ἐπεὶ δὲ περὶ τῆς Σαμοθρᾴκης διήλθομεν, ἀκολούθως καὶ περὶ τῆς Νάξου διέξιμεν. αὕτη γὰρ ἡ νῆσος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσηγορεύετο Στρογγύλη, ᾤκησαν δʼ αὐτὴν πρῶτοι Θρᾷκες διά τινας τοιαύτας αἰτίας.
μυθολογοῦνται Βορέου γενέσθαι παῖδες Βούτης καὶ Λυκοῦργος οὐχ ὁμομήτριοι· τὸν δὲ Βούτην ὄντα νεώτερον ἐπιβουλεῦσαι τἀδελφῷ, καὶ καταφανῆ γενόμενον ἕτερον μὲν μηδὲν παθεῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ Λυκούργου, πρόσταγμα δὲ λαβεῖν ὅπως μετὰ τῶν συνεπιβουλευσάντων λαβὼν πλοῖα ζητῇ χώραν ἑτέραν εἰς κατοίκησιν.
διόπερ τὸν Βούτην μετὰ τῶν συνεγκαλουμένων Θρᾳκῶν ἐκπλεύσαντα καὶ διὰ τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων κομιζόμενον κατασχεῖν τὴν Στρογγύλην νῆσον, καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ κατοικοῦντα λῄζεσθαι πολλοὺς τῶν παραπλεόντων. σπανίζοντας δὲ γυναικῶν περιπλέοντας ἁρπάζειν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας γυναῖκας.
τῶν μὲν οὖν Κυκλάδων νήσων αἱ μὲν ὁλοσχερῶς ἔρημοι ὑπῆρχον, αἱ δʼ ὀλίγοις οἰκούμεναι· διόπερ πορρωτέρω πλευσάντων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς Εὐβοίας ἀποκρουσθέντων, τῇ δὲ Θετταλίᾳ προσενεχθέντων, οἱ περὶ τὸν Βούτην ἀποβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν περιέτυχον ταῖς Διονύσου τροφοῖς περὶ τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος τῷ θεῷ ὀργιαζούσαις ἐν τῇ Φθιώτιδι Ἀχαΐᾳ.
Since we have set forth the facts concerning Samothrace, we shall now, in accordance with our plan, discuss Naxos. This island was first called Strongylê and its first settlers were men from Thrace, the reasons for their coming being somewhat as follows. The myth relates that two sons, Butes and Lycurgus, were born to Boreas, but not by the same mother; and Butes, who was the younger, formed a plot against his brother, and on being discovered he received no punishment from Lycurgus beyond that he was ordered by Lycurgus to gather ships and, together with his accomplices in the plot, to seek out another land in which to make his home. Consequently Butes, together with the Thracians who were implicated with him, set forth, and making his way through the islands of the Cyclades he seized the island of Strongylê, where he made his home and proceeded to plunder many of those who sailed past the island. And since they had no women they sailed here and there and seized them from the land. Now some of the islands of the Cyclades had no inhabitants whatsoever and others were sparsely settled; consequently they sailed further, and having been repulsed once from Euboea, they sailed to Thessaly, where Butes and his companions, upon landing, came upon the female devotees of Dionysus as they were celebrating the orgies of the god near Drius, as it is called, in Achaea Phthiotis.
ὁρμησάντων δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν Βούτην, αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι ῥίψασαι τὰ ἱερὰ εἰς θάλατταν ἔφυγον, αἱ δʼ εἰς ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος· κορωνίδα δʼ ἁρπαγεῖσαν συναναγκασθῆναι τῷ Βούτῃ συνοικῆσαι. ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ ἁρπαγῇ καὶ τῇ ὕβρει χαλεπῶς φέρουσαν ἐπικαλέσασθαι τὸν Διόνυσον βοηθῆσαι αὐτῇ. τὸν δὲ μανίαν ἐμβαλεῖν τῷ Βούτῃ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρακόψαντα ῥῖψαι ἑαυτὸν εἴς τι φρέαρ καὶ τελευτῆσαι.
οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι Θρᾷκες ἑτέρας τινὰς γυναῖκας ἥρπασαν, ἐπιφανεστάτας δὲ τήν τε Ἀλωέως γυναῖκα Ἰφιμέδειαν καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς Παγκράτιν· λαβόντες δʼ αὐτὰς ἀπέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν Στρογγύλην. οἱ δὲ Θρᾷκες ἀντὶ τοῦ Βούτου κατέστησαν βασιλέα τῆς νήσου Ἀγασσαμενόν, καὶ τὴν Ἀλωέως θυγατέρα Παγκράτιν κάλλει διαφέρουσαν συνῴκισαν αὐτῷ·
πρὸ γὰρ τῆς τούτου αἱρέσεως οἱ ἐπιφανέστατοι τῶν ἡγεμόνων Σικελὸς καὶ Ἑκήτορος ὑπὲρ τῆς Παγκράτιδος ἐρίσαντες ἀλλήλους ἀνεῖλον. ὁ δὲ Ἀγασσαμενὸς ὕπαρχον ἕνα τῶν φίλων καταστήσας συνῴκισεν αὐτῷ τὴν Ἰφιμέδειαν.
