Strabo Geography 8.3.11

[11] Since certain people in Triphylia near Messenia are called Cauconians, and since Dyme also is called Cauconian by some writers, and since in the Dymaean territory between Dyme and Tritaea there is also a river which is called Caucon, in the feminine gender, writers raise the question whether there are not two different sets of Cauconians, one in the region of Triphylia, and the other in the region of Dyme, Elis, and the River Caucon. This river empties into another river which is called Teutheas, in the masculine gender; Teutheas has the same name as one of the little towns which were incorporated into Dyme, except that the name of this town, “Teuthea,” is in the feminine gender, and is spelled without the s and with the last syllable long. In this town is the temple of the Nemydian ¹ Artemis. The Teutheas empties into the Acheloüs which flows by Dyme ² and has the same name as the Acarnanian river. It is also called the “Peirus”; by Hesiod, for instance, when he says: ³ Some change the reading to “Pierus,” wrongly. They raise that question about the Cauconians, they say, because, when Athene in the guise of Mentor, in the Odyssey says to Nestor, ⁴ the poet seems to designate a certain territory in the country of the Epeians which was held by the Cauconians, these Cauconians being a different set from those in Triphylia and perhaps extending as far as the territory of Dyme. Indeed, one should not fail to inquire both into the origin of the epithet of Dyme, “Cauconian,” and into the origin of the name of the river “Caucon,” because the question who those Cauconians were to whom Athene says she is going in order to recover the debt offers a problem; for if we should interpret the poet as meaning the Cauconians in Triphylia near Lepreum, I do not see how his account can be plausible. Hence some read: ⁵ But this question will be investigated with clearer results when I describe the country that comes next after this, I mean Pisatis and Triphylia as far as the borders of the country of the Messenians. ⁶

[11] Since a tribe of Caucones is mentioned in Triphylia near Messenia, and as Dyme is called by some writers Cauconis, and since between Dyme and Tritaea in the Dymaean district there is also a river called Caucon, a question arises respecting the Caucones, whether there are two nations of this name, one situate about Triphylia, and another about Dyme, Elis, and Caucon. This river empties itself into another which is called Teutheas, in the masculine gender, and is the name of a small town that was one of those that composed Dyme; except that the town is of the feminine gender, and is pronounced Teuthea, without the s, and the last syllable is long.

There is a temple of Diana Nemydia (Nemeaema?). The Teutheas discharges itself into the Achelous, which runs by Dyme, and has the same name as that in Acarnania, and the name also of Peirus. In the lines of Hesiod, some change the last word πείοͅοιο to πώοͅοιο but improperly.

¹ [But it is the opinion of some writers, who make the Caucones a subject of inquiry, that when Minerva in the Odyssey, who has assumed the form of Mentor, says to Nestor; a certain district in the territory of the Epeii appears to be designated, which the Caucones, a different nation from that in Triphylia, possessed, and who perhaps extended even as far as the Dymean territory.] But it was not proper to omit, whence Dyme had the name Cauconitis, nor why the river was called Caucon, because the question is, who the Caucones ³ were, to whom Minerva says, she is going to recover a debt. For if we understand the poet to mean those in Triphylia about Lepreum, I know not how this is probable; whence some persons even write the passage, This will appear more clearly, when we describe the Pisatis, and after it Triphylia as far as the confines of Messenia.