Strabo, Geography

Now that I have described Iberia and the Celtic and Italian tribes, along with the islands near by, it will be next in order to speak of the remaining parts of Europe, dividing them in the approved manner. The remaining parts are: first, those towards the east, being those which are across the Rhenus and extend as far as the Tanaïs¹ and the mouth of Lake Maeotis,² and also all those regions lying between the Adrias³ and the regions on the left of the Pontic Sea that are shut off by the Ister⁴ and extend towards the south as far as Greece and the Propontis;⁵ for this river divides very nearly the whole of the aforesaid land into two parts. It is the largest of the European rivers, at the outset flowing towards the south and then turning straight from the west towards the east and the Pontus. It rises in the western limits of Germany, as also near the recess of the Adriatic (at a distance from it of about one thousand stadia), and comes to an end at the Pontus not very far from the outlets of the Tyras⁶ and the Borysthenes,⁷ bending from its easterly course approximately towards the north. Now the parts that are beyond the Rhenus and Celtica are to the north of the Ister; these are the territories of the Galatic and the Germanic tribes, extending as far as the Bastarnians and the Tyregetans and the River Borysthenes. And the territories of all the tribes between this river and the Tanaïs and the mouth of Lake Maeotis extend up into the interior as far as the ocean⁸ and are washed by the Pontic Sea. But both the Illyrian and the Thracian tribes, and all tribes of the Celtic or other peoples that are mingled with these, as far as Greece, are to the south of the Ister. But let me first describe the parts outside the Ister, for they are much simpler than those on the other side. [2]

Now the parts beyond the Rhenus, immediately after the country of the Celti, slope towards the east and are occupied by the Germans, who, though they vary slightly from the Celtic stock in that they are wilder, taller, and have yellower hair, are in all other respects similar, for in build, habits, and modes of life they are such as I have said⁹ the Celti are. And I also think that it was for this reason that the Romans assigned to them the name “Germani,” as though they wished to indicate thereby that they were “genuine” Galatae, for in the language of the Romans “germani” means “genuine.”¹⁰ [3]

The first parts of this country are those that are next to the Rhenus, beginning at its source and extending a far as its outlet; and this stretch of river-land taken as a whole is approximately the breadth of the country on its western side. Some of the tribes of this river-land were transferred by the Romans to Celtica, whereas the others anticipated the Romans by migrating deep into the country, for instance, the Marsi; and only a few people, including a part of the Sugambri,¹¹ are left. After the people who live along the river come the other tribes that live between the Rhenus and the River Albis,¹² and traverses no less territory than the former. Between the two are other navigable rivers also (among them the Amasias,¹³ on which Drusus won a naval victory over the Bructeri), which likewise flow from the south towards the north and the ocean; for the country is elevated towards the south and forms a mountain chain¹⁴ that connects with the Alps and extends towards the east as though it were a part of the Alps; and in truth some declare that they actually are a part of the Alps, both because of their aforesaid position and of the fact that they produce the same timber; however, the country in this region does not rise to a sufficient height for that. Here, too, is the Hercynian Forest,¹⁵ and also the tribes of the Suevi, some of which dwell inside the forest, as, for instance, the tribes of the Coldui,¹⁶ in whose territory is Boihaemum,¹⁷ the domain of Marabodus, the place whither he caused to migrate, not only several other peoples, but in particular the Marcomanni, his fellow-tribesmen; for after his return from Rome this man, who before had been only a private citizen, was placed in charge of the affairs of state, for, as a youth he had been at Rome and had enjoyed the favor of Augustus, and on his return he took the rulership and acquired, in addition to the peoples aforementioned, the Lugii (a large tribe), the Zumi, the Butones, the Mugilones, the Sibini,¹⁸ and also the Semnones, a large tribe of the Suevi themselves. However, while some of the tribes of the Suevi dwell inside the forest, as I was saying, others dwell outside of it, and have a common boundary with the Getae.¹⁹ Now as for the tribe of the Suevi,²⁰ it is the largest, for it extends from the Rhenus to the Albis; and a part of them even dwell on the far side of the Albis, as, for instance, the Hermondori and the Langobardi; and at the present time these latter, at least, have, to the last man, been driven in flight out of their country into the land on the far side of the river. It is a common characteristic of all the peoples in this part of the world²¹ that they migrate with ease, because of the meagerness of their livelihood and because they do not till the soil or even store up food, but live in small huts that are merely temporary structures; and they live for the most part off their flocks, as the Nomads do, so that, in imitation of the Nomads, they load their household belongings on their wagons and with their beasts turn whithersoever they think best. But other German tribes are still more indigent. I mean the Cherusci, the Chatti, the Gamabrivii and the Chattuarii, and also, near the ocean, the Sugambri, the Chaubi, the Bructeri, and the Cimbri, and also the Cauci, the Caülci, the Campsiani, and several others. Both the Visurgis²² and the Lupias²³ Rivers run in the same direction as the Amasias, the Lupias being about six hundred stadia distant from the Rhenus and flowing through the country of the Lesser Bructeri.²⁴ Germany has also the Salas River;²⁵ and it was between the Salas and the Rhenus that Drusus Germanicus, while he was successfully carrying on the war, came to his end.²⁶ He had subjugated, not only most of the tribes, but also the islands along the coast, among which is Burchanis,²⁷ which he took by siege. [4]

These tribes have become known through their wars with the Romans, in which they would either yield and then later revolt again, or else quit their settlements; and they would have been better known if Augustus had allowed his generals to cross the Albis in pursuit of those who emigrated thither. But as a matter of fact he supposed that he could conduct the war in hand more successfully if he should hold off from those outside the Albis, who were living in peace, and should not incite them to make common cause with the others in their enmity against him. It was the Sugambri, who live near the Rhenus, that began the war, Melo being their leader; and from that time on different peoples at different times would cause a breach, first growing powerful and then being put down, and then revolting again, betraying both the hostages they had given and their pledges of good faith. In dealing with these peoples distrust has been a great advantage, whereas those who have been trusted have done the greatest harm, as, for instance, the Cherusci and their subjects, in whose country three Roman legions, with their general Quintilius Varus, were destroyed by ambush in violation of the treaty. But they all paid the penalty, and afforded the younger Germanicus a most brilliant triumph²⁸—that triumph in which their most famous men and women were led captive, I mean Segimuntus, son of Segestes and chieftain of the Cherusci,and his sister Thusnelda, the wife of Armenius, the man who at the time of the violation of the treaty against Quintilius Varus was commander-in-chief of the Cheruscan army and even to this day is keeping up the war, and Thusnelda's three-year-old son Thumelicus; and also Sesithacus, the son of Segimerus and chieftain of the Cherusci, and Rhamis, his wife, and a daughter of Ucromirus chieftain of the Chatti, and Deudorix,²⁹ a Sugambrian, the son of Baetorix the brother of Melo. But Segestes, the father-in-law of Armenius, who even from the outset had opposed³⁰ the purpose of Armenius, and, taking advantage of an opportune time, had deserted him, was present as a guest of honor at the triumph over his loved ones. And Libes too, a priest of the Chatti, marched in the procession, as also other captives from the plundered tribes—the Caülci, Campsani, Bructeri, Usipi, Cherusci, Chatti, Chattuarii, Landi, Tubattii. Now the Rhenus is about three thousand stadia distant from the Albis, if one had straight roads to travel on, but as it is one must go by a circuitous route, which winds through a marshy country and forests. [5]

The Hercynian Forest is not only rather dense, but also has large trees, and comprises a large circuit within regions that are fortified by nature; in the center of it, however, lies a country (of which I have already spoken³¹) that is capable of affording an excellent livelihood. And near it are the sources of both the Ister and the Rhenus, as also the lake³² between the two sources, and the marshes³³ into which the Rhenus spreads.³⁴ The perimeter of the lake is more than three hundred stadia, while the passage across it is nearly two hundred.³⁵ There is also an island in it which Tiberius used as a base of operations in his naval battle with the Vindelici. This lake is south of the sources of the Ister, as is also the Hercynian Forest, so that necessarily, in going from Celtica to the Hercynian Forest, one first crosses the lake and then the Ister, and from there on advances through more passable regions—plateaus—to the forest. Tiberius had proceeded only a day's journey from the lake when he saw the sources of the Ister. The country of the Rhaeti adjoins the lake for only a short distance, whereas that of the Helvetii and the Vindelici, and also the desert of the Boii, adjoin the greater part of it. All the peoples as far as the Pannonii, but more especially the Helvetii and the Vindelici, inhabit plateaus. But the countries of the Rhaeti and the Norici extend as far as the passes over the Alps and verge toward Italy, a part thereof bordering on the country of the Insubri and a part on that of the Carni and the legions about Aquileia. And there is also another large forest, Gabreta;³⁶ it is on this side of the territory of the Suevi, whereas the Hercynian Forest, which is also held by them, is on the far side. 2.

As for the Cimbri, some things that are told about them are incorrect and others are extremely improbable. For instance, one could not accept such a reason for their having become a wandering and piratical folk as this—that while they were dwelling on a Peninsula they were driven out of their habitations by a great flood-tide; for in fact they still hold the country which they held in earlier times; and they sent as a present to Augustus the most sacred kettle³⁷ in their country, with a plea for his friendship and for an amnesty of their earlier offences, and when their petition was granted they set sail for home; and it is ridiculous to suppose that they departed from their homes because they were incensed on account of a phenomenon that is natural and eternal, occurring twice every day. And the assertion that an excessive flood-tide once occurred looks like a fabrication, for when the ocean is affected in this way it is subject to increases and diminutions, but these are regulated and periodical.³⁸ And the man who said that the Cimbri took up arms against the flood-tides was not right, either; nor yet the statement that the Celti, as a training in the virtue of fearlessness, meekly abide the destruction of their homes by the tides and then rebuild them, and that they suffer a greater loss of life as the result of water than of war, as Ephorus says. Indeed, the regularity of the flood-tides and the fact that the part of the country subject to inundations was known should have precluded such absurdities; for since this phenomenon occurs twice every day, it is of course improbable that the Cimbri did not so much as once perceive that the reflux was natural and harmless, and that it occurred, not in their country alone, but in every country that was on the ocean. Neither is Cleitarchus right; for he says that the horsemen, on seeing the onset of the sea, rode away, and though in full flight came very near being cut off by the water. Now we know, in the first place, that the invasion of the tide does not rush on with such speed as that, but that the sea advances imperceptibly; and, secondly, that what takes place daily and is audible to all who are about to draw near it, even before they behold it, would not have been likely to prompt in them such terror that they would take to flight, as if it had occurred unexpectedly. [2]

Poseidonius is right in censuring the historians for these assertions, and his conjecture is not a bad one, that the Cimbri, being a piratical and wandering folk, made an expedition even as far as the region of Lake Maeotis, and that also the “Cimmerian” Bosporus³⁹ was named after them, being equivalent to “Cimbrian,” the Greeks naming the Cimbri “Cimmerii.” And he goes off to say that in earlier times the Boii dwelt in the Hercynian Forest, and that the Cimbri made a sally against this place, but on being repulsed by the Boii, went down to the Ister and the country of the Scordiscan Galatae,⁴⁰ then to the country of the Teuristae⁴¹ and Taurisci (these, too, Galatae), and then to the country of the Helvetii—men rich in gold but peaceable; however, when the Helvetii saw that the wealth which the Cimbri had got from their robberies surpassed that of their own country, they, and particularly their tribes of Tigyreni and of Toygeni, were so excited that they sallied forth with the Cimbri. All, however, were subdued by the Romans, both the Cimbri themselves and those who had joined their expeditions, in part after they had crossed the Alps into Italy and in part while still on the other side of the Alps. [3]

Writers report a custom of the Cimbri to this effect: Their wives, who would accompany them on their expeditions, were attended by priestesses who were seers; these were grey-haired, clad in white, with flaxen cloaks fastened on with clasps, girt with girdles of bronze, and bare-footed; now sword in hand these priestesses would meet with the prisoners of war throughout the camp, and having first crowned them with wreaths would lead them to a brazen vessel of about twenty amphorae;⁴² and they had a raised platform which the priestess would mount, and then, bending over the kettle,⁴³ would cut the throat of each prisoner after he had been lifted up; and from the blood that poured forth into the vessel some of the priestesses would draw a prophecy, while still others would split open the body and from an inspection of the entrails would utter a prophecy of victory for their own people; and during the battles they would beat on the hides that were stretched over the wicker-bodies of the wagons and in this way produce an unearthly noise. [4]

Of the Germans, as I have said,⁴⁴ those towards the north extend along the ocean;⁴⁵ and beginning at the outlets of the Rhenus, they are known as far as the Albis; and of these the best known are the Sugambri and the Cimbri; but those parts of the country beyond the Albis that are near the ocean are wholly unknown to us. For of the men of earlier times I know of no one who has made this voyage along the coast to the eastern parts that extend as far as the mouth⁴⁶ of the Caspian Sea; and the Romans have not yet advanced into the parts that are beyond the Albis; and likewise no one has made the journey by land either. However, it is clear from the “climata” and the parallel distances that if one travels longitudinally towards the east, one encounters the regions that are about the Borysthenes and that are to the north of the Pontus; but what is beyond Germany and what beyond the countries which are next after Germany—whether one should say the Bastarnae, as most writers suspect, or say that others lie in between, either the Iazyges, or the Roxolani,⁴⁷ or certain other of the wagon-dwellers⁴⁸—it is not easy to say; nor yet whether they extend as far as the ocean along its entire length, or whether any part is uninhabitable by reason of the cold or other cause, or whether even a different race of people, succeeding the Germans, is situated between the sea and the eastern Germans. And this same ignorance prevails also in regard to the rest of the peoples that come next in order on the north; for I know neither the Bastarnae,⁴⁹ nor the Sauromatae, nor, in a word, any of the peoples who dwell above the Pontus, nor how far distant they are from the Atlantic Sea,⁵⁰ nor whether their countries border upon it. 3.

As for the southern part of Germany beyond the Albis, the portion which is just contiguous to that river is occupied by the Suevi; then immediately adjoining this is the land of the Getae, which, though narrow at first, stretching as it does along the Ister on its southern side and on the opposite side along the mountain-side of the Hercynian Forest (for the land of the Getae also embraces a part of the mountains), afterwards broadens out towards the north as far as the Tyregetae; but I cannot tell the precise boundaries. It is because of men's ignorance of these regions that any heed has been given to those who created the mythical “Rhipaean Mountains”⁵¹ and “Hyperboreans,”⁵² and also to all those false statements made by Pytheas the Massalian regarding the country along the ocean, wherein he uses as a screen his scientific knowledge of astronomy and mathematics.⁵³ So then, those men should be disregarded; in fact, if even Sophocles, when in his role as a tragic poet he speaks of Oreithyia,⁵⁴ tells how she was snatched up by “Boreas” and carried ““over the whole sea to the ends of the earth and to the sources of night⁵⁵ and to the unfoldings of heaven⁵⁶ and to the ancient garden of Phoebus,”
”⁵⁷⁵⁸ his story can have no bearing on the present inquiry, but should be disregarded, just as it is disregarded by Socrates in the Phaedrus.⁵⁹ But let us confine our narrative to what we have learned from history, both ancient and modern. [2]

Now the Greeks used to suppose that the Getae were Thracians; and the Getae lived on either side the Ister, as did also the Mysi, these also being Thracians and identical with the people who are now called Moesi; from these Mysi sprang also the Mysi who now live between the Lydians and the Phrygians and Trojans. And the Phrygians themselves are Brigians, a Thracian tribe, as are also the Mygdonians, the Bebricians, the Medobithynians,⁶⁰ the Bithynians, and the Thynians, and, I think, also the Mariandynians. These peoples, to be sure, have all utterly quitted Europe, but the Mysi have remained there. And Poseidonius seems to me to be correct in his conjecture that Homer designates the Mysi in Europe (I mean those in Thrace) when he says, ““But back he turned his shining eyes, and looked far away towards the land of the horsetending Thracians, and of the Mysi, hand-to-hand fighters”
”⁶¹ for surely, if one should take Homer to mean the Mysi in Asia, the statement would not hang together. Indeed, when Zeus turns his eyes away from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, it would be the act of a man who confuses the continents and does not understand the poet's phraseology to connect with Thrace the land of the Asiatic Mysi, who are not “far away,” but have a common boundary with the Troad and are situated behind it and on either side of it, and are separated from Thrace by the broad Hellespont; for “back he turned” generally⁶² means “to the rear,” and he who transfers his gaze from the Trojans to the people who are either in the rear of the Trojans or on their flanks, does indeed transfer his gaze rather far, but not at all “to the rear.”⁶³ Again, the appended phrase⁶⁴ is testimony to this very view, because the poet connected with the Mysi the “Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” and “Abii,” who are indeed the wagon-dwelling Scythians and Sarmatians. For at the present time these tribes, as well as the Bastarnian tribes, are mingled with the Thracians (more indeed with those outside the Ister, but also with those inside). And mingled with them are also the Celtic tribes—the Boii, the Scordisci, and the Taurisci. However, the Scordisci are by some called “Scordistae”; and the Taurisci are called also “Ligurisci”⁶⁵ and “Tauristae.”⁶⁶ [3]

