§10.5.1περὶ δὲ τὴν Κρήτην εἰσὶ νῆσοι, Θήρα μὲν ἡ τῶν Κυρηναίων μητρόπολις, ἄποικος Λακεδαιμονίων, καὶ πλησίον ταύτης Ἀνάφη, ἐν ᾗ τὸ τοῦ Αἰγλήτου Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερόν.
Around Crete are islands, including Thera, the mother-city of the Cyrenaeans and a colony of the Lacedaemonians, and near it Anaphe, where there is the temple of Aegletes Apollo.
λέγει δὲ καὶ Καλλίμαχος τοτὲ μὲν οὕτως
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Αἰγλήτην Ἀνάφην τε Λακωνίδι γείτονα Θήρῃ,
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τοτὲ δὲ τῆς Θήρας μνησθείς
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μήτηρ εὐίππου πατρίδος ἡμετέρης. "
ἔστι δὲ μακρὰ ἡ Θήρα, διακοσίων οὖσα τὴν περίμετρον σταδίων, κειμένη δὲ κατὰ Δίαν νῆσον τὴν πρὸς Ἡρακλείῳ τῷ Κνωσσίῳ, διέχει δὲ τῆς Κρήτης εἰς ἑπτακοσίους· πλησίον δʼ αὐτῆς ἥ τε Ἀνάφη καὶ Θηρασία.
And Callimachus also says at one time as follows: "Aegletes and Anaphe, neighbor to Laconian Thera," and at another time, mentioning Thera: "mother of our homeland, rich in horses." Thera is long, being two hundred stadia in circumference, and lies opposite the island of Dia which is near Heracleion of Knossos, and is about seven hundred stadia distant from Crete; near it are Anaphe and Therasia.
ταύτης δʼ εἰς ἑκατὸν ἀπέχει νησίδιον Ἴος, ἐν ᾧ κεκηδεῦσθαί τινές φασι τὸν ποιητὴν Ὅμηρον·
About a hundred stadia distant from Therasia is the islet of Ios, where some say the poet Homer was buried.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ἴου πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἰόντι Σίκινος καὶ Λάγουσα καὶ Φολέγανδρος, ἣν Ἄρατος σιδηρείην ὀνομάζει διὰ τὴν τραχύτητα· ἐγγὺς δὲ τούτων Κίμωλος, ὅθεν ἡ γῆ ἡ Κιμωλία·
To one going westward from Ios are Sikinos, Lagusa, and Folegandros, which Aratus calls 'iron-like' because of its ruggedness; near these is Kimolos, whence comes the Kimolian earth.
ἔνθεν ἡ Σίφνος ἐν ὄψει ἐστίν, ἐφʼ ᾗ λέγουσι Σίφνιον ἀστράγαλον διὰ τὴν εὐτέλειαν.
From there Siphnos is in sight, concerning which they say 'Siphnian astragalos' because of its cheapness.
ἔτι δʼ ἐγγυτέρω καὶ τῆς Κιμώλου καὶ τῆς Κρήτης ἡ Μῆλος ἀξιολογωτέρα τούτων, διέχουσα τοῦ Ἑρμιονικοῦ ἀκρωτηρίου τοῦ Σκυλλαίου σταδίους ἑπτακοσίους· τοσούτους δὲ σχεδόν τι καὶ τοῦ Δικτυνναίου· Ἀθηναῖοι δέ ποτε πέμψαντες στρατείαν ἡβηδὸν κατέσφαξαν τοὺς πλείους.
Still closer both to Kimolos and to Crete is Melos, more noteworthy than these, being seven hundred stadia distant from the Hermionic promontory of Scyllaeum, and almost the same distance from Dictynnaeum; the Athenians once sent an expedition and slaughtered most of its youths.
αὗται μὲν οὖν ἐν τῷ Κρητικῷ πελάγει, ἐν δὲ τῷ Αἰγαίῳ μᾶλλον αὐτή τε ἡ Δῆλος καὶ αἱ περὶ αὐτὴν Κυκλάδες καὶ αἱ ταύταις προσκείμεναι Σποράδες, ὧν εἰσι καὶ αἱ λεχθεῖσαι περὶ τὴν Κρήτην.
These islands, then, are in the Cretan Sea, while more in the Aegean are Delos itself and the Cyclades around it, and the Sporades adjacent to them, to which also belong the islands mentioned around Crete.
