Note 1446 — Chapter I

From σμίνθος, a rat, in the Æolic dialect. The worship of Apollo Smintheus was not confined to the town of Chrysa alone; it was common to all the continent of the Troad and to the adjacent islands; it extended along the whole coast to the island of Rhodes, as Strabo afterwards informs us. He has already told us that there was a temple of Apollo Smintheus in the island of Tenedos. Coins of this island exist, bearing the effigy of the god with a rat under the chin. The town of Hamaxitus, on the continent, had also its temple of Apollo Smintheus, where was not only to be seen the picture of a rat near the tripod of the god, but also tame rats, maintained at the public expense.