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Strabo · Geography §13.3.1-13.3.2

Omissions from the Catalogue and Pelasgian Larisa

Passage 429 of 577 · Greek

Summary

Strabo offers a plausible explanation for why the Leleges and Cilicians were omitted from Homer's Catalogue, suggesting their forces had declined and were integrated under Hector. He also examines the exact location of 'Larisa', the home of the Pelasgians, concluding that it refers to the one near Cyme after evaluating multiple cities of the same name.

§13.3.1τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Τρῶας οἰκειότητος ὑπαρχούσης τοῖς τε Λέλεξι καὶ τοῖς Κίλιξι, ζητοῦσιν αἰτίαν διʼ ἣν οὐ συγκαταλέγονται καὶ οὗτοι ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ.
Since such a close relationship to the Trojans existed for both the Leleges and the Cilicians, scholars seek the reason why these too are not included in the Catalogue.
εἰκὸς δὲ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἡγεμόνων διαφθορὰν καὶ τὴν τῶν πόλεων ἐκπόρθησιν ὀλίγους ὑπολειφθέντας τοὺς Κίλικας ὑπὸ τῷ Ἕκτορι τάττεσθαι· ὅ τε γὰρ Ἠετίων καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ λέγονται πρὸ τοῦ καταλόγου διαφθαρῆναι " ἤτοι μὲν πατέρʼ ἀμὸν ἀπέκτανε δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς, ἐκ δὲ πόλιν πέρσεν Κιλίκων, Θήβην ὑψίπυλον.
It is likely that on account of the destruction of their leaders and the sacking of their cities, the Cilicians, being left few in number, were marshalled under Hector; for Eetion and his sons are said to have been destroyed before the Catalogue: "Truly my father was slain by noble Achilles, and he sacked the city of the Cilicians, high-gated Thebe.
οἳ δέ μοι ἑπτὰ κασίγνητοι ἔσαν ἐν μεγάροισιν, οἱ μὲν πάντες ἰῷ κίον ἤματι Ἄιδος εἴσω· πάντας γὰρ κατέπεφνε ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. " ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ οἱ ὑπὸ Μύνητι τούς τε ἡγεμόνας ἀποβεβλήκασι καὶ τὴν πόλιν " κὰδ δὲ Μύνητʼ ἔβαλεν καὶ Ἐπίστροφον, πέρσεν δὲ πόλιν θείοιο Μύνητος. " , τοὺς δὲ Λέλεγας τοῖς μὲν ἀγῶσι παρόντας ποιεῖ, ὅταν οὕτω λέγῃ " πρὸς μὲν ἁλὸς Κᾶρες καὶ Παίονες ἀγκυλότοξοι καὶ Λέλεγες καὶ Καύκωνες, " καὶ πάλιν " Σάτνιον οὔτασε δουρὶ Οἰνοπίδην, ὃν ἄρα νύμφη τέκε Νηὶς ἀμύμων Οἴνοπι βουκολέοντι παρʼ ὄχθας Σατνιόεντος. " οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἐξελελοίπεσαν τελέως ὥστε μὴ καὶ καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἔχειν τι σύστημα, ἅτε τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν ἔτι περιόντος " Ἄλτεω, ὃς Λελέγεσσι φιλοπτολέμοισιν ἀνάσσει, " καὶ τῆς πόλεως οὐ τελέως ἠφανισμένης· ἐπιφέρει γὰρ " Πήδασον αἰπήεσσαν ἔχων ἐπὶ Σατνιόεντι. " ἐν μέντοι τῷ καταλόγῳ παραλέλοιπεν αὐτούς, οὐχ ἱκανὸν ἡγούμενος τὸ σύστημα ὥστʼ ἐν καταλόγῳ τάττεσθαι, ἢ καὶ ὑπὸ τῷ Ἕκτορι καὶ τούτους συγκαταλέγων οὕτως ὄντας οἰκείους.
And I had seven brothers in the halls, who all on one day went inside the house of Hades; for swift-footed noble Achilles slew them all." And in the same way, those under Mynes also lost both their leaders and their city: "And he struck down Mynes and Epistrophus, and sacked the city of divine Mynes." But the Leleges, the poet represents as present at the contests, when he says thus: "Towards the sea are the Carians and Paeonians of the curved bow, and the Leleges and Caucones," and again: "He wounded Satnius with his spear, the son of Oinops, whom a fair Naiad nymph bore to Oinops as he herded cattle by the banks of Satnioeis." For they had not perished so completely as not to have some organization of their own, since their king was still surviving: "of Altes, who rules over the war-loving Leleges," and their city had not completely disappeared, for he adds: "possessing steep Pedasus on the Satnioeis." In the Catalogue, however, the poet has omitted them, either because he did not consider their organization sufficient to be marshalled in the Catalogue, or because he included them too under Hector, since they were so closely related.
ὁ γὰρ Λυκάων φησὶν ἀδελφὸς ὢν Ἕκτορος " μινυνθάδιον δέ με μήτηρ γείνατο Λαοθόη, θυγάτηρ Ἄλταο γέροντος, Ἄλτεω, ὃς Λελέγεσσι φιλοπτολέμοισιν ἀνάσσει. " ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τοιαύτην τινὰ ἔχει τὴν εἰκοτολογίαν.
