the most ancient city in Crete, Polyb. iv. 54.;- Phaftum, v. -us; OAXUS, Herodot. iv. 154. on the river Oaxes, as it is thought, Virg. ecl. i. 66; Rhitymna, now Retimo; -THENE, near Gnofus; Arcades or Arcadia, where the fountains are faid to have ceased when the city was destroyed, and again to have flowed fix years after, when the city was rebuilt *, Senec. 2 Nat. iii. 11.; Plin. xxxi. 4.

There

• The first inhabitants of Crete, according to Diodorus Siculus, were called ETEO-CRETES, from their king CRES. Those who dwelt round mount Ida were called DaЯyli Idai. They difcovered the use of fire, and the art of working in iron and brafs. After them were the CURETES, who lived in woods and caves. From one of thefe and Titea were born the TITANES, fix brothers, Saturnus or Cronus, Hyperion, Caus, Iapetus, Crius, and Oceanus; and five fifters, called TITANIDES, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phæbe, and Thetys. Saturn became king of the island. He and his children, on account of their inventions and beneficence, were worshipped as divinities, Diodor. v. 64.—80. as will be fhewn in its proper place. Many ages after this, different parts of the island were poffeffed by the Pelafgi, the Dores, the Achæans, the Argives, and Spartans, Ib. 80.

The laws of Crete are highly extolled by the ancients. They were composed first by Rhadamanthus, and after him by Minos, as they both gave out, by the directions of Jupiter. Hence Minos is faid to have spent nine years in the cave of Jupiter, Strab. x. 476. xvi. 762. and therefore Homer calls him Evvocpos Aios dαpicros, novennis Jovis confabulator vel difcipulus, Odyss. xix. 179. Some fay he went thither every ninth year, (de ivvatu itus, nono quoque anno, Plato in Minoe,) that is, he revised and corrected his laws at that time. Valerius Maximus fays, every year, i. 2. ext. I.

The lawgiver of Crete confidered liberty as the greatest bleffing of a state, without which property could not be fecure. For flaves can call nothing their own. To prevent avarice and luxury, which never fail to excite difcord, the youth were brought up together in companies, (ayıxai, greges,) and the men, divided into what were called ANDREIA, ate in public; fo that the rich and poor fared alike. From their earliest years they were trained to arms; inured to cold and heat, and all the hardfhips of war. They were exercised in shooting the arrow, and in dancing to mufic completely armed; which custom was introduced by one Curs, and called PYRRICHE, the Pyrrbic dance. The boys were taught letters, to repeat paflages from the laws in verfe, and particular kinds of music. Every man at a certain age was obliged to marry. At ftated times the companies of young men engaged in mock fights, in which they used to give and receive fevere blows. Thefe, and various other particulars, are recounted by Strabo, x. 480. &c.

Minos divided the island into three parts, and built a city on each. He was the first who obtained the fovereignty of thofe feas. Some represent him as a good lawgiver; and others, as a tyrannical prince, Ib. 476. It is at least certain that the Cretans anciently enjoyed excellent laws; which were copied, as Strabo obferves, by the wifeft of the Greeks, particularly by the Lacedæmonians, x. 477. The Cretans, however, after being fubjected to tyrants, greatly degenerated, 6. During the Trojan war, as the auxiliaries of Menelaus, they made a confiderable figure, but after its conclufion futtained great calamities, Herodot. vii. 171. In the Peloponnefian war they ferved as mercenaries to the Athenians, Thucyd. vii. 57. In after times Polybius represents them as difgraced by piracy, robbery, and almost every crime, Polyb. iv. 8.; fo Strabo, 1. 477. Their conftitution was then democratical, quite different from that of Lacedæmon,

There are a number of small islands around Crete, but none of them remarkable, Plin. iv. 12. f. 20,

The islands in the east part of the Egean fea were called SPORADES, and commonly annexed to Asia, although peopled by Greeks.

