Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/87

 B. ix. c. i. 2, 3. ATTICA. 79 Mountains to the Crisaean Gulf, and the whole of Megaris and Attica. He is of opinion that the shore which extends from Sunium to the Isthmus, would not have so great a curva- ture, nor have so great a bend, if, to this shore, were not added the parts continuous with the Isthmus and extending to the Hermionic Bay and Acte ; that in the same manner the shore, from the Ceraunian Mountains to the Gulf of Corinth, has a similar bend, so as to make a curvature, form- ing within it a sort of gulf, where Rhium and Antirrhium contracting together give it this figure. The same is the case with the shore about Crissa and the recess, where the Crissasan Sea terminates. 1 2. As this is the description given by Eudoxus, a mathe- matician, skilled in the delineations of figures and the in- clinations of places, acquainted also with the places them- selves, we must consider the sides of Attica and Megaris, extending from Sunium as far as the Isthmus, to be curved, although slightly so. About the middle of the above-men- tioned line 2 is the Piraaus, the naval arsenal of the Athenians. It is distant from Schoenus, at the Isthmus, about 350 stadia ; from Sunium 330. The distance from the Piraeus to Pagae 3 and from the Piraeus to Schoenus is nearly the same, yet the former is said to exceed the latter by 10 stadia. After having doubled Sunium, the navigation along the coast is to the north with a declination to the west. 3. Acte (Attica) is washed by two seas ; it is at first narrow, then it widens towards the middle, yet it, neverthe- less, takes a lunated bend towards Oropus in Boeotia, having the convex side towards the sea. This is the second, the eastern side of Attica. The remaining side is that to the north, extending from the territory of Oropus towards the west, as far as Megaris, and consists of the mountainous tract of Attica, having a variety of names, and dividing Boeotia from Attica ; so that, as I have before remarked, Boeotia, by being connected with 1 The Crisssean Gulf, properly so called, is the modern Bay of Salona. But probably Strabo (or rather Eudoxus, whose testimony he alleges) in- tended to comprehend, under the denomination of Crissrean, the whole gulf, more commonly called Corinthian by the ancients, that is, the gulf which commenced at the strait between Rhium and Antirrhium, and of which the Crissaean Gulf was only a portion. The text in the above passage is very corrupt. 2 From Sunium to the Isthmus. 3 Libadostani.