Geography (Books 6-14) (7.frag.42-7.frag.45)

What is now the city Philippi was called Crenides in early times.

Off this seaboard lie two islands, Lemnos and Thasos. And after the strait of Thasos one comes to Abdera[*] and the scene of the myths connected with Abderus. It was inhabited by the Bistonian Thracians over whom Diomedes ruled. The Nestus River does not always remain in the same bed, but oftentimes floods the country. Then come Dicaea,[*] a city situated on a gulf, and a harbor. Above these lies the Bistonis,[*] a lake which has a circuit of about two hundred stadia. It is said that, because this plain was altogether a hollow and lower than the sea, Heracles, since he was inferior in horse when he came to get the mares of Diomedes, dug a canal through the shore and let in the water of the sea upon the plain and thus mastered his adversaries. One is shown also the royal residence[*] of Diomedes, which, because of its naturally strong position and from what is actually the case, is called Cartera Come.[*] After the lake, which is midway between, come Xantheia,[*] Maroneia,[*] and Ismarus,[*] the cities of the Cicones. Ismarus, however, is now called Ismara; it is near Maroneia. And near here, also, Lake Ismaris sends forth its stream; this stream is called Odysseium. And here, too, are what are called the Thasiön Cephalae.[*] But the people situated in the interior are Sapaei.

Topeira is near Abdera and Maroneia.

The aforesaid Ismarus, in later times called Ismara, is, they say, a city of the Cicones; it is near Maroneia, where is also a lake, the stream of which is called Odysseium; here too is a hero-temple of Maron, as the Geographer records.

The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabit the island Lemnos; and from this fact Homer calls them Sinties, when he says,

“where me the Sinties . . .”