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he calls the country of the Pylians, but nowhere does the Alpheius touch Messenia, nor the Hollow Elis. note
It is in this district that we have the native country of
Nestor, which we call the Triphylian, the Arcadian, and the
Lepreatic Pylus. For we know that other places of the name
of Pylus are pointed out, situated upon the sea, but this is
distant more than 30 stadia from it, as appears from the
poem. A messenger is sent to the vessel, to the companions
of Telemachus,—to invite them to a hospitable entertainment.
Telemachus, upon his return from Sparta, does not permit
Peisistratus to go to the city, but diverts him from it, and
prevails upon him to hasten to the ship, whence it appears
that the same road did not lead both to the city and to the
haven. The departure of Telemachus may in this manner
be aptly understood:
they went past Cruni, and the beautiful streams of Chalcis; the sun
set, and all the villages were in shade and darkness; but the ship, exulting in the gales of Jove, arrived at Pheae. She passed also the divine
Elis, where the Epeii rule; note
for to this place the direction of the vessel was towards the
north, and thence it turns to the east. The vessel leaves its
first and straight course in the direction of Ithaca, because the
suitors had placed an ambush there,
"In the strait between Ithaca and Samos,
And from thence he directed the vessel to the sharp-pointed islands, νήσοισι θοηαὶ; note the sharp-pointed (ὀξεῖαι) he calls θοαὶ. They belong to the Echinades, and are near the commencement of the Corinthian Gulf and the mouths of the Achelous. After having sailed past Ithaca so as to leave the island behind him, he turns to the proper course between Acarnania and Ithaca, and disembarks on the other side of the island, not at the strait of Cephallenia, where the suitors were on the watch. 27
If any one therefore should suppose that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the ship would not properly be said, after setting off thence, to take its course along Cruni and Chalcis, as far as the west, then to arrive by night at Pheae, and afterwards to sail along the territory of Eleia, for
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Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].