DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0322
268
the site of khersonesos,
[chap.
necessary to determine the favourite haunts of Artemis
and her nymphs, we should believe them to have " dis-
ported on its margent green." At present my hopes
were directed to the cavern of Ilithyia. I found the
grotto39, spoken of by the stupid Guvian who accom-
panied me, to be nothing more than an artificial cistern,
which in all likelihood had been constructed in the time
of the Venetians.
Notwithstanding the ill success of my inquiries, I
still feel satisfied that the site of Amnisos and its cavern
must exist somewhere in this neighbourhood. In less
than an hour after leaving the river, we reached Kher-
sonesos40: in its immediate neighbourhood alone we
saw marks of cultivation. A mile farther on is the
village of Episkopiand, a name which reminds us that
Khersonesos was a bishopric. The remains of the
ancient city are down on the shore about a mile off.
The existence of these ruins, close to a little port
on the shore, and the actual names of the villages of
Khersonesos and Episkopiand, sufficiently prove that
we are near what was once the port of Lyttos and
subsequently became an episcopal city. A place called
39 "Eva vrrrfkaiov was his expression: it is singular that the words
/xia a-repvri never escaped him. Srepyjj is constantly used to denote a cis-
tern, and, like the French and English words, has an Italian origin. We
sometimes find a place, where there are cisterns, called Sternes (Si-cpi/ais), or,
as a Cretan would most likely call it, t£?; ^TepvaLi, (els tos 'E<repvas.) I
mention this on account of an observation of Professor Hoeck, who, misled
by the resemblance between this modern Greek word and the name of an
ancient Cretan city Strenos, observes that there is a place called Sterne, on the
Akroteri near Khani£, meaning, I suppose, that the name might be a corrup-
tion of that of the ancient city. I know not where to place this Strenos. Ste-
phanus of Byzantium mentions it, on the authority of Herodotus, as a Cretan
city, (StETHANUS ByZANT. Erpj/yos, 'HpoSoTOS e(3S6p.ri, 7T0AIS KpjjTl/o/.
to edviKov 2t/djj'i/ios, tos <T>aTiTTos $aio-Ttos), and no further notice is found
of it either in Herodotus or in any other author. On referring to my list of
the villages of Apokdrona I find the real name of the place in question is
Xerosterni, which sufficiently declares its own meaning, and prevents the
possibility of any connexion with Strenos. Pococke too mentions the village
of "Sternes'" and its cisterns.
40 Xepa-ovtjc-os, called more commonly Xepotrovticros by the Greeks.
the site of khersonesos,
[chap.
necessary to determine the favourite haunts of Artemis
and her nymphs, we should believe them to have " dis-
ported on its margent green." At present my hopes
were directed to the cavern of Ilithyia. I found the
grotto39, spoken of by the stupid Guvian who accom-
panied me, to be nothing more than an artificial cistern,
which in all likelihood had been constructed in the time
of the Venetians.
Notwithstanding the ill success of my inquiries, I
still feel satisfied that the site of Amnisos and its cavern
must exist somewhere in this neighbourhood. In less
than an hour after leaving the river, we reached Kher-
sonesos40: in its immediate neighbourhood alone we
saw marks of cultivation. A mile farther on is the
village of Episkopiand, a name which reminds us that
Khersonesos was a bishopric. The remains of the
ancient city are down on the shore about a mile off.
The existence of these ruins, close to a little port
on the shore, and the actual names of the villages of
Khersonesos and Episkopiand, sufficiently prove that
we are near what was once the port of Lyttos and
subsequently became an episcopal city. A place called
39 "Eva vrrrfkaiov was his expression: it is singular that the words
/xia a-repvri never escaped him. Srepyjj is constantly used to denote a cis-
tern, and, like the French and English words, has an Italian origin. We
sometimes find a place, where there are cisterns, called Sternes (Si-cpi/ais), or,
as a Cretan would most likely call it, t£?; ^TepvaLi, (els tos 'E<repvas.) I
mention this on account of an observation of Professor Hoeck, who, misled
by the resemblance between this modern Greek word and the name of an
ancient Cretan city Strenos, observes that there is a place called Sterne, on the
Akroteri near Khani£, meaning, I suppose, that the name might be a corrup-
tion of that of the ancient city. I know not where to place this Strenos. Ste-
phanus of Byzantium mentions it, on the authority of Herodotus, as a Cretan
city, (StETHANUS ByZANT. Erpj/yos, 'HpoSoTOS e(3S6p.ri, 7T0AIS KpjjTl/o/.
to edviKov 2t/djj'i/ios, tos <T>aTiTTos $aio-Ttos), and no further notice is found
of it either in Herodotus or in any other author. On referring to my list of
the villages of Apokdrona I find the real name of the place in question is
Xerosterni, which sufficiently declares its own meaning, and prevents the
possibility of any connexion with Strenos. Pococke too mentions the village
of "Sternes'" and its cisterns.
40 Xepa-ovtjc-os, called more commonly Xepotrovticros by the Greeks.