82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»<» S. VIII. July 30. '59. 



nated by Herodotus. It is the upper part of the 

 Chalcidic peninsula, between the maritime towns 

 of Acanthus and Therma. Though near the sea, 

 several high mountains, fitted for harbouring wild 

 beasts, adjoin it. JElian states that the prefer- 

 ence of the lion for the camel's flesh is known to 

 the Arabs : he conjectures that it is an instinctive 

 desire, independent of experience, and thus at- 

 tempts to obviate the difficulty suggested by 

 Herodotus (Nat. An., xvii. 36.). 



For purposes of scientific 'reasoning, it would 

 be necessary to know the facts respecting the 

 attack of the lions on the camels of Xerxes with 

 greater detail and precision than they are re- 

 ported by Herodotus, or could indeed have been 

 ascertained by him after an interval of thirty or 

 forty years. But there seems no reason (with 

 Col. Mure, Hist, of Lit. of Gr. vol. iv. p. 402.) to 

 discredit the account altogether ; and still less to 

 disbelieve his distinct statement that in his own 

 time the lion was found in the wild and moun- 

 tainous region of Northern Greece, extending 

 from the river Nestus in Thrace, through Mace- 

 donia, Thessaly, and iEtolia, to the river Ache- 

 lous. Aristotle makes precisely the same state- 

 ment, in illustration of the rarity of the lion, 

 (H. A. vi. 31.) and he afterwards repeats it in 

 illustration of the local distribution of species, {ib. 

 viii. 28.) The scientific character of Aristotle's 

 researches en natural history gives great weight 

 to his testimony. As he was a native of Stagira, 

 and had resided in Macedonia, he may be sup- 

 posed to have had opportunities of verifying it ; 

 and we cannot assume that he blindly followed 

 the account of Herodotus, although at an interval 

 of about a century he defines the range of the 

 lion by the same two rivers. Aristotle corrects 

 a physiological error of Herodotus in //. A. iii. 

 22. ; Gen. An. ii. 2., and an error in the natural 

 history of fish in Gen. An. ii. 2., in which latter 

 passage he calls the historian 'HpSboros 6 ixvdo\6'yos. 

 It is therefore highly improbable that this in- 

 quisitive, sceptical, and accurate philosopher 

 should have taken the other fact upon trust. 

 (See Rawlinson's note on Herod, il. 93.) The 

 statement of Aristotle as to the occurrence of 

 the lion between the Nestus and Achelous is 

 repeated, with full belief, by Pliny, N. H. viii. 

 17. It is likewise reproduced by Pausanias, vi. 5. 

 3. in connexion with the exploits of Polydamas, an 

 athlete of immense strength, who was victor in 

 the pancratium in the 93rd Olympiad (408 b.c). 

 Pausanias states that lions were at that time 

 found on Mount Olympus ; and that Polydamas, 

 emulating the achievement of Hercules at Nemea, 

 slew a lion on that mountain without any weapon.* 



* Curtius (viii. 1.) states that Lj'simachus, while 

 hunting in Syria, had an encounter singl_v with a lion, 

 and succeeded in killing it, though he was sevei'ely 

 wounded in the left shoulder. This occurrence, he thinks, 



Other marvellous feats of this Polydamas are 

 recounted by Pausanias, on the truth of which no 

 reliance can be placed ; but they were inscribed 

 on the base of his statue at Olympia by Lysippus. 

 (See also Suidas in noXuSa^of.)' 



A fabulous story of two parent lions punishing 

 a bear for the slaughter of their cubs, by the as- 

 sistance of a woodman, on Mount Pangasum in 

 Thrace, is told by ^lian (N. A. iii. 21.) on the 

 authority of Eudcmus. It is uncertain to what 

 writer of this name .^lian refers. It may be ob- 

 served that Pangaeum, though an uninhabited 

 mountain region, fitted for the abode of wild 

 beasts, lies east of the Nestus, the limit fixed for 

 the lion, in this direction, by Herodotus and Ari- 

 stotle. 



Xenophon, writing about 380 b.c, states In his 

 treatise on Hunting, that lions, leopards, lynxes, 

 panthers, bears, and other similar beasts, are 

 caught in wild districts near Mount Pangjeum, on 

 Mount Cissus to the east of Macedonia, on Mount 

 Olympus in Mysia, on Mount Pindus, on Mount 

 Nysa beyond Syria, and on other mountains 

 capable of supporting them. (Cyneg. c. xi. § 1.) 

 From the manner in which different sorts of wild 

 annals and different places are thrown together 

 in this passage, it is impossible to assign any one 

 animal to any one locality. There is no reason 

 to suppose that the leopard or panther was ever 

 found in Europe ; but it may be fairly inferred 

 that Xenophon intended to describe the lion as 

 occurring in some of the mountains of Northern 

 Greece. Mount Cissus was close to Therma, and 

 lies exactly upon the line of march followed by 

 Xerxes, when his camels were, according to 

 Herodotus, attacked by lions. The extent of 

 wild country on the- Myslan Olympus is men- 

 tioned by Strab. xii. 8. 8. Of a Mount Nysa- 

 beyond Syria nothing is known except from this ' 

 passage. It may be observed that, in point of 

 time, Xenophon is about halfway between He- 

 rodotus and Aristotle. Herodotus was born in 

 484, Xenophon about 444, and Aristotle in 384 



B.C. 



Some poetical allusions confirm the idea that 

 the Greeks of the historical age believed in the 

 existence of the Hon in their northern highlands. 

 Thus Pindar, in his third Nemean Ode, repre- 



gave rise to the fable of Lysimachus having been ex- 

 posed to a lion by the command of Alexander. The 

 fable of his having been shut up with a lion, and having 

 mastered it, is related by Plin. N. H. viii. 21. ; Paus. i. 

 9. 5. Justin saj's that Lj'simachus thrust his arm into 

 the lion's mouth, and killed the animal by tearing out 

 its tongue (xv. 3.). According to Plut, Detn. 27., L}'si- 

 machus showed the marks on his legs and arms, of his 

 supposed encounter with the lion, when he was shut up 

 with it by order of Alexander. M.-inius Acilius Glabrio, 

 who was consul with Trajan in 91 n.c, was compelled 

 by Domitian to fight as a gladiator with a large lion, 

 and succeeded in killing it. (Die Cass. Ixvii. 14.) 



