[1] As for Cilicia outside the Taurus, one part of it is called Tracheia ¹ and the other Pedias. ² As for Tracheia, its coast is narrow and has no level ground, or scarcely any; and, besides that, it lies at the foot of the Taurus, which affords a poor livelihood as far as its northern side in the region of Isaura and of the Homonadeis as far as Pisidia; and the same country is also called Tracheiotis, and its inhabitants Tracheiotae. But Cilicia Pedias extends from Soli and Tarsus as far as Issus, and also to those parts beyond which, on the northern side of the Taurus, Cappadocians are situated; for this country consists for the most part of plains and fertile land. Since some parts of this country are inside the Taurus and others outside it, and since I have already spoken of those inside it, let me now speak of those outside it, beginning with the Tracheiotae.

[2] The first place in Cilicia, then, to which one comes, is a stronghold, Coracesium, situated on an abrupt rock, which was used by Diodotus, called Tryphon, as a base of operations at the time when he caused Syria to revolt from the kings and was fighting it out with them, being successful at one time and failing at another. Now Tryphon was hemmed up in a certain place by Antiochus, son of Demetrius, and forced to kill himself; and it was Tryphon, together with the worthlessness of the kings who by succession were then reigning over Syria and at the same time over Cilicia, who caused the Cilicians to organize their gangs of pirates; for on account of his revolutionary attempts others made like attempts at the same time, and thus the dissensions of brethren with one another put the country at the mercy of any who might attack it. The exportation of slaves induced them most of all to engage in their evil business, since it proved most profitable; for not only were they easily captured, but the market, which was large and rich in property, was not extremely far away, I mean Delos, which could both admit and send away ten thousand slaves on the same day; whence arose the proverb, “Merchant, sail in, unload your ship, everything has been sold. The cause of this was the fact that the Romans, having become rich after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, used many slaves; and the pirates, seeing the easy profit therein, bloomed forth in great numbers, themselves not only going in quest of booty but also trafficking in slaves. The kings both of Cyprus and of Egypt cooperated with them in this, being enemies to the Syrians. Neither were the Rhodians friendly to the Syrians, and they therefore afforded them no assistance. And at the same time the pirates, pretending to be slave-dealers, carried on their evil business unchecked. Neither were the Romans concerning themselves as yet so much about the peoples outside the Taurus; but they sent Scipio Aemilianus, and again certain others, to inspect the tribes and the cities; and they decided that the above mentioned piracy was due to the incompetence of the rulers, although they were ashamed, since they themselves had ratified the hereditary succession from Seleucus Nicator, to deprive them of it. And this is what made the Parthians masters of the country, who got possession of the region on the far side of the Euphrates; and at last made also the Armenians masters, who not only seized the country outside the Taurus even as far as Phoenicia, but also, so far as they could, overthrew the kings and the whole royal stock; the sea, however, they gave over to the Cilicians. Then, after these people had grown in power, the Romans were forced to destroy them by war and with an army, although they had not hindered their growing power. Now it is hard to condemn the Romans of negligence, since, being engaged with matters that were nearer and more urgent, they were unable to watch those that were farther away. So much I have decided to say by way of a brief digression from my geographical description.

[3] After Coracesium, one comes to Arsinoe, ³ a city; then to Hamaxia, a settlement on a hill, with a harbor, where ship-building timber is brought down. Most of this timber is cedar; and it appears that this region beyond others abounds in cedar-wood for ships; and it was on this account that Antony assigned this region to Cleopatra, since it was suited to the building of her fleets. Then one comes to Laertes, a stronghold on a breast-shaped hill, with a mooring-place. Then to Selinus, a city and river. Then to Cragus, a rock which is precipitous all round and near the sea. Then to Charadrus, a fortress, which also has a mooring-place (above it lies Mt. Andriclus); and the coast alongside it, called Platanistes, is rugged. Then to Anemurium, a promontory, where the mainland approaches closest to Cyprus, in the direction of the promontory of Crommyus, ⁴ the passage across being three hundred and fifty stadia. Now the coasting-voyage along Cilicia from the borders of Pamphylia to Anemurium is eight hundred and twenty stadia, whereas the rest, as far as Soli, is about five hundred stadia. On this latter one comes to Nagidus, the first city after Anemurium; then to Arsinoe, which has a landing-place; then to a place called Melania, ⁵ and to Celenderis, a city with a harbor. Some writers, among whom is Artemidorus, make Celenderis, not Coracesium, the beginning of Cilicia. And he says that the distance from the Pelusian mouth ⁶ to Orthosia is three thousand nine hundred stadia; to the Orontes River, one thousand one hundred and thirty; to the Gates ⁷ next thereafter, five hundred and twenty-five; and to the borders ⁸ of the Cilicians, one thousand two hundred and sixty. ⁹

