Listed 100 (total found 1352) sub titles with search on: Ancient literary sources for wider area of: "GREECE Country EUROPE" .
DORION (Prehistoric settlement) TRIFYLIA
And I showed that each of these tribes has an equal vote, the greatest equal to the least: that the delegate from Dorion and Cytinion has equal authority with the Lacedaemonian delegates, for each tribe casts two votes; again, that of the Ionian delegates those from Eretria and Priene have equal authority with those from Athens and the rest in the same way.
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
Nevertheless we then proceeded, by means of an alliance, to detach Boeotia and Corinth from Sparta, and to resume friendly relations with Argos, thereby involving Sparta in the battle of Corinth.
ATAVYROS (Mountain) RHODES
Catreus, son of Minos, had three daughters, Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes.When Catreus inquired of the oracle how his life should end, the god said that he would die by the hand of one of his children. Now Catreus hid the oracles, but Althaemenes heard of them, and fearing to be his father's murderer, he set out from Crete with his sister Apemosyne, and put in at a place in Rhodes, and having taken possession of it he called it Cretinia. And having ascended the mountain called Atabyrium, he beheld the islands round about; and descrying Crete also and calling to mind the gods of his fathers he founded an altar of Atabyrian Zeus. But not long afterwards he became the murderer of his sister. For Hermes loved her, and as she fled from him and he could not catch her, because she excelled him in speed of foot, he spread fresh hides on the path, on which, returning from the spring, she slipped and so was deflowered. She revealed to her brother what had happened, but he, deeming the god a mere pretext, kicked her to death.
This extract is from: Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer, 1921). Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
DELOS (Island) KYKLADES
Now to the Titans were born offspring: to Ocean and Tethys were born Oceanids, to wit, Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis; to Coeus and Phoebe were born Asteria and Latona; to Hyperion and Thia were born Dawn, Sun, and Moon; to Crius and Eurybia, daughter of Sea ( Pontus ), were born Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses;
Of the daughters of Coeus, Asteria in the likeness of a quail flung herself into the sea in order to escape the amorous advances of Zeus, and a city was formerly called after her Asteria, but afterwards it was named Delos. But Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo.Now Artemis devoted herself to the chase and remained a maid; but Apollo learned the art of prophecy from Pan, the son of Zeus and Hybris . . .(Apollod. 1.4.1)
Commentary:
As to the birth of Apollo and Artemis. . . The usual tradition was
that Latona gave birth both to Artemis and to Apollo in Delos, which formerly
had been called Asteria or Ortygia. But the author of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo
distinguishes Ortygia from Delos, and says that, while Apollo was born in Delos,
Artemis was born in Ortygia. Thus distinguished from Delos, the island of Ortygia
is probably to be identified, as Strabo thought, with Rhenia, an uninhabited island
a little way from Delos, where were the graves of the Delians; for no dead body
might be buried or burnt in Delos (Strab. 10.5.5 ). Not only so, but it was not
even lawful either to be born or to die in Delos; expectant mothers and dying
folk were ferried across to Rhenia, there to give birth or to die. However, Rhenia
is so near the sacred isle that when Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, dedicated it
to the Delian Apollo, he connected the two islands by a chain. See Thuc. 3.104;
Diod. 12.58.1; Paus. 2.27.1. The notion that either a birth or a death would defile
the holy island is illustrated by an inscription found on the acropolis of Athens,
which declares it to be the custom that no one should be born or die within any
sacred precinct. The desolate and ruinous remains of the ancient necropolis, overgrown
by asphodel, may still be seen on the bare treeless slopes of Rhenia, which looks
across the strait to Delos. The quaint legend, recorded by Apollodorus, that immediately
after her birth Artemis helped her younger twin brother Apollo to be born into
the world, is mentioned also by Serv. Verg. A. 3.73 and the Vatican Mythographers.
The legend, these writers inform us, was told to explain why the maiden goddess
Artemis was invoked by women in child-bed.
This extract is from: Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer, 1921). Cited Mar 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
THRIA (Ancient demos) ASPROPYRGOS
The gods resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive
his own peculiar worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attica, and with
a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he produced a sea which
they now call Erechtheis. After him came Athena, and, having called on Cecrops
to witness her act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still
shown in the Pandrosium. But when the two strove for possession of the country,
Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have affirmed, Cecrops and
Cranaus, nor yet Erysichthon, but the twelve gods. And in accordance with their
verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Cecrops bore witness that
she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the city
Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot anger flooded the Thriasian plain and
laid Attica under the sea.
ATHAMANTION VALLEY (Ancient plain) MAGNESSIA
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 2,516
MILOS (Island) KYKLADES
Socrates was a native Athenian; by having Strepsiades refer to him as 'the Melian' Ar. alludes to Diagoras of Melos, author of a sophistic proof of the nonexistence of the gods. Around the time Aristophanes was revising Clouds Diagoras was accused in the Athenian Assembly of having defamed the Eleusinian Mysteries and was declared an outlaw, with a large bounty being put on his head.
PISSA (Ancient city) ANCIENT OLYMPIA
"To Pisa Pelops, son of Tantalus, Borne on swift coursers" (Aristophanes, Frogs)
AMFIPOLIS (Ancient city) SERRES
. . at Amphipolis a man named Cleotimus led the additional settlers that came from Chalcis and on their arrival stirred them up to sedition against the wealthy
ICHALIA (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Bacchylides, Odes
PISSA (Ancient city) ANCIENT OLYMPIA
Bacchylides, Odes
DRYMEA (Ancient city) LOKRIDA
Demosthenes, Speeches 11-20 [On the Embassy]
DRYS (Ancient city) SAMOTHRAKI PERAIA
ECHINOUS (Ancient city) FTHIOTIDA
ELATIA (Ancient city) FTHIOTIDA
He (Philip) lost no time, collected his army, pretended to march to Cirrha, and then bade the Cirrhaeans and the Locrians alike good-bye and good luck, and seized Elatea.
MEGALOPOLIS (Ancient city) ARCADIA
But if the Lacedaemonians act unjustly and insist on fighting, then, on the one hand, if the only question to be decided is whether we shall abandon Megalopolis to them or not, just indeed it is not, but I for my part agree to allow it and to offer no opposition to the people who shared the same dangers with us; but, on the other hand, if you are all aware that the capture of Megalopolis will be followed by an attack on Messene, I ask any of those who are now so hard on the Megalopolitans to tell me what he will advise us to do then.
But I shall get no answer. Yet you all know that, whether these speakers advise it or not, you are bound to help the Messenians, both for the sake of your sworn agreement with them and for the advantage that you derive from the preservation of their city. Just ask yourselves at what point you would begin to make your stand against Lacedaemonian injustice with more honor and generosity--with the defence of Megalopolis or with the defence of Messene?
RHODES (Island) DODEKANISSOS
THESPIES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
In order, then, that this unwillingness may not stand in the way of the weakening of Thebes, let us admit that Thespiae, Orchomenus and Plataea ought to be restored, and let us co-operate with their inhabitants and appeal to the other states, for it is a just and honorable policy not to allow ancient cities to be uprooted; but at the same time let us not abandon Megalopolis and Messene to their oppressors, nor allow the restoration of Plataea and Thespiae to blind us to the destruction of existing and established states.
Thirdly, men of Athens and when I have given just this one further instance, I will at once pass on to some topics that I have omitted—when we ambassadors returned from administering the oaths for the peace,at that time there were some who assured us that Thespiae and Plataea would be rebuilt, that Philip, if he gained the mastery, would protect the Phocians and break up Thebes into villages, and that you would retain Oropus and receive Euboea in exchange for Amphipolis
AKANTHOS (Ancient city) HALKIDIKI
Xerxes, after having enumerated his armaments, pushed on with the entire army, and the whole fleet accompanied the land forces in their advance as far as the city of Acanthus, and from there the ships passed through the place where the canal had been dug into the other sea expeditiously and without loss.
ARGOS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
In the city of Argos (390-369 BC) civil strife broke out accompanied
by slaughter of a greater number than is recorded ever to have occurred anywhere
else in Greece. Among the Greeks this revolutionary movement was called "Club-law,"
receiving this appellation on account of the manner of the execution. Now the
strife arose from the following causes: the city of Argos1 had a democratic form
of government, and certain demagogues instigated the populace against the outstanding
citizens of property and reputation. The victims of the hostile charges then got
together and decided to overthrow the democracy. When some of those who were thought
to be implicated were subjected to torture, all but one, fearing the agony of
torture, committed suicide, but this one came to terms under torture, received
a pledge of immunity, and as informer denounced thirty of the most distinguished
citizens, and the democracy without a thorough investigation put to death all
those who were accused and confiscated their property. But many others were under
suspicion, and as the demagogues supported false accusations, the mob was wrought
up to such a pitch of savagery that they condemned to death all the accused, who
were many and wealthy. When, however, more than twelve hundred influential men
had been removed, the populace did not spare the demagogues themselves. For because
of the magnitude of the calamity the demagogues were afraid that some unforeseen
turn of fortune might overtake them and therefore desisted from their accusation,
whereas the mob, now thinking that they had been left in the lurch by them, were
angry at this and put to death all the demagogues. So these men received the punishment
which fitted their crimes as if some divinity were visiting its just resentment
upon them, and the people, eased of their mad rage, were restored to their senses.
DELFI (Ancient sanctuary) FOKIDA
Then the king (Xerxes) passed through the territory of the Dorians,
doing it no harm since they were allies of the Persians. Here he left behind a
portion of his army and ordered it to proceed to Delphi, to burn the precinct
of Apollo and to carry off the votive offerings, while he advanced into Boeotia
with the rest of the barbarians and encamped there. The force that had been dispatched
to sack the oracle had proceeded as far as the shrine of Athena Pronaea, but at
that spot a great thunderstorm, accompanied by incessant lightning, suddenly burst
from the heavens, and more than that, the storm wrenched loose huge rocks and
hurled them into the host of the barbarians; the result was that large numbers
of the Persians were killed and the whole force, dismayed at the intervention
of the gods, fled from the region. So the oracle of Delphi, with the aid of some
divine Providence, escaped pillage. And the Delphians, desiring to leave to succeeding
generations a deathless memorial of the appearance of the gods among men, set
up beside the temple of Athena Pronaea a trophy on which they inscribed the following
elegiac lines:
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
DELOS (Island) KYKLADES
As a result of heavy rains in the previous winter the ground had become
(426 B.C.) soaked with water, and many low-lying regions, having received a vast
amount of water, turned into shallow pools and held stagnant water, very much
as marshy regions do; and when these waters became warm in the summer and grew
putrid, thick foul vapours were formed, which, rising up in fumes, corrupted the
surrounding air, the very thing which may be seen taking place in marshy grounds
which are by nature pestilential. Contributing also to the disease was the bad
character of the food available; for the crops which were raised that year were
altogether watery and their natural quality was corrupted. And a third cause of
the disease proved to be the failure of the etesian winds to blow, by which normally
most of the heat in summer is cooled; and when the heat intensified and the air
grew fiery, the bodies of the inhabitants, being without anything to cool them,
wasted away. Consequently all the illnesses which prevailed at that time were
found to be accompanied by fever, the cause of which was the excessive heat. And
this was the reason why most of the sick threw themselves into the cisterns and
springs in their craving to cool their bodies. The Athenians, however, because
the disease was so severe, ascribed the causes of their misfortune to the deity.
Consequently, acting upon the command of a certain oracle, they purified the island
of Delos, which was sacred to Apollo and had been defiled, as men thought, by
the burial there of the dead. Digging up, therefore, all the graves on Delos,
they transferred the remains to the island of Rheneia, as it is called, which
lies near Delos. They also passed a law that neither birth nor burial should be
allowed on Delos. And they also celebrated the festival assembly, the Delia, which
had been held in former days but had not been observed for a long time.
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Mar 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
During this year (422 B.C.) the Athenians, accusing the Delians of secretly concluding an alliance with the Lacedaemonians, expelled them from the island and took their city for their own. To the Delians who had been expelled the satrap Pharniaces gave the city of Adramytium to dwell in.
