Chapter 25

671Od. xv. 298.

672C. Papa.

673Sophocles, Trachiniæ, v. 9.

674Il. ii. 628.

675Not identified.

676Gossellin remarks the double error committed by Winkelman, who, on the authority of this passage, states that the Hercules (not the Labours of Hercules) of Lysippus was transferred to Rome in the time of Nero, long after this Book was written.

677Dragomestre.

678The lake Xerolimne.

679Kramer proposes the transposition of the sentence within brackets to the beginning of the paragraph.

680Il. ii. 639.

681M. Zigos.

682Angelo Castron.

683Near Mauro Mati.

684See c. ii. § 3, Epictetus.

685Od. ii. 52.

686Od. xv. 16.

687Il. xiv. 116.

688Il. ix. 525.

689B. ix. c. iii. § 11.

690As distinguished from geography. See b. i. c. i. § 16,note1

691The author of a work in several books on Eubœa. Athenæus, b. vi. c. 18.

692The unshorn.

693From Acarnan, son of Alcmæon. Thucyd. b. ii. c. 102. But the hero from whom the Curetes obtained their name is not mentioned.

694The position of this mountain is not determined.

695Œneus and his children were themselves Porthaonidæ. Œneus had possession only of Calydon, his brother Agrius and his children had a part of Pleuronia. Thestius, cousin-german of Œneus and of Agrius, received as his portion the remainder of Pleuronia and transmitted it to his children, (the Thestiadæ,) who probably succeeded in gaining possession of the whole country. The Porthaonidæ of the branch of Agrius, were Thersites, Onchestus, Prothous, Celeulor, Lycopeüs, and Melanippus.Apollodorus, b. i. c. 7, 8.

696Il. xiv. 117.

697Il. ix. 544.

698Il. ix. 525.

699“Cette digression est curieuse, sans doute * * * * Plusieurs critiques ont fait de ce morceau l’objet de leur étude; néanmoins il demeure hérissé de difficultés, et dernièrement M. Heyne (quel juge!) a prononcé que tout y restait à éclaircir.”Du Theil.The myths relating to the Curetes abound with different statements and confusion. The following are the only points to be borne in mind. The Curetes belong to the most ancient times of Greece, and probably are to be counted among the first inhabitants of Phrygia. They were the authors and expositors of certain religious rites, which they celebrated with dances. According to mythology they played a part at the birth of Jupiter. They were sometimes called Idæan Dactyli. Hence their name was given to the ministers of the worship of the Great Mother among the Phrygians, which was celebrated with a kind of religious frenzy. The Curetes were also called Corybantes. Hence also arose the confusion between the religious rites observed in Crete, Phrygia, and Samothrace. Again, on the other hand, the Curetes have been mistaken for an Ætolian people, bearing the same name. Heyne, Not. ad Virgil. Æn. iii. 130. Religion. et Sacror. cum furore peract. Orig. Comm. Soc. R. Scient. Gotting. vol. viii. Dupuis, origin de tous les cultes, tom. 2. Sainte Croix Mém. pour servir à la religion Secrète, &c., Job. Guberleth. Diss. philol. de Myster. deorum Cabir. 1703. Frèret. Recher. pour servir à l’histoire des Cyclopes, &c. Acad. des Inscript. &c., vol. xxiii. His. pag. 27. 1749.

The myths relating to the Curetes abound with different statements and confusion. The following are the only points to be borne in mind. The Curetes belong to the most ancient times of Greece, and probably are to be counted among the first inhabitants of Phrygia. They were the authors and expositors of certain religious rites, which they celebrated with dances. According to mythology they played a part at the birth of Jupiter. They were sometimes called Idæan Dactyli. Hence their name was given to the ministers of the worship of the Great Mother among the Phrygians, which was celebrated with a kind of religious frenzy. The Curetes were also called Corybantes. Hence also arose the confusion between the religious rites observed in Crete, Phrygia, and Samothrace. Again, on the other hand, the Curetes have been mistaken for an Ætolian people, bearing the same name. Heyne, Not. ad Virgil. Æn. iii. 130. Religion. et Sacror. cum furore peract. Orig. Comm. Soc. R. Scient. Gotting. vol. viii. Dupuis, origin de tous les cultes, tom. 2. Sainte Croix Mém. pour servir à la religion Secrète, &c., Job. Guberleth. Diss. philol. de Myster. deorum Cabir. 1703. Frèret. Recher. pour servir à l’histoire des Cyclopes, &c. Acad. des Inscript. &c., vol. xxiii. His. pag. 27. 1749.

