GRAECO-LATINA BRUNENSIA 20, 2015, 2 ELWIRA KACZYŃSKA (UNIVERSITY OF ŁÓDŹ) HESYCHIUS ON ΑΗΙ AND Ι[]Α The paper deals with two geographical glosses transmitted by Hesychius of Alexandria: Καρνησσόπολις · Λύκτος ἡ Κρητικὴ οὕτως ἐκαλεῖτο (HAL κ-840) and Τρίτ[τ]α · οὕτως ἡ Κνωσσὸς ὠνομάζετο (HAL τ-1434). It is suggested that Καρνησσόπολις and Τρίτ[τ]α cannot be identiied with Lyctus and Knossos, respectively. Both of the place-names under discus- sion refer to separate settlements, strongly connected with the capital cities. The toponym Καρνησσόπολις should be identiied with an ancient town located by the village of Κανασός (< Doric Greek *Καρνᾱσός) near Gonies, i.e. about 8 km north-east of the ancient city of Lyctus. The toponym Τρίτ[τ]α, attested as ti-ri-to in Linear B texts from Knossos, could refer to an ancient settlement with the sanctuary of Athena Tritogeneia, located near the modern village of Astritsi (Mod. Gk. Αστρίτσι), i.e. about 9 km south of Knossos. Key words: Cretan geography; Greek place-names; Hesychius of Alexandria In his dictionary of rare and unclear words, Hesychius of Alexandria states that the Cretan city of Lyctus (Lyktos, Anc. Gk. τ) was called Karnessopolis (HAL -840): ασσ · τ ἡ τὴ ὕτ ἐαεῖτ (Latte, 1966: p. 415; Vasilakis, 1998: p. 95) “Karnessopolis: thus was called the Cretan city of Lyktos” (Vasilakis, 2000: p. 110). Provided that the name was correctly transmitted, it is to be regarded as a compound from the morphological point of view, with the Greek ap- pellative  (f.) ‘city, town’ as its second member. August Fick (1905: p. 29) viewed ασσ as an epic form adopted from one of the works of the well-known Hellenistic poet Rhianus of Bene. In his view, the toponym ασσ- is cognate with the name of Halicarnassus (Ἁαασσ), the main city of ancient Caria and the native home of the father of history, Herodotus. He stressed that “die Stadt hieß also ur- sprünglich αᾱσσ, gleichlautend mit der karischen Hauptstadt, wo der Vorsatz Ἁ- dasselbe ist wie in Ἁ-σα, Ἁ-α” (Fick, 1905: p. 29).