Kitap 10
5.1
Mother of my country, celebrated for its fine breed of horses. Thera is a long island, about 200 stadia in circumference. It lies opposite to the island Dia,Standia. towards the Cnossian Heracleium. It is distant about 700 stadia from Crete. Near it are Anaphe and Therasia.Therasia, on the west of Santorino. The little island IosNio. is distant from the latter about 100 stadia. Here according to some authors the poet Homer was buried.According to Herodotus, in the Life of Homer. In going from Ios towards the west are SicenusSikino, anciently Oenoë. Pliny iv. 12. and Lagusa,Cardiodissa, or Cardiana. and Pholegandrus,Policandro. which Aratus calls the iron island, on account of its rocks. Near these islands is Cimolus,Argentiere. Cretae plura genera. Ex iis Cimoliae duo ad medicos pertinentia, candidum et ad purpurissimum inclinans. Pliny, b. v. c. 17. Cretosaque rura Cimoli. Ovid. Met. vii. 464. But from Aristophanes, the Frogs, it would appear to have been a kind of fullers’ earth. whence is obtained the Cimolian earth. From Cimolus SiphnusSiphanto, anciently also Meropia and Acis. There were once gold and silver mines in it, which were destroyed by inundation. There is also another proverb, which alluded to its poverty, a Siphnian pledge, σίφνιος ἀῤῥαβὼν. Herodotus speaks of its being once the most wealthy of the islands, iii. 57. is visible. To this island is applied the proverb, a Siphnian bone (astragalus), on account of its insignificance. Still nearer, both to Cimolus and Crete, is Melos,Milo. more considerable than these. It is distant from the Hermionic promontory, the Scyllaeum,Cape Skylli. 700 stadia, and nearly as many from the Dictynnaean promontory. The Athenians formerly despatched an army to Melos,Thucyd. b. v. c. 115, 116. and put to death the inhabitants from youth upwards.
