Humanitext Reader

Strabo · Geography §13.1.1-13.1.3

Geography of the Troad and Aeolian Colonization

Passage 404 of 577 · Greek

Summary

The author concludes the description of Phrygia and begins detailing the geography and legendary history of the Troad, focusing on the historical developments of the Aeolian colonization in the region.

§13.1.1μέχρι μὲν δεῦρο ἀφωρίσθω τὰ περὶ τῆς Φρυγίας ἐπανιόντες δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν Προποντίδα καὶ τὴν ἐφεξῆς τῷ Αἰσήπῳ παραλίαν τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς περιοδείας τάξιν ἀποδώσομεν.
Let the account concerning Phrygia be defined up to this point; and returning again to the Propontis and the coast adjacent to the Aesepus, we shall render the same order of our description.
ἔστι δὲ Τρῳὰς πρώτη τῆς παραλίας ταύτης, ἧς τὸ πολυθρύλητον καίπερ ἐν ἐρειπίοις καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ λειπομένης ὅμως πολυλογίαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν παρέχει τῇ γραφῇ.
And the Troad is the first part of this coast, of which the legendary fame, although it is left in ruins and in desolation, nevertheless provides no ordinary amount of words to our writing.
πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ συγγνώμης δεῖ καὶ παρακλήσεως, ὅπως τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ μήκους μὴ ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἀνάπτωσιν οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες ἢ τοῖς σφόδρα ποθοῦσι τὴν τῶν ἐνδόξων καὶ παλαιῶν γνῶσιν·
And for this, there is need of indulgence and entreaty, so that readers may not attribute the cause of the length to us rather than to those who vehemently desire the knowledge of glorious and ancient things.
προσλαμβάνει δὲ τῷ μήκει καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐποικησάντων τὴν χώραν Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων, καὶ οἱ συγγραφεῖς οὐχὶ τὰ αὐτὰ γράφοντες περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὐδὲ σαφῶς πάντα· ὧν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις ἐστὶν Ὅμηρος εἰκάζειν περὶ τῶν πλείστων παρέχων.
And there adds to the length also the multitude of Greeks and barbarians who colonized the country, and the historians who do not write the same things about the same matters, nor everything clearly; among whom Homer is in the first place, providing opportunity for conjecture about most things.
δεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ τούτου διαιτᾶν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπογράψαντας πρότερον ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τὴν τῶν τόπων φύσιν.
But we must arbitrate both his statements and those of the others, having first sketched in outline the nature of the places.
§13.1.2ἀπὸ δὴ τῆς Κυζικηνῆς καὶ τῶν περὶ Αἴσηπον τόπων καὶ Γράνικον μέχρι Ἀβύδου καὶ Σηστοῦ τὴν τῆς Προποντίδος παραλίαν εἶναι συμβαίνει, ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀβύδου μέχρι Λεκτοῦ τὰ περὶ Ἴλιον καὶ Τένεδον καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν τὴν Τρῳάδα· πάντων δὴ τούτων ὑπέρκειται ἡ Ἴδη τὸ ὄρος μέχρι Λεκτοῦ καθήκουσα· ἀπὸ Λεκτοῦ δὲ μέχρι Καΐκου ποταμοῦ καὶ τῶν Κανῶν λεγομένων ἔστι τὰ περὶ Ἄσσον καὶ Ἀδραμύττιον καὶ Ἀταρνέα καὶ Πιτάνην καὶ τὸν Ἐλαϊτικὸν κόλπον· οἷς πᾶσιν ἀντιπαρήκει ἡ τῶν Λεσβίων νῆσος· εἶθʼ ἑξῆς τὰ περὶ Κύμην μέχρι Ἕρμου καὶ Φωκαίας, ἥπερ ἀρχὴ μὲν τῆς Ἰωνίας ἐστὶ πέρας δὲ τῆς Αἰολίδος.
Indeed, the coast of the Propontis happens to extend from the territory of Cyzicus and the places around the Aesepus and Granicus up to Abydus and Sestus; and from Abydus to Lectum is the Troad, the region around Ilium, Tenedos, and Alexandria; over all these indeed lies Mount Ida, stretching down as far as Lectum; and from Lectum to the river Caicus and the place called Canae are the regions around Assus, Adramyttium, Atarneus, Pitane, and the Elaitic Gulf; alongside all of which lies the island of the Lesbians; then next the region around Cyme as far as the Hermus and Phocaea, which is the beginning of Ionia and the end of Aeolis.
τοιούτων δὲ τῶν τόπων ὄντων ὁ μὲν ποιητὴς ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Αἴσηπον τόπων καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν νῦν Κυζικηνὴν χώραν ὑπαγορεύει μάλιστα τοὺς Τρῶας ἄρξαι μέχρι τοῦ Καΐκου ποταμοῦ διῃρημένους κατὰ δυναστείας εἰς ὀκτὼ μερίδας ἢ καὶ ἐννέα· τὸ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπικούρων πλῆθος ἐν τοῖς συμμάχοις διαριθμεῖται.
These being the layout of the places, the Poet implies that the Trojans ruled especially from the places around the Aesepus and the territory of what is now Cyzicene as far as the river Caicus, divided according to dynasties into eight parts, or even nine; and the multitude of the other auxiliaries is counted among the allies.
§13.1.3οἱ δʼ ὕστερον τοὺς ὅρους οὐ τοὺς αὐτοὺς λέγουσι καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι χρῶνται διηλλαγμένως, διαιρέσεις νέμοντες πλείους.
And later writers do not state the same boundaries and use the names differently, assigning more divisions.
μάλιστα δὲ αἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀποικίαι παρεσχήκασι λόγον· ἧττον μὲν ἡ Ἰωνική (πλείονι γὰρ διέστηκε τῆς Τρῳάδος), ἡ δὲ τῶν Αἰολέων παντάπασι· καθʼ ὅλην γὰρ ἐσκεδάσθη ἀπὸ τῆς Κυζικηνῆς μέχρι τοῦ Καΐκου καὶ ἐπέλαβεν ἔτι πλέον, τὴν μεταξὺ τοῦ Καΐκου καὶ τοῦ Ἕρμου ποταμοῦ.
And especially the colonies of the Greeks have given cause for discussion; less so the Ionian (for it is at a greater distance from the Troad), but that of the Aeolians entirely so; for it was scattered throughout the whole country from the territory of Cyzicus as far as the Caicus and took in still more, the region between the Caicus and the river Hermus.
τέτταρσι γὰρ δὴ γενεαῖς πρεσβυτέραν φασὶ τὴν Αἰολικὴν ἀποικίαν τῆς Ἰωνικῆς, διατριβὰς δὲ λαβεῖν καὶ χρόνους μακροτέρους.
For indeed they say that the Aeolian colonization was older than the Ionian by four generations, and took up delays and longer times.
Ὀρέστην μὲν γὰρ ἄρξαι τοῦ στόλου, τούτου δʼ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ τελευτήσαντος τὸν βίον διαδέξασθαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Πενθίλον, καὶ προελθεῖν μέχρι Θρᾴκης ἑξήκοντα ἔτεσι τῶν Τρωικῶν ὕστερον, ὑπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν εἰς Πελοπόννησον κάθοδον· εἶτʼ Ἀρχέλαον υἱὸν ἐκείνου περαιῶσαι τὸν Αἰολικὸν στόλον εἰς τὴν νῦν Κυζικηνὴν τὴν περὶ τὸ Δασκύλιον· Γρᾶν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν τούτου τὸν νεώτατον προελθόντα μέχρι τοῦ Γρανίκου ποταμοῦ καὶ παρεσκευασμένον ἄμεινον περαιῶσαι τὸ πλέον τῆς στρατιᾶς εἰς Λέσβον καὶ κατασχεῖν αὐτήν· Κλεύην δὲ τὸν Δώρου καὶ Μαλαόν, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀπογόνους ὄντας Ἀγαμέμνονος, συναγαγεῖν μὲν τὴν στρατιὰν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον καθʼ ὃν καὶ Πενθίλος, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν τοῦ Πενθίλου στόλον φθῆναι περαιωθέντα ἐκ τῆς Θρᾴκης εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν, τούτους δὲ περὶ τὴν Λοκρίδα καὶ τὸ Φρίκιον ὄρος διατρῖψαι πολὺν χρόνον, ὕστερον δὲ διαβάντας κτίσαι τὴν Κύμην τὴν Φρικωνίδα κληθεῖσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λοκρικοῦ ὄρους.
For they say that Orestes began the expedition, but when he ended his life in Arcadia, his son Penthilus succeeded him and advanced as far as Thrace sixty years after the Trojan War, just at the time of the return of the Heracleidae to the Peloponnese; then Archelaus, his son, crossed the Aeolian expedition over into the present Cyzicene country around Dascylium; and Gras, his youngest son, having advanced as far as the river Granicus and being better equipped, crossed the greater part of the army over to Lesbos and occupied it; and Cleues the son of Dorus, and Malaus, they too being descendants of Agamemnon, gathered their army at the same time as Penthilus, but while the expedition of Penthilus anticipated them by crossing from Thrace into Asia, these men tarried a long time around Locris and Mount Phricium, and later, having crossed over, founded Cyme, which was called Phriconis after the Locrian mountain.

