Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/527

 FUAQM. 35, 36. MOUNT ATHOS- 513 mines. Particles of gold, it is said, are found in Poeonia in ploughing the land. EPIT. 35. Mount Athos is pap-shaped, and so lofty that the hus- bandmen on the summit are already weary of their labour, the sun having long since risen to them, when to the inhabit- ants of the shore it is the beginning of cockcrowing. Tha- myris, the Thracian. was king of this coast, and followed the same practices as Orpheus. Here also, at Acanthus, is seen the canal, which Xerxes is said to have made, and through which he is said to have brought the sea from the Strymonic Gulf, across the isthmus. Demetrius of Skepsis is of opinion that this canal was not navigable ; for, says he, the ground is composed of deep earth, and admits of being dug for a distance of 10 stadia only : the canal is a plethrum in width ; then fol- lows a high, broad, and flat rock, nearly a stadium in length, which prevents excavation throughout the whole distance to the sea. And even if the work could be carried on so far across, yet it could not be continued to a sufficient depth, so as to present a navigable passage. Here Alexarchus, the son of Antipater, built the city Uranopolis, 30 stadia in circum- ference. This peninsula was inhabited by Pelasgi from Lemnos ; they were distributed into five small cities, Cleona?, Olophyxis, Acrothoi, Dium, Thyssos. After Athos comes the Strymonic Gulf, extending to the river Nestus, which forms the bound- ary of Macedonia, as settled by Philip and Alexander. Ac- curately speaking, there is a promontory forming a gulf with Athos, on which is the city Apollonia. First in the gulf, af- ter the harbour of Acanthus, is Stagira, now deserted : it was one of the Chalcidic cities, and the birth-place of Aristotle. Caprus was the harbour, and there is a small island of the same name. Then comes the Strymon, and Amphipolis, at the distance of 20 stadia up the river. In this part is situated an Athenian colony, called Ennea-Odoi (the Nine -Ways). Then Galepsus and Apollonia, which were destroyed by Philip. E. 36. He says, it is 120 stadia (300?) from the Peneus to Pydna. On the sea-coast of the Strymon and of the Dateni is Neapolis, and Datum also, which has fruitful plains, a lake, rivers, dockyards, and valuable gold mines. Hence the pro- verb, " A Datum of good things," like " Piles of plenty." VOL. I. 2 L