It is Pylus, therefore, to which the question relates, and we shall soon treat of it. We have already spoken of Arene. The places, which he here calls Thryum, in another passage he calls Thryoessa,
“There is a city Thryoessa, lofty, situated on a hill,
Far off, on the banks of the Alpheius.”[76]
He calls it the ford or passage of the Alpheius, because, according to these verses, it seems as if it could be crossed at this place on foot. Thryum is at present called Epitalium, a village of Macistia.
With respect to εὔκτιτον Αἶπυ], “Æpy the well-built,” some writers ask which of these words is the epithet of the other, and what is the city, and whether it is the present Margalæ of Amphidolia, but this Margalæ is not a natural fortress, but another is meant, a natural stronghold in Macistia. Writers who suppose this place to be meant, say, that Æpy is the name of the city, and infer it from its natural properties, as in the example of Helos,[77] Ægialos,[78] and many others: those who suppose Margalæ to be meant here, will assert the contrary.
Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because all the country is θρυώδης, or sedgy, and particularly the banks of the rivers, but this appears more clearly at the fordable places of the stream. Perhaps Thryum is meant by the ford, and by “the well-built Æpy,” Epitalium, which is naturally strong, and in the other part of the passage he mentions a lofty hill;
“The city Thryoessa, a lofty hill,
Far away by the Alpheus.”[79]
25. Cyparisseïs is near the old Macistia, which then extended even to the other side of the Neda, but it is not inhabited, as neither is Macistum. There is also another, the Messenian Cyparissia, not having quite the same name, but one like it. The city of Macistia is at present called Cyparissia, in the singular number, and feminine gender, but the name of the river is Cyparisseis.
Amphigeneia, also belonging to Macistia, is near Hypsoeis, where is the temple of Latona.