Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/215

 B. x. c. v. 2. CRETE. 207 " And JEglete Anaphe, close to the Lacedaemonian Thera ; " and in another, he mentions Thera only, " Mother of my country, celebrated for its fine breed of horses." Thera is a long island, about 200 stadia in circumference. It lies opposite to the island Dia, 1 towards the Cnossian Hera- cleium. It is distant about 700 stadia from Crete. Near it are Anaphe and Therasia. 2 The little island los 3 is distant from the latter about 100 stadia. Here according to some authors the poet Homer was buried. 4 In going from los to- wards the west are Sicenus 5 and Lagusa, 6 and Pholegandrus, 7 which Aratus calls the iron island, on account of its rocks. Near these islands is Cimolus, 8 whence is obtained the Cimo- lian earth. From Cimolus Siphnus 9 is visible. To this island is applied the proverb, " a Siphnian bone (astragalus)," on account of its insignificance. Still nearer, both to Cimo- lus and Crete, is Melos, 10 more considerable than these. It is distant from the Hermionic promontory, the Scyllaeum, 11 700 stadia, and nearly as many from the Dictynnsean promontory. The Athenians formerly despatched an army to Melos, 12 and put to death the inhabitants from youth upwards. These islands are situated in the Cretan sea. Delos, 13 the Cyclades about it, and the Sporades adjacent to these, belong rather to the _/Ega?an sea. To the Sporades also are to be re- ferred the islands about Crete, which I have already men- tioned. 2. The city of Delos is in a plain. Delos contains the tem- ple of Apollo, and the Latoum, or temple of Latona. The Cynthus, 14 a naked and rugged mountain, overhangs the city. Standia. 8 Therasia, on the west of Santorino. Nio. * According to Herodotus, in the Life of Homer. Sikino, anciently CEnoe. Pliny iv. 12. Cardiodissa, or Cardiana. 7 Policandro. Argentiere. Cretee plura genera. Ex iis Cimoliae duo ad medicos pertinentia, candidum et ad purpurissimum inclinans. Pliny, b. v. c. 17. Cretosaque rura Cimoli. Ovid. Met. vii. 464. But from Aristophanes, the Frogs, it would appear to have been a kind of fullers' earth. 9 Siphanto, anciently also Meropia and Acis. There were once gold and silver mines in it, which were destroyed by inundation. There is also another proverb, which alluded to its poverty, " a Siphnian pledge," 2t'0i/ioe appafiwv. Herodotus speaks of its being once the most wealthy of the islands, iii. 57. Milo. Cape Skylli. 12 Thucyd. b. v. c. 115, 116. 13 Dhiles. M Thermia. Hence Apollo Cynthius.