west, about 460 from Tarraco, which is on the south, 
 and 540 from Osca, which lies to the north. 10 Passing through 
 these places from Tarraco to the extremities of the Vascons 
 who dwell by the ocean, near Pompelon 11 and the city of 
 QEaso 12 situated on the ocean, the route extends 2400 stadia, 
 to the very^frontiers of Aguitaine and Iberia. It was in the 
 country of the Jaccetani that Sertorius fought against Pom-- 
 pey, and here afterwards Sextus, Pompey's son, fought against 
 the generals of Caesar. The nation of the Vascons, in which 
 is Pompelon, or Pompey's city, lies north of Jaccetania. 
 
 1 1 . The side of the Pyrenees next Iberia is covered with 
 forests containing numerous kinds of trees and evergreens, 
 whilst the side next Keltica is bare : in the midst [the moun- 
 tains] enclose valleys admirably fitted for the habitation of 
 
 "Saragossa. . 2 Xelsa. 
 
 f They occupied the northern half of Catalonia. 
 
 4 Lerida. 5 Huesca. 6 Calahorra. 7 Tarragona. 
 
 8 Denia. 
 
 9 VTTO Kaivapoe TOV Srtov, by the deified Caesar. We have adopted the 
 Latin divus as the most suitable epithet for the emperor in an English 
 version. 
 
 10 Gosselin here labours to reconcile these distances with the actual 
 topography of those parts, but it is useless to attempt to make all the 
 loose statements furnished by Strabo tally with the exact distances of the 
 places he mentions by supposing the stadia to be so continually varied. 
 
 11 Pampeluna. 
 
 12 Gosselin is of opinion that this CEaso. is not Ojarco near Fontarabia, 
 but thinks it probable that Ea near Cape Machicaco is the site where it 
 stood. 
 
B. in. c. iv. $ 12, 13. SPAIN. 243 
 
 man. These are mainly possessed by the Kerretani, a people 
 of the Iberians. The hams they cure are excellent, fully 
 equal to those of the Cantabrians, l and they realize no incon- 
 siderable profit to the inhabitants. 
 
 12. Immediately after passing Idubeda, you enter on Kel- 
 tiberia, a large and irregular country. It is for the most 
 part rugged, and watered by rivers, being traversed by the 
 Guadiana, 2 the Tagus, and many other of the rivers which 
 flow into the western sea, but have their sources in Keltiberia. 
 Of their number is the Douro, which flows by Numantia 3 
 and Serguntia. The Guadalquiver 4 rises in Orospeda, and after 
 passing through Oretania, enters Bostica. The Berones inhabit 
 the districts north of the Keltiberians, and are neighbours of 
 the Conish Cantabrians. They likewise had their origin in 
 the Keltic expedition. Their city is Varia, 5 situated near to 
 the passage of the Ebro. They are adjacent to the Bardyitse, 
 now called the Bardyli. 6 To the west [of the Keltiberians] 
 are certain of the Astures, Gallicians, and Vaccaei, besides 
 Vettones and Carpetani. On the south are the Oretani, and 
 the other inhabitants of Orospeda, both Bastetani and Edetani, 7 
 and to the east is Idubeda. 
 
 13. Of the four divisions into which the Keltiberians are 
 separated, the most powerful are the Aruaci, situated to the 
 east and south, near to the Carpetani and the sources of the 
 Tagus. Their most renowned city is Numantia. They 
 showed their valour in the war of twenty: years, waged by 
 the Keltiberians against the Romans ; for many armies of the 
 Romanytogether with their generals, were destroyed ; and in 
 the~end the Numantians, besieged within their city, endured 
 the famine with constancy, till, reduced to a very small num- 
 ber, they were compelled to surrender the place. The Lusones 
 are also situated to the east, and likewise border on the sources 
 of the Tagus. Segeda and Pallantia 8 are cities of the Aru- 
 
 1 People of Biscay. 2 The ancient Anas. 
 
 3 The ruins of Numantiaare seen a little to the north of Soria. 4 Baetis. 
 
 5 Probably the small village of Varea, about half a league from Lo- 
 groiio ; D'Anville supposes it to be Logrono itself. 
 
 6 Aliter Bardyali. 
 
 7 Kramer has altered the text into 'ESrjTavCJv, all MSS. having SiTra- 
 v&v. There is little doubt they are the same people mentioned in section 
 14 as Sidetani. 8 Palencia. 
 
 K 2 
 
244 STRABO. CASAUB. 162. 
 
 aci. Numantia is distant from Cgesar Augusta, 1 situated as 
 we have said upon the Ebro, about 800 stadia. Near to Se- 
 gobriga and Bilbilis, 2 likewise cities of the Keltiberians, was 
 fought the battle between Metellus and Sertorius. Polybius, 
 describing the people and countries of the Vaccsei and Kelti- 
 berians, enumerates Segesama 3 and Intercatia amongst their 
 other cities. Posidonius tells us that Marcus Marcellus ex- 
 acted of Keltiberia a tribute of 600 talents, which proves that 
 the Keltiberians were a numerous and wealthy people, not- 
 withstanding the little fertility of their country. 
 
 narrates that Tiberius Gracchus destroyed 300 cities of the 
 Keltiberians. This Posidonius ridicules, and asserts that to 
 flat ter~Gracch us, Polybius described as cities the towers such 
 as are exhibited in the triumphal processions. 4 This is not 
 incredible ; for both generals and historians easily fall into 
 this species of deception, by exaggerating their doings. Those 
 who assert that Iberia contained more than a thousand cities, 
 seem to me to have been carried away in a similar manner, 
 and to have denominated as cities what were merely large vil- 
 lages ; since, from its very nature, this country is incapable of 
 maintaining so many cities, on account of its sterility, wildness, 
 and its out-of-the-way position. Nor, with the exception of 
 those who dwell along the shores of the Mediterranean, is any 
 such statement confirmed by the mode of life or actions of 
 the inhabitants. The inhabitants of the villages, who con- 
 stitute the majority of the Iberians, are quite uncivilized. 
 Even the cities cannot very easily refine the manners [of 
 their inhabitants], as the neighbouring woods are full of 
 robbers, waiting only an opportunity to inflict injury on the 
 citizens. 
 
 14. Beyond the Keltiberians to the south are the inhabit- 
 
 1 Saragossa. 
 
 2 Baubola. 3 Sasamo, west of Briviesca. 
 
 4 Allusion is here made to the custom of the Roman generals, who 
 caused to be carried at their triumphs, representations in painting or 
 sculpture, not only of the kings or generals of the enemy, who had been 
 slain, but likewise of the forts, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers, and even 
 seas, conquered from the enemy. This usage explains the words of Cicero, 
 " portari in triumpho Massiliam vidimus." Appian, on occasion of the 
 triumph of Scipio, says, Hupyoi Tt Trapa^lpovrai /tiju?7/iara T&V '- 
 
B. in. c. iv. 15, 16. SPAIN. 245 
 
 ants of Orospeda and the country about the Xucar, 1 the Side- 
 tani, 2 [who extend] as far as Carthage, 3 and the Bastetani 
 and Oretani, [who extendj almost as far as Malaca. 4 
 
 15. All the Iberians, so to speak, were peltastse, furnished 
 with light arms for the purposes of robbery, and, as we de- 
 scribed the Lusitanians, using the javelin, the sling, and the 
 sword. They have some_cavalry interspersed amongst the 
 foot -soldiers, the horses are trained to traverse the mountains, 
 and to sink down on their knees at the word of command, in 
 case of necessity. Iberia produces abundance of antelopes 
 and wild horses. In many places the lakes are stocked. They 
 have fowl, swans, and birds of similar kind, and vast num- 
 bers of bustards. Beavers are found in the rivers, but the 
 castor does not possess the same virtue as that from the 
 Euxine, 5 the drug from that place having peculiar pro- 
 perties of its own, as is the case in many other instances. 
 Thus Posidonius tells us that the Cyprian copper alone pro- 
 duces the cadmian stone, copperas-water, and oxide of copper. 
 He likewise informs us of the singular fact, that in Iberia the 
 crows are not black ; and that the horses of Keltiberia which 
 are spotted, lose that colour when they pass into Ulterior 
 Iberia. He compares them to the Parthian horses, for indeed 
 they are superior to allother breeds, both in fleetness and 
 their ease in speedj_travellmg; 
 
 16. Iberia produce? a large quantity of roots used in dye- 
 ing. In olives, vines, figs, and every kind of similar fruit- 
 trees, the Iberian coast next the Mediterranean abounds, they 
 are likewise plentiful beyond. Of the coasts next the' ocean, 
 that towards the north is destitute of them, on account of the 
 cold, and the remaining portion generally on account of the 
 apathy of the men, and because they do not lead a civilized, 
 life, but pass their days in poverty, only acting on the animal 
 
 ~~ l Sucro, now Xucar. 
 
 3 The same people as the Edetani, mentioned in section 12. 
 
 3 Carthagena. 4 Malaga. 
 
 5 ATthe present day the best castor comes from Russia, but the greater 
 part of that found in shops is the produce of Canada. It is denominated 
 a stimulant and antispasmodic. Formerly it was much used in spasmodic 
 diseases, as hysteria and epilepsy. It is now considered almost inert, and 
 is seldom employed. After this description, it is scarcely necessary to 
 warn the reader against the vulgar error of confusing castor with castor 
 oil, which is extracted from the seeds of the Ricinus communis or castor oil 
 plant, a shrub growing in the West Indies. 
 

 246 STRABO. CASAUB. 164. 
 
 impulse, and living most corruptly. They do not attend to 
 ease or luxury, unless any one considers it can add to the 
 happiness of their lives to wash themselves and their wives in 
 , ptale urine kept in tanks, and to rinse their teeth with it, which 
 ""they say is the custom both with the Cantabrians and their 
 neighbours. 1 This practice, as well as that of sleeping on the 
 ground, is common both among the Iberians and Kelts. Some 
 say that the Gallicians are atheists, but that the Keltiberians, 
 and their neighbours to the north, [sacrifice] to a nameless 
 god, every full moon, at night, before TKeir doors, the whole 
 family passing the night in dancing and festival. The Vet- 
 tones, the first tinifTTTiey came to a Roman camp, and saw 
 certain of the officers walking up and down the roads for the 
 mere pleasure of walking, supposed that they were mad, and 
 offered to show them the way to their tents. For they 
 thought, when not fighting, one should remain quietly seated 
 at ease. 2 
 
 17. What Artemidorus relates concerning the adornment 
 of certain of theirjvomen, must likewise be attributed to their 
 barbarous customs. He says that they wear iron collars 
 having crows fixed to them which bend over the head^andfall 
 forward considerably over the forehead. When they wish they 
 draw their veil over these .crows, so as to shade the whole 
 face : this they consider an ornament. Others wear a tym- 
 T pahium 3 surrounding the occiput, and fitting tight to the head 
 as far as the ears, turning over [and increasing] little by 
 little in height and breadth. Others again make bald the 
 front of the head, in order to display the foreliead to 
 greater advantage. Some twist their flowing hair round a 
 small style, ajoot_j]igh, and afterwards cover it with a black 
 veil. Of singularities like these many have been observed 
 and recorded as to all the Iberian nations in common, but 
 
 1 Apuleius, Catullus, and Diodorus Siculus all speak of this singular 
 custom. 
 
 2 A note in the French edition says, " This surprise of the Vettones is 
 nothing extraordinary. Amongst all barbarous nations, savages especially, 
 the promenade is an unknown exercise. When roused by necessity or 
 passion, they will even kill themselves with fatigue ; at other times they 
 remain in the most perfect inaction. The first thing which strikes a Turk 
 on coming to any of the polished nations of Europe, is to see men pro- 
 menading without any other aim but that of pleasure or health." 
 
 3 Head-dress shaped like a drum. 
 
fc. in. c. iv. 18. SPAIN. 
 
 particularly those towards the north, not only 
 their bravery, but likewise their cruelty and bruta 
 For in the war against the Cantabrians, mothers 
 their children sooner than suffer them to be captured ; and a 
 young boy, having obtained a sword, slew, at the command of 
 his father, both his parents and brothers, who had been made 
 prisoners and were bound, and a woman those who had been 
 taken together with her. A man being invited by a party of 
 drunken [soldiers] to their feast, threw himself into a fire. 
 These feelings are common both to theTel7ic, Thracian, and 
 Scythian nations, as well as the valour not only of their men, 
 but likewise of their women. These till the.. ground, 1 and 
 after parturition, having ]3ut their husbands instead of them- 
 selves tcTlbed, they wait upon them. Frequently in their 
 employment they wash and swathe their infants, sitting down 
 by some stream. JPosidonius tells us that In Liguria, his host 
 Charmoleon, a man who came from Marseilles, related to him, 
 that having hired some men and women to dig hisjand, one 
 of the women was seized with the pains_ of _ labour, and going 
 to a littlejlistance from where they were at work, she brought 
 forth, and returned immediately to her work, for fear she 
 might lose her pay. He observed that she was evidently 
 working in considerable pain, but was not aware of the 
 cause till towards evening, when he ascertained it, and sent 
 her away, having given her her wages. She then carried her 
 infant to a small spring, and having washed it, wrapped it up 
 in as good swaddling clothes as she could get, and made the 
 best of her way home. 
 
 18. Another practice, not restricted to the Iberians alone, 
 is for two to mount on one horse, so that in the event of a 
 conflict, one may be there to fight on foot. Neither are they 
 the only sufferers in being tormented with vast swarms of 
 mice, from which pestilential diseases have frequently ensued. 
 This occurred to the Romans in Cantabria, so that they caused 
 it to be proclaimed, that whoever would catch the mice should 
 receive rewards according to the number taken, and [even with 
 this] they were scarcely preserved, as they were suffering 
 besides from want of corn and other necessaries, it being 
 difficult to get supplies of corn from Aquitaine on account of 
 
 1 At the present day in Bilboa, the capital of Biscay, the \vcmigfl_stufjc 
 far more than the men ; they* load and unload vessels, anc 
 ITeacts' burden^ which require two men to place there. 
 
-248 STRABO. CASAUE. 165. 
 
 the rugged nature of the country. It is a proof of the fero- 
 city of the Cantabrians, that a number of them having been 
 taken prisoners and fixed to the cross, they chanted songs of 
 triumph. Instances such as these are proofs ot' the Ferocity 
 oTtheir manners. There are others which, although not show- 
 ing them to be polished, are certainly not brutish. For ex- 
 ample, amongst the Cantabrians, the men give dowries to 
 their wives, and the daughters are lefTTiejrs, but they pro- 
 cure wives for their brothers. These things indicate a de- 
 gree oF'power in The woman, although they are no proof of 
 advanced 'civilization. 1 It is also a custom with the Iberians 
 to furnish themselves with a poison, which kills without pain, 
 and which they procure from a herb resembling" rjarsley. This 
 they hold in readiness in case""of misfortune, ancTto devote 
 themselves for those whose cause they have joined, thus dying 
 for their sake. 2 
 
 1 We must remark that so far from the dowry given by men to their wives 
 being an evidence of civilization, it is a custom common amongst barbarous 
 people, and indicative of nothing so much as the despotic power of the 
 man over the wife. These dowries were generally a sum of money from 
 the husband to the father of his intended, on the payment of which he 
 acquired the same power over her as over a slave. Aristotle, speaking of 
 the ancient Greeks, tells us expressly that they bought th"eir wives, (Polit. 
 ii. c. 8,) and observing that amongst barbarous nations women were always 
 regarded in the same light as slaves, he cites the example of the Cyclopes, 
 who exercised, according to Homer, sovereign authority over their families 
 (Odyss. 1. ix. 114). This custom was so well established amongst the 
 Greeks at the time of the poet, that he does not hesitate to introduce it 
 amongst the gods (Odyss. viii. 318). It was not unknown among the 
 Jews, and Strabo, in his fifteenth book, tells us that the Indians bought 
 their wives. 
 
 """"Caesar and Athenasus attribute this custom to the Gauls, and Valerius 
 Maximus to the Keltiberians. Those men who attached themselves to 
 the interests of any prince or famous personage, and who espoused all his 
 quarrels, even devoting themselves to death on his account, are named by 
 Athenaeus triXo^owpoi, and by Caesar soldurii. Speaking of GOO soldiers 
 devoted in this manner to a Gaulish prince, named Adcantuannus, Caesar 
 (1. iii. c. 22) says, "Sibi mortem consciscant ; neque adhuc hominum 
 memoria repertus est quisquam, qui, eo interfecto cujus se amicitise 
 devovisset, mori recusaret." Plutarch tells us that Sertorius had in his 
 suite many thousand Iberians devoted to him. The following epitaph of 
 these men, who, after the death of Sertorius, sacrificed themselves, being 
 unwilling to survive him, was extracted by Swinburne from the Annals of 
 Catalonia. Hie multse quac se manibus 
 
 Q. Sertorii turmae, et terrae 
 
 Mortalium omnium parenti 
 
 Devovere, dum, eo sublato, 
 
B. nr. c. iv. 19. SPAIN. 249 
 
 19. Some, as I have said, state that this country is separated 
 into four divisions ; others, into five. It is not easy to state 
 any thing precisely on these points, both on account of the 
 changes which the places have undergone, and by reason of their 
 obscurity. In well-known and notable countries both the 
 migrations are known, and the divisions of the land, and the 
 changes of their names, and every thing else of the same 
 kind. Such matters being the common topics with every- 
 body, and especially with the Greeks, who are more talkative 
 than any__other jjepple. But in barbarous and out-of-the-way 
 countries, and such as are cut up into small divisions, and 
 lie scattered, the remembrance of such occurrences is not 
 nearly so certain, nor yet so full. If these countries are far 
 removed from the Greeks [our] ignorance is increased. For 
 although the Roman historians imitate the Greeks, they fall 
 far short of them. What they relate is taken from the Greeks, 
 very little being the result of their own ardour in acquiring 
 information. So that whenever any thing has been omitted 
 by the former there is not much supplied by the latter. Add 
 to this, that the names most celebrated are generally Grecian. 
 Formerly the name of Iberia was given to the whole country 
 between the Rhone and the isthmus formed by the two 
 Galatic gulfs ; whereas now they make the Pyjrenees its bound- 
 ary^ ancT call it indiffeTently Iberia or Hispania ; others 
 have restricted Iberia to the country on this side the Ebro. 1 
 Still earlier it bore the name of the Igletes, 2 who inhabited 
 but a small district, according to Asclepiades the Myrlean. 
 The Romans_call the whole indifferently Iberia and Hispania, 
 
 Superesse taederet, et fortiter 
 
 Pugnando invicem cecidere, 
 
 Morte ad pra3sens optata jacent. 
 
 Valete posteri. 
 
 For the appalling means they adopted to hold out the city of Calaguris to 
 the last, see Valerius Maximus, lib. vii. cap. vi. 
 
 1 The country between the Ebro and the Pyrenees. 
 
 2 These Igletes are the same which Stephen of Byzantium names 
 Gletes, and by an error of the copyist Tletes. Herodotus places them 
 between the Cynetae, and the Tartessians, and Theopompus in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Tartessians. The position between the Ebro and the 
 Pyrenees, which Asclepiades the Myrlean thus gives them, supports the 
 opinion of those who reckon that Rosas was founded by the Rhodians, 
 and that the people of Marseilles did not settle there till afterwards ; it is 
 more than probable that the Igletes were nothing more than Ignetes or 
 Gnetes of the Isle of Rhodes. 
 
250 STRABO. CASAUB. 166. 
 
 but designate one portion of it Ulterior, and the other Citerior. 
 However, at different periods they have divided it differently, 
 according to its political aspect at various times. 
 
 20. At the present time some of the provinces having been 
 assigned to the people and senate of the Romans, and the 
 others to the emperor, Baetica appertains to the people, and a 
 praetor has been sent into the country, having under him a 
 quasstor and a lieutenant. Its eastern boundary has been 
 fixed near to Castlon. 1 The remainder belongs to the em- 
 peror, who deputes two lieutenants, a prastor, and a consul. 
 The praetor with a lieutenant administers justice amongst the 
 Lusitanians, who are situated next Bastica, and extend as far 
 as the outlets of the river Douro, for at the present time this 
 district is called Lusitania by the inhabitants. Here is [the 
 city of] Augusta Emerita. 2 What remains, which is [indeed] 
 the greater part of Iberia, is governed by the consul, who has 
 under him a respectable force, consisting of about three legions, 
 with three lieutenants, one of whom with two legions guards 
 the whole country north of the Douro, the inhabitants of 
 which formerly were styled Lusitanians, but are now called 
 Gallicians. The northern mountains, together with the Astu- 
 rian and Cantabrian, border on these. The river Melsus 3 
 flows through the country of the Asturians, and at a little 
 distance is the city of No'iga, 4 close to an estuary formed by 
 the ocean, which separates the Asturians from the Canta- 
 brians. The second lieutenant with the remaining legion 
 governs the adjoining district as far as the Pyrenees. The 
 third oversees the midland district, and governs the cities in- 
 habited by the togati, whom we have before alluded to as 
 inclined to peace, and who have adopted the refined manners 
 and mode of life of the Italians, together with the toga. These 
 are the Keltiberians, and those who dwell on either side of 
 the Ebro, as far as the sea-coast. The consul passes the 
 winter in the maritime districts, mostly administering justice 
 
 1 Caslona. 2 Merida. 
 
 8 Casaubon supposes that this is the river Ptolemy names Merus. 
 Lopez, Geograf. de Estrabon, lib. in. p. 232, thinks it the Narcea. 
 
 4 Pomponius Mela and Pliny coincide with Stfrabo in making this 
 city belong to the Asturians ; Ptolemy however describes it under the 
 name of Noega Ucesia as pertaining to the Cantabrians. Some say it 
 corresponds to the present Navia, others to Pravia. Groskurd reckons it 
 Gujon, or Navia, or Santander. 
 
B. in. c. v. 1. SPAIN. 251 
 
 either in [the city of] Carthage, 1 or Tarraco. 2 During the 
 summer he travels through the country, observing whatever 
 may need reform. There are also the procurators of the 
 emperor, men of the equestrian- rank, who distribute the pay 
 to the soldiers for their maintenance. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1. OP the islands which are situated in front of Iberia, two 
 named the Pityussae, and two the Gymnasia?, (also called the 
 Baleares,) are situated on the sea-coast between Tarraco and 
 [the river] Xucar, on which Saguntum 3 is built. The Pity- 
 uss29 are situated farther in the high seas and more to the 
 west than the Gymnasiae. One of the Pityussae is called 
 Ebusus, 4 having a city of the same name. This island is 400 
 stadia in circumference, and nearly equal in- its breadth and 
 length. The other, [named] Ophiussa, is situated near to this, 
 but is desert, and much smaller. The larger 5 of the Gymna- 
 sias contains two cities, Palma, 6 and Polentia ; 7 the latter lying 
 towards the east, the former towards the west. The length 
 of this island is scarcely less than 600 stadia, its breadth 200 ; 
 although Artemidorus asserts it is twice this size both in 
 breadth and length. 8 The smaller island 9 is about [2]70 stadia 
 distant from Polentia ; in size it is far surpassed by the larger 
 island, but in excellence it is by no means inferior, for both 
 of them are very fertile, and furnished with harbours. At 
 the mouths of these however there are rocks rising but a 
 little out of the water, which renders attention necessary in 
 entering them. The fertility of these places inclines the in- 
 habitants to peace, as also the people of Ebusus. But certain 
 
 1 Carthagena. 2 Tarragona. 
 
 3 Murviedro. 4 Ivic;a. 5 Majorca. 
 
 6 Palma. J Pollerca. 
 
 8 Gosselin observes that the greatest length of Majorca is 14 leagues 
 and a half; its breadth at the narrowest part 8 leagues ; and adds, that by 
 confounding stadia of unequal value, Strabo makes Majorca a long narrow 
 island, whereas in fact its form approaches nearer to that of a square. 
 
 9 Minorca. 
 
252 STHABO. CASAUB. 168. 
 
 malefactors, though few in number, having associated with 
 the pirates in those seas, they all got a bad name, and Me- 
 tellus, surnamed Balearicus, marched against them. He it 
 was who built the cities. But owing to the great fertility of 
 the country, these people have always had enemies plotting 
 against them. Although naturally disposed to peace, they 
 bear the reputation of being most excellent slingers, which 
 art they have been proficient in since the time that the Phoe- 
 nicians possessed the islands. It is said that these l were the 
 first who introduced amongst the men [of the Baleares] the 
 custom of wearing; tunics with wide borders. They were ac- 
 customed to go_^nto battle naked, having a shield covered 
 with goat-skin in their hand, and a jajglin hardened by fire 
 at the "point, very rarely with an iron tip, and wearing round 
 the head three slings of black rush, 2 hair, or sinew. The long 
 sling they use for hitting at far distances, the short one for 
 near marks, and the middle one for those between. From 
 childhood they were so thoroughly practised in the use of 
 slings, that bread was never distributed to the children till^they 
 had won_it by the sling? On this account Metellus, when 
 he was approaching the islands, spread pelts over the decks, 
 as a shelter from the slings. He introduced [into the country] 
 3000 Roman_colonists from Spain. 
 
 2. In addition to the fruitfulness of the land, noxious 
 animals are rarely to be met with. Even the rabbits, they 
 say, were not indigenous, but that a male and female having 
 been introduced by some one from the opposite continent, 
 from thence the whole stock sprung, which formerly was so 
 great a nuisance that even houses and trees were overturned, 
 [being undermined] by their warrens, and the inhabitants 
 
 1 Viz. the Phoenicians. 
 
 2 Immediately after the word ptXayKpaivaQ, which we have translated 
 black rush, the text of our geographer runs on as follows : " resembling 
 the schoenus, a species of rush from which cords are made. Philetas in 
 his Mercury [says] ' he was covered with a vile and filthy tunic, and about 
 his wretched loins was bound a strip of black rush, as if he had been girt 
 with a mere schoenus.' " It is evident that this passage is the scholium of 
 some ancient grammarian, and we have followed the example of the 
 French editors in inserting it in a note, as it is a great impediment in the 
 middle of Strabo's description of the equipment of the island warriors. 
 
 3 " Cibum puer a matre non accipit, nisi quern, ipsa monstrante, per- 
 cussit." Florus, lib. iii. c. 8. The same thing is stated by Lycophron, 
 v. 637, and Diodorus Siculus, 1. v. c. 18. 
 
B. in. c. v. 3. SPAIN. 253 
 
 were compelled, as we have related, to resort for refuge to the 
 Romans. However, at the present day the facility with 
 which these animals are taken, prevents them from doing in- 
 jury, consequently those who possess land cultivate it with 
 advantage. These [islands] are on this side of what are 
 called the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 3. Near to them, are two small islands, one of which is 
 called the Island of Juno : some call these the Pillars. Be- 
 yond the Pillars is Gades, 1 concerning which all that we have 
 hitherto remarked is, that it is distant from Calpe 2 about 750 
 stadia, and is situated near to the outlet of the 
 
 Notwithstanding there is much can be said about it. For its in- 
 habitants equip the greatest number of ships, and the largest 
 in_size, both for our sea, 4 and the exterior ("ocean], although 
 the island they inhabit is by no meansTarge, nor yet do they 
 possess much of the mainland, nor are masters of other islands. 
 They dwell for the most part onthese_a, only a few staying at 
 home or passing their time~~Tn Rome. Still, in amount of 
 population, their city does not seem to be surpassed by any 
 with the exception of Rome. I have heard that in a pensus 
 taken within our own times, there were enumerated five hun- 
 dred citizens of Gades of the equestrian order, a~rrumber 
 equalled by none of the Italian cities excepting that of the 
 Patavini. 5 However, notwithstanding their vast number, its 
 inhabitants possess an island, in length 6 not much above 100 
 stadia, and in some places only one stadium in breadth. 
 Originally the city in which they dwelt was extremely small, 
 but Balbus 7 the Gaditanian, who received tne honours of a 
 
 < 
 1 Cadiz. 2 The rock of Gibraltar. 
 
 3 This mouth of the Guadalquiver, opposite Cadiz, no longer exists. 
 
 4 The Mediterranean. 5 Padua. 
 
 6 " The length of the island of Leon, at the extremity of which the city 
 of Cadiz is situated, is about 9500 toises, which are equivalent to 1UO 
 Olympic stadia." Gosselin. 
 
 7 L. Cornelius Balbus was a native of Cadiz, and descended from an 
 illustrious family in that town. His original name probably bore some 
 resemblance in sound to the Latin Balbus. Cadiz being one of the 
 federate cities, supported the Romans in their war against Sertorius in 
 Spain, and Balbus thus had an opportunity for distinguishing himself. 
 He served under the Roman generals Q. Mettellus Pius, C. Memmius, 
 and Pompey, and was present at the battles of Turia and Sucro. He 
 distinguished himself so much throughout the war, that Pompey confer- 
 red the Roman citizenship upon him, his brother, and his brother's sons ; 
 
254 STRABO. CASAVB. 169. 
 
 triumph, added another to it which they call the New 
 Town. These two form the city of Didyme, 1 which is not 
 above twenty stadia in circumference. In it, however, 
 they are not pressed for room, because few live at home, the 
 majority passing their lives on the sea, some too dwelling on 
 the opposite continent, and particularly on a little island ad- 
 jacent on account of its excellence. They have such a liking 
 for this place as almost to have made it a rival city to Di- 
 dyme. However, few in comparison inhabit either this or 
 the sea-port which Balbus constructed for them on the op- 
 posite continent. Their city is situated in the western parts 
 of the island. Near to it is the temple of Saturn, which 
 
 md is 01 
 
 terminates [Gades to the west], and is opposite the smaller 
 island. The temple of Hercules is on the other side, to the 
 east, where the island approaches nearest to the mainland, 
 being only separated therefrom by a strait of a stadium [in 
 breadth]. 2 They say that this temple is twelve miles from 
 the city, thus making the number of miles and the number of 
 [Hercules'] labours equal : but this is too great, being almost 
 equal to the length of the island. Now the length of the 
 island runs from west to east. 
 
 4. Pherecydes appears to have given to Gades the name of 
 Erythia, the locality of the myths concerning Geryon : others 
 suppose it to have been the island situated near to this city, 
 and separated from it by a strait of merely one stadium. 
 This they do on account of the excellence of its pasturage. 
 
 and this act of Pompey was ratified by the law of the consuls, Cn. Cor- 
 nelius Lentulus and L. Gellius, B. c. 72. It was probably in honour of 
 these consuls that Balbus took the Gentile name of the one, and the 
 praenomen of the other. It was for this Balbus that Cicero made the de- 
 fence which has come down to us. The reason which induced Strabo to 
 notice, as something remarkable, that Balbus had received the honours of 
 a triumph, we learn from Pliny, who, noticing the victories which he had 
 gained over the Garamantes and other nations of Africa, tells us he was 
 the only person of foreign extraction who had ever received the honour of 
 a triumph. " Omnia armis Romanis superata et a Cornelio Balbo 
 triumphata, uni huic omnium externo curru et Quiritium jure donate." 
 Plin. lib. v. c. 5. Soliuus likewise says of him, (cap. xxix. p. 54,) 
 " Primus sane de externis, utpote Gadibus genitus accessit ad gioriam 
 nominis triumphalis." 
 
 1 This word signifies " The Twins." 
 
 2 Gosselin says, the temple of Saturn appears to have stood on the 
 site of the present church of S. Sebastian, and that of Hercules at the 
 other extremity of the island on the site of St. Peter's. 
 
a. in. c. v. 5. SPAIN. 255 
 
 For the milk of the cattle which feed there does not yield any 
 whey, and they are obliged to mix it with large quantities of 
 water when they make cheese on account of its richness. 
 After fifty days the beasts [pasturing there] would be choked 
 unless they were let blood. The pasturage of the country is 
 dry, but it fattens wonderfully : and it is thought that from 
 this the myth concerning the oxen of Geryon took its rise. 
 The whole seashore however is possessed in common. 1 
 
 5. Concerning the foundation of Gades, the Gaditanians 
 report that a certain oracle commanded the T^rians to found 
 a colony by the Pillars of Hercules. Those who were sent 
 out Tor the purpose of exploring, when they had arrived at 
 the strait by Calpe, imagined that the capes which form the 
 strait were the boundaries of the habitable earth, as well as of 
 the expedition of Hercules, and consequently they were what 
 the oracle termed the Pillars. They landed on the inside of 
 the straits, at a place where the city of the Exitani now stands. 
 Here they offered sacrifices, which however not being favour- 
 able, they returned. After a time others were sent, who ad- 
 vanced about 1500 2 stadia beyond the strait, to an island 
 consecrated to Hercules, and lying opposite to Onoba, a city of 
 Iberia : considering that here were the Pillars, they sacrificed 
 to the god, but the sacrifices being again unfavourable, they 
 returned home. In the third voyage they reached Gades, 
 and founded the temple in the eastern part of the island, and 
 the city in the west. On this account some consider that 
 the capes in the strait are the Pillars, others suppose Gades, 
 while others again believe that they lie still farther, 
 beyond Gades. There are also some who think that the 
 Pillars are Calpe, 3 and the mountain of Libya which is 
 opposite, named Abilyx, 4 and situated, according to Eratos- 
 thenes, amongst the Metagonians, a wandering race. Others 
 fancy that they are two small islands near to the for- 
 mer, one of which is named the Island of Juno. Artemidorus 
 speaks both of the Island of Juno and the temple there, but 
 makes no mention either of mount Abilyx, or the nation of 
 
 1 Groskurd supposes that we should here read, " [certain citizens of 
 Cadiz have appropriated to themselves possessions in the interior of the 
 island,] but the -whole sea-shore is inhabited in common," that is, by shep- 
 herds who pastured the grounds in common. 
 
 2 Goeselin shows that we ought to read 500 stadia in this place. 
 
 3 The rock of Gibraltar. < The Ape-mountain near Ceuta. 
 
256 STRABO. CASAUB. 170. 
 
 the Metagonians. 1 Some have transported hither the Planctce 
 and the Symplegades, supposing them to be the Pillars, which 
 Pindar calls the Gates of Gades, when he says that they were 
 the farthest limits at which Hercules arrived. 2 Diccearchus, 
 Eratosthenes, and Polybius, with most of the Grecians, repre- 
 sent the Pillars as being close to the strait, while the Iberians 
 and Libyans place them at Gades, alleging that there is no- 
 thing at all resembling pillars close by the strait. Others 
 pretend that they are t.hpjjpillflrs of brags eight cubits high in 
 thetemple of Hercule.s at ftflfjes, on which is inscribed the 
 cost ot J erecting thatedifice ; and that the sailors coming there 
 on the completion of their voyage and sacrificing to Hercules,' 
 rendered the placejso famous that it ca"me To be regarded as 
 the termination ofthe lancTand sea. Posidonius thinks this 
 view the most probable of all, and looks upon" the oracle and 
 the several expeditions as a Phoenician invention. 3 As for 
 the expeditions, what matters it whether any one should vehe- 
 mently deny or credit the account, as neither the one nor the 
 other would be inconsistent with reason : but the assertion 
 that neither the little islands, nor yet the mountains, bear 
 much resemblance to pillars, and that we should seek for 
 pillars, strictly so called, [set up] either as the termin- 
 ation of the habitable earth, or of the expedition of Her- 
 cules, has at all events some reason in it ; it being an an- 
 cient usage to set up such boundary marks. As for instance 
 the small column which the inhabitants of Rhegium 4 erected by 
 the Strait of Sicily, which is indeed a little tower ; and the 
 tower called after Pelorus, which is situated opposite to this 
 small column ; also the structures called altars 5 of the Philaeni, 
 about midway in the land between the Syrtes ; likewise it is 
 recorded, that a certain pillar was formerly erected on the 
 Isthmus of Corinth, which the lonians who took possession of 
 Attica and Megaris when they were driven out of the Pelo- 
 ponnesus, and those who settled in the Peloponnesus, set up 
 in common, and inscribed on the side next Megaris, 
 
 1 The text is corrupt, but it is needless to go through all the emenda- 
 tions proposed. 
 
 2 This passage of Pindar has not come down to us. 
 
 3 -^tvcffia 3>oiviKiic6v, a proverbial mode of speaking, having its origin 
 in the bad faith of the Phoenicians [fides Punica], 
 
 4 Regio. 
 
 5 Strabo, in his 1 7th book, gives a different locality to these altars. 
 
B. in. c. v. 6. . SPAIN. 257 
 
 " This is no longer Peloponnesus, but Ionia ; " 
 and on the opposite, 
 
 " This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia." 
 
 Alexander too erected altars as bonn^an'p.s pf hia T^rHan o,am- 
 j>3tign in those parts of the Jfodies he arrived at, which were 
 situated farthest towards the east, in imitation of Hercules and 
 Bacchus. 1 That this custom existed, then, cannot be doubted. 
 6. It is probable that the places themselves took the same 
 name [as the monuments], especially after time had destroyed 
 the boundary marks which had been placed there, For in- 
 stance, at the present day the altars of the Philaeni no longer 
 exist, but the place itself bears that designation. Similarly 
 they say that in India neither the pillars of Hercules or Bac- 
 chus are to be seen, nevertheless certain localities being de- 
 scribed and pointed out to the Macedonians, they believed that 
 those places were the pillars in which they discovered any 
 trace either of the adventures of Bacchus or Hercules. In 
 the instance before us, it is notjmprobable that they who first 
 [visjied these_regions]. set up boundary marks fashioned by 
 the hand of man, such as altars, towers, and pillars, in the most 
 remarkable situations, to indicate the farthest distance they had 
 reached, (and straits, the surrounding mountains, and little 
 islands, are indubitably the most remarkable situations for 
 pointing out the termination or commencement of places,) and 
 that after these human monuments had decaved 7 their names 
 descended to the places [where they had stood J ; whether that 
 were the little islands or the capes forming the strait. This 
 latter point it would not be easy now to determine ; the name 
 would suit either place, as they both bear some resemblance 
 to pillars ; I say bear some resemblance, because they are placed 
 in such situations as might well indicate boundaries. Now 
 this strait is styled a mouth, as well as many others, but the 
 mouth is at the beginning to those sailing into the strait, and 
 to those who are quitting it at the end. The little islands at 
 the mouth having a contour easy to describe, and being re- 
 markable, one might not improperly .compare to pillars. In 
 like manner the mountains overlooking the strait are promi- 
 
 1 These were twelve altars, of fifty cubits each, erected to the twelve 
 gods. Vide Diodorus Siculus, 1. xvii. c. 95. 
 VOL. i. s 
 
STRABO. CASAUB. 172. 
 
 nent, resembling columns or pillars. So too Pindar might very 
 justly have said, " The Gaditanian Gates," if he had in mind 
 the pillars at the mouth ; for these mouths are very similar to 
 gates. On the other hand, Gades is not in a position to indi- 
 cate an extremity, but is situated about the middle of a long 
 coast forming a kind of gulf. The supposition that the pil- 
 lars of the temple of Hercules in Gades are^intended, appears 
 to me still less probable. It seems most likely that the name 
 was origmalfy conferred not by merchants, but generals, its 
 celebrity afterwards became universal, as was the ,case with 
 the Indian pillars. Besides, the inscription recorded refutes 
 this idea, since it contains no religious dedication, but a mere 
 list of expenses ; whereas the pillars of Hercules should have 
 been a record of the hero's wonderful deeds, not of Phosnician 
 expenditure. 
 
 7. Polybius relates that there is a spring within the temple 
 of Hercules at Gades, having a descent of a few steps to fresh 
 water, which is affected in a manner the reverse of the sea- 
 tides, subsiding at the flow of the tide, and springing at the 
 ebb. He assigns as the cause of this phenomenon, that air 
 rises from the interior to the surface of the earth ; when this 
 surface is covered by the waves, at the rising of the sea, the 
 air is deprived of its ordinary vents, and returns to the in- 
 terior, slopping up the passages of the spring, and causing a 
 want of water, but when the surface is again laid bare, the 
 air having a direct exit liberates the channels which feed 
 the spring, so that it gushes freely. Artemidorus rejects 
 this explanation, and substitutes one of his own, recording at 
 the same time the opinion of the historian Silanus ; but nei- 
 ther one or other of their views seems to me worth relating, 
 since both he and Silanus were ignorant in regard to these 
 matters. Posidonius asserts that the entire account is false, 
 and adds that there are two wells in the temple of Hercules, 
 and a third in the city. That the smaller of the two in the 
 temple of Hercules, if drawn from frequently, will become for 
 a time exhausted, but that on ceasing to draw from it, it fills 
 again : while in regard to the larger, it may be drawn from 
 during the whole day ; that it is true it becomes lower, like 
 all other wells, but that it fills again during the night when 
 drawing ceases. [He adds] that the ebb tide frequently hap- 
 pening to occur during the period of its re-filling, gave rise 
 
B. in. c. v. 8. SPAIN. 259 
 
 to the groundless belief of the inhabitants as to its being 
 affected in an opposite manner [to the tides of the ocean]. 
 However it is not only related by him that it is a commonly 
 believed fact, but we have received it from tradition as much 
 referred to amongst paradoxes. 1 We have likewise heard 
 that there are wells both within the city and also in the gar- 
 dens without, but that on account of the inferiority of this 
 water, tanks are generally constructed throughout the city for 
 the supply of water : whether likewise any of these reservoirs 
 give any signs of being affected in an opposite manner to the 
 tides, we know not. If such be the case, the causes thereof 
 should be received as amongst phenomena hard to be ex- 
 plained. It is likely that Poly bi us may have assigned the 
 proper reason ; but it is also likely that certain of the chan- 
 nels of the springs being damped outside become relaxed, and 
 so let the water run out into the surrounding land, instead of 
 forcing it along its ancient passage to the spring ; and there 
 will of course be moisture when the tide overflows. 2 But if, 
 as Athenodorus asserts, the ebb and flow resemble the in- 
 spiration and expiration of the breath, it is possible that some 
 of the currents of water which naturally have an efflux on to 
 the surface of the earth, through various channels, the mouths 
 of which we denominate springs and fountains, are by other 
 channels drawn towards the depths of the sea, and raise it, so 
 as to produce a flood-tide ; when the expiration is sufficient, 
 they leave off the course in which they are then flowing, and 
 again revert to their former direction, when that again takes a 
 change. 3 
 
 8. I cannot tell how it is that Posidonius, who describes the 
 Phoenicians as sagacious in other things, should here attribute 
 
 1 The text is tv role 7rapet6oic, which Gosselin renders, " Les ouv- 
 rages qui traitent des choses merveilleuses." 
 
 * Strabo's argument is here so weak, that one can hardly believe it 
 can have ever been seriously made use of. 
 
 3 This method of explaining the ebb and flow of the sea, by comparing 
 it to the respiration of animals, is not so extraordinary, when we remem- 
 ber that it was the opinion of many philosophers that the universe was 
 itself an animal. Pomponius Mela, (De Situ Orbis, lib. iii. c. 1,) speaking 
 of the tides, says, " Neque adhuc satis cognitum est, anhelitune suo id 
 mundus efficiat, retractamque cum spiritu regerat undam tmdique, si, ut 
 doctioribus placet, unum (lege universum) animal est ; an sint depress! 
 aliqui specus, quo reciprocata maria residant, atque itnde se rursus exu- 
 berantia attollant : an luna causas tantis meatibus praebeat." 
 
 s 2 
 
260 STRABO. CASATJB. 173. 
 
 to them folly rather than shrewdness. The sun completes his 
 revolution in the space of a day and night, being a portion of 
 the time beneath the earth, and a portion of the time shining 
 upon it. Now he asserts that the motion of the sea corresponds 
 with the revolution of the heavenly bodies, and experiences 
 a diurnal,^montlily, and annual change, in strict accordance 
 witlTEne changes of the moon. For [he continues] when the 
 moon is ele"vated one sign of the zodiac 1 above the horizon, 
 me sea l>egins sensibly to swell and cover the shores, until 
 she has attained her meridian Tbut when that satellite begins 
 to decline, tne sea again retires by degrees, until the moon 
 wants merely one sign of the zodiac from setting ; it then re- 
 mains stationary until the moon has set, and also descended 
 one sign of the zodiac below the horizon, when it again rises 
 until she has attained her meridian below the earth ; it then 
 retires again until the moon is within one sign of the zodiac of 
 her rising above the horizon, when it remains stationary until 
 the moon has risen one sign of the zodiac above the earth, 
 and then begins to rise as before. Such he describes to be the 
 diurnal revolution. In respect to the monthly revolution, [he 
 says] that the spring-tides occur at the time of the new moon, 
 when they decreasTTTmtil the first quartefTthey theifincrease 
 until full moon, when they again^decrease until the last quar- 
 ter^ after which they increase till the new moon ; [he adds] 
 that these increases ought to be understood both of their dur- 
 ation and speed. In regard to the annual revolution, he says 
 that he learned from the statements of the Gadifanians, that 
 both the ebb and flow tides were at their extremes at the 
 summer solstice : and that hence he conjectured that they de- 
 creased untiTthe [autumnal] equinox ; then increased till the 
 winter solstice ; then decreased again until the vernal equinox ; 
 and [liflally] increased until the summer solstice. But since 
 these revolutions occur twice in the four-and-twenty hours, 
 the sea rising twice and receding twice, and that regularly 
 every day and night, how is it that the filling and failing of 
 the well do not frequently occur during the ebb and flow of the 
 tide ? or if it be allowed that this does often occur, why does 
 it not do so in the same proportion ? and if it does so in the 
 same proportion, how comes it that the Gaditanians are not 
 
 1 Thirty degrees. 
 
B. III. C. V. 9. SPA 261 
 
 competent to observe what is of daily occurrence, while they 
 are nevertheless competent to the observing of revolutions 
 which occur but once in the year. ThatJPosidonius himself 
 credited these reports is evident from his own conjecture re- 
 specting the decrease and increase [of the sea] from solstice to 
 solstice. However, it is not likely, being an observant people, 
 that they should be ignorant of what actually occurred, whilst 
 giving credit to imaginary phenomena. 
 
 9. Posidonius tells us that Seleucus, a native of the country 
 next the Erythraean Sea. 1 states that the regularity and irre- 
 gularity of the ebb and flow of the sea follow the different 
 positions of the moon in the zodiac ; that when she is in the 
 equinoctial signs the tides are regular, but that when she is 
 in the signs next the tropics, the tides are irregular both in 
 their height and force ; and that for the remaining signs the 
 irregularity is greater or less, according as they are more or 
 less removed from the signs before mentioned. Posidonius 
 adds, that during the summer solstice and whilst the moon 
 was full, he himself passed many days in the temple of Her- 
 cules at Gades, but could not observe anything of these annual 
 irregularities. However, about the new moon of the same 
 month he observed at Ilipa' 2 a great change in the reflux of 
 the water of the Guadalquiver. as compared with previous 
 flood-tides, in which the water did not rise half as high as the 
 banks, and that then the water poured in so copiously, that 
 the soldiers there dipped their supply without difficulty, al- 
 though Ilipa is about 700 stadia from the sea. He says, that 
 the plains next the sea were covered by the tides to a distance 
 of 30 3 stadia, and to such a depth as to form islands, while 
 the basement of the temple in the enclosure dedicated to 
 Hercules, and the top of the mole in front of the harbour of 
 Gades, were not covered higher than 10 cubits, as observed 
 by actual soundings ; but if any one should add the double of 
 that for the occasional risings of the tide which occur, [nei- 
 ther] thus would he be able to estimate the violence with 
 which the full force of the high tide rushes over the plains. 
 Posidonius informs us that this violence [of_the_tide] is com- 
 mon to all the coagts of Spain on the Atlantic, 4 but what he 
 
 1 The Persian Gulf. Alcolea. 
 
 3 Some MSS. read 50 stadia. 
 
 4 This is the sense of the text, *aeav TTJV rvcXy 
 
262 STRABO. CASAUB. 175. 
 
 relates concerning the Ebro is unusual and peculiar to itself, 
 for he says that it sometimes overflows after continued north 
 winds, although there may have been neither rains nor snows. 
 The cause of this [he supposes] to be the lake through which 
 the Ebro flows, its waters being driven by the winds into the 
 current of the river. l 
 
 10. The same writer mentions a tree at Gades, which had 
 boughs reaching to the ground ; its sword-shaped leaves often 
 measuring a cubit long, and four fingers broad. Also that 
 about Carthagena there was a tree whose thorns produced a 
 bark from which most beautiful stuffs were woven. As for the 
 tree [he saw] at Gades, we ourselves have observed a similar in 
 Egypt, so far as the inclination of the boughs is concerned, but 
 with a differently shaped leaf, and producing no fruit, which 
 according to him the other did. In Cappadocia there are stuffs 
 made from thorns, but it is not a tree which produces the 
 thorn from which the bark is taken, but a low plant ; he also 
 tells us of a tree at Gades, from which if a branch be broken 
 off a milk will flow, and if the root be cut a red fluid runs. 
 Thus much for Gades, 
 
 11. The Cassiterides are ten in number, and lie near each 
 other in the ocean towards the north from the haven of 
 the Artabri. One of them is desert, but the others are 
 inhabited by men in black cloaks, clad in tunics reaching 
 to the feet, girt about the breast, and walking with staves, 
 thus resembling the Furies we see in tragic representa- 
 tions. 2 They subsist by their cattle, leading for the most part 
 a wandering life. Of the metals they have tin and lead ; 
 which with skins they barter with the merchants for earth- 
 enware, salt, and brazen vessels. Formerly the Pho3nicians 
 alone carried on this traffic from Gades, concealing the pas- 
 sage from every one ; and when the Romans followed a certain 
 
 1 We are not aware that the Ebro passes through any lake. 
 
 2 This is probably a description of the appearance of the Druids. Taci- 
 tus, (Ann. lib. xiv. 30,) speaking of the consternation into which the Druids 
 of Anglesey threw the Roman soldiers who had disembarked there, says, 
 " Druidaeque circum, preces diras, sublatis ad coolum manibus, fundentes, 
 novitate adspectus perculere milites, ut, quasi heerentibus membris, im- 
 mobile corpus vulneribus praeberent." Immediately before these words he 
 thus describes the women, "Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis 
 virisque, intercursantibus feminis in modum furiarum, quae veste ferali, 
 crinibus dejectis, faces praeferebant. 
 
B. in. c. v. 11. SPAIN. 263 
 
 ship-master, that they also might find the market, the ship- 
 master of jealousy purposely ran his vessel upon a shoal, 
 leading on those who followed him into the same destructive 
 disaster ; he himself escaped by means of a fragment of the 
 ship, and received from the slate the value of the cargo he 
 had lost. The Romans nevertheless by frequent efforts dis- 
 covered the passage, and as soon as Publius Crassus, passing 
 over to them, perceived that the metals were dug out at a 
 little depth, and that the men were peaceably disposed, he 
 declared it to those who already wished to traffic in this sea for 
 profit, although the passage was longer than that to Britain. 1 
 Thus far concerning Iberia and the adjacent islands. 
 
 1 Viz. that the Cassiterides are farther removed from the coasts of 
 Spain than the rest of the southern coasts of England. 
 
BOOK IV. 
 GAUL. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The Fourth Book contains a description of the regions about Gaul, Spain, 
 and the Alps on this side, towards Italy. Likewise of Britain, and of 
 certain islands in the ocean which are habitable, together with the country 
 of the barbarians, and the nations dwelling beyond the Danube. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. NEXT in order [after Iberia] comes Keltica beyond the 
 Alps, 1 the configuration and size of which has been already 
 mentioned in a general manner ; we are now to describe it 
 more particularly. Some divide it into the three nations of 
 the Aquitani. Belgse, and Keltse. 2 Of these the Aquitani differ 
 completely from the other nations, not only in their language 
 but in their figure, which resembles more that of the Iberians 
 than the Galatas. The others are Galatae in countenance, 
 although they do not all speak the same language, but some 
 make a slight difference in their speech; neither is their 
 polity and mode of life exactly the same. These writers give 
 the name of Aquitani and Keltae to the dwellers near the 
 Pyrenees, whiclT are bounded by the Cevennes. For it has 
 lfe"en "stated that this Keltica is bounded on the west by the 
 mountains of the Pyrenees, which extend to either sea, both 
 the Mediterranean and the ocean ; on the jjast by the Rhine, 
 which is parallel to the Pyrenees ; on the north by the ocean, 
 from the northern extremities of the Pyrenees to the mouths 
 
 1 Transalpine Gaul. 
 
 2 Gaul is properly divided into the four grand divisions of the Narbon- 
 naise, Aquitaine, Keltica, and Belgica. Strabo has principally copied 
 Caesar, who appears only to have divided Gaul into Aquitaine, Keltica, and 
 Belgica. Csesar however only speaks of the provinces he had conquered, 
 and makes no mention of the Narbonnaise, which had submitted to the 
 Romans before his time. Strabo seems to have thought that the Nar- 
 bonnaise formed part of Keltica. 
 
B. iv. c. i. 1. GAUL. 265 
 
 of the Rhine ; on the so_uth by the sea of Marseilles, and 
 Narbonne, and Ij^-thc Alps from Liguria to the sources of 
 the Rhine. The Cevennes lie at right angles to the Pyre- 
 nees, and traverse the plains for about 2000 stadia, terminating 
 in the middle near Lugdunum. 1 They call those people Aqui- 
 tani who inhabit the northern portions of the Pyrenees, and 
 tEe Cevennes extending as far as the ocean, and bounded by 
 the ri ver G aronne ; and Keltse, those who dwell on the other 
 side oT the Garonne, towards the sea of Marseilles and Nar- 
 bonne, and touching a portion of the Alpine chain. This is 
 the division adopted by divus Caesar in his Commentaries. 2 
 But Augustus Caesar, when dividing the country into four 
 parts, united the KeltaB to the Narbonnaise ; the Aquitani 
 he preserved the same as Julius Caesar, but added thereto 
 fourteen other nations of those who dwelt between the Ga- 
 ronne and the river Loire, 3 and dividing the rest into two 
 parts, the one extending to the upper districts of the Rhine 
 he made dependent upon Lugdunum, the other [he assigned] 
 
 1 Lyons. 
 
 2 The whole of this passage, says Gosselin, is full of mistakes, and it 
 would seem that Strabo quoted from an inexact copy of Caesar. To under- 
 stand his meaning, \ve must remember that he supposed the Pyrenees ex- 
 tended from north to south, instead of from east to west ; and since he 
 adds that these mountains divide the Cevennes at right angles, he must 
 have supposed that this second chain extended from east to west, instead 
 of from north to south. He likewise fancied that the Garonne, the 
 Loire, and the Seine ran from north to south like the Rhine. Start- 
 ing from such premises, it was impossible he could avoid confusion; 
 thus we find him describing the Aquitani as north of the Cevennes, 
 when in fact they dwelt north of the Pyrenees, between those moun- 
 tains and the Garonne, and west of the southern portions of the Cevennes. 
 Where he says that the Kelts dwelt on the other side or east of the Ga- 
 ronne, and towards the sea of Narbonne and Marseilles, it is clear that 
 he prolonged Keltica into the Narbonnaise, since this last province ex- 
 tended along the Mediterranean from the frontiers of Spain to the Alps. 
 Caesar had stated that the Gauls (the Kelts of Strabo) ipsorum lingua Kelta, 
 nostri Galli, dwelt between the Garonne, the Seine, the Marne, and the 
 Rhine. Finally, Strabo appears to have assigned the greater part of Gaul 
 to the Belgae in making them extend from the ocean, and the mouth of 
 the Rhine, to the Alps. This considerably embarrassed Xylander, but 
 as we have seen that Strabo transported a portion of the Kelts into the 
 Narbonnaise, it is easy to imagine that, in order to make these people 
 border on the Belgae, he was forced to extend them as far as the Alps, 
 near the sources of the Rhine. Ceesar located the Belgae between the 
 Seine, the ocean, and the Rhine. 3 Liger. 
 
266 STEABO. CASATJB. 177. 
 
 to the Belgae. However, it is the duty of the Geographer to 
 describe the physical divisions of each country, and those which 
 result from diversity of nations, when they seem worthy of 
 notice ; as to the limits which princes, induced by a policy 
 which circumstances dictate, have variously imposed, it will 
 be sufficient for him to notice them summarily, leaving others 
 to furnish particular details. 
 
 2. The whole of this country is irrigated by rivers descend- 
 ing from the Alps, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees, some of 
 which discharge themselves into the ocean, others into the 
 Mediterranean. The districts through which they flow are 
 mostly plains interspersed with hills, and having navigable 
 streams. The course of these rivers is so happily dis- 
 posed in relation to each other, that you may traffic from 
 one sea to the other, 1 carrying the merchandise only a 
 small distance, and that easily, across the plains ; but for the 
 most part by the rivers, ascending some, and descending 
 others. The Rhone is pre-eminent in this respect, both be- 
 cause it communicates with many other rivers, and also be- 
 cause it flows into the Mediterranean, which, as we have said, 
 is superior to the ocean, 2 and likewise passes through the 
 richest provinces of Gaul. The whole of the Narbonnaise 
 produces the same fruits as Italy. As we advance towards the 
 north, and the mountains of the Cevennes, the plantations of the 
 olive and fig disappear, but the others remain. Likewise the 
 vine, as you proceed northward, does not easily mature its 
 fruit. The entire of the remaining country produces in 
 abundance corn, millet, acorns, and mast of all kinds. No 
 part of it lies waste except that which is taken up in marshes 
 and woods, and even this is inhabited. The cause of this, 
 however, is rather a dense population than the industry of 
 the inhabitants. For ~ttie~ women there are both very_ prolific 
 and excellent nurses, while the men devote themselves rather 
 to Tvar tnanjiuspandry. However, their arms being now laid 
 asidX they are compelled to engage in agriculture. These 
 remarks apply generally to the whole of Transalpine Keltica. 
 We must now describe particularly each of the four divisions. 
 
 1 From the ocean to the Mediterranean, and vice versa. 
 
 2 Alluding to the superiority of the climate on the shores of the Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
B. iv. c. i. $ 3. GAUL. THE NARBOXNAISE. 267 
 
 which hitherto we have only mentioned in a summary man- 
 ner. And, first, of the Narbonnaise. 
 
 3. The configuration of this country resembles a parallel- 
 ogram, the western side of which is traced by the ^Pyrenees, 
 the north by the Cevennes ; as for the other two sides, the 
 south is bounded by the sea between the Pyrenees and Mar- 
 seilles, and the east partly by the Alps, 1 and partly by a line 
 drawn perpendicularly from these mountains to the foot of the 
 Cevennes, which extend towards the Rhone, and form a right 
 angle with the aforesaid perpendicular drawn from the Alps. 
 To the southern side of this parallelogram we must add the 
 sea-coast inhabited by the Massilienses 2 and Salyes, 3 as far as 
 the country of the Ligurians, the confines of Italy, and the river 
 Var. This river, aswe'Iiave said before, 4 is the boundary of the 
 Narbonnaise and Italy. It is but small in summer, but in winter 
 swells to a breadth of seven stadia. From thence the coast 
 extends to the temple of the Pyrenaean Venus, 5 which is the 
 boundary between this province and Iberia. Some, how- 
 ever, assert that the spot where the Trophies of Pompey stand 
 is the boundary between Iberia and Keltica. From thence 
 to Narbonne is 63 miles ; from Narbonne to_Nemauau^ 6 88 ; l\i. 
 from Nemausus through Ugernum 7 and Tarusco, to the hot * *t 
 waters called Sextiae 8 near Marseilles, 53 ; 9 from thence to Q \ \ 
 Antipolis ancf the"" river Yar, 73 ; making in the total 277 
 miles. Some set down the distance from the temple of Venus 
 to the Var at 2600 stadia ; while others increase this number 
 by 200 stadia; for there are different opinions as to these 
 distances. As for the other road, which traverses the [coun- 
 
 1 We shall see in the course of this book, that under the name of Alps 
 Strabo includes the different mountain-chains separated from the range 
 of Alps properly so called. This accounts for his extending those moun- 
 tains on the west as far as Marseilles, and on the east beyond Istria. 
 
 2 The Marseillese. 3 The Salyes inhabited Provence. 
 
 * As Strabo has made no previous mention of this river, the words " as 
 we have said before " are evidently interpolated. 
 
 5 This temple was built on Cape Creus, which on that account received 
 the name of Aphrodisium. Many geographers confound this temple with 
 the portus V'eneris, the modern Vendres, which is at a short distance 
 from Cape Creus. 
 
 6 Nimes. " Beaucaire. 8 Aix. 
 
 9 Gosselin, who considers that the former numbers were correct, enters 
 at some length on an argument to prove that these 53 miles were 62, and 
 differs also in computing the succeeding numbers. 
 
268 STRABO. "CASAUB. 179. 
 
 tries of the] Vocontii l and Cottius, 2 from Nemausus 3 to 
 Ugernum and Tarusco, the route is common ; from thence [it 
 branches off in two directions], one through Druentia and 
 Caballio, 4 to the frontiers of the Vocontii and the commence- 
 ment of the ascent of the Alps, which is 63 miles ; the other 
 is reckoned at 99 miles from the same point to the other ex- 
 tremity of the Vocontii, bordering on the state of Cottius, as 
 far as the village of Ebrodunum. 5 The distance is said to be 
 the same by the route through the village of Brigantium, 6 
 Scingomagus, 7 and the passage of the Alps to Ocelum, 8 which 
 is the limit of the country of Cottius. However, it is con- 
 sidered to be Italy from Scingomagus. And Ocelum is 28 
 miles beyond this. 
 
 4. Marseilles, founded by the Phocaeans, 9 is built in a stony 
 region. Its harbour lies beneath a rock, which is shaped 
 like a theatre, and looks towards the south. It is well sur- 
 rounded with walls, as well as the whole city, which is of 
 considerable size. Within the citadel are placed the JSrjhe- 
 ium and the temple of the Delphian Apollo. This latter 
 temple is common to all the lonians ; the Ephesium is the 
 temple consecrated to Diana^of Ephesus. They say that 
 when the Phocseans were about to quit their country, an oracle 
 commanded them to take from Diana of Ephesus a conductor 
 for their voyage. On arriving at Ephesus they therefore in- 
 quired how they might be able to obtain from the goddess 
 what was enjoined them. The goddess appeared in a dream 
 to Aristarcha, one of the most honourablejwomen of the city, 
 anoTcommahded her to acco'm^anY the Fhocaeans, and to take 
 with her apian of the temple and statues. 10 These things 
 being perforated, and tKe colony bein^fsettled, the Phocaeans 
 
 1 The cantons of Vaison and Die. 
 
 2 Cottius possessed the present Brian9onnais. That portion of the 
 Alps next this canton took from this sovereign the name of the Cottian 
 Alps. Cottius bore the title of king ; and Augustus recognised his inde- 
 pendence ; he lived till the time of Nero, when his possessions became 
 a Roman province. 
 
 3 Nimes. * Durance and Cavaillon. 5 Embrun. 
 
 6 Brianfon. 7 Sezanne, or perhaps Chamlat de Seguin. 
 
 8 Uxeau. 9 About 600 years before the Christian era. 
 
 10 'A<f>iSpvp.d TI T&V ifp&v. Gosselin gives a note on these words, and 
 translates them in his text as follows, " one of the statues consecrated in 
 her temple." 
 
B. iv. c. i. 5.* GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 269 
 
 temple, and evinced their great respect for Aristarcha 
 by making her priestess. All the colonies [sent out from 
 Marseille s] hold This goddess in peculiar reverence, preserving 
 both the shape of fRe^mage [of the goddess 1, and also every 
 rite observed in the metropolis. 
 
 5. The Massilians live under a well-regulated aristocracy. 
 They have a council composed of 600 persons called timu- 
 chi, 1 who enjoy~this dignity for life. Fifteen of these preside 
 over the council, and have the management of current 
 affairs ; these fifteen are in their turn presided over by three 
 of their number, in whom rests the principal authority ; and 
 theseagamby one. No one can become a timuchus who has 
 noTcliildren, and who has not been a citizen for three genera- 
 tions. 2 " Their laws, which are the same as those of the 
 Ionian s, they expound in public. Their country abounds in 
 olives and vines, but on account of its ruggedness the wheat 
 is pnor. Consequently they trust more to the resources of 
 the sea than of the land, and avail themselves in preference of 
 their excellent position for commerce. Nevertheless they 
 have been enabled by the power of perseverance to take in 
 some of the surrounding plains, and also to found cities : of 
 this number are the cities they founded in Iberia as a ram- 
 part against the Iberians, in which they introduced the wor- 
 ship of Diana of Ephesus, as practised in theiFfather-land, with 
 the Grecian mode oFsacrifice. In this number too are Rhoa 3 
 [and] Agatha, 4 [built for defence] against the barbarians 
 dwelling around the river Rhone ; also Tauroentium, 5 Olbia, 6 
 Antipolis 7 and Nicrea, 8 [built aAJL~campart"| against the 
 nation of the Salyes and the Ligurians who inhabit the Alps. 
 They 9 possess likewise drydocks^nd armouries. Formerly 
 they had an abundance oFyessels, arms, and machines, both 
 for the purposes of navigation and for besieging towns ; by 
 means of which they defended themselves against the bar- 
 
 , literally, one having honour and esteem. 
 3 We have seen no reason to depart from a literal rendering of the 
 Greek in this passage, its meaning, "whose ancestors have not been 
 citizens," &c., being self-evident. 
 
 3 This name has evidently been corrupted, but it seems difficult to de- 
 termine what stood originally in the text ; most probably it was Rhoda- 
 nnsia. 
 
 4 Agde. b Taurenti. 8 Eoube. 
 
 7 Antibes. s Nice. The people of Marseilles. 
 
270 STRABO. CASAUB. 180. 
 
 barians, and likewise obtained the alliance of the Romans, to 
 whom they rendered many important services ; the Romans 
 in their turn assisting in their aggrandizement. Sextius, who 
 defeated the Salyes, founded, not far from Marseilles, a city l 
 which was named after him and the hot waters, some of 
 which they say~have lostftheir heat. 2 Here he established a 
 Roman garrison, and drove from the sea-coast which leads 
 from Marseilles to Italy the barbarians, whom the Massilians 
 were not able to keep back entirely. However, all he accom- 
 plished by this was to compel the barbarians to_kggp at a dis- 
 tance of twelve stadia froniTl'Bose" parts of the coast which 
 possessed good harbours, and at a distance of eight stadia 
 where it was rugged. The land which they thus abandoned, 
 he presented to the Massilians. In their city are laid up 
 "heaps ol'~booty taken liTnaval engagements against those who 
 disputed the sea unjustly. Formerly they enjoyed singular 
 good fortune, as well in other matters as also in their amity 
 with the Romans. Of this [amity] we find numerous signs, 
 amongst others the statue of .. Diana which the Romans dedi- 
 cated on the Aventine mount, of the same figure as that of the 
 Massilians. Their prosperity has in a great measure decayed 
 since the war of Pompey against Caesar, in which they sided 
 with the vanquished party. Nevertheless some traces of their 
 ancient industry may still be seen amongst the inhabitants, 
 especially the making of engines of war and sjiip-building. 
 Still as the surrounding barbarians, now that they are un- 
 der the dominion of the Romans, become daily more civil- 
 ized, and leave the occupation of war for the business 
 of towns and agriculture, there is no longer the same 
 attention paid by the inhabitants of Marseilles to these 
 objects. The aspect of the city at the present day is a 
 proof of this. For all those who profess to be menoftaste, 
 turn to the study of elocution and philosophy. Thus this city 
 for some little time Hack has becomeTschool for the barbari- 
 ans, and has communicated to*" the Galaue such a taste for 
 
 1 Aquse Sextise, nowjVix^ 
 
 2 Solinus tells us that in his day the waters had lost their virtue, and 
 that their fame had declined. " Quarum calor, olim acrior, exhalatus 
 per tempora evaporavit; nee jam par est famae priori." Solin. cap. 8. 
 The victory of Sextius, mentioned by Strabo, is said to have been gained 
 in the year of Rome 629. 
 
B. iv. c. i. 6. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 271 
 
 GreeJi^-literature, that they even draw contracts on the 
 Gfrecian model. While at the present day it so entices the 
 noblest of the Romans, that those desirous of studying resort 
 thither in preference to Athens. These the Galatae observ- 
 ing, and being at leisure on account of the peace, readily 
 devote themselves to similar pursuits, and that not merely 
 individuals, but the public generally ; professors of the arts 
 and sciences, and likewise of medicine, being employed not 
 only by private persons, but by towns for common instruc- 
 tion. Of the wiaiiom of the Massilians and the simplicity of 
 their life, the following will not be thought an insignificant 
 proof. The largest_dowry amongst them consists of one hun- 
 dred goldjpieces, with five for dress, and five more for golden 
 ornaments. More than this is not lawful. Cassar and his 
 successors treated with moderation the offences of which they 
 were guilty during the war, in consideration of their former 
 friendship ; and have preserved to the state the right of 
 governing according to its ancient laws. So that neither 
 Marseilles nor the cities dependent on it are under submis- 
 sion to the governors sent [into the Narbonnaise]. So much 
 for Marseilles. 
 
 6. The mountains of the Salyes incline gently from west 
 to north in proportion as they retire from the sea. The coast 
 runs west, and extending a short distance, about 100 stadia, 
 from Marseilles, it begins to assume the character of a gulf at 
 a considerable promontory near to certain stone quarries, and 
 extending to the Aphrodisium. the headland which terminates 
 the Pyrenees, 1 forms the Galatic Gulf, 2 which is also called the 
 Gulf of Marseilles : it is double, for in its circuit Mount Setium 3 
 stands out together with the island of Blascon, 4 which is situ- 
 ated close to it, and separates the two gulfs. The larger of these 
 is properly designated the Galatic Gulf, into which the Rhone 
 discharges itself ; the smaller is on the coast of Narbonne, and 
 extends as far as the Pyrenees. Narbonne is situated above the 
 
 1 The Cape de Creus, a promontory on which was the temple of the 
 Pyrenaean Venus. 
 
 2 The Gulf of I.vnns. 3 The Cape de Cette. 
 
 4 Gosselin says, " The Island of Blascon is a rock opposite Agde, on 
 which remains a fortified castle, which preserves the name of Brescon. 
 This rock has been connected with the mainland, to form the port of 
 Agde." 
 
272 STRABO. CASAUB. 181. 
 
 outlets of the Aude l and the lake of Narbonne. 2 It is the 
 principal commercial city on this coast. On the Rhone is 
 Arelate, 3 a city and emporium of considerable traffic. The 
 1 distance between these two cities is nearly equal to that which 
 separates them from the aforesaid promontories, namely, 
 Narbonne from the Aphrodisium, and Arelate from the cape 
 of Marseilles. There are other rivers besides which flow on 
 either side of Narbonne, some from the Cevennes, others 
 from the Pyrenees. Along these rivers are situated cities 
 having but little commerce, and that in small vessels. The 
 rivers which proceed from the Pyrenees, are the Tet 4 and the 
 Tech ; 5 two cities 6 are built on them, which bear respectively 
 the same name as the rivers. There is a lake near to Rusci- 
 no, 7 and a little above the sea a marshy district full of salt- 
 springs, which supplies "dug mullets," for whoever digs two 
 or three feet and plunges a trident into the muddy water, 
 will be sure to take the fish, which are worthy of considera- 
 tion on account of their size ; they are nourished in the mud 
 like eels. Such are the rivers which flow from the Pyrenees 
 between Narbonne and the promontory on which is built the 
 temple of Venus. On the other side of Narbonne the follow- 
 ing rivers descend from the Cevennes into the sea. The 
 Aude, 8 the Orbe, 9 and the Rauraris. 10 On one of these 11 is 
 situated the strong city of Bagtera, 12 near to Narbonne; on 
 the other Agatha, 13 founded by the people of Marseilles. 
 
 7. Of one marvel of this sea-coast, namely the " dug mul- 
 lets," we have already spoken ; we will now mention another, 
 even more surprising. Between Marseilles and the outlets of 
 the Rhone there is a circular plain, about 100 stadia distant 
 
 2 At the present day Narbonne is not situated on the Aude, the course 
 of that river being changed. The lake of Narbonne, mentioned by Strabo, 
 is not the present lake of Narbonne, but the lake of Rubine. 
 
 3 Aries. 4 'PovffKivhtv. 5 o 'IXi&ppic. 
 
 6 Viz. Ruscino, now superseded by Perpjguan on the Tet ; and Ili- 
 birris, now Elne on the Tech. 
 
 T " This ancient city," says Gosselin, " no longer exists, with the ex- 
 ception of an old tower, scarcely a league from Perpignan, which still 
 bears the name of the Tower of Roussillon. 
 
 8 This river does not rise in the Cevennes, but in the Pyrenees. 
 
 9 *Optf . 10 This name is evidently corrupt ; the Arauris of 
 Mela and Ptolemy (the modern Herault) is probably intended. 
 
 11 The Orbe. l2 Beziers. 13 Agde. 
 
B. iv. c. i. $ 7. GAUL. 273 
 
 from the sea, and about 100 stadia in diameter. It has 
 received the name of the Stony^Plain, from the circum- 
 stance of its being covered^ with stones the size of the fist, 
 from beneath which an abundant herbage springs up for 
 the pasturage of cattle. In the midst of it are water, salt- 
 springs, and^salt. The whole both of this district and that 
 above it is ^xposed to the wind, but in this plain the black 
 north, 1 a violent and horrible wind, rages especially : for they 
 say that sometimes the stones are swept and rolled along, and 
 men hurled from their carriages and stripped both of their 
 arms and garments by the force of the tempest. Aristotle 
 tells us that these stones being cast up by the earthquakes 
 designated brastai, 2 and falling on the surface of the earth, roll 
 into the hollow places of the districts ; but Posidonius, that 
 the place was formerly a lake, which being congealed during 
 a violent agitation, became divided into numerous stones, 
 like river pebbles or the stones by the sea-shore, which 
 they resemble both as to smoothness, size, and appearance. 
 Such are the causes assigned by these two [writers]; however, 
 neither of their opinions is credible, 3 for these stones could 
 neither have thus accumulated of themselves, nor yet have 
 been formed by congealed moisture, but necessarily from the 
 fragments of large stones shattered by frequent convulsions. 
 .ZEscliyJus having, however, learnt of the difficulty of account- 
 ing for it, or having been so informed by another, has ex- 
 plained itjawjiy as a myth. He makes Prometheus utter the 
 following^ whilst directing Hercules the road from the Cau- 
 casus to the Hesperides : 
 
 " There you will come to the undaunted army of the Ligurians, where, 
 resistless though you be, sure am I you will not worst them in battle ; for 
 it is fated that there your darts shall fail you ; nor will you be able to 
 take up a stone from the ground, since the country consists of soft mould ; 
 but Jupiter, beholding your distress, will compassionate you, and over- 
 shadowing the earth with a cloud, he will cause it to hail round stones, 
 which you hurling against the Ligurian army, will soon put them to 
 flight ! " 4 
 
 Posidonius asks, would it not have been better to have 
 
 1 The French Use. 
 
 2 {fpdarai (retajjioi, earthquakes attended with a violent fermentation. 
 
 3 The text has, "both of their opinions are credible,' (iriOavbe fiev 
 ovv 6 Trap' aptyolv \6yog,) but this is discountenanced by the whole 
 sentence. 
 
 4 From the " Prometheus Loosed," which is now lost. 
 VOL. i. T 
 
274 STRABO. CASAUB. 183. 
 
 rained down these stones upon the Ligurians themselves, and 
 thus have destroyed them all, than to make Hercules in need 
 of so many stones ? As for the number, they were necessary 
 against so vast a multitude ; so that in this respect the writer 
 of the myth seems to me deserving of more credit than he 
 who would refute it. Further, the poet, in describing it as 
 fated, secures himself against such fault-finding. For if you 
 dispute Providence and Destiny, you can find many similar 
 things both in human affairs and nature, that you would 
 suppose might be much better performed in this or that 
 way ; as for instance, that Egypt should have plenty of rain 
 of its own, without being irrigated from the land of Ethio- 
 pia. That it would have been much better if Paris had suf- 
 fered shipwreck on his voyage to Sparta, instead of expiating 
 his offences after having carried off Helen, and having been 
 the cause of so great destruction both amongst the Greeks 
 and Barbarians. Euripides attributes this to Jupiter : 
 
 " Father Jupiter, willing evil to the Trojans and suffering to the 
 Greeks, decreed such things." 
 
 8. As to the mouths of the Rhone, Polybius asserts that 
 there are but two, and blames Timaeus 1 for saying five. Ar- 
 temidorus says that there are three. Afterwards Marius, 
 observing that the mouth was becoming stopped up and diffi- 
 cult of entrance on account of the deposits of mud, caused a 
 new channel to be dug, which received the greater part of the 
 river into it. 2 This he gave to the people of Marseilles in 
 recompense for their services in the war against the Ambrones 
 and Toygeni. 3 This canal became to them a source of much 
 revenue, as they levied a toll from all those who sailed up or 
 down it : notwithstanding, the entrance [to the river J still 
 continues difficult to navigate, on account of its great impetu- 
 osity, its deposits, and the [general] flatness of the country, 
 so that in foul weather you cannot clearly discern the land 
 
 1 The historian, son of Andromachus. 
 
 2 The mouths of the Rhone, like those of other impetuous rivers, are 
 subject to considerable changes, and vary from one age to another. Ptole- 
 my agrees with Polybius in stating that there are but two mouths to the 
 Rhone, and those which he indicates are at the present day almost en- 
 tirely filled up ; the one being at Aigues-Mortes, the other the canal now 
 called the Rhone-Mort. 
 
 3 Two Helvetian tribes who united themselves to the Cimbri to pass 
 into Italy, and were defeated near Aix by Marius. 
 
B. iv. c. i. 9. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 275 
 
 even when quite close. On this account the people of Mar- 
 seilles, who wished by all means to inhabit the country, set up 
 towers as beacons ; they have even erected a temple to Diaiia 
 ofEphesus on a piece of thejand, which the mouths of the 
 rixfijs haveJ[onnje^Lintp_anislaiid. Above the outlets of the 
 Rhone is a salt-lake wluclTtney call Stomalimne. 1 It abounds 
 in shell and other fish. There are some who enumerate this 
 amongst the mouths of the Rhone, especially those who say 
 that it has seven 2 mouths. But in this they are quite mis- 
 taken ; for there is a mountain between, which separates the 
 lake from the river. Such then is the disposition and extent 
 of the coast from the Pyrenees to Marseilles. 
 
 9. The [coast] which extends from this lasJL.city] to the 
 river Var, and theJLigunans who dwell near it, contains the 
 Massilian cities of Tauroentium, 3 Olbia, 4 Antipolis, 5 Nicsea,^ 
 and the sea-port of Augustus Caesar, called Forum Julium, 7 
 which is situated between Olbia and Antipolis, and distant 
 from Marseilles about 600 stadia. The Var is between Anti- 
 polis and Nicasa ; distant from the one about 20 stadia, from 
 the other about 60 ; so that according to the boundary now 
 marked Nicpea belongs to Italy, although it is a city of the peo- 
 ple^ of Marseilles, for they built 'these cities [as a defence] 
 against the barbarians who dwelt higher up the country, in 
 order to maintain the sea free, as the barbarians possessed the 
 land. For this [region] is mountainous and fortified by nature, 
 leaving however a considerable extent of plain country near 
 Marseilles ; but as you proceed towards the east the country is 
 so hemmed in by the mountains, as scarcely to leave a sufficient 
 road for passage by the sea-shore. The former districts are 
 inhabited by the Salyes, 8 the latter by the Ligurians, who 
 border on Italy, of whom we shall speak afterwards. It should 
 here be mentioned, that although Antipolis is situated in 
 the Narbonnaise, and Nicaea in Italy, this latter is de- 
 pendent on Marseilles, anct Torms part of that province ; while 
 
 1 Now 1'etang de Berre or de Martigyes. 
 
 2 The French editors propose to read here five mouths, thus referring 
 to the opinion of Timseus. This, Kramer observes, Strabo probably in- 
 tended to do. Still, as there were some who were of opinion the Rhone 
 has seven mouths, as appears from Apoll. Rhod. Argonaut, iv. 634, he 
 did not venture to touch the text. 
 
 3 Taurenti. * Eoube. 5 Antibes. fi Nice. " Frejus. 
 8 Inhabitants of Provence. 
 
 "* T 2 
 
276 STRABO. CASAUB. 184. 
 
 Antipolis is ranked amongst the Italian cities, and freed from 
 the government of the Marseillese by a judgment given against 
 them. 
 
 10. Lying off this narrow pass along the coast, as you com- 
 mence your journey from Marseilles, are the Stoecbades islands. 1 
 Three of these are considerable, and two small. They are 
 cultivated by the people of Marseilles. Anciently they con- 
 tained a garrison, placed here to defend them from the attacks 
 of pirates, for they have good ports. After the Stoschades 
 come [the islands ofj Planasia 2 and Lero, 3 both of them in- 
 habited. In Lero, which lies opposite to Antipolis, is a 
 temple erected to the hero Lero. There are other small 
 islands not worth mentioning, some of them before Marseilles, 
 others before the rest of the coast which I have been describing. 
 As to the harbours, those of the seaport [of Forum- Julium] 4 
 and Marseilles are considerable, the others are but middling. 
 Of this latter class is the port Oxybius, 5 so named from the 
 Oxybian Ligurians. This concludes what we have to say of 
 this coast. 
 
 1 1 . The country above this is bounded principally by the 
 surrounding mountains and rivers. Of these the Rhone is 
 the most remarkable, being both the largest, and capable of 
 being navigated farther than any of the others, and also re- 
 
 vpeiving into it a greater number of tributaries ; of these we 
 
 Nmust speak in order. Commencing at Marseilles, and pro- 
 
 y ceeding to the country between the Alps and the Rhone, to 
 
 U; the river Durance, .dwell the Salyes for a space of 500 stadia. 
 
 From thence you proceed in a ferry-boat to the city of Ca- 
 
 ballio; 6 beyond this the whole country belongs to the Cavari 
 
 as far as the junction of the Isere with the Rhone ; it is here 
 
 too that the Cevennes approach the Rhone. From the Durance 
 
 to this point is a distance of 700 stadia. 7 The Salyes occupy 
 
 the plains and mountains above these. The Yocontii, Tri- 
 
 corii, Iconii, and Medylli, He above the Cavari. 8 Between 
 
 the Durance and the Isere there are other rivers which flow 
 
 1 Les Isles d' Hieres, a row of islands off Marseilles. 
 
 2 Isle St. Houorat. 3 Isle Ste. Marguerite. 4 Frejus. 
 5 Between the river d' Argents and Antibes. 6 Cavaillon. 
 
 7 From the mouth of the Durance to the mouth of the Isere, following 
 the course of the Rhone, the distance is 24 leagues, or 7 % 20 Olympic stadia. 
 
 8 The Vocontii occupied the territories of Vaison and Die. The 
 Tricorii appear to have inhabited a small district east of Die, on the 
 
B. iv. c. i. 11. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 
 
 277 
 
 from the Alps into the Rhone ; two of these, after having 
 flowed round the city of the Cavari, discharge themselves by 
 a common outlet into the Rhone. The Sulgas, 1 which is the 
 third, mixes with the Rhone near the city of Vindalum, 2 
 where Cnseus JEnobarbus in a decisive engagement routed 
 many myriads of the Kelts. Between these are the cities of 
 Avenio, 3 Arausio, 4 and Aeria, 5 which latter, remarks Arte- 
 midorus, is rightly named aerial, being situated in a very lofty 
 position. The whole of this country consistsjifjjlains abound- 
 ing in pasturage, excepting on the route from Aeria to Avenio, 
 where there are narrow defiles and woods to traverse. It was 
 at the point where the river Isere and the Rhone unite near 
 the Cevennes, that Quintus Fabius Maximus -ZEmilianus, 6 with 
 scarcely 30,000 men, cut to pieces 200,000 Kelts. 7 Here he 
 erected a white stone as a trophy, and two temples, one to 
 Mars, and the other to Hercules. From the Isere to Vienne, 
 the metropolis of the Allobroges, situated on the Rhone, the 
 distance is 320 stadia. Lugdunuin 8 is a little above Vienne 
 at the confluence of the Saone 9 and the Rhone. The distance 
 by land [from this latter city] to Lugdunum, passing through 
 the country of the Allobroges, is about 200 stadia, and rather 
 more by water. Formerly the Allobroges engaged in war, 
 their armies consisting of many myriads ; they now occupy 
 themselves in cultivating the plains and valleys of the Alps. 
 They dwell generally in villages, the most notable of them in- 
 habiting Vienne, which was merely a village, although 
 called the metropolis of their nation ; they have now improved 
 and embellished it as a city ; it is situated on the Rhone. So 
 full and rapid is the descent of this river from the Alps, that 
 the flow of its waters through Lake^Leman may be dis- 
 tinguished for many stadia. Having descended into the plains 
 of the countries of the Allobroges, and Segusii, it falls into 
 the Saone, near to Lugdunum, a city of the Segusii. 10 The 
 
 banks of the Drac. The Iconii were to the east of Gap ; and the Medylli 
 in La Maurienne, along the Aar. 
 
 1 The Sorgue. 2 Vedene. 3 Avignon. 4 Orange. 
 
 5 Le mont Ventoux. 
 
 6 Casaubon remarks that ^Emilianus is a name more than this Roman 
 general actually possessed. 
 
 VLjvy states that 120,000 Kelts were slain, and Pliny, 130,000. 
 ^ Lyons. 9 *Apap. 
 
 10 The Allobroges and Segusii were separated by the Rhone ; the former 
 inhabiting the left bank of the river. 
 
278 STRABO. CASAUK. 186. 
 
 Saone rises in the Alps, 1 and separates the Sequani, the ./Edui, 
 and the Lincasii. 2 It afterwards receives the Doubs, a navi- 
 gable river which rises in the same mountains, 3 still however 
 preserving its own name, and consisting of the two, mingles 
 with the Rhone. The Rhone in like manner preserves its 
 name, and flows on to Vienne. At their rise these three 
 rivers flow towards the north, then in a westerly direction, 
 afterwards uniting into one they take another turn and flow 
 towards the south, and having received other rivers, they 
 flow in this direction to the sea. Such is the country situ- 
 ated between the Alps and the Rhone. 
 
