[1] 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” ¹ and “Hyperboreans,” ² 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. ³ So then, those men should be disregarded; in fact, if even Sophocles, when in his role as a tragic poet he speaks of Oreithyia, ⁴ tells how she was snatched up by “Boreas” and carried ^{7 8} his story can have no bearing on the present inquiry, but should be disregarded, just as it is disregarded by Socrates in the Phaedrus. ⁹ 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, ¹⁰ 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, ¹¹ 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” generally ¹² 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.” ¹³ Again, the appended phrase ¹⁴ 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” ¹⁵ and “Tauristae.” ¹⁶

[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”; ¹⁷ and there are some of the Thracians who live apart from woman-kind; these are called “Ctistae,” ¹⁸ 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 bereft ¹⁹ ); 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 Book ²⁰ 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: ²¹ and a little below he sets down the proofs of their incontinence in their relations with women: ²² 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: ²³ and again when he introduces the Woman-hater, who complains about these very things: ²⁴ 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, ²⁵ 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 mountain ²⁶ was sacred and they so call it, but its name is Cogaeonum, ²⁷ like that of the river which flows past it. So, too, at the time when Byrebistas, ²⁸ against whom already ²⁹ 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 Ships ³⁰ 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” ³¹ (and so it is), and Eteonus “place of many ridges,” ³² and Thisbe “haunt of doves,” ³³ and Haliartus “grassy,” ³⁴ 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; ³⁵ 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, ³⁶ and naturally so, for at that time this sea was not navigable, and was called Axine ³⁷ 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,” ³⁸ 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, ³⁹ things which he nowhere mentions; neither does he mention the isthmus between the Erythraean ⁴⁰ and the Egyptian ⁴¹ Seas, nor the regions of Arabia and Ethiopia and the ocean, unless one should give heed to Zeno the philosopher when he writes, ^{42 43} 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,” ⁴⁴ 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 said ⁴⁵ ); and a host of other tales. From these men he proceeds against the historians who speak of the “Rhipaean Mountains,” ⁴⁶ and of “Mt. Ogyium,” ⁴⁷ and of the settlement of the Gorgons and Hesperides, and of the “Land of Meropis” ⁴⁸ in Theopompus, ⁴⁹ and the “City of Cimmeris” in Hecataeus, ⁵⁰ and the “Land of Panchaea” ⁵¹ in Euhemerus, ⁵² and in Aristotle “the river-stones, which are formed of sand but are melted by the rains.” ⁵³ 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. ⁵⁴ And, he adds, the writers in general can be pardoned, but Callimachus ⁵⁵ cannot be pardoned at all, because he makes a pretence of being a scholar; ⁵⁶ for he calls Gaudos ⁵⁷ the “Isle of Calypso” and Corcyra “Scheria.” And others he charges with falsifying about “Gerena,” ⁵⁸ and “Aeacesium,” ⁵⁹ and “Demus” ⁶⁰ in Ithaca, and about “Pelethronium” ⁶¹ in Pelion, and about Glaucopium ⁶² 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 before ⁶³ 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, ⁶⁴ as also in my general description. ⁶⁵

[7] Just now I was discussing the Thracians, and the ^{66 67} 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: they ⁶⁸ 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,” ⁶⁹ not also “Galactophagi” ⁷⁰ and “Abii”? ⁷¹ In fact, even now ⁷² 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: ⁷³ Now 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? ⁷⁴ Aeschylus, too, is clearly pleading the cause of the poet when he says about the Scythians: ⁷⁵ 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. ⁷⁶ See also what Chrysippus ⁷⁷ says concerning the kings of the Bosporus, the house of Leuco. ⁷⁸ And not only the Persian letters ⁷⁹ 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, ⁸⁰ Abaris, ⁸¹ 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, ⁸² invaded the country of the Triballians ⁸³ and saw that it extended as far as the Ister and the island of Peuce ⁸⁴ in the Ister, and that the parts on the far side were held by the Getae, he went as far as that, ⁸⁵ 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, ⁸⁶ the son of Lagus, ⁸⁷ 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 Lysimachus ⁸⁸ 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. ⁸⁹

