ἡ δὲ Λαοδίκεια μικρὰ πρότερον οὖσα αὔξησιν ἔλαβεν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων πατέρων, καίτοι κακωθεῖσα ἐκ πολιορκίας ἐπὶ Μιθριδάτου τοῦ Εὐπάτορος· ἀλλʼ ἡ τῆς χώρας ἀρετὴ καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τινες εὐτυχήσαντες μεγάλην ἐποίησαν αὐτήν, Ἱέρων μὲν πρότερον, ὃς πλειόνων ἢ δισχιλίων ταλάντων κληρονομίαν κατέλιπε τῷ δήμῳ πολλοῖς τʼ ἀναθήμασιν ἐκόσμησε τὴν πόλιν, Ζήνων δὲ ὁ ῥήτωρ ὕστερον καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Πολέμων, ὃς καὶ βασιλείας ἠξιώθη διὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας ὑπʼ Ἀντωνίου μὲν πρότερον ὑπὸ Καίσαρος δὲ τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα. φέρει δʼ ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν τόπος προβάτων ἀρετὰς οὐκ εἰς μαλακότητα μόνον τῶν ἐρίων, ᾗ καὶ τῶν Μιλησίων διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν κοραξὴν χρόαν, ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ Κολοσσηνοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος πλησίον οἰκοῦντες. ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ὁ Κάπρος καὶ ὁ Λύκος συμβάλλει τῷ Μαιάνδρῳ ποταμῷ, ποταμὸς εὐμεγέθης, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τῷ Λύκῳ Λαοδίκεια λέγεται. ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὄρος Κάδμος, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ὁ Λύκος ῥεῖ καὶ ἄλλος ὁμώνυμος τῷ ὄρει. τὸ πλέον δʼ οὗτος ὑπὸ γῆς ῥυεὶς εἶτʼ ἀνακύψας συνέπεσεν εἰς ταὐτὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις ποταμοῖς, ἐμφαίνων ἅμα καὶ τὸ πολύτρητον τῆς χώρας καὶ τὸ εὔσειστον· εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη, καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὔσειστος, καὶ τῆς πλησιοχώρου δὲ Κάρουρα.
Laodiceia, formerly a small town, has increased in our time, and in that of our ancestors, although it received great injury when it was besieged by Mithridates Eupator; the fertility however of the soil and the prosperity of some of its citizens have aggrandized it. First, Hiero embellished the city with many offerings, and bequeathed to the people more than 2000 talents; then Zeno the rhetorician, and his son Polemo, were an ornament and support to it; the latter was thought by Antony, and afterwards by Augustus Caesar, worthy even of the rank of king in consequence of his valiant and upright conduct.
The country around Laodiceia breeds excellent sheep, remarkable not only for the softness of their wool, in which they surpass the Milesian flocks, but for their dark or raven colour. The Laodiceans derive a large revenue from them, as the Colosseni do from their flocks, of a colour of the same name.
Here the Caprus and the Lycus, a large river, enter the Maeander. From the Lycus, a considerable river, Laodiceia has the name of Laodiceia on the Lycus. Above the city is the mountain Cadmus, from which the Lycus issues, and another river of the same name as the mountain. The greater part of its course is under-ground; it then emerges, and unites with other rivers, showing that the country abounds with caverns and is liable to earthquakes. For of all countries Laodiceia is very subject to earthquakes, as also the neighbouring district Carura.
