Chapter 267

4085This passage seems to be in a corrupt state, and it is difficult to arrive at Pliny’s exact meaning.

4086The port of the Pergameni. Strabo places it south of the river Caïcus, twelve stadia from that river, and 120 from Pergamum. Its site is uncertain, but Leake fixes it at a place called Kliseli, on the road from the south to Pergamum.

4087Its modern name is said to be Ak-Su or Bakir.

4088On the coast of the Elaitic gulf. It was almost destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of the Emperor Titus. Its site is by some thought to have been at Sanderli.

4089Supposed to have been situate near the modern Cape Coloni. It was here that in the war with Antiochus,B.C.191-190, the Roman fleet was hauled up for the winter and protected by a ditch or rampart.

4090So called from Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles.

4091A strong place opposite to Lesbos. It was on the road from Adramyttium to the plain of the Caïcus. Its site is generally fixed at Dikeli Koi.

4092Or Carine. The army of Xerxes, on its route to the Hellespont, marched through this place. Its site is unknown.

4093It lay outside of the bay of Adramyttium and the promontory of Pyrrha.

4094Mentioned in the Iliad with Chryse and Tenedos.

4095A place called Kutchulan, or, as some write it, Cotschiolan-Kuni, is supposed to occupy its site.

4096Or Thebes, in the vicinity of Troy.

4097In the plain of Thebes between Antandros and Adramyttium. It had a temple of Artemis, of which the Antandrii had the superintendence. Its site does not appear to have been ascertained.

4098Not improbably the Chryse, mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, B. i. ll. 37, 390, 431; but there were several places of this name.

4099See the note4105to Scepsis in the present Chapter.

4100Or Gergis, Gergithus, or Gergithes, a town in the Troad, north of Scamander. It was a place with an acropolis and strong walls. Attalus, king of Pergamus, transplanted the people of Gergis to another spot near the sources of the Caïcus, whence we afterwards find a place called Gergetha or Gergithion, in the vicinity of Larissa. The old town of Gergis was by some said to have been the birth-place of the Sibyl, and its coins have her image impressed on them.

4101Also called Neandria, upon the Hellespont.

4102South of Adramyttium; in its vicinity were copper-mines and celebrated vineyards. It was here that Thucydides is said to have died.

4103In the district of Coryphantes, opposite to Lesbos, and north of Atarneus. Pliny speaks of the oysters of Coryphas, B. xxxii. c. 6.

4104This Aphrodisias does not appear to have been identified.

4105Again mentioned by Pliny in B. xi. c. 80. Scepsis was an ancient city in the interior of the Troad, south-east of Alexandria, in the mountains of Ida. Its inhabitants were removed by Antigonus to Alexandria; but being permitted by Lysimachus to return to their homes, they built a new city, and the remains of the old town were then called Palæscepsis. This place is famous in literary history for being the spot where certain MSS. of Aristotle and Theophrastus were buried to prevent their transfer to Pergamus. When dug up they were found nearly destroyed by mould, and in this condition were removed by Sylla to Athens.

4106Sometimes called the Lycormas, now known as the Fidhari or Fidharo.

4107Frequently mentioned by Homer.

4108Still known as Ida or Kas-Dagh.

4109More generally known as Adramyttium or Adramyteum, now Adramiti or Edremit. According to tradition it was founded by Adramys, the brother of Crœsus, king of Lydia. It is mentioned as a sea-port in the Acts, xxvii. 2. There are no traces of ancient remains on its site.

4110One of the heights of Mount Ida in the Troad, now called Kaz-Dag. The territory in this vicinity, as we learn from Virgil and Seneca, was famous for its fertility. The modern village of Iné is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient town of Gargara.

4111Now Antandro, at the head of the Gulf of Adramyttium. Aristotle also says that its former name was Edonis, and that it was inhabited by a Thracian tribe of Edoni. Herodotus as well as Aristotle also speak of the seizure of the place by the Cimmerii in their incursion into Asia.

4112Now Cape Baba or Santa Maria, the south-west promontory of the Troad.

4113Or Sminthian Apollo. This appears to have been situate at the Chrysa last mentioned by Pliny as no longer in existence. Strabo places Chrysa on a hill, and he mentions the temple of Smintheus and speaks of a symbol which recorded the etymon of that name, the mouse which lay at the foot of the wooden figure, the work of Scopas. According to an ancient tradition, Apollo had his name of Smintheus given him as being the mouse-destroyer, for, according to Apion, the meaning of Smintheus was a “mouse.”

