Note 774 — Chapter V · Lydia
Reading edition
It is not known when the river was first exploited, but an early date may be safely assumed. The gold washings of the Phasis are said to have been the objective of the Argonauts (Strabo XI. 499; cp. Hammer, Zeits. f. Num. XXVI. p. 4). In Egypt “gold of the water,” i.e. river gold, is recorded about 1200 B.C. (Lepsius, Abh. Berl. Akad. 1871, p. 35). The Pactolus washings went back at least some generations beyond Croesus (Strabo XIII. 626; cp. Dio Chrys. Orat. 78, Teubner, p. 280).