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Iardanos (river in Elis)

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The Iardanos or Iardanus (Greek: Ιάρδανος, Ancient Greek: Ἰάρδανος) is a river in Greece which flows into the Ionian Sea at the Monastery of Skafidia, north of Katakolo, in Elis. It is apparently the same as the river, referred to in Homer's Iliad as being near Pheia in ancient Elis. Homer has Nestor the legendary king of Pylos recall seeing, as a young man, the Pylians and Arcadians fighting by the river Celadon:

beneath the walls of Pheia, about the streams of Iardanus.

Strabo describing the coast of Elis, says:

After Chelonatas comes the long seashore of the Pisatans; and then Cape Pheia. And there was also a small town called Pheia: "beside the walls of Pheia, about the streams of Iardanus," for there is also a small river near by. According to some, Pheia is the beginning of Pisatis.

While describing the river Anigrus in Elis that descends from Mount Lapithas, the geographer Pausanias, possibly referring to this river, reports having "heard from an Ephesian" that the Acidas, a tributary of the Anigrus, "was called Iardanus in ancient times", adding that "I repeat [this], though I have nowhere found evidence in support of it."

References

• Autenrieth, Georg, A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, translated by Robert P. Keep, revised by Isaac Flagg, New York, Harper and Brothers, 1895. Internet Archive.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, London (1854). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). LacusCurtis, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6–14.

Sources

Ancient

Homer

Iliad

7.132–135

I [Nestor] would, O father Zeus and Athene and Apollo, that I were young as when beside swift-flowing Celadon the Pylians and Arcadians that rage with spears gathered together and fought beneath the walls of Pheia about the streams of Iardanus [Ἰαρδάνου].

Pausanias

5.5.8–9

[8] The Anigrus descends from the mountain Lapithus in Arcadia, and right from its source its water does not smell sweet but actually stinks horribly. Before it receives the tributary Acidas it plainly cannot support fish-life at all. After the rivers unite, the fish that come down into the Anigrus with the water are uneatable, though before, if they are caught in the Acidas, they are eatable.

[9] I heard from an Ephesian that the Acidas was called Iardanus in ancient times. I repeat his statement, though I have nowhere found evidence in support of it.

Stephanus of Byzantium

s.v. Iardanos

Ἰάρδανος, ποταμὸς Λυδίας [river in Lydia]. Ὅμηρος "Ἰαρδάνου ἀμφὶ ῥέεθρα". οἱ οἰκοῦντες Ἰαρδάνιοι.

Strabo

8.3.12

After Chelonatas comes the long seashore of the Pisatans; and then Cape Pheia. And there was also a small town called Pheia:

"beside the walls of Pheia, about the streams of Iardanus"¹

for there is also a small river nearby. According to some, Pheia is the beginning of Pisatis.

¹ Hom, Il. 7.135

8.3.19

At the base of these mountains, on the seaboard, are two caves. One is the cave of the nymphs called Anigriades; the other is the scene of the stories of the daughters of Atlas​^{100 [The seven Pleiades]} ... And perhaps Samicum was the acropolis of Arenê, which the poet mentions in the Catalogue: "And those who dwelt in Pylus and lovely Arenê."^​102 For while they cannot with certainty discover Arenê anywhere, they prefer to conjecture that this is its site; and the neighbouring River Anigrus, formerly called Minyeius, gives no slight indication of the truth of the conjecture, for the poet says: "And there is a River Minyeius which falls into the sea near Arenê."​¹⁰³

8.3.20

Between the Anigrus and the mountain from which it flows are to be seen the meadow and tomb of Iardanus, and also the Achaeae, which are abrupt cliffs of that same mountain above which, as I was saying,83 the city Samus was situated.

8.3.21

The Acidon flows past the tomb of Iardanus and past Chaa—a city that was once in existence near Lepreum, where is also the Aepasian Plain. It was for the possession of this Chaa, some say, that the war between the Arcadians and Pylians, of which Homer tells us, arose in a dispute; and they think that one should write, "Would that I were in the bloom of my youth, as when the Pylians and the Arcadians gathered together and fought at the swift-flowing Acidon, beside the walls of Chaa"⁸⁷—instead of "Celadon" and "Pheia";⁸⁸ for this region, they say, is nearer than the other to the tomb of Iardanus and to the country of the Arcadians.

⁸⁷ Hom. Il. 7.133

"Celadon" and "Pheia" are the readings of the Homeric text. After the words "beside the walls of Pheia" Homer adds the words "about the streams of Iardanus."

Modern

Autenrieth

s.v. Ἰάρδανος

the river Iardanus.— (1) in Crete, γ 292 [= Od. 3.292].—(2) in Elis, near Pheiae, H 135 [= Il. 7.135].

Cramer

p. 115

Gladstone

p. 171

Pleiades

s.v. Akidas/Iardanos (river)

Pausanias describes an Akidas river near Samicum (Triyphylia) in Elis and makes it a tributary of the Anigros. He tentatively reports testimony that its prior name was "Iardanos". The precise location of the river cannot be determined today. An Iardanos is also mentioned in the Iliad, and the same river may be meant.

Reger, G., J. McK. Camp II. "Places: 573064 (Akidas/Iardanos (river))". Pleiades. Retrieved July 27, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Anigros/Minyeios (river)

Pausanias describes this river near Samicum (Triyphylia) in Elis. He states that the river's currents frequently are held back by violent gales and that around the river mouth one finds quicksand. The river's precise location cannot be determined today.

Smith

s.v. Iardanus

IARDANUS a river of Elis. [PHEIA]

s.v. Pheia

PHEIA or PHEA (αἱ Φειαί, Hornm. Il. 7.135, Od. 15.297; Φειά, Thuc. Strab; Φεά, Steph. B. sub voce: Eth. Φεάτης, Steph. B. sub voce a city of Elis in the Pisatis, situated upon the isthmus connecting the promontory Ichthys (C. of Katákolo) with the mainland. Strabo erroneously speaks of two promontories upon this part of the coast; one called Pheia, from the name of the neighbouring town, and another more to the south, of which he has not given the name. (Strab. 8.343.) Pheia is mentioned by Homer, who places it near the Iardanus, which is apparently the mountain torrent north of Ichthys, and which flows into the sea on the northern side of the lofty mountain Skaphídi. (Hom. l.c.)