Book 13
1.5
But the topography of Troy, in the proper sense of the term, is best marked by the position of Mt. Ida, a lofty mountain which faces the west and the western sea but makes a slight bend also towards the north and the northern seaboard. See Leaf, Strabo on the Troad, p. 48. This latter is the seaboard of the Propontis, extending from the strait in the neighborhood of Abydus to the Aesepus River and Cyzicene, whereas the western sea consists of the outer HellespontOn the meaning of the term Hellespont, see Book VII, Frag. 57(58), and Leaf (Strabo on the Troad, p. 50. and the Aegaean Sea. Mt. Ida has many foothills, is like the scolopendraA genus of myriapods including some of the largest centipedes. in shape, and is defined by its two extreme limits: by the promontory in the neighborhood of Zeleia and by the promontory called Lectum the former terminating in the interior slightly above Cyzicene (in fact, Zeleia now belongs to the Cyziceni), whereas Lectum extends to the Aegaean Sea, being situated on the coasting voyage between Tenedos and Lesbos. When the poet says that Hypnos and Heracame to many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, to Lectum, where first the two left the sea,Hom. Il. 14.283he describes Lectum in accordance with the facts; for he rightly states that Lectum is a part of Mt. Ida, and that Lectum is the first place of disembarkation from the sea for those who would go up to Mt. Ida, and also that the mountain is “many-fountained,” for there in particular the mountain is abundantly watered, as is shown by the large number of rivers there,all the rivers that flow forth from the Idaean mountains to the sea, Rhesus and HeptaporusHom. Il. 12.19and the following,The Granicus, Aesepus, Scamander, and Simoeis. all of which are named by the poet and are now to be seen by us. Now while Homer thus describes LectumHom. Il. 14. 284 and ZeleiaHom. Il. 2.824 as the outermost foothills of Mt. Ida in either direction, he also appropriately distinguishes Gargarus from them as a summit, calling it “topmost.”Hom. Il. 14.292, 352; 15.152 And indeed at the present time people point out in the upper parts of Ida a place called Gargarum, after which the present Gargara, an Aeolian city, is named. Now between Zeleia and Lectum, beginning from the Propontis, are situated first the parts extending to the straits at Abydus, and then, outside the Propontis, the parts extending to Lectum.
