[13] Near these islands are Patmos,1 and the Corassia,2 islands, situated to the west of Icaria,3 as the latter is with respect to Samos. Icaria has no inhabitants, but it has pastures, of which the Samians avail themselves. Notwithstanding its condition it is famous, and gives the name of Icarian to the sea in front of it, in which are situated Samos, Cos, and the islands just mentioned,4 the Corassiæ, Patmos, and Leros5 [in Samos is the mountain the Cerceteus, more celebrated than the Ampelus, which overhangs the city of the Samians].6 Continuous to the Icarian sea, towards the south, is the Carpathian sea, and the Ægyptian sea to this; to the west are the Cretan and African seas.
1 Patmo.
2 The Furni; called in b. xiv. c. i. § 13, Corsiæ.
3 Nicaria.
4 According to the enumeration here made by Strabo, of the islands comprehended in the Icarian sea, it appears that in his opinion none of the islands situated to the north of Cos belonged to the Carpathian sea; for according to his own statement, which immediately follows, the Carpathian sea to the north was bounded by the Icarian sea.
5 All the manuscripts and all editions give λέρος. Is the island spoken of in this passage the same as the one mentioned just above by the name of Leria? Pliny, Hist. Nat. b. iv. 23, appears to have been acquainted with two islands bearing the name of Leros. One, from the position he assigns to it, appears to be the one Strabo above speaks of under the name of Leria; but the second Leros of Pliny, b. v. § 36, must be placed on the coast of Caria. Strabo appears to have entertained nearly the same ideas, for we shall hereafter (b. xiv. c. i. § 6) see him give the name of Leros to an island situated in the neighbourhood of Icaria; and below (§ 19) he cites also a Leros, which would seem to have been in the neighbourhood of the southern extremity of Caria.
6 Probably interpolated.
The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.
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