DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4098#0593
540 VIEW FROM THE PROMONTORY OF SUNIUM.
celebrated in antiquity : the fleet of Ajax, at their return from
Troy, perished at that place ; and by the stratagem of Nauplius, a
still greater part of the Grecian fleet was enticed into the vicinity of
those dangerous rocks, and experienced the same fate.1 Below the
eye towards the north-east is the island of Helena, which Pliny2
places at five miles from Sunium: beyond it is Ceos,3 which, accord-
ing to the same author, is five miles from Helena. Beyond them
are the islands of Cythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, and Antimelos ; and
at the entrance of the Myrtoan sea,4 or Saronic Gulph, is the deserted
island of Belbina,5 towards the south-west; and beyond it Hydrea,
the Scyllaian promontory, the islands of Kalauria and iEgina, and
the whole of the richly-varied Argolic coast and mountains, stretch-
ing down towards the Corinthian isthmus in a north-west direction.
Near the shore of Sunium are seen two insular rocks, one of
which is called Gaidaro-Nesi,6 " the Ass's Island ;" the other is with-
out a name : the largest, which is no doubt the island of Patroclus,
consists of a bare and barren rock, and was probably nameless,
until it was fortified by Patroclus, commander of the fleet of
Ptolemy Philadelphos : it was afterwards called IIcctpokXou %apa£, or
TI<x,TpoK\ov v/jtrog.
1 See Seneca Agamen. act 3. Aulus Sabinus Epist. 1. Pausan. b. 2. c. 23. b. 4. c. 36.
and others. 2 Nat. Hist. b. 4. c. 6.
3 Ceos was the country of Simonides, Bachylides, Erasistratos the physician, and Aristou
the Peripatetic philosopher.
4 The Myrtoan sea was supposed by some to be a part of the Saronic Gulph, or another
name for it. Strabo, b. 2 and 7, places it between Sunium and the Peloponnesos, and says
that Salamis, iEgina, and Kalauria, were in it; although Pausanias, b. 8. c. 14, places it
between Euboea, and the island of Helena : it took its name from Myrtilus, who, according to
Euripides, was thrown in the sea near the Geraistian promontory. Orest. v. 991, and his
scholiast.
5 Scylax Caryand. in his Periplus, mentions the island and city of Belbina. Guillatiere, I
know not with what authority, says its ancient name was Albona.
6 Guillatiere, without the smallest reason, says that the ancient name of this island was
Gadalone. Athens, ancient and modern. 7 Pausan. b. 1. c. 1.
celebrated in antiquity : the fleet of Ajax, at their return from
Troy, perished at that place ; and by the stratagem of Nauplius, a
still greater part of the Grecian fleet was enticed into the vicinity of
those dangerous rocks, and experienced the same fate.1 Below the
eye towards the north-east is the island of Helena, which Pliny2
places at five miles from Sunium: beyond it is Ceos,3 which, accord-
ing to the same author, is five miles from Helena. Beyond them
are the islands of Cythnos, Seriphos, Siphnos, and Antimelos ; and
at the entrance of the Myrtoan sea,4 or Saronic Gulph, is the deserted
island of Belbina,5 towards the south-west; and beyond it Hydrea,
the Scyllaian promontory, the islands of Kalauria and iEgina, and
the whole of the richly-varied Argolic coast and mountains, stretch-
ing down towards the Corinthian isthmus in a north-west direction.
Near the shore of Sunium are seen two insular rocks, one of
which is called Gaidaro-Nesi,6 " the Ass's Island ;" the other is with-
out a name : the largest, which is no doubt the island of Patroclus,
consists of a bare and barren rock, and was probably nameless,
until it was fortified by Patroclus, commander of the fleet of
Ptolemy Philadelphos : it was afterwards called IIcctpokXou %apa£, or
TI<x,TpoK\ov v/jtrog.
1 See Seneca Agamen. act 3. Aulus Sabinus Epist. 1. Pausan. b. 2. c. 23. b. 4. c. 36.
and others. 2 Nat. Hist. b. 4. c. 6.
3 Ceos was the country of Simonides, Bachylides, Erasistratos the physician, and Aristou
the Peripatetic philosopher.
4 The Myrtoan sea was supposed by some to be a part of the Saronic Gulph, or another
name for it. Strabo, b. 2 and 7, places it between Sunium and the Peloponnesos, and says
that Salamis, iEgina, and Kalauria, were in it; although Pausanias, b. 8. c. 14, places it
between Euboea, and the island of Helena : it took its name from Myrtilus, who, according to
Euripides, was thrown in the sea near the Geraistian promontory. Orest. v. 991, and his
scholiast.
5 Scylax Caryand. in his Periplus, mentions the island and city of Belbina. Guillatiere, I
know not with what authority, says its ancient name was Albona.
6 Guillatiere, without the smallest reason, says that the ancient name of this island was
Gadalone. Athens, ancient and modern. 7 Pausan. b. 1. c. 1.