700τοσαύτη ποικιλία, will bear also to be translated, id tantum varietatis, “this difference only,” as Groskurd observes.

701M. de Saint Croix (Recherches sur les Mystères, &c. sect. 2, page 25) is mistaken in asserting that “Strabo clearly refutes the statements of those who believed that the Cabeiri, Dactyli, Curetes, Corybantes, and Telchines, were not only the same kind of persons, but even separate members of the same family.” It appears to me, on the contrary, that this was the opinion adopted by our author.Du Theil.

702προσθεὶς τὸν οἰκεῖον τῇ ἱστορίᾳ φυσικὸν λόγον. rationem naturalem, utpote congruentum huc, historiæ adjiciens.Xylander.Or paraphrased, “The history of this people will receive additional and a fitting illustration by a reference to physical facts,” such as the manner of wearing their hair, tonsure, &c.

703ἑλκεχίτωνας. The words καὶ κρώβυλον καὶ τέττιγα ἐμπλεχθῆναι appear, according to Berkel. ad Steph. p. 74, to be here wanting, “and to bind the hair in the form of the Crobulus and ornamented with a grasshopper.” The hair over the forehead of the Apollo Belvidere is an example of the crobulus.

704Herod. vii. 208.

705κουρὰν τριχός

706κόραις καὶ κόροις

707Strabo therefore considered the 193, 194, 195 verses of Il. xix. as authentic. Heyne was inclined to consider them as an interpolation, in which he is supported by other critics.

708Il. xix. 248. The text is probably mutilated, and Strabo may have quoted the verses in Homer in which Merion is represented as dancing in armour. Il. xvi. 617.

709Kramer suspects this passage to be an interpolation.

710The reading in the text is τὸν δ’ ὄντως νοῦν. The translation adopts Meineke’s reading, νοοῦντα.

711Quam præclare philosophatus sit Strabo, me non monente, unusquisque assequitur; præclarius, utique, quam illi, qui ex nostro ritu religioso omnem hilaritatem exulare voluere.Heyne, Virg. iii. 130.

712The original, as Du Theil observes, is singularly obscure, ἀλλ’ ἡ φύσις, ἡ τῶν παιδευμάτων, ἐξεταζέσθω, τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐνθένδε ἔχουσα

713Following the reading suggested by Groskurd.

714This word appears here misplaced.

715The chain of mountains extending from the sources of the Sagaris (the Zagari) to the Propontis was called Dindymene.

716Sipuli Dagh.

717Possene.

718This name is not derived from any place.

719διὰ τὸ ὅμορον, for διά τε Ὅμηρον.Meineke.

720The literal translation has been preserved in the text for the sake of the argument. The following is Potter’s translation, in which, however, great liberty is taken with the original.“To whom the mysteries of the gods are known,By these his life he sanctifies,And, deep imbibed their chaste and cleaning lore,Hallows his soul for converse with the skies.Enraptur’d ranging the wild mountains o’er,The mighty mother’s orgies leading,He his head with ivy shading,His light spear wreath’d with ivy twine,To Bacchus holds the rites divine.Haste then, ye Bacchæ, haste,Attend your god, the son of heaven’s high king.From Phrygia’s mountains wild and wasteTo beauteous-structur’d Greece your Bacchus bring********O ye Curetes, friendly band,You, the blest natives of Crete’s sacred land,Who tread those groves, which, dark’ning round,O’er infant Jove their shelt’ring branches spread,The Corybantes in their caves profound,The triple crest high waving on their head,This timbrel framed, whilst clear and highSwelled the Bacchic symphony.The Phrygian pipe attemp’ring sweet,Their voices to respondence meet,And placed in Rhea’s hands.The frantic satyrs to the rites advance,The Bacchæ join the festive bands,And raptur’d lead the Trieteric dance.”