 12. The main part of the country on the other side of the 
 Rho.ne is inhabited by the Volcae, surnamed Arecomisci. Their 
 naval station is ft[fl J*bonne, ^which may justly be called the 
 emporium of all Gaul, as it far surpasses every^olher in the 
 multitude of those whojiegort 4 to it. The Volcse border on 
 and Cavari being opposite to them on 
 
 the other side of the river. However, the name of the Cavari 
 has so obtained, that all the barbarians inhabiting near now 
 go by that designation ; nay, even those who are no longer 
 barbarians, but follow the Roman customs, both in their 
 speech and mode of life, and some of those even who have 
 adopted the Roman polity. Between the Arecomisci and the 
 Pyrenees there are some other small and insignificant nations. 
 Nemausus 5 is the metropolis of the Arecomisci ; though far 
 inferior tojjarbonnfl both'as^ojts^mme^c^r^n'd the number 
 of ToreTgners attracted thither, it surpasses that city in the 
 number of its citizens ; for it has under its dominion four and 
 twenty different villages all well inhabited, and by the same 
 people, who pay tribute ; it likewise enjoys the rights of the 
 Latin towns, so that in Nemausus you meet with Roman 
 citizens who have obtained the honours of the sedile and quass- 
 torship, wherefore this nation is not subject to the orders 
 issued by the praetors from Rome. The city is situated on 
 
 1 The Saone rises in the Vosges. 
 
 2 These people are elsewhere called by Strabo Lingones, the name by 
 which they are designated by other writers. 
 
 3 The Doubs rises in the Jura, not in the Alps. Ptolemy falls into the 
 same mistake as Strabo. 
 
 4 We have here followed the proposed correction of Ziegler. 
 
 5 N lines. 
 
B. iv. c. i. 13. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 279 
 
 the road from Iberia to Italy ; this road is very good in 
 the summer, bat muddy and overflowed by the rivers during 
 winter and spring. Some of these streams are crossed 
 in ferry-boats, and others by means of bridges constructed 
 either of wood orstone. The irmruTaTions~which destroy the 
 roads are'causeHnBy the winter torrents, which sometimes 
 pour down from the Alps even in summer-time after the 
 melting of the snows. To perform the route before mentioned, 
 the shortest way is, as we have said, across the territory of the 
 Vocontii direct to the Alps ; the other, along the coast of 
 Marseilles and Liguria, is longer, although it oifers an easier 
 passage into Italy, as the mountains are lower. Nemausus 
 is about 100 stadia distant from the Rhone, situated opposite 
 to the small town of laraseon, and about 720 stadia from 
 Narbonne. The Tectosages, 1 and -certain others whom we 
 shall mention afterwards, border on the range of the Cevennes, 
 and inhabit its southern side as far as the promontory of 
 the Vote. Respecting all the others we will speak here- 
 after. 
 
 13. But the Tectosages dwell near to the Pyrenees, border- 
 ing for a small space the northern side of the Cevennes ; 2 the 
 land they inhabit is rich in gold. It appears that formerly 
 they were so powerfuraind numerous, that dissensions having 
 arisen amongst them, they drove a vast multitude of their 
 number from their homes ; and that these men associating 
 with others of different nations took possession of Phrygia, next 
 to_Cappadocia, and the Paphlagonians. <5f this those who 
 areliow called the Tectosages afford us proof, for [Phrygia con- 
 tains] three nations, one of them dwelling near to the city of 
 Ancyra, 3 being called the Tectosages ; the remaining two, the 
 Trocmi and Tolistobogii. 4 The resemblance these nations bear 
 to the Tectosages is evidence~o7jtheir having immigratedjrom 
 KelticaTtKough we are unable to say from which district they 
 came, as there does not appear to be any people at the present 
 time bearing the name of Trocmi or Tolistobogii, who in- 
 
 1 This name is written diversely, Tectosages, Tectosagae, and Tectosagi. 
 It appears to be comp6sed of the two Latin words, " tectus," covered, and 
 " sagum," a species of cassock. 
 
 2 Viz. between Lodeve and Toulouse ; we must remember that Strabo . 
 supposed the chain of the Cevennes to run west and east. 
 
 3 Angora. 
 
 4 These three nations inhabited Galatia, of which Ancyra was the capital 
 
280 STRABO. CASAUB. 188. 
 
 habit either beyond the Alps, the Alps themselves, or on this 
 side the Alps. It would seem that continual emigration has 
 drained them completely from their native country, a circum- 
 stance which has occurred to many other nations, as some 
 say that the Brennus, who Jed an expedition to Delphi, 1 was a 
 i ; but we are unaple to say where the Prausi 
 
 formerly inhabited. It is said that the Tectosages took part in 
 the expedition to Delphi, and that the treasures found in the city 
 of Toulouse by the Roman general Caepio formed a portion of 
 the bootv^ained there, which was afterwards increased by 
 otterings which the citizens made from their own property, and 
 consecrated in order to conciliate the god.' 2 And that it was 
 for daring to touch these that Ca^pio terminated so miserably 
 his existence, being driven from his country as a plunderer of 
 the temples of the gods, and leaving behind him his daughters, 
 who, as Timagenes informs us, having been wickedly violated, 
 perished miserably. However, the account given by v Posi- 
 doniu^ is the more credible. He tells us that the wealth found 
 in Toulouse amounted to somewhere about 15,000 taTentsTaTpart 
 ofwKIch was hidden in the chapels, and the remainder in the 
 sacred lakes, and that it was not coined [money], but gold and 
 silver in bullion. But at this time the temple of Delphi was 
 emptied of_these treasures, having been _pillaged by the 
 fhocaeans at the period of the Sacred war ; and supposing any 
 to have been left, it would have been distributed amongst 
 many. Nor is it probable that the Tectosages returned home, 
 since they came off miserably after leaving Delphi, and owing 
 to their dissensions were scattered here and there throughout 
 the country ; there is much more likelihood in the statement 
 made by Posidonius and many others, that the country 
 abounding in gold, and the inhabitants being superstitious, 
 and not living expensively, they hid their treasures in many 
 different places, the lakes in^particular affording them a hiding- 
 place for depositing~tKeir"gold and silver bullion. When the 
 Romans obtained possession of the country they put jojx-lhese 
 lakes to public sale, and many of the purchasers found therein 
 
 1 279 years before the Christian era. 
 
 2 Justin tells us that the Tectosages on returning to Toulouse_from the 
 expedition, were attacked with a pestilential malady, IromTwhich they 
 could find no relief until they complied with the advice of their augurs, 
 and cast the ill-gotten wealth into a lake. Justin, lib. xxxii. c. 3. 
 
B. iv. c. i. 14. GAUL. THE NARBONNAISE. 281 
 
 solid masses of silver. In Toulouse there was a sacred temple, 
 held in greatjreverence by the inhabitants of the surrounding 
 country, and on this account loaded with riches, inasmuch as 
 there were many who offered gifts, amTncTone dared to touch 
 them. 
 
 14. Toulouse is situated upon the narrowest part of the 
 isthmus which separates the ocean from the sea of Narbonne ; 
 the breadth of the [isthmus], according to Posidonius, being 
 less than 3000 stadia. The perfect similarity maintained 
 throughout this country both in respect tojts rivers, and to 
 the exterior and interior sea, 1 appears to us worthy of especial 
 notice, as we have said before. This, on reflection, will prove to 
 be one main cause of the excellence of this country, since the 
 inhabitants are enabled mutually to communicate, and to pro- 
 cure from each other the necessaries of life ; this is peculiarly 
 the case at the present time, when on account of their leisure 
 from war they are devoting thp.msplves to agriculture and the 
 pursuits of social life. In this we are persuaded that we be- 
 hold theworFoO'rovidence ; such a disposition of these re- 
 gions not resulting from chance, but from the thought of some 
 [intelligence]. The Rhone, for instance, is navigable to a 
 considerable distance for vessels of heavy burden, which it is 
 capable of transmitting through various districts of the coun- 
 try by means of other rivers which fall into it, and are like- 
 wise fitted for the navigation of large vessels. To the Rhone 
 succeeds the Saone, 2 and into this latter river falls the Doubs ; 
 thence the merchandise is carried by land to the river Seine ; 
 whence it is transported to the ocean and the [countries of 
 the] Lexovii and Caleti, 3 the distance thence to Britain being 
 less than a day's journey. The navigation of the Rhone being 
 difficult on account of the rapidity of its current, the merchants 
 prefer to transport in waggons certain of their wares, which 
 are destined for the Arverni, 4 and the river Loire, 5 notwith- 
 standing the vicinity of the Rhone in some places, but the 
 road being level and the distance not far, (about 800 stadia,) 
 they do not make use of water carriage on account of the 
 
 1 The Atlantic and Mediterranean. 2 *Apap. 
 
 3 The Lexovii inhabited the southern banks of the Seine, Lizieux was 
 anciently their capital. The Caleti occupied the opposite side of the 
 Seine, and the sea-coast as far as Treport. 
 
 4 The inhabitants of Auvergne. 5 The ancient Liger. 
 
STRABO. CASATTB. 189. 
 
 facility of the transport by land, from thence the merchandise is 
 easily conveyed by the Loire. This river flows from the Ce- 
 vennes into the ocean. From Narbonne the voyage to the 
 Aude l is short, but the journey by land to the river Garonne 
 longer, being as much as 700 or 800 stadia. The Garonne like- 
 wise flows into the ocean. Such is what we have to say con- 
 cerning the inhabitants of the Narbonnaise, who were for- 
 merly ^ named Kelts. In my opmToiT the" celebrity of the 
 Kelts induced the Grecians to confer that na_me on the whole 
 of the Galatce ; the~~vicmity of the Massilians may alsoliave 
 had sometEmg to do with it. 2 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1 . WE must now speak of the AgmiaEli and the fourteen 
 Galatic nations pertaining to them, situated between the Ga- 
 ronne and thejLoire, some of which extend to the river Khone 
 
 "and the plainiTof the Narbonnaise. Generally speaking, the 
 Aquitani may be said to oliffer from theGalatic race, both as 
 to form of body and language, resembling''more nearly the 
 IbertaTis: They are bounded by the~Garonne, and dwell be- 
 tween this river and the Pyrenees. There are above twenty 
 nations which bear the name of Aquitani, small and obscure, 
 
 ~the~ major part of them dwelling by the ocean, and the re- 
 mainder in the interior and by the extremities of the Cevennes, 
 as far as the Tectosages. This district, however, being too 
 small, they added to it the territory between the Garonne 
 and the Loire. These rivers are nearly parallel with the 
 Pyrenees, and form with them two parallelograms, bounded on 
 the remaining sides by the ocean and the mountains of the 
 Cevennes. 3 Both of these rivers are navigable for a distance 
 
 1 *Ara%. 
 
 2 The whole of Gaul bore the name of Keltica long before the Romans 
 had penetrated into that country. After their conquest of the southern 
 provinces, they distinguished them from the rest of Keltica by conferring 
 on them the name of Gallia Narbonensis. Aristotle gave the name of 
 Kelts to the inhabitants of the country near Narbonne. Polybius tells us 
 that the Pyrenees separated the Iberians from the Kelts ; while Diodorus 
 Siculus fixed the position of the Kelts between the Alps and the Pyrenees. 
 
 3 " Strabo," says Gosselin, u always argues on the hypothesis that the 
 
B. iv. c. ii. 1. GAUL. AQUITAINE. 283 
 
 of about 2000 stadia. 1 The Garonne, after being augmented 
 by three other rivers/ 2 discharges itself into the ["ocean] be- 
 tween the [country] of the Bituriges, surnamed the Vivisci, 8 
 and that of the Santoni ; 4 both of them Gallic nations. 
 
 The Bituriges are the only foreign people who dwell among 
 the Aquitam without forming a part of them. Their em- 
 porium is Burdegala, 5 situated on a creek formed by the o 
 lets of the river. The Loire discharges itself between the 
 Pictones and the NamngtEe. 6 Formerly there was an em- 
 porium on this river named Corbilon, mentioned by Polybius 
 wKeh speaking of the fictions of Pytheas. " The Marseillese, 
 [says he,] when interrogated by Scipio 7 at their meeting, had 
 nothing to_teUa^ojit_^ritain worth mentioning, nor yet had 
 the peopleof the I^arbonnaise, nor those 6T Corbilon ; notwith- 
 standing these were the two principal cities of the district, 
 Pytheas alone dared to forge so many lies [concerning that 
 island]." Mediolanium 8 is the capital of the Santoni. The 
 part of Aquitaino next the ocean is for the most part sandy 
 and meagre/ producing millet, but barren of all other bruits. 
 Here is the gulf wMch, with that on"tHe coast of Narbonne, 
 forms the isthmus. Both these gulfs 9 go by the name of the 
 Galatic gulf. The former gulf belongs to the Tarbelli. 10 
 These people possess the ri^eaLgoldJUJnes ; masses of gold as 
 big as the fist can contain, and requiring hardly any purifying, 
 
 Pyrenees run from south to north; that the Garonne and the Loire 
 flowed in the same direction ; that the Cevennes stretched from west to 
 east; and that the coasts of Gaul, from the Pyrenees, rose gently towards 
 the north, bending considerably east." 
 
 1 The Garonne becomes navigable at Cazferes near to Rieux, in the 
 ancient Comte de Comminges. From this point to its mouth, following 
 the sinuosities of the river, there are about 68 leagues of 20 to a degree, 
 or 2030 Olympic stadia. The Loire is navigable as far as St. Rambert, 
 about three leagues from St. Etienne-en-Forez, that is to say, double the 
 distance assigned by Strabo. 2000 stadia measured from the mouth of 
 the Loire would extend merely as far as Orleans. 
 
 2 Probably the Arriege, the Tarn, and the Dordogne. 
 
 3 'loaicuv MSS. 
 
 4 The present Saintes was the capital of this nation. 5 Bordeaux. 
 
 6 Poictiers was the capital of the Pictones or Pictavi, and Nantes of the 
 Namnetee. 
 
 7 Scipio ^Emilianus. 8 Saintes. 
 9 The Gulfs of Gascony and Lyons. 
 
 1C The Tarbelli occupied the sea-coast from the Pyrenees to the Lake of 
 Arcachon. 
 
284 SIR ABO. CASAUB. 190. 
 
 being found in diggings scarcely beneath the surface of the 
 earth, the remainder consisting of dust and lumps, which like- 
 wise require but little working. In the interior and moun- 
 tainous parts [of Aquitaine] the soil is superior ; for instance, 
 in the district near the Pyrenees belonging to the Con venae, 1 
 which name signifies people assembled from different countries 
 to dwell in one place. Here is the city of Lugdunum, 2 and 
 the hot springs of the Onesii, 3 which are most excellent for 
 drinking. The country of the Auscii 4 likewise is fine. 
 
 2. The nations between the Garonne and the Loire an- 
 nexed to the Aquitani, are the Elui, 5 who commence at the 
 Rhone. After these the Vellaei, 6 who were formerly com- 
 prehended amongst the Arverni, 7 but now form a people to 
 themselves. After these Arverni come the Lemovices, 8 and 
 Petrocorii, 9 and after them the Nitiobriges, 9 the Cadurci, 9 and 
 the Bituriges, 9 surnamed Cubi. Along the ocean we meet 
 with the Santoni, and Pictones, 10 the former dwelling by the 
 Garonne, as we have stated, and the latter by the Loire. The 
 Ruteni and the Gabales ! l are in the vicinity of the Narbonnaise. 
 The Petrocorii and Bituriges-Cubi possess excellent iron- 
 wor^s, the Cadurci linen-factories, and the Ruteni silyer- 
 mines : the Gabales likewise possess silver-mines. On 
 certain amongst the Aquitani the Romans have conferred the 
 rights of Latin cities ; such for instance as the Auscii, and the 
 Convenae. , fflP-l.fif. 
 
 3. The Arverni are situated along the Loire. Nempssus, 
 *0 their metropolis, is built on the same river. 12 This river having 
 
 . ^ flowed past Genabum, 13 an emporium of the Carnutes, 14 situated 
 about the"nnddle^Fits course, discharges itself into the ocean. 
 A great proof of the jormjer_ower of the Arverni, is the fact 
 of th^fr^qu^ntjwars which they sustained against the Romans., 
 
 I The Canton of Comminges. 2 St. Bertrand. 
 
 3 Xylander thinks that these Onesii may be identical with the Monesi 
 of Pliny. Gosselin says that the hot springs are probably the baths of 
 Bagnieres-sur-PAdour. * The territory of the city of Auch. 
 
 5 The inhabitants of Vivarais. 6 The inhabitants of Velai. 
 
 r The inhabitants of Auvergne. 8 The Limousins. 
 
 9 The inhabitants of Perigord, Agenois, Querci, and Berri. 
 
 10 The inhabitants of Saintonge and Poitou. 
 
 II The inhabitants of Rouergue and Gevaudan. 
 
 12 Gosselin supposes that this city is Clermont in Auvergne at some dis- 
 tance from the Allier. 
 
 13 Orleans. u The people of the Chartrain. 
 
B. iv. c. m. 1. GAUL. AQUITAINE. 285 
 
 sometimes with armies of^ 200,000 men, and sometimes with 
 double that number, which was the amount of their force 
 when they fought against divus Csesar underjhe command of 
 Vercingetorix. 1 Before this they had brought 200,000 men 
 against Maximus JEmilianus, and the same number against 
 Domitius ^Enobarbus. Their battles with Cassar took place, 
 one in Gergovia, 2 a city of the Arverni situated on a lofty 
 mountain, the birthplace of Vercingejprix ; the other, near 
 to Alesia, 3 a city oTlhelilandubii, who border on the Arverni ; 
 this city is likewise situated on a high hill, surrounded by 
 mountains, and between two rivers. Here the war was ter- 
 minated by the capture of their leader. The battle with 
 Maximus JEmilianus was fought near the confluence of the 
 Isere and the Rhone, at the point where the mountains of the 
 Cevennes approach the latter river. That with Domitius was 
 fought lower down at the confluence of the Sulgas 4 and the 
 Rhone. The Arverni extended their dominion as far as 
 Narbonne and the borders of Marseilles, and exercised au- 
 thority over the nations as far as the Pyrenees, the ocean, and 
 the Rhine. Luerius, 5 the father of Bituitus who fought against 
 Maximus and Domitius, is said to have been so distinguished 
 by his riches and luxury, that to give a proof of his opulence 
 to his friends, he caused himself to be dragged across a plain 
 in a car, whilst he scattered gold and silver coin in every 
 direction for those who followed him to gather up. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. NEXT in order after Aquitaine and the Narbonnaise, 
 is that portion [of Gaul] expending as far as the JRhine from 
 
 1 Caesar himself (lib. vii. c. 76) states the number at 248,000 men. 
 
 2 A city near Clermont. 
 
 3 Alise. The ruins of Alesia, says Gosselin, still exist near to Flavigni 
 jn^Boirgiindy, on Mount Auxois, between two small rivers, the Oze and the 
 
 Ozerain, which flow into the Brenne. 4 The Sorgue. 
 
 5 In Athenaeus, (lib. iv. p. 152,) this name is written Luernius. 
 
286 STRABO. CASAUB. 191. 
 
 the rivejiLQire, and the Rhone, where it passes by Lugdunlm :v 
 in its descent from its source. The upper regions of this 
 district from the sources of the Rhine and Rhone, nearly to 
 the middle of the plains, pertain to Lugdunum ; the remainder, 
 with the regions next the ocean, is comprised in another divi- 
 sion which belongs to the Belga3. We will describe the two 
 together. 
 
 2. Lugdunum itself, situated on 2 a hill, at the confluence 
 of the Saone 3 and the Rhone, belongs to the Romans. It is the 
 most populous city after Narbonne. It carries on a great 
 commerce, and the Roman prefects here coin both gold and 
 silver money. Before this city, at the confluence of the 
 rivers, is situated the temple dedicated by all the Galatae in 
 common to Caesar .Augustus. The altar is splendid, and has 
 inscribed on it the names of sixty people, and images of them, 
 one for each, and also another great altar. 4 
 
 This is the principal city of the nation of the Segusiani who 
 lie between the Rhone and the Doubs. 5 The other nations 
 who extend to the Rhine, are bounded in part by the Doubs, 
 and in part by the Saone. These two rivers, as said before, 
 descend from the Alps, and, falling into one stream, flow into 
 the Rhone. There is likewise another river which has its 
 sources in the Alps, and is named the__Seine. 6 It flows 
 parallel with the Rhine, through a nation bearing the same 
 name as itself, 7 and so into the ocean. The Sequani are 
 bounded on the east by the Rhine, and on the opposite side 
 by the Saone. It is from them that the Romans procure 
 the finest salted-pork. Between the Doubs and Saone dwells 
 the nation oi the Jdui, who possess the city of Cabyllinum, 8 
 situated on the Saone and the fortress of Bibracte. 9 The 
 
 1 Lyons. 
 
 2 M'SS. read VTTO, " under," we have not hesitated to translate it iiri, like 
 the Italian, French, and German versions; although Kramer remarks 
 "paulo audacius," of Coray's reading tirl in the Greek. 3 "Apap. 
 
 4 Kramer says that aXXof is manifestly corrupt. I have ventured to 
 translate it another altar. 
 
 5 Kramer concurs with Falconer and Gosselin in understanding this 
 passage to have been originally between the Rhone and the Loire. 
 
 6 S^Koavat, 1 . 7 The Sequani. 
 
 8 Chalons-sur-Saone. 
 
 9 Autun, accordinglo Gosselin. Beurect, according to Ferrarius. 
 
B. iv. c. in. 3. GAUL. THE LYONNAISE. 287 
 
 are said to be related to the_JfomajisAand they were 
 the first to enter into friendship and alliance with them. On 
 the other side of the Saone dwell the Sequani, who have for 
 long been at enmity with the Romans and ^Edui, having 
 frequently allied themselves with the Germans in their in- 
 cursions into Italy. It was then that they proved their strength, 
 for united to them the Germans were powerful, but when 
 separated, weak. As for the jEdui, their alliance with the 
 Romans naturally rendered them the enemies of the Sequani, 2 
 but the enmity was increased by their contests concerning the 
 river which divides them, each nation claiming the Sapne ex- 
 clusively for themselves, and likewise the jtolls on Yes_seis 
 passing. However, at the present time, the whole of it is under 
 the dominion of the Romans. 
 
 '6. The n"rsF~ofall the nations dwelling on the Rhine are 
 the Helvetii, amongst whom are the sources of that river in 
 Mount Adula, 3 which forms part_of^the Alps. From this 
 mountain, but in an opposite direction, likewise proceeds the 
 Adda, which flows towards Cisalpine Gaul, and fills lake 
 Larius, 4 near to which stands [the city of] Como ; thence it 
 discharges itself into the Po, of which we shall speak after- 
 wards. The Rhine also nows into vast marshes and a great 
 lake, 5 which borders on the Rhaeti and Vindelici, 6 who dwell 
 partly in the Alps, and partly beyond the Alps. Asinius 
 says that the length of this river is 6000 stadia, but 'such is 
 not the case, for taken in a straight line it does not much 
 exceed half that length, and 1000 stadia is quite sufficient to 
 allow for its sinuosities. In fact this river is so rapid that it 
 is difficult to throw bridges across it, although after its descent 
 from the mountains it is borne the remainder of the way 
 through level plains ; now how could it maintain its rapidity 
 and vehemence, if in addition to this level channel, we suppose 
 it also to have long and frequent tortuosities ? Asinius like- 
 
 1 Caesar, Tacitus, and other writers, also speak ojF_this relationship of 
 itH th 
 
 e Romans. 
 Lit " As for The ^Edui on these accounts indeed." 
 
 3 The sources of the Rhine take their rise in Mount St. Gothard and 
 Mount Bernardin, while the Adda rises in the glaciers of the Valteline. 
 Adula, however, may have been the name of the Rhaetian Alps. 
 
 4 The Lake of Como. 5 The Lake of Constance. 
 
 6 The Rheeti occupied the Tirol ; the Vindelici that portion of Bavaria 
 south of the Danube. 
 
288 STRABO. CASAL-B. 193. 
 
 wise asserts that this river has two mouths, and blames those 
 who say that it has more. 1 This river and the Seine embrace 
 within their tortuosities a certain extent of country, which 
 however is not considerable. They both flow from south to 
 north. Britain lies opposite to them ; but nearest to the 
 Rhine, from which you may see Kent, which is the most easterly 
 part of the island. The Seine is a little further. It was here 
 that divns Cgsar established^ dock-yard when he sailed to 
 Britain. The navigable portion of the Seine, commencing 
 from" the point where they receive the merchandise from the 
 Saone, is of greater extent than the [navigable portions] of 
 the Loire and Garonne. From Lugdunum 2 to the Seine is [a 
 distance of] 1000 stadia, and not twice this distance from the 
 outlets of the Rhone to Lugdunum. They say that the Hel- 
 vetii, 3 though rich in gold, nevertheless, devoted themselves to 
 pillage oliT)eholding the wealth jrf the^Cimbri, 4 [accumulated 
 by that means ;] and that two out of their three tribes perished 
 entirely in their military expeditions, iiowever, the multitude 
 of descendants who sprang from this remainder was proved in 
 their war with divus Cassar. in which about 4QQ.OOO of their 
 number were destroyed ; the 8000 who survived the war, 
 being spared by the conqueror, that their country mi^ht not 
 be_ left desert, a prey to the neighbouring Germans. 5 
 
 4. After the Helvetii, the Sequani 6 and Mediomatrici 7 
 dwell along the Rhine, amongst whom are the Tribocchi, 8 a 
 German nation who emigrated from their country hither. 
 Mount Jura, which is in the country of the Sequani, separates 
 that people from the Helvetii. To the west, above the Hel- 
 vetii and Sequani, dwell the JEdui and Lingones; the Leuci 
 and a part of the Lingones dwelling above the Mediomatrici. 
 The nations between the Loire and the Seine, and beyond the 
 Rhone and the Saone, are situated to the north near to the 
 
 1 Ptolemy says it has three. It appears that the ancient mouths of this 
 river were not the same as the present. 2 Lyons. 3 The Swiss. 
 
 4 Gosselin identifies the Cimbri as the inhabitants of Jutland or Den- 
 mark. 
 
 5 Casaubon remarks that the text must be corrupt, since Strabo's ac- 
 count of the Helvetii must have been taken from Ceesar, who (lib. i. c. 
 29) states the number of slain at 258,000, and the survivors at 110,000. 
 
 6 The Sequani occupied La Franche-Comte. 
 
 7 Metz was the capital of the Mediomatrici. 
 
 8 These people dwelt between the Rhine and the Vosges, nearly from 
 Colmar to Hagenau. 
 
B. iv. c. in. 4, 5. GAUL. THE LYONNAISE. 289 
 
 Allobroges, 1 and the parts about Lyons. The most celebrated 
 amongst them are the Arverni and Carnutes, 2 through both 
 of whose territories the- Loire flows before discharging itself 
 into the ocean. The distance from the rivers of Keltica to 
 Britain is 320 stadia ; for departing in the evening with the 
 ebb tide, you will arrive on the morrow at the island about 
 the eighth hour. 3 After the Mediomatrici and Tribocchi, 
 the Treviri 4 inhabit along the Rhine ; in their country the 
 Roman generals now engaged in the German war have con- 
 structed a bridge. Opposite this place on the other bank of 
 the river dwelt the Ubii, whom Agrippa with their own con- 
 sent brought over to this side the Rhine. 5 The Nervii. 6 
 another^German nation, are contiguous to the Treviri ; and last 
 the Menapii, who inhabit either bank of the river near to its 
 outlets ; they dwell amongst marshes and forests, not lofty, 
 but consisting of dense and thorny wood. Near to these dwell 
 the Sicambri, 7 who are likewise Germans. The country next 
 the whole [eastern] bank^is TnhaTnted by the Suevi, who are 
 also named Germans, but are superior both in power and 
 number to the others, whom they drove out, and who have 
 now taken refuge on this side the Rhine. Other tribes have 
 sway in different places ; they are successively a prey to the 
 flames of war, the former inhabitants for the most part being 
 destroyed. 
 
 5. The Senones, the Remi, the Atrebates, and the Ebu- 
 rones dwell west of the Treviri and Nervii. 8 Close to the 
 Menapii and near the sea are the Morini, the Bellovaci, the 
 Ambiani, the Suessiones, and the Caleti, as far as the outlet 
 
 1 The Allobroges dwelt to the left of the Rhone, between that river and 
 the Isere. 
 
 2 The Arverni have given their name to Auvergne, and the Carnutes to 
 Chartrain. 
 
 3 Strabo here copies Caesar exactly, who, speaking of his second passage 
 into Britain, (lib. v. c. 8,) says: "Ad solis occasum naves solvit .... ae- 
 cessum estad Britanniam omnibus navibus meridiano fere tempore." 
 
 * The capital of these people is Treves. 
 
 5 Viz. to the western bank of the river. 
 
 6 The Nervii occupied Hainault, and the Comte de Namur. 
 
 7 The Sicambri occupied the countries of Berg, Mark, and Arensberg. 
 They afterwards formed part of the people included under the name of 
 Franci or Franks. 
 
 8 Bavai, to the south of Valenciennes, was the capital of the Nervii ; 
 Duricortora, now Rheims, of the Remi ; Arras of the Atrebates, and Ton- 
 gres of the Eburones. 
 
 VOL. i. u 
 
290 STRABO. CASAru. 194. 
 
 of the river Seine. 1 The countries of the Morini, the Atre- 
 bates, and the Eburones are similar to that of the Menapii. 
 It consists of a forest filled with low trees ; of great extent, 
 but not near so large as writers have described it, viz. 4000 
 stadia. 2 It is named Ar duenna. 3 In the event of warlike 
 incursions the inhabitants^ would interweave the flexible 
 brambly shrubs, thus stopping up the passages [into their 
 country]. They also fixed stakes in various places, and then 
 retreated with their whole families into the recesses of the 
 forest, to smalLJslands surrounded by marshes. During the 
 rainy season these proved secure hidinjr^places. but in times 
 of drought they were easily taken. However, at the present 
 time all the nations on this side the Rhine 4 dwell in peace 
 under' the dominion of the Romans. The Parisii dwell along 
 the river Seine, and inhabit an island formed by the river ; 
 their city is Lucotocia. 5 The Meldi and Lexovii border on 
 the ocean. The most considerable, however, of all these na- 
 tions are the Remi. Duricortora, their metropolis, is well 
 populated, and is the residence of the Roman prefects. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GAUL. THE BELG^E. 
 
 1. AFTER the nations mentioned come those of the Belgae, 
 who dwell next the ocean. Of their number are the V enetl, 6 
 who fought a naval battle with Cassar. They had prepared 
 to resistjiis passage into Britain, beingj)ossessed oi ihejggfl- 
 merce |"of that island") themselves. But Caesar easily gained 
 the victory^ not ^however Dy means of his beaks, (Tor their 
 
 1 Terouane was the principal city of the. Morini, Beauvais of the Bel- 
 lovaci, Amiens of the Ambiani, Soissons of the Suessiones, and Lile- 
 bonne of the Caleti. 
 
 2 Caesar (lib. vi. c. 29) describes the forest of Ardennes as 500 miles 
 in extent. 
 
 pgLldfiBnes. * West of the Rhine. 
 
 ^Ptolemy names it Lucotecia ; Ceesar, Lutetia. Julian, who was pro- 
 claimed emperor by his army in this city, names it Leucetia. 
 6 The inhabitants of Vannes and the surrounding country. 
 
B. iv. c. iv. 2. GAUL. THE BELG^. 291 
 
 ships were constructed of solid wood,) 1 but whenever their 
 ships were borne near to his by the wind, the Romans rent the 
 .Sails by means of scythes fixed on long handles : 2 for the sails 
 [of their ships 1 are made of leather to resist the violence of 
 the winds, and managed by chains instead of cables. They 
 construct their vessels with broad bottoms and high pnnp* and 
 prows, on account of the tides. They are built o/ thp \fooH 
 of the oak, oF which there is abundance. On this account, in- 
 stead of fitting the planks close together, they leave interstices 
 between them ; these they fill with sea-weed to prevent the 
 wood from drying up in dock for want of moisture ; for 
 the sea-weed is damp by nature, but the oak dry and arid. 
 In my opinion these Yeneti were the founders of the\ Yeneti 
 in the Adriatic, for almost all theTother Keltic nations in Italy 
 have passed over from the country beyond the Alps, as for 
 instance, the Boii 3 and Senones. 4 They are said to be 
 Paphlagonians merely on account of a similarity of name. 
 However, I do not maintain my opinion positively ; for in 
 these matters probability is quite sufficient. The Osismii are 
 the people whom Pytheas calls Ostimii ; they dwell on a 
 promontory which projects considerably into the ocean, but 
 not so far as Pytheas and those who follow him assert. 5 As 
 for the nations between the Seine and the Loire, some are 
 contiguous to the Sequani, others to the Arverni. 
 
 2. The entire race which now goes by the name of Gallic, 
 or Galatic, 6 is warlike, passionate, and always ready for fi^ht- 
 ing, but otherwise simple and not malicious. If irritated, 
 they rush in crowds to the conflict, openly and without any 
 circumspection ; and thus are easily vanquished by those who 
 employ stratagem. For any one may exasperate them when, 
 where, ancTunder whatever pretext he pleases ; he will al- 
 
 Neque enira his nostrae rostro nocere poterant; tanta erat in his 
 firmitudo. Caesar, lib. iii. c. 13. 
 
 2 Vide Caesar, lib. iii. c. 14. 
 
 3 The Boii, who passed into Italy, established themselves near to 
 Bologna. 
 
 " * The Senones, or inhabitants of Sens, are thought to have founded 
 .Sienna in Italy. 
 
 The promontory of Calbium, the present Cape Saint-Mahe, is here 
 alluded to. 
 
 6 Gosselin observes, " These people called themselves by the name of 
 Kelts ; the Greeks styled them Galatae, and the Latins Galli or Gauls." 
 
 u 2 
 
292 STRABO. CASAUB. 196. 
 
 ways find them ready for danger, with nothing to support 
 them except their violence and daring. Nevertheless they 
 may be easily persuaded to devote themselves to any thing 
 useful, and have thus engaged both in science and letters. 
 Their power consists both in the jsize of their Bodies and_alsQ 
 in their numbers. Their frankness and simplicity lead them 
 easily to assemble in masses, ^each one feeling indignant at 
 what appears injustice to his neighbour. At the present 
 time indeed they are allatpeace, being in subjection and liv- 
 ing under the commancTof the Romans, who have subdued 
 them ; but we have described their customs as we understand 
 they existed in former times, and as they still exist amongst 
 the Germans. These two nations, both by nature and in 
 their form of government, are similar and related to each 
 other. Their countries border on each other, bejng separ- 
 ated by the^ river Rhine, and are for the most part similar. 
 Germany, however, is more to the north, if we compare to- 
 gether the southern and northern parts of the two countries 
 respectively. Thus it is that they can so easily change their 
 abode. They march in crowds in one collected army, or rather 
 remove with all theirfamilies, whenever^hey are ejeo.tp.djhy 
 ~a moxe~powerful force. They were subdued by the Romans 
 much more easily than the Iberians ; for they began to wage 
 war witli these latter first, ancT ceased last, having in the 
 mean time conquered the whole of the nations situated be- 
 tween the Rhine and the mountains of the Pyrenees. For 
 these fighting in crowds and vast numbers, were overthrown 
 in crowds, whereas the Iberians kept themselves in reserve, 
 and broke up the war into a series of petty engagements, 
 showing themselves in different bands, sometimes here7some- 
 times there, like banditti. All the Gauls are warriors by 
 nature, but they fight better onn^rsebacF''than on footT and 
 tRftHowftr of f.frq Romqn qavalry is dr^wn^trom their"yyymher. 
 The rnost valiant ofMihemdwell tow 
 the ocean. 
 
 3. Of these they say that theJBelgae are the bravest. They 
 are divided into fifteen nations, and dwell near the ocean be- 
 tween the Rhine and the Loire, and have therefore sustained 
 themselves single-handed against the incursions of the Ger- 
 mans, the Cimbri, 1 and the Teutons. The bravest of the 
 1 The Cirnbri inhabited Denmark and the adjacent regions. 
 
B. iv. c. iv. 3. GAUL. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 293 
 
 Belgae are the Bellovaci, 1 and after them the Suessiones. The 
 amount of their population may be estimated by the fact that 
 formerly there were said to be 300,000 Belgae capable of 
 bearing arms. 2 The numbers of the Helvetii, the Arverni, 
 andlheir allies, have already been mentioned. All this is a 
 proof both of the amount of the population ["of Gaul], and, as 
 before remarked, of tEe fecundity of their women, and the 
 ease with which they rearjth,gir_hildren. The Gauls wear 
 the_sjigum, let their hair grow, and wearjshort breeches. In- 
 stead of tunicsTIiey wear a slashed garment with sleeves de- 
 scending aJittle below the hips'? The wool [of their sheep]] 
 is coarse, but long ; from it they weave the thick saga called 
 laines. However, in the northern parts the Eomans rear 
 fioclfs of sheep which they cover with skins, and which pro- 
 duce very fine wool. The equipment [of the Gauls] is in 
 keeping with the size of their bodies ; they have a lonp: sword 
 hanging at their right_side, a long_shield, and lances in propor- 
 tion, together with a madaris somewhat resembling a jave- 
 lin ; some of them also use bows and slings ; they have also a 
 "piece of wood resembling a pilum, which they hurl not out of 
 a thong, hiit from tlipir hfl.nd ; anri to a farther distance than 
 an arrow. They principally make use of it in shooting 
 birds. To the present day most of them lie on the ground, 
 and take their me_als_seated on straw. They subsist princi- 
 pally onjnilk and ajTkmdFoQ[e*sh, especially that of swine, 
 which they eat bothTfresh^and salted. Their swine live in 
 the fields, ancTsurpass in height, strength, and swiftness. To 
 persons unaccustomed to approach them they are almost as 
 dangerous as wolves. The people dwell in great houses 
 arched, constructed~of planks and wicker, and covered with a 
 heavy thatcheoLroof. They have sheep and swine in such abun- 
 dance, that theysupply saga and salted pork in plenty, not only 
 to Rome but to most parts of Italy. Their governments were 
 for the most part aristocratic ; formerly they chose a governor 
 every year, and a military leader was likewise' elected by the 
 multitude. 4 At the present day they are mostly under sub- 
 
 1 The inhabitants of the Beauvoisis. 2 Vide Caesar, lib. ii. c. 4. 
 
 8 This slashed garment is the smock frock of the English peasant 
 and the blouse of the continent. 
 
 4 Conf. Caesar, lib. vTTc. 13. Plebs pene servorum habetur loco, quae 
 per se nihil audet, et nulli adhibetur consilio. 
 
294 STRABO. CASAUB. 197. 
 
 jection to the Romans. They have a peculiar castQmjnJJieir 
 Assemblies. If any one ma,]^s_j|n uproar or interrupts the 
 person speaking, an attendant advances with a_ drawn jswprd, 
 and commands him with menace to be silent ; if he persists, 
 the attendant does the same thing a second and tjburd_time ; 
 and finally, [if he will not obey,] cuts off from bis sagum so 
 largeji piece as to render the remainder useless. The labours 
 of the two sexes are distributed in a manner thejreverse~of 
 what^tJaej^ are with us. but this is a common thing with 
 numerous other barbarians. 
 
 4. Amongst [the Gauls] there are generally three divisions 
 of men especially reverenced, the Bards, the Vates. and the 
 Druids. The Bjr^s_jc^Qmpi)sed and chanted hymns ; the 
 ^Vates occupied themselves with the sacrifices amT'the Jrtudy 
 Q nature ; while the Druids joined to the study of nature 
 
 that of moraLpJiJlQsopIiy^ The belief in the justice | or the 
 JDruids] is so great that the decision both of public and private 
 disputes is referred to them ; and they have before now, by 
 their decision, prevented armies from engaging when drawn 
 up in battle-array against each other. Alt' cases of murder 
 are particularly referred to them. When there is plenty of 
 these they imagine there will likewise be a plentiful harvest. 
 Both these and the others l assert that the soul is indestructi- 
 Jile, and Hkewisejthe world, but that sometimes fire and some- 
 Times water haveprevailed in making great changes. 2 
 
 5. To their simplicity and vehemence, the Gauls join much 
 folly, arrogance, and love of ornament. They wear golden 
 _coliars round their necks, and bracelets on their ^rms and 
 wrists, and those who are of any dignity have garments 
 dyed and worked with gold. This lightness of character 
 makes them intolerable when they conquer, and throws them 
 into consternation when worsted. In addition to their folly, 
 they have a barbarous and absurd custom, common however 
 with many nations of the north, of suspending the-^heads of 
 their enemies from their horses' necKson their return from 
 battle, aHcT when they have~arrive"cT nailing them as a spec- 
 tacle to their gates. Posidonius says he witnessed this in 
 many different 'places, and was^ at first shocked, but became 
 familiar with it in time on account of its frequency. The 
 
 1 By the others are probably meant the Bards and Vates. 
 
 2 These opinions are also to be found in the Pythagorean philosophy. 
 
B. iv. c. iv. 6. GAUL. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 295 
 
 heads of any illustrious persons they embalm with cedar, ex- 
 hibit them to strangers, and would not sell them lor their 
 weight in gold. 1 However, the Romans put a stop to these 
 customs, as well as to their modes_of^acrifice and divination, 
 which were quite opposite to those sanctioned by our laws. 
 They would strike a man devoted as an offering in his back 
 
 with a sword, and divme from his convulsive" throes. W^h- __ *^ 
 out the Druids they never sacrifice. It is said they have r 
 "8fner~ modes oi' sacrificing their human victims ; that they // 
 pierce some of them with arrows, and crucify others in their ^u""* 
 temples ; and that they prepare a colossus of hay and wood, 
 into which they put cattle, beasts of all kinds,"ahd men, and 
 then set fire to it. 
 
 6. They say that in the ocean, not far from the coast, there 
 is a small island lying opposite to the outlet of the river > 
 Loire, inhabited by Samnite women who are Bacchantes, and f 
 conciliate and appease that god by masteries and sacrifices. / / 
 No man is permitted to land on the island ; and when the C7u"* 
 women desire "To" have intercourse with the other sex, they 
 cross the^a, and afterwards return again 1 . They have a 
 custom of once a year unroofing the whole of the temple, and 
 roofing it again the same day before sun-set, each one 
 bringing some of the materials. If any one lets her burden 
 fall, she is torn in pieces by the others, and her limbs carried 
 round the temple with wild shouts, which they never cease 
 until their rage is exhausted. [They say] it always happens 
 that some one drops her burden, and is thus sacrificed. 
 
 But what Artemidorus tells us concerning the crows, par- 
 takes still more of fiction. He narrates that on the coast, 
 washed by the ocean, there is a harbour named the Port of 
 Two Crows, and that here two crows may be seen with their 
 right wings white. Those who have any dispute come here, 
 and eaclT one" having placed a plank for himself on a lofty 
 eminence, sprinkles crumbs thereupon ; the birds fly to these, 
 eat up the one and scatter the other, and he whose crumbs 
 are scattered gains the cause. This narration has decidedly 
 too much the air of fiction. What he narrates concerning 
 Ceres and Proserpine is more credible. He says that there // 
 is an island near Britain in which they perform sacrifices to kr'a 
 
 1 These particulars are taken from Posidonius. See also Diodorus 
 Siculus, lib. v. c. 29. 
 
296 STRABO. CASATJB. 199. 
 
 these goddesses after the same fashion that they do in Samo- 
 thrace. The following is also credible, that a tree grows" in 
 Keltica similar to a fig, which produces a fruit resembling a 
 Corinthian capital, and which, being cut, exudes a poison- 
 ous juice which they use for poisoning their arrows. It 
 is well known that all the Kelts are fond of disputes ; and 
 that amongst them paederasty is not considered shameful. 
 Ephorus extends the size of Keltica too far, including within 
 it most of what we now designate as Iberia^ as far as Gades. 
 He states that the people are great admirers of the Greeks, 
 and relates many particulars concerning them not applicable 
 to their present state. This is one : That they take great 
 are noj to become fat or big-bellied, and that if any young 
 man exceeds the measure of Ifcertain girdle, he is punished. 1 
 Such is our account of Keltica beyond the Alps. 2 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BRITAIN. 
 
 1. BRITAIN is triangular in form ; its longeaL-flide lies 
 parallel to Keltica, in length neither exceeding nor falling 
 short oi' it ; for each of them extends as much as 4300 or 
 4400 stadia : the side of Keltica extending from the mouths of 
 the Rhine to the northern extremities 'of thej^cejiees to- 
 wards Aquitaine ; and that of Britain, which commences at 
 Kent, its most eastern point, opposite the mouths of the 
 "Rhine, extending to the western extremity of thej^land, 
 which lies oyeragainst Aquitaine and the Pyrenees. This is 
 the shortest Imelrom the Pyrenees to the Khine ; the longest 
 is said to be 5000 stadia ; but it is likely that there is some 
 
 1 A similar custom existed amongst the Spartans ; the young people 
 were obliged to present themselves from time to time before the Ephori, 
 and if of the bulk thought proper for a Spartan, they were praised, if on 
 the contrary they appeared too fat, they were punished. Athen. 1. xii. p. 
 550. JElian, V. H. 1. xiv. c. 7. At Rome likewise it was the duty of the 
 censor to see that the equites did not become too fat ; if they did, they 
 were punished with the loss of their horse. Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. 1. 
 vii. c. '22. 
 
 2 Transalpine Gaul. 
 
B. iv. c. v. 2. BRITAIN. 297 
 
 convergency of the river towards the mountain from a strictly 
 parallel position, there being an inclination of either toward 
 the other at the extremities next the ocean. 
 
 2. There are four passages commonly used from the con- 
 tinent to the island, namely, from the mouths of the rivers 
 Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne ; but to such as set sail 
 from the parts about the Khine, the passage is not exactly 
 from its mouths, but from the Morini, 1 who border on the 
 Menapii, 2 among whom also is situated Itium, 3 which divus 
 Caesar used as his_jiaYal station when about to pass over to 
 the island : he set sail by night, and arrived the next day about 
 the fourth hour, 4 having completed a passage of 320 stadia, 
 and he found the corn in the _figlds. The greatest portion of 
 the island is level and woody, although many tracts are hilly. 
 It produces corn, cattle, gol_d, silver, andJLron, which things 
 are brought Whence, and also skins, and slaves, and dogs 
 sagacious in hunting ; the Kelts use these, as well as their' 
 native dogs, for the purposes of war. The men are taller 
 
 than the Kelts, with hair less yellow ; they are slighter inlEeir 
 persons^ As an instance oT their height, we ourselves saw at 
 Rome sqme_youths who were taller than the tallest there v 
 by as much as half_ji_foot, but their legs were bowed, 
 and in other respects they were not jjv^mmetrical in con- 
 formation. Their manners are in^part like those of the 
 Kelts, though in partjnore^smiple and barbarous ; insomuch 
 that some of them, though possessing plenty of milk, have not 
 skill enough to make cheese, and are totally unacquainted 
 with horticulture and other matters of husbandry. There 
 are sej^ral_states amongst them. In their wars they make 
 use of chariots for the most part, as do some of the Kelts. 
 Forests are their cities ; for having enclosed an ample space 
 
 1 The coasts occupied by the Morini extended from la Canche to the 
 Yser. 
 
 2 The Menapii occupied Brabant. 
 
 3 General opinion places the port Itius at Wissant, near Cape Grisnez ; 
 Professor Airy, however, is of opinion that the portus Itius of Caesar is the 
 estuary of the Somme. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of 
 London, 1852, vol. ii. No. 30, p. 198. 
 
 4 Caesar passed twice into Britain : the first time he started about mid- 
 night, and arrived at the fourth hour of the day ; the second time he 
 started at the commencement of the night, and did not arrive until the 
 following day at noon, the wind having failed about midnight. 
 
298 STRABO. CASAUB. 200. 
 
 with felled trees, they make themselves huts therein, and lodge 
 their collie, though not for 'any long continuance. Their at- 
 mosphere is more subject to rain than to snow ; even in their 
 clear days the mist continues for a considerable time, inso- 
 much that throughout the whole day the sun is only visible 
 for three or four hours about noon ; and this must be the case 
 also amongst the Morini, and the Menapii, and among all the 
 neighbouring people. 
 
 3. Divus Caggar twice passed over to thejsland, but quickly 
 returned, having efiectecT nottimg ~5F consequence, nor pro- 
 ceeded far into the country, as well on account of some com- 
 motions in Keltica, both among his own soldiers and among 
 the barbarians, as because of the loss of many of his ships at 
 the time of the full moon, when both the ebb and flow of 
 the tides were greatly" increased. * Nevertfieless " luT" gained 
 
 although he had 
 
 transported thither only two legions of his army, and brought 
 away hostages and slaves and much other booty. At the 
 present time7 lioweverT "soiaa-jQf-4he._:princes there have, by 
 their embassies and solicitations, obtainedthe friendship of 
 Augustus Cassar, dedicated their offerings in the Capitol, and 
 brought the whole island into intimate union with the 
 Romans. They pay butjnoderate duties both on the imports 
 and exports from Keltica; which are ivory bracelets and 
 necklaces, amber, vessels of glass, and small wares ; so that 
 thlflsTand scarcely needs iTgarrison, for at the least it would 
 require one legion and some cavalry to enforce tribute from 
 them ; and the total expenditure for the army would be equal 
 to the revenue collected ; for if a tribute were levied, of neces- 
 sity the imposts must be diminished, and at the same time 
 some danger would be incurred if force were to be em- 
 ployed. 
 
 4. There are also other small islands around Britain ; but 
 one, of great extent, lerna, 2 lying parallel to it towards the 
 
 1 The fleet consisted of J.OOQ vessels, according to Cotta. (Athen. 1. vi. 
 c. 21.) The great loss sp/wcen 6f "by Strabo occurred before the first re- 
 turn of Caesar into Gaul. (Csesar, 1. iv. c. 28.) As to his second return, it 
 was occasioned, to use his own words, " propter repentinos Galliae 
 motus." L. v. c. 22. 
 
 2 Called by Caesar, Hibernia ; by Mela, Juverna ; and by Diodorus Sicu- 
 lus, Iris. 
 
B. iv. c. v. 5. IRELAND. ICELAND. 
 
 north, long, or rather, wide ; concerning which we 
 further than that its inhabitan 
 
 are 
 
 _more savage than _the Britons, feeding; on human flesh, ami 
 pnormnna ftatp.raj and (leeming it commendable to devour their 
 deceased fathers, 1 as well as openly 2 to have commerce not 
 only with other women, but ajso with their own mothers and 
 sistS_. 3 But this we relate perhaps without very competent 
 authority ; although to eat human flesh is said to be & Scy- 
 thian custom ; and during the severities of a siege, even the 
 Kelts, the Iberians, and many others, are reported to have 
 done the likel* 
 
 5. The account of Tbule is still more uncertain, on account 
 of its secluded situation; for they consider it to be the 
 northernmost of all lands of which the names are known. 
 The falsity of what Pytheas has related concerning this and 
 neighbouring places, is proved by what he has asserted of well- 
 known countries. For if, as we have shown, his description 
 of these is in the main incorrect, what he says of far distant 
 countries is still more likely to be false. 5 Nevertheless, as far 
 as astronomy and the mathematics are concerned, he appears 
 to have reasoned correctly, that people bordering on the frozen 
 
 1 This custom resembles that related by Herodotus (lib. i. c. 216, 
 and iv. 26) of the Massagetae and Issedoni. Amongst these latter, when 
 the father of a family died, all the relatives_^sjenibled at the house of the 
 deceased, and having slain certain animals, cut them and the jjody of the 
 deceased into small pieces, and having mixed the morsels together, re- 
 galed themselves on" the inhuman feast. 
 
 2 Strabo intends by Qavep&e what Herodotus expresses by pi%iv 
 ifi<^avea, KaQdrtep rolac 7rpo/3aroi(Ti (concubitum, sicuti pecoribits, in propa- 
 tulo esse) . 
 
 3 Herodotus, (1. iv. c. 180,) mentioning a similar practice amongst the 
 inhabitants of Lake Tritonis in Libya, tells us that the men owned the 
 children as_they resembled them respectively. Mela asserts the same of 
 the Garamantes. As to the 'commerce Jbetween relations, Strabo in his 
 16thT3ook, speaks of it as being /usuaramongst the Arabs. It was 
 
 torn amongst the early Greeks, fi omer makes the six sons of 
 
 "^Tuno addresses herself to Jupiter as " Et soror 
 
 ime of . /[ 
 in his lyl 
 a cus- / ' v_ 
 
 conu 
 
 TAn extremity to which the Gauls were driven during the war they 
 sustained against the Cimbri and Teutones, (Caesar, lib. vii. c. 77,) and 
 the inhabitants of Numantia in Iberia, when besieged by Scipio. (Va- 
 lerius Maxim us, lib. vii. c. 6.) The city of Potidaea in Greece experi- 
 enced a similar calamity. (Thucyd. lib. ii. c. 70. ) 
 
 5 Pytheas placed Thule under the 66th degree of north latitude, which 
 is the latitude of the north of Iceland. 
 
300 STRABO. CASAUB. 201. 
 
 zone would be destitute of cultivated fruits, and almost de- 
 prived of the domestic animals ; that their food would con- 
 sist of millet, herbs, fruits, and roots ; and that where there 
 was corn and honey they would make drink of these. That 
 , tEey would thresh their corn ? "and store 
 
 it in vast_granaries, threshing-iloors being useless on account 
 oftEeTrain and want ol' sun. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ALPS. 
 
 1. HAVING described Keltica beyond the Alps, 1 and the 
 nations who inhabit the country, we must now speak of the 
 Alps themselves and their inhabitants, and afterwards of the 
 whole of Italy ; observing in our description such arrange- 
 ment as the nature of the country shall point out. 
 
 The Alps do not commence at Monoeci Portus, 2 as some have 
 asserted, but from the region whence the Apennines take 
 their rise about Genoa, a mercantile city of the Ligurians, 
 and at the marshes named Sabatorum Vada ; 3 for the Apen- 
 nines take their rise near Genoa, and the Alps near Saba- 
 torum Vada. The distance between Genoa and the Saba- 
 torum Vada is about 260 stadia. About 370 stadia farther 
 on is the little city of Albingaunum, 4 inhabited by Ligurians 
 who are called Ingauni. From thence to the Monceci Portus is 
 480 stadia. In the interval between is the very considerable 
 city of Albium Intemelium, 5 inhabited by the Intemelii. These 
 names are sufficient to prove that the Alps commence at the 
 Sabbatorum Vada. For the Alps were formerly called Albia 
 and Alpionia, 6 and at the present day the high mountain in the 
 country of the lapodes, 7 next to Ocra and the Alps, is named 
 Albius, showing that the Alps extend so far. 
 
 t * Transalpine Gaul. 2 Port Monaco. 3 Vadi. 4 Albinga. 
 
 5 Vintimille. 
 
 6 Kramer conjectures that instead of 'A\7ri6via, we should read 
 
 7 These people occupied the borders of the province of Murlaka, near 
 to Istria, on the Gulf of Venice. Mount Albius is still called Alben. 
 
B. iv. c. vi. 2, 3. THE ALPS. 301 
 
 2. Now since the Ligurians were divided into Ingauni 
 and Interaelii, it was natural that their maritime colonies 
 should be distinguished, one by the name of Albium Inteme- 
 lium, Alpine as it were, and the other by the more concise 
 form Albingaunum. 1 To these two tribes of Ligurians already 
 mentioned, Polybius adds those of the Oxybii and Deciates. 2 
 The whole coast from Monceci Portus to Tyrrhenia is 
 continuous, and without harbours excepting some small 
 roads and anchorages. Above it rise the rugged precipices of 
 the Alpine range, leaving but a narrow passage along the 
 sea. This district, but particularly the mountains, is inhabited 
 by Ligurians, principally subsisting on the produce of their 
 herds, and milk, and a drink made of barley. There is plenty 
 of wood here for the construction of ships ; the trees grow to 
 a vast jize, some of them Kavlng been found eight feet in 
 diameter. Much of the wood is veined, and not inferior to 
 cedar-wood for cabinet work. This wood, together with the 
 produce of their cattle, hides, and jioney, they transport to 
 the mart of Genoa, receiving in exchange for them the oil 
 and wine of Italy ; for the little [wine] which their country 
 produces is harsh and tastes of pitch. Here are bred the 
 horses and mules known as ginni, and here too are wrought 
 the Ligurian tunics and saga. In their country likewise there 
 is plenty of lingurium, called by some electrum. 3 They use 
 but few cavalry in war ; their infantry arejgood. and excellent 
 slingers. Some have thought that their brazen shields prove 
 these people to be_of^Grecian origin. 
 
 '6. The Mono3ci Portus is merely a roadstead, not capable 
 of containing either many or large vessels. Here is a temple 
 dedicated to Hercules Monrocus. 4 The name seems to show 
 it probable that the Massilian voyages along the coast ex- 
 tended as far as here. Monoeci Portus is distant from Anti- 
 polis rather more than 200 stadia. The Salyes occupy the 
 region from thence to Marseilles, or a little farther; they 
 
 1 Casaubon observes that the Roman writers separated the name 
 Albium Ingaunum, in the same manner as Albium Intemelium. 
 
 2 These two tribes inhabited the country round Frejus and Antibes as 
 far as the Var. 3 Or amber. 
 
 4 MOVOIKOC, an epithet of Hercules signifying " sole inhabitant." Ac- 
 cording to Servius, either because after he had driven out the Ligurians 
 he remained the sole inhabitant of the country ; or because it was not 
 usual to associate any other divinities in the temples consecrated to him. 
 
302 STRABO. CASAUB. 205. 
 
 inhabit the Alps which lie above that city, and a portion of 
 the sea-coast, where they intermingle with the Greeks. The 
 ancient Greeks gave to the Salyes the name of Ligyes, 1 and to 
 the country which was in the possession of the Marseillese, 
 that of Ligystica. 2 The later Greeks named them Kelto- 
 Ligyes, 3 and assigned to them the whole, of the plains extend- 
 ing as far as Luerion 4 and the Rhone. They arediyided 
 intotejacantons, and are capable of raising troops not only of 
 mlantry, Tmt of/cayalry also. [These people were the first of 
 the Transalpine Kelts whom the Romans subdued after main- 
 taining a lengthened war against' them and the Ligurians. 
 They closed [against the Romans] all the roads into Iberia 
 along the sea-coast, and carried on a system of pillage both 
 by sea and land. Their strength so increased that large 
 armies were scarcely able to force a passage. And after a 
 jvar of eighty years, the Romans were hardly able to obtain 
 a breadth of twelve "stadia for the purpose of making a public 
 road. After this, however, the Rwnaiis^^iitid.ued the whole of 
 them, and established among them a regular form of govern- 
 ment, and imposed a tribute. 5 
 
 4. After trie Salyes, the Albienses, the Albio3ci, 6 and the 
 Vocontii inhabit the northern portion of the mountains. 
 The Vocontii extend as far as the Allobriges, and occupy 
 vast valleys in the depths of the mountains, not inferior to 
 those inhabited by the Allobriges. Both the Allobriges and 
 Ligurians are subject to the pretors sent into the Narbonnaise, 
 but the Vocontii are governed by their own laws, as we have 
 1 1 said of the Volca3 of Nemausus. 7 Of the Ligurians between 
 - v the Var and Genoa, those along the sea are considered Italians ; 
 while the mountaineers are governed_bv a prefect of the 
 eq uestrijmprder, as is the case in regard to other nations 
 wholly Barbarous. 
 
 1 At'yu, or Ligurians. 2 AiyvGTiKrj, or Liguria. 
 
 3 Ke\roXiyu, or Kelto-Ligurians. 
 
 4 Kramer is of opinion that we should adopt the suggestion of Man- 
 nert, to read here Avignon. 
 
 a We have adopted the reading of the older editions, which is also that 
 of the French translation. Kramer however reads Qoflov, and adds $6pov 
 in a note. 
 
 6 The Albioeci are named Albici in Caesar ; the capital city is called by 
 Pliny Alebece Reiorum ; it is now Riez in Provence. 
 
 J Nimes. 
 
B. iv. c. vi. o, 6. THE ALPS. 303 
 
 5. After the Vocontii, are the Iconii, the Tricorii, and the 
 Medulli ; .who inhabit the loftiesFridges of the mountains, 
 foTlhey say that some of them have on almost perpendicular 
 ascent of 100 stadia, and a similar descent to the frontiers 
 of Italy. In these high-lands there is a grat_lake; there 
 are also two springs not far distant from each other ; one 
 of these gives rise to the Durance, which flows like a 
 torrent into the Rhone, and to the Durias, 1 which flows in 
 an opposite direction ; for it mingles with the , Fo after 
 having pursued its course through the country of the Sa- 
 lassi 2 into Cisalpine Keltica. From the other source, but 
 much lower down, rises the __{L_itgelf, large and rapid, 
 which as it advances becomes still vaster, and at the same 
 time more gentle. As it reaches the plains it increases in 
 breadth, being augmented by numerous [other rivers], and 
 thus it becomes less impetuous in its course, and its current 
 is weakened. Haying become the largest river in Europe. 
 with the exception ot 'the i)anube,^it discharges itself into the 
 Adriatic Sea. The Medullilire situated considerably above 
 the confluence of the Isere and the Rhone. 
 
 6. On the opposite_side of the mountains, sloping towards 
 JItaly, dwell the Jaurini, 4 a Liguriah nation, together with 
 certain other Ligurians. What is called the land of Ideon- 
 nus 5 and Cottius belongs to these Ligurians. Beyond them 
 and the Po are the Salassi ; above whom in the summits [of the 
 Alps] are the Kentrones, the Catoriges, the Veragri, the 
 Nantuatse, 6 Lake Leman, 7 traversed by the Rhone, and the 
 
 1 There are two rivers of this name which descend from the Alps and 
 discharge themselves into the Po. The Durias which rises near the 
 Durance is the Durias minor of the ancients, and the Doria Riparia of 
 the moderns ; this river falls into the Po at Turin. 
 
 2 Gosselin observes : The Salassi occupied the country about Aouste, 
 or Aoste. The name of this city is a corruption of Augusta Praetoria 
 Salassorum, which it received in the time of Augustus. The Durias 
 which passes by Aouste is the Durias major, the modern Doria Baltea. 
 Its sources are between the Great Saint Bernard and Mont Blanc. 
 
 3 The Ister of the classics. 
 
 4 Augusta Taurinorum, hodie Turin, was the capital of these people. 
 
 5 Various conjectures have been hazarded concerning this name, of 
 which there appears to be no other mention. 
 
 6 The Kentrones occupied la Tarentaise ; the Catoriges, the territories 
 of Chorges and Embrun ; the Veragri, a part of the Valais south of the 
 Rhone ; and the Nantuatse, Le Chablais. 
 
 7 The Lake of Geneva. 
 
304 STRABO. CASAUB. 204. 
 
 sources of that river. Not far from these are the sources of 
 the Rhine, and Mount Adulas, 1 from whence the Rhine flows 
 towards the north; likewise the Adda, 2 which flows in an 
 opposite direction, and discharges itself into Lake Larius, 3 
 near to Como. Lying above Como, which is situated at the 
 roots of the Alps, on one side are the Rhoeti and Vennones 
 towards the east, 4 and on the other the Lepontii, the Triden- 
 tini, the Stoni, 5 and numerous other small nations, poor and 
 addicted to robbery, who in former times possessed Italy. 
 At the present time some of them have been destroyed, and 
 the others at length civilized, so that the passes over the 
 mountains through their territories, which were formerly few 
 and difficult, now run in every direction, secure from any 
 danger of these people, and as accessible as art can make them. 
 For Augustus Caesar not only destroyed the robbers, but im- 
 proved the character of the roads as far as practicable, although 
 he could not every where overcome nature, on account of the 
 rocks and immense precipices ; some of which tower above 
 the road, while others yawn beneath ; so that departing ever 
 so little [from the path], the traveller is in inevitable danger 
 of falling down bottomless chasms. In some places the road 
 is so narrow as to make both the foot traveller and his beasts 
 of burden, who are unaccustomed to it, dizzy ; but the animals 
 of the district will carry their burdens quite securely. These 
 things however are beyond remedy, as well as the violent 
 descent of vast masses of congealed snow from above, capable 
 of overwhelming a whole company at a time, and sweeping 
 them into the chasms beneath. Numerous masses lie one upon 
 the other, one hill of congealed snow being formed upon ano- 
 ther, so that the uppermost mass is easily detached at any time 
 from that below it, before being perfectly melted by the sun. 
 7. A great part of the country of the Salassi lies in a deep 
 valley, formed by a chain of mountains which encloses the 
 district on either side ; a part of them however inhabit the 
 
 1 Saint Gotharcl. 
 
 2 The Adda does not flow from the same mountain as the Rhine. 
 
 3 The Lake of Como. 
 
 4 The Rhoeti are the Grisons ; the Vennones, the people of the Val 
 Telline. 
 
 5 The Lepontii inhabited the Haul Valais, and the valley of Leven- 
 tina ; the Trideritini occupied Trente ; the Stoni, Steneco. 
 
 6 The valley of Aouste. 
 
B. iv. c. vi. 7. THE ALPS. 30 
 
 overhanging ridges. The route of those who are desirous of 
 passing from Italy over these mountains, lies through the 
 aforesaid valley. Beyond this the road separates into two. 
 The one which passes through the mountain peaks, known as 
 the Pennine Alps, cannot be traversed by carriages ; the 
 other, which runs through the country of the Centrbnes, lies 
 more to the west. 1 The country of the Salassi contains gold 
 mines, of which formerly, in the days of their power, they 
 were masters, as well as of the passes. The river Doria 
 Baltea 2 afforded them great facility in obtaining the metal by 
 [supplying them with water] for washing the gold, and they 
 have emptied the main bed by the Numerous trenches cut for 
 drawing the water to different places. This operation, though 
 advantageous in gold hunting, wasjniuripus to the a^ricultur- 
 ists below, as it deprived them of the irrigation 01 a river, 
 which, by the height of its position, was capable of watering 
 their plains. This gave rise to frequent wars between the 
 two nations ; when the Romans gained the dominion, the 
 Salassi lost bnth thpirjyold works and their country, but as 
 tTiey still possessed the mountains, they continued to sell 
 water to the public contractors of the gold mines ; with whom 
 there were continual disputes on account of the avarice of the 
 contractors, and thus the Roman generals sent into the coun- 
 try were ever able to find a pretext for commencing war. 
 And, until very recently, the Salassi at one time waging war 
 against the Romans, and at another making peace, took occa- 
 sion to inflict numerous damages upon those who crossed over 
 their mountains, by their system of plundering ; and even 
 exacted from Decimus Brutus, on his flight from Mutina, 3 a 
 drachm per man. Messala, likewise, having taken up his 
 winter quarters in their vicinity, was obliged to pay them, 
 both for his fire-wood, and for the elm-wood for making jave- 
 lins for the exercise of his troops. In one instance they 
 plundered the treasures of Caesar, 4 and rolled down huge 
 
 1 These two routes still exist. The former passes by the Great Saint 
 Bernard, or the Pennine Alps ; the latter traverses the Little Saint Ber- 
 nard, and descends into La Tarentaise, formerly occupied by the Cen- 
 trones. 
 
 2 Anciently Durias. 3 Modena. 
 
 4 It does not appear that Julius Caesar is hero intended, for he mentions 
 nothing of it in his Commentaries. It seems more probable that Strabo used 
 
STRABO. CASAUB. 200. 
 
 [ock upon the soldiers under pretence of making 
 >uilding bridges over the rivers. Afterwards 
 )nrpletely overthrew them, and carried them to 
 Roman colony which had been planted as a 
 bulwark against the Salassi, although the inhabitants were 
 able to do but little against them until the nation was destroy- 
 ed ; their numbers amounted to 36,000 persons, besides 8000 
 men capable of bearing arms. Terentius Varro, the general 
 who defeated them, sold them all by public auction, as enemies 
 taken in war. Three thousand Romans sent out by Augustus 
 founded the city of Augusta, 2 on the spot where Varro had 
 encamped, and now the whole surrounding country, even to 
 the summits of the mountains, is at peace. 
 
 8. Beyond, both the eastern parts of the mountains, and 
 those likewise inclining to the south, are possessed by the 
 Rhseti and Vindelici, who adjoin the Helvetii and Boii, and 
 press upon their plains. The Rhsetj extend as far as Italy 
 above Verona and Como. The Rhastian wine, which is 
 esteemedTnbt inferior to the finest wines of Italy, is produced 
 [from vines which grow] at the Toot of the mountains. These 
 people extend also as far as the districts through which the 
 Rjiirijg, flows. The Lepontii and Camuni are of their nation. 
 The Vindelici and Norici possess, for the most part, the 
 opposite side of the mountains together with the Breuni and 
 Genauni, who form part of the Illyrians. 3 All these people 
 were continually making incursions both into the neighbour- 
 ing parts of Italy, and into [the countries] of the Helvetii, 
 
 the expression of Ceesar in its wider sense of Emperor, and alludes to 
 Augustus, of whom he speaks immediately after. 
 
 1 Ivrea. 2 Aouste. 
 
 3 The limits of these barbarous nations were continually varying ac- 
 cording to their success in war, in general, however, the Rhaeti possessed 
 the country of the Grisons, the Tyrol, and the district about Trent. 
 The Lepontii possessed the Val Leventina. The Camuni the Val 
 Camonica. The Vindelici occupied a portion of Bavaria and Suabia; 
 on their west were the Helvetii or Swiss, and on the north the Boii, from 
 whom they were separated by the Danube ; these last people have left 
 their name to Bohemia. The Norici possessed Styria, Carinthia, a part of 
 Austria and Bavaria to the south of the Danube. The Breuni have given 
 their name to the Val Braunia north of the Lago Maggiore ; and the 
 Genauni appear to have inhabited the Val Agno, between Lake Maggiore 
 and the Lake of Como, although Strabo seems to place these people on 
 the northern side of the Alps, towards the confines of Illyria. 
 
H. iv. c. vi. 9. THE ALPS. 307 
 
 the Sequani, 1 the Boii, and the Germans. 2 But the Licattii, 
 the Clautinatii, and the Vennones 3 proved the boldest amongst 
 the Vindelici ; and the Eucantii and Cotuantii amongst the 
 Rhaeti. Both the Estiones and Brigantii belong to the 
 Vindelici ; their cities are Brigantium, Campodunum, and 
 Damasia, which may be looked upon as the Acropolis of the 
 Licattii. It is narrated, as an instance of the extreme brutality 
 of these robbers towards the people of Italy, that when they 
 have taken any village or city, they not only puMojiualtLall 
 the men capable of bearing arms, but likewise all the male 
 children, and do not even stop here, but murder every preg- 
 nanT woman who, their diviners say, will bring forth a male 
 infant.* 
 
 9. After these come certain of the Norici, and the Garni, 
 who inhabit the country about the Adriatic Gulf and Aqui- 
 leia. The Taurisci belong to the Norici. Tiberius and his 
 brother Drusus in one summer put a stop to their lawless in- 
 cursions, so that now for three and thirty years 5 they have 
 lived quietly and paid their tribute regularly. Throughout 
 the whole region of the Alps there are hilly districts capable 
 of excellent cultivation, and well situated valleys ; but the 
 greater part, especially the summits of the mountains inhabited 
 by the robbers, are barren and unfruitful, both on account of 
 the frost and the ruggedness of the land. On account of the 
 want of food and other necessaries the mountaineers have 
 sometimes been obliged to spare the inhabitants of the plains, 
 that they might have some people to supply them ; for these 
 they have given them in exchange, resin, pitch, torches, 
 
 1 The people of Tranche Comte. 
 
 2 The Germans of Wirtemberg and Suabia. 
 
 3 The Licattii appear to have inhabited the country about the Lech, 
 and the Clautinatii that about the Inn ; the Vennones the Val Telline. 
 
 4 This disgusting brutality however is no more barbarous than the in- 
 tention put by Homer into the mouth of Agamemnon, " the king of men," 
 which Scholiasts have in vain endeavoured to soften or excuse 
 
 TU>V fJLJ]TlQ VTIlKtyvyOl aiTTVV O\f9()OV, 
 X7pa 0' T)fl(TSp(lQ- fJLTjd' OVTLVtt ydffTtpl fi^T^f) 
 
 Kovpov iovra 0lpoi, /17/cT 0uyof d\\' ufta iravrtg 
 'iXtov ia7roXoiar', aicf]Sf.ffToi /cat dtyavroi. 
 
 Iliad vi. 5760. 
 
 5 This expedition of Tiberius took place in the eleventh year of the 
 Christian era; Strabo therefore must have written his fourth book in the 
 44th year. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 STRABO. 
 
 CASATJB. 207. 
 
 wax, cheese, and honey, of which they have plenty. In the 
 Mount Apennine * which lies above the Garni there is a lake 
 which runs out into the Isar, which river, after receiving 
 another river, the Aude, 2 discharges itself into the Adriatic. 
 From this lake there is also another river, the Atesinus, which 
 flows into the Danube. 3 The Danube itself rises in the 
 mountains which are split into many branches and numerous 
 summits. For from Liguria to here the summits of the Alps 
 stretch along continuously, presenting the appearance of one 
 mountain ; but after this they rise and fall in turns, forming 
 numerous ridges and peaks. The first of these is beyond the 
 Rhine and the lake 4 inclining towards the east, its ridge 
 moderately elevated ; here are the sources of the Danube 
 near to the Suevi and the forest of Hercynia. 5 The other 
 branches extend towards Illyria and the Adriatic, such are 
 the Mount Apennine, already mentioned, Tullum and Phli- 
 gadia, 6 the mountains lying above the Vindelici from whence 
 proceed the Duras, 7 the Clanis, 8 and many other rivers which 
 discharge themselves like torrents into the current of the 
 Danube. 
 
 . ^ 10. Near to these regions dwell the lapodes, (a nation now 
 
 r? Vmixed with the Illyrians, and Kelts,) close to them is [the 
 
 n Mount] Ocra. 9 Formerly the lapodes were numerous, in- 
 
 habiting either side of the mountain, and were notorious for 
 
 their predatory habits, but they have been entirely reduced 
 
 and brought to subjection by Augustus Caspar. Their cities are 
 
 1 The Carnic, or Julian Alps, is intended. 2 "Ara. 
 
 3 There is, remarks Gosselin, a palpable mistake in this passage. We 
 neither know of a river named the Isar nor yet the Atax discharging 
 themselves into the Adriatic. Atesinus or Athesis are the ancient names 
 of the Adige, but this river flows into the Adriatic, and not, as Strabo 
 seems to say, into the Danube. The error of the text appears to result 
 from a transposition of the two names made by the copyists, and to ren- 
 der it intelligible we should read thus : " There is a lake from which pro- 
 ceeds-, the Atesinus, (or the Adige,) and which, after having received the 
 Atax, (perhaps the Eisach, or Aicha, which flows by Bolzano,) discharges 
 itself into the Adriatic. The Isar proceeds from the same lake, and 
 [passing by Munich] discharges itself into the Danube." 
 
 4 Apparently the lake of Constance. 5 The Black Forest. 
 
 6 These two chains are in Murlaka, they are now named Telez ana 
 Flicz. 
 
 7 The Traun or Wiirm. 8 The Glan in Bavaria. 
 9 The Julian Alps, and Birnbaumerwald. "~ 
 
B. iv. c. vi. $ 11. THE ALPS. 309 
 
 Metulum, 1 Arupenum, 2 Monetium, 3 and Vendon. 4 After these 
 is the city of Segesta, 5 [situated] in a plain. Near to it 
 flows the river Save, 6 which discharges itself into the Danube. 
 This city lies in an advantageous position for carrying on war 
 against the Dacians. 7 Ocra forms the lowest portion of the Alps, 
 where they approach the territory of the Carni, and through 
 which they convey the merchandise of Aquileia in waggons to 
 Pamportus. 8 This route is not more than 400 stadia. From 
 thence they convey it by the rivers as far as the Danube and 
 surrounding districts, for a navigable river 9 which flows out of 
 Illyria, passes by Pamportus, and discharges itself into the Save, 
 so that the merchandise may easily be carried down both to 
 Segesta, and to the Pannonians, and Taurisci. 10 , It is near 
 this city, 11 that the Kulp 12 falls into the Save. Both of these 
 rivers are navigable, and flow down from the Alps. The 
 Alps contain wild horses and cattle, and Polybius asserts that 
 an animal of a singular form is found there ; it resembles a 
 stag except in the neck and hair, which are similar to those 
 6T~a wild boar ; under its chin it has a .tuft of hair about a 
 span long, and the thickness of the tail of a young horse. 13 
 
 11. One of the passages over the mountains from Italy into 
 Transalpine and northern Keltica is that which passes through 
 the country of the Salassi, and leads to Lugdunum. 14 Jliis / 
 [route] is divided into two ways, one practicable for carriages, 
 but longer, which crosses the country of the Centrones, the 
 other steep and narrow, but shorter ; this crosses the Pennine 
 [Alps]. Lugdunum is situated in the midst of the country, 
 serving as an Acropolis, both on account of the confluence of 
 
 1 Probably M (idling. 
 
 2 Auersperg, "oFthe Flecken Mungava. 3 Mottnig or Mansburg. 
 4 Windisch Gr'atz, or Brindjel. 5 Now Sisseck. 
 
 6 The text reads Rhine,T)ut we have, in common with Gosselin, follow- 
 ed the correction of Cluvier, Xylander, and Tyrwhitt. 
 
 7 The Dacians occupied a part of Hungary, Transylvania, Wallachia, 
 and a portion of Moldavia. 
 
 8 Coray suggests Nauportus, now Ober-Laibach in Krain. This sug- 
 gestion is extremely probable, however Pamportus occurs twice in the 
 fext. 
 
 9 The river Laibach. 
 
 10 The Pannonians occupied a portion of Austria and Hungary. The 
 Taurisci, who formed part of the former people, inhabited Styria. 
 
 11 Segesta. 12 The ancient Colapis. 
 
 ? This is a description of the elk (cervus alces of Linn.). This animal 
 no longer exists either in France or in the Alps. M Lyons. 
 
310 STRABO. CASAUB. 208. 
 
 the rivers, and of its being equally near to all parts. It was 
 on this account that Agrippa cut all the_ roads from this [as 
 a Centre 1 one running through the mountains of the Ce- 
 vennes to the Santones l and Aquitaine, 2 another towards the 
 Jlhine ; a third towards the ocean by the country of the 
 jSelTovaci 3 and Ambiani, 4 and aTourth towards the Narbon- 
 naise and the coast of Marseilles. 5 The traveller, also, leaving 
 Lugdunum and the country above on his left, may pass over 
 the Pennine Alps themselves, the Rhone, or Lake Leman, into 
 the plains of the Hely^tii, whence there is a passage through 
 MounTTlura into the country of the Sequani, and Lingones ; 
 here the road separates into two routes, one running to the 
 Rhine, and the other G to the ocean. 
 
 12. Polybius tells us that in his time the gold mines were 
 so rich about Aquileia, but particularly in the countries of 
 the Taurisci Norici, that if you dug but two feet below the 
 surface you found gold, and that the diggings [generally] were 
 not deeper than fifteen feet. In some instances the gold was 
 found pure in lumps about the size of a bean or lupin, and 
 which diminished in the fire only about one eighth ; and in 
 others, though requiring more fusion, was still very profitable. 
 Certain Italians 7 aiding the barbarians in working [the 
 mines], in the space of two months the value of gold was 
 diminished throughout the whole of Italy by one third. The 
 Taurisci on discovering this drove out their fellow-labourers, 
 and only sold the gold themselves. Now, however, the 
 Romans possess all the gold mines. Here, too, as well as in 
 Iberia, the rivers yield gold-dust as well as the diggings, 
 
 1 La Saintonge. 2 Gascony. 3 Beauvoisis. 
 
 4 Picardie. 
 
 5 From Lyons this route passed by Vienne, Valence, Orange, and 
 Avignon; here it separated, leading on one side to Tarascon, Nitnes, 
 Beziers, and Narbonne, and on the other to Aries, Aix, Marseilles, Fr6- 
 jus, Antibes, &c. 
 
 6 This other route, says Gosselin, starting from Aouste, traversed the 
 Great Saint Bernard, Valais, the Rhone, a portion of the Vaud, Mount 
 Jura, and so to Besancon and Langres, where it separated, the road to the 
 right passing, by Toul, Metz, and Trfeves, approached the Rhine at May- 
 ence ; while that to the left passed by Troies, Chalons, Rheims, and 
 Bavai, where it again separated and conducted by various points to the 
 sea-coast. 
 
 7 The Italians also went into Spain, and there engaged in working 
 the mines. Vide Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 36, 38. 
 
B. iv. c. vi. 12. THE ALPS. 31 1 
 
 though not in such large quantities. The same writer, speak- 
 ing of the extent and height of the Alps, compares with them 
 the largest mountains of Greece, such asTaygetum, 1 Lycaeum, 2 
 Parnassus, 3 Olympus, 4 Pelion, 5 Ossa, 6 and of Thrace, as 
 the Hoemus, Rhodope, and Dunax, saying that an active 
 person might almost ascend any of these in a single day, 
 and go round them in the same time, whereas five days 
 would not be sufficient to ascend the Alps, while their length 
 along the plains extends 2200 stadia. 7 He only names four 
 passes over the mountains, one through Liguria close to the 
 Tyrrhenian Sea, 8 a second through the country of the Taurini, 9 
 by which Hannibal passed, a third through the country 
 of the Salassi, 10 and a fourth through that of the Rhreti, 11 all 
 of them precipitous. In these mountains, he says, there are 
 numerous lakes ; three large ones, the first of which is Bena- 
 cus, 12 500 stadia in length and 130 in breadth, the river 
 Mincio flows from it. The second is the Verbanus, 13 400 
 stadia [in length], and in breadth smaller than the preceding ; 
 
 1 A mountain of Laconia. 
 
 3 In Arcadia, some suppose it to be the modern Tetragi, others Dia- 
 phorti, and others Mintha. 3 In Phocis, lapara, or Liokura. 
 
 4 Olympus is a mountain range of Thessaly, bordering on Macedonia, 
 its summit is thirty miles north of Larissa, in lat. 40o 4' 32" N., long. 
 22o 25' E. Its estimated height is 9745 feet. 
 
 5 Petras or Zagora. 
 
 6 Now Kissovo ; it is situated to the east of the river Peneus, imme- 
 diately north of Mount Pelion, and bounds the celebrated vale of Tempe 
 on one side. 
 
 7 Gosselin observes, both Polybius and Strabo extended the Alps from 
 the neighbourhood of Marseilles to beyond the Adriatic Gulf, a distance 
 twice 2200 stadia. It appears probable from the words of Polybius 
 himself, (lib. ii. c. 14,) that he merely intended to state the length of 
 the plains situated at the foot of the mountains, which bound Italy on 
 the north ; and in fact the distance in a right line from the foot of the 
 Alps about Rivoli or Pignerol to Rovigo, and the marshes formed at the 
 mouths of the Adige and Po, is 63 leagues, or 2200 stadia of 700 to a 
 degree. 
 
 8 This route passes from Tortona, by Vadi, Albinga, Vintimille, and 
 Monaco, where it crosses the maritime Alps, and thence to Nice, Antibes, 
 &c. Gosselin. 
 
 9 This route passes by Brian^on, Mont Genevre, the Col de Sestri^re, 
 and the Val Progelas. " 10 The passage by the Val Aouste. 
 
 " This route, starting from Milan, passed east of the lake of Como by 
 Coire, and then by Bregentz to the Lake of Constance. 
 ia The Lago di Garda. 13 Lago Maggiore. 
 
312 STRABO. CASATJB. 209. 
 
 the great river Ticino l flows from this [lake]. The third 
 is the Larius, 2 its length is nearly 300 stadia, and its breadth 
 30, the river Adda flows from it. All these rivers flow 
 into the Po. This is what we have to say concerning the 
 Alpine mountains. 
 
 1 Ticinus. We have followed the example of the French translators 
 in making the Ticino to flow from the Lago Maggiore, and the Adda 
 from the Lake of Como ; by some inexplicable process the text of Strabo 
 has been corrupted and these rivers transposed. Kramer notices the 
 inconsistency of the text. 
 
 2 The Lake of Como. 
 
BOOK V. 
 ITALY, 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The Fifth Book contains a description of Italy from the roots of the Alps to 
 the Strait of Sicily, the Gulf of Taranto, and the region about Posidonium ; 
 likewise of Venetia, Liguria, Agro Piceno, Tuscany, Rome, Campania, 
 Lucania, Apulia, and the islands lying in the sea between Genoa and 
 Sicily. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 . AT the foot of the Alps commences the region now known 
 as Italy. The ancients by Italy merely understood (Enotria, 
 which reached from the Strait of Sicily to the Gulf of Taranto, 
 and the region about Posidonium, 1 but the name has extended 
 eyen to the foot of the Alps ; comprehending on one side that 
 portion of T^Tguria situated by the sea, from the confines of 
 Tyrrhenia to the Var ; and on the other, that portion of Istria 
 which extends as far as Pola. It seems probable that the 
 first inhabitants were named Italians, and, being successful, 
 they communicated their name to the neighbouring tribes, 
 and this propagation [of name] continued until the Romans 
 obtained dominion. Afterwards, when the Romans conferred 
 on the Italians the privileges of equal citizenship, and thought 
 fit to extend the same honour to the Cisalpine Galatas and 
 Heneti, 2 they comprised the whole under the general denomin- 
 ation of Italians and Romans ; they likewise founded amongst 
 them numerous colonies, some earlier, some later, of which it 
 would be difficult to say which are the most considerable. 
 
 2. It is not easy to describe the whole of Italy under* any 
 one geometrical figure ; although some say that it is a pro- 
 montory of triangular form, extending towards the south and 
 winter rising, with its apex towards the Strait of Sicily, and 
 
 1 The Gulf of Salerno. 2 Venetians. 
 
314 STRABO. CASAUB. 210. 
 
 its base formed by the Alps [No one can allow this 
 
 definition either for the base or one of the sides,] although it 
 is correct for the other side which terminates at the Strait, 
 and is washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea. But a triangle, pro- 
 perly so called, is a rectilinear figure, whereas in this instance 
 both the base and the sides are curved. So that, if I agree, I 
 must add that the base and the sides are of a curved figure, 
 and it must be conceded to me that the eastern side deviates, 
 as well ; otherwise they have not been sufficiently exact in 
 describing as one side that which extends from the head of 
 the Adriatic to the Strait [of Sicily]. For we designate as a 
 side a line without any angle ; now a line without any angle 
 is one which does not incline to either side, or but very little ; 
 whereas the line from Ariminum 1 to the lapygian promon- 
 tory, 2 and that from the Strait [of Sicily] to the same pro- 
 montory, incline very considerably. The same I consider to 
 be the case with regard to the lines drawn from the head of 
 the Adriatic and lapygia, for meeting about the neighbour- 
 hood of Ariminum and Ravenna, they form an angle, or if not 
 an angle, at least a strongly defined curve. Consequently, if the 
 coast from the head [of the Adriatic] to lapygia be con- 
 sidered as one side, it cannot be described as a right line ; 
 neither can the remainder of the line from hence to the Strait 
 [of Sicily], though it may be considered another side, be said 
 to form a right line. Thus the figure [of Italy] may be said 
 to be rather quadrilateral than trilateral, and can never with- 
 out impropriety be called a triangle. It is better to confess 
 that you cannot define exactly ungeometrical figures. 
 
