Campsa, Smila, and Aenea.

From Aenea the fleet EUROPE.

went to Therma; then to the towns of Sindus and CHAP. VI. Chalestra; and finally to the river Axius, which Therma. forms the boundary between the territories of Myg- River donia and Bottiaeis. On a narrow part of Bottiaeis near the sea stood the cities of Ichnae and Pella.'

2

3

Therma.

Herodotus also mentions a few particulars in connexion with some of these localities. The Ther- Gulf of mian Gulf, he says, derives its name from the city of Therma. Olynthus was formerly occupied by Olynthus. Bottiaeans, who had been driven from the Thermaic Gulf by the Macedonians. Artabazus took the town and slaughtered the garrison in a neighbouring marsh, and then gave the place to the Chalcidian people. Scione was the birth-place of Scyllias, Scione. the best diver of the period, who carried to the Greeks the news of the 200 Persian ships which were to sail round Euboea. Potidaea was also be- Potidaea. sieged by Artabazus for three months, at the expiration of which there happened an extraordinary ebbing of the sea, and the besiegers seeing the shallows attempted to proceed round the city.* When, however, they had accomplished two-fifths of the way, a strong flood-tide came upon them, such as, the inhabitants say, was never seen before, though floods were frequent. All who could not swim perished, whilst the Potidaeans put out in boats and slew many who would otherwise have escaped. The Potidaeans say, and Herodotus thinks they are cor

The

Potidaea was situated on the narrow isthmus which connected the peninsula of Pallene with the main-land. The walls of the city were built across the entire breadth of the isthmus, and thus were a defence for the entire peninsula as well as for the city. Artabazus apparently besieged it on the north side, and was thus shut out from Pallene as well as from Potidaea. His troops thought of proceeding along the shore which was left by the tide, and by getting into Pallene and to the south of Potidaea, to surround the city and to complete the blockade. walls above and below the city were apparently connected by breakwaters or walls running along the two shores on each side of the city. At the siege of Potidaea during the Peloponnesian war, (Thucyd. i. 62, 63,) Aristeus, the commander of the Corinthians and Potidaeans, made a similar attempt to run along under the sea wall, and obtain an entrance into the town of Potidaea at one of the gates on the inner part facing Pallene. He and his troops were however more successful than the Persians under Artabazus.

EUROPE. rect, that the Persians were thus punished for having profaned the temple and statue of Poseidon in the suburbs of the city.'

CHAP. VI.

Route of

army.

River

Camels at tacked by

lions.

3

Xerxes and his land force proceeded also from the Persian Acanthus, taking the road through the interior, and passing through Paeonia and Crestonica towards the river Echeidorus. This river rises up amongst Echcidorus. the Crestonians, flows through Mygdonia, and discharges itself in the swamp which is above the river Axius. During the march some lions left their lairs at night and attacked the camels carrying the provisions, but made no attempt to seize the other beasts or the men; and Herodotus wonders that they should thus have only attacked an animal like the camel, which they could never before have either seen or tasted.1 The lions were very numerous, but were only to be found between the rivers Nestus and Achelous. The country also abounded in wild bulls, whose horns were of an extraordinary size, and were exported to Hellas."

Rivers

Haliacmon.

4

The army at length encamped in a district on the Lydias and coast stretching from Therma and Mygdonia to the rivers Lydias and Haliacmon, which, uniting their waters into the same channel, divide the territories of Bottiacis and Macedonia. The Echeidorus was

1 viii. 129.

6

2 K. O. Müller conjectures that this Crestonica was a district of Chalcidice, and quite different from that of the Crestonaeans at the source of the Echeidorus; and he urges as a reason the difficulty of supposing that Xerxes, in going from Acanthus to Therma, would pass through Paeonia and Crestonica. There may have been Crestonaeans in Chalcidice, but it is considered most advisable here to draw the map according to the plain meaning of the author. The student, however, can compare Herod, viii. 116; Thucyd. ii. 99.

3 vii. 124.

4 vii. 125.

5 vii. 126.

It appears from this passage, that in the time of Herodotus the Haliacmon was joined by the Lydias, a discharge of the lake of Pella. But a change has now taken place in the course of the Lydias, which joins not the Haliacmon, but the Axius. The Haliacmon itself appears of late to have moved its lower course more to the east, so that in time perhaps all these three rivers may unite before they join the sea. In all the large rivers of Greece, similar changes of direction in the lower parts of their course are observable, as we have already noticed in the case of the Spercheius. The new soil which is brought down by the water, and distributed along the shore by the sea, acted upon by prevailing winds and currents, produces a continual change of obstacles and of relative levels in the maritime plain, which speedily gives a new course to the

CHAP. VI.

the only one of the above-mentioned rivers that EUROPE. proved insufficient for the wants of the army.' Xerxes remained several days about Pieria, for a Pieria. third division of his army was employed in felling the trees on the Macedonian range, that the whole army might pass in that direction, [i. e. over the Cambunian mountains through the pass of Gonnus,] into the country of the Perrhaebi.2 Pieria produced pitch, which was however not equal to that obtained from Zacvnthus.3

topogra

The following scattered notices may also be con- Additional nected with those which belonged to the routes phical notaken by the Persian armament. From Lake Prasias tices. the road to Macedonia was very short. Adjoining the lake was a mine, which in later times produced a talent of silver daily to Alexander the son of Amyntas. Beyond the mine the traveller has only to pass over the mountain called Dysorum to be in Mount DyMacedonia. Herodotus also mentions the town of sorum. Anthemus, which Amyntas offered to give to Hip- Anthemus. pias, but the latter refused to accept it. Also the Creston. town of Creston, above the Tyrrhenians. The inhabitants of Creston had once held possession of Thessaliotis, and were distinguished in the time of Herodotus as conservators of the old Pelasgian language. It was probably the capital of the Cres

