The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
Delos and Rhodes[569], islands which have now been long famous, are
recorded to have risen up in this way. More lately there have been some
smaller islands formed; Anapha, which is beyond Melos; Nea, between
Lemnos and the Hellespont; Halone, between Lebedos and Teos; Thera[570]
and Therasia, among the Cyclades, in the fourth year of the 135th
Olympiad[571]. And among the same islands, 130 years afterwards, Hiera,
also called Automate[572], made its appearance; also Thia, at the
distance of two stadia from the former, 110 years afterwards, in our
own times, when M. Junius Silanus and L. Balbus were consuls, on the
8th of the ides of July[573].
(88.) Opposite to us, and near to Italy, among the Æolian isles, an
island emerged from the sea; and likewise one near Crete, 2500 paces
in extent, and with warm springs in it; another made its appearance in
the third year of the 163rd Olympiad[574], in the Tuscan gulf, burning
with a violent explosion. There is a tradition too that a great number
of fishes were floating about the spot, and that those who employed
them for food immediately expired. It is said that the Pithecusan isles
rose up, in the same way, in the bay of Campania, and that, shortly
afterwards, the mountain Epopos, from which flame had suddenly burst
forth, was reduced to the level of the neighbouring plain. In the
same island, it is said, that a town was sunk in the sea; that in
consequence of another shock, a lake burst out, and that, by a third,
Prochytas was formed into an island, the neighbouring mountains being
rolled away from it.
CHAP 90.—LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN SEPARATED BY THE SEA.
In the ordinary course of things islands are also formed by this means.
The sea has torn Sicily from Italy[575], Cyprus from Syria, Eubœa
from Bœotia[576], Atalante and Macris[577] from Eubœa, Besbycus from
Bithynia, and Leucosia from the promontory of the Sirens.
CHAP. 91. (89.)—ISLANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN UNITED TO THE MAIN LAND.
Again, islands are taken from the sea and added to the main land;
Antissa[578] to Lesbos, Zephyrium to Halicarnassus, Æthusa to Myndus,
Dromiscus and Perne to Miletus, Narthecusa to the promontory of
Parthenium. Hybanda, which was formerly an island of Ionia, is now 200
stadia distant from the sea. Syries is now become a part of Ephesus,
and, in the same neighbourhood, Derasidas and Sophonia form part of
Magnesia; while Epidaurus and Oricum are no longer islands[579].
CHAP. 92. (90.)—LANDS WHICH HAVE BEEN TOTALLY CHANGED INTO SEAS.
The sea has totally carried off certain lands, and first of all, if
we are to believe Plato[580], for an immense space where the Atlantic
ocean is now extended. More lately we see what has been produced by
our inland sea; Acarnania has been overwhelmed by the Ambracian gulf,
Achaia by the Corinthian, Europe and Asia by the Propontis and Pontus.
And besides these, the sea has rent asunder Leucas, Antirrhium, the
Hellespont, and the two Bosphori[581].
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