 3. [Italy], however, may be described in the following man- 
 ner. The roots of the Alps are curved, and in the form of a 
 gulf, the head turned towards Italy ; the middle of the gulf 
 in the country of the Salassi, and its extremities turned, the 
 one towards Ocra and the head of the Adriatic, the other 
 towards the coast of Liguria as far as Genoa, a mercantile 
 city of the Ligurians, where the Apennines fall in with the 
 Alps. Immediately under [the Alps] there is a considerable 
 plain, of about an equal extent of 2100 stadia both in breadth 
 and length ; its southern side is closed by the coast of the 
 Heneti 3 and the Apennines, which extend to Ariminum and 
 
 1 Rimini. 2 Capo cli Leuca. 3 Venetians. 
 
B. v. c. i. 3. ITALY. 315 
 
 Ancona ; for these mountains, commencing at Liguria, enter 
 Tyrrhenia, leaving but a narrow sea-coast ; they afterwards 
 retire by degrees into the interior, and having reached the 
 territory of Pisa, turn towards the east in the direction of 
 the Adriatic as far as the country about Ariminum and 
 Ancona, where they approach the sea-coast of the Heneti at 
 right angles. Cisalpine Keltica is enclosed within these 
 limits, and the length ot the coast joined^to that of the moun- 
 tains is 6300 stadia ; its breadth rather less than 2000. The 
 remainder of Italy is long and narrow, and terminates in two 
 promontories, one 1 extending to the Strait of Sicily, the other 2 
 to lapygia. It is embraced on one side by the Adriatic, 3 on 
 the other by the Tyrrhenian Sea. 4 The form and size of the 
 Adriatic resembles that portion of Italy bounded by the 
 Apennines and the two seas, and extending as far as lapygia 
 and the isthmus which separates the Gulf of Taranto from 
 that of Posidonium. 5 The greatest breadth of both is about 
 1300 stadia, and the length not much less than 6000. The 
 remainder of the country is possessed by the Bruttii, and cer- 
 tain of the Leucani. Polybius tells us, that traversing the 
 sea-coast on foot from lapygia 6 to the Strait [of Sicily] there 
 are 3000 stadia, the coast being washed by the Sea of Sicily ; 
 but that going by water it is 500 stadia less. The Apen- 
 nines, after approaching the country about Ariminum and 
 Ancona, and determining the breadth of Italy at this point 
 from sea to sea, change their direction and divide the whole 
 country throughout its length. As far as the Peucetii and 
 Leucani they do not recede much from the Adriatic, but on 
 arriving at the Leucani they decline considerably towards 
 the other sea, 7 and traversing the remainder of the distance 
 through the Leucani and Bruttii, terminate at Leucopetra, 8 
 in Reggio. Such is a general description of the whole of 
 present Italy. We will now endeavour to undertake a de- 
 scription of its various parts. And, first, of those situated 
 below the Alps. 
 
 1 The peninsula occupied by the people named Brettii, or Bruttii. 
 
 2 The peninsula now designated Terra di Lecce, and called by the 
 ancients sometimes lapygia, at others Messapia, Calabria, and Salentina. 
 The isthmus of this peninsula was supposed to be formed by a line drawn 
 from Brindisi to Taranto. 3 The Gulf of Venice. 
 
 4 The Sea of Tuscany. * The Gulf of Salerno. 
 
 8 Capo di Leuca. J The Mediterranean. 8 Capo dell' Armi. 
 
316 STRABO. CASAUB. 212. 
 
 4. This is a superb plain variegated with fruitful hills. 
 The Po divides it almost through its midst, one side being 
 denominated Cispadana, and the other Transpadana. Cispa- 
 dana comprehends that part next the Apennines and Liguria, 
 
 jand Transpadana the reTnamcTer^ The" former [division] is 
 inhabited by Ligurian and Keltic nations, the former inhabit- 
 ing the mountains and thelatter the plains ; and the latter 
 [division] by Kelts and Heneti. These Kelts are of the 
 
 .ce as the Transalpjne^elts. Concerning the Heneti 
 
 ere are two'traditions, some saying that they are a 'colony 
 of those Kelts of the same name who dwell by the ocean. 1 
 Others *ay that they are descended from the Veneti of Paph- 
 lagonia, who took refuge here with Antenor after the Trojan 
 war"; and they give as a proof of this the attention these peo- 
 ple* bestow on rearing horses ; which, though now entirely 
 abandoned, was formerly in great esteem among them, result- 
 ing from the ancient rage for breeding mules, which Homer 
 thus mentions : 
 
 " From the Eneti for forest mules renowned." 2 
 
 It was here that Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, kept his stud 
 of race-horses. And, in consequence, the Henetian horses were 
 much esteemed in Greece, and their breed in great repute for 
 a long period. 
 
 5. The whole of this country 3 is full of rivers and marshes, 
 especially the district of the Heneti, which likewise experi- 
 ences the tides of the_ sea. This is almost the only part of 
 our sea 4 which is influenced in the samejnanner as the ocean, 
 and, like it, has ebb and flood tides. In consequence most of 
 the plain is covered with lagoons. 5 The inhabitants have dug 
 canals and dikes, after the manner of Lower Egypt, so that 
 part of the country is drained and cultivated, and the rest is 
 navigable. Some of their cities stand in the midst of water 
 like islands, others are only partially surrounded. Such as 
 lie above the marshes in the interior are situated on rivers 
 navigable for a surprising distance, the Po in particular, 
 
 1 OfVannes. 
 
 2 From the Heneti, whence is the race of wild mules. Iliad ii. 857. 
 
 3 Transpadana. 4 The Mediterranean. 
 
 5 The whole of the coast from Ravenna to Aquileia at the bottom of the 
 Gulf of Venice is still covered with marshes and lagoons, as it was in the 
 time of Strabo. The largest of these lagoons are at the mouths of the 
 Po, the others at the mouths of the torrents which descend from the Alps 
 
B. v. c. i. 6, 7. ITALY. CISALPINE GAUL. 317 
 
 which is both a large river, and also continually swelled by 
 the rains and snows. As it expands into numerous outlets, 
 its mouth is not easily perceptible and is difficult to enter. 
 But experience surmounts even the greatest difficulties. 
 
 6. Formerly, as we have said, the district next this river 
 was chiefly inhabited bv Kelts. The principal nations of 
 these Kelts were the Boii, the Insubri, and the Senones and . 
 Ga3sata3, who in one of their incursions took possession of 
 KoTne. The Romans afterwards entirely extirpated these 
 latter, and expelled the Boii from their country, who then 
 inigr rated to the land about the Danube, where they dwelt 
 wTthlhe Taurisci, and warred against the Dacians until the 
 whole nation was destroyed ; and they left to the surround- 
 
 ing tribes this sheep-pasturing district of Illyria. The Insubri ' 
 still exist; their metropolis is Mediolanum, 1 which formerly fa ( ^ 
 was a village, (for they all dwelt in villages,) but is now a 
 considerable city, beyond the Po, and almost touching the 
 Alps. Near to it is Verojia, a large city, and the smaller 
 towns Brescia, Mantua, Reggio, and Como. This latter was 
 but a very indifferent colony, having been seriously impaired 
 by the Rhasti who dwelt higher up, but it was repeopled by 
 Pojn^ey Strabo, father of Pompey the Great. Afterwards ^ 
 Caius Scipio 2 transferred thither 3000 men, and finally divus 
 Caesar peopled jt^with. 500Qjmen, the most distinguished of 
 wHom wer^5dOJjrreeks. Heconferred on these the privileges 
 of citizens, arid enrolled them amongst the inhabitants. They 
 not only took up their abode here, but left their name to the 
 colony itself; for all the inhabitants taking the name of 
 NfOk-w/utT-cu, this was translated [into Latin], and the place 
 called Novum-Comum. Near to this place is Lake Larius, 3 C^ * 
 which is filled by the river Adda, and afterwards flows out 
 into the Po. The sources of this river, as well as those of 
 the Rhine, rise in Mount Adulas. 4 
 
 7. These cities are situated high above the marshes ; 
 near to them is Patavium, 5 the finest of all the cities in this 
 
 1 Milan. 
 
 2 Apparently a mistake for Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus ; we 
 are unacquainted with any Caius Scipio. 3 The Lake of Como. 
 
 4 The source of the Adda is at the foot of Mount BrauIFo ; the~three 
 sources of the Rhine issue from Mounts St. Bernardin, St. Barnabe, and 
 Crispalt, at a considerable distance from the source of the Adda. 
 
 5 Padua. 
 
318 STRABO. CASAUB. 213. 
 
 district, and which at the time of the late census 1 was said to 
 contain 500 equites. Anciently it could muster an army of 
 120,000 men. The population and skill of this city is 
 evinced by the vast amount of manufactured goods it sends 
 to the Roman market, especially clothing of all kinds. It com- 
 municates with the sea by a river navigable from a large har- 
 bour [at its mouth], the river runs across the marshes for a dis- 
 tance of 250 stadia. This harbour, 2 as well as the river, 3 is 
 named Medoacus. Situated in the marshes is the great [city of] 
 Ravenna, built entirely on piles, 4 and traversed by canals^ 
 wfiich you cross by bridges or ferry-boats. At the full tides 
 it is washed by a considerable quantity of sea-water, as well 
 as by the river, and thus the sewage is carried off, and the 
 air purified ; in fact, the district is considered so salubrious 
 that the [Roman]governors have selected it as a spot to bring 
 up and exercisethe gladiators in. ~lt is* a remarkable pecu- 
 liarity oftms place, that, though situated in the midst of a 
 marsh, the air is perfectly innocuous ; the same is the case with 
 respect to Alexandria in Egypt, where the malignity of the 
 lake during summer is entirely removed by the rising of the 
 river which covers over the mud. Another remarkable pecu- 
 liarity is that of its vines, which, though growing in the 
 marshes, make very quickly and yield a large amount of fruit, 
 but perish in four or five years. Altinum 5 stands likewise 
 in the marshes, its situation being very similar to that of 
 Ravenna. Between them is Butrium, 6 a small city of Ravenna, 
 and Spina, 7 which is now a village, but wajs anciently a Cele- 
 brated (jjrecian citv. In fact, the treasures ^of the Spimtae 
 are shown at Delphi, and it is, besides, reported in history that 
 
 1 This appears to have been the last census of the three taken under 
 the reign of Augustus. The first occurred in the year of Rome 726, twenty- 
 eight years before the Christian era ; the number of citizens then amounted 
 to 4,064,000, or, according to Eusebius, 4,011,017. The second was in the 
 year of Rome 746, eight years before the Christian era; the number of 
 citizens was then found to be 4,163.000. The third census was in the 
 year of Rome 767, in the fourteenth year of the Christian era ; the num- 
 ber of citizens at this time was 4,037,000, according to the monument of 
 Ancyra, but according to Eusebius, 9,070,000. 
 
 2 Chioggia. 3 The Bacchiglione. 
 
 4 wXo7ray//e 0X77. We have followed the rendering of the French 
 translators ; however, Guarini, Buonaccivoli, Xylander, Siebenkees, and 
 Brequigny, all understand Strabo to mean that the city was built entirely 
 of wood. 5 Altino. 6 Bulrio. 7 Spinazino. 
 
B.V. c. i. $8. ITALY. CISALPINE GAUL. 319 
 
 they had dominion over the sea. They say that it formerly 
 stood on the sea ; now, however, the district is inland about 90 
 stadia from the sea. Ravenna is reported to have been 
 founded by Thessalians, who not being able to sustain the 
 violence of the Tyrrheni, welcomed into their city some of the 
 Ombrici, who still possess it, while they themselves returned 
 home. These cities for the most part are surrounded, and, as 
 it were, washed by the marshes. 
 
 8. Opitergium, 1 Concordia, Atria, 2 Vicetia, 3 as well as 
 some smaller cities, are less annoyed by the marshes : they 
 communicate by small navigable canals with the sea. They 
 say that Atria was formerly a famous city, from which the 
 Adriatic Gulf, with a slight variation, received its name. 
 Aquileia, which is the nearest to the head [of the gulf], was 
 founded by the Romans, 4 to keep in check the barbarians 
 dwelling higher up. You may navigate transport ships to 
 it up the river Natisone for more than sixty stadia. This 
 is the trading city with the .nations of Illyrians who dwell 
 round the Danube. Some deal in marine merchandise, 
 and carry in waggons wine in wooden casks and oil, and 
 others exchange slaves, cattle, and hides. Aquileia is with- 
 out the limits of the Heneti, their country being bounded 
 by a river which flows from the mountains of the Alps, 
 and is navigable for a distance of 1200 stadia, as far as the 
 city of Noreia, 8 near to where Cnseus Carbo was defeated 
 in his attack upon the Kimbrians. 6 This place contains fine 
 stations for gold washing and iron-works. At the very 
 head of the Adriatic is the Timavum, 7 a temple conse- 
 crated to Diomede, worthy of notice. For it contains a har- 
 bour and a fine grove, with seven springs of fresh water, 
 which fall into the sea in a broad, deep river. 8 Polybius, 
 however, says that, with the exception of one, they are all salt 
 springs, and that it is on this account the place is called by 
 the inhabitants the source and mother of the sea. Posi- 
 donius, on the other hand, tells us that the river Timavo, after 
 flowing from the mountains, precipitates itself into a chasm, 
 
 1 Oderzo. - Aclria. 3 Viceiiza. 
 
 4 About the year 186 before the Christian era. 
 
 5 Friesach in Steiermark. 6 113 years before the Christian era. 
 7 S. Giovanni del Carso. 8 The present Timavo. 
 
320 STEABO. CASAUII. 215. 
 
 and after flowing under ground about 130 stadia, discharges 
 itself into the sea. 
 
 9. That Diomedes did hold sovereignty over the country 
 around this sea, 1 is proved both by the Diomedean islands, 2 
 and the traditions concerning the Daunii and Argos-Hippium. 3 
 Of these we shall narrate as much as may be serviceable to 
 history, and shall leave alone the numerous falsehoods and 
 myths ; such, for instance, as those concerning Phaethon and 
 the Heliades 4 changed into alders near the [river] Erida- 
 nus, which exists no where, although said to be near the Po ; 5 
 of the islands Electrides, opposite the mouths of the Po, and 
 the Meleagrides, 6 found in them ; none of which things exist 
 in these localities. 7 However, some have narrated that honours 
 are paid to Diomedes amongst the Heneti, and that they 
 sacrifice to him a white horse ; two groves are likewise pointed 
 out, one [sacred] to the Argian Juno, and the other to the 
 -ZEtolian Diana. They have too, as we might expect, fictions 
 concerning these groves ; for instance, that the wild beasts in 
 them grow tame, that the deer herd with wolves, and they 
 suffer men to approach and stroke them; and that when 
 pursued by dogs, as soon as they have reached these groves, 
 
 1 The Adriatic. 
 
 2 The three islands of Tremiti, namely Domenico, Nicola, and Caprara, 
 opposite Monte Gargano. 3 Arpino. 
 
 4 Phaethusa, Lampetie, and Lampethusa. See Virg. Eel. vi. 62 ; JEn. 
 x. 190; Ovid Met. ii. 
 
 5 Either this passage has undergone alteration, or else Strabo is the 
 only writer who informs us that certain mythological traditions distin- 
 guished the Eridanus from the Po, placing the former of these rivers in the 
 vicinity of the latter. The pere Bardetti thinks the Greeks originally 
 confounded the Eretenus, a tributary of the Po, with the name Eridanus. 
 
 6 Probably Guinea-hens. 
 
 7 Strabo seems here to doubt that the Electrides islands ever existed, 
 but the French translators, in a very judicious note, have explained that 
 the geographical features of the country about the mouths of the Po had 
 undergone very considerable changes on account of the immense alluvial 
 deposit brought down from the mountains by that river, and suggest that 
 these islands had been united to the main-land long before Strabo's time, 
 for which reason he would not be able to verify the ancient traditions. 
 Even at the present day the Cavalier Negrelli is employing his celebrated 
 engineering science in making the communication between the Po and 
 the Adriatic navigable, and so rendering the countries bordering on the 
 Ticino, Adda, Mincio, Trebbia, Panono, and the adjacent lakes ac- 
 cessible to steam-boats from the Adriatic. 
 
B. v. c. i. 10. ITALY. CISALPINE GAUL. 321 
 
 the dogs no longer pursue them. They say, too, that a certain 
 person, well known for the facility with which he offered him- 
 self as a pledge for others, being bantered on this subject by 
 some hunters who came up with him having a wolf in leash, 
 they said in jest, that if he would become pledge for the wolf 
 and pay for the damage he might do, they would loose the bonds. 
 To this the man consented, and they let loose the wolf, who 
 gave chase to a herd of horses unbranded, and drove them 
 into the stable of the person who had become pledge for him. 
 The man accepted the gift, branded the horses with [the 
 representation of] a wolf, and named them Lucophori. They 
 were distinguished rather for their swiftness than gracefulness. 
 His heirs kept the same brand and the same name for this 
 race of horses, and made it a rule never to part with a single 
 mare, in order that they might remain sole possessors of the 
 race, which became famous. At the present day, however, as 
 we have before remarked, this [rage for] horse-breeding has 
 entirely ceased. 
 
 After the Timavum l comes the sea-coast of Istria as far as 
 Pola, which appertains to Italy. Between [the two] is the 
 fortress of Tergeste, distant from Aquileia 180 stadia. Pola 
 is situated in a gulf forming a kind of port, and containing 
 some small islands, 2 fruitful, and with good harbours. This city 
 was anciently founded by the Colchians sent after Medea, 
 who not being able to fulfil their mission, condemned them- 
 selves to exile. As Callimachus says, 
 
 " It a Greek would call 
 
 The town of Fugitives, but in their tongue 
 
 'Tis Pola named." 
 
 The different parts of Transpadana are inhabited by the 
 Heneti and the IstriL as far as Pola ; above the Heneti, by 
 the Garni, the Cenomani, the Medoaci, and the Symbri. 3 These 
 nations were formerly at enmity with the Romans, but the 
 Cenomani and Heneti allied themselves with that nation, both 
 prior to the expedition of Hannibal, when they waged war 
 with the Boii and Symbrii, 3 and also after that time. 
 
 10. Cispadana comprehends all that country enclosed be- 
 
 1 The Timavum, or temple consecrated to Diomede. 
 
 2 The Isola di Brioni, Conversara, and S. Nicolo. Pliny calls them 
 Insulae Pullarise. 
 
 3 This name is probably corrupt ; Cora-y proposes to read Insubri. 
 
322 STRABO. CASAUB. 216. 
 
 tween the Apennines and the Alps as far as Genoa and the 
 Vada-Sabbatorum. 1 The greater part was inhabited by the 
 Boii, the Ligurians, the Senones, and Gassatas ; but after the 
 depopulation of the Boii, and the destruction of the Gsesatse 
 and Senones, the Ligurian tribes and the Roman colonies 
 alone remained. The nation of the Ombrici 2 and certain of 
 the Tyrrheni are also mixed amongst the Romans. These 
 two nations, before the aggrandizement of the Romans, had 
 some disputes with each other concerning precedence. Having 
 only the river Tiber between, it was easy to commence war 
 upon each other ; and if the one sent out an expedition against 
 any nation, it was the ambition of the other to enter the same 
 country with an equal force. Thus, the Tyrrheni, having 
 organized a successful expedition against the barbarians 
 [dwelling in the countries] about the Po, but having speedily 
 lost again through their luxury [all they had acquired], the 
 Ombrici made war upon those who had driven them out. 
 Disputes arose between the Tyrrheni and Ombrici concern- 
 ing the right of possessing these places, and both nations 
 founded many colonies ; those, however, of the Ombrici were 
 most numerous, as they were nearest to the spot. When the 
 Romans gained the dominion, they sent out colonies to 
 different parts, but preserved those which had been formerly 
 planted by their predecessors. And although now they are 
 all Romans, they are not the less distinguished, some by the 
 names of Ombri and T^xrieni, others by those of Heneti, 
 Ligurians, and Insubri. 
 
 11. Both in Cispadana and around the Po there are some 
 fine cities. Placentia 3 and Cremona, situated about the mid- 
 dle of the country, are close to each other. Between these 
 and Ariminum, 4 are Parma, Mutina, 5 and Bononia, 6 which is 
 near to Ravenna ; amongst these are smaller cities on the 
 route to Rome, as Acara, 7 Rhegium-Lepidum, 8 Macri-Campi, 9 
 where a public festival is held every year, Claterna, 10 Forum- 
 Cornelium ; H while Faventia 12 and Ca5sena, situated near to the 
 river Savio 13 and the Rubicon, 14 are adjacent to Ariminum. 
 
 1 Vadi. 2 The Umbrians, or Umbri, of Roman History. 
 
 3 Piacenza. * Rimini. 5 Modena. 6 Bologna. 
 
 " Probably corrupt. 8 Reggio in Modena. 
 
 9 Between Parma and Modena, the Val di Montirone and Orte Ma- 
 grada. 10 Quaderna. u Imola. l2 Faenza. 
 
 13 Ancient Sapis. u Probably Pisatello. 
 
B. v. c. i. 11. ITALY. CISALPINE GAUL. 323 
 
 Ariminum, like Ravenna, is an ancient colony of the Ombri, 
 but both of them have received also Roman colonies. Ari- 
 minum has a port and a river 1 of the same name as itself. 
 From Placentia to Ariminum there are 1300 stadia. About 
 36 miles above Placentia, towards the boundaries of the king- 
 dom of Cottius, is the city of Ticinum, 2 by which flows a river 3 
 bearing the same name, which falls into the Po, while a little 
 out of the route are Clastidium, 4 Derthon, 5 and Aquae- Stati- 
 ellae. 6 But the direct route as far as Ocelum, 7 along the Po 
 and the Doria Riparia, 8 is full of precipices, intersected by nu- 
 merous other rivers, one of which is the Durance, 9 and is about 
 1 60 miles long. Here comme'nce the Alpine mountains and Kel- 
 tica. 10 Near to the mountains above Luna is the city of Lucca. 
 Some [of the people of this part of Italy] dwell in villages, 
 nevertheless it is well populated, and furnishes the greater 
 part of the military force, and of 4 equites, of whom the senate 
 is partly composed. Derthon is a considerable city, situated 
 about half way on the road from Genoa to Placentia, which 
 are distant 400 stadia from each other. Aquae- Statiellae is 
 on the same route. That from Placentia to Ariminum we 
 have already described, but the sail to Ravenna down the Po 
 requires two days and nights. A 11 great part of Cispadana 
 likewise was covered by marshes, through which Hannibal 
 passed with difficulty on his march into Tyrrhenia. 12 But 
 Scaurus drained the plains by navigable canals from the Po 13 
 to the country of the Parmesans. For the Trebia meeting 
 the Po near Placentia, and having previously received many 
 other rivers, is over-swollen near this place. I allude to the 
 Scaurus 14 who also made the JEmilian road through Pisa 
 and Luna as far as Sabbatorum, and thence through Der- 
 thon. There is another JEmilian road, which continues the 
 Flaminian. For Marcus Lepidus and Caius Flaminius being 
 colleagues in the consulship, and having vanquished the 
 Ligurians, the one made the Via Flaminia from Rome across 
 
 1 The Marecchia. 2 Pavia. 3 The Ticino. 
 
 4 Castezzio. 5 Tortona. 6 Acqui, on the left bank of the Bormia. 
 7 Ucello. 8 Aovpiae. 9 The ancient Dmentia. 
 
 10 Transalpine Gaul. u From here to the word Derthon the text 
 
 appears to be corrupt. 12 Tuscany. 
 
 13 Clavier proposes to read " from Placentia to Parma ; " he has been 
 followed throughout the passage by the French translators. 
 
 14 M. ^Emilius Scaurus. 
 
324 STRABO. f CASAUB. 218. 
 
 Tyrrhenia and Ombrica as far as the territory of Ariminum, 1 
 the other, the road as far as Bononia, 2 and thence to Aquileia 3 
 by the roots of the Alps, and encircling the marshes. The 
 boundaries which separate from the rest of Italy this country, 
 which we designate Citerior Keltica, 4 were marked by the 
 Apennine mountains above Tyrrhenia and the river Esino, 5 
 and afterwards by the Rubicon. 6 Both these rivers fall into 
 the Adriatic. 
 
 12. The fertility of this country is proved by its population, 
 the size of its cities, and its wealth, in all of which the 
 Romans of this country surpass the rest of Italy. The culti- 
 vated land produces fruits in abundance and of every kind, 
 and the woods contain such abundance of mast, that Rome is 
 principally supplied from the swine fed there. Being well 
 supplied with w.ater, millet grows there in perfection. This 
 affords the greatest security against famine, inasmuch as mil- 
 let resists any inclemency of the atmosphere, and never fails, 
 even when there is scarcity of other kinds of grain. Their 
 pitch-works are amazing, and their casks give evidence of the 
 abundance of wine : these are made of wood, and are larger 
 than houses, and the great supply of pitch allows them to be 
 sold cheap. The soft wool and by far the best is produced 
 in the country round Mutina 7 and the river Panaro ; 8 while 
 the coarse wool, which forms the main article of clothing 
 amongst the slaves in Italy, is produced in Liguria and the 
 country of the .Symbri. There is a middling kind grown 
 about Patavium, 9 of which the finer carpets, gausapi, 10 and 
 every thing else of the same sort, whether with the wool on 
 
 1 Strabo here falls into a mistake in attributing to C. Flaminius Nepos, 
 who was consul in the year of Rome 567, 187 years before the Christian 
 era, the construction of the Via Flaminia which led from the Portus 
 Flumentana to the city of Ariminum. According to most Latin authors, 
 this grand route was formed by C. Flaminius Nepos, censor in the year 
 of Rome 534, and 220 years before the Christian era (the same who 
 three years afterwards was slain at the battle of Thrasymenus). Livy, 
 whose authority is certainly of great weight, speaking of the grand road 
 made by C. Flaminius Nepos, consul in the year of Rome 567, states ex- 
 pressly that it led from Bologna to Arezzo. Hist. lib. xxxix. 2. 
 
 2 Bologna. 3 Maft'ei proposes to substitute Placentia for Aquileia. 
 
 4 Cisalpine Gaul. 
 
 5 The ancient JEsis, now Esino, named also Fiumesino. 
 
 6 Probably the Pisatello. 7 Modena. 8 The Scultanna of antiquity. 
 9 Padua. 10 A kind of cassock with long hair. 
 
B. v, c. ii. 1. ITALY. ETRURIA. 325 
 
 one or on both sides, are made. The mines are not worked 
 now so diligently, because not equally profitable with those of 
 Transalpine Keltica and Iberia ; but formerly they must have 
 been, since there were gold-diggings even in Vercelli, near 
 to Ictimuli, 1 both which villages are near to Placentia. 2 
 Here we finish our description of the first part of Italy, and 
 pass on to the second. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. IN the second place, we shall treat of that portion of Ligu- 
 ria situated in the Apennines, between the Keltica 3 already 
 described and Tyrrhenia. There is nothing worth mention- 
 ing about it, except that the people dwell in villages, ploughing 
 and digging the intractable land, or rather, as Posidonius ex- 
 presses it, hewing the j*ocks. 
 
 The third division contains the Tyrrhenians, who dwell "~ 
 next the former, and inhabit the plains extending to the 
 Tiber, which river, as far as its outlet, washes the side towards 
 the east, the opposite side being washed by the Tyrrhenian 
 and Sardinian sea. The Tiber flows from the Apennines, and 
 is swelled by many rivers ; it flows partly through Tyrrhenia, 
 dividing it in the first instance from Ombffca, 4 afterwards I 
 from the Sabini and the Latini, who are situated next Rome | 
 as far as tHe^ea-coast ; so ^Kat these countries are bounded """" 
 in their breadth by the river [Tiber] and the Tyrrhenians, 
 and in their length by each other. They extend upwards 
 towards the Apennines which approach the Adriatic. The 
 fip^t 5 are the Ombrici, after these the Sabini, and finally the 
 inhabitants of Latium. They all commence from the river. 
 The country of fnlT Latini extends on one side along the sea- 
 coast from Ostia to the city of Sinuessa, on the other it 
 is bounded by the land of the Sabini, (Ostia is the port of 
 Rome, through which the Tiber passes in its course,) it 
 
 1 Probably Victimolo. 2 Piacenza. 
 
 3 Gallia Cispadana. 4 'OfiflpiKij, now Ombria. 
 
 5 Or nearest to the Adriatic. 
 
326 STRABO. CASAUB. 219. 
 
 extends in length as far as Campania and the Saninitic moun- 
 tains. The country of the Sabini lies between the Latini 
 and the Ombrici, it likewise extends to the Saninitic moun- 
 tains, but approaches nearer to the Apennines inhabited by 
 the Vestini, the Peligni, and the Marsi. The Ombrici lie 
 between the country of the Sabini and Tyrrhenia, but extend 
 beyond the mountains as far as Ariminum, 1 and Ravenna. 
 The Tyrrheni, commencing from their own sea and the Tiber, 
 extend to the circular chain of mountains which stretches 
 from Liguria to the Adriatic. We will now enter into a 
 detailed account, commencing with these. 
 
 2. The Tyrrheni have now received from the Romans the 
 surname of Etrusci and Tusci. The Greeks thus named them 
 from Tyrrhenus the son of Atys, as they say, who sent hither 
 a-colonyTrom Lydia. Atys, who was one of the descendants 
 of Hercules and Omphale, and had two sons, in a time of 
 famine and scarcity determined by lot that Lydus should re- 
 main in the country, but that Tyrrhenus, with the greater 
 part of the people, should depart. Arriving here, he named 
 the country after himself, Tyrrhenia, and founded twelve 
 cities, having appointed as their governor Tarcon, from 
 whom the city of Tarquinia [received its name], and who, on 
 account of the sagacity which he had displayed from child- 
 hood, was feigned to have been born with hoary hair. Placed 
 originally under one authority, they became flourishing ; but 
 it seems that in after-times, their confederation being broken 
 up and each city separated, they yielded to the violence of 
 the neighbouring tribes. Otherwise they would never have 
 abandoned a fertile country for a life of piracy on the sea, 
 roving from one ocean to another ; since, when united they 
 were able not only to repel those who assailed them, but to 
 act on the offensive, and undertake long campaigns. After 
 fa~' the founjda^p^i^f^p^eiJDejnaratus arrived here, bringing 
 with him people^ from^Corinth. 2 He was received at Tar- 
 quinia, where he had_a_son, named Lucumo, by a woman of 
 that country. 3 Lucumo becoming the friend ~of Ancus Mar- 
 
 1 Rimini. 
 
 2 Larcher calculates that it was about the year of Rome 91, or 663 
 years before the Christian era, that Demaratus, flying from the tyranny of 
 Cypselus at Corinth, established himself in Tyrrhenia. 
 
 3 Strabo here mentions only one son of Demaratus, to whom he gives 
 
B. v. c. ii. 3. ITALY. ETRURIA. 327 
 
 cius, king of the Romans, succeeded him on the throne, and 
 assumed the name of Lucius~^KrquTnTuT Priscus. Both he 
 and his father did mnghjor^j.h^^ of Tyrrhenia. 
 
 the one by means of the numerous artists who had followed 
 him from tj^eiEIaative country TThe other having the resou rces 
 oTRome^ It is saicT thaT the triumphal costume of the con- 
 suls, as well as that of the other magistrates, was introduced ' 
 from the Tarquinii, with the fasces, axes, trumpets, sacrifices, 
 divination, and music employed by the Romans in their 
 public ceremonies. His son, the second Tarquin, named Su- 
 perbus, who was driven from his throne, was the last king 
 Rome]. Porsena, king of Clusium, 2 a city of Tyrrhe 
 endeavoured to replace him on the throne by force of arms, 
 but not being able he made peace 3 with the Romans, and 
 departed in a friendly way, with honour and loaded with gifts. 
 3. Such are the facts concerning the celebrity of the Tyr- 
 rheni, to which may be added the explojjs_oLj3iejCaeretani, 4 
 who defeated the Galatae after they had taken Rome. Having 
 attacked them as they were departing through the country of 
 the Sabini, they took from them, much against their will, the 
 ransom which the Romans had willingly paid to them ; besides 
 this, they_toojcjin^e^jtheir_proj^tipjn thosejvvho fledjfcp them 
 out of RomeT the sacred fire and the priestesses of Vesta/? 
 The Romans, influenced by those who then misgoverned the 
 city, seen^oXto^ayje_be^n_pr^ejljjmindful of this service ; 
 for although they conferred on them the rights of citizenship, 
 they did not enrol them amongst the citizens ; and further, 
 they inscribed upoji the same.,joll with the Cgretani, others 
 who did not enjoy as great privileges as they did. However, 
 
 the name of Lucumo ; in this latter statement he is supported by Diony- 
 sius Halicarnassus. Livy also mentions a young citizen of Clusium 
 named Lucumo. But there is reason to believe that these three writers 
 were deceived by the writers whom they followed. It seems to be in- 
 contestable that Lucumo was the designation of the chief of each of the 
 twelve cities of Etruria. 
 
 1 Dionysius Halicarnassus relates that after a brisk war the cities of 
 Etruria submitted to Tarquinius Priscus, and that the Romans permitted 
 him to accept this foreign royalty, and still hold the throne of Rome. 
 No historian that we are aware of, with the exception of Strabo, men- 
 tions the benefits received by Etruria from that prince. 
 
 2 Chiusi. 3 B. c. 508. 
 * The people of Cerveteri. 
 
 5 This is also related by Livy and Valerius Maximus. 
 
328 STRABO. CASAUB. 220. 
 
 amongst the Greeks this city was highly esteemed both for 
 its bravery and rectitude of conduct ; for they refrained from 
 piracy, with favourable opportunities for engaging in it, and 
 dedicated at Delphi the treasure, as it was called, of the 
 Agyllasi ; for their country was formerly named Agylla, though 
 now Caerea. It is said to have been founded by Pelasgi from 
 Thessaly. The Lydians, who had taken the name of Tyr- 
 rheni, having engaged in war against the Agyllaei, one of them, 
 approaching the wall, inquired the name of the city ; when 
 one of the Thessalians from the wall, instead of answering the 
 question, saluted him with xdipe. 1 The Tyrrheni received this 
 as an omen, and having taken the city they changed its name. 
 This city, once so flourishing and celebrated, only preserves 
 the traces [of its former greatness] ; the neighbouring hot 
 springs, named Caeretana, 2 being more frequented than it, by 
 the people attracted thither for the sake of their health. 
 
 t4. Almost every one is agreed that the Pelasgi were an ancient 
 race spread throughout the whole of Greece, but especially in 
 the^ountry oftEe JEolians near to Thessaly. Ephorus, 
 however, says that he considers fney wefe~ originally Arca- 
 dians, who had taken up a warlike mode of life ; and having 
 persuaded many others to the same course, imparted their own 
 name to the whole, and became famous both among the Greeks, 
 and in every other country where they chanced to come. 
 Homer informs us that there were colonies of them in Crete, 
 for he makes Ulysses say to Penelope 
 
 " Diverse their language is ; Achaians some, 
 And some indigenous are ; Cydonians there, 
 Crest-shaking Dorians, and Pelasgians dwell." 3 
 
 And that portion of Thessaly between the outlets of the 
 Peneius 4 and the Thermopylae, as far as the mountains of 
 Pindus, is named Pelasgic Argos, the district having formerly 
 belonged to the Pelasgi. The poet himself also gives to Do- 
 donaean Jupiter, the epithet of Pelasgian : 
 
 1 A Grecian form of salutation, equivalent to our " good-morning." 
 
 2 Cseri, according to Holstenius, the Bagni di Sasso, Cluvier con- 
 sidered it Bagni di Stigliano. 
 
 3 Odyssey xix. 175. And there is a different language of different men 
 mixed together ; there are in it Achaians, and magnanimous Eteocretans, 
 and Cydonians, and crest-shaking Dorians, and divine Pelasgians. 
 
 4 The Salambria, Costum. 
 
B. v. c. ii. 5. ITALY. ETRURIA. 329 
 
 " Pelasgian, Dodoneean Jove supreme." ' 
 
 Many have likewise asserted that the nations of the Epirus 
 are Pelasgic, because the dominions of the Pelasgi extended 
 so far. And, as many of the heroes have been named Pelasgi, 
 later writers have applied the same name to the nations over 
 which they were the chiefs. Thus Lesbos 2 has been callecT" 
 Pelasgic, and Homer has called the people bordering on the 
 Cilices in the Troad Pelasgic : 
 
 " Hippothous from Larissa, for her soil 
 Far-famed, the spear-expert Pelasgians brought." 3 
 
 Ephorus, when he supposes that they were a tribe of Arca- 
 dians, follows Hesiod, who says, 
 
 " The sons born of the divine Lycaon, whom formerly Pelasgus begot." 
 Likewise jiEschylus in his Suppliants, or Danaids, makes their 
 race to be of Argos near Mycenae. Ephorus likewise says that 
 Peloponnesus was named Pelasgia ; and Euripides, in the 
 Archelaus, says, 
 
 " Danaus, who was the father of fifty daughters, having arrived in Argos 
 inhabited 4 the city of Inachus, and made a law that those who had before 
 borne the name of Pelasgiotae throughout Greece should be called Danai." 
 
 Anticlides says, that they first colonized about Lemnos and 
 Imbros, and that some of their number passed into Italy with 
 Tyrrhenus, the son of Atys. And the writers on the Athenian 
 Antiquities, 5 relate of the Pelasgi, that some of them came to 
 Athens, where, on account of their wanderings, and their set- 
 tling like birds in any place where they chanced to come, 
 they were called by the Athenians PelargiP 
 
 5. They say that the greatest length of Tyrrhenia, which is 
 along the coast from Luna to Ostia, is about 2500 stadia ; and 
 that its breadth in the direction of the mountains is less than 
 half that number. Then from Luna to Pisa there are more than 
 400 stadia ; from thence to Volaterrae 7 280 ; thence to Pop- 
 
 1 Iliad xvi. 223. 2 Metelino. 
 
 3 Iliad ii. 840, Hippothous led the tribes of the spear-skilled Pelasgians, 
 of those who inhabited fertile Larissa. 
 
 4 We have followed the example of the French translators in reading 
 $Ki]ffiv with all MSS. Groskurd and Kramer adopt the views of Xy- 
 lander and Siebenkees in substituting $KIGIV. 
 
 5 Oi rrfv 'ArOida (ruyypa^avrtg. 'A.rQiQ was a title given to their works 
 by many authors who wrote on Athenian Antiquities, as Philochorus, An- 
 drotion, Amelesagoras, Hellanicus, &c. 
 
 8 Or Storks. 7 Volterra. 
 
330 STRABO. CASAU-B. 222. 
 
 Ionium 270 ; and from Poplonium to Cossa 1 near 800, or as 
 some say, 600. Polybius, however, says that there are not 2 in 
 all 1330. 3 Of these Luna is a city and harbour ; it is named by 
 the Greeks, the harbour and city of Selene. 4 The city is not 
 large, but the harbour 5 is very fine and spacious, containing in 
 itself numerous harbours, all of them deep near the shore ; it 
 is in fact an arsenal worthy of a nation holding dominion for 
 so long a time over so vast a sea. The harbour is surrounded 
 by lofty mountains, 6 from whence you may view the sea 7 
 and Sardinia, and a great part of the coast on either side. Here 
 are quarries of marble, both white and marked with green, so 
 numerous and large, as to furnish tablets and columns of one 
 block ; and most of the material for the fine works, both in 
 Rome and the other cities, is furnished from hence. The 
 transport of the marble is easy, as the quarries lie near to the 
 sea, and from the sea they are conveyed by the Tiber. Tyr- 
 rhenia likewise supplies most of the straightest and longest 
 planks for building, as they are brought direct from the 
 mountains to the river. Between Luna and Pisa flows the 
 Macra, 8 a division which many writers consider the true bound- 
 ary of Tyrrhenia and Liguria. isa was founded by the 
 Pjsatse of the Peloponnesus, who went under Nestor to the 
 expedition again sTTroy, but in their voyage~horne wandered 
 out of their course, some to Metapontium, 9 others to the Pisatis ; 
 they were, however, all called Pylians. The city lies between 
 the two rivers Arno 10 and ^Esar, 11 at their point of confluence ; 
 the former of which, though very full, descends from Arretium 12 
 not in one body, but divided into three ; the second flows 
 
 Ruins near Ansedonia. 
 
 Coray here reads ovv for OVK. Kramer considers the passage corrupt. 
 
 The French translation here gives 1460, and a note by Gosselin. 
 
 ~2e\r)rT], the moon. 5 The bay of Spezia. 
 
 The mountains of Carrara. 7 The Mediterranean. 
 
 Other writers mention a river Macra, but none of them, as it appears, 
 a district in Italy bearing that name. Kramer supposes that Strabo wrote 
 Trora/uov, and not %u)piov t the reading of all MS. 
 
 * Near the mouth of the river Basiento. 10 The ancient Arnus. 
 
 11 Corresponding to the present Serchio, which discharges itself into the 
 sea, and not into the Arno. The time when this change of direction took 
 place is not recorded, but traces of the ancient name and course of the 
 river remain in the Osari, which, after flowing a short distance through a 
 marshy district, falls into the sea between the Serchio and Arno. 
 
 12 Arezzo. 
 
B. v. c. ii. 6. ITALY. ETRURIA. 331 
 
 down from the Apennines. Where they fall into one current, 
 the shock between them is so great as to raise the water to 
 that height, that people standing on either bank are not able 
 to see each other ; so that necessarily the voyage up from 
 the sea is difficult. This voyage is about 20 stadia. There 
 is a tradition, that when these rivers first descended from the 
 mountains they were impeded by the inhabitants of the dis- 
 trict, lest falling together they should inundate the country ; 
 however, they promised not to inundate it, and they have kept 
 their word. This city appears to have been formerly flourish- 
 ing, and at the present day it still maintains its name, on 
 account of its fertility, its marble-quarries, and its wood for 
 building ships, which formerly they employed to preserve 
 themselves from danger by sea ; for they were more warlike 
 than the Tyrrheni, and were constantly irritated by the Ligu- 
 rians, troublesome neighbours, who dwelt on the coast. At 
 the present day the wood is mostly employed for building 
 houses in Rome, and in the country villas [of the Romans], 
 which resemble in their gorgeousness Persian palaces. 
 
 6. The country of the Volaterrani 1 is washed by the sea. 
 Their city is situated in a deep hollow on the top of a high 
 hill. The wall of the city is built round its summit, which is 
 flat and precipitous on every side. From its base, the ascent 
 upward is fifteen stadia, steep and difficult. Here certain 
 of the Tyrrhenians and of those proscribed by Sulla, 2 took 
 their stand, and having organized four bands, sustained a 
 siege for two years, and at last secured articles of truce be- 
 fore surrendering the place. Poplonium is situated on a lofty 
 promontory, which projects into the sea, and forms a cher- 
 sonesus. It likewise sustained a siege about the same time. This 
 little place is now deserted, with the exception of the temples 
 and a few houses ; the sea-port, which is situated at the root 
 of the mountain, is better inhabited, having both a small har- 
 bour and ship-sheds. This appears to me the only one of the 
 ancient Tyrrhenian cities situated on the sea ; the reason 
 being that this territory affords no harbours. The founders 
 [of the cities] therefore either avoided the sea altogether, or 
 threw up fortifications in order that they might not become 
 the ready prey of those who might sail against them. On the 
 
 1 Volterra. 2 Eighty-one years B. c. 
 
3M STRABO. CASAUB. 223. 
 
 summit [of the cape] there is a look-out for thunnies. 1 From 
 this city there is an indistinct and distant view of Sardinia. 
 Cyrnus, 2 however, is nearer, being distant from Sardinia about 
 60 stadia. While JEthalia 3 is much nearer to the continent 
 than either, being distant therefrom only 300 4 stadia, and the 
 same number from Cyrnus. Poplonium is the best starting- 
 place to any of the three mentioned islands. We ourselves ob- 
 served them from the height of Poplonium, in which place 
 we saw certain mines which had been abandoned, we also saw 
 the craftsmen who work the iron brought from JEthalia ; for 
 they cannot reduce it into bars in the furnaces on the island, 
 and it is therefore transferred direct from the mines to the 
 continent. There is another remarkable circumstance, that 
 the exhausted mines of the island in course of time are again re- 
 filled similarly to what they say takes place at the platamones b 
 in Rhodes, the marble-quarries in Paros, and the salt-mines 
 in India, mentioned by Clitarchus. Eratosthenes was there- 
 fore incorrect in saying that from the mainland you could 
 neither see Cyrnus nor Sardinia ; and so was Artemidorus in 
 his assertion, that both these places lay in the high sea at a 
 distance of 1200 stadia. For whatever others might, I cer- 
 tainly could never have seen them at such a distance, however 
 carefully I had looked, particularly Cyrnus. .JEthalia has a 
 harbour named Argoiis, 6 derived, as they say, from the [ship] 
 Argo, Jason having sailed hither, seeking the abode of Circe 
 as Medea wished to see that goddess ; and that from the sweat 
 scraped off by the Argonauts and hardened, are formed the 
 variegated pebbles now seen on the beach. 7 This and similar 
 traditions prove what we before stated, that Homer did not 
 invent them all himself, but, hearing the numerous current 
 stories, he merely transferred the scenes to other localities 
 and exaggerated the distances : as he makes Ulysses wander 
 
 1 This was a regular business. A man was posted on a high place, from 
 which he could see the shoals coming, and make a sign to the fishermen. 
 
 2 Corsica. 3 The island of Elba. 
 
 * The French translation has 200 in text, while it states in a note that 
 all manuscripts give 300, and continues to discuss the real distance at 
 some length. Kramer says, in a note, that MS. Vatic. No. 482, has 200. 
 
 3 T[\ara}iS)vaQ is here adopted is preference to any attempt at trans- 
 lation. It is probable they were quarries of the cream-coloured limestone 
 of the island. 6 Porto Ferrajo. 
 
 7 Gosselin supposes that the crystals of iron, abundant in the island of 
 Elba, are here alluded to. 
 
B. v. c. ii. 7. ITALY. CORSICA. SARDINIA. 333 
 
 over the ocean, so does he narrate of Jason, as he too had 
 been renowned for his travels : and the same he likewise re- 
 lates of Menelaus. This is what we have to say of JEthalia. 
 
 7. Cyrnus is called by the Romans Corsica ; it is poorly in- 
 habited, being both rugged and in many parts entirely inac- 
 cessible, so that the mountaineers, who live by plunder, are 
 more savage than wild beasts. Whenever any Roman general 
 invades the country, and, penetrating into the wilds, seizes a 
 vast number of slaves, it is a marvel to behold in Rome how 
 savage and bestial they appear. For they either scorn to live, 
 or if they do live, aggravate their purchasers by their apathy and 
 insensibility, causing them to regret the purchase-money, how- 
 ever small. 1 We must remark, however, that some districts are 
 habitable, and that there are some small cities, for instance 
 Blesino, Charax, Eniconiae, and Vapanes. 2 The chorogra- 
 pher 3 says that the length of this island is 160 miles, its breadth 
 70 ; that the length of Sardinia is 220, and its breadth 98. 
 According to others, the perimeter of Cyrnus is said to be about 
 1200 4 stadia, and of Sardinia 4000. A great portion of this 
 latter is rugged and untranquil ; another large portion is fertile 
 in every production, but particularly in wheat. There are many 
 cities, some are considerable, as Caralis 5 and Sulchi. 6 There 
 is however an evil, which must be set against the fertility of 
 these places ; for during the summer the island is unhealthy, 
 more particularly so in the most fertile districts ; in addition 
 to this, it is often ravaged by the mountaineers, whom they 
 call Diagesbes, 7 who formerly were named lolaenses. For it 
 is said that lolaus 8 brought hither certain of the children of 
 Hercules, and established himself amongst the barbarian pos- 
 
 1 The testimony of Diodorus is just to the contrary. The Corsican slaves 
 appear better fitted than any others for performing useful services ; their 
 physical constitution being peculiarly adapted thereto. Diodor. Sic. 
 1. v. 13. 
 
 2 None of these names are found in Ptolemy's description of Corsica. 
 Diodorus Siculus has names somewhat similar. 
 
 3 It is uncertain to whom Strabo here alludes. The French translators 
 are of opinion that he alludes to the chart of Agrippa. 
 
 4 The French translators read with their manuscript 1394, Trtpt rpttr- 
 XiXiovf, K. T. X., about 3200. 
 
 5 Cagliari. 
 
 6 Cluvier is of opinion that the modern Palma di Solo corresponds to 
 Sulchi. 7 Some manuscripts read Diagebres. 
 
 8 The nephew of Hercules, being the son of Iphiclus, his brother. 
 
334 STRABO. CASATJB. 225. 
 
 sessors of the island, who were Tyrrhenians. Afterwards the 
 Phoenicians of Carthage became masters of the island, and, 
 "assisted by the inhabitants, carried on war against the Romans ; 
 but after the subversion of the Carthaginians, the Romans 
 became masters of the whole. There are four nations of moun- 
 taineers, the Parati, Sossinati, Balari, and the Aconites. These 
 people dwell in caverns. Although they have some arable 
 land, they neglect its cultivation, preferring rather to plunder 
 what they find cultivated by others, whether on the island or 
 on the continent, where they make descents, especially upon 
 the Pisatse. The prefects sent [into Sardinia] sometimes resist 
 them, but at other times leave them alone, since it would cost 
 too dear to maintain an army always on foot in an unhealthy 
 place : they have, however, recourse to the arts of stratagem, 
 and taking advantage of the custom of the barbarians, who 
 always hold a great festival for several days after returning 
 from a plundering expedition, they then fall upon them, and 
 capture many. There are rams here which, instead of wool, 
 have hair resembling that of a goat ; they are called musmones, 
 and the inhabitants make corselets of their hides. They like- 
 wise arm themselves with a pelta and a small sword. 
 
 8. Along the whole coast between Poplonium and Pisa these 
 islands are clearly visible ; they are oblong, and all three 
 nearly parallel, 1 running towards the south and Libya. JEtha- 
 lia is by far smaller than either of the other two. The 
 chorographer says that the shortest passage from Libya to 
 Sardinia is 300 2 miles. After Poplonium is the city of Cossae, 
 situated at a short distance from the sea : there is at the head 
 of the bay a high hill upon which it is built ; below it lies the 
 port of Hercules, 3 and near to it a marsh formed by the sea. 4 
 At the summit of the cape which commands the gulf is a look- 
 out for thunnies ; for the thunny pursues his course along 
 the coast, from the Atlantic Ocean as far as Sicily, in search 
 not only of acorns, but also of the fish which furnishes the 
 purple dye. As one sails along the coast from Cossse to Ostia 
 
 1 That is, Corsica and Sardinia run in a line north and south, and Elba 
 lies to one side ; the Trapa'XXqXoi <rx^ov at rptig is an example showing 
 how happily a circumstance may be expressed in Greek, while no amount 
 of labour will adapt an English equivalent. 
 
 2 The real distance, according to Gosselin, is 1 1 5 miles. 
 
 3 Porto Ercole. * The Stagno d'Orbitello. 
 
B. v. c. n. $ 9. ITALY. ETRURIA. 335 
 
 there are the towns of Gravisci, 1 Pyrgi, 2 Alsium, 3 and Fre- 
 gena. 4 [From Cossae] to Gravisci is a distance of 300 stadia, 
 and between them is the place named Regis- Villa. This is said 
 to have been the royal residence of Maleos the Pelasgian ; they 
 report that after he had reigned here for some time, he de- 
 parted with his Pelasgians to Athens. These were of the 
 same tribe as those who occupied Agylla. From Gravisci to 
 Pyrgi is a little less than 180 stadia, and the sea-port town 
 of the Ca3retani is 30 stadia farther. [Pyrgi] contains a tem- 
 ple of Ilethyia 5 founded by the Pelasgi, and which was for- 
 merly rich, but it was plundered by Dionysius the tyrant of 
 the Sicilians, at the time 6 of his voyage to Cyrnus. 7 From 
 Pyrgi to Ostia is 260 stadia ; between the two are Alsium 
 and Fregena. Such is our account of the coast of Tyrrhenia. 
 9. In the interior of the country, besides the cities already 
 mentioned, there are Arretium, 8 Perusia, 9 Volsinii, 10 Sutrium ; J1 
 and in addition to theslTare numerous small cities, as Blera, 12 
 Fejrentinum, 13 I]alerium, u Fj,liscum, 15 Nepita. 16 Statonia, 17 and 
 many others ; some of which exist in their original state, others 
 have been colonized by the Romans, or 'partially ruined by 
 them in their~wars, viz. those they frequently waged against 
 the Veii 18 and the Fidenae. 19 Some say that the inhabitants 
 of Falerium are not Tyrrhenians, but Falisci, a distinct nation ; 
 others state further, that the Falisci speak a language peculiar 
 to themselves ; some again would make it ^Equum-Faliscum on 
 
 1 Situated in the marshy plain commanded by the heights of Corneto, 
 between the Mignone and the Marta. 
 
 2 This town stood on the site of the present S. Severa, at the mouth 
 of the Rio-Castrica. 
 
 3 The ancient Alsium occupied the site of the place now called Statua ; 
 below it are the vestiges of the Portus Alsiensis, at the embouchure of the 
 Rio-Cupino, a little to the east of Palo. 4 Torre Macarese. 
 
 5 The Roman Lucina, in later times identical with Diana. 
 
 6 About the year 384 before the Christian era. 7 Corsica. 
 
 8 Arezzo. 9 Perugia. 10 Bolsena. u Sutri. 12 Bieda. 
 
 3 The French translation understands this to be the modern Ferenti, 
 near Viterbo. 14 Sta. Maria di Falari. 
 
 15 Probably another name for Falerium. I8 Nepi. 
 
 17 Castro, or Farnese, near Lake Mezzano. 
 
 8 This ancient city was probably situated near the Isola Farnesia, 
 about the place where Storta now stands. 
 
 19 Fidense was situated on the left bank of the Tiber, near its confluence 
 with the Anio, now the Teverone, 40 stadia from Rome. The ruins are 
 near the villages Giubileo and Serpentina. 
 
STRABO. CASAUB. 226. 
 
 ia Flaminia, lying between Ocricli l and Rome. Below 
 Mount Soracte 2 is the city of Feronia, having the same name 
 as a certaingoddess of the country, highly reverenced by 
 the surrounHmg people : here_is_hex_temle, in which a re- 
 markable ceremony is performed, for those possessed by the 
 divinity pass over a large bed of burmng^coal and ashes bare- 
 foot, unhurt. A great concourse of people assemble to assist 
 I at the festival, which is celebrated yearly, and to see the 
 \ said spectacle. Arretium, 3 near the mountains, is the most 
 "Inland city : it is distant from Rome 1200 stadia : from 
 Clusium 4 [to Rome] is 800 stadia. Near to these [two cities] 
 is Perusia. 5 The large and numerous lakes add to the fertility 
 of this country, 6 they are navigable, and stocked with fish and 
 aquatic birds. Large quantities of typha, 7 papyrus, and 
 anthela 8 are transported to Rome, up the rivers which flow 
 from these lakes to the Tiber. Among these are the lake 
 Ciminius, 9 and those near the Volsinii, 10 and Clusium, 11 and 
 Sabatus, 12 which is nearest to Rome and the sea, and the far- 
 thest Trasumennus, 13 near Arretium. Along this is the pass by 
 which armies can proceed from [Cisalpine] Keltica into Tyr- 
 rhenia ; this is the one followed by Hannibal. There are two ; 
 the other leads towards Ariminum across Ombrica, and is 
 preferable as the mountains are considerably lower ; how- 
 ever, as this was carefully guarded, Hannibal was com- 
 pelled to take the more difficult, which he succeeded in 
 forcing after having vanquished Flaminius in a decisive en- 
 gagement. There are likewise in Tyrrhenia numerous hot 
 springs, which on account of their proximity to Rome, are 
 not less frequented than those of Baiae, which are the most 
 famous of all. 
 
 10. Ombrica lies along the eastern boundary of Tyrrhenia, 
 and commencing from the Apennines, or rather beyond those 
 mountains, [extends] as far as the Adriatic. For com- 
 
 I Hodie Otricoli : the ancient town was situated nearer the Tiber than 
 the modern. 2 Monte di S. Silvestro. 
 
 3 Arezzo. * Chiusi. 5 Perugia. 6 Tyrrhenia. 
 
 7 An aquatic plant, perhaps the Typha of Linnaeus, used in making 
 lamp -wicks, and for other purposes to which tow was applied. 
 
 8 The downy substance growing on the flowering reed. 
 
 9 The Lago di Vico or di Ronciglione. 10 Lago di Bolsena. 
 
 II Now only marshes. 12 Lago di Bracciano. 
 
 13 All MSS. are corrupt at this word. It is now called Lago di Perugia. 
 
B. v. c. ii. 10. ITALY. UMBRIA. 337 
 
 mencing from Ravenna, the Ombrici inhabit the neighbouring 
 country together with the cities of Sarsina, Ariminum, 1 Sena, 2 
 f and Marinum. f 3 To their country likewise belongs the river 
 Esino, 4 Mount Cingulum, [the city of] Sentinum, 5 the river 
 Metaurus, and the Fanum Fortunae ; 6 for about these parts 
 are the boundaries which separate ancient Italy and [Cisalpine] 
 Keltica on the side next the Adriatic, although the boundary 
 has frequently been changed by the chief men of the state. First 
 they made the Esino the boundary; afterwards the river Rubicon : 
 the Esino being between Ancona and Sena, and the Rubicon 
 between Ariminum and Ravenna, both of them falling into the 
 Adriatic. At the present day, however, since Italy compre- 
 hends the whole country as far as the Alps, we need take no 
 further notice of these limits. All allow that Ombrica 7 extends 
 as far as Ravenna, as the inhabitants are Ombrici. From 
 Ravenna to Ariminum they say is about 300 stadia. Going 
 from Ariminum to Rome by the Via Flaminia, the whole 
 journey lies through Ombrica as far as the city of Ocricli 8 
 and the Tiber, a distance of 1350 stadia. This, consequently, 
 is the length [of Ombrica] ; its breadth varies. The cities of 
 considerable magnitude situated on this side the Apennines 
 along the Via Flaminia, are Ocricli on the Tiber, Laroloni, 9 
 and Narnia, 10 through which the Nera n flows. This river dis- 
 charges itself into the Tiber a little above Ocricli ; it is not 
 navigable for large vessels. After these are Carsuli and 
 Mevania, 12 past which latter the Teneas 13 flows, by which river 
 the merchandise of the plain is transported in small vessels to 
 the Tiber. There are also other cities well populated, rather 
 on account of the route along which they lie, than for their 
 political importance. Such are Forum Flaminium, 14 Nuceria 15 
 where wooden vases are manufactured, and Forum Sempro- 
 nium. 16 Going from Ocricli to Ariminum, on the right of the 
 
 1 Rimini. - Sinigaglia. 
 
 3 Apparently an interpolation ; vide Kramer's edition, vol. i. p. 358, n. 
 
 4 The ^Esis. 5 Sentina. 6 Fano. 1 Umbria. 8 Otricoli. 
 
 9 No such city as this is mentioned in any other writer; the word as 
 it now stands is evidently corrupt. 
 
 10 Narni. ll The ancient Nar. l2 Bevagna. 
 
 13 Mevania stood at the junction of the Tinia (now Timia) and the 
 Topino. 
 
 14 Forfiamma, or Ponte-Centesimo, or the village of Vescia. 
 , ls Nocera Camellaria. 16 Fosscmbruno. 
 
338 STRABO. CASAUB. 228. 
 
 way are Interamna, 1 Spoletium, 2 Asisium, 3 and Camerta, 
 situated in the mountains which bound Picenum. On the 
 other side 4 are Ameria, 5 Tuder, 6 a well-fortified city, Hispel- 
 lum, 7 and Iguvium, 8 near to the passes of the mountain. The 
 whole of this country is fertile, but rather too mountainous, 
 and producing more rye 9 than wheat for the food of the in- 
 habitants. The next district, Sabina, is mountainous, and 
 borders on Tyrrhenia in like manner. The parts of Latium 
 which border on these districts and the Apennines are very 
 rugged. These two nations 10 commence from the Tiber and 
 Tyrrhenia, and extend as far as the Apennines which advance 
 obliquely towards the Adriatic : Ombrica extends, as we have 
 said, beyond as far as the sea. We have now sufficiently 
 described the Ombrici. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. THE Sabini occupy a narrow country, its length from the 
 Tiber and the small city of Nomentum 11 to the Vestini being 
 1000 stadia. They have but few cities, and these have suffer- 
 ed severely in their continual wars [with the Romans]. Such 
 are Amiternum 12 and Reate, 13 which is near to the village of 
 Interocrea 14 and the cold waters at Cotyliae, which are taken by 
 patients, both as drink and as baths, for the cure of various 
 maladies. The rocks of Foruli, 15 likewise, belong to the Sa- 
 bini ; fitted rather for rebellion than peaceable habitation. 
 Cures is now a small village, although formerly a famous city : 
 whence came Titus Tatius and Numa Pompilius, kings of 
 Rome. From this place is derived the name of Quirites, which 
 the orators give to the Romans when they address the 
 people. Trebula, 16 Eretum, 17 and other similar places, must 
 
 I Terni. 2 Spbleto. 3 Between Spoleto and Camerino. 
 
 4 The left side of the Via Flaminia. 5 Amelia. 6 Todi. 7 Hispello. 
 8 Eugubbio, or Gubbio, where the celebrated inscriptions \vere found 
 in 1440. 9 Zeid. 10 Sabina and Latium. 
 
 II Probably Lamentana Vecchia. 
 
 12 Groskurd considers this to be Amatrice. u Rieti. 
 
 14 Interdoco, between Rieti and Aquila. 
 
 15 Civita Tommassa, or rather Forcella. 
 
 16 Monte Leone della Sabina. 17 Chaupy considers this to be Rimane. 
 
B. v. c. in. $ 2. ITALY. THE SABINI. LATIUM. 339 
 
 be looked upon rather as villages than cities. The whole land 
 [of Sabina] is singularly fertile in olive-trees and vines, it 
 produces also many acorns, and besides has excellent cattle : 
 the mules bred at Reate 1 are much celebrated. In one 
 word, the whole of Italy is rich both in cattle and vegetable 
 productions ; although certain articles may be finer in some 
 districts than in others. The race of the Sabini is extremely 
 ancient, they are Autochthones. The Picentini and Samnitae 
 descend from them, as do the Leucani from these latter, and 
 the Bruttii again from these. A proof of their antiquity may 
 be found in the bravery and valour which they have main- 
 tained till the present time. Fabius, 2 the historian, says that 
 the Romans first knew what wealth was when they became 
 masters of this nation. The Via Salaria, which however does 
 not extend far, runs through their country : the Via Nomen- 
 tana, which commences likewise at the Porta Collina, falls 
 in with the Via Salaria near to Eretum, a village of Sabina 
 lying above the Tiber. 
 
 2. Beyond Sabina is Latium, wherein the city of Rome is 
 situated. It comprises many places which formed no part of 
 ancient Latium. For the JEqui, the Volsci, the Hernici, the 
 aborigines around Rome, the Rutuli who possessed ancient 
 Ardea, and many other nations, some larger, some smaller, 
 formed so many separate states around Rome, when that city 
 was first built. Some of these nations, who dwelt in villages, 
 were governed by their own laws, and subjected to no com- 
 mon tribe. They say 3 that JEneas, with his father Anchises 
 and his child Ascanius, arrived at Laurentum, 4 near to Ostia 
 and the bank of the Tiber, where he built a city about 24 
 stadia above the sea. That Latinus, the king of the abor- 
 igines who then dwelt on the site where Rome now stands, 
 employed his forces to aid JEneas against the neighbouring 
 Rutuli who inhabited Ardea, (now from Ardea to Rome is a 
 distance of 160 stadia,) and having gained a victory, he built 
 near to the spot a city, to which he gave the name of his 
 daughter Lavinia. However, in a second battle, commenced 
 by the Rutuli, Latinus fell, and .^Eneas, being conqueror, suc- 
 
 J Rieti. 2 He flourished about 216 years before the Christian era. 
 
 5 Gosselin calls our attention to the difference between Strabo's rela- 
 tion of these, occurrences, and the events as commonly recounted by the 
 Greek and Latin authors. * Near the spot now called Paterno. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 STRABO. CASAUB. 229. 
 
 ceeded this prince on the throne, and conferred on his subjects 
 the name of Latini. After the death both of himself and his 
 father, Ascanius founded Alba, 1 on Mount Albanus, 2 situated 
 about the same distance from Rome as Ardea. Here the 
 Romans and Latini conjointly offer sacrifice to Jupiter. The 
 magistracy all assemble, and during the period of the solem- 
 nity the government of the city is intrusted to some dis- 
 tinguished youth. The facts related of Amulius and his 
 brother Numitor, some of which are fictitious, while others 
 approach nearer the truth, occurred four hundred years later. 
 These two brothers, who were descended from Ascanius, suc- 
 ceeded conjointly to the government of Alba, which extended 
 as far as the Tiber. However, Amulius the younger, having 
 expelled the elder, governed [alone]. Numitor had a son and 
 a daughter ; the former Amulius treacherously murdered in 
 the chase ; the latter, that she might remain childless, he made 
 a priestess of Vesta, thus imposing virginity upon her. This 
 [daughter] they name Rhea Silvia. Afterwards he discovered 
 that she was pregnant, and when she had given birth to 
 twins, he, out of respect to his brother, placed her in confine- 
 ment, instead of putting her to death, and exposed the boys 
 by the Tiber according to a national usage. According to 
 the mythology, Mars was the father of these children, and 
 when they were exposed they were discovered and suckled 
 by a she-wolf. Faustulus, one of the swine-herds of the place, 
 took and reared them up, and named one Romulus, the other 
 Remus. (We must understand that Faustulus, who took them 
 up and nourished them, was an influential man, and a subject 
 of Amulius.) Having arrived at man's estate, they waged 
 war upon Amulius and his sons ; and having slain them, 
 restored the government to Numitor. They then returned 
 home and founded Rome, in a locality selected rather through 
 necessity than choice, as the site was neither fortified by 
 nature, nor sufficiently large for a city of importance. In 
 addition to this, the neighbourhood supplied no inhabitants ; 
 for those who dwelt around, even though touching the very 
 walls of the newly founded city, kept to themselves, and 
 
 1 Cluvier placed the ancient Alba on the east shore of Lake Albano, 
 about Palazzuolo. Holstenius thinks that it was on the southern shore, 
 in the locality of Villa-Domitiana. The Abbe de Chaupy places it 
 farther to the east of Monte Albano. 3 Monte Albano. 
 
R. v. c. in. 2. ITALY. LATIUM. 341 
 
 would have nothing at all to do with the Albani. Collatia, 
 Autemnae, Fidenre, Labicum, 1 and similar places are here 
 alluded to, which then were small cities, but are now villages 
 possessed by private individuals ; they are distant from Rome 
 30 or 40 2 stadia, or rather more. Between the fifth and sixth 
 mile-stone which marks the distance from Rome there is a 
 place named Festi ; this they say was at that time the limit 
 of the Roman territory, and at the present day, both here and 
 in numerous other places which they consider to have been 
 boundaries, the priests offer the sacrifice denominated Am- 
 barvia. 3 They say that, at the time of the foundation [of the 
 
 1 The sites of these places are much disputed. 
 
 2 Kramer considers this 40 an interpolation. 
 
 3 Usually Ambarvalia, sacrifices performed by the Fratres Arvales, 
 who formed " a college or company of twelve in number, and were so call- 
 ed, according to Varro, from offering public sacrifices for the fertility of the 
 fields. That they were of extreme antiquity is proved by the legend 
 which refers their institution to Romulus ; of whom it is said, that when 
 his nurse, Acca Laurentia, lost one of her twelve sons, he allowed himself 
 to be adopted by her in his place, and called himself and the remaining 
 eleven Fratres Arvales. (Cell. vi. 7.) We also find a college called 
 the Sodales Titii, and as the latter were confessedly of Sabine origin, and 
 instituted for the purpose of keeping up the Sabine religious rites, (Tac. 
 Ann. i. 53,) there is some reason for the supposition of Niebuhr, that 
 these colleges corresponded one to the other the Fratres Arvales being 
 connected with the Latin, and the Sodales Titii with the Sabine element of 
 the Roman state ; just as there were two colleges of the Luperci, the 
 Fabii and the Quinctilii, the former of whom seem to have belonged to 
 the Sabines. 
 
 The office of the Fratres Arvales was for life, and was not taken away 
 even from an exile or captive. They wore, as a badge of office, a chaplet 
 of ears of corn fastened on their heads with a white band. The number 
 given on inscriptions varies, but it is never more than nine ; though, ac- 
 cording to the legend and general belief, it amounted to twelve. One of 
 their annual duties was to celebrate a three days' festival in honour of 
 
 Dea Dia, supposed to be Ceres Of this the master of the college, 
 
 appointed annually, gave public notice from the temple of Concord on the 
 Capitol. On the first and last of these days, the college met at the house 
 of their president, to make offerings to the Dea Dia ; on the second day 
 they assembled in the grove of the same goddess, about five miles south 
 of Rome, and there offered sacrifices for the fertility of the earth. An 
 account of the different ceremonies of this festival is preserved in an 
 inscription, which was written in the first year of the emperor Helioga- 
 balus, (A. D. 218,) who was elected a member of the college under the 
 name of M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius Felix. The same inscription con- 
 tains a hymn, which appears to have been sung at the festival from the 
 most ancient times. 
 
 Besides this festival of the Dea Dia, the Fratres Arvales were required 
 
342 STRABO. CASAUB. 230. 
 
 city], a dispute arose in which Remus lost his life. The city 
 being built, Romulus assembled men from every quarter, and 
 instituted for an asylum a grove between the citadel and the 
 Capitol, to which whoever fled from the neighbouring states, 
 he proclaimed as Roman citizens. Not having wives for these 
 men, he appointed a horse-race in honour of Neptune, which 
 is celebrated to this day. Numbers [of spectators] having 
 assembled, particularly of the Sabini, he commanded that 
 each of those who were in want of a wife, should carry off 
 one of the assembled maidens. Titus Tatius, king of the 
 Quirites, took up arms to avenge the insult, but made peace 
 with Romulus on condition that their kingdoms should be 
 united, and that they should divide the sovereignty between 
 
 on various occasions under the emperors to make vows and offer up 
 thanksgivings, an enumeration of which is given in Forcellini. Strabo 
 indeed informs us that, in the reign of Tiberius, these priests performed 
 sacrifices called the Ambarvalia at various places on the borders of the 
 Ager Romanus, or original territory of Rome; and amongst others, at 
 Festi. There is no boldness in supposing that this was a custom handed 
 down from time immemorial ; and, moreover, that it was a duty of this 
 priesthood to invoke a blessing upon the whole territory of Rome. It is 
 proved by inscriptions that this college existed till the reign of the em- 
 peror Gordian, or A. D. 325, and it is probable that it was not abolished 
 till A. D. 400, together with the other colleges of the pagan priesthoods. 
 
 The private Ambarvalia were certainly of a different nature to those 
 mentioned by Strabo, and were so called from the victim hostia Ambar- 
 valis that was slain on the occasion, being led three times round the 
 corn-fields, before the sickle was put to the corn. This victim was ac- 
 companied by a crowd of merry-makers, (choriis et socii,) the reapers and 
 farm-servants, dancing and singing, as they marched along, the praises of 
 Ceres, and praying for her favour and presence while they offered her the 
 libations of milk, honey, and wine. (Virg. Georg. i. 338.) This cere- 
 mony was also called a lustratio, (Virg. Eel. v. 83,) or purification ; and 
 for a beautiful description of the holiday, and the prayers and vows made 
 on the occasion, the reader is referred to Tibullus (ii. 1). It is perhaps 
 worth while to remark that Polybius (iv. 21, 9) uses language almost 
 applicable to the Roman Ambarvalia in speaking of the Mantineians, 
 who, he says, (specifying the occasion,) made a purification, and carried 
 victims round the city and all the country. 
 
 There is, however, a still greater resemblance to the rites we have been 
 describing, in the ceremonies of the Rogation or gang-week of the Latin 
 church. These consisted of processions through the fields, accompanied 
 with prayers (rogationes) for a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and 
 were continued during three days in Whitsun-week. The custom was 
 abolished at the Reformation in consequence of its abuses, and the peram- 
 bulation of the parish boundaries substituted in its place. ( Vide Hooker, 
 Eccl. Pol. v. 61, 2; Wheatley, Com. Pray. v. '20. Bohn's Standard 
 Library edition.) 
 
B. v. c. in. 3, 4. ITALY. LATIUM. 343 
 
 them. Tatius, however, was treacherously assassinated in 
 Lavinium, upon which Romulus, with the consent of the 
 Quirites, reigned alone. After him Numa Pompilius, formerly 
 a subject of Tatius, assumed the government, by the general 
 desire of the people. Such is the most authentic account of 
 the foundation of Rome. 
 
 3. However, there also exists another more ancient and 
 mythical account, to the effect that Rome was an Arcadian 
 colony planted by Evander. He entertained Hercules when 
 driving the oxen of Geryon, and being informed by his 
 mother Nicostrata, (who was skilled in the art of prophecy,) 
 that when Hercules should have completed his labours it was 
 fore-ordained that he should be enrolled amongst the gods ; 
 he informed him of the matter, consecrated to him a grove, 
 and offered sacrifice to him after the Grecian mode ; a sacri- 
 fice which is continued in honour of Hercules to this day. 
 The Roman historian Co3lius is of opinion that this is a proof 
 that Rome is a Grecian colony, the sacrifice to Hercules after 
 the Grecian mode having been brought over from their father- 
 land. The Romans also worship the mother of Evander 
 under the name of Carmentis, 1 considering her one of the 
 nymphs. 
 
 4. Thus then the Latini originally were few in number, 
 and for the most part under no subjection to the Romans; 
 but afterwards, being struck by the valour of Romulus and 
 the kings who succeeded him, they all submitted. But the 
 jEqui, 2 the Volsci, the Hernici ; and before them the Rutuli, 
 the aborigines, the Rhaeci, together with certain of the 
 
 * The Camenae, says Dr. Smith, were prophetic nymphs, and belonged to 
 the religion of ancient Italy, although later traditions represent them as 
 having been introduced into Italy from Arcadia. Two of the Cam en se 
 were Antevorta and Postvorta; the third was Carmenta or Carmentis, 
 a prophetic and healing divinity, who had a temple at the foot of the 
 Capitoline hill, and altars near the Porta Carmentalis. The traditions 
 which assigned a Greek origin to her worship at Rome, state that her 
 original name was Nicostrata, and that she was called Carmentis from her 
 prophetic powers. (Serv. ad ^En. viii. 51, 336; Dionys. i. 15,32.) 
 According to these traditions, she was the mother of Evander, the Arca- 
 dian, by Hermes; and after having endeavoured to persuade her son to 
 kill Hermes, she fled with him to Italy, where she gave oracles to the 
 people and to Hercules. She was put to death by her son at the age of 
 110 years, and then obtained divine honours. Dionys. i. 31, &c. 
 
 2 This name is written in Strabo sometimes Ancoi, sometimes Afaovoi 
 the Latin writers also named them differently, ^Equi, JEcani, ^Equicoli, &c] 
 
344 STRABO. CASAUB. 231. 
 
 Argyrusci and the Preferni, 1 being subdued, the whole of 
 their different countries were included under the name of 
 Latium. To the Volsci pertained the Pomentine plain, 
 bordering on the territory of the Latini, and the city of 
 Apiola, levelled to the ground 2 by Tarquinius Priscus. The 
 -ZEqui principally were neighbours to the Quirites, whose 
 cities Tarquinius Priscus likewise devastated. His son took 
 Suessa, 3 the metropolis of the Volsci. The Hernici dwelt 
 near to Lanuvium, Alba, and to Rome itself; neither were 
 Aricia, 4 the Tellenae, and Antium 5 at any great distance. 
 The Albani were at first friendly with the Romans, speaking 
 as they did the same language, and being likewise of the 
 Latin stock ; and though they were under separate govern- 
 ments, this did not prevent them from marrying together, 
 nor from performing in common the sacred ceremonies at 
 Alba, and other civil rites. In after-time, however, war 
 having sprung up, Alba was entirely destroyed with the ex- 
 ception of the temple, and the Albani were declared citizens 
 of Rome. Of the other surrounding cities, those which 
 resisted were either destroyed or enfeebled, while others, 
 which were friendly to the Romans, flourished. At the pre- 
 sent day the coast from Ostia to the city of Sinuessa 6 is 
 denominated the Latin coast ; formerly the country thus 
 designated extended only so far as Circasum. 7 The interior 
 also [of Latium] was formerly small ; but it afterwards ex- 
 tended to Campania, the Samnitas, the Peligni, 8 and other 
 nations dwelling around the Apennines. 
 
 5. The whole [of Latium] is fertile, and abounding in 
 every production, with the exception of a few districts along 
 the coast, which are marshy and unhealthy ; such as the 
 country of Ardea, the lands between Antium and Lanuvium 
 as far as Pometia, and certain of fhe districts of Setia, 9 
 Terracina, and Circaeum. Some parts may also be too moun- 
 
 1 Privernates of Pliny ; the chief city is now called Piperno. 
 
 2 604 years u. c. 
 
 3 Suessa surnamed Pometia, to distinguish it from Suessa Aurunca, is 
 here alluded to. Its exact position does not appear to be known. 
 
 4 La Riccia. 5 Capo d' Anzo. 6 Monte Dragone. 
 
 7 Monte Circello. 
 
 8 According to Cluvier, Strabo was mistaken in making Latium extend 
 to the country of the Peligni, as these latter were always separated from 
 Latium by the Marsi. 9 Sezza. 
 
B. T. c. in. 5. ITALY. G45 
 
 tainous and rocky; but even these are not absolutely idle 
 and useless, since they furnish abundant pasturage, wood, 
 and the peculiar productions of the marsh and rock ; while 
 Ccecubum, which is entirely marshy, nourishes a vine, the 
 dendritis, 1 which produces the most excellent wine. Of the 
 maritime cities of Latium, one is Ostia. This city has no port, 
 owing to the accumulation of the alluvial deposit brought 
 down by the Tiber, which is swelled by numerous rivers ; 
 vessels therefore bring to anchor further out, but not without 
 danger; however, gain overcomes every thing, for there is 
 an abundance of lighters in readiness to freight and un- 
 freight the larger ships, before they approach the mouth of 
 the river, and thus enable them to perform their voyage 
 speedily. Being lightened of a part of their cargo, they enter 
 the river and sail up to Rome, a distance of about 190 stadia. 
 Such is the city of Ostia, founded by Ancus Martius. Next 
 in order comes Antium, which city is likewise destitute of 
 any port ; it is situated on rocks, and about 260 stadia distant 
 from Ostia. At the present clay it is devoted to the leisure 
 and recreation of statesmen from their political duties, when- 
 ever they can find time, and is in consequence covered with 
 sumptuous mansions suited to such rusticating. The in- 
 habitants of Antium had formerly a marine, and even after 
 they were under subjection to the Romans, took part with the 
 Tyrrhenian pirates. Of this, first, Alexander sent to com- 
 plain; after him Demetrius, having taken many of these 
 pirates, sent them to the Romans, saying that he would sur- 
 render them their persons on account of their affinity to the 
 Greeks, and remarking at the same time, that it seemed to 
 him a great impropriety, that those who held sway over the 
 whole of Italy should send out pirates, and that they who had 
 consecrated in their forum a temple to the honour of the 
 Dioscuri, 2 whom all denominated the Saviours, should like- 
 wise send to commit acts of piracy on Greece, which was the 
 father-land of those divinities. Hereupon the Romans put a 
 stop to this occupation [piracy]. Between these two cities 
 is Lavinium, which contains a temple of Venus common to all 
 the Latini, the care of which is intrusted to the priests of 
 
 1 The vine to which the term arbustive or hautain is applied, which 
 the French translators explain as a vine trained from the foot of a tree. 
 8 Castor and Pollux. 
 
346 STRABO. CASATJB. 232. 
 
 Ardea. After this is Laurentum ; l and above these lies Ardea, 
 a colony of the Rutuli, 70 stadia from the sea ; near to it 
 is another temple of Venus, where all the Latini hold a public 
 festival. These regions have been ravaged by the Samnitse, 
 and only the traces of the cities left ; but even these are re- 
 verenced on account of the arrival of ^Eneas here, and of the 
 religious rites which they say were bequeathed from those 
 times. 
 
 6. At 290 stadia from Antium is Mount Circseum, insu- 
 lated by the sea and marshes. They say that it contains 
 numerous roots, but this perhaps is only to harmonize with' 
 the myth relating to Circe. It has a small city, together with 
 a temple to Circe and an altar to Minerva ; they likewise say 
 that a cup is shown which belonged to Ulysses. Between 
 [Antium and Circaeum] is the river Stura, 2 which has a 
 station for ships : the rest of the coast is exposed to the south- 
 west wind, 3 with the exception of this small harbour of Cir- 
 caeum. 4 Above this, in the interior, is the Pomentine plain : 
 the region next to this was formerly inhabited by the Ausoni- 
 ans, who likewise possessed Campania : next after these the 
 Osci, who also held part of Campania ; now, however, as we 
 have remarked, the whole, as far as Sinuessa, belongs to the 
 Latini. A peculiar fate has attended the Osci and Ausonians ; 
 for although the Osci have ceased to exist as a distinct tribe, 
 their dialect is extant among the Romans, dramatic and 
 burlesque pieces composed in it being still represented at 
 certain games which were instituted in ancient times. And 
 as for the Ausonians, although they never have dwelt by the sea 
 of Sicily, 5 it is named the Ausonian Sea. At 100 stadia 
 from Circseum is Tarracina, formerly named Trachina, 6 on 
 account of its ruggedness ; before it is a great marsh, formed by 
 two rivers, the larger of which is called the Aufidus. 7 This is 
 the first place where the Via Appia approaches the sea. This 
 
 1 Near Paterno. 2 Storas, the Astura of Pliny. 3 Libs. 
 
 4 Hodie, the Porto di Paula, connected with the Lake of S. Maria. 
 
 5 This does not appear to be in accordance with the statement of 
 Dionysius Halicarnassus and Pliny, that the Ausonians anciently pos- 
 sessed the whole coast, from the Strait of Messina to the entrance of the 
 Adriatic. 
 
 6 Or mountainous. 
 
 7 We should doubtless here read the Ufens, the modern Ufente. 
 
B. v. c. in. 6. ITALY. LATIUM. 347 
 
 road is paved from Rome to Brundusium, 1 and has great 
 traffic. Of the maritime cities, these alone are situated on 
 it ; Tarracina, beyond it Formiae, 2 Minturnoe, 3 Sinuessa, 4 and 
 towards its extremity Tarentum and Brundusium. Near to 
 Tarracina, advancing in the direction of Rome, a canal runs 
 by the side of the Via Appia, which is supplied at intervals 
 by water from the marshes and rivers. Travellers generally 
 sail up it by night, embarking in the evening, and landing in 
 the morning to travel the rest of their journey by the way : 
 however, during the day the passage boat is towed by mules. 5 
 Beyond is Formias, founded by the Lacedaemonians, and 
 formerly called Hormias, on account of its excellent port. Be- 
 tween these [two cities], 6 is a gulf which they have named 
 Caiata, 7 in fact all gulfs are called by the Lacedaemonians 
 Caietae : some, however, sayfthat the gulf received this appella- 
 tion from [Caieta], the nurse of jiEneas. From Tarracina 
 to the promontory of Caiata is a length of 100 stadia. Here 8 
 are opened vast caverns, which contain large and sumptuous 
 mansions. From hence to Formiaa is a distance of 40 stadia. 
 Between this city and Sinfoessa, at a distance of about 80 
 stadia from each, is Minturnae. The river Liris, 9 formerly 
 named the Clanis, flows through it. It descends from the 
 Apennines, passes through the country of the Vescini, 10 and 
 by the village of Fregellas, (formerly a famous city,) and so 
 into a sacred grove situated below the city, and held in great 
 veneration by the people of jS^inturnaa. There are two islands, 
 named Pandataria and Pontfa, 11 lying in the high sea, and 
 clearly discernible from the! caverns. Although small, they 
 are well inhabited, are not) at any great distance from each 
 other, and at 250 stadia from the mainland. Caecubum is 
 situated on the gulf of Cajata, and next to it Fundi, a city 
 on the Via Appia. All these places produce excellent wines ; 
 but those of Cascubum, Fund\, and Setia 12 are most in repute, 
 and so are theFalernian, Alban, 13 and Statanian wines. Sinuessa 
 is situated in a gulf from which it takes its name, sinus signify- 
 
 1 BptvTeffiov, now Brindes. 3 Mola di Gaeta. 
 
 3 The ruins of this town are extant on either bank of the Garigliano, 
 the ancient Liris. 4 Rocca di Monte Dragone. 
 
 5 Compare Horace, Satir. 1. i. sat. 5. 6 Tarracina and Formiae. 
 
 7 Giii-ta. 8 At Sperlunga. The Garigliano. 
 
 10 Vestini, MSS. " Ponza. 
 
 12 Sezza. The French translators think this should be Vescia. IS Albano. 
 
348 SIR ABO. 
 
 ing [in Latin] a gulf. Near to it are some fine hot-baths, 
 good for the cure of various maladies. Such are the mari- 
 time cities of Latium. 
 
