CHAP. 40. (32.)—THE HELLESPONT AND MYSIA.
The tide of the Hellespont now begins to run with greater violence, and the sea beats against the shore, undermining with its eddies the barriers that stand in its way, until it has succeeded in separating Asia from Europe. At this spot is the promontory which we have already mentioned as Trapeza[4279]; ten miles distant from which is the city of Abydos[4280], where the straits are only seven stadia wide; then the town of Percote[4281]; Lampsacus[4282], at first called Pityusa; the colony of Parium[4283], which Homer calls by the name of Adrastia; the town of Priapos[4284]; the river Æsepus[4285]; Zelia[4286]; and then the Propontis[4287], that being the name given to the tract of sea where it enlarges. We then come to the river Granicus[4288], and the harbour of Artace[4289], where a town formerly stood. Beyond this is an island which Alexander joined to the continent, and upon which is Cyzicus[4290], a city of the Milesians, which was formerly called Arctonnesos[4291], Dolionis, and Dindymis; above it are the heights of Mount Dindymus[4292]. We then come to the towns of Placia, Ariace[4293], and Scylace; in the rear of which places is Mount Olympus, known as the “Mysian Olympus,” and the city of Olympena. There are also the rivers Horisius[4294] and Rhyndacus[4295], formerly called the Lycus; this last river rises in Lake Artynias, near Miletopolis, and receives the Macestos, and many other streams, dividing in its course Asia[4296] from Bithynia[4297].
This country was at first called by the name of Cronia, after that, Thessalis, and then Malianda and Strymonis. The people of it are by Homer called Halizones[4298], from the fact that it was a nation begirt by the sea. There was formerly a vast city here, Attussa by name; at present there are twelve cities in existence; among which is Gordiucome[4299], otherwise Juliopolis; and, on the coast, Dascylos[4300]. We then come to the river Gelbes[4301]; and, in the interior, the town of Helgas, or Germanicopolis, which has also the other name of Booscœte[4302]; Apamea[4303], now more generally known as Myrlea of the Colophonians: the river Etheleus also, the ancient boundary of Troas, and the commencement of Mysia. Next to this comes the gulf[4304] into which the river Ascanius flows, the town of Bryllion[4305], and the rivers Hylas and Cios, with a town of the same name as the last-mentioned river; it was founded by the Milesians at a place which was called Ascania of Phrygia, as an entrepôt for the trade of the Phrygians who dwelt in the vicinity. We may therefore look upon this as a not ineligible opportunity for making further mention of Phrygia.
CHAP. 41.—PHRYGIA.
Phrygia lies above Troas, and the peoples already mentioned as extending from the Promontory of Lectum[4306] to the river Etheleus. On its northern side it borders upon Galatia, on the south it joins Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Mygdonia, and, on the east, it touches upon Cappadocia. The more celebrated towns there, besides those already mentioned, are Ancyra[4307], Andria, Celænæ[4308], Colossæ[4309], Carina[4310], Cotyaion[4311], Ceraine, Conium, and Midaium. There are authors who say that the Mœsi, the Brygi, and the Thyni crossed over from Europe, and that from them are descended the peoples called the Mysi, Phryges, and Bithyni.
CHAP. 42.—GALATIA AND THE ADJOINING NATIONS.
On this occasion also it seems that we ought to speak of Galatia[4312], which lies above Phrygia, and includes the greater part of the territory taken from that province, as also its former capital, Gordium[4313]. The Gauls[4314] who have settled in these parts, are called the Tolistobogi, the Voturi, and the Ambitouti; those who dwell in Mæonia and Paphlagonia are called the Trocmi. Cappadocia stretches along to the north-east of Galatia, its most fertile parts being possessed by the Tectosages and the Teutobodiaci. These are the nations by which those parts are occupied; and they are divided into peoples and tetrarchies, 195 in number. Its towns are, among the Tectosages, Ancyra[4315]; among the Trocmi, Tavium[4316]; and, among the Tolistobogi, Pessinus[4317]. Besides the above, the best known among the peoples of this region are the Actalenses, the Arasenses, the Comenses[4318], the Didienses, the Hierorenses, the Lystreni[4319], the Neapolitani, the Œandenses, the Seleucenses[4320], the Sebasteni[4321], the Timoniacenses[4322], and the Thebaseni[4323]. Galatia also touches upon Carbalia in Pamphylia, and the Milyæ[4324], about Baris; also upon Cyllanticum and Oroandicum[4325], a district of Pisidia, and Obizene, a part of Lycaonia. Besides those already mentioned[4326], its rivers are the Sangarius[4327] and the Gallus[4328], from which last the priests[4329] of the Mother of the gods have taken their name.
CHAP. 43.—BITHYNIA.
And now as to the remaining places on this coast. On the road from Cios into the interior is Prusa[4330], in Bithynia, founded by Hannibal at the foot of Olympus, at a distance of twenty-five miles from Nicæa, Lake Ascanius[4331] lying between them. We then come to Nicæa[4332], formerly called Olbia, and situate at the bottom of the Ascanian Gulf; as also a second place called Prusa[4333], at the foot of Mount Hypius. Pythopolis, Parthenopolis, and Coryphanta are no longer in existence. Along the coast we find the rivers Æsius, Bryazon, Plataneus, Areus, Æsyros, Geodos, also called Chrysorroas[4334], and the promontory[4335] upon which once stood the town of Megarice. The gulf that here runs inland received the name of Craspedites from the circumstance of that town lying, as it were, upon its skirt[4336]. Astacum[4337], also, formerly stood here, from which the same gulf has received the name of the ‘Astacenian’: the town of Libyssa[4338] formerly stood at the spot where we now see nothing but the tomb of Hannibal. At the bottom of the gulf lies Nicomedia[4339], a famous city of Bithynia; then comes the Promontory of Leucatas[4340], by which the Astacenian Gulf is bounded, and thirty-seven miles distant from Nicomedia; and then, the land again approaching the other side, the straits[4341] which extend as far as the Thracian Bosporus. Upon these are situate Chalcedon[4342], a free town, sixty-two miles from Nicomedia, formerly called Procerastis[4343], then Colpusa, and after that the “City of the Blind,” from the circumstance that its founders did not know where to build their city, Byzantium being only seven stadia distant, a site which is preferable in every respect.
In the interior of Bithynia are the colony of Apamea[4344], the Agrippenses, the Juliopolitæ, and Bithynion[4345]; the rivers Syrium, Laphias, Pharnacias, Alces, Serinis, Lilæus, Scopius, and Hieras[4346], which separates Bithynia from Galatia. Beyond Chalcedon formerly stood Chrysopolis[4347], and then Nicopolis, of which the gulf, upon which stands the Port of Amycus[4348], still retains the name; then the Promontory of Naulochum, and Estiæ[4349], a temple of Neptune[4350]. We then come to the Bosporus, which again separates Asia from Europe, the distance across being half a mile; it is distant twelve miles and a half from Chalcedon. The first entrance of this strait is eight miles and three-quarters wide, at the place where the town of Spiropolis[4351] formerly stood. The Thyni occupy the whole of the coast, the Bithyni the interior. This is the termination of Asia, and of the 282 peoples, that are to be found between the Gulf of Lycia[4352] and this spot. We have already[4353] mentioned the length of the Hellespont and Propontis to the Thracian Bosporus as being 239 miles; from Chalcedon to Sigeum, Isidorus makes the distance 3221⁄2.