Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 8.3.5

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[5] Between the Chelonatas and Cyllene the river Peneius empties itself, and that also called by the poet Selleis, which flows from the mountain Pholoe. On this river is situated Ephyra, a city to be distinguished from the Thesprotian, Thessalian, and Corinthian Ephyras; being a fourth city of this name, situated on the road leading to the Lasion seacoast, and which may be either the same place as Boeonoa, (for it is the custom to call Oenoe by this name,) or a city near this, distant from Elis 120 stadia. This Ephyra seems to be the reputed birth-place of Astyochea, the mother of Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules,

Whom Hercules brought from Ephyra, from the river Selleïs;¹

Il. ii. 650. (for this was the principal scene of the adventures of Hercules; at the other places called Ephyra, there is no river Selleis;) hence came the armour of Meges,

Which Phyleus formerly brought from Ephyra, from the river Selleis;²

Il. xv. 531. from this Ephyra came also mortal poisons. For Minerva says, that Ulysses went to Ephyra

In search of a mortal poison wherewith to anoint his arrows:³

Od. i. 261. And the suitors say of Telemachus;

Or he will go to the rich country of Ephyra to bring back poison destructive of our lives.⁴

And Nestor introduces the daughter of Augeas, king of the Epeii, in his account of the war with that people, as one who administered poisons:

I first slew a man,⁵ Mulius, a brave soldier. He was son-in-law of Augeas; he had married his eldest daughter; she was acquainted with all the poisons which the earth brings forth.

There is also near Sicyon a river, Selleis, and a village of the name of Ephyra near it; and a village Ephyra in the territory of Agraea in Aetolia, the people of which are called Ephyri. There are also other Ephyri among the Perrhaebi near Macedonia, who are Crannonians,⁶ and the Thesprotic Ephyri of Cichyrus, which was formerly called Ephyra.

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.) — 8.3.5 focus

[5] μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ Χελωνάτα καὶ τῆς Κυλλήνης ὅ τε Πηνειὸς ἐκδίδωσι ποταμὸς καὶ ὁ Σελλήεις ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λεγόμενος, ῥέων ἐκ Φολόης· ἐφʼ ᾧ Ἐφύρα πόλις, ἑτέρα τῆς Θεσπρωτικῆς καὶ Θετταλικῆς καὶ τῆς Κορίνθου, τετάρτη τις ἐπὶ τῇ ὁδῷ κειμένη τῇ ἐπὶ Λασίωνα, ἤτοι ἡ αὐτὴ οὖσα τῇ Βοινώᾳ (τὴν γὰρ Οἰνόην οὕτω καλεῖν εἰώθασιν) ἢ πλησίον ἐκείνης, διέχουσα τῆς Ἠλείων πόλεως σταδίους ἑκατὸν εἴκοσιν· ἐξ ἧς ἥ τε Τληπολέμου τοῦ Ἡρακλέους δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι μήτηρ

τὴν ἄγετʼ ἐξ Ἐφύρης ποταμοῦ ἄπο Σελλήεντος

¹(ἐκεῖ γὰρ μᾶλλον αἱ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους στρατεῖαι, πρὸς ἐκείναις τε οὐδεὶς ποταμὸς Σελλήεις), καὶ ὁ τοῦ Μέγητος θώραξ

τόν ποτε Φυλεὺς

ἤγαγεν ἐξ Ἐφύρης ποταμοῦ ἄπο Σελλήεντος

² ἐξ ἧς καὶ τὰ φάρμακα τὰ ἀνδροφόνα. εἰς Ἐφύραν γὰρ ἀφῖχθαι ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ φησὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα

φάρμακον ἀνδροφόνον διζήμενον, ὄφρα οἱ εἴη

ἰοὺς χρίεσθαι

³ καὶ τὸν Τηλέμαχον οἱ μνηστῆρες

ἠὲ καὶ εἰς Ἐφύρην ἐθέλει πίειραν ἄρουραν

ἐλθεῖν, ὄφρʼ ἔνθεν θυμοφθόρα φάρμακʼ ἐνείκῃ.