[4] Then one comes to Holmi, where the present Seleuceians formerly lived; but when Seleuceia on the Calycadnus was founded, they migrated there; for immediately on doubling the shore, which forms a promontory called Sarpedon, one comes to the outlet of the Calycadnus. Near the Calycadnus is ,also Zephyrium, likewise a promontory. The river affords a voyage inland to Seleuceia, a city which is well-peopled and stands far aloof from the Cilician and Pamphylian usages. Here were born in my time noteworthy men of the Peripatetic sect of philosophers, Athenaeus and Xenarchus. Of these, Athenaeus engaged also in affairs of state and was for a time leader of the people in his native land; and then, having fallen into a friendship with Murena, he was captured along with Murena when in flight with him, after the plot against Augustus Caesar had been detected, but, being clearly proven guiltless, he was released by Caesar. And when, on his return to ¹⁰ Rome, the first men who met him were greeting him and questioning him, he repeated the following from Euripides: ¹² But he survived his return only a short time, having been killed in the collapse, which took place in the night, of the house in which he lived. Xenarchus, however, of whom I was a pupil, did not tarry long at home, but resided at Alexandria and at Athens and finally at Rome, having chosen the life of a teacher; and having enjoyed the friendship both of Areius and of Caesar Augustus, he continued to be held in honor down to old age; but shortly before the end he lost his sight, and then died of a disease.

[5] After the Calycadnus one comes to the rock Poecile, ¹³ as it is called, which has steps hewn in it that lead to Seleuceia; then to Anemurium, a promontory, bearing the same name as the former, ¹⁴ and to Crambusa, an island, and to Corycus, a promontory, above which, at a distance of twenty stadia, is the Corycian cave, in which the best crocus ¹⁵ grows. It is a great circular hollow, with a rocky brow situated all round it that is everywhere quite high. Going down into it, one comes to a floor that is uneven and mostly rocky, but full of trees of the shrub kind, both the evergreen and those that are cultivated. And among these trees are dispersed also the plots of ground which produce the crocus. There is also a cave here, with a great spring, which sends forth a river of pure and transparent water; the river forthwith empties beneath the earth, and then, alter running invisible underground, issues forth into the sea. It is called Picrum Hydor. ¹⁶

[6] Then, after Corycus, one comes to Elaeussa, an island lying close to the mainland, which Archelaüs settled, making it a royal residence, ¹⁷ after he had received ¹⁸ the whole of Cilicia Tracheia except Seleuceia—the same way in which it was obtained formerly by Amyntas ¹⁹ and still earlier by Cleopatra; ²⁰ for since the region was naturally well adapted to the business of piracy both by land and by sea—by land, because of the height of the mountains and the large tribes that live beyond them, tribes which have plains and farm-lands that are large and easily overrun, and by sea, because of the good supply, not only of shipbuilding timber, but also of harbors and fortresses and secret recesses—with all this in view, I say, the Romans thought that it was better for the region to be ruled by kings than to be under the Roman prefects sent to administer justice, who were not likely always to be present or to have armed forces with them. Thus Archelaüs received, in addition to Cappadocia, Cilicia Tracheia; and the boundary ²¹ of the latter, the river Lamus and the village of the same name, lies between Soli and Elaeussa.

[7] Near the mountain ridges of the Taurus ²² lies the piratical stronghold of Zenicetus—I mean Olympus, both mountain and fortress, whence are visible all Lycia and Pamphylia and Pisidia and Milyas; but when the mountain was captured by Isauricus, ²³ Zenicetus burnt himself up with his whole house. To him belonged also Corycus and Phaselis and many places in Pamphylia; but all were taken by Isauricus.

