Histories

Neither the Carians nor any Greeks who dwell in this country did any thing notable before they were all enslaved by Harpagus.

Among those who inhabit it are certain Cnidians, colonists from Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon. Their country (it is called the Triopion) lies between the sea and that part of the peninsula which belongs to Bubassus, and all but a small part of the Cnidian territory is washed by the sea

(for it is bounded on the north by the gulf of Ceramicus, and on the south by the sea off Nisos Symi [27.833,36.583] (island), Sporades, Aegean Islands, Greece, EuropeSyme and Rhodes [28,36.166] (island), Sporades, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Rhodes). Now while Harpagus was conquering Ionia (region (general)), Europe Ionia, the Cnidians dug a trench across this little space, which is about two-thirds of a mile wide, in order that their country might be an island. So they brought it all within the entrenchment; for the frontier between the Cnidian country and the mainland is on the isthmus across which they dug.

Many of them were at this work; and seeing that the workers were injured when breaking stones more often and less naturally than usual, some in other ways, but most in the eyes, the Cnidians sent envoys to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi to inquire what it was that opposed them.

Then, as they themselves say, the priestess gave them this answer in iambic verse:

1. “Do not wall or trench the isthmus:
2. Zeus would have given you an island, if he had wanted to.”

At this answer from the priestess, the Cnidians stopped their digging, and when Harpagus came against them with his army they surrendered to him without resistance.