Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 4
BOOK IV
I. THE third gulf of Europe begins at the Mountains of Khimarra and ends at the Dardaneiles. Its coast-line measures 1925 miles not including smaller bays. It contains Epirus, Acarnania, Aetolia, Phocis, Locris, Achaia, Messenia, Laconia, Argolis, Megaris, Attica and Boeotia; and again, on the side of the other sea, Phocis and Locris before-mentioned and Doris, Phthiotis, Thessaly, Magnesia, Macedonia and Thrace. All the legendary lore of Greece and likewise its glorious literature first shone forth from this gulf; and consequently we will briefly dwell upon it.
Epirus in the wide sense of the term begins at the Mountains of Khimarra. The peoples that it contains are first the Chaones who give their name to Chaonia, and then the Thesproti and Antigonenses; then comes the place called with exhalations that are noxious to birds, the Cestrini, the Perrhaebi to whom belongs Mount Pindus, the Cassiopaei, the Dryopes, the Selloi, the Hellopes, the Molossi in whose territory is the temple of Zeus of Dodona, famous for its oracle, and Mount Talarus, celebrated by Theopompus, with a hundred springs at its foot. Epirus proper stretches to Magnesia and Macedonia, and has at its back the Dassaretae above mentioned, a free race, and then the savage tribe of the Dardani. On the left side of the Dardani stretch the Triballi and the Moesic races, and joining them in front are the Medi and the Denseletae, and joining these the Thracians who extend all the way to the Black Sea. Such is the girdle that walls in the lofty heights of Despoto Dagh and then of the Great Balkan. On the coast of Epirus is the fortress of Khimarra on the Aeroceraunians, and below it the spring named the Royal Water and the towns of Maeandria and Cestria, the Thesprotian river Thyamis, the colony of Butrinto, and the very celebrated Gulf of Arta, whose inlet, half a mile wide, admits an extensive sheet of water, 37 miles long and 15 miles broad. Into it discharges the river Acheron flowing from the Acherusian Lake in Thesprotia, a course of 35 miles, and remarkable in the eyes of people who admire all the achievements of their own race for its 1000-foot bridge. On the gulf lies the town of Ambracia, and there are the Molossian rivers Aphas and Arta, the city of Anactoria and the place where Pandosia stood.
The towns of Acarnania, which was previously called Curetis, are Heraclia, Echinus, and, on the actual coast, the colony founded by Augustus, Actium, with the famous temple of Apollo, and the free city of Nicopolis. Passing from the Gulf of Ambracia into the Ionian Sea we come to the coast of Leucadia and Capo Ducato, and then to the gulf and the actual peninsula of Leucadia, formerly called Neritis, which by the industry of its inhabitants was once cut off from the mainland and which has been restored to it by the mass of sand piled up against it by the violence of the winds; the place has a Greek name meaning 'canalized,' and is 600 yards long. On the peninsula is the town of Leucas, formerly called Neritus. Then come the Acarnanian cities of Alyzia, Stratos, and Argos surnamed Amphilochian, and the river Achelous flowing from Mount Pindus and separating Acarnania from Aetolia; the continual deposits of earth that it brings down are linking the island of Artemita to the main land.
II. The Aetolian peoples are the Athamanes, Tymphaei, Ephyri, Aenienses, Perrhaebi, Dolopes, Maraces and Atraces in whose district is the source of the river Atrax that flows into the Ionian Sea. The towns of Aetolia are Calydon on the river Evenus seven miles and a half from the sea, and then Macynia and Molycria, behind which are Mount Chalcis and Taphiassus. On the coast is the Promontory of Antirrhium, at which is the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, less than a mile broad, whose channel separates the Aetolians from the Morca. The promontory that juts out opposite is called Rhium. Aetolian towns on the Gulf of Corinth are Lepanto, Eupalimna, and inland Pleuron and Halicarna. Notable mountains are Tomarus in the district of Dodona, Crania in Ambracia, Aracynthus in Acarnania, and Achaton, Panaetolium and Macynium in Aetolia.
III. Next to the Aetolians are the Locrians, surnamed Ozolae, who are exempt from tribute. Here are the town of Oeanthe, the harbour of Apollo Phaestius and the gulf of Salona; and inland the towns of Argyna, Eupalia, Phaestum and Calamisus. Beyond are the Cirrhaean Plains of Phocis, the town of Cirrha and the port of Chalaeon, seven miles inland from which is Delphi, a free town at the foot of Mount Parnassus and the seat of the oracle of Apollo, the most famous in the world. Here are the Castalian Spring and the river Cephisus flowing past Delphi; it rises at the city of Lilaea. There was also formerly the town of Crisa, and together with the people of Bulis there are Anticyra, Naulochus, Pyrrha, the tax-free town of Salona, Tithrone, Tithorea, Ambrysus and Mirana, the district also called Daulis. Then right up the bay is the sea-board corner of Boeotia with the towns of Siphae and Thebes surnamed the Corsian, near Mount Helicon. The third town of Boeotia up from this sea is Pagae, from which projects the neck of the Morea.
IV. The Peloponnese, which was previously called Apia and Pelasgia, is a peninsula inferior in celebrity to no region of the earth. It lies between two seas, the Aegean and the Ionian, and resembles in shape the leaf of a plane-tree on account of the angular indentations the circuit of its coast-line, according to Isidore, amounts to 563 miles, and nearly as much again in addition, measuring the shores of the bays. The narrow neck of land from which it projects is called the Isthmus. At this place the two seas that have been mentioned encroach on opposite sides from the north and east and swallow up all the breadth of the peninsula at this point, until in consequence of the inroad of such large bodies of water in opposite directions the coasts on either side have been eaten away so as to leave a space between them of only five miles, with the result that the Morea is only attached to Greece by a narrow neck of land. The inlets on either side are called the Gulf of Lepanto and the Gulf of Egina, the former ending in Lecheae and the latter in Cenchreae. The circuit of the Morca is a long and dangerous voyage for vessels prohibited by their size from being carried across the isthmus on trolleys, and consequently successive attempts were made by King Demetrius, Caesar the dictator and the emperors Caligula and Nero, to dig a ship-canal through the narrow partan undertaking which the end that befell them all proves to have been an act of sacrilege! In the middle of this neck of land which we have called the Isthmus is the colony of Corinth, the former name of which was Ephyra; its habitations cling to the side of a hill, 7 miles from the coast on either side, and the top of its citadel, called the Corinthian Heights, on which is the spring of Pirene, commands views of the two seas in opposite directions. The distance across the Isthmus from Leucas to Patras on the Gulf of Corinth is 88 miles. The colony of Patras is situated on the longest projection of the Peloponnese opposite to Aetolia and the river Evenus, separated from them at the actual mouth of the gulf by a gap of less than a mile, as has been said; but in length the Gulf of Corinth extends 85 miles from Patras to the Isthmus.
V. At the Isthmus begins the province named Achaia. It was previously called Aegialos on account of the cities situated in a row on its coast. The first place there is Lecheae the port of Corinth, already mentioned, and then come Olyrus the fortress of the people of Trikala, and the towns of Helice, and Bura, and those in which their inhabitants took refuge when the former towns were swallowed up by the sea, namely Basilica, Palaeokastro, Vostitza and Artotina. Inland are Klenes and Hysiae. Then come the port of Tekieh and Rhium already described, the distance between which promontory and Patras which we have mentioned above is five miles; and then the place called Pherae. Of the nine mountains in Achaia the best known is Scioessa; and there is also the spring of Cyrnothoe. Beyond Patras is the town of Kato-Achaia, the colony of Dyme, the places called Buprasium and Llyrmine, the promontory of Capo Papa, the Bay of Cyllene, the promontory of Cape Tornese 5 miles from Cyllene, the fortress of Phlius, the district round which was called Araethyrea by Homer and afterwards Asopis.
Then begins the territory of the Eleans, who were formerly called the Epioi. Elis itself is in the interior, and 13 miles inland from Pilo is the shrine of Zeus of Olympus, which owing to the celebrity of its Games has taken possession of the calendar of Greece; here once was the town of Pisa on the banks of the river Thifla. On the coast are the promontory of Katakolo, the river Rufla, navigable for 6 miles, the towns of Aulon and Leprium, and the promontory of Platanodes, all these places lying westward. Southward are the Gulf of Cyparissus with the city of Cyparissus on its shore, which is 75 miles round, the towns of Pilo and Modon, the place called Helos, the promontory of Capo Gallo, the Asinaean Gulf named from the town of Asine and the Coronaean named from Corone; the list ends with the promontory of Cape Matapan. Here is the territory of Messenia with its 18 mountains, and the river Pyrnatza; and inland, the city of Messene, Ithome, Oechalia, Sareni, Pteleon, Thryon, Dorion and Zancle, all of them celebrated at different periods. The gulf measures 80 miles round and 30 miles across.
At Cape Matapan begins the territory of the free nation of Laconia, and the Laconian Gulf, which measures 106 miles round and 38 miles across. The towns are Kimaros, Amyclae, Chitries, Levtros, and inland Sparta, Therapne, the sites of the former Cardamyle, Pitane and Anthea, the place called Thyrea, Gerania, the mountain range of Pente Dactyli, the river Niris, the Gulf of Scutari, the town of Psamathus, the Gulf of Gytheum called from the town of that name, from which is the safest crossing to the island of Crete. All these places are bounded by the promontory of Capo Sant' Angelo.
