the Macedo EUROPE. tus stretched from Thessaly and the Cambunian CHAP. VI. mountains to a ridge which he calls Mount Dysorum,' General de- and which was situated near Lake Prasias, and scription of therefore close to the frontiers of Paeonia. This nian em- region is watered by four rivers, which flow from Watered by very different directions; but they all discharge four rivers, themselves into the Thermaic Bay, now called the viz. Gulf of Salonika, at very short distances from each pire. Lydias, 3 Haliacmon, other. On the south is the river Haliacmon; next above it is the Lydias. In the time of Herodotus these two rivers discharged themselves at the same mouth, and in modern maps the interval between them is represented as very small. Further north is the river Axius, and just beyond it the river Echeidorus. Echeidorus empties itself into a lagoon.* Axius, Divided into five dis Pieria, The Axius, at present called the Vardar, flows from the This Macedonian empire was divided into five districts, viz. Pieria, Macedonia Proper, Bottiaeis, Mygdonia, and Crestonica. 6 8 PIERIA was apparently the district under Mount Macedonia Olympus. MACEDONIA PROPER lay northward of Proper, it, and was divided from Bottiaeis by the united Bottiaeis, mouths of the Lydias and Haliacmon." BOTTIAEIS extended to the river Axius; and beyond the Axius Mygdonia, was MYGDONIA on the Thermaic Bay. Above MygCrestonica. donia was the district of CRESTONICA, from whence flowed the river Echeidorus." In addition to these Peninsula may be mentioned the peninsula of Chalcidice, occupied by settlers from Euboea and others; but though we include it in our account of Macedonia, of Chalcidice. 1 v. 17. 2 Lake Prasias was in Paeonia. v. 15, 16. 3 vii. 127. A fuller account is given further on in the present volume. 4 vii. 124. 5 viii. 138. Bisaltia was reckoned as part of Thrace. 7 vii. 127. Herodotus therefore cannot make Pieria reach as far as the Haliacmon, because this river was north of Macedonia Proper. 8 vii. 123. Cf. 127. vii. 124. Cf. 127. EUROPE. it certainly formed no part of the empire. It runs CHAP. VI. out into the Aegean in three prongs, viz. Athos, Sithonia, and Pallene.' Eastern frontier formed by Mount Dysorum. Herodotus's only illus Xerxes' progress. 3 Whether, however, Herodotus really alludes to this collective territory under the name of Macedonia, depends upon the identification of Mount Dysorum, which undoubtedly formed the eastern frontier.2 K. O. Müller identifies Dysorum with the ridge between the Haliacmon and Lydias, but if we adopt this theory there is no finding Lake Prasias. I am more disposed to follow Colonel Leake in supposing Lake Prasias to be the same as the Lake Cercinitis, and Mount Dysorum as that part of the range which separates the Strymonic plain from those mountains that extend to Thessalonica and the Axius.* Herodotus's knowledge of the Macedonian empire geography is only brought forward to explain the route taken trative of by the fleet and army of Xerxes between Acanthus and the parts of Macedonia bordering on Thessaly. It will therefore be advisable, for the sake of clearness, to follow in these two separate tracks; one illustrating the geography of the coast, the other the geography of the interior. Route of fleet. The army and navy of Xerxes had reached Acanthe Persian thus on the eastern coast of the Chalcidian peninsula. At this point the king dismissed his fleet, with orders to proceed to Therma, on the western coast and at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, and there to await his arrival with the land forces. Accordingly the fleet left Acanthus, and sailed through the canal which divided the peninsula of Mount Athos (or eastern prong of Chalcidice) from the main-land." Description of Mount Athos. Athos is a large and celebrated mountain, stretching into the sea, and joined to the continent by an isthmus 12 stadia across. At the isthmus the country is level, nor are there any considerable hills be 1 See preceding Diagram of Macedonia, Thrace, and Illyria. 2 v. 17. 3 Dorians, vol. i. Appendix I., on the settlement, origin, and early history of the Macedonian nation, with map. Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 210; iv. p. 581. 