Geography

Scyrus however is particularly celebrated in ancient histories. It is also highly reputed for the excellence of its goats, and the quarries of variegated marble, such as the Carystian, the Deucallian, (Docimaean?) the Synnadic, and the Hierapolitic kinds. For there may be seen at Rome columns, consisting of a single stone, and large slabs of variegated marble, (from Scyrus,) with which the city is embellished both at the public charge and at the expense of individuals, which has caused works of white marble to be little esteemed.

The poet having proceeded so far along the Magnesian coast, returns to Upper Thessaly, for beginning from Dolopia and Pindus he goes through the region extending along Phthiotis to Lower Thessaly. They who occupy Tricca and rocky Ithome. These places belong to Histiaeotis, which was formerly called Doris. When it was in the possession of the Perrhaebi, who destroyed Histiaeotis in Euboea, and had removed the inhabitants by force to the continent, they gave the country the name of Histiaeotis, on account of the great numbers of Histiaeans among the settlers. This country and Dolopia are called Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as Lower Thessaly is in a straight line with Lower Macedonia.

Tricca, where there is a very ancient and famous temple of Aesculapius, borders upon the Dolopes, and the parts about Pindus.

Ithome, which has the same name as the Messenian Ithome, ought not, they say, to be pronounced in this manner, but should be pronounced without the first syllable, Thome, for this was its former name. At present, it is changed to [Thumaeum]. It is a spot strong by nature, and in reality rocky. It lies between four strong-holds, which form a square, Tricca, Metropolis, Pelinnaeum, and Gomphi. Ithome belongs to the district of the Metropolitae. Metropolis was formed at first out of three small obscure cities, and afterwards more were included, and among these Ithome. Callimachus says in his Iambics, among the Venuses, (for the goddess bears several titles,) Venus Castnietis surpasses all others in wisdom, for she alone accepts the sacrifice of swine. Certainly Callimachus, if any person could be said to possess information, was well informed, and it was his object, as he himself says, all his life to relate these fables. Later writers, however, have proved that there was not one Venus only, but several, who accepted that sacrifice, from among whom the goddess worshipped at Metropolis came, and that this [foreign] rite was delivered down by one of the cities which contributed to form that settlement. Pharcadon also is situated in the Hestioeotis. The Peneius and the Curalius flow through it. The Curalius, after flowing beside the temple of the Itonian Minerva, empties itself into the Peneius.

The Peneius itself rises in Mount Pindus, as I have before said. It leaves Tricca, Pelinnaeum, and Pharcadon on the left hand, and takes its course beside Atrax and Larisa. After having received the rivers of the Thessaliotis it flows onwards through Tempe, and it empties itself into the sea.

Historians speak of Oechalia, the city of Eurytus, as existing in these parts, in Euboea also, and in Arcadia; but some give it one name, others another, as I have said in the description of Peloponnesus.

They inquire particularly, which of these was the city taken by Hercules, and which was the city intended by the author of the poem, The Capture of Oechalia?

The places, however, were subject to the Asclepiadae.

The poet next mentions the country which was under the dominion of Eurypylus; They who possessed Ormenium and the spring Hypereia, And they who occupied Asterium and the white peaks of Titanus.

Ormenium is now called Orminium. It is a village situated below Pelion, near the Pagasitic Gulf, but was one of the cities which contributed to form the settlement of Demetrias, as I have before said.

The lake Boebeis must be near, because both Boebe and Ormenium belonged to the cities lying around Demetrias.

Ormenium is distant by land 27 stadia from Demetrias. The site of Iolcus, which is on the road, is distant 7 stadia from Demetrias, and the remaining 20 from Ormenium.

Demetrius of Scepsis says, that Phoenix came from Ormenium, and that he fled thence from his father Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, to Phthia, to king Peleus. For this place was founded by Ormenus, the son of Cercaphus, the son of Aeolus. The sons of Ormenus were Amyntor and Eumaemon; the son of the former was Phoenix, and of the latter, Eurypylus. The succession to his possessions was preserved secure for Eurypylus, after the departure of Phoenix from his home, and we ought to write the verse of the poet in this manner: as when I first left Ormenium, abounding with flocks, instead of left Hellas, abounding with beautiful women.

