Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/439

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B. VI. C. III. § 3.
ITALY. IAPYGIA. TARENTUM.
425

committed them to prison, but sent Phalanthus to inquire after a new settlement. He received from the oracle the following response,
“To thee Satyrium[1] I have given, and the rich country of Tarentum to inhabit, and thou shalt become a scourge to the Iapygians.”

The Partheniæ accordingly accompanied Phalanthus to their destination, and the barbarians and Cretans,[2] who already possessed the country, received them kindly. They say that these Cretans were the party who sailed with Minos to Sicily, and that after his death, which took place at Camici,[3] in the palace of Cocalus, they took ship and set sail from Sicily, but in their voyage they were cast by tempest on this coast, some of whom, afterwards coasting the Adriatic on foot, reached Macedonia, and were called Bottiæi.[4] They further add, that all the people who reach as far as Daunia were called Iapygians, from Iapyx, who was born to Dædalus by a Cretan woman, and became a chief leader of the Cretans. The city Tarentum was named from a certain hero.[5]

3. Ephorus gives the following account of the foundation. The Lacedæmonians waged war against the Messenians, who had murdered their king, Teleclus,[y 1] when he visited Messene to offer sacrifice. They took an oath that they would not return home before they had destroyed Messene, or should be

  1. ↑ About eight miles to the east or south-east of Taranto, upon the coast, we find a place named Saturo. In this place the country open to the south presents the most agreeable aspect. Sheltered from the north wind, and watered by numerous running streams, it produces the choicest fruits, oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, figs, and all manner of garden produce, with which Taranto is abundantly supplied. Ant. de Ferrar. Galat. de sit. Iapyg. edit. nell. Raccolt. d’Opusc. sc. et philol. tom. vii. p. 80.
  2. ↑ Mazoch. Prod. ad Heracl. pseph. diatr. ii. cap. 4, sect. 4, page 96, not. 51, considers that we should not make a distinction between these barbarians and Cretans, but that they were identical.
  3. ↑ According to Sicilian topographers, Camici was the same as the citadel of Acragas [Girgenti].—Cluvier, Sic. Ant. lib. ii. cap. 15, p. 207, is of opinion that Camici occupied the site of Siculiana, on the Fiume delle Canne. D’Anville, Géogr. Anc. tom. i. p. 219, and tom. iii. p. 146, seems to locate Camici at Platanella, on the Fiume di Platani.
  4. ↑ There are various readings of this name.
  5. ↑ There is a tradition that Taras was born to Neptune by Satyræa, daughter of Minos.
  1. ↑ About 745 B. C.
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