Geography

​Athos is a high and breast-shaped mountain, so that those on the summits are already weary of plowing when the sun rises, while it is only the beginning of cock-crowing for those who inhabit the coast. And on this coast Thamyris the Thracian reigned, who followed the same pursuits as Orpheus. And here also is shown the canal around Acanthus, along which Xerxes is said to have dug through Athos and conducted his fleet from the Strymonic Gulf through the isthmus, after admitting the sea into the canal. But Demetrius of Scepsis does not believe that this canal was sailed through; for he says that up to ten stadia the ground is good and has been excavated, and has been dug to the width of a plethron, but then there is a high, flat rock, almost a stadium in length, which could not possibly be quarried out all the way to the sea; and even if it was dug as far as this, it was certainly not to a depth so as to make a navigable passage; where Alexarchus, the son of Antipater, founded the city of Uranopolis, which has a circumference of thirty stadia. And some of the Pelasgians from Lemnos inhabited this peninsula, divided into five small towns, Cleonae, Olophyxus, Acrothoi, Dium, and Thyssus. After Athos comes the Strymonic Gulf as far as the river Nestus, which bounded Macedonia in the times of Philip and Alexander; but, strictly speaking, it is a certain cape that forms the gulf towards Athos, having once possessed the city of Apollonia. And in the gulf, the first city after the harbor of the Acanthians is Stageira, now deserted, which also belonged to the Chalcidians, the birthplace of Aristotle, and its harbor is Kapros and the island is homonymous with it; then the Strymon and the voyage up to Amphipolis of twenty stadia; and this is a foundation of the Athenians, established on the site which is called Nine Ways; then Galepsus and Apollonia, which were razed to the ground by Philip. E.

​He says that from the Peneius to Pydna is one hundred and twenty stadia. And along the coast of the Strymon is Neapolis, a city of the Dateni, and Daton itself, which has fertile plains, a lake, rivers, dockyards, and profitable gold mines, whence also they say in the proverb, “Daton of good things,” as also “clews of good things.” And as for the country beyond the Strymon, the coastal region and the places around Daton are inhabited by the Odomantes, Edoni, and Bisaltae, both the indigenous people and those who crossed over from Macedonia, among whom Rhesus reigned. And above Amphipolis are the Bisaltae, extending as far as the city of Heracleia, having a fertile valley which the Strymon flows through, starting from the Agrianes around Rhodope, adjacent to whom is Parorbelia of Macedonia, which in the interior along the valley from Eidomene has Callipolis, Orthopolis, Philippopolis, and Garescus. And among the Bisaltae, as one goes up the river Strymon, is also situated Berge, a village about two hundred stadia distant from Amphipolis. And as one goes towards the north from Heracleia and through the narrows through which the Strymon flows, keeping the river on the right, on the left is Paeonia and the places around Doberus, Rhodope, and Mount Haemus, and on the right the parts around Haemus. And on this side of the Strymon, near the river itself, is Scotussa, and near Lake Bolbe is Arethusa. And indeed, those around the lake are especially called Mygdones. And not only does the Axius have its source from the Paeonians, but also the Strymon; for it falls from the Agrianes through the Maedi and Sinti into the parts between the Bisaltae and Odomantes. E.