ὅριον δέ ἐστι τῆς Φρυγίας καὶ τῆς Καρίας τὰ Κάρουρα· κώμη δʼ ἐστὶν αὕτη πανδοχεῖα ἔχουσα καὶ ζεστῶν ὑδάτων ἐκβολάς, τὰς μὲν ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ Μαιάνδρῳ τὰς δʼ ὑπὲρ τοῦ χείλους. καὶ δή ποτέ φασι πορνοβοσκὸν αὐλισθέντα ἐν τοῖς πανδοχείοις σὺν πολλῷ πλήθει γυναικῶν νύκτωρ γενομένου σεισμοῦ συναφανισθῆναι πάσαις. σχεδὸν δέ τι καὶ πᾶσα εὔσειστός ἐστιν ἡ περὶ τὸν Μαίανδρον χώρα καὶ ὑπόνομος πυρί τε καὶ ὕδατι μέχρι τῆς μεσογαίας. διατέτακε γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν πεδίων ἀρξαμένη πᾶσα ἡ τοιαύτη κατασκευὴ τῆς χώρας εἰς τὰ Χαρώνια, τό τε ἐν Ἱεραπόλει καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἀχαράκοις τῆς Νυσαΐδος καὶ τὸ περὶ Μαγνησίαν καὶ Μυοῦντα· εὔθρυπτός τε γάρ ἐστιν ἡ γῆ καὶ ψαθυρὰ πλήρης τε ἁλμυρίδων καὶ εὐεκπύρωτός ἐστι· τάχα δὲ καὶ ὁ Μαίανδρος διὰ τοῦτο σκολιὸς ὅτι πολλὰς μεταπτώσεις λαμβάνει τὸ ῥεῖθρον, καὶ πολλὴν χοῦν κατάγων ἄλλοτʼ ἄλλῳ μέρει τῶν αἰγιαλῶν προστίθησι· τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὸ πέλαγος βιασάμενος ἐξωθεῖ. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὴν Πριήνην ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ πρότερον οὖσαν μεσόγεων πεποίηκε τετταράκοντα σταδίων προσχώματι.
Carura is the boundary of Phrygia and Caria. It is a village, where there are inns for the reception of travellers, and springs of boiling water, some of which rise in the river Maeander, and others on its banks. There is a story, that a pimp had lodgings in the inns for a great company of women, and that during the night he and all the women were overwhelmed by an earthquake and disappeared. Nearly the whole of the country about the Maeander, as far as the inland parts, is subject to earthquakes, and is undermined by fire and water. For all this cavernous condition of the country, beginning from the plains, extends to the Charonia; it exists likewise in Hierapolis, and in Acharaca in the district Nysaeis, also in the plain of Magnesia, and in Myus. The soil is dry and easily reduced to powder, full of salts, and very inflammable. This perhaps is the reason why the course of the Maeander is winding, for the stream is diverted in many places from its direction, and brings down a great quantity of alluvial soil, some part of which it deposits in various places along the shore, and forcing the rest forwards occasions it to drift into the open sea. It has made, for example, Priene, which was formerly upon the sea, an inland city, by the deposition of banks of alluvial earth along an extent of 40 stadia.
καὶ ἡ Κατακεκαυμένη δέ, ἥπερ ὑπὸ Λυδῶν καὶ Μυσῶν κατέχεται, διὰ τοιαῦτά τινα τῆς προσηγορίας τετύχηκε ταύτης· ἥ τε Φιλαδέλφεια, ἡ πρὸς αὐτῇ πόλις, οὐδὲ τοὺς τοίχους ἔχει πιστούς, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ἡμέραν τρόπον τινὰ σαλεύονται καὶ διίστανται διατελοῦσι δὲ προσέχοντες τοῖς πάθεσι τῆς γῆς καὶ ἀρχιτεκτονοῦντες πρὸς αὐτά. καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ πόλεων Ἀπάμεια μὲν καὶ πρὸ τῆς Μιθριδάτου στρατείας ἐσείσθη πολλάκις, καὶ ἔδωκεν ἐπελθὼν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἑκατὸν τάλαντα εἰς ἐπανόρθωσιν, ὁρῶν ἀνατετραμμένην τὴν πόλιν. