Читать книгу The Natural History of Pliny (Vol. 1-6) - Pliny the Elder - Страница 159

Table of Contents

The province called Achaia2179 begins at the Isthmus; from the circumstance of its cities being ranged in regular succession on its coast, it formerly had the name of Ægialos2180. The first place there is Lecheæ, already mentioned, a port of the Corinthians; next to which is Olyros2181, a fortress of the people of Pellene2182; then the former towns of Helice and Bura2183, and the places in which their inhabitants took refuge after their towns had been swallowed up by the sea, Sicyon2184 namely, Ægira2185, Ægium, and Erineos2186. In the interior are Cleonæ and Hysiæ2187; then come the port of Panormus2188, and Rhium already mentioned; from which promontory, Patræ, of which we have previously spoken, is distant five miles; and then the place where Pheræ2189 stood. Of the nine mountains of Achaia, Scioessa is the most famous; there is also the Fountain of Cymothoë. Beyond Patræ we find the town of Olenum2190, the colony of Dyme2191, the places where Buprasium2192 and Hyrmine once stood, the Promontory of Araxus2193, the Bay of Cyllene, and the Promontory of Chelonates, at five miles’ distance from Cyllene2194. There is also the fortress of Phlius2195; the district around which was called by Homer Aræthyrea2196, and, after his time, Asopis.

The territory of the Eleans then begins, who were formerly called Epei, with the city of Elis2197 in the interior, and, at a distance of twelve miles from Phlius, being also in the interior, the temple of Olympian Jupiter, which by the universal celebrity of its games, gives to Greece its mode of reckoning2198. Here too once stood the town of Pisa2199, the river Alpheus flowing past it. On the coast there is the Promontory of Ichthys2200. The river Alpheus is navigable six miles, nearly as far as the towns of Aulon2201 and Leprion. We next come to the Promontory of Platanodes2202. All these localities lie to the west.