Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 6.2.9

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[9] The Nebrodes mountains¹ take their rise opposite² to Aetna; they are not so lofty as Aetna, but extend over a much greater surface. The whole island is hollow under ground, and full of rivers and fire like the bed of the Tyrrhenian Sea,³ as far as Cumaea, as we before described⁴ For there are hot springs in many places in the island, some of which are saline, as those named Selinuntia⁵ and the springs at Himera, while those at Aegesta⁶ are fresh. Near to Acragas⁷ there are certain lakes,⁸ the waters of which taste like the sea, but their properties are very different, for if those who do not know how to swim plunge into them, they are not covered over by them, but float on the surface like pieces of wood.

The Palici⁹ possess craters which cast up water in a jet, having the appearance of a dome, and then receive it back again into the same place it rose from. The cavern near Mataurum¹⁰ has within it a considerable channel, with a river flowing through it under ground for a long distance, and afterwards emerging to the surface as does the El-Asi¹¹ in Syria, which, after descending into the chasm between Apameia and Antioch, which they call Charybdis, rises again to the surface at the distance of about 40 stadia. Much the same circumstances are remarked of the Tigris¹² in Mesopotamia, and the Nile in Africa,¹³ a little before¹⁴ its most notorious springs. The water in the neighbourhood of the city of Stymphalus, having passed under ground about 200 stadia, gives rise to the river Erasinus¹⁵ in Argia;¹⁶ and again, the waters which are ingulfed with a low roaring sound near Asea¹⁷ in Arcadia, after a long course, spring forth with such copiousness as to form the Eurotas and the Alpheus,¹⁸ whence has arisen a fable extensively credited, that if a certain charm is uttered over each of two crowns on their being cast into the stream where the two rivers flow in a common channel, each crown will make its appearance in its respective river according to the charm. As for what we might add with reference to the Timao,¹⁹ it has already been particularized.

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

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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.)

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Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 6.2.9 focus

[9] ἀνταίρει δὲ τῇ Αἴτνῃ τὰ Νεβρώδη ὄρη ταπεινότερα μὲν πλάτει δὲ πολὺ παραλλάττοντα. ἅπασα δʼ ἡ νῆσος κοίλη κατὰ γῆς ἐστι, ποταμῶν καὶ πυρὸς μεστή, καθάπερ τὸ Τυρρηνικὸν πέλαγος, ὡς εἰρήκαμεν, μέχρι τῆς Κυμαίας. θερμῶν γοῦν ὑδάτων ἀναβολὰς κατὰ πολλοὺς ἔχει τόπους ἡ νῆσος, ὧν τὰ μὲν Σελινούντια καὶ τὰ Ἱμεραῖα ἁλμυρά ἐστι, τὰ δὲ Αἰγεσταῖα πότιμα περὶ Ἀκράγαντα δὲ λίμναι τὴν μὲν γεῦσιν ἔχουσαι θαλάττης, τὴν δὲ φύσιν διάφορον· οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῖς ἀκολύμβοις βαπτίζεσθαι συμβαίνει ξύλων τρόπον ἐπιπολάζουσιν. οἱ Παλικοὶ δὲ κρατῆρας ἔχουσιν ἀναβάλλοντας ὕδωρ εἰς θολοειδὲς ἀναφύσημα καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν δεχομένους μυχόν. τὸ δὲ περὶ Μάταυρον σπήλαιον ἐντὸς ἔχει σύριγγα εὐμεγέθη καὶ ποταμὸν διʼ αὐτῆς ῥέοντα ἀφανῆ μέχρι πολλοῦ διαστήματος, εἶτʼ ἀνακύπτοντα πρὸς τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, καθάπερ Ὀρόντης ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ καταδὺς εἰς τὸ μεταξὺ χάσμα Ἀπαμείας καὶ Ἀντιοχείας, ὃ καλοῦσι Χάρυβδιν, ἀνατέλλει πάλιν ἐν τετταράκοντα σταδίοις· τὰ δὲ παραπλήσια καὶ ὁ Τίγρις ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ καὶ ὁ Νεῖλος ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ μικρὸν πρὸ τῶν πηγῶν. τὸ δὲ περὶ Στύμφαλον ὕδωρ ἐπὶ διακοσίους σταδίους ὑπὸ γῆν ἐνεχθὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀργείᾳ τὸν Ἐρασῖνον ἐκδίδωσι ποταμόν, καὶ πάλιν τὸ πρὸς τὴν Ἀρκαδικὴν Ἀσέαν ὑποβρύχιον ὠσθὲν ὀψέ ποτε τόν τʼ Εὐρώταν καὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἀναδίδωσιν, ὥστε καὶ πεπιστεῦσθαι μυθῶδές τι, ὅτι τῶν ἐπιφημισθέντων στεφάνων ἑκατέρῳ καὶ ῥιφέντων εἰς τὸ κοινὸν ῥεῦμα ἀναφαίνεται κατὰ τὸν ἐπιφημισμὸν ἑκάτερος ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ ποταμῷ. εἴρηται δὲ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον περὶ τοῦ Τιμαύου.

