Book 10
2.8
In early times Leucas was a peninsula of Acarnania, but the poet calls it “shore of the mainland,”Homer specifically mentions Leucas only once, as the “rock Leucas” (Hom. Od. 24.11). On the Ithaca-Leucas problem, see Appendix in this volume. using the term “mainland” for the country which is situated across from Ithaca and Cephallenia; and this country is Acarnania. And therefore, when he says, “shore of the mainland,” one should take it to mean “shore of Acarnania.” And to Leucas also belonged, not only Nericus, which Laertes says he took (verily I took Nericus, well-built citadel, shore of the mainland, when I was lord over the Cephallenians),Hom. Od. 24.377but also the cities which Homer names in the Catalogue(and dwell in Crocyleia and rugged Aegilips).Hom. Il. 2.633But the Corinthians sent by CypselusSee Dictionary in Vol. IV. and Gorgus took possession of this shore and also advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf; and both Ambracia and Anactorium were colonized at this time; and the Corinthians dug a canal through the isthmus of the peninsula and made Leucas an island; and they transferred Nericus to the place which, though once an isthmus, is now a strait spanned by a bridge, and they changed its name to Leucas, which was named, as I think, after Leucatas; for Leucatas is a rock of white “leuca.” color jutting out from Leucas into the sea and towards Cephallenia and therefore it took its name from its color.