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου παραπλήσια συμβῆναι· διόπερ εἰκός ἐστι καὶ τὸν Ποσειδῶ τιμᾶσθαι παρʼ αὐτοῖς καίπερ μεσογαίοις οὖσι, καὶ ἀπὸ Κελαινοῦ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἐκ Κελαινοῦς, μιᾶς τῶν Δαναΐδων, γενομένου κεκλῆσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἐπώνυμον, ἢ διὰ τῶν λίθων τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκπυρώσεων μελανίαν. καὶ τὰ περὶ Σίπυλον δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀνατροπὴν αὐτοῦ μῦθον οὐ δεῖ τίθεσθαι· καὶ γὰρ νῦν τὴν Μαγνησίαν τὴν ὑπʼ αὐτῷ κατέβαλον σεισμοί, ἡνίκα καὶ Σάρδεις καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τὰς ἐπιφανεστάτας κατὰ πολλὰ μέρη διελυμήναντο· ἐπηνώρθωσε δʼ ὁ ἡγεμὼν χρήματα ἐπιδούς, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον ἐπὶ τῆς γενομένης συμφορᾶς Τραλλιανοῖς (ἡνίκα τὸ γυμνάσιον καὶ ἄλλα μέρη συνέπεσεν) ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ τούτοις καὶ Λαοδικεῦσιν.
Phrygia Catacecaumene, (or the Burnt,) which is occupied by Lydians and Mysians, obtained this name from something of the following kind. In Philadelphia, a city adjoining to it, even the walls of the houses are not safe, for nearly every day they are shaken, and crevices appear. The inhabitants are constantly attentive to these accidents to which the ground is subject, and build with a view to their occurrence.
Apameia among other cities experienced, before the invasion of Mithridates, frequent earthquakes, and the king, on his arrival, when he saw the overthrow of the city, gave a hundred talents for its restoration. It is said that the same thing happened in the time of Alexander; for this reason it is probable that Neptune is worshipped there, although they are an inland people, and that it had the name of Celaenae from Celvanus, the son of Neptune, by Celaeno, one of the Danaides, or from the black colour of the stones, or from the blackness which is the effect of combustion. What is related of Sipylus and its overthrow is not to be regarded as a fable. For earthquakes overthrew the present Magnesia, which is situated below that mountain, at the time that Sardis and other cele brated cities in various parts sustained great injury. The emperor gave a sum of money for their restoration, as formerly his father had assisted the Tralliani on the occurrence of a similar calamity, when the gymnasium and other parts of the city were destroyed; in the same manner he had assisted also the Laodiceans.
ἀκούειν δʼ ἔστι καὶ τῶν παλαιῶν συγγραφέων οἷά φησιν ὁ τὰ Λύδια συγγράψας Ξάνθος, διηγούμενος οἷαι μεταβολαὶ κατέσχον πολλάκις τὴν χώραν ταύτην, ὧν ἐμνήσθημέν που καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν. καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Τυφῶνα πάθη ἐνταῦθα μυθεύουσι καὶ τοὺς Ἀρίμους, καὶ τὴν Κατακεκαυμένην ταύτην εἶναί φασιν· οὐκ ὀκνοῦσι δὲ καὶ τὰ μεταξὺ Μαιάνδρου καὶ Λυδῶν ἅπανθʼ ὑπονοεῖν τοιαῦτα καὶ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν λιμνῶν καὶ ποταμῶν καὶ τοὺς πολλαχοῦ κευθμῶνας τῆς γῆς. ἡ δὲ μεταξὺ Λαοδικείας καὶ Ἀπαμείας λίμνη καὶ βορβορώδη καὶ ὑπονόμου τὴν ἀποφορὰν ἔχει πελαγία οὖσα· φασὶ δὲ καὶ δίκας εἶναι τῷ Μαιάνδρῳ μεταφέροντι τὰς χώρας ὅταν περικρουσθῶσιν οἱ ἀγκῶνες, ἁλόντος δὲ τὰς ζημίας ἐκ τῶν πορθμικῶν διαλύεσθαι τελῶν.
