6. That the common prize, proposed to be obtained by the conquerors, was the fertile country which I am describing, is confirmed by many circumstances which happened both before and after the Trojan times. When even the Amazons ventured to invade it, Priam and Bellerophon are said to have undertaken an expedition against these women. Anciently there were cities which bore the names of the Amazons. In the Ilian plain there is a hill “which men call Batieia, but the immortals, the tomb of the bounding (πολυσκάρθμοιο) Myrina,” who, according to historians, was one of the Amazons, and they found this conjecture on the epithet, for horses are said to be εὐσκάρθμοι on account of their speed; and she was called πολύσκαρθμος from the rapidity with which she drove the chariot. Myrina therefore, the place, was named after the Amazon. In the same manner the neighbouring islands were invaded on account of their fertility; among which were Rhodes and Cos. That they were inhabited before the Trojan times clearly appears from the testimony of Homer.[1258] 7. After the Trojan times, the migrations of Greeks and of Treres, the inroads of Cimmerians and Lydians, afterwards of Persians and Macedonians, and lastly of Galatians, threw everything into confusion. An obscurity arose not from these changes only, but from the disagreement between authors in their narration of the same events, and in their description of the same persons; for they called Trojans Phrygians, like the Tragic poets; and Lycians Carians, and similarly in other instances. The Trojans who, from a small beginning, increased so much in power that they became kings of kings, furnished a motive to the poet and his interpreters, for determining what country ought to be called Troy. For the poet calls by the common name of Trojans all their auxiliaries, as he calls their enemies Danai and Achæi. But certainly we should not give the name of Troy to Paphlagonia, or to Caria, or to Lycia, which borders upon it. I mean when the poet says, “the Trojans advanced with the clashing of armour and shouts,”[1259] and where he speaks of their enemies, “but the Achæi advanced silently, breathing forth warlike ardour,”[1260] and thus frequently in other passages. We must endeavour, however, to distinguish as far as we are able one nation from another, notwithstanding this uncertainty. If anything relative to ancient history escapes my notice, it must be pardoned, for this is not the province of the geographer; my concern is with the present state of people and places. 8. There are two mountains situated above the Propontis, the Mysian Olympus[1261] and Ida.[1262] At the foot of Olympus is Bithynia, and, contiguous to the mountain, between Ida and the sea, is Troy.