whole land, at last he came to the region which is called Hylaia; and
there he found in a cave a kind of twofold creature formed by the union
of a maiden and a serpent, whose upper parts from the buttocks upwards
were those of a woman, but her lower parts were those of a snake. Having
seen her and marvelled at her, he asked her then whether she had seen
any mares straying anywhere; and she said that she had them herself and
would not give them up until he lay with her; and Heracles lay with her
on condition of receiving them. She then tried to put off the giving
back of the mares, desiring to have Heracles with her as long as
possible, while he on the other hand desired to get the mares and
depart; and at last she gave them back and said: "These mares when they
came hither I saved for thee, and thou didst give me reward for saving
them; for I have by thee three sons. Tell me then, what must I do with
these when they shall be grown to manhood, whether I shall settle them
here, for over this land I have power alone, or send them away to thee?"
She thus asked of him, and he, they say, replied: "When thou seest that
the boys are grown to men, do this and thou shalt not fail of doing
right:—whichsoever of them thou seest able to stretch this bow as I do
now, and to be girded 1201 with this girdle, him cause to be the settler
of this land; but whosoever of them fails in the deeds which I enjoin,
send him forth out of the land: and if thou shalt do thus, thou wilt
both have delight thyself and perform that which has been enjoined to
thee."
10. Upon this he drew one of his bows (for up to that time Heracles,
they say, was wont to carry two) and showed her the girdle, and then he
delivered to her both the bow and the girdle, which had at the end of
its clasp a golden cup; and having given them he departed. She then,
when her sons had been born and had grown to be men, gave them names
first, calling one of them Agathyrsos and the next Gelonos and the
youngest Skythes; then bearing in mind the charge given to her, she did
that which was enjoined. And two of her sons, Agathyrsos and Gelonos,
not having proved themselves able to attain to the task set before them,
departed from the land, being cast out by her who bore them; but Skythes
the youngest of them performed the task and remained in the land:
and from Skythes the son of Heracles were descended, they say, the
succeeding kings of the Scythians (Skythians): and they say moreover
that it is by reason of the cup that the Scythians still even to this
day wear cups attached to their girdles: and this alone his mother
contrived for Skythes. 13 Such is the story told by the Hellenes who
dwell about the Pontus.
11. There is however also another story, which is as follows, and to
this I am most inclined myself. It is to the effect that the nomad
Scythians dwelling in Asia, being hard pressed in war by the Massagetai,
left their abode and crossing the river Araxes came towards the
Kimmerian land (for the land which now is occupied by the Scythians is
said to have been in former times the land of the Kimmerians); and the
Kimmerians, when the Scythians were coming against them, took counsel
together, seeing that a great host was coming to fight against them;
and it proved that their opinions were divided, both opinions being
vehemently maintained, but the better being that of their kings: for the
opinion of the people was that it was necessary to depart and that they
ought not to run the risk of fighting against so many, 14 but that of
the kings was to fight for their land with those who came against them:
and as neither the people were willing by means to agree to the counsel
of the kings nor the kings to that of the people, the people planned
to depart without fighting and to deliver up the land to the invaders,
while the kings resolved to die and to be laid in their own land, and
not to flee with the mass of the people, considering the many goods of
fortune which they had enjoyed, and the many evils which it might be
supposed would come upon them, if they fled from their native land.
Having resolved upon this, they parted into two bodies, and making their
numbers equal they fought with one another: and when these had all been
killed by one another's hands, then the people of the Kimmerians buried
them by the bank of the river Tyras (where their burial-place is still
to be seen), and having buried them, then they made their way out
from the land, and the Scythians when they came upon it found the land
deserted of its inhabitants.
12. And there are at the present time in the land of Scythia Kimmerian
walls, and a Kimmerian ferry; and there is also a region which is called
Kimmeria, and the so-called Kimmerian Bosphorus. It is known moreover
that the Kimmerians, in their flight to Asia from the Scythians, also
made a settlement on that peninsula on which now stands the Hellenic
city of Sinope; and it is known too that the Scythians pursued them
and invaded the land of Media, having missed their way; for while the
Kimmerians kept ever along by the sea in their flight, the Scythians
pursued them keeping Caucasus on their right hand, until at last they
invaded Media, directing their course inland. This then which has been
told is another story, and it is common both to Hellenes and Barbarians.
