Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/528

 514 STRABO. FRAGM. 37-40. The country beyond the Strymon, which borders upon the sea and includes the parts about Datum, is occupied by Odo- mantes, Edoni, and Bisaltse, some of whom are an indigenous people, the others came from Macedonia and were under the government of Rhesus. Above Amphipolis live the Bisaltae, extending to the city Heraclea (Sintica) ; they occupy a fer- tile valley, through which passes the Strymon, which rises among the Agrianes near Rhodope. Near the Agrianes is situated Parorbelia of Macedonia. In the interior, in a valley, which commences at Idomene, are situated Callipolis, Ortho- polis, Philipopolis, and Garescus. Among the Bisaltaa, pro- ceeding up the river Strymon, is situated Berga, a village, distant from Amphipolis about 200 stadia. Proceeding north- wards from Heraclea, and to the narrows, through which the Strymon flows, keeping the river on the right, first on the left are Paeonia and the parts about Dobera ; then on the right are the mountains Rasmus and Rhodope, with the adjacent parts. On this side of the Strymon, close upon the river, is Scotussa ; near the lake Bolbe is Arethusa ; the inhabitants above the lake are chiefly Mygdones. Not only is the course of the Axius through Paeonia, but that of the Strymon also ; for it rises among the Agrianes, passes through the territory of the Maadi and Sinti, and discharges itself between the Bisaltas and Odomantes. E. 37. The source of the river Strymon is among the Agrianes near Rhodope. EPIT. 38. The Pceonians, according to some, were a dependent colony of the Phrygians ; according to others, they were an independent settlement. Poeonia, it is said, extended to Pela- gonia and Pieria ; Pelagonia is said to have been formerly called Orestia ; and Asteropceus, one of the chiefs from Paa- onia who went to Troy, to have been called, with great pro- bability, the son of Pelagon, and the Pceonians themselves to have been called Pelagones. E. 39. The Asteropceus in Homer, son of Pelegon, we are told, was of PcEonia in Macedonia: whence "Son of Pelegon;" for the Paeonians were called Pelagones. EPIT. 40. As the pceanismus, or singing of the Thracian Pasan, was called titanusmus by the Greeks, in imitation of a well- known note in the paean, so the Pelagones were called Ti- tanes. E.