The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Geography of Strabo Vol. II., translated By H. C. Hamilton.

828 Argentiere. Cretæ plura genera. Ex iis Cimoliæ duo ad medicos pertinentia, candidum et ad purpurissimum inclinans. Pliny, b. v. c. 17. Cretosaque rura Cimoli. Ovid. Met. vii. 464. But from Aristophanes, the Frogs, it would appear to have been a kind of fullers’ earth.

829 Siphanto, anciently also Meropia and Acis. There were once gold and silver mines in it, which were destroyed by inundation. There is also another proverb, which alluded to its poverty, “a Siphnian pledge,” Σίφνιος ἀῤῥαβὼν. Herodotus speaks of its being once the most wealthy of the islands, iii. 57.

832 Thucyd. b. v. c. 115, 116.

834 Thermia. Hence Apollo Cynthius.

835 Mentioned in b. vi. c. ii. § 4, as connected with the Nile. Bryant, Mytho. v. i. p. 206, derives the name from Ain Opus, The fountain of the Serpent, i. e. Python.

836 Boeckh, Fragm. Pind. 58. ii. 2, p. 587.

837 Thucyd. iii. 104.

838 Isola Longa, or Macronisi.

839 It was situated in the bay of Mandri.

851 Jura. Pliny, viii. 29, says the inhabitants were driven from the island by mice.

853 The title (which has been much questioned by critics) of this lost work of Aratus appears to have been, from this passage, Τὰ κατὰ λεπτόν, which Latin translators have rendered, Minuta, or Details. Casaubon is of opinion that it is the same as referred to by Callimachus, under the title Ῥήσεις λέπται, Clever Sayings. Ernest. ad Callim. Ep. 29. T. l. p. 333. The translation of the lines quoted follows the corrections of Coray.

854 In the middle of the Cyclades, and by far the most remarkable, is Delos, celebrated for the temple of Apollo, and for its commerce. Pliny iv. 12.

855 Under L. Mummius, B. C. 146.

857 Καὶ ὅτε συνεστήκει ἡ Κόρινθος

858 Archelaüs and Metrophanes.

859 Aristion, B. C. 87.

860 Pausanias, viii. 33, § 2, (writing in the time of Hadrian,) says of Delos, that with the exception of the persons who came from Athens, for the purpose of protecting the temple and to perform the Delian ceremonies, it was deserted.

861 Rhena, called also Dhiles; but it is the largest of the two islands now bearing that name. Pliny says it was anciently called also Celadussa, from the noise of the waves, κελαδεῖν.

862 Virg. Æn. iii. 124, Linquimus Ortygiæ portus pelagoque volamus.

863 Zia.

Pinguia Cææ,
Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta jurenci.
Virg. Geor. i. 14, 15.

864 Of Olbia or Olbiopolis, on the Borysthenes or Bog.

865 ὁ μὴ δυνάμενος ζῆν καλῶς οὐ ζῇ κακῶς

870 The marble was taken from Mt. Marpessus. Pliny xxxvi. 5; Virg. Æn. 6, Marpesia cautes.

873 Myconi calva omnis juventus. Terence, Hecy. a. 3, s. 4; Pliny, b. xi. c. 37.

874 It was an erroneous opinion entertained by the ancients, that frogs did not croak in this island (Sirpho); hence the proverb, a Seriphian frog, βάτραχος Σερίφιος.

875 Tine. Anciently it had also the names Hydrussa and Ophiussa.

880 The Furni; called in b. xiv. c. i. § 13, Corsiæ.

882 According to the enumeration here made by Strabo, of the islands comprehended in the Icarian sea, it appears that in his opinion none of the islands situated to the north of Cos belonged to the Carpathian sea; for according to his own statement, which immediately follows, the Carpathian sea to the north was bounded by the Icarian sea.

883 All the manuscripts and all editions give Λέρος. Is the island spoken of in this passage the same as the one mentioned just above by the name of Leria? Pliny, Hist. Nat. b. iv. 23, appears to have been acquainted with two islands bearing the name of Leros. One, from the position he assigns to it, appears to be the one Strabo above speaks of under the name of Leria; but the second Leros of Pliny, b. v. § 36, must be placed on the coast of Caria. Strabo appears to have entertained nearly the same ideas, for we shall hereafter (b. xiv. c. i. § 6) see him give the name of Leros to an island situated in the neighbourhood of Icaria; and below (§ 19) he cites also a Leros, which would seem to have been in the neighbourhood of the southern extremity of Caria.

