Book 1
2.20
Further, in respect to the winds and climates, Homer shows the wide extent of his geographical knowledge, for in his topographical descriptions he not unfrequently informs us of both these matters. Thus, My abode Is sun-burnt Ithaca. Flat on the deep she lies, farthest removed Toward the west, while situate apart, Her sister islands face the rising day.But it lies low, the highest in the sea towards the west, but those that are separated from it [lie] towards the east and the sun. Odyssey ix. 25.Odyssey ix. 25. And, It has a two-fold entrance, One towards the north, the other south.Vide Odyssey xiii. 109, 111.Odyssey xiii. 109, 111. And again, Which I alike despise, speed they their course With right-hand flight towards the ruddy east, Or leftward down into the shades of eve.Which I very little regard, nor do I care for them whether they fly to the right, towards the morn and the sun, or to the left, towards the darkening west. Iliad xii. 239.Iliad xii. 239. Ignorance of such matters he reckons no less than confusion. Alas! my friends, for neither west Know we, nor east; where rises or where sets The all-enlightening sun.O my friends, since we know not where is the west, nor where the morning, nor where the sun. Odyssey x. 190.Odyssey x. 190. Where the poet has said properly enough, As when two adverse winds, blowing from Thrace, Boreas and Zephyrus,The north and west winds, which both blow from Thrace. Iliad ix. 5.Iliad ix.5. Eratosthenes ill-naturedly misrepresents him as saying in an absolute sense, that the west wind blows from Thrace; whereas he is not speaking in an absolute sense at all, but merely of the meeting of contrary winds near the bay of Melas,Now the Bay of Saros. on the Thracian sea, itself a part of the Aegaean. For where Thrace forms a kind of promontory, where it borders on Macedonia,These two provinces are comprised in the modern division of Roumelia. A portion of Macedonia still maintains its ancient name Makidunia. it takes a turn to the south-west, and projects into the ocean, and from this point it seems to the inhabitants of Thasos, Lemnos, Imbros, Samothracia,The modern names of these places are Thaso, Stalimene, Imbro, and Samothraki. and the surrounding sea, that the west winds blow.Strabo, as well as Casaubon in his notes on this passage, seems to have made an imperfect defence of Homer. The difficulty experienced, as well by them as Eratosthenes, arose from their overlooking the fact that Macedonia was a part of Thrace in Homer’s time, and that the name of Macedon did not exist. So in regard to Attica, they seem to come from the rocks of Sciros,These rocks were situated between the city of Megara and the isthmus of Corinth. and this is the reason why all the westerly winds, the north-west more particularly, are called the Scirones. Of this Eratosthenes was not aware, though he suspected as much, for it was he who described this bending of the land [towards the south-west] which we have mentioned. But he interprets our poet in an absolute sense, and then taxes him with ignorance, because, says he, Zephyr blows from the west, and off Spain, and Thrace does not extend so far. Does he then think that Homer was not aware that Zephyr came from the west, notwithstanding the careful manner in which he distinguishes its position when he writes as follows: The east, the south, the heavy-blowing Zephyr, And the cold north-wind clear.And the south-east and the south rushed together, and the hard-blowing west, and the cold-producing north. Odyssey v. 295.Odyssey v. 295. Or was he ignorant that Thrace did not extend beyond the Paeonian and Thessalian mountains.The western part of Thrace, afterwards named Macedonia; having Paeonia on the north, and Thessaly on the south. To be sure he was well acquainted with the position of the countries adjoining Thrace in that direction, and does he not mention by name both the maritime and inland districts, and tells us of the Magnetae,The Magnetae dwelt near to Mount Pelion and the Pelasgic Gulf, now the Bay of Volo. the Malians,These people dwelt between Mount Othrys, and the Maliac Gulf, now the Gulf of Zeitun. and other Grecian [territories], all in order, as far as Thesprotis;The maritime portion of Epirus opposite Corfu. also of the DolopesIn the time of Homer the Dolopes were the neighbours of the Paeonians, and dwelt in the north of that part of Thrace which afterwards formed Macedonia. Later, however, they descended into Thessaly, and established themselves around Pindus. bordering on Paeonia, and the Sellae who inhabit the territory around DodonaDodona was in Epirus, but its exact position is not known. as far as the [river] Achelous,Now Aspro-potamo, or the White River; this river flows into the sea at the entrance of the Gulf of Corinth. but he never mentions Thrace, as being beyond these. He has evidently a predilection for the sea which is nearest to him, and with which he is most familiar, as where he says, Commotion shook The whole assembly, such as heaves the flood Of the Icarian deep.And the assembly was moved, as the great waves of the Icarian sea. Iliad ii. 144.Iliad ii. 144.
