Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 7.3.18

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter

← Previous Next →

[18] The whole of this country, which reaches to the seacoast extending from the Dnieper¹ to the Palus Maeotis, is subject to severe winters; so also are the most northern of the districts bordering on the sea, as the mouth of the Palus Maeotis, and farther that of the Dnieper and the head of the Gulf of Tamyraca, or Carcinites,² which washes the isthmus³ of the Magna Chersonesus. The intense cold of the districts inhabited, notwithstanding their being plains, is manifest, for they rear no asses, as that animal is too susceptible of cold; some of their oxen are without horns by nature, of the others they file off the horns, as a part most susceptible of injury from cold. Their horses are diminutive and their sheep large. Their brazen vessels are split with the frosts, and their contents frozen into a solid mass. However, the rigour of the frosts may be best illustrated by the phenomena which are common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus Maeotis;⁴ for the passage from Panticapaeum,⁵ across to Phanagoria,⁶ is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage⁷ and an overland route [as the season may determine]. There are also fish which are taken in the ice by means of a round net called a gangama, and especially a kind of sturgeon called antacaeus,⁸ nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates,⁹ defeated the barbarians during summer-time in a naval engagement in this very strait, and during the winter in a cavalry action. They say that about the Bosphorus the vine is hidden away in the earth in winter, great mounds of mould being piled over it [to preserve it from the frost]. They also report that the heats are excessive, [this may be accounted for in several ways,] perhaps men’s bodies not being accustomed to them, feel them the more; perhaps the plains are at that time unrefreshed by winds; or perhaps the thickness of the air is heated to a great degree, similar to the way in which the misty air is affected in times when a parhelion is observed.

It appears that Ateas,¹⁰ who carried on war against Philip,¹¹ the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts.

Geography. Strabo. Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator). London. 1854-1857.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 7.3.18 focus

[18] ἅπασα δʼ ἡ χώρα δυσχείμερός ἐστι μέχρι τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τόπων τῶν μεταξὺ Βορυσθένους καὶ τοῦ στόματος τῆς Μαιώτιδος· αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ τὰ ἀρκτικώτατα τό τε στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον τὸ τοῦ Βορυσθένους καὶ ὁ μυχὸς τοῦ Ταμυράκου κόλπου, τοῦ καὶ Καρκινίτου, καθʼ ὃν ὁ ἰσθμὸς τῆς μεγάλης χερρονήσου. δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ ψύχη, καίπερ ἐν πεδίοις οἰκούντων· ὄνους τε γὰρ οὐ τρέφουσι (δύσριγον γὰρ τὸ ζῷον), οἵ τε βόες οἱ μὲν ἄκερῳ γεννῶνται, τῶν δʼ ἀπορρινῶσι τὰ κέρατα (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο δύσριγον τὸ μέρος), οἵ τε ἵπποι μικροί, τὰ δὲ πρόβατα μεγάλα· ῥήττονται δὲ χαλκαῖ ὑδρίαι, τὰ δʼ ἐνόντα συμπήττεται. τῶν δὲ πάγων ἡ σφοδρότης μάλιστα ἐκ τῶν συμβαινόντων περὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος δῆλός ἐστιν. ἁμαξεύεται γὰρ ὁ διάπλους ὁ εἰς Φαναγόρειαν ἐκ τοῦ Παντικαπαίου, ὥστε καὶ πλοῦν εἶναι καὶ ὁδόν· Νεοπτόλεμον δέ φασι τὸν τοῦ Μιθριδάτου στρατηγὸν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ πόρῳ θέρους μὲν ναυμαχίᾳ περιγενέσθαι τῶν βαρβάρων, χειμῶνος δʼ ἱππομαχίᾳ. ὀρυκτοί τέ εἰσιν ἰχθύες οἱ ἀποληφθέντες ἐν τῷ κρυστάλλῳ τῇ προσαγορευομένῃ γαγγάμῃ, καὶ μάλιστα οἱ ἀντακαῖοι, δελφῖσι πάρισοι τὸ μέγεθος. φασὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄμπελον ἐν τῷ Βοσπόρῳ κατορύττεσθαι χειμῶνος, ἐπαμώντων πολὺ τῆς γῆς. λέγεται δὲ καὶ τὰ καύματα σφοδρὰ γίνεσθαι, τάχα μὲν τῶν σωμάτων ἀηθιζομένων, τάχα δὲ τῶν πεδίων ἀνηνεμούντων τότε, ἢ καὶ τοῦ πάχους τοῦ ἀέρος ἐκθερμαινομένου πλέον, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς νέφεσιν οἱ παρήλιοι ποιοῦσιν. Ἀτέας δὲ δοκεῖ τῶν πλείστων ἄρξαι τῶν ταύτῃ βαρβάρων ὁ πρὸς Φίλιππον πολεμήσας τὸν Ἀμύντου.

Translations (1)

Geography (Books 6-14) Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).) — 7.3.18 focus

[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,¹ or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus.² 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 burst³ 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 Panticapaeum⁴ across to Phanagoria⁵ is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging⁶ with an implement called the “gangame,”⁷ and particularly the antacaei,⁸ which are about the size of dolphins.⁹ 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.¹⁰ 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 parhelia¹¹ in the clouds). It appears that Ateas,¹² who waged war with Philip¹³ the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. The Borysthenes.

2. The Gulf of Perecop, called also Olou-Degniz. Gossellin.

3. The Isthmus of Perecop, which connects the Peninsula of Crimea, the ancient Taurica Chersonesus.

4. The Strait of Zabache, or Iéni-Kalé.

5. Panticapaeum, now Kertsch or Wospor in Europe.

6. Phanagoria was on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus.

7. We entirely agree with Kramer in favouring Coray’s emendation of πλοῦν for πηλόν, the reading of MSS.

8. Herodotus, book iv. chap. 53, says this fishing was carried on in the Dnieper. Aelian, de Natur. Animal. book xiv. chap. 26, refers it to the Danube.

9. Strabo has before alluded to this fact, book ii. chap. i. § 16, p. 114.

10. Lucian, in Macrob. § 10, spells his name Anteas, and relates that he was killed in this war when upwards of 90 years of age.

11. Father of Alexander the Great.

Strabo Geography 7.3.18

Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers