CHAPTER V.

“and Gortyna, a walled city;”796

it lost afterwards its walls, which were destroyed from their foundation, and it has remained ever since without walls; for Ptolemy Philopator, who began to build a wall, proceeded with it to the distance only of about 8 stadia. Formerly the building occupied a considerable compass, extending nearly 50 stadia. It is distant from the African sea, and from Leben its mart, 90 stadia. It has also another arsenal, Matalum.797It is distant from that 130 stadia. The river Lethæus798flows through the whole of the city.

12. Leucocomas and Euxynthetus his erastes (or lover), whom Theophrastus mentions in his discourse on Love, were natives of Leben.799One of the tasks enjoined Euxynthetus by Leucocomas was this, according to Theophrastus, to bring him his dog from Prasus.800The Prasii border upon the Lebenii at the distance of 60 stadia from the sea, and from Gortyn 180. We have said that Prasus was subject to the Eteocretans, and that the temple of the Dictæan Jupiter was there. For Dicte801is near; not, as Aratus802alleges, near Ida; since Dicte is distant 1000 stadia from Mount Ida, and situated at that distance from it towards the rising sun; and 100 stadia from the promontory Samonium. Prasus was situated between the promontory Samonium, and the Cherrhonesus, at the distance of 60 stadia from the sea. It was razed by the Hierapytnii. He says, too, that Callimachus803is not right in asserting that Britomartis, in her escape from the violence offered by Minos, leaped from Dicte among the nets of the fishermen (δίκτυα), and that hence she had the name of Dictynna from the Cydoniatæ, and the mountain that ofDicte. For Cydonia is not at all situated in the neighbourhood of these places, but lies at the western extremity of the island. The mountain Tityrus804belongs to the Cydonian territory; upon it is situated a temple, not called Dictæan, but Dictynnæan.

13. Cydonia is situated on the sea, fronting Laconia, at an equal distance from both Cnossus and Gortyn, about 800 stadia, and from Aptera 80, and from the sea in this quarter 40 stadia. Cisamus805is the naval arsenal of Aptera.806The Polyrrhenii border upon the Cydoniatæ towards the west; in their territory is the temple of Dictynna. They are at the distance of about 30 stadia from the sea, and 60 from Phalasarna. Formerly they lived in villages; then Achæans and Laconians settled there together, and fortified with a wall a strong site fronting the south.

14. Of the three cities founded by Minos, the last, which was Phæstus,807was razed by the Gortynians; it was at the distance of 60 stadia from Gortyn, 20 from the sea, and from Matalum, the arsenal, 40 stadia. They who razed the city possess the territory. Rhytium also together with Phæstus belongs to the Gortynians,

“both Phæstus and Rhytium.”808

Epimenides, who performed lustrations by the means of his poetry, is said to have been a native of Phæstus. Olyssa (Lisses?) also belonged to the territory of Phæstus.

Cherrhonesus,809as it is called, is the arsenal of Lyttus or (Lyctus), which we have before mentioned; on the former is the temple of Britomartis.

Miletus and Lycastus, the cities which were enumerated together with Lyctus, no longer exist; but the territory, after they had razed the city (Lyctus), was partitioned among Lyctians and Cnossians.

15. As the poet in one place speaks of Crete as having a hundred, and in another ninety, cities, Ephorus says, that ten were founded in later times after the Trojan war by the Dorians,who accompanied Althæmenes the Argive, and that hence Ulysses speaks of its ninety cities. This account is probable. But others say, that the ten were razed by the enemies of Idomeneus; but the poet does not say that Crete had a hundred cities at the time of the Trojan war, but in his own age, for he speaks in his own person; but if the words had been those of some person then living, as those in the Odyssey, where Ulysses says, Crete had ninety cities, they might have been properly understood in this manner. But even if we admit this, the subsequent verses will not be exempt from objection. For neither at the time of the expedition, nor after the return of Idomeneus, is it probable that these cities were destroyed by his enemies, for the poet says,

“but Idomeneus brought back all his companions who had survived the war to Crete; the sea had not deprived him of any of them;”810

for he would have mentioned such a misfortune. Ulysses indeed might not have been acquainted with the destruction of these cities, for he had not had any intercourse with any of the Greeks either during or after his wanderings; but (Nestor), who had been the companion of Idomeneus in the expedition and in his escape from shipwreck, could not be ignorant of what had happened at home during the expedition and before his return. But he must certainly have been aware of what occurred after his return. For if he and all his companions escaped, he returned so powerful that their enemies were not in a position to deprive them of ten cities.

