25. Stratoniceia is a colony of Macedonians. It was embellished by the kings with costly edifices. In the district of the Stratoniceians are two temples. The most celebrated, that of Hecate, is at Lagina, where every year great multitudes assemble at a great festival. Near the city is the temple of Jupiter Chrysaoreus,[172] which is common to all the Carians, and whither they repair to offer sacrifice, and to deliberate on their common interests. They call this meeting the Chrysaoreon, [CAS. 660] which is composed of villages. Those who represent the greatest number of villages have the precedency in voting, like the Ceramiētæ. The Stratoniceians, although they are not of Carian race, have a place in this assembly, because they possess villages included in the Chrysaoric body. In the time of our ancestors there flourished at Stratoniceia a distinguished person, Menippus the orator, surnamed Catocas, whom Cicero[173] commends in one of his writings above all the Asiatic orators whom he had heard, comparing him to Xenocles, and to those who flourished at that time. There is another Stratoniceia, called Stratoniceia at the Taurus, a small town adjacent to the mountain. 26. Alabanda lies at the foot of two eminences, in such a manner as to present the appearance of an ass with panniers. On this account Apollonius Malacus ridicules the city, and also because it abounds with scorpions; he says, it was an ass, with panniers full of scorpions. This city and Mylasa, and the whole mountainous tract between them, swarm with these reptiles. The inhabitants of Alabanda are addicted to luxury and debauchery. It contains a great number of singing girls. Natives of Alabanda, distinguished persons, were two orators, brothers, Menecles, whom we mentioned a little above, and Hierocles, Apollonius, and Molo; the two latter afterwards went to Rhodes. 27. Among the various accounts which are circulated respecting the Carians, the most generally received is that the Carians, then called Leleges, were governed by Minos, and occupied the islands. Then removing to the continent, they obtained possession of a large tract of sea-coast and of the interior, by driving out the former occupiers, who were, for the most part, Leleges and Pelasgi. The Greeks again, Ionians and Dorians, deprived the Carians of a portion of the country. As proofs of their eager pursuit of war, the handles of shields, badges, and crests, all of which are called Carian, are alleged. Anacreon says, “Come, grasp the well-made Caric handles;” and Alcæus— “Shaking a Carian crest.”