As Butes and his companions rushed at the women, these threw away the sacred objects, and some of them fled for safety to the sea, and others to the mountain called Dius; but Coronis, the myth continues, was seized by Butes and forced to lie with him. And she, in anger at the seizure and at the insolent treatment she had received, called upon Dionysus to lend her his aid. And the god struck Butes with madness, because of which he lost his mind and, throwing himself into a well, met his death. But the rest of the Thracians seized some of the other women, the most renowned of whom were Iphimedeia, the wife of Aloeus, and Pancratis, her daughter, and taking these women along with them, they sailed off to Strongylê. And in place of Butes the Thracians made Agassamenus king of the island, and to him they united in marriage Pancratis, the daughter of Aloeus, who was a woman of surpassing beauty; for, before their choice fell on Agassamenus, the most renowned among their leaders, Sicelus and Hecetorus, had quarrelled over Pancratis and had slain each other. And Agassamenus appointed one of his friends his lieutenant and united Iphimedeia to him in marriage.
ὁ δʼ Ἀλωεὺς ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τῆς τε γυναικὸς καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ὦτον καὶ Ἐφιάλτην· οἳ πλεύσαντες εἰς τὴν Στρογγύλην μάχῃ τε ἐνίκησαν τοὺς Θρᾷκας καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐξεπολιόρκησαν.
εἶτα ἡ μὲν Παγκράτις ἐτελεύτησεν, οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὦτον καὶ Ἐφιάλτην ἐπεβάλοντο κατοικεῖν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καὶ ἄρχειν τῶν Θρᾳκῶν· μετωνόμασαν δὲ καὶ τὴν νῆσον Δίαν. ὕστερον δὲ στασιάσαντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ μάχην συνάψαντες τῶν τε ἄλλων πολλοὺς ἀπέκτειναν καὶ ἀλλήλους ἀνεῖλον, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν ἐγχωρίων εἰς τὸν λοιπὸν χρόνον ὡς ἥρωες ἐτιμήθησαν.
οἱ μὲν οὖν Θρᾷκες ἐνταῦθα κατοικήσαντες ἔτη πλείω τῶν διακοσίων ἐξέπεσον αὐχμῶν γενομένων ἐκ τῆς νήσου. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Κᾶρες ἐκ τῆς νῦν καλουμένης Λατμίας μεταναστάντες ᾤκησαν τὴν νῆσον· ὧν βασιλεύσας Νάξος ὁ Πολέμωνος ἀντὶ Δίας Νάξον ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσηγόρευσεν. ἐγένετο δʼ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἐπιφανὴς ὁ Νάξος, καὶ ἀπέλιπεν υἱὸν Λεύκιππον· οὗ γενόμενος υἱὸς Σμέρδιος ἐβασίλευσε τῆς νήσου.
ἐπὶ δὲ τούτου Θησεὺς ἐκ Κρήτης ἀναπλέων μετὰ τῆς Ἀριάδνης ἐπεξενώθη τοῖς ἐν τῇ νήσῳ· καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὕπνον ἰδὼν τὸν Διόνυσον ἀπειλοῦντα αὐτῷ, εἰ μὴ ἀπολείψει τὴν Ἀριάδνην αὐτῷ, φοβηθεὶς κατέλιπε καὶ ἐξέπλευσε. Διόνυσος δὲ νυκτὸς ἀπήγαγε τὴν Ἀριάδνην εἰς τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον Δρίος· καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν ἠφανίσθη ὁ θεός, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ἡ Ἀριάδνη ἄφαντος ἐγενήθη.
Aloeus dispatched his sons Otus and Ephialtes in search of his wife and daughter, and they, sailing to Strongylê, defeated the Thracians in battle and reduced the city. Some time afterward Pancratis died, and Otus and Ephialtes essayed to take the island for their dwelling and to rule over the Thracians, and they changed the name of the island to Dia. But at a later time they quarrelled among themselves, and joining battle they slew many of the other combatants and then destroyed one another, and from that time on these two men have received at the hands of the natives the honours accorded to heroes. The Thracians dwelt on the island for more than two hundred years and then were driven out of it by a succession of droughts. And after that Carians removed to the island from Latmia, as it is now called, and made it their home; their king was Naxos, the son of Polemon, and he called the island Naxos after himself, in place of Dia. Naxos was an upright and famous man and left behind him a son Leucippus, whose son Smerdius became king of the island. And it was during the reign of Smerdius that Theseus, on his voyage back from Crete together with Ariadnê, was entertained as a guest by the inhabitants of the island; and Theseus, seeing in a dream Dionysus threatening him if he would not forsake Ariadnê in favour of the god, left her behind him there in his fear and sailed away. And Dionysus led Ariadnê away by night to the mountain which is known as Drius; and first of all the god disappeared, and later Ariadnê also was never seen again.
