Chapter III
17 Then comes the Borysthenes River, which is navigable for a distance of six hundred stadia; and, near it,
another river, the Hypanis, and off the mouth of the Borysthenes, an island with a harbour. On sailing up the Borysthenes two hundred stadia one comes to a
city of the same name as the river, but the same city is also called Olbia; it is a great trading centre and was founded by Milesians.
Now the whole
country that lies above the said seaboard between the Borysthenes and the Ister
consists, first, of the Desert of the Getae; then the country of the Tyregetans; and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the
people called the Basileians and that of the Urgi, who in general are nomads, though a few are interested also in farming;
these people, it is said, dwell also along the Ister, often on both sides.
In the interior
dwell, first, those Bastarnians whose country borders on that of the Tyregetans
and Germans — they also being, one might say, of Germanic stock; and they are
divided up into several tribes, for a part of them are called Atmoni and
Sidoni, while those who took possession of Peuce,
the island in the Ister, are called "Peucini," whereas the
"Roxolani" (the most northerly of them all) roam the plains between
the Tanaïs and the Borysthenes.
In fact, the whole
country towards the north from Germany as far as the Caspian Sea is, so far as
we know it, a plain, but whether any people dwell beyond the Roxolani we do not
know.Now the Roxolani, under the leadership of Tasius,
carried on war even with the generals of Mithridates Eupator;they came for the purpose of assisting Palacus, the son of Scilurus, as his allies, and they had the reputation of being
warlike; yet all barbarian races and light-armed peoples are weak when matched
against a well-ordered and well-armed phalanx. At any rate, those
people, about fifty thousand strong, could not hold out against the six
thousand men arrayed with Diophantus, the general of Mithridates, and most of
them were destroyed.
They use helmets and
corselets made of raw ox-hides, carry wicker shields, and have for weapons
spears, bow, and sword; and most of the other barbarians are armed in this way. As for the Nomads,
their tents, made of felt, are fastened on the wagons in which they spend their
lives; and round about the tents are the herds which afford the milk, cheese,
and meat on which they live; and they follow the grazing herds, from time to
time moving to other places that have grass, living only in the marsh-meadows
about Lake Maeotis in winter, but also in the plains in summer.
18 The whole of the country has
severe winters as far as the regions by the sea that are between the
Borysthenes and the mouth of Lake Maeotis; but of the regions themselves that
are by the sea the most northerly are the mouth of the Maeotis and, still more
northerly, the mouth of the Borysthenes, and the recess of the Gulf of
Tamyraces, or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus.
The coldness of these
regions, albeit the people live in plains, is evident, for they do not breed
asses, an animal that is very sensitive to cold; and as for their cattle, some
are born without horns, while the horns of others are filed off, for this part
of the animal is sensitive to cold; and the horses are small, whereas the sheep
are large; and bronze water-jars burst and their contents freeze solid. But the severity of the frosts is most
clearly evidenced by what takes place in the region of the mouth of Lake
Maeotis: the waterway from Panticapaeum across to Phanagoria is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway.And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging with an implement called the "gangame," and particularly the antacaei, which are about the size of dolphins.
It is said of
Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, that in the same strait he overcame
the barbarians in a naval engagement in summer and in a cavalry engagement in
winter. And it is further said that the vine in the Bosporus
region is buried during the winter, the people heaping quantities of earth upon
it. And it is
said that the heat too becomes severe, perhaps because the bodies of the people
are unaccustomed to it, or perhaps because no winds blow on the plains at that
time, or else because the air, by reason of its density, becomes superheated
(like the effect of the parhelia in the clouds). It appears that Ateas, who waged war with Philip the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of
the world.
19 After the island that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one
sails to the cape of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a
peninsula that lies flat on the sea; it is a ribbon-like stretch of land, as much
as one thousand stadia in length, extending towards the east; its maximum breadth is
only two stadia, and its minimum only four plethra, and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on
either side of the neck. It is sandy,and water may be had by digging.