884 Probably interpolated.

885 Istanpolia, or Stanpalia.

890 Fæcundaque melle Calydna (v. l. Calumne). Ovid. Met. b. viii. ver. 222.

891 B. ii. c. v. § 31.

892 The following are the measurements of our author:

	Stadia.
From Rhodes to Issus	5,000
From Issus to the Caspian Gates	10,000
From the Caspian Gates to the sources of the Indus	14,000
From the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges	13,500
From thence to Thinæ	2,500
	———
	45,000

893 Strabo calls the Parthians, Parthyæi; and Parthia, Parthyæa.

894 The Sea of Azoff.

895 The Straits of Kertch or Zabache.

896 The Kur or Kour.

900 See b. ii. c. v. § 31.

901 To understand how this part of Asia formed a peninsula, according to the ideas of our author, we must bear in mind, that (1) he supposed the source of the Don to have been situated in the neighbourhood of the Northern Ocean; (2) he imagined the Caspian Sea to communicate with the same Ocean. Thus all the territory comprehended between the Don and the Caspian formed a sort of peninsula, united to the continent by an isthmus which separated the Euxine from the Caspian, and on which was situated Colchis, Iberia, and Albania. The 3000 stadia assigned to the breadth of this isthmus appears to be measured by stadia of 1111-1/9 to a degree. Gossellin.

903 Pompey appears to have visited this philosopher twice on this occasion, B. C. 62, and B. C. 67, on the termination of his eastern campaigns.

904 Il. vi. 208. Pope.

905 In many authors these names are used indifferently, the one for the other; they are however distinguished by Pliny, (iv. 13,) who states that this sea begins to be called the Caspian after you have passed the river Cyrus, (Kur,) and that the Caspii live near it; and in vi. 16, that it is called the Hyrcanian Sea, from the Hyrcani who live along its shores. The western side should therefore in strictness be called the Caspian; the eastern, the Hyrcanian. Smith, art. Caspium Mare.

906 A narrow pass leading from North Western Asia into the N. E. provinces of Persia. Their exact position was at the division of Parthia from Media, about a day’s journey from the Median town of Rhagæ. (Arrian. iii. 19.) According to Isodorus Charax, they were immediately below Mt. Caspius. As in the case of the people called Caspii, there seem to have been two mountains Caspius, one near the Armenian frontier, the other near the Parthian. It was through the pass of the Caspiæ Pylæ that Alexander the Great pursued Darius. (Arrian. Anab. iii. 19; Curt. vi. 14; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6.) It was one of the most important places in ancient geography, and from it many of the meridians were measured. The exact place corresponding with the Caspiæ Pylæ is probably a spot between Hark-a-Koh, and Siah-Koh, about 6 parasangs from Rey, the name of the entrance of which is called Dereh. Smith, art. Caspiæ Pylæ.

907 Du Theil justly remarks on the obscurity of this passage. His translation or paraphrase is as follows; “La troisième contiendra ce qui touche à l’isthme dont nous avons parlé; et, par suite, ceux des pays qui, au sud de cet isthme et des Pyles Caspiennes, mais toujours en deçà, ou, au moins, dans le sein même du Taurus, se succédant de l’est à l’ouest, se rapprochent le plus de l’Europe.” In B. ii. c. v. § 31, Strabo assigns Colchis to the third portion, but in this book to the first.

908 The Kizil Ermak.

909 B. i. c. iii. § 2.

910 A district of wide extent in Central Asia, comprehending nearly the whole of ancient Persia; and bounded on the N. by the provinces of Bactriana, Margiana, and Hyrcania; on the E. by the Indus; on the S. by the Indian Ocean and the eastern portion of the Persian Gulf; and on the W. by Media and the mountains S. of the Caspian Sea. Its exact limits are laid down with little accuracy in ancient authors, and it seems to have been often confounded (as in Pliny, b. vi. c. 23, 25) with the small province of Aria. It comprehended the provinces of Gedrosia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Paropamisus mountains, Aria, Parthia, and Carmania. Smith, art. Ariana. See b. xv. c. ii. § 7, 8.

911 The Aorsi and Siraci occupied the country between the Sea of Azoff, the Don, the Volga, the Caspian Sea, and the Terek. May not the Aorsi, says Gossellin, be the same as the Thyrsagetæ, Agathursi, Utidorsi, Adorsi, Alanorsi of other writers, but whose real name is Thyrsi? The Siraci do not appear to differ from the Soraci or Seraci of Tacitus, (Ann. xii. 15, &c.,) and may be the same as Iyrces, Ἰύρκες, afterwards called Turcæ.

912 The country to the N. and N. E. of Anapa. By Bosporus we are to understand the territory on each side of the Straits of Kertch.

