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

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διεξέπλωσε τὴν διώρυχα τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἄθῳ γενομένην: a clear record that the canal was not merely projected, and made, but actually used; it may nevertheless not be an express tradition but a just assumption. Hdt. nowhere says anything of the subsequent disuse and collapse of the canal, whieh was used apparently once and only upon this occasion: a point specially remarkable on the supposition that he himself ever visited those parts. Cp. cc. 23, 37 supra.

ἐν τῷ Ἄθῳ is not happy; cp. c. 22 supra. The isthmus is here subsumed in the mountain.

γενομένην is a curiously weak word in this connexion: πεποιημένην or ἐξορωρυγμένην might have been expected; it can hardly be taken to imply that in the writer's time the canal no longer existed. διέχουσαν as in 4. 42 τὴν διώρυχα ... τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου διέχουσαν ἐς τὸν Ἀραβιον κόλπον.

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ἐς κόλπον: anonymons to Hdt. Σιγγιτικὸς κόλπος Ptol. 3. 13. 11, between the promontories or peninsulas of Akte and Sithonia.

Ἄσσα: Steph. B. sub v. cites Hdt. for Assa, πόλις πρὸς τῷ Ἄθῳ, but has just below Ἄσσηρα (neut.) πόλις Χαλκιδέων with reference to Theopompos. Forbiger, alte Geogr. iii. 1065, identifies the two. The site is to be found at the head of the gulf, and the army must have passed by it as well as the fleet (or instead). The Ἀσσηρῖται appear on the Athenian qnota-lists as paying half a talent, or less, tribute. Aristot. Hist. Anim. 3. 12=519A asserts that in the district of Asseritis (ἐν τῇ Ἀσσυρίτιδι sic） waters (ὸ καλούμενος ποταμὸς Ψυχρός) existed which produced black wool in sheep

Πίλωρος, though described by Steph. B. as πόλις περὶ τὸν Ἄθων (probably from this passage), is placed by the geographers following Leake, N. Gr. iii. 154, not on Akte but on Sithonia. It appears on the quota-list for 437 B.C. (C.I.A. i. 243; Hill, Sources, p. 75) under the rubric Πόλεις ἃς οἱ ἰδιῶται ἐνέγραψαν φόρον φέρειν, and paid 600 Dr. tribute.

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Σίγγος: Steph. B. (following this passage?), places it περὶ τὸν Ἄθων. Pliny 4. 17 mentions it with Ampelos and Torone; Leake (N. Gr. iii. 153) finds it on the east side of Sithonia. The Σιγγαῖοι appear in the text of the treaty of Nikias 421 B.C., Thuc. 5. 18. 6, and have a long previous record on the quota-lists (Σίγγιοι) paying tribute varying from 4 to 1 talent.

Σάρτη: Steph. B. as above. Assa (Assera, Assyra), Piloros, Singos, Sarte appear to be regularly named here from N. to S. as they would occur upon the route of the fleet; Leake op. c. iii. 154 places Sarte on the S.E. side of the point of Sithonia. The Σαρταῖοι appear on the quota-lists (paying 1500 Dr. tribute: the record imperfect). Sarte appears as a Thracian name, cp. Σάτραι 111 supra, and Blakesley suggests that none of these cities were Greek (cp. next list); their names at least were not. Ἄσσα: κώμη Σκυθίας Steph. B. Σίγγος: singulus. ἴγγια=εἷς Hesych. (cp. Grassberger, Ortsnamen, p. 267). Even Πίλωρος may be ‘Thracian’ or northern.

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ἀπιέμενος, ‘direct,’ i.e. released from hugging the shore; but cp. App. Crit.

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κάμπτων, ‘(in) rounding Ampelos passed . .,’ an impossibility, says Blakesley, and would therefore alter the text; but a pres. part. followed by a narrative verb, to describe two successive acts, is good Herodotean grammar: it is not the time-index in the participle which is most essential.

Ἄμπελον τὴν Τορωναίην ἄκρην: Ampelos, a not unusual name for promontories; Steph. B. besides this one mentions one in Samos; the east point of Krete bore the name, and it was found elsewhere (cp. Hirschfeld in PaulyWissowa i. 1881 f.).

