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CHAP. 32. (30.)—ÆOLIS.

Æolis1 comes next, formerly known as Mysia, and Troas which is adjacent to the Hellespont. Here, after passing Phocæa, we come to the Ascanian Port, then the spot where Larissa2 stood, and then Cyme3, Myrina, also called Sebastopolis4, and in the interior, Ægæ5, Attalia6, Posidea, Neon- tichos7, and Temnos8. Upon the shore we come to the river Titanus, and the city which from it derives its name. Grynia9 also stood here on an island reclaimed from the sea and joined to the land: now only its harbours are left10. We then come to the town of Elæa11, the river Caïcus12, which flows from Mysia, the town of Pitane13, and the river Canaïus. The following towns no longer exist—Canæ14, Lysimachia15, Atarnea16, Carene17, Cisthene18, Cilla19, Cocylium20, Theba21, Astyre22, Chrysa23, Palæscepsis24, Gergitha25, and Neandros26. We then come to the city of Perperene27, which still survives, the district of Heracleotes, the town of Coryphas28, the rivers Grylios and Ollius, the region of Aphrodisias29, which formerly had the name of Politice Orgas, the district of Scepsis30, and the river Evenus31, on whose banks the towns of Lyrnesos32 and Miletos have fallen to decay. In this district also is Mount Ida33, and on the coast Adramytteos34, formerly called Pedasus, which gives its name to the gulf and the jurisdiction so called. The other rivers are the Astron, Cormalos, Crianos, Alabastros, and Hieros, flowing from Mount Ida: in the interior is Mount Gargara35, with a town of the same name. Again, on the coast we meet with Antandros36, formerly called Edonis, and after that Cimmeris and Assos, also called Apollonia. The town of Palamedium also formerly stood here. The Promontory of Lecton37 separates Æolis from Troas. In Æolis there was formerly the city of Polymedia, as also Chrysa, and a second Larissa. The temple of Smintheus38 is still standing; Colone39 in the interior has perished. To Adramyttium resort upon matters of legal business the Apolloniatæ40, whose town is on the river Rhyndacus41, the Erizii42, the Miletopolitæ43, the Pœmaneni44, the Macedonian Asculacæ, the Polichnæi45, the Pionitæ46, the Cilician Mandacadeni, and, in Mysia, the Abrettini47, the people known as the Hellespontii48, and others of less note.

1 AEolis, properly so called, extended as far north as the promontory of Lectum, at the northern entrance of the bay of Adramyttium.

2 Near Cyme, a place of Pelasgian origin. It was called Egyptian Larissa, because Cyrus the Great settled here a body of his Egyptian soldiers. According to D'Anville its site is still known as Larusar.

3 Said to have been so called from Cyme an Amazon. It was on the northern, side of the Hermus: Herodotus gives it the surname of Phriconis. Its site is supposed to be at the modern Sanderli or Sandarlio. The father of the poet Hesiod was a native of this place.

4 It was probably so called in honour of the Emperor Augustus.

5 Situate at a short distance from the coast. We learn from Tacitus that it suffered from the great earthquake in the time of Tiberius. Its site is called Guzel-Hissar, according to D'Anville.

6 Originally named Agroeira or Alloeira. There is a place still called Aala, on the river Hermus, but Hamilton found no remains of antiquity there.

7 Or the "New Walls." Strabo speaks of it as distant thirty stadia from Larissa.

8 Its site is unknown; but it must not be confounded with the place of that name mentioned in the last Chapter, which stood on the sea-coast. It suffered from the great earthquake in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar.

9 Or Grynium, forty stadia from Myrina, and seventy from Elæa. It contained a sanctuary of Apollo with an ancient oracle and a splendid temple of white marble. Parmenio, the general of Alexander, took the place by assault and sold the inhabitants as slaves. It is again mentioned by Pliny in B. xxxii. c. 21.

10 This passage seems to be in a corrupt state, and it is difficult to arrive at Pliny's exact meaning.

11 The port of the Pergameni. Strabo places it south of the river Caïcus, twelve stadia from that river, and 120 from Pergamum. Its site is uncertain, but Leake fixes it at a place called Kliseli, on the road from the south to Pergamum.

12 Its modern name is said to be Ak-Su or Bakir.

13 On the coast of the Elaitic gulf. It was almost destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of the Emperor Titus. Its site is by some thought to have been at Sanderli.

14 Supposed to have been situate near the modern Cape Coloni. It was here that in the war with Antiochus, B.C. 191–190, the Roman fleet was hauled up for the winter and protected by a ditch or rampart.

15 So called from Lysimachus, the son of Agathocles.

16 A strong place opposite to Lesbos. It was on the road from Adramyttium to the plain of the Caïcus. Its site is generally fixed at Dikeli Koi.