 7. In the interior, the first city above Ostia is Rome ; it is 
 the only city built on the Tiber. It has been remarked above, 
 that its position was fixed, not by choice, but necessity ; to 
 this must be added, that those who afterwards enlarged it, 
 were not at liberty to select a better site, being prevented by 
 what was already built. The first [kings] fortified the 
 Capitol, the Palatium, and the Collis Quirinalis, which was so 
 easy of access, that when Titus Tatius came to avenge the 
 rape of the [Sabine] virgins, he took it on the first assault. 
 Ancus Marcius, who added Mount Caelius and the Aventine 
 Mount with the intermediate plain, separated as these places 
 were both from each other and from what had been formerly 
 fortified, was compelled to do this of necessity ; since he did 
 not consider it proper to leave outside his walls, heights so 
 well protected by nature, to whomsoever might have a mind 
 to fortify themselves upon them, while at the same time he 
 was not capable of enclosing the whole as far as Mount Quiri- 
 nus. Servius perceived this defect, and added the Esquiline 
 and Viminal hills. As these were both of easy access from 
 without, a deep trench was dug outside them and the earth 
 thrown up on the inside, thus forming a terrace of 6 stadia 
 in length along the inner side of the trench. This terrace he 
 surmounted with a wall flanked with towers, and extending 
 from the Colline 1 to the Esquiline gate. Midway along the 
 terrace is a third gate, named after the Viminal hill. Such is 
 the Roman rampart, which seems to stand in need of other 
 ramparts itself. But it seems to me that the first [founders] 
 were of opinion, both in regard to themselves and their suc- 
 cessors, that Romans had to depend not on fortifications, but 
 on arms and their individual valour, both for safety and 
 -for wealth, and that walls were not a defence to men, but men 
 were a defence to walls. At the period of its commencement, 
 when the large and fertile districts surrounding the city be- 
 longed to others, and while it lay easily open to assault, there 
 was nothing in its position which could be looked upon as 
 favourable; but when by valour and labour these districts 
 became its own, there succeeded a tide of prosperity surpass- 
 1 Called also the Quirinal, and often Salara, according to Ovid. 
 
B.V.C.III. 8. ITALY. LATIUM. ROME. 349 
 
 ing the advantages of every other place. Thus, notwith- 
 standing the prodigious increase of the city, there has been 
 plenty of food, and also of wood and stone for ceaseless build- 
 ing, rendered necessary by the falling down of houses, and 
 on account of conflagrations, and of the sales, which seem never 
 to cease. These sales are a kind of voluntary falling down of 
 houses, each owner knocking down and rebuilding one part or 
 another, according to his individual taste. For these purposes 
 the numerous quarries, the forests, and the rivers which con- 
 vey the materials, offer wonderful facilities. Of these rivers, 
 the first is the Teverone, 1 which flows from Alba, a city of 
 the Latins near to the country of the Marsi, and from thence 
 through the plain -below this [city], till it unites with the 
 Tiber. After this come the Ner* 5 and the Timia, 3 which 
 passing through Onibrica fall into the Tiber, and the Chiana, 4 
 which flows through Tyrrhenia and the territory of Clusiuin. 5 
 Augustus Caesar endeavoured to avert from the city damages 
 of the kind alluded to, and instituted a company of freedmen, 
 who should be ready to lend their assistance in cases of con- 
 flagration ; 6 whilst, as a preventive against the falling of houses, 
 he decreed that all new buildings should not be carried so 
 high as formerly, and that those erected along the public 
 ways should not exceed seventy feet in height. 7 But these 
 improvements must have ceased only for the facilities afforded 
 by the quarries, the forests, and the ease of transport. 
 
 8. These advantages accrued to the city from the nature of 
 the country ; but the foresight of the Romans added others 
 
 1 Anio. 2 The Nar. 3 The Teneas of Strabo. 
 
 4 o KXovif , there were other rivers called Clanis as well as this. 
 
 5 Chiusi. 
 
 6 Suetonius likewise mentions this fact. Dion Cassius informs us that 
 Augustus, in the year of Rome 732, and twenty-two years before our 
 era, commanded that the curule ffidiles should promptly endeavour to 
 arrest the progress of conflagrations, and for this purpose placed at their 
 disposal 600 guards. Fifteen years afterwards he established a company 
 of seven freedmen, presided over by one of the equestrian order, to see 
 what means could be taken in order to prevent these numerous fires. 
 Augustus, however, was not the first to take precautions of this nature, 
 as we may learn from Livy, 1. ix. 46; 1. xxxix. 14; Tacit. Annal. 1. 
 xv. $ 43, and various other authorities. 
 
 7 Subsequent emperors reduced this standard still lower. See what 
 Tacitus says of Nero in regard to this point, Annal. 1. xv. 43. Trajan 
 forbade that any house should be constructed above 60 feet in height. 
 Sextus Aurelius Victor, Epit. 27. 
 
350 STRABO. CASAUB. 235. 
 
 besides. The Grecian cities are thought to have flourished 
 mainly on account of the felicitous choice made by their found- 
 ers, in regard to the beauty and strength of their sites, their 
 proximity to some port, and the fineness of the country. But 
 the Roman prudence was more particularly employed on 
 matters which had received but little attention from the 
 Greeks, such as paving their roads, constructing aqueducts, 
 and sewers, to convey the sewage of the city into the Tiber. 
 In fact, they have paved the roads, cut through hills, and 
 filled up valleys, so that the merchandise may be conveyed by 
 carriage from the ports. The sewers, arched over with hewn 
 stones, are large enough in some parts for waggons loaded 
 with hay to pass through ; while so plentiful is the supply 
 of water from the aqueducts, that rivers may be said to flow 
 through the city and the sewers, and almost every house 
 is furnished with water-pipes and copious fountains. To 
 effect which Marcus Agrippa directed his special attention ; 
 he likewise bestowed upon the city numerous ornaments. We 
 may remark, that the ancients, occupied with greater and more 
 necessary concerns, paid but little attention to the beauti- 
 fying of Rome. But their successors, and especially those of 
 our own day, without neglecting these things, have at the 
 same time embellished the city with numerous and splendid 
 objects. Pompey, divus Caesar, and Augustus, with his chil- 
 dren, friends, wife, and sister, have surpassed all others in their 
 zeal and munificence in these decorations. The greater num- 
 ber of these may be seen in the Campus Martius, which to the 
 beauties of nature adds those of art. The size of the plain is mar- 
 vellous, permitting chariot-races and other feats of horseman- 
 ship without impediment, and multitudes to exercise themselves 
 at ball, 1 in the circus 2 and the palsestra. The structures which 
 surround it, the turf covered with herbage all the year round, 
 
 1 There were five modes of playing at ball ; ] . Throwing it up and 
 catching it ; 2. Foot-ball ; 3. A throwing of the ball from one to another 
 in a large party of players ; 4. A dashing of the ball to the ground 
 with force enough to rebound, when it was struck down again with the 
 palm of the hand, and a reckoning was kept of the number of times the 
 feat was repeated ; and 5. A ball thrown among the players, who all en- 
 deavoured to obtain possession of it ; this was a game of which we have 
 no accurate account, it was called apTraarbv, and Galen speaks of it, 
 TTfpt /jucpac or^aipaf, c. 2, p. 902, 
 
 2 Coray proposes to read didcy. at quoits. 
 
B. v. c. in. 9. ITALY. LATIUM. ROME. 351 
 
 the summits of the hills beyond the Tiber, extending from its 
 banks with panoramic effect, present a spectacle which the 
 eye abandons with regret. Near to this plain is another sur- 
 rounded with columns, sacred groves, three theatres, an 
 amphitheatre, and superb temples in close contiguity to each 
 other ; and so magnificent, that it would seem idle to describe 
 the rest of the city after it. For this cause the Romans, esteem- 
 ing it as the most sacred place, have there erected funeral monu- 
 ments to the most illustrious persons of either sex. The most 
 remarkable of these is that designated as the Mausoleum, 1 
 which consists of a mound of earth raised upon a high founda- 
 tion of white marble, situated near the river, and covered to 
 the top with ever-green shrubs. Upon the summit is a bronze 
 statue of Augustus Caesar, and beneath the mound are the 
 ashes 2 of himself, his relatives, and friends. Behind is a large 
 grove containing charming promenades. In the centre of the 
 plain, 3 is the spot where this prince was reduced to ashes ; it 
 is surrounded with a double enclosure, one of marble, the 
 other of iron, and planted within with poplars. If from hence 
 you proceed to visit the ancient forum, which is equally filled 
 with basilicas, porticos, and temples, you will there behold the 
 Capitol, the Palatium, with the noble works which adorn them, 
 and the piazza of Livia, each successive place causing you 
 speedily to forget what you have before seen. Such is Rome. 
 9. Of the other cities of Latium., some are distinguished by 
 a variety of remarkable objects, others by the celebrated roads 
 which intersect Latium, being situated either upon, or near 
 to, or between these roads, the most celebrated of which are 
 the Via Appia, the Via Latina, and the Via Valeria. The 
 former of these bounds the maritime portion of Latium, as 
 far as Sinuessa, the latter extends along Sabina as far as the 
 Marsi, whilst between these is the Via Latina, which falls in 
 with the Via Appia near to Casilinum, 4 a city distant from 
 Capua 5 19 stadia. The Via Latina commences from the 
 Via Appia, branching from it towards the left, near to Rome. 
 It passes over the Tusculan mountain, between the city of 
 Tusculum 6 and Mount Albanus ; it then descends to the little 
 city of Algidum, 7 and the Pictae tavern ; afterwards the Via 
 
 ' The tomb of Augustus. 2 Qrjicai, urns, Greek. 
 
 3 The Campus Martius. 4 The modern Capua. 
 
 5 S. Maria di Capoa. 6 Tuscolo. " L'Osteria deli' Aglio. 
 
352 STRABO. CASAUB. 237. 
 
 Lavicana joins it, which commences, like the Via Praenestina, 
 from the Esquiline gate. This road, as well as the Esquiline 
 plain, the Via Lavicana leaves on the left ; it then proceeds a 
 distance of 120 stadia, or more, when it approaches Lavi- 
 cum, an ancient city now in ruins, situated on an eminence ; 
 this and Tusculum it leaves on the right, and terminates near 
 to Pictas in the Via Latina. This place is 210 stadia distant 
 from Home. Proceeding thence along the Via Latina there 
 are noble residences, and the cities Ferentinum, 1 Frusino, 2 
 by which the river Cosa flows, Fabrateria, 3 by which flows 
 the river Sacco, 4 Aquinum, 5 a large city, by which flows the 
 great river Melfa, 6 Interamnium, situated at the confluence 
 of two rivers, the Garigliano and another, Casinum, also an im- 
 portant city, and the last of those belonging to Latium. For 
 Teanum, called Sidicinum, 7 which lies next in order, shows 
 by its name that it belongs to the nation of the Sidicini. 
 These people are Osci, a surviving nation of the Campani, so 
 that this city, which is the largest of those situated upon the Via 
 Latina, may be said to be Campanian ; as well as that of 
 Gales, 8 another considerable city which lies beyond, and is 
 contiguous to Casilinum. 9 
 
 10. As to the places situated on either side of the Via 
 Latina, those on the right are between it and the Via Appia ; 
 of their number are Setia 10 and Signia, 11 which produce wine, 
 that of Setia being one of the dearest wines, and that called 
 Signium the best for strengthening the stomach. Before this 12 
 are Privernum, 13 Cora, 14 Suessa, 15 'Trapontium/ 16 Velitrge, 17 
 Aletrium, 18 and also Fregellee, 19 by which the Garigliano flows, 
 which discharges itself [into the sea] near Minturnre. Fre- 
 gellae, though now a village, was formerly a considerable city, 
 and the chief of the surrounding places we have just named. 
 Even now their inhabitants throng to it on market days, and 
 
 1 Ferentino, near to Vitorchiano. 2 Frusinone. 
 
 3 Falvaterra. 4 Trerus. 5 Aquino. 6 Melpis. 7 Teano. 
 
 8 Calvi. 9 Nova Capua. 10 Sezza. n Segni. 
 
 12 ?rpo # rail-rig. It seems doubtful whether TaurrjQ refers to Signia, 
 or the Via Appia. 13 This city was sacked by the last Tarquin. 
 
 14 Core. 15 Probably Torre Petrara. 
 
 16 Kramer supposes this name to be an interpolation ; the idea of 
 Cluvier, adopted by Siebenkees and Coray, is that we should here read 
 Zovlova rCjv HwfjitvTivdJV, Suessa Pometia. 
 
 '' Vellctri. 18 Alatri. 1D Ceperano. 
 
B. v. c. in. 11. ITALY. LATIUM. 353 
 
 for the performance of certain religious solemnities. Its de- 
 fection from the Romans was the cause of its ruin. 1 Both 
 these, and also the cities lying on the Via Latina and beyond, 
 situated in the territories of the Hernici, JEqui, and Volsci, 
 were for the most part founded by the Romans. To the left 
 of the Via Latina, the cities between it and the Via Valeria, 
 are, Gabii, 2 standing in the Via Prsenestina, it possesses a 
 stone-quarry, in greater demand at Rome than any other, and 
 is at an equal distance of about 100 stadia between Rome and 
 Praeneste. 3 Then Praeneste, of which we shall have occasion 
 presently to speak. Then, in the mountains above Prasneste, 
 Capitulum, a small city of the Hernici, and Anagnia, 4 a con- 
 siderable city ; Cereate, 5 and Sora, by which the river Garig- 
 liano 6 flows as it passes on toFregelhe, and Minturnas. After 
 these there are other places, and finally, Venafrum, 7 from 
 whence comes the finest oil. This city is situated on a high 
 hill by the foot of which flows the Volturno, 8 which passing by 
 Casilinum, 9 discharges itself [into the sea] at a city 10 bearing 
 the same name as itself. JEsernia 11 and Alliphas, 12 cities of 
 the Samnites, the former was destroyed in the Marsian war, 13 
 the other still remains. 
 
 11. The Via Valeria, commencing from Tibura, 14 leads to 
 the country of the Marsi, and to Corfinium, 15 the metropolis 
 of the Peligni. Upon it are situated the Latin cities of Va- 
 leria, 16 Carseoli, 17 Alba, 18 and near to it the city of Cuculum. 19 
 Within sight of Rome are Tibura, Prseneste, and Tusculum. 20 
 At Tibura is a tern pie of Hercules, and a cataract formed by the 
 fall of the Teverone, 21 (which is here navigable,) from a great 
 height into a deep and wooded ravine close to the city. From 
 thence the river flows through a highly fertile plain along by 
 
 1 125, B. c. 
 
 2 Now called 1' Osteria del Pantano, situated very near the Castel dell' 
 Osa, and close by the lake Pantan de' Griffi. 3 Palestrina. * Anagni. 
 
 5 Cerretano. 6 Liris. 7 Venafro. 8 Vulturnus. 9 Capua. 
 10 Castel di Volturno. " Isernia. 12 Allife. 13 90 years B c. u Tivoli. 
 
 15 The modern Pentima is supposed to occupy the site where the cita- 
 del of Corfinium stood, and the church of S. Pelino, about three miles 
 from Popoli, stands on that of the ancient city of Corfinium. 
 
 16 We read with all MSS. and editions, Valeria, but Kramer, following 
 the conjectures of Cluvier and others, has adopted Varia in his text, 
 
 17 Carsoli. 18 Albi. 
 
 19 Groskurd considers this to be Cucullo, alias Scutolo. 
 
 20 II Tuscolo, above the modern town of Frascati. 21 The classic Artio. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A 
 
354 STRABO. CASAUB. 238. 
 
 the Tiburtine stone-quarries, those of the Gabii, and those 
 denominated the red-stone quarries. As both the carriage 
 from the quarries and the conveyance by river, are easy, 
 most of the Roman edifices are built of materials from hence. 
 In this plain flow the cold waters called Albula, they spring 
 from numerous fountains, and are taken both as a beverage and 
 as baths, 1 for the cure of various diseases. Of the same kind 
 are the LabanaB, 2 not far from these, on the Via Nomentana, 
 and near to Eretum. 3 At PraBneste is the celebrated temple 
 and oracle of Fortune. Both this and the preceding city are 
 situated on the same chain of mountains, and are distant from 
 each other 100 stadia. Prseneste is 200 stadia from Rome, 
 Tibura less than that distance. They are said to be both 
 of Grecian foundation, Praeneste being formerly named Poly- 
 stephanus. They are both fortified, but Praeneste is the 
 stronger place of the two, having for its citadel a lofty moun- 
 tain, which overhangs the town, and is divided at the back 
 from the adjoining mountain range by a neck of land. This 
 mountain is two stadia higher than the neck in direct altitude. 
 In addition to these [natural] defences, the city is furnished 
 on all sides with subterraneous passages, which extend to the 
 plains, and some of which serve to convey water, while others 
 form secret ways ; it was in one of these that Marius 4 perished, 
 when he was besieged. Other cities are in most instances 
 benefited by a strong position, but to the people of Prabneste 
 it has proved a bane, owing to the civil wars of the Romans. 
 
 The waters from the sulphur-lake ; named the Solfatara di Tivoli. 
 
 2 Now the Lago di S. Giovanni, or Bagni di Grotta Marozza. 
 
 3 Prob. Cretona, not Monte Rotondo. 
 
 4 The younger Marius being entirely defeated by Sulla in the decisive 
 battle fought near Sacriportus, B. c. 82, Marius threw himself into Prae- 
 neste, where he had deposited the treasures of the Capitoline temple. 
 (Pliny H. N. 1. xxxiii. s. 5.) Sulla left Lucretius Opella to prosecute 
 the siege while he hastened on to Rome. Various efforts were made to 
 relieve Praeneste, but they all failed ; and after Sulla's great victory at 
 the Colline gate of Rome, in which Pontius Telesinus was defeated and 
 slain, Marius despaired of holding out any longer, and in company with 
 the brother of Telesinus attempted to escape by a subterraneous passage, 
 which led from the town into the open country ; but finding that their 
 flight was discovered, they put an end to one another's lives. According 
 to other accounts, Marius killed himself, or was killed by his slave at his 
 own request. Marius perished in the year of his consulship. Sniith, 
 D.ict. Biogr. and Myth. 
 
B. v. c. in. 12. ITALY. LATIUM. 355 
 
 For hither the revolutionary movers take refuge, and when 
 at lust they surrender, in addition to the injury sustained by 
 the city during the war, the country is confiscated, and the 
 guilt thus imputed to the guiltless. The river Verestis 1 
 flows through this region. The said cities are to the east of 
 Rome. 
 
 12. But within-side the chain of mountains, [where these 
 cities are situated,] there is another ridge, leaving a valley be- 
 tween it and Mount Algidus ; it is lofty, and extends as far as 
 Mount Albanus. 2 It is on this ridge that Tusculum is situated, 
 a city which is not wanting in adornment, being entirely sur- 
 rounded by ornamental plantations and edifices, particularly 
 that part of it which looks towards Rome. For on this side 
 Tusculum presents a fertile hill, well irrigated, and with 
 numerous gentle slopes embellished with majestic palaces. 
 Contiguous are the undulating slopes of Mount Albanus, 
 which are equally fertile and ornamented. Beyond are plains 
 which extend some of them to Rome and its environs, others 
 to the sea ; these latter are unhealthy, but the others are 
 salubrious and well cultivated. Next after Albanum is the 
 city Aricia, on the Appian Way. It is 160 stadia from 
 Rome. This place is situated in a hollow, and has a strong 
 citadel. 3 Beyond it on one side of the way is Lanuvium, 4 a 
 Roman city on the right of the Via Appia, and from which 
 both the sea and Antium may be viewed. On the other side 
 is the Artemisium, 5 which is called Nemus, 6 on the left side 
 of the way, leading from Aricia to the temple. 7 They say 
 that it is consecrated to Diana Taurica, and certainly the rites 
 performed in this temple are something barbarous and Scythic. 
 They appoint as priest a fugitive who has murdered the pre- 
 ceding priest with his own hand. Apprehensive of an attack 
 upon himself, the priest is always armed with a sword, ready 
 for resistance. The temple is in a grove, and before it is a 
 
 1 The Abbe Chaupy is inclined to think that this was a name given to 
 the part nearest the source of the river which Strabo, 9, calls the Trerus, 
 but Kramer thinks it was originally written 6 Tpjjpoc, and corrupted by 
 the copyists. 2 Monte Cavo. 
 
 3 We have translated literally tx tl $' vpuq ipv/jivfiv aicpav, but it is 
 possible that Strabo may have meant that the citadel was built on a 
 height above the town ; if so the citadel would occupy the site of la Riccia. 
 
 4 Civita Lavinia, or, Citta della Vigna. 5 Or Grove of Diana. 
 6 Nemus Arieiae. 7 The text here appears to be mutilated. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 STRABO. CASAUB. 240. 
 
 lake of considerable size. The temple and water are sur- 
 rounded by abrupt and lofty precipices, so that they seem to 
 be situated in a deep and hollow ravine. The springs by 
 which the lake is filled are visible. One of these is denomi- 
 nated Egeria, after the name of a certain divinity ; however, 
 their course on leaving the lake is subterraneous, but they 
 may be observed at some distance, when they rise to the 
 surface of the ground. 
 
 13. Near to these localities is Mount Albanus, 1 which is 
 much higher than either the Artemisium or the heights sur- 
 rounding it, although these are sufficiently lofty and precipit- 
 ous. It has likewise a lake, 2 much larger than that of the 
 Artemisium. Further forward than these are the cities on 
 the Via Latina, we have already mentioned. Alba 3 is 
 the most inland of all the Latin cities ; it borders on 
 the Marsi, and is situated on a high hill near to Lake 
 Fucinus. This [lake] is vast as a sea, and is of great 
 service to the Marsi and all the surrounding nations. They 
 say, that at times its waters rise to the height of the moun- 
 tains which surround it, and at others subside so much, that 
 the places which had been covered with water reappear and 
 may be cultivated; however, the subsidings of the waters 
 occur irregularly and without previous warning, and are fol- 
 lowed by their rising again ; the springs fail altogether and 
 gush out again after a time ; as they say is the case with 
 the Amenanus, 4 which flows through Catana, 5 for after re- 
 maining dry for a number of years, it again flows. It is 
 reported that the Marcian 6 water, which is drunk at Rome in 
 preference to any other, has its source in [Lake] Fucinus. 
 As Alba is situated in the depths of the country, and is be- 
 sides a strong position, the Romans have often employed it as 
 a place of security, for lodging important prisoners. 7 
 
 1 Monte Cavo. 8 The Lago d'Albano. 
 
 3 Alba Fucensis is here intended : hod. Albi. 
 
 4 The Judicello. 5 Catania, in Sicily. 
 
 6 See Pliny in reference to the Aqua Marcia, Hist. Nat. 1. xxxi. 24, 
 also 1. ii. 106. 
 
 7 It served successively as a place of confinement for the kings Sy- 
 phax, Perseus, and Bituitus. 
 
n. v. c. iv. $ 1, 2. ITALY. PICENUM. 357 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. AFTER having commenced with the nations about the 
 Alps, and the Apennine mountains which are near to these, 
 we proceeded from thence and passed through that portion of 
 the hither country lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the 
 Apennine mountains, which incline towards the Adriatic, as 
 far as the Samnites and the Campani. We will now return 
 again, and describe the mountaineers, and those who dwell at 
 the foot of the mountains ; whether on the coast of the Adriatic, 
 or in the interior. Thus, we must recommence from the 
 boundaries of Keltica. 1 
 
 2. After the cities of the Ombrici, which are comprised be- 
 tween Ariminum 2 and Ancona, comes Picenum. The Picentini 
 proceeded originally from the land of the Sabini. A woodpecker 
 led the way for their chieftains, and from this bird they have 
 taken their name, it being called in their language Picus, and is 
 regarded as sacred to Mars. They inhabit the plains extending 
 from the mountains to the sea ; the length of their country 
 considerably exceeds its breadth ; the soil is every where 
 good, but better fitted for the cultivation of fruits than grain. 
 Its breadth, from the mountains to the sea varies in different 
 parts. But its length ; from the river ^Esis 3 to Castrum, 4 
 sailing round the coast, is 800 stadia. Of its cities, Ancona 
 is of Grecian origin, having been founded by the Syracusans 
 who fled from the tyranny of Dionysius. It is situated upon 
 a cape, which bending round towards the north forms a har- 
 bour ; and it abounds in wine and wheat. Near to it is the 
 city of Auxumon, 5 at a little distance from the sea. After it 
 are Septempeda, 6 Pneuentia, 7 Potentia, 8 and Firmum Pice- 
 num, 9 with its port of Castellum. 10 Beyond, is the temple of 
 Cupra, 11 built and dedicated by the Tyrrheni to Juno, who is 
 named by them Cupra; and after it the river Tronto, 12 
 
 I Cisalpine Gaul. 2 Rimini. 
 
 3 The Fiumesino. 4 Giulia Nova. 5 Osimo. e S. Severino. 
 
 7 Probably for Pollentia, on the Chiento, opposite Urbisaglia. 
 
 8 Ruins, on the river Potenza, near to Porto di Recanati. 
 
 9 Fermo. 10 Porto di Fermo. 
 
 II Near to the river Monecchia, not far from Marano. 12 Truentum. 
 
358 STRABO. CASAUB. 241. 
 
 with a city of the same name. 1 Beyond this is Castrum 
 Novum, 2 and the river Piomba, 3 flowing from the city of 
 Adria, 4 and having [at its mouth] the naval station of Adria, 
 which bears the same name as itself. In the interior is [the 
 city of Adria] itself and Asculum Picenum, 5 a very strong 
 position, upon which is built a wall : the mountains which sur- 
 round it are not accessible to armies. 6 Above Picenum are 
 the Vestini, 7 the Marsi, 8 the Peligni, 9 the Marucini, 10 and the 
 Frentani, 11 a Samnitic nation possessing the hill-country, and 
 extending almost to the sea. All these nations are small, but 
 extremely brave, and have frequently given the Romans 
 proofs of their valour, first as enemies, afterwards as allies ; 
 and finally, having demanded the liberty and rights of citizens, 
 and being denied, they revolted and kindled the Marsian war. 12 
 They decreed that Corfinium, 13 the metropolis of the Peligni, 
 should be the capital for all the Italians instead of Rome : made 
 it their place d'armes, and new-named it Italica. Then, having 
 convoked deputies from all the people friendly to their design, 
 they created consuls 14 and praetors, and maintained the war 
 for two 15 years, until they had obtained the rights for which 
 they struggled. The war was named the Marsian 1G war, be- 
 
 1 The position of this city is still disputed, it has been identified with 
 Porto d'Ascoli, Torre di Seguro, and other places. 
 
 2 Giulia Nova. * Matrinus. 4 Atri. 
 5 Ascoli. 6 The text is here defective. 
 
 7 The Vestini appear to have occupied the region where at present 
 Aquila, Ofena, Civita Aquana, Civita di Penna, Civita di St. Angelo, 
 and Pescara are situated. 
 
 8 They inhabited the canton in which are built Tagliacozzo, Scurcola, 
 Albi, Celano, Pescina, and the environs of Lake Celano. 
 
 * Inhabited the territories of Sulmona, Pentima, and Popolo. 
 
 10 Occupied the district of Tieti or Chieti. 
 
 11 Inhabited the right bank of the Sangro, the territory of Guasto, the 
 banks of the Trigno and Biferno, the district of Larino, the left bank of 
 the Fortore, and extended north-west t,owards Pescara. 
 
 2 91 B. c. 13 Pentima near Popoli. 
 
 14 The first consuls were Q. Pompaedius Silo, and C. Aponius Mutilus ; 
 the praetors were Herius Asinius for the Marucini, C. Veltius Cato for the 
 Marsi, M. Lamponius and T. Cleptius for the Leucani, Marius Egnatius 
 Trebatius and Pontius Telesinus for the Samnites, C. Judacilius for the 
 Apuli or Picentini, and A. Cluentius for the Peligni. "Many other officers 
 besides these distinguished themselves in the several campaigns of the 
 Marsian war. 
 
 15 A note in the French translation would make the duration of the 
 Marsian war twelve years. 
 
 16 Diodorus Siculus agrees with Strabo, in asserting that this war was 
 
B. v. c. iv. $ 2. ITALY. PICENUM. MAKSI. 359 
 
 cause that nation commenced the insurrection, and particularly 
 on account of Pompasdius. 1 These nations live generally in 
 villages, nevertheless they are possessed of certain cities, some 
 of which are at some little distance from the sea, as Cor- 
 finium, Sulmo, 2 Maruvium, 3 and Teatea 4 the metropolis of 
 the Marrucini. Others are on the coast, as Aternum 5 on the 
 Picentine boundary, so named from the river [Aternus], 
 which separates the Vestini from the Marrucini. This river 
 flows from the territory of Amiternum and through the Ves- 
 tini, leaving on its right the Marrucini, who lie above the 
 Peligni, [at the place where the river] is crossed by a bridge. 
 The city, which bears the same name, (viz. Aternum,) be- 
 longs to the Vestini, but its port is used in common both by 
 the Peligni and the Marrucini. The bridge I have men- 
 tioned is about 24 stadia from Corfinium. After Aternum is 
 Orton, 6 a naval arsenal of the Frentani, and Buca, 7 which be- 
 longs to the same people, and is conterminous with the Apulian 
 Teanum. 8 fOrtonium 9 is situated in the territory of the 
 Frentani. It is rocky, and inhabited by banditti, who con- 
 struct their dwellings of the wrecks of ships, and lead other- 
 called Marsian, because it had been commenced by the Marsi, 'Qvo/ta<r0a 
 <$g tj)T]<Tt Mapaticov [i. e. TroXtpov] IK TWV ap^avTwv TTJQ aTroaraffeuQ . 
 however, Velleius Paterculus asserts that the people of Asculum com- 
 menced the war, which was continued by the Marsi ; and Livy (Epit. 
 lib. Ixxii.) makes the Picentini the first to raise the standard of revolt. 
 1 Quintus PompaBdius Silo. 
 
 * Now Sulmona, about seven miles south-east of Corfinium. It was the 
 birth-place of Ovid. 
 
 Sulmo mihi patria est gelidis uberrimus undis. Ovid. Trist. iv. El. 9. 
 Marruvium, veteris celebratum nomine Marri, 
 Urbibus est illis caput. Sil. Ital. viii. 507. 
 
 We must place this city, with Holstenius, at San Benedetto, on the east- 
 ern shore of the lake, where inscriptions have been found which leave no 
 doubt on the subject. The coins of Marruvium have MARUB on the 
 reverse and a head of Pluto. 
 
 * Now Chieti, on the right bank of the Pescara. The family of Asinius 
 Pollio came originally from this place. 
 
 * Pescara. 6 Ortona-a-Mare. 
 
 7 Romanelli, (torn. iii. p. 40,) founding his opinion on ancient ecclesias- 
 tical records and the reports of local antiquaries, informs us that the ruins 
 of Buca exist at the present Penna. 
 
 8 According to Holstenius and Romanelli, Civitate; according to 
 others, Ponte Rotto. 
 
 9 Kramer is of opinion that this passage, from "Ortonium" to " life," 
 is an interpolation posterior to the age of Strabo. 
 
360 STRABO. CASATJB. 42. 
 
 wise a savage life, f Between Orton and Aternum is the rivsr 
 Sagrus, 1 which separates the Frentani from the Peligni. From 
 Picenum to the Apuli, named by the Greeks the Daunii, 2 
 sailing round the coast, is a distance of about 490 3 stadia. 
 
 3. Next in order after Latium is Campania, which extends 
 along the [Tyrrhenian] Sea ; above it is Samnium, in the 
 interior, extending as far as the Frentani and Daunii ; and 
 beyond are the Daunii, and the other nations as far as the 
 Strait of Sicily. We shall in the first place speak of Campa- 
 nia. From Sinuessa 4 to Misenum 5 the coast forms a vast 
 gulf; beyond this is another gulf still larger, which they 
 name the Crater. 6 It is enclosed by the two promontories of 
 Misenum and the Athena3um. 7 It is along the shores of these 
 [two gulfs] that the whole of Campania is situated. This 
 plain is fertile above all others, and entirely surrounded by 
 fruitful hills and the mountains of the Samnites and Osci. 
 Antiochus says that this country was formerly inhabited by 
 the Opici, and that these were called Ausones. Polybius 
 appears to consider these as two people, for he says that the 
 Opici and Ausones inhabit the country around the Crater. 8 
 Others, however, state that it was originally inhabited by 
 Opici and Ausones, but was afterwards seized on by a nation 
 of the Osci, who were driven out by the Cumsei, and these 
 again by the Tyrrheni. Thus the possession of the plain was 
 much disputed on account of its great fertility. [They add 
 that the Tyrrheni] built there twelve cities, and named the 
 metropolis Capua. But luxury having made them effeminate, 
 in the same way that they had formerly been driven from the 
 banks of the Po, they were now forced to abandon this 
 country to the Samnites ; who in their turn fell before the 
 Romans. One proof of the fertility of this country is, that it 
 produces the finest corn. I allude to the grain from which a 
 groat is made superior to all kinds of rice, and to almost all other 
 farinacious food. They say that some of the plains are crop- 
 ped all the year round ; twice with rye, the third time with 
 
 1 Romanelli affirms that the mountain from which the river Alaro flows 
 is called Sagra, and Cramer considers that river to be the ancient Sagrus. 
 The Daunii formed only a portion of the Apuli. 
 We have followed Kramer's reading, rtrpaKoouov IvtvfiKovra. 
 The ruins of Monte Dragone. 5 Punta di Miseno. 
 
 The bay of Naples. 7 Punta della Campanella. 
 
 Thispassage is not found in the works of Polybius, as handed down to us. 
 
B. v. c. iv. $ 4. ITALY. CAMPANIA. 361 
 
 panic, and occasionally a fourth time with vegetables. It is 
 likewise from hence that the Romans procure their finest 
 wines, the Falernian, the Statanian, and the Calenian. That 
 of Surrentum l is now esteemed equal to these, it having been 
 lately discovered that it can be kept to ripen. In addition to 
 this, the whole country round Venafrum, bordering on the 
 plains, is rich in olives. 
 
 4. The maritime cities [of Campania], after Sinuessa, are 
 Liternum, 2 where is the sepulchral monument of the first of 
 the two Scipios, surnamed Africanus ; it was here that he 
 passed the last days of his life, having abandoned public 
 affairs in disgust at the intrigues of certain opponents. A 
 river of the same name 3 flows by this city. In like manner 
 the Vulturnus bears the same name as the city 4 founded 
 on it, which comes next in order : this river flows through 
 Venafrum 5 and the midst of Campania. After these 
 [cities] comes Cumre, 6 the most ancient settlement 1 "of 
 the Chalcidenses and Cumaeans, for it is the oldest of all 
 [the Greek cities] in Sicily or Italy. The leaders of the 
 expedition, Hippocles the Cumasan and Megasthenes of 
 Chalcis, having mutually agreed that one of the nations should 
 have the management of the colony, and the other the honour 
 of conferring upon it its own name. Hence at the present 
 day it is named Cumae, while at the same time it is said 
 to have been founded by the Chalcidenses. At first this 
 city was highly prosperous, as well as the Phlegraean 8 plain, 
 which mythology has made the scene of the adventures of the 
 giants, for no other reason, as it appears, than because the 
 fertility of the country had given rise to battles for its pos- 
 session. Afterwards, however, the Campanians becoming 
 masters 9 of the city, inflicted much injustice on the inhabit- 
 
 1 Sorrento. 2 Torre di Patria. 3 Liternus. * Vulturnum. 6 Venafro. 
 
 * KV/IT/. The Greeks gave a singular form to this name of the ancient 
 seat of the Sibyl. Her chamber, which was hewn out of the solid rock, 
 was destroyed when the fortress of Cumae was besieged by Narses, who 
 undermined it. 
 
 7 Eusebius states that it was founded 1050 B. c., a few years before 
 the great migration of the lonians into Asia Minor. 
 
 9 We may observe that Strabo seems not to have restricted the 
 4>Xeypaiov irtfiiov to that which modern geographers term the Phlegraean 
 plains, which are contained between Cumae and the hills bordering the 
 Lake Agnano, a little beyond Pozzuolo, but, like Pliny, to have extended 
 it to the whole region, at present termed Terra di Lavoro. 
 
 8 A note in the French translation observes, that Diodorus Siculus 
 
362 STRABO. CASA.UB. 243, 
 
 ants, and even violated their wives. Still, however, there 
 remain numerous traces of the Grecian taste, their temples, 
 and their laws. Some are of opinion that Cumse was so 
 called from TO. Kvpara, the waves, the sea-coast near it being 
 rocky and exposed. These people have excellent fisheries. 
 On the shores of this gulf there is a scrubby forest, extending 
 over numerous acres of parched and sandy land. This they 
 call the Gallinarian l wood. It was there that the admirals 
 of Sextus Pompeius assembled their gangs of pirates, at the 
 time when he drew Sicily into revolt. 2 
 
 5. Near to Cuma? is the promontory of Misenum, 3 and 
 between them is the Acherusian Lake, 4 which is a muddy es- 
 tuary of the sea. Having doubled Misenum, you come to 
 a harbour at the very foot of the promontory. After this the 
 shore runs inland, forming a deeply indented bay, on which 
 are Baiae and the hot springs, much used, both as a fashion- 
 able watering-place, and for the cure of diseases. Contiguous 
 to Baue is the Lucrine Lake, 5 and within this the Lake Aver- 
 nus, 6 which converts into a peninsula the land stretching from 
 the maritime district, situated between it and Cuma3, as far 
 as Cape Misenum, for there is only an isthmus of a few stadia, 
 across which a subterraneous road is cut [from the head of 
 the gulf of Avernus] to Cumae and the sea [shore] on which 
 it stands. Former writers, mingling fable with history, have 
 applied to Avernus the expressions of Homer in his Invoca- 
 tion of Departed Spirits, 7 and relate that here formerly was 
 an oracle of the dead, 8 and that it was to this place that 
 Ulysses came. However, this gulf of Avernus is deep even 
 near the shore, with an excellent entrance, and is both as 
 to its size and nature a harbour ; but it is not used, on ac- 
 count of the Lucrine Gulf which lies before it, and is both large 
 and somewhat shallow. The Avernus is surrounded with 
 steep hills which encompass the whole of it, with the excep- 
 
 (lib. xii. 76) places this event in the fourth year of the 89th Olympiad, 
 421 B. c. Livy (lib. iv. 44) seems to place it a year later. 
 
 1 It is now called Pineta di Castel Volturno. 
 
 2 Forty years B. c. 3 Punta di Miseno. 4 Lago di Fusaro. 
 
 6 Lago Lucrino. This lake has almost disappeared, owing to a subter- 
 raneous eruption, which in 1538 displaced the water and raised the hill 
 called Monte Nuovo. 
 
 8 Lago d'Averno. 
 
 7 vijKvla, the title of the llth book of the Odyssey. 
 
 6 vtievofiavrelov, another title of the same (llth) book 
 
B. v. c. iv. 5. ITALY. CAMPANIA. 363 
 
 tion of the entrance. These hills, now so beautifully culti- 
 vated were formerly covered with wild forests, gigantic and 
 impenetrable, which overshadowed the gulf, imparting a feeling 
 of superstitious awe. The inhabitants affirm that birds, flying 
 over the lake, fall into the water, 1 being stifled by the vapours 
 rising from it, a phenomenon of all Plutonian 2 localities. They 
 believed, in fact, that this place was a Plutonium, around 
 which the Kimmerians used to dwell, and those who sailed 
 into the place made sacrifice and propitiatory offerings to the 
 infernal deities, as they were instructed by the priests who 
 ministered at the place. There is here a spring of water near 
 to the sea fit for drinking, from which, however, every one 
 abstained, as they supposed it to be water from the Styx : 
 [they thought likewise] that the oracle of the dead was 
 situated some where here ; and the hot springs near to the 
 Acherusian Lake indicated the proximity of Pyriphlegetbon. 
 Ephorus, peopling this place with Kimmerii, tells us that they 
 dwell in under-ground habitations, named by them Argilla3, and 
 that these communicate with one another by means of certain 
 subterranean passages ; and that they conduct strangers 
 through them to the oracle, which is built far below the sur- 
 face of the earth. They live on the mines together with the pro- 
 fits accruing from the oracle, and grants made to them by the 
 king [of the country]. It was a traditional custom for the serv- 
 ants of the oracle never to behold the sun, and only to quit their 
 caverns at night. It was on this account that the poet said, 
 
 " On them the Sun 
 Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye." 3 
 
 At last, however, these men were exterminated by one of the 
 kings, the oracle having deceived him ; but [adds Ephorus] 
 the oracle is still in existence, though removed to another 
 
 1 Strabo is not the only one who mentions this : Virgil says, 
 
 " Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu, 
 ' Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, nemorumque tenebris ; 
 
 Quam super haud ullse poterant impune volantes 
 
 Tendere iter pennis ; talis esse halitus atris 
 
 Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat ; 
 
 Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Avernum." 
 
 ^Eneid. vi. 237. 
 
 2 The Greeks applied the term Plutonian to places where disagree- 
 able and pestilential exhalations arose. 
 
 3 " Nor ever does the light-giving Sun shine upon them." 
 
 Odys. xi. 15. 
 
364 STRABO. CASAUB. 245. 
 
 place. Such were the myths related by our ancestors. But 
 now that the wood surrounding the Avernus has been cut 
 down by Agrippa, the lands built upon, and a subterranean 
 passage cut from Avernus to Cumse, all these appear fables. 
 Perhaps 1 Cocceius, who made this subterranean passage, 2 
 wished to follow the practice of the Kimmerians we have 
 already described, or fancied that it was natural to this place 
 that its roads should be made under-ground. 
 
 6. The Lucrine gulf extends in breadth as far as Baia3 ; it 
 is separated from the sea by a bank eight stadia in length, 
 and the breadth of a carriage-way ; this they say was con- 
 structed by Hercules when he drove away the oxen of Geryon. 
 But as the wave covered its surface in stormy weather, ren- 
 dering it difficult to pass on foot, Agrippa has repaired it. 
 Small vessels can put into it, but it is useless as a harbour. 3 
 It contains abundant oyster-beds. Some take this to be the 
 Acherusian Lake, while Artemidorus confounds it with Aver- 
 nus. They say that Ba'i'se took its name from Baius one of 
 the companions of Ulysses, and Misenum from Misenu?. 
 Beyond is the strand and city of DicaBarchia. Formerly it 
 was nothing but a naval station of the Cuma3i. It was built 
 on an eminence. But at the time of the war with Hannibal, the 
 Romans established a colony there, and changed its name into 
 Puteoli, 4 [an appellation derived] from its wells ; or, accord- 
 ing to others, from the stench of its waters, the whole district 
 from hence to BaTae and Cumaj being full of sulphur, fire, and 
 hot-springs. Some too are of opinion that it was on this ac- 
 count [that the country about] Cuma3 was named Phlegra, 
 and that the fables of the giants struck down by thunderbolts 
 owe their origin to these eruptions of fire and water. This 
 city has become a place of extensive commerce, having arti- 
 ficially constructed harbours, which were much facilitated by 
 
 1 The text here appears to have been corrupted. 
 
 2 We agree with Kramer in considering as an interpolation the words, 
 rt. Kai STTI "Nkav iroXtv tK iKaiap%ia(; iiri ralg ~Ba.ia.iQ, and likewise 
 another at Neapolisfrom Diccearchia to Baite. It is generally supposed that 
 the Grolta di Pausilipo, or.Crypta Neapolitana, is of much greater antiquity 
 than the Augustan age, when Cocceius flourished. There is good reason 
 to refer that great undertaking to the Cumaei, of whose skill in works of 
 this nature we have so remarkable an instance in the temple of their sibyl. 
 
 3 Dion Cassius tells us, on the contrary, that owing to the exertions of 
 Agrippa, the gulfs both of Avernus and Lucrinus became excellent ports, 
 XififvaQ vavXox^TaTovg aTrefoigtv, 4 Pozzuoli. 
 
B. v. c. iv. 7. ITALY. CAMPANIA. 365 
 
 the facile nature of the sand, which contains much gypsum, and 
 will cement and consolidate thoroughly. For mixing this 
 sand witli chalk-stones they construct moles in the sea, thus 
 forming bays along the open coast, in which the largest trans- 
 port ships may safely ride. Immediately above the city lies 
 the Forum- Vulcani, 1 a plain surrounded with hills which 
 seem to be on fire, having in many parts mouths emitting 
 smoke, frequently accompanied by a terrible rumbling noise ; 
 the plain itself is full of drifted sulphur. 
 
 7. After Dicaearchia is Neapolis, 2 [founded 3 originally] by 
 the Cumcei, but afterwards being peopled by Chalcidians, and 
 certain Pithecussreans and Athenians, 4 it was on this account 
 denominated Naples. 5 Here is pointed out the tomb of Par- 
 
 1 La Solfa-terra. 2 Naples. 
 
 3 Innumerable accounts exist relative to the foundation of this city. 
 The most prevalent fiction was that the siren Parthenope was cast upon 
 its shores, and from her it derived the name, by which it was usually 
 designated by the ancient poets. 
 
 Sirenum dedit una suum memorabile nomen 
 Parthenope muris Acheloias : aequore cujus 
 Regnavere diu cantus, quum dulce per undas 
 Exitium miseris caneret non prospera nautis. 
 
 Sil. Ital. xii. 33. 
 
 Scymnus of Chios mentions both the Phocaei and Cumaei as its founders. 
 Stephanus of Byzantium attributes its foundation to the Rhodians ; their 
 proximity is favourable to the claims of the Cumaei, and hence the con- 
 nexion of Naples with Euboea, alluded to by Statius, who was born there. 
 At te nascentem gremio mea prima recepit 
 Parthenope, dulcisque solo tu gloria nostro 
 Reptasti ; nitidum consurgat ad aethera tellus 
 Eubois, et pulchra tumeat Sebethos alumna. Silv. i. 2. 
 A Greek inscription mentions a hero named Eumelus as having had 
 divine honours paid to him, possibly as founder of the city. [See Capaccio, 
 Hist. Nap. p. 105. Martorelli de' Fenici primi abitatori di Napoli.] 
 This may illustrate the following lines, 
 
 Di patrii, quos auguriis super aequora magnis 
 Littus ad Ausonium devexit Abantia classis, 
 Tu ductor populi longe emigrantis Apollo, 
 Cujus adhuc volucrem leva cervice sedentem 
 Respiciens blande felix Eumelis adorat. Silv. iv. 8, 45. 
 
 4 Probably those mentioned in a fragment of Timaeus, quoted by 
 Tzetzes, (ad Lycophr. v. 732 737,) as having migrated to Italy under 
 the command of Diotimus, who also instituted the XafjnradijQopia, which 
 was still observed at Naples in the time of Statius : 
 
 Tuque Actoea Ceres, cursu cui semper anhelo 
 
 Votivam taciti quassamus lampada mystae. Silv. iy, 8, 50. 
 
 5 Neapolis, or Naples, signifying the new city. 
 
366 STRABO. CASAUB. 246. 
 
 thenope, one of the sirens, and a gymnastic sport is celebrated 
 by command of an oracle. In course of time the inhabitants, 
 having disagreed amongst themselves, admitted certain Cam- 
 panians ; thus being forced to regard in the light of friends 
 those most inimical to them, since their friends were hostile. 
 This is proved by the names of their demarchi, the earlier of 
 which are Grecian, but the latter a mixture of Campanian 
 with the Grecian names. Many traces of Grecian institution 
 are still preserved, the gymnasia, the ephebeia, 1 the fratrias, 2 
 and the Grecian names of people who are Roman citizens. 
 At the present time they celebrate, every fifth year, public 
 games for music and gymnastic exercises during many days, 
 which rival the most famous games of Greece. There 
 is here a subterranean passage, similar to that at Cumae, 3 
 extending for many stadia along the mountain, 4 between 
 Dicsearchia 5 and Neapolis : it is sufficiently broad to let car- 
 riages pass each other, and light is admitted from the surface 
 of the mountain, by means of numerous apertures cut through a 
 great depth. 6 Naples also has hot springs and baths not at all 
 inferior in quality to those at Baiae, but much less frequented, 
 for another city has arisen there, not less than Diccearchia, 
 one palace after another having been built. Naples still pre- 
 serves the Grecian mode of life, owing to those who retire 
 hither from Rome for the sake of repose, after a life of labour 
 from childhood, and to those whose age or weakness demands 
 relaxation. Besides these, Romans who find attractions in 
 this style of life, and observe the numbers of persons dwelling 
 there, are attracted by the place, and make it their abode. 
 8. Following this is the fortress of Heraclseum, 7 built upon 
 
 1 Places of exercise for youth. 2 Societies. 
 
 3 Grotta di Pausilipo. 
 
 4 Pausilypus mons was the name of the ridge of hills which separates 
 the bay of Naples from that of Pozzuoli. This was probably given to it 
 on account of its delightful situation and aspect, which rendered it the 
 favourite residence of several noble and wealthy Romans. 
 
 5 Puteoli. 
 
 6 Seneca, in describing the Crypta Neapolitana, as it was then called, 
 gives an exaggerated account of the sombre horrors of the place. Perhaps 
 in his time the apertures had become obstructed, which was evidently 
 not the case at the time when Strabo, or the authority whom he follows, 
 visited the place. 
 
 7 Hercolano, or Herculaneum, by Cicero (to Atticus, vii. 3) called 
 Herculanum. It is probable that the subversion of this town was not 
 
B. v. c. iv. 8. ITALY. CAMPANIA. 367 
 
 a promontory which projects out into the sea, and which, on 
 account of the prevalence of the south-west wind, is a very 
 healthy spot. The Osci l originally possessed both this and 
 Pompeia, 2 which is next to it, by which the river Sarno 3 
 flows ; afterwards the Tyrrheni and Pelasgi, 4 and then the 
 Samnites 5 obtained possession of them, and the last 6 in their 
 turn were driven from these regions. Pompeia is the port 
 for Nola, 7 Nuceria, 8 and Acerrae, which bears the same name as 
 the city near to Cremona. It is built on the river Sarno, by 
 which merchandise is received and exported. Above these 
 places is Mount Vesuvius, which is covered with very beautiful 
 fields, excepting its summit, a great part of which is level, 
 but wholly sterile. It appears ash-coloured to the eye, 
 cavernous hollows appear formed of blackened stones, looking 
 as if they had been subjected to the action of fire. From 
 this we may infer that the place was formerly in a burning 
 state with live craters, which however became extinguished 
 on the failing of the fuel. Perhaps this [volcano] may have 
 been the cause of the fertility of the surrounding country, 
 the same as occurs in Catana, where they say that that por- 
 tion which has been covered with ashes thrown up by the 
 fires of ^Etna is most excellent for the vine. The land about 
 Vesuvius contains fat, and a soil which has been subjected to 
 fire, and is very strong and productive of fruit : when this 
 fat superabounds, it is apt, like all sulphurous substances, 
 to take fire, but being dried up by evaporation, extinguished, 
 and pulverized, it becomes a productive earth. Adjoining 
 
 sudden, but progressive, since Seneca mentions a partial demolition 
 which it sustained from an earthquake. (Nat. Qucest. vi. 1.) So many 
 books have been written on the antiquities and works of art discovered 
 in Herculaneum, that the subject need not be enlarged upon here. 
 
 1 Several inscriptions in Oscan, and Etruscan, characters have been 
 discovered in the ruins of Herculaneum. Lanzi, (torn, iii.,) Komanelli 
 Viaggio a Pompei ed Ercolano. 
 
 2 Pompeii. 3 The ancient Sarnus. 
 
 4 These Pelasgi were established among the Tyrrhenians. 
 
 5 It is believed that the Samnites possessed both places, 310, B. c. 
 
 6 The Romans must have been masters of these cities 272, B. c. 
 (Livy, Epit. xiv.) 
 
 7 Nola resisted, under the able direction of Marcellus, all the efforts of 
 Hannibal after the battle of Canna?. A remarkable inscription in Oscan 
 characters relative to this town is explained by Lanzi, (torn. iii. 612,) 
 its name is there written NUFLA. See Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. ii. 
 p. 211. 8 Nocera de' Pagani. 
 
368 STRABO. CASAUB. 247. 
 
 Pompeia is Surrentum, 1 [a city] of the Campanians. from 
 whence the Athenaeum, 2 called by some the promontory of 
 the Sirenusae, projects [into the sea] ; upon its summit is the 
 temple of Minerva, founded by Ulysses. From hence to the 
 island of Capreas the passage is short; after doubling the 
 promontory you encounter various desert and rocky little 
 islands, which are called the SirenusaB. 3 On the side towards 
 Surrentum there is shown a temple with the ancient offerings 
 of those who held this place in veneration. Here is the end 
 of the bay named Crater, 4 which is bounded by the two pro- 
 montories of Misenum 5 and the Athenasum, both looking 
 towards the south. The whole is adorned by the cities we 
 have described, by villas, and plantations, so close together 
 that to the eye they appear but one city. 
 
 9. In front of Misenum lies the island of Prochyta, 6 which 
 has been rent from the Pithecussa?. 7 Pithecussre was peopled 
 by a colony of Eretrians and Chalcidians, which was very 
 prosperous on account of the fertility of the soil and the pro- 
 ductive gold-mines ; however, they abandoned the island on 
 account of civil dissensions, and were ultimately driven out 
 by earthquakes, and eruptions of fire, sea, and hot waters. 
 It was on account of these eruptions, to which the island is 
 subject, that the colonists sent by Hiero, 8 the king of Syracuse, 
 abandoned the island, together with the town which they 
 had built, when it was taken possession of by the Neapolitans. 
 This explains the myth concerning Typhon, who, they say, 
 lies beneath the island, and when he turns himself, causes 
 flames and water to rush forth, and sometimes even small 
 
 1 Sorrento. 8 Punta della Campanella. 
 
 3 The Sirenusse were three small rocks detached* from the land, and 
 celebrated as the islands of the Sirens ; they are now called Galli. See 
 Holsten. Adnot.p. 248 ; Romanelli, torn, iii.p. 619. Virgil, ^En. v. 864, 
 describes them as, 
 
 Jamque adeo scopulos advecta subibat ; 
 
 Difficiles quondam, multorumque ossibus albos. 
 
 It had been decreed that the Sirens should lire only till some one hearing 
 their song should pass on unmoved, and Orpheus, who accompanied the 
 Argonauts, having surpassed the Sirens, and led on the ship, they cast 
 themselves into the sea, and were metamorphosed into these rocks. 
 
 4 The bay of Naples. 5 Punta di Miseno. 
 6 Procida. 7 Ischia. 
 
 8 It appears that Hiero the First is here alluded to ; he ascended the 
 throne 478 years before the Christian era. 
 
B. V. C. IV. 
 
 ITALY. 369 
 
 islands to rise in the sea, containing springs of hot water. 
 Pindar throws more credibility into the myth, by making it 
 conformable to the actual phenomena, for the whole strait 
 from Cumasa to Sicily is subigneous, and below the sea has 
 certain galleries which form a communication between [the 
 volcanos 1 of the islands 2 ] and those of the main-land. He 
 shows that JEtna is on this account of the nature described 
 by all, and also the Lipari Islands, with the regions around 
 Dicasarchia, Neapolis, Baire, and the PithecussaB. And mind- 
 ful hereof, [Pindar] says that Typhon lies under the whole of 
 this space. 
 
 "Now indeed the sea-girt shores beyond .Cumae, and Sicily, press on his 
 shaggy breast." 3 
 
 Timoeus, 4 who remarks that many paradoxical accounts were 
 related by the ancients concerning the Pithecussoe, states, 
 nevertheless, that a little before his time, Mount Epomeus, 5 in 
 the middle of the island, being shaken by an earthquake, 
 vomited forth fire ; and that the land between it and the coast 
 was driven out into the sea. That the powdered soil, after 
 being whirled on high, was poured down again upon the 
 island in a whirlwind. That the sea retired from it to a dis- 
 tance of three stadia, but after remaining so for a short time it 
 returned, and inundated the island, thus extinguishing the fire. 
 And that the inhabitants of the continent fled at the noise, 
 from the sea-coast, into the interior of Campania. It seems 
 that the hot-springs 6 here are a remedy for those afflicted with 
 gravel. Capreas 7 anciently possessed two small cities, after- 
 wards but one. The Neapolitans possessed this island, but 
 having lost Pithecussa3 in war, they received it again from 
 Csesar Augustus, giving him in exchange Caprese. This 
 [island] having thus become the property of that prince, he 
 
 1 The volcanos of Sicily, Lipari, Pithecusss, or Ischia, and Mount 
 Vesuvius. See Humboldt (Cosmos i. '238, note). 
 
 2 We, in common with the French translators and Siebenkees, have 
 adopted the vi}<rov found in the MS. of Pqter Bembo, and some others 
 cited by Casaubon. 
 
 3 Pindar Pyth. Od i. 32 ; Conf. Pindar. Olymp. Od. iv. 2. 
 
 4 This writer flourished about 264 years before the Christian era. 
 
 5 Epopeus mons, now sometimes called Epomeo, but more commonly 
 Monte San Nicolo. 
 
 6 The waters at the source Olmitello, in the southern part of the island, 
 are the most efficacious for this disease. 7 Capri. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 B 
 
370 STRABO. CA.SAUB. 248. 
 
 has ornamented it with numerous edifices. Such then are the 
 maritime cities of Campania, and the islands lying opposite to it. 
 
 10. In the interior is the metropolis, Capua, being, as the 
 etymon of the name signifies, the head ; for in regard to it all 
 the other cities appear small, excepting Teanum-Sidicinum, 1 
 which is a very considerable place. This city lies on the 
 Via Appia, as also the others which lead from hence to Brun- 
 dusium, [viz.] Callateria, 2 Caudium, 3 and Beneventum. 4 On 
 the side of Rome is Casilinum, 5 situated on the river Vultur- 
 nus. 6 Here 540 men of Praneste sustained against Hannibal 
 in the height of his power so desperate a siege, that "by reason 
 of the famine, a rat 7 was sold for two hundred drachma?, the 
 seller dying [of hunger], but the purchaser being saved. Han- 
 nibal observing some of them sowing turnip-seed near to the 
 wall, admired, as well he might, the patient courage of these 
 men, who hoped to hold out in the mean while, until these 
 turnips should be ready for food. However, we are assured 
 that they all survived, with the exception of a few who 
 perished either by famine or in war. 
 
 11. In addition to those just spoken of, there are these 
 Campanian cities which we have already mentioned, viz. 
 Cales, 8 and Teanum-Sidicinum, the limits of which are 
 respectively marked out by the two temples of Fortune situ- 
 ated on either side of the Via Latina. Besides these are 
 Suessula, 9 Atella, 10 Nola, 11 Nuceria, 12 Acerrse, 13 Abella, 14 with 
 
 1 Teano. 
 
 2 Galazze. We have not hesitated to read Callateria, with all MSS. 
 Kramer has printed Ka\aria in text. Numismatic writers ascribe to 
 this, and not the Samnite Calatia, the coins with the head of Jupiter on 
 the obverse, and the legend, KALAT, and KALATI, in retrograde 
 Oscan characters on the reverse. Mionnet. Med. Ant. Suppl. vol. i. p. 
 232 ; Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 13. 
 
 3 S. Maria di Goti, near to Forchia Caudina. 4 Benevento. 
 5 Nova Capua. 6 Volturno. 
 
 7 The text has nedipvov ; but we have adopted pvbg, the word pro- 
 posed by most of the Greek editors ; Valerius Maximus, Pliny, and Fron- 
 tinus all agreeing in the statement, that it was a rat which fetched this 
 enormous price. 8 Calvi. 9 Castel di Sessola, near Maddaloni. 
 
 10 Holstenius says that the ruins of Atella are still to be seen near S. 
 Arpino, or S. Elpidio, about two miles beyond Aversa. 
 
 11 Now Nola. It was one of the most ancient and important cities of 
 Campania ; though situated in an open plain, it resisted all the efforts of 
 Hannibal after the battle of Cannae. Here Augustus expired, in the same 
 room in wiiich his father Octavius had breathed his last. 12 Nocera. 
 
 13 Acerra near the source of the Agno, the ancient Clanius. 
 " Avella Vecchia. 
 
K. v. c. IT. 11, 12. ITALY. 371 
 
 other smaller settlements, some of which are said to be Sam- 
 nite. 1 The Samnites, by making incursions into Latium as 
 far as Ardea, and afterwards devastating Campania itself, 
 greatly extended their power. The Campanians, being other- 
 wise accustomed to a despotic government, yielded ready 
 obedience to their commands. At the present day they have 
 been almost entirely exterminated by the various Roman 
 generals, and last of all by Sulla, who was absolute master of 
 the republic. He, after having by numerous battles extin- 
 guished the Italian revolt, observing that the Samnites, almost 
 without exception, remained in one body, and with one sole 
 intention, so that they had even marched upon Rome itself, 
 gave them battle under the walls, and as he had issued orders 
 to make no prisoners, many of them were cut to pieces on the 
 field, while the remainder, said to be about three or four 
 thousand men, who threw down their arms, were led off to 
 the Villa Publica in the Campus Martius, and there shut in ; 
 three days after soldiers were sent in who massacred the 
 whole; and when [Sulla] drew up his conscription list, he 
 did not rest satisfied until he had destroyed, or driven from 
 Italy, every one who bore a Samnite name. To those who re- 
 proached him for this animosity, he replied that he had learned 
 by experience that not a single Roman could rest in peace so 
 long as any of the Samnites survived. Thus their cities have 
 now dwindled into villages, some indeed being entirely de- 
 serted, as Boianum, 2 Jisernia, 3 Panna, Telesia 4 adjoining 
 Venafrum, and others similar, none of which can be 
 looked upon as cities ; but in a country so renowned and 
 powerful as Italy, we thought proper to mention places even 
 of second-rate importance. [We should add that] Bene- 
 ventum 5 and Venusia 6 are still prosperous. 
 
 12. The following is the tradition concerning the [origin 
 of the] Samnites. The Sabines having been engaged for 
 
 1 Such was Nola, which our author in his sixth book evidently places 
 in the territory of the Samnites. 2 Bojano. 3 Isernia. 
 
 * The ruins of Telesia are to be seen about a mile from the modern 
 Telese. Allifse was between Telesia and Venafrum. 5 Benevento. 
 
 6 Venosa. The coins of Venusia have on the reverse the inscription VE., 
 and an eagle resting on a thunderbolt. On the obverse, a head of Jupiter, 
 and sometimes of Bacchus. Sestini, Monet. Vet. p. 15. The Antiquitates 
 Venusinae and the Iter Venusinum were published at Naples in the last 
 century. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 STRABO. CASATJB. 250. 
 
 a long period in war with the Ombrici, made a vow, common 
 with some of the Grecian nations, that they would consecrate 
 to the gods the productions of the year. 1 They were victorious, 
 and accordingly of the productions, 2 the one kind were sacri- 
 ficed, the other consecrated. However, in a time of scarcity, 
 some one remarked, that they ought likewise to have 
 consecrated the children. This then they did, and the chil- 
 dren born at that period were called the sons of Mars. 3 When 
 these had grown up to manhood, they were sent forth, a bull 
 leading the way, to found a colony. The bull lay down to 
 rest in a place belonging to the Opici ; a people dwelling in 
 villages. These they drove out, and established themselves 
 in the place. The bull, according to the direction of the di- 
 viners, they sacrificed to Mars, who had given him to them 
 as a leader. It seems to have been in allusion to this that 
 their parents called them by the diminutive form of Sabelli. 4 
 The name of Samnites, or, as the Greeks call them, Saunites, 
 originated in another cause. It is also said that certain Lace- 
 daemonians came to dwell amongst them, and that this is the 
 reason of their affection for the Greeks, and that certain of 
 them are called Pitanatas. 5 The whole of this, however, 
 appears to be a mere fabrication of the Tarentini, interested 
 in flattering and conciliating to themselves a neighbouring 
 people, so powerful as to be able, on a time, to bring into the 
 field a force of eighty thousand foot-soldiers, and eight thou- 
 sand cavalry. There is said to be a law amongst the Sam- 
 nites, excellent in itself, and calculated to excite to virtue. 
 It is not lawful for fathers to give away their daughters to 
 whomsoever they may please ; but every year ten of the most 
 virtuous young women, and ten of the most virtuous young 
 men, are selected ; of these the most excellent young man 
 is married to the most excellent young woman, the second 
 to the second, and so on in order. Should he who re- 
 
 1 Casaubon conjectures that in place of the T<jj trei roury, we should 
 read ry tapi TOVTW, or, the productions of the spring : and it certainly 
 would seem that Strabo is here describing what the Latins called a vcr 
 sacrum. An ancient historian, speaking of the occurrence mentioned by 
 Strabo, says, " Quondam Sabini feruntur vovisse, si res communis mcli- 
 oribus locis constitisset, se ver sacrum facturos." Sisenn. Hist. lib. iv,. 
 ap. Non. Marcell. De doctor, indag. ed. 1683, fol. 2531. Festus, Sext. P. 
 Fest. De verb. sign. F. ed. 1699, p. 478, seems to have mentioned the same 
 thing. 2 The animals and fruits are intended. 3 Devoted to Mars. 
 
 4 Or little Sabines. 5 From Pitane, a place in Laconia. 
 
B. v. c. iv. 13. ITALY. 373 
 
 ceives this reward, afterwards change and become wicked, he 
 is dishonoured, and the wife who had been given is taken away 
 from him. Beyond are the Hirpini, who are also Samnites : 
 their name they take from the wolf, which conducted their 
 colony ; a wolf being called by the Samnites hirpos: these 
 people border on the Leucani in the interior. So much for 
 the Samnites. 
 
 13. The fertility of their country has been productive to 
 the Campanians of as much evil as good. Their luxury ran 
 to such a height, that they would invite to supper, in order to 
 exhibit pairs of fighting gladiators, the exact number of pairs 
 being regulated according to the distinction of the guests. 
 When, on their voluntary submission to Hannibal, they re- 
 ceived his soldiers into winter quarters, 1 the pleasures [of the 
 place] rendered the men so effeminate, that Hannibal said, 
 although conqueror, that he was in danger of the enemy, 
 since his soldiers were returned to him women, arid no longer 
 men. When the Romans obtained the mastery, 2 they inflicted 
 on them numerous ills, and ended by distributing their land 
 by lot. 3 At the present day they are living in prosperity, and 
 on friendly terms with the [Roman] colonists, and preserve 
 their ancient reputation, both in respect to the size of their city 
 and the numbers of their population. Beyond Campania, 
 and the Samnites, 4 and upon the Tyrrhenian Sea, dwells the 
 nation of the Picentini. This is a small off-shoot from the 
 Picentini who dwell near the Adriatic, and was transplanted 
 by the Romans to the Posidoniate Gulf, 5 now called the Gulf of 
 Psestum. The city of Posidonia, which is built about the middle 
 of the gulf, is called Pa^stum. 6 The Sybarites [when they 
 founded the city 7 ] built the fortifications close upon the sea, 
 but the inhabitants removed higher up. In after time 8 the 
 Leucani seized upon the city, but in their turn were deprived 
 of it by the Romans. 9 It is rendered unhealthy by a river 10 
 
 1 B.C. 216. 2 211 B.C. 3 B. c.59 % 
 
 4 We concur with Kramer in considering that the words fixP l #pfv- 
 ravwv, which occur immediately after Savvlnv, have been interpolated. 
 
 5 The Gulf of Salerno. Pesti. 
 
 7 This city must have been founded nearly 540 years B. c., for Herod- 
 otus says (hat the Phocaeans were chiefly induced to settle on the shores 
 of CEnotria by the advice of a citizen of Posidonia, and they founded 
 Velia in the reign of Cyrus. B. i. 164. 8 442 B. c. 9 B. c. 274. 
 
 10 Apparently the Fiume Salso. 
 
374 STRABO. CASATTB. 261. 
 
 which overflows the marshy districts in the neighbourhood. 
 Between the Sirenussse and Posidonia 1 is Marcina, 2 a city 
 founded by the Tyrrheni, but inhabited by the Samnites. 
 [To go] from thence into Pompaea, 3 through Nuceria, 4 [you 
 cross] an isthmus of not more than 120 stadia. The Picentes 
 extend as far as the river Silaro, 5 which separates their 
 country on this side from ancient Leucania. 6 The water of 
 this river is reported to possess the singular property of 
 petrifying any plant thrown into it, preserving at the same 
 time both the colour and form. 7 Picentia was formerly 
 the capital of the Picentes ; but they now dwell in villages, 
 having been ejected by the Romans 8 for taking part with 
 Hannibal. Also, instead of doing military service, it has 
 been decreed that they shall be the public daily couriers and 
 letter-carriers ; [a penalty] which for the same cause has 
 been likewise inflicted on the Leucani and Bruttii. To keep 
 them in check, the Romans fortified Salernum, which is a 
 little above the sea. The distance from the Sirenussae to the 
 Silaro is 260 stadia. 
 
 1 Pesti. 2 Yietri. 3 Pompeii. 
 
 4 Nocera. 5 The ancient Silaris. 
 
 6 We are inclined to read Leucania with Du Theil. The Paris manu- 
 script, No. 1393, reads tcaviav. 
 
 1 Pliny, in his Natural History, (lib. ii. 106,) has confirmed Strabo's 
 account. It appears from Cluvier that the people who inhabit the banks 
 of the Silaro are not acquainted with any circumstances which might 
 corroborate the statement. (Cluvier, Ital. Ant. lib. iv. c, 14.) 
 
 8 About B. c. 201. 
 
BOOK VI. 
 ITALY. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 The Sixth Book contains the remainder of Italy, and the regions within the 
 Adriatic, as far as Macedonia ; likewise a description of Apulia, Calabria, 
 the country by the Ionian Gulf, together with the adjacent islands, from 
 Sicily to the Ceraunian mountains, and on the other side as far as Carthage, 
 and the small islands lying near to it. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. AFTER the mouth of the Silaro, 1 is Leucania, and the 
 temple of Argive Juno, founded by Jason. Near to this, 
 within 50 stadia, is Posidonia. 2 Sailing thence, towards the 
 high sea, is the island of Leucosia, 3 at a little distance from 
 the main-land. It bears the name of one of the Sirens, who 
 according to the mythology was cast up here, after having 
 been precipitated with her companions into the deep. The 
 promontory 4 of the island projects opposite the Sirenussae, 5 
 forming the bay of Posidonium. 6 After having made this 
 cape there is another contiguous bay, on which is built the 
 city which the Phocasans called Hyela when they founded it, 
 but others Ela from a certain fountain. People in the present 
 day call it Elea. It is here that Parmenides and Zeno, the 
 Pythagorean philosophers, were born. And it is my opinion 
 that through the instrumentality of those men, as well as by 
 previous good management, the government of that place was 
 well arranged, so that they successfully resisted the Leucani 
 and the Posidoniata?, notwithstanding the smallness of their 
 district and the inferiority of their numbers. They are 
 
 1 The ancient Silaris. 2 Pesti. 
 
 3 It is now called Licosa, and sometimes Isola piana ; several vestiges 
 of buildings were discovered on the island in 1696. Antonin. della Lucan. 
 p. ii. disc. 8. 4 Capo della Licosa. 
 
 5 Punta della Campanella. Golfo di Salerno. 
 
376 STRABO. CASAUB. 252. 
 
 compelled, therefore, on account of the barrenness of the soil, 
 to apply to maritime trade chiefly, to employ themselves in 
 the salting of fish, and in such other occupations. Antiochus ] 
 says that when Phocea was taken by Harpagus, the general 
 of Cyrus, those who had the means embarked with their 
 families, and sailed under the conduct of Creontiades, first to 
 Cyrnos and Marseilles, but having been driven thence, they 
 founded Elea ; 2 the name of which some say is derived from 
 the river Elees. 3 The city is distant about two hundred 
 stadia from Posidonia. After this city is the promontory of 
 Palinurus. But in front of the Eleatis are the CEnotrides, 
 two islands 4 having good anchorage. 5 And beyond Palin- 
 urus are the promontory, harbour, and river of Pyxus ; 6 the 
 three having the same name. This colony was founded 7 by 
 Micythus, then governor of Messina in Sicily ; but those who 
 were located here, except a few, abandoned the place. After 
 Pyxus are the gulf, 8 the river, 9 and the city 10 of Laiis. This, 
 the last n city of the Leucani, situate a little above the sea, is 
 a colony 12 of the Sybarites, and is distant from Elea 400 
 stadia. The whole circuit of Leucania, by sea is 650 stadia. 
 Near to Laiis is seen the tomb of Draco, one of the com- 
 panions of Ulysses, and the oracular response, given to the 
 Italian Greeks, alludes to him : 
 
 1 Strabo here cites the historian Antiochus, but it is surprising that he 
 does not rather cite the writer from whom Antiochus seems to have 
 borroAved this account, we mean Herodotus, who relates it (lib. i. 
 $ 164). But Strabo, probably, looking upon Herodotus as a collector of 
 fables, chose rather to yield to the authority of Antiochus, who had 
 written very accurate memoirs upon Italy, and who was, likewise, 
 himself a very ancient author, (Dion. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. lib. i. 12,) 
 and flourished about 420 years before the Christian era. 
 
 2 Or Velia, founded 532 B.C., mentioned by Horace, Epist. I. xv. 1, 
 " Qua? sit hyems Veliae, quod ccelum, Vala, Salerni." 
 
 3 The modern Alento. 4 Now unknown. 
 
 5 Pliny affirms that these two islands were called, the one Pontia, the 
 other Ischia ; " Contra Veliam Pontia et Ischia, utrseque uno nomine 
 CEnotrides, argumentum possessa? ab CEnotriis Italia?." Hist. Nat. lib. 
 iii. 13. If this reading be not faulty, Pliny will have placed in the 
 latitude, of which our author is now giving a description, a small island 
 bearing the same name, Pontia, as the island lying oft' Cape Misenum. 
 
 6 The Buxentum of the Latins. 
 
 7 471 years before the Christian era. e Gulf of Policastro. 
 
 9 Now the river Laino. 
 
 10 Called Laino in the time of Cluverius. Lib. iv. cap. 14. 
 
 11 Upon this coast. l ~ Founded about the year 510 B. c. 
 
B. vi. c. i. 2. ITALY. 377 
 
 " Some day, around the Dragon's stony tomb, 
 A mighty multitude shall meet their doom." 
 
 For the Greeks of Italy, enticed by this prophecy, marched 
 against Laiis, and were defeated by the Leucani. 1 
 
 2. Such, along the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, are 
 the possessions of the Leucani, which at first did not reach 
 to the other sea ; 2 the Greeks who dwelt on the Gulf of Taren- 
 tum possessed it. But before the coming of the Greeks there 
 were no Leucani, the Chones 3 and (Enotri possessed these 
 territories. But when the Samnites had greatly increased, 
 and expelled the Chones and OEnotri, and driven the Leu- 
 cani into this region, while the Greeks possessed the sea- 
 coast on both sides as far as the straits, the Greeks and the 
 Barbarians maintained a lengthened contest. The tyrants of 
 Sicily, and afterwards the Carthaginians, at one time making 
 war against the Romans, for the acquisition of Sicily, and at 
 another, for Italy itself, utterly wasted all these regions. The 
 Greeks, however, succeeded in depriving the ancient inha- 
 bitants of a great portion of the midland country, beginning 
 even as early as the Trojan war ; they increased in power, 
 and extent of territory, to such a degree, that they called this 
 region and Sicily, the Magna Grcecia. But now the whole 
 region, except Tarentum, Rhegium, and Neapolis, has become 
 barbarian, 4 and belongs partly to the Leucani and Bruttii, 
 partly to the Campani ; to these, however, only in name, but 
 iruly to the Romans; for these people have become Roman. 
 However, it is incumbent on one who is treating of uni- 
 
 1 About the year 390 before the Christian era. 
 a i. e. the Gulf of Tarentum. 
 
 3 Strabo seems here to distinguish the Chones from the CEnotri, and the 
 CEnotri from the Greeks. According to Cluvier (Ital. Antiq. cap. 16, p. 
 1323) here was a double error : " not only (says he) Aristotle, but Antio- 
 chus, according to Strabo's own testimony, positively affirmed that the 
 Chones and CEnotri were one and the same nation, and Dionysius of 
 Halicarnassus (Antiq. Roman, lib. i. 11) makes no doubt that the 
 CEnotri were of Greek origin." But Mazochi justifies the distinction 
 between the Chones and the CEnotri, and shows cause to doubt that the 
 CEnotri were of Greek origin. 
 
 4 iKr/3/3ap/3apJ}<r0ai. We think with Mazochi (Prodrom. ad Heracl. 
 pseph. diatrib. 2, cap. 7, sect. 2) that, by the above word, Strabo pro- 
 bably expressed that, at the time when he wrote, Tarentum, Rheggio, 
 and Naples were the only cities founded by the Greeks in Italy, which, 
 although become Roman, retained the language, laws, and usages of their 
 mother country. 
 
378 STRABO. CASATJB. 253. 
 
 versal geography, to speak both of things as they now are, 
 and of some of those that have been, and especially when they 
 are important. Of the Leucani, who border upon the Tuscan 
 Sea, mention has already been made ; those who possess 
 the midland regions dwell above the Gulf of Tarentum, 
 but these, as well as the Bruttii, and the Samnites them- 
 selves, the progenitors of both, have been so maltreated 
 [by the Romans], that it is difficult to determine the bound- 
 aries of each people. The reason of this is, that there no 
 longer remains separately any of the institutions common to 
 these nations ; and their peculiarities of language, of military 
 and civil costume, and such particulars, have passed away ; 
 besides, even their places of abode, considered separately and 
 apart, possess nothing worthy of observation. 
 
 3. We will narrate in a general manner what we have 
 gathered concerning the Leucani, who dwell in the interior, 
 without too much care in distinguishing them from their 
 neighbours, the Samnites. Petilia 1 is considered as the 
 metropolis of the Leucani, and is still well peopled. It owes 
 its foundation to Philoctetes, who was compelled to quit Meli- 
 boea on account of civil dissensions. Its position is so strong, 
 that the Samnites were formerly obliged to construct forts 
 around it for the defence of their territory. The ancient 
 Crimissa, situated near these places, was also founded by Philoc- 
 tetes. Apollodorus, in his description of the ships [of the 
 Greeks], narrates concerning Philoctetes, that, according to 
 certain writers, this prince having disembarked in the district 
 of Crotona, settled on the promontory of Crimissa, and built 
 the city of Chone 2 above it, from which the inhabitants were 
 called Chones ; and that certain colonists being sent by him 
 into Sicily, to the neighbourhood of Eryx, 3 with .ZEgestus the 
 
 1 It has been well observed by Cramer in his Ancient Italy, that Strabo 
 confused this Petilia of the Leucani with another better known of the 
 Bruttii, the foundation of which was attributed to Philoctetes. It is 
 observed by Antonini that Strabo contradicts himself, by ascribing to 
 Philoctetes the origin of a town in Leucania, for he states a few lines 
 further on that that hero occupied a part of the coast near Crotona, which 
 was in the territory of the Brnttii. Strabo's account, however, of the 
 existence of a Leucanian Petilia is confirmed by many inscriptions of 
 early date. The ruins of the town remain on the Monte della Stella. 
 Antonin. della Lucan. p. i. disc. 8. Romanelli, torn. i. p. 350. 
 
 2 According to some judicious antiquaries, the site of Chone is located 
 at Casabuona, near Strongoli. 3 Trapani del Monte. 
 
n. vi. c. i. 4. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 379 
 
 Trojan, founded jEgesta. 1 In the inland districts are also 
 Grumentura, 2 Vertinse, 3 Calasarna, 4 and other small villages, 
 reaching as far as Venusia, 5 a city of some importance. This, 
 however, I consider to be a Samnite city, as are also those 
 which are next met with on going into Campania. Above 
 the Thurii lies the district called Tauriana. 6 The Leucani 
 are of Samnite origin. Having vanquished the Posidoniates 
 and their allies, they took possession of their cities. At one 
 time the institutions of the Leucani were democratic, but 
 during the wars a king was elected by those who were pos- 
 sessed of chief authority : at the present time they are Roman. 
 4. The Bruttii occupy the remainder of the coast as far as 
 the Strait of Sicily, extending about 1350 stadia. Antiochus, 
 in his treatise on Italy, says that this district, which he in- 
 tended to describe, was called Italy, but that previously it had 
 been called CEnotria. The boundary which he assigns to it 
 on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the river Lao, 7 and on the Sea of 
 Sicily Metapontium, the former of which we have given as 
 the boundary of the Bruttii. He describes Tarentum, which 
 is next to Metapontium, 8 as beyond Italy, calling it lapygian. 
 He also relates that, at a more ancient period, those who dwelt 
 on this side the isthmus, which lies next the Strait of Sicily, 
 were the only people who were called OEnotrians and Italians. 
 The isthmus is 160 stadia across between the two gulfs, namely, 
 that of Hipponium, 9 which Antiochus called Napitinus, and 
 
 1 The ruins of this city, which was anciently called also Egesta, Acesta, 
 and Segesta, may be seen at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara. 
 
 2 Kramer, following the suggestion of Xylander, has printed 
 
 TOV. I am inclined, however, to think that Hovfitvrm', the reading of 
 Manuscripts, is correct. According to Barrio, it occupied the situa- 
 tion of Gerenza, on the right bank of the Nieto. 
 
 3 Verzine on the Nieto. (Barr. lib. iv. cap. 18. Maraf. lib. iii. c. 18.) 
 
 * Calasarna is supposed by the Calabrian topographers to accord with 
 the site of Campania. 
 
 5 Venosa, situated about 15 miles south of the Aufidus. It was a 
 colony of importance before the war against Pyrrhus. After the disaster 
 at Cannae, it afforded a retreat to Varro and the few who escaped that 
 signal overthrow. Horace was born there in the year of the city 688. 
 About six miles from Venosa, on the site named Palazzo, was the Fons 
 Bandusiae. (Chaupy, Des c. de la maison de Camp, d' Horace, torn. iii. 
 p. 538.) 
 
 Cluvier thought that we should read Qovpiavrj instead of Tavpiavr}. 
 
 1 Laos, now Lao. Torre di Mare. 9 Golfo di S. Eufemia. 
 
380 STRABO. CASAXJB. 255. 
 
 that of Scylletium. 1 The circumnavigation of the peninsula, 
 which is comprised between this isthmus and the strait, is 2000 
 stadia. He says that afterwards the names of Italy and of the 
 CEnotrians were extended as far as Metapontium and the 
 Siritis ; the Chones, a people of CEnotrian descent, and highly 
 civilized, inhabited these districts, and called their country 
 Chone. However, this author has written in a very loose and 
 old-fashioned manner, without giving any definite boundaries 
 to the Leucani and Bruttii. Now Leucania is situated on the 
 Tyrrhenian and Sicilian Seas, extending on one coast from the 
 Silaro 2 to the river Lao, and on the other from Metapontium 3 
 to Thurii. Along the continent it stretches from the country 
 of the Samnites, as far as the isthmus between Thurii and 
 Cerilli, 4 near the Lao. This isthmus is 300 stadia 5 across. 
 Beyond are the Bruttii, who dwell on the peninsula ; in this 
 is included another peninsula, which is bounded by the isthmus 
 between Scylletium 6 and the Hipponiate gulf. 7 The nation 
 received its appellation from the Leucani, for they call run- 
 aways Bruttii, and they say that formerly they ran away from 
 them when employed as shepherds, and that afterwards their 
 independence was established through the weakness fbf the 
 Leucani], when Dion [of Syracuse] was prosecuting a war 
 against [the younger] Dionysius, and fomented hostilities 
 amongst all. 8 This is all we shall remark as to the Leucani 
 and Bruttii. 
 
 1 Golfo di Squillace. Scylletium was once a Greek city of note, com- 
 municating its name to the gulf. Servius observes that the Athenians 
 who founded the colony were returning from Africa. There was a Greek 
 inscription found in 1791 relative to the Aa^TradrjSpo^ia, which seems to 
 confirm the tradition of the Athenian origin of Scylletium. It was the 
 birth-place of Cassiodorus. 
 
 2 SiXaptc. The Silaro, which divides Lucania from Campania, takes 
 its rise in the Apennines, in a district which formerly belonged to the 
 Hirpini ; and after receiving the Tanager, now Negro, and the Calor, 
 now Galore, falls into the Gulf of Salerno. Silius'ltalicus (viii. 582) 
 states that this river possessed the property of incrusting twigs with a 
 calcareous deposit : 
 
 " Nunc Silarus quos nutrit aquis, quo gurgite tradunt 
 Duritiem lapidum mersis inolescere ramis." 
 At its mouth was a haven named Portus Albernus. 
 
 3 Torre di Mare. 4 Cirella. 
 
 5 This measure, upon our charts, is 330 Olympic stadia.' Gosselin. 
 
 6 Golfo di Squillace. 7 The Golfo di S. Eufemia. 
 
 8 i&Tapa&v uiravTUQ 7rpo aTravTag. Lit. " He stirred up every body 
 
B. vi. c. i. $ 5. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 381 
 
 5. From the Lao the first city is the Temesa 1 of the Bruttii, 
 which at present is called Tempsa. It was founded by the Au- 
 sonians; afterwards the ./Etolians, under the command of Thoas, 
 gained possession of it. These were expelled by the Bruttii ; 
 Hannibal and the Romans have overthrown the Bruttii. 2 In 
 the vicinity of Temesa is the Heroum of Polites, one of the 
 companions of Ulysses. It is surrounded by a thick grove of 
 wild olives. He was treacherously slain by the barbarians, 
 and became in consequence very wrathful, arid his shade so 
 tormented the inhabitants that they submitted to pay him a 
 tribute, according to the direction of a certain oracle. Thus 
 it became a proverb amongst them, " Let no one offend the 
 hero of Temesa," for they said that [for a long time he 3 ] had 
 tormented them. But when the Epizephyrian Locrians took 
 the city, they feign that Euthymus the pugilist went out against 
 him, and having overcome him in fight, constrained him to 
 free the inhabitants from tribute. 4 They say that the poet 
 intended this Temesa, and not the Tamassus 5 in Cyprus, (for 
 it is said that the words are suitable to either, 6 ) when he 
 sings, 
 
 against every bodv." It is conceived that the hostilities of the Bruttii 
 were fomented by Dion in order to prevent the tyrant Dionysius from 
 deriving any aid from his Leucanian allies. The advancement of the 
 Bruttii to independence is computed by Diodorus Siculus to have taken 
 place about 397 years after the foundation of Rome, that is, 356 before 
 the Christian era. 
 
