Corycus
- a promontory in Cilicia, with a town and harbor of the same name, and a cave, very celebrated in ancient times; also famous for its production of saffron; now Khorgos, Mel 1, 13, 2; Plin. 5, 27, 22, § 92; Cic. Fam. 12, 13, 2; Liv. 33, 20, 4 al.: Corycus mons, Sen. Q. N. 3, 11, 2.—Hence,
- II Cōry-cĭus, a, um, adj., Corycian: specus, Mel. 1, 13, 3: antra, Plin. 31, 2, 20, § 30: crocus, Hor. S. 2, 4, 68; cf. Plin. 21, 6, 17, § 31; in the same sense, nimbus, Mart. 9, 39; and, comae, Stat. S. 5, 1, 214: senex, Verg. G. 4, 127.—
- III Corycus, a promontory and harbor on the coast of Ionia, now Kóraka, Liv. 37, 12, 10; 36, 43, 13.—
- IV A town in Pamphylia, Eutr. 6, 31.
- 1. f havenstad in Cilicië (Kl.-Azië), nu Kızkalesi; — adj. Cōrycius, a, um;
- 2. f stad in Pamphylië (Kl.-Azië);
- 3. m voorgebergte in Ionië (Kl.-Azië).
CO´RYCUS (Κώρυκος: Eth. Κωρύκιος, Κωρυκιώτης).
1.In Lycia, is mentioned in the Stadiasmus, which places it betwen Olympus (Deliktash) and Phaselis. This agrees with Strabo, who speaks of the Κώρυκος αἰγιαλός, on the coast of Lycia (p. 666). The Turks call this coast north of Olympus, Tchiraly. (Beaufort, Karamania, p. 47.)
2.The name of a promontory on the coast of Cilicia Tracheia. (Strab. p. 670.) Cape Corycus is now Korghoz, plainly a corruption of the ancient name. After mentioning the Calycadnus, Strabo--whose description proceeds from west to east--mentions a rock called Poecile; then Anemurium, a promontory of the same name as the other [ANEMURIUM]; then the island Crambusa, and the promontory Corycus, 20 stadia above which--that is, 20 stadia inland--is the Corycian cave. Beaufort found it difficult to select a point which should correspond to this Anemurium. North of the mouth of the Calycadnus he found two decayed and uninhabited fortresses, called Korghos Kalaler (castles); the one standing on the mainland, and connected with the ruins of an ancient town; and the other covering the whole of a small island close to the shore.H e thinks that the little fortified island may be Strabo's Crambusa, and that Cape Corycus is perhaps a small point of land towards which the ruins of the city extend. (Karamania, p. 240, &c.) Leake supposes the island to be what Strabo calls the promontory; and the castle on the shore to stand on the site of Corycus, a town which Strabo has not noticed. But a town Corycus is mentioned by Livy (Liv. 33.20), and by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.27), and Mela (1.13), and Stephanus (s. v. Κώρυκος).
The walls of the castle on the mainland contain many pieces of columns; and a mole of great unhewn rocks projects from one angle of the fortress about a hundred yards across the bay.( Beaufort.) The walls of the ancient city may still be traced, and there appear to be sufficient remains to invite a careful examination of the spot. There are coins of Corycus.
In the Corycian cave, says Strabo, the best crocus (saffron) grows. He describes this cave as a great hollow, of a circular form, surrounded by a margin of rock, on all sides of a considerable height; on descending into this cavity, the ground is found to be uneven and generally rocky, and it is filled with shrubs, both evergreen and cultivated; in some parts the saffron is cultivated: there is also a cave here which contains a large source, which pours forth a river of pure, pellucid water, but it immediately sinks into the earth, and flowing underground enters the sea: they call it the Bitter Water. Mela has a long description of the same place apparently from the description of the same place, apparently from the same authority that Strabo followed, but more embellished. This place is probably on the top of the mountain above Corycus, but it does not appear to have been examined by any modern traveller. If Mela saw the place himself, he has more imagination than most geographers.
