chapter iv

. of this book, § 4, and book xi. chap. ii. § 7. Groskurd refers also to Diodorus, book xiv. 93, and says that Leuco was the son of Satyrus.

[2654] The mountains in the north of Thrace still bear the name of Emineh-Dag, or Mount Emineh, at their eastern point; but the western portion is called the Balkan.

[2655] Piezina, at the embouchure of the Danube, between Babadag and Ismail.

[2656] A note in the French translation says, these were the Carni and the Iapodes, who having followed Sigovesus, in the reign of the elder Tarquin, had taken up their abode in the neighbourhood of the Adriatic; and refers to the Examen Critique des Anciens Historiens d’Alexandre, by M. de Sainte Croix, page 855.

[2657] Diodorus Siculus, in Excerpt. Peiresc. pag. 257; Memnon apud Photium, cod. 214, cap. 6; and Plutarch, in Demetrio, § 39 and 52, confirm what Strabo says here of the manner in which Dromichætes treated Lysimachus.

[2658] This is not in Plato’s Republic, but in his fourth book of Laws.

[2659] This passage, if it is the writing of Strabo, and not the marginal note of some learned reader, should doubtless be transferred back to the end of § 7 of this chapter.

[2660] Iliad xiii. 5. See note [2646] to page 460.

[2661] Kramer quotes Nækius in proof that we should here read Xerxes instead of Darius; and Groskurd refers to another passage in Strabo,

## book xiii. chap. i. § 22.

[2662] Casaubon observes that Diodorus Siculus attributes the invention of the potter’s wheel to Talus, a nephew of Dædalus, and that Theophrastus awards it to one Hyperbius of Corinth.

[2663] Iliad xviii. 600. Posidonius chose to regard this passage as an interpolation, and would not give the praise of the invention to any other than Anacharsis.

[2664] ἀβίους.

[2665] Iliad xiii. 5.

[2666] See chap. iii. § 3, 4, of this book.

[2667] ἄνδρα γόητα, one who used a kind of howling incantation while repeating spells.

[2668] See book vii. chap. iii. § 5, page 456.

[2669] Gossellin observes that the Dacians did not extend to the sources of the Danube, but to Bohemia, near the middle of the course of the Danube.

[2670] Gossellin seems to think that these Daæ are identical with the inhabitants of Daghistan. Davus is not found as the name of a slave amongst the Greeks till after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

[2671] Hyrcania comprehended the Corcan and Daghistan.

[2672] From Lydia and Syria.

[2673] Μάρισος ποταμός.

[2674] ὁ Δανούιος.

[2675] ὁ Ἴστρος. Stephen of Byzantium says that the Ister was called Δάνουβις, and that in very ancient times it was called Matoas. According to Ptolemy the lower part of the Danube was called Ister from Axiopolis, now Rassovat; according to Agathemerus, from Vienna.

[2676] Σαυρομάται.

[2677] The ancient Tyras.

[2678] Bessarabia and the southern part of Moldavia.

[2679] Peter the Great, at the beginning of the last century, incurred the risk of falling into the hands of the Turks almost on the same spot where Darius and Lysimachus had been in distress.

[2680] Now Piczina.

[2681] Ammianus Marcellinus, book xxii. chap. 8, gives the names of these mouths. He calls the Sacred Mouth by the name of the island Peuce.

[2682] There has been much geographical change in this locality since Strabo wrote.

[2683] The Tyras.

[2684] Gossellin supports this distance.

[2685] The Lake Ovidovo.

[2686] Now Akkerman.

[2687] Gossellin could not identify Niconia with any modern town. Groskurd marks it as destroyed.

[2688] Groskurd identifies this with Palanka.

[2689] Groskurd calls this Ilan-Adassi, or Schlangeninsel. Gossellin likewise translates Ilan-Adassi as “Isle of Serpents.”

[2690] The ancient Borysthenes.

[2691] Gossellin considers that Strabo wrote 1600 stadia, for at that distance from the sea there are cataracts which stop the ships that come from the sea.

[2692] Strabo’s word is Ὕπανις. Gossellin observes that we should look for the Ὕπανις to the east of the Dnieper, while the Bog lies to the west of that river.

[2693] Gossellin identifies this island with the modern Berezan.

[2694] Now the Dnieper.

[2695] Olbia, or Olbiopolis, would, according to this measure, be about the junction of the Bog and Dnieper.

[2696] Mannert has attempted to read Γεωργοί, because Herodotus, book iv. chap. 18, has so termed those Scythians who cultivated their fields. Is it not possible that the Latin Regii was the word Strabo had in his mind?

