§8.29.1διαβάντων δὲ Ἀλφειὸν χώρα τε καλουμένη Τραπεζουντία καὶ πόλεώς ἐστιν ἐρείπια Τραπεζοῦντος.
To those who have crossed the Alpheus, there is the territory called Trapezuntia and the ruins of the city Trapezus.
καὶ αὖθις ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ καταβαίνοντι ἐκ Τραπεζοῦντος, οὐ πόρρω τοῦ ποταμοῦ Βάθος ἐστὶν ὀνομαζόμενον, ἔνθα ἄγουσι τελετὴν διὰ ἔτους τρίτου θεαῖς Μεγάλαις· καὶ πηγή τε αὐτόθι ἐστὶν Ὀλυμπιὰς καλουμένη, τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ἐν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἀπορρέουσα, καὶ πλησίον τῆς πηγῆς πῦρ ἄνεισι.
And again, for one going down from Trapezus on the left towards the Alpheus, not far from the river is a place named Bathos, where they celebrate a festival every third year in honor of the Great Goddesses; and there is there a spring called Olympias, which does not flow in alternate years, and near the spring fire rises up.
λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Ἀρκάδες τὴν λεγομένην γιγάντων μάχην καὶ θεῶν ἐνταῦθα καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῇ Θρᾳκίᾳ γενέσθαι Παλλήνῃ, καὶ θύουσιν ἀστραπαῖς αὐτόθι καὶ θυέλλαις τε καὶ βρονταῖς.
The Arcadians say that the so-called battle of the Giants and the gods took place here, and not in the Thracian Pallene, and they sacrifice there to lightnings, storms, and thunders.
§8.29.2γιγάντων δὲ ἐν μὲν Ἰλιάδι οὐδεμίαν ἐποιήσατο Ὅμηρος μνήμην· ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ δὲ ἔγραψε μὲν ὡς ταῖς Ὀδυσσέως ναυσὶ Λαιστρυγόνες ἐπέλθοιεν γίγασι καὶ οὐκ ἀνδράσιν εἰκασμένοι, ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Φαιάκων λέγοντα εἶναι τοὺς Φαίακας θεῶν ἐγγὺς ὥσπερ Κύκλωπας καὶ τὸ γιγάντων ἔθνος.
Homer made no mention of the Giants in the Iliad; but in the Odyssey he wrote that the Laestrygonians attacked the ships of Odysseus, being like Giants and not men, and he also made the king of the Phaeacians say that the Phaeacians are near to the gods, just like the Cyclopes and the race of the Giants.
ἔν τε οὖν τούτοις δηλοῖ θνητοὺς ὄντας καὶ οὐ θεῖον γένος τοὺς γίγαντας καὶ σαφέστερον ἐν τῷδε ἔτι,
"
ὅς ποθʼ ὑπερθύμοισι γιγάντεσσιν βασίλευεν· ἀλλʼ ὁ μὲν ὤλεσε λαὸν ἀτάσθαλον, ὤλετο δʼ αὐτός. "
ἐθέλουσι δʼ αὐτῷ λαὸς ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ἀνθρώπων οἱ πολλοὶ καλεῖσθαι.
In these passages, therefore, he shows that the Giants are mortal and not a divine race, and still more clearly in this passage: "Who once ruled over the high-spirited Giants; but he destroyed his reckless people, and perished himself." And for him, "people" in his verses usually means men.
§8.29.3δράκοντας δὲ ἀντὶ ποδῶν τοῖς γίγασιν εἶναι, πολλαχῇ τε ὁ λόγος ἄλλῃ καὶ ἐν τῷδε ἐδείχθη μάλιστα ὡς ἔστιν εὐήθης.
That the Giants had serpents instead of feet is shown to be highly foolish in many other ways, and especially in the following instance.
Ὀρόντην τὸν Σύρων ποταμὸν οὐ τὰ πάντα ἐν ἰσοπέδῳ μέχρι θαλάσσης ῥέοντα, ἀλλὰ ἐπὶ κρημνόν τε ἀπορρῶγα καὶ ἐς κάταντες ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ φερόμενον, ἠθέλησεν ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς ἀναπλεῖσθαι ναυσὶν ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐς Ἀντιόχειαν πόλιν· ἔλυτρον οὖν σὺν πόνῳ τε καὶ δαπάνῃ χρημάτων ὀρυξάμενος ἐπιτήδειον ἐς τὸν ἀνάπλουν, ἐξέτρεψεν ἐς τοῦτο τὸν ποταμόν.