13. Aristeas however the son of Caÿstrobios, a man of Proconnesos,
said in the verses which he composed, that he came to the land of the
Issedonians being possessed by Phoebus, and that beyond the Issedonians
dwelt Arimaspians, a one-eyed race, and beyond these the gold-guarding
griffins, and beyond them the Hyperboreans extending as far as the sea:
and all these except the Hyperboreans, beginning with the Arimaspians,
were continually making war on their neighbours, and the Issedonians
were gradually driven out of their country by the Arimaspians and the
Scythians by the Issedonians, and so the Kimmerians, who dwelt on the
Southern Sea, being pressed by the Scythians left their land. Thus
neither does he agree in regard to this land with the report of the
Scythians.
14. As to Aristeas who composed 15 this, I have said already whence
he was; and I will tell also the tale which I heard about him in
Proconnesos and Kyzicos. They say that Aristeas, who was in birth
inferior to none of the citizens, entered into a fuller's shop in
Proconnesos and there died; and the fuller closed his workshop and went
away to report the matter to those who were related to the dead man. And
when the news had been spread abroad about the city that Aristeas was
dead, a man of Kyzicos who had come from the town of Artake entered into
controversy with those who said so, and declared that he had met him
going towards Kyzicos and had spoken with him: and while he was vehement
in dispute, those who were related to the dead man came to the fuller's
shop with the things proper in order to take up the corpse for burial;
and when the house was opened, Aristeas was not found there either dead
or alive. In the seventh year after this he appeared at Proconnesos
and composed those verses which are now called by the Hellenes the
Arimaspeia, and having composed them he disappeared the second time.
15. So much is told by these cities; and what follows I know happened
to the people of Metapontion in Italy 16 two hundred 17 and forty
years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I found by putting
together the evidence at Proconnesos and Metapontion. The people of
Metapontion say that Aristeas himself appeared in their land and bade
them set up an altar of Apollo and place by its side a statue bearing
the name of Aristeas of Proconnesos; for he told them that to their
land alone of all the Italiotes 18 Apollo had come, and he, who now was
Aristeas, was accompanying him, being then a raven when he accompanied
the god. Having said this he disappeared; and the Metapontines say that
they sent to Delphi and asked the god what the apparition of the man
meant: and the Pythian prophetess bade them obey the command of the
apparition, and told them that if they obeyed, it would be the better
for them. They therefore accepted this answer and performed the
commands; and there stands a statue now bearing the name of Aristeas
close by the side of the altar dedicated to Apollo, 19 and round it
stand laurel trees; and the altar is set up in the market-place. Let
this suffice which has been said about Aristeas.
16. Now of the land about which this account has been begun, no one
knows precisely what lies beyond it: 20 for I am not able to hear of any
one who alleges that he knows as an eye-witness; and even Aristeas,
the man of whom I was making mention just now, even he, I say, did not
allege, although he was composing verse, 21 that he went further than
the Issedonians; but that which is beyond them he spoke of by hearsay,
and reported that it was the Issedonians who said these things. So far
however as we were able to arrive at certainty by hearsay, carrying
inquiries as far as possible, all this shall be told.
17. Beginning with the trading station of the Borysthenites,—for of the
parts along the sea this is the central point of all Scythia,—beginning
with this, the first regions are occupied by the Callipidai, who are
Hellenic Scythians; and above these is another race, who are called
Alazonians. 22 These last and the Callipidai in all other respects have
the same customs as the Scythians, but they both sow corn and use it as
food, and also onions, leeks, lentils and millet. Above the Alazonians
dwell Scythians who till the ground, and these sow their corn not for
food but to sell.
18.Beyond them dwell the Neuroi; and beyond the Neuroi towards the North
Wind is a region without inhabitants, as far as we know. These races
are along the river Hypanis to the West of the Borysthenes; but after
crossing the Borysthenes, first from the sea-coast is Hylaia, and beyond
this as one goes up the river dwell agricultural Scythians, whom the
Hellenes who live upon the river Hypanis call Borysthenites, calling
themselves at the same time citizens of Olbia. 23 These agricultural
Scythians occupy the region which extends Eastwards for a distance of
three days' journey, 24 reaching to a river which is called Panticapes,
and Northwards for a distance of eleven days' sail up the Borysthenes.