Such then is the general description of the country of Crete.

16. With respect to the form of government, which Ephorus has described at large, it will be sufficient to give a cursory account of the principal parts. The law-giver, says Ephorus, seems to lay, as the foundation of his constitution, the greatest good that states can enjoy, namely, liberty; for it is this alone which makes the property of every kind which a man possesses his own; in a state of slavery it belongs to the governor, and not to the governed. The liberty also which men enjoy must be guarded. Unanimity ensues, when the dissensions that arise from covetousness and luxury811areremoved. Now where all live temperately and frugally, neither envy, nor injuries, nor hatred have place among equals. Whence the young were enjoined to repair to the Agelæ, and those of mature age to assemble at the Syssitia, or common meals, called Andreia, in order that the poorer sort, who were fed at the public charge, might partake of the same fare as the rich.

With a view that courage, and not fear, should predominate, they were accustomed from childhood to the use of arms, and to endure fatigue. Hence they disregarded heat and cold, rugged and steep roads, blows received in gymnastic exercises and in set battles.

They practised archery, and the dance in armour, which the Curetes first invented, and was afterwards perfected by Pyrrhichus, and called after him Pyrrhiche. Hence even their sports were not without their use in their training for war. With the same intention they used the Cretan measures in their songs; the tones of these measures are extremely loud; they were invented by Thales, to whom are ascribed the pæans and other native songs and many of their usages. They adopted a military dress also, and shoes, and considered armour as the most valuable of all presents.

17. Some, he says, alleged that many of the institutions supposed to be Cretan were of Lacedæmonian origin; but the truth is, they were invented by the former, but perfected by the Spartans. The Cretans, when their cities, and particularly Cnossus, were ravaged, neglected military affairs, but some usages were more observed by the Lyttii and Gortynii, and some other small cities, than by the Cnossians. Those persons, who maintain the priority of the Laconian institutions, adduce as evidence of this those of the Lyttii, because as colonists they would retain the customs of the parent state. Otherwise, it would be absurd for those, who lived under a better form of constitution and government, to be imitators of a worse. But this is not correct. For we ought not to form conjectures respecting the ancient from the present state of things, for each has undergone contrary changes. The Cretans were formerly powerful at sea, so that it was a proverbial saying addressed to those who pretended to be ignorant of what they knew, “a Cretan, and not know the sea;” but at present they have abandoned nautical affairs.

Nor did it follow necessarily that, because there were some cities in Crete colonized by Spartans, they should continue to observe Spartan usages, since many of the cities of colonists do not preserve the customs of the mother country; and there are many cities in Crete, the inhabitants of which are not colonists, and yet have the same usages as those that have received colonies.

18. Lycurgus, the Spartan legislator, he says, was five generations later than Althæmenes, who conducted the colony into Crete. He is said by historians to have been the son of Cissus, who founded Argos812about the same time that Procles was engaged in establishing a colony at Sparta. It is also generally admitted that Lycurgus was the sixth in descent from Procles.813Copies do not precede the models, nor modern precede ancient things. The usual kind of dancing practised among the Lacedæmonians, the measures, and the pæans sung according to a certain mood, and many other usages, are called among them Cretan, as if they came from Crete. But among the ancient customs, those relative to the administration of the state have the same designations as in Crete,814as the council of Gerontes815and that of the Knights,816except that in Crete the knights had horses; whence it is conjectured, that the council of Knights in Crete is more ancient, since the origin of the appellation is preserved. But the Spartan knight did not keep a horse. They who perform the same functions as the Cosmi in Crete, have the different title of Ephori [in Sparta]. The Syssitia, or common meal, is even at present called Andreia among the Cretans; but among the Spartans they did not continue to call it by its former name, as it is found in the poet Alcman;

“In festivals and in joyous assemblies of the Andreia, it is fit to begin the pæan in honour of the guests.”