Poseidonius goes on to say of the Mysians that in accordance with their religion they abstain from eating any living thing, and therefore from their flocks as well; and that they use as food honey and milk and cheese, living a peaceable life, and for this reason are called both “god-fearing” and “capnobatae”;⁶⁷ and there are some of the Thracians who live apart from woman-kind; these are called “Ctistae,”⁶⁸ and because of the honor in which they are held, have been dedicated to the gods and live with freedom from every fear; accordingly, Homer speaks collectively of all these peoples as “proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi and Abii, men most just,” but he calls them “Abii” more especially for this reason, that they live apart from women, since he thinks that a life which is bereft of woman is only half-complete (just as he thinks the “house of Protesilaüs” is only “half complete,” because it is so bereft⁶⁹); and he speaks of the Mysians as “hand-to-hand fighters” because they were indomitable, as is the case with all brave warriors; and Poseidonius adds that in the Thirteenth Book⁷⁰ one should read “Moesi, hand-to-hand fighters” instead of “Mysi, hand-to-hand fighters.” [4]

However, it is perhaps superfluous to disturb the reading that has had approval for so many years; for it is much more credible that the people were called Mysi at first and that later their name was changed to what it is now. And as for the term “Abii,” one might interpret it as meaning those who are “without hearth:” and “live on wagons” quite as well as those who are “bereft”; for since, in general, injustices arise only in connection with contracts and a too high regard for property, so it is reasonable that those who, like the Abii, live cheaply, on slight resources, should have been called “most just.” In fact, the philosophers who put justice next to self-restraint strive above all things for frugality and personal independence; and consequently extreme self-restraint diverts some of them to the Cynical mode of life. But as for the statement that they live “bereft of women,” the poet suggests nothing of the sort, and particularly in the country of the Thracians and of those of their number who are Getae. And see the statement of Menander about them, which, as one may reasonably suppose, was not invented by him but taken from history: ““All the Thracians, and most of all we Getae (for I too boast that I am of this stock) are not very continent;”
”⁷¹ and a little below he sets down the proofs of their incontinence in their relations with women: ““For every man of us marries ten or eleven women, and some, twelve or more; but if anyone meets death before he has married more than four or five, he is lamented among the people there as a wretch without bride and nuptial song.”
”⁷² Indeed, these facts are confirmed by the other writers as well. Further, it is not reasonable to suppose that the same people regard as wretched a life without many women, and yet at the same time regard as pious and just a life that is wholly bereft of women. And of course to regard as “both god-fearing and capnobatae” those who are without women is very much opposed to the common notions on that subject; for all agree in regarding the women as the chief founders of religion, and it is the women who provoke the men to the more attentive worship of the gods, to festivals, and to supplications, and it is a rare thing for a man who lives by himself to be found addicted to these things. See again what the same poet says when he introduces as speaker the man who is vexed by the money spent by the women in connection with the sacrifices: ““The gods are the undoing of us, especially us married men, for we must always be celebrating some festival;”
”⁷³ and again when he introduces the Woman-hater, who complains about these very things: ““we used to sacrifice five times a day, and seven female attendants would beat the cymbals all round us, while others would cry out to the gods.”
”⁷⁴ So, then, the interpretation that the wifeless men of the Getae are in a special way reverential towards the gods is clearly contrary to reason, whereas the interpretation that zeal for religion is strong in this tribe, and that because of their reverence for the gods the people abstain from eating any living thing, is one which, both from what Poseidonius and from what the histories in general tell us, should not be disbelieved. [5]

In fact, it is said that a certain man of the Getae, Zamolxis by name, had been a slave to Pythagoras, and had learned some things about the heavenly bodies from him,⁷⁵ as also certain other things from the Egyptians, for in his wanderings he had gone even as far as Egypt; and when he came on back to his home-land he was eagerly courted by the rulers and the people of the tribe, because he could make predictions from the celestial signs; and at last he persuaded the king to take him as a partner in the government, on the ground that he was competent to report the will of the gods; and although at the outset he was only made a priest of the god who was most honored in their country, yet afterwards he was even addressed as god, and having taken possession of a certain cavernous place that was inaccessible to anyone else he spent his life there, only rarely meeting with any people outside except the king and his own attendants; and the king cooperated with him, because he saw that the people paid much more attention to himself than before, in the belief that the decrees which he promulgated were in accordance with the counsel of the gods. This custom persisted even down to our own time, because some man of that character was always to be found, who, though in fact only a counsellor to the king, was called god among the Getae. And the people took up the notion that the mountain⁷⁶ was sacred and they so call it, but its name is Cogaeonum,⁷⁷ like that of the river which flows past it. So, too, at the time when Byrebistas,⁷⁸ against whom already⁷⁹ the Deified Caesar had prepared to make an expedition, was reigning over the Getae, the office in question was held by Decaeneus, and somehow or other the Pythagorean doctrine of abstention from eating any living thing still survived as taught by Zamolxis. [6]

Now although such difficulties as these might fairly be raised concerning what is found in the text of Homer about the Mysians and the “proud Hippemolgi,” yet what Apollodorus states in the preface to the Second Book of his work On Ships⁸⁰ can by no means be asserted; for he approves the declaration of Eratosthenes, that although both Homer and the other early authors knew the Greek places, they were decidedly unacquainted with those that were far away, since they had no experience either in making long journeys by land or in making voyages by sea. And in support of this Apollodorus says that Homer calls Aulis “rocky”⁸¹ (and so it is), and Eteonus “place of many ridges,”⁸² and Thisbe “haunt of doves,”⁸³ and Haliartus “grassy,”⁸⁴ but, he says, neither Homer nor the others knew the places that were far away. At any rate, he says, although about forty rivers now into the Pontus, Homer mentions not a single one of those that are the most famous, as, for example, the Ister, the Tanaïs, the Borysthenes, the Hypanis, the Phasis, the Thermodon, the Halys;⁸⁵ and, besides, he does not mention the Scythians, but invents certain “proud Hippemolgi” and “Galactophagi” and “Abii”; and as for the Paphlagonians of the interior, he reports what he has learned from those who have approached the regions afoot, but he is ignorant of the seaboard,⁸⁶ and naturally so, for at that time this sea was not navigable, and was called Axine⁸⁷ because of its wintry storms and the ferocity of the tribes that lived around it, and particularly the Scythians, in that they sacrificed strangers, ate their flesh, and used their skulls as drinking-cups; but later it was called “Euxine,”⁸⁸ when the Ionians founded cities on the seaboard. And, likewise, Homer is also ignorant of the facts about Egypt and Libya, as, for example, about the risings of the Nile and the silting up of the sea,⁸⁹ things which he nowhere mentions; neither does he mention the isthmus between the Erythraean⁹⁰ and the Egyptian⁹¹ Seas, nor the regions of Arabia and Ethiopia and the ocean, unless one should give heed to Zeno the philosopher when he writes, ““And I came to the Ethiopians and Sidonians and Arabians.”
”⁹²⁹³ But this ignorance in Homer's case is not amazing, for those who have lived later than he have been ignorant of many things and have invented marvellous tales: Hesiod, when he speaks of “men who are half-dog,”⁹⁴ of “long-headed men,” and of “Pygmies”; and Alcman, when he speaks of “web footed men”; and Aeschylus, when he speaks of “dog-headed men,” of “men with eyes in their breasts”, and of “one-eyed men” (in his Prometheus it is said⁹⁵); and a host of other tales. From these men he proceeds against the historians who speak of the “Rhipaean Mountains,”⁹⁶ and of “Mt. Ogyium,”⁹⁷ and of the settlement of the Gorgons and Hesperides, and of the “Land of Meropis”⁹⁸ in Theopompus,⁹⁹ and the “City of Cimmeris” in Hecataeus,¹⁰⁰ and the “Land of Panchaea”¹⁰¹ in Euhemerus,¹⁰² and in Aristotle “the river-stones, which are formed of sand but are melted by the rains.”¹⁰³ And in Libya, Apollodorus continues, there is a “City of Dionysus” which it is impossible for the same man ever to find twice. He censures also those who speak of the Homeric wanderings of Odysseus as having been in the neighborhood of Sicily; for in that case, says he, one should go on and say that, although the wanderings took place there, the poet, for the sake of mythology, placed them out in Oceanus.¹⁰⁴ And, he adds, the writers in general can be pardoned, but Callimachus¹⁰⁵ cannot be pardoned at all, because he makes a pretence of being a scholar;¹⁰⁶ for he calls Gaudos¹⁰⁷ the “Isle of Calypso” and Corcyra “Scheria.” And others he charges with falsifying about “Gerena,”¹⁰⁸ and “Aeacesium,”¹⁰⁹ and “Demus”¹¹⁰ in Ithaca, and about “Pelethronium”¹¹¹ in Pelion, and about Glaucopium¹¹² in Athens. To these criticisms Apollodorus adds some petty ones of like sort and then stops, but he borrowed most of them from Eratosthenes, and as I have remarked before¹¹³ they are wrong. For while one must concede to Eratosthenes and Apollodorus that the later writers have shown themselves better acquainted with such matters than the men of early times, yet to proceed beyond all moderation as they do, and particularly in the case of Homer, is a thing for which, as it seems to me, one might justly rebuke them and make the reverse statement: that where they are ignorant themselves, there they reproach the poet with ignorance. However, what remains to be said on this subject meets with appropriate mention in my detailed descriptions of the several countries,¹¹⁴ as also in my general description.¹¹⁵ [7]

Just now I was discussing the Thracians, and the ““Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters, and the proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, men most just,”
”¹¹⁶¹¹⁷ because I wished to make a comparison between the statements made by Poseidonius and myself and those made by the two men in question. Take first the fact that the argument which they have attempted is contrary to the proposition which they set out to prove; for although they set out to prove that the men of earlier times were more ignorant of regions remote from Greece than the men of more recent times, they showed the reverse, not only in regard to regions remote, but also in regard to places in Greece itself. However, as I was saying, let me put off everything else and look to what is now before me: they¹¹⁸ say that the poet through ignorance fails to mention the Scythians, or their savage dealings with strangers, in that they sacrifice them, eat their flesh, and use their skulls as drinking-cups, although it was on account of the Scythians that the Puntus was called “Axine,” but that he invents certain “proud Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, men most just”—people that exist nowhere on earth, How, then, could they call the sea “Axine” if they did not know about the ferocity or about the people who were most ferocious? And these, of course, are the Scythians. And were the people who lived beyond the Mysians and Thracians and Getae not also “Hippemolgi,”¹¹⁹ not also “Galactophagi”¹²⁰ and “Abii”?¹²¹ In fact, even now¹²² there are Wagon-dwellers and Nomads, so called, who live off their herds, and on milk and cheese, and particularly on cheese made from mare's milk, and know nothing about storing up food or about peddling merchandise either, except the exchange of wares for wares. How, then, could the poet be ignorant of the Scythians if he called certain people “Hippemolgi and Galactophagi”? For that the people of his time were wont to call the Scythians “Hippemolgi,” Hesiod, too, is witness in the words cited by Eratosthenes: “The Ethiopians, the Ligurians, and also the Scythians, Hippemolgi.”
”¹²³Now wherein is it to be wondered at that, because of the widespread injustice connected with contracts in our country, Homer called “most just” and “proud” those who by no means spend their lives on contracts and money-getting but actually possess all things in common except sword and drinking-cup, and above all things have their wives and their children in common, in the Platonic way? ¹²⁴ Aeschylus, too, is clearly pleading the cause of the poet when he says about the Scythians: ““But the Scythians, law-abiding, eaters of cheese made of mare's milk.”
”¹²⁵ And this assumption even now still persists among the Greeks; for we regard the Scythians the most straightforward of men and the least prone to mischief, as also far more frugal and independent of others than we are. And yet our mode of life has spread its change for the worse to almost all peoples, introducing amongst them luxury and sensual pleasures and, to satisfy these vices, base artifices that lead to innumerable acts of greed. So then, much wickedness of this sort has fallen on the barbarian peoples also, on the Nomads as well as the rest; for as the result of taking up a seafaring life they not only have become morally worse, indulging in the practice of piracy and of slaying strangers, but also, because of their intercourse with many peoples, have partaken of the luxury and the peddling habits of those peoples. But though these things seem to conduce strongly to gentleness of manner, they corrupt morals and introduce cunning instead of the straightforwardness which I just now mentioned. [8]

Those, however, who lived before our times, and particularly those who lived near the time of Homer, were—and among the Greeks were assumed to be—some such people as Homer describes. And see what Herodotus says concerning that king of the Scythians against whom Dareius made his expedition, and the message which the king sent back to him.¹²⁶ See also what Chrysippus¹²⁷ says concerning the kings of the Bosporus, the house of Leuco.¹²⁸ And not only the Persian letters¹²⁹ are full of references to that straightforwardness of which I am speaking but also the memoirs written by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Indians. And it was on this account that Anacharsis,¹³⁰ Abaris,¹³¹ and other men of the sort were in fair repute among the Greeks, because they displayed a nature characterized by complacency, frugality, and justice. But why should I speak of the men of olden times? For when Alexander, the son of Philip, on his expedition against the Thracians beyond the Haemus,¹³² invaded the country of the Triballians¹³³ and saw that it extended as far as the Ister and the island of Peuce¹³⁴ in the Ister, and that the parts on the far side were held by the Getae, he went as far as that,¹³⁵ it is said, but could not disembark upon the island because of scarcity of boats (for Syrmus, the king of the Triballi had taken refuge there and resisted his attempts); he did, however, cross over to the country of the Getae, took their city, and returned with all speed to his home-land, after receiving gifts from the tribes in question and from Syrmus. And Ptolemaeus,¹³⁶ the son of Lagus,¹³⁷ says that on this expedition the Celti who lived about the Adriatic joined Alexander for the sake of establishing friendship and hospitality, and that the king received them kindly and asked them when drinking what it was that they most feared, thinking they would say himself, but that they replied they feared no one, unless it were that Heaven might fall on them, although indeed they added that they put above everything else the friendship of such a man as he. And the following are signs of the straightforwardness of the barbarians: first, the fact that Syrmus refused to consent to the debarkation upon the island and yet sent gifts and made a compact of friendship; and, secondly, that the Celti said that they feared no one, and yet valued above everything else the friendship of great men. Again, Dromichaetes was king of the Getae in the time of the successors of Alexander. Now he, when he captured Lysimachus¹³⁸ alive, who had made an expedition against him, first pointed out the poverty both of himself and of his tribe and likewise their independence of others, and then bade him not to carry on war with people of that sort but rather to deal with them as friends; and after saying this he first entertained him as a guest, and made a compact of friendship, and then released him. Moreover, Plato in his Republic thinks that those who would have a well-governed city should flee as far as possible from the sea, as being a thing that teaches wickedness, and should not live near it.¹³⁹ [9]

