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ἔξω τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον: cp. 5. 103.
τὰ ἔμπαλιν πρήσσων τοῦ πεζοῦ: a glance at the map explains the sounding paradox, and shows how far Hdt. is mistaken. The Chersonese being a long peninsula, and Sestos a considerable distance from the isthmus or base (cp. 6. 36), the land-forees had to make their way eastwards round the bay of Melas before turning west to Doriskos, while the fleet strnok straight across the mouth of the bay to the promontory of Sarpedon. The latter course is, however, not west (πρὸς ἑσπέρην) but almost due north, from the month of the Helles pont; similarly, the general direction of the march through the Chersonese would be not east (πρὸς ἠῶ τε καὶ ἡλίου ἀνατολάς） bnt north-east. The sunrise would, of conrse, be more or less SE. of Sestos.
ἐπὶ Σαρπηδονίης ἄκρης: Baehr takes the words with τὴν ἄπιξιν ποιεύμενος, Blakesley rather elaborately with ἔπλεε, supplying, apparently, εἰς τὴν γῆν or sim. with π. τ. ἄπιξιν. In fact the local indication qualifies both verb and participle. As to Sarpedon: προσίσχει (sc. ὁ Ἡρακλῆς) “Αἴνῳ. ἔνθα ξενίζεται ὑπὸ Πόλτυος. ἀποπλέων δὲ ἐπὶ ἠιόνος τῆς Αἰνίας Σαρπηδόνα, Ποσειδῶνος μὲν υἱόν, ἀδελφὸν δὲ Πόλτυος, ὑβριστὴν ὅντα τοξεύσας ἀπέκτεινε” Apollod. 2. 5. 9. (But can we recognize more than one Sarpedon? Cp. 1. 173.)
τὸν Ἕλλης τάφον τῆς Ἀθάμαντος: Helle, the daughter (cp. my note to 4. 205) of Athamas (cp. c. 197 infra) and Nephele, was being conveyed, with her brother Phrixos, on the golden ram, over land and sea, from their eruel stepmother: ὡς δὲ ἐγένοντο κατὰ τὴν μεταξὺ κειμένην θάλασσαν Σιγείου καὶ Χερρονήσου, ὤλισθεν εἰς τὸν βυθὸν ἡ Ἕλλη, κἀκεῖ θανούσης αὐτῆς ἀπ̔ ἐκείνης Ἑλλήσποντος ἐκλήθη τὸ πέλαγος (sic) Apollod. 1. 9. 1. The tomb must have been a cenotaph.
Καρδίην: 6. 34, 36.
Ἀγορή. Was the place older than this expedition? Leuke Akte (c. 25 supra) seems to have been in the neighbourhood. Lysimacheia afterwards took the place of Agora.
Μέλανα ποταμόν, οὐκ ἀντισχόντα . . ἀλλ᾽ ἐπιλιπόντα: a redundant description of the second river that failed, cp. c. 43 supra. Melas was a not uncommon name for rivers, naturally enough (cp. c. 198 infra). This one appears also 6. 41.
ἐπ᾽ οὖ, of the eponym; cp. 5. 65.
πρὸς ἑσπέρην: the orientation is now correct enough. Αἶνόν τε πόλιν Αἰολίδα: cp. 4. 90, where the city is placed at the mouth of the Hebros (Maritza). It is mentioned apparently in Iliad 4. 520 as the home of Πείρως Ἰμβρασίδης, Θρη̣κῶν ἄγος ἀνδρῶν. The Thracian name is given as Poltyobria, i. e. town of Poltys. Cp. also 9. 119 infra. Its ‘Aiolian’ character is guaranteed by Thucydides 7. 57. 4. At this time it was probably occupied by a Persian garrison (Blakesley), and afterwards was a not unimportant stronghold in the Athenian Empire, paying a high tribute, 12 T., previous to the thirty years' truce (afterwards reduced), and a good centre for recruiting (Thuc. 4. 28. 4). In 200 B.C. it was captured by Philip of Macedon: “Maroneam quidem primo impetu expugnavit; Aenum inde cum magno labore, postremo per proditionem Callimedis, praefecti Ptolemaei, cepit; deinceps alia castella, Cypsela et Doriscon et Serrheum occupat,” Livy 31, 16. Στεντορίδα λίμνην: Pliny 4. 11. 18 speaks of a portus Stentoris; hence Baehr's conjecture; cp. Appar. Crit. Stentor, Iliad 5. 785, a Thracian according to the Scholiast.
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