35.

The coasting circumnavigation of Chios is 900 stadia. It has a city79 with a good port, and a station for eighty vessels. In the voyage round the island, a person sailing from the city, with the island on his right hand, first meets with Poseidium,80 then Phanæ,81 a deep harbour, and a temple of Apollo, and a grove of palm trees; then Notium, a part of the coast affording a shelter for vessels; next Laïus,82 which is also a place of shelter for vessels; hence to the city is an isthmus of 60 stadia. The circumnavigation is 360 stadia, as I have before described it. Next, the promontory Melæna,83 opposite to which is Psyra,84 an island distant from the promontory 50 stadia, lofty, with a city of the same name. The island is 40 stadia in circumference. Next is the rugged tract, Ariusia, without harbours, about 30 stadia in extent. It produces the best of the Grecian wines. Then follows Pelinæum,85 the highest mountain in the island. In the island is a marble quarry.

Among illustrious natives of Chios were Ion86 the tragic writer, Theopompus the historian, and Theocritus the sophist. The two latter persons were opposed to each other in the political parties in the state. The Chians claim Homer as a native of their country, alleging as a proof the Homeridæ, as they are called, descendants from his family, whom Pindar mentions:

“Whence also the Homeridæ, the chanters of the rhapsodies, most frequently begin their song.”87

The Chians once possessed a naval force, and aspired to the sovereignty of the sea, and to liberty.88

From Chios to Lesbos is a voyage of about 400 stadia, with a south wind.

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[CAS. 645]36. After the Hypocremnus is Chytrium, a place where Clazomenæ89 formerly stood; then the present city, having in front eight small islands, the land of which is cultivated by husbandmen.

Anaxagoras, the natural philosopher, was a distinguished Clazomenian; he was a disciple of Anaximenes the Milesian, and master of Archelaus the natural philosopher, and of Euripides the poet.

Next is a temple of Apollo, and hot springs, the bay of Smyrna, and the city Smyrna.