Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 9.2.41

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[41] Aspledon was by some called Spledon, without the first syllable. Then the name, both of it and of the country, was changed to Eudeielos, perhaps because, from its “evening” inclination,¹ it offered a special advantage peculiar to its inhabitants, especially the mildness of its winters; for the two ends of the day are coldest; and of these the evening is colder than the morning, for as night approaches the cold is more intense, and as night retires it abates. But the sun is a means of mitigating the cold. The place, therefore, that is warmed most by the sun at the coldest time is mildest in winter. Eudeielos is twenty stadia distant from Orchomenus. And the River Melas is between them.

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

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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.) — 9.2.41 focus

[41] τὴν δʼ Ἀσπληδόνα χωρὶς τῆς πρώτης συλλαβῆς ἐκάλουν τινές· εἶτʼ Εὐδείελος μετωνομάσθη καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ ἡ χώρα, τάχα τι ἰδίωμα προσφερομένη ἐκ τοῦ δειλινοῦ κλίματος οἰκεῖον τοῖς κατοικοῦσι, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ εὐχείμερον¹. διέχει δὲ τοῦ Ὀρχομενοῦ στάδια εἴκοσι· μεταξὺ δʼ ὁ Μέλας ποταμός.

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.) — 9.2.41 focus

[41] Some persons use the word Aspledon¹ without the first syllable, Spledon. The name both of the city and of the territory was changed to Eudeielos,² which expressed perhaps some peculiar advantage the inhabitants derived from their western position, and especially the mild winters. The extreme parts of the day are the coldest. Of these the evening is colder than the morning, for as night approaches the cold is more intense, and as night retires the cold abates. The severity of the cold is mitigated by the heat of the sun, and the part which during the coldest season has received most of the sun’s heat, is mildest in winter.

It is distant from Orchomenus³ 20 stadia. The river Melas is between them.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Deilinou klimatos: apparently a false etymology of “Eudeielos,” based on the fact that the effect of the sun’s heat is greatest in the deile (evening). But the most likely meaning of eudeielos is “sunny,” the word being used of places exposed to the hot sun (e.g., see Pind. O. 3.111 and Gildersleeve’s note thereon), and having a southerly rather than an “evening” (westerly) inclination, as is the case with Aspledon (Buttmann Lexilogus, s.v. Δείλη sections 7-9). Butcher and Lang, and Murray, in their translations of the Odyssey, e.g., Hom. Od. 9.21 , translate the word “clear seen,” and Cunliffe ( Lexicon Homeric Dialect, “bright, shining,” as though used for εὔδηλος. Certainly Strabo, as the context shows, is thinking of the position of the place and of the sun’s heat (see 10. 2. 12, where he discusses “ eudeielos Ithaca” at length).

Strabo Geography 9.2.41

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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