913 B. ii. c. v. § 31.

914 Cn. Pompeius Theophanes was one of the more intimate friends of Pompey, by whom he was presented with the Roman franchise in the presence of his army. This occurred in all probability about B. C. 62. Smith, art. Theophanes.

915 About B. C. 16. Smith, art. Polemon I.

916 If there ever did exist such a city as Tanaïs I should expect to find it at the extremity of that northern embouchure of the Don, which I have before mentioned as bearing the very name the Greeks gave to the city, with the slightest variation of orthography, in the appellation Tdanaets or Danaetz. Clarke’s Travels in Russia, chap. 14.

917 Strabo makes the distance too great between the two rivers Rhombites.

919 According to La Motraye, Achilleum corresponds to Adasbournout, but Du Theil quotes also the following passage from Peyssonel. According to Strabo, Achilleum must have been situated opposite Casau-dip, the ancient Parthenium on the point Tchochekha-Bournou (the pig’s head). But perhaps the ancients placed Achilleum near the entrance of the Euxine into the Palus Mæotis. Is not the fort of Achou, which is 8 leagues more to the east on the Palus Mæotis, the true Achilleum, the name being corrupted and abridged by the Tartars?

920 The point Rubanova.

925 Another branch of the Kuban.

926 The Kuban, anciently also the Vardanus.

929 It is probable that the Kuban Lake is here confounded with, or considered a portion of, the Lake Ak Tengis. Considering the intricacy of all this coast, the changes that have taken place, and the absence of accurate knowledge, both in ancient and modern times, of these unfrequented parts, much must be left to conjecture. The positions therefore assigned to ancient cities are doubtful. The names indeed are inserted in Kiepert’s maps, but without the assistance of recent travellers it would be hazardous to pretend to fix upon their exact sites.

930 ἔστι δὲ καὶ Γοργιπία Some word or words appear to be wanting here. Kiepert assigns a place to this name, but it seems doubtful whether a place or a district is to be understood. Below, § 14, the Sindic harbour and city are mentioned, which may have been situated at Sound-jouk-kale. D’Anville places them here or at Anapa, but the contour of the coast in his map does not resemble that of any modern maps.

931 The modern town Phanagoria does not seem to occupy the site of the ancient city.

932 ἐξ ἀπάτης

937 The Tschilder mountains, of which Scydeces and Paryandres are a continuation.

939 On the mouth of the river Anthemus to the N. of Colchis. It was situated 100 M. P., or 790 stadia to the N. P. of the Phasis, and 2260 stadia from Trapezus (Trebizond). (Pliny, vi. 5; Arrian, Perip. pp. 10, 18.) Upon or near the spot to which the twin sons of Leda gave their name, (Mela, i. 19, § 5; comp. Am. Marc. xxii. 8, § 24,) the Romans built Sebastopolis, (Steph. B.; Procop. B. G. iv. 4,) which was deserted in the time of Pliny, but was afterwards garrisoned by Justinian. The Soteriopolis of later times has been identified with it. The position of this place must be looked for near the roadstead of Iskuria. Smith, art. Dioscurias.

940 οἷς οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων μέλει, or careless of the truth. Kramer observes that these words are inconveniently placed in the Greek text.

945 The point of embarkation on the Cyrus (the Kur) is supposed to have been Surham, the ancient Sura.

946 Gossellin, Groskurd, and Kramer, all agree that there is here an error. Kramer is of opinion that the conjecture of Gossellin may be adopted, viz. “eight or nine,” instead of “three or two,” the letters Γ and Β being a corruption of Η and Θ.

947 Coray’s proposed reading is adopted, κατὰ for καὶ.

948 According to Heyne, this was an Assyrian goddess worshipped under various titles.

949 In consequence of the intrigues of his stepmother Ino he was to be sacrificed to Zeus, but his mother Nephele removed him and his sister Helle, and the two then rode away on the ram with the golden fleece, the gift of Hermes, through the air. Helle fell into the sea, which was afterwards called, after her, the Hellespont. Smith, art. Phrixus.

950 The son of Menodotus by a daughter of Adobogion, a descendant of the tetrarchs of Galatia. He was the personal friend of Cæsar, who at the commencement of the Alexandrian war (B. C. 48) sent him into Syria and Cilicia to raise auxiliary forces. Smith, art. Mithridates, and see B. xiii. c. iv. § 3.

951 Eurip. Troad. 26.

952 σκηπτουχίας

953 Casaubon would read Corax.—The Sukum.

954 Adopting Kramer’s proposed reading, ἔνιοι in place of εἰ μὴ.

956 In the English map, reduced from the Russian military map, there are two rivers Alasan, flowing in contrary directions from M. Bebala. The modern names of the other rivers here mentioned are not well ascertained.