Strabo, Geography
H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.

After the Calycadnus, is the rock called Pœcile,¹ which has steps, like those of a ladder, cut in the rock, on the road to Seleucia. Then follows the promontory Anemurium,² of the same name with the former, Crambusa an island, and Corycus³ a promontory, above which, at the distance of 20 stadia, is the Corycian cave, where grows the best saffron. It is a large valley of a circular form, surrounded by a ridge of rock, of considerable height all round. Upon descending into it, the bottom is irregular, and a great part of it rocky, but abounding with shrubs of the evergreen and cultivated kind. There are interspersed spots which produce the saffron. There is also a cave in which rises a river of pure and transparent water. Immediately at its source the river buries itself in the ground, and continues its subterraneous course till it discharges itself into the sea. The name of (Pikron Hydor) ‘bitter water’ is given to it.