19. The occasion of the journey of Lycurgus to Crete is said by the inhabitants to be as follows. The elder brother of Lycurgus was Polydectes, who, at his death, left his wife pregnant. Lycurgus reigned in place of his brother till thebirth of a son. He then became the guardian of the child, who was heir to the kingdom. Some one said to him insultingly, he was sure Lycurgus would be king. Suspecting that by this speech he might be accused of contriving a plot against the child, and fearing that, if the child should die by any accident, his enemies might impute its death to him, he departed to Crete. This is said to have been the cause of his journey. Upon his arrival in Crete he became acquainted with Thales, the lyric poet and legislator. He learnt from this person the plan adopted by Rhadamanthus in former times, and afterwards by Minos in promulgating their laws, so as to procure a belief that they proceeded from Jupiter. He was also in Ægypt, and obtained information respecting the laws and customs of that country.817According to some writers, he met at Chios with Homer, who was living there, and then returned to his own country, where he found Charilaus, the son of his brother Polydectes, upon the throne. He then began to frame laws, repairing to the god at Delphi, and bringing thence ordinances, as Minos brought his from the cave of Jupiter.818The greater part of these ordinances were similar to those of Minos.

20. The following are the principal of the laws of Crete, which Ephorus has given in detail.

All the Cretans, who are selected at the same time from the troop (ἀγέλη) of youths, are compelled to marry at once. They do not however take the young women whom they have married immediately to their homes, until they are qualified to administer household affairs.

The woman’s dower, if she has brothers, is half of the brother’s portion.

The children are taught to read, to chaunt songs taken from the laws, and some kinds of music.

While they are still very young they are taken to the Syssitia, called Andreia. They sit on the ground, eating their food together, dressed in mean garments, which are not changed in winter or summer. They wait upon themselves and on the men. Both those of the same and those of different messes have battles with one another. A trainer of boys presides over each Andreion. As they grow older they are formed into(Ἀγέλαι) or troops of youths. The most illustrious and powerful of the youths form Agelæ, each individual assembling together as many as he can collect. The governor of the troop is generally the father of the youth who has assembled them together, and has the power of taking them to hunt and to exercise themselves in running, and of punishing the disobedient. They are maintained at the public charge.

On certain set days troop encounters troop, marching in time to the sound of the pipe and lyre, as is their custom in actual war. They inflict blows, some with the hand, and some even with iron weapons.

21. They have a peculiar custom with respect to their attachments. They do not influence the objects of their love by persuasion, but have recourse to violent abduction. The lover apprizes the friends of the youth, three or more days beforehand, of his intention to carry off the object of his affection. It is reckoned a most base act to conceal the youth, or not to permit him to walk about as usual, since it would be an acknowledgment that the youth was unworthy of such a lover. But if they are informed that the ravisher is equal or superior in rank, or other circumstances, to the youth, they pursue and oppose the former slightly, merely in conformity with the custom. They then willingly allow him to carry off the youth. If however he is an unworthy person, they take the youth from him. This show of resistance does not end, till the youth is received into the Andreium to which the ravisher belongs. They do not regard as an object of affection a youth exceedingly handsome, but him who is distinguished for courage and modesty. The lover makes the youth presents, and takes him away to whatever place he likes. The persons present at the abduction accompany them, and having passed two months in feasting, and in the chase, (for it is not permitted to detain the youth longer,) they return to the city. The youth is dismissed with presents, which consist of a military dress, an ox, and a drinking cup; the last are prescribed by law, and besides these many other very costly gifts, so that the friends contribute each their share in order to diminish the expense.

The youth sacrifices the ox to Jupiter, and entertains at a feast those who came down with him from the mountains. He then declares concerning the intercourse with the lover,whether it took place with his consent or not, since the law allows him, if any violence is used in the abduction, to insist upon redress, and set him free from his engagement with the lover. But for the beautiful and high-born not to have lovers is disgraceful, since this neglect would be attributed to a bad disposition.

The parastathentes, for this is the name which they give to those youths who have been carried away, enjoy certain honours. At races and at festivals they have the principal places. They are permitted to wear the stole, which distinguishes them from other persons, and which has been presented to them by their lovers; and not only at that time, but in mature age, they appear in a distinctive dress, by which each individual is recognised as Kleinos, for this name is given to the object of their attachment, and that of Philetor to the lover.

