CHAPTER XVIII. CRETA ET INSULE MARIS EGÆI. INSULE MARIS ÆGÆI. 1. The Mare Ægæum, now called the Archipelago, is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, separating Europe from Asia, and was accounted by the ancients so stormy and dangerous to sailors', as to give rise to the proverb ròv Aiyatov λεi. It is bounded on the W. by Greece, on the N. by Macedonia and Thrace, on the E. by Asia Minor, and on the S. by Crete, which, as it were, locks its entrance on that side. Its length from N. to S. is 340 miles, and its average width about 140. The islands of the Ægæan Sea are presumed to be mentioned in the Scriptures as the Isles of Elishah, a name which they derived from Elishah, the son of Javan, the grandson of Japhet. 2. The origin of the word Ægaum is involved in considerable doubt. Some derive it from the Greek word alyes capra, owing to its many islands appearing at a distance like goats, or from its frequent storms, which the Dorians called by the same name: others from Æga, queen of the Amazons, or from Egeus, father of Theseus, both of whom perished in it: and others again from the town Æge, on the Western coast of Euboea, or from the rock Æx, which is said to have suddenly emerged from the sea between Tenos and Chios. It is doubted also, whether the modern name Archipelago is derived from Egio, or Agio-Pelago; the former being a corruption of its ancient appellation, and the latter arising from the number of religious houses at the foot of Mt Athos: the term Archipelago is now singularly mis-applied to a group of islands instead of to a sea. The Phoenicians, Persians, Carians, Greeks, and Romans, all of whom aspired to be masters of the sea, colonized at various times some of the Ægæan Islands, and seized upon others; several of them preserved their rights and immunities under the Roman yoke till the time of Vespasian, who reduced the whole of them into the form of a province. 3. To the S. of Thrace are the islands of Thasos, Samothrace, Imbros, and Lemnos.-Thasos Thaso, a few miles to the S. of Abdera, and opposite the mouth of Nestus fl., was also called Æria and Chryse; it is about 40 miles in circumference, and was remarkable for its fertility2, its mines of gold and 3 silver, as well as for its beautiful wine and marble. The Phoenicians first colonized it, but some Parians afterwards settled there at the command of an oracle: it received the name of Thasos from the son of Agenor, who is said to have retired hither when despairing to find his sister Europa. Its chief town was Thasos Thaso.-Samothrace Samothraki, to the E. of Thasos, and opposite the mouth of the R. Hebrus, once bore the names Leucosia, Melite, Electris, Dardania, &c.; but is stated to have been named Samos by a colony from the Ionian island of that name, and to have received the epithet Thracia by way of distinction. It is about 25 miles in circuit, and was said to be one of those islands which were inundated by the sudden overflow of the waters of the Euxine, when forcing their way into the Mediterranean. The original inhabitants were probably Thracians, and appear to have been afterwards joined by Pelasgi, Samians, and Phoenicians. Samothrace derived its chief celebrity from the mysteries of Cybele and her Corybantes, as well as from the Cabiric worship which was intimately connected with them"; all mysteries were supposed to have originated in this island, whence it received the surname of Sacred, and became an inviolable asylum for criminals. In it was the mountain Saoce, whence Homer represents Neptune as contemplating the fight before Troy.-Imbros Imbro, about 40 miles in circumference, lies to the S. E. of the preceding island, and about midway between 8 3 Sunt Thasiæ vites, sunt et Mareotides alba:-Virg. Georg. II. 91. Aristoph. Plut. 1020. Threïciamque Samum, quæ nunc Samothracia fertur. Virg. En. VII. 208. Homer sometimes calls it simply Samos, at other times the Thracian Samos: Μεσσηγὺς δὲ Σάμου τε καὶ Ιμβρου παιπαλοέσσης. Il. 2.78. Θρηϊκίη τε Σάμος, "Ιδης τ' ὄρεα σκιόεντα, Hymn. in Apoll. 34. it and the Hellespont; it was sacred to the Cabiri, to Ceres and Mercury, the last deity being there worshipped by the name of Imbramus. 4. The fertile island of Lemnos Lemnos, or Stalimene, is seventy-five miles in circuit; it is equidistant from Mt. Athos and the Hellespont, being thirty-five miles from each. It was formerly called Athalia, Hypsipyle 10 from a Lemnian queen of that name, and Dipolis from its two chief towns. These were Hephaestia Cochino, on the Eastern side of the island, and Myrina Lemnos, on the Western: in the forum of the latter was the famous statue of the ox, made by Myron, on which the ancients affirm Mt. Athos threw a shadow at the time of the solstice11. In the North Eastern part of the island was Mosychlos Mons, the smithy of Vulcan, and the place where he is stated to have fallen when kicked out of heaven"; near it were the promontories Hermæum 13 Blava, and Chryse. Off the latter cape lay the island of Chryse, celebrated as the abode of Philoctetes during his misfortunes, as some authors relate14; it has been completely swallowed up by the sea. There was a famous labyrinth in Lemnos, said to be more extensive and remarkable than those of Egypt and 9 ̓Ακτὴ μὲν ἥδε τῆς περιῤῥύτου χθονός Dos tibi Lemnos erit, terra ingeniosa colenti. Soph. Philoct. 1 Ovid. Heroid. VI. 117. In the time of the Trojan war, wine was exported from Lemnos to the camp of the Greeks for barter: Νῆες δ' ἐκ Λήμνοιο παρέστασαν, οἶνον ἄγουσαι, 10 Vulcanum tellus Hypsipylaea colit. See p. 336, note 92, supra. Hom. Il. H. 467. Ovid. Fast. III. 82. 