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[1] Now is a fitting time (I think), since the history of a great prince has opportunely brought us to these places, to give some account of the remote parts of Thrace, and of the topography of the Pontic sea, with clearness and accuracy, partly from my own observation and partly from reading.
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[2] Athos,
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that lofty mountain in Macedonia through which the Medic ships once passed,
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and Caphereus, the headland of Euboea
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where Nauplius, Looking eastward. father of Palamedes, wrecked the Argive fleet,
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although they face each other at a long distance apart, separate the Aegean and the Thessalian seas.
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The Aegean gradually grows larger, and on the right, where it is of wide extent, is rich in islands through the Sporades and Cyclades, so-called because they are all grouped about Delos, famous as the cradle of the gods.
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On the left, it washes Imbros and Tenedos, Lemnos and Thasos, and when the wind is strong, dashes violently upon Lesbos.
[3] From there, with back-flowing current,
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it laves the temple of Apollo Sminthius,
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the Troad, and Ilium, famed for the death of heroes, and forms the bay of Melas,
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facing the west wind, at the entrance of which is seen Abdera, the home of Protagoras and Democritus, and the bloodstained dwelling of the Thracian Diomedes,
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and the vales through which the Hebrus
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flows into it, and Maronea and Aenos,
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a city which Aeneas began under unfavourable auspices, but presently abandoned it and hastened on to ancient Ausonia under the guidance of the gods.
[4] After this, the Aegean gradually grows narrower and flows as if by a kind of natural union into the Pontus; and joining with a part of this it takes the form of the Greek letter
φ.
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Then it separates Hellespontus from the province of Rhodopa and flows past Cynossema,
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where Hecuba is supposed to be buried, and Coela, Sestos and Callipolis.3 On the opposite side it washes the tombs of Achilles and Ajax, and Dardanus and Abydus, from which Xerxes built a bridge and crossed the sea on foot; then Lampsacus, which the Persian king gave to Themistocles as a gift,
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and Parion, founded by Paris, the son of lasion.
[5] Then swelling on both sides into the form of a half-circle and giving a view of widely separated lands, it laves with the spreading waters of the Propontis,
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on the eastern side Cyzicus
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and Dindyma,
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where there is a sacred shrine of the Great Mother,
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and Apamia and Cius, where Hylas was pursued and carried off by the nymph,
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and Astacus, in a later age called after King Nicomedes.
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Where it turns to the westward it beats upon the Cherronesus and Aegospotami, where Anaxagoras predicted a rain of stones from heaven,
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and Lysimachia and the city which Hercules founded and dedicated to the name of his comrade Perinthus;
[8] Its left bank, however, is looked down upon by the port of Athyras and Selymbria, and Constantinople, the ancient Byzantium, a colony of the Athenians,
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and the promontory Ceras, which bears a tower built high and giving light to ships
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; therefore a very cold wind which often blows from that quarter is called Ceratas.
[9] After being broken in this fashion and coming to an end through the mingling of the two seas, it now grows quieter and spreads out into the form of a flat of water extending in width and length as far as the eye can reach.
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[10] The complete voyage around its shores, as one would encircle an island, is a distance of 23,000
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stadia, as is asserted by Eratosthenes, Hecataeus, Ptolemy, and other very accurate investigators of such problems; and according to the testimony of all geographers it has the form of a drawn Scythian bow.
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[11] And where the sun rises from the eastern ocean it comes to an end in the marshes of the Maeotis
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; where it inclines towards the west it is bounded by Roman provinces; where it looks up to the Bears it breeds men of varying languages and habits; on the southern side it slopes downward
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in a gentle curve.
[12] Over this vast space are scattered cities of the Greeks, all of which, with a few exceptions, were founded at varying periods by the Milesians, who were themselves colonists of the Athenians. The Milesians in much earlier times were established among other Ionians in Asia by Nileus, the son of that Codrus who (they say) sacrificed himself for his country in the Dorian war.