Ephorus, in the fourth book of his history, the book entitled Europe (for he made the circuit¹⁴⁰ of Europe as far as the Scythians), says towards the end that the modes of life both of the Sauromatae and of the other Scythians are unlike, for, whereas some are so cruel that they even eat human beings, others abstain from eating any living creature whatever. Now the other writers, he says, tell only about their savagery, because they know that the terrible and the marvellous are startling, but one should tell the opposite facts too and make them patterns of conduct, and he himself, therefore, will tell only about those who follow “most just” habits, for there are some of the Scythian Nomads who feed only on mare's milk,¹⁴¹ and excel all men in justice; and they are mentioned by the poets: by Homer, when he says that Zeus espies the land ““of the Galactophagi and Abii, men most just,”
”¹⁴² and by Hesiod, in what is called his Circuit of the Earth,¹⁴³ when he says that Phineus is carried by the Storm Winds ““to the land of the Galactophagi, who have their dwellings in wagons.”
”¹⁴⁴ Then Ephorus reasons out the cause as follows: since they are frugal in their ways of living and not money-getters, they not only are orderly towards one another, because they have all things in common, their wives, children, the whole of their kin and everything, but also remain invincible and unconquered by outsiders, because they have nothing to be enslaved for. And he cites Choerilus¹⁴⁵ also, who, in his The Crossing of the Pontoon-Bridge which was constructed by Dareius,¹⁴⁶ says, ““the sheep-tending Sacae, of Scythian stock; but they used to live in wheat-producing Asia; however, they were colonists from the Nomads, law-abiding people.”
”¹⁴⁷ And when he calls Anacharsis “wise,” Ephorus says that he belongs to this race, and that he was considered also one of Seven Wise Men because of his perfect self-control and good sense. And he goes on to tell the inventions of Anacharsis—the bellows, the two-fluked anchor and the potter's wheel. These things I tell knowing full well that Ephorus himself does not tell the whole truth about everything; and particularly in his account of Anacharsis (for how could the wheel be his invention, if Homer, who lived in earlier times, knew of it? “As when a potter his wheel that fits in his hands,”¹⁴⁸ and so on); but as for those other things, I tell them because I wish to make my point clear that there actually was a common report, which was believed by the men of both early and of later times, that a part of the Nomads, I mean those who had settled the farthest away from the rest of mankind, were “galactophagi,” “abii,” and “most just,” and that they were not an invention of Homer. [10]

It is but fair, too, to ask Apollodorus to account for the Mysians that are mentioned in the verses of Homer, whether he thinks that these too are inventions¹⁴⁹ (when the poet says, ““and the Mysians, hand-to-hand fighters and the proud Hippenlolgi”
”¹⁵⁰), or takes the poet to mean the Mysians in Asia. Now if he takes the poet to mean those in Asia, he will misinterpret him, as I have said before,¹⁵¹ but if he calls them an invention, meaning that there were no Mysians in Thrace, he will contradict the facts; for at any rate, even in our own times, Aelius Catus¹⁵² transplanted from the country on the far side of the Ister into Thrace¹⁵³ fifty thousand persons from among the Getae, a tribe with the same tongue as the Thracians.¹⁵⁴ And they live there in Thrace now and are called “Moesi”—whether it be that their people of earlier times were so called and that in Asia the name was changed to “Mysi,”¹⁵⁵ or (what is more apposite to history and the declaration of the poet) that in earlier times their people in Thrace were called “Mysi.” Enough, however, on this subject. I shall now go back to the next topic in the general description. [11]

As for the Getae, then, their early history must be left untold, but that which pertains to our own times is about as follows: Boerebistas¹⁵⁶ a Getan, on setting himself in authority over the tribe, restored the people, who had been reduced to an evil plight by numerous wars, and raised them to such a height through training, sobriety, and obedience to his commands that within only a few years he had established a great empire and subordinated to the Getae most of the neighboring peoples. And he began to be formidable even to the Romans, because he would cross the Ister with impunity and plunder Thrace as far as Macedonia and the Illyrian country; and he not only laid waste the country of the Celti who were intermingled¹⁵⁷ with the Thracians and the Illyrians, but actually caused the complete disappearance of the Boii¹⁵⁸ who were under the rule of Critasirus,¹⁵⁹ and also of the Taurisci.¹⁶⁰ To help him secure the complete obedience of his tribe he had as his coadjutor Decaeneus,¹⁶¹ a wizard, a man who not only had wandered through Egypt, but also had thoroughly learned certain prognostics through which he would pretend to tell the divine will; and within a short time he was set up as god (as I said when relating the story of Zamolxis).¹⁶² The following is an indication of their complete obedience: they were persuaded to cut down their vines and to live without wine. However, certain men rose up against Boerebistas and he was deposed before the Romans sent an expedition against him;¹⁶³ and those who succeeded him divided the empire into several parts. In fact, only recently, when Augustus Caesar sent an expedition against them, the number of parts into which the empire had been divided was five, though at the time of the insurrection it had been four. Such divisions, to be sure, are only temporary and vary with the times. [12]

But there is also another division of the country which has endured from early times, for some of the people are called Daci, whereas others are called Getae—Getae, those who incline towards the Pontus and the east, and Daci, those who incline in the opposite direction towards Germany and the sources of the Ister. The Daci, I think, were called Daï in early times; whence the slave names “Geta” and “Daüs”¹⁶⁴ which prevailed among the Attic people; for this is more probable than that “Daüs” is from those Scythians who are called “Daae,”¹⁶⁵ for they live far away in the neighborhood of Hyrcania, and it is not reasonable to suppose that slaves were brought into Attica from there; for the Attic people were wont either to call their slaves by the same names as those of the nations from which they were brought (as “Lydus” or “Syrus ”), or addressed them by names that were prevalent in their countries (as “Manes”or else “Midas” for the Phrygian, or “Tibius” for the Paphlagonian). But though the tribe was raised to such a height by Boerebistas, it has been completely humbled by its own seditions and by the Romans; nevertheless, they are capable, even today, of sending forth an army of forty thousand men. [13]

The Marisus River flows through their country into the Danuvius,¹⁶⁶ on which the Romans used to convey their equipment for war; the “Danuvius” I say, for so they used to call the upper part of the river from near its sources on to the cataracts, I mean the part which in the main flows through the country, of the Daci, although they give the name “Ister” to the lower part, from the cataracts on to the Pontus, the part which flows past the country of the Getae. The language of the Daci is the same as that of the Getae. Among the Greeks, however, the Getae are better known because the migrations they make to either side of the Ister are continuous, and because they are intermingled with the Thracians and Mysians. And also the tribe of the Triballi, likewise Thracian, has had this same experience, for it has admitted migrations into this country, because the neighboring peoples force them¹⁶⁷ to emigrate into the country of those who are weaker; that is, the Scythians and Bastarnians and Sauromatians on the far side of the river often prevail to the extent that they actually cross over to attack those whom they have already driven out, and some of them remain there, either in the islands or in Thrace, whereas those¹⁶⁸ on the other side are generally overpowered by the Illyrians. Be that as it may, although the Getae and Daci once attained to very great power, so that they actually could send forth an expedition of two hundred thousand men, they now find themselves reduced to as few as forty thousand, and they have come close to the point of yielding obedience to the Romans, though as yet they are not absolutely submissive, because of the hopes which they base on the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans. [14]

In the intervening space, facing that part of the Pontic Sea which extends from the Ister to the Tyras,¹⁶⁹ lies the Desert of the Getae, wholly flat and waterless, in which Dareius the son of Hystaspis was caught¹⁷⁰ on the occasion when he crossed the Ister to attack the Scythians and ran the risk of perishing from thirst, army and all; however, he belatedly realized his error and turned back. And, later on, Lysimachus, in his expedition against the Getae and King Dromichaetes, not only ran the risk but actually was captured alive; but he again came off safely, because he found the barbarian kind-hearted, as I said before.¹⁷¹ [15]

Near the outlets of the Ister River is a great island called Peuce;¹⁷² and when the Bastarnians took possession of it they received the appellation of Peucini. There are still other islands which are much smaller; some of these are farther inland than Peuce, while others are near the sea, for the river has seven mouths. The largest of these mouths is what is called the Sacred Mouth,¹⁷³ on which one can sail inland a hundred and twenty stadia to Peuce. It was at the lower part of Peuce that Dareius made his pontoon-bridge,¹⁷⁴ although the bridge could have been constructed at the upper part also. The Sacred Mouth is the first mouth on the left as one sails¹⁷⁵ into the Pontus; the others come in order thereafter as one sails along the coast towards the Tyras; and the distance from it to the seventh mouth is about three hundred stadia. Accordingly, small islands are formed between the mouths. Now the three mouths that come next in order after the Sacred Mouth are small, but the remaining mouths are much smaller than it, but larger than any one of the three. According to Ephorus, however, the Ister has only five months. Thence to the Tyras, a navigable river, the distance is nine hundred stadia. And in the interval are two large lakes one of them opening into the sea, so that it can also be used as a harbor, but the other mouthless. [16]

At the mouth¹⁷⁶ of the Tyras is what is called the Tower of Neoptolemus,¹⁷⁷ and also what is called the village of Hermonax.¹⁷⁸ And on sailing inland one hundred and forty stadia one comes to two cities, one on each side, Niconia¹⁷⁹ on the right and Ophiussa¹⁸⁰ on the left. But the people who live near the river speak of a city one hundred and twenty stadia inland.¹⁸¹ Again, at a distance of five hundred stadia from the mouth is the island called Leuce,¹⁸² which lies in the high sea and is sacred to Achilles. [17]

Then comes the Borysthenes River,¹⁸³ which is navigable for a distance of six hundred stadia; and, near it, another river, the Hypanis,¹⁸⁴ and off the mouth of the Borysthenes, an island¹⁸⁵ with a harbor. 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;¹⁸⁶ it is a great trading center 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;¹⁸⁷ then the country of the Tyregetans;¹⁸⁸ and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the people called the Basileians¹⁸⁹ and that of the Urgi,¹⁹⁰ 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.¹⁹¹ 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;¹⁹² they came for the purpose of assisting Palacus,¹⁹³ 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,¹⁹⁴ or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus.¹⁹⁵ 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 burst¹⁹⁶ 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 Panticapaeum¹⁹⁷ across to Phanagoria¹⁹⁸ is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging¹⁹⁹ with an implement called the “gangame,”²⁰⁰ and particularly the antacaei,²⁰¹ which are about the size of dolphins.²⁰² 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.²⁰³ 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 parhelia²⁰⁴ in the clouds). It appears that Ateas,²⁰⁵ who waged war with Philip²⁰⁶ the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world. [19]

After the island²⁰⁷ that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one sails to the cape²⁰⁸ of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos²⁰⁹ and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a peninsula²¹⁰ 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,²¹¹ and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on either side of the neck. It is sandy,²¹² and water may be had by digging. The neck of the isthmus is near the center of the peninsula and is about forty stadia wide. It terminates in a cape called Tamyrace,²¹³ 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. 4.

Here is the isthmus²¹⁴ which separates what is called Lake Sapra²¹⁵ from the sea; it is forty stadia in width and forms what is called the Tauric, or Scythian, Chersonese. Some, however, say that the breadth of the isthmus is three hundred and sixty stadia. But though Lake Sapra is said to be as much as four thousand stadia,²¹⁶ it is only a part, the western part, of Lake Maeotis, for it is connected with the latter by a wide mouth. It is very marshy and is scarcely navigable for sewn boats, for the winds readily uncover the shallow places and then cover them with water again, and therefore the marshes are impassable for the larger boats. The gulf²¹⁷ contains three small islands, and also some shoals and a few reefs along the coast. [2]

As one sails out of the gulf, one comes, on the left, to a small city and another harbor²¹⁸ belonging to the Chersonesites. For next in order as one sails along the coast is a great cape which projects towards the south and is a part of the Chersonesus as a whole;²¹⁹ and on this cape is situated a city of the Heracleotae, a colony of the Heracleotae who live on the Pontus,²²⁰ and this place itself²²¹ is called Chersonesus,²²² being distant as one sails along the coast²²³ four thousand four hundred stadia from the Tyras. In this city is the temple of the Parthenos, a certain deity;²²⁴ and the cape²²⁵ which is in front of the city, at a distance of one hundred stadia, is also named after this deity, for it is called the Parthenium, and it has a shrine and xoanon²²⁶ of her. Between the city and the cape are three harbors. Then comes the Old Chersonesus, which has been razed to the ground; and after it comes a narrow-mouthed harbor, where, generally speaking, the Tauri, a Scythian tribe, used to assemble their bands of pirates in order to attack all who fled thither for refuge. It is called Symbolon Limen.²²⁷ This harbor forms with another harbor called Ctenus Limen²²⁸ an isthmus forty stadia in width; and this is the isthmus that encloses the Little Chersonesus, which, as I was saying, is a part of the Great Chersonesus and has on it the city of Chersonesus, which bears the same name as the peninsula. [3]

This city²²⁹ was at first self-governing, but when it was sacked by the barbarians it was forced to choose Mithridates Eupator as protector. He was then leading an army against the barbarians who lived beyond the isthmus²³⁰ as far as the Borysthenes and the Adrias;²³¹ this, however, was prepratory to a campaign against the Romans. So, then, in accordance with these hopes of his he gladly sent an army to Chersonesus, and at the same time carried on war against the Scythians, not only against Scilurus, but also the sons of Scilurus—Palacus²³² and the rest—who, according to Poseidonius were fifty in number, but according to Apollonides²³³ were eighty. At the same time, also, he not only subdued all these by force, but also established himself as lord of the Bosporus,²³⁴ receiving the country as a voluntary gift from Parisades²³⁵ who held sway over it. So from that time on down to the present the city of the Chersonesites has been subject to the potentates of the Bosporus. Again, Ctenus Limen is equidistant from the city of the Chersonesites and Symbolon Limen. And after Symbolon Limen, as far as the city Theodosia,²³⁶ lies the Tauric seaboard, which is about one thousand stadia in length. It is rugged and mountainous, and is subject to furious storms from the north. And in front of it lies a promontory which extends far out towards the high sea and the south in the direction of Paphlagonia and the city Amastris;²³⁷ it is called Criumetopon.²³⁸ And opposite it lies that promontory of the Paphlagonians, Carambis,²³⁹ which, by means of the strait, which is contracted on both sides, divides the Euxine Pontus into two seas.²⁴⁰ Now the distance from Carambis to the city of the Chersonesites is two thousand five hundred stadia,²⁴¹ but the number to Criumetopon is much less; at any rate, many who have sailed across the strait say that they have seen both promontories, on either side, at the same time.²⁴² In the mountainous district of the Taurians is also the mountain Trapezus,²⁴³ which has the same name as the city²⁴⁴ in the neighborhood of Tibarania and Colchis. And near the same mountainous district is also another mountain, Cimmerius,²⁴⁵ so called because the Cimmerians once held sway in the Bosporus; and it is because of this fact that the whole of the strait²⁴⁶ which extends to the mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus. [4]

After the aforesaid mountainous district is the city Theodosia. It is situated in a fertile plain and has a harbor that can accommodate as many as a hundred ships; this harbor 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,²⁴⁷ which possesses a good harbor. Panticapaeum is a hill inhabited on all sides in a circuit of twenty stadia. To the east it has a harbor, 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 neighboring settlements near the south 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 honor as god. The last²⁴⁸ 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.²⁴⁹ [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 Tanaïs²⁵⁰ 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 city²⁵¹ 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,²⁵² at a distance of twenty stadia from Panticapaeum. And twice this distance from Myrmecium is the village of Parthenium;²⁵³ 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 potentates²⁵⁴ 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.²⁵⁵ 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 medimni²⁵⁶ and also two hundred talents of silver.²⁵⁷ 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.²⁵⁸ These same people used to be called Georgi,²⁵⁹ 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.”²⁶⁰ 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,²⁶¹ who, according to Hypsicrates,²⁶² 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 civilized, 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.²⁶³ There was also a Fort Eupatorium,²⁶⁴ 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;²⁶⁵ it forms a very large gulf which inclines towards the city. And above this gulf is situated a lagoon²⁶⁶ which has salt-works. And here, too, was the Ctenus Harbor. 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 today 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”;²⁶⁷ 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. 5.

