Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/346

 BOOK XIII. ASIA. SUMMARY. The Thirteenth Book contains the part of Asia south of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), the whole of the ^sea-coast, and the adjacent islands. The author dwells some time on Troy, though deserted, on account of its dis- tinction, and the great renown it derived from the war. CHAPTER I. 1. THESE are the limits of Phrygia. We return again to the Propontis, and to the sea-coast adjoining the JEsepus, 1 and shall observe, in our description of places, the same order as before. The first country which presents itself on the sea-coast is the Troad. 2 Although it is deserted, and covered with ruins, yet it is so celebrated as to furnish a writer with no ordinary excuse for expatiating on its history. But we ought not only to be excused, but encouraged, for the reader should not im- pute the fault of prolixity to us, but to those whose curiosity and desire of information respecting the celebrated places of antiquity is to be gratified. The prolixity is greater than it would be otherwise, from the great number of nations, both Greeks and Barbarians, who have occupied the country, and from the disagreement among writers, who do not relate the same things of the same persons and places, nor even do they express themselves with clearness. Among these in particular is Homer, who suggests occasions for conjecture in the great- est part of his local descriptions. We are therefore to ex- amine what the poet and other writers advance, premising a summary description of the nature of the places. 2. The coast of the Propontis extends from Cyzicene and the places about the ^sepus and Granicus 3 as far as Abydos, 1 Satal-dere. 2 The Troad is called Biga hy the Turks, from the name of a town which now commands that district. Biga is the ancient Sidene. 3 Kodscha-Tschui. Oustvola. Gossellin.