But Crates makes Phoenix a Phocaean, conjecturing this from the helmet of Meges, which Ulysses wore on the night expedition; of which helmet the poet says, Autolycus brought it away from Eleon, out of the house of Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, having broken through the thick walls.

Now Eleon was a small city on Parnassus, and by Amyntor, the son of Ormenus, he could not mean any other person than the father of Phoenix, and that Autolycus, who lived on Parnassus, was in the habit of digging through the houses of his neighbours, which is the common practice of every housebreaker, and not of persons living at a distance. But Demetrius the Scepsian says, that there is no such place on Parnassus as Eleon, but Neon, which was built after the Trojan war, and that digging through houses was not confined to robbers of the neighbourhood. Other things might be advanced, but I am unwilling to insist long on this subject. Others write the words from Heleon; but this is a Tanagrian town; and the words Then far away I fled through Hellas and came to Phthia, would make this passage absurd.

Hypereia is a spring in the middle of the city of the Pheraei [subject to Eumelus]. It would therefore be absurd [to assign it to Eurypylus].

Titanus had its name from the accident of its colour, for the soil of the country near Arne and [Aphe]tae is white, and Asterium is not far from these places.

Continuous with this portion of Thessaly are the people subject to Polypoetes. They who possessed Argissa; those who inhabited Gyrtone, Orthe, Elone, and the white city Oloosson. This country was formerly inhabited by Perrhoebi, who possessed the part towards the sea and the Peneius, as far as its mouth and the city Gyrton, belonging to the district Perrhaebis. Afterwards the Lapithae, Ixion and his son Peirithous, having reduced the Perrhaebi, got possession of these places. Peirithous took possession also of Pelion, having expelled by force the Centaurs, a savage tribe, who inhabited it. These he drove from Pelion to the neighbourhood of the Aethices, but he delivered up the plains to the Lapithae. The Perrhaebi kept possession of some of these parts, those, namely, towards Olympus, and in some places they lived intermixed altogether with the Lapithae.

Argissa, the present Argura, is situated upon the banks of the Peneius. Atrax lies above it at the distance of 40 stadia, close to the river. The intermediate country along the side of the river was occupied by Perrhaebi.

Some call Orthe the citadel of the Phalannaei. Phalanna is a Perrhaebic city on the Peneius, near Tempe.

The Perrhaebi, oppressed by the Lapithae, retreated in great numbers to the mountainous country about Pindus, and to the Athamanes and Dolopes; but the Larisaei became masters of the country and of the Perrhaebi who remained there. The Larisaei lived near the Peneius, but in the neighbourhood of the Perrhaebi. They occupied the most fertile portion of the plains, except some of the very deep valleys near the lake Nessonis, into which the river, when it overflowed, usually carried away a portion of the arable ground belonging to the Larisae, who afterwards remedied this by making embankments.

These people were in possession of Perrhaebia, and levied imposts until Philip became master of the country.

Larisa is a place situated on Ossa, and there is Larisa Cremaste, by some called Pelasgia. In Crete also is a city Larisa, the inhabitants of which were embodied with those of Hierapytna; and from this place the plain below is called the Larisian plain. In Peloponnesus the citadel of the Argives is called Larisa, and there is a river Larisus, which separates Eleia from Dyme. Theopompus mentions a city Larisa, situated on the immediate confines of this country. In Asia is Larisa Phriconis near Cume, and another Larisa near Hamaxitus, in the Troad. There is also an Ephesian Larisa, and a Larisa in Syria. At 50 stadia from Mitylene are the Larisaen rocks, on the road to Methymne. There is a Larisa in Attica; and a village of this name at the distance of 30 stadia from Tralleis, situated above the city, on the road to the plain of the Cayster, passing by Mesogis towards the temple of Mater Isodroma. This Larisa has a similar position, and possesses similar advantages to those of Larisa Cremaste; for it has abundance of water and vineyards. Perhaps Jupiter had the appellation of Larisaeus from this place. There is also on the left side of the Pontus (Euxine) a village called Larisa, near the extremities of Mount Haemus, between Naulochus [and Odessus].

