Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/331

B. xir. c. vii. 1. PISIDIA. 323 fortresses, which before this time were considered impregna- ble, among which was Cremna, but he did not attempt to take by storm Sandalium, situated between Cremna and Saga- lassus. 5. Cremna is occupied by a Roman colony. Sagalassus is under the command of the same Roman go- vernor, to whom all the kingdom of Amyntas is subject. It is distant from Apameia a day's journey, having a descent of nearly 30 stadia from the fortress. It has the name also of Selgessus. It was taken by Alexander. Amyntas made himself master of Cremna and passed into the country of the Homonadeis, who were supposed to be the most difficult to reduce of all the tribes. He had already got into his power most of their strong-holds, and had killed the tyrant himself, when he was taken prisoner by an artifice of the wife of the tyrant, whom he had killed, and was put to death by the people. Cyrinius (Quirinus) 1 reduced them by famine and took four thousand men prisoners, whom he settled as inhabitants in the neighbouring cities, but he left no per- son in the country in the prime of life. Among the heights of Taurus, and in the midst of rocks and precipices for the most part inaccessible, is a hollow and fertile plain divided into several valleys. The inhabitants cultivate this plain, but live among the overhanging heights of the mountains, or in caves. They are for the most part armed, and accustomed to make incursions into the country of other tribes, their own being protected by mountains, which serve as a wall. CHAPTER VII. 1. CONTIGUOUS to these, among other tribes of the Pisidians, are the Selgeis, the most considerable tribe of the nation. The greater part of the Pisidians occupy the summits of Taurus, but some tribes situated above Side 2 and Aspen- 1 Sulpitius Quirinus. The Cyrenius "governor of Syria "in St. Luke. Tacitus (Ann. B. iii. c. 48) speaks of his expedition against the Ho- monadeis, and Josephus of his arrival in Syria, where he was sent with Coponius by Augustus. 2 Eske-Adatia. Y 2