The bay that comes next, extending to Capo Skyli, is called the Gulf of Nauplia; it is 50 miles across and 162 miles round. The towns on it are Boea, Epidaurus surnamed Limera, Zarax, and the port of Cyphanta. The rivers are the Banitza and the Kephalari, between which lies Argos surnamed Hippium, above the place called Lerne, two miles from the sea, and nine miles further on Mycenae and the traditional site of Tiryns and the place called Mantinea. The mountains are Malvouni, Fuka, Asterion, Parparus and others numbering eleven; the springs, Niobe, Amymone and Psamathe.
From Capo Skyli to the Isthmus of Corinth is 80 miles. The towns are Hermione, Troezen, Coryphasium and Argos, sometimes called Inachian Argos and sometimes Dipsian; then comes the harbour of Schoenitas, and the Saronic Gulf, formerly encircled with oak woods from which it takes its name, this being the old Greek word for an oak. On it is the town of Epidaurus famous for its shrine of Aesculapius; the promontory of Capo Franco; the ports of Anthedus and Bucephalus, and that of Cenchreae mentioned above, on the south side of the Isthmus, with the temple of Poseidon, famous for the Isthmian Games celebrated there every four years.
So many are the bays that pierce the coast of the Peloponnese, and so many seas howl round it, inasmuch as it is invaded on the north by the Ionian Sea, lashed on the west by the Sicilian, and beset by the Cretan on the south, by the Aegean on the south-east and on the north-east by the Myrtoan which starting at the Gulf of Megara washes the whole coast of Attica.
VI. Most of the interior of the Peloponnese is occupied by Arcadia, which on every side is remote from the sea; it was originally called Drymodes, and later Pelasgis. Its towns are Psophis, Mantinea, Stymphalus, Tegea, Antigonea Orchomenus, Pheneus, Pallantium (from which the Palatium at Rome gets its name), Megalopolis, Gortyna, Bucohum, Camion, Parrhasia, Thelpusa, Melaenae, Heraea, Pylae, Pallene, Agrae, Epium, Cynaethae, Lepreon in Arcadia, Parthenium, Alea, Methydrimn, Enispe, Macistum, Lampia, Clitorium and Cleonae. Between the last two towns is the district of Nemea commonly called Bembinadia. The mountains in Arcadia are Pholoe, with a town of the same name, Cyllene also with a town, Lycaeus on which is the shrine of Zeus Lycaeus, Maenalus, Artemisius, Parthenius, Lampeus, Nonacris, and also eight others of no note. The rivers are the Landona flowing from the marshes of Fonia and the Dogana flowing down from the mountain of the same name into the Alpheus. The remaining states in Achaia deserving of mention are those of the Alipheraei, Abeatae, Pyrgenses, Paroreatae, Paragenitae, Tortuni, Typanei, Thriusi and Tritienses. Freedom was given to the whole of Achaia by Domitius Nero. The Peloponnese measures 190 miles across from Cape Malea to the town of Vostitza on the Gulf of Corinth, and in the other direction 125 miles from ills to Epidauros and 68 miles from Olympia through Arcadia to Argos. (The distance between Olympia and Pylos has been given already.) Nature has compensated for the inroads of the sea by the mountainous character of the entire region, there being 76 peaks in all.
VII. At the narrow part of the Isthmus begins HelIas, called in our language Greece. In this the first region is Attica, named in antiquity Acte. It touches the Isthmus with the part of it named Megaris, from Megara, the colony on the opposite side of the Isthmus from Pagae. These two towns are situated where the Peloponnese projects, and stand on either side of the Isthmus, as it were on the shoulders of Hellas, Pagae and also Aegosthena, being assigned to the jurisdiction of Megara. On the coast are the harbour of Porto Cocosi, the towns Leandra and Cremmyon, the Scironian Rocks six miles in length, Gerania, Megara and Levsina; formerly there were also Oenoe and Probalinthos. There now are the harbours of Piraeus and Phaleron, 55 miles from the Isthmus, and joined by wall to Athens 5 miles away. Athens is a free city, and requires no further advertisement here as her celebrity is more than ample. In Attica are the springs of Cephisia, Larine, and the Nine Wells of Callirrhoe, and the mountains of Brilessus, Aegialeus, Icarius, Hymettus and Lycabettus; the place called Hissus; the promontories of Capo Colonna, 45 miles from Piraeus, and Thoricos; the former towns of Potamos, Steria and Brauron, the village of Rhamnus, the place called Marathon, the Thriasian Plain, the town of Melita, and Ropo on the border of Boeotia.
To Boeotia belong Anthedon, Onchestus, the free town of Thespiae, Livadhia, and Thebes, surnamed Bueotian, which does not yield even to Athens in celebrity, and which is reputed to be the native place of two deities, Liber and Hercules. The Muses also are assigned a birthplace in the grove of Helicon. To this city of Thebes also are attributed the forest of Cithaeron and the river Ismenus. Besides these Boeotia contains the Springs of Oedipus and those of Psamathe, Dirce, Epicrane, Arethusa, Hippocrene, Aganippe and Gargaphie; and in addition to the mountains previously mentioned, Myealesus, Hadylius and Aeontius. The remaining towns between the Megarid and Thebes are Eleutherae, Haliartus, Plataea, Pherae, Aspledon, Hyle, Thisbe, Erythrae, Glissa, Copae, Lamiae and Anichiae on the river Cephisus, Medeon, Phlygone, Acraephia, Coronea and Chaeronea. On the coast below Thebes are Ocalee, Heleon, Scolos, Sehoenos, Peteon, Hyrie, Mycalesos, Ireseum, Pteleon, Olyarum, Tanagra Free State, and right in the channel of the Euripus, formed by the island of Euboea lying opposite, Aulis famous for its spacious harbour. The Boeotians had the name of Hyantes in earlier days. Then come the Locri surnamed Epicnemidii, and formerly called Leleges, through whose territory the river Cephisus flows down to the sea; and the towns of Opus, which gives its name to the Opuntian Bay, and Cynus. The only town of Phocis on the coast is Daphnus, but inland are Larisa, Elatea, and on the banks of the Cephisus, as we have said, Lilaea, and, facing Delphi, Cnemis and Hyampolis. Then there is the Locrian coast, on which are Larumna and Thronium, near which the river Boagrius flows into the sea, and the towns of Narycum, Alope and Scarphia. Afterwards comes the Malian Gulf named from its inhabitants and on it are the towns of Halcyone, Aeconia and Phalara.
Then comes Doris, in which are Sperchios, Frineon, Boion, Pindus and Cytinum. In the rear of Doris is Mount Oeta.
There follows Haemonia, which has often changed its name, having been successively called Pelasgis or Pelasgic Argos, and Hellas, Thessaly and Dryopis, always taking its surname from its kings: it was the birthplace of the king named Graecus from whom Greece is named, and of king Hellen from whom the Hellenes get their name. These same people are called by three different names in Homer, Myrmidons, Hellenes and Achaeans. The section of the Hellenes adjacent to Doris are named Phthiotae; their towns are Akhino and Heraclea, which takes the name of Trechin from the Pass of Thermopylae four miles away in the gorge of the river Ellada. Here is Mount Callidromus, and the notable towns are Hellas, Halos, Lamia, Phthia and Arne.
VIII. The places in Thessaly are Orchomenus, formerly called the Minyan, and the town of Alimon, otherwise Holmon, Atrax, Palamna, the Hyperian Spring, the towns of Pherae (behind which lies Pieria spreading in the direction of Macedonia), Larisa, Gomphi, Thessalian Thebes, Elm Wood, the Gulf of Volo, the town of Pagasa subsequently called Demetrias, Tricca, the Pharsalian Plains with their free city, Crannon, Iletia. The mountains of Phthiotis are Nymphaeus, once so beautiful for its natural landscape gardening, Buzygaeus, Donaeoessa, Bromiaeus, Daphusa, Chimarone, Athamas, Stephane. In Thessaly there are 34, of which the most famous are Cercetii, Pierian Olympus and Ossa, facing which are Pindus and Othrys the abode of the Lapithaethese looking to the west; and looking east is Pelion; all form a curve like a theatre, and in the hollow in front of them lie 75 cities. Thessaly contains the rivers Apidanus, Phoenix, Enipeus, Onochonus and Pamisus; the spring Messeis; Lake Boebeis; and before all alike in celebrity the river Peneus, rising close to Gomphi and flowing down a wooded glen between Ossa and Olympus for 62 miles, for half of which distance it is navigable. Part of this course is called the Vale of Tempe, 5 miles long and nearly an acre and a half in breadth, with gently sloping hills rising beyond human sight on either hand, while the valley between is verdant with a grove of trees. Along it glides the Peneus, glittering with pebbles and adorned with grassy banks, melodious with the choral song of birds. Into it flows the river Orcus, to which it gives no intimate welcome, but merely carries it for a brief space floating on its surface like a skin of oil, in Homer's phrase, and then rejects it, refusing to allow the punitive waters engendered for the service of the Furies to mingle with its own silver flood.
