Strabo Geography 13.1.25

[25] Plato ¹ conjectures, however, that after the time of the floods three kinds of civilization were formed: the first, that on the mountain tops, which was simple and wild, when men were in fear of the waters which still deeply covered the plains; the second, that on the foothills, when men were now gradually taking courage because the plains were beginning to be relieved of the waters; and the third, that in the plains. One might speak equally of a fourth and fifth, or even more, but last of all that on the seacoast and in the islands, when men had been finally released from all such fear; for the greater or less courage they took in approaching the sea would indicate several different stages of civilization and manners, first as in the case of the qualities of goodness and wildness, which in some way further served as a foundation for the milder qualities in the second stage. But in the second stage also there is a difference to be noted, I mean between the rustic and semi-rustic and civilized qualities; and, beginning with these last qualities, the gradual assumption of new names ended in the polite and highest culture, in accordance with the change of manners for the better along with the changes in places of abode and in modes of life. Now these differences, according to Plato, ² are suggested by the poet, who sets forth as an example of the first stage of civilization the life of the Cyclopes, who lived on uncultivated fruits and occupied the mountain tops, living in caves: “but all these things,” he says, “grow unsown and unploughed” for them. . . . ³ And as an example of the second stage, the life in the time of Dardanus, who ⁴ And of the third stage, the life in the plains in the time of Ilus; ⁵ for he is the traditional founder of Ilium, and it was from him that the city took its name. And it is reasonable to suppose, also, that he was buried in the middle of the plain for this reason—that he was the first to take up his abode in the plains: ⁶ Yet even Ilus did not have full courage, for he did not found the city at the place where it now is, but about thirty stadia higher up towards the east, and towards Mt. Ida and Dardania, at the place now called “Village of the Ilians.” ⁷ But the people of the present Ilium, being fond of glory and wishing to show that their Ilium was the ancient city, have offered a troublesome argument to those who base their evidence on the poetry of Homer, for their Ilium does not appear to have been the Homeric city. Other inquirers also find that the city changed its site several times, but at last settled permanently where it now is at about the time of Croesus. ⁸ I take for granted, then, that such removals into the parts lower down, which took place in those times, indicate different stages in modes of life and civilization; but this must be further investigated at another time.