Πληροφορίες τοπωνυμίου

Salamis, Sciras, Cychreia, Pityussa

On the voyage from Nisaea to Attica one comes to five small islands. Then to Salamis, which is about seventy stadia in length, though some say eighty. It contains a city of the same name; the ancient city, now deserted, faces towards Aegina and the south wind (just as Aeschylus has said, "And Aegina here lies towards the blasts of the south wind"), but the city of today is situated on a gulf, on a peninsula-like place which borders on Attica. In early times it was called by different names, for example, "Sciras" and "Cychreia," after certain heroes. It is from one of these heroes that Athena is called "Sciras," and that a place in Attica is called "Scira," and that a certain sacred rite is performed in honor of "Scirus," and that one of the months is called "Scirophorion."
  And it is from the other hero that the serpent "Cychreides" took its name--the serpent which, according to Hesiod, was fostered by Cychreus and driven out by Eurylochus because it was damaging the island, and was welcomed to Eleusis by Demeter and made her attendant. And the island was also called Pityussa, from the tree. But the fame of the island is due to the Aiacidae, who ruled over it, and particularly to Aias, the son of Telamon, and also to the fact that near this island Xerxes was defeated by the Greeks in a naval battle and fled to his homeland. And the Aeginetans also shared in the glory of this struggle, since they were neighbors and furnished a considerable fleet. And there is in Salamis a river Bocarus, which is now called Bocalia.
   At the present time the island is held by the Athenians, although in early times there was strife between them and the Megarians for its possession. Some say that it was Peisistratus, others Solon, who inserted in the Catalogue of Ships immediately after the verse, "and Aias brought twelve ships from Salamis," the verse, "and, bringing them, halted them where the battalions of the Athenians were stationed," and then used the poet as a witness that the island had belonged to the Athenians from the beginning. But the critics do not accept this interpretation, because many of the verses bear witness to the contrary. For why is Aias found in the last place in the ship-camp, not with the Athenians, but with the Thessalians under Protesilaus, "Here were the ships of Aias and Protesilaus."
  And in the Visitation of the troops, Agamemnon "found Menestheus the charioteer, son of Peteos, standing still; and about him were the Athenians, masters of the battle-cry. And near by stood Odysseus of many wiles, and about him, at his side, the ranks of the Cephallenians." And back again to Aias and the Salaminians, "he came to the Aiantes," and near them, "Idomeneus on the other side," not Menestheus. The Athenians, then, are reputed to have cited alleged testimony of this kind from Homer, and the Megarians to have replied with the following parody: "Aias brought ships from Salamis, from Polichne, from Aegeirussa, from Nisaea, and from Tripodes"; these four are Megarian places, and, of these, Tripodes is called Tripodiscium, near which the present marketplace of the Megarians is situated.
  Some say that Salamis is foreign to Attica, citing the fact that the priestess of Athena Polias does not touch the fresh cheese made in Attica, but eats only that which is brought from a foreign country, yet uses, among others, that from Salamis. Wrongly, for she eats cheese brought from the other islands that are admittedly attached to Attica, since those who began this custom considered as "foreign" any cheese that was imported by sea. But it seems that in early times the present Salamis was a separate state, and that Megara was a part of Attica. And it is on the seaboard opposite Salamis that the boundaries between the Megarian country and Atthis are situated--two mountains which are called Cerata.

Perseus: Strabo, Geography
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