The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Geography of Strabo Vol. I., translated by H. C. Hamilton.

779 The Strait of Messina, and the strait separating Sicily and Cape Bona on the African coast.

780 Of which Cyrene, now Curen, was the capital.

781 The Gulf of Cabes.

782 The Island of Gerbi.

783 The Island of Kerkeni.

784 Sidra, or Zalscho.

785 Hesperides is the same city which the sovereigns of Alexandria afterwards called Berenice. It is the modern Bernic or Bengazi.

786 Automala appears to have been situated on the most northern point of the Greater Syrtes, on the confines of a small gulf, near to a place called Tine, or the Marsh.

787 Now Reggio, on the Strait of Messina, which was also sometimes called the Strait of Rhegium.

788 These were the Epizephyrian Locrians, or dwellers near the promontory of Zephyrium. They were situated towards the extremity of Italy, near Rhegium. Traces of their city are seen at Motta di Bourzano on the eastern coast of Ulterior Calabria.

792 The Gulf of Lepanto.

793 Cape Leuca or Finisterre.

794 The lower part of the Adriatic was designated the Ionian Gulf.

795 The portion of Greece opposite Corfu.

796 The Gulf of Arta.

797 The Gulf of Venice.

798 The Islands of Cherso and Ossero.

799 Apparently the Curicta of Pliny and Ptolemy, corresponding to the island of Veglia.

800 The Libyrnides are the islands of Arbo, Pago, Isola Longa, Coronata, &c., which border the coasts of ancient Liburnia, now Murlaka.

802 The Island of Traw.

805 The Islands of Tremiti.

806 From Cape Pachynus or Passaro to Cape Krio, the ancient Criu-metopon, on the western extremity of the Island of Crete, measures 4516 stadia of 700 to a degree.

808 Sibota, Sajades; certain small islands between Epirus and Corcyra.

811 The Curzolari Islands at the mouth of the Aspro-Potamo.

812 The Gulf of Engia.

813 A district of the Peloponnesus.

814 A part of the modern Livadia.

816 Poro, or Poros, near the little Island of Damala, and connected to it by a sand-bank.

819 Islands surrounding Delos.

821 The Gulf of Saros.

822 The Dardanelles.

823 The sea surrounding the Islands of Icaria and Carpathos, now Nikaria and Scarpanto.

829 Egripo, or Negropont.

831 Probably Piperi; others suppose it to be Skopelo or Pelagonesi.

836 The distance from the southern coast of Crete to the northern shores of the Ægæan is just 4200 stadia, or 120 marine leagues.

837 This is just the distance from Cape Colonna to Rhodes.

839 The Gulf of Saloniki.

840 Those of Kassandra, Monte-Santo, and Contessa.

841 The peninsula of Gallipoli.

842 Semenik, or according to others, Jalowa.

843 Maïto, or according to others, Avido.

845 Karadje-Burun, the southern point of the Crimea.

847 We should here read 1500 stadia. See French Translation, vol. i. p. 344, n. 3.

849 Also called the Island of Achilles, and the Island of the Blessed, now Ilan-Adassi.

850 The Strait of Zabache.

851 The Sea of Marmora.

852 The Island of Cyzicus was joined to the mainland by Alexander, and thus formed a peninsula, notwithstanding Strabo describes it as an island. Its present name is Artaki.

853 The extent of the Ægæan amongst the ancients was the same as the Egio-Pelago, or Archipelago, with us. It was comprehended between the southern coasts of Crete, the western coasts of Peloponnesus, the southern coasts of Macedonia and Thrace, and the western borders of Asia Minor. Strabo however, in his description, seems to comprise under the name of the Ægæan not only those parts of the Mediterranean south of the meridian of Cape Matapan, but also the Propontis and the Euxine, as far as the mouth of the river Halys, now Kizil-Irmak. In this however he seems to be unique.

854 This is just the distance, says Gosselin, from the northern part of Rhodes to Alexandria, but the route, instead of being from north to south, as supposed by the ancients, is S. S. W.

857 Themiscyra, a town of Cappadocia at the mouth of the Thermodon, (now the Termeh,) belonging to the kingdom of the Amazons. The territories around it bore the same name. The plain is now comprehended in the modern Djanik.

859 Lit. the before-mentioned parts of the sea on either side.

860 Asia Minor, or Anadoli.

861 The Sidra of the moderns.

863 The Gulf of Aïas.

865 The ruins of this city are said to be called by the modern Greeks Φερνάκη or Πλατένα indiscriminately.

866 Dwellers in waggons, or huts fixed on wheels for the purpose of transportation from one pasturage to another, as necessity might require.

867 From Cape Gata in Granada to the borders of Asturias the distance is about 5000 stadia. But the greatest breadth of Spain is from Cape Gata to Cape Belem in Gallicia, which equals 5890 stadia of 700 to a degree.

868 The Gulf of Lyon.

869 The Gulf of Aquitaine or Gascony.

871 This ridge commences at the eastern part of the Pyrenees. Its ramifications extend to about Dijon.

873 The Romans gave to the whole of this country, which was peopled by a race of Keltic extraction, the name of Cisalpine Gaul, because situated on this side the Alps, with respect to them. France was designated Transalpine Gaul.

874 The Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Sea commenced about the mouth of the Arno, and extended as far as Naples. The Ligurian Sea is the Gulf of Genoa. The Ausonian Sea, afterwards called the Sea of Sicily, washes the southern parts of Italy. The Adriatic Gulf, is the Gulf of Venice.

