DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0108
IV.] MYTHICAL ETYMOLOGY OF DREPANON.
59
Before bidding farewell to Aptera, it seems worth
while to say something more about Drepanon. The name
is not peculiar to this Cretan promontory, but was given
to other places which were also supposed to resemble
the form of a sickle. It is uncertain whether Ovid al-
ludes to the Sicilian city of this name, or to Messene,
which was anciently called Zancle60, when he says61,
Quique locus curvae nomina falcis habet.
Natural and obvious as this etymology is, it did not
satisfy the Greeks ; and the fable respecting the muti-
lation of Uranos, by the iron weapon of Kronos, which
is said to have been made by the Idaean Dactyls62, is
gravely referred to by ancient authors, as the true origin
of the names of the Cretan Drepanon63, of Drepane in
Bithynia61, and of the Sicilian city65.
The same legend is told respecting the cause of the
ancient name of Corcyra66, by Timaeus and Apollonius
01 fxovvoi iroXXwv fiOipayeTai i]Se irdpeopoi
Mij-repos 'Ioau;s K6/cA.)}aTrtt, ocraoi eaari
AaKTvXoi 'Ioatoi KpjjTaiees, ous TTOTe Nu/Kpi)
Ay^taXj) AiktciIov dvd aireoi, dfupoTepym
Apa^ap.evii yatjjs Ola^iSos, e/3A.a<7T)j<7e.
This writer seems to find no difficulty in placing Mount Dicte, which was
between Itanos and Hierapytna, and its supposed Idaean Dactyls, in the
neighbourhood of Axos, not far from the middle of the island; somewhere
about half-way between Mounts Berecynthos and Dicte. On the alleged
Cretan origin of the Idaean Dactyls, consult Professor Lobeck's admirable
work, Aglaophamus, p. 1157. fol. where he arrives at the conclusion, p. 1161.
that the more ancient authorities are unanimous in speaking of them as
Phrygians. See also Hoeck, Kreta, Vol. i. p. 283.
60 thucyd1des, vi. 4. Zay/cXt; i]v viro twv ~2iKe\tov /vX>)0eto-a, oti
SpeTravoeiSei ti]v ISeav to yjopiov eaTi.
61 Ovid, Fasti iv. 474.
62 strabo, xiv. p. 654. Kai Si] Kal ti]v apTTi^v tu> Kpovw Sijfiiovp-
yrjcrai.
63 I cannot at this moment lay my finger on the passage, which, how-
ever, I have certainly somewhere read.
64 StEPHANUS BYZANT. Apeirdvif—t^s Sh TSiQvvias (fjacriv (ovofidcrdai,
OTL
Apeirdvijv KXetoucriv diro Kpoyioao arioi]pov.
65 Silius Italicus, xiv. 48. Macrobius, Saturnal. i. 8. extr.
66 Scholiast on Apollonius Riiodius, iv. 983. 'H Se Kepxvpa
irpoTepoii /j.hv Apeirdvi] CKuXeiTO, el-r« Sceptre. Another etymology of the
first name is also given on the authority of Aristotle.
59
Before bidding farewell to Aptera, it seems worth
while to say something more about Drepanon. The name
is not peculiar to this Cretan promontory, but was given
to other places which were also supposed to resemble
the form of a sickle. It is uncertain whether Ovid al-
ludes to the Sicilian city of this name, or to Messene,
which was anciently called Zancle60, when he says61,
Quique locus curvae nomina falcis habet.
Natural and obvious as this etymology is, it did not
satisfy the Greeks ; and the fable respecting the muti-
lation of Uranos, by the iron weapon of Kronos, which
is said to have been made by the Idaean Dactyls62, is
gravely referred to by ancient authors, as the true origin
of the names of the Cretan Drepanon63, of Drepane in
Bithynia61, and of the Sicilian city65.
The same legend is told respecting the cause of the
ancient name of Corcyra66, by Timaeus and Apollonius
01 fxovvoi iroXXwv fiOipayeTai i]Se irdpeopoi
Mij-repos 'Ioau;s K6/cA.)}aTrtt, ocraoi eaari
AaKTvXoi 'Ioatoi KpjjTaiees, ous TTOTe Nu/Kpi)
Ay^taXj) AiktciIov dvd aireoi, dfupoTepym
Apa^ap.evii yatjjs Ola^iSos, e/3A.a<7T)j<7e.
This writer seems to find no difficulty in placing Mount Dicte, which was
between Itanos and Hierapytna, and its supposed Idaean Dactyls, in the
neighbourhood of Axos, not far from the middle of the island; somewhere
about half-way between Mounts Berecynthos and Dicte. On the alleged
Cretan origin of the Idaean Dactyls, consult Professor Lobeck's admirable
work, Aglaophamus, p. 1157. fol. where he arrives at the conclusion, p. 1161.
that the more ancient authorities are unanimous in speaking of them as
Phrygians. See also Hoeck, Kreta, Vol. i. p. 283.
60 thucyd1des, vi. 4. Zay/cXt; i]v viro twv ~2iKe\tov /vX>)0eto-a, oti
SpeTravoeiSei ti]v ISeav to yjopiov eaTi.
61 Ovid, Fasti iv. 474.
62 strabo, xiv. p. 654. Kai Si] Kal ti]v apTTi^v tu> Kpovw Sijfiiovp-
yrjcrai.
63 I cannot at this moment lay my finger on the passage, which, how-
ever, I have certainly somewhere read.
64 StEPHANUS BYZANT. Apeirdvif—t^s Sh TSiQvvias (fjacriv (ovofidcrdai,
OTL
Apeirdvijv KXetoucriv diro Kpoyioao arioi]pov.
65 Silius Italicus, xiv. 48. Macrobius, Saturnal. i. 8. extr.
66 Scholiast on Apollonius Riiodius, iv. 983. 'H Se Kepxvpa
irpoTepoii /j.hv Apeirdvi] CKuXeiTO, el-r« Sceptre. Another etymology of the
first name is also given on the authority of Aristotle.