The neck of the
isthmus is near the centre of the peninsula and is about forty stadia wide. It
terminates in a cape called Tamyrace, which has a mooring-place that faces the mainland. And after this cape
comes the Carcinites Gulf. It is a very large gulf, reaching up towards the
north as far as one thousand stadia; some say, however, that the distance to
its recess is three times as much. The people there are called Taphrians. The
gulf is also called Tamyrace, the same name as that of the cape.
Chapter IV
4 After the aforesaid mountainous
district is the city Theodosia. It is situated in a fertile plain and has a
harbour that can accommodate as many as a hundred ships; this harbour in
earlier times was a boundary between the countries of the Bosporians and the
Taurians. And
the country that comes next after that of Theodosia is also fertile, as far as
Panticapaeum. Panticapaeum is the metropolis of the Bosporians and is situated
at the mouth of Lake Maeotis.
The distance between Theodosia and Panticapaeum is about five
hundred and thirty stadia; the district is everywhere productive of grain, and
it contains villages, as well as a city called Nymphaeum, which possesses a good harbour.Panticapaeum is a hill
inhabited on all sides in a circuit of twenty stadia.
To the east it has a harbour, and docks for about thirty ships; and it
also has an acropolis. It is a
colony of the Milesians. For a long time it was ruled as a monarchy by the dynasty of
Leuco, Satyrus, and Parisades, as were also all the neighbouring settlements near the mouth of
Lake Maeotis on both sides, until Parisades gave over the sovereignty to
Mithridates. They
were called tyrants, although most of them, beginning with Parisades and Leuco,
proved to be equitable rulers.
And Parisades was actually held in honour as
god. The last of these monarchs also bore the name Parisades, but he was unable to
hold out against the barbarians, who kept exacting greater tribute than before,
and he therefore gave over the sovereignty to Mithridates Eupator. But since the time
of Mithridates the kingdom has been subject to the Romans.The
greater part of it is situated in Europe, although a part of it is situated in
Asia.
5 The mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus. It is rather
wide at first — about seventy stadia — and it is here that people cross over
from the regions of Panticapaeum to Phanagoria, the nearest city of Asia; but
it ends in a much narrower channel. This strait separates Asia from Europe; and so does the Tanaïs River, which is directly opposite and flows from the north into the lake
and then into the mouth of it. The river has two outlets into the lake which are about sixty
stadia distant from one another.
There is also a city which has the same name as the river, and next to Panticapaeum is the
greatest emporium of the barbarians.
On the left, as one sails into the Cimmerian Bosporus, is a little city, Myrmecium, at a distance of twenty stadia from Panticapaeum. And twice this
distance from Myrmecium is the village of Parthenium; here the strait is narrowest — about twenty stadia — and on the opposite
side, in Asia, is situated a village called Achilleium. Thence, if one sails
straight to the Tanaïs and the islands near its outlets, the distance is two
thousand two hundred stadia, but if one sails along the coast of Asia, the
distance slightly exceeds this; if, however, one sails on the left as far as
the Tanaïs, following the coast where the isthmus is situated, the distance is
more than three times as much.
Now the whole of the seaboard along this coast, I mean on the
European side, is desert, but the seaboard on the right is not desert; and,
according to report, the total circuit of the lake is nine thousand stadia.
The Great
Chersonesus is similar to the Peloponnesus both in shape and in size. It is held by the
potentates of the Bosporus, though the whole of it has been devastated by
continuous wars. But
in earlier times only a small part of it — that which is close to the mouth of
Lake Maeotis and to Panticapaeum and extends as far as Theodosia — was held by the tyrants of the Bosporians,
whereas most of it, as far as the isthmus and the Gulf of Carcinites, was held
by the Taurians, a Scythian tribe.
And the whole of this country, together with about all the country
outside the isthmus as far as the Borysthenes, was called Little Scythia. But on account of
the large number of people who left Little Scythia and crossed both the Tyras
and the Ister and took up their abode in the land beyond, no small portion of
Thrace as well came to be called Little Scythia; the Thracians giving way to
them partly as the result of force and partly because of the bad quality of the
land, for the greater part of the country is marshy.
