§10.2.18λοιπὴ δʼ ἐστὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τῷ Ὀδυσσεῖ τεταγμένων νήσων ἡ Ζάκυνθος, μικρῷ πρὸς ἑσπέραν μᾶλλον τῆς Κεφαλληνίας κεκλιμένη τῆς Πελοποννήσου, συνάπτουσα δʼ αὐτῇ πλέον.
The remaining one of the islands ordered under Odysseus is Zacynthus, which is inclined a little more towards the west of Cephallenia than Peloponnesus, but adjoins it more.
ἔστι δʼ ὁ κύκλος τῆς Ζακύνθου σταδίων ἑκατὸν ἑξήκοντα· διέχει δὲ καὶ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας ὅσον ἑξήκοντα σταδίους, ὑλώδης μὲν εὔκαρπος δέ· καὶ ἡ πόλις ἀξιόλογος, ὁμώνυμος.
The circumference of Zacynthus is one hundred and sixty stadia; and it is about sixty stadia distant from Cephallenia, being woody but fertile; and its city is noteworthy, bearing the same name.
ἐντεῦθεν εἰς Ἑσπερίδας τῆς Λιβύης στάδιοι τρισχίλιοι ἑξακόσιοι.
From here to the Hesperides in Libya is three thousand six hundred stadia.
§10.2.19καὶ ταύτης δὲ καὶ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας πρὸς ἕω τὰς Ἐχινάδας ἱδρῦσθαι νήσους συμβέβηκεν, ὧν τό τε Δουλίχιόν ἐστι (καλοῦσι δὲ νῦν Δολίχαν) καὶ αἱ Ὀξεῖαι καλούμεναι, ἃς Θοὰς ὁ ποιητὴς εἶπε· καὶ ἡ μὲν Δολίχα κεῖται κατὰ Οἰνιάδας καὶ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τοῦ Ἀχελώου, διέχουσα Ἀράξου τῆς τῶν Ἠλείων ἄκρας ἑκατόν, αἱ λοιπαὶ δʼ Ἐχινάδες (πλείους δʼ εἰσί, πᾶσαι λυπραὶ καὶ τραχεῖαι) πρὸ τῆς ἐκβολῆς τοῦ Ἀχελώου, πεντεκαίδεκα σταδίους ἀφεστῶσα ἡ ἀπωτάτω, ἡ δʼ ἐγγυτάτω πέντε, πελαγίζουσαι πρότερον, ἀλλʼ ἡ χοῦς τὰς μὲν ἐξηπείρωκεν αὐτῶν ἤδη, τὰς δὲ μέλλει πολλὴ καταφερομένη· ἥπερ καὶ τὴν Παραχελωῖτιν καλουμένην χώραν, ἣν ὁ ποταμὸς ἐπικλύζει, περιμάχητον ἐποίει τὸ παλαιὸν τοὺς ὅρους συγχέουσα ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀποδεικνυμένους τοῖς Ἀκαρνᾶσι καὶ τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς· ἐκρίνοντο γὰρ τοῖς ὅπλοις οὐκ ἔχοντες διαιτητάς, ἐνίκων δʼ οἱ πλέον δυνάμενοι· ἀφʼ ἧς αἰτίας καὶ μῦθος ἐπλάσθη τις; ὡς Ἡρακλέους καταπολεμήσαντος τὸν Ἀχελῶον καὶ ἐνεγκαμένου τῆς νίκης ἆθλον τὸν Δηιανείρας γάμον τῆς Οἰνέως θυγατρός, ἣν πεποίηκε Σοφοκλῆς τοιαῦτα λέγουσαν
"
μνηστὴρ γὰρ ἦν μοι ποταμός, Ἀχελῶον λέγω,
ὅς μʼ ἐν τρισὶν μορφαῖσιν ἐξῄτει πατρός,
φοιτῶν ἐναργὴς ταῦρος, ἄλλοτʼ αἰόλος
δράκων ἑλικτός, ἄλλοτʼ ἀνδρείῳ κύτει
βούπρῳρος.
And to the east of this island and of Cephallenia, it has happened that the Echinades Islands are situated, among which is Dulichium (now they call it Dolicha) and those called Oxeiae, which the poet called Thoae; and Dolicha lies opposite Oeniadae and the outlet of the Achelous, at a distance of one hundred stadia from Araxus, the promontory of the Eleians, while the rest of the Echinades (they are numerous, all barren and rugged) lie before the outlet of the Achelous, the most distant being fifteen stadia away, and the nearest five, formerly being in the open sea, but the silt, being carried down in great abundance, has already joined some of them to the mainland, and is about to do so to others; and this very silt also made the territory called Paracheloitis, which the river floods, a subject of contention in ancient times, by always confusing the boundaries designated for the Acarnanians and the Aetolians; for they used to decide by arms, having no arbitrators, and those with greater power won; from which cause a certain myth was also fabricated, to the effect that Heracles, having conquered the Achelous and having won as the prize of victory the marriage with Deianira, the daughter of Oeneus, whom Sophocles has represented saying such things: "μνηστὴρ γὰρ ἦν μοι ποταμός, Ἀχελῶον λέγω, ὅς μʼ ἐν τρισὶν μορφαῖσιν ἐξῄτει πατρός, φοιτῶν ἐναργὴς ταῦρος, ἄλλοτʼ αἰόλος δράκων ἑλικτός, ἄλλοτʼ ἀνδρείῳ κύτει βούπρῳρος.