Notes

  1. §13.1.1ὅπως τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ μήκους μὴ ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἀνάπτωσιν — The conjunction `ὅπως` introduces a clause of purpose or explanation following `συγγνώμης δεῖ καὶ παρακλήσεως`, taking the subjunctive `ἀνάπτωσιν`. With the verb `ἀνάπτω` (to attribute, impute), the indirect objects `ἡμῖν` (to us) and `τοῖς ... ποθοῦσι` (to those who desire...) are contrasted in the dative case using the comparative structure `μᾶλλον ... ἤ` (rather... than).
  2. §13.1.1ὑπογράψαντας — An aorist active participle in the accusative plural masculine. It agrees with the omitted subject of the infinitive `διαιτᾶν` (to arbitrate, decide) governed by the impersonal verb `δεῖ`, which is the accusative plural `ἡμᾶς` (us, referring to the author and readers in general).
  3. §13.1.2ὑπαγορεύει — A verb meaning "to suggest, imply," which here takes the accusative and infinitive construction `τοὺς Τρῶας ἄρξαι` (that the Trojans ruled) as its direct object.
  4. §13.1.3Ὀρέστην μὲν γὰρ ἄρξαι — Marks the beginning of the indirect discourse (accusative and infinitive construction) depending on the preceding `φασί` (they say). From this point, a series of infinitives, including `διαδέξασθαι`, `προελθεῖν`, `περαιῶσαι`, and `κατασχεῖν`, are coordinated to narrate the historical tradition under the same indirect speech.
  5. §13.1.3φθῆναι περαιωθέντα — The verb `φθάνω` (to anticipate, do first) paired with the participle `περαιωθέντα` (having crossed) forms a construction meaning "to cross first" or "to anticipate in crossing." `φθῆναι` is itself an infinitive governed by `φασί`.

Cite this passage

Strabo, Geography §13.1.1-13.1.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:13.1.1-13.1.3

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