Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/412

 398 STRABO. CASA.UB. 264. the statue that closes its eyes. It must, however, require a good courage, not to assert that it appeared to have closed its eyes, as that at Troy turned away its eyes from beholding the violence offered to Cassandra, but to show it in the act of winking : but it is much more daring to make so many statues of the Minerva rescued from Ilium, as those who de- scribe them affirm, for there is a Minerva said to be Trojan in the sense of having been rescued from that city, not only at Siris, but at Rome, at Lavinium, and at Luceria. The scene, too, of the daring of the Trojan female captives is as- signed to many different places and appears incredible, although it is by no means impossible. There are some who say that Siris, and also that Sybaris on the Trionto, 1 were founded by the Rhodians. Antiochus says that the site of Siris having become the subject of a contention between the Tarentini and the Thurii, on that occasion commanded by Cleandridas the -general who had been banished from Lacedasmon, the two people came to a composition, and agreed to inhabit it in com- mon, but that the colony 2 should be considered as Tarentine ; however, at a subsequent period both the name and the locality were changed, and it was called Heraclea. 3 lo. Next in order is Metapontium, 4 at a distance of 140 stadia from the sea-port of Heraclea. It is said to be a settlement of the Pylians at the time of their return from Ilium under Nestor ; their success in agriculture was so great, that it is said they offered at Delphi a golden harvest : 5 they adduce, as a proof of this foundation, the offerings of the dead sacrificed periodically to the Nele'idce; but it was destroyed by 1 Kramer reads iirl Ttv9pavTO<;, but thinks with Groskurd that itri TOV TpdevTog, the Traens or modern Trionto, is the true reading. 2 About B. c. 444. 3 About B. c. 433. remained standing but the walls and theatre. Considerable vestiges, situated near the station called Torre di Mare, indicate the site it an- ciently adorned. 5 0gjooc xpvaovv. Xylander and others have thought this was a statue representing Summer ; others have reckoned that golden sheaves were intended. The coins of Metapontium, which are greatly admired as works of art, have a head of Ceres, and on the reverse an ear of corn. A large sum of these might be justly called a golden harvest. 6 Neleus had twelve sons, eleven of whom were slain by Hercules, while Nestor alone escaped ; we must therefore infer from this passage, that rites were celebrated at Metapontium in honour of his brothers.
 * In the time of Pausanias, this city was a heap of ruins, and nothing