These then are the usages respecting attachments.

22. They elect ten Archons. On matters of highest moment they have recourse to the counsel of the Gerontes, as they are called. They admit into this council those who have been thought worthy of the office of Cosmi, and who were otherwise persons of tried worth.

I considered the form of government among the Cretans as worthy of description, on account both of its peculiarity and its fame. Few of these institutions are now in existence, and the administration of affairs is chiefly conducted according to the orders of the Romans, as is the case also in their other provinces.

1.Theislands about Crete are Thera,819the capital of the Cyrenæans, and a colony of the Lacedæmonians; and near Thera is Anaphe,820in which is the temple of Apollo Ægletes. Callimachus speaks of it in one place, thus,

“And Æglete Anaphe, close to the Lacedæmonian Thera;”

and in another, he mentions Thera only,

“Mother of my country, celebrated for its fine breed of horses.”

Thera is a long island, about 200 stadia in circumference. It lies opposite to the island Dia,821towards the Cnossian Heracleium. It is distant about 700 stadia from Crete. Near it are Anaphe and Therasia.822The little island Ios823is distant from the latter about 100 stadia. Here according to some authors the poet Homer was buried.824In going from Ios towards the west are Sicenus825and Lagusa,826and Pholegandrus,827which Aratus calls the iron island, on account of its rocks. Near these islands is Cimolus,828whence is obtained the Cimolian earth. From Cimolus Siphnus829is visible. To this island is applied the proverb, “a Siphnian bone (astragalus),” on account of its insignificance. Still nearer, both to Cimolus and Crete, is Melos,830more considerable than these. It is distant from the Hermionic promontory, the Scyllæum,831700 stadia, and nearly as many from the Dictynnæan promontory. The Athenians formerly despatched an army to Melos,832and put to death the inhabitants from youth upwards.

These islands are situated in the Cretan sea. Delos,833the Cyclades about it, and the Sporades adjacent to these, belong rather to the Ægæan sea. To the Sporades also are to be referred the islands about Crete, which I have already mentioned.

2. The city of Delos is in a plain. Delos contains the temple of Apollo, and the Latoum, or temple of Latona. The Cynthus,834a naked and rugged mountain, overhangs the city.The Inopus,835not a large river, for the island is small, flows through it. Anciently, even from the heroic times, this island has been held in veneration on account of the divinities worshipped here. Here, according to the fable, Latona was relieved from the pains of labour, and gave birth to Apollo and Diana.

“Before this time,” (says Pindar,836) “Delos was carried about by the waves, and by winds blowing from every quarter, but when the daughter of Cœus set her foot upon it, who was then suffering the sharp pangs of approaching childbirth, at that instant four upright columns, resting on adamant, sprang from the depths of the earth and retained it fast on the rugged rock; there she brought forth, and beheld her happy offspring.”

The islands lying about it, called Cyclades, gave it celebrity, since they were in the habit of sending at the public charge, as a testimony of respect, sacred delegates, (Theori,) sacrifices, and bands of virgins; they also repaired thither in great multitudes to celebrate festivals.837

3. Originally, there were said to be twelve Cyclades, but many others were added to them. Artemidorus enumerates (fifteen?) where he is speaking of the island Helena,838and of which he says that it extends from Thoricus839to Sunium,840and is about 60 stadia in length; it is from this island, he says, the Cyclades, as they are called, begin. He names Ceos,841as the nearest island to Helena, and next to this Cythnus, Seriphus,842Melos, Siphnus, Cimolus, Prepesinthus,843Oliarus,844and besides these Paros,845Naxos,846Syros,847Myconus,848Tenos,849Andros,850Gyarus.851The rest I consider as belonging to the Twelve, but not Prepesinthus, Oliarus, and Gyarus. When I put in at the latter island I found a small village inhabited by fishermen. When we left it we took in a fisherman, deputed from the inhabitants to go to Cæsar, who was at Corinth on his way to celebrate his triumph after the victory at Actium.852He told his fellow-passengers, that he wasdeputed to apply for an abatement of the tribute, for they were required to pay 150 drachmæ, when it was with difficulty they could pay 100.

