_Ancient names of the several districts._ 4. We will now chiefly follow the full and accurate accounts of Herodotus respecting the districts situated near the mouths of the three rivers just mentioned. First, MYGDONIA, on the Thermaic bay, and round the ancient city of Therma, extended, according to Herodotus, to the Axius, which divided this district from Bottiaïs;(1889) and it agrees with this statement that the small river Echeidorus (probably the modern _Gallico_), which fell into the sea at the marshes near the Axius, in the lower part of its course passed through Mygdonia.(1890) To the east this district extended still further; lake Bolbe, beyond Chalcidice, was either in or near Mygdonia.(1891) Thucydides, indeed, makes Mygdonia reach as far as the Strymon;(1892) but this cannot be reconciled with the account of Herodotus (who appears to have possessed a very accurate knowledge of this region), that both the maritime district, west from the Strymon, in which was the Greek city of Argilus, and the land further to the interior, was called BISALTIA.(1893) On the other side, above Mygdonia, was situated (according to Herodotus) the district of CRESTONICA, from which the river Echeidorus flowed down to the coast.(1894) 5. Beyond the Axius, to the west of the stream, immediately after Mygdonia, came BOTTIAIS, which district was on the other side bounded by the united mouth of the Haliacmon and the Lydias;(1895) and thus towards the sea it terminated in a narrow wedge-shaped strip. On this tongue of land were the cities of Ichnæ and Pella,(1896) the first of which was celebrated for an ancient temple;(1897) while Pella became afterwards the royal residence, situated on the lake of the Lydias, at the distance of 120 stadia from the river’s mouth,(1898) and may now be recognised by these marks of its position and some ruins. According to Strabo,(1899) also, the river Axius made the boundary of Bottiæa, and divided it from the district of Amphaxitis, which was the name of the opposite and more elevated side of the Axius.(1900) Thucydides also calls this tract of country Bottiæa;(1901) and distinguishes it from the more recent settlements of the Bottiæans, near Olynthus, in Chalcidice,(1902) which he calls _Bottica_.(1903) 6. The united mouth of the Lydias and Haliacmon, according to Herodotus,(1904) divided Bottiaïs from MACEDONIS; for he can only mean this common mouth when he says that “the rivers Lydias and Haliacmon divide the districts of Bottiaïs and Macedonis, uniting their waters in the same channel.” Further on in the interior the Lydias alone must have been the boundary of Bottiaïs, since otherwise this district would not end in a narrow strip of land; Macedonis, therefore, began on the western bank of the Lydias. In this place nothing more can be said as to the meaning of the word _Macedonis_, before the precise signification of some other names has been determined.