[9] Ephorus, in the fourth book of his history, the book entitled Europe (for he made the circuit ⁹⁰ 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, ⁹¹ and excel all men in justice; and they are mentioned by the poets: by Homer, when he says that Zeus espies the land ⁹² and by Hesiod, in what is called his Circuit of the Earth, ⁹³ when he says that Phineus is carried by the Storm Winds ⁹⁴ 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 Choerilus ⁹⁵ also, who, in his The Crossing of the Pontoon-Bridge which was constructed by Dareius, ⁹⁶ says, ⁹⁷ 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,” ⁹⁸ 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 inventions ⁹⁹ (when the poet says, ¹⁰⁰ ), 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, ¹⁰¹ 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 Catus ¹⁰² transplanted from the country on the far side of the Ister into Thrace ¹⁰³ fifty thousand persons from among the Getae, a tribe with the same tongue as the Thracians. ¹⁰⁴ 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,” ¹⁰⁵ 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: Boerebistas ¹⁰⁶ 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 intermingled ¹⁰⁷ with the Thracians and the Illyrians, but actually caused the complete disappearance of the Boii ¹⁰⁸ who were under the rule of Critasirus, ¹⁰⁹ and also of the Taurisci. ¹¹⁰ To help him secure the complete obedience of his tribe he had as his coadjutor Decaeneus, ¹¹¹ 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). ¹¹² 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; ¹¹³ 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” ¹¹⁴ which prevailed among the Attic people; for this is more probable than that “Daüs” is from those Scythians who are called “Daae,” ¹¹⁵ 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, ¹¹⁶ 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 them ¹¹⁷ 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 those ¹¹⁸ 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, ¹¹⁹ lies the Desert of the Getae, wholly flat and waterless, in which Dareius the son of Hystaspis was caught ¹²⁰ 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. ¹²¹

[15] Near the outlets of the Ister River is a great island called Peuce; ¹²² 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, ¹²³ 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, ¹²⁴ although the bridge could have been constructed at the upper part also. The Sacred Mouth is the first mouth on the left as one sails ¹²⁵ 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 mouth ¹²⁶ of the Tyras is what is called the Tower of Neoptolemus, ¹²⁷ and also what is called the village of Hermonax. ¹²⁸ And on sailing inland one hundred and forty stadia one comes to two cities, one on each side, Niconia ¹²⁹ on the right and Ophiussa ¹³⁰ on the left. But the people who live near the river speak of a city one hundred and twenty stadia inland. ¹³¹ Again, at a distance of five hundred stadia from the mouth is the island called Leuce, ¹³² which lies in the high sea and is sacred to Achilles.

[17] Then comes the Borysthenes River, ¹³³ which is navigable for a distance of six hundred stadia; and, near it, another river, the Hypanis, ¹³⁴ and off the mouth of the Borysthenes, an island ¹³⁵ 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; ¹³⁶ 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; ¹³⁷ then the country of the Tyregetans; ¹³⁸ and after it the country of the Iazygian Sarmatians and that of the people called the Basileians ¹³⁹ and that of the Urgi, ¹⁴⁰ 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. ¹⁴¹ 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; ¹⁴² they came for the purpose of assisting Palacus, ¹⁴³ 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, ¹⁴⁴ or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus. ¹⁴⁵ 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 burst ¹⁴⁶ 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 Panticapaeum ¹⁴⁷ across to Phanagoria ¹⁴⁸ is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging ¹⁴⁹ with an implement called the “gangame,” ¹⁵⁰ and particularly the antacaei, ¹⁵¹ which are about the size of dolphins. ¹⁵² 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. ¹⁵³ 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 parhelia ¹⁵⁴ in the clouds). It appears that Ateas, ¹⁵⁵ who waged war with Philip ¹⁵⁶ the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world.

[19] After the island ¹⁵⁷ that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one sails to the cape ¹⁵⁸ of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos ¹⁵⁹ and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a peninsula ¹⁶⁰ 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, ¹⁶¹ and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on either side of the neck. It is sandy, ¹⁶² 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, ¹⁶³ 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.

[1] As to the southern part of Germany beyond the Elbe, the country which adjoins the bank of that river is now occupied by the Suevi. Next lies the country of the Getae, at first narrow, its southern side extends along the Danube, and the opposite side along the mountains of the Hercynian Forest, even including part of those mountains, it then becomes broader towards the north, and extends as far as the Tyregetae; however, we are unable to declare its boundaries with accuracy; and it is on account of our ignorance of these places that those who relate fables of the Riphaean mountains and the Hyperboreans have received credit; as also that which Pytheas of Marseilles has forged concerning the countries bordering on the Northern Ocean, making use of his acquaintance with astronomy and mathematics to fabricate his false narration: let us therefore pass over them; as also what Sophocles, speaking of Orithya in one of his tragedies, says, that she, being snatched by the north wind, was carried This is of no value to our present inquiry, but must be omitted, as Socrates has done in the Phaedrus of Plato. We will relate only what we have learnt from ancient accounts, and the reports made in our times.

