Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 7.3.17

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[17] Then comes the Borysthenes River,¹ which is navigable for a distance of six hundred stadia; and, near it, another river, the Hypanis,² and off the mouth of the Borysthenes, an island³ 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;⁴ 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;⁵ then the country of the Tyregetans;⁶ and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the people called the Basileians⁷ and that of the Urgi,⁸ 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.⁹ 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;¹⁰ they came for the purpose of assisting Palacus,¹¹ 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.

Geography. Strabo. Horace Leonard Jones (Translator). London. 1924-1929.

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Current edition Perseus

Geography (Books 6-14) (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 7.3.17 focus

[17] εἶτα Βορυσθένης ποταμὸς πλωτὸς ἐφʼ ἑξακοσίους σταδίους καὶ πλησίον ἄλλος ποταμὸς Ὕπανις καὶ νῆσος πρὸ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ Βορυσθένους ἔχουσα λιμένα. πλεύσαντι δὲ τὸν Βορυσθένη σταδίους διακοσίους ὁμώνυμος τῷ ποταμῷ πόλις· ἡ δʼ αὐτὴ καὶ Ὀλβία καλεῖται, μέγα ἐμπόριον, κτίσμα Μιλησίων. ἡ δὲ ὑπερκειμένη πᾶσα χώρα τοῦ λεχθέντος μεταξὺ Βορυσθένους καὶ Ἴστρου πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ τῶν Γετῶν ἐρημία, ἔπειτα οἱ Τυρεγέται, μεθʼ οὓς οἱ Ἰάζυγες Σαρμάται καὶ οἱ Βασίλειοι λεγόμενοι καὶ Οὖργοι, τὸ μὲν πλέον νομάδες, ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ γεωργίας ἐπιμελούμενοι· τούτους φασὶ καὶ παρὰ τὸν Ἴστρον οἰκεῖν, ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα πολλάκις. ἐν δὲ τῇ μεσογαίᾳ Βαστάρναι μὲν τοῖς Τυρεγέταις ὅμοροι καὶ Γερμανοῖς, σχεδόν τι καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῦ Γερμανικοῦ γένους ὄντες, εἰς πλείω φῦλα διῃρημένοι. καὶ γὰρ Ἄτμονοι λέγονταί τινες καὶ Σιδόνες, οἱ δὲ τὴν Πεύκην κατασχόντες τὴν ἐν τῷ Ἴστρῳ νῆσον Πευκῖνοι, Ῥωξολανοὶ δʼ ἀρκτικώτατοι τὰ μεταξὺ τοῦ Τανάιδος καὶ Βορυσθένους νεμόμενοι πεδία. ἡ γὰρ προσάρκτιος πᾶσα ἀπὸ Γερμανίας μέχρι τῆς Κασπίας πεδιάς ἐστιν, ἣν ἴσμεν· ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν Ῥωξολανῶν εἴ τινες οἰκοῦσιν οὐκ ἴσμεν. οἱ δὲ Ῥωξολανοὶ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Μιθριδάτου τοῦ Εὐπάτορος στρατηγοὺς ἐπολέμουν ἔχοντες ἡγεμόνα Τάσιον· ἧκον δὲ Παλάκῳ συμμαχήσοντες τῷ Σκιλούρου, καὶ ἐδόκουν μὲν εἶναι μάχιμοι, πρὸς μέντοι συντεταγμένην φάλαγγα καὶ ὡπλισμένην καλῶς τὸ βάρβαρον φῦλον ἀσθενὲς πᾶν ἐστι καὶ τὸ γυμνητικόν. ἐκεῖνοι γοῦν περὶ πέντε μυριάδας πρὸς ἑξακισχιλίους τοὺς Διοφάντῳ, τῷ τοῦ Μιθριδάτου στρατηγῷ, συμπαραταξαμένους οὐκ ἀντέσχον, ἀλλʼ οἱ πλεῖστοι διεφθάρησαν. χρῶνται δὲ ὠμοβοΐνοις κράνεσι καὶ θώραξι, γερροφόροι, ἀμυντήρια δʼ ἔχοντες καὶ λόγχας καὶ τόξον καὶ ξίφος· τοιοῦτοι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἱ πλείους. τῶν δὲ νομάδων αἱ σκηναὶ πιλωταὶ πεπήγασιν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμάξαις, ἐν αἷς διαιτῶνται· περὶ δὲ τὰς σκηνὰς τὰ βοσκήματα, ἀφʼ ὧν τρέφονται καὶ γάλακτι καὶ τυρῷ καὶ κρέασιν· ἀκολουθοῦσι δὲ ταῖς νομαῖς μεταλαμβάνοντες τόπους ἀεὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας πόαν, χειμῶνος μὲν ἐν τοῖς ἕλεσι τοῖς περὶ τὴν Μαιῶτιν, θέρους δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις.