[8] After Lamus one comes to Soli, a noteworthy city, the beginning of the other Cilicia, that which is round Issus; it was founded by Achaeans and Rhodians from Lindus. Since this city was of scant population, Pompey the Great settled in it those survivors of the pirates whom he judged most worthy of being saved and provided for; ²⁴ and he changed its name to Pompëiopolis. Among the famous natives of Soli were: Chrysippus the Stoic philosopher, whose father had moved there from Tarsus; Philemon, the comic poet; and Aratus, who wrote the work entitled The Phaenomena, in verse.

[9] Then to Zephyrium, which bears the same name as the place near Calycadnus. ²⁵ Then, a little above the sea, to Anchiale, which, according to Aristobulus, was founded by Sardanapallus. Here, he says, is the tomb of Sardanapallus, and a stone figure which represents the fingers of the right hand as snapping together, and the following inscription in Assyrian letters: “Sardanapallus, the son of Anacyndaraxes, built Anchiale and Tarsus in one day. Eat, drink, be merry, because all things else are not worth this,” meaning the snapping of the fingers. Choerilus also mentions this inscription; and indeed the following verses are everywhere known: ²⁶

[10] Above Anchiale lies Cyinda, a fortress, which at one time was used as a treasury by the Macedonians. But the treasures were taken away by Eumenes, when he revolted from Antigonus. And still above this and Soli is a mountainous country, in which is a city Olbe, with a temple of Zeus, founded by Ajax the son of Teucer. The priest of this temple became dynast of Cilicia Tracheia; and then the country was beset by numerous tyrants, and the gangs of pirates were organized. And after the overthrow of these they called this country the domain of Teucer, and called the same also the priesthood of Teucer; and most of the priests were named Teucer or Ajax. But Aba, the daughter of Xenophanes, one of the tyrants, came into this family by marriage and herself took possession of the empire, her father having previously received it in the guise of guardian. But later both Antony and Cleopatra conferred it upon her as a favor, being moved by her courteous entreaties. And then she was overthrown, but the empire remained with her descendants. After Anchiale one comes to the outlets of the Cydnus, near the Rhegma, as it is called. It is a place that forms into a lake, having also ancient arsenals; and into it empties the Cydnus River, which flows through the middle of Tarsus and has its sources in the city Taurus, which lies above Tarsus. The lake is also the naval station of Tarsus.

[11] Now thus far the seaboard as a whole, beginning at the Peraea of the Rhodians, extends towards the equinoctial east from the equinoctial west, ²⁷ and then bends in the direction of winter sunrise ²⁸ as far as Issus, and then forthwith takes a bend towards the south as far as Phoenicia; and the remainder extends towards the west as far as the Pillars ²⁹ and there ends. Now the truth is that the actual isthmus of the peninsula which I have described is that which extends from Tarsus and the outlet of the Cydnus to Amisus, for this is the shortest distance from Amisus to the boundaries of Cilicia; and the distance thence to Tarsus is one hundred and twenty stadia, and the distance from there to the outlet of the Cydnus is no more than that. And in fact to Issus, and the sea near it, there is no other road from Amisus which is shorter than that through Tarsus, and Tarsus is not nearer to Issus than to the Cydnus; ³⁰ and therefore it is clear that in reality this would be the isthmus; but still people call that which extends as far as the Gulf of Issus the true isthmus, thus betraying the facts because of the significance of the gulf. And it is because of this very thing that I, without making any accurate distinctions, represent the line from Rhodes, which I have prolonged to the Cydnus, to be the same as the line extending as far as Issus, and also assert that the Taurus extends in a straight line with that line as far as India.

[12] As for Tarsus, it lies in a plain; and it was founded by the Argives who wandered with Triptolemus in quest of Io; and it is intersected in the middle by the Cydnus River, which flows past the very gymnasium of the young men. Now inasmuch as the source of the river is not very far away and its stream passes through a deep ravine and then empties immediately into the city, its discharge is both cold and swift; and hence it is helpful both to men and to cattle that are suffering from swollen sinews, if they immerse themselves in its waters.