Aratus,853in his Details, intimates how poor they were;

“O Latona, thou art shortly going to pass by me [an insignificant island] like to the iron-bound Pholegandrus, or to unhappy Gyarus.

4. Although Delos854was so famous, yet it became still more so, and flourished after the destruction of Corinth by the Romans.855For the merchants resorted thither, induced by the immunities of the temple, and the convenience of its harbour. It lies favourably856for those who are sailing from Italy and Greece to Asia. The general festival held there serves the purposes of commerce, and the Romans particularly frequented it even before the destruction of Corinth.857The Athenians, after having taken the island, paid equal attention to the affairs both of religion and of commerce. But the generals858of Mithridates, and the tyrant,859who had occasioned the defection of (Athens from the Romans), ravaged it entirely. The Romans received the island in a desolate state on the departure of the king to his own country; and it has continued in an impoverished condition to the present time.860The Athenians are now in possession of it.

5. Rheneia861is a small desert island 4 stadia from Delos, where are the sepulchral monuments of the Delians. For it is not permitted to bury the dead in Delos, nor to burn adead body there. It is not permitted even to keep a dog in Delos.

Formerly it had the name of Ortygia.862

6. Ceos863once contained four cities. Two remain, Iulis and Carthæ, to which the inhabitants of the others were transferred; those of Pœëessa to Carthæ, and those of Coressia to Iulis. Simonides the lyric poet, and Bacchylides his nephew, and after their times Erasistratus the physician, and Ariston the Peripatetic philosopher, the imitator of Bion,864the Borysthenite, were natives of this city.

There was an ancient law among these people, mentioned by Menander.

“Phanias, that is a good law of the Ceans; who cannot live comfortably (or well), let him not live miserably (or ill).”865

For the law, it seems, ordained that those above sixty years old should be compelled to drink hemlock, in order that there might be sufficient food for the rest. It is said that once when they were besieged by the Athenians, a decree was passed to the effect that the oldest persons, fixing the age, should be put to death, and that the besiegers retired in consequence.

The city lies on a mountain, at a distance from the sea of about 25 stadia. Its arsenal is the place on which Coressia was built, which does not contain the population even of a village. Near the Coressian territory and Pœëessa is a temple of Apollo Sminthius. But between the temple and the ruins of Pœëessa is the temple of Minerva Nedusia, built by Nestor, on his return from Troy. The river Elixus runs around the territory of Coressia.

7. After Ceos are Naxos866and Andros,867considerable islands, and Paros, the birth-place of the poet Archilochus. Thasos868was founded by Parians, and Parium,869a city in the Propontis. In this last place there is said to be an altar worthy of notice, each of whose sides is a stadium in length.

In Paros is obtained the Parian marble, the best adapted for statuary work.870

8. Here also is Syros, (the first syllable is long,) where Pherecydes the son of Babys was born. The Athenian Pherecydes is younger than the latter person. The poet seems to have mentioned this island under the name of Syria;

“above Ortygia is an island called Syria.”871

9. Myconus872is an island beneath which, according to the mythologists, lie the last of the giants, destroyed by Hercules; whence the proverb, “all under one Myconus,” applied to persons who collect under one title things that are disjoined by nature. Some also call bald persons Miconians, because baldness is frequent among the inhabitants of the island.873

10. Seriphos874is the island where is laid the scene of the fable of Dictys, who drew to land in his net the chest in which were enclosed Perseus and his mother Danaë, who were thrown into the sea by order of Acrisius, the father of Danaë. There it is said Perseus was brought up, and to this island he brought the head of the Gorgon; he exhibited it to the Seriphians, and turned them all into stone. This he did to avenge the wrongs of his mother, because their king Polydectes, with the assistance of his subjects, desired to make her his wife by force. Seriphus abounds so much with rocks, that they say in jest that it was the work of the Gorgon.

11. Tenos875has a small city, but there is, in a grove beyond it, a large temple of Neptune worthy of notice. It contains large banqueting rooms, a proof of the great multitudes that repair thither from the neighbouring places to celebrate a feast, and to perform a common sacrifice in honour of Neptune.

12. To the Sporades belongs Amorgos,876the birth-place ofSimonides, the Iambic poet; Lebinthus877also, and Leria (Leros).878Phocylides refers to Leria in these lines;

“the Lerians are bad, not some, but all, except Procles; but Procles is a Lerian;”

for the Lerians are reputed to have bad dispositions.