720The literal translation has been preserved in the text for the sake of the argument. The following is Potter’s translation, in which, however, great liberty is taken with the original.

“To whom the mysteries of the gods are known,By these his life he sanctifies,And, deep imbibed their chaste and cleaning lore,Hallows his soul for converse with the skies.Enraptur’d ranging the wild mountains o’er,The mighty mother’s orgies leading,He his head with ivy shading,His light spear wreath’d with ivy twine,To Bacchus holds the rites divine.Haste then, ye Bacchæ, haste,Attend your god, the son of heaven’s high king.From Phrygia’s mountains wild and wasteTo beauteous-structur’d Greece your Bacchus bring********O ye Curetes, friendly band,You, the blest natives of Crete’s sacred land,Who tread those groves, which, dark’ning round,O’er infant Jove their shelt’ring branches spread,The Corybantes in their caves profound,The triple crest high waving on their head,This timbrel framed, whilst clear and highSwelled the Bacchic symphony.The Phrygian pipe attemp’ring sweet,Their voices to respondence meet,And placed in Rhea’s hands.The frantic satyrs to the rites advance,The Bacchæ join the festive bands,And raptur’d lead the Trieteric dance.”

“To whom the mysteries of the gods are known,

By these his life he sanctifies,

And, deep imbibed their chaste and cleaning lore,

Hallows his soul for converse with the skies.

Enraptur’d ranging the wild mountains o’er,

The mighty mother’s orgies leading,

He his head with ivy shading,

His light spear wreath’d with ivy twine,

To Bacchus holds the rites divine.

Haste then, ye Bacchæ, haste,

Attend your god, the son of heaven’s high king.

From Phrygia’s mountains wild and waste

To beauteous-structur’d Greece your Bacchus bring

********

O ye Curetes, friendly band,

You, the blest natives of Crete’s sacred land,

Who tread those groves, which, dark’ning round,

O’er infant Jove their shelt’ring branches spread,

The Corybantes in their caves profound,

The triple crest high waving on their head,

This timbrel framed, whilst clear and high

Swelled the Bacchic symphony.

The Phrygian pipe attemp’ring sweet,

Their voices to respondence meet,

And placed in Rhea’s hands.

The frantic satyrs to the rites advance,

The Bacchæ join the festive bands,

And raptur’d lead the Trieteric dance.”

721There were several mountains bearing the name of Olympus. 1. In Thessaly. 2. In Peloponnesus. 3. Of Ida. 4. In Mysia. 5. In Crete.

722San Dimitri.

723Od. iii. 144.

724Adopting Kramer’s suggestion of παραδοὺς τὰ for παραδόντα.

725Bendis, Diana of the Thracians; among the Athenians there was a festival called Bendideia.

726Athenæus, b. xi. c. 8. Æschylus in the Edoni (a fragment) calls cymbals cotylæ.

727Probably from a passage in the Erectheus, a lost play of Euripides.

728Nablas and Sambyce are Syriac words. Athenæus, b. iv. c. 24.

729The invention of Anacreon, according to Neanthus Cyzicenus.

730Athenæus, b. xiv. c. 8, 9.

731See above, ch. iii. § 1, 6, 8.

732κουροτροφήσαντες

733κουρῆτες

734Who were the Prasians of Rhodes I confess I cannot say.Palmer.

735From whence Strabo does not inform us.

736The Scholiast of Apollonius remarks that it was formerly called Leucosia, afterwards Samos from a certain Saiis, and Samothrace when it came into possession of the Thracians. It had also the name of Dardania.

737The true origin of the word, according to Casaubon, is to be found in the Hebrew word Cabir, signifying powerful. Tobias Gutberlethus, De mysteriis deorum Cabirotum.

738M. Sitia.

739Places unknown.

740In the plain of Troy.