This place is famed in mythical story. It is the Cilician cave of Pindar (Pind. P. 1.31), and of Aeschylus (Prom. Vinct. 350), and the bed of the giant Typhon or Typhoeus. (Mela, 1.13.) COIN OF CORYCUS IN CILΙCΙA.
COIN OF CORYCUS IN CILΙCΙΑ.In Lydia (Thuc. 8.14, 33, 34; Liv. 36.44,) a lofty mountain (Strab. p. 644) in the peninsula on which Erythrae is situated. Casystes, a port, was at the base of Corycus, which is now Koraka or Kurko. This bold headland, called the Coryceon Promontorium (Plin. Nat. 5.29), looks towards Samos, and forms the western point of the bay on which Teos is situated. This appears to be the place which Thucydides calls Corycus, in the territory of Erythrae; and this supposition agrees with the movements of the fleet described in 8.34. It is also clearly indicated in Livy's account of the movements of the Romans and Eumenes, though Livy calls it a promontory of the Teii. This rugged coast was once inhabited by a piratical people, called Corycaei, who carried on their trade in a systematic manner, by keeping spies in the various ports, to find out what the traders had in their ships, and where they were bound to, and so attacked them on the sea and robbed them. Hence came the proverb which Strabo mentions (p. 644; comp. Steph. B., s. v. Κώρυκος, who quotes the Asia of Hecataeus, and cites the passage of Strabo). [CASYSTES]
4.In Pamphylia near Attaleia. [ATTALEIA 321a.] [G.L]
CO´RYCUS (Κώρυκος, Ptol. 3.17.2: Grabúsa), the NW. promontory of Crete. In Strabo the name appears as Cimarus (Κίμαρος, 10. p. 474). Elsewhere Strabo (17. p. 838) states that Corycus was the point whence the distances to the several ports of Peloponnesus were measured: as Grabúsa ends in two projecting points, it is probable that the W. point was called Cimaros, the E. Corycus. We learn from Pliny (Plin. Nat. 4.20) that the islands which lie off this promontory were called Corycae, and that part of the mass of rock which forms this point went by the name of Mount Coryous. Ptolemy (l. c.) mentions a city of this name, and there is a passage in which Juvenal (14.267) mentions a Corycian vessel which evidently belonged to this Cretan town. When the Florentine traveller Buondelmonte visited the island in A.D. 1415, he found remains existing. (Cornelius, Creta Sacra, vol. 1. p. 87; Pashley, Trav. vol. 2. p. 74; Hoeck, Kreta, vol. 1. p. 377.)
[E.B.J](Κώρυκος). (1) A promontory of Ionia, southeast of the southern extremity of Chios. The high and rugged coast in this quarter harboured at one time a wild and daring population, greatly addicted to piracy; and who, by disguising themselves and frequenting the harbours in their vicinity, obtained private information of the course and freight of any merchant vessel, and concerted measures for the purpose of intercepting it. The secrecy with which their intelligence was procured gave rise to the proverb, Τοῦ δ ἄῤ ὁ Κωρυκαῖος ἠκροάζετο, “This, then, the Corycean overheard,” a saying that was used in cases where any carefully guarded secret had been discovered. The ancient appellation is still preserved in that of Kourko, which belongs to a bold headland forming the extreme point of the Erythrean peninsula towards Samos Pliny (Pliny H. N. v. 31) calls it Coryceum Promontorium.
(2) A small town of Cilicia Trachea, near the confines of Cilicia Campestris, on the sea-coast, and to the east of Seleucia Trachea. It appears to have been a fortress of great strength, and a mole of vast unhewn rocks is carried across the bay for about a hundred yards. It served at one time as the harbour of Seleucia, and was then a place of considerable importance. About twenty stadia inland was the Corycian cave (Κωρύκιον ἄντρον), celebrated in mythology as the fabled abode of the giant Typhoeus. In fact, many writers, as Strabo reports, placed Arima or Arimi, the scene of Typhoeus's torments, alluded to by Homer, in Cilicia, while others sought it in Lydia, and others in Campania.
(3) A naval station on the coast of Lycia, about thirty stadia to the north of Olympus.
- Paus. 10.12.7