 1 The situation of Temesa has not yet been fully determined. Cluve- 
 rius fixes it about ten miles south of Amantea, near Torre Loppa. Ro- 
 manelli observes, however, that Cluverius has not allowed fof the difference 
 between the ancient and modern computation of distance. To rectify 
 this oversight, he makes choice of Torre del piano del Casale, nearly two 
 miles north of Torre Loppa, as the locality of this ancient site. The silver 
 coins of Temesa are scarce. They have the Greek epigraph, TEM. 
 
 2 After the second Punic war it was colonized by the Romans, who 
 called it Tempsa, B. c. 195. 
 
 3 We concur with Kramer in approving the proposition of Groskurd 
 to understand the words iicflvov ptv ovv Sid TTO\\OV as having been 
 originally written in the text immediately before i-jriKtloOai avrolt;. 
 
 4 They had been compelled to sacrifice a virgin annually in order to 
 
 appease his disturbed spirit. 
 * Borgo di Tamasso. 
 
 6 These words in parenthesis seem to have been interpolated by the 
 transcribers of our author. Both Temesa and Tamassus were rich in 
 metal, but the spelling of the name in Homer is more in accordance with 
 Temesa than Tamassus, and other poets have alluded to it, as Ovid. Met. 
 xv. 706, 
 
382 STRABO. CASAUB. 256. 
 
 " in quest of brass 
 To Temesa." 1 
 
 and certain copper-mines are pointed out near to the place, 
 which are now exhausted. Contiguous to it is Terina, 2 which 
 Hannibal destroyed, when he found he could no longer retain 
 it ; at the time when he took refuge in the country of the 
 Bruttii. 3 Next in order comes Cosentia, 4 the metropolis of the 
 Bruttii. A little above it is Pandosia, which is strongly for- 
 tified, before which Alexander the Molossian king was over- 
 thrown. This prince was led astray by the oracle of Dodona, 
 which commanded him to avoid Acheron and Pandosia ; 5 for 
 places with names like these being pointed out in Thesprotia, 
 caused him to lose his life 6 here. The position has three 
 summits, and the river Acheron flows by it. He was also 
 mistaken in another oracle, 
 
 " Pandosia, thou three-topp'd hill, 
 
 Hereafter many people thou shalt kill ;" 
 
 for he thought that it foreshowed the destruction of his ene- 
 mies, and not of his own people. They say that Pandosia 7 
 
 " Evincitque fretum, Siculique angusta Pelori, 
 
 Hippotadseque domos regis, Temesesque metalla." 
 And Fast. v. 441, 
 
 " . . , . Temesseaque concrepat sera." 
 And Statius, Silv. i. 42, 
 
 " Et cui se toties Temese dedit hausta metallis." 
 1 Odyssey i. 184. 2 Nocera. 
 
 3 Hannibal, took refuge in Calabria about 209 years before the Chris- 
 tian era. 
 
 4 Cosenza, near the source of the Crathis, now Crati, represents 
 Cosentia. It was taken by Hannibal after the surrender of Petilia, 
 but towards the end of the war the Romans regained it. 
 
 5 AiaKiSi], irpO(u\ao fJLO\tiv 'A\povariov vScap 
 
 Hav8offir]v 0', 061 TOL 0ai/ctTos TreTrpai/iei/os O"rt. 
 
 Son of ^Eacus, beware of approaching the Acherusian water and Pan- 
 dosia, where death is destined for thee. 
 About B. c. 330. 
 
 7 Commentators generally agree that this is the Pandosia memorable 
 for the defeat and death of Alexander, king of Epirus. The early Cala- 
 brian antiquaries have placed it at Castel Franco. D'Anville, in his map, 
 lays it down near Lao and Cirella. Modern investigators have sought its 
 ruins near Mendocino, between Cosenza and the sea, a hill with three 
 summits having been remarked there, which answers to the fatal height 
 pointed out by the oracle, 
 
 Tlavdoaria TpiKoXcove, TroAui/ TTOTI \a6v 6\icr<rw 
 
B. vi. c. i. 5. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 383 
 
 was formerly the residence of the GEnotrian kings. After 
 Cosentia is Hipponium, 1 founded by the Locrians. 2 The Ro- 
 mans took it from the Bruttii, who were in possession of it at 
 a subsequent period, and changed the name into Vibo-Valen- 
 tia. 3 And because the meadows in its vicinity are luxuriant 
 and full of flowers, it is supposed that Proserpine came over 
 from Sicily to gather them, and from thence the custom among 
 women of this city, to gather flowers and plait garlands, pre- 
 vailed to such an extent, that they now think it shameful to 
 wear purchased garlands at the festivals. 4 It also possesses 
 a harbour 5 made by Agathocles, 6 the tyrant of Sicily, when 
 he was in possession of the town. On sailing hence to the 
 Portus Herculis, 7 we come to the point where the headlands 
 of Italy, as they stretch towards the Strait [of Sicily], begin 
 to turn westward. In this voyage we pass Medma, 8 a city of 
 the same Locrians, 9 which bears the name of a copious foun- 
 tain, and possessing at a short distance a naval station, called 
 Emporium. 10 Very nigh is the river Metauro, 11 as also a naval 
 station bearing the same name. 12 The Lipari Isles lie off this 
 coast ; they are distant 200 stadia from the strait. They say 
 that they are the islands of JEolus, of whom the poet makes 
 
 together with a rivulet, Maresanto or Arconti ; which last name recalls 
 the Acheron denounced by another prediction, as so inauspicious to 
 the Molossian king. Scylax, in his Periplus, seems to place Pandosia, 
 together with Clampetia and Terina, near the western coast. 
 
 I Afterwards Vibo Valentia, now Monte-Leone. 
 
 3 Surnamed the Epizephyrii. Heyne supposes this took place B.C. 388. 
 
 3 B. c. 193. 
 
 4 There was a temple erected to Proserpine in these meadows, and a 
 building called " Amalthsea's horn," raised by Gelon of Syracuse. 
 
 5 The present harbour of Bivona. 
 
 6 He reigned from B. c. 317 to B. c. 289. 
 
 7 Now Le Formicole. The promontory named Capo Vaticano seems 
 to have been anciently known under the same appellation. 
 
 8 Medma, or Mesma, was situated on the right bank of the river 
 Mesima, which seems to retain traces of the name of the ancient city. 
 Antiquaries report that its ruins are seen between Nicotera and the river 
 Mesima. The epigraph on the coins of this city is generally MESMA, 
 or ME2MAIQN, and in a single instance MEAAMA. 
 
 9 That is, the Epizephyrian Locrians. 
 
 10 Cluverius considers this to be the modern Bagnara. 
 
 II The ancient river Metaurus is now also called Marro, and sometimes 
 Petrace. It was noted for the excellence of the thunny fish caught at 
 its mouth. 
 
 12 Metaurum. The site of this place is supposed to accord with that of 
 the town of Gioja. 
 
384 
 
 STRABO. CASAUB. 256. 
 
 mention in the Odyssey. 1 They are seven in number, and 
 are all easily distinguished both from Sicily and the coast of 
 the continent about Medma. We will speak of them in par- 
 ticular when we describe Sicily. After the river Metaurus, 
 there is another Metaurus. 2 Next in order is Scylkeum, an 
 elevated cliff nearly surrounded by the sea. But connected 
 with the main-land by alow isthmus easily accessible on either 
 side, which Anaxilaus, the tyrant of Rhegiuni, fortified against 
 the Tyrrheni, and formed a commodious haven, and thus pre- 
 vented the pirates from passing through the strait. Next to 
 the Scylla3an promontory was that of Caenys, distant from 
 Medma 250 stadia. It is the last headland, and 'forms the 
 narrowest part of the Strait [of Sicily], being opposite to Cape 
 Pelorus on the Sicilian side, which is one of the three points 
 which give to that island the form of a triangle. Its aspect 
 is towards the rising of the sun in summer, whilst that of 
 Casnys looks towards the west. Indeed they both seem to 
 have diverged from the general line of coast in order to stand 
 out opposite each other. 3 From Csenys to the Posidonium 4 
 [and] the Columna Rheginorum, 5 the narrow part of the 
 strait stretches as much as 6 stadia, the shortest passage 
 across the strait is a little more. From the Columna [Rhegi- 
 
 1 Homer, Odyssey, lib. x. 
 
 2 There have been many suggestions for the correction of this passage. 
 Kramer thinks that Chiverius was happy in proposing Tlorap.bg instead 
 of Msraupoc, and that then the Cratais, now Solano, or Fiume de' Pesci, 
 would be the river which Strabo intended. 
 
 3 According to Pliny, these two promontories were separated by an 
 interval of twelve stadia, or a mile and a half, which accords with the 
 statement of Polybius. Thucydides, however, allows about two miles 
 and a half, which he considers to be the utmost possible distance. Topo- 
 graphers are divided as to the exact point of the Italian coast which 
 answers to Cape Caenys. The Calabrian geographers say the Punta del 
 Pezzo, called also Coda del Volpe, in which opinion Cluverius and D'An- 
 ville coincide, but Holstenius contends for the Torre del Cavallo, which 
 the French translators seem to favour. In fact, that may be the narrowest 
 point, still it does not answer so well to Strabo's description of the figure 
 and bearing of Cape Caenys as the Punta del Pezzo. 
 
 4 The temple or altar of Neptune. 
 
 5 The Columna Rhegina, as remarked by Cramer, (vol. ii. p. 427,) 
 was probably a pillar set up to mark the consular road leading to the 
 south of Italy. Strabo speaks of it as a small tower (book iii. c. v. 5, 
 p. 265). In the Itinerary of Antoninus it is simply termed Columna, but 
 in the inscription relative to the Via Aquilia, it is called Statua. The 
 situation of this tower is generally identified with the site of La Catona. 
 
B. vi. c. i. 6. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 385 
 
 norum] to Rhegium, where the strait begins to widen, is a 
 hundred [stadia] as you advance in a direction towards the 
 exterior and eastern sea, which is called the sea of Sicily. 
 
 6. Rhegium l was founded by certain Chalcidenses, who, as 
 they say, were decimated as an offering to Apollo in a time 
 of scarcity, by order of an oracle, and afterwards removed 
 hither from Delphi, taking with them certain others from home. 
 As Antiochus says, the Zancloeans sent for the Chalcidenses, 
 and appointed Antimnestus chief over them. Certain fugi- 
 tives of the Messenians of Peloponnesus accompanied this 
 colony, who had been compelled to fly by those who refused 
 to give satisfaction to the Lacedaemonians for the violation 2 
 of the virgins at Limnre, whom they had abused when attend- 
 ing the religious festival, and had slain those who assisted 
 them. However when the fugitives had removed to Macistus, 
 they sent to the oracle complaining against Apollo and Diana 
 for suffering these 'things to happen notwithstanding they so 
 greatly honoured them, and inquiring how the devoted might 
 be saved. Apollo commanded to send them with the Chalci- 
 denses to Rhegium, and to be grateful, therefore, to his sister 
 Diana for that they were not lost but saved, as they should not 
 be destroyed with their country, which would be annihilated 
 shortly after by the Spartans. 3 They acted in accordance with 
 the oracle, and thus it was that the rulers of the Rhegini were 
 all of Messenian race until the time of Anaxilaus. 
 
 Antiochus asserts that anciently the whole of this dis- 
 trict was inhabited by Sicilians and Morgetes ; and that they 
 
 1 Now Reggio, one of the most celebrated and flourishing cities of 
 Magna Grecia, founded about 696 years B. c. Cato affirms that it was 
 once in the possession of the Aurunci. The connexion which subsisted 
 between Rhegium and the Chalcidian colonies in Sicily, induced its inha- 
 bitants to take part with the Athenians in their first hostilities against 
 the Syracusans and Locrians. In the great Sicilian expedition, the Rhe- 
 gians observed a strict neutrality. While the Athenian fleet was moored 
 in their roads, they refused to admit the army within their walls, which 
 therefore encamped near the temple of Diana outside the town. Rhe- 
 gium subsequently pursued a similar policy, and suffered severely under 
 tyrants, but the Roman senate at length freed the unfortunate citizens. 
 
 3 Strabo here alludes to the crime which was perpetrated in the reign 
 of Teleclus, about 811 years before the Christian era. The division of 
 the Messenians into two parties, the one wishing and the other refusing 
 to give satisfaction, lasted about 150 years. See book vi. cap. iii. 3. 
 
 3 It was taken by the Lacedaemonians about B. c. 668. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 c 
 
STRABO. CASAUB. 258. 
 
 afterwards passed into Sicily when they were expelled by the 
 CEnotri. Some say that Morgantium l thus received its name 
 from the Morgetes. But the city of the Rhegini became very 
 powerful, and possessed many dependent settlements. It has 
 always been a bulwark for us against the island [of Sicily], 
 and, indeed, has recently served to that purpose when Sextus 
 Pompeius alienated Sicily. 2 It was called Rhegium either, 
 as ^Eschylus says, because of the convulsion which had taken 
 place in this region ; for Sicily was broken from the continent 
 by earthquakes, 
 
 " Whence it is called Rhegium." 3 
 
 Others, 4 as well as he, have affirmed the same thing, and ad- 
 duce as an evidence that which is observed about JEtna, and 
 the appearances seen in other parts of Sicily, the Lipari and 
 neighbouring islands, and even in the Pithecussse, with the 
 whole coast beyond them, which prove that it was not unlikely 
 that this convulsion had taken place. But now these mouths 
 being opened, through which the fire is drawn up, and the 
 ardent masses and water poured out, they say that the land in 
 the neighbourhood of the Strait of Sicily rarely suffers from 
 the effects of earthquakes ; but formerly all the passages to the 
 surface being blocked up, the fire which was smouldering be- 
 neath the earth, together with the vapour, occasioned terrible 
 earthquakes, and the regions, being disturbed by the force of 
 the pent-up winds, sometimes gave way, and being rent re- 
 ceived the sea, which flowed in from either side ; and thus 
 were formed both this strait and the sea which surrounds the 
 other islands in the neighbourhood. For Prochyta 5 and the 
 
 1 It seems probable that Strabo here refers to Morgantium in Sicily, 
 which had disappeared in his days, and which he mentions in b. vi. c. ii. 
 $4. 
 
 2 Sextus Pompeius, having received from the senate the command of 
 the fleet, B. c. 43, in a short time made himself master of Sicily, which 
 he held till 36. 
 
 a This is a quotation from one of the missing works of ^Eschylus. 
 
 4 Virgil speaks of this great catastrophe, Mn. iii. 414, 
 
 " Haec loca, vi quondam et vasta convulsa ruina 
 (Tantum sevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas,) 
 Dissiluisse ferunt : cum protinus utraqiie tellus 
 Una foret, venit medio vi pontus, et undis 
 Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit : arvaque et urbes 
 Litore diductas angusto interluit aestu." 
 
 5 Procida. 
 
B. vi. c. i. 6. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 387 
 
 Pithecussae, as well as Caprene, Leucosia, the Sirenes, and 
 the (Enotrides, are but so many detached fragments from the 
 continent, but other islands have risen from the bottom of the 
 sea, a circumstance which frequently occurs in many places ; 
 for it is more reasonable to think that the islands in the midst 
 of the sea have been raised up from the bottom, and that those 
 which lie off headlands and are separated merely by a strait 
 were broken off from them. Still it is beside our purpose to 
 investigate thoroughly whether the name were given to the 
 city for these causes, or whether it were named by the 
 Samnites from the Latin word regium, which, signifies 
 royal, on account of its importance, 1 for their chieftains par- 
 ticipated in the privileges of citizenship with the Romans, and 
 generally used the Latin language. But Dionysius (the elder), 
 having been treated with contempt by them, destroyed the 
 illustrious city which had founded many towns and produced 
 many distinguished characters, whether statesmen or men of 
 letters, 2 for when he sought a consort from their city, they 
 offered him the hangman's daughter; 3 but his son (Dionysius 
 the younger) partly restored it, 4 and called it Phoebia. Dur- 
 ing the war with Pyrrhus, a body of Campanians destroyed 
 most of the citizens against the faith of treaties, 5 and a little 
 
 1 It appears from the more ancient coins of Rhegium, that the original 
 name was REGION. In these the epigraph is REG. RECI. RECINOS, in 
 characters partaking more of the Oscan than the Greek form ; those of 
 more recent date are decidedly Greek, PH1\ PHFINQN, being inscribed 
 on them. A note in the French translation shows that the inhabitants of 
 Rhegium did not participate in the rights of Roman citizens till about 90 
 years before the Christian era. 
 
 2 Among these were many followers of Pythagoras, also Theagenes 
 Hippys, Lycus surnamed Butera, and Glaucus, who were historians; 
 Ibicus, Cleomenes, and Lycus the adoptive father of Lycophron, who 
 were poets ; Clearchus and Pythagoras, who were sculptors. 
 
 3 The Rhegians firmly opposed the designs of this tyrant ; and when, 
 under pretence of courting their alliance, he sought a consort from their 
 city, they replied with independent feeling that he might have their hang- 
 man's daughter. (See Diodorus Siculus, xiv. 44.) Had the other states 
 of Magna Grecia displayed the same energy, the ambitious views of this 
 artful prince might have been frustrated ; but after the defeat of their 
 forces on the Elleporus, now Callipari, they succumbed, and Rhegium, 
 after a gallant defence which lasted nearly a year, was compelled to yield, 
 about the year 398 B. c. The insulting tyrant sentenced the heroic Phyton, 
 who had commanded the town, to a cruel death, and removed the few 
 inhabitants that remained to Sicily. 
 
 4 B.C. 360. 5 B.C." 280. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 STRABO. CASAUB. 259. 
 
 before the Marsic or social war, earthquakes destroyed most 
 of the towns ; l but after Augustus Cassar had driven Sextus 
 Pompeius out of Sicily, when he saw that the city was de- 
 ficient of inhabitants, he appointed certain of those who 
 accompanied the expedition to reside there, and it is now 
 tolerably well peopled. 2 
 
 7. Sailing 50 stadia from Rhegium towards the east, we 
 meet the cape called Leucopetra, from the colour of the rock, 
 where they say the range of the Apennines terminates. 3 
 Further on is Heraclseum. 4 It is the last promontory, and 
 looks towards the south; for presently on doubling it the 
 course takes a south-western direction as far as the promon- 
 tory of lapygia, 5 then it runs towards the north more and 
 more, and towards the west along the Ionian gulf. After the 
 Herculeum Promontorium is the head-land of Locris, which 
 is called Zephyrium, f) possessing a haven exposed to the west 
 winds, whence is derived its name. Then is the state of the 
 Locri Epizephyrii, a colony of Locrians transported by Evan- 
 thes from the Crissasan gulf, shortly after the foundation of 
 Crotona and Syracuse. 7 Ephorus was not correct in stating 
 
 1 B.C. 91. 
 
 2 The defeat of Sextus Pompeius is referred to the year 36 B. c., but 
 there is no precise date mentioned for the establishment of the veteran 
 soldiers in Rhegium, which probably took place about the year 31 B. c. 
 
 3 Pliny computes the distance from Rhegium to Cape Leucopetra at 12 
 miles ; there is probably some error in the text, as there is no cape which 
 corresponds with the distance of 50 stadia from Rhegium. A note in the 
 French translation proposes to read 100 instead of 50 stadia. Topogra- 
 phers are not agreed in fixing the situation of the celebrated Leucopetra. 
 D'Anville places it at Capo Pittaro, Grimaldi at the Punta della Saelta, 
 and Cluverius, Holstenius, and Cellarius at the Capo dell' Armi. This latter 
 opinion seems more compatible with the statement of Pliny, and is also 
 more generally accredited. 
 
 4 The Herculeum Promontorium is known in modern geography as 
 Capo Spartivento. 
 
 5 The Promontorium lapygium, or Sallentinum, as it was sometimes 
 called, formed a remarkable feature in the figure of Italy, while the art 
 of navigation was in its infancy. It was a conspicuous land-mark to 
 mariners bound from the ports of Greece to Sicily. The fleets of Athens, 
 after having circumnavigated the Peloponnesus, usually made for Corcyra, 
 whence they steered straight across to the promontory, and then coasted 
 along the south of Italy. It seems from Thucydides (vi. 44) that there 
 was a haven here which afforded a shelter to vessels in tempestuous 
 weather. 
 
 Now Capo di Bruzzano. " The one 710, the other 734 years B. c. 
 
K. vi. c. i. 8. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 389 
 
 that they were a colony of the Locri Opuntii. 1 They remained 
 at first during three or four years at Cape Zephyrium ; after- 
 wards they removed their city, with the assistance of certain 
 Syracusans who dwelt amongst them. There is also a foun- 
 tain called Locria in the place where the Locri first took up 
 their abode. From Rhegium to the Locri there are 600 stadia. 
 The city is built on a height, which they call Esopis. 2 
 
 8. The Locri are believed to have been the first who com- 
 mitted their laws to writing, but after they had enjoyed the 
 advantage of these good laws for a very considerable time, 
 Dionysius [the younger], having been expelled 3 from Syracuse, 
 found means to abuse them in a most abominable manner, for 
 he, entering into a private chamber where certain young brides 
 had been adorned for their nuptials, violated them ; he also 
 gathered the most beautiful virgins to his revels, and having 
 liberated doves with uncut wings, commanded the young 
 women to chase them round the apartment in a state of perfect 
 nudity, while on ome he bound sandals of unequal height, 
 one being high and the other low, in order to make their 
 appearance in the pursuit the more unseemly. However he 
 paid dearly for this, for having returned o Sicily to resume 
 his government, the Locri overpowered the guard he had left 
 in their city, freed themselves, and obtained possession of his 
 wife and children ; there were two of his daughters, and his 
 second son who had already attained the age of manhood ; the 
 eldest, however, called Apollocrates, accompanied his father 
 in the expedition. And although Dionysius himself entreated 
 them earnestly, as did also the Tarentines, to deliver the 
 prisoners for whatever ransom they should name, they re- 
 mained inexorable, and endured a siege and the wasting of 
 their country, that they might vent their rage on his daugh- 
 ters. After having exposed them to the most shameful out- 
 
 1 The opinion of Ephorus seems to be supported by many other writers, 
 and is generally preferred by modern critics. * Monte Esope. 
 
 3 This wicked prince, having been expelled from Syracuse, had found 
 refuge among the Locrians from the storm which threatened his existence ; 
 but, depraved as he was degraded, he repaid the kindness of the people, 
 who treated him as their kinsman because his mother Doris had been 
 the daughter of one of their principal citizens, with the basest treachery 
 and ingratitude. He introduced into their city a number of miscreants, 
 and having overpowered the inhabitants, gave loose to all the vicious pro- 
 pensities of his nature. 
 
390 STRABO. CASATJB. 260. 
 
 rages, they strangled them, burnt their bodies, pounded their 
 bones, and cast them into the sea. 1 Ephorus in speaking of 
 the written law of the Locri, which Zaleucus had most 
 judiciously selected from the Cretan, Lacedaemonian, and 
 Areopagite codes, says that Zaleucus was the first to establish 
 this principle, that whereas formerly lawgivers had left it to 
 the judges to award the punishments for the several offences, 
 he established a certain penalty in his laws, thinking that the 
 minds of the judges would not be led to attach the same penal- 
 ties for the same transgressions, which course he considered 
 expedient. He praises him also for having simplified the 
 law of contracts. [He says also] that the Thurians, being 
 desirous to improve [the code of Zaleucus] more than the 
 Locri had done, became more celebrated, but were less judi- 
 cious. 2 For that state is not regulated by the best govern- 
 ment, where they guard against all manner of deceit by their 
 laws, but that wherein they abide by laws simply framed. 
 Plato also has observed that where there are many laws, 
 there there will be law-suits and evil lives, in the same way 
 as, where there are many physicians, there it is likely there is 
 much sickness. 
 
 9. There is a certain singular circumstance, respecting 
 grasshoppers, worthy of note. The river Alece 3 divides 
 Rhegium from Locris, flowing through a deep ravine ; those 
 which are in the territory of the Locrians sing, but those on 
 the other side are silent ; and it is thought probable that this 
 is caused by the region being woody, and their membranes 
 being softened by dew do not produce sound ; but those on the 
 Locrian side being sunned, are dry and horny, so that the 
 sound is easily produced by them. The statue of Eunomus 
 the harper having a grasshopper seated on his harp is shown 
 at Locri. Timseus says, that this Eunomus was once contend- 
 ing at the Pythian games and disputed with Aristo of Rhe- 
 gium for the prize, and that Aristo declared that the people 
 
 1 Horrid as is the vengeance which the Locri took on these unfortunate 
 victims of a husband's and a father's crimes, it serves to confirm the' 
 accounts of the iniquity and barbarity of a prince, whose mean and im- 
 becile conduct at other times sanctions the notion that his intellect was 
 disordered. 
 
 2 We could almost wish to read this passage" rendered them more 
 plausible, but impaired their utility." 
 
 3 The ancient Halex. 
 
B.VI. c. i. 10. ITALY. THE .BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 391 
 
 of Delphi ought to take part with him, because his ancestors 
 were consecrated to the god, and sent out to found the colony ; 
 but Eunomus said that they could have no claim to contend 
 for melody with any one, because that among them even the 
 grasshoppers, who are the most gifted of all creatures, were 
 mute. Nevertheless Aristo was applauded, and had hopes of 
 obtaining the victory, but Eunomus was declared victorious, 
 and dedicated the said statue in his country, because that at 
 the contest one of the chords of his harp having broken, a 
 grasshopper taking his stand on it supplied the sound. Above 
 these towns the Bruttii possess the interior, and there is the 
 city Mamertium, 1 and the forest which they call Sila, which 
 produces the best or Bruttian pitch. 2 It yields fine trees, and 
 is well watered, extending over a length of 700 stadia. 
 
 10. After the Locri is the [river] Sagras, 3 in the feminine 
 gender, on which is situated the altar of the Dioscuri, near 
 which ten thousand Locrians, with a small body of Rhegians 
 gained a victory over 130,000 Crotoniatre, whence they say 
 arose the proverb applied to incredulous people, " It is 
 more true than the victory of the Sagras." Some people add 
 to the mysterious account, that it was announced the same 
 day at the Olympic games to the people there assembled, and 
 this speedy news was found perfectly correct. They say that 
 this mischance was so unfortunate an event to the Crotoniatae, 
 that after it they did not long remain as a nation, on account 
 
 1 Although Strabo ascribes Mamertium to the Bruttii, it is more pro- 
 bable that it -was a colony of Campanian mercenaries, deriving their name 
 from Mamers, the Oscan Mars, who served under Agathocles, and other 
 princes of Sicily. The Mamertini were employed by the Romans against 
 Pyrrhus, whom they attacked in the woods and defiles about Rhegium. 
 Barrio (lib. ii. c. 10) and Maraf. (lib. iii. c. 25, f. 222) have identified 
 the site of this ancient town with Martorano, but it seems too distant 
 from Locri and Rhegium to accord with Strabo's description. Cluverius, 
 D'Anville, and Romanelli place it at Oppido, a bishop's see above Reggio, 
 and Gerace, where old coins are said to have been discovered. Cramer 
 (vol. ii. p. 439) thinks that the Mela? mentioned by Thucydides may have 
 been identical with Mamertium. Several remains of antiquity exist on 
 the site called Mela, in the vicinity of Oppido. 
 
 2 The pix Bruttia is noticed by Pliny, Columella. Dioscorides, and 
 other authorities mentioned by Bochart, Canaan, p. 595. Bochart looks 
 upon the Bruttii as a people known to the Phoenicians at a very remote 
 period. 
 
 3 Geographers differ much as to the modern river which corresponds 
 to this stream. Romanelli and Swinburne consider it to be the Alaro. 
 
STRABO. CASAJTB. 261. 
 
 of the number of citizens who fell in the battle. After the 
 Sagras is Caulonia, which was at first called Aulonia, -from the 
 avAwv, or valley, in which it was situated ; but it is deserted, 
 for its former possessors were driven out by the barbarians, 1 
 and have taken refuge in Sicily, and there founded [another] 
 Caulonia. 2 After this is Scylletium, 3 a colony of the Atheni- 
 ans, who set out under Menestheus ;. 4 it is now called Scyla- 
 cium. 5 Dionysius [the elder] allotted a portion of it to the 
 Locri, whilst it was in the possession of the Crotoniatae. 6 The 
 Scylleticus Sinus received its name from this city. It toge- 
 ther with the Hipponiates Sinus forms the isthmus which we 
 have mentioned above. 7 Dionysius 8 undertook to build a wall 
 across the isthmus, at the time he was carrying on war against 
 the JLeusani, assigning as a pretext that it would afford security 
 to the inhabitants of the peninsula from the inroads of the bar- 
 barians dwelling beyond it ; but in truth his intention was to cut 
 off the communication of the Greeks with each other, and to 
 have the greater power over those who dwelt within the penin- 
 sula, but those who dwelt without 9 assembled and prevented 
 the undertaking. 
 
 11. After Scylletium is the region of Crotona, and the 
 
 1 During the war against Pyrrhus, whose cause was espoused by Cau- 
 lonia, the city was pillaged by the Mamertini, the allies of the Romans. 
 The town was subsequently occupied by the Bruttii, who defended it 
 against the Romans in the second Punic war. Barrio and other Calabrian 
 topographers have fixed its site at Castro Vetere, but Strabo placed it on 
 the left bank of the Sagras, which is inconsistent with their supposition, 
 and it is still a subject of inquiry. 
 
 2 Cluvier (Sicil. ant. lib. ii.) reckons this place was situated between 
 Caltanis and Pietrapreccia. 3 Now Squillace. 
 
 4 Servius observes that these Athenians were returning from Africa, 
 Serv. JEn. iii. 552. 
 
 5 Saumaise (Exercit. Plin. p. 47, 57) thinks the true reading should be 
 Scylaceium, or Virgil could not have made the penultimate long. 
 
 . . . Attollit se diva Lacinia contra 
 
 Caulonisque arces, et navifragum Scylaceum. ^En. iii. 652. 
 
 6 About B. c. 389. 
 
 7 Book vi. cap. i. 4. 
 
 8 Pliny seems to attribute to Dionysius the elder the project of cutting 
 not walling off the isthmus : " Itaque Dionysius major intercisam eo loco 
 adjicere Sicilise voluit." Hist. Nat. lib. iii. 15. Grimaldi also is of 
 opinion that the circumstance mentioned by Strabo should be referred 
 to the first years of Dionysius the younger, about B. c. 366 359. 
 
 9 By those who dwelt without, Strabo doubtless intended the Croto- 
 niatae, and their allies. 
 
B. vi. c. i. 12. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 393 
 
 lapygum tria Promontoria, 1 and after these the Lacinium, 2 
 sacred to Juno, formerly rich and filled with many offerings. 
 But the distances have not been accurately stated. We can 
 only say that in a general way Polybius reckons 2300 3 stadia 
 from the strait 4 to Lacinium, 5 and 700 stadia from Lacinium 
 to the lapygian promontory. They call this the entrance of 
 the Gulf of Taranto. The extent of the gulf is considerable, 
 being 240 miles along the shore. As the chorographer says 
 ... of 380 ... to a light person, Artemidorus : wanting also 
 by so many ... of the breadth of the mouth of the gulf. 6 
 Its aspect looks towards the rising of the sun in winter. 7 It 
 commenced from Lacinium, for presently on doubling the cape 
 you come to where the Greek cities formerly stood ; now they 
 no longer exist, with the exception of Tarentum. But on 
 account of the estimation in which certain of them were held, 
 it is worth while to speak of them somewhat in detail. 
 
 12. The first is Crotona, 150 stadia from Lacinium and the 
 river Esaro ; 8 there is also a haven 9 there, and another river 
 
 1 These three capes are now called Capo delle Castella, Capo Rizzuto, 
 and Capo della Nave. 
 
 2 Lacinium was about six miles from Crotona. The celebrated temple 
 of Juno derived its name from the promontory. According to Diodorus 
 Siculus, some ascribe its origin to Hercules. (Diod. Sic. iv. 24.) Its 
 ruins are in the early Doric style, with fluted pillars broader at the base 
 than at the capital. It measured about 132 yards in length, and 66 in 
 breadth. Its principal entrance opened to the west. 
 
 3 Gosselin follows the opinion that Polybius wrote 1300 stadia. 
 
 4 The Strait of Sicily. 
 
 5 The modern names of Cape Lacinium, viz. Capo delle Colonne and 
 Capo Nao, are derived from the remains of the temple, which is still 
 visible on its summit. 
 
 6 The text is here evidently deficient. Groskurd says that Strabo most 
 probably wrote as follows, " As the chorographer says, Artemidorus reck- 
 ons that [the journey would take 12 days for one travelling on foot], with 
 his girdle on; [but, to one sailing, the distance is 2000 stadia:] leaving 
 at the same time as many [for the mouth, as Polybius has given] for the 
 breadth of the mouth of the gulf." The French translators, however, 
 have attempted to read the text as follows, " The chorographer makes 
 it 240 miles, and Artemidorus says that it is 380 for a light traveller ; 
 a computation in which the breadth of the mouth is not included;" but 
 comment on it in several extensive notes. 
 
 7 South-east. 8 The ancient ^Esar. 
 
 9 Groskurd observes, Im Texte icai Xinfiv. Besser also, liest man 
 mit Cluv. \ifivri, and translates it " a salt-marsh ;" but Cramer, in his 
 description of ancient Italy, observes that the mouth of the river Esaro 
 formed a haven, which, however incommodious compared with those of 
 
394 STRABO. CASAUB. 262. 
 
 Nieto, 1 the name whereof is said to be derived from the fol- 
 lowing circumstance they say that certain of the Greeks who 
 had wandered from the fleet which had besieged Troy, having 
 arrived in this place, disembarked to take a survey of the 
 country, and that the Trojan women who accompanied them 
 in the fleet, having observed the absence of the men, and 
 being wearied with a toilsome voyage, set fire to the fleet, so 
 that they were compelled to abide, when they saw, in addition 
 [to the loss of their ships], that the soil was very fertile. 
 Many others arriving soon after, and being desirous to live 
 near their fellow-countrymen, founded several settlements. 
 Most of them derived their names from the Trojans, and the 
 river Nieto received its appellation from the destruction 2 [of 
 the ships]. But Antiochus relates that an oracle having com- 
 manded the Greeks to found Crotona, Myscellus went forth 
 to view the place, and having seen Sybaris already built on a 
 neighbouring river of the 'same name, thought it better, and 
 returned to the god to ask if he might be permitted to settle 
 in that, instead of the other ; but that the oracle answered, ap- 
 plying to him an epithet noticing his defective stature, (for 
 Myscellus was somewhat crook-backed,) 
 
 " short-backed Myscellus, whilst seeking somewhat else of thyself, 
 Thou pursuest only misfortune : it is right to accept that which is prof- 
 fered to thee :" 3 
 
 and that he returned and built Crotona, wherein he was as- 
 sisted by Archias, 4 the founder of Syracuse, who happened to 
 touch at Crotona by chance, as he was proceeding to the colony 
 of the Syracusans. The lapyges possessed Crotona before 
 this time, 5 as Ephorus relates. The city cultivated martial 
 
 Tarentum and Brundusium, was long a source of great wealth to Cro- 
 tona, as we are assured by Polybius, Frag. x. 1. 
 
 1 Nesethus. This river was said to derive its name from the circum- 
 stance of the captive Trojan women having there set fire to the Grecian 
 fleet. 
 
 2 NeaiQof, from vfjag and aiQeiv, " to burn the ships." 
 
 3 There is much obscurity in this oracular response. The various 
 manuscripts offer many readings. 
 
 4 A note in the French translation observes that the establishment of 
 Myscellus at Crotona took place about 709 or 703 years B. c., and that 
 Syracuse was founded as early as 735 years B. c. 
 
 5 According to some traditions, Crotona was very ancient, and derived 
 its name from the hero Croto. Thus Ovid : 
 
B. vi. c. i. 13. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 395 
 
 discipline and athletic exercises to a great extent, and in one 
 of the Olympic games all the seven wrestlers, who obtained 
 the palm in the stadium, were Crotoniatae ; whence, it seems, 
 the saying arose that the last wrestler of Crotona was the first 
 of the other Greeks, and hence they say also is the origin of 
 the expression, " more salubrious than Crotona," as instancing 
 a place which had something to show, in the number of wrest- 
 lers which it produced, as a proof of its salubrity and the ro- 
 bust frame of body which it was capable of rearing. Thus it 
 had many victors in the Olympic games, although it cannot 
 be reckoned to have been long inhabited on account of the 
 vast destruction of its citizens, who fell at the battle of the 
 Sagras. Its celebrity too was not a little spread by the num- 
 ber of Pythagoreans who resided there, and Milo, 1 who was 
 the most renowned of wrestlers, and lived in terms of intimacy 
 with Pythagoras, who abode long in this city. They relate 
 that at a banquet of the philosophers, when one of the pillars 
 in the hall gave way, Milo sustained the ceiling while they 
 all escaped, and afterwards saved himself. It is likely that, 
 trusting to the same strength, he met his fate as related by 
 some, for whilst making his way through a thick wood, he 
 strayed considerably out of the path, when finding a great log 
 with wedges in it, he thrust both his hands and feet into the 
 fissure, intending to split it completely, but was only able to 
 force it enough to let the wedges fall out, when the gaping log 
 presently closed on him, and he, being taken as in a snare, was 
 devoured by wild beasts. 
 
 13. Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated 
 Sybaris, 2 a colony settled by the Achseans, between the two 
 
 " Vixque pererratis quao spectant littora terris, 
 Invenit ^Esarei fatalia fluminis ora : 
 Nee procul hinc tumulum, sub quo sacrata Crotonis 
 Ossa tegebat humus. Jussaque ibi moenia terra 
 Condidit ; et nomen tumulati traxit in urbem." 
 
 Ovid. Metam. xv. 53. 
 
 1 Milo is said to have carried off the prize for wrestling from the G2nd 
 Olympiad, B. c. 532, and also to have commanded the 100,000 Crotoniatae 
 who engaged the hostile armies of Sybaris and destroyed their city, about 
 B. c. 509. Diod. Sic. xii. 9, &c. 
 
 2 Sybaris was said to have been founded by the people of Troczene not 
 long after the siege of Troy. Aristot. Politic, lib. v. cap. 3. Solin. viii. 
 But these were subsequently joined by a more numerous colony of Achae- 
 ans, about B. c. 720. Euseb. Chron. ii. 
 
396 STRABO. CASAUB. 263. 
 
 rivers Crati l and Sybaris. 2 Its founder was Is . . . . 3 the 
 Helicean. 4 So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city 
 anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring peo- 
 ple and twenty-five towns ; in the war with the Crotoniatre it 
 brought into the field. 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 
 50 stadia on the Crati. But on account of the arrogance and 
 turbulence of its citizens, it was deprived of all its prosperity 
 by the Crotoniatse in 70 5 days, who took the city, and turning 
 the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed it with an inun- 
 dation. 6 Some time after, a few who had escaped came together 
 and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they 
 were dispossessed by the Athenians 7 and other Greeks, who 
 came and settled amongst them, .but they despised and subju- 
 gated- them, and removed the city to a neighbouring place, 
 calling its name Thurii, from a fountain of that name. The 
 water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar property of mak- 
 ing the horses which drink it shy, 8 for which reason they keep 
 their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair 
 of those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has 
 
 1 6 Kpa0t. There was a stream of the same name in Achaia, from 
 whence the Italian Crathis, now Crati, derived its name. The Crathis 
 and Sybaris now join about 14 miles from the sea. 
 
 2 Now Cochile. 
 
 3 Koray objected to the old reading, 6 'ivtXiKtvg, and proposed instead 
 OtV. . . . 'E\tKie ; Groskurd thought it better to translate it Ihr Erbauer 
 
 war Is aus Helike ; and Kramer has adopted this latter view, 
 
 which we have followed. 
 
 4 Helice was mentioned, book i. chap. iii. 18. Ovid, Metam. xv. 293, 
 also speaks of this city, 
 
 " Si quseras Helicen et Buram Acha'idas urbes, 
 Invenies sub aquis ..." 
 
 5 The Epitome gives nine days. 
 
 6 The events which led to this catastrophe are thus related by Diodorus 
 Siculus : " A democratical party, at the head of which was Telys, having 
 gained the ascendency, expelled 500 of the principal citizens, who sought 
 refuge at Crotona. This city, upon receiving a summons to give up the 
 fugitives, or prepare for war, by the advice of Pythagoras chose the latter. 
 The armies met near the river Triunti, in the territory of Crotona, where 
 the brave citizens gained a complete victory." 
 
 7 At the instigation of Pericles, the Athenians sent out a colony under 
 the command of Lampon and Xenocritus, which arrived about 55 years 
 after the overthrow of Sybaris. Two celebrated characters are named 
 among those who joined this expedition, which was collected from dif- 
 ferent parts of Greece. These were Herodotus, and Lysias the orator. 
 
 8 Compare ^Elian. Hist. Anim. ii. 36. 
 
. vi. c. i. 14. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 397 
 
 been found salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, 
 after having flourished for a long time, became a continual 
 prey to the aggressions of the Leucani, 1 and afterwards the 
 Tarentini troubling them, they appealed to the Romans for 
 suceour, who, in course of time, sent a colony 2 when it was 
 nearly deserted, and changed the name of the city to Copiae. 3 
 14. After Thurii is Lagaria, 4 a garrison fort ; it was origin- 
 ally settled by Epeius 5 and the Phocenses ; hence is derived 
 the Lagaritan wine, sweet and delicate, and much recommended 
 by the physicians, as is likewise the Thurian wine, which is 
 reckoned among the best. Then comes the city of Heraclea, 6 
 a little way from the sea, and two navigable rivers, the Agri" 
 and the Sinno, 8 on which was the city Siris, founded by a Tro- 
 jan colony, but in course of time, when Heraclea was prple"d 
 with the citizens of Siris by the Tarentini, it became the har- 
 bour of Heraclea. Its distance from Heraclea was 24 stadia, 
 and from Thurii about 330. 9 They point out the statue of the 
 Trojan Minerva, which is erected there, as a proof of its colo- 
 nization by the Trojans. They also relate as a miracle how 
 the statue closed its eyes when the suppliants, who had fled 
 for sanctuary to her shrine, were dragged away by the 
 lonians after they had taken the city ; 10 they say that these 
 lonians came to settle here, when they fled from the yoke of 
 the Lydians, and took the town of the Trojans u by force, call- 
 ing its name Polieum. They show, too, at the present time 
 
 I From B. c. 390 to 290. 2 About B. c. 194. 
 
 3 Caesar however calls it Thurii, and designates it a municipal town. 
 Civ. Bell. iii. "22. * Now La Nucara. 
 
 5 It is not ascertained -whether this leader were the architect of the 
 Horse of Troy. 
 
 6 Antiquaries seem agreed in fixing the site of this town at Policoro, 
 about three miles from the mouth of the Agri, where considerable re- 
 mains are still visible. The city is famous as the seat of the general 
 council of the Greek states, and the celebrated bronze tables on which 
 the learned Mazzocchi bestowed so much labour were discovered near its 
 site. Its coins represent Hercules contending with the lion, and bear 
 the epigraph HPA or HPAKAHIQN. 
 
 7 *A/cipi. 8 27pic. 
 
 9 This accords very well with the distance given in the Itinerary of 
 Antoninus. 
 
 10 About B. c. 580. 
 
 II Kramer reads -^v^v in the text. We have followed the opinion of 
 the French translators, who have rendered it " possedee par des Troyens." 
 MSS. give various readings. 
 
398 STRABO. CASA.UB. 264. 
 
 the statue that closes its eyes. It must, however, require a 
 good courage, not to assert that it appeared to have closed its 
 eyes, as that at Troy turned away its eyes from beholding the 
 violence offered to Cassandra, but to show it in the act of 
 winking : but it is much more daring to make so many 
 statues of the Minerva rescued from Ilium, as those who de- 
 scribe them affirm, for there is a Minerva said to be Trojan 
 in the sense of having been rescued from that city, not only 
 at Siris, but at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria. The 
 scene, too, of the daring of the Trojan female captives is as- 
 signed to many different places and appears incredible, although 
 it is by no means impossible. There are some who say that 
 Siris, and also that Sybaris on the Trionto, 1 were founded by 
 the Rhodians. Antiochus says that the site of Siris having 
 become the subject of a contention between the Tarentini and 
 the Thurii, on that occasion commanded by Cleandridas the 
 -general who had been banished from Lacedasmon, the two 
 people came to a composition, and agreed to inhabit it in com- 
 mon, but that the colony 2 should be considered as Tarentine ; 
 however, at a subsequent period both the name and the 
 locality were changed, and it was called Heraclea. 3 
 
 lo. Next in order is Metapontium, 4 at a distance of 140 
 stadia from the sea-port of Heraclea. It is said to be a 
 settlement of the Pylians at the time of their return from 
 Ilium under Nestor ; their success in agriculture was so great, 
 that it is said they offered at Delphi a golden harvest : 5 they 
 adduce, as a proof of this foundation, the offerings of the dead 
 sacrificed periodically to the Nele'idce; but it was destroyed by 
 
 1 Kramer reads iirl Ttv9pavTO<;, but thinks with Groskurd that itri 
 TOV TpdevTog, the Traens or modern Trionto, is the true reading. 
 
 2 About B. c. 444. 3 About B. c. 433. 
 
 * In the time of Pausanias, this city was a heap of ruins, and nothing 
 remained standing but the walls and theatre. Considerable vestiges, 
 situated near the station called Torre di Mare, indicate the site it an- 
 ciently adorned. 
 
 5 0gjooc xpvaovv. Xylander and others have thought this was a statue 
 representing Summer ; others have reckoned that golden sheaves were 
 intended. The coins of Metapontium, which are greatly admired as 
 works of art, have a head of Ceres, and on the reverse an ear of corn. 
 A large sum of these might be justly called a golden harvest. 
 
 6 Neleus had twelve sons, eleven of whom were slain by Hercules, 
 while Nestor alone escaped ; we must therefore infer from this passage, 
 that rites were celebrated at Metapontium in honour of his brothers. 
 
a. vi. c. i. 15. ITALY. THE BRUTTII. GRECIAN CITIES. 399 
 
 the Samnitcs. 1 Antiochus says that certain Achaeans, who 
 had been sent for by the Achaeans of Sybaris, settled in this 
 place when it had been desolated ; he adds that these were 
 sent for on account of the hatred of the Achasans to the Ta- 
 rentini, who had originally migrated from Laconia, in order 
 to prevent their seizing upon the place which lay adjacent to 
 them. Of the two cities, viz. Metapontium which was situated 
 the nearer, [and Siris the further, 2 ] from Tarentum, the new 
 comers preferred to occupy Metapontium. This choice was 
 suggested by the Sybarites, because, if they should make good 
 their settlement there, they would also possess Siris, but if 
 they were to turn to Siris, Metapontium would be annexed 
 to the territory of the Tarentines which was conterminous. 
 But after being engaged in war with the Tarentini and the 
 OEnotrians, who dwelt beyond them, they came to an agree- 
 ment, securing to them a portion of land, which should con- 
 stitute the boundary between Italy, as it then existed, and 
 lapygia. This, too, is the locality which tradition assigns to 
 the adventures of Metapontus and the captive Melanippe, and 
 her son Breotus. But Antiochus is of opinion that the city 
 Metapontium was originally called Metabum, and that its 
 name was altered at a subsequent period ; and that Melanippe 
 was not entertained here but at Dius, and thinks that the 
 heroum of Metabus as well as the testimony of the poet Asius, 
 who says that 
 
 " The beautiful Melanippe, in the halls of Dius, bare 
 Boeotus," 
 
 afford sufficient proof that Melanippe was led to Dius and not 
 to Metabum. Ephorus says that Daulius, the tyrant of Crissa 3 
 near Delphi, was the founder of Metapontium. There is, 
 however, another tradition, that Leucippus was sent by the 
 Achoeans to help to found the colony, and having asked per- 
 mission of the Tarentini to have the place for a day and a 
 night, would not give it up, replying by day to those who 
 
 1 The Greek words might either mean that Metapontium was destroyed 
 or that the sacrifices were abolished. From the succeeding sentence it 
 would be most natural to suppose that Strabo meant to say the city was 
 overthrown. 
 
 2 These words are not in the Greek text, but seem to have been acci- 
 dentally omitted by the transcriber. 
 
 3 A city of Phocis, now Krisso. 
 
400 STRABO. CASAUB. 265. 
 
 asked it of him, that he had asked and obtained it till the fol- 
 lowing night, and when asked by night, he said that he held 
 it till the coming day. 
 
 Next adjoining is Tarentum and lapygia, which we will 
 describe when we shall have first gone through the islands 
 which lie off Italy, according to our original purpose ; for we 
 have always given the adjacent islands with every nation we 
 have hitherto described, and since we have gone through 
 CEnotria, which only, the people of ancient times named .Italy, 
 we feel justified in keeping to the same arrangement, and shall 
 pass on to Sicily and the surrounding islands. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. SICILY is triangular in form, and on this account was at 
 first called Trinacria, but afterwards the name was softened 
 and it was changed into Thrinacia. 1 Three low headlands 
 bound the figure : Pelorias is the name of that towards Cuenys 
 and the Columna Rheginorum which forms the strait ; Pachy- 
 nus 2 is that which stretches towards the east, and is washed 
 by the Sea of Sicily, looking towards the Peloponnesus and in 
 the direction of the passage to Crete ; the third is LilybaBum, 3 
 and is next to Africa, looking towards that region and the 
 setting of the sun in winter. 4 Of the sides which these three 
 headlands bound, two are somewhat concave, while the third 
 is slightly convex, it runs from Lilybseum to Pelorias, and is 
 the longest, being, as Posidonius has said, 1700 stadia adding 
 
 1 The ordinary reading is Trinacis, but Kramer found it given Thri- 
 nacia in the Vatican Manuscript, No. 482, which seems to suit the rest of 
 the sentence better. Dionysius Perieg. vers. 467, says, 
 
 T/OlJ/CtKlJ) 5' 7Ti TJ7<ril>, V 
 
 And Homer, Strabo's great geographical authority, in book xi. of the 
 Odyssey, line 106, terms it QpivaKiy vrjcr^. Virgil, JEn. iii. 440, says, 
 
 " Trinacria fines Italos mittere relicta." 
 
 2 Capo Passaro. 3 Capo di Marsalla, or Capo Boeo. 
 
 4 The south-west. 
 
. vi. c. ii. 1. SICILY. 401 
 
 further twenty. Of the others, that extending to Pachynus 
 from Lilyboeum is the longer, while the shortest faces the 
 Strait and Italy, extending from Pelorias to Pachynus, being 
 about 1120 or 1130 stadia. Posidonius shows that the cir- 
 cumference is 4400 stadia, but in the Chorography the dis- 
 tances are declared to exceed the above numbers, being 
 severally reckoned in miles. Thus from Cape Pelorias to 
 Mylre, 1 25 miles ; from Mylae to Tyndaris, 2 25 ; thence to 
 Agathyrnum, 3 30 ; from Agathyrnum to Alassa, 4 30 ; from 
 Akesa to Cephalo?dium, 5 30 ; these are but insignificant 
 places ; from Cephaloedium to the river Himera, 6 which runs 
 through the midst of Sicily, 18 ; from thence to Panormus, 7 
 35 ; [thence] to the Emporium 8 of the ^Egestani, 32 ; leav- 
 ing to Lilybaeum 9 a distance of 38; thence having doubled 
 the Cape and coasting the adjacent side to Heracleum, 10 75 ; 
 and to the Emporium ll of the Agrigentini, 20 ; and to 12 Cama- 
 
 I Milazzo. 2 S. Maria di Tindaro. 
 
 3 The MSS. of Strabo read Agathyrsum, but the town is more com- 
 monly called Agathyrnum. Livy, book xxvi. cap. 40, and Silius Italicus, 
 hook xiv. ver. 260, call it Agathyrna. Cluverius considers it to have 
 been situated near S. Marco ; others would place it nearer to Capo 
 d'Orlando ; while D'Anville is in favour of Agati. 
 
 4 I Bagni, or S. Maria de' Palazzi. Groskurd gives it as Torre di 
 Pittineo by Tusa, or Torre di Tusa. Cicero writes the name without a 
 diphthong, " statim Messana litteras Halesam mittit." Cic. in Verr. ii. 
 c. 7. Diodorus spells it "A\taa. Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. ver. 219, 
 makes the penultimate long : 
 
 " Venit ab amne trahens nomen Gela, venit Halaesa." 
 And the inscription in Gruter, p. 212, gives the name of the river near 
 it, AXaKToy. 5 Cefalii. 
 
 6 Modern critics consider this to be the Fiume-Grande, which takes 
 its rise near Polizzi and the Fiume Salso, the latter flows from a source 
 within a few miles of the Fiume-Grande, and after a course of about 80 
 miles, falls into the sea near Alicata. The Fiume Salso was also called 
 Himera, and both rivers taken to be one. 
 
 7 Palermo. 8 Castel-a-Mare. 9 Capo Boeo. 
 
 10 Probably ruins at the embouchure of the Platani. Groskurd also 
 gives for it Bissenza. 
 
 II At the mouth of the Fiume di Grrgenti. Virgil calls Agrigentum by 
 the Greek name, JEn. iii. 703, 
 
 " Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxima longe 
 Moenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum." 
 12 As the distance from Agrigentum to Camarina greatly exceeds an- 
 other 20 miles, Kramer supposes that the words, " and to Gela, 20," 
 have been omitted by the copyist. 
 VOL. i. 2 D 
 
402 STRABO. CASAUB. 266. 
 
 rina, 1 another 20; then to Pachynus, 50; thence again along 
 the third side to Syracuse, 36 ; 2 from Syracuse to Catana, 60 ; 
 then to Tauromenium, 3 33 ; thence to Messana, 30. 4 Thus on 
 foot 5 from Pachynus to Pelorias we have 168 [miles], and 
 from Messana 6 to [Cape] Lilybaeum, on the Via Valeria, 7 we 
 have 235 8 [miles]. Some have estimated the circuit in a 
 more simple way, as Ephorus, who says that the compass of 
 the island by sea takes five days and nights. Posidonius at- 
 tempts to determine the situation of the island by climata, 9 
 and places Pelorias to the north, Lilybaeum to the south, and 
 Pachynus to the east. We however consider that of necessity 
 all climata are set out in the manner of a parallelogram, but 
 that districts portrayed as triangles, and especially such tri- 
 angles as are scalene, 10 and whereof no one side lies parallel 
 to a side of the parallelogram, cannot in any way be assimi- 
 lated to climata on account of their obliquity. However, we 
 must allow, that in treating of Sicily, Pelorias, which lies to 
 the south of Italy, may well be called the most northern of 
 the three angles, so that we say that the line which joins it 11 
 to Pachynus faces the east but looks towards the north. 12 Now 
 this line [of coast] will make the side next the Strait [of Mes- 
 sina], and it must have a slight inclination towards the winter 
 sunrise ; 13 for thus the shore slightly changes its direction as 
 you travel from Catana towards Syracuse and Pachynus. 
 Now the transit from Pachynus to the mouth of the Alpheus 14 
 is 4000 stadia. But when Artemidorus says that from Pachy- 
 
 1 Torre di Camarana. 
 
 2 The Paris MS. No. 1393, used by the French translators, has 33 ; 
 the Paris MS. 1396, and the Medici plut. 28, No. 5, give 20 miles. 
 
 3 Taonnina. 
 
 4 Gossellin observes, that the distance from Messina to Cape Pelorias, 
 which would complete the circuit of Sicily, is 'about 9 miles. 
 
 5 i. e. by land. 6 Messina. 
 
 7 An intelligent critic has imagined that this road may have been com- 
 menced by M. Valerius Maximus Messala, consul in the year 263, and 
 censor in 253, before the Christian era. D'Orvill. Sic. c. ii. p. 12. 
 
 8 We have followed Kramer, who inserts [dictKoo-ia] before 
 
 9 i. e. to give its parallels of latitude and longitude. 
 
 10 i. e. wherein all three sides are unequal. 
 
 11 i. e. Pelorias. 
 
 19 Or, lies towards the east, with a northern inclination. 
 
 12 South-east. " A river of the Peloponnesus, now called Rufda. 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 2. SICILY. 403 
 
 nus to Tnenarum 1 it is 4600, and from the Alpheus to the 
 Pamisus is 1130 stadia, 2 he appears to me to lie open to the 
 objection of having given distances which do not accord 
 with the 4000 stadia from Pachynus to the Alpheus. The 
 line run from Pachynus to Lilybseum (which is much to the 
 west of Pelorias) is considerably diverged from the south to- 
 wards the west, having at the same time an aspect looking 
 towards the east and towards the south. 3 On one side it is 
 washed by the sea of Sicily, and on the other by the Libyan 
 Sea, extending from Carthage to the Syrtes. The shortest 
 run is 1500 stadia from Lilybaaum to the coast of Africa 
 about Carthage ; and, according to report, a certain very 
 sharp-sighted person, 4 placed on a watch-tower, announced 
 to the Carthaginians besieged in Lilybseum the number of 
 the ships which were leaving Carthage. And from Lily- 
 baeum to Pelorias the side must necessarily incline towards 
 the east, and look in a direction towards the west and north, 
 having Italy to the north, and the Tyrrhenian Sea with the 
 islands of JEolus to the west. 5 
 
 2. The cities situated on the side which forms the Strait 
 are, first Messana, then Tauromenium, 6 Catana, and Syracuse ; 
 between Catana and Syracuse were the ruined cities Naxos 7 
 and Megara, 8 situated where the rivers descending from ^Etna 
 fall into the sea, and afford good accommodation for shipping. 
 Here is also the promontory of Xiphonia. They say that 
 Ephorus founded these first cities of the Greeks in Sicily in 
 
 1 Cape Matapan. * The French translation gives 11 GO stadia. 
 
 3 Gossellin observes, that from Pachynus to Lilybaeum the coast runs 
 from the south to the north-west, and looks towards the south-west. 
 
 4 This person, according to Varro, was named Strabo. See Varr. ap. 
 Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. vii. 21, page 386. 
 
 5 This coast of Sicily rises very little as it advances towards the east, 
 and looks almost continually towards the north, with the exception of a 
 very short space near Lilybasum. The JEolian islands lie to the north. 
 
 6 Taormina. 
 
 7 Naxos was not situated between Catana and Syracuse, but was most 
 probably built on the left bank of the Fiume Freddo, the ancient Asines, 
 near Taormina. It is possible that Strabo originally wrote, between Mes- 
 sina and Syracuse. Naxos was founded about 734 B. c., and destroyed 
 by Dionysius the elder about the year 403. Naxos is thought by some 
 to be the modern Schisso. 
 
 8 Megara was founded on the right of the Cantaro, the ancient Alabus. 
 It was destroyed about 214 years B. c. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
404 STRABO. CASAUB. 267. 
 
 the tenth generation from the Trojan war. For those who 
 preceded him were so terrified by the piratical customs of 
 the Tyrrheni, and the ferocity of the savages of the neigh- 
 bourhood, that they did not even venture to resort thither for 
 the purposes of commerce. Theocles the Athenian, however, 
 having been driven to Sicily by storms, observed both the 
 weakness of the inhabitants and the excellence of the soil. 
 On his return home, he was unable to persuade the Athenians 
 to make any attempt, but he collected a numerous band of 
 Chalcidians in Euboea, with some lonians and Dorians, whereof 
 the most part were Megarenses, and sailed. The Chalcidians 
 founded Naxos, and the Dorians Megara, which was at first 
 called Hybla. These cities no longer exist, but the name of 
 Hybla survives on account of the Hyblaean honey. 
 
 3. The first of the cities which at present remain on the 
 aforesaid side is Messana, built at the head of the gulf of 
 Pelorias, which is curved very considerably towards the east, 
 and forms a bay. The passage across to Rhegium 1 is 60 
 stadia, but the distance to the Columna Rheginorum is much 
 less. It was from a colony of the Messenians of the Pe- 
 loponnesus that it was named Messana, having been origin- 
 ally called Zancle, on account of the great inequality of the 
 coast (for anything irregular was termed ^ayfcXtov). 2 It 
 was originally founded by the people of Naxos near Catana. 
 Afterwards the Mamertini, a tribe of Campanians, took pos- 
 session of it. 3 The Romans, in the war in Sicily against 
 the Carthaginians, used it as an arsenal. 4 Still more re- 
 cently, 5 Sextus Pompeius assembled his fleet in it, to con- 
 tend against Augustus Caesar ; and when he relinquished the 
 island, he took ship from thence. 6 Charybdis 7 is pointed out 
 at a short distance from the city in the Strait, an immense 
 gulf, into which the back currents of the Strait frequently im- 
 pel ships, carrying them down with a whirl and the violence 
 of the eddy. When they are swallowed down and shattered, 
 the wrecks are cast by the stream on the shore of Tauro- 
 menia, 8 which they call, on account of this kind of accumu- 
 lation, the dunghill. 9 So greatly have the Mamertini prevailed 
 over the Messenians, that they have by degrees wrested the 
 
 1 Reggio. 2 Thucydides says ZaynXiov is a Sicilian word. 
 
 3 B. c. 289. * B. c. 264 to 243. 5 B. c. 44. 
 
 6 B. c. 36. 7 Now called Garafalo. 8 Taormina, 9 
 
B. vi. c. ii. $ 3. SICILY, 405 
 
 city from them. The inhabitants generally are rather called 
 Mamertini than Messenians. The district abounds in wine, 
 which we do not call Messenian, but Mamertini an : it vies 
 with the best produced in Italy. 1 The city is well peopled, 
 but Catana is more populous, which has been colonized by the 
 Romans. 2 Tauromenium is less populous than either. Catana' 
 was founded by people from Naxos, and Tauromenium by the 
 Zanclaeans of Hybla, 3 but Catana was deprived of its original 
 inhabitants when Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse, introduced v 
 others, and called it by the name of ./Etna instead of Catana. 
 It is of this that Pindar says he was the founder, when he 
 sings, 
 
 " Thou underslandest what I say, father, that bearest the same name 
 with the splendid holy sacrifices, thou founder of ^Etna." 4 
 
 But on the death of Hiero, 5 the Catanaaans returned and ex- 
 pelled the new inhabitants, and demolished the mausoleum of 
 the tyrant. The ^Etna3ans, compelled to retire, 6 established 
 themselves on a hilly district of -ZEtna, called Innesa, 7 and 
 called the place JEtna. It is distant from Catana about 80 
 stadia. They still acknowledged Hiero as their founder. 
 
 JEtna lies the highest of any part of Catana, and partici- 
 pates the most in the inconveniences occasioned by the mouths 
 of the volcano, for the streams of lava flowing down in Cata- 
 naea 8 pass through it first. It was here that Amphinomus 
 
 1 These wines, although grown in Sicily, were reckoned among the 
 Italian wines. See Athen. Deipnos. lib. i. cap. 21, ed. Schweigh: torn. 
 i. p. 102. And from the time of Julius Caesar they were classed in the 
 fourth division of the most esteemed wines. See Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. 
 xiv. 8, No. 4 and 17. 
 
 2 At the same time as Syracuse. 
 
 3 A note in the French translation suggests that we should read Sici- 
 lians of Hybla. TU>V tv "Y/3Xy SiKtAoij/ instead of ZaycXa/W. 
 
 4 Hiero in Greek was 'Ispwv. The line of Pindar in Kramer's edition is, 
 
 Zvvtg [o] rot Xgyw, ZaOewv itpu>v 6fiwvvp,t Trartp, 
 Kricrrop Airvac. 
 
 The words played on are 'lepwv and iep&v. 
 
 6 This occurred in the year 468. 6 About 461. 
 
 7 Cluvier considers that the monastery of Saint Nicolas de Arenis, 
 about 12 modern miles from Catana, is situated about the place to which 
 Strabo here alludes. 
 
 8 rr\v Karavaiav. The spelling of this name, like very many in the 
 present work, was by no means uniform in classic authors. Strabo lias 
 generally called it Catana (Kardvt]) ; Ptolemy, ILaravrj KoXuvia ; Pliny, 
 
406 STRABO. CASAUB. 269. 
 
 and Anapias set the example of filial piety so greatly cele- 
 brated, for they, seizing their parents, carried them on their 
 shoulders 1 to a place of safety from the impending ruin ; for 
 whenever, as Posidonius relates, there is an eruption of the 
 mountain the fields of the Catana3ans are buried to a great depth. 
 However, after the burning ashes have occasioned a temporary 
 damage, they fertilize the country for future seasons, and ren- 
 der the soil good for the vine and very strong for other pro- 
 duce, the neighbouring districts not being equally adapted to 
 the produce of wine. They say that the roots which the districts 
 covered with these ashes produce, are so good for fattening 
 sheep, that they are sometimes suffocated, wherefore they 
 bleed them in the ear every four or. five days, 2 in the same 
 way as we have related a like practice at Erythia. When 
 the stream of lava cools 3 it covers the surface of the earth 
 with stone to a considerable depth, so that those who wish to 
 uncover the original surface are obliged to hew away the 
 stone as in a quarry. For the stone is liquefied in the craters 
 and then thrown up. That which is cast forth from the top 
 is like a black moist clay and flows down the hill-sides, then 
 congealing it becomes mill-stone, preserving the same colour 
 it had while fluid. The ashes of the stones which are burnt 
 are like what would be produced by wood, and as rue thrives 
 on wood ashes, so there is probably some quality in the ashes 
 of jEteia which is appropriate to the vine. 
 
 4. Archias, sailing from Corinth, founded Syracuse about 
 the 'same period 4 that Naxos and Megara were built. They 
 say that Myscellus and Archias having repaired to Delphi 
 at the same time to consult the oracle, the god demanded 
 whether they would choose wealth or health, when Archias 
 
 lib. iii. cap. 8, Colonia Catina ; Pomponius Mela, lib. ii. cap. 7, Catina ; 
 Cicero, Catina; and on ancient coins we find KATANAIQN. 
 
 1 This feat was recorded by divers works of art set up in different 
 places : it must have taken place in one of the eruptions, 477, 453, or 427, 
 before the Christian era. The place where they lived was called Campus 
 Piorum. 
 
 9 Si rjntp&v Tfffffapwv TJ Trsvre, in Kramer's text ; in his notes he par- 
 ticularizes the readings of the different manuscripts and editions, some 
 reading forty or fifty. He also records his sorrow at having preferred the 
 reading of fifty days to thirty, in the passage relating to the fat beasts of 
 Erythia, book iii. cap. 5, 4, (page 255). 
 
 3 Literally, changes into coagulation. * About 758 or 735 B. c. 
 
B. vi. c. IT. 4. SICILY. SYRACUSE. 40? 
 
 preferred wealth and Myscellus health, upon which the oracle 
 assigned Syracuse to the former to found, and Crotona to the 
 latter. And certainly, in like manner as it fell out that the 
 Crotoniatas should inhabit a state so notable for salubrity as 
 we have described, 1 so such great riches have accrued to the 
 Syracusans that their na:ne has been embodied in the proverb 
 applied to those who have too great wealth, viz. that they 
 have not yet attained to a tithe of the riches of the Syracu- 
 sans. While Archias was on his voyage to Sicily, he left 
 Chersicrates, a chief of the race of the Heracleidae, 2 with a 
 part of the expedition to settle the island now called Corcyra, 3 
 but anciently called Scheria, and he, having expelled the Li- 
 burni who possessed it, established' his colony in the island. 
 Archias, pursuing his route, met with certain Dorians at 
 Zephyrium, 4 come from Sicily, and who had quitted the com- 
 pany of those who had founded Megara ; these he took with 
 him, and in conjunction with them founded Syracuse. The city 
 flourished on account of the fertility 5 of the country and the 
 convenience of the harbours, the citizens became great rulers ; 
 while under tyrants themselves, they domineered over the 
 other states [of Sicily], and when freed from despotism, they 
 set at liberty such as had been enslaved by the barbarians : 
 of these barbarians some were the aboriginal inhabitants of 
 the island, while others had come across from the continent. 
 The Greeks suffered none of the barbarians to approajch the 
 shore, although they were not able to expel them entirely 
 from the interior, for the Siculi, Sicani, 6 Morgetes, and some 
 others, 7 still inhabit the island to the present day, amongst 
 whom also were the Iberians, who, as Ephorus relates, were 
 
 1 Bookvi. chap. 1, .12. 
 
 2 According to other authorities he was descended from Bacchus. 
 
 3 At present Corfu. 4 Cape Bruzzano. 
 
 * Cicero's Oratio Frumentaria supports this character of the country. 
 Silius Italicus, lib. xiv. vers. 23, thus celebrates the richness of the soil, 
 " Multa solo virtus : jam reddere foenus aratris, 
 Jam montes umbrare olea, dare nomina Baccho ; 
 Nectare Cecropias Hybleeo accendere ceras :" 
 and Florus terms it Terra frugum ferax. 
 
 6 Strabo makes a distinct mention of Siculi and Sicani, as if they were 
 different people. Philologists have been much divided as to whether 
 they were not different appellations of the same nation. 
 
 1 Such as the Elymi, or Helymi, who occupied the districts bordering 
 on the Belici in the western part of the island. 
 
408 STRABO. CAS ATJ B. 270. 
 
 the first of the barbarians that are considered to have been 
 settlers in Sicily. It seems probable that Morgantium l was 
 founded by the Morgetes. Formerly it was a city, but now 
 it is not. When the Carthaginians 2 endeavoured to gain 
 possession of the island they continually harassed both the 
 Greeks and the barbarians, but the Syracusans withstood 
 them ; at a later period the Romans expelled the Carthagi- 
 nians and took Syracuse after a long siege. 3 And [Sextus] 
 Pompeius, having destroyed Syracuse in the same way as he 
 had done by the other cities, 4 Augustus Ca3sar in our own 
 times sent thither a colony, and to a great extent restored it 
 to its former importance, for anciently it consisted of five 
 towns 5 enclosed by a wall of 180 6 stadia, but there being no 
 great need that it should fill this extensive circle, he thought 
 it expedient to fortify in a better way the thickly inhabited 
 portion lying next the island of Ortygia, the circumference of 
 which by itself equals that of an important city. Ortygia is 
 connected to the mainland by a bridge, and [boasts of] the 
 fountain Arethusa, which springs in such abundance as to 
 form a river at once, and flows into the sea. They say that 
 it is the river Alpheus 7 which rises in the Peloponnesus, and 
 that it flows through the land beneath the sea 8 to the place 
 
 1 It is probable that Morgantium was situated on the right bank of the 
 Giaretta, below its confluence with the Dattaino, but at some little distance 
 from the sea ; at least such is the opinion of Cluverius, in opposition to 
 the views of Sicilian topographers. Sic. Ant. book ii. cap. 7, pp. 325 
 and 335. 
 
 2 The first settlement of the Carthaginians in Sicily was about 560 B. c. 
 
 3 212 years B. c. * 42 years B. c. 
 
 5 They were called Nesos, [the island Ortygia,] Achradina, Tycha, 
 Neapolis, and Epipolae. Ausonius applies the epithet fourfold, 
 
 " Quis Catinam sileat ? quis quadruplices Syracusas ? " 
 Dionysius however fortified Epipolee with a wall, and joined it to the 
 city. 
 
 6 Twenty-two miles four perches English. Swinburne spent two days 
 in examining the extent of the ruins, and was satisfied as to the accuracy 
 of Strabo's statement. 
 
 7 A river of Elis. 
 
 8 Virgil thus deals with the subject : 
 
 " Sicanio praetenta sinu jacet insula contra 
 
 Plemmyrium undosum : nomen dixere priores 
 
 Ortygiam. Alphetim fama est hue, Elidis amnem, 
 
 Occultas egisse vias subter mare ; qui nunc 
 
 Ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis." Jn. iii. 692. 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 4. SICILY. SYRACUSE. 409 
 
 where the Arethusa rises and flows into the sea. Some such 
 proofs as these are given in support of the fact. A certain 
 chalice having fallen into the river at Olympia was cast up 
 by the springs of Arethusa ; the fountain too is troubled by 
 the sacrifices of oxen at Olympia. And Pindar, following 
 such reports, thus sings, 
 
 " Ortygia, revered place of reappearing' of the Alpheus, 
 The offset of renowned Syracuse." 2 
 
 Tima3iis 3 the historian advances these accounts in like man- 
 ner with Pindar. Undoubtedly if before reaching the sea 
 the Alpheus were to fall into some chasm, 4 there would be a 
 probability that it continued its course from thence to Sicily, 
 preserving its potable water unmixed with the sea ; but since 
 the mouth of the river manifestly falls into the sea, and there 
 does not appear any opening in the bed of the sea there, which 
 would be capable of imbibing the waters of the river, (although 
 even if there were they could not remain perfectly fresh, still 
 it might be possible to retain much of the character of fresh 
 water, if they were presently to be swallowed down into a 
 passage running below the earth which forms the bed of the 
 sea,) it is altogether impossible ; and this the water of Are- 
 thusa clearly proves, being perfectly fit for beverage ; but 
 
 1 The words of Pindar are, 
 
 0.fjLTTVVfJ.a <Tf./HVOV ' 
 
 a'Xos, ' 
 The .French translators have rendered them, 
 
 " Terme saint du tourment d' Alphee 
 Bel ornement, de Syracuse Ortygia ! " 
 And Groskurd, 
 
 " Ehrwiirdige Ruhstatt Alpheos', 
 Ruhmzweig Syrakossai's, o Du Ortygia." 
 
 Liddell and Scott call dvcnrvtvpa a resting-place, referring to this pas- 
 
 sage, but I can see no reason for not allowing to it the signification most 
 
 suitable to the passage, avairvku is, " to breathe again," and, according 
 
 to the supposition of the ancients, the Alpheus might justly be said to 
 
 breathe again on appearing at Arethusa, after its passage beneath the bed 
 
 of the sea from Greece, avcnrvorj also, means " a recovering of breath." 
 
 a Pindar, Nem. Od. i. vers. 1. See also Bohn's Classic. Lib. Pindar. 
 
 3 Conf. Antig. Caryst. Hist. Mir. cap. 155. 
 
 * According to Strabo himself, book viii. chap. 3, 12, the Alpheus 
 flows through a subterraneous course before it comes to Olympia ; the 
 objection therefore which he here takes, rests only on the circumstance 
 of the river pursuing a visible course all the way to the sea, from the 
 point where the chalice had fallen into it. 
 
410 STRABO. CASAUB. 271. 
 
 that the flow of the river should remain compact through so 
 long a course, not mixing with the sea until it should fall 
 into the fancied channel, is entirely visionary ; for we can 
 scarcely credit it of the Rhone, the body of the waters of which 
 remains compact during its passage through the lake, and 
 preserves a visible course, but in that instance both the dis- 
 tance is short and the lake is not agitated by waves like the 
 sea, but in this case of the Alpheus, 1 where there are great 
 storms and the waters are tossed with violence, the supposi- 
 tion is by no means worthy of attention. The fable of the 
 chalice being carried over is likewise a mere fabrication, for 
 it is not calculated for transfer, nor is it by any means pro- 
 bable it should be washed away so far, nor yet by such diffi- 
 cult passages. Many rivers, however, and in many parts of 
 the world, flow beneath the earth, but none for so great a 
 distance. Still, although there may be no impossibility in 
 this circumstance, yet the above-mentioned accounts are alto- 
 gether impossible, and almost as absurd as the fable related 
 of the Inachus: this river, as Sophocles 2 feigns, 
 
 " Flowing from the heights of Pindus and Lacmus, passes from the 
 country of the Perrhcebi 3 to that of the Amphilochi 4 and the Acarnani- 
 ans, and mingles its waters with the Achelous :" 5 
 
 and further on [lie says], 
 
 " Thence to Argos, cutting through the waves, it comes to the territory 
 of Lyrceius." 
 
 Those who would have the river Inopus to be a branch of 
 the Nile flowing to Delos, exaggerate this kind of marvel to 
 the utmost. Zoi'lus the rhetorician, in his Eulogium of the 
 people of Tenedos, says that the river Alpheus flows from 
 Tenedos : yet this is the man who blames Homer for fabulous 
 writing. Ibycus also says that the Asopus, a river of Sicyon, 6 
 flows from Phrygia. Hecata3us is more rational, who says 
 that the Inachus of the Amphilochi, which flows from Mount 
 Lacmus, from whence also the ^Eas 7 descends, was distinct 
 from the river of like name in Argolis, and was so named after 
 Amphilochus, from whom likewise the city of Argos was de- 
 
 1 A river of Elis. 
 
 2 The play from which this is quoted is not extant. 
 
 * A people of Thessaly. 4 A people of Argos. 5 Aspro-potama. 
 
 In the Peloponnesus. 7 The Lao or the Pollina. 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 5, 6. SICILY. 411 
 
 nominated Amphilocliian. He says further, that this river 
 falls into the Achelous, and that the ^as flows to Apollonia 1 
 towards the west. On each side of the island there is an 
 extensive harbour ; the extent of the larger one is 80 2 stadia. 
 [Augustus] Cresar has not only restored this city, but Catana, 
 and likewise Centoripa, 3 which had contributed much towards 
 the overthrow of [Sextus] Pompey. Centoripa is situated 
 above Catana and confines with the mountains of ^Etna and 
 the river Giaretta, 4 which flows into Catanaea. 
 
 5. One of the remaining sides, that stretching from Pa- 
 chynus to Lilyboeum, is entirely deserted ; still, -it preserves 
 a few traces of the ancient inhabitants, one of whose cities was 
 Camarina. 5 Acragas, 6 which was a colony of the Geloi, 7 to- 
 gether with its port and Lilybseum, 8 still exist. In fact, these 
 regions, lying opposite to Carthage, have been wasted by the 
 great and protracted wars which have been waged. The re- 
 maining and greatest side, although it is by no means densely 
 peopled, is w^ell occupied, for Alaesa, 9 Tyndaris, 10 the empo- 
 rium 11 of the JEgestani and Cephalredium, 12 are respectable 
 tOAvns. Panormus has received a Roman colony : they say 
 that JEgesta 13 was founded by the Greeks who passed over, 
 as we have related when speaking of Italy, with Philoctetes 
 to the Crotoniatis, and were by him sent to Sicily with jEges- 
 tus 14 the Trojan. 
 
 6. In the interior of the island a few inhabitants possess 
 Enna, 15 in which there is a temple of Ceres ; 16 it is situated on 
 
 Pollina. 
 
 The Porto Maggiore of Syracuse is scarcely half so large. 
 Centorbe, to the south-west of ^tna. Silius, lib. xiv., mentions it 
 ' Centuripe, largoque virens Entella Lyaeo." 
 The ancient Symaethus. 
 
 Now Camarana : it was founded 600 years B. c. 6 Girgenti. 
 
 " Apparet Camarina procul, campique Geloi." Virg. JEn. iii. 701. 
 Marsalla. 9 I Bagni. 10 S. Maria di Tindaro. 
 
 11 Castel-a-Mare. 12 Cefam. 
 
 13 Now ruins at Barbara. 
 
 14 Also called Acestes. I5 Castro-Ioanni. 
 
 16 Ovid, in the fourth book of his Fasti, thus alludes to the temple, 
 " Grata domus Cereri, multas ea possidet urbes, 
 
 In quibus est culto fertilis Enna solo." 
 
 From this place we have the adjective Enneus, and the Ennea virgo of 
 Sil., lib. xiv., for Proserpine, 
 
 " Turn rapta praeceps Ennea virgine flexit." 
 
412 STRABO. CASAUB. 272. 
 
 a hill, and surrounded by spacious table-lands well adapted 
 for tillage. The fugitive slaves, who placed themselves under 
 the leading of Eunus, 1 and sustained in this city a long siege, 
 scarcely being reduced by the Romans, occasioned much 
 damage to the city. The Catanaei, Tauromenitas, and many 
 others, suffered, much in like manner, f Eryx, 2 a very lofty 
 mountain, is also inhabited. It possesses a temple of Venus, 
 which is very much esteemed ; in former times it was well 
 filled with women sacred to the goddess, whom the inhabitants 
 of Sicily, and also many others, offered in accomplishment of 
 their vows ; but now, both is the neighbourhood much thinner 
 of inhabitants, and the temple not near so well supplied with 
 priestesses and female attendants. 3 There is also an estab- 
 lishment of this goddess at Rome called the temple of Venus 
 Erycina, just before the Colline Gate ; in addition to the temple 
 it has a portico well worthy of notice. j The other settlement 
 and most of the interior have been left to the shepherds for 
 pasturage ; for we do not know that Himera is yet inhabited, 4 
 or Gela, 5 or Callipolis, or Selinus, or Euboea, or many other 
 places; of these the Zanclaei of MylaB 6 founded Himera, 7 
 the people of Naxos, Callipolis, 8 the Megaraeans of Sicily, 9 
 Selinus, 10 and the Leontini 11 Euboea. 12 Many too of the cities 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. cap. 3, says that there was a fable about the 
 seizure of the virgin [Proserpine] in the meadows near Enna. The 
 locality is very near the town, embellished with violets and all kinds of 
 beautiful flowers. An ancient coin of the place described by Ezech. 
 Spanheim, page 906, is inscribed with the letters MUN. HENNA E. 
 Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 8, writes, " Municipes Hennenses." 
 
 1 About 146 years B. c. 
 
 2 The sentence from " Eryx " to " notice," placed between daggers, 
 seems to have been transposed from the end of 5; it should immediately 
 succeed the words ^Egestus the Trojan. 
 
 3 Diodorus Siculus, lib. iv. 83, torn. i. p. 326, gives a different ac- 
 count of the state of this place at this time. 
 
 4 The Carthaginians had destroyed it about 409 years B. c. 
 
 5 Some colonists from Rhodes made a settlement here 45 years after 
 the foundation of Syracuse. It was overthrown about 279 years B. c. 
 
 6 Milazzo. 7 About 649 B. c. 
 
 8 It is supposed that Callipolis anciently occupied the site of Mascalis. 
 
 9 Those who inhabited Hybla Minor. We know that Selinus was in 
 existence 640 B. c., and destroyed 268 B. c. 
 
 10 Now ruins called di Pollece on the river Madiuni in the Terra de* 
 Pulci. The Leontini arrived in Sicily 728 B. c., and 
 founded Leontini, now Lentini. 
 
 13 Euboea was destroyed by the tyrant Gelon, who reigned from 491 to 
 
B. vi. c. ii. $ 7. SICILY. 413 
 
 of the aboriginal inhabitants * have been destroyed, as Camici, 
 the kingdom of Cocalus, at whose house Minos is reported to 
 have been treacherously cut off. The Romans therefore, con- 
 sidering the deserted condition of the country, and having got 
 possession both of the hills and the most part of the plains, 
 have given them over to horse-breeders, herdsmen, and shep- 
 herds, by whom the island has frequently been brought into 
 great perils. First of all the shepherds, taking to pillage here 
 and there in different places, and afterwards assembling in 
 numbers and forcibly taking settlements ; for instance, as 
 those under the command of Eunus 2 seized upon Enna. 3 And 
 quite recently, during the time that we were at Rome, a cer- 
 tain Selurus, called the son of jEtna, was sent up to that city. 
 He had been the captain of a band of robbers, and had for a 
 long time infested the country round JEtna, committing fre- 
 quent depredations. We saw him torn to pieces by wild beasts 
 in the forum after a contest of gladiators : he had been set 
 upon a platform fashioned to represent Mount ^Etna, which 
 being suddenly unfastened and falling, he was precipitated 
 amongst certain cages of wild beasts, which had also been 
 slightly constructed under the^pjatform for the occasion. 
 
 7. The fertility of the country is so generally extolled by 
 every one, as nothing inferior to Italy, that there is a ques- 
 tion as to what we should say of it. Indeed, for wheat, 
 honey, saffron, and some other commodities, it even surpasses 
 that country. In addition to this, its proximity renders the 
 island like a part of Italy itself, so that it supplies the Roman 
 market with produce both commodiously and without trouble. 
 Indeed they call it the granary of Rome, for all the produce 
 of the island is carried thither, except a few things required 
 for home consumption. It consists not only of the fruits of 
 the earth, but of cattle, skins, wool, and the like. Posidonius 
 says that Syracuse and Eryx are situated on the sea like two 
 citadels, and that Enna in the midst, between Syracuse and 
 Eryx, commands the surrounding plains, f The 4 whole terri- 
 
 478 B. c. Eubali, Castellazzio, and a place near the little town of Lico- 
 dia, not far from the source of the Drillo, have been supposed to be the 
 site of the ancient Euboea. Siebenkees thinks that the words between 
 daggers at the end of 7 should follow " Eubrea." 
 
 1 Lit. barbarians. 2 About 134 B. c. s Castro-Ioanni. 
 
 4 Kramer and Siebenkees consider that the sentence between daggers, 
 
414 STRABO. CASAUB. 273. 
 
 tory of the Leontini, which was possessed by the people of 
 Naxos settled in Sicily, suffered much, for they always shared in 
 the misfortunes of Syracuse, but not always in its prosperity.^ 
 8. Near to Centoripa is the town we have a little before 
 mentioned, JEtna, which serves as a place for travellers about 
 to ascend Mount JEtna, to halt and refresh themselves for the 
 expedition. For here commences the region in which is situ- 
 ated the summit of the mountain. The districts above are barren 
 and covered with ashes, which are surmounted by the snows in 
 winter : all below it however is filled with woods and planta- 
 tions of all kinds. It seems that the summits of the mountain 
 take many changes by the ravages of the fire, which sometimes 
 is brought together into one crater, and at another is divided ; 
 at one time again it heaves forth streams of lava, and at an- 
 other flames and thick smoke : at other times again ejecting 
 red-hot masses of fire-stone. In such violent commotions as 
 these the subterraneous passages must necessarily undergo a 
 corresponding change, and at times the orifices on the surface 
 around be considerably increased. Some who have very re- 
 cently ascended the mountain, reported 1 to us, that they found 
 at the top an even plain of about 20 stadia in circumference, 
 enclosed by an overhanging ridge of ashes about the height of 
 a wall, so that those who are desirous of proceeding further 
 are obliged to leap down into the plain. They noticed in the 
 midst of it a mound ; it was ash-coloured, as was likewise the 
 plain in appearance. Above the mound a column of cloud 
 reared itself in a perpendicular line to the height of 200 stadia, 
 and remained motionless (there being no air stirring at the 
 time) ; it resembled smoke. Two of the party resolutely at- 
 tempted to proceed further across this plain, but, finding the 
 sand very hot and sinking very deep in it, they turned back, 
 without however being able to make any more particular ob- 
 servations, as to what we have described, than those who be- 
 held from a greater distance. They were, however, of opinion, 
 from the observations they were able to make, that much ex- 
 aggeration pervades the accounts we have of the volcano, and 
 especially the tale about Empedocles, that he leaped into the 
 
 from " The " to " prosperity," has been transferred from its proper 
 place. See note 12 , page 412. 
 
