Athenaeus - Deipnosophists Book I
Book II. 42 f.
In the dominion of Carthage there is a well in which the water at the top is like oil, but of a darker hue; they skim this off in globules and use it for sheep and cattle. Among other people also occur springs with a similar oiliness, like the one in Asia, about which Alexander wrote word that he had discovered a well of oil.
Book II. 50 f.
Concerning a satyr-play called Agen it is disputed whether the author is Python of Catana (or Byzantium) or King Alexander himself.
Book II. 66 f – 67 a
Oil. – Samian oil is mentioned by Antiphanes (or Alexis): “Here you have ten gallons of Samian oil, whitest of all.” And the Carian is mentioned by Ophelion: “He anoints himself with Carian oil.” Amyntas* in the Persian Itinerary says: “The mountains produce turpentine, squills, and Persian nuts, from which much oil is made for the king.” But Ctesias says that in Carmania an oil of thorns is produced which the king uses.
* Amyntas, surveyor in Alexander’s army and writer on Alexander’s expeditions (Persian geography.)
Book II. 71 b – c
None the less, Sopater of Paphos calls the cactus kinara just as we do. He lived in the time of Alexander, son of Philip, and was still alive in the reign of the second king of Egypt, so he himself makes clear in one of his works. Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, one of the disciples of the grammarian Aristarchus, has the same word in the second book of his Commentaries: :Near Berenice, in Libya, there is a stream named Lethon, in which are found bass, the gilt-head, and quantities of eels, including the so-called ‘regal’ eels; these are half as large again as those of Macedonia and the Copaic Lake, and in fact the river throughout its entire course is full of a variety of fish.”