Stephanos of Byzantion "sigma.nu. Korion" [Greek] Huxley, George Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1970; 11, 1; ProQuest pg. 53 Stephanos of Byzantion s. v. K6ptov George Huxley THE ARTICLE of Stephan os on Korion is given in Meineke's edition (p.374, 12-15) in the following form: V' I , K I " I ,. \ I V I , \ I n.opWV, 'TOTTOC EV PYJ'TTJ aTTO KOPYJC TLVoc. 0 TTOI\LTYjC n.OPYJctOC. KaL I\Lf-tVYJ v I "AO ~ • 'v , ~ \:' , ., ~ I I n.OpTJCta. Kat TJvac LEpOV n.opTJULac. 'TaU'Ta OE aTTO 'TOU KOPTJ yEyOVEV. • ,~, ~ T.T I , "\ T.T , aTTO OE 'TOU n.opWV 'TO aval\oyov n.OpLEUC. The mention of a Atf-tVYJ led Pendlebury to identify Korion with a site near Lake Kournas in Crete, south of Kavallos MetokhF P. Faure described Pendlebury's site as a Roman village,2 and M. S. F. Hood thought that it was mediaeval or later;3 neither favoured the identifi­ cation with Korion. In fact, there is no need to look for Korion beside a lake. In the Stephanos article the words from <> TToAtTYjC to YEyovEv inclusive are quite clearly not at home here: they belong at the end of the article s.v. KopYJccoc, where Stephan os discusses Keian Kores(s)os. The article s.v. KopYJccoc should end: Kat KopYJccla TTOAtXVWV 'Tfjc KEW Kat ETT{VEWV. <> \ I V I , \ I V I , 'AO ~ • 'T.T I ~ TTOI\LTYjC n.oPYJCCWC. KaL I\Lf-tVYJ n.opYJCCLa. KaL TJvac LEpOV n.0PTJCCLac. 'TaU'Ta o~ {bo 'TOU KOPYJ yEYOVEV. The Atf-tVYJ mentioned here is the great natural inlet, the best harbour in Keos, in the north of the island. Its modern name is Ay. Nikolaos. Ancient Koressia lay on its southern shore. For the use of Atf-tVYJ to mean an arm of the sea, MaAt8a TTap A{f-tVaV in Sophokles, Trachiniai 636 may be compared. The vague folk-etymology of Korion aTTO KOPYJC TLVOC gives no help in identifying the maiden named :in Stephan os' source. Servius on Aeneid 3.111 (1.362 Thilo), however, makes some relevant comments on the Corybantes: quos qUidam Corybantes dictos ideo tradunt, aTTo 'Tfjc KopYJc; Cory bas enim Proserpina, quae KopYJ dicitur Graece, sine patre 1 The Archaeology of Crete (London 1939) 370. For Lake Kournas see also RE 11.2 (1922) 1734-35 and rer II, Map. s BCR 84 (1960) 206. 3 BSA 61 (1966) 169 n.23. 53 54 STEPHANOS OF BYZANTION s.v. KOPlON natus. alii Corybantes ab aere appellatos, quod apud Cyprum mons sit aeris ferax, quem tcypri coriam vocant. Corybantes are more to be expected in Crete than in Cyprus; Servius is remarking on a Cretan context in the Aeneid; and so Hill suggested that Cyprum may be a mistake here, the reference being to Korion in Crete.4 It is thus possible that in local Cretan myth Korion was associated both with mining or metal work­ ing and with the Corybantes, as well as with Persephone; but the TLV6~ of Stephanos shows that he had not properly understood his source. It is worth noting, incidentally, that Koreion at Akrai in Sicily means a sanctuary of K6pTJ (IG XIV 217). Who was the source? Almost certainly he was Xenion, the historian of Crete (FGrHist 460), the principal authority used by Stephanos for information about the island.5 The dependence on Xenion in the article s. v. K6pLOV would be certain if we could securely emend the entry s.v. Kd.v-ravoc to include a reference to K6pLOV. The article on Kantanos is