§10.5.2ἡ μὲν οὖν Δῆλος ἐν πεδίῳ κειμένην ἔχει τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ τὸ Λητῷον· ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὄρος ψιλὸν ὁ Κύνθος καὶ τραχύ, ποταμὸς δὲ διαρρεῖ τὴν νῆσον Ἰνωπὸς οὐ μέγας· καὶ γὰρ ἡ νῆσος μικρά.
Now Delos has its city situated in a plain, and the temple of Apollo, and the Letoum; and above the city lies Cynthus, a bare and rugged mountain, and a river Inopus, not large, flows through the island; for indeed the island is small.
τετίμηται δὲ ἐκ παλαιοῦ διὰ τοὺς θεοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἡρωικῶν χρόνων ἀρξαμένη· μυθεύεται γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἡ Λητὼ τὰς ὠδῖνας ἀποθέσθαι τοῦ τε Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος.
It has been honored from of old because of the gods, beginning from the heroic times; for the myth says that here Leto laid aside her labor pains for Apollo and Artemis.
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ἦν γὰρ τοπάροιθε φορητά
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φησὶν ὁ Πίνδαρος
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κυμάτεσσιν παντοδαπῶν τʼ ἀνέμων
ῥιπαῖσιν· ἀλλʼ ἁ Κοιογενὴς ὁπότʼ ὠδίνεσσι θύοισʼ
ἀγχιτόκοις ἐπέβα νιν, δὴ τότε τέσσαρες ὀρθαὶ
πρέμνων ἀπώρουσαν χθονίων,
ἂν δʼ ἐπικράνοις σχέθον πέτραν ἀδαμαντοπέδιλοι
κίονες· ἔνθα τεκοῖσʼ εὐδαίμονʼ ἐπόψατο γένναν. "
ἔνδοξον δʼ ἐποίησαν αὐτὴν αἱ περιοικίδες νῆσοι, καλούμεναι Κυκλάδες, κατὰ τιμὴν πέμπουσαι δημοσίᾳ θεωρούς τε καὶ θυσίας καὶ χοροὺς παρθένων πανηγύρεις τε ἐν αὐτῇ συνάγουσαι μεγάλας.
Pindar says: "For formerly it was driven by the waves and the blasts of all kinds of winds; but when the daughter of Coeus, raging with the near pains of childbirth, set foot on it, then indeed four upright pillars leapt up from the foundations of the earth, and with their capitals pillars of adamantine base held up the rock; there she gave birth and beheld her blessed offspring." And the neighboring islands, called Cyclades, made it famous, sending publicly in its honor sacred embassies, sacrifices, and choruses of maidens, and gathering great festivals in it.
§10.5.3κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν οὖν δώδεκα λέγονται· προσεγένοντο δὲ καὶ πλείους.
At first, then, they are said to have been twelve; but more were added.
Ἀρτεμίδωρος γοῦν διαριθμεῖται, περὶ τῆς Ἑλένης εἰπὼν ὅτι ἀπὸ Θορίκου μέχρι Σουνίου παράκειται μακρὰ σταδίων ὅσον ἑξήκοντα τὸ μῆκος, ἀπὸ ταύτης γάρ, φησίν, αἱ καλούμεναι Κυκλάδες εἰσίν·
Artemidorus, at any rate, enumerates them, having said of Helena that it lies stretched along from Thoricus to Sunium, about sixty stadia in length; for from this island, he says, are the so-called Cyclades.
ὀνομάζει δὲ Κέω τὴν ἐγγυτάτω τῇ Ἑλένῃ, καὶ μετὰ ταύτην Κύθνον καὶ Σέριφον καὶ Μῆλον καὶ Σίφνον καὶ Κίμωλον καὶ Πρεπέσινθον καὶ Ὠλίαρον, καὶ πρὸς ταύταις Πάρον Νάξον Σῦρον Μύκονον Τῆνον Ἄνδρον Γύαρον.
He names Ceos as the nearest to Helena, and after this Cythnos, Seriphos, Melos, Siphnos, Kimolos, Prepesinthos, and Oliaros, and in addition to these Paros, Naxos, Syros, Mykonos, Tenos, Andros, and Gyaros.