4114According to tradition this place was in early times the residence of Cycnus, a Thracian prince, who possessed the adjoining country, and the island of Tenedos, opposite to which Colone was situate on the mainland. Pliny however here places it in the interior.

4115The site of this Apollonia is at Abullionte, on a lake of the same name, the Apolloniatis of Strabo. Its remains are very inconsiderable.

4116Or Lycus, now known as the Edrenos.

4117Of this people nothing whatever is known.

4118D’Anville thinks that the modern Bali-Kesri occupies the site of Miletopolis.

4119Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a place called Pœmaninum near Cyzicus.

4120The inhabitants of Polichna, a town of the Troad.

4121The people of Pionia, near Scepsis and Gargara.

4122They occupied the greater part of Mysia Proper. They had a native divinity to which they paid peculiar honours, by the Greeks calledΖεὺς Ἀβρεττηνὸς.

4123The same as the Olympeni or Olympieni, in the district of Olympene at the foot of Mount Olympus; next to whom, on the south and west, were the Abretteni.

4124On the south-western coast of the Troad, fifty stadia south of Larissa. In the time of Strabo it had ceased to exist. No ruins of this place have been known to be discovered, but Prokesch is induced to think that the architectural remains to be seen near Cape Baba are those of Hamaxitus.

4125Or Cebrene or Cebren. It was separated from the territory of Scepsis by the river Menander. Leake supposes it to have occupied the higher region of Ida on the west, and that its site may have been at a place called Kushunlu Tepe, not far from Baramitsh.

4126Mentioned in Acts xvi. 8. It is now called Eski Stambul or Old Stambul. It was situate on the coast of Troas, opposite to the south-eastern point of the island of Tenedos, and north of Assus. It was founded by Antigonus, under the name of Antigonia Troas, and peopled with settlers from Scepsis and other neighbouring towns. The ruins of this city are very extensive.

4127Or Nea, mentioned in B. ii. c.97.

4128Now called the Mendereh-Chai.

4129On the north-west promontory of Troas. Here Homer places the Grecian fleet and camp during the Trojan war. The promontory is now called Yenisheri.

4130Now called Jeni-Scher, according to Ansart. It was at this spot that the Greeks landed in their expedition against Troy.

4131Usually identified with the Mendereh-Chai or Scamander.

4132The modern Gumbrek.

4133Or “ancient Scamander.”

4134Now known as the Koja-Chai; memorable as the scene of the three great victories by which Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian empire,B.C.334. Here also a victory was gained by Lucullus over Mithridates,B.C.73.

4135Or Sea of Marmora.

4136It is not exactly known whetherNewIlium was built on the same site as the Ilium or Troy which had been destroyed by the Greeks; but it has been considered improbable that the exploits mentioned in the Iliad should have happened in so short a space as that lying between the later Ilium and the coast. The site of New Ilium is generally considered to be the spot covered with ruins, now called Kissarlik, between the villages called Kum-kioi, Kalli-fath, and Tchiblak.

4137The Dictator Sylla showed especial favour to Ilium.

4138Now called Cape Intepeh or Barbieri.

4139The modern Paleo Castro probably occupies its site.

4140More generally called Dardanus, or Dardanum, said to have been built by Dardanus. It was situate about a mile south of the promontory Dardanis or Dardanium. Its exact site does not appear to bo known: from it the modern Dardanelles are supposed to have derived their name.

4141Situate between Percote and Abydus, and founded by Scamandrius and Ascanius the son of Æneas. The village of Moussa is supposed to occupy its site. The army of Alexander mustered here after crossing the Hellespont.

4142Alexander the Great visited this place on his Asiatic expedition inB.C.334, and placed chaplets on the tomb of Achilles.

4143So called from Æas, the Greek name of Ajax.

4144Teuthrania was in the south-western comer of Mysia, between Temnus and the borders of Lydia, where in very early times Teuthras was said to have founded a Mysian kingdom, which was early subdued by the kings of Lydia: this part was also called Pergamene.

4145Called Pionitæ in the preceding Chapter.

4146A town in the Troad, the site of which is unknown.

4147A town on the Propontis, according to Stephanus. The sites of most of the places here mentioned are utterly unknown.

4148Also called Pergama or Pergamus. Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Pergamo or Bergamo. It was the capital of the kingdom of Pergamus, and situate in the Teuthranian district of Mysia, on the northern bank of the river Caïcus. Under its kings, its library almost equalled that of Alexandria, and the formation of it gave rise to the invention of parchment, as a writing material, which was thence calledCharta Pergamena. This city was an early seat of Christianity, and is one of the seven churches of Asia to whom the Apocalyptic Epistles are addressed. Its ruins are still to be seen.