Eaft from Crete is CARPATHUS, which gave name to the Carpathian fea, Plin. v. 31. f. 36. — East from it, and near the coast of Lycia, is RHODUS, Rhodes, one hundred and twenty-five miles in circumference; which contained three towns, LINDUS, v. -os, CAMIRUs, and Jalyfus, afterwards called RHODUS, b. anciently famous for its power by sea, and for the brazen Coloffus, or image of the fun, feventy cubits high, about one hundred and five feet, Plin. xxxiv. 7. It was the work of Chares, born at Lindos, a city in the island, and employed him for twelve years. The expences of it were defrayed by the money which the Rhodians received from the fale of the warlike machines which Demetrius, the fon of Antigonus, had employed in befieging them, and of which he made them a prefent upon raifing the fiege. It was thrown down by an earthquake eighty-five years after its erection, and lay on the ground till Rhodes was taken by the Saracens under Mahias, A. D. 653. who' fold the brafs of it to a Jew of Emeffa, by whom it was transported to Alexandria in Egypt on the backs of nine hundred camels.

The knights of St John of Jerufalem being obliged to retire from Palestine, took this ifland from the Turks 1309, and defended it against all the power of that empire till 1522, when it furrendered to Soliman, after repulfing many furious affaults, in which great numbers of the Turks were flain.

Lacedæmon, Polyb. vi. 44. & 45. They were frequently agitated by internal feditions, Ib. iv. 53. &c.; Liv. xli. 25. and at one time obliged to have recourfe to Philip King of Macedon, to fettle their differences, Polyb. de virt. & vitiis. After this they were reduced by the Cilicians, and at laft subjected to the Roman yoke by Metellus, hence called CRETICUS, Strab. x. 477.; Liv. epit, xcix. : Flor. iii. 7. after a vigorous refistance for above two years, 1b. nor has Crete ever fince regained its independence.

In the year 1194 Crete became fubject to the Venetians, under whofe mild government it flourished greatly. It was unexpectedly attacked by the Turks, A. D. 1645, in the midst of a profound peace. The fiege of Candia was begun in 1646, and the city did not furrender till the 4th of October 1670. We may judge of the bravery of the besieged from the length of their defence. The reduction of the island is faid to have coft the Turks above two hundred thousand men. The Cretans are now subjected to the same state of servitude with the rest of the Turkish empire; industry is discouraged, and of course population greatly diminished.

Rhodes

Rhodes is furrounded by a number of small islands which were dependent on it, but none of them remarkable, Plin. ib.`

North of Rhodes is COS or Coos, now Lango, fifteen miles from the city of Halicarnaffus on the coast of Caria; one hundred miles in circumference, b. the country of HIPPOCRATES, the phyfician; of the painter APELLES *, and the poet PHILETAS, Strab. xiv. 658. the writer of love fongs, Ovid. Art. Am. iii. 329. rem. 760. celebrated for producing excellent wine, Plin. xv. 17. and for the manufacture of cloth of a very fine texture, (Coa veftes, i. e. tenues vel pellucida ;) Horat. od. iv. 13. 13.; Sat. i. 2. 101.; Tibull. ii. 3. 57.

North of Cos are LEROS and PATMOS, now Palmosa, where St John wrote the Revelations. Near Miletus on the coast of Caria, at the bottom of the bay formed by the river Mæander, is Lade; and not far from it Pharmacufa, near which Julius Cæfar, when a young man, was taken by the pirates, Suet. Cæs. 4.

Opposite to mount Mycale on the coaft of Ionia, and the promontory Trogilium, is SAMOS, the favourite island of Juno, Virg. En. i. 16. the country of Pythagoras; whence he is called vir SAMIUS, Ovid. Met. xv. 60. famous for its wine and earthen ware†, (vafa Samia,) Plin. xxxv. 12. f. 46.; Plaut. Capt. ii. 2. 41.; Men. i. 2. 65.

