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[4]

The order of the places in which the Achaeans settled, after dividing the country into twelve parts, is as follows:1 First after Sicyon lies Pellene; then, second, Aegeira; third, Aegae, which has a temple of Poseidon; fourth, Bura; after Bura, Helice, whither the Ionians fled for refuge after they were conquered in battle by the Achaeans, and whence at last they were expelled; and, after Helice, Aegium and Rhypes and Patrae2 and Pharae;3 then Olenus, past which flows the Peirus, a large river; then Dyme and Tritaea.4 Now the Ionians lived in villages, but the Achaeans founded cities; and to certain of these they later united others, transferring them from the other divisions, as, for example, Aegae to Aegeira (the inhabitants, however, were called Aegaeans), and Olenus to Dyme. Traces of the old settlement of the Olenians are shown between Patrae and Dyme; and here, too, is the notable temple of Asclepius, which is forty stadia distant from Dyme and eighty from Patrae. Of the same name as this Aegae is the Aegae in Euboea; and of the same name as Olenus is the settlement in Aetolia, this too preserving only traces of its former self. Now the poet does not mention the Olenus in Achaea, just as he does not mention several other inhabited places in the region of the Aegialus, although he speaks of them in a rather general way: “"And through all the Aegialus and about broad Helice."
5But he mentions the Aetolian Olenus, when he says: “"those who dwelt in Pleuron and Olenus."
6And he speaks of both places called Aegae: the Achaean Aegae, when he says, “"yet they bring up gifts for thee into both Helice and Aegae"
7but when he says, “"Aegae, where is his famous palace in the deeps of the mere,"
8“"where Poseidon halted his horses,"
9it is better to take him as meaning the Aegae in Euboea, from which it is probable that also the Aegean Sea got its name; and here too the poet has placed the activities of Poseidon in connection with the Trojan War. Close to the Achaean Aegae flows the Crathis River, which is increased by the waters of two other rivers; and it gets its name from the fact that it is a mixture,10 as does also the Crathis in Italy.

1 Cp. the names and their order in Hdt. 1.145, Polybius 2.41 and Paus. 7.6.

2 The Greek has "Patreis" ("the Patraeans").

3 The Greek has "Phareis" ("the Pharaeans").

4 The Greek has "Tritaeeis" ("the Tritaeans").

5 Hom. Il. 2.575

6 Hom. Il. 2.639

7 Hom. Il. 8.203

8 Hom. Il. 13.21

9 Hom. Il. 13.34

10 Cp.Κρᾶθις and κραθῆναι.

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load focus English (H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., 1903)
load focus Greek (1877)
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