μυθολογοῦσι δὲ Νάξιοι περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου, φάσκοντες παρʼ αὐτοῖς τραφῆναι , καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὴν νῆσον αὐτῷ γεγονέναι προσφιλεστάτην καὶ ὑπό τινων Διονυσιάδα καλεῖσθαι.
τὸν γὰρ Δία κατὰ τὸν παραδεδομένον μῦθον, τότε κεραυνωθείσης Σεμέλης πρὸ τοῦ τεκεῖν, τὸ βρέφος λαβόντα καὶ ἐρράψαντα εἰς τὸν μηρόν, ὡς ὁ τέλειος τῆς γενέσεως χρόνος ἦλθε, βουλόμενον λαθεῖν τὴν Ἥραν, ἐξελεῖν τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ νῦν Νάξῳ, καὶ δοῦναι τρέφειν ταῖς ἐγχωρίοις Νύμφαις Φιλίᾳ καὶ Κορωνίδι καὶ Κλείδῃ· κεραυνῶσαι δὲ τὴν Σεμέλην πρὸ τοῦ τεκεῖν, ὅπως μὴ ἐκ θνητῆς, ἀλλʼ ἐκ δυεῖν ἀθανάτων ὑπάρξας εὐθὺς ἐκ γενετῆς ἀθάνατος ᾖ.
διὰ δὲ τὴν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον εὐεργεσίαν ἐν τῇ τροφῇ τὰς χάριτας ἀπολαβεῖν τοὺς ἐγχωρίους· ἐπιδοῦναι γὰρ τὴν νῆσον εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν, καὶ ναυτικάς τε δυνάμεις ἀξιολόγους συστήσασθαι καὶ ἀπὸ Ξέρξου πρώτους ἀποστάντας ἀπὸ τοῦ ναυτικοῦ συγκαταναυμαχῆσαι τὸν βάρβαρον, καὶ τῆς ἐν Πλαταιαῖς παρατάξεως οὐκ ἀσήμως μετασχεῖν. εἶναι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ οἴνου ἰδιότητα διάφορόν τι παρʼ αὐτοῖς καὶ μηνῦον τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τὴν νῆσον οἰκειότητα.
The myth which the Naxians have to relate about Dionysus is like this: He was reared, they say, in their country, and for this reason the island has been most dear to him and is called by some Dionysias. For according to the myth which has been handed down to us, Zeus, on the occasion when Semelê had been slain by his lightning before the time for bearing the child, took the babe and sewed it up within his thigh, and when the appointed time came for its birth, wishing to keep the matter concealed from Hera, he took the babe from his thigh in what is now Naxos and gave it to the Nymphs of the island, Philia, Coronis, and Cleidê, to be reared. The reason Zeus slew Semelê with his lightning before she could give birth to her child was his desire that the babe should be born, not of a mortal woman but of two immortals, and thus should be immortal from its very birth. And because of the kindness which the inhabitants of Naxos had shown to Dionysus in connection with his rearing they received marks of his gratitude; for the island increased in prosperity and fitted out notable naval forces, and the Naxians were the first to withdraw from the naval forces of Xerxes and to aid in the defeat at sea which the barbarian suffered, and they participated with distinction in the battle of Plataeae. Also the wine of the island possesses an excellence which is peculiarly its own and offers proof of the friendship which the god entertains for the island.
τὴν δὲ νῆσον τὴν Σύμην ὀνομαζομένην, τὸ παλαιὸν ἔρημον οὖσαν, πρῶτοι κατῴκησαν οἱ μετὰ Τρίοπος ἀφικόμενοι, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Χθόνιος ὁ Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Σύμης, ἀφʼ ἧς ἡ νῆσος ἔτυχε ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας.
ὕστερον δʼ αὐτῆς ἐβασίλευσε Νιρεὺς ὁ Χαρόπου καὶ Ἀγλαΐας, κάλλει διαφέρων, ὃς καὶ ἐπὶ Τροίαν μετʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐστράτευσε, τῆς τε νήσου δυναστεύων καὶ τῆς Κνιδίας μέρους κυριεύων. μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Τρωικοὺς χρόνους κατέσχον τὴν νῆσον Κᾶρες, καθʼ ὃν καιρὸν ἐθαλαττοκράτουν. ὕστερον δʼ αὐχμῶν γενομένων ἔφυγον ἐκ τῆς νήσου, καὶ κατῴκησαν τὸ καλούμενον Οὐράνιον.
