DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0248
THE RIVER INACHOS. 223
retaken by the Venetians, it was in the same year recovered by the
Turks.'
The river Inachos, the streamless bed of which is a short way to
the north-east of Argos, is supplied with casual and transitory floods
only after hard rains, and the melting of the snow on the surround-
ing mountains. Its source, according to Strabo,* was on Mount
Lurkios, near Kunouria, in Arcadia; and, according to Pausanias,5
on Mount Artemision. Even in the month of December, when I
was at Argos, there was not a drop of water in its channel; and*
like the Ismenos and the Ilissos, it has more often been indebted
for the gliding softness or the impetuous rush of its liquid current
to the fictions of poetry, than to the realities of existence. It was
indeed, at best, never more than a casual torrent, for which reason
it is termed ^aca^n^? by Strabo. Its present name is Zeria,4 which
word is applicable to its deserted bed. It rises about ten miles
from Argos, at a place called Mushi, in the way to Tripolitza in
Arcadia. In the winter it sometimes descends from the mountains
in a rolling mass, when it does considerable damage to the town.
Lucian5 observes that rivers die as well as men and cities; and that
the Inachos has not even left any remains to commemorate its
vanished vitality. According to Plutarch,0 the first name of the
Inachos was Karmanor, which it changed to Haliakmon, from the
appellation of the Tirynthian hero, who perished in its stream.
Inachos, a son of Oceanos, next drowned himself in it, and gave it
the record of his name.
Strabo7 vindicates Argos from its once proverbial imputation of
want of water,8 asserting that it is well supplied, and mentioning
some fountains within the city. There are at present several
ancient and modern wells in Argos; and in almost any part of
the town and its vicinity water is obtained without digging to a
' Ibid. « B. 8. p. 3T0. ' B. 8. c. 6. * From $,f9f, dry.
* Ivay^u ovy ouJe latpi; tv Afyti en xxxtenreiai. Contcinplante?. B De flumin.
7 B. 8. p. 370. ' Ptttsan. b. 2. c. 15. Lucian's Triton.
retaken by the Venetians, it was in the same year recovered by the
Turks.'
The river Inachos, the streamless bed of which is a short way to
the north-east of Argos, is supplied with casual and transitory floods
only after hard rains, and the melting of the snow on the surround-
ing mountains. Its source, according to Strabo,* was on Mount
Lurkios, near Kunouria, in Arcadia; and, according to Pausanias,5
on Mount Artemision. Even in the month of December, when I
was at Argos, there was not a drop of water in its channel; and*
like the Ismenos and the Ilissos, it has more often been indebted
for the gliding softness or the impetuous rush of its liquid current
to the fictions of poetry, than to the realities of existence. It was
indeed, at best, never more than a casual torrent, for which reason
it is termed ^aca^n^? by Strabo. Its present name is Zeria,4 which
word is applicable to its deserted bed. It rises about ten miles
from Argos, at a place called Mushi, in the way to Tripolitza in
Arcadia. In the winter it sometimes descends from the mountains
in a rolling mass, when it does considerable damage to the town.
Lucian5 observes that rivers die as well as men and cities; and that
the Inachos has not even left any remains to commemorate its
vanished vitality. According to Plutarch,0 the first name of the
Inachos was Karmanor, which it changed to Haliakmon, from the
appellation of the Tirynthian hero, who perished in its stream.
Inachos, a son of Oceanos, next drowned himself in it, and gave it
the record of his name.
Strabo7 vindicates Argos from its once proverbial imputation of
want of water,8 asserting that it is well supplied, and mentioning
some fountains within the city. There are at present several
ancient and modern wells in Argos; and in almost any part of
the town and its vicinity water is obtained without digging to a
' Ibid. « B. 8. p. 3T0. ' B. 8. c. 6. * From $,f9f, dry.
* Ivay^u ovy ouJe latpi; tv Afyti en xxxtenreiai. Contcinplante?. B De flumin.
7 B. 8. p. 370. ' Ptttsan. b. 2. c. 15. Lucian's Triton.