For Lycaon, who was a brother of Hector, says: "And for a brief span my mother bore me, Laothoe, daughter of old Altes, of Altes who rules over the war-loving Leleges." These matters, then, have this kind of plausible explanation.
§13.3.2εἰκοτολογεῖν δʼ ἔστι κἂν εἴ τις τὸν ἀκριβῆ ζητεῖ κατὰ τὸν ποιητὴν ὅρον μέχρι τίνος οἱ Κίλικες διέτεινον καὶ οἱ Πελασγοὶ καὶ ἔτι οἱ μεταξὺ τούτων Κήτειοι λεγόμενοι οἱ ὑπὸ τῷ Εὐρυπύλῳ.
One can also give a plausible explanation if someone seeks, according to the poet, the exact limit to which the Cilicians extended, and the Pelasgians, and furthermore those between them called Keteians, who were under Eurypylus.
περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν Κιλίκων καὶ τῶν ὑπʼ Εὐρυπύλῳ τὰ ἐνόντα εἴρηται, καὶ διότι τὰ περὶ τὸν Κάικον μάλιστα περατοῦνται.
Now concerning the Cilicians and those under Eurypylus, what is possible has been said, and also that their territories are chiefly bounded near the Caicus.
τοὺς δὲ Πελασγοὺς εὔλογον τούτοις ἐφεξῆς τιθέναι ἔκ τε τῶν ὑφʼ Ὁμήρου λεγομένων καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἄλλης ἱστορίας.
But it is reasonable to place the Pelasgians next to these, both from what is said by Homer and from the rest of history.
ὁ μὲν γὰρ οὕτω φησίν " Ἱππόθοος δʼ ἄγε φῦλα Πελασγῶν ἐγχεσιμώρων, τῶν οἳ Λάρισαν ἐριβώλακα ναιετάασκον· τῶν ἦρχʼ Ἱππόθοός τε Πύλαιός τʼ ὄζος Ἄρηος, υἷε δύω Λήθοιο Πελασγοῦ Τευταμίδαο. " ἐξ ὧν πλῆθός τε ἐμφαίνει ἀξιόλογον τὸ τῶν Πελασγῶν (οὐ γὰρ φῦλον, ἀλλὰ φῦλα ἔφη) καὶ τὴν οἴκησιν ἐν Λαρίσῃ φράζει.
For he speaks thus: "And Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgians, skilled with the spear, of those who dwelt in fertile Larisa; these Hippothous led, and Pylaeus, offshoot of Ares, the two sons of Lethus the Pelasgian, son of Teutamides." By which he indicates both a considerable number of Pelasgians (for he did not say 'tribe' but 'tribes') and points out their habitation in Larisa.
πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν αἱ Λάρισαι, δεῖ δὲ τῶν ἐγγύς τινα δέξασθαι, μάλιστα δʼ ἂν τὴν περὶ Κύμην ὑπολάβοι τις ὀρθῶς·
Now there are many Larisas, but we must accept one of those near by, and most correctly one might suppose it to be the one near Cyme.
τριῶν γὰρ οὐσῶν ἡ μὲν καθʼ Ἁμαξιτὸν ἐν ὄψει τελέως ἐστὶ τῷ Ἰλίῳ, καὶ ἐγγὺς σφόδρα ἐν διακοσίοις που σταδίοις, ὥστʼ οὐκ ἂν λέγοιτο πιθανῶς ὁ Ἱππόθοος πεσεῖν ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ Πατρόκλου ἀγῶνι τῆλʼ ἀπὸ Λαρίσης, ταύτης γε, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τῆς περὶ Κύμην· χίλιοι γάρ που στάδιοι μεταξύ·
For of the three that exist, the one near Hamaxitus is completely in view of Ilium, and very near, at about two hundred stadia, so that Hippothous would not plausibly be said to have fallen in the contest over Patroclus: "far from Larisa," from this one at least, but rather from the one near Cyme; for there are about a thousand stadia between them.
τρίτη δʼ ἐστὶ Λάρισα κώμη τῆς Ἐφεσίας ἐν τῷ Καϋστρίῳ πεδίῳ, ἥν φασι πόλιν ὑπάρξαι πρότερον, ἔχουσαν καὶ ἱερὸν Ἀπόλλωνος Λαρισηνοῦ, πλησιάζουσαν τῷ Τμώλῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῇ Ἐφέσῳ· ταύτης γὰρ ἑκατὸν καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα διέχει σταδίους, ὥστε ὑπὸ τοῖς Μῄοσιν ἄν τις τάττοι ταύτην.
The third is Larisa, a village of the Ephesian territory in the Caystrian plain, which they say was formerly a city, having also a temple of Larisaean Apollo, closer to Tmolus than to Ephesus; for it is distant from the latter by one hundred and eighty stadia, so that one would marshal this under the Meionians.
Ἐφέσιοι δʼ αὐξηθέντες ὕστερον πολλὴν τῆς τῶν Μῃόνων, οὓς νῦν Λυδοὺς φαμέν, ἀπετέμοντο, ὥστʼ οὐδʼ αὕτη ἂν ἡ τῶν Πελασγῶν Λάρισα εἴη, ἀλλʼ ἐκείνη μᾶλλον.
But the Ephesians, having later increased in power, cut off much of the territory of the Meionians, whom we now call Lydians, so that not even this would be the Larisa of the Pelasgians, but rather that other one.
καὶ γὰρ τῆς μὲν ἐν τῇ Καϋστριανῇ Λαρίσης οὐδὲν ἔχομεν τεκμήριον ἰσχυρὸν ὡς ἦν ἤδη τότε· οὐδὲ γὰρ τῆς Ἐφέσου.
For indeed we have no strong evidence for the Larisa in the Caystrian plain that it existed already at that time; for neither do we have any for Ephesus.
τῆς δὲ περὶ τὴν Κύμην μαρτύριόν ἐστι πᾶσα ἡ Αἰολικὴ ἱστορία μικρὸν ὕστερον τῶν Τρωικῶν γενομένη.
But for the one near Cyme, the entire Aeolian history, occurring shortly after the Trojan War, is a witness.

