The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
From the Sacred Promontory to Olbia[204] there remain 367 stadia. In
this distance are Crambusa,[205] and Olympus[206] a large city, and a
mountain of the same name, which is called also Phœnicus;[207] then
follows Corycus, a tract of sea-coast.
9. Then follows Phaselis,[208] a considerable city, with three harbours
and a lake. Above it is the mountain Solyma[209] and Termessus,[210] a
Pisidic city, situated on the defiles, through which there is a pass
over the mountain to Milyas. Alexander demolished it, with the intention
of opening the defiles.
About Phaselis, near the sea, are narrow passes through which Alexander
conducted his army. There is a mountain called Climax. It overhangs the
sea of Pamphylia, leaving a narrow road along the coast, which in calm
weather is not covered with water, and travellers can pass along it, but
when the sea is rough, it is in a great measure hidden by the waves. The
pass over the mountains is circuitous and steep, but in fair weather
persons travel on the road along the shore. Alexander came there when
there was a storm, and trusting generally to fortune, set out before the
sea had receded, and the soldiers marched during the whole day up to the
middle of the body in water.
Phaselis also is a Lycian city, situated on the confines of Pamphylia.
It is not a part of the Lycian body, but is an independent city.
10. The poet distinguishes the Solymi from the Lycians, when he
despatches Bellerophon by the king of the Lycians to this second
adventure;
“he encountered the brave Solymi;”[211]
other writers say that the Lycians were formerly called Solymi, and
afterwards Termilæ, from the colonists that accompanied Sarpedon from
Crete; and afterwards Lycians, from Lycus the son of Pandion, who, after
having been banished from his own country, was admitted by Sarpedon to a
share in the government; but their story does not agree with Homer. We
prefer the opinion of those who say that the poet called the people
Solymi who have now the name of Milyæ, and whom we have mentioned
before.
CHAPTER IV.
1. After Phaselis is Olbia; here Pamphylia begins. It is a large
fortress. It is followed by the Cataractes,[212] as it is called, a
river which descends violently from a lofty rock, with a great body of
water, like a winter torrent, so that the noise of it is heard at a
great distance.
Next is Attaleia,[213] a city, so called from its founder Attalus
Philadelphus, who also settled another colony at Corycus, a small city
near Attaleia, by introducing other inhabitants, and extending the
circuit of the walls.
It is said, that between Phaselis and Attaleia, Thebe and Lyrnessus[214]
are shown; for, according to Callisthenes, a part of the Trojan
Cilicians were driven from the plain of Thebe into Pamphylia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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