Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/219

 B. x. c. v. 812. THE CYCLADES. 211 In Paros is obtained the Parian marble, the best adapted for statuary work. 1 8. Here also is Syros, (the first syllable is long,) where Pherecydes the son of Babys was born. The Athenian Pherecydes is younger than the latter person. The poet seems to have mentioned this island under the name of Syria ; "above Ortygia is an island called Syria." 2 9. Myconus 3 is an island beneath which, according to the mythologists, lie the last of the giants, destroyed by Hercules ; whence the proverb, " all under one Myconus," applied to persons who collect under one title things that are disjoined by nature. Some also call bald persons Miconians, because baldness is frequent among the inhabitants of the island. 4 10. Seriphos 5 is the island where is laid the scene of the fable of Dictys, who drew to land in his net the chest in which were enclosed Perseus and his mother Danae, who were thrown into the sea by order of Acrisius, the father of Danae. There it is said Perseus was brought up, and to this island he brought the head of the Gorgon ; he ex- hibited it to the Seriphians, and turned them all into stone. This he did to avenge the wrongs of his mother, because their king Polydectes, with the assistance of his subjects, desired to make her his wife by force. Seriphus abounds so much with rocks, that they say in jest that it was the work of the Gorgon. 11. Tenos 6 has a small city, but there is, in a grove beyond it, a large temple of Neptune worthy of notice. It contains large banqueting rooms, a proof of the great multitudes that repair thither from the neighbouring places to celebrate a feast, and to perform a common sacrifice in honour of Neptune. 12. To the Sporades belongs Amorgos, 7 the birth-place of 1 The marble was taken from Mt. Marpessus. Pliny xxxvi. 5 ; Virg. Mn. 6, Marpesia cautes. 2 Od. xv. 402. 3 Myconi. 4 Myconi calva omnis juventus. Terence, Hecy. a. 3, s. 4; Pliny, b. xi. c. 37. 5 It was an erroneous opinion entertained by the ancients, that frogs did not croak in this island (Sirpho) ; hence the proverb, a Seriphian frog, ' 8 Tine. Anciently it had also the names Hydmssa and Ophiussa. 1 Amorgo. p 2