The remainder of Europe consists of the country which is between the Ister and the encircling sea, beginning at the recess of the Adriatic and extending as far as the Sacred Mouth²⁶⁸ of the Ister. In this country are Greece and the tribes of the Macedonians and of the Epeirotes, and all those tribes above them whose countries reach to the Ister and to the seas on either side, both the Adriatic and the Pontic—to the Adriatic, the Illyrian tribes, and to the other sea as far as the Propontis and the Hellespont, the Thracian tribes and whatever Scythian or Celtic tribes are intermingled²⁶⁹ with them. But I must make my beginning at the Ister, speaking of the parts that come next in order after the regions which I have already encompassed in my description. These are the parts that border on Italy, on the Alps, and on the counties of the Germans, Dacians, and Getans. This country also²⁷⁰ might be divided into two parts, for, in a way, the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian mountains are parallel to the Ister, thus completing what is almost a straight line that reaches from the Adrias as far as the Pontus; and to the north of this line are the parts that are between the Ister and the mountains, whereas to the south are Greece and the barbarian country which borders thereon and extends as far as the mountainous country. Now the mountain called Haemus²⁷¹ is near the Pontus; it is the largest and highest of all mountains in that part of the world, and cleaves Thrace almost in the center. Polybius says that both seas are visible from the mountain, but this is untrue, for the distance to the Adrias is great and the things that obscure the view are many. On the other hand, almost the whole of Ardia²⁷² is near the Adrias. But Paeonia is in the middle, and the whole of it too is high country. Paeonia is bounded on either side, first, towards the Thracian parts, by Rhodope,²⁷³ a mountain next in height to the Haemus, and secondly, on the other side, towards the north, by the Illyrian parts, both the country of the Autariatae and that of the Dardanians.²⁷⁴ So then, let me speak first of the Illyrian parts, which join the Ister and that part of the Alps which lies between Italy and Germany and begins at the lake²⁷⁵ which is near the country of the Vindelici, Rhaeti, and Toenii.²⁷⁶ [2]

A part of this country was laid waste by the Dacians when they subdued the Boii and Taurisci, Celtic tribes under the rule of Critasirus.²⁷⁷ They alleged that the country was theirs, although it was separated from theirs by the River Parisus,²⁷⁸ which flows from the mountains to the Ister near the country of the Scordisci who are called Galatae,²⁷⁹ for these too²⁸⁰ lived intermingled with the Illyrian and the Thracian tribes. But though the Dacians destroyed the Boii and Taurisci, they often used the Scordisci as allies. The remainder of the country in question is held by the Pannonii as far as Segestica²⁸¹ and the Ister, on the north and east, although their territory extends still farther in the other directions. The city Segestica, belonging to the Pannonians, is at the confluence of several rivers,²⁸² all of them navigable, and is naturally fitted to be a base of operations for making war against the Dacians; for it lies beneath that part of the Alps which extends as far as the country of the Iapodes, a tribe which is at the same time both Celtic and Illyrian. And thence, too, flow rivers which bring down into Segestica much merchandise both from other countries and from Italy. For if one passes over Mount Ocra²⁸³ from Aquileia to Nauportus,²⁸⁴ a settlement of the Taurisci, whither the wagons are brought, the distance is three hundred and fifty stadia, though some say five hundred. Now the Ocra is the lowest part of that portion of the Alps which extends from the country of the Rhaeti to that of the Iapodes. Then the mountains rise again, in the country of the Iapodes, and are called “Albian.”²⁸⁵ In like manner, also, there is a pass which leads over Ocra from Tergeste,²⁸⁶ a Carnic village, to a marsh called Lugeum.²⁸⁷ Near Nauportus there is a river, the Corcoras,²⁸⁸ which receives the cargoes. Now this river empties into the Saus, and the Saus into the Dravus, and the Dravus into the Noarus²⁸⁹ near Segestica. Immediately below Nauportus the Noarus is further increased in volume by the Colapis,²⁹⁰ which flows from the Albian Mountain through the country of the Iapodes and meets the Danuvius near the country of the Scordisci. The voyage on these rivers is, for the most part, towards the north. The road from Tergeste to the Danuvius is about one thousand two hundred stadia. Near Segestica, and on the road to Italy, are situated both Siscia,²⁹¹ a fort, and Sirmium.²⁹² [3]

The tribes of the Pannonii are: the Breuci, the Andisetii, the Ditiones, the Peirustae, the Mazaei, and the Daesitiatae, whose leader is²⁹³ Bato,²⁹⁴ and also other small tribes of less significance which extend as far as Dalmatia and, as one goes south, almost as far as the land of the Ardiaei. The whole of the mountainous country that stretches alongside Pannonia from the recess of the Adriatic as far as the Rhizonic Gulf²⁹⁵ and the land of the Ardiaei is Illyrian, falling as it does between the sea and the Pannonian tribes. But this²⁹⁶ is about where I should begin my continuous geographical circuit—though first I shall repeat a little of what I have said before.²⁹⁷ I was saying in my geographical circuit of Italy that the Istrians were the first people on the Illyrian seaboard; their country being a continuation of Italy and the country of the Carni; and it is for this reason that the present Roman rulers have advanced the boundary of Italy as far as Pola, an Istrian city. Now this boundary is about eight hundred stadia from the recess, and the distance from the promontory²⁹⁸ in front of Pola to Ancona, if one keeps the Henetic²⁹⁹ country on the right, is the same. And the entire distance along the coast of Istria is one thousand three hundred stadia. [4]

Next in order comes the voyage of one thousand stadia along the coast of the country of the Iapodes; for the Iapodes are situated on the Albian Mountain, which is the last mountain of the Alps, is very lofty, and reaches down to the country of the Pannonians on one side and to the Adrias on the other. They are indeed a war-mad people, but they have been utterly worn out by Augustus. Their cities³⁰⁰ are Metulum,³⁰¹ Arupini,³⁰² Monetium,³⁰³ and Vendo.³⁰⁴ Their lands are poor, the people living for the most part on spelt and millet. Their armor is Celtic, and they are tattooed like the rest of the Illyrians and the Miracians. After the voyage along the coast of the country of the Iapodes comes that along the coast of the country of the Liburni, the latter being five hundred stadia longer than the former; on this voyage is a river,³⁰⁵ which is navigable inland for merchant-vessels as far as the country of the Dalmatians, and also a Liburnian city, Scardo.³⁰⁶ [5]

There are islands along the whole of the aforesaid seaboard: first, the Apsyrtides,³⁰⁷ where Medeia is said to have killed her brother Apsyrtus who was pursuing her; and then, opposite the country of the Iapodes, Cyrictica,³⁰⁸ then the Liburnides,³⁰⁹ about forty in number; then other islands, of which the best known are Issa,³¹⁰ Tragurium³¹¹ (founded by the people of Issa), and Pharos (formerly Paros, founded by the Parians³¹²), the native land of Demetrius³¹³ the Pharian. Then comes the seaboard of the Dalmatians, and also their sea-port, Salo.³¹⁴ This tribe is one of those which carried on war against the Romans for a long time; it had as many as fifty noteworthy settlements; and some of these were cities—Salo, Priamo, Ninia, and Sinotium (both the Old and the New), all of which were set on fire by Augustus. And there is Andretium, a fortified place; and also Dalmium³¹⁵ (whence the name of the tribe), which was once a large city, but because of the greed of the people Nasica³¹⁶ reduced it to a small city and made the plain a mere sheep pasture. The Dalmatians have the peculiar custom of making a redistribution of land every seven years; and that they make no use of coined money is peculiar to them as compared with the other peoples in that part of the world, although as compared with many other barbarian peoples it is common. And there is Mount Adrium,³¹⁷ which cuts the Dalmatian country through the middle into two parts, one facing the sea and the other in the opposite direction. Then come the River Naro and the people who live about it—the Daorisi, the Ardiaei, and the Pleraei. An island called the Black Corcyra³¹⁸ and also a city³¹⁹ founded by the Cnidians are close to the Pleraei, while Pharos (formerly called Paros, for it was founded by Parians) is close to the Ardiaei. [6]

The Ardiaei were called by the men of later times “Vardiaei.” Because they pestered the sea through their piratical bands, the Romans pushed them back from it into the interior and forced them to till the soil. But the country is rough and poor and not suited to a farming population, and therefore the tribe has been utterly ruined and in fact has almost been obliterated. And this is what befell the rest of the peoples in that part of the world; for those who were most powerful in earlier times were utterly humbled or were obliterated, as, for example, among the Galatae the Boii and the Scordistae, and among the Illyrians the Autariatae, Ardiaei, and Dardanii, and among the Thracians the Triballi; that is, they were reduced in warfare by one another at first and then later by the Macedonians and the Romans. [7]

Be this as it may, after the seaboard of the Ardiaei and the Pleraei come the Rhisonic Gulf, and the city Rhizo,³²⁰ and other small towns and also the River Drilo,³²¹ which is navigable inland towards the east as far as the Dardanian country. This country borders on the Macedonian and the Paeonian tribes on the south, as do also the Autariatae and the Dassaretii—different peoples on different sides being contiguous to one another and to the Autariatae.³²² To the Dardaniatae belong also the Galabrii,³²³ among whom is an ancient city,³²⁴ and the Thunatae, whose country joins that of the Medi,³²⁵ a Thracian tribe on the east. The Dardanians are so utterly wild that they dig caves beneath their dung-hills and live there, but still they care for music, always making use of musical instruments, both flutes and stringed instruments. However, these people live in the interior, and I shall mention them again later. [8]

After the Rhizonic Gulf comes the city of Lissus,³²⁶ and Acrolissus,³²⁷ and Epidamnus,³²⁸ founded by the Corcyraeans, which is now called Dyrrachium, like the peninsula on which it is situated. Then comes the Apsus³²⁹ River; and then the Aoüs,³³⁰ on which is situated Apollonia,³³¹ an exceedingly well-governed city, founded by the Corinthians and the Corcyraeans, and ten stadia distant from the river and sixty from the sea. The Aoüs is called “Aeas “³³² by Hecataeus, who says that both the Inachus and the Aeas flow from the same place, the region of Lacmus,³³³ or rather from the same subterranean recess, the former towards the south into Argos and the latter towards the west and towards the Adrias. In the country of the Apolloniates is a place called Nymphaeum; it is a rock that gives forth fire; and beneath it flow springs of warm water and asphalt—probably because the clods of asphalt in the earth are burned by the fire. And near by, on a hill, is a mine of asphalt; and the part that is trenched is filled up again in the course of time, since, as Poseidonius says, the earth that is poured into the trenches changes to asphalt. He also speaks of the asphaltic vine-earth which is mined at the Pierian Seleuceia³³⁴ as a cure for the infested vine; for, he says, if it is smeared on together with olive oil, it kills the insects³³⁵ before they can mount the sprouts of the roots;³³⁶ and, he adds, earth of this sort was also discovered in Rhodes when he was in office there as Prytanis,³³⁷ but it required more olive oil. After Apollonia comes Bylliaca,³³⁸ and Oricum³³⁹ and its seaport Panormus, and the Ceraunian Mountains, where the mouth of the Ionian Gulf³⁴⁰ and the Adrias begins. [9]

Now the mouth is common to both, but the Ionian is different in that it is the name of the first part of this sea, whereas Adrias is the name of the inside part of the sea as far as the recess; at the present time, however, Adrias is also the name of the sea as a whole. According to Theopompus, the first name came from a man,³⁴¹ a native of Issa,³⁴² who once ruled over the region, whereas the Adrias was named after a river.³⁴³ The distance from the country of the Liburnians to the Ceraunian Mountains is slightly more than two thousand stadia Theopompus states that the whole voyage from the recess takes six days, and that on foot the length of the Illyrian country is as much as thirty days, though in my opinion he makes the distance too great.³⁴⁴ And he also says other things that are incredible: first, that the seas³⁴⁵ are connected by a subterranean passage, from the fact that both Chian and Thasian pottery are found in the Naro River; secondly, that both seas are visible from a certain mountain;³⁴⁶ and thirdly, when he puts down a certain one of the Liburnides islands as large enough to have a circuit of five hundred stadia;³⁴⁷ and fourthly, that the Ister empties by one of its mouths into the Adrias. In Eratosthenes, also, are some false hearsay statements of this kind—“popular notions,”³⁴⁸ as Polybius calls them when speaking of him and the other historians. [10]

Now the whole Illyrian seaboard is exceedingly well supplied with harbors, not only on the continuous coast itself but also in the neighboring islands, although the reverse is the case with that part of the Italian seaboard which lies opposite, since it is harborless. But both seaboards in like manner are sunny and good for fruits, for the olive and the vine flourish there, except, perhaps, in places here or there that are utterly rugged. But although the Illyrian seaboard is such, people in earlier times made but small account of it—perhaps in part owing to their ignorance of its fertility, though mostly because of the wildness of the inhabitants and their piratical habits. But the whole of the country situated above this is mountainous, cold, and subject to snows, especially the northerly part, so that there is a scarcity of the vine, not only on the heights but also on the levels. These latter are the mountain-plains occupied by the Pannonians; on the south they extend as far as the country of the Dalmatians and the Ardiaei, on the north they end at the Ister, while on the east they border on the country of the Scordisci, that is, on the country that extends along the mountains of the Macedonians and the Thracians. [11]

Now the Autariatae were once the largest and best tribe of the Illyrians. In earlier times they were continually at war with the Ardiaei over the salt-works on the common frontiers. The salt was made to crystallize out of water which in the spring-time flowed at the foot of a certain mountain-glen, for if they drew off the water and stowed it away for five days the salt would become thoroughly crystallized. They would agree to use the salt-works alternately, but would break the agreements and go to war. At one time when the Autariatae had subdued the Triballi, whose territory extended from that of the Agrianes as far as the Ister, a journey of fifteen days, they held sway also over the rest of the Thracians and the Illyrians; but they were overpowered, at first by the Scordisci, and later on by the Romans, who also subdued the Scordisci themselves, after these had been in power for a long time. [12]

The Scordisci lived along the Ister and were divided into two tribes called the Great Scordisci and the Little Scordisci. The former lived between two rivers that empty into the Ister—the Noarus,³⁴⁹ which flows past Segestica, and the Margus³⁵⁰ (by some called the Bargus), whereas the Little Scordisci lived on the far side of this river,³⁵¹ and their territory bordered on that of the Triballi and the Mysi. The Scordisci also held some of the islands; and they increased to such an extent that they advanced as far as the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian mountains; accordingly, they also took possession of most of the islands in the Ister. And they also had two cities—Heorta and Capedunum.³⁵² After the country of the Scordisci, along the Ister, comes that of the Triballi and the Mysi (whom I have mentioned before),³⁵³ and also the marshes of that part of what is called Little Scythia which is this side the Ister (these too I have mentioned).³⁵⁴ These people, as also the Crobyzi and what are called the Troglodytae, live above³⁵⁵ the region round about Callatis,³⁵⁶ Tomis,³⁵⁷ and Ister.³⁵⁸ Then come the peoples who live in the neighborhood of the Haemus Mountain and those who live at its base and extend as far as the Pontus—I mean the Coralli, the Bessi, and some of the Medi³⁵⁹ and Dantheletae. Now these tribes are very brigandish themselves, but the Bessi, who inhabit the greater part of the Haemus Mountain, are called brigands even by the brigands. The Bessi live in huts and lead a wretched life; and their country borders on Mount Rhodope, on the country of the Paeonians, and on that of two Illyrian peoples—the Autariatae, and the Dardanians. Between these³⁶⁰ and the Ardiaei are the Dassaretii, the Hybrianes,³⁶¹ and other insignificant tribes, which the Scordisci kept on ravaging until they had depopulated the country and made it full of trackless forests for a distance of several days' journey. 6.

