Geography

​Then next is Anticragus, a steep mountain, upon which is situated Carmylessus, a settlement in a ravine; and after this is Cragus, which has eight peaks and a city of the same name. Around these mountains is localized the myth of the Chimaera; and not far off is also the Chimaera, a certain ravine extending upwards from the shore. At the foot of Cragus lies Pinara in the interior, which is one of the largest cities in Lycia. Here Pandarus is honored, who is perhaps homonymous with the Trojan Pandarus; for they say that he too was from Lycia.

​Then comes the river Xanthus, which they formerly called Sirbis; and for one sailing up ten stadia in light vessels, there is the Letoum; and for one going on sixty stadia above the temple, there is the city of the Xanthians, the largest of those in Lycia. After Xanthus is Patara, which is also a large city with a harbor and a temple of Apollo, a foundation of Patarus. Ptolemy Philadelphus, having repaired it, called it Arsinoe in Lycia, but the original name prevailed.

​Then Myra, situated twenty stadia above the sea on a high hill. Next is the outlet of the river Limyrus, and for one going up twenty stadia on foot, there is the small town of Limyra. In the interval, during the aforementioned coastal voyage, there are many small islands and harbors, among which is the island of Megiste and the city of the same name, and Cisthene. In the interior are the settlements of Phellus, Antiphellus, and the Chimaera, of which we made mention above.

​Then the Sacred Promontory and the three Chelidoniae islands, which are rugged, nearly equal in size, and distant from each other about five stadia; they are six stadia distant from the mainland, and one of them has an anchorage. Most people believe that the Taurus begins here, both because the promontory is high and comes down from the Pisidian mountains that lie above Pamphylia, and because the islands lying before it have a prominent mark in the sea, like a fringe. But the truth is that the mountainous country is continuous from the Rhodian Peraea to the parts towards Pisidia, and this too is called Taurus. The Chelidoniae are thought to lie approximately in a line with Canopus; and the crossing is said to be four thousand stadia. From the Sacred Promontory to Olbia there remain three hundred and sixty-seven stadia; and among these are Crambusa, and Olympus, a large city and a mountain of the same name, which is also called Phoenicous; then comes Corycus, the shore.

​Then Phaselis, a notable city with three harbors, and a lake. Above it lies Mount Solyma and Termessus, a Pisidian city, situated over the pass through which there is a crossing into Milyas. And Alexander for this reason destroyed it, wishing to open the pass. Around Phaselis are the passes along the sea, through which Alexander led his army. There is a mountain called Climax, which lies upon the Pamphylian Sea, leaving a narrow passage on the shore, which in calm weather is bare so as to be passable for travelers, but when the sea is flooded, it is covered to a great extent by the waves. Now the crossing through the mountain has a circuitous route and is steep, but they use the shore in fair weather. Alexander, however, having fallen upon a winter season and trusting for the most part to fortune, set out before the wave subsided, and it happened that the march was in water the whole day, they being submerged up to their navels. Now this city too is Lycian, established on the borders towards Pamphylia, but it does not participate in the common league of the Lycians, but is established by itself.

​Now the poet makes the Solymi different from the Lycians; for Bellerophon, being sent by the king of the Lycians to this second labor, “fought with the glorious Solymi.” But those who assert that the Lycians were formerly called Solymi, and later Termilae after those who came down from Crete with Sarpedon, and after that Lycians after Lycus the son of Pandion, who, when expelled from his own land, was received by Sarpedon to a share in the government, speak what is not in agreement with Homer; whereas those are better who say that those now called Milyae, about whom we have spoken, are called Solymi by the poet.