5 vii. 121. isthmus. tween the Acanthian Gulf and that of Torone.' The EUROPE. isthmus was cut through to avoid the disasters CHAP. VI. which befell the fleet of Mardonius, when 300 of his Canal ships were wrecked in endeavouring to double the through the promontory, and 20,000 men were either dashed against the rocks, or destroyed by the numerous sea-monsters which abounded in the neighbourhood. Three years were employed upon the canal. Triremes were stationed at Elaeus in the Chersonesus, and men of all nations, having been drawn from the army, were sent out from these triremes, and compelled to dig under the lash in successive sets, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country were also compelled to take a part in the labour. The excavation was thus managed. A straight line was drawn near the city of Sana, (at the narrow part of the isthmus,) and the entire space was allotted in parcels to the several nations that were to be employed. In the progress of the excavation the earth dug out was handed up by man to man from the bottom of the canal to the top-the whole being performed by hand, without any aid of cranes or barrows. The canal was made sufficiently wide for two triremes to pass abreast, and the Phoenicians showed their superior intelligence, by being the only people who took the precaution of beginning the excavation at a breadth far greater than that prescribed, so as to enable them to gradually narrow the canal as they approached the bottom, and leave a convenient slope for the sides. The others dug straight down, so that the time as well as the toil of their work was doubled by the continual falling in of the sides.3 A mound was placed at each end 3 The present condition of the canal has been thus described by Lieut. Wolfe: The canal of Xerxes is still most distinctly to be traced all the way across the isthmus, with the exception of about 200 yards in the middle, where the ground bears no appearance of ever having been touched. But as there is no doubt of the whole canal having been excavated by Xerxes, it is probable that the central part was afterwards filled up, in order to allow a more ready land passage into and out of the peninsula. In many places the canal is still deep, swampy at the bottom, and filled with rushes and other aquatic plants: the rain and small. springs draining down into it from the adjacent heights afford, at the CHAP. VI. choked up.' EUROPE. of the canal to prevent its mouths from being A market and bazaar were held in a neighbouring meadow, and great abundance of meal was brought from Asia. Bay of Hellenic city of Sana. On the isthmus stood the On the peninsula of Athos itself stood the cities of Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoon, Thyssus, and Cleonae.2 After leaving the canal the fleet entered the Bay of Singus, now called the Gulf of Monte Santo, on which were situated the cities of Assa, Pilorus, Singus, and Sarta. Having taken troops on board from Cape Am- these cities, the fleet doubled the Toronaean foreland pelus. of Ampelus, and passed by the following Hellenic cities, viz. Torone, Galepsus, Sermyle, Mecyberna, and Olynthus; and from thence took both ships and men. The district in which these places lay was called Sithonia.3 The fleet then stretched from Cape Canas- Cape Ampelus to Cape Canastraeum, the most prominent point of all Pallene, which was anciently called Phlegra. Pallene contained the cities of Potidaea, Aphytis, Neapolis, Aega, Therambus, Scione, Menda, and Sana, from all of which the Persians collected both men and ships. Coasting along the country called Crossaea, they collected men from the cities of Lipaxus, Combrea, Lisac, Gigonus, Sithonia. traeum. Pallenc. Crossaca. Monte Santo western end, a good watering-place for shipping. The distance across the isthmus is 2500 yards, which agrees very well with the breadth of 12 stadia assigned by Herodotus. The width of the canal appears to have been about 18 or 20 feet. The level of the earth nowhere exceeds 15 feet above the sea. The soil is a light clay. It is on the whole a very remarkable isthmus, for the land on each side, but more especially to the westward, rises abruptly to an elevation of 800 to 1000 feet." Pen, Cyclop. Herodotus (vii. 24) considers that Xerxes performed this laborious work from motives of mere ostentation, for the ships might have been easily drawn across the isthmus. Col. Leake however says, that there can be no doubt that even now this canal, which might be renewed without much labour, would be useful to the navigation of the Aegean,"for such is the fear entertained by the Greek boatmen of the strength and uncertain direction of the currents around Mount Athos, and of the gales and high seas to which the vicinity of the mountain is subject during half the year, that I could not, as long as I was on the peninsula, and though offering a high price, prevail upon any boat to carry me from the eastern side of the peninsula to the western.... The circumnavigation of the Capes Ampelus and Canastraeum was much less dangerous." North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 145. 1 vii. 37. 2 vii. 22-24. 3 vii. 122. |