[16]
At the mouth1 of the Tyras is what is called the Tower of Neoptolemus,2 and also what is called the village of Hermonax.3 And on sailing inland one hundred and forty stadia one comes to two cities, one on each side, Niconia4 on the right and Ophiussa5 on the left. But the people who live near the river speak of a city one hundred and twenty stadia inland.6 Again, at a distance of five hundred stadia from the mouth is the island called Leuce,7 which lies in the high sea and is sacred to Achilles.
1 Strabo and Ptolemaeus 3.10.7 agree in placing the “mouth of the Tyras” at the outlet of the lake (into the Pontus), not at what was the outlet proper (into the lake), nor yet at the narrowest part of the lake where the city of Tyras (now Akkerman) was situated.
2 According to Forbiger (Strabo, Vol. II, p. 89, footnote) this tower was “recently” (about 1850) discovered at the end of the west coast of the lake. Cp. the Towers of Caepio (3. 1. 9), Pelorus (3. 5. 5), and Pharos (17. 1. 6).
3 The exact site of the village is unknown, but Strabo certainly places it at the mouth. Ptolemaeus 3.10.7, places it 10 miles (in latitude) farther south than the mouth.
4 Niconia was situated on the lake near what is now Ovidiopol.
5 According to Pliny 4.26, the earlier name of Tyras was Ophiussa; but this is doubtful.
6 Tyras, on the site of what is now Akkerman.
7 “White” Island (now Ilan-Adassi); known as “Isle of the Blest” (Pliny 4.27); where the shade of Schilles was united to that of Helen.
Strabo. ed. H. L. Jones, The Geography of Strabo. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
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