 1 The French translators infer from this passage that Strabo had never 
 visited Sicily. 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 9. SICILY. 415 
 
 crater, and left as a vestige of his folly one of the brazen 
 sandals which he wore, it being found outside at a short dis- 
 tance from the lip of the crater, with the appearance of having 
 been cast up by the violence of the flame ; for neither is the 
 place approachable nor even visible, nor yet was it likely that 
 any thing could be cast *n thither, on account of the contrary 
 current of the vapours and other matters cast up from the 
 lower parts of the mountain, and also on account of the over- 
 powering excess of heat, which would most likely meet any 
 one long before approaching the mouth of the crater ; and if 
 eventually any thing should be cast down, it would be totally 
 decomposed before it were cast up again, what manner of 
 form soever it might have had at first. And again, although 
 it is not unreasonable to suppose that the force of the vapour 
 and fire is occasionally slackened for want of a continual supply 
 of fuel, still we are not to conclude that it is ever possible for 
 a man to approach it in the presence of so great an opposing 
 power. ^Etna more especially commands the shore along the 
 Strait and Catana, but it also overlooks the sea that washes 
 Tyrrhenia and the Lipari Islands. By night a glowing light 
 appears on its summit, but in the day-time it is enveloped with 
 smoke and thick darkness. 
 
 9. The Nebrodes mountains 1 take their rise opposite 2 to 
 jEtna ; they are not so lofty as JEtna, but extend over a much 
 greater surface. The whole island is hollow under ground, 
 and full of rivers and fire like the bed of the Tyrrhenian Sea, 3 
 as far as Cuma3a, as we before described. 4 For there are hot 
 springs in many places in the island, some of which are saline, 
 as those named Selinuntia 5 and the springs at Himera, while 
 those at ^Egesta 6 are fresh. Near to Acragas 7 there are 
 certain lakes, 8 the waters of which taste like the sea, but their 
 
 1 Sicilian topographers vary exceedingly in defining the position of 
 these mountains. Groskurd makes them Madonia. 
 
 2 To the south-west. 3 See Humboldt, Cosmos, i. 242. 
 4 Book v. chap. iv. 9. * I Bagni di Sciacca. 
 
 6 Now ruins at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara. 7 Girgenti. 
 
 8 A modern traveller is of opinion that these correspond with certain 
 peculiar marshes near Girgenti, in the midst of the Macaluba mountains, 
 supplied by a spring of salt water. The soil here is chalky, and the 
 mountains abound in a grey and ductile clay. See Monsieur le Com- 
 mandeur de Dolomieu, Voyage aux lies de Lipari, pp. 165 et seqq. ; also 
 Fazell. Decad. i. lib. i. cap. 5, p. 45. 
 
416 STRABO. CASAUB. 275. 
 
 properties are very different, for if those who do not know 
 how to swim plunge into them, they are not covered over by 
 them, but float on the surface like pieces of wood, 
 
 The Palici 1 possess craters which cast up water in a jet, 
 having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back 
 again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near 
 Mataurum 2 has within it a considerable channel, with a river 
 flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and 
 afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-Asi 3 in 
 Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apa- 
 meia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to 
 the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the 
 same circumstances are remarked of the Tigris 4 in Mesopo- 
 tamia, and the Nile in Africa, 5 a little before 6 its most noto- 
 rious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city 
 of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, 
 gives rise to the river Erasmus 7 in Argia; 8 and again, the 
 waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near 
 Asea 9 in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such 
 
 1 The place dedicated to these avengers of perjury is frequently located 
 near Mineo and Palagonia ; others, thinking to gain the support of Virgil's 
 testimony, place it near Paterno, much farther north, between Catana 
 and Centorbi, and not far from the banks of the Giaretta, the ancient 
 Symagthus. 
 
 3 Cluvier supposes this cavern must have been near Mazarum [Mazara]. 
 The river named Mazarus by the ancients, runs through a rocky district, 
 abounding in stone quarries. It is possible that this river, much hemmed 
 in throughout its course, might have anciently flowed beneath some of 
 these massive rocks. 
 
 3 Orontes. 
 
 4 According to Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. 31, torn. i. p. 333, the Tigris 
 is ingulfed on reaching a branch of Mount Taurus, at a place called 
 Zoroanda, which M. D'Anville identifies with the modern Hazour. 
 
 5 Ai/3vr; in Strabo. 
 
 6 Kramer here persists in reading Trpo, and rejects OTTO : we have en- 
 deavoured to translate it with Kramer, but the French translation of 1809 
 renders it, a little below its sources. 
 
 7 A river of Argolis : see book viii. Casaub. pp. 371 and 389. 
 
 8 Argolis. 
 
 9 This ancient city was found in ruins by Pausanias, who says (Ar- 
 cadic. or book viii. cap. 44, p. 691) "that at less than 20 stadia distant 
 from the Athenaeum are found the ruins of Asea, as well as the hill on 
 which the citadel of the town was built, which was surrounded by walls, 
 the vestiges of which still remain. About 5 stadia from Asea, and not 
 far from the main road, is the source of the Alpheus, and, quite close, 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 10. SICILY. LIPARI ISLANDS. 417 
 
 copiousness as to form the Eurotas and the Alpheus, 1 whence 
 has arisen a fable extensively credited, that if a certain charm 
 is uttered over each of two crowns on their being cast into the 
 stream where the two rivers flow in a common channel, each 
 crown will make its appearance in its respective river accord- 
 ing to the charm. As for what we might add with reference 
 to the Timao, 2 it has already been particularized. 
 
 10. Phenomena, similar to these, and such as take place 
 throughout Sicily, 3 are witnessed in the Lipari Islands, and 
 especially in Lipari itself. These islands are seven in number, 
 the chief of which is Lipari, a colony of the Cnidians. 4 It is 
 nearest to Sicily after Thermessa. 5 It was originally named 
 Meligunis. It was possessed of a fleet, and for a considerable 
 time repelled the incursions of the Tyrrheni, 6 The islands 
 now called Liparasan were subject to it, some call them 
 the islands of JEolus. The citizens were so successful 
 as to make frequent offerings of the spoils taken in war to 
 the temple of Apollo at Delphi. 7 It possesses a fertile soil, 8 
 
 even at the edge of the road, that of the Eurotas. . . . [At a short distance] 
 the two rivers unite and run as one for about 20 stadia ; they then both 
 cast themselves into a chasm, and, continuing their under-ground course, 
 they afterwards reappear; one (the Eurotas) in Laconia, the other in 
 the territory of Megalopolis." Such is what Pausanias relates in one 
 place. But when, in this account, he fixes the source of the Alpheus at 
 about 5 stadia from Asea, we must understand him to allude to a second 
 source of the river; for further on (book viii. cap. 54, p. 709) he says 
 distinctly that the main source of the Alpheus is seen near Phylace in 
 Arcadia ; then adds that that river, on coming to the district of Tegea, 
 is absorbed under the ground, to re-issue near Asea. 
 
 See 4 of this chapter, page 408. 
 
 The ancient Timavus. See book v. chap. i. 8, page 319. 
 
 The French translation, " en divers endroits de V Italic." Some 
 manuscripts read 'IraXiav. We have followed Kramer and Groskurd. 
 
 Founded about B. c. 580. 
 
 Thermessa, at present called Vulcano, is doubtless the same men- 
 tioned in Pliny's Nat. Hist. lib. iii. 14, torn. i. p. 164, as Therasia, by 
 the error of the copyist. Paulus Orosius, lib. iv. cap. 20, says that it rose 
 from the bed of the sea, B. c. 571. It is however certain that it was in 
 existence B. c. 427, confer. Thucyd. lib. iii. 88, and was for a consider- 
 able time called Hiera. 
 
 6 See Pausan. Phoc. or lib. x. cap. 16, p. 835. 
 
 7 See Pausan. Phoc. or lib. x. cap. 2, p. 824. 
 
 8 M. le Comm. de Dolomieu, in his Voyage aux iles de Lipari, ed. 
 1783, p. 75 et seq., supports the character here given of the fertility of 
 this island, and praises the abundance of delicious fruits it produces. 
 
 2 
 
418 STRAEO. CASAUB. 275. 
 
 and mines 1 of alum easy to be wrought, hot springs, 2 and 
 craters. [Thermessa] is, as it were, situated between this 
 and Sicily ; it is now designated as Hiera, or sacred to 
 Vulcan ; it is entirely rocky, and desert, and volcanic. In 
 it are three craters, and the flames which issue from the 
 largest are accompanied with burning masses of lava, which 
 have already obstructed a considerable portion of the strait 
 [between Thermessa and the island Lipari] ; repeated observ- 
 ations have led to the belief that the flames of the volcanos, 
 both in this island and at Mount JE^tna, are stimulated by the 
 winds 3 as they rise ; and when the winds are lulled, the flames 
 also subside ; nor is this without reason, for if the winds are 
 both originally produced and kept up by the vapours arising 
 from the sea, those who witness these phenomena will not be 
 surprised, if the fire should be excited in some such way, by 
 the like aliment and circumstances. Polybius tells us that one 
 of the three craters of the island has partly fallen down, while 
 the larger of the two that remain has a lip, the circumference 
 of which is five stadia, and the diameter nearly 50 feet, 4 and 
 its elevation about a stadium from the level of the sea, which 
 may be seen at the base in calm weather ; but if we are to 
 credit this, we may as well attend to what has been reported 
 concerning Empedocles. [Polybius] also says, that " when 
 the south wind is to blow, a thick cloud lies stretched round 
 the island, so that one cannot see even as far as Sicily in the 
 distance; but when there is to be a north wind, the clear 
 flames ascend to a great height above the said crater, and great 
 rumblings are heard ; while for the west wind effects are pro- 
 duced about half way between these two. The other craters 
 are similarly affected, but their exhalations are not so violent. 
 Indeed, it is possible to foretell what wind will blow three 
 days beforehand, from the degree of intensity of the rumbling, 
 and also from the part whence the exhalations, flames, and 
 smoky blazes issue. It is said indeed that some of the in- 
 habitants of the Lipari Islands, at times when there has been 
 so great a calm that no ship could sail out of port, have pre- 
 
 1 M. le Comm. de Dolomieu considers it probable that the Liparaeans 
 obtained this alum by the lixiviation of earths exposed to the acido- 
 sulphurous vapours of their volcanos, pp. 77, 78. 
 
 2 These hot springs are not much frequented, although they still exist. 
 
 3 See Humboldt, Cosm. i. 242. * This is 30 feet in the epitome. 
 
B. vi. c. ii. 11. SICILY. L1PARI ISLANDS. 419 
 
 dieted what wind would blow, and have not been mistaken." 
 From hence indeed that which seems to be the most fabulous 
 invention of the poet, appears not to have been written with- 
 out some foundation, and he appears to have merely used an 
 allegorical style, while guided by the truth, when he says that 
 .2Eolus is the steward of the winds j 1 however, we have for- 
 merly said enough as to this.' 2 We will now return to the 
 point whence we digressed. 
 
 11. We have noticed the islands of Lipari and Thermes.sa. 
 As for Strongyle, 3 it takes its name from its form. 4 Like 
 the other two, it is subigneous, but is deficient in the force 
 of the flames which are emitted, while their brightness is 
 greater. It is here they say that JEolus resided. 5 The 
 fourth is Didyma ; this island also is named from its 
 form. 6 Of the others, [the fifth and sixth] are Ericus- 
 
 1 Odyss. lib. x. 21. 
 
 2 Here follow some words which convey no intelligible meaning. 
 They are written in the margin of some of the manuscripts. Kramer 
 inserts them between asterisks as follows : * tunv / t7ri<rra<7ic TIJQ iv- 
 
 apytt'ac Xsyoir' av, liriffrjg Tt yap a//0w Traptan, icai dtaOtffd 
 
 Kai ry ivapyt'iq.- r) yt i^ovr) KOIVOV a/i^orspwv * Groskurd thinks the 
 passage might be translated, " [Great, undoubtedly,] is the impression 
 produced by animated energy, [of which] it may be asserted [that it 
 excites in a marked degree both admiration and pleasure]. For both 
 arise equally from graphic representation and animated description. 
 Pleasure at least is common to both." The following are Groskurd's 
 own words : Gross allerdings ist der Eindruck kraftiger Lebendigkeit, 
 [von welcher] man behaupten darf, [dass sie vorziiglich sowohl Bewun- 
 derung als Vergniigen gewahre]. Denn Beide erfolgen gleichermassen, 
 sowohl durch Darstellung als durch Lebendigkeit ; das Vergniigen wenig- 
 stens ist Beiden gemein. 3 Stromboli. 
 
 4 orpoyyvXof means "round." M. Dolomieu, p. 113, says that the 
 island of Stromboli, seen from a distance, appears like a cone ; when, 
 however, it is more particularly examined, it looks like a mountain 
 terminated by two peaks of different heights, and the sides appear dis- 
 turbed and torn by craters opened in various parts, and streams of lava 
 which have flowed down. It might be about 12 miles in circumference. 
 
 5 Most of the ancient authors agree in considering Lipari as the resi- 
 dence of ^Eolus. See Cluver. Sic. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 14. 
 
 8 tiidvpos, " double." Cluverius identifies this with the island now- 
 called Salini. M. Dolomieu says that Didyma is situated to the west of 
 Lipari ; it is nearly circular, and contains three mountains placed so as 
 to form a triangle. Two of the mountains are connected at their bases, 
 the third is separated from them by a valley which runs right across the 
 island, so that while sailing at some distance in the sea on the south side 
 it has the appearance of two islands, from which circumstance it took its 
 
 2 E 2 
 
420 STRABO. CASAUB. 276. 
 
 sa 1 and Phcenicussa ; 2 they are called from the plants which 
 they produce, and are given up to pasture. The seventh 
 [island] is called Euonymus ; 3 it is the farthest in the sea and 
 barren. It is called Euonymus because it lies the most to the left 
 when you sail from the island of Lipari to Sicily, 4 and many 
 times flames of fire have been seen to rise to the surface, and 
 play upon the sea round the islands : these flames rush with 
 violence from the cavities at the bottom of the sea, 5 and force 
 for themselves a passage to the open air. Posidonius says, 
 that at a time so recent as to be almost within his recollec- 
 tion, about the summer solstice and at break of day, between 
 Hiera and Euonymus, the sea was observed to be suddenly 
 raised aloft, and to abide some time raised in a compact mass 
 and then to subside. Some ventured to approach that part in 
 their ships ; they observed the fish dead and driven by the cur- 
 rent, but being distressed by the heat and foul smell, were com- 
 pelled to turn back. One of the boats which had approached 
 nearest lost some of her crew, and was scarcely able to reach 
 Lipari with the rest, and they had fits like an epileptic per- 
 son, at one time fainting and giddy, and at another return- 
 ing to their senses ; and many days afterwards a mud or clay 
 was observed rising in the sea, and in many parts the flames 
 
 ancient name of Didyma : its present name, Salini, is derived from salt 
 works there. 
 
 1 Ericussa, now called Alicudi or Alicurim, is covered with trees, it is 
 inhabited, but little cultivated. The pasturage is pretty good. 
 
 2 Phoenicussa, now Felicudi or Filicurim, abounds in rich pastures ; 
 both wheat and the vine are here cultivated. 
 
 3 Cluverius, Sic. Ant. lib. ii. p. 414, identifies this island with Lisca- 
 Bianca, to the east of Lipari, but M. le commandeur Dolomieu, Voyage 
 pittoresque de Naples et de Sicile, torn. iv. part ii. chap. 14, considers 
 that it corresponded with the present Panaria, which is about eight 
 times the circumference of Lisca-Bianca. He says the neighbouring 
 islets are but the detached portions of a vast crater now submerged ; 
 the denomination, Formocoli or the Little Ants, is aptly illustrative of 
 their minuteness and numbers. The most important are Datolo, Lisca- 
 Nera, Lisca-Bianca, and Basiluzzo. M. Gossellin very justly remarks 
 that it is quite possible the volcanos, which continually burn in the 
 islands of JSolus, may have formed some new one, and gives some good 
 reasons for identifying Didyma with Panaria. 
 
 4 Rich. Pocock, Descr. de 1' Or., &c. vers. Fr. part iii. chap. 24, torn, 
 vi. p. 327, considers that Strabo meant to say that Euonymus lies most 
 to the left hand as you sail from Sicily to the island of Lipari, and pro- 
 poses Ustica, the westernmost of the Lipari Islands, as its modern repre- 
 sentative. 5 See Humboldt, Cosmos ii. 557. 
 
B. vi. c.ii. $ 11. SICILY. LIPARI ISLANDS. 421 
 
 issued, and smoke and smoky blazes ; afterwards it congealed 
 and became a rock like mill-stones. Titus Flaminius, 1 who 
 then commanded in Sicily, despatched to the senate [of Rome] 
 a full account of the phenomenon ; the senate sent and offered 
 sacrifices to the infernal and marine divinities both in the 
 little island [which had thus been formed] and the Lipari 
 Islands. Now the chorographer reckons that from Encodes 
 to Phosnicodes are 10 miles, from thence to Didyma 30, 
 from thence to the northernmost point 2 of Lipari 29, and 
 from thence to Sicily 19, while from Strongyle are 16. 3 Me- 
 lita 4 lies before 5 Pachynus ; from thence come the little dogs 
 called Maltese ; 6 so does also Gaudus, 7 both of them are situ- 
 ated about 88 miles distant from that promontory. Cossura 8 
 is situated before Cape Lilybaeum, and opposite the Cartha- 
 ginian city Aspis, which they call [in Latin] Clypea, it is 
 situated in the midst of the space which lies between those 
 
 1 A note in the French translation suggests that, notwithstanding the 
 accord of all manuscripts, we should, doubtless, understand Titus Quinc- 
 tius Flaminius, praetor in A. u. c. 628, and B. c. 126. 
 
 2 Trpoc dpicrov, in Kramer's text. We have followed the example set 
 by the French translators, and approved by Groskurd, who proposes to 
 read Trpog apicT^iicbv aKp]ov. Kramer however justly remarks, that 
 many other things in this passage are exceedingly confused, and remain 
 incapable of conjectural elucidation. 
 
 3 From Ericodes, now Alicudi, to Phoenicodes, now Felicudi, the 
 distance given by the chorographer is the same as that set down by 
 Ptolemy, and by far too much for that which, according to our charts, 
 separates Felicudi from Salini, but tallies exactly with that to the island 
 Panaria, so that the evidence, both of the chorographer and Ptolemy, 
 seems to point to Panaria, not to Salini, as the ancient Didyma. Fur- 
 ther, the 29 miles given in Strabo's text as the distance from Didyma 
 to Lipari, are reduced to 19 miles in the chart of Ptolemy, and even this 
 last distance would be much too great for the interval which separates 
 Salini from Lipari, but agrees with the distance from Lipari to Panaria, 
 and seems likewise to confirm the identity of Panaria and Didyma. The 
 ]9 miles, from Lipari to Sicily, agree with Ptolemy and our charts. 
 Ptolemy gives the equivalent of 44 miles as the distance between Sicily 
 and Strongyle, while our modern maps confirm his computation. M. 
 Gossellin observes that the 16 miles of the existing text of Strabo must 
 be a transcriber's error ; but the construction of the text might very well 
 allow the distance to be from Didyma to Strongyle, which would be 
 nearly correct. 
 
 4 Malta. 5 Towards Africa and the south. 9 McXcraia. 
 
 7 All other classic authors, both Greek and Latin, give the name of 
 Gaulus to this island ; it is the modern Gozzo. 
 
 8 Pantelaria. 
 
422 STRABO. CASAUB. 277. 
 
 two places, and is distant from each the number of miles 
 last given. 1 JEgimurus also and other little islands lie off 
 Sicily and Africa. So much for the islands. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. HAVING previously passed over the regions of ancient 
 Italy as far as Metapontium, we must now proceed to describe 
 the rest. After it lapygia 2 comes next in order ; the Greeks 
 call it Messapia, but the inhabitants, dividing it into cantons, 
 call one the Salentini, 3 that in the neighbourhood of the 
 Cape 4 lapygia, and another the Calabri ; 5 above these 
 towards the north lie the Peucetii, 6 and those who are called 
 Daunii 7 in the Greek language, but the inhabitants call 
 
 1 This M. Gossellin very satisfactorily proves to be 88. 
 * A note in the French translation observes, that the lapygia of Strabo 
 was confined to the peninsula of Tarentum. 
 
 3 The Sallentini, or Salentini, cannot be distinguished with accuracy 
 from the Calabri, as the name is used by several writers in a very ex- 
 tensive sense, and applied to the greater part of lapygia. 
 
 4 Capo di Leuca. 
 
 5 The district occupied by the Calabri seems to have been that mari- 
 time part of the lapygian peninsula extending from the ancient Brun- 
 dusium to the city of Hydruntum, answering nearly to what is now 
 called Terra di Lecce. 
 
 6 Dionysius of Halicarnassus derives the name of this people from 
 Peucetius, son of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, but they are generally spoken 
 of in history as barbarians, differing in no essential respect from the 
 Daunii, lapyges, and other neighbouring nations. 
 
 7 A note in the French translation remarks, that Strabo would have 
 done well to add, " and also the Apuli properly so called." If we follow 
 Strabo's testimony solely, we may almost describe the bounds of the 
 Peucetii by four lines, viz. 1. From Tarentum to Brindisi. 2. Along the 
 sea-shore from Brindisi to Bari. 3. From Bari to Garagnone or Gorgog- 
 lione, the ancient Sylvium, if not even still nearer to Venosa. 4. From 
 Garagnone to Tarentum, constituting what is called in modern geography 
 Terra di Bari. The following are the limits of the Daunii. 1. From Ga- 
 ragnone to Bari. 2. From Bari to Peschici or to Rodi. 3. Thence to 
 Lucera ; and, 4. from Lucera to Garagnone. Thus they occupied a 
 great part of La Puglia, with a portion of the Terra di Bari. With re- 
 gard to those who, according to Strabo, were properly Apuli, they ex- 
 tended from the neighbourhood of Lucera to Rodi or Peschici, thence to 
 
B. vi. c. in. $ 1. ITALY. IAPYGIA. 423 
 
 the whole region beyond the Calabri, Apulia. Some of 
 these people are called Poedicli, 1 especially the Peucetii. 
 Messapia forms a peninsula ; the isthmus extending from 
 Brentesium' 2 to Tarentum, which bounds it, being 310 stadia, 
 and the circumnavigation round the lapygian promontory 3 
 about [one thousand] 4 four hundred. [Tarentum 5 ] is distant 
 from Metapontium 6 about two hundred and [twenty 5 ] stadia. 
 The course to it by sea runs in an easterly direction. The 
 Gulf of Tarentum is for the most part destitute of a port, 
 but here there is a spacious and commodious [harbour 7 ], 
 closed in by a great bridge. It is 100 stadia 8 in circuit. 
 This port, at the head of its basin which recedes most inland, 
 forms, with the exterior sea, an isthmus which connects the 
 peninsula with the land. The city is situated upon this pen- 
 insula. The neck of land is so low that ships are easily 
 hauled over it from either side. The site of the city likewise 
 is extremely low ; the ground, however, rises slightly towards 
 the citadel. The old wall of the city has an immense circuit, 
 but now the portion towards the isthmus is deserted, but that 
 standing near the mouth of the harbour, where the citadel is 
 situated, still subsists, and contains a considerable city. It 
 possesses a noble gymnasium and a spacious forum, in which 
 there is set up a brazen colossus of Jupiter, the largest that 
 ever was, with the exception of that of Rhodes. The citadel 
 is situated between the forum and the entrance of the harbour, 
 it still preserves some slight relics of its ancient magnificence 
 
 the mouth of the river Fortore, thence to Civitate, (the ancient Teanum 
 Apulum,) which was included, and from Civitate to Lucera ; this district 
 would answer to the northern portion of La Puglia, which the Fortore 
 separates from La Capitanata. 
 
 1 The name of Poediculi was given to the inhabitants of that portion 
 of Peucetia which was more particularly situated on the coast between 
 the Aufidus and the confines of the Calabri. Pliny (iii. 1 1 ) states that 
 this particular tribe derived their origin from Illyria. 
 
 Brindisi. 3 Capo di Leuca. 
 
 We have followed Groskurd's example in introducing this thousand. 
 The French translators thought it too hardy to venture, and Kramer was 
 fearful to insert it in his text, but he approves of it in his notes. 
 
 Manuscripts here have blanks. Ruins near Torre a Mare. 
 
 Mare-piccolo. 
 
 Or twelve miles and a half. This computation does not agree with 
 modern measurements, which reckon the circuit at sixteen miles. See 
 Swinburne's Travels, torn. i. sect. 32. Gagliardi, Topogr. di Taranto. 
 
424 STRABO. CASAUB. 278. 
 
 and gifts, but the chief of them were destroyed either by the 
 Carthaginians l when they took the city, or by the Romans 2 
 when they took it by force and sacked it. Amongst other 
 booty taken on this occasion 3 was the brazen colossus of Her- 
 cules, the work of Lysippus, now in the Capitol, which was 
 dedicated as an offering by Fabius Maximus, who took the 
 city. 
 
 2. Antiochus, speaking of the foundation of this city, says 
 that after the Messenian war 4 such of the Lacedemonians as 
 did not join the army were sentenced to be slaves, and de- 
 nominated Helots ; and that such as were born during the 
 period of the war they termed Partheriiae, and decreed to be 
 base: but these not bearing the reproach, (for they were 
 many,) conspired against the free citizens, 5 but the chief 
 magistrates, becoming acquainted with the existence of the 
 plot, employed certain persons, who, by feigning friendship 
 to the cause, should be able to give some intelligence of the 
 nature of it. Of this number was Phalanthus, who was 
 apparently the chief leader of them, but who was not quite 
 pleased with those who had been named to conduct their de- 
 liberations. 6 It was agreed that at the Hyacinthine games, 
 celebrated in the temple of Amy else, just at the conclusion of 
 the contest, and when Phalanthus should put on his helmet, 7 
 they should make a simultaneous attack. The free citizens 5 
 were distinguishable from others by their hair. They, having 
 been secretly warned as to the arrangements made for the 
 signal of Phalanthus, just as the chief contest came off, a 
 herald came forward and proclaimed, "Let not Phalanthus 
 put on his helmet." The conspirators perceiving that the 
 plot was disclosed, some fled, and others supplicated mercy. 
 When the chief magistrates had bid them not to fear, they 
 
 1 In the year 213 or 212 B. c. 2 B. c. 209. 
 
 3 It is said the pictures and statues taken on this occasion were nearly 
 as numerous as those found at Syracuse. 
 
 4 That which commenced about 743 B. c. 
 
 5 I have here translated TOIQ TOV r/juou and ot TOV drj^ov by " free 
 citizens." Several notes have been written on the exact meaning of the 
 words, but I am not satisfied that we understand it properly. It might 
 perhaps mean those appointed to the chief rule of the state by the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 6 There is little doubt that this passage is corrupt. 
 
 Ki], a leathern cap or hat, a helmet, &c. See also page 426. 
 
B. vi. c. in. 3. ITALY. IAPYGIA. TARENTUM. 425 
 
 committed them to prison, but sent Phalanthus to inquire 
 after a new settlement. He received from the oracle the 
 following response, 
 
 " To thee Satyrium 1 I have given, and the rich country of Tarentum 
 to inhabit, and thou shalt become a scourge to the lapygians." 
 
 The Partheniae accordingly accompanied Phalanthus to their 
 destination, and the barbarians and Cretans, 2 who already 
 possessed the COUP try, received them kindly. They say that 
 these Cretans were the party who sailed with Minos to Sicily, 
 and that after his death, which took place at Camici, 3 in the 
 palace of Cocalus, they took ship and set sail from Sicily, but 
 in their voyage they were cast by tempest on this coast, some 
 of whom, afterwards coasting the Adriatic on foot, reached 
 Macedonia, and were called Bottiaei. 4 They further add, that 
 all the people who reach as far as Daunia were called lapy- 
 gians, from lapyx, who was born to Daedalus by a Cretan 
 woman, and became a chief leader of the Cretans. The city 
 Tarentum was named from a certain hero. 5 
 
 3. Ephorus gives the following account of the foundation. 
 The Lacedaemonians waged war against the Messenians, who 
 had murdered their king, Teleclus, 6 when he visited Messene 
 to offer sacrifice. They took an oath that they would not re- 
 turn home before they had destroyed Messene, or should be 
 
 1 About eight miles to the east or south-east of Taranto, upon the 
 coast, we find a place named Saturo. In this place the country open 
 to the south presents the most agreeable aspect. Sheltered from the 
 north wind, and watered by numerous running streams, it produces the 
 choicest fruits, oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, figs, and all 
 manner of garden produce, with which Taranto is abundantly supplied. 
 Ant. de Ferrar. Galat. de sit. lapyg. edit. nell. Raccolt. d' Opusc. sc. et 
 philol. torn. vii. p. 80. 
 
 2 Mazoch. Prod, ad Heracl. pseph. diatr. ii. cap. 4, sect. 4, page 96, 
 not. 51, considers that we should not make a distinction between these 
 barbarians and Cretans, but that they were identical. 
 
 3 According to Sicilian topographers, Camici was the same as the cita- 
 del of Acragas [Girgenti]. Cluvier, Sic. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 15, p. 207, is 
 of opinion that Camici occupied the site of Siculiana, on the Fiume 
 delle Canne. D'Anville, Geogr. Anc. torn. i. p. 219, and torn. iii. p. 146, 
 seems to locate Camici at Platanella, on the Fiume di Platani. 
 
 4 There are various readings of this name. 
 
 5 There is a tradition that Taras was born to Neptune by Satyraa, 
 daughter of Minos. 
 
 6 About 745 B. c. 
 
426 STRABO. CASAUB. 279. 
 
 all slain. They left only the youngest and oldest of the citi- 
 zens to keep their own country. After this, in the tenth 
 [year] of the war, the Lacedaemonian matrons assembled and 
 deputed certain women to remonstrate with the citizens, and 
 show them that they were carrying on the war with the Mes- 
 senians on very disadvantageous terms, for they, abiding in 
 their own country, procreated children, while the Lacedemo- 
 nians, leaving their wives in a state like widowhood, remained 
 away in the war ; and to expose the great peril there was of 
 the depopulation of their country. The Lacedaemonians, 
 being both desirous of observing their oath, and taking into 
 consideration the representations of their wives, sent a deputa- 
 tion of the most vigorous, and, at the same time, most juvenile 
 of the army, whom they considered, in a manner, not to have 
 participated in the oath, because they had been but children 
 when they accompanied their elders to the war, and charged 
 them all to company with all the maidens, reckoning that by 
 that means they would bear the more children ; which having 
 been accordingly obeyed, the children who were born were 
 denominated Partheniae. Messene was taken after a war of 
 nineteen years, as Tyrtaeus says, 
 
 " The fathers of our fathers, armed for war, 
 Possessing ever patient courage, fought at Messene 
 
 For nineteen years with unremitting toil. 
 
 Till on the twentieth, leaving their rich soil, 
 The enemy forsook the towering heights of Ithome." 1 
 
 Thus then did they destroy Messenia, but returning home, 
 they neglected to honour the Partheniee like other youths, and 
 treated them as though they had been born out of wedlock. 
 The Partheniae, leaguing with the Helots, conspired against 
 the Lacedaemonians, and agreed to raise a Laconic felt hat 2 in 
 the market-place as a signal for the commencement of hos- 
 tilities. Some of the Helots betrayed the plot, but the 
 government found it difficult to resist them by force, for they 
 were many, and all unanimous, and looked upon each other 
 as brothers ; those in authority therefore commanded such as 
 were appointed to raise the signal, to depart out of the 
 market-place ; when they therefore perceived that their plot 
 
 1 Statius, lib. 4, Theb., thus mentions Ithome, 
 
 " Planaque Messenai montanaque nutrit Ilhome." 
 ACIKWVIKOC. 
 
B. vi. c. in. $ 4. ITALY. IAPYGIA. TARENTUM. 427 
 
 was disclosed they desisted, and the Lacedaemonians per- 
 suaded them, through the instrumentality of their fathers, to 
 leave the country and colonize: and advised them, if they 
 should get possession of a convenient place, to abide in it, but 
 if not, they promised that a fifth part of Messenia should be 
 divided amongst them on their return. So they departed and 
 found the Greeks carrj ing on hostilities against the barba- 
 rians, and taking part in the perils of the war, they obtained 
 possession of Tarentum, which they colonized. 
 
 4. At one time, when the government of the Tarentines 
 had assumed a democratic form, they rose to great importance ; 
 for they possessed the greatest fleet of any state in those parts, 
 and could bring into the field an army of 30,000 foot and 
 3000 horse, exclusive of a select body of 1000 cavalry called 
 Hipparchi. 1 They likewise encouraged the Pythagorean phi- 
 losophy, and Archytas, who for a long time presided over the 
 government of their state, gave it his special support. 2 But 
 at a later period their luxury, which was produced by their 
 prosperity, increased to that degree that their general holidays 
 or festivals exceeded in number the days of the year ; and hence 
 arose an inefficient government, and as one proof of their un- 
 statesmanlike acts we may adduce their employment of foreign 
 generals ; for they sent for Alexander, 3 king of the Molossi, 
 to come and assist them against the Messapii and Leucani. 
 They had before that employed Archidamus, the son of 
 Agesilaus; 4 afterwards they called in Cleonymus 5 and Aga- 
 thocles, 6 and later, when they rose against the Romans, Pyr- 
 rhus. 7 They were not able even to retain the respect of those 
 whom they had invited, but rather merited their disgust. 
 Alexander [of Epirus] was so displeased with them that he 
 endeavoured to remove the seat of the general council of the 
 Greek states in Italy, which was accustomed to assemble at 
 Heraclea, a city of the Tarentines, to a city of the Thurii ; 
 and he commanded that some place on the river Acalandrus, 8 
 
 See Heyne, Opusc. Acad. torn. ii. p. 223, not. h. 
 
 He is said to have entertained Plato during his sojourn here. Archy- 
 tas flourished about the commencement of the fourth century B. c., and 
 was still living in the year 349 B. c. 
 
 About 332 or 339 B. c. See Heyn. Opusc. Acad. torn. ii. p. 141. 
 
 About 338 B. c. s About 303 B. c. 6 About 330 B. c. 
 
 About 281 B. c. 
 
 Cramer, in his Ancient Italy, has very justly remarked that the name 
 
428 STRABO. CASATJB. 281. 
 
 commodious for their meetings, should be properly fortified for 
 their reception. And indeed they say that the misfortune l 
 of that prince was chiefly due to a want of good feeling on 
 their part. They were deprived of their liberty during the 
 wars 2 of Hannibal, but have since received a Roman colony, 3 
 and now live in peace and are in a more prosperous state 
 than ever. They also engaged in war with the Messapii 
 concerning Heraclea, when they counted the kings of the 
 Daunii and of the Peucetii as allies. 4 
 
 5. The remainder of the country of the lapygii is very fair, 
 notwithstanding unfavourable appearances ; for although, for 
 the most part, it appears rugged, yet when it is broken up 
 the soil is found to be deep ; and although it lacks water, yet 
 it appears well-suited for pasture, and is furnished with trees. 
 At one time it was thickly inhabited throughout its whole 
 extent, and possessed thirteen cities, but now it is so depopu- 
 lated that, with the exception of Tarentum and Brentesium, 5 
 they only deserve the name of hamlets. They say that the 
 Salentini are a colony of Cretans. Here is the temple of 
 Minerva, 6 which formerly was rich, and the rock called 
 Acra lapygia, 7 which juts out far into the sea towards the 
 rising of the sun in winter, 8 and turning, as it were, towards 
 
 of the small river Calandro, which discharges itself into the sea a little 
 below Capo di Roseto, bears some affinity to the river Acalandrus men- 
 tioned by Strabo. However, some have thought it identical with the 
 Salandrella and the Fiume di Roseto, while Cluverius was of opinion 
 that we should here read KvXivrapvog instead of 'AicdXavdpog, and iden- 
 tify it with the modern Racanello. 
 
 1 326 B. c. 2 209 B. c. 3 124 B. c. 
 
 * Some suspect this last sentence to be an interpolation ; certain it is 
 that there is great difficulty in finding a time to correspond with all the 
 circumstances contained in it. According to M. Heyne, this war must 
 have taken place 474 B. c., but then Heraclea was not founded till 436 
 B. c. It seems too that the people of lapygia had kings as late as 480 B. c. 
 
 5 Brundusium, now Brindisi. 
 
 ' Castro. This temple is now changed into the church of Sancta 
 Maria in finibus terrae. See Capmart. de Chaupy, torn. iii. page 529. 
 
 7 Capo di Leuca. Pliny, lib. iii. cap. 11, says, Inde promontorium 
 quod Acran lapygian vocant, quo longissime in maria procurrit Italia. 
 The Promontorium lapygium, or Sallentinum, presented a conspicuous 
 landmark to mariners sailing from Greece to Sicily. The fleets of Athens, 
 after passing the Peloponnesus, are represented on this passage as usually 
 making for Corcyra, from whence they steered straight across to the 
 promontory, and then coasted along the south of Italy for the remainder 
 of the voyage. 8 The south-east. 
 
s. vi. c. in. 5. ITALY. IAPYGIA. TARENTUM. 429 
 
 Cape Lacinium, which lies opposite to it on the west, it closes 
 the entrance of the Gulf of Tarentum, as on the other side, 
 the Ceraunian Mountains, together with the said Cape, close 
 the entrance of the Ionian Gulf, the run across is about 700 
 stadia from that, 1 both to the Ceraunian Mountains and to 
 Cape Lacinium. 2 In coasting along the shore from Tarentum 
 to Brentesium there are 600 stadia as far as the little city of 
 Baris, which is at the present time called Veretum, 3 and is 
 situated on the extremities of the Salentine territory ; the ap- 
 proach to it from Tarentum is much easier on foot 4 than by 
 sea. Thence to Leuca are 80 stadia ; this too is but a small 
 village, in which there is shown a well of fetid water, and the 
 legend runs, that when Hercules drove out the last of the 
 giants from Phlegra in Campania, who were called Leuter- 
 nians, some fled and were buried here, and that from their 
 blood a spring issues to supply the well ; on this account 
 likewise the coast is called the Leuternian coast. 5 From 
 Leuca to Hydrus, 6 a small town, 150 stadia. From thence to 
 Brentesium 400, and the like distance also [from Hydrus] to 
 the island Saso, 7 which is situated almost in the midst of the 
 course from Epirus to Brentesium ; and therefore when ves- 
 sels are unable to obtain a direct passage they run to the left 
 from Saso to Hydrus, and thence watching for a favourable 
 wind they steer towards the haven of Brentesium, or the 
 passengers disembarking proceed on foot by a shorter way 
 through Rudia3, a Grecian city, where the poet Ennius was 
 born. 8 The district which we have followed by sea from 
 
 1 The Acra lapygia. 2 See notes to page 393 of this translation. 
 
 3 Cramer remarks that Veretum is still represented by the old church 
 of S. Maria di Vereto. 
 
 4 That is, on land. 
 
 5 Scylax, Peripl. p. 5, speaks of the Leuterni as a really existing people. 
 
 6 Now Otranto. Lucan, book v. verse 374, speaking of the little 
 river Idro which runs close to Otranto, says, 
 
 Et cunctas revocare rates, quas avius Hydrus, 
 
 Antiquusque Taras, secretaque litora Leucae. 
 
 Quas recipit Salapina palus, et subdita Sipus 
 
 Montibus. 
 
 And Cicero, writing of the town to Tyro, book xvi. epistle 9, says of his 
 voyage from Cassiope, Inde Austro lenissimo, coelo sereno, nocte ilia et 
 die postero in Italiam ad Hydruntem ludibundi pervenimus. This place 
 was called Hydruntum by Pliny and other authors. 
 
 7 Now Saseno, distant 35 minutes from Otranto. 8 B. c. 239. 
 
430 STRABO. CASATJB. 282. 
 
 Tarentum to Brentesium is like a peninsula. The road by 
 land from Brentesium to Tarentum is but a day's journey for 
 a light person on foot, it constitutes the isthmus of the said 
 peninsula, which people in general call Messapia, lapygia, 
 Calabria, or Salentinum, without being at all particular ; but 
 some, as we have said before, do make a distinction. Thus 
 have we described the towns on the sea-coast. 
 
 6. In the inland are Rudia3 and Lupiae, and at a short dis- 
 tance from the sea Aletia ; l about the middle of the isthmus 
 is Uria, 2 in which is still shown the palace of a certain famous 
 nobleman. 3 As Hyria 4 is described by Herodotus as situated 
 in lapygia, and as founded by the Cretans who strayed from 
 the fleet of Minos while sailing to Sicily; 5 we must suppose 
 that he meant either this place [Uria] or Veretum. It is 
 said that a colony of Cretans settled in Brentesium, 6 but the 
 tradition varies ; some say they were those who came with 
 Theseus from Cnossus ; 7 others, that they were some out 
 of Sicily who had come with lapyx ; they agree however in 
 saying that they did not abide there, but went thence to Bot- 
 tiasa. At a later period, when the state was under the govern' 
 ment of a monarch, it lost a large portion of its territories, 
 which was taken by the Lacedaemonians who came over under 
 Phalanthus ; notwithstanding this the Brundusians received 
 him when he was expelled from Tarentum, and honoured him 
 with a splendid tomb at his death. They possess a district 
 of superior fertility to that of the Tarentines ; for its soil is 
 light, still it is fruitful, and its honey and wools are amongst 
 the most esteemed ; further, the harbour of Brentesium is su- 
 perior to that of Tarentum, for many havens are protected by 
 the single entrance, 8 and rendered perfectly smooth, many 
 
 1 We have followed Kramer's text in calling this place Aletia, several 
 MSS. read Salepia. Cramer, in his description of Ancient Italy, vol ii. 
 p. 316, says, Aletium is naturally supposed to have occupied the site of 
 the church of S. Maria della Lizza. It was called 'AXrjnov by Ptolemy. 
 
 2 We have followed Kramer's reading; some MSS. have 0vpeai, some 
 OvpaTai, &c. 
 
 3 lit. of a certain one of the nobles. 
 
 4 Qvpia, MSS., but a note in the French translation explains that Strabo 
 was quoting Herodotus from memory. We follow Kramer. 
 
 5 B. c. 1353. 6 Brindisi. 7 About B. c. 1323. 
 
 8 Great changes have taken place in this locality since Strabo's de- 
 scription was drawn. 
 
u. vi. c. in. $ 7. ITALY. IAPYGIA. TARENTUM. 431 
 
 bays [or reaches] being formed within it, so that it resembles 
 in fashion the antlers of a stag, whence its name, for the 
 place, together with the city, is exceedingly like the head of 
 a stag, and in the Messapian language the stag's head is called 
 Brentesium ; while the port of Tarentum is not entirely safe, 
 both on account of its lying very open, and of certain shal- 
 lows near its head. 
 
 7. Further, the course for passengers from Greece and 
 Asia is most direct to Brentesium, and in fact all who are 
 journeying to Rome disembark here. Hence there are two 
 ways to Rome ; one, which is only walked by mules, through 
 the Peucetii, who are called Poedicli, the Daunii, and the 
 Samnites, as far as Beneventum, on which road is the city 
 Egnatia, 1 then Celia, 2 Netium, 3 Canusium, 4 and Herdonia. 5 
 That through Tarentum is a little to the left, it runs about a 
 day's journey round for one traversing the whole distance ; it 
 is called the Appian Way, and is more of a carriage road than 
 the other. On it stands the city Uria, 6 andVenusia; 7 the 
 one [Uria] between Tarentum and Brentesium, the other on 
 the confines of the Samnites and Lucani. Both the roads 
 from Brentesium run into one near Beneventum and Cam- 
 pania, and thence to Rome it receives the name of Appian, 
 and runs through Caudium, 8 Calatia, 9 Capua, 10 and Casilinum, 11 
 to Sinuessa. 12 The way from thence to Rome has been al- 
 ready described. The whole length of the Appian Way from 
 Rome to Brentesium is 360 miles. 
 
 There is a third way from Rhegium, through the Bruttii, 
 Lucani, and Samnites, along the chain of the Apennines, into 
 
 1 Torre d' Agnazzo. 3 Ceglie, south of Bari. 
 
 3 Now Noja; but the identity of this place has been much canvassed. 
 
 4 Canosa. 
 
 5 Now Ordona, about twelve miles to the east of ^Eca, now Troja. 
 Livy records the defeat of the Roman forces at this place in two suc- 
 cessive years. Hannibal removed the inhabitants and fired the town, 
 (Livy xxvii. 1,) but it was subsequently repaired, and is noticed by 
 Frontinus as Ardona. Ptolemy and Silius Italicus, viii. 568, mention it 
 as Herdonia 
 
 quosque 
 
 Obscura inculsis Herdonia misit ab agris. 
 
 6 Oria. 7 Venosa. 8 Paolisi. B Le Galazze 
 10 S. Maria di Capoa. " Capoa Nova.- 
 
 12 Monte Dragone, or Mondragone. 
 
432 STRABO. CASAUB. 283. 
 
 Campania, where it joins the Appian Way ; ! it is longer than 
 those from Brentesium by about three or four days' journey. 
 
 8. From Brentesium the sea is traversed by two passages 
 to the opposite coast, one crossing to the Ceraunian 2 Moun- 
 tains and the adjacent coasts of the Epirus and Greece, the 
 other to Epidamnus, 3 which is the longer 4 of the two, being 
 1800 5 stadia. Still this is habitually traversed, on account 
 of the situation of the city [Epidamnus] being convenient 
 for the nations of Illyria and Macedonia. As we coast along 
 the shore of the Adriatic from Brentesium we come to the 
 city Egnatia, 6 it is the general place to stop at for those tra- 
 velling to Barium, 7 as well by land as by sea. The run is 
 made when the wind blows from the south. The territory 
 of the Peucetii extends as far as this along the coast, in the 
 interior of the land it reaches as far as Silvium. 8 It is through- 
 out rugged and mountainous, and chiefly occupied by the 
 Apennine mountains. It is thought to have been colonized 
 by a party of Arcadians. The distance from Brentesium to 
 Barium is about 700 stadia. [Tarentum] is about equally 
 distant from both. 9 The Daunii inhabit the adjoining dis- 
 trict, then the Apuli as far as the Phrentani. As the in- 
 habitants of the district, except in ancient times, have never 
 been particular in speaking of the Peucetii or Daunii precisely, 
 and as the whole of this country is now called Apulia, the 
 boundaries of these nations are necessarily but ill denned : 
 wherefore we ourselves shall not be very exact in treating of 
 them. 
 
 1 At Capua,, now S. Maria di Capua. 
 
 2 Eustathius explains that those mountains were called Ceraxmian 
 from the frequent falling of thunderbolts upon them. Td Ktpavvia oorj, . 
 ovTO) KaXov^tva Sid TO GVXVOVQ iictl Tr'nrrtiv KtoavvovQ. 
 
 3 Durazzo. 
 
 4 It seems as if some words had been skipped in this place, for we 
 should expect to have the distance of the other passage to the Ceraunian 
 Mountains, but Strabo no where mentions it. 
 
 5 M. Gossellin seems to think we should here read 800 and not 1800 
 stadia ; but Kramer reckons it improbable. Groskurd concurs essentially 
 with the opinion of M. Gossellin, and translates it something as follows : 
 " for it is 1000, while the former is 800 stadia across." 
 
 6 Now Torre d' Agnazzo. 7 Bari. 
 
 8 Silvium was situated on the Appian Way. Holstenius and Pratilli 
 agree in fixing its position at Garagnone, about 15 miles to the south-west 
 of Venosa. Holsten. Adnot. p. 281. Pratilli, Via Appia, 1. iv. c. 7. 
 
 9 About 310 stadia. 
 
B. vi. c. in. 9. ITALY. APULIA. 433 
 
 9. From Barium to the river Ofanto, 1 on which the Canu- 
 sitre have established an emporium, there are 400 2 stadia. 
 The course up the river to the emporium is 90 [stadia]. Near 
 it is Salapia, 3 the port of the Argyrippeni. For the two cities, 
 Canusium and Argyrippa, are situated at no great distance from 
 the sea, and in the midst of a plain ; at one time they were 
 the most important cities of the Greeks of Italy, as is manifest 
 from the circumference of their walls, but now they have 
 fallen off. One of them was originally called Argos Hippium, 
 then Argyrippa, and then again Arpi. They are said to have 
 been both founded by Diomed, and both the plain of Diomed 
 and many other things are shown in these districts as evidence 
 of his having possessed them. Such were the ancient offerings 
 in the temple of Minerva, at Luceria. 4 That was an ancient 
 city of the Daunii, but now it is of no account. Again, in 
 the neighbouring sea there are two islands called the Diome- 
 dean islands, one of which is inhabited, but the other, they 
 say, is desert : in the latter it is fabled that Diomed dis- 
 appeared from the earth, and that his companions were trans- 
 formed into birds, 5 and indeed the fable goes so far as to pro- 
 long their race to the present time, saying that they are tame, 
 and lead a sort of human life, both in respect of food, and 
 their readiness to approach men of gentle manners, and to 
 shun the evil and wanton. We have already noticed 6 what 
 is currently reported amongst the Heneti concerning this hero 
 [Diomed] and the honours decreed to him by custom. It is 
 thought also that Sipus 7 was a settlement founded by Diorned, 
 
 1 The Aufidus, celebrated by Horace, Od. iv. 9, 
 
 " Ne forte credas interitura, quae 
 Longe sonantem natus ad Aufidum, 
 Non ante vulgatas per artes 
 
 Verba loquor socianda chordis." 
 
 2 M. Gossellin considers this rather too much, and supposes 315 stadia 
 would be nearer the truth. 
 
 3 Ruins now called Salpi. * Now Lucera, 
 
 5 See book v. c. 1, 9, p. 320. Ptolemy makes these five, which is 
 the number of the isles of Tremiti at present, if we include in the group 
 three barren rocks, which scarce deserve the name of islands. One was 
 called Diomedea by Pliny, and Tremitus by Tacitus, who states that 
 Augustus appointed it as the prison of his grand-daughter Julia; the 
 second was called Teutria. The largest is at present called Isola San 
 Domino, the other Isola San Nicolo. 6 Book v. c. i. 9, p. 320. 
 
 7 Siponto, a place in ruins near Manfredonia. 
 
 VOL. 1. 2 F 
 
434 STRABO. CASAUB. 284. 
 
 it is distant from Salapia about 140 stadia, and was called by 
 the Greeks Sepius, from the numbers of cuttle fish ' thrown 
 up by the sea along its shore. Between Salapia and Sipus is 
 a navigable river, and a considerable estuary ; by both of 
 these channels the merchandise, and wheat especially, of 
 Sipus is conveyed to the sea. Two heroa or shrines are shown 
 on a hill of Daunia, called Drium, one on the very brow of 
 the hill sacred to Calchas, those who are about to inquire of 
 the oracle offer a black ram to him, and sleep upon the fleece, 
 the other below near the foot of the hill is dedicated to Poda- 
 lirius, it is about a hundred stadia distant from the sea ; from 
 this hill also flows a stream, 2 which is a potent cure for all 
 manner of diseases among cattle. 3 The promontory of Gar- 
 ganum 4 running into the sea, juts out from this bay about 300 
 stadia. 5 As you turn the point you perceive the town of 
 Urium, 6 while off the headland are seen the Diomedean islands. 
 All this coast produces everything in great abundance, it is 
 exceedingly well adapted for horses and sheep, and the wool 
 is finer than that of Tarentum, but less glossy. The district 
 is mild on account of the cup-like situation of the plains. 
 There are some who report that Diomed attempted to cut a 
 canal to the sea, but being sent for to return home, where he 
 died, left it incomplete, as well as other undertakings. This 
 is one account of him : another makes him abide here till the 
 end of his days ; a third is the fable I have already noticed, 
 that he vanished in the island [of Teutria], and one might 
 reckon as a fourth that of the Heneti, 7 for they somehow 
 make out that* he finished his career among them, as they 
 
 1 Sestini describes a gold coin belonging to this city, on which the 
 emblem of a cuttle fish in Greek, <rr]Tria, is apparent. The legend is 
 2i7ro. Sestini descrizione d' una Med. p. 16. 
 
 2 Lycophron calls this stream by the name of Altheenus. 
 
 3 Groskurd is of opinion that some words to the following effect have 
 been accidentally lost from this place, viz. " The coast of Daunia forms 
 an extensive bay about these parts." 
 
 4 Now Punta di Viesti. Strabo seems to have considered the whole 
 of the extensive neck of land lying between the bay of Rodi and that of 
 Manfredonia, as the Garganum Promontorium. Lucan, v. 380, thus 
 describes its prominence, 
 
 Apulus Hadriacas exit Garganus in undas. 
 
 5 About 37 miles towards the east. c Rodi. 
 7 See book v. c. i. 9, p. 320. 
 
B. vi. c. m. 10. ITALY. APULIA. 435 
 
 assert his apotheosis. The distances I have thus given are 
 laid down in accordance with those of Artemidorus. 
 
 10. The chorographer indeed gives only 165 miles from 
 Brentesium 1 to Garganum, but Artemidorus makes them 
 more. 2 Thence to Ancona, the first says there are 254 miles, 
 whilst Artemidorus has given but 1250 stadia to the Fium- 
 esino, 3 near to Ancona, which is much shorter. Polybius 
 says that from lapygia the distance has been laid down in 
 miles, and that there are 562 miles thence to the town of 
 Sila, 4 thence to Aquileia 178. These geographers do not agree 
 as to the length to be assigned to the line of the sea-coast of 
 Illyria, run from the Ceraunian Mountains 5 to the head 6 of 
 the Adriatic, some of them stating it to be above 6000 [stadia], 
 and making it longer than the opposite coast [of Italy], 
 while it is much shorter. 7 Indeed they all generally differ 
 among themselves in stating distances, as we often have occa- 
 sion to remark. Wherever it is possible to discriminate we 
 set forth what appears to us to be correct, but where it is im- 
 possible to come to any safe conclusion we think it our duty 
 to publish their several assertions. However, when we have 
 no data furnished by them, it must not be wondered at, if we 
 should leave some points untouched in treating of such and 
 so vast a subject as we have undertaken. We would not 
 indeed omit any of the important particulars, but trifling cir- 
 cumstances, even when they are noted, are of little advantage, 
 and when taken no heed of, are not missed, nor does their 
 omission at all impair the whole work, or, if it does, at most 
 not much. 
 
 1 Brindisi. 
 
 2 M. Gossellin gives a long note to show that the chorographer and 
 Artemidorus were both correct in the distances they gave, but asserts 
 that Strabo was mistaken as to the length of the stadium used by Artemi- 
 dorus, and consequently thought he saw a discrepancy between their 
 accounts. 
 
 The ancient JEsis. 
 
 We think, with Kramer, that Sena Gallica, now Sinigaglia, was the 
 city Strabo intends. 
 
 From the Capo della Linguetta, on the coast of Albania. 
 
 The town of Aquileia. 
 
 M. Gossellin suggests that Strabo omitted the coast of Istria in his 
 calculations, when he made this observation on the length of the Illyrian 
 shore, and refers to what Strabo will himself state in book vii. chap. v. 
 sections 3, 4, and 9, and to his estimate of 6150 stadia from the Cerau- 
 nian Mountains to lapygia in book ii. chap. iv. 3, p. 159. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
436 STRABO. CASAUB. 285. 
 
 11. Immediately beyond the Garganum comes a deep bay. 1 
 Those who dwell round it call themselves Apuli, 2 they speak 
 the same language as the Daunii and Peucetii, and at the 
 present time resemble them in every other particular ; however 
 it is likely that they were formerly distinct, since their names 
 completely differ from those of the others. In ancient times the 
 whole of this country was flourishing, but Hannibal and the 
 wars which subsequently occurred have wasted it. Here too 
 was fought the battle of Cannas, where there was so great a 
 slaughter of the Roman forces and their allies. 3 Near this 
 gulf there is a lake, 4 and above the lake in the interior is the 
 Apulian Teanum, 5 having a like name with that of the Sidi- 
 cini. 6 It is between this and the neighbourhood of Dicte- 
 archia 7 that the breadth of Italy is so contracted as to form 
 an isthmus of less than 1000 stadia from sea to sea. 8 Leaving 
 the lake we sail next to Buca, 9 and the country of the Fren- 
 tani. There are 200 stadia from the lake both to Buca and 
 to the Garganum. The remainder of the towns in the vicinity 
 of Buca have been before described. 10 
 
 1 Doubtless the bight between the, shore, adjacent to Peschici, to the 
 north of Viesti, and the Punta d' Asinella. 
 
 2 A note in the PVench translation observes that the Apuli, properly so 
 called, could but have occupied the shore of half this bay, for the For- 
 tore falls into it just about the centre, which river was a common bound- 
 ary between the Apuli and Frentani. 3 B. c. 216. 
 
 4 Cramer says, the lake which Strabo speaks of as being near Teanum, 
 but without mentioning its name, is called by Pliny Lacus Pontanus, 
 (iii. 11,) now Lago di Lesina. 
 
 3 The city of Teanum stood on the right bank of the Fortore, the 
 ancient Frento ; its ruins are stated to exist on the site of Civitate, about 
 a mile from the right bank of the Fortore, and ten miles from the sea. 
 Cramer, vol. ii. p. 273. 
 
 6 Now Teano, six miles from Sessa, and fifteen from Capua. 
 
 7 Pozzuolo. 
 
 8 M. Gossellin observes that from the head of the bay of Naples to the 
 shores bordering the ancient Teanum, there are 80 minutes, or 933 
 stadia of 700. 
 
 9 Romanelli is of opinion that the ruins of Buca exist at the present 
 Penna. 10 Book v. chap. iv. 2, p. 359. 
 
B. vi. c. iv. $ 1. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 437 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. So great indeed is Italy, and much as we have described 
 it ; we will now advert to the chief of the many things that 
 have been described, which have conduced to raise the Romans 
 to so great a height of prosperity. One point is its insular 
 position, by which it is securely guarded, the seas forming a 
 natural protection around it with the exception of a very in- 
 considerable frontier, which too is fortified by almost im- 
 passable mountains. A second is, that there are but few 
 harbours, and those few capacious and admirably situated. 
 These are of great service both for enterprises against foreign 
 places, and also in case of invasions undertaken against the 
 country, and the reception of abundant merchandise. And a 
 third, that it is situated so as to possess many advantages of 
 atmosphere and temperature of climate, in which both animals 
 and plants, and in fact all things available for sustaining life, 
 may be accommodated with every variety both of mild and 
 severe temperature ; its length stretches in a direction north 
 and south. Sicily, which is extensive, may be looked upon as 
 an addition to its length, for we cannot consider it in any other 
 light than as a part of it. The salubrity or severity of the 
 atmosphere of different countries, is estimated by the amount 
 of cold or heat, or the degrees of temperature between those 
 extremes ; in this way we shall find that Italy, which is situ- 
 ated in the medium of both the extremes, and having so great 
 a length, largely participates in a salubrious atmosphere, and 
 that in many respects. This advantage is still secured to it 
 in another way, for the chain of the Apennines extending 
 through its whole length, and leaving on each side plains and 
 fruitful hills, there is no district which does not participate in 
 the advantages of the best productions both of hill and plain. 
 We must also enumerate the magnitude and number of its 
 rivers and lakes, and the springs of hot and cold waters sup- 
 plied by nature in various localities for the restoration of 
 health ; and in addition to these, its great wealth in mines of 
 all the metals, abundance of timber, and excellent food both 
 for man and for beasts of all kinds. Italy, likewise, being 
 situated in the very midst of the greatest nations, I allude to 
 Greece and the best provinces of Asia, is naturally in a posi- 
 
438 STRABO. CASATJB. 286. 
 
 tion to gain the ascendency, since she excels the circumjacent 
 countries both in the valour of her population and in extent 
 of territory, and by being in proximity to them seems to have 
 been ordained to bring them into subjection without difficulty. 
 2. If, in addition to our description of Italy, a few words 
 should be summarily added about the Romans who have pos- 
 sessed themselves of it, and prepared it as a centre from 
 whence to enforce their universal dominion, we would offer 
 the following. The Romans, after the foundation of their 
 state, discreetly existed as a kingdom for many years, till 
 Tarquin, the last [Roman king], abused his power, when they 
 expelled him, and established a mixed form of government, 
 being a modification both of the monarchical and aristo- 
 cratical systems ; they admitted both the Sabines l and Latins 2 
 into their alliance, but as neither they nor the other neigh- 
 bouring states continued to act with good faith towards them 
 at all times, they were under the necessity of aggrandizing 
 themselves by the dismemberment of their neighbours. 3 Hav- 
 ing thus, by degrees, arrived at a state of considerable 
 importance, it chanced that they lost their city suddenly, 
 contrary to the expectation of all men, and again recovered 
 the same contrary to all expectation. 4 This took place, ac- 
 cording to Polybius, in the nineteenth year after the naval 
 engagement of ^Egos-potami, 5 about the time of the con- 
 clusion of the peace of Antalcidas. 6 Having escaped these 
 misfortunes, the Romans first reduced all the Latins 7 to com- 
 plete obedience, they then subdued the Tyrrheni, 8 and stayed 
 the Kelts, who border the Po, from their too frequent and 
 licentious forays ; then the Samnites, and after them they 
 conquered the Tarentines and Pyrrhus, 9 and presently after 
 the remainder of what is now considered as Italy, with the 
 exception of the districts on the Po. While these still re- 
 mained a subject of dispute they passed over into Sicily, 10 and 
 having wrested that island from the Carthaginians n they re- 
 in the year 747 B. c. 2 In the year 594 B. c. 
 The Latins were first subjected in 499 B. c., but not totally subju- 
 ga ed ; the Sabines were almost annihilated in the war which happened 
 about 450 B. c. 
 
 See Polyb. Hist, book i. chap. vi. 1, edit. Schweigh, torn. i. p. 12. 
 This battle was fought in the year 405 B. c. 
 
 Concluded 387 B. c. 7 About 338 B. c. 8 About 310 B. c. 
 About 275 B. c. lo In the year 264 B. c. " In the year 241 B. c. 
 
B. vi. c. iv. $ 2. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 439 
 
 turned to complete the conquest of the people dwelling along 
 the Po. While this war was still in hand Hannibal entered 
 Italy, 1 thus the second war against the Carthaginians ensued, 
 and after a very short interval the third, in which Carthage 
 was demolished. 2 At the same time the Romans became 
 masters of Africa, 3 and of such portions of Spain as they won 
 from the Carthaginians. Both the Greeks and the Macedo- 
 nians, and the nations of Asia who dwelt on the hither side 
 of the river Kisil-Irmak 4 and the Taurus, took part in these 
 struggles with the Carthaginians: over these Antiochus 5 was 
 king, and Philip and Perseus, 6 these therefore the Romans 
 found themselves obliged to subdue. The people likewise of 
 Illyria and Thrace, who were next neighbours to the Greeks 
 and Macedonians, at this time commenced the war with the 
 Romans that never ceased, until the subjugation of all the 
 people who inhabit the countries on the hither side of the 
 Danube 7 and the Kisil-Irmak 4 had been effected. The 
 Iberians, and Kelts, and all the rest who are subject to the 
 Romans, shared a similar fate, for the Romans never rested in 
 the subjugation of the land to their sway until they had en- 
 tirely overthrown it : in the first instance they took Numantia, 8 
 and subdued Viriathus, 9 and afterwards vanquished Sertorius, 10 
 and last of all the Cantabrians, 11 who were brought to subjec- 
 tion by Augustus Cassar. 12 Likewise the whole of Gaul both 
 within and beyond the Alps with Liguria were annexed at first 
 by a partial occupation, but subsequently divus Caesar and 
 then Augustus subdued them completely in open war, so that 
 now 13 the Romans direct their expeditions against the er- 
 mans from these countries as the most convenient rendezvous, 
 and have already adorned their own country with several 
 triumphs over them. Also in Africa all that did not belong 
 to the Carthaginians has been left to the charge of kings 
 owning dependence on the Roman state, while such as have 
 attempted to assert their independence have been overpowered. 
 At the present moment both Maurusia and much of the rest 
 
 1 218 B. c. 2 146 B. c. 3 Aifivij. * The ancient Halys. 
 
 5 Antiochus ceded Asia Minor in the year B. c. 189, 
 
 6 Perseus was taken in the year B. c. 167. 7 Ister. 
 8 In the year B. c. 133. 9 In the year B. c. 140. 
 
 10 B. c. 72. The inhabitants of Biscay. l2 B. c. 19. 
 
 13 About A. D. 17 or 18. 
 
440 STRABO. CASAUB. 288. 
 
 of Africa have fallen to the portion of Juba ] on account of 
 his good will and friendship towards the Romans. The like 
 things have taken place in Asia. At first it was governed by 
 kings who were dependent on the Romans, and afterwards 
 when their several lines of succession failed, as of that of the 
 kings Attalus, 2 the kings of the Syrians, 3 the Paphlagonians, 4 
 Cappadocians, 5 and Egyptians, 6 [or] when they revolted and 
 were subsequently deposed, as it happened in the case of 
 Mithridates Eupator, and Cleopatra of Egypt, the whole of 
 their territories within the Phasis 7 and the Euphrates, 8 with 
 the exception of some tribes of Arabs, were brought com- 
 pletely under the dominion of the Romans and the dynasties 
 set up by them. The Armenians and the people who lie be- 
 yond Colchis, both the Albani and Iberians, require nothing 
 more than that Roman governors should be sent among them, 
 and they would be easily ruled ; their attempted insurrections 
 are merely the consequence of the want of attention from the 
 Romans, who are so much occupied elsewhere: the like may be 
 asserted of those who dwell beyond the Danube, 9 and inhabit 
 the banks of the Euxine, excepting only those who dwell on the 
 
 1 From this expression we may gather that Strabo wrote this 6th Book 
 of his Geography during the life-time of Juba, and, as we shall presently 
 see, about A. D. 18; while he did not compile the 17th Book till after 
 Juba's death, which must have taken place before A. D. 21. See M. 
 i' Abb6 Sevin, Rech. sur ia Vie, &c., de Juba, Ac. des Inscr. et Belles- 
 Lettres, vol. iv. Mem. p. 462. 
 
 2 Attalus III., king of Pergamus, died 133 B. c., and constituted the 
 Roman people his heir. 
 
 3 We may here observe that the Seleucidae ceased to reign in Syria as 
 early as 83 B. c., when that country, wearied of their sad dissensions, 
 willingly submitted to Tigranes the king of Armenia, but their race was 
 not extinct, and even in the year 64 B. c. when Pompey made the king- 
 dom a Roman province, there were two princes of the Seleucidse, An- 
 tiochus Asiaticus and his brother Seleucus-Cybiosactes, who had an 
 hereditary right to the throne ; the latter however died about 54 B. c., and 
 in him terminated the race of the Seleucidae. 
 
 4 The race of the kings of Paphlagonia became extinct about 7 B. c. 
 See M. P Abbe" Belley, Diss. sur P ere de Germanicopolis, &c. Ac. des 
 Inscr. et Belles- Lettres, vol. xxx. Mem. p. 331 . 
 
 5 The royal race of Cappadocia failed about 91 B. c. 
 
 6 The race of the Lagidae terminated with Ptolemy Auletes, who died 
 44 B. c., leaving two daughters, Cleopatra and Arsinoe. Ptolemy Apion 
 died 96 B. c. ; he left Cyrene, whereof he was king, to the Roman people. 
 
 7 Now the Fasz or Rion. 3 The Forat, Ferat, or Frat. 
 9 The ancient Ister. 
 
B. vi. c. iv. 2. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 441 
 
 Bosphorus l and the Nomades ; 2 of these the former are in sub- 
 jection to the Romans, and the latter are unprofitable for com- 
 merce on account of their wandering life, and only require to be 
 watched. The rest of the countries [of Asia] are chiefly in- 
 habited by Scenites 3 and Nomades who dwell at a great dis- 
 tance. The Parthians indeed border on them and are very 
 powerful, but they have yielded so far to the superiority of 
 the Romans and our emperors, that they have not only sent 
 back 4 to Rome the trophies which they had at a still more 
 distant period taken from the Romans, but Phraates has even 
 sent his sons and his sons' sons to Augustus Csesar, as 
 hostages, assiduously courting his friendship : 5 indeed the 
 [Parthians] of the present time frequently send for a king 
 from hence, 6 and are almost on the point of relinquishing all 
 power to the Romans. We now see Italy, which has frequently 
 been torn by civil war even since it came under the dominion of 
 the Romans, nay, even Rome herself, restrained from rushing 
 headlong into confusion and destruction by the excellence of 
 her form of government and the ability of her emperors. 
 Indeed it were hard to administer the aftairs of so great an 
 empire otherwise than by committing them to one man as a 
 father. 7 For it would never have been in the power of the 
 Romans and their allies to attain to a state of such perfect 
 peace, and the enjoyment of such abundant prosperity, as 
 Augustus Czesar afforded them from the time that he took 
 upon himself the absolute authority; and which his son Tibe- 
 rius, who has succeeded him, still maintains, who takes his 
 father for a pattern in his government and ordinances. And 
 in their turn his sons, Germanicus and Drusus, 8 who are ex- 
 ercising the functions of government under their father, take 
 him for their model. 
 
 1 Strabo -will relate in book vii. chap. iv. 4, that after the defeat of 
 Mithridates Eupator they became subject to the Romans. 
 
 2 See more as to these people in book vii. chap. iii. 17. 
 
 3 Inhabitants of tents. 4 In the year 20 B. c. See book xvi. 
 chap. i. 28. 5 Compare Tacitus, Annales, lib. ii. 1. 
 
 6 As Vonones, mentioned by Tacitus in his second book. 
 
 7 Compare the words of Tacitus, Annal. lib. i. 9, Non aliud dis- 
 cordantis patriae remedium fuisse, quam ut ab uno regeretur. 
 
 8 Germanicus was appointed to take charge of the East in A. D. 17, in 
 18 he took possession of his government, and died in 19. Drusus was in 
 command of the armies of Germany in A. D. 17. Thus we may safely 
 conclude this 6th book of Strabo's Geography to have been written in 
 A. D. 18. 
 
BOOK VII. 
 
 GERMAKY. THE CIMBRI, GETJE, DACI. MOUTHS OF THE DANUBE. THE 
 TAURICA CHERSONESUS, ILLYRICUM, HUNGARY, EPIRUS, DODONA, MACE- 
 DONIA, THRACE. THE HELLESPONT. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 In the Seventh Book Strabo describes the remaining portions of Europe. 
 That on the east is the country beyond the Rhine, as far as the Don 1 and 
 the mouth of the Sea of Azof ; 2 and on the south, that which the 
 Danube 3 bounds, lying between the Adriatic and the left shores of the 
 Euxine, as far as Greece and the Sea of Marmora, 4 including the whole 
 of Macedonia. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. WE have described Spain and the Keltic nations, to- 
 gether with Italy and the islands adjacent, and must now 
 speak of the remaining portions of Europe, dividing it in the 
 best way we can. That which remains is, on the east, all 
 the country beyond the Rhine, as far as the Don and the 
 mouth of the Sea of Azof; and, on the south, that which 
 the Danube bounds, lying between the Adriatic and the left 
 shores of the Euxine, as far as Greece and the Sea of Mar- 
 mora, for the Danube, which is the largest of the rivers of 
 Europe, divides the whole territory of which we have spoken, 
 into two portions. This river from its commencement flows 
 southwards, then, making a sudden turn, continues its course 
 from west to east, which [terminates] in the Euxine Sea, 
 It takes its rise in the western confines of Germany, not far 
 from the head of the Adriatic, being distant from it about 
 1000 stadia, 5 and falls into the Euxine near the mouths of 
 the Dniester 6 and the Dnieper, 7 inclining a little towards the 
 north. Thus the countries beyond the Rhine and Keltica are 
 situated to the north of the Danube, and are occupied by the 
 
 1 The ancient Tanais. 2 Palus Mseotis. 3 The ancient Ister. 
 
 4 The ancient Propontis. 
 
 5 Strabo, in a subsequent passage, states that the distance from the 
 Danube to the city Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic, is about 1200 
 stadia. 6 The ancient Tyras. 7 The Borysthenes. 
 
B. vii. c. i. 2, 3.] GERMANY. 443 
 
 Galatic and German tribes, as far as the territory of the 
 Bastarnoe, 1 the Tyregetae, 2 and the river Dnieper ; so also is 
 the country situated between the Dnieper, the Don, and the 
 mouth of the Sea of Azof, which on one side stretches back 
 as far as the [Northern] Ocean, 3 and on another is washed 
 by the Euxine. To the south of the Danube are situated the 
 people of Illyria and Thrace, and mixed with them certain 
 tribes of Kelts and other races, extending as far as Greece. 
 
 We will first speak of those nations to the north of the 
 Danube, for their history is less involved than that of the 
 tribes situated on the other side of the river. 
 
 2. Next after the Keltic nations come the Germans who 
 inhabit the country to the east beyond the Rhine ; and these 
 differ but little from the Keltic race, except in their being 
 more fierce, of a larger stature, and more ruddy in counte- 
 nance ; but in every other respect, their figure, their customs 
 and manners of life, are such as we have related of the 
 Kelts. 4 The Romans therefore, I think, have very appositely 
 applied to them the name " Germani," as signifying genuine ; 
 for in the Latin language Germani signifies genuine. 5 
 
 3. The first division of this country is the land extending 
 along the Rhine from its source to its embouchure. Indeed, 
 the valley of that river extends nearly as far as the whole 
 breadth of Germany on the west. Of the people who occu- 
 pied this country, some have been transplanted by the Romans 
 into Keltica, the others have retired to the interior, as the 
 Marsi ; G there are but few remaining, and some portion of them 
 
 1 The Bastarnaa were a people occupying portions of the modern Mol- 
 davia, Podolia, and the Ukraine. 
 
 2 The Tyregetae, or the Getse of the river Tyras, were a people dwell- 
 ing on the Dniester, to the south of the Bastarnae. 
 
 3 The ancient geographers supposed that the Northern Ocean extended 
 to the 56 of north latitude. Their notions of the existence of the Baltic 
 were vague. They therefore confounded it with the Northern Ocean, 
 thus making the continent of Europe to extend only to the 56 of north 
 latitude. 
 
 4 See book iv. chap. iv. 2, pp. 291, 292. 
 
 5 Strabo's words are, yvrjmot yap 01 rfp/zaroi KUTCL rr\v 'Pw/zaiW 
 Sid\iKTov. It is possible he may be endeavouring to explain that the yep 
 in Germani is equivalent to the Latin verus, " true," the wahr of modern 
 German, and that Germani signifies the true men of the country, the un- 
 doubted autochthones of Galatia or Gaul. 
 
 6 The Marsi were a people dwelling on the banks of the Ems, near 
 Munster. 
 
444 STRABO. CASATJB. 290. 
 
 are Sicambri ; l next to the inhabitants of this valley succeeds 
 the tribe dwelling between the Rhine and the river Elbe, 2 
 which river flows towards the ocean in a direction nearly 
 parallel with the Rhine, and traversing a country of no less 
 extent. There are also between these other navigable rivers, 
 such as the Ems, 3 on which Drusus defeated the Bructeri 4 in 
 a naval engagement ; all likewise flowing from south to north, 
 and falling into the ocean ; for the whole country rises to- 
 wards the south, and forms a ridge of mountains near the 
 Alps, which extends eastward as though it were a continua- 
 tion of the Alps; 5 and some have even so described it, as 
 well on account of its position as because it produces the 
 same system of vegetation ; nevertheless, the altitude of this 
 ridge in no part equals that of the Alps. Here is situated 
 the Hercynian Wood, 6 and the tribes of the Suevi, 7 some of 
 whom inhabit the forest, as do likewise some of the Quadi. 8 
 Among these latter people is situated Bujaemum, the royal 
 city of Marobodus, whither he has assembled many strangers 
 and many of the Marcomanni, a kindred nation with his own. 
 This Marobodus, from a private station, raised himself to the 
 administration of affairs after his return from Rome. For 
 he went to that city while a youth, and was patronized by 
 Augustus. After he came home, he acquired the sovereignty 
 of his country, and added to the people I have enumerated, 
 the Luji, 9 a powerful nation, and the Zumi, 10 and the Gutones ll 
 
 1 The Sicambri were located near the Menapii. See above, p. 289. 
 
 2 The Albis. 3 Amasias. 
 
 4 The name of this tribe is written variously by different authors. 
 They are supposed to have occupied the lands between the Rhine, the 
 Ems, and the Lippe, but their boundaries were very uncertain, on ac- 
 count of their continual wars. 
 
 5 This refers to the chain of mountains which, running from the north 
 of Switzerland, traverses Wurtemberg, Franconia, Bohemia, Moravia, 
 and joins Mount Krapak. 
 
 6 The Hercynian Wood, or Black Forest, was either one or a succes- 
 sion of continuous forests, extending from the banks of the Rhine to the 
 confines of Persia and Bactriana. 
 
 7 The Suevi occupied a considerable portion of Germany, to the north 
 and east of Bohemia. 
 
 8 Coldui manuscripts. Kramer agrees with Cluverius in this instance, 
 and we have followed Kramer's text. 9 The Lugii of Tacitus. 
 
 10 Zeus thinks these were the Burri of Dio Cassius, Ixviii. 8. See 
 Zeus, Die Deutschen, &c., p. 126. 
 
 11 Kramer has Tovrutvas, although the MSS. have Bourwi/af. He is 
 
B. vii. c. i. 4. GERMANY. 445 
 
 and Mugilones and Sibini, besides the Seranones, another con- 
 siderable tribe of the Suevi. As I have previously stated, a 
 portion of the Suevi dwells within the Forest, while another 
 portion occupies the territory beyond, on the frontiers of the 
 Getae ; wherefore the nation of the Suevi is the most con- 
 siderable, as it extends from the Rhine as far as the Elbe, 
 arid even a part of them, as the Hermonduri and the Lango- 
 bardi, inhabit the country beyond the Elbe ; but at the pre- 
 sent time these tribes, having been defeated, have retired en- 
 tirely beyond the Elbe. All these nations easily change their 
 abode, on account of the scantiness of provisions, and because 
 they neither cultivate the lands nor accumulate wealth, but 
 dwell in miserable huts, and satisfy their wants from day to 
 day, the most part of their food being supplied by the herd, 
 as amongst the nomade races, and in imitation of them they 
 transfer their households in waggons, wandering with their 
 cattle to any place which may appear most advantageous. 
 There are many other smaller German tribes, as the Cherusci, 
 Chatti, Gamabrivi, 1 Chattuarii, and next the ocean the Si- 
 cambri, Chaubi, 2 Bructeri, 3 Cimbri, Cauci, Caulci, Carnpsi- 
 ani, 4 and many others. 
 
 In the same direction with the Ems, 5 the Weser 6 and the 
 river Lippe 7 take their course, the latter, distant about 600 
 stadia from the Rhine, flows through the territory of the 
 Lesser Bructeri. And there is also the river Sala, 8 between 
 which and the Rhine Drusus Germanicus died, whilst in the 
 midst of his victories. He not only subdued the greater part 
 of the German tribes, but also the islands on the coast he 
 passed along, one amongst which is Byrchanis, 9 which he 
 took by siege. 
 
 4. All these nations became known through their wars with 
 
 led to this emendation by Cluverius and others. Cluv. Germ. Antiq. 
 lib. iii. c. 34, page 625. 
 
 1 The Gambrivii of Tacitus, Germ. cap. 2. 
 
 2 Cluverius considers these were the Chamavi. 
 
 3 We have followed Kramer's text. MSS. read Bucteri. 
 
 4 For Caulci, Campsiani, Cluverius would read Cathulci, Campsani. 
 A little further on Strabo calls the Campsiani Ampsani. 
 
 5 Amasias. 6 Visurgis. 7 Lupias. 8 Salas. 
 
 9 Borcum. Pliny calls this island Burchana, and adds, that the Ro- 
 mans gave it the name of Fabaria, on account of the beans (in Latin 
 Faba) which grow there. 
 
446 STRABO. CASATJB. 291. 
 
 the Romans, at one time submitting, at another revolting and 
 quitting their habitations ; and we should have become ac- 
 quainted with a greater number of their tribes, if Augustus 
 had permitted his generals to pass the Elbe, in pursuit of those 
 who had fled thither ; but he considered the war on hand 
 would be more easily brought to a conclusion, if he left the 
 people on the other side of the Elbe unmolested, and not by 
 attacking provoke them to make common cause with his 
 enemies. 
 
 The Sicambri inhabiting the country next the Rhine were 
 the first to commence the war, under the conduct of their 
 leader, Melon ; other nations afterwards followed their ex- 
 ample, at one time being victorious, at another defeated, and 
 again recommencing hostilities, without regard to hostages or 
 the faith of treaties. Against these people mistrust was the 
 surest defence ; for those who were trusted effected the most 
 mischief. For example, the Cherusci, and those who were 
 subject to them, amongst whom three Roman legions with 
 their general, Quintilius Varus, perished by ambush, in vio- 
 lation of the truce ; nevertheless all have received punishment 
 for this perfidy, which furnished to Germanicus the Younger 
 the opportunity of a most brilliant triumph, he leading pub- 
 licly as his captives the most illustrious persons, both men 
 and women, amongst whom were Segimuntus, 1 the son of 
 Segestes, the chief of the Cherusci, and his sister, named 
 Thusnelda, the wife of Armenius, who led on the Cherusci 
 when they treacherously attacked Quintilius Varus, and even 
 to this day continues the war ; likewise his son Thumelicus, 
 a boy three years old, as also Sesithacus, the son of Segime- 
 rus, 2 chief of the Cherusci, and his wife Rhamis, the daughter 
 of Ucromirus, 3 chief of the Chatti, 4 and Deudorix, the son 
 of Baetorix, the brother of Melon, of the nation of the Sicam- 
 bri ; but Segestes, the father-in-law of Armenius, from the 
 commencement opposed the designs of his son-in-law, and 
 taking advantage of a favourable opportunity, went over to 
 the Roman camp and witnessed the triumphal procession over 
 
 1 Segimundus in Tacitus, Annal. lib. i. cap. 57. 
 
 2 ^Egimerus in Tacitus, Annal. lib. i. cap. 71. 
 
 3 Acrumerus, according to the correction of Cluverius. He is Actu- 
 merus in Tacitus, Annal. lib. xi. 16, 17. 
 
 4 MSS. Batti, which Vossius reckons were the Batavi. 
 
B. vii. c. i. 5. GERMANY. 447 
 
 those who were dearest to him, he being held in honour by 
 the Romans. There was also led in triumph Libes the priest 
 of the Chatti, and many other prisoners of the various van- 
 quished nations, the Cathylci and the Ampsani, the Bructeri, 
 the Usipi, the Cherusci, the Chatti, the Chattuarii, the Landi, 1 
 the Tubattii. 2 
 
 The Rhine is distant from the Elbe about 3000 stadia, if 
 one could travel in a direct line ; but we are compelled to go 
 a circuitous route, on account of the windings of the marshes 
 and the woods. 
 
 5. The Hercynian Forest 3 is extremely dense, and over- 
 grown with very large trees, covering an immense circuit of 
 country, fortified by nature. In the midst of it is situated 
 the region well suited for habitation, of which we have spoken. 
 Near this forest are the sources of the Danube and the Rhine, 
 and the lake 4 situated between these, together with the 
 marshes formed by the Rhine. The circuit of the lake is 
 more than 300 5 stadia, and the distance across about 200. 
 In this lake is an island which served Tiberius as an arsenal, 
 in the naval war with the Vindelici. This lake is south of 
 the sources of the Danube and the Hercynian Forest, so that 
 in passing from Keltica 6 to the forest, one has first to cross 
 the lake, then the Danube, and afterwards by a more passable 
 country, and over elevated plains, you approach the forest. 
 When Tiberius had proceeded but one day's journey from the 
 lake, he came in sight of the sources of the Danube. 7 
 
 The territory of the Rhreti 8 borders some portion of this 
 lake, but the greater part of the shores belong to the Helvetii 9 
 
 1 Cluverius considers these were the Marsi of Tacitus, Annal. lib. ii. 
 cap. 25. 
 
 2 Called Tubantes by the Roman writers. 
 
 3 Schwartz Wald, or Black Forest. 4 The Lake Constance. 
 
 5 Strabo could hardly have intended 300, since the diameter of the 
 lake is given at 200. Velser conjectures that 500 or 600 would be the 
 proper reading. Its exact circumference is about 550 stadia. 
 
 6 Gossellin considers that by Keltica we are to understand Cisalpine 
 Gaul, and the neighbourhood of Milan and Mantua. 
 
 7 Gossellin says that the sources of the Danube are about 14 leagues 
 distant from the western extremity of the Lake Constance. 
 
 8 The Rhaeti possessed the countries of the Grisons and the Tyrol, ex- 
 tending to the eastern shores of the Lake Constance. 
 
 9 The Helvetii, or Swiss, possessed the southern borders of the Lake 
 Constance. 
 
448 STRABO. CASAUB. 292. 
 
 and Vindelici, 1 [the Norici come next after the Vindelici 
 in an easterly direction,] 2 and the desert of the Boii. 3 The 
 nations as far as the Pannonians, 4 but more especially the 
 Helvetii and Vindelici, inhabit high table lands. The Rhaeti 
 and the Norici, 5 verging towards Italy, extend over the very 
 summits of the Alps ; the former confining with the Insubri, 6 
 the latter the Garni, 7 and the districts about Aquileia. There 
 is likewise another great forest, named Gabreta, on this side 
 the territory of the Suevi, while beyond them lies the Her- 
 cynian Wood, which also is in their possession. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1. SOME of the accounts which we receive respecting the 
 Cimbri are not worthy of credit, while others seem likely 
 enough : for instance, no one could accept the reason given 
 for their wandering life and piracy, that, dwelling on a penin- 
 sula, they were driven out of their settlements by a very high 
 tide; 8 for they still to this day possess the country which 
 they had in former times, and have sent as a present to Au- 
 
 1 The Vindelici occupied the country on the northern borders of the 
 lake, with the regions of Swabia and Bavaria south of the Danube, and 
 reaching to the Inn. Gossellin. 
 
