[58] All writers do not agree in their description of the Hellespont, and many opinions are advanced on the subject. Some describe the Propontis to be the Hellespont; others, that part of the Propontis which is to the south of Perinthus; others include a part of the exterior sea which opens to the Aegaean and the Gulf Melas, each assigning different limits. Some make their measurement from Sigeum to Lampsacus, and Cyzicus, and Parium, and Priapus; and one is to be found who measures from Singrium, a promontory of Lesbos. Some do not hesitate to give the name of Hellespont to the whole distance as far as the Myrtoan Sea, because (as in the Odes
of Pindar) when Hercules sailed from Troy through the virgin strait of Hella, and arrived at the Myrtoan Sea, he returned back to Cos, in consequence of the wind Zephyrus blowing contrary to his course. Thus some consider it correct to apply the name Hellespont to the whole of the Aegaean Sea, and the sea along the coast of Thessaly and Macedonia, invoking the testimony of Homer, who says,
Thou shalt see, if such thy will, in spring,
My ships shall sail to Hellespont.
But the argument is contradicted in the following lines,
Piros, Imbracius’ son, who came from Aenos.
Piros commanded the Thracians,
Whose limits are the quick-flowing Hellespont.
So that he would consider all people settled next to the Thracians as excluded from the Hellespont. For Aenos is situated in the district formerly called Apsynthis, but now Corpilice. The territory of the Cicones is next towards the west. E.
