DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0213
162
THE CRETAN IliEX,
[chap.
Unfortunately the passage of Pliny, in which Tylissos
is mentioned, proves nothing whatever as to its position ;
but the supposition that it was here, is confirmed by an
examination of its ancient coins. On their reverse is
represented a youth holding, in his right hand, the head
of an ibex, or wild-goat2, as the animal was called by
the ancients, and in his left a bow. Now this village
is at the foot of a lofty range of mountains, and wild-
goats are still found in its neighbourhood. It appears
that the island abounded in these animals in ancient
times15, and it is no where mentioned that they were
peculiar to any one part of it. Doubtless the same
rugged lofty mountain summits as they now frequent,
and those alone, have always been their haunts ; so
that it is not likely that the types in question should
occur, except in the coins of cities near Mount Ida,
the White Mountains, and perhaps Lyttos. We are
here at the foot of the north-eastern slopes of the Ida
range, and Belon, who saw many of these animals in
Crete, says that in this part of the island they ran " in
troops4." Moreover this mountain gave an epithet to
Artemis5, and it is the dittany and the wild-goats of
Mount Ida, rather than of any other part of the island,
that both ancient and modern poets have celebrated in
their verses. It will suffice to mention Virgil11 and
2 The animal is called a bouquetin by Buffon, and by French writers. I
shall have to speak of it again when I penetrate into Sfakia.
3 Solinus, c. xvn. Ager Creticus silvestrium caprarum copiosus est.
4 Belon, Singularitez etc. f. 17- After speaking of the western ranges of
Mount Ida, he adds: "II y a grad nombre de Boucs sauuages qu'on voit
en troupeaux par la susdicte motagne."
s Julius Pollux, v. 13. 'H <5e "ApTep-n dypoTtpa, kul KwriyeTis, kuI
<pL\66i)pos, Kal opeia, diro twv opuw, Kal 'lSaia, diro t?i<s "I(5)/s.
6 Virgil, Aen. xn. 412.
. Dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida
Puberibus caulem foliis et More eomantem
Purpureo: non ilia feris incognita capris
Gramma, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae.
Meursius, Creta, pp. 97, 110, 111. has collected the principal passages of
ancient writers on the subject of this medicinal effect of the plant on the
wounded wild-goat: among them are two of Plutarch, and others of Cicero,
Pliny,
THE CRETAN IliEX,
[chap.
Unfortunately the passage of Pliny, in which Tylissos
is mentioned, proves nothing whatever as to its position ;
but the supposition that it was here, is confirmed by an
examination of its ancient coins. On their reverse is
represented a youth holding, in his right hand, the head
of an ibex, or wild-goat2, as the animal was called by
the ancients, and in his left a bow. Now this village
is at the foot of a lofty range of mountains, and wild-
goats are still found in its neighbourhood. It appears
that the island abounded in these animals in ancient
times15, and it is no where mentioned that they were
peculiar to any one part of it. Doubtless the same
rugged lofty mountain summits as they now frequent,
and those alone, have always been their haunts ; so
that it is not likely that the types in question should
occur, except in the coins of cities near Mount Ida,
the White Mountains, and perhaps Lyttos. We are
here at the foot of the north-eastern slopes of the Ida
range, and Belon, who saw many of these animals in
Crete, says that in this part of the island they ran " in
troops4." Moreover this mountain gave an epithet to
Artemis5, and it is the dittany and the wild-goats of
Mount Ida, rather than of any other part of the island,
that both ancient and modern poets have celebrated in
their verses. It will suffice to mention Virgil11 and
2 The animal is called a bouquetin by Buffon, and by French writers. I
shall have to speak of it again when I penetrate into Sfakia.
3 Solinus, c. xvn. Ager Creticus silvestrium caprarum copiosus est.
4 Belon, Singularitez etc. f. 17- After speaking of the western ranges of
Mount Ida, he adds: "II y a grad nombre de Boucs sauuages qu'on voit
en troupeaux par la susdicte motagne."
s Julius Pollux, v. 13. 'H <5e "ApTep-n dypoTtpa, kul KwriyeTis, kuI
<pL\66i)pos, Kal opeia, diro twv opuw, Kal 'lSaia, diro t?i<s "I(5)/s.
6 Virgil, Aen. xn. 412.
. Dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida
Puberibus caulem foliis et More eomantem
Purpureo: non ilia feris incognita capris
Gramma, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae.
Meursius, Creta, pp. 97, 110, 111. has collected the principal passages of
ancient writers on the subject of this medicinal effect of the plant on the
wounded wild-goat: among them are two of Plutarch, and others of Cicero,
Pliny,