μετὰ δὲ Σκῆψιν Ἄνδειρα καὶ Πιονίαι καὶ ἡ Γαργαρίς. ἔστι δὲ λίθος περὶ τὰ Ἄνδειρα, ὃς καιόμενος σίδηρος γίνεται· εἶτα μετὰ γῆς τινος καμινευθεὶς ἀποστάζει ψευδάργυρον, ἣ προσλαβοῦσα χαλκὸν τὸ καλούμενον γίνεται κρᾶμα, ὅ τινες ὀρείχαλκον καλοῦσι· γίνεται δὲ ψευδάργυρος καὶ περὶ τὸν Τμῶλον. ταῦτα δʼ ἐστὶ τὰ χωρία, ἃ οἱ Λέλεγες κατεῖχον· ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ τὰ περὶ Ἄσσον.
Next to Scepsis are Andeira, Pioniae, and Gargaris. There is found at Andeira a stone, which when burnt becomes iron. It is then put into a furnace together with some kind of earth, when it distils a mock silver, (Pseudargyrum,) or with the addition of copper it becomes the compound called oreichalcum. There is found a mock silver near Tmolus also. These places and those about Assus were occupied by the Leleges.
ἔστι δὲ ἡ Ἄσσος ἐρυμνὴ καὶ εὐτειχής, ἀπὸ θαλάττης καὶ τοῦ λιμένος ὀρθίαν καὶ μακρὰν ἀνάβασιν ἔχουσα, ὥστʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς οἰκείως εἰρῆσθαι δοκεῖ τὸ τοῦ Στρατονίκου τοῦ κιθαριστοῦ Ἄσσον ἴθʼ, ὥς κεν θᾶσσον ὀλέθρου πείραθʼ ἵκηαι. / ὁ δὲ λιμὴν χώματι κατεσκεύασται μεγάλῳ. ἐντεῦθεν ἦν Κλεάνθης, ὁ στωικὸς φιλόσοφος, ὁ διαδεξάμενος τὴν Ζήνωνος τοῦ Κιτιέως σχολήν, καταλιπὼν δὲ Χρυσίππῳ τῷ Σολεῖ· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης διέτριψε διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἑρμείαν τὸν τύραννον κηδείαν. ἦν δὲ Ἑρμείας εὐνοῦχος, τραπεζίτου τινὸς οἰκέτης· γενόμενος δʼ Ἀθήνησιν ἠκροάσατο καὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους· ἐπανελθὼν δὲ τῷ δεσπότῃ συνετυράννησε, πρῶτον ἐπιθεμένῳ τοῖς περὶ Ἀταρνέα καὶ Ἄσσον χωρίοις· ἔπειτα διεδέξατο ἐκεῖνον καὶ μετεπέμψατο τόν τε Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Ξενοκράτην καὶ ἐπεμελήθη αὐτῶν, τῷ δʼ Ἀριστοτέλει καὶ θυγατέρα ἀδελφοῦ συνῴκισε. Μέμνων δʼ ὁ Ῥόδιος ὑπηρετῶν τότε τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ στρατηγῶν, προσποιησάμενος φιλίαν καλεῖ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ξενίας τε ἅμα καὶ πραγμάτων προσποιητῶν χάριν, συλλαβὼν δʼ ἀνέπεμψεν ὡς τὸν βασιλέα, κἀκεῖ κρεμασθεὶς ἀπώλετο· οἱ φιλόσοφοι δʼ ἐσώθησαν φεύγοντες τὰ χωρία ἃ οἱ Πέρσαι κατέσχον.
Assus is a strong place, and well fortified with walls. There is a long and perpendicular ascent from the sea and the harbour, so that the verse of Stratonicus the citharist seems to be applicable to it; Go to Assus, if you mean to reach quickly the confines of death. / The harbour is formed of a large mole.
Cleanthes, the Stoic philosopher, was a native of this place. He succeeded to the school of Zeno of Citium, and left it to Chrysippus of Soli. Here also Aristotle resided for some time, on account of his relationship to Hermeas the tyrant. Hermeas was an eunuch, servant of a money-changer. When he was at Athens he was the hearer both of Plato and of Aristotle. On his return he became the associate in the tyranny of his master, who attacked the places near Atarneus and Assus. He afterwards succeeded his master, sent for both Aristotle and Xenocrates, and treated them with kindness. He even gave his niece in marriage to Aristotle. But Memnon of Rhodes, who was at that time general in the service of the Persians, invited to his house Hermeas, under the mask of friendship, and—on pretence of business. He seized Hermeas, and sent him to the king, who ordered him to be hanged. The philosophers, avoiding places in possession of the Persians, escaped by flight.