IX. Adjoining Thessaly is Magnesia, to which belong the spring Libethra, the towns of Iolcus, Ormenium, Pyrrha, Methone and Olizon, Cape Sepias, the towns of Castana and Spalathra, Cape Aeantium, the towns Meliboea, Ilhizus and Erymnae, the mouth of the Peneus, the towns Homoliuin, Orthe, Iresiae, Pelinna, Thanmacie, Gyrton, Crannon, Acharne, Dotion, Mehte, Phylace and Potniae.
The total length of Epirus, Achaia, Attica and Thessaly is said to be 490 miles and the total breadth of 297 miles.
X. Next comes Macedonia, with 150 nations, and famous for two kings a and for its former world-wide empire; it was previously called Emathia. It stretches westward to the races of Epirus, at the back of Magnesia and Thessaly, and on this side is exposed to the inroads of the Dardani, but its northern part is protected from the Triballi by Paeonia and Pelagonia. Its towns are Aegiae, the customary burial place of its kings, Beroea, and in the district called Pieria from the forest of that name, Aeginium. On the coast are Heraclea, the river Platamona, the towns of Pydna and Olorus, and the river Vistritsa. Inland are the Aloritae, Vallaei, Phylacaei, Cyrrestae and Tyrissaei, the colony of Pella, and the town of Stobi, which has the Roman citizenship. Then come Antigonea, Europus on the river Axius, and the town of the same name through which flows the Rhoedias, Scydra, Eordaea, Mieza and Gordyniae. Then on the coast Ichnae and the river Axius. The neighbours of Macedonia on this frontier are the Dardani, Treres and Pieres, and after the river Axius come the Paeonian races of the Paroraei, Eordenses, Almopi, Pelagones and Mygdones, and the mountains of Rhodope, Scopius and Orbelus; then, in the fold of ground lying in front of them, the Arethusii, Antiochienses, Idomenenses, Doberi, Aestrienses, Allantenses, Audaristenses, Morylli, Garresci, Lyncestae, Othryonei, and the free peoples of the Amantini and Orestae; the colonies Bullidenses and Dienses; the Xylopolitae, the free Scotussaei, Heraclea Sintica, the Tymphaei, the Toronaei. On the Macedonian coast of the gulf are the town of Chalastra and, farther in, Pylorus, Lete, and at the centre of the curve of the coast the free city of Saloniki (from there to Durazzo is 245 miles), Therme, and on the Gulf of Saloniki the towns of Dicaea, Palinandrea and Scione, Cape Paliuri, and the towns of Pallene and Phlegra. The mountains in this district are Hypsizonus, Epitus, Algion and Elaeuonme; the towns are Nyssus, Phryxclon, Mendae, and on the isthmus of Pallene what was formerly Potidaea but is now the colony of Cassandrea, Anthemus, Olophyxus, Mecyberna Bay, the towns of Miscella, Ampelos, Torone, Singos, Telos, and the canal, a mile and a half in length, by which the Persian king Xerxes cut off Mount Athos a from the mainland. The actual mountain projects from the level plain into the sea for a distance of 25 miles, and its circumference at its base amounts to 150 miles. There was once a town on its summit called Acrathoon; the present towns on it are Uranopolis, Palaehorium, Thyssus, Cleonae, and Apollonia, the inhabitants of which are called Macrobitc Then the town of Cassera, and the other side of the isthmus, Acanthus, Stagira, Sithone, Heraclea, and the district of Mygdonia lying below, in which at some distance from the sea are Apollonia and Arethtxsa, and on the coast again Posidium and the bay with the town of Cermorus, the free city of Amphipolis, and the tribe of the Bisaltae. Then comes the river Struma which rises in Mount Haemus and forms the boundary of Macedonia; it is worth recording that it spreads out into seven lakes before it proceeds on its course.
Such is Macedonia, which once won a worldwide empire, marched across Asia, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, Mount Taurus and the Hindu Kush, was lord over the Bactrians, Medes and Persians, owned the entire East, and even roamed in the tracks of Father Liber and of Hercules and conquered India; and this also is the Macedonia 72 of whose cities our general Aemilius Paullus pillaged and sold in a single day. So great the difference in her lot bestowed upon her by two individuals!
XI. Next comes Thrace, one of the most powerful nations of Europe, divided into fifty commands.
Of its peoples those whom we ought not to omit to name are the Denseletae and the Medi, who live on the right bank of the river Struma right up to the Bisaltae above mentioned, and the Digerri and the various sections of the Bessi on the left bank, as far as the river Mesto that winds round the foot of Mount Pilat Tepeh, passing though the Haleti, Diobessi and Carbilesi, and then the Brysae, Sapaei and Odomanti. The race of the Odrysae owns the source of the Maritza, on the banks of which live the Cabyleti, Pyrogeri, Drugeri, Caenici, Hypsalti, Bent Corpi]li, Bottiaei and Edoni. In the same district are the Staletae, Priantae, Dolongae, Thyni, and the Greater Celaletae at the foot of the Great Balkan and the Lesser at the foot of Mount Rhodope. Between these tribes runs the river Maritza, and below Rhodope is the town formerly called Poneropolis, then Philippopolis after its founder, and now Trimontium from its site. To the summit of the Great Balkan is a journey of six miles. Its opposite side sloping down towards the Danube is inhabited by the Moesi, Getae, Aodi, Scaugdae and Clariae, and below them the Sarmatian Arraei called Areatae, and the Scythians, and round the shores of the Black Sea the Moriseni and the Sithoni, the ancestry of the poet Orpheus.
Thus Thrace is bounded by the Danube on the north, the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara on the east, and the Aegean Sea on the south, on the coast of which after leaving the Struma we come to Apollonia, Osima, Kavallo and Batos. Inland is the colony of Filiba, at a distance of 325 miles from Durazzo, Scotussa, the state of Topiros, the mouth of the river Mestus, the mountain of Pilat Tepeh, Melenik, Agia Maria, the free city of Abdera, the Lagos Buru and the people of the Bistoni. Here once was the town of Tirida, formidable on account of the stables of the horses of Diomede; and there now are the towns of Dicaea and Ismaron, the place called Parthenion, Phalesina, Marogna formerly called Orthagurea, Mount Serrium, Zone; and then the place called Doriscus, a plain large enough to hold 10,000 men, as it was in detachments of that number that Xerxes there counted his army; the month of the Maritza, the harbour of Stentor, the free town of Enos with the Funeral Mound of Polydorus, a district formerly belonging to the Cicones. From Doriscus the coast makes a curve of 112 miles to Long Wall, round which flows the Black River that gives its name to the bay. The towns are Ipsala, Rodosto, Long Wall, so called because its fortifications extend between the two seas, from the Sea of Marmara to the Gulf of Enos, cutting off the projecting Gallipoli Peninsula. For the other side of Thrace begins at the coast of the Black Sea where the Danube flows into it; and this region comprises its finest cities, Kostendsje, a colony from Miletus, Temesvar and Collat, formerly called Ccrbatis. It formerly had Heraclea and Bizone, which was swallowed up by an earthquake, and it still has the City of Dionysus, previously called Crunos, which is washed by the river Zyras. The whole of this region was occupied by the Scythian tribe called the Ploughmen, their towns being Aphrodisias, Libistus, Zygerc, Rhocobae, Eumenia, Parthenopolis and Gerania, stated to have been the abode of the race of Pigmies: their name in the local dialect used to be Catizi, and there is a belief that they were driven away by cranes. On the coast after the City of Dionysus come the Milesian colony of Varna, the river Daphne-Soul and the town of Four Roadsteads. The enormous ridge of the Great Balkan projecting into the Black Sea formerly had on its summit the town of Aristaeum, and on the coast now are Mission and Akiali on the former site of Messa. The region of Astice had a town of Anthium, which is now Apollonia. The rivers are the Panisos, Iuras, Tearus, Orosines; the towns Tiniada, Midjeh, Zagora (with its marsh now called Deultum), a colony of veterans, and Phinopolis, near which are the Straits of Constantinople. From the mouth of the Danube to the outlet of the Black Sea was reckoned as 552 miles, but Agrippa made it 60 miles more; and from that point to the wall above mentioned is 150 miles, and from there to the end of the Gallipoli Peninsula 126 miles.
