Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/329

B. xii. c. vi. 1. LYCAONIA. 321 gave importance to the temple by sending for the statue of the goddess from thence according to the oracle of the Sibyl, as they had sent for that of Asclepius from Epidaurus. The mountain Dindymus is situated above the city ; from Dindymus comes Dindymene, as from Cybela, Cybele. Near it runs the river Sangarius, and on its banks are the ancient dwellings of the Phrygians, of Midas, and of Gordius before his time, and of some others, which do not preserve the vestiges of cities, but are villages a little larger than the rest. Such is Gordium, 1 and Gorbeus (Gordeus), the royal seat of Castor, son of Saocondarius, (Saocondarus ?) in which he was put to death by his father-in-law, Deiotarus, who there also murdered his own daughter. Deiotarus razed the fortress, and destroyed the greater part of the settlement. 4. Next to Galatia towards the south is the lake Tatta, 2 lying parallel to that part of the Greater Cappadocia which is near the Morimeni. It belongs to the Greater Phrygia, as well as the country continuous with this, and extending as far as the Taurus, and of which Amyntas possessed the great- est part. Tatta is a natural salt-pan. The water so readily makes a deposit around everything immersed in it, that upon letting down wreaths formed of rope, chaplets of salt are drawn up. If birds touch the surface of the water with their wings, they immediately fall down in consequence of the concretion of the salt upon them, and are thus taken. CHAPTER VI. 1. SUCH is the description of Tatta. The places around Orcaorci, Pitnisus and the mountainous plains of Lycaonia, are cold and bare, affording pasture only for wild asses ; there is a great scarcity of water, but wherever it is found the wells are very deep, as at Soatra, where it is even sold. Soatra is a village city near Garsabora (Garsaura?). Although the country is ill supplied with water, it is surprisingly well adapted for feeding sheep, but the wool is coarse. Some persons have acquired very great wealth by these flocks alone. Amyntas had above three hundred flocks of sheep in these 1 Juliopolis. 2 Tuz-Tscholli. VOL. II. Y