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[13] Now the tips of the bow on both sides are represented by the two Bospori lying opposite to each other, the Thracian
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and the Cimmerian; and they are called Bospori, as the poets say, because the daughter of Inachus,
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when she was changed into a heifer, once crossed through them to the Ionian sea.
[14] The right-hand curve of the Thracian Bosporus begins with the shore of Bithynia, which the men of old called Mygdonia, containing the provinces of Thynia and Mariandena, and also the Bebrycians, who were delivered from the cruelty of Amycus through the valour of Pollux;
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and a remote station, a place where the menacing harpies fluttered about the seer Phineus and filled him with fear.
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Along these shores, which curve into extensive bays, the rivers Sangarius and Phyllis, Lycus and Rheba pour into the sea; opposite them are the dark Symplegades, twin rocks rising on all sides into precipitous cliffs, which were wont in ages past to rush together and dash their huge mass upon each other with awful crash, and then to recoil with a swift spring and return to what they had struck.
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If even a bird should fly between these swiftly separating and clashing rocks, no speed of wing could save it from being crushed to death.
[15] But these cliffs, ever since the
Argo, first of all ships, hastening to Colchis to carry off the golden fleece, had passed between them unharmed, have stood motionless with their force assuaged and so united that no one of those who now look upon them would believe that they had ever been separated, were it not that all the songs of the poets of old agree about the story.
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[16] Beyond one part of Bithynia extend the provinces of Pontus and Paphlagonia, in which are the great cities of Heraclea, Sinope, Polemonion and Amisos, as well as Ties and Amastris, all owing their origin to the activity of the Greeks; also Cerasus, from which Lucullus brought the fruits so-named.
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There are also two islands, on which are situated the celebrated cities of Trapezus and Pityus.
[17] Beyond these places is the Acherusian cave, which the natives call Mychopontion,
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and the port of Acone,
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besides the rivers Acheron (also called the Arcadius), Iris, Thybris, and hard by, the Parthenius, all of which flow with swift course into the sea. The next river to these is the Thermodon, flowing from Mount Armonius and gliding through the Themiscyraean groves, to which the Amazons were forced to migrate in days of yore for the following reason.
[18] The Amazons of old, after having by constant losses worn out their neighbours, and devastated them by bloody raids, had higher aspirations; and considering their strength and feeling that it was too great merely for frequent attacks upon their neighbours, being carried away besides by the headstrong heat of covetousness, they broke through many nations and made war upon the Athenians.
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But after a bitter contest they were scattered in all directions, and since the flanks of their cavalry were left unprotected, they all perished.
[19] Upon the news of their destruction the remainder, who had been left at home as unfit for war, suffered extreme hardship; and in order to avoid the deadly attacks of their neighbours, who paid them like for like, they moved to a quieter abode on the Thermodon. Thereafter their descendants, who had greatly increased, returned, thanks to their numerous offspring, with a very powerful force, and in later times were a cause of terror to peoples of divers nationalities.
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[20] Not far from there the hill called Carambis lifts itself with gentle slope, rising towards the Great Bear of the north, and opposite this, at a distance of 2500 stadia, is Criumetopon,
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a promontory of Taurica. From this point the whole seacoast, beginning at the river Halys, as if drawn in a straight line, has the form of the string joined to the two tips of the bow.
[21] Bordering on these regions are the Dahae, the fiercest of all warriors, and the Chalybes, by whom iron was first mined and worked. Beyond these are open plains, inhabited by the Byzares, Sapires, Tibareni, Mossynoeci, Macrones and Philyres, peoples not known to us through any intercourse.
[22] A short distance from these are the tombs of famous men, in which are buried Sthenelus,
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Idmon,
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and Tiphys;
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the first of these was a companion of Hercules, mortally wounded in the war with the Amazons, the second the augur of the Argonauts, the third the careful steersman of that same craft.
[23] After passing the places mentioned, one comes to the grotto of Aulion and the river Callichorus,
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which owes its name to the fact that Bacchus, when he had after three years vanquished the peoples of India, returned to those regions, and on the green and shady banks of that river renewed the former orgies and dances;
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some think that this kind of festival was also called
trieterica.