Oloosson, called the White, from its chalky soil, Elone, and Gonnus are Perrhaebic cities. The name of Elone was changed to that of Leimone. It is now in ruins. Both lie at the foot of Olympus, not very far from the river Eurotas, which the poet calls Titaresius.

The poet speaks both of this river and of the Perrhaebi in the subsequent verses, when he says, Guneus brought from Cyphus two and twenty vessels. His followers were Enienes and Peraebi, firm in battle. They dwelt near the wintry Dodona, and tilled the fields about the lovely Titaresius.

He mentions therefore these places as belonging to the Perrhaebi, which comprised a part of the Hestiaeotis. They were in part Perrhaebic towns, which were subject to Polypcetes. He assigned them however to the Lapithae, because these people and the Perrhaebi lived intermixed together, and the Lapithae occupied the plains. The country, which belonged to the Perrhaebi, was, for the most part, subject to the Lapithae, but the Perrhaebi possessed the more mountainous tracts towards Olympus and Tempe, such as Cyphus, Dodonē, and the country about the river Titaresius. This river rises in the mountain Titarius, which is part of Olympus. It flows into the plain near Tempe belonging to Perrhaebia, and somewhere there enters the Peneius.

The water of the Peneius is clear, that of the Titaresius is unctuous; a property arising from some matter, which prevents the streams mingling with each other, but runs over the surface like oil.

Because the Perrhaebi and Lapithae lived intermingled together, Simonides calls all those people Pelasgiotae, who occupy the eastern parts about Gyrton and the mouths of the Peneius, Ossa, Pelion, and the country about Demetrias, and the places in the plain, Larisa, Crannon, Scotussa, Mopsium, Atrax, and the parts near the lakes Nessonis and Boebeis. The poet mentions a few only of these places, either because they were not inhabited at all, or badly inhabited on account of the inundations which had happened at various times. For the poet does not mention even the lake Nessonis, but the Boebeis only, which is much smaller, for its water remained constant, and this alone remains, while the former probably was at one time filled irregularly to excess, and at another contained no water.

We have mentioned Scotussa in our accounts of Dodona, and of the oracle, in Thessaly, when we observed that it was near Scotussa. Near Scotussa is a tract called Cynoscephalae. It was here that the Romans with their allies the Aetolians, and their general Titus Quintius, defeated in a great battle Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon.

Something of the same kind has happened in the territory of Magnetis. For Homer having enumerated many places of this country, calls none of them Magnetes, but those only whom he indicates in terms obscure, and not easily understood; They who dwelt about Peneius and Pelion with waving woods. Now about the Peneius and Pelion dwell those (already mentioned by Homer) who occupied Gyrton, and Ormenium, and many other nations. At a still greater distance from Pelion, according to later writers, were Magnetes, beginning from the people, that were subject to Eumelus. These writers, on account of the continual removals from one settle ment to another, alterations in the forms of government, and intermixture of races, seem to confound both names and nations, which sometimes perplexes persons in these times, as is first to be observed in the instances of Crannon and Gyrton.

Formerly they called the Gyrtonians Phlegyae, from Phlegyas, the brother of Ixion; and the Crannonii, Ephyri, so that there is a doubt, when the poet says, These two from Thrace appeared with breastplates armed against Ephyri, or haughty Phlegyae, what people he meant.

The same is the case with the Perrhaebi and Aenianes, for Homer joins them together, as if they dwelt near each other; and it is said by later writers, that, for a long period, the settlement of the Aenianes was in the Dotian plain. Now this plain is near Perrhaebia, which we have just mentioned, Ossa, and the lake Boebeis: it is situated about the middle of Thessaly, but enclosed by itself within hills. Hesiod speaks of it in this manner; Or, as a pure virgin, who dwells on the sacred heights of the Twin hills, comes to the Dotian plain, in front of Amyrus, abounding with vines, to bathe her feet in the lake Boebias. The greater part of the Aenianes were expelled by the Lapithae, and took refuge in Oeta, where they established their power, having deprived the Dorians and the Malienses of some portions of country, extending as far as Heracleia and Echinus. Some of them however remained about Cyphus, a Perrhaebic mountain, where is a settlement of the same name. As to the Perrhaebi, some of them collected about the western parts of Olympus and settled there, on the borders of the Macedonians. But a large body took shelter among the mountains near Athamania, and Pindus. But at present few, if any, traces of them are to be found.