6 But the Chersonesus, except for the mountainous district that extends
along the sea as far as Theodosia, is everywhere level and fertile, and in the
production of grain it is extremely fortunate. At any rate, it
yields thirty-fold if furrowed by any sort of a digging-instrument. Further, the people of this region, together with
those of the Asiatic districts round about Sindice, used to pay as tribute to
Mithridates one hundred and eighty thousand medimni and also two hundred talents of silver.
And in still earlier times the Greeks imported their supplies of grain
from here, just as they imported their supplies of salt-fish from the lake.
Leuco, it is said, once sent from Theodosia to Athens two million one hundred
thousand medimni. These same people used to be called Georgi, in the literal sense of the term, because of the fact that the people
who were situated beyond them were Nomads and lived not only on meats in
general but also on the meat of horses, as also on cheese made from mare's
milk, on mare's fresh milk, and on mare's sour milk, which last, when prepared
in a particular way, is much relished by them. And this is why the
poet calls all the people in that part of the world "Galactophagi."
Now although the Nomads are warriors rather than brigands, yet they go to war only
for the sake of the tributes due them; for they turn over their land to any
people who wish to till it, and are satisfied if they receive in return for the
land the tribute they have assessed, which is a moderate one, assessed with a
view, not to an abundance, but only to the daily necessities of life; but if
the tenants do not pay, the Nomads go to war with them. And so it is that
the poet calls these same men at the same time both "just" and
"resourceless"; for if the tributes were paid regularly, they would
never resort to war. But men who are confident that they are powerful enough either
to ward off attacks easily or to prevent any invasion do not pay regularly;
such was the case with Asander, who, according to Hypsicrates, walled off the isthmus of the Chersonesus which is near Lake Maeotis and
is three hundred and sixty stadia in width, and set up ten towers for every
stadium.
But though the Georgi of this region are considered to be at the same
time both more gentle and civilised, still, since they are money-getters and
have to do with the sea, they do not hold aloof from acts of piracy, nor yet from any other such acts of
injustice and greed.
7 In addition to the places in the Chersonesus which I have
enumerated, there were also the three forts which were built by Scilurus and his sons — the forts
which they used as bases of operations against the generals of Mithridates —
I mean Palacium, Chabum, and Neapolis. There was also a Fort Eupatorium, founded by Diophantus when he was leading the army for Mithridates.
There is a cape about fifteen stadia distant from the wall of the
Chersonesites; it forms a very large gulf which inclines towards the city. And above this gulf
is situated a lagoon which has salt-works. And here, too, was the Ctenus Harbour. Now it was in order
that they might hold out that the besieged generals of the king fortified the
place, established a garrison on the cape aforesaid, and filled up that part of
the mouth of the gulf which extends as far as the city, so that there was now
an easy journey on foot and, in a way, one city instead of two.
Consequently, they could more easily beat off the Scythians. But when the
Scythians made their attack, near Ctenus, on the fortified wall that extends
across the isthmus, and daily filled up the trench with straw, the generals of
the king set fire by night to the part thus bridged by day, and held out until
they finally prevailed over them. And to‑day everything is subject to whatever kings of the
Bosporians the Romans choose to set up.
8 It is a peculiarity of the whole Scythian and Sarmatian race that they
castrate their horses to make them easy to manage; for although the horses are
small, they are exceedingly quick and hard to manage. As for game, there are
deer and wild boars in the marshes, and wild asses and roe deer in the plains.
Another peculiar thing is the fact that the eagle is not found in these
regions. And among the quadrupeds there is what is called the "colos"; it is between the deer and ram in size, is white, is swifter than they,
and drinks through its nostrils into its head, and then from this storage
supplies itself for several days, so that it can easily live in the waterless
country. Such, then, is the nature of the whole of the country which is outside
the Ister between the Rhenus and the Tanaïs Rivers as far as the Pontic Sea and
Lake Maeotis.
No comments:
Post a Comment