This year (420 B.C.) the Athenians, in obedience to a certain oracle, returned their island to the Delians, and the Delians who were dwelling in Adramytium returned to their native land.
FYLI (Ancient demos) FYLI
In Athens the Thirty Tyrants, who were in supreme control, made no end of daily
exiling some citizens and putting to death others. When the Thebans were displeased
at what was taking place and extended kindly hospitality to the exiles, Thrasybulus
of the deme of Stiria, as he was called, who was an Athenian and had been exiled
by the Thirty, with the secret aid of the Thebans seized a stronghold in Attica
called Phyle. This was an outpost, which was not only very strong but was also
only one hundred stades distant from Athens, so that it afforded them many advantages
for attack. The Thirty Tyrants, on learning of this act, at first led forth their
troops against the band with the intention of laying siege to the stronghold.
But while they were encamped near Phyle there came a heavy snow, and when some
set to work to shift their encampment, the majority of the soldiers assumed that
they were taking to flight and that a hostile force was at hand; and the uproar
which men call Panic struck the army and they removed their camp to another place.
The Thirty, seeing that those citizens of Athens who enjoyed no political
rights in the government of the three thousand were elated at the prospect of
the overthrow of their control of the state, transferred them to the Peiraeus
and maintained their control of the city by means of mercenary troops; and accusing
the Eleusians and Salaminians of siding with the exiles, they put them all to
death. While these things were being done, many of the exiles flocked to Thrasybulus;
(and the Thirty dispatched ambassadors to Thrasybulus) publicly to treat with
him about some prisoners, but privately to advise him to dissolve the band of
exiles and to associate himself with the Thirty in the rule of the city, taking
the place of Theramenes; and they promised further that he could have licence
to restore to their native land any ten exiles he chose. Thrasybulus replied that
he preferred his own state of exile to the rule of the Thirty and that he would
not end the war unless all the citizens returned from exile and the people got
back the form of government they had received from their fathers. The Thirty,
seeing many revolting from them because of hatred and the exiles growing ever
more numerous, dispatched ambassadors to Sparta for aid, and meanwhile themselves
gathered as many troops as they could and pitched a camp in the open country near
Acharnae, as it is called.
Thrasybulus, leaving behind an adequate guard at the stronghold, led
forth the exiles, twelve hundred in number, and delivering an unexpected attack
by night on the camp of his opponents, he slew a large number of them, struck
terror into the rest by his unexpected move, and forced them to flee to Athens.
After the battle Thrasybulus set out straightway for the Peiraeus and seized Munychia,
which was an uninhabited and strong hill; and the Tyrants with all the troops
at their disposal went down to the Peiraeus and attacked Munychia, under the command
of Critias. In the sharp battle which continued for a long time the Thirty held
the advantage in numbers and the exiles in the strength of their position. At
last, however, when Critias fell, the troops of the Thirty were dismayed and fled
for safety to more level ground, the exiles not daring to come down against them.
When after this great numbers went over to the exiles, Thrasybulus made an unexpected
attack upon his opponents, defeated them in battle, and became master of the Peiraeus.
At once many of the inhabitants of the city who wished to be rid of the tyranny
flocked to the Peiraeus and all the exiles who were scattered throughout the cities
of Greece, on hearing of the successes of Thrasybulus, came to the Peiraeus, so
that from now on the exiles were far superior in force. In consequence they began
to lay siege to the city.
The remaining citizens in Athens now removed the Thirty from office
and sent them out of the city, and then they elected ten men with supreme power
first and foremost to put an end to the war, in any way possible, on friendly
terms. But these men, as soon as they had succeeded to office, paid no attention
to these orders, but established themselves as tyrants and sent to Lacedaemon
for forty warships and a thousand soldiers, under the command of Lysander. But
Pausanias, the king of the Lacedaemonians, being jealous of Lysander and observing
that Sparta was in ill repute among the Greeks, marched forth with a strong army
and on his arrival in Athens brought about a reconciliation between the men in
the city and the exiles. As a result the Athenians got back their country and
henceforth conducted their government under laws of their own making; and the
men who lived in fear of punishment for their unbroken series of past crimes they
allowed to make their home in Eleusis.
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KIRRA (Ancient city) PARNASSOS
After the people of Cirrha had been besieged for a long time because they had attempted to plunder the oracle (Delphi. About 590 B.C.), some of the Greeks returned to their native cities, but others of them inquired of the Pythian priestess and received the following response:
Ye shall not seize and lay in ruins the tower
Of yonder city, before the plashing wave
Of dark-eyed Amphitrite inundates
My sacred precinct, here on these holy cliffs.
KORSIA (Ancient city) ATALANTI
In Boeotia the Phocians, who held three strongly fortified cities, Orchomenus, Coroneia, and Corsiae, conducted from these their campaign against the Boeotians
KORSIES (Ancient city) THISVI
In Boeotia the Phocians held three strongly fortified cities, Orchomenus, Coroneia, and Corsiae
LYKTOS (Ancient city) KASTELI
(...)Then they gathered at the Malean promontory in Laconia and there found Cnossian
envoys who had sailed in from Crete to enlist mercenaries. After these envoys
had conversed with Phalaecus and the commanders and had offered rather high pay,
they all sailed off with them. Having made port at Cnossus in Crete, they immediately
took by storm the city called Lyctus. But to the Lyctians, who had been expelled
from their native land, there appeared a miraculous and sudden reinforcement.
For at about the same time the people of Tarentum were engaged in prosecuting
a war against the Lucanians and had sent to the Lacedaemonians, who were the stock
of their ancestors, envoys soliciting help, whereupon the Spartans, who were willing
to join them because of their relationship, quickly assembled an army and navy
and as general in command of it appointed King Archidamus. But as they were about
to set sail for Italy, a request came from the Lyctians to help them first. Consenting
to this, the Lacedaemonians sailed to Crete, defeated the mercenaries and restored
to the Lyctians their native land.
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Nov 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
MENDI (Ancient city) KASSANDRA
At this time the city of Mende also revolted to the Lacedaemonians and made the quarrel over Scione the more bitter. Consequently Brasidas removed the children and women and all the most valuable property from Mende and Scione and safeguarded the cities with strong garrisons, whereupon the Athenians, being incensed at what had taken place, voted to put to the sword all the Scionaeans from the youth upward, when they should take the city, and sent a naval force of fifty triremes against them, the command of which was held by Nicias and Nicostratus.They sailed to Mende first and conquered it with the aid of certain men who betrayed it; then they threw a wall about Scione, settled down to a siege, and launched unceasing assaults upon it. (Diod. Siculus 12.72.7-9)
MITROPOLIS (Ancient city) KARDITSA
". . Chabrias, in command of the force dispatched by the Athenians,3 laid waste Hestiaeotis, and, fortifying its Metropolis, as it is called, which is situated on a naturally steep hill . . " Diodorus Siculus, Library
NEMEA (Ancient sanctuary) CORINTHIA
The battle took place along the river Nemea,1 lasting until nightfall, and parts of both armies had the advantage, but of the Lacedaemonians and their allies eleven hundred men fell, while of the Boeotians and their allies about twenty-eight hundred.
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
When Alexander did come back from India and put to death many of the satraps who had been charged with neglect of duty, Harpalus became alarmed at the punishment which might befall him. He packed up five thousand talents of silver, enrolled six thousand mercenaries, departed from Asia and sailed across to Attica. When no one there accepted him, he shipped his troops off to Taenarum in Laconia, and keeping some of the money with him threw himself on the mercy of the Athenians. Antipater and Olympias demanded his surrender, and although he had distributed large sums of money to those persons who spoke in his favour, he was compelled to slip away and repaired to Taenarum and his mercenaries.(Diod.,17.108.7)
During this period (324/3 B.C.) Greece was the scene of disturbances and revolutionary movements from which arose the war called Lamian. The reason was this. The king (Alexander the Great) had ordered all his satraps to dissolve their armies of mercenaries, and as they obeyed his instructions, all Asia was overrun with soldiers released from service and supporting themselves by plunder. Presently they began assembling from all directions at Taenarum in Laconia, whither came also such of the Persian satraps and generals as had survived, bringing their funds and their soldiers, so that they constituted a joint force. Ultimately they chose as supreme commander the Athenian Leosthenes, who was a man of unusually brilliant mind, and thoroughtly opposed to the cause of Alexander. He conferred secretly with the council at Athens and was granted fifty talents to pay the troops and a stock of weapons sufficient to meet pressing needs. He sent off an embassy to the Aetolians, who were unfriendly to the king, looking to the establishment of an alliance with them, and otherwise made every preparation for war. (Diod., 17.111.1)
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ICHALIA (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Euripides, Heracles
PISSA (Ancient city) ANCIENT OLYMPIA
Euripides, Helen. Also, Iphigenia in Tauris.
AKANTHOS (Ancient city) HALKIDIKI
From there, keeping on his left hand the gulf off Poseideion, Xerxes traversed the plain of Syleus (as they call it), passing by the Greek town of Stagirus, and came to Acanthus.
AKYFAS (Ancient city) PARNASSOS
The following took part in the war: from the Peloponnese, the Lacedaemonians provided sixteen ships; the Corinthians the same number as at Artemisium; the Sicyonians furnished fifteen ships, the Epidaurians ten, the Troezenians five, the Hermioneans three. All of these except the Hermioneans are Dorian and Macedonian and had last come from Erineus and Pindus and the Dryopian region. The Hermioneans are Dryopians, driven out of the country now called Doris by Herakles and the Malians.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
ARGOS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
The Spartans too were so eagerly desirous of winning Tisamenus that
they granted everything that he demanded. When they had granted him this also,
Tisamenus of Elis, now a Spartan, engaged in divination for them and aided them
to win five very great victories. No one on earth save Tisamenus and his brother
ever became citizens of Sparta. Now the five victories were these: one, the first,
this victory at Plataea; next, that which was won at Tegea over the Tegeans and
Argives; after that, over all the Arcadians save the Mantineans at Dipaea; next,
over the Messenians at Ithome; lastly, the victory at Tanagra over the Athenians
and Argives, which was the last won of the five victories. (Hdt. 9.35.1)
Commentary: from W. W. How, J. Wells
This brief summary is our earliest and most authentic record of an
anti-Spartan movement in the Peloponnese, which does much to explain the free
hand allowed to Athens in the Aegean after 476 B. C., and the rapid growth of
her power. The most certain point in the movement is the sunoikismos at Elis before
470 (Diodor. xi. 54; Strabo 337) with the democratic changes that accompanied
it, especially the formation of ten local tribes (Paus. v. 9. 5) and the establishment
of a boule of 500, later increased to 600 (Thuc. v. 47); cf. Busolt, iii. 116
f. The democratic constitution of Argos, with its popular assembly (Thuc. v. 28,
31), boule, and law court, may date from this time; certainly it is not later
than 460 B. C. On the other hand the sunoikismos (Strabo 337) and the democratic
movement at Mantinea (Ar. Pol. 1318 b 25-7), placed circ. 470 B. C. by Busolt,
should be dated ten years later, since Mantinea took no part in the battle of
Dipaea, and assisted Sparta in the Messenian war, i. e. at Ithome (Xen. Hell.
v. 2, 3).
H. must be taken to mean that Tisamenus and Hegias were the only foreigners
admitted to Spartan citizenship in historical times, a striking example of an
exclusiveness eventually fatal to the state; cf. Tac. Ann. xi. 24. H. clearly
knew nothing of the alleged grants to Tyrtaeus (Plato, Leg. 629 A; Plutarch, Mor.
230 D) and to Alcman (Plut. Mor. 600 E).
The battle at Ithome was apparently in the third Messenian war; that
at Tanagra, in 457 B.C. (Thuc. 1.107). Nothing is known of the battles at Tegea
and Dipaea...for Tanagra (cf. Thuc. i. 107-8) the Athenians received aid from
Argos, Cleonae (Paus. i. 29. 5, 7), and other allies.
