§17.1.16Ἐν δεξιᾷ δὲ τῆς Κανωβικῆς πύλης ἐξιόντι ἡ διῶρυξ ἔστιν ἡ ἐπὶ Κάνωβον συνάπτουσα τῇ λίμνῃ· ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ Σχεδίαν ὁ πλοῦς ἐπὶ τὸν μέγαν ποταμὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Κάνωβον, πρῶτον δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα·
On the right of the Canopic gate as one goes out is the canal which connects with the lake and leads to Canopus; and by this canal there is a voyage to Schedia, to the great river, and to Canopus, but first to Eleusis.
ἔστι δʼ αὕτη κατοικία πλησίον τῆς τε Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ τῆς Νικοπόλεως ἐπʼ αὐτῇ τῇ Κανωβικῇ διώρυγι κειμένη, διαίτας ἔχουσα καὶ ἀπόψεις τοῖς καπυρίζειν βουλομένοις καὶ ἀνδράσι καὶ γυναιξίν, ἀρχή τις Κανωβισμοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖ λαμυρίας.
This is a settlement situated near Alexandria and Nicopolis, on the Canopic canal itself, having lodgings and outlooks for those, both men and women, who wish to indulge in pleasure, being a sort of beginning of the Canopic way of life and the wantonness there.
ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Ἐλευσῖνος προελθοῦσι μικρὸν ἐν δεξιᾷ ἐστιν ἡ διῶρυξ ἀνάγουσα ἐπὶ τὴν Σχεδίαν· διέχει δὲ τετράσχοινον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας ἡ Σχεδία, κατοικία πόλεως, ἐν ᾗ τὸ ναύσταθμον τῶν θαλαμηγῶν πλοίων, ἐφʼ οἷς οἱ ἡγεμόνες εἰς τὴν ἄνω χώραν ἀναπλέουσιν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τὸ τελώνιον τῶν ἄνωθεν καταγομένων καὶ ἀναγομένων· οὗ χάριν καὶ σχεδία ἔζευκται ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ, ἀφʼ ἧς καὶ τοὔνομα τῷ τόπῳ.
For those who have gone on a little from Eleusis, on the right is the canal leading up to Schedia; and Schedia is four schoeni distant from Alexandria, a city-like settlement, in which is the station for the cabin-boats on which the governors sail up to the upper country; and here also is the custom-house for goods brought down from above and carried up; for which reason a bridge of boats has been joined together over the river, from which also the place has its name.
μετὰ δὲ τὴν διώρυγα τὴν ἐπὶ Σχεδίαν ἄγουσαν ὁ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τὸν Κάνωβον πλοῦς ἐστι παράλληλος τῇ παραλίᾳ τῇ ἀπὸ Φάρου μέχρι τοῦ Κανωβικοῦ στόματος· στενὴ γάρ τις ταινία μεταξὺ διήκει τοῦ τε πελάγους καὶ τῆς διώρυγος, ἐν ᾗ ἔστιν ἥ τε μικρὰ Ταπόσειρις μετὰ τὴν Νικόπολιν καὶ τὸ Ζεφύριον, ἄκρα ναΐσκον ἔχουσα Ἀρσινόης Ἀφροδίτης· τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν καὶ Θῶνίν τινα πόλιν ἐνταῦθά φασιν, ἐπώνυμον τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ δεξαμένου Μενέλαόν τε καὶ Ἑλένην ξενίᾳ.
After the canal that leads to Schedia, the subsequent voyage to Canopus is parallel to the coast from Pharos as far as the Canopic mouth; for a narrow strip of land extends between the open sea and the canal, on which are the little Taposiris after Nicopolis, and Zephyrium, a cape having a small temple of Arsinoe Aphrodite; and they say that in ancient times there was also a city called Thonis there, named after the king who received Menelaus and Helen as guests.
