Book 13
1.63
Chrysa was a small town on the sea, with a harbor; and near by, above it, lies Thebe. Here too was the temple of the Sminthian Apollo; and here lived Chryseïs. But the place is now utterly deserted; and the temple was transferred to the present Chrysa near Hamaxitus when the Cilicians were driven out, partly to PamphyliaCf 14. 4. 1. and partly to Hamaxitus. Those who are less acquainted with ancient history say that it was at this Chrysa that Chryses and Chryseïs lived, and that Homer mentions this place; but, in the first place, there is no harbor here, and yet Homer says,And when they had now arrived inside the deep harbor;Hom. Il. 1.432and, secondly, the temple is not on the sea, though Homer makes it on the sea;and out from the seafaring ship stepped Chryseïs. Here then did Odysseus of many wiles lead to the altar, and place in the arms of her dear father;Hom. Il. 1.438neither is it near Thebe, though Homer makes it near; at any rate, he speaks of Chryseïs as having been taken captive there. Again, neither is there any place called Cilla to be seen in the territory of the Alexandreians, nor any temple of Cillaean Apollo; but the poet couples the two,who dost stand over Chrysa and sacred Cilla.Hom. Il. 1.37But it is to be seen near by in the Plain of Thebe. And the voyage from the Cilician Chrysa to the Naval Station is about seven hundred stadia, approximately a day’s voyage, such a distance, obviously, as that sailed by Odysseus;See Hom. Il. 1.430 ff for immediately upon disembarking he offered the sacrifice to the god, and since evening overtook him he remained on the spot and sailed away the next morning. But the distance from Hamaxitus is scarcely a third of that above mentioned, so that Odysseus could have completed the sacrifice and sailed back to the Naval Station on the same day. There is also a tomb of Cillus in the neighborhood of the temple of the Cillaean Apollo, a great barrow. He is said to have been the charioteer of Pelops and to have ruled over this region; and perhaps it was after him that Cilicia was named, or vice versa.
