Book 14
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Among illustrious natives of Chios were IonIon was a contemporary of Sophocles. Theopompus was the disciple of Socrates, and the author of an epitome of the history of Herodotus, of a history of Greece, of a history of Philip, father of Alexander the Great, and of other works. He was of the aristocratic or Macedonian party. Theocritus, his contemporary, was a poet, orator, and historian ; he was of the democratic party. To these, among illustrious natives of Chios, may be added Oenopides the astronomer and mathematician, who was the discoverer of the obliquity of the ecliptic and the cycle of 59 years, for bringing the lunar and solar years into accordance; Nessus the philosopher; his disciple Metrodorus (about B. C. 330) the sceptic, and master of Hippocrates; Scymnus the geographer, and author of a description of the earth. the tragic writer, Theopompus the historian, and Theocritus the sophist. The two latter persons were opposed to each other in the political parties in the state. The Chians claim Homer as a native of their country, alleging as a proof the Homeridae, as they are called, descendants from his family, whom Pindar mentions: Whence also the Homeridae, the chanters of the rhapsodies, most frequently begin their song.The Homeridae may have been at first descendants of Homer; but in later times those persons went by the name Homeridae, or Homeristae, who travelled from town to town for the purpose of reciting the poems of Homer. They did not confine themselves to that poet alone, but recited the poetry of Hesiod, Archilochus, Mimnermus, and others; and finally passages from prose writers.—Athenaeus, b. xiv. c. 13. The Chians once possessed a naval force, and aspired to the sovereignty of the sea, and to liberty.Of the 283 vessels sent by the eight cities of Ionia in the war with Darius, one hundred came from Chios.
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From Chios to Lesbos is a voyage of about 400 stadia, with a south wind.