περὶ οὖν τῶν τῆς Ἑλένης φαρμάκων φησὶν οὕτως ὁ ποιητής
ἐσθλά, τά οἱ Πολύδαμνα πόρεν Θῶνος παράκοιτις. §17.1.17Κάνωβος δʼ ἐστὶ πόλις ἐν εἴκοσι καὶ ἑκατὸν σταδίοις ἀπὸ Ἀλεξανδρείας πεζῇ ἰοῦσιν, ἐπώνυμος Κανώβου τοῦ Μενελάου κυβερνήτου ἀποθανόντος αὐτόθι, ἔχουσα τὸ τοῦ Σαράπιδος ἱερὸν πολλῇ ἁγιστείᾳ τιμώμενον καὶ θεραπείας ἐκφέρον, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐλλογιμωτάτους ἄνδρας πιστεύειν καὶ ἐγκοιμᾶσθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν ἢ ἑτέρους.
Concerning, then, the drugs of Helen, the poet speaks thus: "Excellent ones, which Polydamna, the wife of Thon, gave to her." Canopus is a city at a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia from Alexandria for those who go on foot, named after Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus who died there, having the temple of Sarapis honored with great holiness and producing cures, so that even the most reputable men believe and sleep in it themselves for their own benefit or others do so on their behalf.
συγγράφουσι δέ τινες καὶ τὰς θεραπείας, ἄλλοι δὲ ἀρετὰς τῶν ἐνταῦθα λογίων.
Some write down the cures, and others the powers of the oracles there.
ἀντὶ πάντων δʼ ἐστὶν ὁ τῶν πανηγυριστῶν ὄχλος τῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας κατιόντων τῇ διώρυγι· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡμέρα καὶ πᾶσα νὺξ πληθύει τῶν ἐν τοῖς πλοιαρίοις καταυλουμένων καὶ κατορχουμένων ἀνέδην μετὰ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀκολασίας καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν, τῶν δʼ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Κανώβῳ καταγωγὰς ἐχόντων ἐπικειμένας τῇ διώρυγι εὐφυεῖς πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ἄνεσιν καὶ εὐωχίαν.
But superior to all is the crowd of festival-goers who go down from Alexandria by the canal; for every day and every night is crowded with men and women who, in their small boats, are played to on flutes and dance without restraint with the utmost wantonness, and of those who have lodgings in Canopus itself situated on the canal, well-suited for such relaxation and feasting.
§17.1.18μετὰ δὲ τὸν Κάνωβον ἔστι τὸ Ἡράκλειον Ἡρακλέους ἔχον ἱερόν· εἶτα τὸ Κανωβικὸν στόμα καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ Δέλτα.
After Canopus is the Heracleum, having a temple of Heracles; then the Canopic mouth and the beginning of the Delta.
τὰ δʼ ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς Κανωβικῆς διώρυγος ὁ Μενελαΐτης ἐστὶ νομὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ πρώτου Πτολεμαίου καλούμενος, οὐ μὰ Δία ἀπὸ τοῦ ἥρωος, ὡς ἔνιοί φασιν ὧν καὶ Ἀρτεμίδωρος.
The parts on the right of the Canopic canal are the Menelaite nome, so called after the brother of the first Ptolemy, not by Zeus after the hero, as some say, of whom Artemidorus also is one.
μετὰ δὲ τὸ Κανωβικὸν στόμα ἔστι τὸ Βολβιτικόν, εἶτα τὸ Σεβεννυτικὸν καὶ τὸ Φατνιτικόν, τρίτον ὑπάρχον τῷ μεγέθει παρὰ τὰ πρῶτα δύο, οἷς ὥρισται τὸ Δέλτα· καὶ γὰρ οὐ πόρρω τῆς κορυφῆς σχίζεται εἰς τὸ ἐντὸς τοῦ Δέλτα.
After the Canopic mouth is the Bolbitine, then the Sebennytic and the Phatnitic, which is third in size compared with the first two by which the Delta is defined; for indeed not far from the apex it splits into the inside of the Delta.