[2] The Greeks indeed considered the Getae to be Thracians. They occupied either bank of the Danube, as also did the Mysians, likewise a Thracian people, now called the Moesi, from whom are descended the Mysians, settled between the Lydians, the Phrygians, and the inhabitants of the Troad. Even the Phrygians themselves are the same as the Briges, a people of Thrace, as also are the Mygdones, the Bebryces, the Maedobithyni, the Bithyni, the Thyni, and, as I consider, also are the Mariandyni. All these people quitted Europe entirely, the Mysians alone remaining. Posidonius appears to me to have rightly conjectured that it is the Mysians of Europe (or as I should say of Thrace) that Homer designates when he says,

and his glorious eyes

Averting, on the land look’d down remote

Of the horse-breeding Thracians, of the bold

Close-fighting Mysian race. . . . ¹

Iliad xiii. 3. For if any one should understand them as the Mysians of Asia, the expression of the poet would not be fitting. For this would be, that having turned his eyes from the Trojans towards the land of the Thracians, he beheld at the same time the land of the Mysians, situated not far off from where he was, but conterminous with the Troad, rather behind it and on either side, but separated from Thrace by the breadth of the Hellespont. ² This would be to confound the continents, and at the same time to disregard the form of the poet’s expression. For to turn his eyes again, is more especially to turn them behind him; but he who extends his vision from the Trojans to the people either behind them, or on either side of them, stretches his sight to a greater distance, but not in the least behind him. And this also is introduced as a proof of this very thing, that Homer classes with these the Hippemolgi, ³ the Galactophagi, ⁴ and the Abii, ⁵ who are the Scythian Hamaxoeci ⁶ and Sarmatians; for at this day, all these nations, as well as the Bastarnae, are mixed with the Thracians, more especially with those beyond the Danube, and some even with the Thracians on this side the Danube; also amongst these are the Keltic tribes of the Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci. Some, indeed, call the Scordisci the Scordistae, and give to the Taurisci the names of Ligurisci ⁷ and Tauristae.

[3] Posidonius relates that the Mysians religiously abstain from eating any thing that had life, and consequently, from cattle; but that they lived in a quiet way on honey, milk, and cheese; wherefore they are considered a religious people, and called Capnobatae. ⁸ He adds, that there are amongst the Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known by the name of Ctistae. These are considered sacred and worthy of honour, and live in great freedom. [He pretends] that the poet comprehends the whole of these people when he says,

and where abide,

On milk sustain’d, and blest with length of days,

The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind. ⁹

Iliad xiii. 5. These he designates as without life, more particularly on account of their living without wives, considering their solitary state as but a half life; in the same way as he likewise designates the house of Protesilaus imperfect, on account of the bereavement of his widow; in the same manner he applies to the Mysians the epithet of close-fighting, on account of their being invincible, like good warriors. [Finally, Posidonius pretends] that in the thirteenth ¹⁰ book of the Iliad we ought to substitute for the close-fighting Mysians, [ the close-fighting Moesi.]

[4] Nevertheless it would perhaps be superfluous to change the text [of Homer], which has stood the test of so many years. For it appears more probable to suppose that the people were anciently called Mysians, but that their name is now altered. Further, any one would suppose that the Abii ¹¹ were no more so named from being unmarried than from their being houseless, ¹² or their dwelling in waggons. In fact, as injustice is ordinarily committed in matters relative to bonds for money and the acquisition of wealth, it would be natural that the people living so frugally on such small property should be called [by Homer] the justest of mankind: and the more so as the philosophers who place justice next to moderation, aim at independence of others and frugality as amongst the most desirable objects of attainment; from which however some, having passed the bounds of moderation, have wandered into a cynical mode of life. ¹³ But [the words of the poet] sanction no such assertion of the Thracians, and the Getae in particular, that they live without wives. But see what Menander says of these people, not out of his own imagination, as it should seem, but deriving it from history. And a little after he gives examples of their rage for women. Such a one would be accounted as unmarried amongst them. These things are likewise confirmed by the evidence of other historians. And it is not likely that the same people should regard as an unhappy life that which is passed without the enjoyment of many women, and at the same time regard as a dignified and holy life that which is passed in celibacy without any women. But that those living without wives should be considered holy, and termed Capnobatae, is entirely opposed to our received opinions; for all agree in regarding women as the authors of devotion to the gods, and it is they who induce the men by their example to a more attentive worship of the gods, and to the observance of feast-days and supplications; for scarcely is there found a man living by himself who pays any regard to such matters. And again attend to the words of the same poet when he speaks in one of his characters, bringing in a man disgusted with the expenses ¹⁵ of the sacrifices of the women. And his Misogynes, complaining of the same things, exclaims, It would therefore seem absurd to suppose that only those among the Getae who remained without wives were considered pious, but that the care of worshipping the Supreme Being is great among this nation is not to be doubted, after what Posidonius has related, and they even abstain from animal food from religious motives, as likewise on account of the testimony of other historians.

