Gell, William: The geography and antiquities of Ithaca (London, 1807)

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stood, a small cistern of water, and a kalybea,1 or shepherd's
lmt. There are also vestiges of ancient habitations, and
the place is now called Amarathia.'

Convenience, as well as safety, seem to have pointed out
the lofty situation of Amarathia, as a fit place for the resi-
dence of the herdsmen of this part of the island from the
earliest ages. A small source of water is a treasure in these
climates, and if the inhabitants of Ithaca now select a rug-
ged and elevated spot, to secure them from the robbers of the
Echinades, it is to be recollected that the Taphian pirates
were not less formidable, even in the days of Ulysses,' and
that a residence in a solitary part of the island, far from
the fortress,* and close to a celebrated fountain, must at
all times have been dangerous, without some such security
as the rocks of Korax. Indeed, there5 can be no doubt

1 The word kalybea is used in the same sense in the commencement of the
Batrachomyomachia.

a It is not improbable that the name Marathia may be derived from the
ancient A/xa§a, a word signifying a water-course, and corresponds e; with the
situation.

3 Od. O. 426. 4 Od. 17. 25.

» Od. 14, line 399.