τῷ δὲ Φατνιτικῷ συνάπτει τὸ Μενδήσιον, εἶτα τὸ Τανιτικὸν καὶ τελευταῖον τὸ Πηλουσιακόν.
With the Phatnitic joins the Mendesian, then the Tanitic, and finally the Pelusiac.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τούτων μεταξὺ ὡς ἂν ψευδοστόματα ἀσημότερα.
There are also other mouths between these, as it were, less famous false mouths.
ἔχει μὲν οὖν εἰσαγωγὰς τὰ στόματα, ἀλλʼ οὐκ εὐφυεῖς οὐδὲ μεγάλοις πλοίοις ἀλλʼ ὑπηρετικοῖς διὰ τὸ βραχέα εἶναι καὶ ἑλώδη.
Therefore, the mouths have entrances, but not well-suited nor for large ships but for service boats because they are shallow and marshy.
μάλιστα μέντοι τῷ Κανωβικῷ στόματι ἐχρῶντο ὡς ἐμπορίῳ, τῶν κατʼ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν λιμένων ἀποκεκλειμένων, ὡς προείπομεν.
They used to use the Canopic mouth especially as an emporium, since the harbors at Alexandria were closed, as we said before.
μετὰ δὲ τὸ Βολβίτινον στόμα ἐπὶ πλέον ἔκκειται ταπεινὴ καὶ ἀμμώδης ἄκρα· καλεῖται δὲ Ἀγνοῦ κέρας· εἶθʼ ἡ Περσέως σκοπὴ καὶ τὸ Μιλησίων τεῖχος· πλεύσαντες γὰρ ἐπὶ Ψαμμιτίχου τριάκοντα ναυσὶ Μιλήσιοι (κατὰ Κυαξάρη δʼ οὗτος ἦν τὸν Μῆδον) κατέσχον εἰς τὸ στόμα τὸ Βολβίτινον, εἶτʼ ἐκβάντες ἐτείχισαν τὸ λεχθὲν κτίσμα· χρόνῳ δʼ ἀναπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸν Σαϊτικὸν νομὸν καταναυμαχήσαντες Ἰνάρων πόλιν ἔκτισαν Ναύκρατιν οὐ πολὺ τῆς Σχεδίας ὕπερθεν.
After the Bolbitine mouth a low and sandy cape projects further; it is called Horn of Agnus; then the watch-tower of Perseus and the wall of the Milesians; for the Milesians, having sailed during the reign of Psammetichus with thirty ships (he was in the time of Cyaxares the Mede), put in at the Bolbitine mouth, and then having disembarked, walled the said structure; and in time, having sailed up into the Saitic nome and having defeated Inaros in a sea-fight, they founded the city Naucratis, not far above Schedia.
μετὰ δὲ τὸ τῶν Μιλησίων τεῖχος ἐπὶ τὸ Σεβεννυτικὸν προϊόντι στόμα λίμναι εἰσίν, ὧν ἡ ἑτέρα Βουτικὴ καλεῖται ἀπὸ Βούτου πόλεως, καὶ ἡ Σεβεννυτικὴ δὲ πόλις καὶ ἡ Σάις, μητρόπολις τῆς κάτω χώρας, ἐν ᾗ τιμῶσι τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν· ἐν δὲ τῷ ἱερῷ αὐτῆς ἡ θήκη κεῖται τοῦ Ψαμμιτίχου· περὶ δὲ τὴν Βοῦτον καὶ Ἑρμοῦ πόλις ἐν νήσῳ κειμένη· ἐν δὲ τῇ Βούτῳ Λητοῦς ἐστι μαντεῖον.
After the wall of the Milesians, for one proceeding to the Sebennytic mouth, there are lakes, one of which is called Butic from the city Buto; and there is also the city Sebennytus and Sais, the metropolis of the lower country, in which they honor Athena; and in her temple lies the tomb of Psammetichus; and near Buto is also Hermopolis, situated on an island; and in Buto is an oracle of Leto.