DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0106
IV.]
MOUNT BERECYNTHOS.
57
in depriving him of his lyre. The use of A instead of
E in the name of this city, on most of the coins, is a
well-known dorism, and the coins on which the word is
spelt with an E are rarer, and therefore more valuable,
than the others51.
On other coins of Aptera, which I found on its site,
a bow is i*epresented. As early as the time of the war
between the Lacedaemonians and the Messenians under
Aristomenes, the events of which were celebrated by a
Cretan poet52, we find mention made of bowmen of
Aptera, who served with the Lacedaemonians, under
Euryalus the Spartan, and materially contributed to the
successful termination of the contest53.
The position of Aptera being once settled we shall
soon determine that of Berecynthos, one of the most
celebrated mountains of Crete, which even Tournefort,
although he had succeeded in finding Aptera close to
the remains of Phalasarna, had to regret his inability
to recognize among the mountains of the Dictynnaean
chain; less bold than a later writer54, who tells us,
that the scene of the discoveries and labours of the
Idaean Dactyls is identically the same mountain as
received its name from Dictynna, although the two
are confounded by no ancient author, and the legends
connected with them are very distinct. The hypothesis
advanced by Professor Hoeck55, would save one all
51 On these coins of Aptera consult Pellerin, Recueil de me'dailles
de peuples et de villes, Tom. 111. p. 60. Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum
Veterum, Vol. 11. p. 304. Numi Veteres Anecdoti, p. 143. The Lexicons
of Gusseme and Rasche, already referred to: Combe, Mus. Hunter,
p. 143. the Numi Musei Britannici, p. 144. Mionnet, Tom. 11. p. 261.
and Supplement, Tom. iv. p. 304. and Sestini, in many parts of his
voluminous works.
52 Rhianus, of Bene in the neighbourhood of Gortyna.
53 Pausanias, iv. pp. 329 and 326. Professor Hoeck, however, considers,
with great probability, that this presence of Cretan bowmen is only the poetry
of Rhianus, and not the truth of history : Hoeck's Kreta, Vol. ill. p. 461.
54 Cramer, Description of Ancient Greece, Vol. in. p. 379. " Mount
Berecynthus, which Diodorus names as being in this vicinity, (that is, in
the vicinity of Aptera,) is the Dictynnaeus of Pliny and others."
55 Hoeck's Kreta, Tom. 1. p. 280.
MOUNT BERECYNTHOS.
57
in depriving him of his lyre. The use of A instead of
E in the name of this city, on most of the coins, is a
well-known dorism, and the coins on which the word is
spelt with an E are rarer, and therefore more valuable,
than the others51.
On other coins of Aptera, which I found on its site,
a bow is i*epresented. As early as the time of the war
between the Lacedaemonians and the Messenians under
Aristomenes, the events of which were celebrated by a
Cretan poet52, we find mention made of bowmen of
Aptera, who served with the Lacedaemonians, under
Euryalus the Spartan, and materially contributed to the
successful termination of the contest53.
The position of Aptera being once settled we shall
soon determine that of Berecynthos, one of the most
celebrated mountains of Crete, which even Tournefort,
although he had succeeded in finding Aptera close to
the remains of Phalasarna, had to regret his inability
to recognize among the mountains of the Dictynnaean
chain; less bold than a later writer54, who tells us,
that the scene of the discoveries and labours of the
Idaean Dactyls is identically the same mountain as
received its name from Dictynna, although the two
are confounded by no ancient author, and the legends
connected with them are very distinct. The hypothesis
advanced by Professor Hoeck55, would save one all
51 On these coins of Aptera consult Pellerin, Recueil de me'dailles
de peuples et de villes, Tom. 111. p. 60. Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum
Veterum, Vol. 11. p. 304. Numi Veteres Anecdoti, p. 143. The Lexicons
of Gusseme and Rasche, already referred to: Combe, Mus. Hunter,
p. 143. the Numi Musei Britannici, p. 144. Mionnet, Tom. 11. p. 261.
and Supplement, Tom. iv. p. 304. and Sestini, in many parts of his
voluminous works.
52 Rhianus, of Bene in the neighbourhood of Gortyna.
53 Pausanias, iv. pp. 329 and 326. Professor Hoeck, however, considers,
with great probability, that this presence of Cretan bowmen is only the poetry
of Rhianus, and not the truth of history : Hoeck's Kreta, Vol. ill. p. 461.
54 Cramer, Description of Ancient Greece, Vol. in. p. 379. " Mount
Berecynthus, which Diodorus names as being in this vicinity, (that is, in
the vicinity of Aptera,) is the Dictynnaeus of Pliny and others."
55 Hoeck's Kreta, Tom. 1. p. 280.