[13] The people at Tarsus have devoted themselves so eagerly, not only to philosophy, but also to the whole round of education in general, that they have surpassed Athens, Alexandria, or any other place that can be named where there have been schools and lectures of philosophers. But it is so different from other cities that there the men who are fond of learning, are all natives, and foreigners are not inclined to sojourn there; neither do these natives stay there, but they complete their education abroad; and when they have completed it they are pleased to live abroad, and but few go back home. But the opposite is the case with the other cities which I have just mentioned except Alexandria; for many resort to them and pass time there with pleasure, but you would not see many of the natives either resorting to places outside their country through love of learning or eager about pursuing learning at home. With the Alexandrians, however, both things take place, for they admit ³¹ many foreigners and also send not a few of their own citizens abroad. Further, the city of Tarsus has all kinds of schools of rhetoric; and in general it not only has a flourishing population but also is most powerful, thus keeping up the reputation of the mother-city. ³²

[14] The following men were natives of Tarsus: among the Stoics, Antipater and Archedemus and Nestor; and also the two Athenodoruses, one of whom, called Cordylion, lived with Marcus Cato and died at his house; and the other, the son of Sandon, called Cananites after some village, was Caesar’s teacher and was greatly honored by him; and when he returned to his native land, now an old man, he broke up the government there established, which was being badly conducted by Boethus, among others, who was a bad poet and a bad citizen, having prevailed there by currying the favour of the people. He had been raised to prominence by Antony, who at the outset received favorably the poem which he had written upon the victory at Philippi, but still more by that facility prevalent among the Tarsians whereby he could instantly speak offhand and unceasingly on any given subject. Furthermore, Antony promised the Tarsians an office of gymnasiarch, but appointed Boethus instead of a gymnasiarch, and entrusted to him the expenditures. But Boethus was caught secreting, among other things, the olive-oil; and when he was being proven guilty by his accusers in the presence of Antony he deprecated Antony’s wrath, saying, among other things, that “Just as Homer had hymned the praises of Achilles and Agamemnon and Odysseus, so I have hymned thine. It is not right, therefore, that I should be brought before you on such slanderous charges.” When, however, the accuser caught the statement, he said, “Yes, but Homer did not steal Agamemnon’s oil, nor yet that of Achilles, but you did; and therefore you shall be punished.” However, he broke the wrath of Antony by courteous attentions, and no less than before kept on plundering the city until the overthrow of Antony. Finding the city in this plight, Athenodorus for a time tried to induce both Boethus and his partisans to change their course; but since they would abstain from no act of insolence, he used the authority given him by Caesar, condemned them to exile, and expelled them. These at first indicted him with the following inscription on the walls: and when he, taking the inscription as a joke, ordered the following words to be inscribed beside it, “thunder for old men,” someone, contemptuous of all decency and afflicted with looseness of the bowels, profusely bespattered the door and wall of Athenodorus’ house as he was passing by it at night. Athenodorus, while bringing accusations in the assembly against the faction, said: “One may see the sickly plight and the disaffection of the city in many ways, and in particular from its excrements.” These men were Stoics; but the Nestor of my time, the teacher of Marcellus, son of Octavia the sister of Caesar, was an Academician. He too was at the head of the government of Tarsus, having succeeded Athenodorus; and he continued to be held in honor both by the prefects and in the city.

[15] Among the other philosophers from Tarsus, ³³ are Plutiades and Diogenes, who were among those philosophers that went round from city to city and conducted schools in an able manner. Diogenes also composed poems, as if by inspiration, when a subject was given him—for the most part tragic poems; and as for grammarians whose writings are extant, there are Artemidorus and Diodorus; and the best tragic poet among those enumerated in the “Pleias” ³⁴ was Dionysides. But it is Rome that is best able to tell us the number of learned men from this city; for it is full of Tarsians and Alexandrians. Such is Tarsus.

[16] After the Cydnus River one comes to the Pyramus River, which flows from Cataonia, a river which I have mentioned before. ³⁵ According to Artemidorus, the distance thence to Soli in a straight voyage is five hundred stadia. Near by, also, is Mallus, situated on a height, founded by Amphilochus and Mopsus, the latter the son of Apollo and Manto, concerning whom many myths are told. And indeed I, too, have mentioned them in my account of Calchas ³⁶ and of the quarrel between Calchas and Mopsus about their powers of divination. For some writers transfer this quarrel, Sophocles, for example, to Cilicia, which he, following the custom of tragic poets, calls Pamphylia,just as he calls Lycia “Caria” ³⁷ and Troy and Lydia “Phrygia.” And Sophocles, among others, tells us that Calchas died there. But, according to the myth, the contest concerned, not only the power of divination, but also the sovereignty; for they say that Mopsus and Amphilochus went from Troy and founded Mallus, and that Amphilochus then went away to Argos, and, being dissatisfied with affairs there, returned to Mallus, but that, being excluded from a share in the government there, he fought a duel with Mopsus, and that both fell in the duel and were buried in places that were not in sight of one another. And today their tombs are to be seen in the neighborhood of Magarsa near the Pyramus River. This ³⁸ was the birthplace of Crates the grammarian, of whom Panaetius is said to have been a pupil.