[5] For it is said that one of the nation of the Getae, named Zamolxis, ¹⁶ had served Pythagoras, and had acquired with this philosopher some astronomical knowledge, in addition to what he had learned from the Egyptians, amongst whom he had travelled. He returned to his own country, and was highly esteemed both by the chief rulers and the people, on account of his predictions of astronomical phenomena, and eventually persuaded the king to unite him in the government, as an organ of the will of the gods. At first he was chosen a priest of the divinity most revered by the Getae, but afterwards was esteemed as a god, and having retired into a district of caverns, inaccessible and unfrequented by other men, he there passed his life, rarely communicating with anybody except the king and his ministers. The king himself assisted him to play his part, seeing that his subjects obeyed him more readily than formerly, as promulgating his ordinances with the counsel of the gods. This custom even continues to our time; for there is always found some one of this character who assists the king in his counsels, and is styled a god by the Getae. The mountain likewise [where Zamolxis retired] is held sacred, and is thus distinguished, being named Cogaeonus, ¹⁷ as well as the river which flows by it; and at the time when Byrebistus, against whom divus Caesar prepared an expedition, reigned over the Getae, Decaeneus held that honour: likewise the Pythagorean precept to abstain from animal food, which was originally introduced by Zamolxis, is still observed to a great extent.

[6] Any one may well entertain such questions as these touching the localities mentioned by the poet [Homer], and with regard to the Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi: but what Apollodorus has advanced in his preface to the Catalogue of Ships in the Second Book [of the Iliad] is by no means to be adopted. For he praises the opinions of Eratosthenes, who says that Homer and the rest of the ancients were well versed in every thing that related to Greece, but were in a state of considerable ignorance as to places at a distance, in consequence of the impossibility of’ their making long journeys by land or voyages by sea. In support of this he asserts, ¹⁸ that Homer designated Aulis as ‘ rocky,’ as indeed it is; Eteonus as ‘ mountainous and woody,’ Thisbe as ‘ abounding in doves,’ Haliartus as ‘ grassy;’ but that neither Homer nor the others were familiar with localities far off; for although there are forty rivers which discharge themselves into the Black Sea, ¹⁹ he makes no mention whatever even of the most considerable, as the Danube, ²⁰ the Don, ²¹ the Dnieper, ²² the Bog, ²³ the Phasz, ²⁴ the Termeh, ²⁵ the Kisil-Irmak, ²⁶ nor does he even allude to the Scythians, but makes up fables about certain illustrious Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii. He had become acquainted with the Paphlagonians of the interior from the relations of such as had penetrated into those regions on foot, but he was perfectly unacquainted with the sea-coasts of the country; which indeed was likely enough, for that sea was in his time closed to navigation, and known by the name of Pontus Axenus [or the Inhospitable] on account of the severity of the storms to which it was subject, as well as of the savage disposition of the nations who inhabited its shores, but more especially of the Scythian hordes, ²⁷ who made a practice of sacrificing strangers, devouring their flesh, and using their skulls for drinking-cups; although at a subsequent period, when the Ionians had established cities along its shores, it was called by the name of Pontus Euxinus [or the Hospitable]. He was likewise in ignorance as to the natural peculiarities of Egypt and Libya, ²⁸ as the risings of the Nile, and the alluvial deposits, which he no where notices, nor yet the isthmus [of Suez] which separates the Red Sea from the Egyptian Sea; ²⁹ nor yet does he relate any particulars of Arabia, Ethiopia, or the Ocean, unless we should agree with the philosopher Zeno in altering the Homeric line as follows, Indeed we ought not to be surprised at meeting with this in Homer, for those who have lived at a more recent period than he did, have been ignorant of many things, and have told strange tales. Hesiod has talked of Hemicynes, ³¹ Megalocephali, and Pygmies; Alcman of Steganopodes;Aeschylus of Cynocephali, Sternophthalmi, and Monommati, (they say it is in his Prometheus,) and ten thousand other absurdities. From these he proceeds to censure the writers who talk of the Riphaean Mountains ³² and Mount Ogyium, ³³ and the dwelling of the Gorgons ³⁴ and the Hesperides, ³⁵ the land of Meropis ³⁶ mentioned by Theopompus, Cimmeris, ³⁷ a city mentioned in Hecataeus, the land of Panchaea ³⁸ mentioned by Euhemerus, and the river-stones formed of sand mentioned by Aristotle, ³⁹ which were dissolved by rain-showers. Further, that there exists in Africa a city of Bacchus which no one can find twice. He likewise reproves those who assert that the wanderings of Ulysses mentioned in Homer were in the neighbourhood of Sicily, for again, if we should say that the wanderings did take place in those parts, we should have to confess that the poet transferred them to the ocean for the sake of making his account the more romantic. Some allowance might be made for others, but no manner of excuse can be put forward for Callimachus, who pretends to the character of a critic, and yet supposes that Gaudus was the island of Calypso, and identifies Scheria with Corcyra. ⁴⁰ Other writers he blames for misstatements as to Gerena, ⁴¹ Acacesium, ⁴² and the Demus ⁴³ in Ithaca, Pelethronium ⁴⁴ in Pelium, and the Glaucopium at Athens. ⁴⁵ With these and a few similar trifling observations, most of which he has drawn from Eratosthenes, whose inaccuracy we have before shown, he breaks off. However, we frankly acknowledge, both with respect to him [Apollodorus] and Eratosthenes, that the moderns are better informed on geography than the ancients: but to strain the subject beyond measure, as they do, especially when they inculpate Homer, seems to me as if it gave a fair occasion to any one to find fault, and to say by way of recrimination, that they reproach the poet for the very things of which they themselves are ignorant. As for the rest of their observations, particular mention is made of some of them in the places where they occur, and of others in the General Introduction.

