The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
13. Beyond this, at the distance of 200 stadia, is situated
Sybaris,[2187] a colony settled by the Achæans, between the two [CAS.
263] rivers Crati[2188] and Sybaris.[2189] Its founder was Is....[2190]
the Helicean.[2191] So great was the prosperity enjoyed by this city
anciently, that it held dominion over four neighbouring people and
twenty-five towns; in the war with the Crotoniatæ it brought into the
field 300,000 men, and occupied a circuit of 50 stadia on the Crati. But
on account of the arrogance and turbulence of its citizens, it was
deprived of all its prosperity by the Crotoniatæ in 70[2192] days, who
took the city, and turning the waters of the river [Crati], overwhelmed
it with an inundation.[2193] Some time after, a few who had escaped came
together and inhabited the site of their former city, but in time they
were dispossessed by the Athenians[2194] and other Greeks, who came and
settled amongst them, but they despised and subjugated them, and removed
the city to a neighbouring place, calling its name Thurii, from a
fountain of that name. The water of the river Sybaris has the peculiar
property of making the horses which drink it shy,[2195] for which reason
they keep their horses away from the river. The Crati turns the hair of
those who bathe in it yellow, and sometimes white, but has been found
salutary for the cure of many disorders. Thurii, after having flourished
for a long time, became a continual prey to the aggressions of the
Leucani,[2196] and afterwards the Tarentini troubling them, they
appealed to the Romans for succour, who, in course of time, sent a
colony[2197] when it was nearly deserted, and changed the name of the
city to Copiæ.[2198]
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