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).) — 6.2.9 focus

[9] Over against Aetna rise the Nebrodes Mountains,¹ which, though lower than Aetna , exceed it considerably in breadth. The whole island is hollow down beneath the ground, and full of streams and of fire, as is the case with the Tyrrhenian Sea , as far as the Cumaean country, as I have said before.² At all events, the island has at many places springs of hot waters which spout up, of which those of Selinus and those of Himera are brackish, whereas those of Aegesta are potable. Near Acragas are lakes which, though they have the taste of seawater, are different in nature; for even people who cannot swim do not sink, but float on the surface like wood. The territory of the Palici has craters³ that spout up water in a dome-like jet and receive it back again into the same recess. The cavern near Mataurus⁴ contains an immense gallery through which a river flows invisible for a considerable distance, and then emerges to the surface, as is the case with the Orontes in Syria ,⁵ which sinks into the chasm (called Charybdis) between Apameia and Antiocheia and rises again forty stadia away. Similar, too, are the cases both of the Tigris ⁶ in Mesopotamia and of the Nile in Libya , only a short distance from their sources. And the water in the territory of Stymphalus⁷ first flows underground for two hundred stadia and then issues forth in Argeia as the Erasinus River; and again, the water near the Arcadian Asea is first forced below the surface and then, much later, emerges as both the Eurotas and the Alpheius; and hence the belief in a certain fabulous utterance, that if two wreaths be dedicated separately to each of the two rivers and thrown into the common stream, each will reappear, in accordance with the dedication, in the appropriate river. And I have already mentioned what is told about the Timavus River.⁸

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Sicilian topographers vary exceedingly in defining the position of these mountains. Groskurd makes them Madonia.

2. To the south-west.

3. See Humboldt, Cosmos, i. 242.

4. Book v. chap. iv. § 9.

5. I Bagni di Sciacca.

6. Now ruins at Barbara, in the valley of Mazzara.

7. Girgenti.

8. A modern traveller is of opinion that these correspond with certain peculiar marshes near Girgenti, in the midst of the Macaluba mountains, supplied by a spring of salt water. The soil here is chalky, and the mountains abound in a grey and ductile clay. See Monsieur le Commandeur de Dolomieu, Voyage aux iles de Lipari, pp. 165 et seqq.; also Fazell. Decad. i. lib. i. cap. 5, p. 45.

9. The place dedicated to these avengers of perjury is frequently located near Mineo and Palagonia; others, thinking to gain the support of Virgil’s testimony, place it near Paterno, much farther north, between Catana and Centorbi, and not far from the banks of the Giaretta, the ancient Symaethus.

10. Cluvier supposes this cavern must have been near Mazarum [Mazara]. The river named Mazarus by the ancients, runs through a rocky district, abounding in stone quarries. It is possible that this river, much hemmed in throughout its course, might have anciently flowed beneath some of these massive rocks.

11. Orontes.

12. According to Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. vi. § 31, tom. i. p. 333, the Tigris is ingulfed on reaching a branch of Mount Taurus, at a place called Zoroanda, which M. D’Anville identifies with the modern Hazour.

13. λιβύη in Strabo.

14. Kramer here persists in reading ποͅὸ, and rejects ἀπὸ we have endeavoured to translate it with Kramer, but the French translation of 1809 renders it, a little below its sources.

15. A river of Argolis: see book viii. Casaub. pp. 371 and 389.

16. Argolis.

17. This ancient city was found in ruins by Pausanias, who says (Arcadic or book viii. cap. 44, p. 691) that at less than 20 stadia distant from the Athenaeum are found the ruins of Asea, as well as the hill on which the citadel of the town was built, which was surrounded by walls, the vestiges of which still remain. About 5 stadia from Asea, and not far from the main road, is the source of the Alpheus, and, quite close, even at the edge of the road, that of the Eurotas.... [At a short distance] the two rivers unite and run as one for about 20 stadia; they then both cast themselves into a chasm, and, continuing their under-ground course, they afterwards reappear; one (the Eurotas) in Laconia, the other in the territory of Megalopolis. Such is what Pausanias relates in one place. But when, in this account, he fixes the source of the Alpheus at about 5 stadia from Asea, we must understand him to allude to a second source of the river; for further on (book viii. cap. 54, p. 709) he says distinctly that the main source of the Alpheus is seen near Phylace in Arcadia; then adds that that river, on coming to the district of Tegea, is absorbed under the ground, to re-issue near Asea.

18. See § 4 of this chapter, page 408.

19. The ancient Timavus. See book v. chap. i. § 8, page 319.

Strabo Geography 6.2.9

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

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