1. At the bottom of the bay (Carcinites) commences the isthmus[2719]
which separates the lake called Sapra, [or the Putrid Lake,] from the
sea; it is 40 stadia in width, and forms the [CAS. 308] Tauric or
Scythian Chersonese.[2720] This, according to some, is 360 stadia
across. The Putrid Lake[2721] is said to extend 4000 stadia (in
circumference), and forms part of the [Palus] Mæotis on its western
side, with which it communicates by a large opening. It abounds in
marshy tracts, and is scarcely navigable with “sewn”[2722] boats. The
shallower parts are soon uncovered, and again covered with water, by the
force of the wind; but the marsh will not bear boats of a deeper
draught. In the bay are three small islands; and in sailing along the
coast, some shallows are met with, and rocks which rise above water.
2. On the left in sailing out of the bay [Carcinites] there is a small
town and another harbour[2723] belonging to the people of the
Chersonese; for in coasting along the bay, there projects towards the
south a large promontory, which is a part of the great Chersonese. Upon
it stands a city of the Heracleotæ, who are a colony from Heraclea[2724]
in the Euxine; it bears the same name, Chersonesus, as the territory. It
is distant from the Dniester,[2725] in following the coast, 4400 stadia.
In this city is a temple of the Virgin, some goddess,[2726] after whom
the promontory, which is in front of the city, at the distance of 100
stadia, is called Parthenium. It has a shrine of the goddess and a
statue. Between the city[2727] and the promontory are three harbours;
next is the old city Chersonesus in ruins; then follows a harbour with a
narrow entrance. It was called Symbolon Limen, or Signal Harbour; and
here principally was carried on a system of piracy against those who
took refuge in the ports. This, together with another harbour, called
Ctenus,[2728] forms an isthmus of 40 stadia in extent. This isthmus
locks in the Smaller Chersonesus, which we said was a part of the Great
Chersonesus, having on it a city of the same name.
3. It was formerly governed by its own laws, but after it was ravaged by
barbarous nations, the inhabitants were obliged to elect as their
protector, Mithridates Eupator, who was anxious to direct his forces
against the barbarians who lived above the isthmus, and occupied the
country as far as the Dnieper and the Adriatic, and thus to prepare
himself against war with the Romans. Mithridates, with these views,
readily despatched an expedition into the Chersonesus, and carried on
war at the same time against the Scythians, Scilurus, and the sons of
Scilurus, namely, Palacus and his brothers, whom Posidonius reckons to
have been fifty, and Apollonides eighty, in number. By the subjugation
of these enemies he became at once master of the Bosporus, which
Pairisades, who held the command of it, voluntarily surrendered. From
that time to the present the city of the Chersonitæ has been subject to
the princes of the Bosporus.
Ctenus is equally distant from the city of the Chersonitæ, and from
Symbolon Limen. From Symbolon Limen the Tauric coast extends 1000 stadia
to the city Theodosia.[2729] The coast is rugged and mountainous, and
during the prevalence of the north winds, tempestuous. From this coast a
promontory projects far into the sea, and stretches out southwards
towards Paphlagonia, and the city Amastris. It is called Criu-metopon,
or Ram’s Head. Opposite to it is [CAS. 309] Carambis,[2730] the
promontory of the Paphlagonians. Criu-metopon and Carambis together form
a strait compressed between them, and divide the Euxine into two parts.
Carambis is distant from the city of the Chersonesus 2500 stadia, and
from Criu-metopon much less; for many persons who have sailed through
the strait say, that they saw both promontories at once.[2731]
In the mountainous district of the Tauri there is a hill called
Trapezus,[2732] of the same name as the city,[2733] which is near
Tibarania and Colchis. There is another hill also, the Kimmerium,[2734]
in the same mountainous district, for the Kimmerii were once sovereigns
of the Bosporus, and hence the whole of the strait at the mouth of the
[Palus] Mæotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus.
4. After leaving the above-mentioned mountainous district, is the city
Theodosia, situated on a plain; the soil is fertile, and there is a
harbour capable of containing a hundred vessels. This formerly was the
boundary of the territory of the Bosporians and of the Tauri. Then
follows a fertile country extending to Panticapæum,[2735] the capital of
the Bosporians, which is situated at the mouth of the Palus
Mæotis.[2736] Between Theodosia[2737] and Panticapæum there is a tract
of about 530 stadia in extent. The whole country is corn-producing;
there are villages in it, and a city called Nymphæum, with a good
harbour.
Panticapæum is a hill inhabited all round for a circuit of 20 stadia. To
the east it has a harbour, and docks capable of containing about thirty
vessels; there is also an acropolis. It was founded by the Milesians.
Both this place and the neighbouring settlements on each side of the
mouth of the Palus Mæotis were for a long period under the monarchical
dynasty of Leucon, and Satyrus, and Pairisades, till the latter
surrendered the sovereignty to Mithridates. They had the name of
tyrants, although most of them were moderate and just in their
government, from the time of Pairisades and Leucon. Pairisades was
accounted even a god. The last sovereign, whose name was also
Pairisades, being unable to resist the barbarians, by whom great and
unusual tributes were exacted, surrendered the kingdom into the hands of
Mithridates. After him it became subject to the Romans. The greater
portion of it is situated in Europe, but a part of it is also situated
in Asia.
5. The mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus. The
entrance, which at the broadest part is about 70 stadia across, where
there is a passage from the neighbourhood[2738] of Panticapæum to
Phanagoria, the nearest city in Asia. The [Palus] Mæotis closes in an
arm of the sea which is much narrower. This arm of the sea and the
Don[2739] separate Europe from Asia. Then the Don flows from the north
opposite into the lake, and into the Kimmerian Bosporus. It discharges
itself into the lake by two mouths,[2740] which are distant from each
other about 60 stadia. There is also a city of the same name as the
river; and next to Panticapæum it is the largest mart belonging to the
barbarians.