13. Near these islands are Patmos,879and the Corassiæ880islands, situated to the west of Icaria,881as the latter is with respect to Samos.

Icaria has no inhabitants, but it has pastures, of which the Samians avail themselves. Notwithstanding its condition it is famous, and gives the name of Icarian to the sea in front of it, in which are situated Samos, Cos, and the islands just mentioned,882the Corassiæ, Patmos, and Leros883[in Samos is the mountain the Cerceteus, more celebrated than the Ampelus, which overhangs the city of the Samians].884Continuous to the Icarian sea, towards the south, is the Carpathian sea, and the Ægyptian sea to this; to the west are the Cretan and African seas.

14. In the Carpathian sea, between Cos, Rhodes, and Crete, are situated many of the Sporades, as Astypalæa,885Telos,886Chalcia,887and those mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue.

“They who occupied Nisyrus, Crapathus, Casus, and Cos,The city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnæ islands.”888

“They who occupied Nisyrus, Crapathus, Casus, and Cos,

The city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnæ islands.”888

Except Cos, and Rhodes, of which we shall speak hereafter,we place the rest among the Sporades, and we mention them here although they do not lie near Europe, but Asia, because the course of my work induces me to include the Sporades in the description of Crete and of the Cyclades.

We shall traverse in the description of Asia the considerable islands adjacent to that country, as Cyprus, Rhodes, Cos, and those situated on the succeeding line of coast, Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos. At present we are to describe the remaining islands of the Sporades, which deserve mention.

15. Astypalæa lies far out at sea, and contains a city.

Telos, which is long, high, and narrow, in circumference about 140 stadia, with a shelter for vessels, extends along the Cnidian territory.

Chalcia is distant from Telos 80, from Carpathus 400 stadia, and about double this number from Astypalæa. It has a settlement of the same name, a temple of Apollo, and a harbour.

16. Nisyrus lies to the north of Telos, at the distance of about 60 stadia, which is its distance also from Cos. It is round, lofty, and rocky, and has abundance of mill-stone, whence the neighbouring people are well supplied with stones for grinding. It contains a city of the same name, a harbour, hot springs, and a temple of Neptune. Its circumference is 80 stadia. Near it are small islands, called the islands of the Nisyrians. Nisyrus is said to be a fragment broken off from Cos; a story is also told of Neptune, that when pursuing Polybotes, one of the giants, he broke off with his trident a piece of the island Cos, and hurled it at him, and that the missile became the island Nisyrus, with the giant lying beneath it. But some say that the giant lies beneath Cos.

17. Carpathus, which the poet calls Crapathus, is lofty, having a circumference of 200 stadia. It contained four cities, and its name was famous, which it imparted to the surrounding sea. One of the cities was called Nisyrus, after the name of the island Nisyrus. It lies opposite Leuce Acte in Africa, which is distant about 1000 stadia from Alexandria, and about 4000 from Carpathus.

18. Casus is distant from Carpathus 70, and from the promontory Salmonium in Crete 250 stadia. It is 80 stadia in circumference. It contains a city of the same name; and many islands, called the islands of the Casii, lie about it.

19. They say that the poet calls the Sporades, Calydnæ,one of which is Calymna.889But it is probable that as the islands, which are near and dependent, have their names from the Nisyrii and Casii, so those that lie around Calymna had their name from that island, which was then perhaps called Calydna. Some say that the Calydnæ islands are two, Leros and Calymna, and that the poet means these. But the Scepsian says, that the name of the island was used in the plural number, Calymnæ, like Athenæ, Thebæ, and that the words of the poet must be understood according to the figure hyperbaton, or inversion, for he does not say, the islands Calydnæ, but,

“they who occupied the islands Nisyrus, Crapathus, Casus, and Cos, the city of Eurypylus, and Calydnæ.”

All the honey of the islands is, for the most part, excellent, and rivals that of Attica; but the honey of these islands surpasses it, particularly that of Calymna.890

SUMMARY.

