Book 10
2.14
Some, however, have not hesitated to identify Cephallenia with Dulichium, and others with Taphos, calling the Cephallenians Taphians, and likewise Teleboans, and to say that Amphitryon made an expedition thither with Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, whom, an exile from Athens, he had taken along with him, and that when Amphitryon seized the island he gave it over to Cephalus, and that the island was named after Cephalus and the cities after his children. But this is not in accordance with Homer; for the Cephallenians were subject to Odysseus and Laertes, whereas Taphos was subject to Mentes: I declare that I am Mentes the son of wise Anchialus, and I am lord over the oar loving Taphians.Hom. Od. 1.180Taphos is now called Taphius. Neither is HellanicusSee Dictionary in Vol. I. in accord with Homer when he identifies Cephallenia with Dulichium, for HomerHom. Il. 2.625. makes Dulichium and the remainder of the Echinades subject to Meges; and their inhabitants were Epeians, who had come there from Elis; and it is on this account that he calls Otus the Cylleniancomrade of PhyleidesSon of Phyleus (Meges). and ruler of the high-hearted Epeians;Hom. Il. 15.519but Odysseus led the high-hearted Cephallenians.Hom. Il. 2.631According to Homer, therefore, neither is Cephallenia Dulichium nor is Dulichium a part of Cephallenia, as AndronSee footnote on Andron, 10. 4. 6. says; for the Epeians held possession of Dulichium, whereas the Cephallenians held possession of the whole of Cephallenia and were subject to Odysseus, whereas the Epeians were subject to Meges. Neither is Paleis called Dulichium by the poet, as Pherecydes writes. But that writer is most in opposition to Homer who identifies Cephallenia with Dulichium, if it be true that “fifty-two” of the suitors were “from Dulichium” and “twenty-four from Same”;Hom. Od. 16.247, 249. for in that case would not Homer say that fifty-two came from the island as a whole and a half of that number less two from a single one of its four cities? However, if one grants this, I shall ask what Homer can mean by “Same” in the passage,Dulichium and Same and woody Zacynthos.Hom. Od. 1.246