[7] It has been our wish, while discoursing of the Thracians, and

the bold

Close-fighting Mysian race, and where abide,

On milk sustain’d, and blest with length of days,

The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind, ⁴⁶

Iliad xiii. 5 to compare what we have advanced with the remarks of Posidonius and the other critics. Now, in the first place, they have universally proved the very contrary of the allegations which they had undertaken to maintain; for where they undertook to show that amongst the ancients there was a greater amount of ignorance as to places far from Greece than there was among the moderns, they have proved the very contrary, and that not only with regard to the countries more remote, but even with respect to Greece itself; but, as I have said before, let the other matters remain in abeyance while we consider carefully the subject now before us. Thus they say that it was through ignorance Homer and the ancients omitted to speak of the Scythians, and their cruelty to strangers, whom they sacrificed, devoured their flesh, and afterwards made use of their skulls as drinking-cups, for which barbarities the sea was termed the Axine, ⁴⁷ or inhospitable; but in place of these they imagined fables as to illustrious Hippemolgi, Galactophagi, and Abii, the most just of mankind, who never existed any where in this world. But how came it that they named the sea the Axenus, if they were so ignorant of the barbarism of that region, or of those savages who were the most barbarous on earth? But these undoubtedly are the Scythians! Or in the early times were not those who dwelt beyond the Mysians, and Thracians, and Getae, Hippemolgi, (or milkers of mares,) Galactophagi, and Abii? Nay rather, they exist at this very day, being called Hamaxoeci and Nomades, living on the herd, milk and cheese, and especially on cheese made of mare’s milk, and being ignorant how to lay up treasure or deal in merchandise, except the simple barter of one commodity for another. How then can it be said that the poet [Homer] knew nothing of the Scythians, since he doubtless designates some of them by the names of Hippemolgi and Galactophagi? And that the men of that time called these people Hippemolgi even Hesiod is a witness in the words which Eratosthenes has quoted: And when we consider the amount of fraud connected with trading speculations even amongst ourselves, what ground have we to wonder that Homer should have designated as the justest and most noble those who had but few commercial and monetary transactions, and with the exception of their swords and drinking-cups, possessed all things in common, and especially their wives and children, who were cared for by the whole community according to the system of Plato. Aeschylus too seems to plead the poet’s cause, when he says, And this is still the opinion entertained of them by the Greeks; for we esteem them the most sincere, the least deceitful of any people, and much more frugal and self-relying than ourselves. And yet the manner of life customary among us has spread almost every where, and brought about a change for the worse, effeminacy, luxury, and over-great refinement, inducing extortion in ten thousand different ways; and doubtless much of this corruption has penetrated even into the countries of the nomades, as well as those of the other barbarians; for having once learnt how to navigate the sea, they have become depraved, committing piracy and murdering strangers; and holding intercourse with many different nations, they have imitated both their extravagance and their dishonest traffic, which may indeed appear to promote civility of manners, but do doubtless corrupt the morals and lead to dissimulation, in place of the genuine sincerity we have before noticed.