[17] Above this coast lies the Aleïan Plain, through which Philotas led the cavalry for Alexander, when Alexander led his phalanx from Soli along the coast and the territory of Mallus against Issus and the forces of Dareius. It is said that Alexander performed sacrifices to Amphilochus because of his kinship with the Argives. Hesiod says that Amphilochus was slain by Apollo at Soli; but others say that he was slain in the neighborhood of the Aleïan Plain, and others in Syria, when he was quitting the Aleïan Plain because of the quarrel.

[18] After Mallus one comes to Aegaeae, a small town, with a mooring-place; and then to the Amanides Gates, with a mooring-place, where ends the mountain Amanus, which extends down from the Taurus and lies above Cilicia towards the east. It was always ruled by several powerful tyrants, who possessed strongholds; but in my time a notable man established himself as lord of all, and was named king by the Romans because of his manly virtues—I refer to Tarcondimotus, who bequeathed the succession to his posterity.

[19] After Aegaeae, one comes to Issus, a small town with a mooring-place, and to the Pinarus River. It was here that the struggle between Alexander and Dareius occurred; and the gulf is called the Issic Gulf. On this gulf are situated the city Rhosus, the city Myriandrus, Alexandreia, Nicopolis, Mopsuestia, and Pylae, as it is called, which is the boundary between the Cilicians and the Syrians. In Cilicia is also the temple and oracle of the Sarpedonian Artemis; and the oracles are delivered by persons who are divinely inspired.

[20] After Cilicia the first Syrian city is Seleuceiain-Pieria, near which the Orontes River empties. The voyage from Seleuceia to Soli, on a straight course, is but little short of one thousand stadia.

[21] Since the Cilicians in the Troad whom Homer mentions are far distant from the Cilicians outside the Taurus, some represent those in Troy as original colonizers of the latter, and point out certain places of the same name there, as, for example, Thebe and Lyrnessus in Pamphylia, whereas others of contrary opinion point out also an Aleïan Plain in the former.

Now that the parts of the aforesaid peninsula outside the Taurus have been described, I must add what follows.

[22] Apollodorus, in his work On the Catalogue of Ships, goes on to say to this effect, that all the allies of the Trojans from Asia were enumerated by the poet as being inhabitants of the peninsula, of which the narrowest isthmus is that between the innermost recess at Sinope and Issus. And the exterior sides of this peninsula, he says, which is triangular in shape, are unequal in length, one of them extending from Cilicia to the Chelidonian Islands, another from the Chelidonian Islands to the mouth of the Euxine, and the third thence back to Sinope. Now the assertion that the allies were alone those who lived in the peninsula can be proved wrong by the same arguments by which I have previously shown that the allies were not alone those who lived this side the Halys River. ³⁹ For just as the places round Pharnacia, in which, as I said, the Halizoni lived, are outside the Halys River, so also they are outside the isthmus, if indeed they are outside the narrows between Sinope and Issus; and not outside these alone, but also outside the true narrows between Amisus and Issus, for he too incorrectly defines the isthmus and its narrows, since he substitutes the former for the latter. But the greatest absurdity is this, that, after calling the peninsula triangular in shape, he represents the “exterior sides” as three in number; for when he speaks of the “exterior sides” he seems privily to exclude the side along the narrows, as though this too were a side, but not “exterior” or on the sea. If, then, these narrows were so shortened that the exterior side ending at Issus and that ending at Sinope lacked but little of joining one another, one might concede that the peninsula should be called triangular; but, as it is, since the narrows mentioned by him leave a distance of three thousand stadia between Issus and Sinope, it is ignorance and not knowledge of chorography to call such a four-sided figure triangular. Yet he published in the metre of comedy ⁴⁰ a work on chorography entitled A Description of the Earth. The same ignorance still remains even though one should reduce the isthmus to the minimum distance, I mean, to one-half of the whole distance, as given by those who have most belied the facts, among whom is also Artemidorus, that is, fifteen hundred stadia; for even this does contract the side along the narrows enough to make the peninsula a triangular figure. Neither does Artemidorus correctly distinguish the exterior sides when he speaks of “the side that extends from Issus as far as the Chelidonian Islands,” for there still remains to this side the whole of the Lycian coast, which lies in a straight line with the side he mentions, as does also the Peraea of the Rhodians as far as Physcus. And thence the mainland bends and begins to form the second, or westerly, side extending as far as the Propontis and Byzantium.