The remainder of the country between the Ister and the mountains on either side of Paeonia consists of that part of the Pontic seaboard which extends from the Sacred Mouth of the Ister as far as the mountainous country in the neighborhood of the Haemus and as far as the mouth at Byzantium. And just as, in traversing the Illyrian seaboard, I proceeded as far as the Ceraunian Mountains, because, although they fall outside the mountainous country of Illyria, they afford an appropriate limit, and just as I determined the positions of the tribes of the interior by these mountains, because I thought that marks³⁶² of this kind would be more significant as regards both the description at hand and what was to follow, so also in this case the seaboard, even though it falls beyond the mountain-line, will nevertheless end at an appropriate limit—the mouth of the Pontus—as regards both the description at hand and that which comes next in order. So, then, if one begins at the Sacred Mouth of the Ister and keeps the continuous seaboard on the right, one comes, at a distance of five hundred stadia, to a small town, Ister, founded by the Milesians; then, at a distance of two hundred and fifty stadia, to a second small town, Tomis; then, at two hundred and eighty stadia, to a city Callatis,³⁶³ a colony of the Heracleotae;³⁶⁴ then, at one thousand three hundred stadia, to Apollonia,³⁶⁵ a colony of the Milesians. The greater part of Apollonia was founded on a certain isle, where there is a temple of Apollo, from which Marcus Lucullus carried off the colossal statue of Apollo, a work of Calamis,³⁶⁶ which he set up in the Capitolium. In the interval between Callatis and Apollonia come also Bizone,³⁶⁷ of which a considerable part was engulfed by earthquakes,³⁶⁸ Cruni,³⁶⁹ Odessus,³⁷⁰ a colony of the Milesians, and Naulochus,³⁷¹ a small town of the Mesembriani. Then comes the Haemus Mountain, which reaches the sea here;³⁷² then Mesembria, a colony of the Megarians, formerly called “Menebria” (that is, “city of Menas,” because the name of its founder was Menas, while “bria” is the word for “city” in the Thracian language. In this way, also, the city of Selys is called Selybria³⁷³ and Aenus³⁷⁴ was once called Poltyobria³⁷⁵). Then come Anchiale,³⁷⁶ a small town belonging to the Apolloniatae, and Apollonia itself. On this coast-line is Cape Tirizis,³⁷⁷ a stronghold, which Lysimachus³⁷⁸ once used as a treasury. Again, from Apollonia to the Cyaneae the distance is about one thousand five hundred stadia; and in the interval are Thynias,³⁷⁹ a territory belonging to the Apolloniatae (Anchiale, which also belongs to the Apolloniatae³⁸⁰), and also Phinopolis and Andriaca,³⁸¹ which border on Salmydessus.³⁸² Salmydessus is a desert and stony beach, harborless and wide open to the north winds, and in length extends as far as the Cyaneae, a distance of about seven hundred stadia; and all who are cast ashore on this beach are plundered by the Astae, a Thracian tribe who are situated above it. The Cyaneae³⁸³ are two islets near the mouth of the Pontus, one close to Europe and the other to Asia; they are separated by a channel of about twenty stadia and are twenty stadia distant both from the temple of the Byzantines and from the temple of the Chalcedonians.³⁸⁴ And this is the narrowest part of the mouth of the Euxine, for when one proceeds only ten stadia farther one comes to a headland which makes the strait only five stadia³⁸⁵ in width, and then the strait opens to a greater width and begins to form the Propontis. [2]

Now the distance from the headland that makes the strait only five stadia wide to the harbor which is called “Under the Fig-tree “³⁸⁶ is thirty-five stadia; and thence to the Horn of the Byzantines,³⁸⁷ five stadia. The Horn, which is close to the wall of the Byzantines, is a gulf that extends approximately towards the west for a distance of sixty stadia; it resembles a stag's horn,³⁸⁸ for it is split into numerous gulfs—branches, as it were. The pelamydes³⁸⁹ rush into these gulfs and are easily caught—because of their numbers, the force of the current that drives them together, and the narrowness of the gulfs; in fact, because of the narrowness of the area, they are even caught by hand. Now these fish are hatched in the marshes of Lake Maeotis, and when they have gained a little strength they rush out through the mouth of the lake in schools and move along the Asian shore as far as Trapezus and Pharnacia. It is here³⁹⁰ that the catching of the fish first takes place, though the catch is not considerable, for the fish have not yet grown to their normal size. But when they reach Sinope, they are mature enough for catching and salting. Yet when once they touch the Cyaneae and pass by these, the creatures take such fright at a certain white rock which projects from the Chalcedonian shore that they forthwith turn to the opposite shore. There they are caught by the current, and since at the same time the region is so formed by nature as to turn the current of the sea there to Byzantium and the Horn at Byzantium, they naturally are driven together thither and thus afford the Byzantines and the Roman people considerable revenue. But the Chalcedonians, though situated near by, on the opposite shore, have no share in this abundance, because the pelamydes do not approach their harbors; hence the saying that Apollo, when the men who founded Byzantium at a time subsequent to the founding of Chalcedon³⁹¹ by the Megarians consulted the oracle, ordered them to “make their settlement opposite the blind,” thus calling the Chalcedonians “blind”, because, although they sailed the regions in question at an earlier time, they failed to take possession of the country on the far side, with all its wealth, and chose the poorer country. I have now carried my description as far as Byzantium, because a famous city, lying as it does very near to the mouth, marked a better-known limit to the coasting-voyage from the Ister. And above Byzantium is situated the tribe of the Astae, in whose territory is a city Calybe,³⁹² where Philip the son of Amyntas settled the most villainous people of his kingdom.³⁹³ 7.

These alone, then, of all the tribes that are marked off by the Ister and by the Illyrian and Thracian mountains, deserve to be mentioned, occupying as they do the whole of the Adriatic seaboard beginning at the recess, and also the sea-board that is called “the left parts of the Pontus,” and extends from the Ister River as far as Byzantium. But there remain to be described the southerly parts of the aforesaid³⁹⁴ mountainous country and next thereafter the districts that are situated below them, among which are both Greece and the adjacent barbarian country as far as the mountains. Now Hecataeus of Miletus says of the Peloponnesus that before the time of the Greeks it was inhabited by barbarians. Yet one might say that in the ancient times the whole of Greece was a settlement of barbarians, if one reasons from the traditions themselves: Pelops³⁹⁵ brought over peoples³⁹⁶ from Phrygia to the Peloponnesus that received its name from him; and Danaüs³⁹⁷ from Egypt; whereas the Dryopes, the Caucones, the Pelasgi, the Leleges, and other such peoples, apportioned among themselves the parts that are inside the isthmus—and also the parts outside, for Attica was once held by the Thracians who came with Eumolpus,³⁹⁸ Daulis in Phocis by Tereus,³⁹⁹ Cadmeia⁴⁰⁰ by the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and Boeotia itself by the Aones and Temmices and Hyantes. According to Pindar, ““there was a time when the Boeotian tribe was called “Syes.”
”⁴⁰¹⁴⁰² Moreover, the barbarian origin of some is indicated by their names—Cecrops, Godrus, Aïclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus. And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians—Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes—Epeirotic tribes. [2]

As for the Pelasgi, I have already discussed them.⁴⁰³ As for the Leleges, some conjecture that they are the same as the Carians, and others that they were only fellow-inhabitants and fellow-soldiers of these; and this, they say, is why, in the territory of Miletus, certain settlements are called settlements of the Leleges, and why, in many places in Caria, tombs of the Leleges and deserted forts, known as “Lelegian forts,” are so called. However, the whole of what is now called Ionia used to be inhabited by Carians and Leleges; but the Ionians themselves expelled them and took possession of the country, although in still earlier times the captors of Troy had driven the Leleges from the region about Ida that is near Pedasus and the Satnioïs River. So then, the very fact that the Leleges made common cause with the Carians might be considered a sign that they were barbarians. And Aristotle, in his Polities,⁴⁰⁴ also clearly indicates that they led a wandering life, not only with the Carians, but also apart from them, and from earliest times; for instance, in the Polity of the Acarnanians he says that the Curetes held a part of the country, whereas the Leleges, and then the Teleboae, held the westerly part; and in the Polity of the Aetolians (and likewise in that of the Opuntii and the Megarians) he calls the Locri of today Leleges and says that they took possession of Boeotia too; again, in the Polity of the Leucadians he names a certain indigenous Lelex, and also Teleboas, the son of a daughter of Lelex, and twenty-two sons of Teleboas, some of whom, he says, dwelt in Leucas.⁴⁰⁵ But in particular one might believe Hesiod when he says concerning them: ““For verily Locrus was chieftain of the peoples of the Leleges, whom once Zeus the son of Cronus, who knoweth devices imperishable, gave to Deucalion—peoples⁴⁰⁶ picked out of earth”;
”⁴⁰⁷ for by his etymology⁴⁰⁸ he seems to me to hint that from earliest times they were a collection of mixed peoples and that this was why the tribe disappeared. And the same might be said of the Caucones, since now they are nowhere to be found, although in earlier times they were settled in several places. [3]

Now although in earlier times the tribes in question were small, numerous, and obscure, still, because of the density of their population and because they lived each under its own king, it was not at all difficult to determine their boundaries; but now that most of the country has become depopulated and the settlements, particularly the cities, have disappeared from sight, it would do no good, even if one could determine their boundaries with strict accuracy, to do so, because of their obscurity and their disappearance. This process of disappearing began a long time ago, and has not yet entirely ceased in many regions because the people keep revolting; indeed, the Romans, after being set up as masters by the inhabitants, encamp in their very houses.⁴⁰⁹ Be this as it may, Polybius⁴¹⁰ says that Paulus,⁴¹¹ after his subjection of Perseus and the Macedonians, destroyed seventy cities of the Epeirotes (most of which, he adds, belonged to the Molossi),⁴¹² and reduced to slavery one hundred and fifty thousand people. Nevertheless, I shall attempt, in so far as it is appropriate to my description and as my knowledge reaches, to traverse the several different parts, beginning at the seaboard of the Ionian Gulf—that is, where the voyage out of the Adrias ends. [4]

Of this seaboard, then, the first parts are those about Epidamnus and Apollonia. From Apollonia to Macedonia one travels the Egnatian Road, towards the east; it has been measured by Roman miles and marked by pillars as far as Cypsela⁴¹³ and the Hebrus⁴¹⁴ River—a distance of five hundred and thirty-five miles. Now if one reckons as most people do, eight stadia to the mile, there would be four thousand two hundred and eighty stadia, whereas if one reckons as Polybius does, who adds two plethra, which is a third of a stadium, to the eight stadia, one must add one hundred and seventy-eight stadia—the third of the number of miles. And it so happens that travellers setting out from Apollonia and Epidamnus meet at an equal distance from the two places on the same road.⁴¹⁵ Now although the road as a whole is called the Egnatian Road, the first part of it is called the Road to Candavia (an Illyrian mountain) and passes through Lychnidus,⁴¹⁶ a city, and Pylon, a place on the road which marks the boundary between the Illyrian country and Macedonia. From Pylon the road runs to Barnus⁴¹⁷ through Heracleia⁴¹⁸ and the country of the Lyncestae and that of the Eordi into Edessa⁴¹⁹ and Pella⁴²⁰ and as far as Thessaloniceia;⁴²¹ and the length of this road in miles, according to Polybius, is two hundred and sixty-seven. So then, in travelling this road from the region of Epidamnus and Apollonia, one has on the right the Epeirotic tribes whose coasts are washed by the Sicilian Sea and extend as far as the Ambracian Gulf,⁴²² and, on the left, the mountains of Illyrla, which I have already described in detail, and those tribes which live along them and extend as far as Macedonia and the country of the Paeonians. Then, beginning at the Ambracian Gulf, all the districts which, one after another, incline towards the east and stretch parallel to the Peloponnesus belong to Greece; they then leave the whole of the Peloponnesus on the right and project into the Aegaean Sea. But the districts which extend from the beginning of the Macedonian and the Paeonian mountains as far as the Strymon⁴²³ River are inhabited by the Macedonians, the Paeonians, and by some of the Thracian mountaineers; whereas the districts beyond the Strymon, extending as far as the mouth of the Pontus and the Haemus, all belong to the Thracians, except the seaboard. This seaboard is inhabited by Greeks, some being situated on the Propontis,⁴²⁴ others on the Hellespont and the Gulf of Melas,⁴²⁵ and others on the Aegaean. The Aegaean Sea washes Greece on two sides: first, the side that faces towards the east and stretches from Sunium,⁴²⁶ towards the north as far as the Thermaean Gulf⁴²⁷ and Thessaloniceia, a Macedonian city, which at the present time is more populous than any of the rest; and secondly, the side that faces towards the south, I mean the Macedonian country, extending from Thessaloniceia as far as the Strymon. Some, however, also assign to Macedonia the country that extends from the Strymon as far as the Nestus River,⁴²⁸ since Philip was so specially interested in these districts that he appropriated them to himself, and since he organized very large revenues from the mines and the other natural resources of the country. But from Sunium to the Peloponnesus lie the Myrtoan, the Cretan, and the Libyan Seas, together with their gulfs, as far as the Sicilian Sea; and this last fills out the Ambracian, the Corinthian, and the Crisaean⁴²⁹ Gulfs. [5]

Now as for the Epeirotes, there are fourteen tribes of them, according to Theopompus, but of these the Chaones and the Molossi are the most famous, because of the fact that they once ruled over the whole of the Epeirote country—the Chaones earlier and later the Molossi; and the Molossi grew to still greater power, partly because of the kinship of their kings, who belonged to the family of the Aeacidae,⁴³⁰ and partly because of the fact that the oracle at Dodona⁴³¹ was in their country, an oracle both ancient and renowned. Now the Chaones and the Thesproti and, next in order after these, the Cassopaei (these, too, are Thesproti) inhabit the seaboard which extends from the Ceraunian Mountains as far as the Ambracian Gulf, and they have a fertile country. The voyage, if one begins at the country of the Chaones and sails towards the rising sun and towards the Ambracian and Corinthian Gulfs, keeping the Ausonian Sea⁴³² on the right and Epeirus on the left, is one thousand three hundred stadia, that is, from the Ceraunian Mountains to the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. In this interval is Panormus,⁴³³ a large harbor at the center of the Ceraunian Mountains, and after these mountains one comes to Onchesmus,⁴³⁴ another harbor, opposite which lie the western extremities of Corcyraea,⁴³⁵ and then still another harbor, Cassiope,⁴³⁶ from which the distance to Brentesium is one thousand seven hundred stadia. And the distance to Taras from another cape, which is farther south than Cassiope and is called Phalacrum,⁴³⁷ is the same. After Onchesmus comes Poseidium,⁴³⁸ and also Buthrotum⁴³⁹ (which is at the mouth of what is called Pelodes Harbor, is situated on a place that forms a peninsula, and has alien settlers consisting of Romans), and the Sybota.⁴⁴⁰ The Sybota are small islands situated only a short distance from the mainland and opposite Leucimma, the eastern headland of Corcyraea. And there are still other small islands as one sails along this coast, but they are not worth mentioning. Then comes Gape Cheimerium, and also Glycys Limen,⁴⁴¹ into which the River Acheron⁴⁴² empties. The Acheron flows from the Acherusian Lake⁴⁴³ and receives several rivers as tributaries, so that it sweetens the waters of the gulf. And also the Thyamis⁴⁴⁴ flows near by. Cichyrus,⁴⁴⁵ the Ephyra of former times, a city of the Thesprotians, lies above this gulf, whereas Phoenice⁴⁴⁶ lies above that gulf which is at Buthrotum. Near Cichyrus is Buchetium, a small town of the Cassopaeans, which is only a short distance above the sea; also Elatria, Pandosia, and Batiae, which are in the interior, though their territory reaches down as far as the gulf. Next in order after Glycys Limen come two other harbors—Comarus,⁴⁴⁷ the nearer and smaller of the two, which forms an isthmus of sixty stadia⁴⁴⁸ with the Ambracian Gulf, and Nicopolis, a city founded by Augustus Caesar, and the other, the more distant and larger and better of the two, which is near the mouth of the gulf and is about twelve stadia distant from Nicopolis.⁴⁴⁹ [6]

Next comes the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. Although the mouth of this gulf is but slightly more than four stadia wide, the circumference is as much as three hundred stadia; and it has good harbors everywhere. That part of the country which is on the right as one sails in is inhabited by the Greek Acarnanians. Here too, near the mouth, is the sacred precinct of the Actian Apollo—a hill on which the temple stands; and at the foot of the hill is a plain which contains a sacred grove and a naval station, the naval station where Caesar dedicated as first fruits of his victory⁴⁵⁰ the squadron of ten ships—from vessel with single bank of oars to vessel with ten; however, not only the boats, it is said, but also the boat-houses have been wiped out by fire. On the left of the mouth are Nicopolis and the country of the Epeirote Cassopaeans, which extends as far as the recess of the gulf near Ambracia.⁴⁵¹ Ambracia lies only a short distance above the recess; it was founded by Gorgus, the son of Cypselus. The River Aratthus⁴⁵² flows past Ambracia; it is navigable inland for only a few stadia, from the sea to Ambracia, although it rises in Mount Tymphe and the Paroraea. Now this city enjoyed an exceptional prosperity in earlier times (at any rate the gulf was named after it), and it was adorned most of all by Pyrrhus, who made the place his royal residence. In later times, however, the Macedonians and the Romans, by their continuous wars, so completely reduced both this and the other Epeirote cities because of their disobedience that finally Augustus, seeing that the cities had utterly failed, settled what inhabitants were left in one city together the city on this gulf which was called by him Nicopolis;⁴⁵³ and he so named it after the victory which he won in the naval battle before the mouth of the gulf over Antonius and Cleopatra the queen of the Egyptians, who was also present at the fight. Nicopolis is populous, and its numbers are increasing daily, since it has not only a considerable territory and the adornment taken from the spoils of the battle, but also, in its suburbs, the thoroughly equipped sacred precinct—one part of it being in a sacred grove that contains a gymnasium and a stadium for the celebration of the quinquennial games,⁴⁵⁴ the other part being on the hill that is sacred to Apollo and lies above the grove. These games—the Actia, sacred to Actian Apollo—have been designated as Olympian,⁴⁵⁵ and they are superintended by the Lacedaemonians. The other settlements are dependencies of Nicopolis. In earlier times also the Actian Games were wont to be celebrated in honor of the god by the inhabitants of the surrounding country—games in which the prize was a wreath—but at the present time they have been set in greater honor by Caesar. [7]