[8] Those however who lived before our time, and more especially those who lived near to the times of Homer, were such as he describes them, and so they were esteemed to be by the Greeks. Take for instance what Herodotus relates concerning the king ⁴⁹ of the Scythians, against whom Darius waged war, and especially the answer he sent [to the messenger of Darius]. Take again what Chrysippus relates of the kings of the Bosphorus, [Satyrus ⁵⁰ and] Leuco. The letters of the Persians are full of the sincerity I have described; so likewise are the memorials of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Indians. It was on this account that both Anacharsis and Abaris, and certain others of the same class, gained so great a reputation among the Greeks; for we may well believe they displayed their national characteristics of affability of manner, simplicity, and love of justice. But what occasion is there for me to speak of such as belonged to the times of old? for Alexander [the Great], the son of Philip, in his campaign against the Thracians beyond Mount Haemus, ⁵¹ is said to have penetrated as far as this in an incursion into the country of the Triballi, and observed that they occupied the territory as far as the Danube and the island Peuce, ⁵² which is in it, and that the Getae possessed the country beyond that river; however, he was unable to pass into the island for want of a sufficient number of ships, and because Syrmus, the king of the Triballi, who had taken refuge in that place, resisted the undertaking: but Alexander crossed over into the country of the Getae and took their city, after which he returned home in haste, carrying with him presents from those nations, and also from Syrmus. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, relates that in this campaign the Kelts who dwell on the Adriatic ⁵³ came to Alexander for the purpose of making a treaty of friendship and mutual hospitality, and that the king received them in a friendly way, and asked them, while drinking, what might be the chief object of their dread, supposing that they would say it was he; but that they replied, it was no man, only they felt some alarm lest the heavens should on some occasion or other fall on them, but that they valued the friendship of such a man as him above every thing. These examples sufficiently manifest the open sincerity of the barbarians, both of the one who would not suffer Alexander to land on the island, but nevertheless sent presents and concluded a treaty of friendship with him, and also of those who asserted that they feared no man, but that they valued the friendship of great men above every price.

In like manner Dromichaetes, who was king of the Getae in the times of the successors of Alexander, having taken captive Lysimachus, who had come to wage war against him, showed him his poverty and that of his people, and likewise their great frugality, bade him not to make war on such, but rather seek them as friends; after which he received him as a guest, made a treaty of friendship, and suffered him to depart. ⁵⁴ [*And Plato, in his Republic, ⁵⁵ considers that the neighbourhood of the sea ought to be shunned as being productive of vice, and that those who would enjoy a well-governed city, should plant it very far from the sea, and not near it. ⁵⁶ ]

[9] Ephorus, in the fourth book of his History, which is entitled Of Europe, having gone over Europe as far as the Scythians, concludes by saying that there is great difference in the manner of life both of the Sauromatae and the other Scythians, for while some of them are exceedingly morose, and are indeed cannibals, others abstain even from the flesh of animals. Other historians, he observes, descant upon their ferocity, knowing that the terrible and the wonderful always excite attention; but they ought also to relate the better features of these people, and point to them as a pattern; for his part, he declares he will speak of those who excel in the justness of their actions, as there are some of the nomade Scythians who subsist on mares’ milk, and excel all men in their justice, these are mentioned by the poets: as Homer, where he says that Jupiter beheld the land

Of the Galactophagi and Abii, justest of mankind; ⁵⁷

Iliad xiii. 5. and Hesiod, in his poem entitled Travels round the World, who says that Phineus was taken by the Harpies Ephorus then proceeds to state the causes of their justice, because they are frugal in their mode of life, not hoarders of wealth, and just towards each other; they possess everything in common, both their women, their children, and the whole of their kin; thus when they come into collision with other nations, they are irresistible and unconquered, having no cause for which they need endure slavery. He then cites Choerilus, who in his Passage of the Bridge of Boats, which Darius ⁵⁸ had made, says, And again Ephorus declares of Anacharsis, whom he designates as The Wise, that he was sprung from that race; and that he was reckoned as one of the Seven Sages, on account of his pre-eminent moderation and knowledge. He asserts too that he was the inventor of the bellows, the double-fluked anchor, and the potter’s wheel. ⁵⁹ I merely state this, although I know very well that Ephorus is not at all times to be relied on, especially when speaking of Anacharsis; (for how can the wheel be his invention, with which Homer, who is anterior to him, was acquainted; [who says],

as when, before his wheel

Seated, the potter twirls it with both hands,” etc.; ⁶⁰ )

Iliad xviii. 600. for I wish to show by these references, that there was a general impression among both the ancients and moderns with regard to the nomades, that some were very far removed from the rest of mankind, that they subsisted on milk, and were very frugal, ⁶¹ and the most just of men, and that all this was not the mere invention of Homer.