[2697] Piczina.

[2698] Some MSS. read this name Ῥωξανοί, others Ῥοξανοί, and others Ῥωξοανοί, but whether there is any distinction to be drawn between these and the Ῥωξαλανοί of book ii. chap. v. § 7, is not to be ascertained.

[2699] The Tanais.

[2700] The Sea of Zabache.

[2701] The Borysthenes.

[2702] The Gulf of Perecop, called also Olou-Degniz. _Gossellin._

[2703] The Isthmus of Perecop, which connects the Peninsula of Crimea, the ancient Taurica Chersonesus.

[2704] The Strait of Zabache, or Iéni-Kalé.

[2705] Panticapæum, now Kertsch or Wospor in Europe.

[2706] Phanagoria was on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus.

[2707] We entirely agree with Kramer in favouring Coray’s emendation of πλοῦν for πηλόν, the reading of MSS.

[2708] Herodotus, book iv. chap. 53, says this fishing was carried on in the Dnieper. Ælian, de Natur. Animal. book xiv. chap. 26, refers it to the Danube.

[2709] Strabo has before alluded to this fact, book ii. chap. i. § 16, p. 114.

[2710] Lucian, in Macrob. § 10, spells his name Anteas, and relates that he was killed in this war when upwards of 90 years of age.

[2711] Father of Alexander the Great.

[2712] The Island of Berezan.

[2713] M. Gossellin identifies this as Cape Czile.

[2714] 190 toises.

[2715] 63½ toises.

[2716] The Dromos Achillis is pretty well laid down in D’Anville’s Orbis Romani Pars Orientalis, 1764, but at present it presents a very different appearance.

[2717] There is a note by Gossellin in the French translation to the following effect. The western part of this strip of land is known as the Island of Tendra, because it is separated by a cut. The eastern part of the strip is called Djarilgatch. The entire length of the tongue of land is 800 Olympic stadia, the two extremities are a little farther from the mainland than Strabo says, and the isthmus is about 50 Olympic stadia broad. D’Anville has run this isthmus through the tongue of land, and jutting out into the sea, so as to form a cape, which he also calls Tendra, and which would answer to the Tamyraca of Strabo. In the most recent maps there is no trace of this cape, but we see the port of which Strabo speaks. As these tongues of land are composed of a shifting sand, they may experience alterations of form and variations of extent.

[2718] Gossellin observes that the direction of the Gulf Carcinites, or Gulf of Perecop, is from west to east, with a slight inclination towards the north, on arriving from the south. Its northern shore commences at the isthmus of the Course of Achilles, and would measure about 1000 Olympic stadia if we were to follow all the sinuosities.

[2719] Perekop. The isthmus is about 5½ miles across, according to M. Huot’s map, which accompanies Prince Demidoff’s Travels in Russia.

[2720] The Crimea.

[2721] The Sivash, or Putrid Lake. It communicates at the present day, not by a large opening, but by the narrow strait of Yenitche, or Tonka, with the Sea of Azof, (the Palus Mæotis,) from which it is separated by the Tonka, or Tongue of Arabat.

[2722] ῥαπτοῖς πλοίοις. Boats probably composed of frame-work covered with hides.

[2723] Casaubon suggests, and Gossellin adopts, the reading καλὸς λιμὴν, Fair Haven, for ἄλλος λιμὴν, another harbour. Whatever harbour was meant, its situation is uncertain.

[2724] Tereklias.

[2725] The ancient Tyras.

[2726] In speaking of the Virgin as “some goddess,” it may be doubted whether Diana is here meant, or some Scythian or Eastern divinity. Parthenium, a village, is mentioned, c. 4, 5. The scene of the Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides is laid some where on these shores.

[2727] The New Chersonesus, Cape Cherson, and the three small harbours near Khut.

[2728] The Heracleotic Chersonese was comprehended in the triangle formed by Ctenus, (Inkerman,) Parthenium, (Cape Cherson,) and Symbolon Limen (Baluklava). The Gulf of Ctenus is now the Gulf of Sebastopol, a name substituted for that of Akhtiar in the time of Catherine II. of Russia. On the first small bay to the west of the town of Sebastopol, was situated the New city Chersonesus, flourishing in the time of Strabo; the Old Chersonesus, described as in ruins, was situated on the small peninsula, the extreme western point of which is Cape Cherson. Both here and in various parts of the Crimea were very interesting remains of antiquity, but Dr. Clarke complains of their wanton destruction. Ctenus is probably derived from κτενώδης, “like a comb,” descriptive of the indented nature of the gulf. Both Gossellin and D’Anville have mistaken the true position of the Heracleotic Chersonese.