Dipaea (Paus. viii. 27. 3; Isocr. Arch. 6. 99), on the river Helison
(Paus. viii. 30. 1), in the district Maenalia (Paus. iii. 11. 7), perhaps the
modern Dabia. The Argives are believed to have been kept away from this battle
by the siege of Tiryns (cf. vi. 83. 2 n.), and the Mantineans stood aloof, doubtless
from hostility to Tegea (Meyer, iii, § 285). The Spartans, though greatly outnumbered
(Isocr. l. c.), gained a decisive victory, which restored their prestige in the
Peloponnese.
Commentary: from Reginald Walter Macan
The battle of Tegea, against the Tegeatai and Argives, like the two
which succeed it, was an episode in those polemoi oikeioi which, according to
Thuc. 1. 118. 2, preoccupied the Spartans, during the period of the growth of
the power of Athens, but of which unfortunately very few details have been preserved
for us. Cp. Strabo 377 meta de ten en Salamini naumachian Argeioi meta Kleonaion
kai Tegeaton epelthontes arden tas Mukenas aneilon kai ten choran dieneimanto.
This passage exhibits the Tegeatai in alliance with Argos, and of course opposed
to Sparta, at the time of the destruction of Mykenai; cp. c. 28 supra; but that
was after the outbreak of the Helot war (Busolt, III. i. 121 n.). The battle of
Tegea probably falls some years earlier, perhaps while the exiled Leotychidas
was in residence there, 6. 72 supra (and Themistokles already in Argos?). It was
evidently a victory, but not a decisive victory, for Sparta, as it was followed
by a second great battle in Arkadia. Busolt (l.c.) refers the Epigram of Simonides
(Bergk iii. 460, No. 102) to the Tegeatai who fell in this fight, and dates the
event 473 B.C.
Pansanias (who is the chief authority) makes Dipaia a town on the
river Helisson (8. 31. 1) in the Arkadian district of Mainalia (3. 11. 7. cp.
c. 11 l. 12 supra); it was one of the townships afterwards absorbed in Megalopolis
(8. 27. 3). No details of the battle have been preserved, but it was a contest
between the Spartans and all the Arkadians (less the Mantineians) and resulted
in a victory for Sparta. The Argives are this time conspicuous by their absence;
Busolt (III. i. 121 ff.) conjectnres that they were engaged in the war with Tiryns,
places the battle of Dipaia in 471 B C., and ascribes the union of Arkadia to
the intrigues of Themistokles.
The date of the battle is 457 B.C. (458-7). The regent Nikomedes was
in command of the Lakedaimonians and allies; hence the presence of Teisamenos.
The object of the expedition was the restoration of Theban power in Central Greece,
as a makeweight against Athens, but the expedition was not an unqualified success
from the Spartan point of view.
ARGOS ORESTIKON (Ancient city) KASTORIA
This Alexander (son of Amyntas) was seventh in descent from Perdiccas, who got
for himself the tyranny of Macedonia in the way that I will show. Three brothers
of the lineage of Temenus came as banished men from Argos to Illyria, Gauanes
and Aeropus and Perdiccas; and from Illyria they crossed over into the highlands
of Macedonia till they came to the town Lebaea. There they served for wages as
thetes in the king's household, one tending horses and another oxen. Perdiccas,
who was the youngest, tended the lesser flocks. Now the king's wife cooked their
food for them, for in old times the ruling houses among men, and not the common
people alone, were lacking in wealth. Whenever she baked bread, the loaf of the
thete Perdiccas grew double in size. Seeing that this kept happening, she told
her husband, and it seemed to him when be heard it that this was a portent signifying
some great matter. So he sent for his thetes and bade them depart from his territory.
They said it was only just that they should have their wages before they departed.
When they spoke of wages, the king was moved to foolishness and said, "That
is the wage you merit, and it is that I give you", pointing to the sunlight
that shone down the smoke vent into the house. Gauanes and Aeropus, who were the
elder, stood astonished when they heard that, but the boy said, "We accept
what you give, O king", and with that he took a knife which he had with him
and drew a line with it on the floor of the house round the sunlight. When he
had done this, he three times gathered up the sunlight into the fold of his garment
and went his way with his companions.
So they departed, but one of those who sat nearby declared to the
king what this was that the boy had done and how it was of set purpose that the
youngest of them had accepted the gift offered. When the king heard this, he was
angered, and sent riders after them to slay them. There is, however, in that land
a river, to which the descendants from Argos of these men offer sacrifice as their
deliverer. This river, when the sons of Temenus had crossed it, rose in such flood
that the riders could not cross. So the brothers came to another part of Macedonia
and settled near the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses
grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance. In
this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenus was taken captive. Above
it rises the mountain called Bermius, which none can ascend for the wintry cold.
From there they issued forth when they had won that country and presently subdued
also the rest of Macedonia.
Commentary:
Alexander himself is included. It is usual in ordinals to count in
both the beginning and the end, but the method seems strange when it causes a
man to be counted among his own ancestors or descendants. Thucydides agrees as
to the number of the Macedonian kings and in tracing their descent from Temenus
of Argos (ii. 99 f.; v. 80); but in the fourth century another account was current,
probably derived from Theopompus (fr. 30, F. H. G. i. 283). By this Caranus (?head
leader?), son or brother of the Argive king Pheidon, is made the founder of the
Macedonian dynasty, and is succeeded by Koinos and Turimmas, who precede the first
Perdiccas...
Argos in the Peloponnese appears as the ancestral home of the family
in all versions of the legend. But the Argos with which the Argeadae were really
connected is <b>Argos Oresticum</b> (Strabo 326; Steph. Byz.), near
the source of the Haliacmon. They first held the fruitful valleys there (valley
of Kastoria), and the hill country as far as the source of the Erigon; this is
the Upper Macedonia where the three brothers served (inf.), and to which Caranus
went by order of an oracle (Euphorion, fr. 24 ekprolipon Argos te kai Hellada
kalligunaika i chorei pros pegas Haliakmonos). The Argeadae (cf. Paus. vii. 8.
9) later made Aegae their capital, and established an hegemony over the kindred
tribes (cf. Thuc. ii. 99) in Upper Macedon, the Lyncestae, Orestae, Elimiotae,
as well as over the coastlands as far as the Axius.
The likeness of name (Argos and Argeadae) led the Macedonian kings,
at least from the time of Alexander I to claim descent from the Heracleid kings
of Peloponnesian Argos, just as the princes of the Lyncestae did from the Corinthian
Bacchiads, those of the Molossi from Achilles (Strabo 327), and the Illyrian Enchelees
from Cadmus. Yet their names are not even Greek, and their origin is at least
doubtful. In the legend the name Argos is misinterpreted, and Temenus is falsely
inserted. Probably es Illurious is put in because these Argives are believed to
have come to Macedon by land from the West. Otherwise the story is a folk-tale,
current among the Argeadae, about their earlier homes and the claim of their princes
to their possession.
Gauanes: probably = boukolos, since in Sanskrit go = bous. If so,
Aeropos may refer to horses (cf. Philippos) and Perdiccas to goats. The three
brothers represent three tribes.
The Scardus range, stretching south from the source of the Axius (Vardar),
is crossed by two passes, one at Kalkandele, the other leading by Lake Lychnitis
(Okhrida) eastwards to Aegae (Vodena), later the Via Egnatia. This route would
take the brothers to the Lyncestis; Lebaea is otherwise unknown.
ARTEMISSION (Ancient city) ISTIEA
Artemisium is where the wide Thracian sea contracts until the passage between the island of Sciathus and the mainland of Magnesia is but narrow. This strait leads next to Artemisium, which is a beach on the coast of Euboea, on which stands a temple of Artemis. (Herod. 7,176,1)
AXOS (Ancient city) KOULOUKONA
There is a town in Crete called Oaxus, of which one Etearchus became
ruler. He was a widower with a daughter whose name was Phronime, and he married
a second wife. When the second wife came into his house, she thought fit to be
the proverbial stepmother to Phronime, ill-treating her and devising all sorts
of evil against her; at last she accused the girl of lewdness, and persuaded her
husband that the charge was true. So Etearchus was persuaded by his wife and contrived
a great sin against his daughter. There was at Oaxus a Theraean trader, one Themison;
Etearchus made this man his guest and friend, and got him to swear that he would
do him whatever service he desired; then he gave the man his own daughter, telling
him to take her away and throw her into the sea. But Themison was very angry at
being thus tricked on his oath and renounced his friendship with Etearchus; presently,
he took the girl and sailed away, and so as to fulfill the oath that he had sworn
to Etearchus, when he was on the high seas he bound her with ropes and let her
down into the sea and drew her up again, and presently arrived at Thera.
There Polymnestus, a notable Theraean, took Phronime and made her
his concubine. In time, a son of weak and stammering speech was born to him, to
whom he gave the name Battus, as the Theraeans and Cyrenaeans say; but in my opinion
the boy was given some other name, and changed it to Battus on his coming to Libya,
taking this new name because of the oracle given to him at Delphi and the honorable
office which he received. For the Libyan word for king is "Battus",
and this (I believe) is why the Pythian priestess called him so in her prophecy,
using a Libyan name because she knew that he was to be king in Libya.
For when he grew to adulthood, he went to Delphi to inquire about
his voice; and the priestess in answer gave him this: "Battus, you have come
for a voice; but Lord Phoebus Apollo Sends you to found a city in Libya, nurse
of sheep", just as if she addressed him using the Greek word for "king",
"Basileus, you have come for a voice", et cetera. But he answered: "Lord,
I came to you to ask about my speech; but you talk of other matters, things impossible
to do; you tell me to plant a colony in Libya; where shall I get the power or
strength of hand for it?" Battus spoke thus, but as the god would not give
him another oracle and kept answering as before, he departed while the priestess
was still speaking, and went away to Thera.
But afterward things turned out badly for Battus and the rest of the
Theraeans; and when, ignorant of the cause of their misfortunes, they sent to
Delphi to ask about their present ills, the priestess declared that they would
fare better if they helped Battus plant a colony at Cyrene in Libya. Then the
Theraeans sent Battus with two fifty-oared ships; these sailed to Libya, but,
not knowing what else to do, presently returned to Thera. There, the Theraeans
shot at them as they came to land and would not let the ship put in, telling them
to sail back; which they did under constraint of necessity, and planted a colony
on an island off the Libyan coast called (as I have said already) Platea. This
island is said to be as big as the city of Cyrene is now.
Here they lived for two years; but as everything went wrong, the rest
sailed to Delphi leaving one behind, and on their arrival questioned the oracle,
and said that they were living in Libya, but that they were no better off for
that. Then the priestess gave them this reply: "If you know Libya nurse of
sheep better than I,
Though I have been there and you have not, then I am very much astonished at your
knowledge". Hearing this, Battus and his men sailed back again; for the god
would not let them do anything short of colonizing Libya itself; and having come
to the island and taken aboard the one whom they had left there, they made a settlement
at a place in Libya itself, opposite the island which was called Aziris. This
is a place enclosed on both sides by the fairest of groves, with a river flowing
along one side of it.
Here they dwelt for six years; but in the seventh, the Libyans got
them to leave the place, saying that they would lead them to a better; and they
brought the Greeks from Aziris and led them west, so calculating the hours of
daylight that they led the Greeks past the fairest place in their country, called
Irasa, at night, lest the Greeks see it in their journey. Then they brought the
Greeks to what is called the Fountain of Apollo, and said to them: "Here,
Greeks, it is suitable for you to live; for here the sky is torn".
Now in the time of Battus the founder of the colony, who ruled for
forty years, and of his son Arcesilaus who ruled for sixteen, the inhabitants
of Cyrene were no more in number than when they had first gone out to the colony.
But in the time of the third ruler, Battus, who was called the Fortunate, the
Pythian priestess warned all Greeks by an oracle to cross the sea and live in
Libya with the Cyrenaeans; for the Cyrenaeans invited them, promising a distribution
of land; and this was the oracle: "Whoever goes to beloved Libya after
the fields are divided, I say shall be sorry afterward".
