Volume 1
The geography of Strabo / Literally translated, with notes. The first six books by H. C .Hamilton, esq., the remainder by W. Falconer.
- Strabo
- Date:
- 1854-1857
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The geography of Strabo / Literally translated, with notes. The first six books by H. C .Hamilton, esq., the remainder by W. Falconer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
516/542 page 502
![I have spoken of the Pela.sgi in the account of Tyr- rhenia. AVith respect to Dodona, Homer clearly intimate.s that the people who lived about the temple were barbarians, from their mode of life, describing them as persons who do not wash their feet, and who sleep on the ground. Whether we should read Helli, with Pindar, or Selli, as it is conjectured the word existed in Homer, the ambiguity of the writing does not permit us to affirm confidently. Pliilochorus .says, that the country about Dodona was called, like Euboea, Hellopia; for these are the wmrds of Hesiod, “ There is a country Hellopia, rich in com-fields and pastures ; at its extremity is built Dodona.” It is supposed, says Apollodorus, that it had this name from the “ hele,” or marshes about the temple. He is of opinion that the poet did not call the people about the temple Helli, but Selli, adding, that Homer mentions a certain river (near) of the name of Sellcis. He specifies the name in this line. “ .\t a distance far from Ephyra, from the river Selleis. ’ [Demetrius of Skepsis contends that] Ephyra of Thesprotia is not here meant, but Ephyra of Elis. For the river ^lleis is in Elis, and there is no river of this name cither in Thes- protia or among the Alolotti. The fable of the oak and the doves, and other similar things, like the stories connected with Delphi, althougli they are subjects more adapted to engage the attention of a poet, yet are appropriate to tlie description of l^e country with which we arc now occupied. Dodona was formerly subjept to the Tliesproti, as was the mountain Tomarms, or Tmarus, (both names are in use.) be- low whicli the temple is situated. The tragic writers and Pindar give the. epithet of Thesprotis to Dodona. It was said to be sulject, in later times, to the Molotti. Those called by the ])oet Jove’s interpretei's,' and described by him as men witli unwashen feet, wlio slept on the ground, were, it is said, called Tomuri''^ from Alount Tomarus, and the passage in the Odyssey containing the advice of Amphinomus to the suitors ' v-o^ifTai. • rp/iorpoi.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24872556_0001_0516.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