 2 It is evident that some words have been omitted in this place. The 
 words we have inserted are the conjecture of Cluverius and Groskurd. 
 
 3 As far as we can make out from Strabo and Pliny, book iii. cap. 27, 
 the desert of the Boii stretched along the shores of the Danube from the 
 river Inn to the mountains a little west of Vienna, which were the bound- 
 ary between the Norici and the Pannonians. This strip of land is now 
 called the Wiener-Wald, or Forest of Vienna. Doubtless it took its 
 name of Desert of the Boii on account of its contiguity to the south of 
 the country occupied by those people, and which still bears the name of 
 Bohemia. 
 
 4 The Pannonians occupied the districts of Hungary west of the Danube. 
 
 5 The Norici inhabited that part of Austria which lies between the 
 Danube and the Alps. 
 
 6 The Insubri occupied the Milanese. 
 
 7 The Garni have left their name to Carniola. 
 
 8 See also book ii. chap. 3, 6. Festus relates that the A.mbrones 
 abandoned their country on account of this tide. The Ambrones were 
 a tribe of the Helvetii, and more than once joined with the Cimbri. 
 
B. vn c. ii. 1. CIMBRI. 449 
 
 gustus the caldron held most sacred by tkem, supplicating his 
 friendship, and an amnesty for past offences ; and having ob- 
 tained their request, they returned home. Indeed, it would 
 have been ridiculous for them to have departed from their 
 country in a pet, on account of a natural and constant phe- 
 nomenon, which recurs twice every day. It is likewise evi- 
 dently a fiction, that there ever occurred an overwhelming 
 flood-tide, for the ocean, in the influences of this kind which 
 it experiences, receives a certain settled and periodical in- 
 crease and decrease. 1 Neither is it true, as has been related, 2 
 that the Cinibri take arms against the flood-tides, or that the 
 Kelts, as an exercise of their intrepidity, suffer their houses 
 to be washed away by them, and afterwards rebuild them ; 
 and that a greater number of them perish by water than by 
 war, as Ephorus relates. For the regular order the flood-tides 
 observe, and the notoriety of the extent of the country sub- 
 ject to inundation by them, could never have given occasion 
 for such absurd actions. For the tide flowing twice every 
 day, how could any one think for an instant that it was not 
 a natural and harmless phenomenon, and that it occurs not 
 only on their coasts, but on all others bordering on the ocean ? 
 Is not this quite incredible? Neither is Clitarchus to be 
 trusted, 3 when he says that their cavalry, on seeing the sea 
 flowing in, rode off at full speed, and yet scarcely escaped by 
 flight from being overtaken by the flood ; for we know, by 
 experience, that the tide does not come in with such impetu- 
 osity, but that the sea advances stealthily by slow degrees. 
 And we should think, besides, that a phenomenon of daily 
 occurrence, which would naturally strike the ear of such as 
 
 1 The French translation has happily paraphrased, not translated, this 
 passage as follows : " For although it is true that the ocean has tides of 
 more or less height, still they occur periodically, and in an order con- 
 stantly the same." 
 
 '* Aristotle, Ethics, Eudem. lib. iii. cap. 1, Nicolas of Damascus, and 
 ^Elian, Var. Histor. lib. xii. cap. 23, have attributed the like extravagant 
 proceedings to the Kelts or Gauls. Nicolas of Damascus, Reliq. pp. 
 272, 273, says that the Kelts resist the tides of the ocean with their 
 swords in their hands, till they perish in the waters, in order that they 
 may not seem to fear death by taking the precaution to fly. 
 
 3 It i3 probable that Clitarchus obtained his information from the 
 Gauls. As for the sudden influx of the tide, there are several other ex- 
 amples of the kind, in which the troops surprised were not so successful 
 in getting off. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 G 
 
450 
 
 STUABO. CASAUB. 293. 
 
 approached it, before even they could see it with their eyes, 
 could not by any means terrify them so as to put them to 
 night, as if they had been surprised by some unexpected 
 catastrophe. 
 
 2. For such fables as these, Posidonius justly blames these 
 writers, and not inaptly conjectures that the Cimbri, on ac- 
 count of their wandering life and habits of piracy, might 
 have made an expedition as far as the countries around the 
 Palus Mceotis, and that from them has been derived the name 
 of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, or what we should more cor- 
 rectly denominate the Cimbrian Bosphorus, for the Greeks 
 call the Cimbri Cimmerii. 
 
 He likewise tells us that the Boii formerly inhabited the 
 Hercynian Forest, and that the Cimbri, having made an in- 
 cursion into those parts, were repulsed by them, and driven 
 towards the Danube, and the country occupied by the Scor- 
 disci, a Galatic tribe, and from thence to the Tauristse, or 
 Taurisci, a people likewise of Galatic origin, and farther to the 
 Helvetii, who were at that time a rich and peaceful people ; 
 but, perceiving that the wealth of these freebooters far ex- 
 ceeded their own, the Helvetii, and more especially the Tigu- 
 reni and the Toygeni, associated themselves with their expe- 
 ditions. But both the Cimbri and their auxiliaries were 
 vanquished by the Romans, the one part when they crossed 
 the Alps and came down upon Italy, the others on the other 
 side of the Alps. 
 
 3. It is reported that the Cimbri had a peculiar custom. 
 They were accompanied in their expeditions by their wives ; 
 these were followed by hoary-headed priestesses, 1 clad in 
 white, with cloaks of carbasus 2 fastened on with clasps, girt 
 with brazen girdles, and bare-footed. These individuals, 
 bearing drawn swords, went to meet the captives throughout 
 the camp, and, having crowned them, led them to a brazen 
 vessel containing about 20 amphorse, and placed on a raised 
 
 1 Tacitus, De Morib. Germanor. cap. viii., says that these priestesses 
 were held in great reputation, and mentions one Veleda as " diu apud 
 plerosque numinis loco habitam." 
 
 2 Pliny, lib. xix. cap. 1, describes this carbasus as very fine flax, 
 grown in the neighbourhood of Tarragona in Spain. The Pfere Hardouin 
 considers that the carbasus or fabric manufactured of this flax was simi- 
 lar to the French batiste. The flax and the fabric were alike called 
 carbasus. 
 
n. vii. c. n. $ 4. CIMBRI. 451 
 
 platform, which one of the priestesses having ascended, and 
 holding the prisoner above the vessel, cut his throat ; then, 
 from the manner in which the blood flowed into the vessel, 
 some drew certain divinations ; while others, having opened 
 the corpse, and inspected the entrails, prophesied victory to 
 their army. In battle too they beat skins stretched on the 
 wicker sides of chariots, which produces a stunning noise. 
 
 4. As we have before stated, the northernmost of the Ger- 
 mans inhabit a' country bordering on the ocean ; but we are 
 only acquainted with those situated between the mouths of 
 the Rhine and the Elbe, of which the Sicambri 1 and Cimbri 2 
 are the most generally known : those dwelling along the coast 3 
 beyond the Elbe are entirely unknown to us ; for none of the 
 ancients with whom I am acquainted have prosecuted this 
 voyage towards the east as far as the mouths of the Caspian 
 Sea, neither have the Eomans as yet sailed coastwise beyond 
 the Elbe, nor has any one travelling on foot penetrated farther 
 into this country. But it is evident, by the climates and the 
 parallels of distances, that in following a longitudinal course 
 towards the east we must come to the countries near the 
 Dnieper, and the regions on the north side of the Euxine. 
 But as for any particulars as to Germany beyond the Elbe, 
 or of the countries which lie beyond it in order, whether we 
 should call them the Bastarnse, as most geographers suppose, 
 or whether other nations intervene, such as the Jazyges, 4 or 
 the Roxolani, 5 or any others of the tribes dwelling in waggons, 
 it is not easy to give any account. Neither can we say whe- 
 ther these nations extend as far as the [Northern] Ocean, 
 along the whole distance, or whether [between them and the 
 Ocean] there are countries rendered unfit for habitation by 
 the cold or by any other cause ; or whether men of a different 
 race are situated between the sea and the most eastern of the 
 Germans. 
 
 The same uncertainty prevails with regard to the other 
 
 1 The Sicambri, or Sugambri, dwelt to the south of the Lippe. 
 
 2 The Cimbri occupied Jutland, the ancient Cimbrica Chersonesus. 
 
 3 The shores of the Baltic. 
 
 * Gossellin places the Jazyges in the southern districts of the Ukraine, 
 between the Dniester and the Sea of Azoff. 
 
 5 Gossellin considers that the name of Russia is derived from these 
 Roxolani. 
 
 2 G 2 
 
452 STRABO. CASAUB. 294. 
 
 nations l of the north, for we know neither the Bastarnge nor 
 the Sauromatae ; 2 nor, in a word, any of those tribes situate 
 above the Euxine : we are ignorant as to what distance they 
 lie from the Atlantic, 3 or even whether they extend as far as 
 that sea. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1. As to the southern part of Germany beyond the Elbe, 
 the country which adjoins the bank of that river is now occu- 
 pied by the Suevi. Next lies the country of the Getae, at first 
 narrow, its southern side extends along the Danube, and the 
 opposite side along the mountains of the Hercynian Forest, 
 even including part of those mountains, it then becomes broader 
 towards the north, and extends as far as the Tyregetse ; how- 
 ever, we are unable to declare its boundaries with accuracy ; 
 and it is on account of our ignorance of these places that 
 those who relate fables of the RiphaBan mountains and the 
 Hyperboreans have received credit ; as also that which Py- 
 theas of Marseilles has forged concerning the countries bor- 
 dering on the Northern Ocean, making use of his acquaint- 
 ance with astronomy and mathematics to fabricate his false 
 narration : let us therefore pass over them ; as also what So- 
 phocles, speaking of Orithya in one of his tragedies, says, 
 that she, being snatched by the north wind, was carried 
 
 " Over the whole ocean, to the extremities of the earth, 
 Even to the place where night received its birth, 
 Where the opposite side of the heavens is beheld, 
 And where is situated the ancient garden of Phoebus." 
 
 This is of no value to our present inquiry, but must be omit- 
 ted, as Socrates has done in the Phredrus of Plato. We 
 will relate only what we have learnt from ancient accounts, 
 and the reports made in our times. 
 
 1 The Bastarnse and Tyregetee, mentioned in chap. i. 1, of this book, 
 to whom, in book ii. chap. v. 30, Strabo adds also the Sauromatae. 
 
 2 The Sauromatse, or Sarmatians, living to the east of the Sea of Azoff 
 and along the banks of the Don. 
 
 3 The term Atlantic was applied with much more latitude by Strabo 
 and Eratosthenes than by us. 
 
n. vn. c. in. 2. 
 
 GET^E. 453 
 
 2. The Greeks indeed considered the Geta? to be Thraci- 
 ans. They occupied either bank of the Danube, as also did 
 the Mysians, likewise a Thracian people, now called the Moesi, 
 from whom are descended the Mysians, settled between the 
 Lydians, the Phrygians, and the inhabitants of the Troad. 
 Even the Phrygians themselves are the same as the Briges, a 
 people of Thrace, as also are the Mygdones, the Bebryces, 
 the Maedobithyni, the Bithyni, the Thyni, and, as I consider, 
 also are the Mariandyni. All these people quitted Europe 
 entirely, the Mysians alone remaining. Posidonius appears 
 to me to have rightly conjectured that it is the Mysians of 
 Europe (or as I should say of Thrace) that Homer designates 
 when he says, 
 
 " and his glorious eyes 
 Averting, on the land look'd down remote 
 Of the horse-breeding Thracians, of the bold 
 Close-fighting Mysian race ...."' 
 
 For if any one should understand them as the Mysians of 
 Asia, the expression of the poet would not be fitting. For 
 this would be, that having turned his eyes from the Trojans 
 towards the land of the Thracians, he beheld at the same time 
 the land of the Mysians, situated not far off from where he 
 was, but conterminous with the Troad, rather behind it and 
 on either side, but separated from Thrace by the breadth of 
 the Hellespont. 2 This would be to confound the continents, 
 and at the same time to disregard the form of the poet's ex- 
 pression. For " to turn his eyes again," is more especially to 
 turn them behind him ; but he who extends his vision from 
 the Trojans to the people either behind them, or on either side 
 of them, stretches his sight to a greater distance, but not in 
 the least behind him. And this also is introduced as a proof 
 of this very thing, that Homer classes with these the Hippe- 
 molgi, 3 the Galactophagi, 4 and tfoe Abii, 5 who are the Scythian 
 Hamaxoeci 6 and Sarmatians ; for at this day, all these nations, 
 as well as the Bastarnae, are mixed with the Thracians, more 
 especially with those beyond the Danube, and some even with 
 
 1 But he himself turned back his shining eyes apart, looking towards 
 the land of the equestrian Thracians and the close-fighting Mysians. 
 Iliad xiii. 3. 
 
 2 The Strait of the Dardanelles. 
 
 3 Milkers of mares. 4 People who live on milk. 
 5 Devoid of riches. 6 Dwelling in waggons. 
 
454 STRABO. CASAUB. 296. 
 
 the Thracians on this side the Danube ; also amongst these 
 are the Keltic tribes of the Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci. 
 Some, indeed, call the Scordisci the Scordistae, and give to the 
 Taurisci the names of Ligurisci l and Tauristae. 
 
 3. Posidonius relates that the Mysians religiously abstain 
 from eating any thing that had life, and consequently, from 
 cattle ; but that they lived in a quiet way on honey, milk, and 
 cheese ; wherefore they are considered a religious people, and 
 called Capnobatse. 2 He adds, that there are amongst the 
 Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known 
 by the name of Ctistse. These are considered sacred and worthy 
 of honour, and live in great freedom. [He pretends] that the 
 poet comprehends the whole of these people when he says, 
 
 " and where abide, 
 
 On milk sustain'd, and blest with length of days, 
 The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind." 3 
 
 These he designates as " without life," more particularly on 
 account of their living without wives, considering their soli- 
 tary state as but -a half life ; in the same way as he likewise 
 designates the house of Protesilaus " imperfect," on account 
 of the bereavement of his widow ; in the same manner he ap- 
 plies to the Mysians the epithet of " close-fighting," on account 
 of their being invincible, like good warriors. [Finally, Posi- 
 donius pretends] that in the thirteenth 4 book of the Iliad we 
 ought to substitute for " the close-fighting Mysians," [" the 
 close-fighting Moesi."] 
 
 4. Nevertheless it would perhaps be superfluous to change 
 the text [of Homer], which has stood the test of so many 
 years. For it appears more probable to suppose that the 
 people were anciently called Mysians, but that their name 
 is now altered. Further, any one would suppose that the 
 Abii 5 were no more so named from being unmarried than 
 from their being houseless, 6 *or their dwelling in waggons. 
 
 1 Perhaps Teurisci. 
 
 2 A note in the French translation suggests that Capnobatse has some 
 connexion with the practice of intoxication by inhaling smoke, and of 
 using the vapour of linseed, burned upon red-hot stones, as a bath. See 
 Herodot. book i. chap. 202 ; book iv. chap. 75. 
 
 3 And the illustrious Hippemolgi, milk-nourished, simple in living and 
 most just men. Iliad xiii. 5. 
 
 4 Seicartt), text : but there is no doubt it should be the thirteenth. 
 
 5 People without life. 
 
 G The Greek is dvtariovs, literally " without hearths." 
 
B. vii. c. in. 4. GET^E. 455 
 
 In fact, as injustice is ordinarily committed in matters 
 relative to bonds for money and the acquisition of wealth, 
 it would be natural that the people living so frugally on 
 such small property should be called [by Homer] thejust- 
 est of mankind : and the more so as the philosophers who 
 place justice next to moderation, aim at independence of 
 others and frugality as amongst the most desirable objects of 
 attainment ; from which however some, having passed the 
 bounds of moderation, have wandered into a cynical mode of 
 life. 1 But [the words of the poet] sanction no such assertion 
 of the Thracians, and the Getas in particular, that they live 
 without wives. But see what Menander says of these people, 
 not out of his own imagination, as it, should seem, but de- 
 riving it from history. 
 
 " All the Thracians truly, and especially above all others we Getae, (for 
 I myself glory in being descended from this race,) are not very chaste." 
 
 And a little after he gives examples of their rage for women. 
 
 " For there is no one among us who marries fewer than ten or eleven 
 wives, and some have twelve, or even more. 2 If any one loses his life 
 who has only married four or five wives, he is lamented by us as unfor- 
 tunate, and one deprived of the pleasures of Hymen." 
 
 Such a one would be accounted as unmarried amongst them. 
 These things are likewise confirmed by the evidence of other 
 historians. And it is not likely that the same people should 
 regard as an unhappy life that which is passed without the 
 enjoyment of many women, and at the same time regard as a 
 dignified and holy life that which is passed in celibacy with- 
 out any women. But that those living without wives should 
 be considered holy, and termed Capnobata?, is entirely op- 
 posed to our received opinions ; for all agree in regarding 
 women as the authors of devotion to the gods, and it is they 
 
 1 Strabo does not intend by the word Kwiafibq, which he here uses, the 
 profession of a Cynic philosopher, which some of the Stoics affected in 
 consequence of their not thoroughly understanding the dogmas of Zeno, 
 the founder of their sect. It was to these ultra-Stoics that the name of 
 Stoaces [2r6acfcJ was given by way of ridicule. Athenasus, book xiii. 
 chap. 2, remarks that a like propensity to overdo the precept of the 
 teacher led the disciples of Aristippus, who recommended rational plea- 
 sures, to become mere libertines. 
 
 2 Heraclides of Pontus, page 215, gives them even as many as thirty 
 wives. 
 
456 STRABO. CASAUB. 297. 
 
 who induce the men by their example to a more attentive 
 worship of the gods, and to the observance of feast-days and 
 supplications ; for scarcely is there found a man living by 
 himself who pays any regard to such matters. And again at- 
 tend to the words of the same poet when he speaks in one of 
 his characters, bringing in a man disgusted with the expenses l 
 of the sacrifices of the women. 
 
 " The gods weary us indeed, but especially our married men, who are 
 always obliged to celebrate some feast." 
 
 And his Misogynes, complaining of the same things, exclaims, 
 
 " We sacrificed five times a day, while seven female slaves ranged in a 
 circle played on the cymbals, and others raised their suppliant cries." 
 
 It would therefore seem absurd to suppose that only those 
 among the Geta3 who remained without wives were considered 
 pious, but that the care of worshipping the Supreme Being 
 is great among this nation is not to be doubted, after what 
 Posidonius has related, " and they even abstain from animal 
 food from religious motives," as likewise on account of the 
 testimony of other historians. 
 
 5. For it is said that one of the nation of the Geta3, named 
 Zamolxis," had served Pythagoras, and had acquired with 
 this philosopher some astronomical knowledge, in addition to 
 what he had learned from the Egyptians, amongst whom he 
 had travelled. He returned to his own country, and was 
 highly esteemed both by the chief rulers and the people, on 
 account of his predictions of astronomical phenomena, and 
 eventually persuaded the king to unite him in the govern- 
 ment, as an organ of the will of the gods. At first he was 
 chosen a priest of the divinity most revered by the Getae, but 
 afterwards was esteemed as a god, and having retired into a 
 district of caverns, inaccessible and unfrequented by other 
 
 1 Kramer reads SatravaiQ, which we have rendered by " expenses," 
 but all manuscripts have aTrdraig. The French translation gives a note 
 with Koray's conjecture of dcnrdvaig, which is supported by a very simi- 
 lar passage respecting Alcibiades, where Isocrates (P. I. page 354, ed. 
 Coray) says, " He was so lavish in the sacrifices and other expenses for 
 the feast." Both the French and German translations adopt the emend- 
 ation. 
 
 2 ZaX/*otc is the reading of the Paris manuscript, No. 1393, and we 
 should have preferred it for the text, as more likely to be a Geteean name, 
 but for the circumstance of his being generally written Zamolxis. 
 
. vn. c. in. 6. GET^E. 457 
 
 men, he there passed his life, rarely communicating with any- 
 body except the king and his ministers. The king himself 
 assisted him to play his part, seeing that his subjects obeyed 
 him more readily than formerly, as promulgating his ordi- 
 nances with the counsel of the gods. This custom even 
 continues to our time ; for there is always found some one of 
 this character who assists the king in his counsels, and is 
 styled a god by the Getae. The mountain likewise [where 
 Zamolxis retired] is held sacred, and is thus distinguished, 
 being named Cogaeonus, 1 as well as the river which flows by 
 it ; and at the time when Byrebistus, against whom divus 
 Caesar prepared an expedition, reigned over the Getae, Deca3- 
 neus held that honour : likewise the Pythagorean precept to 
 abstain from animal food, which was originally introduced by 
 Zamolxis, is still observed to a great extent. 
 
 6. Any one may well entertain such questions as these 
 touching the localities mentioned by the poet [Homer], and 
 with regard to the Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi : 
 but what Apollodorus has advanced in his preface to the Ca- 
 talogue of Ships in the Second Book [of the Iliad] is by no 
 means to be adopted. For he praises the opinions of Eratos- 
 thenes, who says that Homer and the rest of the ancients 
 were well versed in every thing that related to Greece, but 
 were in a state of considerable ignorance as to places at a 
 distance, in consequence of the impossibility of their making 
 long journeys by land or voyages by sea. In support of this 
 he asserts, 2 that Homer designated Aulis as ' rocky,' as in- 
 deed it is ; Eteonus as ' mountainous and woody,' Thisbe as 
 ' abounding in doves,' Haliartus as ' grassy;' but that neither 
 Homer nor the others were familiar with localities far off; for 
 although there are forty rivers which discharge themselves 
 into the Black Sea, 3 he makes no mention whatever even of 
 the most considerable, as the Danube, 4 the Don, 5 the Dnieper, 6 
 the Bog, 7 the Phasz, 8 the Termeh, 9 the Kisil-Irmak, 10 nor does 
 
 1 D'Anville imagines that this is the modern mountain Kaszon, and 
 the little river of the same name on the confines of Transylvania and 
 Moldavia. 
 
 2 See Strabo's former remarks on this identical subject, book i. chap, 
 ii. 3, page 25. 
 
 3 tie TOV HOVTOV. 4 Ister. 5 Tanais. 6 Borysthenes. 
 7 Hypanis. 8 Phasis. Thermodon. 10 Halys. 
 
458 STRABO. CASAUB. 298. 
 
 he even allude to the Scythians, but makes up fables about 
 certain illustrious Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii. He 
 had become acquainted with the Paphlagonians of the interior 
 from the relations of such as had penetrated into those regions 
 on foot, but he was perfectly unacquainted with the sea-coasts 
 of the country ; which indeed was likely enough, for that sea 
 was in his time closed to navigation, and known by the name 
 of Pontus Axenus [or the Inhospitable] on account of the se- 
 verity of the storms to which it was subject, as well as of the 
 savage disposition of the nations who inhabited its shores, but 
 more especially of the Scythian hordes, 1 who made a practice 
 of sacrificing strangers, devouring their flesh, and using their 
 skulls for drinking-cups ; although at a subsequent period, 
 when the Ionian s had established cities along its shores, it 
 was called by the name of Pontus Euxinus [or the Hospita- 
 ble]. He was likewise in ignorance as to the natural peculi- 
 arities of Egypt and Libya, 2 as the risings of the Nile, and 
 the alluvial deposits, which he no where notices, nor yet the 
 isthmus [of Suez] which separates the Red Sea from the 
 Egyptian Sea; 3 nor yet does he relate any particulars of 
 Arabia, Ethiopia, or the Ocean, unless we should agree with 
 the philosopher Zeno in altering the Homeric line as fol- 
 lows, 
 
 " I came to the Ethiopians, the Sidonians, and the Arabians." * 
 
 Indeed we ought not to be surprised at meeting with this in 
 Homer, for those who have lived at a more recent period than 
 he did, have been ignorant of many things, and have told 
 strange tales. Hesiod has talked of Hemicynesf Megaloce- 
 phali, and Pygmies ; Alcman of Steganopodes ; ^Eschylus of 
 Cynocephali, Sternophthalmi, and Monommati, (they say it is 
 in his Prometheus,) and ten thousand other absurdities. 
 From these he proceeds to censure the writers who talk of 
 
 1 Gossellin observes, that these must have been the Scythians inhabit- 
 ing the Taurica Chersonesus, now the Crimea. The people on the oppo- 
 site or southern shore were less savage. The lonians had made settle- 
 ments amongst these as early as the sixth century B. c. 
 
 2 Africa. 3 The Mediterranean. 
 
 * Od. book iv. line 83. See Strabo's remarks on this reading of Zeno, 
 book i. chap. ii. 34, page 66. 
 
 * See the notes on these various monsters, book i. chap. ii. 35, p. 68. 
 
B. VII. C. III. 
 
 GET.E. 459 
 
 the Riphoean Mountains l and Mount Ogyium, 2 and the dwell- 
 ing of the Gorgons 3 and the Hesperides, 4 the land of Mero- 
 pis 5 mentioned by Theopompus, Cimmeris, 6 a city mentioned 
 in Hecataeus, the land of Panchasa 7 mentioned by Euhemerus, 
 and the river-stones formed of sand mentioned by Aristotle, 8 
 which were dissolved by rain-showers. Further, that there 
 exists in Africa a city of Bacchus which no one can find 
 twice. He likewise reproves those who assert that the wan- 
 derings of Ulysses mentioned in Homer were in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Sicily, for again, if we should say that the wan- 
 derings did take place in those parts, we should have to 
 confess that the poet transferred them to the ocean for the 
 sake of making his account the more romantic. Some allow- 
 ance might be made for others, but no manner of excuse can 
 be put forward for Callimachus, who pretends to the character 
 of a critic, and yet supposes that Gaudus was the island of 
 Calypso, and identifies Scheria with Corcyra. 9 Other writers 
 he blames for misstatements as to Gerena, 10 Acacesium, 11 and 
 
 1 The Riphaean Mountains were probably the chain of the Ural Moun- 
 tains, which separate Russia from Siberia. 
 
 2 This mountain is unknown. 
 
 3 The Gorgons were Stheino, Euryal, and Medusa, the daughters of 
 Phorcys and Ceto. See also book i. chap. ii. 8, page 29. 
 
 4 The Hesperides were the daughters of Night. They dwelt on an 
 island on the western edge of the world. See also Apollodorus, book ii. 
 chap. v. 11. 
 
 5 Julian, Var. Histor. book iii. chap. 18, says that Theopompus related 
 an interview between Midas, king of Phrygia, and Silenus, in which 
 Silenus reported the existence of an immense continent, larger than 
 Asia, Europe, and Africa taken together, and that amongst others a race 
 of men called Meropes occupied several extensive cities there. 
 
 6 Ephorus speaks of the Cimmerii who dwelt round the Lake Avernus. 
 See Strabo, book v. chap. iv. 5, page 263. 
 
 7 See Strabo, book ii. chap. iv. 2, page 158. 
 
 8 A note in the French translation says that this place has not been 
 identified in the works of Aristotle now remaining, and suggests that 
 there may be some error in the text. 
 
 9 See what Strabo has said on this subject in book i. chap. ii. 37, pp. 
 
 10 Strabo will speak further on the subject of Gerena in book viii. chap, 
 iii. 7, and $ 29. 
 
 11 Reference is here made to the epithet aicaicijra, which Homer applies 
 to Mercury, Iliad xvi. 185. The grammarians explain it correctly as 
 " free from evil," or " who neither does nor suffers wrong." However, 
 there were some who interpreted it differently. They maintain that 
 Mercury was so called from a cavern in Arcadia, called Acacesium, (see 
 
460 STRABO. CASAUB. 299. 
 
 the Demus 1 in Ithaca, Pelethronium 2 in Pelium, and the 
 Glaucopium at Athens. 3 With these and a few similar trifling 
 observations, most of which he has drawn from Eratosthenes, 
 whose inaccuracy we have before shown, he breaks off. How- 
 ever, we frankly acknowledge, both with respect to him 
 [Apollodorus] and Eratosthenes, that the moderns are better 
 informed on geography than the ancients : but to strain the 
 subject beyond measure, as they do, especially when they in- 
 culpate Homer, seems to me as if it gave a fair occasion to 
 any one to find fault, and to say by way of recrimination, that 
 they reproach the poet for the very things of which they 
 themselves are ignorant. As for the rest of their observa- 
 tions, particular mention is made of some of them in the 
 places where they occur, and of others in the General Intro- 
 duction. 
 
 7. It has been our wish, while discoursing of the Thracians, 
 and 
 
 " the bold 
 
 Close-fighting Mysian race, and where abide, 
 On milk sustain'd, and blest with length of days, 
 The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind," 4 
 
 Schol. in Homer, edit. Villois. pag. 382,) which was situated near Cyl- 
 lene, a mountain of Arcadia, where he was born. See Apollodor. Bibli- 
 oth. lib. iii. cap. x. 2. Hesiod, however, applies the same epithet to 
 Prometheus, (Theogon. verse 613,) who, according to the scholiast, was 
 thus designated from Acacesium, a mountain, not a cavern, of Arcadia, 
 where he was greatly revered. 
 
 1 Homer, Iliad iii. verse 201, in speaking of Ulysses, says, "Of T$d$i\ 
 iv d/7/*< 'l9a.KT)G. Some writers affirmed that the Ar}/ioc was the name of a 
 place in Ithaca, while others think it a word, and understand the passage 
 " who was bred in the country of Ithaca." On comparing this passage with 
 others, Iliad xvi. vss. 437, 514, and with a parallel expression of Hesiod, 
 Theogon. verse 971, one is greatly astonished at the ignorance and eccen- 
 tricity of those who sought to make a place Demus out of this passage 
 of Homer. 
 
 2 According to some, Pelethronium was a city of Thessaly ; according 
 to others, it was a mountain there, or even a part of Mount Pelion. 
 
 * There is no mention of any Glaucopium throughout the writings of 
 Homer. Eustathius, on the Odyssey, book ii. page 1451, remarks- that 
 it was from the epithet y\aw/ew7ric, blue-eyed or fierce-eyed, which he so 
 often gives to Minerva, that the citadel at Athens was called the Glauco- 
 pium, while Stephen of Byzantium, on 'AXaXicofisviov, asserts that both 
 the epithet yXavicanrig and the name of the citadel Glaucopium comes 
 from Glaucopus, the son of Alulcomeneus. 
 
 4 And the close-fighting Mysians, and the illustrious Hippemolgi, milk- 
 
B. vii. c. in. 7. GET^l. 461 
 
 to compare what we have advanced with the remarks of 
 Posidonius and the other critics. Now, in the first place, 
 they have universally proved the very contrary of the allega- 
 tions which they had undertaken to maintain ; for where they 
 undertook to show that amongst the ancients there was a 
 greater amount of ignorance as to places far from Greece 
 than there was among the moderns, they have proved the 
 very contrary, and that not only with regard to the countries 
 more remote, but even with respect to Greece itself ; but, as 
 I have said before, let the other matters remain in abeyance 
 while we consider carefully the subject now before us. Thus 
 they say that it was through ignorance Homer and the anci- 
 ents omitted to speak of the Scythians, and their cruelty to 
 strangers, whom they sacrificed, devoured their flesh, and af- 
 terwards made use of their skulls as drinking-cups, for which 
 barbarities the sea was termed the Axine, 1 or inhospitable ; 
 but in place of these they imagined fables as to illustrious 
 Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, the most just of man- 
 kind, who never existed any where in this world. But how 
 came it that they named the sea the Axenus, if they were so 
 ignorant of the barbarism of that region, or of those savages 
 who were the most barbarous on earth ? But these undoubt- 
 edly are the Scythians ! Or in the early times were not those 
 who dwelt beyond the Mysians, and Thracians, and Getae, 
 Hippemolgi, (or milkers of mares,) Galactophagi, and Abii : 
 Nay rather, they exist at this very day, being called Hamax- 
 oeci and Nomades, living on the herd, milk and cheese, and 
 especially on cheese made of mare's milk, and being ignorant 
 how to lay up treasure or deal in merchandise, except the sim- 
 ple barter of one commodity for another. How then can it 
 be said that the poet [Homer] knew nothing of the Scythians, 
 since he doubtless designates some of them by the names of 
 Hippemolgi and Galactophagi ? And that the men of that 
 
 nourished, simple in living, and most just of men. Iliad xiii. 5. The 
 word which Cowper renders " blest with length of days," and Buckley 
 " " 
 
 propose to derive it from a, privative, and fiioQ , a bow, or bowless ; while 
 others regard it as a proper name, Abii. In Lucian's Dialogues of the 
 Dead, xv. 3, it means, without a living, poor, as derived from a, privative, 
 and /3og, a means of living, livelihood. Cowper's meaning is made up 
 from a, intensive, and j3to, life. 
 1 Pontus Axenus. 
 
462 STRABO. CASAUB. 300. 
 
 time called these people Hipperaolgi even Hesiod is a witness 
 in the words which Eratosthenes has quoted : 
 
 " He went and saw the Ethiopians, the Ligurians, 1 and the Scythians, 
 milkers of mares." 
 
 And when we consider the amount of fraud connected with 
 trading speculations even amongst ourselves, what ground 
 have we to wonder that Homer should have designated as the 
 justest and most noble those who had but few commercial and 
 monetary transactions, and with the exception of their swords 
 and drinking-cups, possessed all things in common, and espe- 
 cially their wives and children, who were cared for by the 
 whole community according to the system of Plato. ^Eschylus 
 too seems to plead the poet's cause, when he says, 
 
 "But the Scythians, governed by good laws, and feeding on cheese of 
 mares' milk." 
 
 And this is still the opinion entertained of them by the 
 Greeks ; for we esteem them the most sincere, the least de- 
 ceitful of any people, and much more frugal and self-relying 
 than ourselves. And yet the manner of life customary among 
 us has spread almost every where, and brought about a change 
 for the worse, effeminacy, luxury, and over-great refinement, 
 inducing extortion in ten thousand different ways; and doubt- 
 less much of this corruption has penetrated even into the 
 countries of the nomades, as well as those of the other bar- 
 barians ; for having once learnt how to navigate the sea, they 
 have become depraved, committing piracy and murdering 
 strangers ; and holding intercourse with many different na- 
 tions, they have imitated both their extravagance and their 
 dishonest traffic, which may indeed appear to promote civility 
 of manners, but do doubtless corrupt the morals and lead to 
 dissimulation, in place of the genuine sincerity we have be- 
 fore noticed. 
 
 8. Those however who lived before our time, and more 
 especially those who lived near to the times of Homer, were 
 such as he describes them, and so they were esteemed to be 
 by the Greeks. Take for instance what Herodotus relates 
 concerning the king 2 of the Scythians, against whom Darius 
 waged war, and especially the answer he sent [to the messen- 
 
 1 This word is corrupt in the MSS. 
 
 2 He M'as called Idanthyrsus. See Herodotus, book iv. chap. 127. 
 
B. VII. C. III. 
 
 GETJE. 463 
 
 ger of Darius]. Take again what Chrysippus relates of the 
 kings of the Bosphorus, [Satyrus 1 and] Leuco. The letters 
 of the Persians are full of the sincerity I have described ; so 
 likewise are the memorials of the Egyptians, Babylonians, 
 and Indians. It was on this account that both Anacharsis 
 and Abaris, and certain others of the same class, gained so 
 great a reputation among the Greeks ; for we may well be- 
 lieve they displayed their national characteristics of affability 
 of manner, simplicity, and love of justice. But what occasion 
 is there for me to speak of such as belonged to the times of 
 old? for Alexander [the Great], the son of Philip, in his 
 campaign against the Thracians beyond Mount Haemus, 2 is 
 said to have penetrated as far as this in an incursion into the 
 country of the Triballi, and observed that they occupied the 
 territory as far as the Danube and the island Peuce, 3 which 
 is in it, and that the Getag possessed the country beyond that 
 river; however, he was unable to pass into the island for want 
 of a sufficient number of ships, and because Syrmus, the king 
 of the Triballi, who had taken refuge in that place, resisted 
 the undertaking : but Alexander crossed over into the country 
 of the Getas and took their city, after which he returned home 
 in haste, carrying with him presents from those nations, and 
 also from Syrmus. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, relates that 
 in this campaign the Kelts who dwell on the Adriatic 4 came 
 to Alexander for the purpose of making a treaty of friendship 
 and mutual hospitality, and that the king received them in a 
 friendly way, and asked them, while drinking, what might be 
 the chief object of their dread, supposing that they would say 
 it was he ; but that they replied, it was no man, only they felt 
 some alarm lest the heavens should on some occasion or other 
 
 1 Satyrus is supplied by Koray. See also chapter iv. of this book, 4, 
 and book xi. chap. ii. 7. Groskurd refers also to Diodorus, book xiv. 
 93, and says that Leuco was the son of Satyrus. 
 
 2 The mountains in the north of Thrace still bear the name of Emineh- 
 Dag, or Mount Emineh, at their eastern point ; but the western portion 
 is called the Balkan. 
 
 3 Piczina, at the embouchure of the Danube, between Babadag and 
 Ismail. 
 
 * A note in the French translation says, these were the Garni and the 
 lapodes, who having followed Sigovesus, in the reign of the elder Tar- 
 quin, had taken up their abode in the neighbourhood of the Adriatic; 
 and refers to the Examen Critique des Anciens Historiens d* Alexandre' 
 by M. de Sainte Groix, page 855. 
 
464 STRABO. CASAUE. 302. 
 
 fall on them, but that they valued the friendship of such a 
 man as him above every thing. These examples sufficiently 
 manifest the open sincerity of the barbarians, both of the one 
 who would not suffer Alexander to land on the island, but 
 nevertheless sent presents and concluded a treaty of friend- 
 ship with him. and also of those who asserted that they feared 
 no man, but that they valued the friendship of great men 
 above every price. 
 
 In like manner Dromichsetes, who was king of the Getas in 
 the times of the successors of Alexander, having taken cap- 
 tive Lysimachus, who had come to wage war against him, 
 showed him his poverty and that of his people, and likewise 
 their great frugality, bade him not to make war on such, but 
 rather seek them as friends ; after which he received him as a 
 guest, made a treaty of friendship, and suffered him to depart. 1 
 [*And Plato, in his Republic, 2 considers that the neighbour- 
 hood of the sea ought to be shunned as being productive of 
 vice, and that those who would enjoy a well-governed city, 
 should plant it very far from the sea, and not near it.*] 
 
 9. Ephorus, in the fourth book of his History, which is 
 entitled " Of Europe," having gone over Europe as far as 
 the Scythians, concludes by saying that there is great differ- 
 ence in the manner of life both of the Sauromatse and the 
 other Scythians, for while some of them are exceedingly mo- 
 rose, and are indeed cannibals, others abstain even from the 
 flesh of animals. Other historians, he observes, descant upon 
 their ferocity, knowing that the terrible and the wonderful 
 always excite attention ; but they ought also to relate the 
 better features of these people, and point to them as a pat- 
 tern ; for his part, he declares he will speak of those who ex- 
 cel in the justness of their actions, as there are some of the 
 nomade Scythians who subsist on mares' milk, and excel all 
 
 1 Diodorus Siculus, in Excerpt. Peiresc. pag. 257 ; Memnon apud 
 Photium, cod. 214, cap. 6 ; and Plutarch, in Demetrio, 39 and 52, 
 confirm what Strabo says here of the manner in which Dromichsetes 
 treated Lysimachus. 
 
 2 This is not in Plato's Republic, but in his fourth book of Laws. 
 
 ** This passage, if it is the writing of Strabo, and not the marginal 
 note of some learned reader, should doubtless be transferred back to the 
 end of 7 of this chapter. 
 
B. vii. c. in. 9. GETJ3. 465 
 
 men in their justice, these are mentioned by the poets : as Ho- 
 mer, where he says that Jupiter beheld the land 
 
 " Of the Galactophagi and Abii, justest of mankind ;" l 
 
 and Hesiod, in his poem entitled " Travels round the World," 
 
 who says that Phineus was taken by the Harpies 
 
 " To the land of the Galactophagi, who have their dwellings in waggons." 
 
 Ephorus then proceeds to state the causes of their justice, 
 because they are frugal in their mode of life, not hoarders of 
 wealth, and just towards each other; they possess everything 
 in common, both their women, their children, and the whole 
 of their kin ; thus when they come into collision with other 
 nations, they are irresistible and unconquered, having no cause 
 for which they need endure slavery, ije then cites Choerilus, 
 who in his " Passage of the Bridge of Boats," which Darius 2 
 had made, says, 
 
 " And the sheep-feeding Sacae, a people of Scythian race, but they inhabited 
 Wheat-producing Asia : truly they were a colony of the nomades, 
 A righteous race." 
 
 And again Ephorus declares of Anacharsis, whom he desig- 
 nates as " The Wise," that he was sprung from that race ; 
 and that he was reckoned as one of the Seven Sages, on ac- 
 count of his pre-eminent moderation and knowledge. He 
 asserts too that he was the inventor of the bellows, the double- 
 fluked anchor, and the potter's wheel. 3 I merely state this, 
 although I know very well that Ephorus is not at all times 
 to be relied on, especially when speaking of Anacharsis ; (for 
 how can the wheel be his invention, with which Homer, who 
 is anterior to him, was acquainted ; [who says], 
 
 " as when, before his wheel 
 Seated, the potter twirls it with both hands," &c. ; 4 ) 
 
 1 Iliad xiii. 5. See note * to page 460. 
 
 2 Kramer quotes Nsekius in proof that we should here read Xerxes 
 instead of Darius ; and Groskurd refers to another passage in Strabo, 
 book xiii. chap. i. 22. 
 
 3 Casaubon observes that Diodorus Siculus attributes the invention of 
 the potter's wheel to Talus, a nephew of Daedalus, and that Theophrastus 
 awards it to one Hyberbius of Corinth. 
 
 4 Iliad xviii. GOO. Posidonius chose to regard this passage as an inter- 
 polation, and would not give the praise of the invention to any other than 
 Anacharsis. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 H 
 
466 STRABO. CASAUB. 303. 
 
 for I wish to show by these references, that there wa a ge- 
 neral impression among both the ancients and moderns with 
 regard to the nomades, that some were very far removed from 
 the rest of mankind, that they subsisted on milk, and were 
 very frugal, 1 and the most just of men, and that all this was 
 not the mere invention of Homer. 
 
 10. It is but just too that Apollodorus should give some 
 explanation respecting the Mysians mentioned in the Epic 
 poems of Homer, whether he takes them to be but people of 
 his feigning, when the poet says, 
 
 " Of the close-fighting Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi," 2 
 
 or would he regard them as the Mysians of Asia ? Now if 
 he should declare that he considers them to be those of Asia, 
 he will misinterpret tlie poet, as has been before observed ; 
 but if he should say they were but an invention, as there 
 were no Mysians in Thrace, he will be guilty of a palpable 
 misstatement, for even in our own times -ZElius Catus has re- 
 moved from the opposite side of the Danube into Thrace fifty 
 thousand Getre, who speak a language cognate with the Thra- 
 cian. They still inhabit the very spot, and pass by the name 
 of Moesi. Whether those of former times were so designated, 
 and had their name slightly varied in Asia, or, as is more 
 suitable to history and the poet's expression, those in Thrace 
 were at the first called Mysians, 3 is not certain. But enough 
 of this ; we must now return to our geography. 
 
 11. Let us pass over the early history of the GetaB, and 
 occupy ourselves with their actual condition. Boerebistas, 
 one of the GetaB, having taken the command of his tribe, re- 
 animated the men who were disheartened by frequent wars, 
 and raised them to such a degree of training, sobriety, and a 
 habit of obedience to orders, that he established a powerful 
 dominion within a few years, and brought most of the neigh- 
 bouring states into subjection to the Getse. He at length be- 
 came formidable even to the Romans, fearlessly crossing the 
 Danube, and laying waste Thrace as far as Macedonia and 
 Illyria ; he also subdued the Kelts who live among the Thra- 
 cians and Illyrians, and thoroughly annihilated the Boii who 
 were subject to Critasirus and the Taurisci. In order to 
 
 1 a (Stove. 2 Iliad xiii. 5. 3 See chap. iii. 3, 4, of this book. 
 
n. vii. c. in. 12. GET.E AND DACI. 467 
 
 maintain the obedience of his subjects, he availed himself of 
 the assistance of Decasneus a sorcerer, 1 who had travelled 
 in Egypt, and who, by predictions he had learnt to draw from 
 certain natural signs, was enabled to assume the character of 
 an oracle, and was almost held in the veneration of a god, as 
 we have related when noticing Zamolxis. 2 As an instance of 
 their implicit obedience, we may relate that they were per- 
 suaded to root up their vines and live without wine. How- 
 ever, Boerebistas was murdered in a sedition before the Ro- 
 mans sent an army against him. Those who succeeded to 
 his government divided it into several states. Lately, when 
 Augustus Ccesar sent an army against them, they were divided 
 into five states, at another time they were four, for such 
 divisions are but temporary in duration, and variable in their 
 extent. 
 
 12. There was, from ancient times, another division of 
 these people which still exists ; thus, some they call Dacians 
 and others Getae : the Getee extend towards the Euxine and 
 the east, but the Dacians are situated on the opposite side 
 towards Germany and the sources of the Danube, 3 whom I 
 consider to have been called Daci from a very early period. 
 Whence also amongst the Attics the names of Getce and Davi 
 were customary for slaves. This at least is more probable 
 than to consider them as taken from the Scythians who are 
 named Daae, 4 for they live far beyond Hyrcania, 5 and it is 
 not likely that slaves would be brought all that way into At- 
 tica. It was usual with them to call their slaves after the 
 name of the nation from whence they were brought, as Lydus 
 and Syrus, 6 or else by a name much in use in their own 
 country, as, for a Phrygian, Manes or Midas ; for a Paphla- 
 gonian, Tibius. The nation which was raised to so much 
 power by Boerebistas has since been completely reduced by 
 
 yo/jrcr, one who used a kind of howling incantation while re- 
 peating spells. 
 
 2 See hook vii. chap. iii. 5, page 456. 
 
 J Gossellin observes that the Dacians did not extend to the sources of 
 the Danube, but to Bohemia, near the middle of the course of the Danube. 
 
 4 Gossellin seems to think that these Daae are identical with the in- 
 habitants of Daghistan. Davus is not found as the name of a slave 
 amongst the Greeks till after the conquests of Alexander the Great. 
 
 5 Hyrcania comprehended the Corcan and Daghistan. 
 
 6 From Lvdia and Syria. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 STRABO. CASAUB. 304. 
 
 civil dissensions and contests with the Romans ; however, 
 they are still able to set out 40,000 men armed for the 
 wars. 
 
 13. The river Maros 1 flows through their country into the 
 Danube, 2 on which the Romans transported their military 
 stores ; for thus they termed the upper part of that river from 
 its sources to the cataracts, which flows chiefly through the 
 country of the Dacians, but the part below that point which 
 flows through the country of the Getse as far as the Black 
 Sea, they call the Ister. 3 The Dacians speak the same lan- 
 guage as the Getae. The Geta3 are best known among the 
 Greeks on account of the frequent wandering expeditions 
 they make on both sides of the Danube, and their being 
 mixed among the Thracians and Mysians. The like is the 
 case with regard to the nation of the Triballi, a Thracian 
 people ; for they have received many refugees on occasions 
 when their more powerful neighbours have driven out the 
 weaker, for from time to time the Scythians of the opposite 
 side of the river, and the Bastarnas, and the Sarmatians, 4 be- 
 come victorious, and those who are driven out cross over and 
 some of them take up their residence either in the islands of 
 the river or in Thrace, while on the other side the inhabitants 
 are distressed by the Illyrians. At one time when the Getas 
 and the Dacians had increased to the greatest numbers, they 
 were able to set on foot an army of two hundred thousand 
 men, but now they are reduced to about forty thousand men, 
 and are even likely to become subject to the Romans ; still 
 they are not yet quite under their sway on account of their 
 trust in the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans. 
 
 14. Between [the Getse and] the Black Sea, from the 
 Danube to the Dniester, 5 lies the desert of the Getse. 6 It is 
 entirely a plain and destitute of water. It was there that 
 Darius the son of Hystaspes, at the time he crossed the 
 Danube, was in danger of being cut off with his whole army 
 
 1 Mdpicroc TTOTCTJUO^. 2 6 Aavovtoc. 
 
 3 6 "Iffrpof. Stephen of Byzantium says that the Ister was called 
 A.avovf3tQ, and that in very ancient times it was called Matoas. Accord- 
 ing to Ptolemy the lower part of the Danube was called Ister from Axi- 
 opolis, now Rassovat ; according to Agathemerus, from Vicuna. 
 
 4 Saupojudrai. 5 The ancient Tyras. 
 
 6 Bessarabia and the southern part of Moldavia. 
 
n. vii. c. in. $ 15, 16. MOUTHS OF DANUBE. DNIESTER. 469 
 
 for want of water ; this lie found out before it was too late, 
 and returned. At a subsequent period, when Lysimachus 
 was waging war against the Geta3 and their king Dromi- 
 ehnetes, he not only incurred the risk, 1 but he fell into the 
 hands of the enemy ; but his life was spared by the courtesy 
 of the barbarian, as I have before related. 
 
 15. Near the mouths of the Danube is the large island 
 called Peuce. 2 This the Bastarnre possessed, and were hence 
 called Peucini. There are also other islands much smaller, 
 some above this, and others nearer the sea. The Danube has 
 seven mouths, the largest is called the Sacred Mouth, 3 the 
 passage by which to Peuce is 120 stadia. 4 At the lower part 
 of this island Darius made his bridge. It might likewise 
 have been constructed at th,e upper part. This is tlie first 
 mouth on the left-hand side as you sail into the Black Sea ; 
 the rest are passed while sailing along towards the Dniester ; 
 the seventh mouth is distant from this first mouth about 300 
 stadia. These mouths form several islands. The first three 
 mouths next after the Sacred Mouth are but small, the re- 
 mainder are much less than it, but greater than any of the 
 three. Ephorus states that the Danube has five mouths. 
 From hence to the Dniester, 5 which is a navigable river, there 
 are 900 stadia. 6 In the district intervening there are two 
 great lakes ; one is open to the sea, and is used as a harbour, 7 
 the other has no outlet. 
 
 16. At the mouth of the Dniester there is a tower called 
 the Tower of Neoptolemus, and a village called Hermonax. 8 
 As you sail up the river 140 stadia, there are cities on both 
 sides ; the one is Niconia, 9 and that on the left Ophiussa. 10 
 Those who dwell on the spot say that the city is but 120 
 
 1 Peter the Great, at the beginning of the last century, incurred the 
 risk of falling into the hands of the Turks almost on the same spot where 
 Darius and Lysimachus had been in distress. 
 
 2 Now Piczina. 
 
 3 Ammianus Marcellinus, book xxii. chap. 8, gives the names of these 
 mouths. He calls the Sacred Mouth by the name of the island Peuce. 
 
 4 There has been much geographical change in this locality since 
 Strabo wrote. 
 
 5 The Tyras. 6 Gossellin supports this distance. 
 ' The Lake Ovidovo. 8 Now Akkerman. 
 
 9 Gossellin could not identify Niconia with any modern town. Gros- 
 kurd marks it as destroyed. 
 
 10 Groskurd identifies this with Palanka. 
 
470 STRABO. CASAUB. 306. 
 
 stadia up the river. The island of Leuce l is distant from the 
 river's mouth a course of 500 stadia ; it is quite in the sea, 
 and is sacred to Achilles. 
 
 17. Next is the Dnieper, 2 a river navigable to the distance 
 of 600 3 stadia, and near to it another river, the Bog, 4 and an 
 island 5 lying before the mouth of the Dnieper, which pos- 
 sesses a haven. After sailing up the Borysthenes 6 200 stadia, 
 you come to the city of like name Avith the river, which is 
 likewise called Olbia ; 7 it is a great emporium and a founda- 
 tion of the Milesians. Of the region lying inland from the 
 coast we have described between the Dnieper and the Danube, 
 the first portion is the Desert of the Getce, then comes the 
 Tyregetse, after them the Jazyges Sarmatas, and the Basilii, 
 who are also called Urgi. 8 Most of these people are nomades. 
 However, a few of them pay attention to agriculture. These 
 are said to inhabit the banks of the Danube, frequently even 
 on both sides of the river. In the inland the Bastarnae dwell, 
 and confine with the Tyregetse and the Germans ; indeed, 
 they may almost be said to be of the German stock. They 
 are divided into many tribes, as some are called Atmoni, some 
 Sidones, those who inhabit the island Peuce 9 in the Danube, 
 Peucini, and the most northern, Roxolani. 10 These latter de- 
 pasture the plains lying between the Don 11 and the Dnieper. 
 
 1 Groskurd calls this Ilan-Adassi, or Schlangeninsel. Gossellin like- 
 wise translates Ilan-Adassi as " Isle of Serpents." 
 
 2 The ancient Borysthenes. 
 
 3 Gossellin considers that Strabo wrote 1600 stadia, for at that distance 
 from the sea there are cataracts which stop the ships that come from 
 the sea. 
 
 4 Strabo's word is "YTravig. Gossellin observes that we should look 
 for ih.e"Y7ravig to the east of the Dnieper, while the Bog lies to the west 
 of that river. 
 
 5 Gossellin identifies this island with the modern Berezan. 
 
 6 Now the Dnieper. 
 
 7 Olbia, or Olbiopolis, would, according to this measure, be about the 
 junction of the Bog and Dnieper. 
 
 8 Mannert has attempted to read Fewpyoi, because Herodotus, book iv. 
 chap. 18, has so termed those Scythians who cultivated their fields. Is it 
 not possible that the Latin Regii was the word Strabo had in his mind ? 
 
 9 Piczina. 
 
 10 Some MSS. read this name 'Pwavoi', others 'Pogavoi, and others 
 'Pb>%oavoi, but whether there is any distinction to be di*awn between these 
 and the 'PwaAavoi of book ii. chap. v. 7, is not to be ascertained. 
 
 11 The Tanais. 
 
B. vii. c. in. 18. DANUBE TO PALUS MJEOTIS. 471 
 
 Indeed the whole of the northern regions with which we are 
 acquainted, from Germany to the Caspian, is an extended 
 plain. Whether any dwell still farther than the Roxolani is 
 unknown to us. However, the Roxolani fought against the 
 generals of Mithridates Eupator. Their leader was Tasius. 
 They came as allies of Palacus, the son of Scilurus, and were 
 considered good soldiers, but against the serried and well- 
 armed phalanx every barbarous and light-armed tribe is 
 ineffective. Thus they, although numbering fifty thousand 
 men, could not withstand the six thousand arrayed by Dio- 
 phantns, the general of Mithridates, but were almost all cut 
 to pieces. They make use of helmets and breastplates made 
 of untanned ox-hide. They bear wicker shields ; and as 
 weapons, lances, the bow, and the sword, such as most of the 
 other barbarians do. The woollen tents of the nomades are 
 fixed upon their chariots, in which they pass their lives. 
 Their herds are scattered round their tents, and they live on 
 the milk, the cheese, and the meat which they supply. They 
 shift their quarters ever in search of pasture, changing the 
 places they have exhausted for others full of grass. In the 
 winter they encamp in the marshes near the Palus Masotis, 1 
 and in the summer on the plains. 
 
 18. The whole of this country, which reaches to the sea- 
 coast extending from the Dnieper 2 to the Palus Masotis, is 
 subject to severe winters ; so also are the most northern of 
 the districts bordering on the sea, as the mouth of the Palus 
 MaBotis, and farther that of the Dnieper and the head of the 
 Gulf of Tamyraca, or Carcinites, 3 which washes the isthmus 4 
 of the Magna Chersonesus. The intense cold of the districts 
 inhabited, notwithstanding their being plains, is manifest, for 
 they rear no asses, as that animal is too susceptible of cold ; 
 some of their oxen are without horns by nature, of the others 
 they file off the horns, as a part most susceptible of injury 
 from cold. Their horses are diminutive and their sheep large. 
 Their brazen vessels are split with the frosts, and their con- 
 tents frozen into a solid mass. However, the rigour of the 
 frosts may be best illustrated by the phaenomena which are 
 
 1 The Sea of Zabache. 2 The Borysthenes. 
 
 3 The Gulf of Perecop, called also Olou-Degniz. Gossellin. 
 * The Isthmus of Perecop, which connects the Peninsula of Crimea, 
 the ancient Taurica Chersonesus. 
 
472 STRABO. CASAUB. 307. 
 
 common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus 
 Mseotis ; 1 for the passage from Panticapasum, 2 across to Pha- 
 nagoria, 3 is at times performed in waggons, thus being both 
 a sea passage 4 and an overland route [as the season may de- 
 termine]. There are also fish which are taken in the ice by 
 means of a round net called a gangama, and especially a 
 kind of sturgeon called antacaaus, 5 nearly the size of a dolphin. 
 It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, 6 
 defeated the barbarians during summer-time in a naval en- 
 gagement in this very strait, and during the winter in a 
 cavalry action. They say that about the Bosphorus the vine 
 is hidden away in the earth in winter, great mounds of mould 
 being piled over it [to preserve it from the frost]. They also 
 report that the heats are excessive, [this may be accounted 
 for in several ways,] perhaps men's bodies not being accus- 
 tomed to them, feel them the more ; perhaps the plains are at 
 that time unrefreshed by winds ; or perhaps the thickness of 
 the air is heated to a great degree, similar to the way in 
 which the misty air is affected in times when a parhelion is 
 observed. 
 
 It appears that Ateas, 7 who carried on war against Philip, 8 
 the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians 
 of these parts. 
 
 19. After the island 9 situated opposite the mouth of the 
 Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of 
 the Course of Achilles. 10 The district is quite bare, notwith- 
 standing that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles. 
 Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula ; 
 for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in 
 length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two 
 
 1 The Strait of Zabache, or leni-Kale. 
 
 2 Panticapeeum, now Kertsch or Wospor in Europe. 
 
 3 Phanagoria was on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus. 
 
 4 We entirely agree with Kramer in favouring Coray's emendation of 
 ir\ovv for 7ri]\6v, the reading of MSS. 
 
 5 Herodotus, book iv. chap. 53, says this fishing was carried on in the 
 Dnieper. ^Elian, de Natur. Animal, book xiv. chap. 26, refers it to the 
 Danube. 
 
 6 Strabo has before alluded to this fact, book ii. chap. i. 16, p. 114. 
 
 7 Lucian, in Macrob. 10, spells his name Anteas, and relates that he 
 was killed in this war when upwards of 90 years of age. 
 
 8 Father of Alexander the Great. 9 The Island of Berezan. 
 10 M, Gossellin identifies this as Cape Czile. 
 
B. vii. c. iv. $ 1. MOUTH OF THE DNIEPER. 475 
 
 stadia 1 in the broadest part, and but four plethra 2 in the nar- 
 rowest. It is distant from the main-land, which runs out on 
 both sides of the neck, about 60 stadia. It is sandy, but 
 water is obtainable by digging. About the midst of the 
 Course of Achilles 3 is the neck of the isthmus [joining it to 
 the main-land]. It is about 40 stadia in breadth, and termin- 
 ates in a headland which they call Tamyraca. 4 This possesses 
 an anchorage opposite the main-land. Next comes the Gulf 
 Carcinites, which is of considerable extent, reaching towards 
 the north 5 about 1000 stadia. Some affirm that it is three 
 
 times that distance to the head of the gulf are 
 
 called Taphrii. They likewise call the Gulf Carcinites the 
 Gulf Tamyraca, the same as the headland. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I. AT the bottom of the bay (Carcinites) commences the 
 isthmus 6 which separates the lake called Sapra, [or the Putrid 
 Lake,] from the sea ; it is 40 stadia in width, and forms the 
 
 1 190 toises. 2 "63| toises. 
 
 3 The Dromos Achillis is pretty well laid down in D'Anville's Orbis 
 Romani Pars Orientalis, 1764, but at present it presents a very different 
 appearance. 
 
 * There is a note by Gossellin in the French translation to the following 
 effect. The western part of this strip of land is known as the Island of 
 Tendra, because it is separated by a cut. The eastern part of the strip 
 is called Djarilgatch. The entire length of the tongue of land is 800 
 Olympic stadia, the two extremities are a little farther from the main- 
 land than Strabo says, and the isthmus is about 50 Olympic stadia broad. 
 D'Anville has run this isthmus through the tongue of land, and jutting 
 out into the sea, so as to form a cape, which he also calls Tendra, and 
 which would answer to the Tamyraca of Strabo. In the most recent 
 maps there is no trace of this cape, but we see the port of which Strabo 
 speaks. As these tongues of land are composed of a shifting sand, they 
 may experience alterations of form and variations of extent. 
 
 5 Gossellin observes that the direction of the Gulf Carcinites, or Gulf of 
 Perecop, is from west to east, with a slight inclination towards the north, 
 on arriving from the south. Its northern shore commences at the isthmus 
 of the Course of Achilles, and would measure about 1000 Olympic stadia 
 if we were to follow all the sinuosities. 
 
 6 Perekop. The isthmus is about 5| miles across, according to M. 
 Huot's map, which accompanies Prince Demidoffs Travels in Russia. 
 
STRABO. CASAUB. 308. 
 
 CP \ 
 
 Chersonese. 1 This, according to some, is 
 The Putrid Lake 2 is said to extend 4000 
 fference). and forms part of the [Palus] 
 .+a western side, with which it communicates by a 
 O c opening. It abounds in marshy tracts, and is scarcely 
 navigable with "sewn" 3 boats. The shallower parts are 
 soon uncovered, and again covered with water, by the force 
 of the wind ; but the marsh will not bear boats of a deeper 
 draught. In the bay are three small islands ; and in sailing 
 along the coast, some shallows are met with, and rocks which 
 rise above water. 
 
 2. On the left in sailing out of the bay [Carcinites] there 
 is a small town and another harbour 4 belonging to the people 
 of the Chersonese ; for in coasting along the bay, there pro- 
 jects towards the south a large promontory, which is a part 
 of the great Chersonese. Upon it stands a city of the Hera- 
 cleota3, who are a colony from Heraclea 5 in the Euxine ; it 
 bears the same name, Chersonesus, as the territory. It is dis- 
 tant from the Dniester, 6 in following the coast, 4400 stadia. In 
 _this ditv is a temple of the Vir^i'n^snjTTp gnrlHpss^ after whom 
 the promontory, which is in front of theciTy, at the distance 
 of 100 stadia, is called Parthenium. It has a shrine of the 
 goddess and a statue. BeTweenT;he city 8 and the promontory 
 are three harbours ; next is the Old city Chersonesus in ruins ; 
 then follows a harbour with a narrow entrance. It was called 
 Syrnbolon Limen, or Signal Harbour ; and here principally 
 was carried on a system of piracy against those who took 
 
 1 The Crimea. 
 
 2 The Sivash, or Putrid Lake. It communicates at the present day, 
 not by a large opening, but by the narrow strait of Yenitche, or Tonka, 
 with the Sea of Azof, (the Palus Mseotis,) from which it is separated by 
 the Tonka, or Tongue of Arabat. 
 
 3 paTTTois irXoioig. Boats probably composed of frame-work covered 
 with hides. 
 
 4 Casaubon suggests, and Gossellin adopts, the reading KaXoc Xifirjv, 
 Fair Haven, for aXXog Xi^v, another harbour. \Vhatever harbour was 
 meant, its situation is uncertain. 
 
 5 Tereklias. 6 The ancient Tyras. 
 
 7 In speaking of the Virgin as " some goddess," it may be doubted 
 whether^ Dia,na is here meant. or_ some Scythian or pastern divinity. 
 
 ' Parthenium, a village, is mentioned, c. 4, ^ THe scene of the Iphigenia 
 in Tauris of Euripides is laid some where on these shores. 
 
 8 The New Chersonesus, Cape Cherson, and the three small harbours 
 near Khut. 
 
ii. vii. c. iv. 3. THE CRIMEA 475 
 
 refuge in the ports. This, together with another harbour, 
 called Ctenus, 1 forms an isthmus of 40 stadia in extent. This 
 isthmus locks in the Smaller Chersonesus, which we said was 
 a part of the Great Chersonesus, having on it a city of the 
 same name. 
 
 3. It was formerly governed by its own laws, but after it 
 was ravaged by barbarous nations, the inhabitants were 
 obliged to elect as their protector, Mithridates Eupator, who 
 was anxious to direct his forces against the barbarians who 
 lived above the isthmus, and occupied the country as far as 
 the Dnieper and the Adriatic, and thus to prepare himself 
 against war with the Romans. Mithridates, with these views, 
 readily despatched an expedition into the Chersonesus, and 
 carried on war at the same time against the Scythians, Scilu- 
 rus, and the sons of Scilurus, namely, Palacus and his brothers, 
 whom Posidonius reckons to have been fifty, and Apollonides 
 eighty, in number. By the subjugation of these enemies he 
 became at once master of the Bosporus, which Pairisades, who 
 held the command of it, voluntarily surrendered. From that 
 time to the present the city of the Chersonitse has been sub- 
 ject to the princes of the Bosporus. 
 
 Ctenus is equally distant from the city of the Chersonitae, 
 and from Symbolon Limen. From Symbolon Limen the 
 Tauric coast extends 1000 stadia to the city Theodpsia. 2 The 
 coast is rugged and mountainous, and during the prevalence 
 of the north winds, tempestuous. From this coast a pro- 
 montory projects far into the sea, and stretches out south- 
 wards towards Paphlagonia, and the city Amastris. It is 
 called Criu-metopon, or Ram's Head. Opposite to it is Ca- 
 
 1 The Heracleotic Chersonese was comprehended in the triangle formed 
 by Ctenus, (Inkerman,) Parthenium, (Cape Cherson,) and Symbolon 
 Limen (Baluklava). The Gulf of Ctenus is now the Gulf of Sebastopol, 
 a name substituted for that of Akhtiar in the time of Catherine II. of 
 Russia. On the first small bay to the west of the town of Sebastopol, 
 was situated the New city Chersonesus, flourishing in the time of Strabo ; 
 the Old Chersonesus, described as in ruins, was situated on the small 
 peninsula, the extreme western point of which is Cape Cherson. Both 
 here and in various parts of the Crimea were very interesting remains of 
 antiquity, but Dr. Clarke complains of their wanton destruction. Ctenus 
 is probably derived from Krevwcrjc, " like a comb," descriptive of the in- 
 dented nature of the gulf. Both Gossellin and D'Anville have mistaken 
 the true position of the Heracleotic Chersonese. 
 
 2 So named after the wife or sister of Leucon. C. Now Kaffa. 
 
476 STRABO. CASAUB. 309. 
 
 rambis, 1 the promontory of the Paphlagonians. Criu-metopon 
 and Carambis together form a strait compressed between 
 them, and divide the Euxine into two parts. Carambis is 
 distant from the city of the Chersonesus 2500 stadia, and 
 from Criu-metopon much less ; for many persons who have 
 sailed through the strait say, that they saw both promontories 
 at once. 2 
 
 In the mountainous district of the Tauri there is a hill 
 called Trapezus, 3 of the same name as the city, 4 which is near 
 Tibarania and Colchis. There is another hill also, the Kim- 
 merium, 5 in the same mountainous district, for the Kimm^rii 
 were once sovereigns of the Bosporus, and hence the whole 
 of the strait at the mouth of the [Palus] Maeotis is called the 
 Jimmerian Bosporus. 
 
 4. After leaving the above-mentioned mountainous district, 
 is the city Theodosia, situated on a plain ; the soil is fertile, 
 and there is a harbour capable of containing a hundred ves- 
 sels. This formerly was the boundary of the territory of the 
 Bosporians and of the Tauri. Then follows a fertile country 
 extending to Panticapaeum, 6 the capital of the Bosporians, 
 which is situated at the mouth of the Palus Moeotis. 7 Between 
 Theodosia 8 and Panticapoeum there is a tract of about 530 
 stadia in extent. The whole country is corn-producing ; there 
 are villages in it, and a city called NymphosumT'with a good 
 harbour. 
 
 Panticapoeum is a hill inhabited all round for a circuit of 
 20 stadia. To the east it has a harbour, and docks capable 
 of containing about thirty vessels ; there is also an acropolis. 
 It was founded by the Milesians. Both this place and the 
 neighbouring settlements on each side of the mouth of the 
 Palus Masotis were for a long period under the monarchical 
 dynasty of Leucon, and Satyrus, and Pairisades, till the latter 
 surrendered the sovereignty to Mithridates. They had the 
 
 1 Cape Aia and Cape Keremp. 
 
 2 The opposite coasts are not visible from the middle passage. 
 
 * The engraving in Pallas shows it to be, as the name implies, a table 
 mountain, now Tchadir-Dagh, or Tent Mountain. 
 
 4 Trebizond. 
 
 5 The name seems to be preserved in that of one of the districts near 
 the mountains, Eski-Krim. G. In Prince DemidofTs map it is called 
 Starb'i-Krime. 
 
 6 Kertch. " The Sea of Azof. 8 Caffa. 
 
B. vii. c. iv. 5.] THE CRIMEA. 477 
 
 name of tyrants, although most of them were moderate and 
 just in their government, from the time of Pairisades and 
 Leucon. Pairisades was accounted even a god. The last 
 sovereign, whose name was also Pairisades, being unable to 
 resist the barbarians, by whom great and unusual tributes 
 were exacted, surrendered the kingdom into the hands of 
 Mithridates. After him it became subject to the Romans. 
 The greater portion of it is situated in Europe, but a part of 
 it is also situated in Asia. 
 
 5. The mouth of the [Palus] Masotis is called the Kim- 
 merian Bosporus. The entrance, which at the broadest part 
 is about 70 stadia across, where there is a passage from the 
 neighbourhood 1 of Panticapaeum to Phanagoria, the nearest 
 city in Asia. The [Palus] Masotis closes in an arm of the 
 sea which is much narrower. This arm of the sea and the 
 Don 2 separate Europe from Asia. Then the Don flows from 
 the north opposite into the lake, and into the Kimmerian 
 Bosporus. It discharges itself into the lake by two mouths, 3 
 which are distant from each other about 60 stadia. There 
 is also a city of the same name as the river ; and next to 
 Panticapaeum it is the largest mart belonging to the bar- 
 barians. 
 
 On sailing into the Kimmerian Bosporus, 4 on the left hand 
 is Myrmecium, 5 a small city, 20 stadia from Panticapaeum, 
 and 40 stadia from Parthenium ; 6 it is a village where is the 
 narrowest entrance into the lake, about 20 stadia in breadth ; 
 opposite to it is a village situated in Asia, called Achilleum. 
 Thence to the Don, and to the island at its mouths, is a voyage 
 in a direct line of 2200 stadia. The distance is somewhat 
 greater if the voyage is performed along the coast of Asia, but 
 taking the left-hand side, (in which direction the isthmus of the 
 Chersonese is fallen in with,) the distance is more than tripled. 
 This latter course is along the desert shore of Europe, but the 
 
 1 i. e. from Kertch to Taman, or from Yenikaleh near Kertch to Ta- 
 mau. Prince Gleb, son of Vladimir, A. r>. 1065, measured this latter 
 distance on the ice, and found it to be 30.057 Russian fathoms, or nearly 
 12 miles. Here the battle was fought on the ice. See chap. iii. 18. 
 
 2 The Tanais. 
 
 3 According to modern maps, the Don separates into two branches, 
 and there again into several others, which form the mouths of the river. 
 The extreme branches are at a considerable distance from each other. 
 
 4 Azof. 5 Yeuikaleh. c Kazandib 
 
478 STRABO. CASAUB. 311. 
 
 Asiatic side is not without inhabitants. The whole circum- 
 ference of the lake is 9000 stadia. 
 
 The Great Chersonesus resembles Peloponnesus both in 
 figure and size. The kings of the Bosporus possess it, but 
 the whole country has been devastated by continual wars. 
 They formerly possessed a small tract only at the mouth of 
 the [Palus] Ma3Otis near Panticapasum, extending as far as 
 Theodosia. The largest part of the territory, as far as the 
 isthmus and the Gulf Carcinites, was in possession of the 
 Tauri, a Scythian nation. The whole of this country, com- 
 prehending also a portion on the other side of the isthmus as 
 far as the Dnieper, was called Little Scythia. In conse- 
 quence of the number of people who passed from thence 
 across the Dniester and the Danube, and settled there, no 
 small part of that country also bore the name of Little 
 Scythia. The Thracians surrendered a part of it to superior 
 force, and a part was abandoned on account of the bad quality 
 of the ground, a large portion of which is marshy. 
 
 6. Except the mountainous tract of the Chersonesus on the 
 sea-coast, extending as far as Theodosia, all the rest consist of 
 plains, the soil of which is rich, and remarkablvjjertile in corn. 
 It yields thirty-fold, when" turned upHS^tneniost cmJmary 
 implements of husbandry. The tribute paid to Mithridates 
 by the inhabitants, including that from the neighbourhood of 
 Sindace in Asia, amounted to 180,000 medimni of corn, and 
 200 talents of silver. The Greeks in former times imported 
 from this cojjntrv^corn, and the cured fish of Palus Mseotis. 
 Leucoji Is saicT to have sent to the Athenians 2,100,000 me- 
 dimni of corn from Theodosia. 1 
 
 1 The amount is enormous, if it refers to the quantity of corn shipped 
 in a single year. Neither manuscripts nor translations afford any various 
 reading. The abbreviator, however, instead of 2,100,000, (pvpiddas 
 fjiedifAVtoV ciciKoaiaQ Kai $sica,) gives 150,000 (fitdipvovQ MTPIAAAS IE). 
 But instead of correcting Strabo by his abbreviator, it is more probable 
 that the text of the latter should be changed to 2,100,000, or even to 
 2,150,000 (MTPIAAAS 2IE). Brequigny, by an oversight, or because 
 he thought proper to change the MTPIAAAS of the text to XIAIAAA2, 
 translates 210,000 medimni. However it may be, we know from De- 
 mosthenes, that this same prince of the Bosporus mentioned by Strabo, 
 sent annually to Athens 400,000 medimni of corn, a quantity far below 
 that mentioned in the text. To reconcile these authors, Mr. Wolf sup- 
 poses that we ought to understand by 2,100,000 jnedimni of corn, the 
 shipment made in the year of the grear lamme, whiclroecm'red in the 
 
B. vii. c. iv. $ 7. THE CRIMEA. 479 
 
 Tlie.jiame of|Georgi, or husbandmen^ was appropriately 
 given TO these people, to distinguish 'them from the nations 
 situated above them, who are nomade 1 ^ and live upon the 
 flesh of horses and other animals, on cheese of mares' milk, 
 rnilkj and sour milk. The latter, preparecTin a peculiar man- 
 ner, is a delicacy? Hence the poet designates all the nations 
 in that quarter as Galactophagi, milk-eaters. 
 
 The nomades are more disposed to war than to robbery. 
 The occasion of their contests was to enforce the payment of 
 tribute. They permit those to have land who are willing to 
 cultivate it. In return for the use of the land, they are satis- 
 fied with receiving a settled and moderate tribute, not such 
 as will furnish superfluities, but the daily necessaries of life. 
 If this tribute is not paid, the nomades declare war. Hence 
 the poet calls these people both just, and miserable, (Abii,) a 
 for if the tribute is regularly paid, they do not have recourse 
 to war. Payment is not made by those, who have confidence 
 in their ability to repel attacks with ease, and to prevent the 
 incursion of their enemies. This course was pursued, as 
 Hypsicrates relates, by Ansander, who fortified on the isth- 
 mus of the Chersonesus, at the Palus Maeotis, a space of 360 
 stadia, and erected towers at the distance of every 10 stadia. 3 
 
 The Georgi (husbandmen) are considered to be more civil- 
 ized and~mHa r in~their manners than the other tribes in tnis 
 quarterpbirrthey are addicted to gain. They navigate the 
 sea, and do not abstain from piracy, nor from similar acts of 
 injustice and rapacity. 
 
 7. Besides the places in the Chersonesus already enumer- 
 ated, there are the fortresses Palacium, and Chabum, and 
 Neapolis, 4 which Scilurus and his sons constructed, from 
 which they sallied out against the generals of Mithridates. 
 
 There was also a fortress called Eupatoriurn, built by 
 Diophantus, one of the generals of Mithridates. 5 
 
 105th Olympiad, (about 36LB._c.,) and of which Demosthenes speaks 
 in a manner to give us to understand, that the quantity sent that year 
 by Leucon greatly exceeded that of former years. A very probable con- 
 jecture. F. T. The medimnus was about 1| bushel. 
 
 1 fyrma. '* a ft love. 
 
 3 I have adopted the reading suggested by the F. T., Ilwpyovc KaQ' 
 fK(t(TTct iiTaSia StKa. The wall of Ansander may still be traced. Pallas. 
 
 * Places to me unknown. G. Pallas erroneously supposes Palacium 
 to be the modern Balaklava. 
 
 5 Named after Mithridates Eupator. Koslof, now again Eupatoria. 
 
480 STRABO. CASAUB. 312. 
 
 There is a promontory, distant about 15 stadia from the 
 wall of Chersonesus, which forms a large bay, which bends 
 towards the city. Above this bay is a sea-lake, where there 
 are salt pits. Here was the harbour Ctenus. The generals 
 of the king, in order to strengthen their means of resistance 
 in case of siege, stationed a garrison on the above-mentioned 
 promontory, which was further protected by a fortification. 
 The mouth of the Gulf was closed by an embankment which 
 extended to the city, and was easily traversed on foot. The 
 garrison and the city were thus united. The Scythians were 
 afterwards easily repulsed. They attacked that part of the 
 wall built across the isthmus which touches upon Ctenus, and 
 filled the ditch with straw. The kind of bridge thus formed 
 by day, was burnt at night by the king's generals, who con- 
 tinued their resistance and defeated the enemy. At present 
 the whole country is subject to whomsoever the Romans may 
 appoint as king of the Bosporus. 
 
 8. It is a custom peculiar to all the Scythian and Sarmatian 
 tribes, to castrate theirhorses, in order to make them more 
 tractable/, for althougFTtneylire small, yet they are spirited, 
 and difficult to manage. Stags and wild boars are jumted in 
 the marshes, and wild asses and roes l in the plains. It is a 
 peculiarity of this country, that no eagles are to be found in 
 it. Among the quadrupeds there is an animal called Colus, 
 in size between a deer and a ram ; it is white, and swifter in 
 speed than either of those animals. It draws up water into 
 the head through the nostrils ; from this store it can supply 
 itself for several days, and live without inconvenience in 
 places destitute of water. 
 
 Such is the nature of the whole of the country beyond the 
 Danube, lying between the Rhine and the Don, and extend- 
 ing as far as the Pontic Sea and the Palus Mceotis. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1. THERE remains to be described that part of Europe 
 included between the Danube and the sea which surrounds it, 
 
B. vn. c.v. 1. ILLYRIA. 481 
 
 beginning from the inner recess of the Adriatic, and extend- 
 ing to the Sacred mouth of the Danube. 
 
 This part contains Greece, Macedonia, Epirus, and the 
 people who live above them, extending to the Danube and to 
 the two seas (the Adriatic and the Euxine Sea) on each 
 side. On the Adriatic are the Illyrians ; on the Euxine 
 Sea, as far as the Propontis 1 and Hellespont, are the Thra- 
 cians, and the Scythian or Keltic tribes intermixed with 
 them. We mustbegin from the Danube, and treat of the 
 countries which follow next in order to those already de- 
 scribed, that is to say, the parts contiguous to Italy, the 
 Alps, the Germans, the Dacians, and the Getce. 
 
 These may be divided into two parts. For the mountains 
 of Illyria, Pasonia, and Thrace, may be considered as form- 
 ing, as it were, a single line, parallel to the Danube, and 
 extending from the Adriatic to the Euxine. To the north of 
 this line is the country included between the Danube and the 
 mountains. To the south is Greece and the barbarous tract 
 contiguous to these mountains. 
 
 Near the Euxine Sea is Mount Haamus, 2 the largest and 
 the highest of the mountains in that quarter, and divides 
 Thrace nearly in the middle. According to Polybius, both 
 seas may be seen from this mountain ; but he is mistaken, for 
 the distance to the Adriatic is considerable, and many things 
 obstruct the view. 
 
 Almost the whole of Ardia 3 lies near the Adriatic, Paaonia 
 is in the middle, and all this country consists of elevated 
 ground. On the side towards Thrace, it is bounded by 
 Rhodope, 4 a mountain next in height to Haemus ; on the other 
 side to the north is Illyria, and the country of the Autariatae, 5 
 and Dardania. 6 
 
 I shall first describe Illyria, which approaches close to the 
 Danube, and to the Alps which lie between Italy and Germany, 
 
 1 Sea of Marmora. 2 The Veliki Balkan. 
 
 3 The southern part of Dalmatia bounded by the Narenta, which takes 
 its source in the Herzogovina. 
 
 4 Called Monte Argentaro by the Italians, Basilissa by the Greeks, 
 Rulla by the Turks. Baudrand. Despoto Dagh. 
 
 5 Occupied the neighbourhood of the river Titius, Kerca, which dis- 
 charges itself near Siberico. 
 
 6 The mountainous country south of Servia. 
 VOL. i. 2 i 
 
482 STRABO. CASATJB. 314- 
 
 taking their commencement from the lake in the territory of 
 the Vindelici, Rhasti, and Helvetii. 1 
 
 2. The Daci depopulated a part of this country in their 
 wars with the Boii and Taurisci, Keltic tribes whose chief 
 was Critasirus. The Daci claimed the country, although it 
 was separated from them by the river Parisus, 2 which flows 
 from the mountains to the Danube, near the Galatre Scordisci, 
 a people who lived intermixed with the Illyrian and the Thra- 
 cian tribes. The Illyrians were destroyed by the Daci, while 
 the Scordisci were frequently their allies. 
 
 The rest of the country as far as Segestica, 3 and the Danube, 
 towards the north and east, is occupied by Pannonii, but they 
 extend farther in an opposite direction. The city Segestica, 
 belonging to the Pannonii, is situated at the confluence of 
 several rivers, all of which are navigable. It is in a conve- 
 nient situation for carrying on war against the Daci, for it 
 lies at the foot of the Alps, which extend to the lapodes, 4 a 
 mixed Keltic and Illyrian tribe. Thence also flow the rivers 
 by which is conveyed to Segestica a great quantity of mer- 
 chandise, and among the rest, commodities from Italy. The 
 distance from Aquileia to Nauportus, 5 a settlement of the Tau- 
 risci, across the mountain Ocra, 6 is 350, or, according to some 
 writers, 500 stadia. Merchandise is transported to Nauportus 
 in waggons. The Ocra is the lowest part of the Alps, which 
 extend from Rhoetica to the lapodes, where the mountains 
 rise again, and are called Albii. From Tergeste, 7 a village of 
 the Garni, 8 there is a pass across and through the Ocra to a 
 marsh called Lugeum. 9 A river, the Corcoras, flows near 
 Nauportus, and conveys the merchandise from that place. It 
 discharges itself into the Save, and this latter river into the 
 
 1 The text presents some difficulty ; another reading is Taenii. Gos- 
 sellin supposes the lake to be the Czirknitz-See near Mount Albius, now 
 Alben or Planina. 
 
 2 The Margus ? See chap. v. 12. 
 
 3 At the confluence of the Kulpa and the Save, afterwards Siscia, now 
 Sizsek. 
 
 * Occupied the coast of Morlacca from the Gulf of Quarnero to Zara. 
 
 5 According to Pliny, the name of this place is derived from the fable 
 of the ship Argo, which was brought up the Danube and the Save, and 
 thence carried on men's shoulders to the Adriatic. Now Porto Quieto. 
 
 6 To the north of Trieste. 7 Trieste. 8 Carniola. 
 9 The Czirknitz-See. 
 
B. vii. c. v. 3, 4. ILLYRIA. 483 
 
 Drave ; the Drave again into the Noarus at Segestica. Here 
 the Noarus, having received the Colapis 1 as it descends in its 
 full stream from the mountain Albius through the lapodes, 
 enters the Danube among the Scordisci. The navigation on 
 the rivers is in general towards the north. The journey from 
 Tergeste to the Danube is about 1200 stadia. Near Segestica 
 is Siscia, a strong-hold, and Sirmium, both situated on the 
 road to Italy. 
 
 3. The Breuci, Andizetii, Ditiones, Peirustse, Mazaei, Dai- 
 sitiatae, whose chief was Baton, and other small obscure com- 
 munities, which extend to Dalmatia, and almost to the Ardiaei 
 to the south, are Pannonians. The whole mountainous tract 
 from the recess of the Adriatic bay to the Rhizonic gulf, 2 and 
 to the territory of the Ardiaei, intervening between the sea and 
 Pannonia, forms the coast of Illyria. 
 
 Here perhaps we ought to begin an uninterrupted account 
 of these places, after a short repetition. 
 
 In describing Italy we said, that the Istri were the first 
 nation on the Illyrian coast, contiguous to Italy and to the 
 Garni, and that the present government had advanced the 
 limits of Italy to Pola, 3 a city of Istria. These limits are dis- 
 tant about 800 stadia from the recess of the bay. It is the 
 same distance from the promontory in front of Pola to An- 
 con, 4 keeping Henetica 5 on the right hand. The whole voyage 
 along the coast of Istria is 1300 stadia. 
 
 4. Next is the voyage along the coast of the lapodes, 1000 
 stadia in extent. The lapodes are situated on Mount Albius, 
 which is the termination of the Alps, and is of very great 
 height. They reach in one direction to the Pannonii and the 
 Danube, and in another to the Adriatic. They are a warlike 
 people, but were completely subdued by Augustus. Their 
 cities are Metulum, Arupinum, Monetium, Vendum. 6 The 
 country is poor, and the inhabitants live chiefly upon spelt 
 and millet. 7 Their armour is after the Keltic^ fashion. Their 
 bodiea. are punctured, like those of the other Illyrian and 
 Thracian people. 
 
 The Kulpa. a Gulf of Cataro. 
 
 Now celebrated for the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. 
 
 Ancona. 5 The Venetian territory. 
 
 I am not acquainted with the sites of these places. G. 
 
 2 i 2 
 
484 
 
 STRAEO. CASAUB. 315. 
 
 After the coast of the lapodes follows that of Liburnia, 
 exceeding the former by 500 stadia. On this coast is Scar- 
 don, 1 a Liburnian city, and a river,^ which is navigable for 
 vessels of burden as far as the Dalmatce. 
 