ἡ δὲ Σύμη διέμεινεν ἔρημος, ἕως ὁ στόλος ὁ Λακεδαιμονίων καὶ Ἀργείων παρέβαλεν εἰς τούτους τοὺς τόπους· ἔπειτα κατῳκίσθη πάλιν τόνδε τὸν τρόπον.
τῶν μετὰ Ἱππότου τις μετασχὼν τῆς ἀποικίας, ὄνομα Ναῦσος, ἀναλαβὼν τοὺς καθυστερήσαντας τῆς κληροδοσίας, ἔρημον οὖσαν τὴν Σύμην κατῴκησε καὶ τισιν ἑτέροις ὕστερον καταπλεύσασιν, ὧν ἦν Ξοῦθος ἡγεμών, μεταδοὺς τῆς πολιτείας καὶ χώρας κοινῇ τὴν νῆσον κατῴκησε. φασὶ δὲ τῆς ἀποικίας ταύτης μετασχεῖν τούς τε Κνιδίους καὶ Ῥοδίους.
As for the island which is called Symê and was uninhabited in ancient times, its first settlers were men who came together with Triops, under the leadership of Chthonius, the son of Poseidon and Symê, from whom the island received the name it bears. At a later time its king was Nireus, the son of Charops and Aglaïa, an unusually handsome man who also took part with Agamemnon in the war against Troy both as ruler of the island and as lord of a part of Cnidia. But after the period of the Trojan War Carians seized the island, during the time when they were rulers of the sea. At a later time, however, when droughts came, the Carians fled the island and made their home in Uranium, as it is called. Thereupon Symê continued to be uninhabited, until the expedition which the Lacedaemonians and the Argives made came to these parts, and at that time the island became settled again in the following manner. One of the companions of Hippotes, a certain Nausus by name, was a member of the colony, and taking those who had come too late to share in the allotment of the land he settled Symê, which was uninhabited at that time, and later, when certain other men, under the leadership of Xuthus, put in at the island, he gave them a share in the citizenship and in the land, and all of them in common settled the island. And we are told that both Cnidians and Rhodians were members of this colony.
Κάλυδναν δὲ καὶ Νίσυρον τὸ μὲν ἀρχαῖον Κᾶρες κατῴκησαν, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Θετταλὸς ὁ Ἡρακλέους ἀμφοτέρας τὰς νήσους κατεκτήσατο. διόπερ Ἄντιφός τε καὶ Φείδιππος οἱ Κῴων βασιλεῖς στρατεύοντες εἰς Ἴλιον ἦρχον τῶν πλεόντων ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων νήσων.
κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἐκ Τροίας ἀπόπλουν τέτταρες τῶν Ἀγαμέμνονος νεῶν ἐξέπεσον περὶ Κάλυδναν, καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις καταμιγέντες κατῴκησαν.
οἱ δὲ τὴν Νίσυρον τὸ παλαιὸν οἰκήσαντες ὑπὸ σεισμῶν διεφθάρησαν· ὕστερον δὲ Κῷοι, καθάπερ τὴν Κάλυδναν, ταύτην κατῴκησαν· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα φθορᾶς ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ νήσῳ γενομένης οἱ Ῥόδιοι ἐποίκους εἰς αὐτὴν ἀπέστειλαν.
τὴν δὲ Κάρπαθον πρῶτοι μὲν ᾤκησαν τῶν μετὰ Μίνω τινὲς συστρατευσαμένων, καθʼ ὃν χρόνον ἐθαλαττοκράτησε πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων· ὕστερον δὲ πολλαῖς γενεαῖς Ἴοκλος ὁ Δημολέοντος, Ἀργεῖος ὢν τὸ γένος, κατά τι λόγιον ἀποικίαν ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν Κάρπαθον.
Calydna and Nisyros were settled in ancient times by Carians, and after that Thettalus, the son of Heracles, took possession of both islands. And this explains why both Antiphus and Pheidippus, who were kings of the Coans, in the expedition against Troy led those who sailed from the two islands just mentioned. And on the return from Troy four of Agamemnon’s ships were wrecked off Calydna, and the survivors mingled with the natives of the island and made their home there. The ancient inhabitants of Nisyros were destroyed by earthquakes, and at a later time the Coans settled the island, as they had done in the case of Calydna; and after that, when an epidemic had carried away the population of the island, the Rhodians dispatched colonists to it.
As for Carpathos, its first inhabitants were certain men who joined with Minos in his campaigns at the time when he was the first of the Greeks to be master of the sea; and many generations later Iolcus, the son of Demoleon, an Argive by ancestry, in obedience to a certain oracle dispatched a colony to Carpathos.
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