| SANGARIOS:
Krka |
III; 184:
Ere now have I [Priam] journeyed to the land of Phrygia... and
there I saw in multitudes the Phrygian warriors... that were
then encamped along the banks of Sangarius. For I, too, being
their ally, was numbered among them on the day when the Amazones
came, the peers of men.
XVI; 717:
...Asius, that was uncle to horse-taming Hector, and own brother
to Hecabe, but son of Dymas, that dwelt in Phrygia by the streams
of Sangarius.
The northernmost
river of Troy, the natural border, if you wish, of a land which
had no defined borders, though breaching it might well have been
construed as a territorial aggression.
MAPS
|
| SATNIOEIS:
Cetina |
VI; 34:
...and the king of men, Agamemnon, slew Elatus that dwelt in
steep Pedasos by the banks of fair-flowing Satnioeis.
XIV; 445:
Then far the first did swift Aias, son of Oleus, leap upon Satnius
and wound him with a thrust of his sharp spear, even the son
of Enops, whom a peerless Naiad nymph conceived to Enops,* as
he tended his herds by the banks of Satnioeis.
XXI; 86:
"Altes that is lord over the war-loving Leleges,
holding steep Pedasos on the Satnioeis."
The Satnioes
rose in the interior from a plain (now Perucko lake) at the foot
of mount Dinara (1831 mts.), gradually cutting a deep winding
course through the Biokovo range to debouch suddenly at Omis from
a winding gorge of high sheer walls.
MAPS
*The name of Enops is surely a metathesis of Epones (cf. Altes),
who likely tended horses in the fields at the source of the Satnioes.
|
| SKAMANDROS:
Naro, Narenta, Neretva |
XII; 17:
...then verily did Poseidon and Apollo take counsel to sweep away
the wall, [of the Danaans] bringing against it the might of all
the rivers that flow forth from the mountains of Ida to the seaRhesus
and Heptaporus and Caresus and Rhodius, and Granicus and Aesepus,
and goodly Scamander, and Simos, by the banks whereof many shields
of bull's-hide and many helms fell in the dust... of all
these did Phoebus Apollo turn the mouths together, and for nine
days' space he drave their flood against the wall...
The great River
of Troy, it rose deep in the interior from two Y-like sources in
the Zelengora mountains, one being the Heptaporos (Ostrovaca) and
the other the Skamandros itself. It was met in its course to the
sea by eight tributaries, four on either side of its banks, with
the exception of the Granikos (Ugrovaca) which, though a part of
the watershed, disappeared into the ground before reaching the Skamandros.
The geological fact that the Skamandros cut transversally through
the mountains of Ida (Biokovo) lent it a wide diversity of geological
curiosities. And, that it has been a natural highway to and from
the coast and the interior since neolithic times, has consistently
contributed to a diversity of life styles in the its rich, earthy
valleys running more-or-less perpendicular to its course.
Of Skamandros' tributaries, and its mighty torrents, is the following
IN THE ORDER LISTED ABOVE:
| RHESOS |
|
like
Karhesos (Trebizat), flows but then dries |
|
|
|
HEPTAPOROS |
|
with
Skamandros passes 'seven mouths' |
|
|
|
| KARHESOS |
|
like
Rhesos (Bregava), flows in cascades |
|
|
|
RHODIOS |
|
emerges
from chasm in a loud thunder |
|
|
|
GRANIKOS |
|
disappears
into crags in the ground |
|
|
|
| AISEPOS |
|
like
Simoeis (Krka), drains two mountain lakes |
|
|
|
SKAMANDROS |
|
mingles
with waters of Heptaporos (Ostrovaca) |
|
|
|
| SIMOEIS |
|
like
Aisepos (Rama), drains two muddy areas |
MAPS |
| AISEPOS:
Rama |
A tributary
of the SKAMANDROS (Neretva), meaning 'ever dank', was perhaps
so called not only because it drained two marshy valleys, but
also because of the mysterious and unpleasant character of the
those living in the environs:
II; 824:
And they that dwelt in Zeleia beneath the nethermost foot of
Ida, mean of wealth, that drink the dark water of Aesepus, even
the Troes, these again were led by the glorious son of Lycaon,
Pandarus...
IV; 89:
And she [Athene in the guise of Laodocus] found Lycaon's son,
[Pandarus] peerless and stalwart, as he stood, and about him
were the stalwart ranks of the shield-bearing hosts that followed
him from the streams of Aesepos.
MAPS
|
| ASOPOS:
Mala Neretva |
The last tributary
of the SKAMANDROS (Neretva), it drains the marshes of HYPOPLAKIA
(Jezero Kuti)and debouches a short distance away at Opuzen.
IV; 376:
"Once verily [says Agamemnon] he came to Mycenae, not as
an enemy, but as a guest, in company with godlike Polyneices,
to gather a host; for in that day they were waging a war against
the sacred walls of Thebe, and earnestly did they make prayer
that glorious allies be granted them... So when they had departed
and were got forth upon their way, and had come to Asopos with
deep reeds, that coucheth in grass, there did the Achaeans send
forth Tydeus on an embassage. And he went his way, and found
the many sons of Cadmus feasting in the house of mighty Eteocles.