Then immediately beyond these begins the desert 25 and extends for
a great distance; and on the other side of the desert dwell the
Androphagoi, 26 a race apart by themselves and having no connection with
the Scythians. Beyond them begins a region which is really desert and
has no race of men in it, as far as we know.
19. The region which lies to the East of these agricultural Scythians,
after one has crossed the river Panticapes, is occupied by nomad
Scythians, who neither sow anything nor plough the earth; and this whole
region is bare of trees except Hylaia. These nomads occupy a country
which extends to the river Gerros, a distance of fourteen 27 days'
journey Eastwards.
20. Then on the other side of the Gerros we have those parts which are
called the "Royal" lands and those Scythians who are the bravest and
most numerous and who esteem the other Scythians their slaves. These
reach Southwards to the Tauric land, and Eastwards to the trench which
those who were begotten of the blind slaves dug, and to the trading
station which is called Cremnoi 28 upon the Maiotian lake; and some
parts of their country reach to the river Tanaïs. Beyond the Royal
Scythians towards the North Wind dwell the Melanchlainoi, 29 of a
different race and not Scythian. The region beyond the Melanchlainoi is
marshy and not inhabited by any, so far as we know.
21. After one has crossed the river Tanaïs the country is no longer
Scythia, but the first of the divisions belongs to the Sauromatai,
who beginning at the corner of the Maiotian lake occupy land extending
towards the North Wind fifteen days' journey, and wholly bare of trees
both cultivated and wild. Above these, holding the next division of
land, dwell the Budinoi, who occupy a land wholly overgrown with forest
consisting of all kinds of trees.
22. Then beyond the Budinoi towards the North, first there is desert for
seven days' journey; and after the desert turning aside somewhat more
towards the East Wind we come to land occupied by the Thyssagetai, a
numerous people and of separate race from the others. These live by
hunting; and bordering upon them there are settled also in these same
regions men who are called Irycai, who also live by hunting, which they
practise in the following manner:—the hunter climbs up a tree and lies
in wait there for his game (now trees are abundant in all this country),
and each has a horse at hand, which has been taught to lie down upon its
belly in order that it may make itself low, and also a dog: and when he
sees the wild animal from the tree, he first shoots his arrow and then
mounts upon his horse and pursues it, and the dog seizes hold of it.
Above these in a direction towards the East dwell other Scythians, who
have revolted from the Royal Scythians and so have come to this region.
23. As far as the country of these Scythians the whole land which has
been described is level plain and has a deep soil; but after this point
it is stony and rugged. Then when one has passed through a great extent
of this rugged country, there dwell in the skirts of lofty mountains
men who are said to be all bald-headed from their birth, male and female
equally, and who have flat noses and large chins and speak a language of
their own, using the Scythian manner of dress, and living on the produce
of trees. The tree on the fruit of which they live is called the Pontic
tree, and it is about the size of a fig-tree: this bears a fruit the
size of a bean, containing a stone. When the fruit has ripened, they
strain it through cloths and there flows from it a thick black juice,
and this juice which flows from it is called as-chy. This they either
lick up or drink mixed with milk, and from its lees, that is the solid
part, they make cakes and use them for food; for they have not many
cattle, since the pastures there are by no means good. Each man has his
dwelling under a tree, in winter covering the tree all round with close
white felt-cloth, and in summer without it. These are injured by no men,
for they are said to be sacred, and they possess no weapon of war. These
are they also who decide the disputes rising among their neighbours; and
besides this, whatever fugitive takes refuge with them is injured by no
one: and they are called Argippaians. 30
24. Now as far as these bald-headed men there is abundantly clear
information about the land and about the nations on this side of them;
for not only do certain of the Scythians go to them, from whom it is not
difficult to get information, but also some of the Hellenes who are at
the trading-station of the Borysthenes and the other trading-places of
the Pontic coast: and those of the Scythians who go to them transact
their business through seven interpreters and in seven different
languages.
