The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
12. And lower down, when speaking of the Delphians and their origin, he
says, that certain persons, called Parnassii, an indigenous tribe,
anciently inhabited Parnassus, about which time Apollo, traversing the
country, reclaimed men from their savage state, by inducing them to
adopt a more civilized mode of life and subsistence; that, setting out
from Athens on his way to Delphi, he took the same road along which the
Athenians at present conduct the procession of the Pythias; that when he
arrived at the Panopeis, he put to death Tityus, who was master of the
district, a violent and lawless man; that the Parnassii having joined
him informed him of Python, another desperate man, surnamed the Dragon.
Whilst he was despatching this man with his arrows, they shouted, Hie
Paian;[432] whence has been transmitted the custom of singing the Pæan
before the onset of a battle; that after the death of the Python the
Delphians burnt even his tent, as they still continue to burn a tent in
memorial of these events. Now what can be more fabulous than Apollo
discharging his arrows, chastising Tityi and Pythons, his journey from
Athens to Delphi, and his travels over the whole country? If he did not
consider these as fables, why did he call the fabulous Themis a woman,
and the fabulous dragon a man, unless he intended to confound the
provinces of history and fable. His account of the Ætolians is similar
to this. After having [CAS. 423] asserted that their country was never
ravaged at any period, he says, that at one time it was inhabited by
Ætolians, who had expelled the Barbarians; that at another time, Ætolus,
together with the Epeii from Elis, inhabited it; [that Ætolus was
overthrown by the Epeii,] and these again by Alcmæon and Diomedes.
I now return to the Phocians.
13. Immediately on the sea-coast, next after Anticyra,[433] and
behind[434] it, is the small city Marathus; then a promontory,
Pharygium, which has a shelter for vessels; then the harbour at the
farthest end, called Mychus,[435] from the accident of its situation
between Helicon[436] and Ascra.
Nor is Abæ,[437] the seat of an oracle, far from these places, nor
Ambrysus,[438] nor Medeon, of the same name as a city in Bœotia.
In the inland parts, next after Delphi, towards the east is Daulis,[439]
a small town, where, it is said, Tereus, the Thracian, was prince; and
there they say is the scene of the fable of Philomela and Procne;
Thucydides lays it there; but other writers refer it to Megara. The name
of the place is derived from the thickets there, for they call thickets
Dauli. Homer calls it Daulis, but subsequent writers Daulia, and the
words
“they who occupied Cyparissus,”[440]
are understood in a double sense; some persons supposing it to have its
name from the tree of the country, but others from a village situated
below the Lycoreian territory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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