Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/501

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Chap, 31.] ACCOUNT or COUNTRIES, ETC. 467 the capital of Ionia, which formerly had the names of Lele- geis, Pityusa, and Anactoria, the mother of more tlian ninety cities, founded upon all seas ; nor must she be deprived of the honour of having Cadmus^ for her citizen, who was the first to write in prose. The river Meander, rising from a lake in Moiuit Aiiloerene, waters many cities and receives numerous tributary streams. It is so serpentine in its course, that it is often thought to turn back to the very spot from which it came. It lii'st runs through the district of Apamea, then that of Eumeuia, and then the plains of Bargyla ; after which, with a placid stream it passes through Caria, water- ing all that territory with a slime of a most fertilizing quality, and then at a distance of ten stadia from Miletus with a gentle current enters the sea. AYe then come to Mount Latmus^, the towns of Heraclea^, also called by the same name as the mountain, Carice, Myus"*, said to have been first built by lonians who came from Athens, Naulochum^ and Priene^. Upon that part of the coast which bears the naine of Trogilia^ is the river G-essus. This district is lield sacred by all the lonians, and thence receives the name of Panionia. Near to it was formerly the town of Phygela, built by of the great changes made on the coast by the river Maeandcr. They are usuaUy supposed to be those at the poor vilkge of Palatia on the south bank of the Mendereh ; but Foi'bigcr has sliown that these are more probably the remains of Myus, and that those of ]Iiletus are buried in a lake forined by the Mendereh at the foot of Mount Latmus. ^ See B. vii. c. 57. Josephus says that he hved very shortly before the Persian invasion of Cxreece. 2 Now called the Monte di Palatia. 3 Generally called "Heraclea upon Latmus," from its situation at the western foot of Mount Latmus. Ruins of tliis town still exist at the foot of that mountain on the borders of Lake BallL ^ Its ruins are now to be seen at Palatia. It was the smallest city of the Ionian Confederacy, and was situate at the mouth of the Maiauder, tliirty stadia from its mouth. 5 Mannert says that its ruins are to be seen at a spot called by the Turks Sarasun-Kalesi. 6 One of the twelve Ionian cities, situate at the foot of Mount Mycale. It stood originally on the shore, but the change in the coast by the allu- vial deposits of the Majander left it some distance from the land. It was celebrated as being the birth-place of the philosopher Bias. Its nuns ^re to be seen at the spot called Sauisun. 7 Now called Cape Santa Maria, or Samsim. 2h2