6

4

tonaean race.

the Teme

A few notices of north-western or Upper Mace- Mythus of donia are also to be found in a mythus. Three nidae. brothers of the race of Temenus, named Gauanes, Aeropus, and Perdiccas, fled from Argos to the Illyrians, and from thence to Lebaea in Upper Macedonia, where they hired themselves to the king as servants. At length they were expelled, and pursued by horsemen. In this region there was a river Sacred to which the descendants of these men from Argos afterwards sacrificed as their deliverer; for when the three Temenidae had crossed over, it swelled to waters, even in the land which is not of the latest formation. See Leake's North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 437. 3 iv. 195. 4 v. 17. 6 i. 57.

1 vii. 127.

2 vii. 131.

5

v. 94.

river.

EUROPE. Such a height that their pursuers were unable to ford CHAP. VI. it. The three brothers then dwelt in another Gardens of quarter of Macedonia, near the gardens that were

Midas.

Mount

Bermion.

II. THRACE its geogra

tive of the routes of

said to have belonged to Midas, son of Gordias. Wild roses grew in this region, each one having sixty leaves, and surpassing all others in fragrance. The Macedonians relate that Silenus was taken in these gardens. Above them is a mountain called Bermion, which was inaccessible from the cold. The three brothers having possessed themselves of this tract, subsequently issued from thence and subdued the rest of Macedonia.2

Such is the extent of our author's knowledge of Maphy illustra- cedonia. We next come to the geography of Thrace, and as this also is chiefly brought forward to illustrate the routes taken by Darius and Xerxes, we shall pursue the subject in a similar manner, namely, first review the general geography of the country, and then follow in the tracks marked out.

Darius and

Xerxes.

General

description.

II. The THRACE of Herodotus extended from the north-eastern frontier of the Macedonian empire to the right bank of the Ister or Danube. It included the Roman provinces of Moesia and Thracia, and the districts of Paeonia, and thus answered to the modern territories of Bulgaria, Rumilia, and eastern Macedonia, which now belong to European Turkey. This region is divided into two parts by the Balkan range, (or Haemus,) which runs from west to east, separating the plain of the lower Danube from the rivers which flow into the Aegean Sea. Three extensive chains branch off from the southern side of Haemus, and traverse Thrace. One, about 100 miles

:

1 "The roses of Miletus," says Pliny, "have no more than twelve petals the rose called Spineola has many, but they are small. The least leafy roses have five petals; and there is a species called 'centifolia,' which has a hundred petals; these are found in Campania, and in Greece not far from Philippi. The territory of that city does not produce them; the shrubs are brought from Mount Pangaeus, and, being replanted in a rich soil, produce roses larger than those that grow on the mountain itself." Hist. Nat. xxi. iv., quoted by Larcher.

2 viii. 137, 138.

3 This mountain probably derived its name from its cold and snowy top, since Haemus seems to contain the same root as the Sanscrit hima, "snow," whence also comes the name of the Himalaya mountains.

from the Euxine, runs in a south-easterly direction EUROPE. towards Byzantium. The second, which is much CHAP. VI. larger, branches off near the sources of the Hebrus, (or Maritza,) and likewise runs to the south-east. This latter chain is alluded to by Herodotus as Mount Rhodope: at present it bears the name of the Despoto mountains. A third branch, which appears in Herodotus under the name of Orbelus, extends from the northern elevations of Rhodope along the eastern bank of the Strymon to Mount Pangaeus. The whole of this mountain system is distinguished by craggy summits and steep sides, and is everywhere rent by terrific fissures so deep and narrow that daylight is almost excluded.

Thrace.

The northern half of Thrace, or the region beyond Northern the Balkan, is watered by several small streams, which take their rise from the northern declivities of the mountain range, and discharge themselves into the Danube.' In the time of Herodotus it was occupied by the celebrated Getae,' afterwards called the Dacians, and by a people whom Herodotus merely names as the Thracian Crobyzi.3

The southern half of Thrace is described at far Southern greater length and detail, in consequence of its in- Thrace. cluding the routes taken by Darius and Xerxes. Twelve rivers are mentioned by Herodotus, namely, the Melas; the Hebrus, (or Maritza,) which receives the waters of the Tearus, the Contadesdus, the Agrianes, and the Artiscus; the Lissus, the Travus, the Compsatus, the Nestus, (or Carasu,) the Angites, and the Strymon (or Struma). The country was occupied by numerous nations. On the coast of the

Herodotus enumerates seven of these tributaries, viz. the Athrys, Noes, Artanes, Scios, Tibisis, Auras, and Atlas (iv. 49). These are of no importance in history, and many others flow in a similar direction. It is therefore as unnecessary as it would be difficult to attempt to identify them. Spruner, in his map of Thracia, etc., has given the Herodotean names to some of the streams, but not in the order in which Herodotus places them. Rennell thinks that under the name of Tibisis our author alludes to the Tibiscus or Theiss, but that by a mistake he has made it descend from Mount Haemus instead of the Bastarnian Alps in the opposite quarter. I am not inclined, however, to believe that the two rivers are identical, or that Herodotus could have made such a blunder.

2 iv. 93.

3 iv. 49.