τὰς μὲν οὖν ἄλλας τῶν δώδεκα νομίζω, τὴν δὲ Πρεπέσινθον καὶ Ὠλίαρον καὶ Γύαρον ἧττον· ὧν τῇ Γυάρῳ προσορμισθεὶς ἔγνων κώμιον ὑπὸ ἁλιέων συνοικούμενον· ἀπαίροντες δʼ ἐδεξάμεθα πρεσβευτὴν ἐνθένδε ὡς Καίσαρα προκεχειρισμένον τῶν ἁλιέων τινά (ἦν δʼ ἐν Κορίνθῳ Καῖσαρ βαδίζων ἐπὶ τὸν θρίαμβον τὸν Ἀκτιακόν)·
Now the others I consider to belong to the twelve, but Prepesinthos, Oliaros, and Gyaros less so; of these, having anchored at Gyaros, I found a small village inhabited by fishermen; and when we departed, we took on board one of the fishermen from there who had been chosen as an ambassador to Caesar (Caesar was then in Corinth, on his way to his Actian triumph).
συμπλέων δὴ ἔλεγε πρὸς τοὺς πυθομένους ὅτι πρεσβεύοι περὶ κουφισμοῦ τοῦ φόρου· τελοῖεν γὰρ δραχμὰς ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα καὶ τὰς ἑκατὸν χαλεπῶς ἂν τελοῦντες.
While sailing with us, indeed, he told those who asked that he was going on an embassy to petition for a reduction of their tax; for they were paying one hundred and fifty drachmae, and would have difficulty paying even one hundred.
δηλοῖ δὲ τὰς ἀπορίας αὐτῶν καὶ Ἄρατος ἐν τοῖς κατὰ λεπτόν
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ὦ Λητοῖ, σὺ μὲν ἤ με σιδηρείῃ Φολεγάνδρῳ
δειλὴν ἢ Γυάρῳ παρελεύσεαι αὐτίχʼ ὁμοίην. " §10.5.4τὴν μὲν οὖν Δῆλον ἔνδοξον γενομένην οὕτως ἔτι μᾶλλον ηὔξησε κατασκαφεῖσα ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων Κόρινθος· ἐκεῖσε γὰρ μετεχώρησαν οἱ ἔμποροι, καὶ τῆς ἀτελείας τοῦ ἱεροῦ προκαλουμένης αὐτοὺς καὶ τῆς εὐκαιρίας τοῦ λιμένος· ἐν καλῷ γὰρ κεῖται τοῖς ἐκ τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν πλέουσιν·
The poverty of these people is shown also by Aratus in his 'Meticulous Poems' (Kata Lepton): "O Leto, you will surely pass me by either to iron-like Folegandros or straightway to Gyaros, wretched and similar to it." Delos, then, having become so famous, was still further increased by Corinth when it was destroyed by the Romans; for the merchants moved there, attracted both by the immunity from taxation of the temple and the convenience of the harbor; for it lies in a favorable position for those sailing from Italy and Greece to Asia.
ἥ τε πανήγυρις ἐμπορικόν τι πρᾶγμά ἐστι, καὶ συνήθεις ἦσαν αὐτῇ καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι τῶν ἄλλων μάλιστα, καὶ ὅτε συνειστήκει ἡ Κόρινθος·
The festival, too, is a sort of commercial affair, and the Romans were especially accustomed to attend it, more than any others, even when Corinth was still standing.
Ἀθηναῖοί τε λαβόντες τὴν νῆσον καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἅμα καὶ τῶν ἐμπόρων ἐπεμελοῦντο ἱκανῶς·
And when the Athenians took the island, they took sufficient care both of the temples and of the merchants.
ἐπελθόντες δʼ οἱ τοῦ Μιθριδάτου στρατηγοὶ καὶ ὁ ἀποστήσας τύραννος αὐτὴν διελυμήναντο πάντα, καὶ παρέλαβον ἐρήμην οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι πάλιν τὴν νῆσον, ἀναχωρήσαντος εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ διετέλεσε μέχρι νῦν ἐνδεῶς πράττουσα.
But the generals of Mithridates and the tyrant who made it revolt attacked and ruined everything, and the Romans received the island back in a deserted state after the king retreated to his own country, and it has continued to be in an impoverished state until now.
ἔχουσι δʼ αὐτὴν Ἀθηναῖοι.
The Athenians now hold it.