After Ambracia comes Argos Amphilochicum, founded by Alcmaeon and his children. According to Ephorus, at any rate, Alcmaeon, after the expedition of the Epigoni against Thebes, on being invited by Diomedes, went with him into Aetolia and helped him acquire both this country and Acarnania; and when Agamemnon summoned them to the Trojan war, Diomedes went, but Alcmaeon stayed in Acarnania, founded Argos, and named it Amphilochicum after his brother; and he named the river which flows through the country into the Ambracian Gulf “Inachus,” after the river in the Argeian country. But according to Thucydides,⁴⁵⁶ Amphilochus himself, after his return from Troy, being displeased with the state of affairs at Argos, passed on into Acarnania, and on succeeding to his brother's dominion founded the city that is named after him. [8]

The Amphilochians are Epeirotes; and so are the peoples who are situated above them and border on the Illyrian mountains, inhabiting a rugged country—I mean the Molossi, the Athamanes, the Aethices, the Tymphaei, the Orestae, and also the Paroraei and the Atintanes, some of them being nearer to the Macedonians and others to the Ionian Gulf. It is said that Orestes once took possession of Orestias—when is, exile on account of the murder of his mother—and left the country bearing his name; and that he also founded a city and called it Argos Oresticum. But the Illyrian tribes which are near the southern part of the mountainous country and those which are above the Ionian Gulf are intermingled with these peoples; for above Epidamnus and Apollonia as far as the Ceraunian Mountains dwell the Bylliones, the Taulantii, the Parthini, and the Brygi. Somewhere near by are also the silver mines of Damastium,⁴⁵⁷ around which the Dyestae and the Encheleii (also called Sesarethii) together established their dominion; and near these people are also the Lyncestae, the territory Deuriopus, Pelagonian Tripolitis, the Eordi, Elimeia, and Eratyra. In earlier times these peoples were ruled separately, each by its own dynasty. For instance, it was the descendants of Cadmus and Harmonia who ruled over the Encheleii; and the scenes of the stories told about them are still pointed out there. These people, I say, were not ruled by men of native stock; and the Lyncestae became subject to Arrabaeus, who was of the stock of the Bacchiads (Eurydice, the mother of Philip, Amyntas' son, was Arrabaeus' daughter's daughter and Sirra was his daughter); and again, of the Epeirotes, the Molossi became subject to Pyrrhus, the son of Neoptolemus the son of Achilles, and to his descendants, who were Thessalians. But the rest were ruled by men of native stock. Then, because one tribe or another was always getting the mastery over others, they all ended in the Macedonian empire, except a few who dwelt above the Ionian Gulf. And in fact the regions about Lyncus, Pelagonia, Orestias, and Elimeia, used to be called Upper Macedonia, though later on they were by some also called Free Macedonia. But some go so far as to call the whole of the country Macedonia, as far as Corcyra, at the same time stating as their reason that in tonsure, language, short cloak, and other things of the kind, the usages of the inhabitants are similar,⁴⁵⁸ although, they add, some speak both languages. But when the empire of the Macedonians was broken up, they fell under the power of the Romans. And it is through the country of these tribes that the Egnatian Road⁴⁵⁹ runs, which begins at Epidamnus and Apollonia. Near the Road to Candavia⁴⁶⁰ are not only the lakes which are in the neighborhood of Lychnidus,⁴⁶¹ on the shores of which are salt-fish establishments that are independent of other waters, but also a number of rivers, some emptying into the Ionian Gulf and others flowing in a southerly direction—I mean the Inachus, the Aratthus, the Acheloüs and the Evenus (formerly called the Lycormas); the Aratthus emptying into the Ambracian Gulf, the Inachus into the Acheloüs, the Acheloüs itself and the Evenus into the sea—the Acheloüs after traversing Acarnania and the Evenus after traversing Aetolia. But the Erigon, after receiving many streams from the Illyrian mountains and from the countries of the Lyncestae, Brygi, Deuriopes, and Pelagonians, empties into the Axius. [9]

In earlier times there were also cities among these tribes; at any rate, Pelagonia used to be called Tripolitis,⁴⁶² one of which was Azorus; and all the cities of the Deuriopes on the Erigon River were populous, among which were Bryanium, Alalcomenae, and Stubara. And Cydrae belonged to the Brygi, while Aeginium, on the border of Aethicia and Tricca,⁴⁶³ belonged to the Tymphaei. When one is already near to Macedonia and to Thessaly, and in the neighborhood of the Poeus and the Pindus Mountains, one comes to the country of the Aethices and to the sources of the Peneius River, the possession of which is disputed by the Tymphaei and those Thessalians who live at the foot of the Pindus, and to the city Oxineia, situated on the Ion River one hundred and twenty stadia from Azorus in Tripolitis. Near by are Alalcomenae, Aeginium, Europus, and the confluence of the Ion River with the Peneius. Now although in those earlier times, as I have said, all Epeirus and the Illyrian country were rugged and full of mountains, such as Tomarus and Polyanus and several others, still they were populous; but at the present time desolation prevails in most parts, while the parts that are still inhabited survive only in villages and in ruins. And even the oracle at Dodona,⁴⁶⁴ like the rest, is virtually extinct. [10]

This oracle, according to Ephorus, was founded by the Pelasgi. And the Pelasgi are called the earliest of all peoples who have held dominion in Greece. And the poet speaks in this way: ““O Lord Zeus, Dodonaean, Pelasgian”;
”⁴⁶⁵ and Hesiod: ““He came to Dodona and the oak-tree, seat of the Pelasgi.”
”⁴⁶⁶ The Pelasgi I have already discussed in my description of Tyrrhenia;⁴⁶⁷ and as for the people who lived in the neighborhood of the temple of Dodona, Homer too makes it perfectly clear from their mode of life, when he calls them “men with feet unwashen, men who sleep upon the ground,”⁴⁶⁸ that they were barbarians; but whether one should call them “Helli,” as Pindar does, or “Selli,” as is conjectured to be the true reading in Homer, is a question to which the text, since it is doubtful, does not permit a positive answer. Philochorus says that the region round about Dodona, like Euboea, was called Hellopia, and that in fact Hesiod speaks of it in this way: ““There is a land called Hellopia, with many a corn-field and with goodly meadows; on the edge of this land a city called Dodona hath been built.”
”⁴⁶⁹ It is thought, Apollodorus says, that the land was so called from the marshes⁴⁷⁰ around the temple; as for the poet, however, Apollodorus takes it for granted that he did not call the people who lived about the temple “Helli,” but “Selli,” since (Apollodorus adds) the poet also named a certain river Selleeïs. He names it, indeed, when he says, ““From afar, out of Ephyra, from the River Selleeïs”
”⁴⁷¹; however, as Demetrius of Scepsis says, the poet is not referring to the Ephyra among the Thesprotians, but to that among the Eleians, for the Selleeïs is among the Eleians, he adds, and there is no Selleeïs among the Thesprotians, nor yet among the Molossi. And as for the myths that are told about the oak-tree and the doves, and any other myths of the kind, although they, like those told about Delphi, are in part more appropriate to poetry, yet they also in part properly belong to the present geographical description. [11]

In ancient times, then, Dodona was under the rule of the Thesprotians; and so was Mount Tomarus,⁴⁷² or Tmarus (for it is called both ways), at the base of which the temple is situated. And both the tragic poets and Pindar have called Dodona “Thesprotian Dodona.” But later on it came under the rule of the Molossi. And it is after the Tomarus, people say, that those whom the poet calls interpreters of Zeus—whom he also calls “men with feet unwashen, men who sleep upon the ground”⁴⁷³—were called “tomouroi”; and in the Odyssey some so write the words of Amphinomus, when he counsels the wooers not to attack Telemachus until they inquire of Zeus: ““If the tomouroi of great Zeus approve, I myself shall slay, and I shall bid all the rest to aid, whereas if god averts it, I bid you stop.”
”⁴⁷⁴ For it is better, they argue, to write “tomouroi” than “themistes”; at any rate, nowhere in the poet are the oracles called “themistes,” but it is the decrees, statutes, and laws that are so called; and the people have been called “tomouroi” because “tomouroi” is a contraction of “tomarouroi,” the equivalent of “tomarophylakes.”⁴⁷⁵ Now although the more recent critics say “tomouroi,” yet in Homer one should interpret “themistes” (and also “boulai”) in a simpler way, though in a way that is a misuse of the term, as meaning those orders and decrees that are oracular, just as one also interprets “themistes” as meaning those that are made by law. For example, such is the case in the following: ““to give ear to the decree⁴⁷⁶ of Zeus from the oak-tree of lofty foliage.
”⁴⁷⁷ [12]

At the outset, it is true, those who uttered the prophecies were men (this too perhaps the poet indicates, for he calls them “hypophetae,”⁴⁷⁸ and the prophets might be ranked among these), but later on three old women were designated as prophets, after Dione also had been designated as temple-associate of Zeus. Suidas,⁴⁷⁹ however, in his desire to gratify the Thessalians with mythical stories, says that the temple was transferred from Thessaly, from the part of Pelasgia which is about Scotussa (and Scotussa does belong to the territory called Thessalia Pelasgiotis), and also that most of the women whose descendants are the prophetesses of today went along at the same time; and it is from this fact that Zeus was also called “Pelasgian.” But Cineas tells a story that is still more mythical. . . fragments.

Cineas⁴⁸⁰ says that there was a city in Thessaly,⁴⁸¹ and that an oak-tree and the oracle of Zeus were transferred from there to Epeirus. [1a]

In earlier times the oracle was in the neighborhood of Scotussa, a city of Pelasgiotis; but when the tree was set on fire by certain people the oracle was transferred in accordance with an oracle which Apollo gave out at Dodona. However, he gave out the oracle, not through words, but through certain symbols, as was the case at the oracle of Zeus Ammon in Libya. Perhaps there was something exceptional about the flight of the three pigeons from which the priestesses were wont to make observations and to prophesy. It is further said that in the language of the Molossians and the Thesprotians old women are called "peliai"⁴⁸² and old men "pelioi."⁴⁸³ And perhaps the much talked of Peleiades were not birds, but three old women who busied themselves about the temple. [1b]

I mentioned Scotussa also in my discussion of Dodona and of the oracle in Thessaly, because the oracle was originally in the latter region. [1c]

According to the Geographer, a sacred oak tree is revered in Dodona, because it was thought to be the earliest plant created and the first to supply men with food. And the same writer also says in reference to the oracular doves there, as they are called, that the doves are observed for the purposes of augury, just as there were some seers who divined from ravens. [2]

Among the Thesprotians and the Molossians old women are called "peliai" and old men "pelioi," as is also the case among the Macedonians; at any rate, those people call their dignitaries "peligones" (compare the "gerontes"⁴⁸⁴ among the Laconians and the Massaliotes).⁴⁸⁵ And this, it is said, is the origin of the myth about the pigeons in the Dodonaean oak-tree. [3]

The proverbial phrase, "the copper vessel in Dodona,"⁴⁸⁶ originated thus: In the temple was a copper vessel with a statue of a man situated above it and holding a copper scourge, dedicated by the Corcyraeans; the scourge was three-fold and wrought in chain fashion, with bones strung from it; and these bones, striking the copper vessel continuously when they were swung by the winds, would produce tones so long that anyone who measured the time from the beginning of the tone to the end could count to four hundred. Whence, also, the origin of the proverbial term, "the scourge of the Corcyraeans." [4]

Paeonia is on the east of these tribes and on the west of the Thracian mountains, but it is situated on the north of the Macedonians; and, by the road that runs through the city Gortynium⁴⁸⁷ and Stobi,⁴⁸⁸ it affords a passage to . . .⁴⁸⁹ (through which the Axius⁴⁹⁰ flows, and thus makes difficult the passage from Paeonia to Macedonia—just as the Peneius flows through Tempe and thus fortifies Macedonia on the side of Greece). And on the south Paeonia borders on the countries of the Autariatae, the Dardanii, and the Ardiaei; and it extends as far as the Strymon. [5]

The Haliacmon⁴⁹¹ flows into the Thermaean Gulf. [6]

Orestis is of considerable extent, and has a large mountain which reaches as far as Mount Corax⁴⁹² in Aetolia and Mount Parnassus, About this mountain dwell the Orestae themselves, the Tymphaei, and the Greeks outside the isthmus that are in the neighborhood of Parnassus, Oeta, and Pindus. As a whole the mountain is called by a general name, Boëum, but taken part by part it has many names. People say that from the highest peaks one can see both the Aegaean Sea and the Ambracian and Ionian Gulfs, but they exaggerate, I think. Mount Pteleum, also, is fairly high; it is situated around the Ambracian Gulf, extending on one side as far as the Corcyraean country and on the other to the sea at Leucas. [7]

Corcyra is proverbially derided as a joke because it was humbled by its many wars. [8]

Corcyra in early times enjoyed a happy lot and had a very large naval force, but was ruined by certain wars and tyrants. And later on, although it was set free by the Romans, it got no commendation, but instead, as an object of reproach, got a proverb: "Corcyra is free, dung where thou wilt." [9]

There remain of Europe, first, Macedonia and the parts of Thrace that are contiguous to it and extend as far as Byzantium; secondly, Greece; and thirdly, the islands that are close by. Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece, yet now, since I am following the nature and shape of the places geographically, I have decided to classify it apart from the rest of Greece and to join it with that part of Thrace which borders on it and extends as far as the mouth of the Euxine and the Propontis. Then, a little further on, Strabo mentions Cypsela and the Nebrus River, and also describes a sort of parallelogram in which the whole of Macedonia lies. [10]

Macedonia is bounded, first, on the west, by the coastline of the Adrias; secondly, on the east, by the meridian line which is parallel to this coastline and runs through the outlets of the Nebrus River and through the city Cypsela; thirdly, on the north, by the imaginary straight line which runs through the Bertiscus Mountain,⁴⁹³ the Scardus,⁴⁹⁴ the Orbelus,⁴⁹⁵ the Rhodope,⁴⁹⁶ and the Haemus;⁴⁹⁷ for these mountains, beginning at the Adrias, extend on a straight line as far as the Euxine, thus forming towards the south a great peninsula which comprises Thrace together with Macedonia, Epeirus, and Achaea; and fourthly, on the south, by the Egnatian Road,⁴⁹⁸ which runs from the city Dyrrhachium towards the east as far as Thessaloniceia. And thus⁴⁹⁹ the shape of Macedonia is very nearly that of a parallelogram. [11]

What is now called Macedonia was in earlier times called Emathia. And it took its present name from Macedon, one of its early chieftains. And there was also a city Emathia close to the sea. Now a part of this country was taken and held by certain of the Epeirotes and the Illyrians, but most of it by the Bottiaei and the Thracians. The Bottiaei came from Brete originally, so it is said,⁵⁰⁰ along with Botton as chieftain. As for the Thracians, the Pieres inhabited Pieria and the region about Olympus; the Paeones, the region on both sides of the Axius River, which on that account is called Amphaxitis; the Edoni and Bisaltae, the rest of the country as far as the Strymon. Of these two peoples the latter are called Bisaltae alone, whereas a part of the Edoni are called Mygdones, a part Edones, and a part Sithones. But of all these tribes the Argeadae,⁵⁰¹ as they are called, established themselves as masters, and also the Chalcidians of Euboea; for the Chalcidians of Euboea also came over to the country of the Sithones and jointly peopled about thirty cities in it, although later on the majority of them were ejected and came together into one city, Olynthus; and they were named the Thracian Chalcidians. [11a]

The ethnic⁵⁰² of Botteia⁵⁰³ is spelled with the "i",⁵⁰⁴ according to Strabo in his Seventh Book. And the city is called⁵⁰⁵ after Botton the Cretan.⁵⁰⁶ [11b]

Amphaxion. Two parts of speech.⁵⁰⁷ A city. The ethnic of Amphaxion is Amphaxites. [12]

The Peneius forms the boundary between Lower Macedonia, or that part of Macedonia which is close to the sea, and Thessaly and Magnesia; the Haliacmon forms the boundary of Upper Macedonia; and the Haliacmon also, together with the Erigon and the Axius and another set of rivers, form the boundary of the Epeirotes and the Paeonians. [12a]