On leaving the Dardanelles we come to the Bay of Casthenes, the Old Men's Harbour and the other called the Women's Harbour, and the promontory of the Golden Horn, on which is the town of Byzantium,a a free state, formerly called Lygos; it is 711 miles from Durazzo, so great being the space of land between the Adriatic and the Sea of Marmara. There are the rivers Bathynias and Pidaras or Athidas, and the towns of Selymbria and Perinthus which are connected with the mainland by an isthmus 200 ft. wide. Inland are Vizia, a citadel of the kings of Thrace that is hated by swallows because of the outrage committed by Tereus, the district of Caenica, the colony of Flaviopolis on the site of the former town called Caela, and 50 miles from Vizia the colony of Apros, which is 189 miles distant from Philippi. On the coast is the river Erkene, and once stood the town of Ganos; Lysimachea on the Gallipoli Peninsula is also now becoming deserted. But at this point there is another Isthmus which cut up marks similar narrows with the same name and is of about equal width; and in a not dissimilar manner two cities occupied the shores on either side, Pactye on the side of the Sea of Marmara and Cardia on that of the Gulf of Enos, the latter city taking its name from the conformation of the place; both were subsequently united with the city of Lysimachea, five miles from Long Wall. On the Marmara side of Gallipoli Peninsula were Tiristasis, Crithotes and Cissa lying on the Goat's River; and there is now Resisthos, 22 miles from the colony of Apros, opposite to the colony of Parium. Also the Dardanelles, which as we have said divide Europe from Asia by a space not quite a mile across, have four cities facing one another on the opposite sides, Gallipoli and Ialova in Europe and Lamsaki and Avido in Asia. Then on Gallipoli there is the promontory of Capo Helles opposite to Jeni-Hisari, on the slanting side of which is the Bitch's Tomb (the name given to the funeral mound of Hecuba), the naval station of the Greeks in the Trojan war, and a tower, the shrine of Protesilaus, and at the point of The peninsula, which is called Aeolium, the town of Elaeus. Then as you make for the Gulf of Enos you have the harbours of Coelos and Panormus and Cardia above mentioned.
This rounds off the third Gulf of Europe. The mountains of Thrace, beside those already mentioned, are Edonus, Gygemeros, Meritus and Melamphyllus; the rivers are the Bargus and the Syrmus, which fall into the Maritza. The length of Macedonia, Thrace and the Hellespont has been mentioned previously (some make it 720 miles); the breadth is 384 miles.
The Aegean Sea takes its name from an island, or more truly a rock suddenly springing out of the middle of the sea, between Tenos and Chios, named Aex from its resemblance to a she-goatall being the Greek word for the animal. In sailing from Achaia to Antandro, this rock is sighted on the starboard side, and it is a sinister threat of disaster. One section of the Aegean is distinguished as the Myrtoan Sea; it takes its name from the small island of Myrtos sighted as you sail from Geraestus in the direction of Macedonia, not far from Carystus in Euboea. The Romans call all these seas by two names, the Macedonian Sea wherever it touches Macedonia or Thraee and the Grecian Sea where it washes the coast of Greece; while the Greeks divide the Ionian Sea too into the Sicilian and the Cretan, named from the islands, and also give the name of Icarian to the part hetween Samos and Myconos, and the other Greek names are taken from the gulfs that we have mentioned.
XII. So much for the arrangement of the seas and the nations in the third Gulf of Europe. The islands are as follows: opposite to Thesprotia, 12 miles from Buthrotus and also 50 from Acroceraunia, lies Corfu, with a city of the same name, a free state, and the town of Cassopo, and the temple of Jupiter Cassius; the island is 97 miles long. In Homer it has the names of Scheria and Phaeacia, and in Callimachus also that of Drepane. Several islands lie round it, especially Fano on the side towards Italy and Paxo and Antipaxo towards Leucadia, both 5 miles away from Corfu. Not far from these, lying off Corfu, are Ericusa, Marathe, Elaphusa, Malthace, Trachie, Pythionia, Ptychia and Tarachie, and off the promontory of Corfu called Capo Drasti the rock into which (according to the story, which is due to the similarity of shape) the ship of Ulysses was changed. Off Leucadia and Aetolia are a very large number, among which those called the Teleboides, and also by their inhabitants the Taphiae, are Taphias, Carnos, Oxia, and Prinoessa; off Aetolia are the Echinades, Aegialia, Cotonis, Thyatira, Geoaris, Dionysia, Cyrnns, Chalcis, Pinara, Nystrus. Off these out at sea lie Cephallenia and Zante, both free, Ithaca, Dulichium, Same, and Crocyle. Cephallenia, formerly called in Greek the Black Island, is 10 miles from Paxo, and measures 93 miles in circumference; Same has been demolished by the Romans, but still possesses three towns. Between Same and the coast of Achaia lies Zante, distinguished by its fine town and remarkable for the fertility of its soil; it was at one time called Hyrie. It is 25 miles from the southern part of Cephallenia, and on it is the celebrated mountain of Elatus. It measures 36 miles in circumference. At a distance of 15 miles from Zante is Ithaca, on which is Monte Stefano; its whole circumference measures 25 miles. The distance from it to the Peloponnesian promontory of Araxus is 15 miles. Off Ithaca in the open sea are Asteris and Prote, and off Zante at a distance of 35 miles to the south-east are the two Strophades, called by other people the Plotae. Off Cephallenia is Letoia, off Pylos the three Sphageae and off Messene the three Oenussae.
In the Messenian Gulf are the three Thyrides, and in the Gulf of Laconia Teganissa, Cothon and Cerigo with the town of that namethe former name of this island was Porphyris; it lies 5 miles from Cape Malea, which is dangerous to circumnavigate because of the narrowness of the strait. In the Gulf of Nauplia are Pityusa, Mine and Ephyre; opposite the territory of Hermione Tricarenus, Aperopia, Colonis and Aristera; opposite that of Troezen, Calauria half a mile away, Plateis, Belbina, Lasia and Baucidias; opposite Epidaurus, Cecryphalos and Pityonesus 6 miles from the mainland. Fifteen miles from Pityonesus is Aegina, a free state, which is 18 miles long as you sail past it, and 20 miles distant from Piraeus, the port of Athens; its name used to be Oenone. Off the promontory of Spiraeum lie Eleusa, Adendros, the two Craugiae, the two Caeciae and Selacosa; and Aspis 7 miles from Cenchreae and Methurides in the Bay of Megara 4 miles; while Aegila is 15 miles from Cythera and 25 from the Cretan town of Phalasarna.
Crete itself stretches east and west with one side facing south and the other north; it is celebrated for the renown of its 100 cities. Dosiades held the view that it took its name from the nymph Crete, daughter of Hesperis, Anaximander that it was named from the king of the Curetes, Philistides of Mallos and Crates that it was first called Aeria and then subsequently Curetis; its Greek appellation, 'the Island of the Blest,' is thought by some to be due to the mildness of its climate. Its breadth nowhere exceeds 50 miles, its widest part being about the middle; its length is fully 270 miles and its circumference 589 miles; its longest side forms a curve towards the Cretan Sea which takes its name from it, its easternmost projection, Cape Samonium, pointing towards Rhodes and its westernmost, the Ram's Forehead, towards Cyrene.
The important cities of Crete are Phalasarna, Elaea, Cisamon, Pergamum, Cydonia, Minoium, Apteron, Pantomatrium, Amphomala, Rhithymna, Panhormum, Cytaeum, Apoilonia, Matium, Heraclea, Miletos, Ampelos, Hierapytna, Lebena and Hierapolis; and in the interior Gortyna, Phaestus, Cnossus, Polyrrhenum, Xlyrina, Lycastos, Rhamnus, Lyctus, Diuni, Asium, Pyloros, Rhytion, Elatos, Pherae, Holopyxos, Lasos, Eleuthernae, Therapnae, Marathusa, Gytisos, and about 60 other towns of which only the memory exists. The mountains are Cadistus, Ida, Dictynna and Corycus. The distance of the island at its promontory called the Ram's Forehead from the promontory of Cyrene named Phycus is stated by Agrippa to be 125 miles, and at Cadistus from Malea in the Morea 80; at the promontory of Samonium it is 60 miles west of the island of Skarpanto, which lies between it and Rhodes.
The remaining islands lying round Crete are towards the Morea, the two called Corycos and the two called Myla; on the north side having Crete on the right and opposite to Cydonea are Leuce and the two called Budroe, opposite to Matium is Dia, opposite to the promontory of Itanum are Onysia and Leuce, and opposite to Hierapytua Chrysa and Gaudos. In the same region are Ophiussa, Butoa and Rhamnus, and after rounding the Ram's Forehead the three called Acusagorus. Off the promontory of Samonium are the Phocoi, Platiae and Stirnides, and Naulochos, Harmedon and Zephyre.
Forming part of Hellas but still in the Aegean Sea are the Lichades, Searphia, Corese, Phocasia, and a number of others facing Attica that have no towns on them and are consequently unimportant. Opposite Eleusis is the famous island of Salamis. In front of it is Psyttalea, and, at a distance of 5 miles from Sunium, Helene. Then at the same distance from Helene is Ceos, called by some Romans Cea and by the Greeks also Hydrusa. This is an island that has been torn away from Euboea; it was formerly 64 miles long, but more recently about four-fifths of it lying in the direction of Boeotia has also been swallowed up by the sea, leaving the towns of Iulis and Carthaea, while Coresus and Grassy Island have disappeared. Varro states that this island used to export an exceptionally fine kind of cloth used for ladies' dresses.