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[24] Beyond these territories are the populous districts of the Camaritae,
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and the Phasis in impetuous course borders on the Colchians, an ancient race of Egyptian origin. There,
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among other cities, is Phasis, which gets its name from the river, and Dioscurias, well known even to this day, said to have been founded by Amphitus and Cercius of Sparta, the charioteers of Castor and Pollux, and founders of the nation of the Heniochi.
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[25] A short distance from these are the Achaei, who, after the end of an earlier war at Troy (not the one which was fought about Helen, as some writers have asserted), being carried out of their course by contrary winds to Pontus, and meeting enemies everywhere, were unable to find a place for a permanent home; and so they settled on the tops of mountains covered with perpetual snow, where, compelled by the rigorous climate, they became accustomed to make a dangerous living by robbery, and hence became later beyond all measure savage. About the Cercetae, who adjoin them, we have no information worth mentioning.
[26] Behind these dwell the inhabitants of the Cimmercian Bosporus, where Milesian cities are, and Panticapaeum, the mother, so to speak, of all; this the river Hypanis washes, swollen with its own and tributary waters.
[27] Next, at a considerable distance, are the Amazons, who extend to the Caspian Sea and live about the Tanaïs,
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which rises among the crags of Caucasus, flows in a course with many windings, and after separating Europe from Asia vanishes in the standing pools of the Maeotis.
[29] Beyond the Tanais the Sauromatae have a territory of wide extent, through which flow the never - failing rivers Maraccus, Rombites, Theophanes and Totordanes. However, there is also another nation of the Sauromatae, an enormous distance away, extending along the shore which receives the river Corax and pours it far out into the Euxine Sea.
[30] Nearby is the Maeotic Gulf
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of wide circuit, from whose abundant springs a great body of water bursts through the narrows of Panticapes into the Pontus. On its right side are the islands Phanagorus and Hermonassa, founded by the industry of the Greeks.
[31] Around these farthest and most distant marshes live numerous nations, differing in the variety of their languages and customs: the Ixomatae, Maeotae, Iazyges, Roxolani, Halani, Melanchlaenae, and with the Geloni, the Agathyrsi, in whose country an abundance of the stone called adamant
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is found; and farther beyond are other peoples, who are wholly unknown, since they are the remotest of all men.
[32] But near the left side of the Maeotis is the Cherronesus,
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full of Greek colonies. Hence the inhabitants are quiet and peaceful, plying the plough and living on the products of the soil.
[33] At no great distance from these are the Tauri, divided into various kingdoms, among whom the Arichi, the Sinchi, and the Napaei are terrible for their ruthless cruelty, and since long continued license has increased their savageness, they have given the sea the name of Inhospitable; but in irony
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it is called by the contrary name of Pontus
εὔξεινος,
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just as we Greeks call a fool
εὐήθης, and night
εὐφρόνη, and the Furies
εὐμενίδες.
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[34] For these peoples offer human victims to the gods and sacrifice strangers to Diana, whom they call Orsiloche, and affix the skulls of the slain to the walls of her temple, as a lasting memorial of their valorous deeds.
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[35] In this Tauric country is the island of Leuce,
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entirely uninhabited and dedicated to Achilles. And if any happen to be carried to that island, after looking at the ancient remains, the temple, and the gifts consecrated to that hero, they return at evening to their ships; for it is said that no one can pass the night there except at the risk of his life. At that place there are also springs and white birds live there resembling halcyons, of whose origin and battles in the Hellespont I shall speak
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at the appropriate time.
[36] Now there are some cities in the Taurica, conspicuous among which are Eupatoria, Dandace, and Theodosia, with other smaller towns, which are not contaminated with human sacrifices.
[37] So far the peak of the bow is thought to extend; the remainder of it, gently curved and lying under the Bear in the heavens, we shall now follow as far as the left side of the Thracian Bosporus, as the order demands, with this warning; that while the bows of all other races are bent with the staves curved, in those of the Scythians alone, or the Parthians, since a straight rounded
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handle divides them in the middle, the ends are bent downwards on both sides and far apart,
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presenting the form of a waning moon.
