Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/742

 / 724 CYLLENE. a city of Garia, mentioned by Hecataens in his Atia, (Steph. B.S.V.) [G.L.] CYLLE'NE (KwXXifwj). 1. A lofty mountain in the north-eastern corner of Arcadia, upon the borders of Achaia. It was celebrated as the birthplace of Hermes, and as such is frequently mentioned by both the Greek and Roman poets. (Horn, ffymn, Merc. 2 ; rg. Am. vili. 138.) Hence Cyllenius occurs as a frequent epithet, and even as a name of Hermes or Mercury. (Horn. Hymn. Merc. 304, 318 ; Virg. Jen. iv. 262 ; Ov. Met. i. 713, ii. 720, et alibi.) In the same way we find the adjectives Cyl- leneus and Cyllenis applied to the lyre of Mercury, or to anything else belonging to this god. (Hor.
 * Epod. xiiL 9 ; Or. MtL ▼. 176, xi. 304.) There

was a temple of Hermes upon the summit of the mountain, which in the time of Pausanias had fiillen into nuns. The latter writer deriyes the name of the mountain from Cyllen, the son of Elatos. (Pans. TiiL 17. § 1.) Cyllene now bears the name of Zyria; its height, as determined by the officers of the French Com- mission, is 2374 mHres, or 7788 feet above the level of the sea. The muis of the temple of Hermes are no longer found upon its summit The ancients regarded it as the highest mountain in Peloponnesus ; but in this they were mistaken, as one of the sum- mits of Taygetus rises to the height of 7902 feet According to Strabo, some made it 15, others 20 stadia in haght (viii. p. 388) ; Apollodorus stated it to be 9 stadia, less 20 feet, in height; a measure- ment which evidently refers to its height above the level of the surrounding pluns, and very nearly coincides with the measurement of the French Com- mission, who found it to be 1675 metres above the level of the pUin of Pheneos. (Eustath. ad Horn, p. 1951, 16 ; Steph. B. 8.v. KvWiji^.) The sum- mit of Cyllene was supposed to be so high above all winds and clouds, that the ashes of the victims sa- crificed there to Hermes, remained undisturbed from one year's festival to another. (Geminus, EUm. Aitr. i. 14 ; Olympiodor. ap. Alex. Aphrod. p. 6.) Cyllene rests upon a broad, almost circular basis, and is separated from the surrounding mountains by deep ravines. Towards the north it sends out a projecting spur, called in ancient times Chelt- DMLBA (now il/avrujro), because Hermes was said to have found here the tortoise shell, which he con- verted into a lyre. (Pans. viii. 17. § 5.) On Cyl- lene white blackbirds were said to have been found. (Pans, viii 17. § 3 ; Steph. 6. $. v.) (Boblaye, Hecherches, ^., p. 154; Curtius, Peloponnetotf vol. i. pp. 17, 1990 2. (Eth. KvAXifi'iof, KvWyikcJs), the seaport town of Elis, distant 120 stadia fhnn the latter city. (Pans. i. 26. § 4 ; Strab. viii. p. 337.) Cyllene was aa ancient place. It is mentioned by Homer as one of the towns of the Epeians (/Z, zv. 518) ; and if we are to believe Dionysius Periegetes (347), it was the port from which the Pelas^ans sailed to Italy. Pausanias, moreover, mentions it as visited at an early period by the merchants of Aegina (viii 5. § 8), and as the port from which the exiled Messenians after the conclusion of the second Messenian war, sailed away to found a colony in Italy or Sicily (iv. 23. § 1, seq.). Cyllene was burnt by the Corcyiaeans in b. c. 435, because it had supplied ships to the Corin- thians. (Thuc. i. 30.) It is again mentioned in 429, as the naval station of the Peloponnesian fleet, when Phormion oomnumded an Athenian squadron ( CTBIE. m the Corinthian gnlf. (Tfauo. IL 84.) Iti mam occurs on other oocasiona, clearly showing that it was the principal port in this part o( Pelopoonesns. (Thuc. vi. 89 ; Died. xix. 66, 87 ; Polyb. v. 3 ; Liv. zxvii. 32.) Strabo describes Cyllene as an inconsiderable ^lage, having an ivoir statue of AsclefMua by Colotes, a contemporary of Pheidias. (Strab. viii. p. 337.) This statue is not mentioiied by Pausaniaa, who speaks, however, of temples of Ascleinus and Aphrodite (vi. 26. § 5). Cyllene is usually identified with GhreiUgtt, situ^ed upon one of the capes of the pramontory Chelonataa. This is the position assigned to it by Leake, whose authority we have fUlowed elaewbere [Chelonatas] ; but there are strong reasons for doubting the correctness of this o^nnion. There are no ancient remains at Glar^tUga ; and although this is at present the only port on this part of the ooast, the outline of the latter has been so changed in the course of centuries, that little reliance can be placed upon this argument Moreover, Cyllene ia clearly distinguished from the promontofj Cheknatas by the ancient writers. Strabo (viii. p. 338) says that the Peneius flows into the sea between the pramon- tories Chelonatas and Cyllene ; and that this is not an error in the text, as Leake supposes ( Jforao, vol. i. p. 7), appoirs from the order of the names in ^r y Ptolemy (iu. if. §§ 5, 6), where we find the pro- ^/ montory Arsxnl, Cyllene, the mouths of the Peneins, ' the promontoiy Chelonitis. The river Pendua at present flows into the sea to the south of Chdonataa, but its ancient course was probably north of this ^, ^ pramontory. [P— rei ] Accordingly we niaj;^^^^ perhaps place Cyllene alwnt half way between Araxus and Chdonatas. This positian not oolj agrees with the distance of 120 stadia finom Elia mentioned by Strabo and Pausanias, but also with the distances in the Tab. Peuting., which reckons xiv. M. P. from Dyme to Cyllene, and also xiv. M. P. from Cyllene to Elis. Pliny (iv. 5. s. 6.), likewise separates the promontory Chelonatas from Cyllene. According to the present text of Pliny, the distance between them is v. M. P. (not ii. as in some edi- tions); but instead of v. we ought probably to read XV. It appears from Pliny that the sea between the promontories of Araxus and Chelonatas was called the bay of Cyllene. (Curtius, Pelopomteiotf voL ii. pp. 33, 102.) CYME (KSfiii: Eth. Kvfuuos), a city of AeoBs, so called, according to a legend, from Cyme an Amazon ; and the city was also called Amazoneion. There was, according to Stephanns ($. v. K^yoi), another Cyme, which was called Phrioomtis. He- rodotus, however (i. 149), enumerating Cyme among the dtiee of Aeolis, calls it ** Cyme which ia named Phriconis." Temnus and Aegae, Aeolian cities, were situated in the hill country which lies above the ter- ritory of Cyme, and of Phocaea, and of Smyrna, along which the Hermns flows. It was north of the Hermus, as appears from Strabo ( p. 622), who saysX/ / . . ^ that, after crossing the Hermns, the distance fromix:^ ^ Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to /^ ^ Myrina was 40 stadia. The author of the Lifo of Homer also places Cyme north of the Hexmus, and he quotes some lines which show that it was on an eminence, a spur or projection of a mountain called Sordene. The coins of Cyme show that them was a stream near it called Xanthus. The site of this ancient city is generally suf^Mised to be at a place called Sanderli or SandarUo^ on that part of the coast which is opposite to the southern exti«mity of