Euboea itself also is sundered from Boeotia by so moderate a channel, the Euripus, that it is joined to the mainland by a bridge. At the south end it has two marked promontories, Capo Mandili pointing towards Attica and Kayo Doro towards the Dardanelles; at the north it has Cape Lithadha. Its breadth nowhere exceeds 40 miles and nowhere contracts below two miles; its length stretches along the whole of Boeotia from Attica to Thessaly and measures 150 miles, while its circumference is 365 miles. At its south-easternmost point its distance from the Dardanelles is 225 miles. Its notable cities were formerly Pyrrha, Porthmos, Nesos, Germthos, Oreus, Dium, Aedepsos, Ocha and Oechalia; those now noteworthy are Chalcis (opposite which on the mainland is Aulis), Geraestus, Eretria, Carystus, Oritanum and Artemisium, as well as the Spring of Arethusa, the river Lelantus and the warm springs known as the Hellopiae. Euboea is, however, still better known for the marble of Carystus. It used formerly to be called Chalcodontis or according to Dionysius and Ephorus Macris, but Macra according to Aristides, and according to Callidemus Chalcis, because copper was first discovered there; according to Menaechmus its name was Abantias, while in poetry it is commonly called Asopis.
In the Myrtoan Sea besides Euboea are many islands, the best known being Glauconnesus and the Aegila islands, and off Capo Mandili the Cyclades, lying round Delos in a circle which has given them their name. The first of these is Andro with a town of the same name, 10 miles from Mandili and 38 from Ceos. Myrsilus tells us that Ceos was once called Cauros, and later Antandros; Callimachus says it had the name of Lasia, others Nonagria or Hydrusa or Epagris. Its circuit measures 93 miles. At a distance of a mile from Andros and 15 miles from Delos is Tino, with a city of the same name; this island is 15 miles in length. Aristotle says that owing to its abundance of springs it once was called Hydrusa; others give its old name as Ophiusa. The other islands are: Mykono, with Mount Two Breasts, 15 miles from Delos; Siphnns, previously called Meropia and Ads, 28 miles round; Serpho 15 miles round; Prepesinthus; Cythnos; and by far the most famous of the Cyclades and lying in the middle of them, Delos, celebrated for its temple of Apollo and for its commerce. According to the story, Delos for a long time floated adrift; also it was the only island that down to the time of Marcus Varro had never felt an earthquake shock; Mucianus however states that it has suffered twice from earthquake. Aristotle has recorded that it owes its name to its having suddenly appeared emerging from the water; Aglaosthenes, however, calls it the Isle of Cynthus, and others Quail Island, Star Island, Hare Island, Cloak Island, Dog Island, and Fiery Island because fire was first discovered there. It measures five miles in circumference. Its only eminence is Mount Cynthius.
Next to Delos is Rhene, which Anticlides calls Celadusa, and also Artemites and Celadine; Syros, stated by old writers to measure 20 miles in circuit, but by Mucianus 160 miles; Olearos; Pros, with the town of that name, 38 miles from Delos, famous for its marble, and originally called Platea and afterwards Minois. Seven and a half miles from Paros and 18 from Delos is Naxos with its town, which was called Strongyle and then Dia and afterwards the Island of Dionysus because of the fertility of its vineyards, and by others Little Sicily or Callipolis. Its circuit measures 75 miles and it is half as large again as Paros.
So far the islands are regarded as belonging to the Cyclades, but the remainder that follow are called the Sporades. They are Helene, Phacusa, Nicasia, Schinusa, Pholegandros and 38 miles from Naxos and the same number of miles in length, Icaros, which has given its name to the surrounding sea; it has two towns, a third having disappeared; it was formerly called Doliche or Long Island, also Fish Island. It lies 50 miles north-east of Delos and 35 miles from Samos; between Euboea and Andros there is a channel 10 miles wide, and the distance from Icaros to Geraestus is 112 miles.
After these no regular order can be kept, so the remaining islands shall be given in a group: Scyro; Nio, 18 miles from Naxos, venerable as the burial-place of Homer, 22 miles long, previously called Phoenice; Odia; Oletandros; Gioura, with a town of the same name, 15 miles in circumference, 62 miles distant from Andros; 80 miles from Gionra, Syrnos; Cynethus; Telos, noted for its unguent, and called by Callimachus Agathusa; Donusa; Patmos, 30 miles in circumference; the Corassiae, Lebitha, Lero, Zinari; Sikino, previously Oenoe; Heraclia or Onus; Casos or Astrabe; Kimoli or Echinusa; Milo, with the town of that name, called by Aristides Mimblis, by Aristotle Zephyria, by Callimachus, Mimallis and by Heraclides Siphis and Acytasthe most circular in shape of all the islands; Buporthmos; Machia; Hypere, formerly called Patage, or by others Platage, now Amorgo; Polyaegas; Sapyle; Santorin, called Fair Island when it first emerged from the water; Therasia subsequently detached from it, and Automate or Holy Island, which soon afterwards arose between the two, and Thia, which emerged near the same islands in our own day. The distance between Santorin and Nio is 25 miles.
There follow Lea, Ascania, Namphi, and Hippuris. Stampalia, a free state, measuring 88 miles in circumference, is 125 miles from Cadistus in Crete; Platea 60 miles from Stampalia, and Caminia 38 miles from Platea; Azibintha, Lamse, Atragia, Pharmacusa, Thetaedia, Karki, Kalymni with its town, Coos, Eulimna, and at a distance of 25 miles from it Skarpanto, which has given its name to the Carpathian Sea? From there to Rhodes, a southwest course, is 50 miles; from Skarpanto to Casus is 7 miles, from Casus to Cape Samonium in Crete 30. In the Euripus between Euboea and the mainland, almost at the first entrance, are the four Petaliae Islands, and at its outlet Talanti. The Cyclades and the Sporades are bounded on the east by the Asiatic coasts of the Icarian Sea, on the west by the Attic coasts of the Myrtoan Sea, on the north by the Aegean Sea and on the south by the Cretan and Carpathian coasts; these islands occupy an area 700 miles long and 200 miles broad.
Across the mouth of the Gulf of Volo lie Euthia, Trikeri, Skyro, previously mentioned, and in fact the outermost of the Cyclades and Sporades, Gerontia and Scandira; across the Gulf of Saloniki Lresia Solymnia, Eudemia and Nea, the last an island sacred to Minerva; across the Gulf of Athos lie four islands, Piperi with the town of that name and formerly called Evoenus, 9 miles off, Sciathos 15 miles, and Embro with its town 88 miles; the distance between Embro and Mastusia on the Gallipoli Peninsula is 22 miles. Embro is 62 miles in circuit; it is watered by the river Ilissus. Twenty-two miles from Embro is Stalimene, which lies 87 miles from Mount Athos; its circuit measures 115 miles, and on it are the towns of Hephaestia and Myrinathe market place of the latter is reached by the shadow of Mount Athos at midsummer. Six miles from Staliniene is Thasos, a free state, formerly called Aeria or Aethria; Abdera on the mainland is 22 miles from Thasos, and Athos 621 miles, and the island of Samothrace, a free state, off the river Maritza, is the same distance from Thasos, 32 miles from Embro, 22 from Stalimene, and 38 from the coast of Thrace; its circuit measures 35 miles, and on it rises Monte Nettuno, which is 10 miles high. Embro gives the worst anchorage for vessels of all the islands. It is mentioned by Callimachus under its ancient name of Dardania.
Between the Gallipoli peninsula and Samothrace, about 15 miles from each, is the island of Skopelo, and beyond it are Gethone, Lamponia, Alopeconnesus, which is not far from Coelos the port of Gallipoli, and some others of no importance. We may also specify the names of uninhabited islands in the Gulf so far as we have been able to ascertain them: Avesticos, Sarnos, Cissyros, Charbrusa, Calathusa, Scyllia, Dialeon, Dictaea, Melanthia, Dracanon, Arconesus, Diethusa, Ascapos, Capheris, Mesate, Aeantion, Pateronnesus, Pateria, Calathe, Neriphus, Pelendos.
The fourth of the great Gulfs of Europe begins at the Dardanelles and ends at the entrance of the Sea of Azov. But in order more easily to indicate the divisions of the Black Sea we must give a brief description of its shape as a whole. It is a vast body of water lying in front of Asia and shut out from Europe by the promontory of Gallipoli; but it forces aa entrance into the interior by a narrow winding channel, and separates Europe from Asia, as has been said, by a strait that is less than a mile wide. The first part of the narrows is called the Dardanelles; here the Persian king Xerxes made the bridge of boats across which he led his army. From there a narrow channel 86 miles long extends to the Asiatic city of Priapus; it was here that Alexander the Great crossed. From this point the water begins to widen out, and afterwards narrows again. The wide part is called the Sea of Marmara and the narrows the Straits of Constantinople; at the point where Xerxes' father Darius conveyed his forces across by means of a bridge it is 500 yards wide, and its entire length from the Dardanelles is 239 miles.
Then comes the vast extent of the Black Sea, formerly the Axenus, which encroaches on a large area of the continent, and with a great bend of its coasts curves back into horns and from them stretches out on either side, producing exactly the shape of a Scythian bow. In the middle of the curve it is joined by the mouth of the Sea of Azov; this aperture is called the Straits of Kertsch, and measures two and a half miles across. The distance in a straight line between the two straits, the Dardanelles and Kaffa, measures according to Polybius 500 miles. The whole circumference of the Black Sea according to Varro and the old authorities generally is 2150 miles, but Cornelius Nepos adds 350 miles, while Artemidorus makes it 2119 miles, Agrippa 2540, and Mucianus 2425. There is a similar difference of opinion as to the measurement of the European shore, some fixing it at 1479 miles and others at 1100. Marcus Varro gives the measurement as follows: from the mouth of the Black Sea to Apollonia 1871 miles; from there to Coliat the same; to the month of the Danube 125; to the Dnieper 250; to the town of Cherronesus of the Heraeleotae 375 miles; to Kertseh, by some called Bosporus, the last point on the coast of Europe, 2121 milesthe total making 13371 miles. Agrippa makes it 540 miles from Istamboul to the river Danube and 635 miles from the Danube to Kertseh.
