Book 12
8.6
But the fact that the fertility of the country of which I am speakingThe country this side the Halys (section 4 above). was set before the powerful as a common prize of war is confirmed by many things which have taken place even subsequent to the Trojan War,i.e., as well as by events during, and prior to, that war. since even the Amazons took courage to attack it, against whom not only Priam, but also Bellerophontes, are said to have made expeditions; and the naming of ancient cities after the Amazons attests this fact. And in the Trojan Plain there is a hillwhich by men is called ‘Batieia,’ but by the immortals ‘the tomb of the much-bounding Myrina,’Hom. Il. 2.813who, historians say, was one of the Amazons, inferring this from the epithet “much-bounding”; for they say that horses are called “well-bounding” because of their speed, and that Myrina, therefore, was called “much-bounding” because of the speed with which she drove her chariot. Myrina, therefore, is named after this Amazon. And the neighboring islands had the same experience because of their fertility; and Homer clearly testifies that, among these, Rhodes and Cos were already inhabited by Greeks before the Trojan War.See 14. 2. 7.