So a great multitude gathered at Cyrene, and cut out great tracts
of land from the territory of the neighboring Libyans. Robbed of their lands and
treated violently by the Cyrenaeans, these then sent to Egypt together with their
king, whose name was Adicran, and put their affairs in the hands of Apries, the
king of that country. Apries mustered a great force of Egyptians and sent it against
Cyrene; the Cyrenaeans marched out to Irasa and the Thestes spring, and there
fought with the Egyptians and beat them; for the Egyptians had as yet had no experience
of Greeks, and despised their enemy; as a result of which, they were so utterly
destroyed that few of them returned to Egypt. Because of this misfortune, and
because they blamed him for it, the Egyptians revolted from Apries.
This Battus had a son Arcesilaus; on his first coming to reign, he
quarrelled with his brothers, until they left him and went away to another place
in Libya, where they founded a city for themselves, which was then and is now
called Barce; and while they were founding it, they persuaded the Libyans to revolt
from the Cyrenaeans. Then Arcesilaus led an army into the country of the Libyans
who had received his brothers and had also revolted; and they fled in fear of
him to the eastern Libyans. Arcesilaus pursued them until he came in his pursuit
to Leucon in Libya, where the Libyans resolved to attack him; they engaged, and
so wholly overcame the Cyrenaeans that seven thousand Cyrenaean soldiers were
killed there. After this disaster, Arcesilaus, being worn down and having taken
a drug, was strangled by his brother Learchus; Learchus was deftly killed by Arcesilaus'
wife, Eryxo.
Arcesilaus' kingship passed to his son Battus, who was lame and infirm
in his feet. The Cyrenaeans, in view of the affliction that had overtaken them,
sent to Delphi to ask what political arrangement would enable them to live best;
the priestess told them bring a mediator from Mantinea in Arcadia. When the Cyrenaeans
sent their request, the Mantineans gave them their most valued citizen, whose
name was Demonax. When this man came to Cyrene and learned everything, he divided
the people into three tribes; of which the Theraeans and dispossessed Libyans
were one, the Peloponnesians and Cretans the second, and all the islanders the
third; furthermore, he set apart certain domains and priesthoods for their king
Battus, but all the rest, which had belonged to the kings, were now to be held
by the people in common.
During the life of this Battus, these ordinances held good, but in
the time of his son Arcesilaus much contention arose about the king's rights.
Arcesilaus, son of the lame Battus and Pheretime, would not abide by the ordinances
of Demonax, but demanded back the prerogatives of his forefathers, and made himself
head of a faction; but he was defeated and banished to Samos, and his mother fled
to Salamis in Cyprus.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Nov 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
DELFI (Ancient sanctuary) FOKIDA
...So with all speed the Greeks went their several ways to meet the
enemy (Xerxes, prior to the battle at Artemisium). In the meantime, the Delphians,
who were afraid for themselves and for Hellas, consulted the god. They were advised
to pray to the winds, for these would be potent allies for Hellas. When they had
received the oracle, the Delphians first sent word of it to those Greeks who desired
to be free; because of their dread of the barbarian, they were forever grateful.
Subsequently they erected an altar to the winds at Thyia, the present location
of the precinct of Thyia the daughter of Cephisus, and they offered sacrifices
to them. This, then, is the reason why the Delphians to this day offer the winds
sacrifice of propitiation...
Commentary:
Their voluntary consultation of the god, "on behalf of Hellas
and themselves"? was much to the credit of the Delphians; their craven fear
was fully shared by all the Hellenes "who had a mind to be free", at
least so the Delphians appear to have said.
Clemens Alex. Strom. 6. 753 professes to give the exact words of the
response... The winds would not do the army much harm; the oracle concerns the
fleet. In itself there is nothing very improbable in such a behest, though it
is not a very valiant or creditable one. But in view of the evidences regarding
the attitude and position of Delphi before and during the war, and in view of
the event, it seems more probable that we have here too an instance of the vaticinium
post eventum. Hdt. is sceptical about the powers of the Magi to lay the wind,
but he has apparently no misgivings as to the ability of the Greeks to raise it.
This service of the Delphians, in an hexameter, had been recorded
in poem, or epigram, before Hdt. came by it. The testimonial was composed, or
at least erected, by the Delphians, in their own honour: one way of writing history!
Hdt. is guileless in the matter.
That the Cult of the Winds at Thyia dated from, or after, the Persian
invasion is plainly asserted in this passage; but this new departure can hardly
have been the first institution of Windworship, but was rather an attempt to give
Pan-hellenic significance, or at least Delphic sanction, to much more ancient
practices. The sacrifice of the Magi to the Wind is connected indirectly with
Ionian, or rather Aiolian legend, and the Wmds of "the Thrakian sea",
Boreas and Zephyros, are Homeric personalities in the Iliad (9. 5, 23, 229 f.),
while in the Odyssey, if they are treated with less respect, yet Aiolos, their
keeper, is a decidedly supernatural person (Od. 10. 1 ff.). It is not, however,
in the Olympian direction that the origines of the cult is to be found: the winds,
anemoi, aellai, or thuellai, are primitively connected with the dead, the departed
"spirits", the chthonian cults. Thus even in the Patrokleia Achilles
invokes Boreas and Zephyros, (Il. 23. 195 f.), and in the legend of Menelaos preserved
by Hdt. 2. 119 the winds are propitiated by human sacrifice, and though the sacrifice
of Iphigeneia is not Homeric, and is, in its earliest litcrary form, a homage
not to the Winds, but to Artemis, yet the Vergilian formula (Sanguine placastis
ventos et virgine caesa, etc., Aen. 2. 116 ff.), probably comes nearer to the
primitive idea and cult. The intention of the Herodotean stories seems, at first
sight, not to go much beyond raising (or quelling) a storm, and so, indirectly,
causing a destruction of the enemy, or vice versa; but the terminology nevertheless
suggests a chthonian cult, and the notion that the Winds are summoned to dissipate
or carry to the underworld the ghosts of the combatants is not to be wholly rejected.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
DELOS (Island) KYKLADES
Delians also left Delos and fled away to Tenos. As his expedition was sailing
landwards, Datis went on ahead and bade his fleet anchor not off Delos, but across
the water off Rhenaea. Learning where the Delians were, he sent a herald to them
with this proclamation: "Holy men, why have you fled away, and so misjudged
my intent? It is my own desire, and the king's command to me, to do no harm to
the land where the two gods1 were born, neither to the land itself nor to its
inhabitants. So return now to your homes and dwell on your island". He made
this proclamation to the Delians, and then piled up three hundred talents of frankincense
on the altar and burnt it
After doing this, Datis sailed with his army against Eretria first, taking with
him Ionians and Aeolians; and after he had put out from there, Delos was shaken
by an earthquake, the first and last, as the Delians say, before my time. This
portent was sent by heaven, as I suppose, to be an omen of the ills that were
coming on the world. For in three generations, that is, in the time of Darius
son of Hystaspes and Xerxes son of Darius and Artaxerxes son of Xerxes, more ills
happened to Hellas than in twenty generations before Darius; some coming from
the Persians, some from the wars for preeminence among the chief of the nations
themselves. Thus it was no marvel that there should be an earthquake in Delos
when there had been none before. Also there was an oracle concerning Delos, where
it was written: "I will shake Delos, though unshaken before". In the
Greek language these names have the following meanings: Darius is the Doer, Xerxes
the Warrior, Artaxerxes the Great Warrior. The Greeks would rightly call the kings
thus in their language.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Mar 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
DORISKOS (Ancient city) ALEXANDROUPOLI
The territory of Doriscus is in Thrace, a wide plain by the sea, and through it flows a great river, the Hebrus; here had been built that royal fortress which is called Doriscus, and a Persian guard had been posted there by Darius ever since the time of his march against Scythia. It seemed to Xerxes to be a fit place for him to arrange and number his army, and he did so. All the ships had now arrived at Doriscus, and the captains at Xerxes' command brought them to the beach near Doriscus, where stands the Samothracian city of Sane, and Zone; at the end is Serreum, a well-known headland. This country was in former days possessed by the Cicones. To this beach they brought in their ships and hauled them up for rest. Meanwhile Xerxes made a reckoning of his forces at Doriscus.
ECHINADES (Island complex) IONIAN ISLANDS
There are also other rivers, not so great as the Nile, that have had great effects; I could rehearse their names, but principal among them is the Achelous, which, flowing through Acarnania and emptying into the sea, has already made half of the Echinades Islands mainland.
EGALEO (Mountain) ATTIKI
The hill in Attica whence Xerxes saw the battle of Salamis.
EPIDAVROS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
[...] Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
IREON (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOS - MYKINES
ISTHMUS KORINTHOS (Isthmus) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
That very night the land army of the barbarians began marching to
the Peloponnese. Yet every possible device had been used to prevent the barbarians
from invading by the mainland. As soon as the Peloponnesians learned that Leonidas
and his men at Thermopylae were dead, they ran together from their cities and
took up their position at the Isthmus. Their general was Cleombrotus son of Anaxandrides,
the brother of Leonidas. When they were in position at the Isthmus, they demolished
the Scironian road and then, after resolving in council, built a wall across the
Isthmus. Since there were many tens of thousands and everyone worked, the task
was completed, as they brought in stones and bricks and logs and baskets full
of sand. At no moment of the day or night did those who had marched out there
rest from their work.
These were the Hellenes who marched out in a body to the Isthmus:
the Lacedaemonians and all the Arcadians, the Eleans and Corinthians and Sicyonians
and Epidaurians and Phliasians and Troezenians and Hermioneans. These were the
ones who marched out and feared for Hellas in her peril. The rest of the Peloponnesians
cared nothing, though the Olympian and Carnean festivals were now past...
... Those at the Isthmus were involved in so great a labor, since all they had
was at stake and they did not expect the ships (at Salamis)to win distinction.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KALYMNOS (Island) DODEKANISSOS
I find it a great marvel that a woman went on the expedition against Hellas: after her husband died, she took over his tyranny, though she had a young son, and followed the army from youthful spirits and manliness, under no compulsion. Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Herodotus will not allow any impurity or miscegenation in the population
of the Dorian Hexapolis; it all goes back to the Dorians of the Argolid, the Halikarnassians
to Dorian Troizen, the rest (i.e. Kos, Nisyros, Kalymnos, or Kalymna, or Kalymnai)
to Dorian Epidauros. The doctrine of the purely Dorian character of these settlements--as
indeed of the remaining Dorians both within and without the Hexapolis is anything
but indisputable.
(1) That the Dorian invaders of the Peloponnesos could have spared sufficient
drafts to colonize SW. Asia Minor is on the face of it improbable.
(2) Nor is the purely Dorian character of the Peloponnesian Dorians itself to
be admitted: apart from the question of intermarriage, many passed for Dorians,
as others for Achaeans, who had little right to the name.
(3) The Homeric catalogue makes Kos (Il. 2. 677) Hellenic before the Trojan War,
as also Lindos (656), Karpathos (676), Syme (671), etc.