The actual Sea of Azov, which receives the Don flowing down from the Itipaean Mountains, the river being the extreme boundary between Europe and Asia, is said to measure 1406, or according to other authorities 1125, miles in circumference. The distance in a straight line between the entrance of the Sea of Azov and the mouth of the Don is agreed to be 375 miles. The inhabitants of the coasts of this great Gulf as far as Istere have been mentioned in our account of Thrace.
We then come to the mouths of the Danube. It rises in Germany in the range of Mount Abnoua, opposite to the Gallic town of Ranricum, and flows for a course of many miles beyond the Alps, and through innumerable tribes, under the name of Danube; then its volume of water increases enormously and from the point where it first enters Illyria it is called the Hister; after receiving 60 tributary rivers, nearly half of which are navigable, it is discharged into the Black Sea by six vast channels. The first of these is the mouth of Piczina, close to the island of that name, at which the nearest channel, called the Holy River, is swallowed up in a marsh 19 miles in extent. Opening from the same channel and above Istere spreads a lake measuring 63 miles round, named the Saltings. The second is called the Narakian Mouth; the third, next the island of Sarmatica, Fair Mouth; the fourth, False Mouth; then comes the island of Mosquito Crossing, afterwards the North Mouth and the Barren Mouth. These mouths are each of them so large that for a distance of forty miles, so it is said, the sea is overpowered and the water tastes fresh.
From this point all the races in general are Scythian, though various sections have occupied the lands adjacent to the coast, in one place the Getae, called by the Romans Dacians, at another the Sarmatae, called by the Greeks Sauromatae, and the section of them called Waggon-dwellers or Aorsi, at another the base-born Scythians, descended from slaves, or else the Cave-dwellers, and then the Alani and Rhoxolani. The higher parts between the Danube and the Hercynian Forest as far as the winter quarters of Pannonia at Carnuntum and the plains and level country of the German frontiers There are occupied by the Sarmatian Iazyges, while the Dacians whom they have driven out hold the mountains and forests as far as the river Theiss. From the river Maros, or else the Dora if it is that which separates them from the Suebi and the Kingdom of Vannius, the opposite side of the country is occupied by the Basternae and then other German tribes. Agrippa describes the whole of this area from the Danube to the sea as being 1200 miles in length by 396 in breadth, as far as the river Vistula in the direction of the Sarmatian desert. The name of Scythians has spread in every direction, as far as the Sarmatae and the Germans, but this old designation has not continued for any except the most outlying sections of these races, living almost unknown to the rest of mankind.
After the Danube come the towns of Cremniscoi and Aepolium, the Macrocremni Mountains, and the famous river Dniester, which gives its name to the town on the site which previously was called Ophiusa. A large island in the Dniester, inhabited by the Tyragetae, is 130 miles from the False Mouth of the Danube. Then come the Axiacae named from the river Axiaces, and beyond them the Crobyzi, the river Rhode, the Sangarian Gulf, the port of Ordesus, and 120 miles from the Dniester the river Dnieper and the lake and tribe of the same name, and the town 15 miles inland from the sea, the old names of which were Olbiopolis and Miletopolis. Returning to the coast, we come to the Port of the Achaeans and the Isle of Achilles, famous for the tomb of that hero, and 125 miles from it a peninsula stretching out at a slant in the shape of a sword, and called the Racecourse of Achilles from having been his exercising ground; its length is given by Agrippa as 80 miles. The whole of this stretch is occupied by the Scythian Sardi and Siraci. Then there is a wooded region that has given its name to the Forest Sea that washes its coast; the inhabitants are called the tribe of the Indigene. Beyond is the river Somara, which forms the boundary between the Nomad and Agricultural tribes, and then the Acesinus. Some authorities say that below Olbia the Somara flows into the Dnieper, but the more accurate make the Bug a tributary of the Dnieperso erroneous it is to put the latter in a region of Asia.
Here the sea runs in, forming a large gulf, until there is only a space of five miles separating it from the Sea of Azov, and it forms the coastline of vast tracts of land and numerous races; this is called the Gulf of Negropoli. Here is the river Pacyris, the towns of Navarum and Carcine, and behind them Lake Buces, which discharges into the sea by an artificial channel. Lake Buces itself is shut off by a rocky ridge from the Bay of Coretus in the Sea of Azov. Into it run the rivers Buces, Gerrhus and Bug, coming from different directions: for the Gerrhus separates the Nomads and the Basilides, while the Bug flows through the Nomads and Foresters and discharges by an artificially made channel into the Buces and by a natural channel into the Coretus: this region has the name of Scythia Sindica.
At the river Carcinites begins the Crimea, itself also formerly surrounded by the sea where there are now low-lying stretches of land, though afterwards it rises in huge mountain ridges. The population includes 30 tribes; of these 23 live in the interior, 6 towns are occupied by the Orgocyni, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae and Caliordi, and the Scythotauri occupy the actual ridge. On the west side they are adjoined by the New Peninsula and on the east by the Satauci Scythians. The towns on the coast after Carcine are Taphrae at the actual neck of the peninsula, and then the Heraclean Peninsula, a place on which Rome has recently bestowed freedom; it was formerly called Megarice, and is the most highly cultured community in all this region owing to its having preserved the manners of Greece; it is encircled by a wall measuring five miles. Then come the Virgin's Cape, Placia a city of the Tauri, the port of Balaklava, Ram's Head Cape, jutting out into the middle of the Black Sea opposite to Cape Kerempi in Asia with a space between them of 170 miles, which is chiefly the reason that produces the shape of a Scythian bow! After this come a number of harbours and lakes belonging to the Tauri. The town of Theodosia is 125 miles from Ram's Head and 165 from the Peninsula. Beyond it there were in former times the towns of Cytae, Zephyrium, Acrae, Nymphaeum and Dia; while by far the strongest of them all, the Milesian city of Kertsch, at the actual mouth of the Straits, still stands; it is 84 miles from Theodosia and 4 miles, as we have said, from the town of Cimmerium situated across the Straits--this is the width that here separates Asia from Europe, and even this can usually be crossed on foot when the Gulf is frozen over. On the Straits of Kertsch, the length of which is 12 miles, are the towns of Hermisium and Myrmecium, and inside the Straits is the island of Alopece. The coast of the Sea of Azov, from the place called Taphrae at the end of the isthmus to the mouth of the Straits of Kertsch measures altogether 260 miles.
After Taphrae, the interior of the mainland is occupied by the Auchetai and the Neuroi, in whose territories respectively are the sources of the Bug and the Dnieper, the Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, Basilidae and Agathyrsi, the last a dark-haired people; above them are the Nomads and then the Cannibals, and after Lake Buces above the Sea of Azov the Sauromatae and Essedones. Along the coast, as far as the river Don, are the Maeotae from whom the sea receives its name, and last of all in the rear of the Maeotae are the Arimaspi. Then come the Ripaean Mountains and the region called Pterophorus, because of the feather-like snow continually falling there; it is a part of the world that lies under the condemnation of nature and is plunged in dense darkness, and occupied only by the work of frost and the chilly lurking-places of the north wind. Behind these mountains and beyond the north wind there dwells (if we can believe it) a happy race of people called the Hyperboreans, who live to extreme old age and are famous for legendary marvels. Here are believed to be the hinges on which the firmament turns and the extreme limits of the revolutions of the stars, with six months' daylight and a single day of the sun in retirement, not as the ignorant have said, from the spring equinox till autumn: for these people the sun rises once in the year, at midsummer, and sets once, at midwinter. It is a genial region, with a delightful climate and exempt from every harmful blast. The homes of the natives are the woods and groves; they worship the gods severally and in congregations; all discord and all sorrow is unknown. Death comes to them only when, owing to satiety of life, after holding a banquet and anointing their old age with luxury, they leap from a certain rock into the sea: this mode of burial is the most blissful. Some authorities have placed these people not in Europe but on the nearest part of the coasts of Asia, because there is a race there with similar customs and a similar location, named the Attaci; others have put them midway between the two suns, the sunsets of the antipodes and our sunrise, but this is quite impossible because of the enormous expanse of sea that comes between. Those who locate them merely in a region having six months of daylight have recorded that they sow in the morning periods, reap at midday, pluck the fruit from the trees at sunset, and retire into caves for the night. Nor is it possible to doubt about this race, as so many authorities state that they regularly send the first fruits of their harvests to Delos as offerings to Apollo, whom they specially worship. These offerings used to be brought by virgins, who for many years were held in veneration and hospitably entertained by the nations on the route, until because of a violation of good faith they instituted the custom of depositing their offerings at the nearest frontiers of the neighbouring people, and these of passing them on to their neighbours, and so till they finally reached Delos. Later this practice itself also passed out of use.
