Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/703

 GORINTfiUS. pnsG Off c&nyinjT on war agunst the then inhahitants of Corinth. This hill is described by Thucydides as distant 12 stadia from the shore, 60 from Corinth, and 20 from the Isthmus; and npon it there stood the village of Solyoeia (SoXih^cm). The sepul- chres between Mertmi and Galat&H probablj be- longed to Sol/geia. It was here that a very ancient Tase was foand, which Dodwell procored at CorinUi. {Claasical Tour, yol. ii. p. 197.) The attempt of Kicias failed. The Corinthians, having received in- formation of the Athenian movements, stationed a body of troops at Cenchreae, lest the Athenians should endeavour to seise the port of Crommyon, out- side of the Isthmus, and vrith the remainder of their army occupied Solygeia. A battle took place in the broken ground between the village and the sea, in which the Athenians gained the victoiy. The Co- rintliian detachment at Cenchreae, who could not see the battle in consequence of the interpoeition of the ridge of Oneinm, marched to the scene of action as soon as the dust of the fugitives informed them uf what was taking place; and as oUier reinforcements were also approaching, Nicias thought it more pru- dent to re-embark his men, and sailed away to the neighbouring islands. (Thuc. iv. 42, full. ; SoX^^t X^f, Polyaen. i. 39; and the map of the scene of action in the 2nd volume of Arnold's Thucydides.) Beyond Solygeius, to the S£., was a harbour, called Pkihaecs (IIcifMu^f), which is described by Thucydides as uninhabited, and the last port to- wards the confines of Epidanrus. In thin harbour some Peloponneidan ships, which had fled hither for refuge, were kept blockaded by an Athenian fleet during a great part of the summer of B.C. 412. The Athenian fleet took up their station at a small island opposite the entrance of the harbour. (Thuc. viii. 10, 11.) Peiraeus is the harbour now called Frango-Lindina or Porto Franco ; and the small island alluded to bears the name of Ovrio-^nUi, or Ovrio-hMtro, Jews-Castie. Ptolemy (iii. 16. § 12) gives the following list of places on this part of the coast : — 'Eirl8ovpos, Sirt tpcuor hcpov^ ^AOtimitap Xifii^Pf BovKc^oAot fafiiiP, Ktyxp^ai iwly€u>y. In Pliny (iv. 4. s. 5) we find " Spiraenm promontorium, portns Anthedus et Bucephalus et Cenchreae." Both Ptolemy and Pliny omit the harbour Peiraeus ; but the promontory Speinieum is probably the same name. MUller indeed proposed to read Speiraeus instead of Peiraeus in Thucydides; but this is hardly admissible, since Stephanus B. (s.v. Uttptuos) Rad Peiraeus. South of Corinth, on the northern slopes of the Argive mountains, lay Tenea, at the distance of 60 stadia from the capital [Tknea] ; and in the same mountainous district we may perhaps place Petra, the residence of Eetion, the father of Cypselus. (Herod. V. 92.) The Corinthian territory, north of the Isthmus, may be divided into two ports, the eastern half con- sisting of a series of small pUuns between the Geraneian mountains sloping down to the Saronic Gulf, while the western half is composed of a mass of mountains, running out into the Corinthian Gulf, in the form of a quadrangular peninsula. The north-eastern point of this peninsula was called the pnmtontory Olmiab (^'OXfuoi, Strab. viii. p. 380, X. p. 409), which kiy opposite Creusis, the jwrt of Thespiae, in Boeotla, and formed along with the latter the entrance to the bay called Alcyonis. The Bonth-westem point of the peninsula was the pro- mootory Hxbaeum (now C. SL Nibohot or M^- cornKTHua 669 kmkdn)f of which we shall speak fbrtber p rnwn tly, and which along with the opposite Sicyonian coast formed the entrance to the bay of Lechaeum. This district bore the general name of Pbraba (Ilcpafa, Steph. B. «. v.), or the country beyond the Isthmus. The poesession of it was of great im- portance to the CorinUiians, who obtained from its mooDtaina a supply of timber, and found here pas- turage for their cattle, when the grass m the plains . iras burnt up. Moreover, the shortest road to Boeotia and Phocis ran across this mountainous dis- trict. The chief place in this district was Pei- RAEUif (Tlttpaunff Xen. HelL iv. 5. § I, A get, ii. 18), now called Peraehoraf lying inlaod between the prommtories Heraeum and Olmiae, and not to be confounded with the above-mentioned port of Peiraeus on the Saronio Gulf. Peiraeum was a strong fortress, and formed one of a chain of for- tresses, intended to secure this part of the country from the attacks of the M^arians and Athenians. To the esst of Peiraeum, and near the Alcyonian Gulf, was the fortress Oenob (Xen. HelL iv. 6. § 5; Strab. viii. p. 380, z. p. 409), tiie site of which is marked by a quadrangular tower above the harbour of Skino The tiiird fortress stood on the promontory at the western c<»iier of the peninsula, which was called the Heraeum, from its being the site of the temple and oracle of Heea Acraba (Strab. m 1^380; Xen. BelL iv. 5. §5; Pint. Cleom. 20; Liv. xxzii. 23.) The fortress consisted of the temple itself, which stood upon the extremity of the promontory, and was surrounded with strong walls, of which the remains are still extant. A littie way inknd is a chapel of St. Nikolaos, also surrounded with walls, and probably the site of an ancient sanctuary: perhaps it was a temple of Po- seidon, who is frequently represented by StNikohuis. The geography of the Peraea is illustrated by the campaign of Agesilaus in b. c. 390, when he took Peiraeum, Oenoe and the Heraeum. (Xen. BelL iv. 5. § 1, seq.. Ages. iL 18.) Xenophon, in his account of this campaign, mentions certain Thbrma (t& Btpfut) or warm springs, situated on the road to Peiraeum by the bay of Lechaeum {ffelL iv. 5. §§ 3, 8). These warm springs ara still visible at the small village and port of Ltttrdki, which derives its name from them. They are situated close to the sea at the foot of the mountain of Peiraeum, where the level ground of the Isthmus ends and the mountains of the Peraean peninsula begin. (Ulricfas, Beuen in Griechenland, p. 3.) The lake near the Heraeum, on the banks of which Agesilaus was seated, when he received the news of the destruction of the Lace- daemonian mora by Iphicrates (Xen. HeU, iv. 5. § 6. seq.), is now oUled VnUoMmeni, It is a salt lake surrounded by mountains, except on the side open to the sea; and it is conjectured by Curlius, with great probability, to be the same as the lake EscHATions ('EirxariArif A/^iyi}). Gorge, the daughter of Megareus and wife of Corinthus, is said to have plunged into this lake upon receivmg intelli- gence of the murder of her children, in consequence of which it received the name of Goigopis. (Etym. M. a. 0. 'Etfxaritfris; Phavorin. Ed, p. 209, Dind.; Aesch. Agam, 302.) Towards the Saronic gulf the Geraneian mountains ara not nearly so lofty and rugged as in the Peraea. Between the flat ground of ti^e Isthmus and the Scironian rocks there are three plains upon the coast. The chief town in this district was Crommyon [Cboumyov], and the name Crommyonia imi some-