Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/507

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B. VII. C. VII. § 2.
EPIRUS.
493

took his name; Danaus[1] brought colonists from Egypt; Dryopes, Caucones, Pelasgi, Leleges, and other barbarous nations, partitioned among themselves the country on this side of the isthmus.[2] The case was the same on the other side of the isthmus; for Thracians, under their leader Eumolpus,[3] took possession of Attica; Tereus of Daulis in Phocæa; the Phœnicians, with their leader Cadmus,[4] occupied the Cadmeian district; Aones, and Temmices, and Hyantes, Bœotia. Pindar says, “there was a time when the Bœotian people were called Syes.”[5] Some names show their barbarous origin, as Cecrops, Codrus, Œclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus.[6] Thracians, Illyrians, and Epirotæ are settled even at present on the sides of Greece. Formerly the territory they possessed was more extensive, although even now the barbarians possess a large part of the country, which, without dispute, is Greece. Macedonia is occupied by Thracians, as well as some parts of Thessaly; the country above Acarnania and Ætolia, by Thesproti, Cassopæi, Amphilochi, Molotti, and Athamanes, Epirotic tribes.

2. We have already spoken of the Pelasgi.[q 1] Some writers conjecture that the Leleges and Carians are the same people; others, that they were only joint settlers, and comrades in war, because there are said to be some settlements called Settlements of the Leleges in the Milesian territory, and in many parts of Caria there are burial-places of the Leleges, and deserted fortresses, called Lelegia.

The whole country called Ionia was formerly inhabited by Carians and Leleges; these were expelled by the Ionians, who themselves took possession of the country. In still

  1. ↑ B. C. 1570. He was king of Argos.
  2. ↑ The Peloponnesus, which before the arrival of Pelops was called Apia.
  3. ↑ Eumolpus took possession of Eleusis B. C. 1400. He is said to have there instituted the mysteries of Ceres.
  4. ↑ Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Tyre, arrived in Bœotia B. C. 1550. The citadel of Thebes was named after him.
  5. ↑ Sues, Σύας, swine, in allusion to their ignorance.
  6. ↑ There were two kings of Athens named Cecrops. The first of this name, first king of Attica and Bœotia, came from Egypt. Cecrops II. was the 7th, and Codrus the 17th and last king of Attica. Strabo informs us, b. x. c. i. § 3, that Œclus and Cothus were brothers of Ellops, who founded Ellopia in Eubœa, and gave the name to the whole island.
  1. ↑ B. v. c. ii. § 4.
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