Book 8
3.24
With respect to εὔκτιτον αἶπυ, Aepy the well-built,” some writers ask which of these words is the epithet of the other, and what is the city, and whether it is the present Margalae of Amphidolia, but this Margalae is not a natural fortress, but another is meant, a natural strong-hold in Macistia. Writers who suppose this place to be meant, say, that Aepy is the name of the city, and infer it from its natural properties, as in the example of Helos,A marsh. Aegialos,The sea-shore. and many others: those who suppose Margalae to be meant here, will assert the contrary.
3.24
Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because all the country is θοͅυώδης, or sedgy, and particularly the banks of the rivers, but this appears more clearly at the fordable places of the stream. Perhaps Thryum is meant by the ford, and by the well-built Aepy, Epitalium, which is naturally strong, and in the other part of the passage he mentions a lofty hill; The city Thryoessa, a lofty hill, Far away by the Alpheus.Il. xi. 710.Il. xi. 710.
3.25
Cyparisseïs is near the old Macistia, which then extended even to the other side of the Neda, but it is not inhabited, as neither is Macistum. There is also another, the Messenian Cyparissia, not having quite the same name, but one like it. The city of Macistia is at present called Cyparissia, in the singular number, and feminine gender, but the name of the river is Cyparisseis.
3.25
Amphigeneia, also belonging to Macistia, is near Hypsoeis, where is the temple of Latona.
3.25
Pteleum was founded by the colony that came from Pteleum in Thessaly, for it is mentioned in this line, Antron on the sea-coast, and the grassy Pteleum.Il. ii. 697.Il. ii. 697. It is a woody place, uninhabited, called Pteleasimum.
