Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/169

 B. x. c. ii. 7, 8. LEUCAS. 161 he enumerates among ancient cities, and shows the greatest carelessness in almost every part of his work. 7. This, then, is the general account of the country of the Acarnanians and ^Etolians. We must annex to this some description of the sea-coast and of the islands lying in front of it. If we begin from the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf, the first place we meet with in Acarnania is Actium. The temple of Apollo Actius has the same name as the promontory, which forms the entrance of the Gulf, and has a harbour on the outside. At the distance of 40 stadia from the temple is Anacto- rium, situated on the Gulf; and at the distance of 240 stadia is Leucas. 1 8. This was, anciently, a peninsula belonging to the terri- tory of the Acarnanians. The poet calls it the coast of Epirus, meaning by Epirus the country on the other side of Ithaca, 2 and Cephallenia, 3 which country is Acarnania ; so that by the words of the poet, "the coast of Epirus," we must understand the coast of Acarnania. To Leucas also belonged Neritus, which Laertes said he took " as when I was chief of the Cephallenians, and took Nericus, a well- built city, on the coast of Epirus," 4 and the cities which he mentions in the Catalogue, " and they who inhabited Crocyleia, and the rugged JSgilips." 5 But the Corinthians who were despatched by Cypselus and Gorgus, obtained possession of this coast, and advanced as far as the Ambracian Gulf. Ambracia and Anactorium were both founded. They cut through the isthmus of the peninsula, converted Leucas into an island, transferred Neritus to the spot, which was once an isthmus, but is now a channel con- nected with the land by a bridge, and changed the name to Leucas from Leucatas, as I suppose, which is a white rock, projecting from Leucas into the sea towards Cephallenia, so that it might take its name from this circumstance. I 1 Santa Maura. 2 Theaki. 3 Cephalonia. 4 Od. xxiv. 376. 5 II. ii. G33. VOL. ii. M