Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 14.1.39

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[39] The first place after Ephesus is Magnesia, an Aeolian city, and called Magnesia on the Maeander, for it is situated near it; but it is still nearer the Lethaeus, which discharges itself into the Maeander. It has its source in Pactyes, a mountain in the Ephesian district. There is another Lethaeus in Gortyne, a third near Tricca, where Asclepius is said to have been born, and the fourth among the Hesperitae Libyans.¹

Magnesia lies in a plain, near a mountain called Thorax,² on which it is said Daphitas the grammarian was crucified, for reviling the kings in a distich—

O slaves, with backs purpled with stripes, filings of the gold of Lysimachus, you are the kings of Lydia and Phrygia.

An oracle is said to have warned Daphitas to beware of the Thorax.³

Geography. Strabo. Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator). London. 1854-1857.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Geography (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 14.1.39 focus

[39] πρώτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἐξ Ἐφέσου Μαγνησία πόλις Αἰολίς, λεγομένη δὲ ἐπὶ Μαιάνδρῳ· πλησίον γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἵδρυται· πολὺ δὲ πλησιαίτερον ὁ Ληθαῖος ἐμβάλλων εἰς τὸν Μαίανδρον, τὴν δʼ ἀρχὴν ἔχων ἀπὸ Πακτύου τοῦ τῶν Ἐφεσίων ὄρους· ἕτερος δʼ ἐστὶ Ληθαῖος ὁ ἐν Γορτύνῃ καὶ ὁ περὶ Τρίκκην, ἐφʼ ᾧ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς γεννηθῆναι λέγεται, καὶ ἔτι ἐν τοῖς Ἑσπερίταις Λίβυσι. κεῖται δʼ ἐν πεδίῳ πρὸς ὄρει καλουμένῳ Θώρακι ἡ πόλις, ἐφʼ ᾧ σταυρωθῆναί φασι Δαφίταν τὸν γραμματικὸν λοιδορήσαντα τοὺς βασιλέας διὰ διστίχου

πορφύρεοι μώλωπες, ἀπορρινήματα γάζης

Λυσιμάχου, Λυδῶν ἄρχετε καὶ Φρυγίης.

καὶ λόγιον δʼ ἐκπεσεῖν αὐτῷ λέγεται φυλάττεσθαι τὸν Θώρακα.

Translations (1)

Geography (Books 6-14) Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).) — 14.1.39 focus

[39] The first city one comes to after Ephesus is Magnesia, which is an Aeolian city and is called “Magnesia on the Maeander,” for it is situated near that river. But it is much nearer the Lethaeus River, which empties into the Maeander and has its beginning in Mt. Pactyes, the mountain in the territory of the Ephesians. There is another Lethaeus in Gortyna, and another near Tricce, where Asclepius is said to have been born, and still another in the country of the Western Libyans. And the city lies in the plain near the mountain called Thorax, on which Daphitas the grammarian is said to have been crucified, because he reviled the kings in a distich:

Purpled with stripes, mere filings of the treasure of Lysimachus, ye rule the Lydians and Phrygia.

It is said that an oracle was given out that Daphitas should be on his guard against Thorax.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Western Africa.

2. Gumusch-dagh.

3. According to Suidas, Daphnidas ridiculed oracles, and inquired of the oracle of Apollo, Shall I find my horse? when he had none. The oracle answered that he would find it. He was afterwards, by the command of Attalus, king of Pergamum, taken and thrown from a precipice called the Horse.

Strabo Geography 14.1.39

Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator)

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