741According to the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhod., Arg. 5, 917 persons were initiated into the mysteries of the Cabeiri in Samothrace. The Cabeiri were four in number; Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, and Casmilos. Axieros corresponded to Demeter or Ceres, Axiokersa to Persephone or Proserpine, Axiokersos to Hades or Pluto, and Casmilos to Hermes or Mercury. See Ueber die Gottheiten von Samothrace, T. W. I. Schelling, 1815; and the Classical Journal, vol. xiv. p. 59.

742Herod. iii. 37.

743Probably a temple of Apollo Smintheus.

744Corybissa, Eureïs, and Æthaloeïs are unknown.

745They were called Curetes because they were boys, and κουρῆτες μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κόρους εἶναι καλούμενοι. Groskurd suspects these or similar words to have followed “Corybantes.”

746Od. viii. 250.

747i. e. toes.

748In a lost play, The Deaf Satyrs.

749In hoc quoque dissentio, sapientes fuisse, qui ferri metalla et æris invenerunt, cum incendio silvarum adusta tellus, in summo venas jacentes liquefacta fudisset. Seneca, Epist. 90.

750Diodorus Siculus, b. v., says that they obtained the name from being equal in number to the ten fingers or toes (Dactyli).

751Groskurd proposes Corybantes for these latter Idæan Dactyli.

752The common European name Candia is unknown in the island; the Saracenic “Kandax,” Megalo Kastron, became with the Venetian writers Candia; the word for a long time denoted only the principal city of the island, which retained its ancient name in the chroniclers and in Dante, Inferno xiv. 94. It is described by Strabo as lying between Cyrenaica and that part of Hellas which extends from Sunium to Laconia, and parallel in its length from W. to E. of these two points. The words μέχρι Λακωνικῆς may be understood either of Malea or Tænarum; it is probable that this geographer extended Crete as far as Tænarum, as from other passages in his work (ii. c. v. § 20; viii. c. v. § 1) it would appear that he considered it and the W. points of Crete as under the same meridian. It is still more difficult to understand the position assigned to Crete with regard to Cyrenaica (xvii. c. iii. § 22). Strabo is far nearer the truth, though contradicting his former statements, where he makes Cimarus, the N.W. promontory of Crete, 700 stadia from Malea, and Cape Sammonium 1000 stadia from Rhodes, (ii. c. iv. § 3,) which was one of the best ascertained points of ancient geography.Smith, v. Crete.

753τῆς Ἑλλάδος τῆς ἀπὸ Σουνίου μέχρι Λακωνικῆς

754Gossellin observes that the false position assigned to these countries, and the contradiction perceptible in the measures in stadia, given by Strabo, and above all the impossibility of reconciling them upon one given plan, is a proof that the author consulted different histories, and different maps, in which the distances were laid down in stadia differing in length.

755The ruins are indicated as existing a little to the north of Hagios Kurghianis, in the Austrian map.

756Cimarus is given in Kiepert, as the island Grabusa Agria, at the extremity of Cape Buso, and also in the Austrian map. Kramer remarks that the promontory Cimarus is mentioned by no other author. Corycus on the other hand is placed by Strabo below, § 5, in these parts, although the reading is suspicious, and in b. viii. c. v. § 1, and in b. xvii. c. iii. § 22; but the reading again in this last reference is doubtful. Cape Cimarus is now C. Buso or Grabusa.

757In b. ii. c. iv. § 3, it is written Salmonium, (c. Salamoni,) in which passage Kramer has retained the spelling of the name, on the ground that this form is to be found in Apollonius, Arg. 4, 1693, and Dionys. Perieg. 110. Salmone in the Acts, xxvii. 7.

758C. Colonna.

759Not in the text of Kramer. Casaubon’s conjecture.

760The words of the text are, πλάτει δὲ ὑπὸ τὸ μέγεθος, which Meineke translates, “Its width is not in proportion to its length.” Kramer says that the preposition ὑπὸ suggests the omission of the words τετρακοσίων or τριακοσίων που, and that the words τ. μ. are probably introduced from the margin, and are otherwise inadmissible.