φησὶ δὲ Μυρσίλος Μηθυμναίων κτίσμα εἶναι τὴν Ἄσσον, Ἑλλάνικός τε καὶ Αἰολίδα φησίν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ Γάργαρα καὶ ἡ Λαμπωνία Αἰολέων. Ἀσσίων γάρ ἐστι κτίσμα τὰ Γάργαρα, οὐκ εὖ συνοικούμενα· ἐποίκους γὰρ οἱ βασιλεῖς εἰσήγαγον ἐκ Μιλητουπόλεως ἐρημώσαντες ἐκείνην, ὥστε ἡμιβαρβάρους γενέσθαι φησὶ Δημήτριος αὐτοὺς ὁ Σκήψιος ἀντὶ Αἰολέων. καθʼ Ὅμηρον μέντοι ταῦτα πάντα ἦν Λελέγων, οὓς τινὲς μὲν Κᾶρας ἀποφαίνουσιν, Ὅμηρος δὲ χωρίζει πρὸς μὲν ἁλὸς Κᾶρες καὶ Παίονες ἀγκυλότοξοι / καὶ Λέλεγες καὶ Καύκωνες. / ἕτεροι μὲν τοίνυν τῶν Καρῶν ὑπῆρξαν, ᾤκουν δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν ὑπὸ τῷ Αἰνείᾳ καὶ τῶν καλουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ Κιλίκων· ἐκπορθηθέντες δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως μετέστησαν εἰς τὴν Καρίαν, καὶ κατέσχον τὰ περὶ τὴν νῦν Ἁλικαρνασὸν χωρία.
Myrsilus says that Assus was founded by Methymnaeans; but according to Hellanicus it was an Aeolian city, like Gargara and Lamponia of the Aeolians. Gargara was founded from Assus; it was not well peopled, for the kings introduced settlers from Miletopolis, which they cleared of its inhabitants, so that Demetrius the Scepsian says that, instead of being Aeolians, the people became semi-barbarians. In the time of Homer all these places belonged to Leleges, whom some writers represent as Carians, but Homer distinguishes them, Near the sea are Carians, and Poeonians with curved bows, Leleges, and Caucones. The Leleges were therefore a different people from the Carians, and lived between the people subject to Aeneas and the Cilicians, as they are called by the poet. After being plundered by Achilles, they removed to Caria, and occupied the country about the present Halicarnassus.
ἡ μὲν τοίνυν ἐκλειφθεῖσα ὑπʼ αὐτῶν πόλις Πήδασος οὐκέτʼ ἐστίν, ἐν δὲ τῇ μεσογαίᾳ τῶν Ἁλικαρνασέων τὰ Πήδασα ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὀνομασθέντα ἦν πόλις, καὶ νῦν ἡ χώρα Πηδασὶς λέγεται. φασὶ δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ ὀκτὼ πόλεις ᾠκίσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν Λελέγων πρότερον εὐανδρησάντων, ὥστε καὶ τῆς Καρίας κατασχεῖν τῆς μέχρι Μύνδου καὶ Βαργυλίων, καὶ τῆς Πισιδίας ἀποτεμέσθαι πολλήν. ὕστερον δʼ ἅμα τοῖς Καρσὶ στρατευόμενοι κατεμερίσθησαν εἰς ὅλην τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ ἠφανίσθη τὸ γένος, τῶν δʼ ὀκτὼ πόλεων τὰς ἓξ Μαύσωλος εἰς μίαν τὴν Ἁλικαρνασὸν συνήγαγεν, ὡς Καλλισθένης ἱστορεῖ· Συάγγελα δὲ καὶ Μύνδον διεφύλαξε. τοῖς δὲ Πηδασεῦσι τούτοις φησὶν Ἡρόδοτος ὅτε μέλλοι τι ἀνεπιτήδειον ἔσεσθαι καὶ τοῖς περιοίκοις, τὴν ἱέρειαν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς πώγωνα ἴσχειν· τρὶς δὲ συμβῆναι τοῦτο αὐτοῖς. Πήδασον δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ νῦν Στρατονικέων πολίχνιόν ἐστιν. ἐν ὅλῃ δὲ Καρίᾳ καὶ ἐν Μιλήτῳ Λελέγων τάφοι καὶ ἐρύματα καὶ ἴχνη κατοικιῶν δείκνυται.
Pedasus, the city which they abandoned, is no longer in existence. But in the interior of the country belonging to the people of Halicarnassus there was a city called by them Pedasa, and the territory has even now the name of Pedasis. It is said that this district contained eight cities, occupied by the Leleges, who were formerly so populous a nation as to possess Caria as far as Myndus, Bargylia, and a great part of Pisidia. In later times, when they united with the Carians in their expeditions, they were dispersed throughout the whole of Greece, and the race became extinct.
Mausolus, according to Callisthenes, assembled in Halicarnassus alone the inhabitants of six out of the eight cities, but allowed Suangela and Myndus to remain untouched. Herodotus relates that whenever anything unfortunate was about to befall the inhabitants of Pedasus and the neighbourhood a beard appeared on the face of the priestess of Minerva, and that this happened three times.
There is now existing in the territory of the Stratoniceis a small town called Pedasum. There are to be seen throughout the whole of Caria and at Miletus sepulchres, and fortifications, and vestiges of settlements of the Leleges.
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