For if, according to the Geographer, Macedonia stretches from the Thessalian Pelion and Peneius towards the interior as far as Paeonia and the Epeirote tribes, and if the Greeks had at Troy an allied force from Paeonia, it is difficult to conceive that an allied force came to the Trojans from the aforesaid more distant part of Paeonia. [13]

Of the Macedonian coastline, beginning at the recess of the Thermaean Gulf and at Thessaloniceia, there are two parts—one extending towards the south as far as Sunium and the other towards the east as far as the Thracian Chersonese, thus forming at the recess a sort of angle. Since Macedonia extends in both directions, I must begin with the part first mentioned. The first portion, then, of this part—I mean the region of Sunium—has above it Attica together with the Megarian country as far as the Crisaean Gulf; after this is that Boeotian coastline which faces Euboea, and above this coast-line lies the rest of Boeotia, extending in the direction of the west, parallel to Attica. And he⁵⁰⁸ says that the Egnatian Road, also, beginning at the Ionian Gulf, ends at Thessaloniceia. [14]

As for the ribbon-like⁵⁰⁹ stretches of land, he⁵¹⁰ says, I shall first mark off the boundary of the peoples who live in the one which is beside the sea near the Peneius and the Haliacmon. Now the Peneius flows from the Pindus Mountain through the middle of Thessaly towards the east; and after it passes through the cities of the Lapithae and some cities of the Perrhaebians, it reaches Tempe, after having received the waters of several rivers, among which is the Europus, which the poet called Titaresius,⁵¹¹ since it has its sources in the Titarius Mountain; the Titarius Mountain joins Olympus, and thence Olympus begins to mark the boundary between Macedonia and Thessaly; for Tempo is a narrow glen between Olympus and Ossa, and from these narrows the Peneius flows for a distance of forty stadia with Olympus, the loftiest mountain in Macedonia, on the left, and with Ossa, near the outlets of the river, on the right. So then, Gyrton, the Perrhaebian and Magnetan city in which Peirithoüs and Ixion reigned, is situated near the outlets of the Peneius on the right; and the city of Crannon lies at a distance of as much as one hundred stadia from Gyrton; and writers say that when the poet says, “"Verily these twain from Thrace"
”⁵¹² and what follows, he means by "Ephyri" the Crannonians and by "Phlegyae" the Gyrtonians. But Pieria is on the other side of the Peneius. [15]

The Peneius River rises in the Pindus Mountain and flows through Tempo and through the middle of Thessaly and of the countries of the Lapithae and the Perrhaebians, and also receives the waters of the Europus River, which Homer called Titaresius; it marks the boundary between Macedonia⁵¹³ on the north and Thessaly on the south. But the source-waters of the Europus rise in the Titarius Mountain, which is continuous with Olympus. And Olyunpus belongs to Macedonia, whereas Ossa and Pelion belong to Thessaly. [15a]

The Peneius rises, according to the Geographer, in that part of the Pindus Mountain about which the Perrhaebians live. . . . And Strabo also makes the following statements concerning the Peneius: The Peneius rises in the Pindus; and leaving Tricca on the left it flows around Atrax and Larissa, and after receiving the rivers in Thessaly passes on through Tempe. And he says that the Peneius flows through the center of Thessaly, receiving many rivers, and that in its course it keeps Olympus on the left and Ossa on the right. And at its outlets, on the right, is a Magnetan city, Gyrton, in which Peirithoüs and Ixion reigned; and not far from Gyrton is a city Crannon, whose citizens were called by a different name, "Ephyri," just' as the citizens of Gyrton were called "Phlegyae." [16]

Below the foot-hills of Olympus, along the Peneius River, lies Gyrton, the Perrhaebian and Magnetan city, in which Peirithoüs and Ixion ruled; and Crannon is at a distance of one hundred stadia from Gyrton, and writers say that when the poet says, “"Verily these twain from Thrace,"
”⁵¹⁴ he means by "Ephyri" the Crannonians and by "Phlegyae" the Gyrtonians.⁵¹⁵ [16a]

The city of Crannon is at a distance of one hundred stadia from Gyrton, according to Strabo. [16b]

Homolium, a city of Macedonia and Magnesia. Strabo in his Seventh Book. [16c]

I have said in my description of Macedonia that Homolium is close to Ossa and is where the Peneius, flowing through Tempe, begins to discharge its waters.⁵¹⁶ [16d]

There were several different Ephyras, if indeed the Geographer counts as many as nine.⁵¹⁷ [16e]

He (the Geographer) speaks of a city Gyrton, a Magnetan city near the outlets of the Peneius. [17]

The city Dium, in the foot-hills of Olympus, is not on the shore of the Thermaean Gulf, but is at a distance of as much as seven stadia from it. And the city Dium has a village near by, Pimpleia, where Orpheus lived. [18]

At the base of Olympus is a city Dium. And it has a village near by, Pimpleia. Here lived Orpheus, the Ciconian, it is said—a wizard who at first collected money from his music, together with his soothsaying and his celebration of the orgies connected with the mystic initiatory rites, but soon afterwards thought himself worthy of still greater things and procured for himself a throng of followers and power. Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him. And near here, also, is Leibethra. [19]

In the early times the soothsayers also practised music. [20]

After Dium come the outlets of the Haliacmon; then Pydna, Methone, Alorus, and the Erigon and Ludias Rivers. The Erigon flows from the country of the Triclari⁵¹⁸ through that of the Orestae and through Pellaea, leaves the city on the left,⁵¹⁹ and meets the Axius; the Ludias is navigable inland to Pella, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Methone, which lies between the two cities, is about forty stadia from Pydna and seventy from Alorus. Alorus is in the inmost recess of the Thermaean Gulf, and it is called Thessaloniceia because of its fame.⁵²⁰ Now Alorus is regarded as a Bottiaean city, whereas Pydna is regarded as a Pierian.⁵²¹ Pella belongs to lower Macedonia, which the Bottiaei used to occupy; in early times the treasury of Macedonia was here. Philip enlarged it from a small city, because he was reared in it. It has a headland in what is called Lake Ludias; and it is from this lake that the Ludias River issues, and the lake itself is supplied by an offshoot of the Axius. The Axius empties between Chalastra and Therma; and on this river lies a fortified place which now is called Abydon, though Homer calls it Amydon, and says that the Paeonians went to the aid of Troy from there, “"from afar, out of Amydon, from wide-flowing Axius."
”⁵²² The place was destroyed by the Argeadae. [20a]

Abydon, Abydonis; a place in Macedonia, according to Strabo. [21]

The Axius is a muddy stream; but Homer⁵²³ calls it "water most fair," perhaps on account of the spring called Aea, which, since it empties purest water into the Axius, proves that the present current reading⁵²⁴ of the passage in the poet is faulty. After the Axius, at a distance of twenty stadia, is the Echedorus;⁵²⁵ then, forty stadia farther on, Thessaloniceia, founded by Gassander, and also the Egnatian Road. Cassander named the city after his wife Thessalonice, daughter of Philip son of Amyntas, after he had razed to the ground the towns in Crusis and those on the Thermaean Gulf, about twenty-six in number, and had settled all the inhabitants together in one city; and this city is the metropolis of what is now Macedonia. Among those included in the settlement were Apollonia, Chalastra, Therma, Garescus, Aenea, and Cissus; and of these one might suspect that Cissus belonged to Cisses,⁵²⁶ whom the poet mentions in speaking of Iphidamas, “"whom Cisses reared."
”⁵²⁷ [21a]

Crusis; a portion of Mygdonia. Strabo in his Seventh Book. [21b]

Chalastra: a city of Thrace near the Thormaean Gulf—though Strabo, in his Seventh Book, calls it a city of Macedonia. [22]

After the city Dium comes the Haliacmon River, which empties into the Thermaean Gulf. And the part after this, the seaboard of the gulf towards the north as far as the Axius River, is called Pieria, in which is the city Pydna, now called Citrum. Then come the cities Methone and Alorus. Then the Rivers Erigon and Ludias; and from⁵²⁸ Ludias to the city of Pella the river is navigable, a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. Methone is forty stadia distant from Pydna and seventy stadia from Alorus. Now Pydna is a Pierian city, whereas Alorus is Bottiaean.⁵²⁹ Now it was in the plain before Pydna that the Romans defeated Perseus in war and destroyed the kingdom of the Macedonians, and it was in the plain before Methone that Philip the son of Amyntas, during the siege of the city, had the misfortune to have his right eye knocked out by a bolt from a catapult. [23]

As for Pella, though it was formerly small, Philip greatly enlarged it, because he was reared in it. It has a lake before it; and it is from this lake that the Ludias River flows, and the lake is supplied by an offshoot of the Axius. Then the Axius, dividing both Bottiaea and the land called Amphaxitis, and receiving the Erigon River, discharges its waters between Chalastra and Therma. And on the Anius River lies the place which Homer calls Amydon, saying that the Paeonians went to the aid of Troy from there, “"from afar, out of Amydon, from wide-flowing Axius."
”⁵³⁰⁵³¹ But since the Axius is muddy and since a certain spring rises in Amydon and mingles "water most fair" with it, therefore the next line, “"Axius, whose water most fair is spread o'er Aea,"
”⁵³²⁵³³ is changed to read thus, “"Axius, o'er which is spread Aea's water most fair"
”⁵³⁴; for it is not the "water most fair" of the Axius that is spread over the face of the earth, but that of the spring o'er the Axius. [23a]

In the phrase 'spread o'er Aiai,' or 'Aian,'⁵³⁵, some are of the opinion that 'Aea' means, not the earth, but a certain spring, as is clear from what the Geographer says, namely: the Amydon in Homer was later called Abydon, but it was destroyed; and there is a spring near Amydon called Aea, which empties purest water into the Axius; and this river, since it is filled from many rivers, flows muddy. Therefore, he says, the current reading, 'Axius's water most fair spreads o'er Aea,' is faulty, because it is clearly not the water of the Axius that spread o'er the spring, but the reverse. Then the Geographer goes on somewhat gruffly to find fault with the opinion that Aea refers to the earth, and appears disposed to eject such diction from the Homeric poem altogether. [24]

After the Axius River comes Thessalonica, a city which in earlier times was called Therma. It was founded by Cassander, who named it after his wife, the daughter of Philip the son of Amyntas. And he transferred to it the towns in the surrounding country, as, for instance, Chalastra, Aeuea, Cissus, and also some others. And one might suspect that it was from this Cissus that Homer's Iphidamas came, whose grandfather Cisseus "reared him," Homer says, in Thrace, which now is called Macedonia. [25]

Mt. Bermium,⁵³⁶ also, is somewhere in this region; in earlier times it was occupied by Briges, a tribe of Thracians; some of these crossed over into Asia and their name was changed to Phryges. After Thessaloniceia come the remaining parts of the Thermaean Gulf as far as Canastraeum;⁵³⁷ this is a headland which forms a peninsula and rises opposite to Magnetis. The name of the peninsula is Pallene; and it has an isthmus five stadia in width, through which a canal is cut. On the isthmus is situated a city founded by the Corinthians, which in earlier times was called Potidaea, although later on it was called Cassandreia, after the same King Cassander,⁵³⁸ who restored it after it had been destroyed. The distance by sea around this peninsula is five hundred and seventy stadia. And further, writers say that in earlier times the giants lived here and that the country was named Phlegra;⁵³⁹ the stories of some are mythical, but the account of others is more plausible, for they tell of a certain barbarous and impious tribe which occupied the place but was broken up by Heracles when, after capturing Troy, be sailed back to his home-land. And here, too, the Trojan women were guilty of their crime, it is said, when they set the ships on fire in order that they might not be slaves to the wives of their captors.⁵⁴⁰ [25a]

The Geographer points out that the Phrygians too were called Brigians. [26]

The city Beroea lies in the foot-hills of Mt. Bermium. [27]

The peninsula Pallene, on whose isthmus is situated the city formerly called Ptidaea and now Cassandreia, was called Phlegra in still earlier times. It used to be inhabited by the giants of whom the myths are told, an impious and lawless tribe, whom Heracles destroyed. It has four cities, Aphytis, Mende, Scione, Sane. [27a]

The Scepsian⁵⁴¹ apparently accepts the opinion neither of this man⁵⁴² nor of those who suppose them⁵⁴³ to be the Halizoni near Pallene, whom I have mentioned in my description of Macedonia. [28]

Olynthus was seventy stadia distant from Potidaea. [29]

The naval station of Olynthus is Macyperna, on the Toronaean Gulf. [30]

Near Olynthus is a hollow place which is called Cantharolethron⁵⁴⁴ from what happens there; for when the insect called the Cantharos, which is found all over the country, touches that place, it dies. [31]

After Cassandreia, in order, comes the remainder of the seaboard of the Toronic Gulf, extending as far as Derrhis. Derrhis is a headland that rises opposite to Canastraeum and forms the gulf; and directly opposite Berrhis, towards the east, are the capes⁵⁴⁵ of Athos; and between⁵⁴⁶ is the Singitic Gulf, which is named after Singus, the ancient city that was on it, now in ruins. After this city comes Acanthus, a city situated on the isthmus of Athos; it was founded by the Andrii, and from it many call the gulf the Acanthian Gulf. [32]

Opposite Canastrum,⁵⁴⁷ a cape of Pallene, is Derrhis, a headland near Cophus Harbor; and these two mark off the limits of the Toronaean Gulf. And towards the east, again, lies the cape of Athos, which marks off the limit of the Singitic Gulf. And so the gulfs of the Aegaean Sea lie in order, though at some distance from one another, towards the north, as follows: the Maliac, the Pagasitic, the Thermaean, the Toronaean, the Singitic, the Strymonic. The capes are, first, Poseidium, the one between the Maliac and the Pegasitic; secondly, the next one towards the north, Sepias; then the one on Pallene, Canastrum; then Derrhis; then come Nymphaeum, on Athos on the Singitic Gulf, and Acrathos, the cape that is on the Strymonic Gulf (Mt. Athos is between these two capes, and Lemnos is to the east of Mt. Athos); on the north, however, the limit of the Strymonic Gulf is marked by Neapolis.⁵⁴⁸ [33]

Acanthus, a city on the Singitic Gulf, is on the coast near the canal of Xerxes. Athos has five cities, Dium, Cleonae, Thyssus, Olophyxis, Acrothol; and Acrothol is near the crest of Athos. Mt. Athos is breast-shaped, has a very sharp crest, and is very high, since those who live on the crest see the sun rise three hours before it rises on the seaboard. And the distance by sea around the peninsula from the city Acanthus as far as Stageirus,⁵⁴⁹ the city of Aristotle, is four hundred stadia. On this coast is a harbor, Caprus by name, and also an isle with the same name as the harbor. Then come the outlets of the Strymon; then Phagres, Galepsus, Apollonia, all cities; then the month of the Nestus,⁵⁵⁰ which is the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace as fixed by Philip and his son Alexander in their times. There is also another set of cities about the Strymonic Gulf, as, for instance, Myrcinus, Argilus, Drabescus, and Datum.⁵⁵¹ The last named has not only excellent and fruitful soil but also dock-yards and gold mines; and hence the proverb, "a Datum of good things," like that other proverb, "spools of good things." [34]

There are very many gold mines in Crenides, where the city Philippi⁵⁵² now is situated, near Mt. Pangaeum.⁵⁵³ And Mt. Pangaeum as well has gold and silver mines, as also the country across, and the country this side, the Strymon River as far as Paeonia. And it is further said that the people who plough the Paeonian land find nuggets of gold. [35]

Mt. Athos is high and breast-shaped; so high that on its crests the sun is up and the people are weary of ploughing by the time cock-crow⁵⁵⁴ begins among the people who live on the shore. It was on this shore that Phamyris the Thracian reigned, who was a man of the same pursuits as Orpheus.⁵⁵⁵ Here, too, is to be seen a canal, in the neighborhood of Acanthus, where Xerxes dug a canal across Athos, it is said, and, by admitting the sea into the canal, brought his fleet across from the Strymonic Gulf through the isthmus. Demetrius of Scepsis, however, does not believe that this canal was navigable, for, he says, although as far as ten stadia the ground is deep-soiled and can be dug, and in fact a canal one plethrum in width has been dug, yet after that it is a flat rock, almost a stadium in length, which is too high and broad to admit of being quarried out through the whole of the distance as far as the sea; but even if it were dug thus far, certainly it could not be dug deep enough to make a navigable passage; this, he adds, is where Alexarchus, the son of Antipater,⁵⁵⁶ laid the foundation of Uranopolis, with its circuit of thirty stadia. Some of the Pelasgi from Lemnos took up their abode on this peninsula, and they were divided into five cities, Cleonae, Olophyxis, Acrothoï, Dium, Thyssus. After Athos comes the Strymonic Gulf extending as far as the Nestus, the river which marks off the boundary of Macedonia as fixed by Philip and Alexander; to be accurate, however, there is a cape which with Athos forms the Strymonic Gulf, I mean the cape which has had on it a city called Apollonia.⁵⁵⁷ The first city on this gulf after the harbor of the Acanthians is Stageira, the native city of Aristotle, now deserted; this too belongs to the Chalcidians and so do its harbor, Caprus, and an isle⁵⁵⁸ bearing the same name as the harbor. Then come the Strymon and the inland voyage of twenty stadia to Amphipolis. Amphipolis was founded by the Athenians and is situated in that place which is called Ennea Hodoi.⁵⁵⁹ Then come Galepsus and Apollonia, which were razed to the ground by Philip. [36]

From the Peneius, he says, to Pydna is one hundred and twenty stadia. Along the seaboard of the Strymon and the Dateni are, not only the city Neapolis, but also Datum⁵⁶⁰ itself, with its fruitful plains, lake, rivers, dock-yards, and profitable gold mines; and hence the proverb, "a Datum of good things," like that other proverb, "spools of good things." Now the country that is on the far side of the Strymon, I mean that which is near the sea and those places that are in the neighborhood of Datum, is the country of the Odomantes and the Edoni and the Bisaltae, both those who are indigenous and those who crossed over from Macedonia, amongst whom Rhesus reigned. Above Amphipolis, however, and as far as the city Heracleia,⁵⁶¹ is the country of the Bisaltae, with its fruitful valley; this valley is divided into two parts by the Strymon, which has its source in the country of the Agrianes who live round about Rhodope; and alongside this country lies Parorbelia, a district of Macedonia, which has in its interior, along the valley that begins at Eidonene, the cities Callipolis, Orthopolis, Philippopolis, Garescus.