Rawlinson regards all that as anachronism, so likewise the prae-Dorian
date assigned by some authorities to the colonisation of Halikarnassos; but we
must now be prepared to recognize that 'Peloponnesians' and others passed freely
across the Aegean long before the days of the Return of the Herakleids. There
are two possibilities to be reckoned with:
(a) The 'Dorians' were a much earlier and more primitive element in the Aegean
population than the legend of the 'Return' recognizes; or
(b), as is more probable, the 'Dorian' colonization in Asia was merely an Epoikism,
the Dorian element small and nominal, confined at first perhaps to the leaders,
or new oikists;
That it was, however, a real presence is proved by the appearance
of the Dorian tribes in Halikarnassos, Kalymna, Kos (though late?); How factitious,
'pragmatic,' or tendenzios such legends may be is illustrated by the stories of
Thera and Kyrene;
KAMIROS (Ancient city) RHODES
. . . Dorians of what is now the country of the "Five Cities"--formerly the country of the "Six Cities"--forbid admitting any of the neighboring Dorians to the Triopian temple, and even barred from using it those of their own group who had broken the temple law. For long ago, in the games in honor of Triopian Apollo, they offered certain bronze tripods to the victors; and those who won these were not to carry them away from the temple but dedicate them there to the god. Now when a man of Halicarnassus called Agasicles won, he disregarded this law, and, carrying the tripod away, nailed it to the wall of his own house. For this offense the five cities--Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus, Cos, and Cnidus--forbade the sixth city--Halicarnassus--to share in the use of the temple. Such was the penalty imposed on the Halicarnassians.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KARPATHOS (Island) DODEKANISSOS
Carpathos, which the poet calls Crapathos, is high, and has a circuit of two hundred stadia. At first it was a Tetrapolis, and it had a renown which is worth noting; and it was from this fact that the sea got the name Carpathian. One of the cities was called Nisyros, the same name as that of the island of the Nisyrians. It lies opposite Leuce Acte in Libya, which is about one thousand stadia distant from Alexandreia and about four thousand from Carpathos.
KOS (Island) DODEKANISSOS
I find it a great marvel that a woman went on the expedition against Hellas: after her husband died, she took over his tyranny, though she had a young son, and followed the army from youthful spirits and manliness, under no compulsion. Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Commentary
Herodotus will not allow any impurity or miscegenation in the population
of the Dorian Hexapolis; it all goes back to the Dorians of the Argolid, the Halikarnassians
to Dorian Troizen, the rest (i.e. Kos, Nisyros, Kalymnos, or Kalymna, or Kalymnai)
to Dorian Epidauros. The doctrine of the purely Dorian character of these settlements--as
indeed of the remaining Dorians both within and without the Hexapolis is anything
but indisputable.
(1) That the Dorian invaders of the Peloponnesos could have spared sufficient
drafts to colonize SW. Asia Minor is on the face of it improbable.
(2) Nor is the purely Dorian character of the Peloponnesian Dorians itself to
be admitted: apart from the question of intermarriage, many passed for Dorians,
as others for Achaeans, who had little right to the name.
(3) The Homeric catalogue makes Kos (Il. 2. 677) Hellenic before the Trojan War,
as also Lindos (656), Karpathos (676), Syme (671), etc.
Rawlinson regards all that as anachronism, so likewise the prae-Dorian
date assigned by some authorities to the colonisation of Halikarnassos; but we
must now be prepared to recognize that 'Peloponnesians' and others passed freely
across the Aegean long before the days of the Return of the Herakleids. There
are two possibilities to be reckoned with:
(a) The 'Dorians' were a much earlier and more primitive element in the Aegean
population than the legend of the 'Return' recognizes; or
(b), as is more probable, the 'Dorian' colonization in Asia was merely an Epoikism,
the Dorian element small and nominal, confined at first perhaps to the leaders,
or new oikists;
That it was, however, a real presence is proved by the appearance
of the Dorian tribes in Halikarnassos, Kalymna, Kos (though late?); How factitious,
'pragmatic', or tendenzios such legends may be is illustrated by the stories of
Thera and Kyrene;
Commentary
A bond of connexion between Epidaurus and Cos may be found in their
devotion to the worship of Asclepius, under the charge of the Asclepiads, among
them Hippocrates (Plato, Phaedr. 270 C, Prot. 311 B). Apparently before the Dorian
immigration Cos had already been colonized from Thessaly (Il. ii. 676 f.; Tac.
Ann. xii. 61). Calymna and Nisyros were later occupied from Cos (Diod. v. 54).
KOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
. . . Dorians of what is now the country of the "Five Cities"--formerly the country of the "Six Cities"--forbid admitting any of the neighboring Dorians to the Triopian temple, and even barred from using it those of their own group who had broken the temple law. For long ago, in the games in honor of Triopian Apollo, they offered certain bronze tripods to the victors; and those who won these were not to carry them away from the temple but dedicate them there to the god. Now when a man of Halicarnassus called Agasicles won, he disregarded this law, and, carrying the tripod away, nailed it to the wall of his own house. For this offense the five cities--Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus, Cos, and Cnidus--forbade the sixth city--Halicarnassus--to share in the use of the temple. Such was the penalty imposed on the Halicarnassians.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
. . .Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KYDONIA (Ancient city) CHANIA
...Then the Samians took from the men of Hermione, instead of money, the island
Hydrea which is near to the Peloponnesus, and gave it to men of Troezen for safekeeping;
they themselves settled at Cydonia in Crete, though their voyage had been made
with no such intent, but rather to drive Zacynthians out of the island. Here they
stayed and prospered for five years; indeed, the temples now at Cydonia and the
shrine of Dictyna are the Samians' work; but in the sixth year Aeginetans and
Cretans came and defeated them in a sea-fight and made slaves of them; moreover
they cut off the ships' prows, that were shaped like boars' heads, and dedicated
them in the temple of Athena in Aegina. The Aeginetans did this out of a grudge
against the Samians; for previously the Samians, in the days when Amphicrates
was king of Samos, sailing in force against Aegina, had hurt the Aeginetans and
been hurt by them. This was the cause.
KYNOURIA (Province) ARCADIA
Seven nations inhabit the Peloponnese. Two of these are aboriginal and are now settled in the land where they lived in the old days, the Arcadians and Cynurians. One nation, the Achaean, has never left the Peloponnese, but it has left its own country and inhabits another nation's land. The four remaining nations of the seven are immigrants, the Dorians and Aetolians and Dryopians and Lemnians. The Dorians have many famous cities, the Aetolians only Elis, the Dryopians Hermione and Asine near Laconian Cardamyle, the Lemnians all the Paroreatae. The Cynurians are aboriginal and seem to be the only Ionians, but they have been Dorianized by time and by Argive rule. They are the Orneatae and the perioikoi. All the remaining cities of these seven nations, except those I enumerated, stayed neutral. If I may speak freely, by staying neutral they medized.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
LINDOS (Ancient city) LINDOS
. . . Dorians of what is now the country of the "Five Cities"--formerly the country of the "Six Cities"--forbid admitting any of the neighboring Dorians to the Triopian temple, and even barred from using it those of their own group who had broken the temple law. For long ago, in the games in honor of Triopian Apollo, they offered certain bronze tripods to the victors; and those who won these were not to carry them away from the temple but dedicate them there to the god. Now when a man of Halicarnassus called Agasicles won, he disregarded this law, and, carrying the tripod away, nailed it to the wall of his own house. For this offense the five cities--Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus, Cos, and Cnidus--forbade the sixth city--Halicarnassus--to share in the use of the temple. Such was the penalty imposed on the Halicarnassians.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
LISSOS (River) RODOPI
Next to it is the Thasian city of Stryme; between them runs the river Lisus, which now could not furnish water enough for Xerxes' army, but was exhausted.
LYKORIA (Ancient city) PARNASSOS
So this part of the barbarian army marched as I have said, and others
set forth with guides for the temple at Delphi, keeping Parnassus on their right.
These, too, laid waste to every part of Phocis which they occupied, burning the
towns of the Panopeans and Daulii and Aeolidae. The purpose of their parting from
the rest of the army and marching this way was that they might plunder the temple
at Delphi and lay its wealth before Xerxes, who (as I have been told) had better
knowledge of the most notable possessions in the temple than of what he had left
in his own palace, chiefly the offerings of Croesus son of Alyattes; so many had
always spoken of them.
When the Delphians learned all this, they were very much afraid, and
in their great fear they inquired of the oracle whether they should bury the sacred
treasure in the ground or take it away to another country. The god told them to
move nothing, saying that he was able to protect what belonged to him. Upon hearing
that, the Delphians took thought for themselves. They sent their children and
women overseas to Achaia. Most of the men went up to the peaks of Parnassus and
carried their goods into the Corycian cave, but some escaped
to Amphissa in Locris. In short, all the Delphians left the town save sixty men
and the prophet.
MYKONOS (Island) KYKLADES
Datis journeyed with his army to Asia, and when he arrived at Myconos he saw a vision in his sleep. What that vision was is not told, but as soon as day broke Datis made a search of his ships. He found in a Phoenician ship a gilded image of Apollo, and asked where this plunder had been taken. Learning from what temple it had come, he sailed in his own ship to Delos. The Delians had now returned to their island, and Datis set the image in the temple, instructing the Delians to carry it away to Theban Delium, on the coast opposite Chalcis. Datis gave this order and sailed away, but the Delians never carried that statue away; twenty years later the Thebans brought it to Delium by command of an oracle.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Mar 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
MYRINA (Ancient city) LEMNOS (LIMNOS)
When the Chersonese on the Hellespont was made subject to Athens, Miltiades son of Cimon accomplished the voyage from Elaeus on the Chersonese to Lemnos with the Etesian1 winds then constantly blowing; he proclaimed that the Pelasgians must leave their island, reminding them of the oracle which the Pelasgians thought would never be fulfilled. The Hephaestians obeyed, but the Myrinaeans would not agree that the Chersonese was Attica and were besieged, until they too submitted. Thus did Miltiades and the Athenians take possession of Lemnos.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Febr 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
NISSYROS (Island) DODEKANISSOS
I see no need to mention any of the other captains except Artemisia. I find it a great marvel that a woman went on the expedition against Hellas (battle of Salamis): after her husband died, she took over his tyranny, though she had a young son, and followed the army from youthful spirits and manliness, under no compulsion. Artemisia was her name, and she was the daughter of Lygdamis; on her fathers' side she was of Halicarnassian lineage, and on her mothers' Cretan. She was the leader of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyrus and Calydnos, and provided five ships. Her ships were reputed to be the best in the whole fleet after the ships of Sidon, and she gave the king the best advice of all his allies. The cities that I said she was the leader of are all of Dorian stock, as I can show, since the Halicarnassians are from Troezen, and the rest are from Epidaurus.
OINOUSSES (Island complex) NORTH AEGEAN
The Phocaeans would have bought the islands called Oenussae from the Chians; but the Chians would not sell them, because they feared that the islands would become a market and so their own island be cut off from trade
PERGAMOS (Ancient city) KAVALA
After passing through the aforementioned land (Satrae), Xerxes next passed the fortresses of the Pierians, one called Phagres and the other Pergamus. By going this way he marched right under their walls, keeping on his right the great and high Pangaean range, where the Pierians and Odomanti and especially the Satrae have gold and silver mines.
POLICHNI (Ancient city) CHANIA
Minos, it is said, went to Sicania, which is now called Sicily, in search for Daedalus, and perished there by a violent death. Presently all the Cretans except the men of Polichne and Praesus were bidden by a god to go with a great host to Sicania.
Commentary: If the men of Polichne and Praisos took no part with Minos, then presumably they were no subjects of his. Polichne was near Kydonia (Kanea) but not on good terms with it (in 429 B.C.); cp. Thuc. 2. 85. 5 (though possibly friends with Gortyn).
SALI (Ancient city) EVROS
All the ships had now arrived at Doriscus, and the captains at Xerxes' command brought them to the beach near Doriscus, where stands the Samothracian city of Sane, and Zone; at the end is Serreum, a well-known headland. This country was in former days possessed by the Cicones.
SAMOTHRAKI PERAIA (Ancient area) EVROS
On his road from Doriscus he (Xerxes) first passed the Samothracian fortresses; of these, the city built farthest to the west is called Mesambria.
SANTORINI (Island) KYKLADES
Theras, a descendant of Polynices through Thersander, Tisamenus, and Autesion, was preparing to lead out colonists from Lacedaemon. This Theras was of the line of Cadmus and was an uncle on their mother's side to Aristodemus' sons Eurysthenes and Procles; and while these boys were yet children he held the royal power of Sparta as regent; but when his nephews grew up and became kings, then Theras could not endure to be a subject when he had had a taste of supreme power, and said he would no longer stay in Lacedaemon but would sail away to his family. On the island now called Thera, but then Calliste, there were descendants of Membliarus the son of Poeciles, a Phoenician; for Cadmus son of Agenor had put in at the place now called Thera during his search for Europa; and having put in, either because the land pleased him, or because for some other reason he desired to do so, he left on this island his own relation Membliarus together with other Phoenicians. These dwelt on the island of Calliste for eight generations before Theras came from Lacedaemon.