[2729] So named after the wife or sister of Leucon. _C._ Now Kaffa.

[2730] Cape Aia and Cape Keremp.

[2731] The opposite coasts are not visible from the middle passage.

[2732] The engraving in Pallas shows it to be, as the name implies, a table mountain, now Tchadir-Dagh, or Tent Mountain.

[2733] Trebizond.

[2734] The name seems to be preserved in that of one of the districts near the mountains, Eski-Krim. _G._ In Prince Demidoff’s map it is called Staröi-Krime.

[2735] Kertch.

[2736] The Sea of Azof.

[2737] Caffa.

[2738] i. e. from Kertch to Taman, or from Yeni-kaleh near Kertch to Taman. Prince Gleb, son of Vladimir, A. D. 1065, measured this latter distance on the ice, and found it to be 30,057 Russian fathoms, or nearly 12 miles. Here the battle was fought on the ice. See chap. iii. § 18.

[2739] The Tanais.

[2740] According to modern maps, the Don separates into two branches, and there again into several others, which form the mouths of the river. The extreme branches are at a considerable distance from each other.

[2741] Azof.

[2742] Yeni-kaleh.

[2743] Kazandib.

[2744] The amount is enormous, if it refers to the quantity of corn shipped in a single year. Neither manuscripts nor translations afford any various reading. The abbreviator, however, instead of 2,100,000, (μυριάδας μεδίμνων διακοσίας καὶ δέκα,) gives 150,000 (μεδίμνους ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΙΕ). But instead of correcting Strabo by his abbreviator, it is more probable that the text of the latter should be changed to 2,100,000, or even to 2,150,000 (ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΣΙΕ). Bréquigny, by an oversight, or because he thought proper to change the ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ of the text to ΧΙΛΙΑΔΑΣ, translates 210,000 medimni. However it may be, we know from Demosthenes, that this same prince of the Bosporus mentioned by Strabo, sent annually to Athens 400,000 medimni of corn, a quantity far below that mentioned in the text. To reconcile these authors, Mr. Wolf supposes that we ought to understand by 2,100,000 medimni of corn, the shipment made in the year of the great famine, which occurred in the 105th Olympiad, (about 360 B. C.,) and of which Demosthenes speaks in a manner to give us to understand, that the quantity sent that year by Leucon greatly exceeded that of former years. A very probable conjecture. _F. T._ The medimnus was about 1½ bushel.

[2745] ὄψημα.

[2746] ἀβίους.

[2747] I have adopted the reading suggested by the F. T., Πύργους καθ’ ἕκαστα στάδια δέκα. The wall of Ansander may still be traced. _Pallas._

[2748] Places to me unknown. _G._ Pallas erroneously supposes Palacium to be the modern Balaklava.

[2749] Named after Mithridates Eupator. Koslof, now again Eupatoria.

[2750] δορκάδες.

[2751] Sea of Marmora.

[2752] The Veliki Balkan.

[2753] The southern part of Dalmatia bounded by the Narenta, which takes its source in the Herzogovina.

[2754] Called Monte Argentaro by the Italians, Basilissa by the Greeks, Rulla by the Turks. _Baudrand._ Despoto Dagh.

[2755] Occupied the neighbourhood of the river Titius, Kerca, which discharges itself near Siberico.

[2756] The mountainous country south of Servia.

[2757] The text presents some difficulty; another reading is Tænii. Gossellin supposes the lake to be the Czirknitz-See near Mount Albius, now Alben or Planina.

[2758] The Margus? See chap. v. § 12.

[2759] At the confluence of the Kulpa and the Save, afterwards Siscia, now Sizsek.

[2760] Occupied the coast of Morlacca from the Gulf of Quarnero to Zara.

[2761] According to Pliny, the name of this place is derived from the fable of the ship Argo, which was brought up the Danube and the Save, and thence carried on men’s shoulders to the Adriatic. Now Porto Quieto.

[2762] To the north of Trieste.

[2763] Trieste.

[2764] Carniola.

[2765] The Czirknitz-See.

[2766] The Kulpa.

[2767] Gulf of Cataro.

[2768] Now celebrated for the remains of a Roman amphitheatre.

[2769] Ancona.

[2770] The Venetian territory.

[2771] I am not acquainted with the sites of these places. _G._

[2772] Ζειᾷ καὶ κέγχρῳ.

[2773] Scardona.

[2774] The Kerka.

[2775] The modern names of these numerous islands must be matter of conjecture. Issa is Lissa.