 5. Islands are scattered along the whole of the above-men- 
 tioned coast ; among them are the Ap_sjrtides, where Medea 
 is said to have killed her brother Apsyrtus, who was pursu- 
 ing her. 
 
 'TTear the lapodes is Cyrictica, 3 then the Liburnian islands, 
 about forty in number; other islands follow, of which the 
 best known are Issa, Tragurium, founded by Isseans ; Pharos, 
 formerly Paros, founded by Parians, the birth-place of De- 
 metrius, the Pharian ; then the coast of the Dalmatae and 
 their naval arsenal, Salon. 4 This nation was for a long time 
 at war with the Romans. They had fifty considerable settle- 
 ments, some of which were in the rank of cities, as Salon, 
 Priomon, Ninias, and the old and new Sinotium. Augustus 
 burnt them down. There is also Andetrium, a strong fortress, 
 and Dalmatium, a large city, of the same name as the nation. 
 Scipio Nasica greatly reduced its size, and converted the plain 
 into a pasture for sheep, on account of the disposition of the 
 people to rob and pillage. 
 
 It is a custom peculiar to the Dalmatse to make a partition 
 of their lands every eighth year, they do not use money, 
 which is a peculiarity also when compared Avith theTiablts of 
 the other inhabitants of this coast ; but this is common among 
 many other tribes of barbarians. 
 
 The mountain Adrion divides Dalmatia into two parts, one 
 of which is on the sea, the other forms the opposite side of 
 the mountain. Then follow the river Naron, and the people 
 in the neighbourhood, the Daorizi, Ardisei, and Plersei. 5 Near 
 the former lies the island Black Gorcyra, 6 on which is a city 
 founded by the Cnidians. Near the Ardiasi is Pharos, for- 
 merly called Paros, for it was founded by Parians. 
 
 6. Later writers call the Ardisei, Vardasi. 7 The Romans 
 drove them into the interior from the sea-coast, which 
 
 1 Scardona. 2 The Kerka. 
 
 3 The modern names of these numerous islands must be matter of 
 conjecture. Issa is Lissa. * Salona. 
 
 5 Inhabitants, probably, of the peninsula Sabioncello. 6 Curzola. 
 7 Varalii, MSS. ; but manifestly wrong. 
 
B. vii. c. v. 7, 8. THE ADRIATIC. 485 
 
 was infested by their piracies, and compelled them to 
 cultivate the ground ; but as the country was rugged and 
 barren, and not adapted to husbandry, the nation was entirely 
 ruined and nearly extinguished. The same happened to other 
 neighbouring nations. People formerly very powerful are 
 extinct, or were reduced to the lowest condition, as the Boii 
 and Scordisci among the Galatas ; the Autariatse, Ardiasi, and 
 Dardanii, among the Illyrians ; and the Triballi among the 
 Thracians. They first declined in consequence of disputes 
 amongst themselves, but were finally prostrated by wars with 
 the Macedonians and Romans. 
 
 7. After the termination of the coast of the Ardiasi and 
 Plerasi is the bay of the Rhizasi, a city Rhizon, 1 other small 
 towns, and the river Drilon, 2 which may be navigated up its 
 stream towards the east as far as Dardanica. This country 
 is situated close to the Macedonian and Pasonian nations, to- 
 wards the south, as also the Autariatas and the Dasaretii are 
 in parts contiguous to one another [and to the Autariatae]. 3 
 To the Dardaniata3 belong the Galabrii, 4 in whose territory is 
 an ancient city ; and the Thunatae, who approach on the east 
 close to the Maedi, 5 a Thracian tribe. 
 
 The Dardanii are entirely a savage people, so much so that 
 they dig caves beneath dungheaps, in which they dwell ; yet 
 they are fo^^of''iirusic, aTJJT are much occupied in playing 
 upon pipes and on stringed instruments. They inhabit the 
 inland parts of the country, and we shall mention them again 
 in another place. 
 
 8. After the bay of Rhizon 6 is Lissus, 7 a city, Acrolissus, 8 
 and Epidamnus, the present Dyrrhachium, 9 founded by Cor- 
 cyraeans, and bearing the name of the peninsula on which it 
 
 1 Risano in the Gulf of Cataro. 2 The river Drin. 
 
 3 Kramer suggests the omission of these words, which render the pas- 
 sage obscure. 
 
 4 Galabrii. The name of this people is unknown. Probably it should 
 be changed to Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe, or considered as a second name 
 of the Taulantii, or that of a tribe belonging to them. The name Gala- 
 brus, or Galaurus, king of the Taulantii, has come down to us, which 
 gives some probability to the second conjecture. C. 
 
 5 The Maedi occupied the mountains which separate Macedonia from 
 Thrace, between the river Strymon and Mount Rhodope. G. 
 
 8 The Gulf of Cataro. 7 Alesso. 8 A fortified rock near. 
 
 9 Durazzo. 
 
486 STRABO. CASAUB. 316. 
 
 is situated. Then follow the rivers Apsus 1 and the Aous, 2 on 
 the banks of which is situated Apollonia, 3 a city governed by 
 excelleriLjaws. It was founded by Corinthians and Corcy- 
 rreans, and is distant from the river 10, and from the sea 60, 
 stadia. Hecatceus calls the Aous, Aias, and says that from 
 the same place, or rather from the same sources about Lac- 
 mus, 4 the Inachus flows southward, to Argos, 5 and the Aias 
 westward, into the Adriatic. 
 
 In the territory of the ApolloniataB there is what is called a 
 NymphaBurn. It is a rockwhich_emits ffre. Below it are 
 sprmgs~~flbwing with hot water 1m d asphaltus. The earth 
 containing the asphaltus is probably in a state of combustion. 
 The asphaltus is dug out of a neighbouring hill ; the parts 
 excavated are replaced by fresh earth, which after a time are 
 converted into asphaltus. This account is given by Posido- 
 nius, who says also, that the ampelitis, an asphaltic earth lound 
 i!T"the Pierian Seleucia, 6 is a remedy for the lice which infest 
 the vine. If the vine is smeared with this earth mixed with 
 oil, the insects are killed before they ascend from the root to 
 the branches. This earth, but it required for use a larger 
 quantity of oil, he says was found at Rhodes also, while he 
 held there the office of Prytanes. 
 
 Next to Apollonia is Bylliace (Bullis) and Oricum, 7 with 
 its naval arsenal, Panormus, and the Ceraunian mountains, 
 which form the commencement of the entrance of the Ionian 
 and Adriatic Gulfs. 
 
 9. The mouth is common to both ; but this difference is to 
 be observed, that the name Ionian 8 is applied to the first part 
 of the gulf only, and Adriatic to the interior sea up to the far- 
 thest end, but the name Adriatic is now applied to the whole 
 
 1 Ergent, or Beratino. a Lao, or Vousoutza. 
 
 s Polina. Thucydides calls Apollonia a colony of the Corinthians, and 
 not of the Corinthians and Corcyrseans. He states it, however, (b. i. c. 
 24,) to have been the practice for colonies which in their turn founded 
 other colonies, to unite with them, on these occasions, citizens of the 
 mother city. 
 
 4 One of the peaks of Pindus. 5 Amphilochian Argos, now Filochia. G. 
 
 6 On the boundary of Cilicia and Syria. 
 
 7 Appear to have been situated on the Gulf of Valona. G. 
 
 8 The name, Ionian Gulf, appears to have extended from the Acro- 
 ceraunian mountains to the southern part of Dalmatia, near Lissus, now 
 Alessio, to the bottom of the Gulf of Drin. G. 
 
B. vii. c. v. 10. ILLYRIA. 487 
 
 sea. According to Theopompus, the name Ionian was de- 
 rived from a chief (lonius) of that country, a native of Issa ; 
 and the name Adriatic from a river, Adrias. 1 
 
 From the Liburni to the Ceraunian mountains is a distance 
 of a little more than 2000 stadia. But Theopompus says, 
 that it is six days' sail from the farthest recess of the bay, 
 but a journey of thirty days by land along the length of Illy- 
 ria. This appears to me an exaggeration, but he makes many 
 incredible statements. Among other instances, he pretends 
 that there is a subterraneous passage between the Adriatic 
 and the JEgean Seas, grounding his opinion on the discovery 
 of Chian and Thasian pottery in the river Naron. 2 The two 
 seas, he says, may be seen from some pretended mountain. 
 He describes the Liburnian islands as occupying a position so 
 extensive as to form a circle of 500 stadia. According to 
 him, the Danube discharges itself by one of its mouths into the 
 Adriatic. 3 Similar mistakes are to be found in Eratosthenes, 
 which Polybius, when speaking of him and other writers, de- 
 scribes as having their origin in vulgar error. 4 
 
 10. On the coast of Illyria, along its whole extent, and in 
 the neighbouring islands, there are numerous excellent har- 
 bours, contrary to what occurs on the opposite Italian coast, 
 where there are none. As in Italy, however, the climate is 
 warm, and the soil productive of fruits ; olives also and vines 
 grow readily, except in some few excessively rugged places. 
 Although Illyria possesses these advantages, it was formerly 
 neglected, "Tfirbugh ignorance, perhaps, of its fertility ; but it 
 was principally avoided on account of the savage manners of 
 the infiaWrants4, and their pirafical habus. 
 
 The region situated above the sea-coast is mountainous, 
 cold, and at times covered with snow. The northern part is 
 still colder, so that vines are rarely to be met with either in 
 the hills or in the plains lower down. These mountain-plains 
 are in the possession of the Pannonians, and extend towards 
 the south as far as the Dalmatians and Ardiaei. They ter- 
 .minate towards the north at the Ister, and approach towards 
 
 1 The word Afyi'ac is translated Adriatic. In the version of the New 
 Testament it is translated Adria. Acts xxvii. 27. The Tartaro. 
 * Narenta. 
 
 3 A common opinion among ancient geographers. See b. i. c. ii. $ 39. 
 
 4 irapaKovafiara \ao3oy named. 
 
488 STRABO. CASAUB. 317. 
 
 the east close to the Scordisci, who live near the Macedonian 
 and Thracian mountains. 
 
 11. The Autariatae were the most populous and the bravest 
 tribe of the Illyrians. Formerly, there were continual dis- 
 putes between them and the Ardiaei respecting the salt which 
 was spontaneously formed on the confines of their respective 
 territories, in the spring season, from water which flows 
 through a valley. The salt concreted five days after the 
 water was drawn and deposited in reservoirs. The right of 
 collecting salt was, by agreement, to be exercised alternately 
 by each party, but the compact was broken and war was the 
 consequence. After the Autariatse had subdued the Triballi, 
 a people whose territory extended a journey of fifteen days, 
 from the Agrianae to the Danube, they became masters of the 
 Thracians and Illyrians. The Autariatae were first conquered 
 by the Scordisci, and afterwards by the Romans, who over- 
 powered the Scordisci, for a long time a powerful nation. 
 
 12. This people inhabited the country on the banks of the 
 Danube, and were divided into two tribes, the Great and the 
 Little Scordisci. 1 The former occupied the space between two 
 rivers, which empty themselves into the Danube, the Noarus, ? 
 which runs beside Segestica, and the Margus, or, as some 
 call it, Bargus. The Little Scordisci lived beyond this river 
 close to the Triballi and Mysi. 3 The Scordisci possessed some 
 of the islands also. They increased so much in strength and 
 numbers as to advance even to the Illyrian, Paeonian, and 
 Thracian confines. Most of the islands on the Danube fell 
 into their hands, and they possessed the cities Heorta and 
 Capedunum. 4 
 
 Next to the territory of the Scordisci, lying along the banks 
 of the Danube, is the country of the Triballi and Mysi, whom 
 we have before mentioned ; we have also spoken of the 
 
 1 The Agrianse occupied the neighbourhood of Mount Pangaeus on the 
 confines of Thrace and Macedonia. The Triballi, at the time alluded to 
 by Strabo, possessed nearly the whole of the country included between 
 the Adriatic and the Euxine. The Scordisci, who were at first confined 
 to the territory situated between the Drave and the Save, in their turn 
 took possession of all this country. It is not possible, in consequence of 
 the continual wars which existed amongst these people, to determine with 
 exactness the places which they successively occupied. 6. 
 
 2 Probably the Save. G. 3 Maedi. 
 * Cities not identified. 
 
B. vii. c. vi. $ 1. COAST OF THE BLACK SEA. 
 
 marshes l of the Lesser Scythia on this side the Dam 
 nation, and the Crobyzi, and the nation called Tr 
 live above the districts in which are situated Callatisi ^ ^, 
 and Ister. 2 Next are the people about the Mount Haamus, 
 and those who live at its foot, extending as far as the Pontus, 
 Coralli, and Bessi, and some tribes of Maedi and of Danthe- 
 letre. All these nations are very much addicted to robbery. 
 The Bessi possess far the greatest part T)f*Mount rfaemus, 
 and are called Robbers from their mode of life as free-booters. 
 Some of them live"m huts and lead a life of hardship. They 
 extend close to Rhodope, the Paeones, and to fn*e Illyrian na- 
 tions ; to the Autariatae also, and the Dardanians. Between 
 these and the Ardiaei are the Dasaretii, Hybrianes, and other 
 obscure nations, whose numbers the Scordisci were continually 
 reducing, until they had made the country a desert, full of 
 impassable forests, which extended several days' journey. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. OF the country situated between the Danube and the 
 mountains on each side of Paeonia, there remains to be de- 
 scribed the Pontic coast, which reaches from the Sacred 
 mouth of the Danube to the mountainous district about Has- 
 mus, and to the mouth of the Pontus at Byzantium. As in 
 describing the Illyrian coast we had proceeded as far as the 
 Ceraunian mountains, which, although they stretch beyond 
 the mountainous district of Illyria, yet constitute a sort of 
 proper boundary, we determined by means of these mountains 
 the limits of the nations in the inland parts, considering, that 
 such separating lines would be better marks both for our pre- 
 sent and future use ; so here also the coast, although it may 
 fall beyond the mountainous line, will still end at a proper 
 kind of limit, the mouth of the Pontus, which will be useful 
 both for our present and our future descriptions. 
 
 If we set out from the Sacred mouth of the Danube, having 
 on the right hand the continuous line of coast, we find at the 
 
 1 The Dobrudscha. 
 
 8 Mangalia, Tomesvar, the place of Ovid's exile, Kara-Herman. 
 
490 - STRABO. CASATJB. 319. 
 
 distance of 500 stadia, Ister, 1 a small town founded by Mile- 
 sians ; then Tomis, 2 another small town, at the distance of 
 250 stadia ; then Callatis, 3 a city, a colony of the Heracleotae, 
 at 280 stadia; then, at 1300 stadia, Apollonia, 4 a colony of 
 Milesians, having the greater part of the buildings upon a 
 small island, where is a temple of Apollo, whence Marcus 
 Lucullus took the Colossus of Apollo, the work of Calamides, 
 and dedicated it as a sacred offering in the Capitol. In the 
 intermediate distance between Callatis and Apollonia, is Bi- 
 zone, a great part of which was swallowed up by an earth- 
 quake ; Cruni ; 5 Odessus, 6 a colony of Milesians ; and Naulo- 
 chus, a small town of the Mesembriani. Next follows the 
 mountain Hremus, 7 extending to the sea in this quarter ; then 
 Mesembria, 8 a colony of the Megarenses, formerly called Me- 
 nabria, or city of Mena, Menas being the name of the founder, 
 and bria, 9 signifying in the Thracian tongue, city.. Thus the 
 city of Selys is called Selybria, and ^Enus once had the name 
 of Poltyobria. Then follows Anchiale, 10 a small town of the 
 Apolloniata?, and Apollonia itself. 
 
 On this coast is the promontory Tirizis, a place naturally 
 strong, which Lysimachus formerly used as a treasury. Again, 
 from Apollonia to the Cyaneos are about 1500 stadia. In this 
 interval are Thynias, a tract belonging to the Apolloniata, 
 Phinopolis, and Andriace, 11 which are contiguous to Salmy- 
 dessus. This coast is without inhabitants and rocky, without 
 harbours, stretching far towards the north, and extending as 
 far as the Cyanere, about 700 stadia. Those who are wrecked 
 on this coast are plundered by the Asti, a Thracian tribe 
 who live above it. 
 
 The Cyaneae 12 are two small islands at the mouth of the 
 Pontus, one lying near Europe, the other near Asia, and are 
 separated by a channel of about 20 stadia. This is the mea- 
 
 1 Istropolis or Kara-Herman. 2 Tomesvar. 3 Mangalia. 
 
 4 Sizepoli. 5 Baltchik, near Kavarna. 6 Varna. 
 
 T Cape Emineh in the English charts Emona, but there is no fixed 
 system of spelling for names of places in this part of the world. Emineh 
 is probably a corruption of Haemus. 8 Missemvria. 
 
 9 Or Meneburgh, we should say. The Thracian was a language cog- 
 nate with that of the Getae ; see Strabo, book vii. chap. iii. 10 ; and 
 the Getse were Gothic. We have the Liber Aureus in the Moeso Gothic 
 language still. 10 Ahiolou. n Places no longer known. G. 
 
 13 In the English charts Kyanees. They do not correspond to the de- 
 scription here given. The well-known poetical name is Symplegades. 
 
B. vii. c. vi. 2. COAST OF THE BLACK SEA. 491 
 
 sure of the distance between the temple of the Byzantines 
 and the temple of the Chalcedonians, where is the narrowest 
 part of the mouth of the Euxine Sea. For proceeding on- 
 wards 10 stadia there is a promontory, which reduces the 
 strait to 5 stadia; the strait afterwards opens to a greater 
 width, and begins to form the Propontis. 
 
 2. From the promontory, then, that reduces the strait to 
 5 stadia, to the Port under the Fig-tree, as it is called, are 35 
 stadia ; thence to the Horn of the Byzantines, 5 stadia. This 
 Horn, close to the walls of Byzantium, is a bay, extending 
 westwards 60 stadia, and resembling a stag's horn, for it is 
 divided into a great many bays, like so many branches. The 
 Pelamides 1 resort to these bays, and are easily taken, on account 
 of their great number, and the force of the current, which 
 drives them together in a body ; and also on account of the 
 narrowness of the bays, which is such that they are caught 
 even by the hand. These fish are bred in the marshes of the 
 Ma30tis. When they have attained a little size and strength, 
 they rush through the mouth in shoals, and are carried along 
 the Asiatic coast as far as Trapezus and Pharnacia. It is 
 here that the fishery begins, but it is not carried on to any 
 considerable extent, because the fish are not of a proper size at 
 this place. When they get as far as Sinope, they are in better 
 season for the fishery, and for the purpose of salting. But 
 when they have reached and passed the Cyanea3, a white rock 
 projects from the Chalcedonian shore, which alarms the fish, 
 so that they immediately turn away to the opposite coast. 
 There they are caught by the stream, and the nature of the 
 places being such as to divert the current of the sea in that 
 part towards Byzantium, and the Horn near it, the fish are 
 impelled thither in a body, and afford to the Byzantines, and 
 to the Roman people, a large revenue. The Chalcedonians, 
 however, although situated near, and on the opposite side, 
 have no share of this supply, because the Pelamides do not 
 approach their harbours. 
 
 After the foundation of Chalcedon, Apollo is said to have 
 
 1 In Italian, Pelamide, or Palamide, well known in the Mediterranean. 
 It is not to be compared in size to the Thunny, but is much larger than 
 the Mackerel, of a dark blue and streaked. Like the Thunny, it is 
 migratory. Aristotle erroneously conjectures the Pelamide to be the 
 young of the Thunny. 
 
492 STRABO. CASAUB. 320. 
 
 enjoined the founders of Byzantium, in answer to their in- 
 quiries, to build their city opposite to the Blind, applying this 
 name to the Chalcedonians, who, although they were the first 
 persons to arrive in these parts, had omitted to take possession 
 of the opposite side, which afforded such great resources of 
 wealth, and chose the barren coast. 
 
 We have continued our description to Byzantium, because 
 this celebrated city, 1 by its proximity to the mouth of the 
 Euxine Sea, forms a better-known and more remarkable 
 termination of an account of the coast from the Danube than 
 any other. 
 
 Above Byzantium is the nation of the Asti, in whose terri- 
 tory is the city Calybe, which Philip the son of Amyntas 
 made a settlement for criminals. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1. THESE are the nations, bounded by the Danube and by the 
 Illyrian and Thracian mountains, which are worthy of record. 
 They occupy the whole coast of the Adriatic Sea, beginning 
 from the recess of the gulf, and the left side, as it is called, 
 of the Euxine Sea, from the river Danube to Byzantium. 
 
 The southern parts of the above-mentioned mountainous 
 tract, and the countries which follow, lying below it, remain 
 to be described. Among these are Greece, and the contiguous 
 barbarous country extending to the mountains. 
 
 Hecataeus of Miletus says of the Peloponnesus, that, before 
 the time of the Greeks, it was inhabited by barbarians. Per- 
 haps even the whole of Greece was, anciently, a settlement of 
 barbarians, if we judge from former accounts. For Pelops 
 brought colonists from Phrygia into the Peloponnesus, which 
 
 1 The ancient Byzantium, there are grounds for believing, was marked 
 by the present walls of the Seraglio. The enlarged city was founded by 
 the emperor Constantine, A. D. 328, who gave it his name, and made it the 
 rival of Rome itself. It was taken from the Greeks in 1204, by the Ve- 
 netians under Dandolo ; retaken by the Greeks in 1261 under the em- 
 peror Michael Palseologus, and conquered by the Turks in 1453. The 
 crescent found on some of the ancient Byzantine coins was adopted as a 
 symbol by the Turks. 
 
B. vii. c. vii. $ 2. EPIRUS. 493 
 
 took his name ; Danaus l brought colonists from Egypt ; Dry- 
 opes, Caucones, Pelasgi, Leleges, and other barbarous nations, 
 partitioned among themselves the country on this side of the 
 isthmus. 2 The case was the same on the other side of the 
 isthmus ; for Thracians, under their leader Eumolpus, 3 took 
 possession of Attica ; Tereus of Daulis in Phocaea ; the Phre- 
 nicians, with their leader Cadmus, 4 occupied the Cadmeian 
 district ; Aones, and Temmices, and Hyantes, Bceotia. Pin- 
 dar says, " there was a time when the Bosotian people were 
 called Syes." 5 Some names show their barbarous origin, as 
 Cecrops, Codrus, (Eclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus. 6 
 Thracians, Illyrians, and Epirotae are settled even at present 
 on the sides of Greece. Formerly the territory they possessed 
 was more extensive, although even now the barbarians possess 
 a large part of the country, which, without dispute, is Greece. 
 Macedonia is occupied by Thracians z as well as some parts of 
 Thessaly ; the country above Acarnania and JEtoli& 9 by Thes- 
 proti, Cassopsei, Amphilochi, Molotti, and Athamanes, Epi- 
 rotic tribes. 
 
 2. We have already spoken of the Pelasgi. 7 Some writers 
 conjecture that the Leleges and Carians are the same people ; 
 others, that they were only joint settlers, and comrades in 
 war, because there are said to be some settlements called Set- 
 tlements of the Leleges in the Milesian territory, and in many 
 parts of Caria there are burial-places of the Leleges, and de- 
 serted fortresses, called Lelegia. 
 
 The whole country called Ionia was formerly inhabited by 
 Carians and Leleges ; these were expelled by the lonians, 
 who themselves took possession of the country. In still ear- 
 
 1 B. c. 1570. He was king of Argos. 
 
 2 The Peloponnesus, which before the arrival of Pelops was called Apia. 
 * Eumolpus took possession of Eleusis B. c. 1400. He is said to have 
 
 there instituted the mysteries of Ceres. 
 
 4 Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Tyre, arrived in Bosotia B. c. 1550. 
 The citadel of Thebes was named after him. 
 
 5 Sues, 'S.vag, swine, in allusion to their ignorance. 
 
 c There were two kings of Athens named Cecrops. The first of this 
 name, first king of Attica and Boeotia, came from Egypt. Cecrops II. 
 was the 7th, and Codrus the 17th and last king of Attica. Strabo in- 
 forms us, b. x. c. i. 3, that CEclus and Cothus were brothers of Ellops, 
 who founded Ellopia in Eubffia, and gave the name to the whole island. 
 
 7 B. v. c. ii. 4. 
 
494 STRABO. CASAUB. 322. 
 
 lier times, the captors of Troy l had driven out the Leleges from 
 the places about Ida near the rivers Pedasus and Satnioeis. 
 
 The fact of the association of these people with the Carians 
 may be regarded as a proof of their being barbarians, and 
 Aristotle, in his Politics, shows that they were a wandering 
 nation, sometimes in company with the Carians, sometimes 
 alone, and that from ancient times ; for, in speaking of the 
 polity of the Acarnanians, he says that the Curetes occupied 
 a part of the country, and the Leleges (and after them the 
 Telebose) the western side. On the subject of the ^Etolian 
 polity, he calls the present Locri, Leleges, and observes that 
 they occupy Boeotia. He repeats the same remark on the 
 subject of the polity of the Opuntians and Megareans. In 
 speaking of the polity of the Leucadians, he mentions an ab- 
 original by name, Leleges, and a grandson by his daughter 
 of the name of Teleboas, and besides two and twenty of his 
 sons of the name of Teleboas, some of whom inhabited Lucas. 
 But we should chiefly rely upon Hesiod, who thus speaks 
 of them: 
 
 " For Locrus was the leader of the nation of the Leleges, whom Jupiter, 
 the son of Saturn, in his infinite wisdom, once gave as subjects to Deu- 
 calion, a people gathered from among the nations of the earth." 
 
 For it seems to me to be obscurely intimated by the etymology 
 of the name, Leleges, that they were a mixed people anciently 
 collected together, which had become extinct. And this 
 may be said of the Caucones, who exist no wjiere at present, 
 yet were formerly settled in several places. 
 
 3. Although Greece was formerly composed of small na- 
 tions, many in number, and obscure ; nevertheless their val- 
 our, and their separate government by kings, prevented any 
 difficulty in denning their boundaries. As the greatest part 
 of the country, however, is at present uninhabited, and the 
 settlements, especially the cities, have been destroyed, it would 
 be of no service, even if it were possible, to ascertain the 
 names of cities and regions occupied by obscure and extinct 
 people. This destruction, which began a long time since, still 
 continues in many parts in consequence of rebellion. It has 
 been checked by the Romans, who accepted the supreme au- 
 thority from the inhabitants and lodged soldiers in their houses. 
 
 1 The capture of Troy by Hercules. See Grote i. 388. 
 
B. vii. c. vn. $ 4. EPIRUS. 495 
 
 Polybius says that Paulus [Emilius], after the defeat of the 
 Macedonians l and their king Perseus, destroyed 70 cities of 
 the Epirotae (most of which belonged to the Molotti) and re- 
 duced to slavery 150,000 of the inhabitants. Still, however, 
 I shall endeavour, as far as it is compatible with the design 
 of this work, to describe, as far as I am able, these places in 
 detail, beginning from the sea-coast near the Ionian Gulf, 
 where the navigation out of the Adriatic terminates. 
 
 4. The first parts of this coast are those about Epidamnus 
 and Apollonia. From Apollonia to Macedonia is the Egna- 
 tian Way ; its direction is towards the east, and the distance 
 is measured by pillars at every mile, as far as Cypselus 2 and 
 the river Hebrus. 3 The whole distance is 535 miles. But 
 reckoning, as the generality of persons reckon, a mile at eight 
 stadia, there may be 4280 stadia. And according to Polybius, 
 who adds two plethra, that is, the third of a stadium, to 
 every eight stadia, we must add 178 stadia more, a third part 
 of the number of miles. 4 A traveller from Apollonia, 5 and a 
 traveller from Epidamnus, 6 on the same road, meet midway 
 between the two cities. The whole is called the Egnatian 
 Way. The first part of it is called the road to Candavia, 
 which is an Illyrian mountain. It passes through Lychnidus, 7 
 a city, and Pylon, a place which separates Illyria from Mace- 
 donia. Thence its direction is beside Barnus through Hera- 
 cleia, the Lyncestae, and the Eordi, to Edessa 8 and Pella, 9 as 
 far as Thessalonica. 10 Polybius says, that this is a distance of 
 267 miles. In travelling this road from the neighbourhood 
 of Epidamnus and Apollonia, on the right hand are the Epi- 
 rotic nations situated on the coast of the Sicilian Sea, and 
 extending as far as the Gulf of Ambracia ; ' 1 on the left are 
 the Illyrian mountains, which we have before described, and 
 the nations that live near them, extending as far as Mace- 
 donia and the Pasones. 
 
 1 B. c. 168. 2 Ipsala. 3 Maritza. 
 
 4 D'Anville (Mesures Itineraires) conjectures the difference between 
 Polybius and Strabo to arise from the Greek foot being less than the 
 Roman foot in the ratio of 24 to 25 ; or 24 Roman stadia = 25 Greek 
 stadia containing the same number of feet. 
 
 * Polina. Durazzo. 7 Lago d' Ochrida. 8 Vodina. 
 
 9 The ruins of Pella are at a little distance on the east of the lake 
 Tenidscheh. 
 
 10 Saloniki. Gulf of Arta. 
 
STRABO. CASATTB. 323. 
 
 From the Gulf of Ambracia the places next in order, in- 
 clining to the east, and extending opposite to Peloponnesus, 
 belong to Greece ; they terminate at the ^Egean Sea, leaving 
 the whole of Peloponnesus on the right hand. 
 
 The country, from the commencement of the Macedonian 
 and Pasonian mountains, as far as the river Strymon, 1 is in- 
 habited by Macedonians, and Pseones, and some of the Thra- 
 cian mountain tribes. But all the country on the other side 
 the Strymon, as far as the mouth of the Euxine Sea, and 
 Mount Haamus, 2 belong to the Thracians, except the coast, 
 which is occupied by Greeks, some of whom are settled on 
 the Propontis, 3 others on the Hellespont and on the Gulf 
 Melas, 4 and others on the JEgean Sea. 
 
 The .ZEgean Sea waters two sides of Greece ; first, the 
 eastern side, extending from the promontory Sunium 5 to the 
 north as far as the Thermasan Gulf, and Thessalonica, a Mace- 
 donian city, which has, at present, the largest population in 
 these parts. Then the southern side, which is a part of 
 Macedonia, extending from Thessalonica to the Strymon. 
 Some writers assign the coast from the Strymon as far as 
 Nestus 6 to Macedonia. For Philip showed the greatest solici- 
 tude to obtain, and at length appropriated it to himself. He 
 raised a very large revenue from the mines, and from other 
 sources which the richness of the country afforded. 
 
 From Sunium to the Peloponnesus are the Myrtoan, the 
 Cretan, and the Libyan Seas, together with the Gulfs, as far 
 as the Sicilian Sea, which consist of the Gulfs of Arnbracia, 
 of Corinth, and of Crissa. 
 
 5. Theopompus says, that there are fourteen Epirotic na- 
 tions. Of these, the most celebrated are the Chaones and 
 Molotti, because the whole of Epirus was at one time sub- 
 ject, first to Chaones, afterwards to Molotti. Their power 
 was greatly strengthened by the family of their kings being 
 descended from the JEacidas, and because the ancient and 
 famous oracle of Dodona 7 was in their country. Chaones, 
 Thesproti, and next after these Cassopsei, (who are Thes- 
 
 1 lemboli. 
 
 2 Balkan applies to the whole mountainous range of Haemus; Emineh 
 to the part bordering on the Black Sea. 
 
 3 Sea of Marmora. * Gulf of Saros. 5 Cape Colonna. 
 6 Karasu, or Mesta. 7 The site of Dodona is unknown. 
 
B. vii. c. vii. 6. EFIRUS. 497 
 
 proti,) occupy the coast, a fertile tract reaching from the 
 Ceraunian mountains to the Ambracian Gulf. 
 
 The voyage commencing from the Chaones eastward towards 
 the Gulfs of Ambracia and Corinth, and having the Ausonian 
 Sea on the right, and Epirus on the left, comprises 1300 stadia 
 to the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. In this interval is Pa- 
 normus, 1 a large port in the middle of the Ceraunian moun- 
 tains. Next to this is Onchesmus, 2 another harbour, opposite 
 to which are the western extremities of Corcyra, 3 and then 
 again another port, Cassiope, 4 (Cassope ?) whence to Brundu- 
 siuin 5 are 1700 stadia. It is the same distance to Tarentum 
 from another promontory more to the south than Cassiope, 
 which is called Phalacrum. Next after Onchesmus are Po- 
 sidium, and Buthrotum, 6 (which is situated upon the mouth 
 of the lake Pelodes, in a spot of a peninsula form, and has a 
 Roman colony,) and the Sybota. The Sybota 7 are small 
 islands at a little distance from Epirus, lying near Leucimme, 8 
 the eastern promontory of Corcyra. There are also other 
 small islands, not worthy of notice, which are met with along 
 the coast. 
 
 Next is the promontory Chimerium, and a harbour called 
 Glycys-Limen, [or Sweet Harbour,] where the river Acheron, 
 which receives several other rivers, empties itself and renders 
 fresh the water of the gulf. The Thyamus 9 flows near it. 
 Above this gulf is situated Cichyrus, formerly Ephyra, a city 
 of the Thesproti, and above the gulf at Buthrotum, Phoenice. 10 
 Near Cichyrus is Buchetium, a small city of the Cassopaei, 
 situated at a little distance from the sea ; Elatria, Pandosia, 
 and Batiaj are in the inland parts. Their territory extends 
 as far as the gulf. Next after the harbour Glycys-Limen are 
 two others, Comarus, 11 the nearest and smallest, forming an 
 isthmus of 60 stadia, near the Ambracian Gulf and Nicopolis, 12 
 founded by Augustus Caesar ; the other, the more distant and 
 larger, and better harbour, is near the mouth of the gulf, and 
 distant from Nicopolis about 12 stadia. 
 
 6. Then follows the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, 
 
 1 Panormo. 2 Santi Quaranta. 3 Corfu. 4 Cassiopo. 
 
 b Brindisi. Butrinto. " Syvota. 8 C. Bianco. 
 
 9 The Thyamus, or Thyamis, is now called Glycys, arid the Acheron, 
 Calaraas. 10 Sopoto. ll Porto Fanari. 
 
 12 The ruins of Nicopolis are to the north of Prevesa. 
 VOL. i. 2 K 
 
498 STRABO. CASATJB. 326. 
 
 which is a little more than four stadia in width. The circuit 
 of the gulf is 400 stadia, and the whole has good harbours. 
 On sailing into it, on the right hand are the Acarnanes, who 
 are Greeks ; and here near the entrance of the gulf is a tem- 
 ple of Apollo Actius, situated on an eminence ; in the plain 
 below is a sacred grove, and a naval station. Here Augustus 
 Csesar 1 dedicated as offerings one-tenth of the vessels taken in 
 war, from vessels of one bank to vessels of ten banks of oars. 
 The vessels, and the buildings destined for their reception, 
 were destroyed, it is said, by fire. 
 
 On the left hand are Nicopolis, 2 and the Cassopaei, a tribe 
 of the Epirotoe, extending as far as the recess of the gulf at 
 Ambracia. Ambracia 3 is situated a little above the recess of 
 the bay, and was founded by Gorgus, (Torgus, Tolgus,) the 
 son of Cypselus. The river Arathus flows beside it, which 
 may be navigated up the stream to the city, a distance of a 
 few stadia. It rises in Mount Tymphe, and the Parorrea. 
 This city was formerly in a very flourishing condition, and 
 hence the gulf received its name from the city. Pyrrhus, 
 however, embellished it more than any other person, and made 
 it a royal residence. In kter times, 4 the Macedonians and 
 Romans harassed this and other cities by continual wars, 
 caused by the refractory disposition of the inhabitants, so 
 that Augustus, at length perceiving that these cities were 
 entirely deserted, collected their remaining inhabitants into 
 one city, which he called Nicopolis, situated upon the gulf. 
 He called it after the victory which he obtained in front, of 
 
 1 Caesar Augustus (then Caesar Octavianus) obtained the celebrated 
 victory of Actium over Marcus Antonius, B. c. 31. The latter, after his 
 defeat, fled into Egypt with Cleopatra. The battle would appear to have 
 taken place at the entrance into the Gulf of Arta, and therefore probably 
 off La Punta, opposite Prevesa, and not off the modern town of Azio. 
 
 2 In the Austrian map a ground-plan of the ruins of Nicopolis are 
 given, at about one mile to the north of Prevesa. 
 
 3 The Gulf of Ambracia, and the rivers which flow into it, are much 
 distorted in D'Anville. According to more modern maps, the Arathus is 
 the most western of the streams which flow into the gulf, and the ancient 
 city was situated at about 15 miles from the mouth. The Loru (the Ara- 
 thus) ; the Mauro Potamo or Glykys (the Acheron) ; the Zagura (the 
 Selleis ?) which falls into it; and the Tercino, which falls into the Ka- 
 lamas, (the Thyamis or Thyamus,) all rise in the mountain ridge Olyt- 
 kiza, tibout 10 miles to the west of lanina. 
 
 4 Livy xxxviii. c. 3. 
 
M. vii. c. vii. 7, 8. EPIRUS. 499 
 
 the gulf, over Antony, and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, 
 who was present in the engagement. 
 
 Nicopolis is well peopled, and is improving every day. It 
 has a large territory, and is adorned with the spoils of war. 
 In the suburbs is a sacred enclosure ; part of it is a grove, 
 containing a gymnasium and a stadium, intended for the cele- 
 bration of quinquennial games ; the other part, on a rising 
 ground overhanging the grove, is sacred to Apollo. The 
 Olympian game, called the Actia, 1 is instituted there in honour 
 of Apollo Actius. It is under the superintendence of the 
 Lacedaemonians. The other surrounding settlements are de- 
 pendent on Nicopolis. The Actian games 1 were formerly 
 celebrated in honour of the god by the neighbouring people ; 
 it was a contest in which the victor was crowned ; but Caesar 
 has conferred on it greater honours. 
 
 7. After Ambracia follows the Amphilochian Argos, founded 
 by Alcmaeon and his sons. According to Ephorus, Alcmaeon, 
 after the expedition of the Epigoni 2 against Thebes, upon the 
 solicitation of Diomed, accompanied him in his invasion of 
 ^Etolia, and obtained joint possession of this country and of 
 Acarnania. When Agamemnon invited them to come to the 
 siege of Troy, Diomed went, but Alcmaeon remained in 
 Acarnania, founded Argos, and gave it the name Amphilo- 
 chian, after his brother Amphilochus. On the same authority 
 the river Inachus, which flows through the country and emp- 
 ties itself into the bay, received its name from the river in 
 the Argive territory. Thucydides, however, says that Am- 
 philochus himself, upon his return from Troy, dissatisfied with 
 the state of things at Argos, passed over into Acarnania, and 
 having succeeded to the dynasty of his brother, founded the 
 city which is called after his name. 
 
 8. The Amphilochians are Epirotae, as also are those nations 
 who inhabit a rugged country situated above and close to the 
 Illyrian mountains, the Molotti, Athamanes, ^Ethices, Tym- 
 phaei, Orestae Paroraei, and Atintanes, some of whom approach 
 nearer to Macedonia, others to the Ionian Gulf. It is said 
 that Orestes possessed the territory Orestias at the time of 
 his flight, after the murder of his mother, and left the country 
 
 1 Virg. Mn. iii. 280. 
 
 2 Descendants of the seven chiefs \vho fought and perished before 
 Thebes. 
 
 2 K 2 
 
500 STRABO. CASAUB. 327. 
 
 bearing his name, where also he had built a city called Orestic 
 Argos. With these people are intermixed Illyrian nations, 
 some of whom are situated on the southern part of the moun- 
 tainous district, and others above the Ionian Gulf. For above 
 Epidamnus and Apollonia, as far as the Ceraunian mountains, 
 live the Bulliones, Taulantii, Parthini, and Brygi. 1 
 
 Somewhere near are the silver mines of Damastium. Here 
 the Perisadyes had established their sway, and Enchelii, who 
 are also called Sesarethii. Then come the Lyncestae, the ter- 
 ritory Deuriopus, Pelagonia-Tripolitis, the Eordi, Elimia, 
 and Eratyra. Formerly each of these nations was under its 
 own prince. The chiefs of the Enchelii were descendants of 
 Ca'dmus arid Harmonia, and scenes of the fables respecting 
 these persons are shown in the territory. This nation, there- 
 fore, was not governed by native princes. The Lyncestas 
 were under Arrhabasus, who was of the race of the Bacchi- 
 adas. Irra was his daughter, and his grand-daughter was 
 Eurydice, the mother of Philip Amyntas. 
 
 The Molotti also were Epirotae, and were subjects of Pyr- 
 rhus Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, and of his descendants, 
 who were Thessalians. The rest were governed by native 
 princes. Some tribes were continually endeavouring to ob- 
 tain the mastery over the others, but all were finally subdued 
 by the Macedonians, except a few situated above the Ionian 
 Gulf. They gave the name of Upper Macedonia to the 
 country about Lyncestis, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimia. 
 Later writers called it Macedonia the Free, and some extend 
 the name of Macedonia to all the country as far as Corcyra, 
 at the same time assigning as their reasons, the mode of cut- 
 ting their hair, their language, the use of the chlamys, and 
 similar things in which they resemble the Macedonians ; some 
 of them, however, speak two languages. On the dissolution 
 of the Macedonian empire, they fell under the power of the 
 Romans. 
 
 The Egnatian Way, from Epidamnus and Apollonia, passes 
 through the territory of these people. Near the road to Can- 
 davia are the lakes about Lychnidus, which furnish large 
 supplies of fish for salting, and rivers, some of which empty 
 
 1 These nations are mentioned by other authors; they were probably 
 separated by the numerous mountain ridges to the west of Pindus. See 
 below, 9. But compare D'Anville and the Austrian military map. 
 
B. vii. c. vii. 9, 10. EPIRUS. DODONA. 501 
 
 themselves into the Ionian Gulf. Some flow towards the 
 south, as the Inachus, the Arathus, (Ratoiis,) the Achelous, 
 and the Evenus, formerly called Lycormas. The Ratous dis- 
 charges its waters into the Ambracian Gulf, the Inachus into 
 the Achelous, the Achelous itself into the sea, as also the 
 Evenus ; the former traverses Acarnania, the latter ^Etolia. 
 The Erigon, after having received many streams which flow 
 from the Illyrian mountains, and through the territories of 
 Lyncestne, Brygi, Deuriopes, and Pelagonians, empties itself 
 into the Axius. 
 
 9. There were formerly cities among these nations. The 
 district Pelagonia-Tripolitis contained (as the name signifies) 
 three cities, of which Azorus was one. All the cities of the 
 Deuriopes were situated on the banks of the Erigon ; among 
 which were Bryanium, Alalcomense, 1 and Stymbara. 2 Cydrise 
 belonged to the Brygi, and ^Eginium on the confines of JEthi- 
 cia, and Tricca, to the Tymphaei. Near Macedonia and Thes- 
 salia, about the mountains Poeus and Pindus, are the jEthices, 
 and the sources of the Peneus, which are a subject of dispute 
 between the Tymphaei and the Thessalians, who are situated 
 below Pindus. 
 
 On the banks of the river Ion is Oxynia, a city distant from 
 Azorus in the Tripolitis 120 stadia. Near Oxynia are Alal- 
 comenas, JEginium, Europus, and the confluence of the Ion 
 with the Peneus. 
 
 At that time then, as I said before, the whole of Epirus 
 and Illyria were well peopled, although the country is rugged 
 and full of mountains, such as Tomarus, and Polyanus, and 
 many others. At present the greater part is uninhabited, and 
 the inhabited parts are left in the state of villages, or in ruins. 
 Even the oracle at Dodona has almost been deserted, like the 
 rest. 
 
 10. This oracle, according to Ephorus, was established by 
 Pelasgi, who are said to be the most ancient people that were 
 sovereigns in Greece. Thus the poet speaks, 
 
 " O great Pelasgic Dodonsean Jove ;" * 
 and Ilesiod, 
 " He went to Dodona, the dwelling of the Pelasgi, and to the beech tree." 
 
 1 Alcomenae. a Styberra, Polyb. ; Stubera, Liv. ; Stobera, Suid. 
 3 Iliad, book xvi. 233. 
 
502 STRABO. CASAUB. 328. 
 
 I have spoken of the Pelasgi in the account of Tyr- 
 rhenia. 
 
 "With respect to Dodona, Homer clearly intimates that the 
 people who lived about the temple were barbarians, from their 
 mode of life, describing them as persons who do not wash 
 their feet, and who sleep on the ground. Whether we should 
 read Helli, with Pindar, or Selli, as it is conjectured the word 
 existed in Homer, the ambiguity of the writing does not 
 permit us to affirm confidently. Philochorus says, that the 
 country about Dodona was called, like Eubcea, Hellopia ; for 
 these are the words of Hesiod, 
 
 " There is a country Hellopia, rich in corn-fields and pastures ; at its 
 extremity is built Dodona." 
 
 It is supposed, says Apollodorus, that it had this name from 
 the " hele," or marshes about the temple. He is of opinion 
 that the poet did not call the people about the temple Helli, 
 but Selli, adding, that Homer mentions a certain river (near) 
 of the name of Selleis. He specifies the name in this line, 
 
 " At a distance far from Ephyra, from the river Selleis." 
 
 [Demetrius of Skepsis contends that] Ephyra of Thesprotia 
 is not here meant, but Ephyra of Elis. For the river Selleis 
 is in Elis, and there is no river of this name either in Thes- 
 protia or among the Molotti. The fable of the oak and the 
 doves, and other similar things, like the stories connected with 
 Delphi, although they are subjects more adapted to engage 
 the attention of a poet, yet are appropriate to the description 
 of the country with which we are now occupied. 
 
 Dodona was formerly subject to the Thesproti, as was the 
 mountain Tomarus, or Tmarus, (both names are in use,) be- 
 low which the temple is situated. The tragic writers and 
 Pindar give the epithet of Thesprotis to Dodona. It was said 
 to be subject, in later times, to the Molotti. Those called by 
 the poet Jove's interpreters, 1 and described by him as men 
 with unwashen feet, who slept on the ground, were, it is said, 
 called Tomuri 2 from Mount Tomarus, and the passage in the 
 Odyssey containing the advice of Amphihomus to the suitors 
 
 * Topovpoi. 
 
n. vii. c. vn. 12. DODOXA. 503 
 
 not to attack Telemachus before they had inquired of Jupiter 
 is as follows, 
 
 " If the Tomuri of great Jove approve, I myself will kill him, and I 
 will order all to join in the deed ; but if the god forbid it, I command to 
 withhold." ' 
 
 For it is better, it is asserted, to write Tomuri 2 than The- 
 mi.stre, 3 because in no passage whatever are oracles called by 
 the poet Themistre, this term being applied to decrees, 4 or 
 statutes and rules of civil government ; and the persons are 
 called Tomuri, 5 which is the contracted form of Tomaruri, 6 or 
 guardians of Tomarus. 
 
 In Homer, however, we must understand Qifjua-tQ in a 
 more simple sense, and, like (3ov\ai, by the figure Catachresis, 
 as meaning commands and oracular injunctions as well as 
 laws ; for such is the import of this line : 
 
 ' To listen to 7 the will of Jove, which comes forth from the lofty and 
 verdant oak." 
 
 12. The first prophets were men, and this the poet perhaps 
 indicates, for he calls the persons interpreters, 8 among whom 
 the prophets 9 might be classed. In after-times three old 
 women were appointed to this office, after even Dione had a 
 common temple with Jupiter. 
 
 Suidas, in order to court the favour of the Thessalians by 
 fabulous stories, says, that the temple was transported from 
 Scotussa of the Thessalian Pelasgiotis, accompanied by a great 
 multitude, chiefly of women, whose descendants are the present 
 prophetesses, and that hence Jupiter had the epithet Pelasgic. 
 Cineas relates what is still more fabulous ***** 
 
 [With the exception of the following Fragments, the rest of this book 
 is lost.] 
 
 1 Odys. xvi. 403. 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
;04 STRABO. FRAGM. 1-4. 
 
 FRAGMENTS. 1 
 
 1. THE oracle was formerly at Scotussa, a city of Pelasgiotis, 
 but was transferred to Dodona by the command of Apollo, 
 after some persons had burnt down the tree. The oracular 
 answers were not conveyed by words, but by certain signs, as 
 at the oracle of Ammon in Libya. Probably the three doves 
 made some peculiar flight, which, observed by the priestesses, 
 suggested the oracular answer. Some say that, in the lan- 
 guage of the Molotti and Thesprotre, old women are called 
 " peliae," and old men " pelii," so that the celebrated doves 
 were probably not birds, but three old women who passed an 
 idle time about the temple. EPIT. 
 
 2. Among the Thesprotae and Molotti old women are called 
 "peliae," and old men "pelii," as among the Macedonians. 
 Persons at least who hold office are called " peligones," as 
 among the Laconians and Massilienses they are called " ge- 
 rontes." Hence it is asserted that the story of the doves in 
 the oak at Dodona is a fable. E. 
 
 3. The proverb, " The brazen vessel of Dodona," thus arose. 
 In the temple was a brazen vessel, having over it a statue of 
 a man (an offering of the Corcyrasans) grasping in the hand 
 a brazen scourge of three thongs, woven in chains, from which 
 were suspended small bones. The bones striking continually 
 upon the brazen vessel, whenever they were agitated by the 
 wind, produced a long protracted sound, so that a person from 
 the beginning to the end of the vibrations might proceed to 
 count as far as four hundred. Whence also came the proverb, 
 " The Corcyra3an scourge." 2 EPIT. 
 
 4. Paeonia is to the east of these nations, and to the west 
 of the Thracian mountains ; on the north it lies above Mace- 
 donia. Through the city Gortynium and Stobi it admits of 
 a passage to * * * (through which the Axius flows, and 
 renders the access difficult , from Pasonia into Macedonia, as 
 
 1 The Fragments are collected from the Palatine (EPIT.) and Vatican 
 (E.) Epitomes ; and, in the opinion of Kramer, much is not lost. By 
 the diligence and research of Kramer, the former length of these Frag- 
 ments is more than doubled ; but for a more particular account of his 
 labours, the reader is referred to his preface .and notes. 
 
 ' This proverb is quoted in Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus. 
 
FRAGM. 510. MACEDONIA. >0o 
 
 the Peneus flowing through Tempe protects it on the side of 
 Greece.) On the south, Paeonia borders on the Autariatae, 
 the Dardanii, and the Ardisei ; it extends also as far as the 
 Strymon. E. 
 
 5. The Haliacmon 1 flows into the Thermsean Gulf. E. 
 
 6. Orestis is of considerable extent ; there is in it a large 
 mountain which reaches to Corax 2 of ^Etolia and to Parnassus. 
 It is inhabited by the Orestae themselves, by the Tymphaeans, 
 and by Greeks without the isthmus, namely, those who also 
 occupy Parnassus. CEta, and Pindus. As a whole, the moun- 
 tain is called by one name, Boion, (Poeum ?) but the separate 
 divisions bear various names. The ^Egean, Ambracian, and 
 Ionian Seas are said to be distinguishable from the highest 
 elevations, but this appears to me to be an extravagant asser- 
 tion ; for Pteleum rises to a considerable height, and is situ- 
 ated near the Ambracian Gulf, stretching on one side to the 
 Corcyraean and on the other to the Leucadian Seas. E. 
 
 7. Corey ra, humbled by many wars, became a subject of 
 ridicule, and passed into a proverb. E. 
 
 8. Corcyra was formerly a flourishing place, and possessed 
 a considerable naval force, but went into decay through war 
 and the oppression of its rulers. In later times, although re- 
 stored to liberty by the Romans, it acquired no renown, but 
 the taunting proverb was applied to it, " Corcyra the Free, 
 ease yourself where you please." EPIT. 
 
 9. Of Europe, there remains Macedonia, and the parts of 
 Thrace contiguous to it, extending to Byzantium, Greece 
 also, and the adjacent islands : indeed, Macedonia is a part of 
 Greece. Following, however, the natural character of the 
 country and its form, we have determined to separate it 
 from Greece, and to unite it with Thrace, which borders upon 
 
 it. Strabo, after a few remarks, mentions Cypsela 3 and the 
 
 river Hebrus. 4 He also describes a parallelogram in which is 
 placed the whole of Macedonia. E. 
 
 10. Macedonia is bounded on the west by the sea-coast of 
 the Adriatic ; on the east by a meridian line parallel to this 
 coast, passing through the mouth of the river Hebrus, and the 
 city Cypsela; on the north by an imaginary straight line pass- 
 ing through the mountains Bertiscus, Scardus, 5 Orbelus, 6 
 
 1 Indesche Karasu. 3 Oxas. 3 Ipsala. * The Maritza. 
 
 5 Schardagh. Egrisoudagh. 
 
STRABO. FKAGM. 1113. 
 
 Rhodope, 1 and Haemus. 2 For these mountains extend in a 
 straight line, beginning from the Adriatic, to the Euxine, 
 forming towards the south a great peninsula, which compre- 
 hends Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, and Achaia. On the south, 
 Macedonia is bounded by the Egnatian Way, which goes from 
 Dyrrachium eastwards to Thessalonica, and thus has very 
 nearly the form of a parallelogram. EPIT. 
 
 1 1. The country now called Macedonia was formerly called 
 Emathia. It acquired this name from Macedon, one of its 
 ancient princes. There was also a city Emathia near the sea. 
 The country was occupied by some of the Epirotce and Illy- 
 rians, but the greatest part by Bottiaei and Thracians. The 
 Bottiaei were of Cretan origin, and came under the command 
 of Botton ; the Pieres, who were Thracians, inhabited Pieria 
 and the parts about Olympus ; the Paeonians, the borders of 
 the river Axius, from whence the region was called Amphax- 
 itis ; the Edoni and Bisalti, the rest of the country as far as 
 the Strymon. The Bisalti retained their name, but the Edoni 
 went under the various names of Mygdones, Edoni, (Odones?) 
 and Sithones. Of all these people, the Argeadse and the 
 Chalcidenses of Eubosa became the chief. The Chalcidenses 
 came from Eubcea into the territory of the Sithones, and there 
 founded about thirty cities. They were subsequently driven 
 out by the Sithones, but the greater part of them collected 
 together into a single city, namely, Olynthus. 3 They had the 
 name of Chalcidenses-in-Thrace. E. 
 
 12. The Peneus separates Lower Macedonia and the sea- 
 board from Thessaly and Magnesia. The Haliacmon is the 
 boundary of Upper Macedonia ; and the Haliacmon, the Eri- 
 gon, the Axius, and other rivers, form the boundary between 
 Macedonia and the Epirotae and the Paeonians. E. 
 
 13. If a line is drawn from the recess of the Therrnaic 
 Gulf, on the sea-coast of Macedonia, and from Thessalonica, 
 southwards, to Sunium, and another eastwards, towards the 
 Thradian Chersonese, an angle will be made in the recess. 
 Macedonia extends in both directions, and we must begin with 
 the line first mentioned. The first part of it has beyond it 
 Attica with Megaris to the Crisssean Bay. Next succeeds 
 the sea-coast of Boeotia near Euboea. Above Eubcea on the 
 
 1 Despotodagh. 2 Velikidagh. 
 
 3 Above Agios-Mamas, in the Bay of Cassandra. 
 
FKAGM. U 17. MACEDONIA. 507 
 
 west lies the rest of Bceotia, parallel with Attica. Strabo 
 says that the Egnatian Way begins from the Ionian Gulf and 
 ends at Thessalonica. E. 
 
 14. From these reefs, says Strabo, we shall first mark the 
 boundaries of those who live about the river Peneus and 
 Haliacmon near the sea. The Peneus flows from Mount 
 Pindus through the middle of Thrace eastwards; passing 
 through the cities of the Lapithae and some of the cities of the 
 Perrhaebi, it arrives at the vale of Tempe, having in its course 
 received the waters of several rivers : of these, the Europus 
 (Eurotas) is one, called by the poet Titaresius. It rises from 
 Titarius, (Titarus,) a mountain continuous with Olympus, 
 which at this point first begins to mark the boundary between 
 Macedonia and Thessaly. Tempe is a narrow valley between 
 Olympus and Ossa. The Peneus continues its course from 
 this narrow pass 40 stadia, having Olympus, the highest of 
 the Macedonian mountains, on the left, [and Ossa on the right, 
 near] the mouth of the river. At the mouth of the Peneus 
 on the right is situated Gyrton, a city of the Perrhaebi, and 
 Magnetis. where Pirithous and Ixion were kings. The city 
 Crannon is 100 stadia distant from Gyrton. Some assert, 
 that in the lines of Homer, " These two from Thrace," and 
 what follows, for Ephyri we are to understand Crannonii, and 
 for Phlegyes, the people of Gyrton. -Pieria is on the other 
 side. E. 
 
 15. The Peneus, rising in Mount Pindus, flows through 
 Tempe, the middle of Thessaly, the Lapithae, and the Per- 
 rhsebi. It receives the Europus, (Eurotas,) which Homer 
 calls Titaresius, in its course, and forms on the north the 
 boundary of Macedonia, and on the south that of Thessaly. 
 The sources of the river Europus are in Mount Titarius, 
 which is contiguous to Olympus. Olympus itself is in Mace- 
 donia ; Ossa and Pelion in Thessaly. EPIT. 
 
 16. At the roots of Olympus, and on the banks of the Pe- 
 neus, is Gyrton, a Perrhaebic city, and Magnetis, where Piri- 
 thous and Ixion ruled. [The city] Crannon is [100 stadia] 
 distant [from Gyrton] ; and it is said that when the poet writes 
 " Both from Thrace," we are to understand by Ephyri, the 
 Crannonians, and by Phlegyes, the Gyrtonii. EPIT. 
 
 17. The city Dium is not on the sea-shore of the Ther- 
 mjpan Gulf, at the roots of Olympus, but is about 7 stadia 
 
508 STRABO. FRAGM. 1821. 
 
 distant. Near Dium is a village Pimplea, where Orpheus 
 lived. EPIT. 
 
 18. Beneath Olympus is Dium ; near it is a village, Pim- 
 plea, where it is said Orpheus lived. He was a Cicon (of the 
 tribe of the Cicones) and was a diviner. At first he drew 
 people about him by the practice of music and witchcraft, and 
 by the introduction of mysterious ceremonies in religious 
 worship. After a time, obtaining a greater degree of self- 
 importance, he collected a multitude of followers, and acquired 
 influence. He had many willing followers, but becoming 
 suspected by a few of entertaining secret designs, and of an 
 intention of taking forcible possession of power, he was at- 
 tacked by them and put to death. Near this place is Libe- 
 thra. E. 
 
 1 9. Anciently diviners practised the art of music. EPIT. 
 
 20. After Dium follow the mouths of the Haliacmon; 
 then Pydna, Methone, Alorus, and the rivers Erigon and Lu- 
 dias. The Ludias flows from Triclari, through the.Oresti and 
 the Pellaean country (Pelagonia) : leaving the city on the left 
 it falls into the Axius. The Ludias is navigable up the stream 
 to Pella 120 stadia. Methone is situated in the middle, about 
 40 stadia distant from Pydna, and 70 stadia from Alorus. 
 Alorus is situated in the farthest recess of the Thermcean 
 Gulf. It was called Thessalonica on account of the splendid 
 [victory obtained over the Thessalians]. Alorus is considered 
 as belonging to Bottiaea and Pydna to Pieria. Pella is in 
 Lower Macedonia, which was in possession of the Bottiasi. 
 Here was formerly the Macedonian Treasury. Philip, who 
 was brought up in this place, raised it from an inconsiderable 
 city to some importance. . It has a citadel situated on a lake 
 called Ludias. From this lake issues the river Ludias, which 
 is filled by a branch of the Axius. The Axius discharges 
 itself between Chalastra and Therma. Near this river is a 
 fortified place, now called Abydos ; Homer calls it Amydon, 
 and says that the Paeonians came from hence to assist the 
 Trojans during the siege of Troy. 
 
 " From afar, from Amydon, from Axius' wide stream." 
 
 It was razed by the Argeadae. E. 
 
 21. The water of the Axius is turbid. Homer, however, 
 says that the water is " most beautiful," probably on account 
 
FHAGM. 22, 23. MACEDONIA. 509 
 
 of a spring called Ja which runs into it, the water of which 
 is of surpassing clearness. This is sufficient to prove that 
 the present reading in the poem is erroneous. After the 
 Axius is the Echedorus, 1 20 stadia distant. Then Thessa- 
 lonica, founded by Cassander, 40 stadia farther on, and the 
 Egnatian Way. He named the city after his wife Thessa- 
 lonice, the daughter of Philip Amyntas, and pulled down 
 nearly 26 cities in the district of Crucis, and on the Ther- 
 mcean Gulf, collecting the inhabitants into one city. It is the 
 metropolis of the present Macedonia. The cities transferred 
 to Thessalonica were Apollonia, Chalastra, Therma, Gares- 
 cus, ^Enea, and Cissus. Cissus, it is probable, belonged to 
 Cisseus, who is mentioned by the poet. " Cisseus educated 
 him," meaning Iphidamas. E. 
 
 22. After the city Drium is the river Haliacmon, which 
 discharges itself into the Thermaean Gulf. From hence to 
 the river Axius the sea-coast on the north of the gulf bears 
 the name of Pieria, on which is situated the city Pydna, now 
 called Citrum. Then follow Methone and the river Alorus ; 
 then the rivers Erigon and Ludias. From Ludias to the city 
 Pella the river is navigated upwards to the distance of 20 
 stadia. Methone is distant from Pydna 40 stadia, and 70 
 stadia from Alorus. Pydna is a Pierian, Alorus a Bottiaean 
 city. In the plain of Pydna the Romans defeated Perseus, 
 and put an end to the Macedonian empire. In the plain of 
 Methone, during the siege of the city, Philip Amyntas acci- 
 dentally lost his right eye by an arrow discharged from a 
 catapult. EPIT. 
 
 23. Philip, who was brought up at Pella, formerly a small 
 city, much improved it. In front of the city is a lake, out of 
 which flows the river Ludias. The lake is supplied by a 
 branch of the river Axius. Next follows the Axius, which 
 separates the territory of Bottiasa and Amphaxitis, and after 
 receiving the river Erigon, issues out between Chalestra and 
 Therme. On the river Axius is a place which Homer calls 
 Amy don, and says that the Peeones set out thence as auxili- 
 aries to Troy : 
 
 " From afar, from Amydon, from Axius' wide stream." 
 
 The Gallico. 
 
510 STRABO. FRAGM. 24,25. 
 
 The Axius is a turbid river, but as a spring of clearest water 
 rises in Araydon, and mingles with the Axius, some have 
 altered the line 
 
 'A^iov, oil KaXXiaTOv vdwp tTruddvarai Alav, 
 " Axius, whose fairest water o'erspreads ya," 
 to 
 
 'Aiov. $ Ka\\iarov vdwp tTriicidvaTai Afyc. 
 
 " Axius, o'er whom spreads ^Ea's fairest water." 
 
 For it is not the " fairest water " which is diffused over the 
 spring, but the " fairest water " of the spring which is dif- 
 fused over the Axius. 1 EPIT. 
 
 24. After the river Axius is the city Thessalonica, formerly 
 called Therma. It was founded by Cassander, who called it 
 after the name of his wife, a daughter of Philip Amyntas. 
 He transferred to it the small surrounding cities, Chalastra, 
 ^Enea, Cissus, and some others. Probably from this Cissus 
 came Iphidamas, mentioned in Homer, "whose grandfather 
 Cisseus educated him," he says, " in Thrace," which is now 
 called Macedonia. EPIT. 
 
 25. Somewhere in this neighbourhood is the mountain Ber- 
 mius, 2 which was formerly in the possession of the Briges, a 
 Thracian nation, some of whom passed over to Asia and were 
 called by another name, Phrygians (Phryges). After Thes- 
 salonica follows the remaining part of the Therma?an Gulf, 3 
 extending to Canastrj-eum. 4 This is a promontory of a penin- 
 sula form, and is opposite to Magnesia. Pallene is the name 
 of the peninsula. It has an isthmus 5 stadia in width, with a 
 ditch cut across it. There is a city on the peninsula, formerly 
 
 1 Kramer quotes the following passage from Eustathius : " In the pas- 
 sage tTriKicWrai aiy, or alav, (for there are two readings,) some have 
 understood alav not to mean the earth, but a spring, as is evident from 
 the words of the geographer, where he says that the Amydon of Homer 
 was afterwards called Abydos, but was razed. For there is a spring of 
 clearest water near Amydon, called ^Ea, running into the Axius, which 
 is itself turbid, in consequence of the numerous rivers which flow into 
 it. There is, therefore, he says, an error in the quotation, 'AZiov KO.\\KT- 
 rov vdwp iTTiKidvarai aty, as it is clearly not the Axius which diffuses 
 its water over the spring, but the contrary. The geographer rather in- 
 temperately finds fault with the supposition of alav meaning the earth, and 
 seems anxious to reject altogether this reading in the Homeric poem." 
 
 2 Buneus. 3 Gulf of Salonica. * Cape Pailuri. 
 
FRAGM. 2G 32. MACEDONIA. 511 
 
 called Potidrea, 1 founded by the Corinthians, but afterwards it 
 was called Cassandria, from king Cassander, who restored it 
 after it was demolished. It is a circuit of 570 stadia round 
 the peninsula by sea. Here giants were said to have lived, 
 and the region to have been called Phlegra. Some consider 
 this to be a mere fable, but others, with greater probability 
 on their side, see implied in it 4he existence of a barbarous 
 and lawless race of people who once occupied the country, 
 but who were destroyed by Hercules on his return home, 
 after the capture of Troy. Here also the Trojan women 
 are said to have committed the destructive act of burn- 
 ing the ships, to avoid becoming the slaves of their captors' 
 wives. E. 
 
 26. The city Beroea 2 lies at the roots of Mount Bermius. 
 EPIT. 
 
 27. Pallene is a peninsula. On the isthmus of Pallene 
 lies what was once Potidcea, but now Cassandra. It was 
 formerly called Phlegra, and was inhabited by the fabulous 
 giants, an impious and lawless race, who were destroyed by 
 Hercules. It has upon it four cities, Aphytis, Mende, Scione, 
 and Sana. EPIT. . 
 
 28. Olynthus is distant from Potidaea 70 stadia. E. 
 
 29. The arsenal of Olynthus is Mecyberna, on the Toro- 
 ncean Gulf. EPIT., 
 
 30. Near Olynthus is a hollow tract called Cantharoleth- 
 ron, from an accidental circumstance. The Cantharus, (the 
 beetle,) which is bred in the surrounding country, dies as 
 soon as it touches this tract. EPIT. 
 
 31. Next after Cassandria is the remaining part of the sea- 
 coast of the Toronosan Gulf, as far as Derris. It is a pro- 
 montory opposite the district of Canastrum, and forms a gulf. 
 Opposite to Derris, to the east, are the promontories of Athos ; 
 between them is the Singitic Gulf, which receives its name 
 from an ancient city in it, Singus, now destroyed. Next is 
 the city Acanthus, situated on the isthmus of Athos, 3 founded 
 by the Andrii ; whence, by many, it is called the Acanthian 
 Gulf. E. 
 
 32. Opposite to Canastrum, a promontory of Pallene, is the 
 promontory Derris, near Cophus-Limen [or Deaf Harbour] : 
 
 1 The ruins of Potidaea, or Cassandria, are near Pinako. 
 
 2 Karafaja. 3 Monte Santo. 
 
512 STRABO. FRAGM. 33, 34. 
 
 these form the boundaries of the Toronsean Gulf. Again, 
 towards the east lies the promontory of Athos, [Nympha3um,] 
 which bounds the Singitic Gulf. Then follow one another 
 the gulfs of the .^Egean Sea, towards the north, in this order : 
 the Maliac, 1 the Pagasitic, 2 the Therrnasan, 3 the Toronasan, 4 
 the Singitic, 5 and the Strymonic. 6 The promontories are 
 these : Posidium, 7 situated between the Maliac and Pegasitic 
 Gulfs ; next in order, towards the north, Sepias ; 8 then Cana- 
 strum 9 in Pallene ; then Derris; 10 next NymphaBum 11 in 
 Athos, on the Singitic Gulf; Acrathos, 12 the promontory on 
 the Strymonic Gulf; between them is Athos, to the east of 
 which is Lemnos. Neapolis 13 bounds the Strymonic Gulf 
 towards the north. EPIT. 
 
 33. The city Acanthus, on the Singitic Gulf, is a maritime 
 city near the Canal of Xerxes. There are five cities in Athos; 
 Dium, Cleona3, Thyssos, Olophyxis, Acrothoi, which is situ- 
 ated near the summit of Athos. Mount Athos is pap-shaped, 
 very pointed, and of very great height. Those who live upon 
 the summit see the sun rise three hours before it is visible on 
 the sea-shore. The voyage round the peninsula, from the 
 city Acanthus to the city Stagirus, the birth-place of Aris- 
 totle, is 400 stadia. It has a harbour called Caprus, and a 
 small island of the same name. Then follow the mouths of 
 the Strymon ; then Phagres, Galepsus, and Apollonia, all of 
 them cities ; then the mouth of the Nestus, which is the 
 boundary of Macedonia and Thrace, as settled, in their own 
 times, by Philip and Alexander his son. There are about the 
 Strymonic Gulf other cities also, as Myrcinus, Argilus, Dra- 
 bescus, and Datum, which has an excellent and most pro- 
 ductive soil, dock-yards for ship-building, and gold mines ; 
 whence the proverb, " A Datum of good things," like to the 
 proverb, " Piles of plenty." 14 EPIT. 
 
 34. There are numerous gold mines among the Crenides, 
 where the city of Philip now stands, near Mount Pangasus. 
 Pangaeus itself, and the country on the east of the Strymon, 
 and on the west as far as Pseonia, contains gold and silver 
 
 I Gulf of Zeitun. ' G. of Volo. 3 G. of Salonica. 
 
 4 G. of Cassandra. 5 G. of Monte Santo. 6 G. of Orfano. 
 
 7 Cape Stauros. 8 C. Demitri. 9 C. Pailuri. lo C. Drepano. 
 
 II C. St. George. 2 C. Monte Santo. 13 Kavala. 
 14 Adrov ayaQtiv. 'Aya9wv 
 
FUAQM. 35, 36. MOUNT ATHOS- 513 
 
 mines. Particles of gold, it is said, are found in Poeonia in 
 ploughing the land. EPIT. 
 
 35. Mount Athos is pap-shaped, and so lofty that the hus- 
 bandmen on the summit are already weary of their labour, 
 the sun having long since risen to them, when to the inhabit- 
 ants of the shore it is the beginning of cockcrowing. Tha- 
 myris, the Thracian. was king of this coast, and followed the 
 same practices as Orpheus. Here also, at Acanthus, is seen 
 the canal, which Xerxes is said to have made, and through 
 which he is said to have brought the sea from the Strymonic 
 Gulf, across the isthmus. Demetrius of Skepsis is of opinion 
 that this canal was not navigable ; for, says he, the ground is 
 composed of deep earth, and admits of being dug for a distance 
 of 10 stadia only : the canal is a plethrum in width ; then fol- 
 lows a high, broad, and flat rock, nearly a stadium in length, 
 which prevents excavation throughout the whole distance to 
 the sea. And even if the work could be carried on so far 
 across, yet it could not be continued to a sufficient depth, so 
 as to present a navigable passage. Here Alexarchus, the son 
 of Antipater, built the city Uranopolis, 30 stadia in circum- 
 ference. 
 
 This peninsula was inhabited by Pelasgi from Lemnos ; they 
 were distributed into five small cities, Cleona?, Olophyxis, 
 Acrothoi, Dium, Thyssos. After Athos comes the Strymonic 
 Gulf, extending to the river Nestus, which forms the bound- 
 ary of Macedonia, as settled by Philip and Alexander. Ac- 
 curately speaking, there is a promontory forming a gulf with 
 Athos, on which is the city Apollonia. First in the gulf, af- 
 ter the harbour of Acanthus, is Stagira, now deserted : it was 
 one of the Chalcidic cities, and the birth-place of Aristotle. 
 Caprus was the harbour, and there is a small island of the 
 same name. Then comes the Strymon, and Amphipolis, at 
 the distance of 20 stadia up the river. In this part is situated 
 an Athenian colony, called Ennea-Odoi (the Nine -Ways). 
 Then Galepsus and Apollonia, which were destroyed by 
 Philip. E. 
 
 36. He says, it is 120 stadia (300?) from the Peneus to 
 Pydna. On the sea-coast of the Strymon and of the Dateni 
 is Neapolis, and Datum also, which has fruitful plains, a lake, 
 rivers, dockyards, and valuable gold mines. Hence the pro- 
 verb, " A Datum of good things," like " Piles of plenty." 
 
 VOL. I. 2 L 
 
514 STRABO. FRAGM. 37-40. 
 
 The country beyond the Strymon, which borders upon the 
 sea and includes the parts about Datum, is occupied by Odo- 
 mantes, Edoni, and Bisaltse, some of whom are an indigenous 
 people, the others came from Macedonia and were under the 
 government of Rhesus. Above Amphipolis live the Bisaltae, 
 extending to the city Heraclea (Sintica) ; they occupy a fer- 
 tile valley, through which passes the Strymon, which rises 
 among the Agrianes near Rhodope. Near the Agrianes is 
 situated Parorbelia of Macedonia. In the interior, in a valley, 
 which commences at Idomene, are situated Callipolis, Ortho- 
 polis, Philipopolis, and Garescus. Among the Bisaltaa, pro- 
 ceeding up the river Strymon, is situated Berga, a village, 
 distant from Amphipolis about 200 stadia. Proceeding north- 
 wards from Heraclea, and to the narrows, through which the 
 Strymon flows, keeping the river on the right, first on the 
 left are Paeonia and the parts about Dobera ; then on the right 
 are the mountains Rasmus and Rhodope, with the adjacent 
 parts. On this side of the Strymon, close upon the river, 
 is Scotussa ; near the lake Bolbe is Arethusa ; the inhabitants 
 above the lake are chiefly Mygdones. Not only is the course 
 of the Axius through Paeonia, but that of the Strymon also ; 
 for it rises among the Agrianes, passes through the territory 
 of the Maadi and Sinti, and discharges itself between the 
 Bisaltas and Odomantes. E. 
 
 37. The source of the river Strymon is among the Agrianes 
 near Rhodope. EPIT. 
 
 38. The Pceonians, according to some, were a dependent 
 colony of the Phrygians ; according to others, they were an 
 independent settlement. Poeonia, it is said, extended to Pela- 
 gonia and Pieria ; Pelagonia is said to have been formerly 
 called Orestia ; and Asteropceus, one of the chiefs from Paa- 
 onia who went to Troy, to have been called, with great pro- 
 bability, the son of Pelagon, and the Pceonians themselves to 
 have been called Pelagones. E. 
 
 39. The Asteropceus in Homer, son of Pelegon, we are told, 
 was of PcEonia in Macedonia: whence "Son of Pelegon;" 
 for the Paeonians were called Pelagones. EPIT. 
 
 40. As the pceanismus, or singing of the Thracian Pasan, 
 was called titanusmus by the Greeks, in imitation of a well- 
 known note in the paean, so the Pelagones were called Ti- 
 tanes. E. 
 
FRAGM. 41-48. THRACE. 515 
 
 41. Anciently, as at present, the Paeonians appear to have 
 been masters of so much of what is now called Macedonia as 
 to be able to besiege Perinthus, and subject to their power 
 Crestonia, the whole of Mygdonia, and the territory of the 
 Agrianes as far as Mount Pangaeus. Above the sea-coast of 
 the Strymonic Gulf, extending from Galepsus to Nestus, are 
 situated Philippi and the surrounding country. Philippi was 
 formerly called Crenides ; it was a small settlement, but in- 
 creased after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius. E. 
 
 43. l The present city Philippi was anciently called Cre- 
 nides. EPIT. 
 
 44. In front of this coast lie two islands, Lemnos and Tha- 
 sos. Beyond the strait at Thasos is Abdera, with its fables. 
 It was inhabited by Bistones, over whom ruled Diomed. The 
 Nestus does not always keep within its banks, but frequently 
 inundates the country. Then Dicaea, a city on the gulf, with 
 a harbour. Above it is the lake Bistonis, 200 stadia in cir- 
 cumference. They say that Hercules, when he came to seize 
 upon the horses of Diomed, cut a canal through the sea-shore 
 and turned the water of the sea upon the plain, which is situ- 
 ated in a hollow, and is lower than the level of the sea, and 
 thus vanquished his opponents. The royal residence of Dio- 
 med is shown, called, from a local peculiarity, its natural 
 strength, Cartera-Come [Strong -Village]. Beyond the in- 
 land lake are Xanthia, Maronia, and Ismarus, cities of the 
 Cicones. Ismarus is now called Ismara-near-Maronia. Near 
 it is the outlet of the lake Ismaris. The stream is called 
 sweet ****** At this place are what are called the 
 heads of the Thasii. The Sapaei are situated above. E. 
 
 45. Topeira is situated near Abdera and Maronia. E. 
 
 46. The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabit the island of Lem- 
 nos ; whence Homer calls them Sinties, thus, " There are the 
 Sinties." EPIT. 
 
 47. After the river Nestus to the west is the city Abdera, 
 named after Abderus, who was eaten by the horses of Dio- 
 med ; then, near, Dicaea, a city, above which is situated a large 
 lake, the Bistonis ; then the city Maronia. EPIT. 
 
 48. The whole of Thrace is composed of twenty-two na- 
 tions. Although greatly exhausted, it is capable of equipping 
 
 1 This extract should be numbered 42, and not 43. As the error in 
 Kramer continues to the end of the book, it has not been corrected. 
 
 2 L 2 
 
516 STRABO. FRAGM. 49 52 
 
 15,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. After Maronia are 
 Orthagoria, a city, and the district of Serrium (the navigation 
 along the coast is difficult) ; the small city Tempyra belonging 
 to the Samothracians, and another Caracoma, (the Stockade,) 
 in front of which lies the island Samothrace. Imbros is at no 
 great distance from Samothrace; Thasos is double the dis- 
 tance from it. After Caracoma is Doriscus, where Xerxes 
 counted the number of his army. Then the Hebrus, with a 
 navigation up the stream for 100 stadia to Cypsela. Strabo 
 says that this was the boundary of Macedonia when wrested 
 by the Romans, first from Perseus, and afterwards from Pseu- 
 dophilip. Paulus, who overthrew Perseus, united the Epi- 
 rotic nations to Macedonia, and divided the country into four 
 parts ; one lie assigned to Amphipolis, a second to Thessalo- 
 nica, a third to Pella, and a fourth to Pelagonia. Along the 
 Hebrus dwell the Corpili, the Brense still higher up, above 
 them, and lastly the Bessi, for the Hebrus is navigable up to 
 this point. All these nations are addicted to plunder, par- 
 ticularly the Bessi, whom, he says, border upon the Odrysa? 
 and Sapa3i. Bizya is the capital of the Astae (?). Some give 
 the name of Odrysse to all those people who live on the moun- 
 tains overhanging the coast, from the Hebrus and Cypsela to 
 Odessus. They were under the kingly government of Ama- 
 docus, Khersobleptes, Berisades, Seuthes, (Theseus?) and 
 Cotys. E. 
 
 49. The river in Thrace now called Rhiginia (Rhegina ?) 
 was formerly called Erigon (Erginus ?). EPIT. 
 
 50. Samothrace was inhabited by the brothers Jasion and 
 Dardanus. Jasion was killed by lightning, for his crime against 
 Ceres ; Dardanus moved away from Samothrace, and built a 
 city, to which he gave the name of Dardania, at the foot of 
 Mount Ida. He taught the Trojans the Samothracian mys- 
 teries. Samothrace was formerly called Samos. EPIT. 
 
 51. The gods worshipped in Samothrace, the Curbantes 
 and Corybantes, the Curetes and the Idnsan Dactyli, are said 
 by many persons to be the same as the Cabiri, although they 
 are unable to explain who the Cabiri were. E. 
 
 52. At the mouth of the Hebrus, which discharges itself 
 by two channels, in the Gulf of Melas, is a city ^Enos, founded 
 by the Mitylenseans and Cumaeans ; its first founders, how- 
 ever, were Alopeconnesi ; then the promontory Sarpedon ; 
 
FRAGM. 5356. 
 
 HELLESPONT. 517 
 
 then the Chersonesus, called the Thracian Chersonesus, form- 
 ing the Propontis, the Gulf of Melas, and the Hellespont. It 
 stretches forwards to the south-east, like a promontory, bring- 
 ing Europe and Asia together, with only a strait between 
 them of 7 stadia in width, the Strait of Sestos and Abydos. 
 On the left is the Propontis, on the right the Gulf Melas, 1 so 
 called from the river Melas,' 2 which discharges itself into it, 
 according to Herodotus and Eudoxus. It is stated (says 
 Strabo) by Herodotus, that the stream of this river was not 
 sufficient to supply the army of Xerxes. The above pro- 
 montory is closed in by an isthmus 40 stadia across. In the 
 middle of the isthmus is situated the city Lysimachia, named 
 after king Lysimachus, its founder. On one side of the isth- 
 mus, on the Gulf Melas, lies Cardia ; its first founders were 
 Milesians and Clazomenaeans, its second founders Athenians. 
 It is the largest of the cities in the Chersonesus. Pactya is 
 on the Propontis. After Cardia are Drabus and Limnas; 
 then Alopeconnesus, where the Gulf Melas principally ends ; 
 then the great promontory Mazusia ; then, in the gulf, Eleus, 
 where is Protesilaum, from whence Sigeum, a promontory of 
 Troas, is 40 stadia distant ; this is about the most southern 
 extremity of the Chersonesus, distant from Cardia rather more 
 than 400 . stadia ; if the circuit is made by sea to the other 
 side of the isthmus, the distance is a little greater. E. 
 
 53. The Thracian Chersonesus forms three seas, the Pro- 
 pontis to the north, the Hellespont to the east, and the Gulf 
 Melas to the south, where the river Melas, of the same name 
 as the gulf, discharges itself. EPIT. 
 
 54. In the isthmus of the Chersonesus are three cities, 
 Cardia on the Gulf of Melas, Pactya on the Propontis, Lysi- 
 machia in the interior; the breadth of the isthmus is 40 
 stadia. EPIT. 
 
 55. The name of the city Eleus is of the masculine gen- 
 der, perhaps that of Trapezus is also masculine. EPIT. 
 
 56. In the voyage round of which we have been speaking ; 
 beyond Eleus, first, is the entrance into the Propontis through 
 the straits, where they say the Hellespont begins. There 
 is a promontory here by some called Dog's Monument, by 
 others the Monument of Hecuba, for on doubling the pro- 
 
 1 Gulf of Saros. 2 Kavaktshai. 
 
518 STRABO. FRAGM. 57, 58, 
 
 montory, the place of her burial is to be seen. Then Mady- 
 tus and the promontory of Sestos, where was the Bridge of 
 Xerxes ; after these places comes Sestos. From Eleus to the 
 Bridge it is 170 stadia; after Sestos it is 280 stadia to ^Egos- 
 potamos : it is a small city in ruins. At this place a stone is 
 said to have fallen from heaven during the Persian war. 
 Then Callipolis, from whence to Lampsacus in Asia is a 
 passage across of 40 stadia ; then a small city Crithote in 
 ruins ; then Pactya ; next Macron -Tichos, and Leuce-Acte, 
 and Hieron-Oros, and Perinthus, a colony of the Samians ; 
 then Selybria. Above these places is situated Silta. Sacred 
 rites are performed in honour of Hieron-Oros by the natives, 
 which is as it were the citadel of the country. It discharges 
 asphaltus into the sea. Proconnesus here approaches nearest 
 the continent, being 120 stadia distant ; there is a quarry of 
 white marble in it, which is plentiful and of good quality ; 
 after Selybria the rivers Athyras and [Bathynias] ; then By- 
 zantium and the parts reaching to the Cyanean rocks. E. 
 
 57. From Perintlms to Byzantium it is 630 stadia; from 
 the Hebrus and Cypseli to Byzantium and the Cyanean rocks 
 it is, according to Artemidorus, 3100 stadia. The whole dis- 
 tance from Apollonia on the Ionian Gulf to Byzantium is 
 7320 stadia; Polybius makes this distance 180 stadia more, 
 by the addition of a third of a stadium to the sum of 8 stadia, 
 which compose a mile. Demetrius of Skepsis, in his account 
 of the disposition of the Trojan forces, says that it is 700 
 stadia from Perinthus to Byzantium, and the same distance 
 to Parium. He makes the length of the Propontis to be 1400 
 and the breadth 500 stadia ; the narrowest part also of the 
 Hellespont to be 7 stadia, and the length 400. E. 
 
 58. All writers do not agree in their description of the 
 Hellespont, and many opinions are advanced on the subject. 
 Some describe the Propontis to be the Hellespont ; others, that 
 part of the Propontis which is to the south of Perinthus; others 
 include a part of the exterior sea which opens to the JEgaean 
 and the Gulf Melas, each assigning different limits. Some 
 make their measurement from Sigeum to Lampsacus, and 
 Cyzicus, and Parium, and Priapus ; and one is to be found 
 who measures from Singrium, a promontory of Lesbos. Some 
 do not hesitate to give the name of Hellespont to the whole 
 distance as far as the Myrtoan Sea, because (as in the Odes 
 
FIIAGM. 58. HELLESPONT. 519 
 
 of Pindar) when Hercules sailed from Troy through the vir- 
 gin strait of Hella, and arrived at the Myrtoan Sea, he re- 
 turned back to Cos, in consequence of thr wind Zephyrus 
 blowing contrary to his course. Thus some consider it cor- 
 rect to apply the name Hellespont to the whole of the JEgasan 
 Sea, and the sea along the coast of Thessaly and Macedonia, 
 invoking the testimony of Homer, who says, 
 
 " Thou shall see, if such thy will, in spring, 
 My ships shall sail to Hellespont." 
 
 But the argument is contradicted in the following lines, 
 
 " Piros, Imbracius' son, who came from ^Enos." 
 Piros commanded the Thracians, 
 
 " Whose limits are the quick-flowing Hellespont." 
 
 So that he would consider all people settled next to the 
 Thracians as excluded from the Hellespont. For JEnos is 
 situated in the district formerly called Apsynthis, but now 
 Corpilice. The territory of the Cicones is next towards the 
 west. E. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
JOHN CH1LDS AND SON, BUNGAY. 
 

 
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