The Syrian river Orontes does not flow all the way through level ground to the sea, but runs to a precipitous cliff and is carried down from it; the Roman emperor wished it to be navigable for ships from the sea up to the city of Antioch; therefore, having dug with labor and expense of money a channel suitable for the passage, he diverted the river into this.
§8.29.4ἀναξηρανθέντος δὲ τοῦ ἀρχαίου ῥεύματος, κεραμεᾶ τε ἐν αὐτῷ σορὸς πλέον ἢ ἑνός τε καὶ δέκα εὑρέθη πηχῶν καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς μέγεθός τε ἦν κατὰ τὴν σορὸν καὶ ἄνθρωπος διὰ παντὸς τοῦ σώματος.
When the ancient bed was dried up, a clay coffin of more than eleven cubits was found in it, and the corpse was of a size corresponding to the coffin, and was a human being in its entire body.
τοῦτον τὸν νεκρὸν ὁ ἐν Κλάρῳ θεός, ἀφικομένων ἐπὶ τὸ χρηστήριον τῶν Σύρων, εἶπεν Ὀρόντην εἶναι, γένους δὲ αὐτὸν εἶναι τοῦ Ἰνδῶν.
This corpse, when the Syrians visited the oracle, the god in Claros said was Orontes, and that he was of the race of the Indians.
εἰ δὲ τὴν γῆν τὸ ἀρχαῖον οὖσαν ὑγρὰν ἔτι καὶ ἀνάπλεων νοτίδος θερμαίνων ὁ ἥλιος τοὺς πρώτους ἐποίησεν ἀνθρώπους, ποίαν εἰκός ἐστιν ἄλλην χώραν ἢ προτέραν τῆς Ἰνδῶν ἢ μείζονας ἀνεῖναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἥ γε καὶ ἐς ἡμᾶς ἔτι καὶ ὄψεως τῷ παραλόγῳ καὶ μεγέθει διάφορα ἐκτρέφει θηρία;
And if the sun, warming the earth when it was still wet and full of moisture in ancient times, created the first men, what other land is it likely produced men either earlier or of greater size than that of the Indians, which even down to our time breeds wild beasts marvelous in both appearance and size?
§8.29.5τοῦ δὲ χωρίου τοῦ ὀνομαζομένου Βάθους σταδίους ὡς δέκα ἀφέστηκεν ἡ καλουμένη Βασιλίς· ταύτης ἐγένετο οἰκιστὴς Κύψελος ὁ Κρεσφόντῃ τῷ Ἀριστομάχου τὴν θυγατέρα ἐκδούς· ἐπʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ ἐρείπια ἡ Βασιλὶς ἦν καὶ Δήμητρος ἱερὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλείπετο Ἐλευσινίας.
About ten stades distant from the place named Bathos is the so-called Basilis; of this the founder was Cypselus, who gave his daughter in marriage to Cresphontes the son of Aristomachus; in my time Basilis was in ruins, and there remained among them a sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter.
ἐντεῦθεν δὲ προϊὼν τὸν Ἀλφειὸν αὖθις διαβήσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ Θωκνίαν ἀφίξῃ, τὸ ὄνομα ἀπὸ Θώκνου τοῦ Λυκάονος ἔχουσαν, ἐς ἅπαν δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔρημον· ἐλέγετο δὲ ὁ Θῶκνος ἐν τῷ λόφῳ κτίσαι τὴν πόλιν.
Going on from here you will cross the Alpheus again and reach Thocnia, which has its name from Thocnus the son of Lycaon, and in our time is completely deserted; and it was said that Thocnus founded the city on the hill.
ποταμὸς δὲ ὁ Ἀμίνιος ῥέων παρὰ τὸν λόφον ἐς τὸν Ἑλισσόντα ἐκδίδωσι, καὶ οὐ πολὺ ἄπωθεν ἐς τὸν Ἀλφειὸν ὁ Ἑλισσών.
The river Aminius, flowing past the hill, empties into the Helisson, and not far from there the Helisson empties into the Alpheus.