4149At the beginning of the preceding Chapter.

4150The people of Thyatira, mentioned in B. v. c.31.

4151The people of Mygdonia, a district between Mount Olympus and the coast, in the east of Mysia and the west of Bithynia.

4152“The people of the Holy Village.” Hierocome is mentioned by Livy as situate beyond the river Mæander.

4153The people of Attalia, mentioned in C.32.

4154Previously mentioned in the present Chapter.

4155Or “the Table.” Now known as Capo de Janisseri.

4156Also called the Milyæ, probably of the Syro-Arabian race; they were said to have been the earliest inhabitants of Lycia.

4157The Leleges are now considered to have been a branch of the great Indo-Germanic race, who gradually became incorporated with the Hellenic race, and thus ceased to exist as an independent people.

4158A nation belonging probably more to mythology than history. Strabo supposes them to have been of Thracian origin, and that their first place of settlement was Mysia.

4159By some supposed to have been a people of Phrygia.

4160Mentioned in C.29of the present Book.

4161From the Greekδαμάω, “to subdue.” Hardouin thinks that this appellation is intended to be given by Pliny to Asia in general, and not to the city of Apamea in particular, as imagined by Ortelius and others.

4162It is so described by Homer.

4163This was the light-house built upon it by Ptolemy II. Philadelphus, whence the name ofpharuscame to be applied to similar structures. It was here also that, according to the common story, the seventy Translators of the Greek version of the Old Testament, hence called the Septuagint, were confined while completing their work.

4164Thenarroworfortifiedchannel.

4165TheNeptunianchannel.

4166Mentioned also in C.14of the present Book.

4167In C.17of the present Book.

4168The boatmen of Ruad, the ancient Aradus, still draw fresh water from the spring Ain Ibrahim, in the sea, a few rods from the shore of the opposite coast.

4169Now called Kibris.

4170Strabo makes it 425. Hardouin remarks that Isidorus has not made allowance for the margin of the creeks and bays.

4171The north-eastern extremity of Cyprus. It is now called Capo Sant Andreas. It is more generally known in the editions of Pliny by the name of Dinaretum.

4172Now called Capo Sant Epifanio, or Pifano, after the celebrated metropolitan of Cyprus. It is the western extremity of the island.

4173From the Greekκέρας, “a horn.” It was not improbably so called from the numeroushornsor promontories on its coast.

4174From the Greekμακάριος, “blessed,” in compliment to its fertile soil and delightful temperature.

4175Apparently from the Greekκρυπτὸς, “concealed.” Stephanus Byzantinus says that it was so called because it was frequently hidden beneath the surface of the sea.

4176Or New Paphos. The spot is still called Bafa or Bafo.

4177Or Old Paphos, now Kukala or Konuklia. Old Paphos was situate near the promontory Zephyrium on the river Bocarno, where it had a good harbour; while New Paphos lay more inland, in the midst of a fertile plain, sixty stadia from the former. Old Paphos was the chief seat of worship of Aphrodite or Venus, who was said to have landed at that place after her ascent from the sea.

4178Situate on the most southerly point in the island; now Capo Gavatta or delle Gatte.

4179A town situate on the south coast of Cyprus. Its ruins are to be seen between Larnika and the port now known as Salines; they are very extensive. In B. xxx. c. 9, Pliny speaks of the salt lakes near this place, which are worked at the present day.

4180In the middle of the east coast. It was said to have been founded by Teucer the son of Telamon, who gave it the name of his native land from which he had been banished by his father.

4181Now called Old Limasol, a town on the south coast, celebrated for its worship of Aphrodite or Venus. It was a Phœnician settlement, and Stephanus calls it the most ancient city in the island. It long preserved its oriental customs, and here the Tyrian Hercules was worshipped under his name of Melkart.

4182Its site is now called Lapitho or Lapta.

4183Probably the same as the Temese of Homer. It was situate in a fertile district in the middle of Cyprus, and in the neighbourhood of extensive copper mines. Near it was a celebrated plain, sacred to Venus, mentioned by Ovid.

4184Now called Chytria, a town of Cyprus on the road from Cerinea to Salamis.

4185In the east of Cyprus, near the Promontory of Acamas, formerly called Marion. Ptolemy Soter destroyed this town, and removed the inhabitants to Paphos. The modern name of its site is Polikrusoko or Crisophou, from the gold mines in the neighbourhood. There was more than one city of this name in Cyprus, which was probably bestowed on them during its subjection to the princes of the line of Lagus. Another Arsinoë is placed near Ammochostus to the north of the island, and a third of the same name appears in Strabo with a harbour, temple and grove, between Old and New Paphos.

