Note 23 — Chapter IX

Αυτομαλα φρουριον, φυλακην εχον, &c.

It appears, upon the authority of Diodorus Siculus, that the fortress of Automala was already erected when Cyrene was first occupied by the troops of Ptolemy Lagus: for the army which was led by his general Ophellas to the assistance of the tyrant Agathocles, then at war with the Carthaginians, pitched their tents, we are told, in the neighbourhood of Automala, having consumed eighteen days in their march to that fortress from the Cyrenaica.

Οκτω και δεκα μεν ουν ημερας οδοιπορησαντες, και διελθοντες σταδιους τρισκιλιους, κατεσκηνωσαν περι Αυτομαλας.—Lib. xx. p. 753-4.

If it could be positively ascertained from what point of the Cyrenaica the army of Ophellas set out on their journey across the Syrtis, we should have the position of Automala sufficiently well ascertained; but the historian merely states, that when everything was prepared for the expedition, Ophellas set his army in motion, without mentioning the precise point from which they set out, and that the distance which they accomplished in eighteen days, as far as Automala, was three thousand stadia. Had there been any point in the bottom of the gulf which could be decidedly fixed upon as the μυχος, or innermost recess of it, in which Strabo has placed Automala, there would be no occasion for any other evidence of its position; but the coast is so straight at the bottom of the gulf, that it is not possible to fix with accuracy upon any one point which may be taken as the μυχος in question. Sachreen is certainly the most southern point, but the difference of latitude between this place and the other parts of the coast which form the bottom of the gulf is so trifling, that it can scarcely be said to amount to anything at all.

Braiga is the nearest place to Sachreen where any remains are found which will answer to Automala, and that is twenty miles distant from it, in making the circuit of the coast.