We must listen, however, to the ancient historians, and to the account of Xanthus, who composed a history of Lydian affairs; he relates the changes which had frequently taken place in this country,—I have mentioned them in a former part of my work. Here is laid the scene of the fable of what befell Typhon; here are placed the Arimi, and this country is said to be the Catacecaumene. Nor do historians hesitate to suppose, that the places between the Maeander and the Lydians are all of this nature, as well on account of the number of lakes and rivers, as the caverns, which are to be found in many parts of the country. The waters of the lake between Laodiceia and Apameia, although like a sea, emit a muddy smell, as if they had come through a subterraneous channel. It is said that actions are brought against the Maeander for transferring land from one place to another by sweeping away the angles of the windings, and a fine is levied out of the toll, which is paid at the ferries.
μεταξὺ δὲ τῆς Λαοδικείας καὶ τῶν Καρούρων ἱερὸν ἔστι Μηνὸς Κάρου καλούμενον τιμώμενον ἀξιολόγως. συνέστη δὲ καθʼ ἡμᾶς διδασκαλεῖον Ἡροφιλείων ἰατρῶν μέγα ὑπὸ Ζεύξιδος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φιλαλήθους, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν πατέρων τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐν Σμύρνῃ τὸ τῶν Ἐρασιστρατείων ὑπὸ Ἱκεσίου· νῦν δὲ οὐχ ὁμοίως ἔτι συμμένει.
Between Laodiceia and Carura is a temple of Mén Carus, which is held in great veneration. In our time there was a large Herophilian school of medicine under the direction of Zeuxis, and afterwards of Alexander Philalethes, as in the time of our ancestors there was, at Smyrna, a school of the disciples of Erasistratus under the conduct of Hicesius, At present there is nothing of this kind.
λέγεται δέ τινα φῦλα Φρύγια οὐδαμοῦ δεικνύμενα, ὥσπερ οἱ Βερέκυντες. καὶ Ἀλκμὰν λέγει Φρύγιον ηὔλησε μέλος τὸ Κερβήσιον. / καὶ βόθυνός τις λέγεται Κερβήσιος ἔχων ὀλεθρίους ἀποφοράς· ἀλλʼ οὗτός γε δείκνυται, οἱ δʼ ἄνθρωποι οὐκέθʼ οὕτω λέγονται. Αἰσχύλος δὲ συγχεῖ ἐν τῇ Νιόβῃ· φησὶ γὰρ ἐκείνη μνησθήσεσθαι τῶν περὶ Τάνταλον οἷς ἐν Ἰδαίῳ πάγῳ / Διὸς πατρῴου βωμός ἐστι / καὶ πάλιν Σίπυλον Ἰδαίαν ἀνὰ χθόνα. / καὶ ὁ Τάνταλος λέγει σπείρω δʼ ἄρουραν δώδεχʼ ἡμερῶν ὁδόν, / Βερέκυντα χῶρον, ἔνθʼ Ἀδραστείας ἕδος / Ἴδη τε μυκηθμοῖσι καὶ βρυχήμασι / βρέμουσι μήλων, πᾶν τʼ ἐρέχθειον πέδον. /
The names of some Phrygian tribes, as the Berecyntes [and Cerbesii], are mentioned, which no longer exist. And Aleman says, He played the Cerbesian, a Phrygian air. / They speak also of a Cerbesian pit which sends forth destructive exhalations; this however exists, but the people have no longer the name of Cerbesii. Aeschylus in his Niobe confounds them; Niobe says that she shall remember Tantalus, and his story; those who have an altar of Jupiter, their paternal god, on the Idaean hill, / and again; Sipylus in the Idaean land, / —and Tantalus says, I sow the furrows of the Berecynthian fields, extending twelve days’ journey, where the seat of Adrasteia and Ida resound with the lowing of herds and the bleating of sheep; all the plain re-echoes with their cries.
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