Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/218

 202 LOCRIS. Their iiorthern frontier town was Aljjcni, wLich bordered upon the MaUans, and their southern fron- tier town was Larynina, which at a later time be- longed to Boeotia. The Locrians, however, did not inhabit this coast continuously, but were separated by a narrow slip of Phocis, which extended to the .Euboean sea, and contained tiie I'hocian seaport town of Daphnus. The Locrians north of Daphnus were called Epicneinidii, from Mount Cnemis; and those south of this town were named Opuntii, from Opus, their principal city. On the west the Locrians were separated from Phocis and Boeotia by a range of mountains, extending from Mount Oeta and running parallel to the coast. The northern part of this range, called Mount Cnemis (Strab. i.x. pp. 416, 42.5), now Tdlundu, rises to a considerable heii^ht, and separated the Epicnemidii Locri from the Plio- cians of the upper valley of the Cephissus ; the southern portion, which bore no specific name, is not so lofty as Mount Cnemis, and separated the Opun- tian Locrians from the north-eastern parts of Boeotia. Lateral branches extended from these mountains to the coast, of which one terminated in the promontory Cnemides [Cnemidks], opposite the islands called Lichades ; but there were several fruitful valleys, and the fertility of the whole of the Locrian coast is praised both by ancient and modern observers. (Strab. ix. j). 42.'5; iMjrchhaminer, Ilellenika, pp. 11 — 12; Grote, //««.(>/■ Greece, vol. ii. p. 381.) In con.sequence of the proximity of the mountains to the coast there was no room for any considerable rivers. The largest, which, however, is only a mountain torrent, is the Boaguius (Boaypws), called also Manks (Mafjjj) by Strabo, rising in Minint Cnemis, and liowing into the sea between Scarpheia and Thronium. (Horn. II. ii. 533; Strab. ix. p. 426; Ptol. iii. 15. § 11; Phn. iv. 7. s. 12; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 67.) The only other river mentioned by name is the Platanius (XlKardvLos, Pans. ix. 24. § 5), a small stream, which flows into the Opuntian gulf near the Boeotian frontier: it is the river which flows from the modern village of Proshjna. (Leake, vol. ii. p. 174.) The Opuntian gulf (i 'Oivovvtios k6ttos, Strab. ix. pp. 416, 425, 426), at the head of which stood the town of Opus, is a considerable bay, shallow at its inner extremity. In this bay, close to the coast, is the small island of Atalanta. [Atalanta, No. 1.] There are three important passes across the Locrian mountains into Phocis. One leads from the territory of the Epicnemidii, between the summits of Mount Callidronms and Mount Cnemis, to Tithronum, in the upper valley of the Cephissus; a second across Jlount Cnemis to the I'hocian town of Elateia ; and a third from Opus to Hyam polls, also a I'hocian town, whence the road ran to Abae and Orcho- menos. The eastern Locrians, as we have already said, are mentioned by Homer, who describes them as following Ajax, the son of O'l'leus, to the Trojan War in forty ships, and as inhabiting the towns of Cynns, Opus, Calliarus, Besa, Scarphe, Augeiae, Tarphc, and Thronium. {II. ii. 527 — 535.) Neither Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, nor Polybius, make any distinction between the Opuntii and Epicne- midii ; and, during the flourishing period of Grecian history. Opus was regarded as the chief town of the eastern Locrians. Even Strabo, from whom the distinction is chiefly derived, in one place describes Opus as the metropolis of the Epicnemidii (ix. p. 416); and the same is confirmed by Pliny (iv. LOCPLS. 7. s. 12) and Stephanus (s. v. 'Ondas; from Leake vol. ii. p. 181). In the Persian War the (Jjmntian Locrians fought with Leonidas at Thermopylae, and also sent seven ships to the Grecian fleet. (Herod. vii. 203, viii. 1 .) The Locrians fought on the side of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. (Time. ii. 9.) The following is a list of the Locrian towns: — 1. Of the Epicnemidii : along the coast from N. to S., Ali'knus; Nicaea ; Scakphe or Scarpheia; TiiKONiUM ; Cnemis or Cnemides ; more inland, Tap.phe, afterwards Phap.ygae ; Augeiae. — 2. Of the Ojiuntii : along the coast from N. to S., Ai.ope; Cynus; OlTS; IIai.ae; Larymna, which at a later time belonged to Boeotia; more inland, Calliarus; Naryx; Corseia. COIN OF THE LOCRI OPUNTII. II. LocRi Ozolae ('Of(5Aai), inhabited a dis- trict upon the Corinthian gulf, bounded on the north by Doris and Aetolia, on the east by Phocis, and on the west by Aetolia. This district is mountainous, and for the most part unproductive. The declivities of Mount Parnassus from Phocis, and of Mount Corax from Aetolia, occupy the greater part of it. The only river, of which the name is mentioned, is the Hylaethus, now the Morno, which runs in a south-westerly direction, and falls into the Corinthian gulf near Naupactus. The frontier of the Locri Ozolae on the west was close to the promontoiy Antirrhium, opposite the promontory Rhium on the coast of Achaia. Antirrhium, which was in the territory of the Locri, is spoken of elsewhere. [Vol. I. p. 13.] The eastern frontier of Locris, on the coast, was close to the Phocian town of Cris.sa; and the Crissaean gulf washed on its western side the Locrian, and on its eastern the Phocian coast. The origin of the name of O/.olae is uncertain. Various etymologies were proposed by the ancients. (I'au.s. X. 38. § 1, seq.) Some derived it from the verb o^iiv, " to smell," cither from the stench arising from a spring at the foot of Mount Taphiassus, be- neath which the centaur Nessus is said to have been buried, and which still retains this property (cf. Strab. ix. p. 427), or from the abundance of aspho- del which scented the air. (Cf. Archytas, up. Plut. Quaest. Graec. 15.) Others derived it from the undressed .skins which v^-ere worn by the ancient inhabitants; and the Locrians themselves from the branches (ofoi) of a vine which was produced in their country in a marvellous manner. The Locri Ozolae are said to have been a colony from the Opuntian Locrians. They first appear in history in the time of the Peloponnesian War, as has been men- tioned above, when they are mentioned by Thucy- dides as a semi-barbarous nation, along with the Aetolians and Acarnanians, whom they resembled in their armour and mode of fighting. (Thuc. i. 5, iii. 94.) In b. C. 426 the Locrians promised to assist Demosthenes, the Athenian commander, in his invasion of Aetolia ; but, after the defeat of Demosthenes, most of the Locrian tribes submitted