"
προστιθέασι δʼ ἔνιοι καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀμαλθείας τοῦτʼ εἶναι λέγοντες κέρας, ὃ ἀπέκλασεν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς τοῦ Ἀχελώου καὶ ἔδωκεν Οἰνεῖ τῶν γάμων ἕδνον· οἱ δʼ εἰκάζοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν τἀληθὲς ταύρῳ μὲν ἐοικότα λέγεσθαι τὸν Ἀχελῶόν φασι, καθάπερ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ποταμούς, ἀπό τε τῶν ἤχων καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὰ ῥεῖθρα καμπῶν, ἃς καλοῦσι κέρατα, δράκοντι δὲ διὰ τὸ μῆκος καὶ τὴν σκολιότητα, βούπρῳρον δὲ διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν διʼ ἣν καὶ ταυρωπόν· τὸν Ἡρακλέα δὲ καὶ ἄλλως εὐεργετικὸν ὄντα καὶ τῷ Οἰνεῖ κηδεύσοντα παραχώμασί τε καὶ διοχετείαις βιάσασθαι τὸν ποταμὸν πλημμελῶς ῥέοντα καὶ πολλὴν τῆς Παραχελωίτιδος ἀναψύξαι χαριζόμενον τῷ Οἰνεῖ· καὶ τοῦτʼ εἶναι τὸ τῆς Ἀμαλθείας κέρας.
"And some add, saying that this is the horn of Amaltheia, which Heracles broke off from the Achelous and gave to Oeneus as a wedding gift; but those who from these things conjecture the truth say that the Achelous is said to resemble a bull, like other rivers, from the roaring sounds and the curves along its streams, which they call horns, and a dragon because of its length and tortuousness, and bull-fronted for the same reason that he is called bull-faced; and that Heracles, being otherwise beneficent and about to form an alliance of marriage with Oeneus, by means of dykes and channels forced the river which was flowing irregularly, and reclaimed a large part of Paracheloitis, making a present of it to Oeneus; and that this was the horn of Amaltheia.
τῶν μὲν οὖν Ἐχινάδων καὶ τῶν Ὀξειῶν κατὰ τὰ Τρωικὰ Μέγητα ἄρχειν φησὶν Ὅμηρος
"
ὃν τίκτε Διὶ φίλος ἱππότα Φυλεύς,
ὅς ποτε Δουλίχιόνδʼ ἀπενάσσατο, πατρὶ χολωθείς.
Now of the Echinades and the Oxeiae, Homer says that Meges ruled at the time of the Trojan war: "ὃν τίκτε Διὶ φίλος ἱππότα Φυλεύς, ὅς ποτε Δουλίχιόνδʼ ἀπενάσσατο, πατρὶ χολωθείς.
"
πατὴρ δʼ ἦν Αὐγέας ὁ τῆς Ἠλείας καὶ τῶν Ἐπειῶν ἄρχων· ὥστʼ Ἐπειοὶ τὰς νήσους ταύτας εἶχον οἱ συνεξάραντες εἰς τὸ Δουλίχιον τῷ Φυλεῖ.
"And his father was Augeas, the ruler of Eleia and of the Epeians; so that the Epeians, who had migrated with Phyleus to Dulichium, held these islands.
§10.2.20αἱ δὲ τῶν Ταφίων νῆσοι, πρότερον δὲ Τηλεβοῶν, ὧν ἦν καὶ ἡ Τάφος νῦν δὲ Ταφιὰς καλουμένη, χωρὶς ἦσαν τούτων οὐ τοῖς διαστήμασιν (ἐγγὺς γὰρ κεῖνται) ἀλλὰ ὑφʼ ἑτέροις ἡγεμόσι ταττόμεναι, Ταφίοις καὶ Τηλεβόαις· πρότερον μὲν οὖν Ἀμφιτρύων ἐπιστρατεύσας αὐτοῖς μετὰ Κεφάλου τοῦ Δηιονέως ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν φυγάδος, ἐκείνῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν παρέδωκεν αὐτῶν· ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς ὑπὸ Μέντῃ τετάχθαι φησὶ λῃστὰς καλῶν αὐτούς, καθάπερ καὶ τοὺς Τηλεβόας ἅπαντάς φασι.
But the islands of the Taphians, formerly of the Teleboans, among which was also Taphos, now called Taphias, were separate from these, not by distances (for they lie near) but by being ordered under other leaders, the Taphians and Teleboans; formerly indeed, Amphitryon, having made an expedition against them with Cephalus the son of Deioneus, an exile from Athens, delivered the rule of them to him; but the poet says that they were ordered under Mentes, calling them pirates, just as they say of all the Teleboans.
τὰ μὲν περὶ τὰς νήσους τὰς πρὸ τῆς Ἀκαρνανίας ταῦτα.
Such are the matters concerning the islands situated before Acarnania.