The territories of Sarmatia, Scythia and Taurica, and the whole region from the river Dnieper are stated by Marcus Agrippa to measure 980 miles in length and 716 in breadth; but for my own part I consider that in this part of the world estimates of measurement are uncertain.
But in conformity with the plan set out the remaining features of this gulf must be stated. Its seas we have specified.
XIII. In the Dardanelles there are no islands that deserve mention belonging to Europe. There are two in the Black Sea, 1 miles from the European coast and 14 miles from the mouth of the straits, the Fanari, called by others the Symplegades, these being the islands about which there is the tradition that they once clashed together: the story is due to the fact that they are separated by so small a gap that by persons entering the Black Sea directly facing them they were seen as two, and then when the line of sight became slightly oblique they gave the appearance of coming together. On this side of the Danube there is one of the islands called Apollonia, 80 miles from the Thracian Bosphorus; from this island Marcus Lucullus brought the statue of Apollo of the Capitol. We have stated the places in the Delta of the Danube. Off the mouth of the Dnieper is the Island of Achilles mentioned above, which also has the Greek names of the White Island and Island of the Blest. Modern investigation shows the position of this island to be 140 miles from the Dnieper, 120 from the Dniester, and 50 from the island of Peuce. It is about 10 miles in circuit. The remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites are Cephalonnesus, Spodusa and Macra. Before we leave the Black Sea, we must not omit the opinion held by many persons that all the waters of the Mediterranean are derived from this source, and not from the Straits of Gibraltar; the reason that they give for this view is not an improbable one--viz, that the tide is always flowing out of the Black Sea and never ebbing in the other direction.
Next we must leave the Black Sea to describe the outer regions of Europe, and crossing the Ripaean Mountains must coast to the left along the shore of the northern ocean until we reach Cadiz. In this direction a number of islands are reported to exist that have no names, but according to the account of Timaeus there is one named Baunonia, lying off Scythia, at a distance of a day's voyage from the coast, on the beach of which in spring time amber is cast up by the waves. The rest of these coasts are only known in detail by reports of doubtful authority. To the north is the ocean; beyond the river Parapanisus where it washes the coast of Scythia Hecataeus calls it the Amalehian Sea, a name that in the language of the natives means `frozen'; Philemon says that the Cimbrian name for it is Morimarusa (that is, Dead Sea) from the Parapanisus to Cape Rusbeae, and from that point onward the Cronian Sea. Xenophon of Lampsacus reports that three days' sail from the Scythian coast there is an island of enormous size called Balcia; Pytheas gives its name as Basilia. Also some islands called the Oeonae are reported of which the inhabitants live on birds' eggs and oats, and others on which people are born with horses' feet, which gives them their Greek name; there are others called the All-ears Islands in which the natives have very large ears covering the whole of their bodies, which are otherwise left naked.
From this point more definite information begins to open up, beginning with the race of the Inguaeones, the first that we come to in Germany. Here there is an enormous mountain, the Saevo, as big as those of the Ilipaean range, which forms an enormous bay reaching to the Cimbrian promontory; it is named the Codanian Gulf, and is studded with islands. The most famous of these is Scandinavia; its size has not been ascertained, and so far as is known, only part of it is inhabited, its natives being the Hilleviones, who dwell in 500 villages, and call their island a second world. Aeningia is thought to be equally big. Some authorities report that these regions as far as the river Vistula are inhabited by the Sarmati, Venedi, Sciri and Hirri, and that there is a gulf named Cylipenus, with the island of Latris at its mouth, and then another gulf, that of Lagnus, at which is the frontier of the Cimbri. The Cimbrian promontory projects a long way into the sea, forming a peninsula called Tastris. Then there are twenty-three islands known to the armed forces of Rome; the most noteworthy of these are Burcana, called by our people Bean Island from the quantity of wild beans growing there, and the island which by the soldiery is called Glass Island from its amber, but by the barbarians Austeravia, and also Actania.
The whole of the seacoast as far as the German river Scheldt is inhabited by races the extent of whose territories it is impossible to state, so unlimited is the disagreement among the writers who report about them.
The Greek writers and some of our own have given the coast of Germany as measuring 2500 miles, while Agrippa makes the length of Germany including Raetia and Nonicum 686 miles and the breadth 248 miles,
XIV whereas the breadth of Raetia alone almost exceeds that figure; though to be sure it was only conquered about the time of Agrippa's deathfor Germany was explored many years after, and that not fully. If one may be allowed to conjecture, the coast will be found to be not much shorter than the Greek idea of it and the length given by Agrippa.
There are five German races: the Vandals, who include the Burgodiones, Varinnae, Charini and Gutones; the second race the Inguaeones, including Cimbri, Teutoni and the tribes of the Chauci; nearest to the Rhine the Istiaeones, including the Sicambri; inland the Hermiones, including the Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti and Cherusci; and the fifth section the Peucini, and the Basternae who march with the Dacians above mentioned. Notable rivers that flow into the Ocean are the Guthalus, the Visculus or Vistula, the Elbe, the Weser, the Ems, the Rhine and the Meuse. In the interior stretches the Hercinian range of mountains, which is inferior to none in grandeur.
XV. In the Rhine itself, the most notable island is that of the Batavi and Cannenefates, which is almost a hundred miles in length, and others are those of the Frisii, Chauci, Frisiavones, Sturii and Marsacii, which lie between Briel and Vlieland. The latter give their names to the mouths into which the Rhine divides, discharging itself on the north into the lakes there and on the west into the river Meuse, while at the middle mouth between these two it keeps a small channel for its own name.
XVI. Opposite to this region lies the island of Britain, famous in the Greek records and in our own; it lies to the north-west, facing, across a wide channel, Germany, Gaul and Spain, countries which constitute by far the greater part of Europe. It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britains. Its distance from Gesoriacum on the coast of the Morini tribe by the shortest passage is 50 miles. Its circumference is reported by Pytheas and Isidorus to measure 4875 miles; nearly thirty years ago, its exploration was carried by the armed forces of Rome to a point not beyond the neighbourhood of the Caledonian Forest. Agrippa believes the length of the island to be 800 miles and its breadth 300, and the breadth of Ireland the same but its length 200 miles less. Ireland lies beyond Britain, the shortest crossing being from the district of the Silures, a distance of 30 miles. Of the remaining islands it is said that none has a circumference of more than 125 miles. There are the 40 Orkneys separated by narrow channels from each other, the 7 Shetlands, the 30 Hebrides, and between Ireland and Britain the Islands of Anglesea, Man, Racklin, White-horn, Dalkey and Bardsey; south of Britain are Sian and Ushant, and opposite, scattered about in the direction of the German Sea, are the Glass Islands which the Greeks in more modern times have called the Electrides, from the Greek word for amber, which is produced there. The most remote of all those recorded is Thule, in which as we have pointed out there are no nights at midsummer when the sun is passing through the sign of the Crab, and on the other hand no days at midwinter; indeed some writers think this is the case for periods of six months at a time without a break. The historian Timaeus says there is an island named Mictis lying inward six days' sail from Britain where tin is found, and to which the Britons cross in boats of osier covered with stitched hides. Some writers speak of other islands as well, the Scandiae, Dumna, Bergos, and Berricep the largest of all, from which the crossing to Thule starts. One day's sail from Thule is the frozen ocean, called by some the Cronian Sea.
XVII. The whole of Gaul included under the general name of Long-haired divides into three races of people, which are chiefly separated by the rivers: from the Scheldt to the Seine is Belgic Gaul, from the Seine to the Garonne Celtic Gaul, also called Lyonese, and from the Garonne to the projection of the Pyrenees Aquitanian Gaul, previously called Armorica. Agrippa reckoned the entire length of the coast at 1750 miles, and the dimensions of the Gauls between the Rhine and the Pyrenees and the ocean and the mountains of the Cevennes and Jura, which exclude the Narbonne division of Gaul, aslength 420 miles, breadth 318 miles.
The part beginning at the Scheldt is inhabited by the Texuandri, who have several names, and then the Menapi, the Morini, the Oromarsaci adjacent to the canton called Chersiacus, the Bretons, the Ambiani, the Bellovaci and the Bassi; and more in the interior the Catoslugi, Atrebates, Nervi (a free people), Veromandui, Suaeuconi, Suessiones (free), Ulmancctes (free), Tungri, Sunici, Frisiavones, Baetasi, Leuci (free), Treveri (formerly free), Lingones (federated), Remi (federated), Mediomatrici, Sequani, Raurici, Helveti; and the Equestrian and Rauric colonies. The races of Germany living on the banks of the Rhine in the same province are the Nemetes, Triboci and Vangioncs, and among the Ubii the Colony of Agrippina,a the Guberni, the Batavi and the people whom we have already mentioned as dwelling on the islands of the Rhine.