It was these that Theras was preparing to join, taking with him a company of people from the tribes; his intention was to settle among the people of Calliste and not drive them out but claim them as in fact his own people.So when the Minyae escaped from prison and camped on Teugetum, and the Lacedaemonians were planning to put them to death, Theras interceded for their lives, that there might be no killing, promising to lead them out of the country himself. The Lacedaemonians consented to this, and Theras sailed with three thirty-oared ships to join the descendants of Membliarus, taking with him not all the Minyae but only a few; for the greater part of them made their way to the lands of the Paroreatae and Caucones, and after having driven these out of their own country, they divided themselves into six companies and established the cities of Lepreum, Macistus, Phrixae, Pyrgus, Epium, and Nudium in the land they had won; most of these were in my time taken and sacked by the Eleans. As for the island Calliste, it was called Thera after its colonist.
But as Theras' son would not sail with him, his father said that he would leave him behind as a sheep among wolves; after which saying the boy got the nickname of Oeolycus, and it so happened that this became his customary name. He had a son, Aegeus, from whom the Aegidae, a great Spartan clan, take their name. The men of this clan, finding that none of their children lived, set up a temple of the avenging spirits of Laius and Oedipus, by the instruction of an oracle, after which their children lived. It fared thus, too, with the children of the Aegidae at Thera.
So far in the story the Lacedaemonian and Theraean records agree; for the rest, we have only the word of the Theraeans. Grinnus son of Aesanius, king of Thera, a descendant of this same Theras, came to Delphi bringing a hecatomb from his city; among others of his people, Battus son of Polymnestus came with him, a descendant of Euphemus of the Minyan clan. When Grinnus king of Thera asked the oracle about other matters, the priestess' answer was that he should found a city in Libya. "Lord, I am too old and heavy to stir; command one of these younger men to do this", answered Grinnus, pointing to Battus as he spoke. No more was said then. But when they departed, they neglected to obey the oracle, since they did not know where Libya was, and were afraid to send a colony out to an uncertain destination.
For seven years after this there was no rain in Thera; all the trees in the island except one withered. The Theraeans inquired at Delphi again, and the priestess mentioned the colony they should send to Libya. So, since there was no remedy for their ills, they sent messengers to Crete to find any Cretan or traveller there who had travelled to Libya. In their travels about the island, these came to the town of Itanus, where they met a murex fisherman named Corobius, who told them that he had once been driven off course by winds to Libya, to an island there called Platea. They hired this man to come with them to Thera; from there, just a few men were sent aboard ship to spy out the land first; guided by Corobius to the aforesaid island Platea, these left him there with provision for some months, and themselves sailed back with all speed to Thera to bring news of the island.
But after they had been away for longer than the agreed time, and Corobius had no provisions left, a Samian ship sailing for Egypt, whose captain was Colaeus, was driven off her course to Platea, where the Samians heard the whole story from Corobius and left him provisions for a year; they then put out to sea from the island and would have sailed to Egypt, but an easterly wind drove them from their course, and did not abate until they had passed through the Pillars of Heracles and came providentially to Tartessus. Now this was at that time an untapped1 market; hence, the Samians, of all the Greeks whom we know with certainty, brought back from it the greatest profit on their wares except Sostratus of Aegina, son of Laodamas; no one could compete with him. The Samians took six talents, a tenth of their profit, and made a bronze vessel with it, like an Argolic cauldron, with griffins' heads projecting from the rim all around; they set this up in their temple of Hera, supporting it with three colossal kneeling figures of bronze, each twelve feet high. What the Samians had done was the beginning of a close friendship between them and the men of Cyrene and Thera.
As for the Theraeans, when they came to Thera after leaving Corobius on the island, they brought word that they had established a settlement on an island off Libya. The Theraeans determined to send out men from their seven regions, taking by lot one of every pair of brothers, and making Battus leader and king of all. Then they manned two fifty-oared ships and sent them to Platea.
This is what the Theraeans say; and now begins the part in which the Theraean and Cyrenaean stories agree, but not until now, for the Cyrenaeans tell a wholly different story about Battus, which is this. There is a town in Crete called Oaxus, of which one Etearchus became ruler. He was a widower with a daughter whose name was Phronime, and he married a second wife. When the second wife came into his house, she thought fit to be the proverbial stepmother to Phronime, ill-treating her and devising all sorts of evil against her; at last she accused the girl of lewdness, and persuaded her husband that the charge was true. So Etearchus was persuaded by his wife and contrived a great sin against his daughter. There was at Oaxus a Theraean trader, one Themison; Etearchus made this man his guest and friend, and got him to swear that he would do him whatever service he desired; then he gave the man his own daughter, telling him to take her away and throw her into the sea. But Themison was very angry at being thus tricked on his oath and renounced his friendship with Etearchus; presently, he took the girl and sailed away, and so as to fulfill the oath that he had sworn to Etearchus, when he was on the high seas he bound her with ropes and let her down into the sea and drew her up again, and presently arrived at Thera.
There Polymnestus, a notable Theraean, took Phronime and made her his concubine. In time, a son of weak and stammering speech was born to him, to whom he gave the name Battus, as the Theraeans and Cyrenaeans say; but in my opinion the boy was given some other name, and changed it to Battus on his coming to Libya, taking this new name because of the oracle given to him at Delphi and the honorable office which he received. For the Libyan word for king is "Battus", and this (I believe) is why the Pythian priestess called him so in her prophecy, using a Libyan name because she knew that he was to be king in Libya. For when he grew to adulthood, he went to Delphi to inquire about his voice; and the priestess in answer gave him this:
"Battus, you have come for a voice; but Lord Phoebus Apollo
Sends you to found a city in Libya, nurse of sheep,"
just as if she addressed him using the Greek word for "king," "Basileus, you have come for a voice," et cetera. But he answered: "Lord, I came to you to ask about my speech; but you talk of other matters, things impossible to do; you tell me to plant a colony in Libya; where shall I get the power or strength of hand for it?" Battus spoke thus, but as the god would not give him another oracle and kept answering as before, he departed while the priestess was still speaking, and went away to Thera.
But afterward things turned out badly for Battus and the rest of the Theraeans; and when, ignorant of the cause of their misfortunes, they sent to Delphi to ask about their present ills, the priestess declared that they would fare better if they helped Battus plant a colony at Cyrene in Libya. Then the Theraeans sent Battus with two fifty-oared ships; these sailed to Libya, but, not knowing what else to do, presently returned to Thera. There, the Theraeans shot at them as they came to land and would not let the ship put in, telling them to sail back; which they did under constraint of necessity, and planted a colony on an island off the Libyan coast called (as I have said already) Platea. This island is said to be as big as the city of Cyrene is now.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
SIFNOS (Island) KYKLADES
Siphnians were at this time very prosperous and the richest of the islanders, because of the gold and silver mines on the island. They were so wealthy that the treasure dedicated by them at Delphi, which is as rich as any there, was made from a tenth of their income; and they divided among themselves each year's income. Now when they were putting together the treasure they inquired of the oracle if their present prosperity was likely to last long; whereupon the priestess gave them this answer:
"When the prytaneum on Siphnus becomes white
And white-browed the market, then indeed a shrewd man is wanted
Beware a wooden force and a red herald."
At this time the market-place and town-hall of Siphnus were adorned with Parian marble.
THORNAX (Ancient city) SPARTI
For the Lacedaemonians had sent to Sardis to buy gold, intending to use it for the statue of Apollo which now stands on Thornax in Laconia; and Croesus, when they offered to buy it, made them a free gift of it.
VRAVRON (Ancient city) ATTICA, EAST
When the Pelasgians were driven out of Attica by the Athenians, whether justly
or unjustly I cannot say, beyond what is told; namely, that Hecataeus the son
of Hegesandrus declares in his history that the act was unjust; for when the Athenians
saw the land under Hymettus, formerly theirs, which they had given to the Pelasgians
as a dwelling-place in reward for the wall that had once been built around the
acropolis--when the Athenians saw how well this place was tilled which previously
had been bad and worthless, they were envious and coveted the land, and so drove
the Pelasgians out on this and no other pretext. But the Athenians themselves
say that their reason for expelling the Pelasgians was just. The Pelasgians set
out from their settlement at the foot of Hymettus and wronged the Athenians in
this way: Neither the Athenians nor any other Hellenes had servants yet at that
time, and their sons and daughters used to go to the Nine Wells (eneacrounos)
for water; and whenever they came, the Pelasgians maltreated them out of mere
arrogance and pride. And this was not enough for them; finally they were caught
in the act of planning to attack Athens. The Athenians were much better men than
the Pelasgians, since when they could have killed them, caught plotting as they
were, they would not so do, but ordered them out of the country. The Pelasgians
departed and took possession of Lemnos, besides other places. This is the Athenian
story; the other is told by Hecataeus.
These Pelasgians dwelt at that time in Lemnos and desired vengeance
on the Athenians. Since they well knew the time of the Athenian festivals, they
acquired fifty-oared ships and set an ambush for the Athenian women celebrating
the festival of Artemis at Brauron. They seized many of the women, then sailed
away with them and brought them to Lemnos to be their concubines. These women
bore more and more children, and they taught their sons the speech of Attica and
Athenian manners. These boys would not mix with the sons of the Pelasgian women;
if one of them was beaten by one of the others, they would all run to his aid
and help each other; these boys even claimed to rule the others, and were much
stronger. When the Pelasgians perceived this, they took counsel together; it troubled
them much in their deliberations to think what the boys would do when they grew
to manhood, if they were resolved to help each other against the sons of the lawful
wives and attempted to rule them already. Thereupon the Pelasgians resolved to
kill the sons of the Attic women; they did this, and then killed the boys' mothers
also. From this deed and the earlier one which was done by the women when they
killed their own husbands who were Thoas' companions, a ?Lemnian crime? has been
a proverb in Hellas for any deed of cruelty.(Hdt. 6.137.1-138.4)
Commentary:
The Pelasgians were driven into Attica by the Boeotian immigration, about sixty years after the Trojan war according to legend.
AVLIS (Ancient city) STEREA HELLAS
If ever you turn your misguided heart to trading and wish to escape from debt and joyless hunger, I will show you the measures of the loud roaring sea, though I have no skill in sea faring nor in ships;for never yet have I sailed by ship over the wide sea, but only to Euboea from Aulis where the Achaeans once stayed through much storm when they had gathered a great host from divine Hellas for Troy, the land of fair women.
SKANDIA (Ancient city) KYTHIRA
A town in Cythern, which is mentioned by Homer (Il. 10.268).
CHALKIS (Ancient city) ILIA
So the ship ran on its course and came to Arena and lovely Argyphea and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well placed Aepy and sandy Pylos and the men of Pylos;past Cruni it went and Chalcis and past Dyme and fair Elis, where the Epei rule.
DELOS (Island) KYKLADES
I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots afar. As
he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring
up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow. But Leto alone
stays by the side of Zeus who delights in thunder; and then she unstrings his
bow, and closes his quiver, and takes his archery from his strong shoulders in
her hands and hangs them on a golden peg against a pillar of his father's house.
Then she leads him to a seat and makes him sit: and the Father gives him nectar
in a golden cup welcoming his dear son, while the other gods make him sit down
there, and queenly Leto rejoices because she bare a mighty son and an archer.
Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bare glorious children, the lord Apollo and Artemis
who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos, as you rested
against the great mass of the Cynthian hill hard by a palm-tree by the streams
of Inopus.
