Previous Page
| Next Page
|
family of Teuthras, was reputed to be his son, and succeeded to the kingdom of the Mysians. 5
The Carians, who were formerly islanders, and Leleges, it is said, settled on the continent with the assistance
of the Cretans. They built Miletus, of which the founder was
Sarpedon from Miletus in Crete. They settled the colony
of Termilmae in the present Lycia, but, according to Herodotus, note
these people were a colony from Crete under the conduct of
Sarpedon, brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, who gave the
name of Termilae to the people formerly called Milyae, and
still more anciently Solymi; when, however, Lycus the son of
Pandion arrived, he called them Lycii after his own name.
This account shows that the Solymi and Lycians were the
same people, but the poet distinguishes them. He represents
Bellerophon setting out from Lycia, and
fighting with the renowned Solymi. note
Il. vi. 184.
slew when fighting with the Solymi, note
Il. vi. 204.
That the common prize, proposed to be obtained by the
conquerors, was the fertile country which I am describing, is
confirmed by many circumstances which happened both before and after the Trojan times. When even the Amazons
ventured to invade it, Priam and Bellerophon are said to have
undertaken an expedition against these women. Anciently
there were cities which bore the names of the Amazons. In
the Ilian plain there is a hill
which men call Batieia, but the immortals, the tomb of the bounding
(πολυσκάεθμοιο) Myrina,
who, according to historians, was one of the Amazons, and
they found this conjecture on the epithet, for horses are said
to be εὺσκάρθμοι on account of their speed; and she was called
πολὺσκαρμος from the rapidity with which she drove the
chariot. Myrina therefore, the place, was named after the
Amazon. In the same manner the neighbouring islands
were invaded on account of their fertility; among which were
Rhodes and Cos. That they were inhabited before the Trojan times clearly appears from the testimony of Homer. note
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].