Weft from Samos is ICĂROS or Icarid, which gave name to the Icarian fea around it, Plin. iv. 12. f. 23.; but others fay this fea was named from Icărus, the fon of Dædălus, who was drowned in it. It was fometimes violently agitated by the fouth-west wind, Horat. od. i. 1. 15. North of Icaros is CHIOS, one hundred and twenty-five miles in circumference, famous for its wine, Horat. od. iii. 19. 5.; Sat. i. 10. 24. and marble, Plin. v. 31. f. 38.

About five hundred ftadia north of Chios is LESBUS, v. -ot, five hundred and fixty stadia long, and one thousand five hundred ftadia in circumference, Strab. xiii. 617. &c. celebrated for its beauty, Horat. ep. i. 11. 1. Infula nobilis et amena, Tacit. Ann. vi. 3. and for its wine, Id. od. i. 17. 21. epod. ix. 34.3

Alexander the Great was fo partial to Apelles, that he prohibited by an edict any other perfon to paint him; and granted to Lyfippus the fame exclufive privilege of making statues of him, Horat. ep. ii. 1. 239.; Cic. Fam. v. 12.j Plin xxxiv. 8. xxxv. 10.

+ Here the art of making figures of clay (ars plaftica v. plaftice) is faid to have been invented; according to others, at Corinth, whence it was introdueed into Etruria by two potters (figuli, fictores v. plaffe) who went into Italy with Demaratus, the father of Tarquinius Prifcus, Ib. f. 43.

Gell.

Gell. xiii. 5. produced near the town Methymna*, Ovid. Art. Am. i. 57.; Virg. G. ii. 90.; Horat. Sat. ii. 8. 50.; Propert. iv. 9. 12.; whence Mythymnaa Lesbos, Ovid. Met, xi. 55. Methymniades, the women of this place, Ovid. ep. xv. 15. The chief city was MITYLENE, by which name the island is now called. The Mitylenians having, in the Peloponnefian war, repeatedly revolted from the Athenians, after being reduced, were condemned to be all put to the sword; and a ship was dispatched from Athens to Paches their general with this cruel decree. But that fickle people having next day repented of their severity, reverfed their former sentence, and sent another ship with the intelligence. This ship failed with such celerity, that it arrived at Mitylene juft after the Athenian general had notified his first commands, and was about to execute them; which changed the grief and despair of the Mitylenians into the greatest joy †, Thucydid. iii. 35-50.

North

Methymna was the native city of Arion, a most famous musician, hence called Metbymnæus vates, Stat. Silv. ii. 2. 60.; Martial. viii. 51. 15. who, having refided fome time with Periander the tyrant of Corinth, went over into Italy; and having there acquired by his proteffion a large fum of money, he propofed returning with it to Corinth. For this purpose he hired a Corinthian veffel from Tarentum The mariners, on account of his riches, determined to throw him over board. He having first obtained permiffion to play a tune, plunged into the fea, and is faid to have been carried by a dolphin to cape Tænărus; whence he made his way to Corinth, which the mariners had reached before him. They were inftantly feized and crucified, Herosot. i. 23. & 24,; Serv. in Virg. Ecl. viii. 56.; Ovid. Faft. ii. 83,; Propert. ii. 26. 18.; Gell. xvi. 19. Plin. ix. 8.; Hygin. 194.

