Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/121

 B. ix. c. ii. 41, 42. PHOCIS. 113 The spot which the present lake Copals occupies, was form- erly, it is said, dry ground, and was cultivated in various ways by the Orchomenians, who lived near it ; and this is al- leged as a proof of wealth. 41. Some persons use the word Aspledon 1 without the first syllable, Spledon. The name both of the city and of the ter- ritory was changed to Eudeielos, 2 which expressed perhaps some peculiar advantage the inhabitants derived from their western position, and especially the mild winters. The ex- treme parts of the day are the coldest. Of these the evening is colder than the morning, for as night approaches the cold is more intense, and as night retires the cold abates. The severity of the cold is mitigated by the heat of the sun, and the part which during the coldest season has received most of the sun's heat, is mildest in winter. It is distant from Orchomenus 3 20 stadia. The river Melas is between them. 42. Panopeus, a Phocian city, and Hyampolis 4 are situated above Orchomenus. Opus, the metropolis of the Locri Epic- nemidii, borders upon these places. It is said, that Orcho- menus was formerly situated on a plain, but, as the waters overflowed, the settlers removed to the mountain Acontium, which extends 60 stadia in length, as far as Parapotamii in Phocis. It is said, that those people, who are called Achsei in Pontus, are colonists from the Orchomenians, who, after the capture of Troy, wandered thither under the conduct of lal- menus. There was also an Orchomenus near Carystus. The writers on the Catalogue of Ships [in Homer], have furnished us with these materials, and they have been fol- lowed, wherever they introduced anything adapted to the design of this work. CHAPTER III. 1. NEXT to Bosotia and Orchomenus is Phocis, lying along the side of Boeotia to the north, and, anciently, nearly from sea 1 Leake places it at Tzamali, but Forchammer with more probability at Avro-Kastro. 2 Ev&tcXof. 3 Scripu. * Bogdana. VOL. ii. i