[23] But though Ephorus said that this peninsula was inhabited by sixteen tribes, of which three were Hellenic and the rest barbarian, except those that were mixed, adding that the Cilicians, Pamphylians, Lycians, Bithynians, Paphlagonians, Mariandynians, Trojans, and Carians lived on the sea, but the Pisidians, Mysians, Chalybians, Phrygians, and Milyans in the interior, Apollodorus, who passes judgment upon this matter, says that the tribe of the Galatians, which is more recent than the time of Ephorus, is a seventeenth, and that, of the aforesaid tribes, the Hellenic had not yet, in the time of the Trojan War, settled there, and that the barbarian tribes are much confused because of the lapse of time; and that the poet names in his Catalogue the tribes of the Trojans and of the Paphlagonians, as they are now named, and of the Mysians and Phrygians and Carians and Lycians, as also the Meïonians, instead of the Lydians, and other unknown peoples, as, for example, the Halizones and Caucones; and, outside the Catalogue, the Ceteians and the Solymi and the Cilicians from the plain of Thebe and the Leleges, but nowhere names the Pamphylians, Bithynians, Mariandynians, Pisidians, Chalybians, Milyans, or Cappadocians—some because they had not yet settled in this region, and others because they were included among other tribes, as, for example, the Hidrieis and the Termilae among the Carians, and the Doliones and Bebryces among the Phrygians.

[24] But obviously Apollodorus does not pass a fair judgment upon the statement of Ephorus, and also confuses and falsifies the words of the poet; for he ought first to have asked Ephorus this question: Why he placed the Chalybians inside the peninsula when they were so far distant towards the east from both Sinope and Amisus? For those who say that the isthmus of this peninsula is the line from Issus to the Euxine make this line a kind of meridian, which some think should be the line to Sinope, and others, that to Amisus, but no one that to the land of the Chalybians, which is absolutely oblique; in fact, the meridian through the land of the Chalybians would be drawn through Lesser Armenia and the Euphrates, cutting off on this side of it the whole of Cappadocia, Commagene, Mt. Amanus, and the Issic Gulf. If, however, we should concede that the oblique line bounds the isthmus, at least most of these places, and Cappadocia in particular, would be cut off on this side, as also the country now called Pontus in the special sense of the term, which is a part of Cappadocia towards the Euxine; so that, if the land of the Chalybians must be set down as a part of the peninsula, much more should Cataonia and both Cappadocias, as also Lycaonia, which is itself omitted by him. Again, why did Ephorus place in the interior the Chalybians, whom the poet called Halizones, as I have already demonstrated? ⁴¹ For it would have been better to divide them and set one part of them on the sea and the other in the interior, as should also be done in the case of Cappadocia and Cilicia; but Ephorus does not even name Cappadocia, and speaks only of the Cilicians on the sea. Now as for the people who were subject to Antipater Derbetes, and the Homonadeis and several other peoples who border on the Pisidians, ⁴² where are they to be placed? Neither does he say in regard to the Lydians or Meïones whether they are two peoples or the same, or whether they live separately by themselves or are included within another tribe. For it would be impossible to lose from sight so significant a tribe; and if Ephorus says nothing about it, would he not seem to have omitted something most important?

[25] And who are the “mixed” tribes? For we would be unable to say that, as compared with the aforesaid places, others were either named or omitted by “him which we shall assign to the “mixed” tribes; neither can we call “mixed” any of these peoples themselves whom he has mentioned or omitted; for, even if they had become mixed, still the predominant element has made them either Hellenes or barbarians; and I know nothing of a third tribe of people that is “mixed.”

