Reginald Walter Macan, Herodotus, The Seventh, Eighth, & Ninth Books with Introduction and Commentary

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ἐπιτελέα ποιήσας=(ἔργῳ) ἐπιτελέσας, i.e. no doubt caused the money to be paid over to Pythios. So ἐπιτελέειν is used of the fulfilment of oracles, the performance of vows, et sim.; cp. 1. 13, 90, 115, etc. Thuc. 1. 70. 2 “ἐπινοῆσαι ὀξεῖς καὶ ἐπιτελέσαι ἔργῳ ἂ ἂν γνῶσιν”.

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Ἄναυα (predicate to καλεομένην): from this passage evidently (1) in Phrygia, (2) S. of Maiandros, (3) on N. bank of a salt-lake, identified by W. M. Ramsay with Sarios (Sari - kawak), American Journal, 4. 275. Kiepert's map of 1894, Asia Provincia (Formae Orb. Ant. ix.), distinguishes clearly the salt-lake Anava from Askania (wrongly identified by Abicht, Arrian, Anab. 1. 29. 1).

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ἅλες γίνονται, ‘salt is produced’; for the plural cp. 4. 53, 6. 119; the singular in 4. 181 ff.

Κολοσσάς, ‘a great city of Phrygia,’ with something of a history, πόλιν οἰκουμένην εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην (Xen. Anab. 1. 2. 6), was declining in the days of Strabo (a mere πόλισμα compared with Apameia and Laodikeia, 576), but still making a living from a dyestuff (ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος, sc. τῆς κοραξῆς χρόας, 578), usually identified with Khonás (anc. Χῶναι), but located by Hamilton 3 miles away. (Cp. Murray's Asia Minor, p. 104 f.) The existence of a Pauline Epistle addressed to the Colossian Church has given the name a vogue in Christendom.

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ἐν τῇ Λύκος ποταμός κτλ. Hamilton and others had questioned the accuracy of Hdt.'s assertion in regard to the temporary disappearance of the Lykos, and reduced the ‘chasm’ to a natural bridge, or vaulting, caused by the deposit of lime from the water. G. Weber, M.D.A.I. xvi. (1891), pp. 194 ff. argues, from observations rendered possible by the railway work between Sarakoi and Dineir, that Hdt., though not quite accurate, is not guilty of serious error; this defence may supersede W. M. Ramsay's idea that Hdt. confused the narrow gorge, at the head of which Colossae was situate, with the connexion between the Lykos and Lake Anava (cp. Murray's Asia Minor, p. 105).

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Κύδραρα: variously identified (i.) with Hierapolis (cp. Steph. Byz.); (ii.) with Laodikeia, whieh, according to Pliny 17.38.2, Xerxes visited (Laodiceae, Xerxis adventu, platano in oleam mutata): the town necessarily bore some other name in 481: Baehr follows Schoell in accepting this alternative; (iii.) with Karura of Strabo, 578 (Leake), which Blakesley denies, on the ground that Strabo makes it the frontier of Phrygia and Karia; but the three regions (Phrygia, Lydia, Karia) came to a point here; and (iv.) G. Radet (Lydie, pp. 32, 34 f.) identifies Kydrara with Karura, and both with Sara-Keui, a small town at the junction of two great roads (a) up and down the Maeander valley, between the sea and the plateau, (b) through valleys of Kogamos and Lykos to the gulf of Adalia. “The road to Sardes undoubtedly passed through the opening in Mount Messogis where Tripolis stands (sic), and then struck into the valley of the Cogamus” (Rawlinson), i.e. ‘stood,’ for “most of the buildings have disappeared” (Murray, Asia Minor, p. 107). Tripolis was a Pergamene foundation “to counterbalance the Seleucid proclivities of Laodicea” (ib.). Perhaps Karura was only a small place even in antiquity (κώμη ... πανδοχεῖα ἔχουσα, Strabo), but nevertheless important as a fiontier station (where custom-dues were collected, Blakesley). If Kydrara was a frontier station in the time of Kroisos, it follows that (1) Lydia did not extend to the Halys, or at least to the Halys-meridian throughout; (2) there was a great trade - route already running E. (SE.) from Sardes other than the Royal Road. In other words, the κοινή described by Strabo is as ancient as the days of Kroisos at least. It was this route which the younger Kyros took in 401: why not Xerxes in 481 B.C.? Cp. Appendix II. § 3.

στήλη ... Κροίσου. This terminus or boundary stone was standing in Hdt.'s time, but there is no proof that he had seen it. The inscription (perhaps simply ‘Phrygia’ one side, ‘Lydia’ the other) was not in Greek anyway.