17 Or Carine. The army of Xerxes, on its route to the Hellespont, marched through this place. Its site is unknown.

18 It lay outside of the bay of Adramyttium and the promontory of Pyrrha.

19 Mentioned in the Iliad with Chryse and Tenedos.

20 A place called Kutchulan, or, as some write it, Cotschiolan-Kuni, is supposed to occupy its site.

21 Or Thebes, in the vicinity of Troy.

22 In the plain of Thebes between Antandros and Adramyttium. It had a temple of Artemis, of which the Antandrii had the superintendence, Its site does not appear to have been ascertained.

23 Not improbably the Chryse, mentioned by Homer in the Iliad, B. i. II. 37, 390, 431; but there were several places of this name.

24 See the note to Scepsis in the present Chapter.

25 Or Gergis, Gergithus, or Gergithes, a town in the Troad, north of Scamander. It was a place with an acropolis and strong walls. Attalus, king of Pergamus, transplanted the people of Gergis to another spot near the sources of the Caïcus, whence we afterwards find a place called Gergetha or Gergithion, in the vicinity of Larissa. The old town of Gergis was by some said to have been the birth-place of the Sibyl, and its coins have her image impressed on them.

26 Also called Neandria, upon the Hellespont.

27 South of Adramyttium; in its vicinity were copper-mines and celebrated vineyards. It was here that Thucydides is said to have died.

28 In the district of Coryphantes, opposite to Lesbos, and north of Atarneus. Pliny speaks of the oysters of Coryphas, B. xxxii. c. 6.

29 This Aphrodisias does not appear to have been identified.

30 Again mentioned by Pliny in B. xi. c. 80. Scepsis was an ancient city in the interior of the Troad, south-east of Alexandria, in the mountains of Ida. Its inhabitants were removed by Antigonus to Alexandria; but being permitted by Lysimachus to return to their homes, they built a new city, and the remains of the old town were then called Palæscepsis. This place is famous in literary history for being the spot where certain MSS. of Aristotle and Theophrastus were buried to prevent their transfer to Pergamus. When dug up they were found nearly destroyed by mould, and in this condition were removed by Sylla to Athens.

31 Sometimes called the Lycormas, now known as the Fidhari or Fidharo.

32 Frequently mentioned by Homer.

33 Still known as Ida or Kas-Dagh.

34 More generally known as Adramyttium or Adramyteum, now Adramiti or Edremit. According to tradition it was founded by Adramys, the brother of Crœsus, king of Lydia. It is mentioned as a sea-port in the Acts, xxvii. 2. There are no traces of ancient remains on its site.

35 One of the heights of Mount Ida in the Troad, now called Kaz-Dag. The territory in this vicinity, as we learn from Virgil and Seneca, was famous for its fertility. The modern village of Iné is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient town of Gargara.

36 Now Antandro, at the head of the Gulf of Adramyttium. Aristotle also says that its former name was Edonis, and that it was inhabited by a Thracian tribe of Edoni. Herodotus as well as Aristotle also speak of the seizure of the place by the Cimmerii in their incursion into Asia.

37 Now Cape Baba or Santa Maria, the south-west promontory of the Troad.

38 Or Sminthian Apollo. This appears to have been situate at the Chrysa last mentioned by Pliny as no longer in existence. Strabo places Chrysa on a hill, and he mentions the temple of Smintheus and speaks of a symbol which recorded the etymon of that name, the mouse which lay at the foot of the wooden figure, the work of Scopas. According to an ancient tradition, Apollo had his name of Smintheus given him as being the mouse-destroyer, for, according to Apion, the meaning of Smintheus was a "mouse."

39 According to tradition this place was in early times the residence of Cycnus, a Thracian prince, who possessed the adjoining country, and the island of Tenedos, opposite to which Colone was situate on the mainland. Pliny however here places it in the interior.

40 The site of this Apollonia is at Abullionte, on a lake of the same name, the Apolloniatis of Strabo. Its remains are very inconsiderable.

41 Or Lycus, now known as the Edrenos.

42 Of this people nothing whatever is known.

43 D'Anville thinks that the modern Bali-Kesri occupies the site of Miletopolis.

44 Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a place called Pœmaninum near Cyzicus.

45 The inhabitants of Polichna, a town of the Troad.

46 The people of Pionia, near Scepsis and Gargara.

47 They occupied the greater part of Mysia Proper. They had a native divinity to which they paid peculiar honours, by the Greeks cailed ζεύς ᾿αβπεττηνὸς.

48 The same as the Olympeni or Olympieni, in the district of Olympene at the foot of Mount Olympus; next to whom, on the south and west, were the Abretteni.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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