The Magnetes, who are mentioned last in the Thessalian catalogue of the poet, must be understood to be those situated within Tempe, extending from the Peneius and Ossa to Pelion, and bordering upon the Pieriotae in Macedonia, who occupy the country on the other side the Peneius as far as the sea.

Homolium, or Homolē, (for both words are in use,) must be assigned to the Magnetes. I have said in the description of Macedonia, that Homolium is near Ossa at the beginning of the course which the Peneius takes through Tempe.

If we are to extend their possessions as far as the sea-coast, which is very near Homolium, there is reason for assigning to them Rhizus, and Erymnae, which lies on the sea-coast in the tract subject to Philoctetes and Eumelus. Let this however remain unsettled. For the order in which the places as far as the Peneius follow one another, is not clearly expressed, and as the places are not of any note, we need not consider that uncertainty as very important. The coast of Sepias, however, is mentioned by tragic writers, and was chaunted in songs on account of the destruction of the Persian fleet. It consists of a chain of rocks.

Between Sepias and Casthanaea, a village situated below Pelion, is the sea-shore, where the fleet of 5erxes was lying, when an east wind began to blow violently; some of the vessels were forced on shore, and immediately went to pieces; others were driven on Hipnus, a rocky spot near Pelion, others were lost at Meliboea, others at Casthanaea.

The whole of the coasting voyage along Pelion, to the extent of about 80 stadia, is among rocks. That along Ossa is of the same kind and to the same extent.

Between them is a bay of more than 200 stadia in extent, upon which is situated Meliboea.

The whole voyage from Demetrias, including the winding of the bays, to the Peneius is more than 1000 stadia, from the Spercheius 800 stadia more, and from the Euripus 2350 stadia.

Hieronymus assigns a circuit of 3000 stadia to the plain country in Thessaly and Magnesia, and says, that it was inhabited by Pelasgi, but that these people were driven into Italy by Lapithae, and that the present Pelasgic plain is that in which are situated Larisa, Gyrton, Pherae, Mopsium, Boebeis, Ossa, Homole, Pelion, and Magnetis. Mopsium has not its name from Mopsus, the son of Manto the daughter of Teiresias, but from Mopsus, one of the Lapithae, who sailed with the Argonauts. Mopsopus, from whom Attica is called Mopsopia, is a different person.

This then is the account of the several parts of Thessaly.

In general we say, that it was formerly called Pyrrhaea, from Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion; Haemonia, from Haemon; and Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Haemon. But some writers, after dividing it into two portions, say, that Deucalion obtained by lot the southern part, and called it Pandora, from his mother; that the other fell to the share of Haemon, from whom it was called Haemonia; that the name of one part was changed to Hellas, from Hellen, the son of Deucalion, and of the other to Thettalia, from Thettalus, the son of Haemon. But, according to some writers, it was the descendants of Antiphus and Pheidippus, sons of Thettalus, descended from Hercules, who invaded the country from Ephyra in Thesprotia, and called it after the name of Thettalus their progenitor. It has been already said that once it had the name of Nessonis, as well as the lake, from Nesson, the son of Thettalus.

The Tenth Book contains Aetolia and the neighbouring islands; also the whole of Crete, on which the author dwells some time in narrating the institutions of the islanders and of the Curetes. He describes at length the origin of the Idaean Dactyli in Crete, their customs and religious rites. Strabo mentions the connexion of his own family with Crete. The Book contains an account of the numerous islands about Crete, including the Sporades and some of the Cyclades.

