DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0310
2 SO PROMONTORY OF METHANA.
We accordingly pursued our journey, and on approaching the sea
we entered upon the narrow isthmus which unites Methana with
the continent. It is fortified with a thick wall composed of small
stones and cement of a hard tenacious consistency, and it is not easy
to decide whether it is an ancient or a modern construction. We
know from Thucydides * and Diodorus Siculus,2, that the isthmus
was fortified by the Athenians in the seventh year of the Pelopon-
nesian war, and Strabo 3 informs us that it was a strong place,
observing that it is called Methone4 by Thucydides. But he him-
self also calls it Methone in another part5 of his work, unless
perhaps this is an error of his copj'ists. It is also written in the
same manner by Diodorus Siculus. Ptolemy6 mentions a peninsula
between Troezen and Epidauros, and no doubt alludes to Methana.
It is indeed not improbable that his text is incorrect in this place.
After Troezen he says Miff r,v r\ -/jogo^/toc, which the Latin translator
has rendered " post quam Chersonesus." It does not appear to be
taking too great a liberty with the text to substitute MiDcovri or
Midam, for Miff r,y r,, by which means the reading becomes more na-
tural and more consistent with the style which he generally uses in
the enumeration of places.
Pausanias7 calls Methana a small town, and says that it contained
a temple8 of Isis, and that the statues of Hercules and of Mercury
were in the Agora. He mentions some hot baths thirty stadia from
the town, and nine insular rocks in the vicinity of the peninsula
called the islands of Pelops.9
The village and promontory retain their ancient names. We
arrived there after dark by the worst roads I ever travelled, and I
1 B. 4. c. 4 5. - B. 12. c. 65. 3 B. 8. p. 374. * MeSwrj.
5 B. 1. p. 59. 6 Geograpli. b. 3. c. 16. p. 39. 7 B. 2. c. 34. mXia-^x oy pya. " ispay.
9 Dr. Chandler landed on several of the small islands in the vicinity of Methana and
-fllgina, but found no remains of antiquity upon them. See Chandler's Travels in Greece,
c. 51.
We accordingly pursued our journey, and on approaching the sea
we entered upon the narrow isthmus which unites Methana with
the continent. It is fortified with a thick wall composed of small
stones and cement of a hard tenacious consistency, and it is not easy
to decide whether it is an ancient or a modern construction. We
know from Thucydides * and Diodorus Siculus,2, that the isthmus
was fortified by the Athenians in the seventh year of the Pelopon-
nesian war, and Strabo 3 informs us that it was a strong place,
observing that it is called Methone4 by Thucydides. But he him-
self also calls it Methone in another part5 of his work, unless
perhaps this is an error of his copj'ists. It is also written in the
same manner by Diodorus Siculus. Ptolemy6 mentions a peninsula
between Troezen and Epidauros, and no doubt alludes to Methana.
It is indeed not improbable that his text is incorrect in this place.
After Troezen he says Miff r,v r\ -/jogo^/toc, which the Latin translator
has rendered " post quam Chersonesus." It does not appear to be
taking too great a liberty with the text to substitute MiDcovri or
Midam, for Miff r,y r,, by which means the reading becomes more na-
tural and more consistent with the style which he generally uses in
the enumeration of places.
Pausanias7 calls Methana a small town, and says that it contained
a temple8 of Isis, and that the statues of Hercules and of Mercury
were in the Agora. He mentions some hot baths thirty stadia from
the town, and nine insular rocks in the vicinity of the peninsula
called the islands of Pelops.9
The village and promontory retain their ancient names. We
arrived there after dark by the worst roads I ever travelled, and I
1 B. 4. c. 4 5. - B. 12. c. 65. 3 B. 8. p. 374. * MeSwrj.
5 B. 1. p. 59. 6 Geograpli. b. 3. c. 16. p. 39. 7 B. 2. c. 34. mXia-^x oy pya. " ispay.
9 Dr. Chandler landed on several of the small islands in the vicinity of Methana and
-fllgina, but found no remains of antiquity upon them. See Chandler's Travels in Greece,
c. 51.