19.

Myrsilus tells us that Antissa399 was formerly an island, and so called because it was opposite to Lesbos,400 then named Issa. Now, however, it forms one of the towns of Lesbos.401 Some have believed that Lesbos itself has been disjoined from Mount Ida in the same way as Prochytas402 and Pithecussa403 from Misenum,404 Capreæ405 from the Athenæum, Sicily from Rhegium,406 and Ossa from Olympus.407 Many changes similar to these have occurred elsewhere. The river Ladon in Arcadia ceased for some time its flow. Duris informs us that the Rhagæ408 in Media gained that appellation from chasms made in the ground near the Gates of the Caspian409 by earthquakes, in which many cities and villages were destroyed, and the rivers underwent various changes. Ion, in his satirical composition of Omphale, has said of Eubœa,

“The light wave of the Euripus has divided the land of Eubœa from Bœotia; separating the projecting land by a strait.”