25. So far as these, I say, the land is known; but concerning the region
to the North of the bald-headed men no one can speak with certainty,
for lofty and impassable mountains divide it off, and no one passes over
them. However these bald-headed men say (though I do not believe it)
that the mountains are inhabited by men with goats' feet; and that after
one has passed beyond these, others are found who sleep through six
months of the year. This I do not admit at all as true. However, the
country to the East of the bald-headed men is known with certainty,
being inhabited by the Issedonians, but that which lies beyond both the
bald-headed men and the Issedonians towards the North Wind is unknown,
except so far as we know it from the accounts given by these nations
which have just been mentioned.
26. The Issedonians are said to have these customs:—when a man's father
is dead, all the relations bring cattle to the house, and then having
slain them and cut up the flesh, they cut up also the dead body of the
father of their entertainer, and mixing all the flesh together they set
forth a banquet. His skull however they strip of the flesh and clean it
out and then gild it over, and after that they deal with it as a sacred
thing 31 and perform for the dead man great sacrifices every year.
This each son does for his father, just as the Hellenes keep the day of
memorial for the dead. 32 In other respects however this race also is
said to live righteously, and their women have equal rights with the
men.
27. These then also are known; but as to the region beyond them, it
is the Issedonians who report that there are there one-eyed men and
gold-guarding griffins; and the Scythians report this having received it
from them, and from the Scythians we, that is the rest of mankind, have
got our belief; and we call them in Scythian language Arimaspians, for
the Scythians call the number one arima and the eye spu.
28. This whole land which has been described is so exceedingly severe in
climate, that for eight months of the year there is frost so hard as to
be intolerable; and during these if you pour out water you will not be
able to make mud, but only if you kindle a fire can you make it; and
the sea is frozen and the whole of the Kimmerian Bosphorus, so that the
Scythians who are settled within the trench make expeditions and drive
their waggons over into the country of the Sindians. Thus it continues
to be winter for eight months, and even for the remaining four it is
cold in those parts. This winter is distinguished in its character from
all the winters which come in other parts of the world; for in it there
is no rain to speak of at the usual season for rain, whereas in summer
it rains continually; and thunder does not come at the time when it
comes in other countries, but is very frequent, 33 in the summer; and if
thunder comes in winter, it is marvelled at as a prodigy: just so, if
an earthquake happens, whether in summer or in winter, it is accounted
a prodigy in Scythia. Horses are able to endure this winter, but neither
mules nor asses can endure it at all, whereas in other countries horses
if they stand in frost lose their limbs by mortification, while asses
and mules endure it.
29. I think also that it is for this reason that the hornless breed
of oxen in that country have no horns growing; and there is a verse of
Homer in the Odyssey 34 supporting my opinion, which runs this:—
"Also the Libyan land, where the sheep very quickly grow hornèd,"
for it is rightly said that in hot regions the horns come quickly,
whereas in extreme cold the animals either have no horns growing at all,
or hardly any. 35
30. In that land then this takes place on account of the cold; but
(since my history proceeded from the first seeking occasions for
digression) 36 I feel wonder that in the whole land of Elis mules cannot
be bred, though that region is not cold, nor is there any other evident
cause. The Eleians themselves say that in consequence of some curse
mules are not begotten in their land; but when the time approaches for
the mares to conceive, they drive them out into the neighbouring
lands and there in the land of their neighbours they admit to them the
he-asses until the mares are pregnant, and then they drive them back.
31. As to the feathers of which the Scythians say that the air is full,
and that by reason of them they are not able either to see or to pass
through the further parts of the continent, the opinion which I have is
this:—in the parts beyond this land it snows continually, though less
in summer than in winter, as might be supposed. Now whomsoever has seen
close at hand snow falling thickly, knows what I mean without further
explanation, for the snow is like feathers: and on account of this
wintry weather, being such as I have said, the Northern parts of this
continent are uninhabitable. I think therefore that by the feathers the
Scythians and those who dwell near them mean symbolically the snow. This
then which has been said goes to the furthest extent of the accounts
given.
32. About a Hyperborean people the Scythians report nothing, nor do any
of those who dwell in this region, unless it be the Issedonians: but
in my opinion neither do these report anything; for if they did the
Scythians also would report it, as they do about the one-eyed people.
Hesiod however has spoken of Hyperboreans, and so also has Homer in the
poem of the "Epigonoi," at least if Homer was really the composer of
that Epic.
