Strabo, Geography

Now as for the Epeirotes, there are fourteen tribes of them, according to Theopompus, but of these the Chaones and the Molossi are the most famous, because of the fact that they once ruled over the whole of the Epeirote country—the Chaones earlier and later the Molossi; and the Molossi grew to still greater power, partly because of the kinship of their kings, who belonged to the family of the Aeacidae,¹ and partly because of the fact that the oracle at Dodona² was in their country, an oracle both ancient and renowned. Now the Chaones and the Thesproti and, next in order after these, the Cassopaei (these, too, are Thesproti) inhabit the seaboard which extends from the Ceraunian Mountains as far as the Ambracian Gulf, and they have a fertile country. The voyage, if one begins at the country of the Chaones and sails towards the rising sun and towards the Ambracian and Corinthian Gulfs, keeping the Ausonian Sea³ on the right and Epeirus on the left, is one thousand three hundred stadia, that is, from the Ceraunian Mountains to the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. In this interval is Panormus,⁴ a large harbor at the center of the Ceraunian Mountains, and after these mountains one comes to Onchesmus,⁵ another harbor, opposite which lie the western extremities of Corcyraea,⁶ and then still another harbor, Cassiope,⁷ from which the distance to Brentesium is one thousand seven hundred stadia. And the distance to Taras from another cape, which is farther south than Cassiope and is called Phalacrum,⁸ is the same. After Onchesmus comes Poseidium,⁹ and also Buthrotum¹⁰ (which is at the mouth of what is called Pelodes Harbor, is situated on a place that forms a peninsula, and has alien settlers consisting of Romans), and the Sybota.¹¹ The Sybota are small islands situated only a short distance from the mainland and opposite Leucimma, the eastern headland of Corcyraea. And there are still other small islands as one sails along this coast, but they are not worth mentioning. Then comes Gape Cheimerium, and also Glycys Limen,¹² into which the River Acheron¹³ empties. The Acheron flows from the Acherusian Lake¹⁴ and receives several rivers as tributaries, so that it sweetens the waters of the gulf. And also the Thyamis¹⁵ flows near by. Cichyrus,¹⁶ the Ephyra of former times, a city of the Thesprotians, lies above this gulf, whereas Phoenice¹⁷ lies above that gulf which is at Buthrotum. Near Cichyrus is Buchetium, a small town of the Cassopaeans, which is only a short distance above the sea; also Elatria, Pandosia, and Batiae, which are in the interior, though their territory reaches down as far as the gulf. Next in order after Glycys Limen come two other harbors—Comarus,¹⁸ the nearer and smaller of the two, which forms an isthmus of sixty stadia¹⁹ with the Ambracian Gulf, and Nicopolis, a city founded by Augustus Caesar, and the other, the more distant and larger and better of the two, which is near the mouth of the gulf and is about twelve stadia distant from Nicopolis.²⁰