How, then, shall I sing of you who in all ways are a worthy theme
of song? For everywhere, O Phoebus, the whole range of song is fallen to you,
both over the mainland that rears heifers and over the isles. All mountain-peaks
and high headlands of lofty hills and rivers flowing out to the deep and beaches
sloping seawards and havens of the sea are your delight. Shall I sing how at the
first Leto bare you to be the joy of men, as she rested against Mount Cynthus
in that rocky isle, in sea-girt Delos --while on either hand a dark wave rolled
on landwards driven by shrill winds --whence arising you rule over all mortal
men?
Among those who are in Crete, and in the township of Athens, and
in the isle of Aegina and Euboea, famous for ships, in Aegae and Eiresiae and
Peparethus near the sea, in Thracian Athos and Pelion's towering heights and Thracian
Samos and the shady hills of Ida, [35] in Scyros and Phocaea and the high hill
of Autocane and fair-lying Imbros and smouldering Lemnos and rich Lesbos, home
of Macar, the son of Aeolus, and Chios, brightest of all the isles that lie in
the sea, and craggy Mimas and the heights of Corycus and gleaming Claros and the
sheer hill of Aesagea and watered Samos and the steep heights of Mycale, in Miletus
and Cos, the city of Meropian men, and steep Cnidos and windy Carpathos, in Naxos
and Paros and rocky Rhenaea -- so far roamed Leto in travail with the god who
shoots afar, to see if any land would be willing to make a dwelling for her son.
This text is from: Homeric Hymns (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914). Cited Feb 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes,
ed.
Subject.--The poet sings of Apollo, at whose approach even the gods
tremble; but Leto rejoices in her strong son. She visited many isles and cities
before his birth, but all feared to receive her, except Delos, to whom Leto promised
that Apollo should love the island beyond all others. Leto's delivery was stopped
by the jealousy of Hera; but finally Eilithyia came, and the goddess brought forth
her son, who forthwith burst his swaddling-clothes and claimed his prerogatives--the
lyre, the bow, and the gift of prophecy. Many cities and lands are his, but chiefly
he delights in Delos, where the Ionians are gathered together with song and dance
in his honour. Most famous is the chorus of Delian women, whom the blind Chian
poet begs to remember him; he will never cease to sing of Apollo, Leto's son.
Apollo went to Pytho; and thence to Olympus, where he accompanies
on his lyre the dance of the gods. His success in love could furnish many themes
for song, but the singer chooses the story of the god's search for an oracular
temple. He left Olympus and passed southward through many peoples until he reached
the spring of Telphusa, near Haliartus. There he wished to found his oracle, but
the nymph dissuaded him and suggested Crisa; he complied, and his temple was built
beneath Parnassus. Hard by was a fountain, where he met a dragon which ravaged
the place. This monster had reared Typhaon, whom Hera bare in wrath with Zeus.
Apollo slew the dragon and gained his title of Pythius. Angry with Telphusa for
her treachery in sending him to a place infested by the dragon, he returned to
her and stopped her water with a shower of rocks from an overhanging cliff. Then
he bethought him of a priesthood, and saw Cretans sailing from Cnossus. He met
them in the form of a dolphin, and diverted the course of their ship to Crisa,
where he revealed himself as a god. The Cretans built an altar on the shore and
followed him to Pytho. Apollo promised that they should live on the offerings
of pilgrims, but warned them that if they fell into evil ways they would be subjected
to the dominion of others.
The composition of the hymn.--The hymn to Apollo, in its present
form, may be read as a continuous poem. But the continuity lies only on the surface,
and even the most casual reader cannot fail to be struck by the abrupt transition
at v. 179, after a passage in which the Chian poet appears to take leave of his
audience and to finish his theme. Accordingly, from the time of Ruhnken, the hymn
has been divided into two parts, commonly known as the "Delian" and
"Pythian" hymns. Gemoll very properly refuses to bisect the document,
on the ground that it was considered a single poem at least as early as the second
century A.D.; that many of the arguments against its original unity must be discounted;
and that even if there has been a conflation, the division into two parts is unscientific,
as the present hymn may well contain more than two fragments or complete poems.
Gemoll indeed allows that the hymn does not convey the impression of unity; but,
as his arguments are mainly directed against its disintegration by Ruhnken and
subsequent editors, it is necessary to examine the evidence afresh, and to consider
how far Ruhnken's position is sound.
External evidence.--Thucydides (iii. 104) cites lines 146-150 as
ek tou prooimiou Apollonos, and adds eteleuta tou epainou es tade ta epe (quoting
165-172). Here the epainos may obviously mean, not the whole hymn, but that part
of it which contains the eulogy on the Delian women. Aristides, however (ii. 558),
quotes 169 f., using the words kataluon to prooimion; and, if he quoted at first-hand,
it would be a clear proof that in the second century A.D. there was a hymn to
Apollo, which ended with the invocation of the Delians by the blind Chian. Against
this Hermann reasonably argues that Aristides was simply quoting from Thucydides
(compare prooimion in both authors), and wrongly took tou epainou in Thucydides
to mean tou prooimiou. The probability that Aristides did not know the hymn at
first-hand is increased by the fact, observed in connexion with the Athenaion
politeia, that all his quotations from Solon are found in that treatise; there
is thus a strong presumption that he was generally unfamiliar with the less-known
early poetry. Moreover, that the hymn was a single document by the time of Aristides
is proved by the citations of his contemporaries, i.e. Pausanias (x. 37. Homeros
en te Iliadi homoios kai humnoi eis Apollona) and Athenaeus (22 C, quoting v.
515, Homeros e ton Homeridon tis en toi eis Apollona humnoi). The testimony of
later writers (Eustath. 1602. 25, and Byz. Steph.618en toi eis Apollona humnoi)
confirms the earlier authorities.
There is therefore nothing in the language of Thucydides to suggest
that he knew of a "Delian" hymn ending at line 178, and on the other
hand, as Gemoll observes, the historian would hardly have written tou prooimiou
Apollonos, if he had been acquainted with more than one Homeric hymn to Apollo.
As the so-called "Pythian" hymn is certainly much older than Thucydides,
the inference is that the unity of the document extends back to the end of the
fifth century B.C. at the latest. Gemoll further suggests that Aristophanes, as
he seems to quote from both the first and last parts of the hymn, recognised a
single hymn. This argument is of little value in itself, for Aristophanes might,
of course, have cited from two hymns as much as from one; but it may be conceded
that, if Thucydides was unaware of the existence of separate Delian and Pythian
parts, his contemporary and fellow-countryman was equally ignorant.
Internal evidence.:
1. The separatists assume that vv. 165 f. are obviously the end of one hymn, and
179 f. belong to another. This view is accepted in the present edition . . . but,
as Gemoll points out, the arguments commonly brought forward are not in themselves
conclusive. The "farewell" to the Delian women (chairete d' humeis ktl.
166) might mark the close of a digression in the hymn, not the end of the whole
hymn; cf. Theog. 963 where a similar formula marks a transition to another subject.
Again, vv. 177, 178 autar egon ou lexo ktl. are not necessarily a formula of conclusion,
although, of course, they are quite appropriate to that position; the two lines
might have served to introduce Apollo's later exploits, after the digression on
the Delians.
2. Kiesel and Baumeister favour the theory of an early Delian and later Pythian
hymn, on the ground of a similarity of structure and subject matter which they
detect in the two parts. For example, Baumeister compares 1-13 with 182-206, 19
f. with 207 f., the wanderings of Leto with the journey of Apollo, the jealousy
of Hera with that of Telphusa, the Delian with the Pythian festival. Of these
"pairs", only the first (1-13 and 182-206) is at all striking; and,
in any case, it need not follow that these parallel passages are by different
authors; a poet may repeat himself, as well as copy another.
3. The unity of the hymn has been denied on artistic and literary grounds. One
fact is certain, that the earlier part of the hymn was recited at a Delian festival
to an Ionian audience. But at 182 the poem leaves Delos, which is not mentioned
again, and passes to quite different episodes in Apollo's career, chief of which
is the foundation of the Dorian oracle at Pytho. It may be argued that there is
no reason why the Chian bard should not have dealt with these later achievements;
he need not have been so parochial as to exclude from his Delian hymn all myths
which do not bear on the god's connexion with the island. Again, if it be urged
that some final reference to Delos might be expected at the end of the whole poem,
an answer is ready that such criticism is purely subjective, and that we must
not force ancient documents to comply with modern ideas of artistic propriety.
Even if there is a natural break at 178, the same author (i.e. the Chian poet)
may have composed the rest of the hymn as a separate rhapsody; in this he handled
myths, foreign, it is true, to Delos, but not foreign to his subject, which is
after all not Delos, but Apollo.
But, when all these conservative arguments have been allowed their
due weight, it is still practically impossible to reverse the judgment of Ruhnken
and his followers. The fatal objection to the theory of unity rests on historical
and mythological grounds. As has been conceded above, there is no prima facie
impossibility in supposing that a bard at Delos handled the theme of Apollo's
victory over the dragon at Pytho. But the circumstances of the Delian panegyris
must be borne in mind: it was an assembly of Ionians (152); a certain non-Ionic
element was indeed present, but these aliens came chiefly from the Aegean islands
(see on 157), and the festival was, in fact, essentially insular. The character
of the "Delian" part of the hymn is entirely in keeping with this insularity;
Phoebus has many temples, and travels far and wide (141 f.); but his heart is
in Delos (146), which he loves more than any other island, and more than the mainland
(139). It is difficult to agree with Dr. Verrall's theory as to the meaning of
the whole hymn; but he is undoubtedly right in laying stress on the fundamental
difference between the Ionian religion of Apollo at Delos, and the Dorian religion
at Pytho. In Dr. Verrall's words, the Delian hymnist's "range of view, and
the government of his god are strictly limited, according to his own full and
exact description (30-44, 142-145), to the Aegean archipelago. Even the coast
of the surrounding land he treats merely as a framework enclosing the beloved
islands; he mentions scarcely a point in the coast which is not peninsular, and
within the sea-line knows nothing except what might be seen from the sea. His
Ionians are mariners exclusively (155), and have a deity like themselves".
Moreover, the Delian cult was not only Ionian and insular, but also in part oracular;
and it is barely conceivable that a poet, who adopted the exclusive standpoint
of the Delians, should have devoted the rest of his hymn (three times as large
as the first part) to the praises of a rival Dorian oracle. At the present day
we are apt to take a wrong perspective of early Apolline religion--a perspective
natural enough, inasmuch as it rests on authority which, though not so old as
the hymn, is still ancient. Callimachus composed a catholic and eclectic hymn
to Apollo, in which local and racial distinctions are blurred; still earlier,
in the age of faith, Pindar and Aeschylus honoured Delos and Delphi equally, and
tried to harmonise the two rival cults,6 following, perhaps, the example of statesmen
like Pisistratus and Polycrates, who respected both the shrines ( Suid. s.v. Puthia
kai Delia, Puthion, and tauta soi). But we cannot look for a quixotic spirit in
a poet who must have preceded the age of Pindar by several generations, and who
sang to an Ionian audience assembled in honour of a local and tribal god.
The "Pythian" part of the hymn, on the other hand, is Dorian
and continental in its outlook. Without laying undue stress on the niceties of
style, a critic cannot fail to notice its inferiority; and few will probably dissent
from the judgment of Mr. Lang, who sees in the hymn to Apollo "the work of
a good poet, in the earlier part; and in the latter part, or second hymn, the
work of a bad poet, selecting unmanageable passages of myth, and handling them
pedantically and ill". His theme--the foundation of the most famous oracle
in the world--offered a splendid opportunity; but the hymn shows, by sins of omission
and commission alike, that its writer could not rise to the level of his subject.
Dr. Verrall remarks that he passes over in silence almost everything characteristic
of Pytho--the chasm, the tripod, the omphalos, the crowds of worshippers, the
priestess herself. To these omissions may be added the silence of the hymn on
the purification of Apollo from blood-guiltiness, which was a primitive and important
article of the Pythian religion.7 There is no explicit reference to the preApolline
worship of Gaea or Themis, and no word of Poseidon, who, unlike Dionysus, was
at Pytho at an early date. This neglect of opportunities is ascribed by Dr. Verrall
to the insincerity of the "compiler" of the present document; but it
may rather be due to the taste, or want of taste, of a writer who seems to have
been chiefly interested in miracles and etymological speculation. Very different
is the spirit of the blind Chian, who describes the birth of Apollo and the glories
of the Delian festival with so much strength and vivacity.