If one goes up the Strymon, one comes to Berge;⁵⁶² it, too, is situated in the country of the Bisaltae, and is a village about two hundred stadia distant from Amphipolis. And if one goes from Heracleia towards the north and the narrows through which the Strymon flows, keeping the river on the right, one has Paeonia and the region round about Doberus,⁵⁶³ Rhodope, and the Haemus Mountain on the left, whereas on the right one has the region round about the Haemus.⁵⁶⁴ This side the Strymon are Scotussa, near the river itself, and Arethusa, near lake Bolbe.⁵⁶⁵ Furthermore, the name Mygdones is applied especially to the people round about the lake. Not only the Axius flows out of the country of the Paeonians, but also the Strymon, for it flows out of the country of the Agrianes through that of the Medi and Sinti and empties into the parts that are between the Bisaltae and the Odomantes. [37]

The Strymon River rises in the country of the Agrianes who live round about Rhodope. [38]

Some represent the Paeonians as colonists from the Phrygians, while others represent them as independent founders. And it is said that Paeonia has extended as far as Pelagonia and Pieria; that Pelagonia was called Orestia in earlier times, that Asteropaeus, one of the leaders who made the expedition from Paeonia to Troy, was not without good reason called "son of Pelegon," and that the Paeonians themselves were called Pelagonians. [39]

The Homeric “"Asteropaeus son of Pelegon"
”⁵⁶⁶ was, as history tells us, from Paeonia in Macedonia; wherefore "son of Pelegon," for the Paeonians were called Pelagonians. [40]

Since the "paeanismos"⁵⁶⁷ of the Thracians is called "titanismos" by the Greeks, in imitation of the cry⁵⁶⁸ uttered in paeans, the Titans too were called Pelagonians. [41]

It is clear that in early times, as now, the Paeonians occupied much of what is now Macedonia, so that they could not only lay siege to Perinthus but also bring under their power all Crestonia and Mygdonis and the country of the Agrianes as far as Pangaeurum.⁵⁶⁹ Philippi and the region about Philippi lie above that part of the seaboard of the Strymonic Gulf which extends from Galepsus as far as Nestus. In earlier times Pllilippi was called Crenides, and was only a small settlement, but it was enlarged after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius.⁵⁷⁰ [42]

What is now the city Philippi was called Crenides in early times. [43]

Off this seaboard lie two islands, Lemnos and Thasos. And after the strait of Thasos one comes to Abdera⁵⁷¹ and the scene of the myths connected with Abderus. It was inhabited by the Bistonian Thracians over whom Diomedes ruled. The Nestus River does not always remain in the same bed, but oftentimes floods the country. Then come Dicaea,⁵⁷² a city situated on a gulf, and a harbor. Above these lies the Bistonis,⁵⁷³ a lake which has a circuit of about two hundred stadia. It is said that, because this plain was altogether a hollow and lower than the sea, Heracles, since he was inferior in horse when he came to get the mares of Diomedes, dug a canal through the shore and let in the water of the sea upon the plain and thus mastered his adversaries. One is shown also the royal residence⁵⁷⁴ of Diomedes, which, because of its naturally strong position and from what is actually the case, is called Cartera Come.⁵⁷⁵ After the lake, which is midway between, come Xantheia,⁵⁷⁶ Maroneia,⁵⁷⁷ and Ismarus,⁵⁷⁸ the cities of the Cicones. Ismarus, however, is now called Ismara; it is near Maroneia. And near here, also, Lake Ismaris sends forth its stream; this stream is called Odysseium. And here, too, are what are called the Thasiön Cephalae.⁵⁷⁹ But the people situated in the interior are Sapaei. [44]

Topeira is near Abdera and Maroneia. [44a]

The aforesaid Ismarus, in later times called Ismara, is, they say, a city of the Cicones; it is near Maroneia, where is also a lake, the stream of which is called Odysseium; here too is a hero-temple of Maron, as the Geographer records. [45]

The Sinti, a Thracian tribe, inhabit the island Lemnos; and from this fact Homer calls them Sinties, when he says, “"where me the Sinties . . ."
”⁵⁸⁰⁵⁸¹ [45a]

Lemnos: first settled by the Thracians who were called Sinties, according to Strabo. [46]

After the Nestus River, towards the east, is the city Abdera, named after Abderus, whom the horses of Diomedes devoured; then, near by, the city Picaea, above which lies a great lake, Bistonis; then the city Maroneia. [47]

Thrace as a whole consists of twenty-two tribes. But although it has been devastated to an exceptional degree, it can send into the field fifteen thousand cavalry and also two hundred thousand infantry. After Maroneis one comes to the city Orthagoria and to the region about Serrhium⁵⁸² (a rough coastingvoyage) and to Tempyra, the little town of the Samothracians, and to Caracoma,⁵⁸³ another little town, off which lies the island Samothrace, and to Imbros, which is not very far from Samothrace; Thasos, however, is more than twice as far from Samothrace as Imbros is. From Caracoma one comes to Doriscus,⁵⁸⁴ where Xerxes enumerated his army; then to the Hebrus, which is navigable inland to Cypsela,⁵⁸⁵ a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia. This, he⁵⁸⁶ says, was the boundary of the Macedonia which the Romans first took away from Perseus and afterwards from the Pseudo-Philip.⁵⁸⁷ Now Paulus,⁵⁸⁸ who captured Perseus, annexed the Epeirotic tribes to Macedonia, divided the country into four parts for purposes of administration, and apportioned one part to Amphipolis, another to Thessaloniceia, another to Pella, and another to the Pelagonians. Along the Hebrus live the Corpili, and, still farther up the river, the Brenae, and then, farthermost of all, the Bessi, for the river is navigable thus far. All these tribes are given to brigandage, but most of all the Bessi, who, He⁵⁸⁹ says, are neighbors to the Odrysae and the Sapaei. Bizye⁵⁹⁰ was the royal residence of the Astae. The term "Odrysae" is applied by some to all the peoples living above the seaboard from the Hebrus and Cypsela as far as Odessus⁵⁹¹—the peoples over whom Amadocus, Cersobleptes, Berisades, Seuthes, and Cotys reigned as kings. [47a]

Odrysae: a tribe of Thrace; Strabo in his Seventh Book. [47b]

The Geographer, in pointing out the great extent of Thrace, says also that Thrace as a whole consists of twenty-two tribes. [48]

The river in Thrace that is now called Rheginia used to be called Erigon. [49]

Iasion and Dardanus, two brothers, used to live in Samothrace. But when Iasion was struck by a thunderbolt because of his sin against Demeter, Dardanus sailed away from Samothrace, went and took up his abode at the foot of Mount Ida, calling the city Dardania, and taught the Trojans the Samothracian Mysteries. In earlier times, however, Samothrace was called Samos. [50]

Many writers have identified the gods that are worshipped in Samothrace with the Cabeiri, though they cannot say who the Cabeiri themselves are, just as the Cyrbantes and Corybantes, and likewise the Curetes and the Idaean Dactyli, are identified with them. [50a]

This Thracian island, according to the Geographer, is called Samos because of its height; for "samoi," he says, means "heights." . . . And the Geographer says that in olden times Samians from Mycale settled in the island, which had been deserted because of a dearth of crops, and that in this way it was called Samos. . . . And the Geographer records also that in earlier times Samothrace was called Melite, as also that it was rich; for Cilician pirates, he says, secretly broke into the temple in Samothrace, robbed it, and carried off more than a thousand talents. [51]

Near the outlet of the Hebrus, which has two mouths, lies the city Aenus,⁵⁹² on the Melas Gulf;⁵⁹³ it was founded by Mitylenaeans and Cumaeans, though in still earlier times by Alopeconnesians. Then comes Cape Sarpedon; then what is called the Thracian Chersonesus, which forms the Propontis and the Melas Gulf and the Hellespont; for it is a cape which projects towards the south-east, thus connecting Europe with Asia by the strait, seven stadia wide, which is between Abydus and Sestus, and thus having on the left the Propontis and on the right the Melas Gulf—so called, just as Herodotus⁵⁹⁴ and Eudoxus say, from the Melas River⁵⁹⁵ which empties into it. But Herodotus,⁵⁹⁶ he⁵⁹⁷ says, states that this stream was not sufficient to supply the army of Xerxes. The aforesaid cape is closed in by an isthmus forty stadia wide. Now in the middle of the isthmus is situated the city Lysimacheia, named after the king who founded it; and on either side of it lies a city—on the Melas Gulf, Cardia, the largest of the cities on the Chersonesus, founded by Milesians and Clazomenians but later refounded by Athenians, and on the Propontis, Pactye. And after Cardia come Drabus and Limnae; then Alopeconnesus, in which the Melas Gulf comes approximately to an end; then the large headland, Mazusia; then, on a gulf, Eleus,⁵⁹⁸ where is the temple of Protesilaus, opposite which, forty stadia distant, is Sigeium,⁵⁹⁹ a headland of the Troad; and this is about the most southerly extremity of the Chersonesus, being slightly more than four hundred stadia from Cardia; and if one sails around the rest of the circuit, towards the other side of the isthmus, the distance is slightly more than this. [51a]

Aenus; a city of Thrace, called Apsinthus. Strabo in his Seventh Book. The city Aenus is in the outlet of the Hebrus, which has two mouths, and was founded by Cumaeans; and it was so called because there was an Aenius River and also a village of the same name near Ossa. [52]

The Thracian Chersonesus forms three seas: the Propontis in the north, the Hellespont in the east, and the Melas Gulf in the south, into which empties the Melas River, which bears the same name as the gulf. [53]

On the isthmus of the Chersonesus are situated three cities: near the Melas Gulf, Cardia, and near the Propontis, Pactye, and near the middle, Lysimacheia. The length⁶⁰⁰ of the isthmus is forty stadia. [54]

The name of the city Eleus is masculine; and perhaps also that of the city Trapesus. [55]

On this voyage along the coast of the Chersonesus after leaving Eleus, one comes first to the entrance which leads through the narrows into the Propontis; and this entrance is called the beginning of the Hellespont. And here is the cape called the Cynos-Sema;⁶⁰¹ though some call it Hecabe's Sema, and in fact her tomb is pointed out after one has doubled the cape. Then one comes to Madytus, and to Cape Sestias, where the pontoon bridge of Xerxes was built; and, after these, to Sestus. The distance from Eleus to the place of the pontoon-bridge is one hundred and seventy stadia. After Sestus one comes to Aegospotami, eighty⁶⁰² stadia, a town which has been razed to the ground, where it is said, the stone⁶⁰³ fell at the time of the Persian war. Then comes Callipolis,⁶⁰⁴ from which the distance across to Lampsacus in Asia is forty stadia; then Crithote, a little town which has been razed to the ground; then Pactye; then Macron Teichos,"⁶⁰⁵ Leuce Acte,⁶⁰⁶ Hieron Oros,⁶⁰⁷ and Perinthus, founded by the Samians: then Selybria.⁶⁰⁸ Above these places lies Silta;⁶⁰⁹ and the Hieron Oros is revered by all the natives and is a sort of acropolis of the country. The Hieron Oros discharges asphalt into the sea, near the place where the Proconnesus,⁶¹⁰ only one hundred and twenty stadia distant, is nearest to the land; and the quarry of white marble in the Proconnesus is both large and excellent. After Selybria come the Rivers Athyras and Bathynias; and then, Byzantium and the places which come in order thereafter as far as the Cyanean Rocks. [55a]

As for Sestus and the whole of the Chersonesus, I have already discussed them in my description of the regions of Thrace. [55b]

Sestus, a colony of the Lesbians, as is also Madytus, as the Geographer says, is a Chersonesian city thirty stadia distant from Abydus, from harbor to harbor. [56]

The distance from Perinthus to Byzantium is six hundred and thirty stadia; but from the Hebrus and Cypsela to Byzantium, as far as the Cyanean Rocks, three thousand one hundred, as Artemidorus says; and the entire distance from the Ionian Gulf at Apollonia as far as Byzantium is seven thousand three hundred and twenty stadia, though Polybius adds one hundred and eighty more, since he adds a third of a stadium to the eight stadia in the mile. Demetrius of Scepsis, however, in his work On the Marshalling of the Trojan Forces⁶¹¹ calls the distance from Perinthus to Byzantium six hundred stadia and the distance to Parium equal thereto; and he represents the Propontis as one thousand four hundred stadia in length and five hundred in breadth; while as for the Hellespont, he calls its narrowest breadth seven stadia and its length four hundred. [57]

There is no general agreement in the definition of the term "Hellespont": in fact, there are several opinions concerning it. For some writers call "Hellespont" the whole of the Propontis; others, that part of the Propontis which is this side Perinthus; others go on to add that part of the outer sea which faces the Melas Gulf and the open waters of the Aegaean Sea, and these writers in turn each comprise different sections in their definitions, some the part from Sigeium to Lampsacus and Cysicus, or Parium, or Priapus, another going on to add the part which extends from Sigrium in the Lesbian Isle. And some do not shrink even from applying the name Hellespont to the whole of the high sea as far as the Myrtoan Sea, since, as Pindar⁶¹² says in his hymns, those who were sailing with Heracles from Troy through Helle's maidenly strait, on touching the Myrtoan Sea, ran back again to Cos, because Zephyrus blew contrary to their course. And in this way, also, they require that the whole of the Aegaean Sea as far as the Thermaean Gulf and the sea which is about Thessaly and Macedonia should be called Hellespont, invoking Homer also as witness; for Homer says, “"thou shalt see, if thou dost wish and hast a care therefor, my ships sailing o'er the fishy Hellespont at very early morn"
”⁶¹³; but such an argument is refuted by those other lines, “"the hero,⁶¹⁴ son of Imbrasus, who, as we know, had come from Aenus,"
”⁶¹⁵ but he was the leader of the Thracians,⁶¹⁶ “"all who are shut in by strong-flowing Hellespont";
”⁶¹⁷ that is, Homer would represent those⁶¹⁸ who are situated next after these⁶¹⁹ as situated outside the Hellespont; that is, Aenus lies in what was formerly called Apsinthis, though now called Corpilice, whereas the country of the Cicones lies next thereafter towards the west.⁶²⁰ [58]

Corpili: certain of the Thracians. Strabo, Seventh Book; their country is called Corpilice; for Aenus lies in what was formerly called Apsinthis, though now called Corpilice. [59]

Tetrachoritae: the Bessi, according to Strabo in his Seventh Book. These are also called Tetracomi. [60]

For he⁶²¹ says in the Seventh Book of the same work⁶²² that he knew Poseidonius, the Stoic philosopher.⁶²³