[10] It is but just too that Apollodorus should give some explanation respecting the Mysians mentioned in the Epic poems of Homer, whether he takes them to be but people of his feigning, when the poet says,

Of the close-fighting Mysians and the illustrious Hippemolgi, ⁶²

Iliad xiii. 5. or would he regard them as the Mysians of Asia? Now if he should declare that he considers them to be those of Asia, he will misinterpret the poet, as has been before observed; but if he should say they were but an invention, as there were no Mysians in Thrace, he will be guilty of a palpable misstatement, for even in our own times Aelius Catus has removed from the opposite side of the Danube into Thrace fifty thousand Getae, who speak a language cognate with the Thracian. They still inhabit the very spot, and pass by the name of Moesi. Whether those of former times were so designated, and had their name slightly varied in Asia, or, as is more suitable to history and the poet’s expression, those in Thrace were at the first called Mysians, ⁶³ is not certain. But enough of this; we must now return to our geography.

[11] Let us pass over the early history of the Getae, and occupy ourselves with their actual condition. Boerebistas, one of the Getae, having taken the command of his tribe, reanimated the men who were disheartened by frequent wars, and raised them to such a degree of training, sobriety, and a habit of obedience to orders, that he established a powerful dominion within a few years, and brought most of the neighbouring states into subjection to the Getae. He at length became formidable even to the Romans, fearlessly crossing the Danube, and laying waste Thrace as far as Macedonia and Illyria; he also subdued the Kelts who live among the Thracians and Illyrians, and thoroughly annihilated the Boii who were subject to Critasirus and the Taurisci. In order to maintain the obedience of his subjects, he availed himself of the assistance of Decseneus a sorcerer, ⁶⁴ who had travelled in Egypt, and who, by predictions he had learnt to draw from certain natural signs, was enabled to assume the character of an oracle, and was almost held in the veneration of a god, as we have related when noticing Zamolxis. ⁶⁵ As an instance of their implicit obedience, we may relate that they were persuaded to root up their vines and live without wine. However, Boerebistas was murdered in a sedition before the Romans sent an army against him. Those who succeeded to his government divided it into several states. Lately, when Augustus Caesar sent an army against them, they were divided into five states, at another time they were four, for such divisions are but temporary in duration, and variable in their extent.

[12] There was, from ancient times, another division of these people which still exists; thus, some they call Dacians and others Getae: the Getae extend towards the Euxine and the east, but the Dacians are situated on the opposite side towards Germany and the sources of the Danube, ⁶⁶ whom I consider to have been called Daci from a very early period. Whence also amongst the Attics the names of Getae and Davi were customary for slaves. This at least is more probable than to consider them as taken from the Scythians who are named Daae, ⁶⁷ for they live far beyond Hyrcania, ⁶⁸ and it is not likely that slaves would be brought all that way into Attica. It was usual with them to call their slaves after the name of the nation from whence they were brought, as Lydus and Syrus, ⁶⁹ or else by a name much in use in their own country, as, for a Phrygian, Manes or Midas; for a Paphlagonian, Tibius. The nation which was raised to so much power by Boerebistas has since been completely reduced by civil dissensions and contests with the Romans; however, they are still able to set out 40,000 men armed for the wars.

[13] The river Maros ⁷⁰ flows through their country into the Danube, ⁷¹ on which the Romans transported their military stores; for thus they termed the upper part of that river from its sources to the cataracts, which flows chiefly through the country of the Dacians, but the part below that point which flows through the country of the Getae as far as the Black Sea, they call the Ister. ⁷² The Dacians speak the same language as the Getae. The Getae are best known among the Greeks on account of the frequent wandering expeditions they make on both sides of the Danube, and their being mixed among the Thracians and Mysians. The like is the case with regard to the nation of the Triballi, a Thracian people; for they have received many refugees on occasions when their more powerful neighbours have driven out the weaker, for from time to time the Scythians of the opposite side of the river, and the Bastarnae, and the Sarmatians, ⁷³ become victorious, and those who are driven out cross over and some of them take up their residence either in the islands of the river or in Thrace, while on the other side the inhabitants are distressed by the Illyrians. At one time when the Getae and the Dacians had increased to the greatest numbers, they were able to set on foot an army of two hundred thousand men, but now they are reduced to about forty thousand men, and are even likely to become subject to the Romans; still they are not yet quite under their sway on account of their trust in the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans.

