Book 13
1.51
To the Assians and the Gargarians now belong all the parts as far as the sea off Lesbos that are surrounded by the territory of Antandrus and that of the Cebrenians and Neandrians and Hamaxitans; for the Antandrians are situated above Hamaxitus, like it being situated inside Lectum, though farther inland and nearer to Ilium, for they are one hundred and thirty stadia distant from Ilium. Higher up than these are the Cebrenians, and still higher up than the latter are the Dardanians, who extend as far as Palaescepsis and Scepsis itself. Antandrus is called by Alcaeus “city of the Leleges”: First, Antandrus, city of the LelegesAlcaeus Fr. 65 (Bergk). Leaf translates: “Antandros, first city of the Leleges”. but it is placed by the Scepsian among the cities adjacent to their territory,Leaf translates: “But Demetrios puts it in the district adjacent (to the Leleges), so that it would fall within the territory of the Kilikes”; and in his commentary (p. 255) he says: “as the words stand, Strabo says that ‘Demetrios places Antandros (not at Antandros but) in the neighborhood of Antandros.’ That is nonsense however we look at it.” Yet the Greek cannot mean the Demetrius transfers Antandrus, “a fixed point,” to “the adjacent district,” as Leaf interprets, but that he includes it among the cities (ταῖς παρακειμέναις) which he enumerates as Cilician. so that it would fall within the territory of the Cilicians; for the territory of the Cilicians is continuous with that of the Leleges, the former, rather than the latter, marking off the southern flank of Mt. Ida. But still the territory of the Cilicians also lies low and, rather than that of the Leleges, joins the part of the coast that is near Adramyttium.The interpretation of the Greek for this last sentence is somewhat doubtful. Cf. translation and commentary of Leaf (pp. 254-255, who regards the text as corrupt. For after Lectum one comes to a place called Polymedium, at a distance of forty stadia; then, at a distance of eighty,i.e., eighty stadia from Polymedium, not from Lectum, as thought by Thatcher Clark (American Journal of Archaeology, 4. 291 ff., quoted by Leaf. His interpretation, neither accepted nor definitely rejected by Leaf (p. 257, is not in accordance with Strabo’s manner of enumerating distances, a fact apparently overlooked by both scholars. to Assus, slightly above the sea; and then, at a distance of one hundred and twenty,See preceding footnote. to Gargara, which lies on a promontorySo Clark; or “on a height,” as Leaf translates (see his note). that forms the Adramyttene Gulf, in the special sense of that term; for the whole of the coast from Lectum to Canae is also called by this same name, in which is also included the Elaïtic Gulf. In the special sense of the term, however, only that part of it is called Adramyttene which is enclosed by that promontory on which Gargara lies and the promontory called Pyrrha, on which the AphrodisiumTemple of Aphrodite. is situated. The breadth of the mouth across from promontory to promontory is a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Inside is Antandrus, above which lies a mountain called Alexandreia, where the Judgment of Paris is said to have taken place, as also Aspaneus, the market for the timber from Mt. Ida; for here people bring it down and sell it to those who want it. And then comes Astyra, a village with a precinct sacred to the Astyrene Artemis. And quite near Astyra is Adramyttium, a city colonized by the Athenians, which has both a harbor and a naval station. Outside the gulf and the promontory called Pyrrha lies Cisthene, a deserted city with a harbor. Above it, in the interior, lie the copper mine and Perperene and Trarium and other settlements like these two. On the next stretch of coast one comes to the villages of the Mitylenaeans, I mean Coryphantis and Heracleia; and after these places to Attea, and then to Atarneus and Pitane and the outlets of the Caïcus River; and here we have already reached the Elaïtic Gulf. On the far side of the river lie Elaea and the rest of the gulf as far as Canae. But let me go back and discuss in detail the several places, if anything worthy of mention has been passed over; and first of all, Scepsis.