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[38] Well then, at the very beginning of this district, where the Riphaean mountains sink to the plain, dwell the Aremphaei, just men and known for their gentleness, through whose country flow the rivers Chronius and Visula. Near them are the Massagetae, Halani, and Sargetae, as well as several other obscure peoples whose names and customs are unknown to us.
[39] Then at a considerable distance the Carcinitian gulf opens up, with a river of the same name, and the grove of Trivia,
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sacred in those regions.
[40] Next the Borysthenes,
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rising in the mountains of the Nervii, rich in waters from its own springs, which are increased by many tributaries, and mingle with the sea in high-rolling waves. On its well-wooded banks are the cities of Borysthenes and Cephalonesus and the altars consecrated to Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar.
[41] Then, a long distance away, is a peninsula inhabited by the Sindi, people of low birth, who after the disaster to their masters in Asia
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got possession of their wives and property. Next to these is a narrow strip of shore which the natives call
ʼἀχιλλέως δρόμος, memorable in times past for the exercises of the Thessalian leader.
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And next to it is the city Tyros, a colony of the Phoenicians, washed by the river Tyras.
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[42] Now in the middle space of the bow, which, as I have said, is widely rounded out and is fifteen days’ journey for an active traveller, are the European Halani, the Costobocae, and innumerable Scythian tribes, which extend to lands which have no known limit. Of these, only a small part live on the fruits of the earth; all the rest roam over desert wastes, which never knew plough nor seeds, but are rough from neglect and subject to frosts; and they feed after the foul manner of wild beasts. Their dear ones, their dwellings, and their poor belongings they pack upon wains covered with the bark of trees, and when the fancy takes them they change their abode without trouble, wheeling their carts to the place which has attracted them.
[43] But when we have come to another bend, abounding in harbours, which forms the last part of the curve of the bow, the island of Peuce juts forth,
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and around this dwell the Trogodytae, the Peuci, and other lesser tribes. Here is Histros, once a powerful city, and Tomi, Apollonia, Anchialos, and Odessos, besides many other cities which lie along the Thracian coast.
[45] The first of these, as their names are interpreted in the Greek tongue, is the aforesaid island of Peuce,
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the second Naracustoma, the third Calonstoma, the fourth Pseudostoma; but the Borionstoma and Stenostoma are far smaller than the others; the seventh is muddy and black like a swamp.
[46] Now the entire Pontus throughout its whole circuit is misty,
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has sweeter
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waters than the other seas,
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and is full of shoals, since the air is often thickened and condensed from the evaporation of moisture, and is tempered by the great masses of water that flow into it; and, because the many rivers that pour into it from every side bring in mud and clods, it rises in shoals that are full of ridges.
[47] And it is a well-known fact that fish from the remotest bounds of our sea
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come in schools to this retreat for the purpose of spawning, in order that they may rear their young more healthfully in its sweet waters, and that in the refuge of the hollows, such as are very numerous there, they may be secure from voracious sea-beasts; for in the Pontus nothing of that kind has ever been seen,
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except small and harmless dolphins.
[48] But the part of that same Pontic gulf which is scourged by the north wind and by frosts is so completely bound in ice, that neither are the courses of the rivers believed to flow beneath the ice, nor can men or animals keep their footing on the treacherous and slippery surface, a defect which an unmixed sea never has, but only one which is mingled with water from rivers. But since I have been carried somewhat farther than I expected, let us hasten on to the rest of our story.
[49] Another thing was added,
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to crown the present joys, something long hoped for it is true, but delayed by an extensive complex of postponements. For it was announced by Agilo and Jovius, who was later quaestor, that the defenders of Aquileia,
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through weariness of the long siege and having learned of the death of Constantius, had opened their gates, come out, and surrendered the instigators of the revolt; that these were burned alive (as was told above),
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and all the rest obtained indulgence and pardon for their offences.
Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.
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