Strabo - The Geography of Strabo (Vol.1-3)

16. In order to lessen surprise at such changes as we have mentioned as causes of the inundations and other similar phenomena which are supposed to have produced Sicily, the islands of Æolus, 365and the Pithecussæ, it may be as well to compare with these others of a similar nature, which either now are, or else have been observed in other localities. A large array of such facts placed at once before the eye would serve to allay our astonishment; while that which is uncommon startles our perception, and manifests our general ignorance of the occurrences which take place in nature and physical existence. For instance, supposing any one should narrate the circumstances concerning Thera and the Therasian Islands, situated in the strait between Crete and the Cyrenaic, 366Thera being itself the metropolis of Cyrene; or those [in connexion with] Egypt, and many parts of Greece. For midway between Thera and Therasia flames rushed forth from the sea for the space of four days; causing the whole of it to boil and be all on fire; and after a little an island twelve stadia in circumference, composed of the burning mass, was thrown up, as if raised by machinery. After the cessation of this phenomenon, the Rhodians, then masters of the sea, were the first who dared to sail to the place, and they built there on the island a temple to the Asphalian 367Neptune. Posidonius remarks, that during an earthquake which occurred in Phœnicia, a city situated above Sidon was swallowed up, and that nearly two-thirds of Sidon also fell, but not suddenly, and therefore with no great loss of life. That the same occurred, though in a lighter form, throughout nearly the whole of Syria, and was felt even in some of the Cyclades and the Island of Eubœa, 368so that the fountains of Arethusa, a spring in Chalcis, were completely obstructed, and after some time forced for themselves another opening, and the whole island ceased not to experience shocks until a chasm was rent open in the earth in the plain of Lelanto, 369from which poured a river of burning mud.

17. Many writers have recorded similar occurrences, but it will suffice us to narrate those which have been collected by Demetrius of Skepsis.

Apropos of that passage of Homer:—

“And now they reach’d the running rivulets clear,

Where from Scamander’s dizzy flood arise

Two fountains, tepid one, from which a smoke

Issues voluminous as from a fire,

The other, even in summer heats, like hail

For cold, or snow, or crystal stream frost-bound:” 370

this writer tells us we must not be surprised, that although the cold spring still remains, the hot cannot be discovered; and says we must reckon the failing of the hot spring as the cause. He goes on to relate certain catastrophes recorded by Democles, how formerly in the reign of Tantalus 371there were great earthquakes in Lydia and Ionia as far as the Troad, 372which swallowed up whole villages and overturned Mount Sipylus; 373marshes then became lakes, and the city of Troy was covered by the waters. 374Pharos, near Egypt, which anciently was an island, may now be called a peninsula, and the same may be said of Tyre and Clazomenæ. 375

During my stay at Alexandria in Egypt the sea rose so high near Pelusium 376and Mount Casius 377as to overflow the land, and convert the mountain into an island, so that a journey from Casius into Phœnicia might have been undertaken by water. We should not be surprised therefore if in time to come the isthmus 378which separates the Egyptian sea 379from the Erythræan, 380should part asunder or subside, and becoming a strait, connect the outer and inner seas, 381similarly to what has taken place at the strait of the Pillars.

At the commencement of this work will be found some other narrations of a similar kind, which should be considered at the same time, and which will greatly tend to strengthen our belief both in these works of nature and also in its other changes.

18. The Piræus having been formerly an island, and lying πέραν, or off the shore, is said to have thus received its name. Leucas, 382on the contrary, has been made an island by the Corinthians, who cut through the isthmus which connected it with the shore [of the mainland]. It is concerning this place that Laertes is made to say,

“Oh that I possess’d

Such vigour now as when in arms I took

Nericus, continental city fair.” 383

Here man devoted his labour to make a separation, in other instances to the construction of moles and bridges. Such is that which connects the island opposite to Syracuse 384with the mainland. This junction is now effected by means of a bridge, but formerly, according to Ibycus, by a pier of picked stones, which he calls elect . Of Bura 385and Helice, 386one has been swallowed by an earthquake, the other covered by the waves. Near to Methone, 387which is on the Hermionic Gulf, 388a mountain seven stadia in height was cast up during a fiery eruption; during the day it could not be approached on account of the heat and sulphureous smell; at night it emitted an agreeable odour, appeared brilliant at a distance, and was so hot that the sea boiled all around it to a distance of five stadia, and appeared in a state of agitation for twenty stadia, the heap being formed of fragments of rock as large as towers. Both Arne and Mideia 389have been buried in the waters of Lake Copaïs. 390These towns the poet in his Catalogue 391thus speaks of;

