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Strabo, Geography
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III.[1] At the present time the whole of the seaboard that lies between the countries of the Achaeans and the Messenians, and extends inland to the Arcadian districts of Pholoë, of the Azanes, and of the Parrhasians, is called the Eleian country. But in early times this country was divided into several domains; and afterwards into two--that of the Epeians and that under the rule of Nestor the son of Neleus; just as Homer, too, states, when he calls the land of the Epeians by the name of "Elis" ( "and1 passed goodly Elis, where the Epeians hold sway"2 ), and the land under the rule of Nestor, "Pylus," through which, he says, the Alpheius flows ("of the Alpheius, that floweth in wide stream through the land of the Pylians"3 ). Of course Homer also knew of Pylus as a city ("and they reached Pylus, the well-built city of Nestor"4 ), but the Alpheius does not flow through the city, nor past it either; in fact, another river flows past it, a river which some call "Pamisus" and others "Amathus" (whence, apparently, the epithet "Emathoëis" which has been applied to this Pylus), but the Alpheius flows through the Pylian country.[2] What is now the city of Elis had not yet been founded in Homer's time; in fact, the people of the country lived only in villages. And the country was called Coele5 Elis from the fact in the case, for the most and best of it was "Coele." It was only relatively late, after the Persian wars, that people came together from many communities into what is now the city of Elis. And I might almost say that, with only a few exceptions, the other Peloponnesian places named by the poet were also named by him, not as cities, but as countries, each country being composed of several communities, from which in later times the well-known cities were settled. For instance, in Arcadia, Mantineia was settled by Argive colonists from five communities; and Tegea from nine; and also Heraea from nine, either by Cleombrotus or by Cleonymus. And in the same way the city Aegium was made up of seven or eight communities; the city Patrae of seven; and the city Dyme of eight. And in this way the city Elis was also made up of the communities of the surrounding country (one of these . . . the Agriades).6 The Peneius River flows through the city past the gymnasium. And the Eleians did not make this gymnasium until a long time after the districts that were under Nestor had passed into their possession. [3] These districts were Pisatis (of which Olympia was a part), Triphylia, and the country of the Cauconians. The Triphylians7 were so called from the fact that three tribes of people had come together in that country--that of the Epeians, who were there at the outset, and that of the Minyans, who later settled there, and that of the Eleians, who last dominated the country. But some name the Arcadians in the place of the Minyans, since the Arcadians had often disputed the possession of the country; and hence the same Pylus was called both Arcadian Pylus and Triphylian Pylus.8 Homer calls this whole country as far as Messene "Pylus," giving it the same name as the city. But Coele Elis was distinct from the places subject to Nestor, as is shown in the Catalogue of Ships by the names of the chieftains and of their abodes. I say this because I am comparing present conditions with those described by Homer; for we must needs institute this comparison because of the fame of the poet and because of our familiarity with him from our childhood, since all of us believe that we have not successfully treated any subject which we may have in hand until there remains in our treatment nothing that conflicts with what the poet says on the same subject, such confidence do we have in his words. Accordingly, I must give conditions as they now are, and then, citing the words of the poet, in so far as they bear on the matter, take them also into consideration. [4] In the Eleian country, on the north, is a cape, Araxus, sixty stadia distant from Dyme, an Achaean city. This cape, then, I put down as the beginning of the seaboard of the Eleians. After this cape, as one proceeds towards the west, one comes to the naval station of the Eleians, Cyllene, from which there is a road leading inland to the present city Elis, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Homer, too, mentions this Cyllene when he says, "Otus, a Cyllenian, a chief of the Epeians,"9 for he would not have represented a chieftain of the Epeians as being from the Arcadian mountain.10 Cyllene is a village of moderate size; and it has the Asclepius made by Colotes--an ivory image that is wonderful to behold. After Cyllene one comes to the promontory Chelonatas, the most westerly point of the Peloponnesus. Off Chelonatas lies an isle, and also some shallows that are on the common boundary between Coele Elis and the country of the Pisatae; and from here the voyage to Cephallenia is not more than eighty stadia. Somewhere in this neighborhood, on the aforesaid boundary line, there also flows the River Elison or Elisa. [5] It is between Chelonatas and Cyllene that the River Peneius empties; as also the River Sellëeis, which is mentioned by the poet and flows out of Pholoe. On the Sellëeis is situated a city Ephyra, which is to be distinguished from the Thesprotian, Thessalian, and Corinthian Ephyras;11 it is a fourth Ephyra, and is situated on the road that leads to Lasion, being either the same city as Boenoa (for thus Oenoe is usually called), or else near that city, at a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia from the city of the Eleians. This, apparently, is the Ephyra which Homer calls the home of the mother of Tlepolemus the son of Heracles (for the expeditions of Heracles were in this region rather than in any of the other three) when he says, |