given in Meineke's edition (p.354) as follows: Kd.VTaVOC, 7T6;\LC Kp~'TTJc wc EEVtWV EV 7TEpLOptOV KpTJ'TLKOV T67TOV. T6 E8vLK6V KaVTd.VLOC. (T67TOV R V, TV7TOV Pp, T67TC[J A). Seeing that 7TEpLOptOV is corrupt, the editor commented "tenebricosa verba nemo dum expedivit. scribendum videtur WC EEVtWV. EV [Tep] 7TEP' 'OpLoV." He therefore supposed a place Orion to exist, and for it he provided a hypothetical entry on p.495. He admitted that an Orion is not known elsewhere; "at Orios (TOVC 'Optovc) habes apud Polyb. 4, 53." Polybius here refers to the confederation of the Oreioi, who are also known from their treaty with Magas of K yrene (Inscriptiones Creticae IT, Lisos 1) and from coins. Hence in this fragment of Xenion, it has been supposed, there is a corrupt reference to the confederation of the Oreioi. 6 However, Orion is not elsewhere attested as a Cretan place name; Oreioi-the people-cannot be a T67TOC; and their land is called Oreia, not Orion, in their treaty with Magas. As Jacoby says:7 "Gegen die einruhrung der "OPLOL bestehen palaeographische und sachliche bedenken." Xenion's work is known solely as llep' Kp~'TTJc or KpTJ'TLKd.; so there is no point in emending to EV 7TEPL6oC[J KpTJ'TLKWV T67TWV (FHG , Sir George Hill, A History of Cyprus (Cambridge 1949) 86 n.2. i P. Faure, BullBude 1960, p.229, discusses Stephanos' dependence on Xenion for KfYT)'TLKa. 8 H. van Efl"enterre, La Crete et Ie monde grec de Platon Ii Polybe (Paris 1948 [1%8]) 120-21. See also J. N. Svoronos, ArchEph 1889, 206ff; Guarducci, ICr II p.213; eadem, RivFC N.S. 16 (1938) 50-51. 7 On FGrHist 460 p 8, n.24. GEORGE HUXLEY 55 4.528-529).8 We need, not an ethnic, but a place name discussed by Stephanos himself. The name will. be in the genitive following 1T€pl, will contain the element -opwv, and will be in west Crete, as is Kantanos. The difficulty over "OP'Ot is removed if for the corrupt 1TfPWptOV we substitute 7Tf:PL Koplov, but it must be admitted that there is no particular reason for supposing Xenion to have connected Kantanos with Korion. A possible text s. v. KavTcxvoc is: 1'f(),,",c KpTJT"f'jC, wc E€VLWV , < ~ > \ TT 'K ~, \'0' TT I \ TT , €V TCf> 1T€PL n.OpWV p"f'jTLKOV T01TOV. TO € VLKOV n.CXVTCXVLOC. 7T€P' n.opwv would refer, not to a distinct work, but to a part of Xenion's Kretika. Korion, as we have seen, is not likely to have been situated near Lake Kournas. It may however have been the name of an ancient settlement near Melambes (BovAyd,p"f'j 'Ap/-tOKd,CT€AAcx) in the province of A yios Vasilios. From here came an inscription mentioning ci: 7T€VT"f'j­ KOCTOC a 7TbAwc KWpLWV.9 The neighbourhood has been described by Hood and Warren.10 If ancient Korion was in fact near Melambes, then it lay at a considerable distance from Kantanos; in that case the proposed emendation of Stephan os s.v. KaVTCXVOC becomes less likely. Alternatively we may look for Korion nearer to Kantanos. The form KWPLWV is, however, some support for the identification of the site near Melambes with K6pwv.u THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST january, 1970 8 Mueller's alternative suggestion (FHG, loe.cit.) was EV JIapoplov (-£lov) Kp7JTLKCP T61TCfI. He also tried EV 1TapoplCfl KpTJTLKfjC T61TCfI. JiJ 1TapwpElcp Kp~TTJc T61T