33. But much more about them is reported by the people of Delos than by
any others. For these say that sacred offerings bound up in wheat straw
are carried from the land of the Hyperboreans and come to the Scythians,
and then from the Scythians the neighbouring nations in succession
receive them and convey them Westwards, finally as far as the Adriatic:
thence they are sent forward towards the South, and the people of Dodona
receive them first of all the Hellenes, and from these they come down to
the Malian gulf and are passed over to Euboea, where city sends them on
to city till they come to Carystos. After this Andros is left out, for
the Carystians are those who bring them to Tenos, and the Tenians to
Delos. Thus they say that these sacred offerings come to Delos; but at
first, they say, the Hyperboreans sent two maidens bearing the sacred
offerings, whose names, say the Delians, were Hyperoche and Laodike, and
with them for their protection the Hyperboreans sent five men of their
nation to attend them, those namely who are now called Perphereës and
have great honours paid to them in Delos. Since however the Hyperboreans
found that those who were sent away did not return back, they were
troubled to think that it would always befall them to send out and not
to receive back; and so they bore the offerings to the borders of their
land bound up in wheat straw, and laid a charge upon their neighbours,
bidding them send these forward from themselves to another nation. These
things then, they say, come to Delos being thus sent forward; and I know
of my own knowledge that a thing is done which has resemblance to
these offerings, namely that the women of Thrace and Paionia, when they
sacrifice to Artemis "the Queen," do not make their offerings without
wheat straw.
34. These I know do as I have said; and for those maidens from the
Hyperboreans, who died in Delos, both the girls and the boys of the
Delians cut off their hair: the former before marriage cut off a lock
and having wound it round a spindle lay it upon the tomb (now the tomb
is on the left hand as one goes into the temple of Artemis, and over it
grows an olive-tree), and all the boys of the Delians wind some of their
hair about a green shoot of some tree, and they also place it upon the
tomb.
35. The maidens, I say, have this honour paid them by the dwellers in
Delos: and the same people say that Arge and Opis also, being maidens,
came to Delos, passing from the Hyperboreans by the same nations which
have been mentioned, even before Hyperoche and Laodike. These last, they
say, came bearing for Eileithuia the tribute which they had laid upon
themselves for the speedy birth, 37 but Arge and Opis came with the
divinities themselves, and other honours have been assigned to them by
the people of Delos: for the women, they say, collect for them, naming
them by their names in the hymn which Olen a man of Lykia composed in
their honour; and both the natives of the other islands and the
Ionians have learnt from them to sing hymns naming Opis and Arge and
collecting:—now this Olen came from Lukia and composed also the other
ancient hymns which are sung in Delos:—and moreover they say that when
the thighs of the victim are consumed upon the altar, the ashes of them
are used to cast upon the grave of Opis and Arge. Now their grave is
behind the temple of Artemis, turned towards the East, close to the
banqueting hall of the Keïeans.
36. Let this suffice which has been said of the Hyperboreans; for the
tale of Abaris, who is reported to have been a Hyperborean, I do not
tell, namely 3701 how he carried the arrow about all over the earth,
eating no food. If however there are any Hyperboreans, it follows that
there are also Hypernotians; and I laugh when I see that, though many
before this have drawn maps of the Earth, yet no one has set the matter
forth in an intelligent way; seeing that they draw Ocean flowing round
the Earth, which is circular exactly as if drawn with compasses, and
they make Asia equal in size to Europe. In a few words I shall declare
the size of each division and of what nature it is as regards outline.
37. The Persians inhabit Asia 38 extending to the Southern Sea, which is
called the Erythraian; and above these towards the North Wind dwell the
Medes, and above the Medes the Saspeirians, and above the Saspeirians
the Colchians, extending to the Northern Sea, into which the river
Phasis runs. These four nations inhabit from sea to sea.
38. From them Westwards two peninsulas 39 stretch out from Asia into the
sea, and these I will describe. The first peninsula on the one of its
sides, that is the Northern, stretches along beginning from the Phasis
and extending to the sea, going along the Pontus and the Hellespont as
far as Sigeion in the land of Troy; and on the Southern side the same
peninsula stretches from the Myriandrian gulf, which lies near Phenicia,
in the direction of the sea as far as the headland Triopion; and in this
peninsula dwell thirty races of men.