XVIII. To Lyonese Gaul belong the Lexovii, Veliocasses, Galeti, Veneti, Abrincatui, Ossismi, the famous river Loire, and also the still more remarkable that runs out into the ocean from the boundary of the Ossismi and measures 625 miles round and 125 miles across at its neck. Beyond that neck are the Namnetes, and in the interior the Aedui (federated), Carnuteni (federated), Boii, Senones, Aulerci (both those named Eburovices and those named Cenomani), Neldi (free), Parisii, Tricasses, Andicavi, Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Venelli, Coriosvelites, Diablinti, Rhedones, Turones, Atesui, and Secusiani (free), in whose territory is the colony of Lyons.
XIX. To Aquitanian Gaul belong the Ambilatri, Anagnutes, Pictones, Santoni (free), Bituriges, also named Vivisci (free), Aquitani (who give their name to the province), Sediboviates; then the Convenae together forming one town, the Begerri, the Tarbelli Quattuorsignani, Cocosates Sexsignani, Venami, Onobrisates, Belendi; the Pyrenean pass; and below the Monesi, Mountain Oscidates, Sybillates, Camponi, Bercorcates, Pinpedunni, Lassunni, Vellates, Toruates, Consoranni, Ausei, Elusates, Sottiates, Oscidates of the Plain, Succasses, Latusates, Basaboiatcs, Vassei, Sennatcs and the Cambolectri Agessinates. Joining on to the Pictones are the Bitnriges called Cubi (free), then the Lemovices, Arverni (free), Gabales, and again, marching with the province of Gallia Narbonensis, the Ruteni, Cadurci, Nitiobroges, and separated by the river Tarn from the people of Toulouse, the Petrocori.
The seas round the coast are: as far as the Rhine the Northern ocean, between the Rhine and the Seine the British Sea, and between the Seine and the Pyrenees the Gallic Sea. There are a number of islands of the Veneti, both those called the Veneticae and Oleron in the Gulf of Aquitania.
XX. At the promontory of the Pyrenees begins Spain, which is narrower not only than Gaul but even than itself, as we have said, seeing how enormously it is pressed together on one side by the ocean and on the other by the Iberian Sea. The actual chain of the Pyrenees, spreading from due east to southwest, makes the Spanish provinces shorter on the northern side than on the southern. On the nearest coast is situated Hither or Tarragonian Spain; along the sea-coast from the Pyrenees are the forest of the Vascones, Olarso, the towns of the Varduli, Morogi, Menosca, Vesperies and the port of Amanum, the present site of the colony of Flaviobrica; then the district of the nine states of the Cantabri, the river Sauga, the port of Victory of the Juliobricenses (from this place the sources of the Ebro are 40 miles distant), the port of Blendium, the Orgenomesci (a branch of the Cantabrians), their port Vereasueca, the district of the Astures, the town of Noega, the Pesici on a peninsula; and then, belonging to the jurisdiction of Lugo, starting from the river Navialbio, the Cibarci, the Egivarri surnamed Namarini, Jadovi, Arroni, Arrotrebae; the Celtic Promontory, the rivers Florius and Nelo, the Celts surnamed Neri, and above them the Tamarci, on whose peninsula are the three Altars of Sestius dedicated to Augustus, the Copori, the town of Noeta, the Celts surnamed Praestamarci, the Cileni. Of the islands must be specified Corticata and Aunios. After the Cileni, in the jurisdiction of the Bracae are the Helleni, the Grovi and Tyde Castle, all people of Greek stock; the Dry Islands, the town of Abobrica, the river Minho four miles wide at its mouth, the Leuni, the Seurbi, Augusta, a town belonging to the Bracae, above whom is Gallaecia; the Limia stream and the river Douro, one of the largest in Spain, which rises in the district of the Pelendones and passing by Numantia then flows through the Arevaci and Vaccaei, separating the Vettones from Asturia and the Gallaeci from Lusitania, and at this point also separating the Turduli from the Bracari. The whole of the district mentioned, from the Pyrenees onward, is full of mines of gold, silver, iron, lead and tin.
XXI. From the Douro begins Lusitania: the old Turduli, the Paesuri, the river Vouga, the town of Talabrica, the town and river Agueda, the towns of Coimbra, Leiria and Eboro di Alcobaza. Then there runs out into the sea a promontory shaped like a vast horn, called by some people Artabrum, by others the Great Cape, and by many Cape Lisbon after the town; this headland sharply divides the land and sea and climate. This cape ends the side of Spain, and after rounding it the front of Spain begins.
XXII. On one side of it is the north and the Gallic Ocean, and on the other the west and the Atlantic. The distance to which this promontory projects has been given as 60 miles, and by others as 90 miles; the distance from here to the Pyrenees many give as 1250 miles, and place here a race of Artabres, which never existed, the error being obvious; they have put here, with an alteration in the spelling of the name, the Arrotrebae, whom we spoke of before we came to the Celtic Promontory.
Mistakes have also been made in regard to the important rivers. From the Minho, which we spoke of above, the distance to the Agueda according to Varro is 200 miles, though others place the latter elsewhere and call it the Liniaea; in early times it was called the River of Forgetfulness, and a great many stories were told about it. Two hundred miles from the Douro is the Tagus, the Mondego coming between them; the Tagus is famous for its auriferous sands. At a distance of nearly 160 miles from the Tagus is Cape St. Vincent, projecting from nearly the middle of the front of Spain. The distance from Cape St. Vincent to the middle of the Pyrenees is stated by Varro to amount to 1400 miles; from St. Vincent to the Guadiana, which we Indicated as the boundary between Lusitania and Baetica, he puts at 126 miles, the distance from the Guadiana to Cadiz adding another 102 miles.
The peoples are the Celtici, the Turduli, and on the Tagus the Vettones; and between the Guadiana and Cape St. Vincent the Lusitanians. The notable towns on the coast, beginning at the Tagus, are: Lisbon, famous for its mares which conceive from the west wind; Alcazar do Sal, called the Imperial City; Santiago de Cacem; Cape St. Vincent, and the other promontory called the Wedge; and the towns of Estombar, Tavira and Mertola.
The whole province is divided into three associations, centred at Merida, Beja and Santarem. It consists of 45 peoples in all, among whom there are five colonies, one municipality of Roman citizens, three with the old Latin rights and 36 that pay tribute. The colonies are Merida on the river Guadiana, Medellin, Beja, and Alcantara surnamed Caesarina (to this Trucillo and Caceres are assigned); and the fifth is that of Santarem, which is called the Garrison of Julius. The municipality of Roman citizens is Lisbon, surnamed the Success of Julius. The towns with the old Latin rights are Evora, which is also called the Generosity of Julius, and Mertola and Alcazar do Sal which we have mentioned. Of the tributary towns that deserve mention, besides those already specified in the list of names of those belonging to Baetica, are Augustobriga, Aemia, Arandita, Axabrica, Balsa, Caesarobrica, Capera, Coria, Colarna, Cibilita, Concordia, Elbocorium, Interamnimn, Lancia, Malabriga surnamed Celtic, Medubriga surnamed Plumbaria, Ocelum, the Turduli also called Bardili, and the Tapori.
The dimensions of Lusitania combined with Astnria and Gallaecia are given by Agrippa as: length 540 miles, breadth 536 miles. The provinces of Spain taken all together, measured from the two promontories of the Pyrenees along the sea line, are estimated to cover by the circumference of the whole coast 2924 miles, or by others 2600 miles.
Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands called by the Greeks the Tin Islands in consequence of their abundance of that metal; and facing Cape Finisterre are the six Islands of the Gods, which some people have designated the Isles of Bliss. But immediately at the beginning of Baetica comes Cadiz, 25 miles from the mouth of the Strait, an island according to Polybius's account measuring 12 miles in length and 3 miles in breadth. Its distance from the mainland at the nearest point is less than 233 yards. but at other places it is more than 7 miles; the circuit of the island is 15 miles. It has a town whose population have the Roman citizenship and are called Augustans, the title of their city being Julia Gaditana. On the side facing Spain at a distance of about 100 yards is another island one mile long and one mile broad, on which the town of Cadiz was previously situated; Ephorus and Philistus call it Aphrodisias, but its native name is the Isle call this island Erythea, and Timaeus and Silenus of Juno. The larger island according to Timaeus is known as Potimusa from its wells, but our people call it Tartesos and the Punic name is Gadir, which is Carthaginian for a fence; it was called Erythea, because the original ancestors of the Carthaginians, the Tyrians, were said to have come from the Red Sea. This island is believed by some people to have been the home of the Geryones whose cattle were carried off by Hercules; but others hold that that was another island, lying off Lusitania, and that an island there was once called by the same name.
XXIII. Having completed the circuit of Europe we must now give its complete dimensions, in order that those who desire this information may not be left at a loss. Its length from the Don to Cadiz is given by Artemidorus and Isidorus as 7714 miles. Polybius stated the breadth of Europe from Italy to the ocean as 1150 miles, but its exact magnitude had not been ascertained even in his day. The length of Italy itself up to the Alps is 1020 miles, as we stated; and from the Alps through Lyons to the in harbour of the Morini, the port on the British channel, the line of measurement that Polybius appears to take, is 1169 miles, but a better ascertained measurement and a longer one is that starting also from the Alps but going north-west through the Camp of the Legions in Germany to the mouth of the Rhine1243 miles.
Next after this we shall speak of Africa and Asia.