9. Then follows Phaselis,[208] a considerable city, with three harbours and a lake. Above it is the mountain Solyma[209] and Termessus,[210] a Pisidic city, situated on the defiles, through which there is a pass over the mountain to Milyas. Alexander demolished it, with the intention of opening the defiles.
About Phaselis, near the sea, are narrow passes through which Alexander conducted his army. There is a mountain called Climax. It overhangs the sea of Pamphylia, leaving a narrow road along the coast, which in calm weather is not covered with water, and travellers can pass along it, but when the sea is rough, it is in a great measure hidden by the waves. The pass over the mountains is circuitous and steep, but in fair weather persons travel on the road along the shore. Alexander came there when there was a storm, and trusting generally to fortune, set out before the sea had receded, and the soldiers marched during the whole day up to the middle of the body in water.
Phaselis also is a Lycian city, situated on the confines of Pamphylia. It is not a part of the Lycian body, but is an independent city.
10. The poet distinguishes the Solymi from the Lycians, when he despatches Bellerophon by the king of the Lycians to this second adventure;
“he encountered the brave Solymi;”[211]
other writers say that the Lycians were formerly called Solymi, and afterwards Termilæ, from the colonists that accompanied Sarpedon from Crete; and afterwards Lycians, from Lycus the son of Pandion, who, after having been banished from his own country, was admitted by Sarpedon to a share in the government; but their story does not agree with Homer. We prefer the opinion of those who say that the poet called the people Solymi who have now the name of Milyæ, and whom we have mentioned before.
CHAPTER IV.
1. After Phaselis is Olbia; here Pamphylia begins. It is a large fortress. It is followed by the Cataractes,[212] as it is called, a river which descends violently from a lofty rock, with a great body of water, like a winter torrent, so that the noise of it is heard at a great distance.
Next is Attaleia,[213] a city, so called from its founder Attalus Philadelphus, who also settled another colony at Corycus, a small city near Attaleia, by introducing other inhabitants, and extending the circuit of the walls.