“Arne claims

A record next for her illustrious sons,

Vine-bearing Arne. Thou wast also there

Mideia.” 392

It seems that several Thracian cities have been submerged by the Lake Bistonis, 393and that now called Aphnitis. 394Some also affirm that certain cities of Trerus were also overwhelmed, in the neighbourhood of Thrace. Artemita, formerly one of the Echinades, 395is now part of the mainland; the same has happened to some other of the islets near the Achelous, occasioned, it is said, in the same way, by the alluvium carried into the sea by that river, and Hesiod 396assures us that a like fate awaits them all. Some of the Ætolian promontories were formerly islands. Asteria, 397called by Homer Asteris, is no longer what it was.

“There is a rocky isle

In the mid-sea, Samos the rude between

And Ithaca, not large, named Asteris.

It hath commodious havens, into which

A passage clear opens on either side.” 398

There is no good anchorage there now. Neither is there in Ithaca the cavern, nor yet the temple of the nymphs described to us by Homer. It seems more correct to attribute this to change having come over the places, than either to the ignorance or the romancing of the poet. This however, being uncertain, must be left to every man’s opinion.

19. Myrsilus tells us that Antissa 399was formerly an island, and so called because it was opposite to Lesbos, 400then named Issa. Now, however, it forms one of the towns of Lesbos. 401Some have believed that Lesbos itself has been disjoined from Mount Ida in the same way as Prochytas 402and Pithecussa 403from Misenum, 404Capreæ 405from the Athenæum, Sicily from Rhegium, 406and Ossa from Olympus. 407Many changes similar to these have occurred elsewhere. The river Ladon in Arcadia ceased for some time its flow. Duris informs us that the Rhagæ 408in Media gained that appellation from chasms made in the ground near the Gates of the Caspian 409by earthquakes, in which many cities and villages were destroyed, and the rivers underwent various changes. Ion, in his satirical composition of Omphale, has said of Eubœa,

“The light wave of the Euripus has divided the land of Eubœa from Bœotia; separating the projecting land by a strait.”

20. Demetrius of Callatis, speaking of the earthquakes which formerly occurred throughout the whole of Greece, states that a great portion of the Lichadian Islands and of Kenæum 410were submerged; that the hot springs of Ædepsus 411and Thermopylæ were suppressed for three days, and that when they commenced to run again those of Ædepsus gushed from new fountains. That at Oreus 412on the sea-coast the wall and nearly seven hundred houses fell at once. That the greater part of Echinus, 413Phalara, 414and Heraclæa of Trachis 415were thrown down, Phalara being overturned from its very foundations. That almost the same misfortune occurred to the Lamians 416and inhabitants of Larissa; that Scarpheia 417was overthrown from its foundations, not less than one thousand seven hundred persons being swallowed up, and at Thronium 418more than half that number. That a torrent of water gushed forth taking three directions, one to Scarphe and Thronium, another to Thermopylæ, and a third to the plains of Daphnus in Phocis. That the springs of [many] rivers were for several days dried up; that the course of the Sperchius 419was changed, thus rendering navigable what formerly were highways; that the Boagrius 420flowed through another channel; that many parts of Alope, Cynus, and Opus were injured, 421and the castle of Œum, which commands the latter city, entirely overturned. That part of the wall of Elateia 422was thrown down; and that at Alponus, 423during the celebration of the games in honour of Ceres, twenty-five maidens, who had mounted a tower to enjoy the show exhibited in the port, were precipitated into the sea by the falling of the tower. They also record that a large fissure was made [by the water] through the midst of the island of Atalanta, 424opposite Eubœa, 425sufficient for ships to sail in; that the course of the channel was in places as broad as twenty stadia between the plains; and that a trireme being raised [thereby] out of the docks, was carried over the walls.