[26] And how can there be three Hellenic tribes that live on the peninsula? For if it is because the Athenians and the Ionians were the same people in ancient times, let also the Dorians and the Aeolians be called the same people; and thus there would be only two tribes. But if one should make distinctions in accordance with the customs of later times, as, for example, in accordance with dialects, then the tribes, like the dialects, would be four in number. ⁴³ But this peninsula, particularly in accordance with the division of Ephorus, is inhabited, not only by Ionians, but also by Athenians, as I have shown in my account of the several places. ⁴⁴ Now although it is worth while to raise such questions as these with reference to Ephorus, yet Apollodorus took no thought for them and also goes on to add to the sixteen tribes a seventeenth, that of the Galatians—in general a useful thing to do, but unnecessary for the passing of judgment upon what is said or omitted by Ephorus. But Apollodorus states the reason himself, that all this is later than the time of Ephorus.

[27] Passing to the poet, Apollodorus rightly says that much confusion of the barbarian tribes has taken place from the Trojan times to the present because of the changes, for some of them have been added to, others have vanished, others have been dispersed, and others have been combined into one tribe. But he incorrectly sets forth as twofold the reason why the poet does not mention some of them; either because a country was not yet inhabited by this or that tribe or because this or that tribe was included within another; for instance, the poet fails to mention Cappadocia, Cataonia, and likewise Lycaonia, but for neither of these reasons, for we have no history of this kind in their case. Further, it is ridiculous that Apollodorus should concern himself about the reason why Homer omitted the Cappadocians and Lycaonians and speak in his defence, and yet should himself omit to tell the reason why Ephorus omitted them, and that too when he had cited the statement of the man for the very purpose of examining it and passing judgment upon it; and also to teach us why Homer mentioned Meïonians instead of Lydians, but not to remark that Ephorus mentions neither Lydians nor Meïonians.

[28] After saying that the poet mentions certain unknown tribes, Apollodorus rightly names the Cauconians, the Solymi, the Ceteians, the Leleges, and the Cilicians of the plain of Thebe; but the Halizones are a fabrication of his own, or rather of the first men who, not knowing who the Halizones were, wrote the name in several different ways ⁴⁵ and fabricated the “birthplace of silver” ⁴⁶ and many other mines, all of which have given out. And in furtherance of their emulous desire they also collected the stories cited by Demetrius of Scepsis from Callisthenes and certain other writers, who were not free from the false notions about the Halizones. Likewise the wealth of Tantalus and the Pelopidae arose from the mines round Phrygia and Sipylus; that of Cadmus from those round Thrace and Mt. Pangaeus; that of Priam from the gold mines at Astyra near Abydus (of which still today there are small remains; here the amount of earth thrown out is considerable, and the excavations are signs of the mining in olden times); and that of Midas from those round Mt. Bermius; and that of Gyges and Alyattes and Croesus from those Lydia and from the region between Atarneus and Pergamum, where is a small deserted town, whose lands have been exhausted of ore.

[29] Still further one might find fault with Apollodorus, because, when the more recent writers make numerous innovations contrary to the statements of Homer, he is wont frequently to put these innovations to the test, but in the present case he not only has made small account of them, but also, on the contrary, identifies things that are not meant alike; for instance, Xanthus the Lydian says that it was after the Trojan War that the Phrygians came from Europe and the left-hand side of the Pontus, and that Scamandrius led them from the Berecyntes and Ascania, but Apollodorus adds to this the statement that Homer refers to this Ascania that is mentioned by Xanthus: ⁴⁷ However, if this is so, the migration must have taken place later than the Trojan War, whereas the allied force mentioned by the poet came from the opposite mainland, from the Berecyntes and Ascania. Who, then, were the Phrygians, ⁴⁸ when Priam says, ⁴⁹ And how could Priam have sent for Phrygians from the Berecyntes, with whom he had no compact, and yet leave uninvited those who lived on his borders and to whom he had formerly been ally? And after speaking in this way about the Phrygians he adds also an account of the Mysians that is not in agreement with this; for he says that there is also a village in Mysia which is called Ascania, near a lake of the same name, whence flows the Ascanius River, which is mentioned by Euphorion, and by Alexander the Aetolian, And he says that the country round Cyzicus, as one goes to Miletupolis, is called Dolionis and Mysia. If this is so, then, and if witness thereto is borne both by the places now pointed out and by the poets, what could have prevented Homer from mentioning this Ascania, and not the Ascania spoken of by Xanthus? I have discussed this before, in my account of the Mysians and Phrygians; ⁵⁰ and therefore let this be the end of that subject.