[14] Between [the Getae and] the Black Sea, from the Danube to the Dniester, ⁷⁴ lies the desert of the Getae. ⁷⁵ It is entirely a plain and destitute of water. It was there that Darius the son of Hystaspes, at the time he crossed the Danube, was in danger of being cut off with his whole army for want of water; this he found out before it was too late, and returned. At a subsequent period, when Lysimachus was waging war against the Getae and their king Dromichaetes, he not only incurred the risk, ⁷⁶ but he fell into the hands of the enemy; but his life was spared by the courtesy of the barbarian, as I have before related.

[15] Near the mouths of the Danube is the large island called Peuce. ⁷⁷ This the Bastarnae possessed, and were hence called Peucini. There are also other islands much smaller, some above this, and others nearer the sea. The Danube has seven mouths, the largest is called the Sacred Mouth, ⁷⁸ the passage by which to Peuce is 120 stadia. ⁷⁹ At the lower part of this island Darius made his bridge. It might likewise have been constructed at the upper part. This is the first mouth on the left-hand side as you sail into the Black Sea; the rest are passed while sailing along towards the Dniester; the seventh mouth is distant from this first mouth about 300 stadia. These mouths form several islands. The first three mouths next after the Sacred Mouth are but small, the remainder are much less than it, but greater than any of the three. Ephorus states that the Danube has five mouths. From hence to the Dniester, ⁸⁰ which is a navigable river, there are 900 stadia. ⁸¹ In the district intervening there are two great lakes; one is open to the sea, and is used as a harbour, ⁸² the other has no outlet.

[16] At the mouth of the Dniester there is a tower called the Tower of Neoptolemus, and a village called Hermōnax. ⁸³ As you sail up the river 140 stadia, there are cities on both sides; the one is Niconia, ⁸⁴ and that on the left Ophiussa. ⁸⁵ Those who dwell on the spot say that the city is but 120 stadia up the river. The island of Leuce ⁸⁶ is distant from the river’s mouth a course of 500 stadia; it is quite in the sea, and is sacred to Achilles.

[17] Next is the Dnieper, ⁸⁷ a river navigable to the distance of 600 ⁸⁸ stadia, and near to it another river, the Bog, ⁸⁹ and an island ⁹⁰ lying before the mouth of the Dnieper, which possesses a haven. After sailing up the Borysthenes ⁹¹ 200 stadia, you come to the city of like name with the river, which is likewise called Olbia; ⁹² 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. ⁹³ 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 Peuce ⁹⁴ in the Danube, Peucini, and the most northern, Roxolani. ⁹⁵ These latter depasture the plains lying between the Don ⁹⁶ 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, ⁹⁷ and in the summer on the plains.

[18] The whole of this country, which reaches to the seacoast extending from the Dnieper ⁹⁸ 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, ⁹⁹ which washes the isthmus ¹⁰⁰ 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; ¹⁰¹ for the passage from Panticapaeum, ¹⁰² across to Phanagoria, ¹⁰³ is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage ¹⁰⁴ 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, ¹⁰⁵ nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, ¹⁰⁶ 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, ¹⁰⁷ who carried on war against Philip, ¹⁰⁸ the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts.

[19] After the island ¹⁰⁹ situated opposite the mouth of the Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of the Course of Achilles. ¹¹⁰ The district is quite bare, notwithstanding that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles. Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula; for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two stadia ¹¹¹ in the broadest part, and but four plethra ¹¹² in the narrowest. It is distant from the main-land, which runs out on both sides of the neck, about 60 stadia. It is sandy, but water is obtainable by digging. About the midst of the Course of Achilles ¹¹³ is the neck of the isthmus [joining it to the main-land]. It is about 40 stadia in breadth, and terminates in a headland which they call Tamyraca. ¹¹⁴ This possesses an anchorage opposite the main-land. Next comes the Gulf Carcinites, which is of considerable extent, reaching towards the north ¹¹⁵ about 1000 stadia. Some affirm that it is three times that distance to the head of the gulf . . . . . . . . are called Taphrii. They likewise call the Gulf Carcinites the Gulf Tamyraca, the same as the headland.