The Eleventh Book commences with Asia and the river Don, which, taking its rise in the northern regions, separates Europe from Asia. It includes the nations situated in Asia near its sources on the east and south, and the barbarous Asiatic nations who occupy the neighbourhood of Mount Caucasus, among whom are the Amazones, Massagetæ, Scythians, Albani, Iberes, Bactriani, Caspii, Medes, Persians, and the two Armenias, extending to Mesopotamia. Among these nations are included the Troglodytæ, Heniochi, Sceptuchi, Soanes, Assyrians, Polyphagi, Nabiani, Siraci, and Tapyri. Mention is made of Jason and Medea, and of the cities founded by them:—of Xerxes, Mithridates, and Alexander, son of Philip.

1.Asiais contiguous to Europe, approaching close to it at the Tanaïs or Don.

I am to describe this country next, after dividing it, for the sake of perspicuity, by certain natural boundaries. What Eratosthenes has done with respect to the whole habitable earth, this I propose to do with respect to Asia.

2. The Taurus, extending from west to east, embraces the middle of this continent, like a girdle, leaving one portion to the north, another to the south. The Greeks call the former Asia Within the Taurus,891the latter, Asia Without the Taurus. We have said this before, but it is repeated now to assist the memory.

3. The Taurus has in many places a breadth of 3000 stadia; its length equals that of Asia, namely 45,000 stadia,892reckoning from the continent opposite to Rhodes to the eastern extremities of India and Scythia.

4. It is divided into many parts, which are circumscribed by boundaries of greater or less extent, and distinguished by various names.

But as such an extended range of mountains must comprise nations some of which are little known, and others with whom we are well acquainted, as Parthians,893Medes, Armenians, some of the Cappadocians, Cilicians, and Pisidians; those which approach near the northern parts must be assigned to the north, (northern Asia,) those approximating the southern parts, to the south, (southern Asia,) and those situated in the middle of the mountains must be placed on account of the similarity of the temperature of the air, for it is cold to the north, while the air of the south is warm.

The currents of almost all the rivers which flow from the Taurus are in a direction contrary to each other, some running to the north, others to the south, at least at the commencement of their course, although afterwards some bend towards the east or west. They naturally suggest the adoption of this chain of mountains as a boundary in the division of Asia into two portions; in the same manner that the sea within the Pillars, which for the most part runs in the same line with these mountains, conveniently forms two continents, Europe and Africa, and is a remarkable boundary to both.

5. In passing in our geographical description from Europe to Asia, the first parts of the country which present themselves are those in the northern division, and we shall therefore begin with these.

Of these parts the first are those about the Tanaïs, (or Don,) which we have assumed as the boundary of Europe and Asia. These have a kind of peninsular form, for they are surrounded on the west by the river Tanaïs (or Don) and the Palus Mæotis894as far as the Cimmerian Bosporus,895and that part of the coast of the Euxine which terminates at Colchis; on the north by the Ocean, as far as the mouth of the Caspian Sea; on the east by the same sea, as far as theconfines of Albania and Armenia, where the rivers Cyrus896and Araxes897empty themselves; the latter flowing through Armenia, and the Cyrus through Iberia898and Albania;899on the south is the tract of country extending from the mouth of the Cyrus as far as Colchis, and comprising about 3000 stadia from sea to sea, across the territory of the Albani, and Iberes,900so as to represent an isthmus.901

Those writers do not deserve attention who contract the isthmus as much as Cleitarchus, according to whom it is subject to inundations of the sea from either side. According to Posidonius the isthmus is 1500 stadia in extent, that is, as large as the isthmus from Pelusium to the Red Sea. And I think, says he, that the isthmus between the Palus Mæotis and the Ocean is not very different from this in extent.

6. I know not how any one can rely upon his authority respecting what is uncertain, when he has nothing probable to advance on the subject; for he reasons so falsely respecting things which are evident, and this too when he enjoyed the friendship of Pompey, who had carried on war against the Iberes and Albani, and was acquainted with both the Caspian and Colchian902Seas on each side of the isthmus. It is related, that when Pompey903was at Rhodes, on his expedition against the pirates, (he was soon afterwards to carry on war against Mithridates and the nations as far as the Caspian Sea,) he accidentally heard a philosophical lecture of Posidonius; and on his departure he asked Posidonius if he had any commands; to which he replied,

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