DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4324#0038
16
PRIENE.
in a straight course, was only thirty stadia, or three miles and three quarters, so much longer was
the voyage by the shore. From Pyrrha to the mouth of the Maeander were fifty stadia, or six
miles and a quarter, the ground slimy and marshy. From hence there was a navigation to Myus*
in skiffs, or small vessels, a distance of thirty stadia. After the mouth of the Maeander was the
coast against Priene. The sea had once washed the wall of this city, and it had two ports, one
of which shut up ; but then it was seen within land, forty stadia, or five miles, above the shore.
The principal island in the cluster before Miletus was Lade. There, when invaded by Darius,
the Ionians assembled three hundred and sixty triremes, and engaged his fleet of six hundred.
The Milesians had eighty ships, and formed the wing toward the east. Next to them were the
Prienneans with twelve, and the Myusians with three. The island was afterwards seized by
Alexander; and, while he besieged Miletus, was the station of the Greek admiral, who blocked up
the port. The Milesians, when he was about to storm the city, tried to escape, some in skiffs, some
swimming on their bucklers, but were intercepted : only three hundred getting to a steep islet,
which they resolved to defend. This probably was one by Lade. Two, near Miletus, called
Camelidae, the Camels, were among the less considerable. A single one, it is likely the norther-
most hillock, was called Asteria, from Asterius, whose skeleton, remarkable for its size, was shown
there. He reigned, it is related, before the Ionic migration. By the Tragiae, probably mud-banks
and shoals formed by the river, were other islets, the stations of robbers.
" Nature," says Pliny, " has taken islands from the sea, and joined them to the continent; from
Miletus, Dromiscos and Perne ; and Hybanda, once an island of Ionia, is now two hundred stadia,
twenty-five miles, from the coast." Nature in this district was the Maeander, and the islands here
specified are perhaps the rocks of Osebasha. The river has been, as it were, the parent of its
own bed.
The bay, on which Myus was once seated, became a lake, when the Maeander, by lodging
slime at the mouth, had cut off the ingress of the salt-water. The mountains were an obstacle, or
the whole recess would have been filled, and converted into a plain. Their rills also supplied the
fresh water, which generated the gnats. The land grew, as it were, daily, and was continually
removing the sea farther from the lake. The mouth of the Maeander was then seen between
and, on the authority of the inscription on the theatre, boldly
calls the place Miletus. Cellaring prefers the opinion of
Wheler. He cites Strabo to prove the distance between
Miletus and the mouth of the river was CX. stadia; and
observing it only X. in Pliny, supposes the numeral C omitted.
But the calculation from Strabo is imperfect and erroneous,
the emendation of Pliny neither well founded nor necessary ;
and it happens, that Spon is superficially right, while Cellarius
with Wheler is learnedly mistaken.
It were easy to enlarge on the errors of Cellarius in this
part of his work, and to reflect back the unmerited censures
which he bestows on the ancient writers, who have treated
on the places.
We may with reason wonder, that so obvious a clue to
these intricacies and seeming contradictions, as that we have
given, has hitherto escaped the modern travellers, geogra-
phers, and annotators, in general; especially as each class
professes to take Strabo for their surest guide or principal
counsel.
* The distance between Miletus and Myus, by water,
seems to have been one hundred and ten stadia, or thirteen
and three quarters. gt
From Miletus to Pyrrha 30
From Pyrrha to the mouth of the Maeander - 50
From thence to Myus - - - 30
PRIENE.
in a straight course, was only thirty stadia, or three miles and three quarters, so much longer was
the voyage by the shore. From Pyrrha to the mouth of the Maeander were fifty stadia, or six
miles and a quarter, the ground slimy and marshy. From hence there was a navigation to Myus*
in skiffs, or small vessels, a distance of thirty stadia. After the mouth of the Maeander was the
coast against Priene. The sea had once washed the wall of this city, and it had two ports, one
of which shut up ; but then it was seen within land, forty stadia, or five miles, above the shore.
The principal island in the cluster before Miletus was Lade. There, when invaded by Darius,
the Ionians assembled three hundred and sixty triremes, and engaged his fleet of six hundred.
The Milesians had eighty ships, and formed the wing toward the east. Next to them were the
Prienneans with twelve, and the Myusians with three. The island was afterwards seized by
Alexander; and, while he besieged Miletus, was the station of the Greek admiral, who blocked up
the port. The Milesians, when he was about to storm the city, tried to escape, some in skiffs, some
swimming on their bucklers, but were intercepted : only three hundred getting to a steep islet,
which they resolved to defend. This probably was one by Lade. Two, near Miletus, called
Camelidae, the Camels, were among the less considerable. A single one, it is likely the norther-
most hillock, was called Asteria, from Asterius, whose skeleton, remarkable for its size, was shown
there. He reigned, it is related, before the Ionic migration. By the Tragiae, probably mud-banks
and shoals formed by the river, were other islets, the stations of robbers.
" Nature," says Pliny, " has taken islands from the sea, and joined them to the continent; from
Miletus, Dromiscos and Perne ; and Hybanda, once an island of Ionia, is now two hundred stadia,
twenty-five miles, from the coast." Nature in this district was the Maeander, and the islands here
specified are perhaps the rocks of Osebasha. The river has been, as it were, the parent of its
own bed.
The bay, on which Myus was once seated, became a lake, when the Maeander, by lodging
slime at the mouth, had cut off the ingress of the salt-water. The mountains were an obstacle, or
the whole recess would have been filled, and converted into a plain. Their rills also supplied the
fresh water, which generated the gnats. The land grew, as it were, daily, and was continually
removing the sea farther from the lake. The mouth of the Maeander was then seen between
and, on the authority of the inscription on the theatre, boldly
calls the place Miletus. Cellaring prefers the opinion of
Wheler. He cites Strabo to prove the distance between
Miletus and the mouth of the river was CX. stadia; and
observing it only X. in Pliny, supposes the numeral C omitted.
But the calculation from Strabo is imperfect and erroneous,
the emendation of Pliny neither well founded nor necessary ;
and it happens, that Spon is superficially right, while Cellarius
with Wheler is learnedly mistaken.
It were easy to enlarge on the errors of Cellarius in this
part of his work, and to reflect back the unmerited censures
which he bestows on the ancient writers, who have treated
on the places.
We may with reason wonder, that so obvious a clue to
these intricacies and seeming contradictions, as that we have
given, has hitherto escaped the modern travellers, geogra-
phers, and annotators, in general; especially as each class
professes to take Strabo for their surest guide or principal
counsel.
* The distance between Miletus and Myus, by water,
seems to have been one hundred and ten stadia, or thirteen
and three quarters. gt
From Miletus to Pyrrha 30
From Pyrrha to the mouth of the Maeander - 50
From thence to Myus - - - 30