CHAP. 35.—CYPRUS.
The Pamphylian Sea contains some islands of little note.
The Cilician, besides four others of very considerable size, has
Cyprus[1], which lies opposite to the shores of Cilicia and Syria,
running east and west; in former times it was the seat
of nine kingdoms. Timosthenes states that the circumference
of this island is 427 miles, Isidorus[2] 375; its length,
between the two Promontories of Dinæ[3] and Acamas[4] lying
on the west, is, according to Artemidorus, 160 1/2 miles, according
to Timosthenes, 200. Philonides says that it was
formerly called Acamantis, Xenagoras that it had the
names of Cerastis[5], Aspelia, Amathusia, and Macaria[6],
while Astynomus gives it the names of Cryptos[7] and Colinia.
Its towns are fifteen in number, Neapaphos[8],
Palæpaphos[9], Curias[10], Citium[11], Corineum, Salamis[12], Ama-
thus[13], Lapethos[14], Solœ, Tamasos[15], Epidarum,
Chytri[16], Arsinoë[17], Carpasimn[18], and
Golgi[19]. The towns of Cinyria, Marium, and
Idalium[20] are no longer in existence. It
is distant
from Anemurium[21] in Cilicia fifty miles; the sea which runs
between the two shores being called the Channel of Cilicia[22].
In the same locality[23] is the island of Eleusa[24], and the four
islands known as the Clides[25], lying before the promontory
which faces Syria; and again at the end of the other cape[26]
is Stiria: over against Neapaphos is Hierocepia[27], and opposite to Salamis are the Salaininiæ.
In the Lycian Sea are the islands of Illyris, Telendos,
and Attelebussa[28], the three barren isles called Cypriæ, and
Dionysia, formerly called Caretha. Opposite to the Promontory of
Taurus are the Chelidoniæ[29], as many in number, and extremely
dangerous to mariners. Further on we
find Leucolla with its town, the Pactyæ[30], Lasia, Nymphäis,
Macris, and Megista, the city on which last no longer exists.
After these there are many that are not worthy of notice.
Opposite, however, to Cape Chimæra is Dolichiste[31],
Chœrogylion, Crambussa[32], Rhoge[33], Enagora, eight miles
in circumference, the two islands of Dædala[34], the three of
Crya[35],
Strongyle, and over against Sidyma[36] the isle of Antiochus.
Towards the mouth of the river Glaucus[37], there are Lagussa[38],
Macris, Didymæ Helbo, Scope, Aspis, Telandria, the town
of which no longer exists, and, in the vicinity of Caunus[39],
Rhodussa.
1. Now called Kibris.
2. Strabo makes it 425. Hardouin remarks that Isidorus has not made allowance for the margin of the creeks and bays.
3. The north-eastern extremity of Cyprus. It is now called Capo Sant Andreas. It is more generally known in the editions of Pliny by the name of Dinaretum.
4. Now called Capo Sant Epifanio, or Pifano, after the celebrated metropolitan of Cyprus. It is the western extremity of the island.
5. From the Greek ke/ras"a horn." It was not improbably so called from the numerous horns or promontories on its coast.
6. From the Greek maka/rios "blessed," in compliment to its fertile soil and delightful temperature.
7. Apparently from the Greek krupto\s "concealed." Stephanus Byzantinus says that it was so called because it was frequently hidden beneath the surface of the sea.
8. Or New Paphos. The spot is still called Bafa or Bafo.
9. Or Old Paphos, now Kukala or Konuklia. Old Paphos was situate near the promontory Zephyrium on the river Bocarno, where it had a good harbour; while New Paphos lay more inland, in the midst of a fertile plain, sixty stadia from the former. Old Paphos was the chief seat of worship of Aphrodite or Venus, who was said to have landed at that place after her ascent from the sea.
10. Situate on the most southerly point in the island; now Capo Gavatta or delle Gatte.
11. A town situate on the south coast of Cyprus. Its ruins are to be seen between Larnika and the port now known as Salines; they are very extensive. In B. xxx. c. 9, Pliny speaks of the salt lakes near this place, which are worked at the present day.
12. In the middle of the east coast. It was said to have been founded by Teucer the son of Telamon, who gave it the name of his native land from which he had been banished by his father.