875 The Getæ inhabited Moldavia. The Tyrigetæ, or Getæ of Tyras or the Dniester, dwelt on the banks of that river. The Bastarnæ inhabited the Ukraine. The Sarmatians, or Sauromatians, extended along either bank of the Don and the environs of the Sea of Azof, the ancient Palus Mæotis.

876 Thrace and Macedonia form part of the modern Roumelia: Illyria comprehended Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia, &c.

878 The Scilly Isles.

879 Majorca and Minorca.

880 Iviça, Formentera, Spalmador, &c. They were called Phœnician Islands, because the Carthaginians had sent out a colony thither 160 years after the founding of their city.

881 Namely all the islands of the Ionian and Ægæan Seas, from Corfu to the Dardanelles.

882 The Sea of Azof.

883 The Bay of Bengal.

885 The Northern Ocean.

887 The Bay of Bengal.

888 Sarmatian Mæotæ in the Greek text, but apparently incorrect.

889 Inhabitants of Georgia.

890 Inhabitants of Shirvan.

891 The Scythians here alluded to are the Tartars of Kuban; the Achæans and Zygi are the modern Ziketi; the Heniochi are the Abkazeti.

892 East of the Caspian.

893 These Scythians are the Tartars of the Kharasm. The Hyrcanians are the inhabitants of Daghistan and the Corcan. The Parthians occupied the north of Khorasan; the Bactrians the country of Balk. The Sogdians inhabited Bukaria, where are Samarcand and the valley of Al-Sogd.

895 Cappadocia comprehended a portion of the modern Roum and Karamania between the Euphrates and the river Halys.

896 Under this name Strabo included a portion of the kingdom of Pontus and other small tribes as far as Colchis.

897 Now the Kizil-Irmak.

898 The northern and western portions of Phrygia.

899 Probably an interpolation.

900 The mountaineers of Paropamisus were those who inhabited the mountains which separate Bactriana from India. The Parthians occupied the mountains north of the modern Khorasan. Under the name of Medians Strabo comprehends the various nations who inhabited the mountainous country between Parthia and Armenia. The Cilicians inhabited Aladeuli; the Lycaonian mountaineers the mountains which separate Karaman from Itch-iili; and the Pisidians the country of Hamid.

901 The Bay of Bengal.

903 The Arians inhabited Sigistan and a part of modern Persia. Strabo gave the name of Arians to all the people who occupied the portions of Asia comprised between the Indus and Persia, and between the chain of the Taurus and Gedrosia and Carmania. In after-times the designation of Arians was restricted to the inhabitants of the modern Khorasan. Gedrosia is Mekran; Carmania yet preserves the name of Kerman.

904 Ancient Persia is the modern province of Fars, Pars, or Paras; our Persia being much more extensive than the ancient country designated by the same name.

905 The Susians inhabited the modern Khosistan.

906 The Babylonians occupied the present Irak-Arabi.

908 Viz. the Ethiopians occupying the territory from Syene to Abyssinia.

909 The Troglodyte Arabians.

910 The Cilicians occupied the modern Itch-iili and Aladeuli; the Trachiotæ or mountaineers, the former of these countries.

911 Pamphylia is the modern Tekieh.

912 Or Oases, according to the common spelling.

913 That is to say, from Tunis to Gibraltar. The Maurusians, called by the Latins Mauritanians, occupied the present Algiers and Fez.

914 Probably asa-fœtida.

915 The Troglodytic extended along the western coast of the Arabian Gulf.

916 The Ichthyophagi of Gedrosia inhabited the barren coasts of Mekran.

917 The term of Ethiopians was a generic name given by the Greeks and Romans to the most southern inhabitants of Africa they at any time happened to be acquainted with; consequently the position of this country frequently shifted.

918 The Garamantæ inhabited the Kawan; Garama, their capital, is now named Gherma. The Pharusians and Nigritæ dwelt south of the present kingdom of Morocco.

919 The Marmaridæ extended west from Egypt, as far as Catabathmus, near the present Cape Luco.

920 Viz. to the south and west.

921 The Gulfs of Sydra and Cabes.

922 The Psylli and Nasamones inhabited the eastern parts of the present kingdom of Tripoli, above the Greater Syrtes and the desert of Barca.

923 The Asbystæ were a people of Libya above Cyrene, where the temple of Ammon stood; Jupiter is sometimes called on that account Asbysteus.

924 The Byzacii occupied the southern parts of the kingdom of Tunis.

925 Greek, Nomades, or wandering shepherds, from which the Latins formed the name Numidæ. These people inhabited Algiers.

926 Carthage extended as far west as the promontory of Tretum, now Sebta-Ras or the Seven Heads. From thence the Masylies inhabited as far as Cape Carbon; and from thence the Masæsylii possessed the country as far as the river Molochath, now the Maluia, beyond which were the Maurusians extending to the Atlantic.

928 The climata are zones parallel to the equator. The ancients generally reckoned seven climata, which in the time of Hipparchus terminated at 48° 30′ 35″, where the longest day consisted of sixteen hours. He however multiplied these divisions and extended them farther towards the poles. It is a great pity that Strabo has not noted all of them.

929 According to Strabo, 12° 34′ 17″.

930 According to Strabo, 52° 25′ 42″.

931 Now Gherri, on the banks of the Nile.

932 i. e. they are the most southern of those for whom, &c.

933 Bab-el-Mandeb, The Gate of Tears.

936 This passage proves that in Strabo’s opinion the continent of Africa did not extend so far south as the equator.