Notes

  1. §13.3.1τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς Τρῶας οἰκειότητος ὑπαρχούσης — Genitive absolute construction. The subject is `οἰκειότητος`, with the datives `τοῖς τε Λέλεξι καὶ τοῖς Κίλιξι` (dative of relation/possession) depending on it, meaning "since such a close relationship to the Trojans existed for both the Leleges and the Cilicians."
  2. §13.3.1ὀλίγους ὑπολειφθέντας τοὺς Κίλικας — Part of an accusative with infinitive construction introduced by the impersonal expression `εἰκός (ἐστι)` ("it is likely/reasonable"). The accusative `τοὺς Κίλικας` acts as the subject of the infinitive `τάττεσθαι`, modified by the aorist passive participle `ὑπολειφθέντας` (having been left) and the predicative adjective `ὀλίγους` ("being left few in number").
  3. §13.3.2τριῶν γὰρ οὐσῶν — A genitive absolute construction using the participle `οὐσῶν` (present participle feminine plural genitive of εἰμί). The agreeing noun is omitted, but based on the preceding sentence `πολλαὶ μὲν οὖν αἱ Λάρισαι`, the feminine noun `Λαρισῶν` (Larisas) must be supplied to mean "for although there are three (Larisas)."

Cite this passage

Strabo, Geography §13.3.1-13.3.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:13.3.1-13.3.2

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