On sailing into the Kimmerian Bosporus,[2741] on the left hand is
Myrmecium,[2742] a small city, 20 stadia from Panticapæum, and 40 stadia
from Parthenium;[2743] it is a village where is the narrowest entrance
into the lake, about 20 stadia in breadth; opposite to it is a village
situated in Asia, called Achilleum. Thence to the Don, and to the island
at its mouths, is a voyage in a direct line of 2200 stadia. The distance
is somewhat greater if the voyage is performed along the coast of Asia,
but taking the left-hand side, (in which direction the isthmus of the
Chersonese is fallen in with,) the distance is more than tripled. This
latter course is along the desert shore of Europe, but the [CAS. 311]
Asiatic side is not without inhabitants. The whole circumference of the
lake is 9000 stadia.
The Great Chersonesus resembles Peloponnesus both in figure and size.
The kings of the Bosporus possess it, but the whole country has been
devastated by continual wars. They formerly possessed a small tract only
at the mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis near Panticapæum, extending as far as
Theodosia. The largest part of the territory, as far as the isthmus and
the Gulf Carcinites, was in possession of the Tauri, a Scythian nation.
The whole of this country, comprehending also a portion on the other
side of the isthmus as far as the Dnieper, was called Little Scythia. In
consequence of the number of people who passed from thence across the
Dniester and the Danube, and settled there, no small part of that
country also bore the name of Little Scythia. The Thracians surrendered
a part of it to superior force, and a part was abandoned on account of
the bad quality of the ground, a large portion of which is marshy.
6. Except the mountainous tract of the Chersonesus on the sea-coast,
extending as far as Theodosia, all the rest consist of plains, the soil
of which is rich, and remarkably fertile in corn. It yields thirty-fold,
when turned up by the most ordinary implements of husbandry. The tribute
paid to Mithridates by the inhabitants, including that from the
neighbourhood of Sindace in Asia, amounted to 180,000 medimni of corn,
and 200 talents of silver. The Greeks in former times imported from this
country corn, and the cured fish of Palus Mæotis. Leucon is said to have
sent to the Athenians 2,100,000 medimni of corn from Theodosia.[2744]
The name of Georgi, or husbandmen, was appropriately given to these
people, to distinguish them from the nations situated above them, who
are nomades, and live upon the flesh of horses and other animals, on
cheese of mares’ milk, milk, and sour milk. The latter, prepared in a
peculiar manner, is a delicacy.[2745] Hence the poet designates all the
nations in that quarter as Galactophagi, milk-eaters.
The nomades are more disposed to war than to robbery. The occasion of
their contests was to enforce the payment of tribute. They permit those
to have land who are willing to cultivate it. In return for the use of
the land, they are satisfied with receiving a settled and moderate
tribute, not such as will furnish superfluities, but the daily
necessaries of life. If this tribute is not paid, the nomades declare
war. Hence the poet calls these people both just, and miserable,
(Abii,)[2746] for if the tribute is regularly paid, they do not have
recourse to war. Payment is not made by those, who have confidence in
their ability to repel attacks with ease, and to prevent the incursion
of their enemies. This course was pursued, as Hypsicrates relates, by
Asander, who fortified on the isthmus of the Chersonesus, at the Palus
Mæotis, a space of 360 stadia, and erected towers at the distance of
every 10 stadia.[2747]
The Georgi (husbandmen) are considered to be more civilized and mild in
their manners than the other tribes in this quarter, but they are
addicted to gain. They navigate the sea, and do not abstain from piracy,
nor from similar acts of injustice and rapacity.
7. Besides the places in the Chersonesus already enumerated, there are
the fortresses Palacium, and Chabum, and Neapolis,[2748] which Scilurus
and his sons constructed, from which they sallied out against the
generals of Mithridates.
There was also a fortress called Eupatorium, built by Diophantus, one of
the generals of Mithridates.[2749]
[CAS. 312] There is a promontory, distant about 15 stadia from the wall
of Chersonesus, which forms a large bay, which bends towards the city.
Above this bay is a sea-lake, where there are salt pits. Here was the
harbour Ctenus. The generals of the king, in order to strengthen their
means of resistance in case of siege, stationed a garrison on the
above-mentioned promontory, which was further protected by a
fortification. The mouth of the Gulf was closed by an embankment which
extended to the city, and was easily traversed on foot. The garrison and
the city were thus united. The Scythians were afterwards easily
repulsed. They attacked that part of the wall built across the isthmus
which touches upon Ctenus, and filled the ditch with straw. The kind of
bridge thus formed by day, was burnt at night by the king’s generals,
who continued their resistance and defeated the enemy. At present the
whole country is subject to whomsoever the Romans may appoint as king of
the Bosporus.
8. It is a custom peculiar to all the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes, to
castrate their horses, in order to make them more tractable, for
although they are small, yet they are spirited, and difficult to manage.
Stags and wild boars are hunted in the marshes, and wild asses and
roes[2750] in the plains. It is a peculiarity of this country, that no
eagles are to be found in it. Among the quadrupeds there is an animal
called Colus, in size between a deer and a ram; it is white, and swifter
in speed than either of those animals. It draws up water into the head
through the nostrils; from this store it can supply itself for several
days, and live without inconvenience in places destitute of water.
Such is the nature of the whole of the country beyond the Danube, lying
between the Rhine and the Don, and extending as far as the Pontic Sea
and the Palus Mæotis.