Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 10.4.7

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter

← Previous Next →

[7] There are several cities in Crete, but the greatest and most famous are three: Cnossus, Gortyna and Cydonia. The praises of Cnossus are hymned above the rest both by Homer, who calls it “great” and “the kingdom of Minos,”¹ and by the later poets. Furthermore, it continued for a long time to win the first honors; then it was humbled and deprived of many of its prerogatives, and its superior rank passed over to Gortyna and Lyctus; but later it again recovered its olden dignity as the metropolis. Cnossus is situated in a plain, its original circuit being thirty stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territories, being two hundred stadia distant from Gortyna, and a hundred and twenty from Lyttus, which the poet named Lyctus.² Cnossus is twenty-five stadia from the northern sea, Gortyna is ninety from the Libyan Sea, and Lyctus itself is eighty from the Libyan. And Cnossus has Heracleium as its seaport.

Geography. Strabo. Horace Leonard Jones (Translator). London. 1924-1929.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Geography (Books 6-14) (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 10.4.7 focus

[7] πόλεις δʼ εἰσὶν ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ πλείους μέν, μέγισται δὲ καὶ ἐπιφανέσταται τρεῖς, Κνωσσὸς Γόρτυνα Κυδωνία. διαφερόντως δὲ τὴν Κνωσσὸν καὶ Ὅμηρος ὑμνεῖ μεγάλην καλῶν καὶ βασίλειον τοῦ Μίνω καὶ οἱ ὕστερον. καὶ δὴ καὶ διετέλεσε μέχρι πολλοῦ φερομένη τὰ πρῶτα, εἶτα ἐταπεινώθη καὶ πολλὰ τῶν νομίμων ἀφῃρέθη, μετέστη δὲ τὸ ἀξίωμα εἴς τε Γόρτυναν καὶ Λύττον, ὕστερον δʼ ἀνέλαβε πάλιν τὸ παλαιὸν σχῆμα τὸ τῆς μητροπόλεως. κεῖται δʼ ἐν πεδίῳ κύκλον ἔχουσα ἡ Κνωσσὸς τὸν ἀρχαῖον τριάκοντα σταδίων, μεταξὺ τῆς Λυκτίας καὶ τῆς Γορτυνίας, διέχουσα τῆς μὲν Γορτύνης σταδίους διακοσίους, τῆς δὲ Λύττου, ἣν ὁ ποιητὴς Λύκτον ὠνόμασεν, ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι· τῆς δὲ θαλάττης Κνωσσὸς μὲν τῆς βορείου πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι, Γόρτυνα δὲ τῆς Λιβυκῆς ἐνενήκοντα, Λύττος δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ τῆς Λιβυκῆς ὀγδοήκοντα. ἔχει δʼ ἐπίνειον τὸ Ἡράκλειον ἡ Κνωσσός.

Translations (1)

Geography Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.) — 10.4.7 focus

[7] There are many cities in Crete, but the largest and most distinguished are Cnossus,¹ Gortyna,² Cydonia.³ Both Homer and later writers celebrate Cnossus⁴ above the rest, calling it vast, and the palace of Minos. It maintained its pre-eminence for a long period. It afterwards lost its ascendency, and was deprived of many of its customs and privileges. The superiority was transferred to Gortyna and Lyctus.⁵ But it afterwards recovered its ancient rank of the capital city. Cnossus lies in a plain, with its ancient circumference of 30 stadia, between the Lyctian and Gortynian territory; [distant] 200 stadia from Gortyna, and from Lyttus 120, which the poet⁶calls Lyctus. Cnossus is at the distance of 25 stadia from the northern sea; Gortyna 90, and Lyctus 80, stadia from the African sea. Cnossus has a marine arsenal, Heracleium.⁷

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Hom. Od. 19.178 .

2. Hom. Il. 2.647 and 17.611 .

Strabo Geography 10.4.7

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers