DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0060
12 CYDONIA SPOKEN OF AS A MARITIME CITY [CHAP.
who dwelt about the stream Iardanus22, but nowhere
mentions a city Cydonia. Traditions respecting its
origin, all relating to remote ages, though differing
among themselves, sufficiently prove it to have existed
in very ancient times23. And this is confirmed by a
well-known passage of a Roman writer21. Herodotus,
it is true, assigns the foundation of Cydonia to the
Samians, who established themselves there, and, during
their five years'1 residence in it, built the temple of
Dictynna, as well as those which still existed in the
city when the historian wrote25. That the Samians
adorned the city of which they obtained possession,
seems to be clearly shewn by this passage of Herodotus;
but the legends, which have been referred to, render it
equally certain that Cydonia existed long before the
age of Polycrates.
Strabo's notice of Cydonia as " situated on the
sea, and looking towards Laeonia,11 points out this part
of the coast, as the district in which its site is to be
sought for. His statement, that it was distant eight
hundred stades from both Cnossos and Gortyna20, will
be of no assistance to us in our attempt to determine
its precise position ; for the only question deserving of
any investigation is, whether it occupied the place of
the modern Khania, or was inland somewhere here-
abouts27 ; and these distances of the Geographer are
22 Homer, Odyss. in. 292.
^HXL Kwoiofes evaiov, 'lapSdvou d/xrju peedpa.
23 Diodorus SicuLus, v. 78. Pausanias, viii. p. 707. Scholiast
on Theocritus, vii. 12. and the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius,
iv. 1492. Meursius, Greta, p. 29, and Hoeck, Kreta, Vol. i. p. 23.
24 Florus, hi. 7- " Cnossum et Erythraeam, et, ut Graeci dicere solent,
urbium matrem Cydoneam."
25 Herodotus, hi. 44. 59. Tec Ipd -rd iv KvSwviri eovTa vuv ovto'i
elai oi iroiijaavTes, Kal tov tj;s &iktvvi)<s vi]6v.
26 straro, x. p. 479. TLvouiv'ia 6" £ttl OaXaTTri p.ev 'LUpvTai, fiXeirovtra
irp6<s Ttjv AaKWViKrjV oieyei 0 kKaTepai to "lctov, -t^s Te Kvwcraou Kal tov
VopTVVOS, OLOV OKTaKOff'lOVS <TTab"lOV1.
27 Two other opinions have been advanced : according to one of them,
Cydonia was eight or nine miles to the east of Khania; the other is entertained
who dwelt about the stream Iardanus22, but nowhere
mentions a city Cydonia. Traditions respecting its
origin, all relating to remote ages, though differing
among themselves, sufficiently prove it to have existed
in very ancient times23. And this is confirmed by a
well-known passage of a Roman writer21. Herodotus,
it is true, assigns the foundation of Cydonia to the
Samians, who established themselves there, and, during
their five years'1 residence in it, built the temple of
Dictynna, as well as those which still existed in the
city when the historian wrote25. That the Samians
adorned the city of which they obtained possession,
seems to be clearly shewn by this passage of Herodotus;
but the legends, which have been referred to, render it
equally certain that Cydonia existed long before the
age of Polycrates.
Strabo's notice of Cydonia as " situated on the
sea, and looking towards Laeonia,11 points out this part
of the coast, as the district in which its site is to be
sought for. His statement, that it was distant eight
hundred stades from both Cnossos and Gortyna20, will
be of no assistance to us in our attempt to determine
its precise position ; for the only question deserving of
any investigation is, whether it occupied the place of
the modern Khania, or was inland somewhere here-
abouts27 ; and these distances of the Geographer are
22 Homer, Odyss. in. 292.
^HXL Kwoiofes evaiov, 'lapSdvou d/xrju peedpa.
23 Diodorus SicuLus, v. 78. Pausanias, viii. p. 707. Scholiast
on Theocritus, vii. 12. and the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius,
iv. 1492. Meursius, Greta, p. 29, and Hoeck, Kreta, Vol. i. p. 23.
24 Florus, hi. 7- " Cnossum et Erythraeam, et, ut Graeci dicere solent,
urbium matrem Cydoneam."
25 Herodotus, hi. 44. 59. Tec Ipd -rd iv KvSwviri eovTa vuv ovto'i
elai oi iroiijaavTes, Kal tov tj;s &iktvvi)<s vi]6v.
26 straro, x. p. 479. TLvouiv'ia 6" £ttl OaXaTTri p.ev 'LUpvTai, fiXeirovtra
irp6<s Ttjv AaKWViKrjV oieyei 0 kKaTepai to "lctov, -t^s Te Kvwcraou Kal tov
VopTVVOS, OLOV OKTaKOff'lOVS <TTab"lOV1.
27 Two other opinions have been advanced : according to one of them,
Cydonia was eight or nine miles to the east of Khania; the other is entertained