Cyri Castra

CYRI CASTRA

CYRI CASTRA (τὸ Κύρου στρατόπεδον) Strabo (p. 539) seems to mean that Mazaca [CAESAREIA] is 6 days' journey from the Cilician Pylae and the Camp of Cyrus, as the passage stands in Casaubon's text. Xenophon (Xen. Anab. 1.2.20) says that Cyrus halted at Dana for three days before he crossed from Cappadocia into Cilicia. Arrian (Arr. Anab. 2.4.3) says that Alexander, advancing towards the Cilician Pylae from the north, came to the encampment of the Cyrus who was with Xenophon;a nd he seems to mean Dana. Curtius (Curt. 3.4) says that, on his road to Cilicia, Alexander came to the country which is called Castra Cyri; and he adds that Cyrus had encamped there when he was marching against Croesus, which is a singular blunder. He further says, that the Castra were 50 stadia from the Cilician Pylae; but that is not true, if Dana is Tyana. As Xenophon mentions no halting-place between Dana and the Pylae, Arrian, who has no authority except Xenophon's text, calls Dana the Camp of Cyrus. Xenophon does not state the distance between Dana and the Pylae. The passage in Strabo is evidently corrupt.

[G.L]