Mitylene was the native place of PITACCUS, one of the feven wife men of Greece; of the poet ALCEUS, and the poetefs SAPPHO, who were both contemporary, Strab. xiii 617. They excelled chiefly in lyric poetry, or in writing poems to be fung in concert with the lyre; whence Horace, who first introduced lyric poetry at Rome, calls it olium carmen, od. iii. 30. 13. iv. 3. 12. (becaufe Mitylene was built by a colony of Eolians from Greece, Herodot. i. 149. and Strabo calls Lesbos as it were the metropolis of the Holic cities, xiii. 616. & 622.) So Sappho is called olia puella, Horat. od. iv. 9. 12. the lyre, Eolia fides, lb. ii. 13. 24. or Lifbous barbitos, lb. i. 1. 34 faid to have been firft played on by Alcæus, (Lifbio primùm modulate civi, Ib. i. 32. 5.) as being the firft lyric poet, 1b.; the quill or inftrument ufed in ftriking the ftrings, Lefbium plerum, Ib. i. 26. 11.; the measure of lyric verse, Lesbius pes, Ib. iv 6. 35. Lefbides Eolia nomina dica lyrê, Lesbian women celebrated by the lyre of Sappho, Ovid. ep. xv 200. Horace feems to value himfelf chiefly in being the firft lyric poet at Rome, (princeps Holium carmen ad Italos deduxiffe modos, od. iii. 30. 13. Romane fidicen lyra, Ib. iv. 3. 13. Non ante vulgatas per artes, lb. 9. 3.) cp. i. 19 32.

Alcæus not only compofed love-fongs, Cic. Tufc. iv. 33. but alfo the boldest invectives against tyrants, whereby he animated his countrymen to expel them; whence his poems are called minaces Camana, Horat. od. iv. 9. 7. and were fo much admired that he is faid to have itruck his lyre with a gol.en plectrum, Id. ii. 13. 26.; Quindil. x. 1. and from the fublimity of his fentiments and style,

Sonare

1

North of Lefbos is LEMNOS, now Stalimene, the island of Vulcan, Val. Flacc. ii. 78. & 95. whence he is called Lemnius pater, Virg. Æn. viii. 454.; its circumference is one hundred and twelve miles, Plin. iv. 12. f. 23. It contained two cities, Hephafia and Murina. On the forum or public place of the latter, mount Athos, diftant eighty-feven miles, at the folftice caft its fhadow, Ib.

About fifty-fix miles eaft from Lemnos, and forty stadia from the coast of Troas, is TENEDOS, Virg. Æn. ii. 21. eighty ftadia in circumference, Strab. xiii. 604. named from Tenes or Tennes, one of its kings, Diodor. v. 83. who, on account of his virtues, was after his death worshipped as a god, Ib. & Cic. Verr. iii. 19. Nat. D. iii. 15. anciently called alfo Leucophrys, Phanice, and Lyrneffus, twelve miles from Sigeum, Plin. v. 31. f. 39. It had one town, inhabited by Eolians, where was a temple of Apollo Smintheus, Strab. ib. & Homer. II. i. 37.

The islands north of this belong to Thrace.

THRACE.

THRACIA vel THRACE, Thrace, now Romania or Rumelia, was feparated on the north from Mafia by mount HÆMUS on the east it is bounded by the Euxine fea, the Thracian Bofporus, the Propontis and the Hellefpont; on the fouth by the Egean fea; and on the weft by Macedonia, from which it was anciently separated by the river Strymon, and in later times by the Neffus.

HAMUS or Emus, is a ridge of mountains extending from the Euxine fea a great way weftwards, fo lofty, that the Euxine and Hadriatic feas are faid to be vifible from the top, Mel. ii. 2.; Liv. xl. 22.; Plin, iv. 11. f. 18. but Strabo fays this is impoffible, vii. 313.- There are two other high mountains fouth of Hamus, which run nearly in the fame

fonare plenius, fc. quam Sappho, Horat, od. ii. 13. 26. grandius fonare, Ovid. ep. xv. 29. None of his works now remain but a few fragments preserved by Athenæus. In a battle with the Athenians he loft his armour, which they fufpended in the temple of Minerva at Sigæum, Herodot. v. 95.

To Mitylene Pompey fent his wife Cornelia, before the battle of Pharfalia, Lucan. v. 725. and went thither after his defeat, 16. viii. 40. 108. &c. Caf.b. fiv. iii. 192.

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