761It is impossible to say what words should fill up the hiatus in the text, but probably something to this effect, ἀπὸ τῶν ἑσπερίων μερῶν ἀρξαμένοις ἡ νῆσος πλατεῖά ἐστι.Kramer.Groskurd proposes ἡ νῆσος αἰφνιδίως στενοχωρεῖ, the island suddenly narrows.

762On the bay of Armiro.

763Castel Franco. Acts of Apostles, xxvii. 12.

764Porto Trano. At the bottom of the bay of Mirabel.

765Near Lytto.

766Girapetra.

767By the islands of the Rhodians are meant Caso, Nisari, Scarpanto, &c.

768Aspra-vuna, or Sfakia.

769Mt. Penta-Dactylon in the Morea.

770Psiloriti.

771From what point in the Cyrenaïca is not said. From b. viii. c. iii. § 1, it would appear to be Phycus, (Ras al Sem,) but from b. xvii. c. iii. § 20, it would seem to be Apollonias, (Marsa-susa,) the maritime arsenal of the Cyrenæans, situated at about 170 stadia to the east of Phycus, and 80 stadia to the west of Cyrene.

772C. Crio.

773Of 700 stadia to a degree.Gossellin.

774Cerigo.

775The distance from Samonium (Cape Salamone) to Alexandria, in a straight line, is about 5500 stadia of 1111-1/9 to the degree.Gossellin.

776Gossellin’s conjecture, for the number is wanting in the text.

777τριχάϊκες

778Od. xix. 175.

779So also Diod. Sic. b. v.

780τριχάϊκας

781τριλοφίας

782τριχίνους

783The ruins are situated at Makro Teikhos, to the south-east of Candia, the modern capital.

784Il. ii. 646; Od. xix. 178. Hagius Dheka. Pashley.

785Near Jerami, in the Austrian map. Pashley places it at Khania.

786Lytto.

787Il. ii. 647.

788Cartero, a maritime town on the river of the same name.

789At the mouth of the Aposelemi.

790Now the Cartero.

791Pausanias, b. ix. c. 11, says that the ships of Minos were unprovided with sails, which were the subsequent invention of Dædalus.

792Groskurd proposes to supply the hiatus in the text thus: Cnossus [towards the north, inclining to the Ægæan sea, Phæstus turned towards the south and the African sea, Cydonia in the western part of the island] opposite.

793Od. xix. 178.

794Il. xiii. 450.

795The Cretan war was conducted by Q. Metellus, proconsul, who from thence obtained the cognomen of Creticus.

796Il. ii. 646.

797Letima or Matala, Cape Theodosia.

798The Maloniti or Messara.

799On C. Lionda.

800Strabo must have confounded two totally distinct cities, (Priansus and Prasus,) when he spoke of them under a common name, and assigned them a single situation, both close to Mount Dikte, and at the same time continuous with the Lebenians, whose city was three days’ journey from the mountain. Pashley, Travels in Crete, vol. i. p. 290. Kramer does not agree with Pashley, and, until further information shall be obtained, rests upon the authority of Boeckh, C. I. No. 2556, who affirms that there is some doubt about the name Priansus, which is only found on coins and inscriptions; both Hoeck (v. Kreta I. p. 413) and Boeckh (C. I. ii. p. 405) consider Priansus and Prasus as the same place.

801M. Sitia.

802Phæn. 33.

803Callim. Hymn to Diana, 195.

804Tityrus is the ridge of mountains which terminates in Cape Spada.

805Kisamos.

806See Pashley, Travels in Crete, vol. i. c. 4, who places Aptera at Palæocastron, on the south of the bay of Siedh and Polyrrhenia, at the Palæocastron, to the south of the Gulf of Kisamos.

807Hodyitra.

808Il. ii. 648.

809Episcopiano.

810Od. iii. 191.

811Sordid avarice and covetousness have taken such hold upon them, that among the Cretans alone, of all nations, nothing in the form of gain is considered dishonourable. Polybius, b. vi.

812His father, Temenus, was the founder of Argos. See b. viii.

813There is, however, diversity of opinions on the subject.

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