13. Now called Old Limasol, a town on the south coast, celebrated for
its worship of Aphrodite or Venus. It was a Phœnician settlement, and
Stephanus calls it the most ancient city in the island. It long preserved
its oriental customs, and here the Tyrian Hercules was worshipped under
his name of Melkart.
14. Its site is now called Lapitho or Lapta.
15. Probably the same as the Temncse of Homer. It was situate in a
fertile district in the middle of Cyprus, and in the neighbourhood of
extensive copper mines. Near it was a celebrated plain,
sacred to Venus, mentioned by Ovid.
16. Now called Chytria, a town of Cyprus on the road from Cerinea to
Salamis.
17. In the east of Cyprus, near the Promontory of Acamas, formerly
called Marion. Ptolemy Soter destroyed this town, and removed the
inhabitants to Paphos. The modern name of its site is Polikrusoko or
Crisophou, from the gold mines in the neighbourhood. There was more
than one city of this name in Cyprus, which was probably bestowed on
them during its subjection to the princes of the line of Lagus. Another
Arsinoë is placed near Ammochostus to the north of the island, and a
third of the same name appears in Strabo with a harbour, temple and
grove, between Old and New Paphos.
18. Or Carpasia, to the north-east of the island, facing the Promontory
of Sarpedon on the Cilician coast. It was said to have been founded by
Pygmalion, king of Tyre. Pococke speaks of remains at Carpas, the site
of this place, especially a long wall and a pier.
19. Or Golgos, famous for the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, which
had existed here even before its introduction at Paphos by Agapenor.
Its position is unknown.
20. Or Idalia, adjoining to which was a forest sacred to Aphrodite. The
poets, who connect this place with her worship, give us no indications
whatever of its precise locality. Engel identifies it with the modern
Dalin, situate to the south of Leucosia, at the foot of Mount Olympus.
21. Now Cape Anamur.
22. "Aulon Cilicium," now the Sea of Caramania or Cyprus.
23. The Cilician Sea, namely.
24. There were several islands of this name. It is not improbable that
Pliny alludes to the one lying off the coast of Caria between the isle of
Rhodes and the mainland, and which seems to be the island marked
Alessa in the maps. There was another of the same name close to the
shore of Cilicia, afterwards known by the name of Sebaste.
25. Or Cleides, meaning the "Keys." This was a group of small islands
lying to the north-east of Cyprus. The name of the islands was after-
wards transferred by some geographer to the Cape which Pliny above
calls Dinæ, and others Dinaretum.
26. Cape Acamas, now Pifano.
27. Or the "Sacred Garden." The names of this and the Salaminiæ do
not appear to be known to the modern geographers.
28. This is identified by Beaufort with the islet called Bœshat, which is
separated by a narrow channel from the Lycian shore. The others do
not seem to have been identified. Attelebussa is supposed to take its
name from a kind of destructive grasshopper without wings, called by
the Greeks a)tte/lebos.
29. Situate off the commencement of the sea-coast of Pamphylia, on the
borders of Lycia. Beaufort speaks of them as five in number; he did
not meet with any of the dangers of the navigation here mentioned by
Pliny. The Greeks still call them Chelidoniæ, and the Italian sailors
Celidoni, which the Turks have corrupted into Shelidan.
30. Hardouin supposes these four islands to be the names of the group
forming the Pactyæ. The names given appear to signify, the "Wild"
or "Rough Islands," the "Isle of the Nymphs," the "Long Island," and
the "Greatest Island." They were off the coast of Lycia, and seem to
have belonged to the Rhodians. The modern name of Megista is Kastelorizo, according to Ansart.
31. Or Doliche, the "Long Island," in the Lycian Sea, west of the ruins
of Myra. Its modern name is Kakava. It is now uninhabited.
32. Still known as Grambousa, a small island off the east coast of Lycia.
There seems to have been another of the same name off the Lycian coast.
33. An island off the coast of Lycia.
34. Hardouin thinks that they were opposite to the city of Dædala on
the coast of Caria.
35. Off the city of Crya, probably, in Caria.
36. On the coast of Lycia.
37. In Lycia. See C. 29 of the present Book.
38. Probably so called from the number of hares found there.
39. On the coast of Caria.