Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/336

 328 STRABO. CASADB. 572. family of Teuthras, was reputed to be his son, and succeeded to the kingdom of the Mysians. 5. " The Carians, who were formerly islanders, and Le- leges," it is said, " settled on the continent with the assistance of the Cretans. They built Miletus, of which the founder was Sarpedon from Miletus in Crete. They settled the colony of TermilaB in the present Lycia, but, according to Herodotus, 1 these people were a colony from Crete under the conduct of Sarpedon, brother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, who gave the name of Termilae to the people formerly called Milyse, and still more anciently Solymi ; when, however, Lycus the son of Pandion arrived, he called them Lycii after his own name." This account shows that the Solymi and Lycians were the same people, but the poet distinguishes them. He represents Bellerophon setting out from Lycia, and " fighting with the renowned Solymi." 2 He says Peisander (Isander ?), his son, Mars " slew when fighting with the Solymi," 3 and speaks of Sarpedon as a native of Lycia. 4 6. That the common prize, proposed to be obtained by the conquerors, was the fertile country which I am describing, is confirmed by many circumstances which happened both be- fore and after the Trojan times. When even the Amazons ventured to invade it, Priam and Bellerophon are said to have undertaken an expedition against these women. Anciently there were cities which bore the names of the Amazons. In the Ilian plain there is a hill " which men call Batieia, but the immortals, the tomb of the bounding (TToXvaKo'/ofyioio) Myrina," who, according to historians, was one of the Amazons, and they found this conjecture on the epithet, for horses are said to be evfTKupdnot on account of their speed ; and she was called TroXuff/oapfyuoc from the rapidity with which she drove the chariot. Myrina therefore, the place, was named after the Amazon. In the same manner the neighbouring islands were invaded on account of their fertility ; among which were Rhodes and Cos. That they were inhabited before the Tro- jan times clearly appears from the testimony of Homer. 5 1 Herod, i. 173 ; vii. 92. 2 II. vi. 184. 3 II. vi. 204. 4 II. vi. 199. a II. ii. 655, 677.