4186Or Carpasia, to the north-east of the island, facing the Promontory of Sarpedon on the Cilician coast. It was said to have been founded by Pygmalion, king of Tyre. Pococke speaks of remains at Carpas, the site of this place, especially a long wall and a pier.

4187Or Golgos, famous for the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, which had existed here even before its introduction at Paphos by Agapenor. Its position is unknown.

4188Or Idalia, adjoining to which was a forest sacred to Aphrodite. The poets, who connect this place with her worship, give us no indications whatever of its precise locality. Engel identifies it with the modern Dalin, situate to the south of Leucosia, at the foot of Mount Olympus.

4189Now Cape Anamur.

4190“Aulon Cilicium,” now the Sea of Caramania or Cyprus.

4191The Cilician Sea, namely.

4192There were several islands of this name. It is not improbable that Pliny alludes to the one lying off the coast of Caria between the isle of Rhodes and the mainland, and which seems to be the island marked Alessa in the maps. There was another of the same name close to the shore of Cilicia, afterwards known by the name of Sebaste.

4193Or Cleides, meaning the “Keys.” This was a group of small islands lying to the north-east of Cyprus. The name of the islands was afterwards transferred by some geographer to the Cape which Pliny above calls Dinæ, and others Dinaretum.

4194Cape Acamas, now Pifano.

4195Or the “Sacred Garden.” The names of this and the Salaminiæ do not appear to be known to the modern geographers.

4196This is identified by Beaufort with the islet called Bœshat, which is separated by a narrow channel from the Lycian shore. The others do not seem to have been identified. Attelebussa is supposed to take its name from a kind of destructive grasshopper without wings, called by the Greeksἀττέλεβος.

4197Situate off the commencement of the sea-coast of Pamphylia, on the borders of Lycia. Beaufort speaks of them as five in number; he did not meet with any of the dangers of the navigation here mentioned by Pliny. The Greeks still call them Chelidoniæ, and the Italian sailors Celidoni, which the Turks have corrupted into Shelidan.

4198Hardouin supposes these four islands to be the names of the group forming the Pactyæ. The names given appear to signify, the “Wild” or “Rough Islands,” the “Isle of the Nymphs,” the “Long Island,” and the “Greatest Island.” They were off the coast of Lycia, and seem to have belonged to the Rhodians. The modern name of Megista is Kastelorizo, according to Ansart.

4199Or Doliche, the “Long Island,” in the Lycian Sea, west of the ruins of Myra. Its modern name is Kakava. It is now uninhabited.

4200Still known as Grambousa, a small island off the east coast of Lycia. There seems to have been another of the same name off the Lycian coast.

4201An island off the coast of Lycia.

4202Hardouin thinks that they were opposite to the city of Dædala on the coast of Caria.

4203Off the city of Crya, probably, in Caria.

4204On the coast of Lycia.

4205In Lycia. See C.29of the present Book.

4206Probably so called from the number of hares found there.

4207On the coast of Caria.

4208Still known as Lindo and Camiro, according to D’Anville.

4209One of the three ancient Doric cities of Rhodes. It lay three-quarters of a mile to the south-west of the city of Rhodes, with which Pliny seems here to confound it. Its site is occupied by a village which still bears the name of Ialiso, and where a few ancient remains are to be found.

4210From its productiveness of serpents.

4211Either from Asterius, its former king, or from its being a “constellation” of the sea.

4212Probably because of the clearness and serenity of its atmosphere. See B. ii. c.62.

4213From its three-cornered shape.

4214Perhaps so called from its fruitfulness in ivy, in Greekκορυμβήθρα, or else fromκόρυμβος, “a summit,” from its elevated position.

4215From its verdant and grassy soil.

4216Either from King Atabyrius, or the mountain Atabyrion; or else from the temple of Jupiter Tabyrius, which Appian speaks of as situate in this island.

4217The “fortunate,” or “blessed” island.

4218“Venomous,” or “deadly.” This name it most probably had in early times (and not more recently, as Pliny says), when it was covered with dense forests, the retreats of serpents and noxious reptiles.

4219Now known as Skarpanto.

4220Mentioned by Homer, Il. ii. 676. See also B. iv. c.23of the present work. It is described by Ross as a single ridge of mountains, of considerable height.

4221Signifying “sea-foam.”

4222Still known as Nicero.

4223From its production of the ‘murex,’ or ‘purple.’

Back to Index Next