Book 8
2.3
The Corinthian Gulf begins, on the one side, at the outlets of the Evenus (though some say at the outlets of the Acheloüs, the river that separates the Acarnanians and the Aetolians), and, on the other, at Araxus;Cape Araxus; now Kalogria. for here the shores on either side first draw notably nearer to one another; then in their advance they all but Lit. “more completely” (see critical note). meet at Rhium and Antirrhium, where they leave between them a strait only about five stadia in width. Rhium, belonging to the Achaeans, is a low-lying cape; it bends inwards (and it is in fact called “Sickle “).Cape “Drepanum.” Strabo confuses Cape Rhium with Cape Drepanum, since the two were separated by the Bay of Panormus (see Frazer’s Paus. 7.22.10, 7.23.4, notes, and Curtius’ Peloponnesos, I. p. 447). It lies between Patrae and Aegium, and possesses a temple of Poseidon. Antirrhium is situated on the common boundary of Aetolia and Locris; and people call it Molycrian Rhium.After Molycreia, a small Aetolian town near by. Then, from here, the shoreline on either side again draws moderately apart, and then, advancing into the Crisaean Gulf, it comes to an end there, being shut in by the westerly limits of Boeotia and Megaris.“Crisaean Gulf” (the Gulf of Salona of today) was often used in this broader sense. Cp. 8. 6. 21. The perimeter of the Corinthian Gulf if one measures from the Evenus to Araxus, is two thousand two hundred and thirty stadia; but if one measures from the Acheloüs, it is about a hundred stadia more. Now from the Acheloüs to the Evenus the coast is occupied by Acarnanians;Strabo thus commits himself against the assertion of others (see at the beginning of the paragraph) that the Acheloüs separates the Acarnanians and the Aetolians. and thence to Antirrhium, by Aetolians; but the remaining coast, as far as the Isthmus, belongs toThe Greek for “the Locrians and” seems to have fallen out of the MSS. at this point; for Strabo has just said that “Antirrhium is on the common boundary of Aetolia and Locris” (see 9. 3. 1). the Phocians, the Boeotians and Megaris—a distance of one thousand one hundred and eighteen stadia. The sea from Antirrhium as far as the IsthmusSome of the editors believe that words to the following effect have fallen out at this point: “is the Crisaean Gulf; but the sea from the city Creusa.” is called Alcyonian, it being a part of the Crisaean Gulf. Again, from the Isthmus to Araxus the distance is one thousand and thirty stadia. Such, then, in general terms, is the position and extent of the Peloponnesus, and of the land that lies opposite to it across the arm of the sea as far as the recess; and such, too, is the character of the gulf that lies between the two bodies of land. Now I shall describe each part in detail, beginning with the Eleian country.
