[596] Strabo. xvii. p. 834. An altar of Odysseus was shown upon
this island, as well as some other evidences (σύμβολα) of his
visit to the place.
Apollônius Rhodius copies the Odyssey in speaking of the island
of Thrinakia and the cattle of Helios (iv. 965, with Schol.). He
conceives Sicily as Thrinakia, a name afterwards exchanged for
Trinakria. The Scholiast ad Apoll. (1. c.) speaks of Trinax king
of Sicily. Compare iv. 291 with the Scholia.
[597] Thucyd. i. 25-vi. 2. These local legends appear in the eyes
of Strabo convincing evidence (i. p. 23-26),—the tomb of the
siren Parthenopê at Naples, the stories at Cumæ and Dikæarchia
about the νεκυομαντεῖον of Avernus, and the existence of places
named after Baius and Misênus, the companions of Odysseus, etc.
[598] Strabo, iii. p. 150-157. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον οἱ κατὰ τὴν
Ἰταλίαν καὶ Σικελίαν τόποι καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν τοιούτων
σημεῖα ὑπογράφουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰβηρίᾳ Ὀδύσσεια πόλις
δείκνυται, καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερὸν, καὶ ἄλλα μύρια ἴχνη τῆς τε ἐκείνου
πλάνης, καὶ ἄλλων τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Τρωϊκοῦ πολέμου περιγενομένων (I
adopt Grosskurd’s correction of the text from γενομένων to
περιγενομένων, in the note to his German translation of Strabo).
Asklepiadês (of Myrlea in Bithynia, about 170 B. C.) resided
some time in Turditania, the south-western region of Spain along
the Guadalquivir, as a teacher of Greek literature (παιδεύσας τὰ
γραμματικὰ), and composed a periegesis of the Iberian tribes,
which unfortunately has not been preserved. He made various
discoveries in archæology, and successfully connected his old
legends with several portions of the territory before him. His
discoveries were,—1. In the temple of Athênê, at this Iberian
town of Odysseia, there were shields and beaks of ships affixed
to the walls, monuments of the visit of Odysseus himself. 2.
Among the Kallæki, in the northern part of Portugal, several of
the companions of Teukros had settled and left descendants: there
were in that region two Grecian cities, one called Hellenês,
the other called Amphilochi; for Amphilochus also, the son of
Amphiaraus, had died in Iberia, and many of his soldiers had
taken up their permanent residence in the interior. 3. Many new
inhabitants had come into Iberia with the expedition of Hêraklês;
some also after the conquest of Messênê by the Lacedæmonians. 4.
In Cantabria, on the north. coast of Spain, there was a town and
region of Lacedæmonian colonists. 5. In the same portion of the
country there was the town of Opsikella, founded by Opsikellas,
one of the companions of Antenôr in his emigration from Troy
(Strabo, iii. p. 157).
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