Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 9.3.13

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[13] On the seacoast after Anticyra, one comes first to a town called Opisthomarathus; then to a cape called Pharygium, where there is an anchoring-place; then to the harbor that is last, which, from the fact in the case, is called Mychus;¹ and it lies below Helicon and Ascre. And the oracle of Abae is not far from this region, nor Ambrysus, nor Medeon,² which bears the same name as the Boeotian Medeon. Still farther in the interior, after Delphi, approximately towards the east, is a town Daulis, where Tereus the Thracian is said to have held sway (the scene of the mythical story of Philomela and Procne is laid there, though Thucydides³ says at Megara). The place got its name from the thickets, for they call thickets “dauli.” Now Homer called it Daulis, but later writers call it Daulia. And “Cyparissus,” in the words

“held Cyparissus,”

⁴is interpreted by writers in two ways, by some as bearing the same name as the tree,⁵ and by others, by a slight change in the spelling, as a village below Lycoreia.⁶

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

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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.) — 9.3.13 focus

[13] ἑξῆς γὰρ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ μετὰ τὴν Ἀντικύραν πολίχνιόν ἐστιν Ὀπισθομάραθος· εἶτʼ ἄκρα Φαρύγιον ἔχουσα ὕφορμον· εἶθʼ ὁ λιμὴν ὕστατος ὁ προσαγορευθεὶς μυχὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος, ὑπὸ τῷ Ἑλικῶνι καὶ τῇ Ἄσκρῃ κείμενος. οὐδʼ αἱ Ἀβαὶ δὲ τὸ μαντεῖον ἄπωθεν τῶν τόπων τούτων ἐστίν, οὐδʼ ἡ Ἄμβρυσος, οὐδʼ ἡ Μεδεὼν ὁμώνυμος τῇ Βοιωτιακῇ. ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν τῇ μεσογαίᾳ μετὰ Δελφοὺς ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἕω Δαυλὶς πολίχνιον, ὅπου Τηρέα τὸν Θρᾷκά φασι δυναστεῦσαι· καὶ τὰ περὶ Φιλομήλαν καὶ Πρόκνην ἐκεῖ μυθεύουσι¹. τοὔνομα δὲ τῷ τόπῳ γεγονέναι ἀπὸ τοῦ δάσους· δαυλοὺς γὰρ καλοῦσι τὰ δάση. Ὅμηρος μὲν οὖν Δαυλίδα εἶπεν, οἱ δʼ ὕστερον Δαυλίαν. καὶ τὸ οἳ Κυπάρισσον ἔχον δέχονται διττῶς, οἱ μὲν ὁμωνύμως τῷ φυτῷ οἱ δὲ παρωνύμως κώμην ὑπὸ τῇ Λυκωρείᾳ.

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.) — 9.3.13 focus

[13] Immediately on the sea-coast, next after Anticyra,¹ and behind² it, is the small city Marathus; then a promontory, Pharygium, which has a shelter for vessels; then the harbour at the farthest end, called Mychus,³ from the accident of its situation between Helicon⁴ and Ascra.

Nor is Abae,⁵ the seat of an oracle, far from these places, nor Ambrysus,⁶ nor Medeon, of the same name as a city in Boeotia.

In the inland parts, next after Delphi, towards the east is Daulis,⁷ a small town, where, it is said, Tereus, the Thracian, was prince; and there they say is the scene of the fable of Philomela and Procne; Thucydides lays it there; but other writers refer it to Megara. The name of the place is derived from the thickets there, for they call thickets Dauli. Homer calls it Daulis, but subsequent writers Daulia, and the words

they who occupied Cyparissus,⁸

are understood in a double sense; some persons supposing it to have its name from the tree of the country, but others from a village situated below the Lycoreian territory.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Inmost recess.

2. On the site of Medeon see Frazer’s Pausanias, note on Paus. 36.6

3. But Thuc. 2.29 says: In that country (Daulia) Itys suffered at the hands of Philomela and Procne.” Eustathius ad Iliad 2.520 repeats without correction Strabo’s erroneous reference.

4. Hom. Il. 2.519

5. Cyparissus is the word for cypress tree.

6. As the text stands, the meaning is obscure. The scholiast on Ven. A, Hom. Il. 2.519 , says that Cyparissus was named after Cyparissus the brother of Orchomenus, or after the cypress trees that grew in it; and the scholiast on Ven. B ibid., “Cyparissus, the present Apollonias, named after Cyparissus.” Paus. 10.36.3 says: “In earlier times the name of the city was Cyparissus, and Homer, in his list of the Phocians, purposely used this name, though the city was even then called Anticyra” (see Frazer, note ad loc.). On the position of Lycoreia, see 9. 3. 3.

Strabo Geography 9.3.13

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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