SINCE Euboea stretches along the whole of this coast from Sunium to Thessaly, except the extremity on each side, it may be convenient to connect the description of this island with that of Thessaly. We shall then pass on to Aetolia and Acarnania, parts of Europe of which it remains to give an account.

The island is oblong, and extends nearly 1200 stadia from Cenaeum to Geraestus. Its greatest breadth is about 150 stadia, but it is irregular. Cenaeum is opposite to Thermopylae, and in a small decree to the parts beyond Thermopylae: Geraestus and Petalia are opposite to Sunium.

Euboea then fronts Attica, Boeotia, Locris, and the Malienses. From its narrowness, and its length, which we have mentioned, it was called by the ancients Macris.

It approaches nearest to the continent at Chalcis. It projects with a convex bend towards the places in Boeotia near Aulis, and forms the Euripus, of which we have before spoken at length. We have also mentioned nearly all the places on either side of the Euripus, opposite to each other across the strait, both on the continent and on the island. If anything is omitted we shall now give a further explanation.

And first, the parts lying between Aulis (Chalcis?) and the places about Geraestus are called the Hollows of Euboea, for the sea-coast swells into bays, and, as it approaches Chalcis, juts out again towards the continent.

The island had the name not of Macris only, but of Abantis also. The poet in speaking of Euboea never calls the inhabitants from the name of the island, Euboeans, but always Abantes; they who possessed Euboea, the resolute Abantes; in his train Abantes were following. Aristotle says that Thracians, taking their departure from Aba, the Phocian city, settled with the other inhabitants in the island, and gave the name of Abantes to those who already occupied it; other writers say that they had their name from a hero, as that of Euboea was derived from a heroine. But perhaps as a certain cave on the sea-coast fronting the Aegean Sea is called Boos-Aule, (or the Cow’s Stall.) where lo is said to have brought forth Epaphus, so the island may have had the name Euboea on this account.

It was also called Oché, which is the name of one of the largest mountains there.

It had the name of Ellopia, from Ellops, the son of Ion; according to others, he was the brother of Aeclus, and Cothus, who is said to have founded Ellopia, a small place situated in the district called Oria of the Histiaeotis, near the mountain Telethrius. He also possessed Histiaea, Perias, Cerinthus, Aedepsus, and Orobie, where was an oracle very free from deception. There also was an oracle of Apollo Selinuntius.

The Ellopians, after the battle of Leuctra, were compelled by the tyrant Philistides to remove to the city Histiea, and augmented the number of its inhabitants. Demosthenes says that Philistides was appointed by Philip tyrant of the Oreitae also, for afterwards the Histiaeans had that name, and the city, instead of Histiaea, was called Oreus. According to some writers, Histiaea was colonized by Athenians from the demus of the Histiaeeis, as Eretria was from the demus of the Eretrieis. But Theopompus says, that when Pericles had reduced Euboea, the Histiaeans agreed to remove into Macedonia, and that two thousand Athenians, who formerly composed the demus of the Histiaeans, came, and founded Oreus.

It is situated below Mount Telethrius, at a place called Drymus, near the river Callas, on a lofty rock; whence perhaps because the Ellopians, the former inhabitants, were a mountain tribe, the city had the name of Oreus. Orion, who was brought up there, seems to have had his name from the place. But according to some writers, the Oreitae, who had a city of their own, being attacked by the Ellopians, migrated, and settled with the Histiaeans, and although it was a single city it had both appellations, as Lacedaemon and Sparta were the same city. We have said, that the Histiaeotis in Thessaly had its name from the people who were carried away from this country by the Perrhaebi.

As Ellopia induced us to commence our description with Histiaea and Oreus, we shall proceed with the places continuous with these.

The promontory Cenaeum is near Oreus, and on the promontory is situated Dium, and Athenae Diades, a town founded by Athenians, and overlooks the passage across the strait to Cynus. Canae in Aeolia received colonists from Dium. These places are situated near Histiea, and besides these Cerinthus, a small city, close to the sea. Near it is a river Budorus, of the same name as the mountain in Salamis on the side of Attica,