12 "Ηδη γάρ με καὶ ἄλλοτ ̓ ἀλεξέμεναι μεμαῶτα, 13 Πολλὰ δὲ φωνῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας Hom. Il. A. 590. Soph. Philoct. 1459. Homer (II. B. 721) places the scene in Lemnos itself, as does also Ovid Met. XIII. 313.) Crete. The original inhabitants of the island were Thracians, who were succeeded by the Minyæ, or descendants of the Argonauts; these were afterwards expelled by the TyrrheniPelasgi. It was rendered infamous by the massacre committed by the Lemnian women on all the male inhabitants of the island 15, and by the indignity which the Pelasgi perpetrated on some women, whom they had carried away from Brauron in Attica, after their expulsion thence, and whom with their children they finally murdered: these two horrible transactions are said by Herodotus to have induced the Greeks to call every atrocious crime Lemnian. It was reduced under the power of Athens by Miltiades, the son of Cimon 16. 5. Between Lemnos and the South Eastern extremity of Thessaly are several small islands. Amongst these we may mention Nex Agioi Strati; Peparethus 17 Piperi, called formerly Evænus, colonized by the Cretans, and famous for its good oil and wine; Gerontia Jura; Solimnia Pelagonisi; Scandila Scangero; Eudemia Sarakino; and Halonesus Selidromi, about which the Athenians and Philip of Macedon went to war; it was at one time inhabited by women alone, who having murdered all the men, continued to defend themselves against an invasion. Nearer the coast lie Scopelus Scopelo, and Sciathus 18 Skiatho: the latter, which was only two miles from the shores of Thessaly, was originally inhabited by the Pelasgi, and subsequently by the Euboeans; it produced good wine, and once possessed a town of some size, which was destroyed by Philip, the last Macedonian king of that name, to prevent its falling into the hands of Attalus and the Romans. 6. The Island of Eubœa, stretching along the coast of Locris, Boeotia, and Attica, is said to have derived its name from the passage of Io, who here gave birth to Epaphus; it was anciently called Macris from the word uapos longus, owing to its great length, and Abantia, from its inhabitants 15 To which Ovid alludes: De Ar. Am. III. 672. Lemniasin gladios in mea fata dabo. Heroid. VI. 53. 16 To this account Herodotus (VI. 139) adds, that the Pelasgi, after these atrocities, finding the earth and all their possessions cursed with sterility, sent a deputation to Delphi to obtain relief. The Pythian commanded them to render such satisfaction to the Athenians as they should require, upon which they went to Athens engaging to submit to whatever should be proposed. The Athenians demanded the surrender of Lemnos in the highest state of cultivation; this the Pelasgi refused, declaring that they would only deliver up their island to them when one of their vessels should in a single day make its passage to Lemnos from the Athenian territory with a Northern wind. Many years afterwards, when the Thracian Chersonese had fallen under the power of Athens, Miltiades passed thence to Lemnos, and instantly commanded the Pelasgi to quit the island as they had promised; with this the Hephæstians complied, but the Myrinæi, not allowing the Chersonese to be Attica, were only reduced by a siege. 17 Αἰγαί τ' Εἰρεσίαι τε, καὶ ἀγχιάλη Πεπάρηθος, Hom. Hymn. in Apoll. 32. nitidæque ferax Peparethos olivæ, Ovid. Met. VII. 470. Apoll. Argon. A. 583. 18 Φαίνετο δ' εἰναλίη Σκίαθος, φαίνοντο δ' ἄπωθεν Πειρεσιαὶ the Abantes 19. The modern name is Egripo, or Negropont, formed, by a series of corruptions, from Euripus: it was by this latter name that the ancients knew the narrow strait between the island and the main, supposing it to have been formed by some great convulsion of nature, which separated the two 20; it was said, that in it the tide ebbed and flowed seven times during the day, and as often during the night, and that Aristotle flung himself into it because he was unable to find out the cause of the phænomenon*. The island itself was exceedingly rich and fertile, and from it the Athenians drew such great supplies that, if their enemies wished to starve them, their first step was the occupation of Eubœa: its greatest length is ninety-three miles, and its average breadth about ten miles; it contains 1,000 square miles, being the largest island in the Archipelago after Crete. Its principal city was Chalcis Egripo, the birth-place of the poet Lycophron, situated about mid-way on its Western coast, and connected with the Baotian shores by a fortified bridge; it was founded, according to some authors, by an Ionian colony from Athens, after the siege of Troy; but Homer mentions it as existing prior to this event 19; owing to the advantages of its situation, and the strength of its defences, it was considered one of the most important fortresses in Greece. The inhabitants were supplied with water from the fountain Arethusa, celebrated by Euripides". It was razed to the ground by the consul Mummius, shortly after the destruction of Corinth. 7. The Abantes are supposed to have been Thracians, who passed over from Abæ in Phocis; they were amongst the earliest navigators of Greece, and colonized most of the Ionian cities in Asia Minor. Euboea was divided into a number of petty republics, until the Athenians seized upon it after the expulsion of the Pisistratida; it remained in their hands for a long period of time, but at length revolting from them, at the instigation of the Spartans, it became a prey to internal factions, which 19 Οἳ δ ̓ Εὔβοιαν ἔχον μένεα πνείοντες "Αβαντες, 20 Εὐβοῖδα μὲν γῆν λεπτὸς Εὐρίπου κλύδων Hom. Il. B. 537. Eurip. ap. Strab. I. 60. |