Then, for all he was a stranger, the horseman Tydeus feared
not, all alone though he was amid the many Cadmeians, but challenged
them all to feats of strength, and in every one vanquished he
them full easily... But the Cadmeians, goaders of horses, waxed
wroth, and as he journeyed back, brought and set a strong ambush...
But Tydeus even upon these let loose a shameful fate, and slew
them all..."
The name is
likely derived from a-, an intensive inseparable prefix, + the
Illyrian reduplicative-type root sipo-, connoting a 'soppy' sense,
as if meaning 'very soggy and marshy', indeed an apt despcription.
|
| GRANIKOS:
Ugrovacæa. |
A
tributary of the SKAMANDROS (Neretva) which, oddly, never meets
the Skamandros, but, rather, disappears into the porous ground near
Mostar.
MAPS
|
| HEPTAPOROS:
Ostrovaca. |
One of the
two sources of the Skamandros (Neretva), the other being the Skamandros
itself, so called because its waters, or those of the Skamandros
with which they have mingled, pass the mouthsor 'pores'of
seven other tributaries. Yet there are eight other tributaries
below the Heptaporosfour on either sideand so the
name may only be explained by the fact the Granikos (Ugrovaca)
never reaches the Skamandros but, rather, disappears into the
porous ground.
MAPS
|
| KARHESOS:
Trebizat |
A
tributary of the Skamandros (Neretva), so called because of its
four beautiful hair-like fan-shaped falls.
MAPS
|
| RHESOS:
Bregava. |
A
tributary of the SKAMANDROS (Neretva), apparently so-called because
of its off-and-on seasonal floodings when its otherwise dry and
stony bed becomes gorged with snow waters and conger eels.
4. PLACES OF INTEREST: NATURAL POOLS, Women's Washing Tanks.
MAPS
|
| RHODIOS:
Buna |
A
tributary of the Skamandros (Neretva) which emerges from a deep
chasm by the same token its companion tributary, the Granikos (Ugrovaca)
disappears into the porous ground.
MAPS
|
| SIMOEIS:
Krupa |
XX; 51:
And over against her [Athene] shouted Ares, dread as a dark whirlwind,
calling with shrill tones to the Trojans from the topmost citadel,
[Pergamos] and now again as he sped by the shore of Simois over
Callicolone.
XXI; 305:
Nor yet would Scamander abate his fury, but was even more wroth
against the son of Peleus, and raising himself on high he made
the surge of his flood into a crest, and he called with a shout
to Simois: "Dear brother, the might of this man let us stay...
fill thy streams with water from thy springs, and arouse all thy
torrents..."
A tributary
of the Skamandros (Neretva), meaning 'snub-nosed', was so called
because it drainedlike the nose drains the nasal mucusthe
two muddy areas of the Ileian Plain (Hutovo Blato). It flowed into
the Skamandros opposite Kallikolone (Gabela, Strari Grad)
MAPS |
| XANTHOS
[ZANTHOS]: Norin |
VI; 1:
So was dread strife of the Trojans and Achaeans left to itself...
as they aimed one at the other their bronze-tipped spears between
the Simos and the streams of Xanthus.
VIII; 560:
...even in such multitudes between the ships and the streams of
Xanthus shone the fires that the Trojans kindled before the face
of Ilios. A thousand fires were burning in the plain and by each
sat fifty men in the glow of the blazing fire.
XXI; 1:
But when they were now come to the ford of the fair-flowing river,
even eddying Xanthus that immortal Zeus begat, there Achilles
cleft them [the Trojans] asunder, and the one part he drave to
the plain toward the city... but the half of them were pent into
the deep-flowing river with its silver eddies.
XXI; 144:
Upon him rushed Achilles, and Asteropaeus stood forth from the
river to face him... and courage was set in his heart by Xanthus,
being wroth because of the youths slain in battle, of whom Achilles
was making havoc along the stream and had no pity.
XXI; 328:
But Hera called aloud, seized with fear for Achilles, lest the
great deep-eddying River should sweep him away. And forthwith
she spake unto Hephaestus, her dear son: "Rouse thee, Crook-foot,
my child! for it was against thee that we deemed eddying Xanthus
to be matched in fight. Nay, bear thou aid with speed... do thou
along the banks of Xanthus burn up his trees, and beset him about
with fire..."
XXIV; 692:
But when they were now come to the ford of the fair-flowing river,
even eddying Xanthus, that immortal Zeus begat, then Hermes departed
to high Olympus, and Dawn, the saffron-robed, was spreading over
the face of all the earth.
A tributary of the Skamandros (Neretva), meaning
'yellowish' (as of a muddy river), a name which does not tally with
the otherwise pristine waters of the Troic Plain (Glibusa Marshes).
But Zanthos, meaning 'very flowery', indeed describes the dense
marsh vegetation of bulrushes and reeds covering this plain. It
was in the waters of the Zanthos and over the Troic Plain that many
dramatic episodes of the Trojan War occurred. |
|