Translations (1)

Geography Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.) — 7.3.17 focus

[17] Next is the Dnieper,¹ a river navigable to the distance of 600² stadia, and near to it another river, the Bog,³ and an island⁴ lying before the mouth of the Dnieper, which possesses a haven. After sailing up the Borysthenes⁵ 200 stadia, you come to the city of like name with the river, which is likewise called Olbia;⁶ it is a great emporium and a foundation of the Milesians. Of the region lying inland from the coast we have described between the Dnieper and the Danube, the first portion is the Desert of the Getae, then comes the Tyregetae, after them the Jazyges Sarmatae, and the Basilii, who are also called Urgi.⁷ Most of these people are nomades. However, a few of them pay attention to agriculture. These are said to inhabit the banks of the Danube, frequently even on both sides of the river. In the inland the Bastarnae dwell, and confine with the Tyregetae and the Germans; indeed, they may almost be said to be of the German stock. They are divided into many tribes, as some are called Atmoni, some Sidones, those who inhabit the island Peuce⁸ in the Danube, Peucini, and the most northern, Roxolani.⁹ These latter depasture the plains lying between the Don¹⁰ and the Dnieper. Indeed the whole of the northern regions with which we are acquainted, from Germany to the Caspian, is an extended plain. Whether any dwell still farther than the Roxolani is unknown to us. However, the Roxolani fought against the generals of Mithridates Eupator. Their leader was Tasius. They came as allies of Palacus, the son of Scilurus, and were considered good soldiers, but against the serried and wellarmed phalanx every barbarous and light-armed tribe is ineffective. Thus they, although numbering fifty thousand men, could not withstand the six thousand arrayed by Diophantus, the general of Mithridates, but were almost all cut to pieces. They make use of helmets and breastplates made of untanned ox-hide. They bear wicker shields; and as weapons, lances, the bow, and the sword, such as most of the other barbarians do. The woollen tents of the nomades are fixed upon their chariots, in which they pass their lives. Their herds are scattered round their tents, and they live on the milk, the cheese, and the meat which they supply. They shift their quarters ever in search of pasture, changing the places they have exhausted for others full of grass. In the winter they encamp in the marshes near the Palus Maeotis,¹¹ and in the summer on the plains.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. The Dnieper.

2. The Bog.

3. Now Berezan (see C. Müller, Ptolemaeus, Didot edition note on 3. 10. 9, p. 471).

4. Now in ruins, near Nickolaiev.

5. Now Bessarabia.

6. The city and territory of Tyras.

7. Called by Hdt. 4.20, 22, 56, 57, 59 the “Basileian (‘Royal’) Scythians,” but by Ptolemaeus 5.9.16 the “Basileian Sarmathians.”

8. The “Urgi” are otherwise unknown. In the margin of Manuscript A, first hand, are these words: “Ungri” (cp. ‘Hungarians’) “now, though the same are also called Tuci” (cp. ‘Turks’). But the editors in general regard “Urgi” as corrupt, and conjecture either “Georgi” (literally, “Farmers”; cp. 7. 4. 6 and Herodotus 4.18 ) or “Agathyrsi” (cp. Herodotus 4.125 ).

9. The Dnieper.

10. King of Pontus 120-63 B.C.

11. A prince in the Tauric Chersonese.

Strabo Geography 7.3.17

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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