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Τορώνην: already mentioned c. 22 supra, in a way which makes it pretty obvious that Hdt. did not know on which side of ‘the Toronaean promontory’ the city was situate: the name is still attached to the site. Torone is a ‘Chalkidic’ town (cp. 8. 127) and specifically a Greek city “named from the daughter of Pioteus or Poseidon and Phoinike” (Steph. B.). The assessment of the Toronaeans was doubled in 425 B.C. (from 6 to 12 T.; cp. C.I.A. i. p. 231) by Athens, which helps to explain their relation to Brasidas, and the part played by them in 424 B.C. Cp. Thuc. 4. 110 ff.

Γ̓αληψόν: Thuc. 4. 107. 3, 5. 6. 1 appears to place Galepsos near the Strymon; Strabo 331, fr. 33 places it east of Strymon, between Phagres and Apollonia; Livy 44. 45. 15, Plutarch, Aemil. Paul. 23 support Thncydides and Strabo; Blakesley sees that Hdt. is in error; Rawlinson supposes two places of the same name. Steph. B. indeed distinguishes the Galepsos of Thucydides from a ‘Paionian’ city, mentioned by Hekataios; but they may be the same. The record of the Γαλήψιοι on the Attic quota-lists is constant (Tribute normal, 11/2 talent) Hdt. describes it as a Greek city; Thuc. as a Thasian colony. Had there been two cities of this name in Thrace at one time Thucydides would probably have indicated as much. Hdt. can scarcely here be writing from autopsy.

Σερμύλην: Steph. B. Σερμυλαία: πόλις περὶ τὸν Ἄθων, ὡς Ἑκαταῖος. The Attic inscripp. show the two forms Σερμυλιῆς, Σερβυλιῆς (cp. Hill, Sources, Index p. 414 a). Thucyd. 5. 18. 8 (treaty-text) Σερμυλιῶν, where the city shares the fate of Torone and Skione. The Sermylians had paid from 3 to 5 talents previous to the τάξις of 425 B.C., wherein no doubt their assessment was at least doubled. The position of the city is fixed by Leake at mod. ‘Ormylia’ on Sithonia: N. Gr. iii. 154.

Μηκύβερναν. In the text of the treaty of Nikias the Mekybernaeans are classed with Sanaeans, Singaeans, Olynthians, Akanthians: Thuc. 5. 18. 6. Thuc. 5. 31. 1 (Μηκύβερναν Ὀλύνθιοι Ἀθηναίων φρουρούντων ἐπιδραμόντες εἷλον） shows Mekyberna to have been in the neighbourhood of Olynthos. Steph. B. sub v. πόλις Παλλη<*>νης, τῆς ἐν Θρᾴκῃ Χερρονήσου: Ἑκαταῖος Εὐρὠπῃ. Philip of Makedon in 348 B.C. seized Torone and Mekyberna as a preliminary to obtaining Olynthos: Diodor. 16. 53. 2. The position of the town has been identified (Molivo, Leake N. Gr. iii. 154): it stands to the Toronaean gulf as Assera to the Singitic. The Μηκυβερναῖοι or Μηκυπερναῖοι figure constantly on the Attic lists with a tribute of 1 T. or less: their assessment for 425 B.C. is unfortunately lost.

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Ὄλυνθον: Olynthos was a Greek city at the time when Hdt. was writing, but not yet in 480 B.C.; cp. 8. 127 infra. The name is rather ‘Phrygo-Thracian’ or prae-Hellenic (-νθ-, cp. Πέρινθος etc.). It was destined to the greatest and most eventful history of any of the Greek colonies in Chalkidike, and became one of the chief ‘objectives’ of Makedonian, Athenian, and Spartan policy in the north region. Thucydides 1. 63. 2 places it 60 stades from Pote<*>; Hdt. here seems to put it inside <*>onia; Steph. B. more correctly πρὸς τη̣ Σιθωνίᾳ. The position is identified (Leake iii. 154). The Olynthian tribute to Athens was fixed (so far as we know) at 2 T. (Its greatness was yet to come.)