5. In former times the Ionians occupied this country, and were also in possession of Attica, before the time of the building of Megara, wherefore the poet does not mention these places by any appropriate name, but when he calls all those dwelling in Attica, Athenians, he comprehends these also in the common appellation, regarding them as Athenians; so when, in the Catalogue of the Ships, he says,
“And they who occupied Athens, a well-built city,”[284]
we must understand the present Megarenses also, as having taken a part in the expedition. The proof of this is, that Attica was, in former times, called Ionia, and Ias, and when the poet says,
“There the Bœoti, Iaones,”[285]
he means the Athenians. But of this Ionia Megaris was a part.
6. Besides, the Peloponnesians and Ionians having had frequent disputes respecting their boundaries, on which Crommyonia also was situated, assembled and agreed upon a spot of the Isthmus itself, on which they erected a pillar having an inscription on the part towards Peloponnesus,
“this is peloponnesus, not ionia;”
and on the side towards Megara,
“this is not peloponnesus, but ionia.”