It therefore follows that the hymn is a compilation of at least two
originally independent poems. Some scholars (as Baumeister) are content with this
bisection; but they eliminate from the second hymn the episode of Typhaon (305-355),
which is sometimes regarded as a later addition. The passage, however, bears no
signs of late workmanship: it is a fragment of genuine antiquity, although it
has been forced into its present context with some violence.8 The hymn has thus
been pieced together from three different sources; and, this being its history,
there is of course a possibility that its component parts may have been even more
numerous. Various German critics, from the time of Groddeck, have argued for this
disintegration. None of these speculations, however, are more than plausible at
best; nor are they recommended by any historical or mythological difficulties.
Groddeck, for example, considered 1-13 to be a separate poem or fragment. But
there is absolutely no reason why the Chian poet should not have composed this
passage as the exordium of his hymn at Delos. Again, Baumeister rightly rejects
Hermann's view that the latter part of the hymn (from 207) is the product of two
interwoven poems, in honour of Apollo Pythius and Telphusius respectively. Baumeister's
criticism of Hermann is to the point: librarios castigat, ubi poeta erat castigandus.
Other attempts to dismember the hymn will be noted in the commentary.
Date.--The hymn to Apollo (or at least the Delian part) is probably
the oldest in the collection, but its age cannot be fixed with exactness. The
date and authorship are, indeed, expressly mentioned by the scholiast on Pind.
Nem.ii. 2, where the hymn is attributed to Cynaethus of Chios, who "first
rhapsodized the poems of Homer at Syracuse, in the sixty-ninth Olympiad"
(504 B.C.). The blind Chian may have been Cynaethus; we have, at all events, no
reason to doubt the correctness of the scholiast's tradition in this respect;
but the date is certainly far too low. The evidence of history in connexion with
the Ionian assembly, is usually brought forward as an argument for an early period;
and this argument is of some weight, though not in itself conclusive. The panegyris
must have become famous by the beginning of the eighth century B.C., when the
Messenians are said to have sent a secret embassy to Delos, and a hymn was composed
for them by Eumelus of Corinth ( Paus.iv. 4. 1). The Delian hymn to Apollo might
therefore belong to this century, in which case it would be contemporary with
some of the rejected epics. At this time, the Ionians on the coast of Asia Minor
and in the islands attained the height of their prosperity. Duncker thinks that
the hymn must be earlier than 700 B.C., when the Ionians suffered a shock from
the invasion of Cimmerians. But the invaders did not reach the islands, although
they ravaged a great part of Asia Minor; the festival was not apparently interrupted,
and its splendour was even increased in the time of Polycrates and Pisistratus.
It was not before the defeat of the Ionians by Persia that it declined in prestige,
until it was revived by the Athenians at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war.
History, therefore, would allow any date to the Delian hymn between the eighth
century (or even earlier) and the time of Pisistratus. But the lower limit is
impossible on other grounds; for, as we have seen, "the hymn to Apollo"
is attributed to Homer by Thucydides, and probably also by Aristophanes. The first
part of the hymn must thus be considerably older than the fifth century. This
conclusion is supported by archaeological evidence, which points to a date not
subsequent to 600 B.C. The language, which has been exhaustively treated by various
German scholars, has words and forms which do not occur in Homer; but on the whole
it is "Homeric" in character, and seems to belong to a period when epic
literature, if in its decline, was still a living force.
The age of the non-Delian part is equally uncertain. The episode of
Typhaon has been thought later than Stesichorus, as he, and not the author of
the hymn, is mentioned in the E. M. 772, in connexion with the genealogy of Typhaon.
This argument, however, is quite worthless. The fragment is in the style of the
Theogony, and, as far as can be judged from style, may belong to the early Hesiodean
school. The "Pythian" part may be later than the Delian, but here again
the evidence is inconclusive. On the other hand Fick holds that Cynaethus, the
author of the Delian hymn, probably took the Pythian hymn as his model. An early
date is required by the absence of the place-name Delphi, and by the fact that
chariot-races seem to have been still unknown at Pytho. The terminus ante quem
must therefore be placed at 586 B.C., when these races were instituted. The temple
built by Trophonius and Agamedes was standing in the poet's time (cf. 299); it
was burned in 548 B.C. ( Paus.x. 5. 5). The Pythian hymn cannot therefore be later
than the beginning of the sixth century, and may be much older.
Place of composition.--The locality is settled for the Delian hymn
by the statement of the poet himself, who was an Ionian from Chios, and recited
at Delos. This, of course, proves nothing for the rest of the hymn, since its
unity cannot be accepted. According to the common view, the first hymn is the
work of a Homerid, the second belongs to the Hesiodean school. Gemoll, on the
other hand, very properly remarks that there are reminiscences of Hesiod in the
Delian part, and that the whole document shows the influence of Homer. All that
can be inferred from internal evidence is, that the author of the Pythian part
was familiar with Delphi, whose situation is accurately described; further, the
episode of Telphusa and the reference to the curious custom at Onchestus are distinctly
local, and seem to prove that the poem was composed on the mainland, and probably
in central Greece. Its nearest analogy is the Shield of Heracles, which, if not
genuinely "Hesiodean", is certainly Boeotian. The tone of this poem
is thoroughly Apolline; the contest takes place in the precinct of the Pagasaean
Apollo; the god favours Heracles, and finally causes the bones of the vanquished
Cycnus to be washed away, because he plundered pilgrims on their way to Pytho.
As the Pythian hymn is so much concerned with Apollo's progress along the sacred
way from Euboea to Delphi, the local and religious interest of the two poems seems
parallel. No stress can be laid (as against this view) on the misplacement of
Boeotian localities, whether this is due to ignorance or carelessness.
Present state of the hymn.--As has been shown above, the hymn in
its present composite form was known to the Greeks in the time of Pausanias and
probably even of Thucydides. It would be interesting to know the date and nationality
of the "editor"; and in this connexion Dr. Verrall has suggested an
ingenious theory. In his view the hymn is a cento, divisible into at least four
distinct parts, of which the oldest was a Delian hymn; an Athenian, under the
dynasty of Pisistratus, collected from other sources, or added from his own pen,
materials to form the present document. The compiler was influenced by religious
and political motives, his object being to diminish the dignity of the Pythian
oracle, and magnify the Delian cult of Apollo. The whole hymn, as there arranged,
was an anti-Delphian "religious pasquinade". This hypothesis cannot
here be fully criticised; but most readers of Dr. Verrall's article will probably
fail to be convinced that the hymn is not a genuine attempt to honour the Pythian,
as well as the Delian, Apollo. At the same time, it is quite possible that the
compiler was an Athenian in the age of Pisistratus. If we could unhesitatingly
accept the tradition that the tyrant ordered a recension of "Homer",
the hymn to Apollo might have been edited, as well as the genuine Homeric poems,
being itself classed as Homeric by common opinion. But the tendency of modern
scholarship is to reject the tradition as unfounded. It is perhaps more natural
to look for the editor in a place where the two great myths of Apollo--the birth
at Delos and the fight with the Pythian dragon--were first united. This place
was possibly Tegyra; and Hiller von Gartringen suggests that not only was the
Pythian hymn of Boeotian origin, but that the whole composition was put together
in Tegyra or elsewhere in Boeotia.
The hymn in relation to later literature.--While the other hymns
in the collection were very generally neglected by ancient authors, the hymn to
Apollo must have been widely known and appreciated from early times. It seems
to have served as a model for more than one of the shorter Homeric hymns. In the
sixth century B.C., Theognis shows the influence of at least the Delian part (see
on 117 and 118). Pindar has possible reminiscences of both parts, but this is
more doubtful. The hymn had become a classic by the end of the fifth century,
when Thucydides treats it as historical evidence of value, and Aristophanes' quotations
imply that it was familiar to an Attic audience. The Alexandrian poets made free
use of it in their revival of hymn-writing: the chief debtor was perhaps Callimachus,
in his own hymns to Apollo and Delos (see on 19, 119, 135, 383, 396), but Apollonius
and Theocritus also laid it under contribution (see on 119, 487). The seventeenth
idyll of Theocritus is clearly inspired by the Delian hymn.
DRAKANOS (Ancient city) AGIOS KIRYKOS
To Dionysus: ... For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus; and some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn ; and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus the thunder-lover. And others yet, lord, say you were born in Thebes; but all these lie. The Father of men and gods gave you birth remote from men and secretly from white-armed Hera. There is a certain Nysa, a mountain most high and richly grown with woods, far off in Phoenice, near the streams of Aegyptus ...
KRISSA (Ancient city) PARNASSOS
But when they were passed by all the coast of Peloponnesus, then, towards Crisa, that vast gulf began to heave in sight which through all its length cuts off the rich isle of Pelops. There came on them a strong, clear west-wind by ordinance of Zeus and blew from heaven vehemently, that with all speed [435] the ship might finish coursing over the briny water of the sea. So they began again to voyage back towards the dawn and the sun: and the lord Apollo, son of Zeus, led them on until they reached far-seen Crisa, land of vines, and into haven: there the sea-coursing ship grounded on the sands.
Commentary:
The harbour of Crisa was Cirrha, which may well have been in existence and have been known by that name to the hymnwriter, although he calls it simply the "harbour". Cirrha was destroyed with Crisa, after the First Sacred War, but (unlike Crisa) was subsequently rebuilt. For the two places, which were confused by later writers, see Frazer on Paus.x. 37. 6.
This extract is from: Homeric Hymns (ed. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914). Cited Nov 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KROUNI (Village) ILIA
So the ship ran on its course and came to Arena and lovely Argyphea and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well placed Aepy and sandy Pylos and the men of Pylos;past Cruni it went and Chalcis and past Dyme and fair Elis, where the Epei rule.
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
First they passed by Malea, and then along the Laconian coast they came to Taenarum, sea-garlanded town and country of Helios who gladdens men, where the thick-fleeced sheep of the lord Helios feed continually and occupy a gladsome country. There they wished to put their ship to shore, and land and comprehend the great marvel and see with their eyes whether the monster would remain upon the deck of the hollow ship, or spring back into the briny deep where fishes shoal. But the well-built ship would not obey the helm, but went on its way all along Peloponnesus: and the lord, far-working Apollo, guided it easily with the breath of the breeze.
IFESTIAS (Ancient city) LEMNOS (LIMNOS)
During that time no one there brought an action against me, either private or public. In fact I was crowned three times by the inhabitants of Hephaestia and as many times more by those of Myrine. These facts should satisfy you, in the present trial, that the charges against me are false. No man can be good in Lemnos if he is bad in Athens, and you had no poor opinion of me when you dispatched me there and made me responsible for two of your own cities.
AVLON (Ancient city) TRIFYLIA
As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium.
DONOUSSA (Ancient city) ACHAIA
When Peisistratus collected the poems of Homer, which were scattered and handed down by tradition, some in one place and some in another, then either he or one of his colleagues perverted the name through ignorance.
DORION (Prehistoric settlement) TRIFYLIA
As for Dorium, some call it a mountain, while others call it a plain, but nothing is now to be seen; and yet by some the Aluris of today, or Alura, situated in what is called the Aulon of Messenia, is called Dorium.
EPIA (Ancient city) MESSINIA
Aepeia was the old name of Corone.
And Aepeia is now called Thuria.
Pausanias identifies Aepea with Corone and Pedasus, and claims that before the Trojan War it was called Mothone.
FLIASIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
Old name of Phliasia (Perseus Encyclopedia).
Araethyrea : Perseus Project Index
Old name of Phliasia and Phlius.
FLIOUS (Ancient city) NEMEA
Old name of Phliasia and Phlius.
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