⁴ καὶ γὰρ τὴν Αὐγέου θυγατέρα τοῦ τῶν Ἐπειῶν βασιλέως ὁ Νέστωρ ἐν τῇ διηγήσει τοῦ πρὸς αὐτοὺς πολέμου φαρμακίδα εἰσάγει

πρῶτος ἐγὼν ἕλον ἄνδρα φήσας

Μούλιον αἰχμητήν, γαμβρὸς δʼ ἦν Αὐγείαο,

πρεσβυτάτην δὲ θύγατρʼ εἶχεν,

ἣ τόσα φάρμακα ᾔδη, ὅσα τρέφει εὐρεῖα χθών.

⁵ ἔστι δὲ καὶ περὶ Σικυῶνα Σελλήεις ποταμὸς καὶ Ἐφύρα πλησίον κώμη, καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀγραίᾳ τῆς Αἰτωλίας Ἐφύρα κώμη, οἱ δʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς Ἔφυροι· καὶ ἄλλοι οἱ Περραιβῶν πρὸς Μακεδονία, οἱ Κραννώνιοι, καὶ οἱ Θεσπρωτικοὶ οἱ ἐκ Κιχύρου τῆς πρότερον Ἐφύρας.

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).) — 8.3.5 focus

[5] It is between Chelonatas and Cyllene that the River Peneius empties; as also the River Sellëeis, which is mentioned by the poet and flows out of Pholoe. On the Sellëeis is situated a city Ephyra, which is to be distinguished from the Thesprotian, Thessalian, and Corinthian Ephyras;¹ it is a fourth Ephyra, and is situated on the road that leads to Lasion, being either the same city as Boenoa (for thus Oenoe is usually called), or else near that city, at a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia from the city of the Eleians. This, apparently, is the Ephyra which Homer calls the home of the mother of Tlepolemus the son of Heracles (for the expeditions of Heracles were in this region rather than in any of the other three) when he says,

“whom he had brought out of Ephyra, from the River Sellëeis”

².³ and there is no River Sellëeis near the other Ephyras. Again, he says of the corselet of Meges:

“this corselet Phyleus once brought out of Ephyra, from the River Sellëeis.”

⁴ And thirdly, the man-slaying drugs: for Homer says that Odysseus came to Ephyra

“in search of a man-slaying drug, that he might have wherewithal to smear his arrows”

⁵; and in speaking of Telemachus the wooers say:

“or else he means to go to the fertile soil of Ephyra, that from there he may bring deadly drugs”

⁶; for Nestor, in his narrative of his war against the Epeians, introduces the daughter of Augeas, the king of the Epeians, as a mixer of drugs:

“I was the first that slew a man, even the spearman Mulius; he was a son-in-law of Augeias, having married his eldest daughter, and she knew all drugs that are nourished by the wide earth.”

⁷ But there is another River Sellëeis near Sicyon, and near the river a village Ephyra. And in the Agraean district of Aetolia there is a village Ephyra; its inhabitants are called Ephyri. And there are still other Ephyri, I mean the branch of the Perrhaebians who live near Macedonia (the Crannonians),⁸ as also those Thesprotian Ephyri of Cichyrus,⁹ which in earlier times was called Ephyra.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Il. ii. 650.

2. Il. xv. 531.

3. Od. i. 261.

4. Od. ii. 328.

5. Il. xi. 738.

6. I read οἱ καὶ as Meineke suggests, but the whole passage from there ii to Ephyra, is, as he also remarks, probably an interpolation. Strabo has already enumerated four cities of the name of Ephyra, viz. the Eliac, the Thesprotic, the Corinthian, and the Thessalian; yet here two others are presented to our notice, the Sicyonian and the Aetolian, of which Strabo makes no mention in his account of Aetolia and Sicyonia.

Strabo Geography 8.3.5

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

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