[2776] Salona.

[2777] Inhabitants, probably, of the peninsula Sabioncello.

[2778] Curzola.

[2779] Varalii, MSS.; but manifestly wrong.

[2780] Risano in the Gulf of Cataro.

[2781] The river Drin.

[2782] Kramer suggests the omission of these words, which render the passage obscure.

[2783] Galabrii. The name of this people is unknown. Probably it should be changed to Taulantii, an Illyrian tribe, or considered as a second name of the Taulantii, or that of a tribe belonging to them. The name Galabrus, or Galaurus, king of the Taulantii, has come down to us, which gives some probability to the second conjecture. _C._

[2784] The Mædi occupied the mountains which separate Macedonia from Thrace, between the river Strymon and Mount Rhodope. _G._

[2785] The Gulf of Cataro.

[2786] Alesso.

[2787] A fortified rock near.

[2788] Durazzo.

[2789] Ergent, or Beratino.

[2790] Lao, or Vousoutza.

[2791] Polina. Thucydides calls Apollonia a colony of the Corinthians, and not of the Corinthians and Corcyræans. He states it, however, (b. i. c. 24,) to have been the practice for colonies which in their turn founded other colonies, to unite with them, on these occasions, citizens of the mother city.

[2792] One of the peaks of Pindus.

[2793] Amphilochian Argos, now Filochia. _G._

[2794] On the boundary of Cilicia and Syria.

[2795] Appear to have been situated on the Gulf of Valona. _G._

[2796] The name, Ionian Gulf, appears to have extended from the Acroceraunian mountains to the southern part of Dalmatia, near Lissus, now Alessio, to the bottom of the Gulf of Drin. _G._

[2797] The word Αδρίας is translated Adriatic. In the version of the New Testament it is translated Adria. Acts xxvii. 27.—The Tartaro.

[2798] Narenta.

[2799] A common opinion among ancient geographers. See b. i. c. ii. § 39.

[2800] παρακούσματα λαοδογματικά.

[2801] The Agrianæ occupied the neighbourhood of Mount Pangæus on the confines of Thrace and Macedonia. The Triballi, at the time alluded to by Strabo, possessed nearly the whole of the country included between the Adriatic and the Euxine. The Scordisci, who were at first confined to the territory situated between the Drave and the Save, in their turn took possession of all this country. It is not possible, in consequence of the continual wars which existed amongst these people, to determine with exactness the places which they successively occupied. _G._

[2802] Probably the Save. _G._

[2803] Mædi.

[2804] Cities not identified.

[2805] The Dobrudscha.

[2806] Mangalia, Tomesvar, the place of Ovid’s exile, Kara-Herman.

[2807] Istropolis or Kara-Herman.

[2808] Tomesvar.

[2809] Mangalia.

[2810] Sizepoli.

[2811] Baltchik, near Kavarna.

[2812] Varna.

[2813] Cape Emineh—in the English charts Emona, but there is no fixed system of spelling for names of places in this part of the world. Emineh is probably a corruption of Hæmus.

[2814] Missemvria.

[2815] Or Meneburgh, we should say. The Thracian was a language cognate with that of the Getæ; see Strabo, book vii. chap. iii. § 10; and the Getæ were Gothic. We have the Liber Aureus in the Moeso Gothic language still.

[2816] Ahiolou.

[2817] Places no longer known. _G._

[2818] In the English charts Kyanees. They do not correspond to the description here given. The well-known poetical name is Symplegades.

[2819] In Italian, Pelamide, or Palamide, well known in the Mediterranean. It is not to be compared in size to the Thunny, but is much larger than the Mackerel, of a dark blue and streaked. Like the Thunny, it is migratory. Aristotle erroneously conjectures the Pelamide to be the young of the Thunny.

[2820] The ancient Byzantium, there are grounds for believing, was marked by the present walls of the Seraglio. The enlarged city was founded by the emperor Constantine, A. D. 328, who gave it his name, and made it the rival of Rome itself. It was taken from the Greeks in 1204, by the Venetians under Dandolo; retaken by the Greeks in 1261 under the emperor Michael Palæologus, and conquered by the Turks in 1453. The crescent found on some of the ancient Byzantine coins was adopted as a symbol by the Turks.

[2821] B. C. 1570. He was king of Argos.

[2822] The Peloponnesus, which before the arrival of Pelops was called Apia.

[2823] Eumolpus took possession of Eleusis B. C. 1400. He is said to have there instituted the mysteries of Ceres.

[2824] Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Tyre, arrived in Bœotia B. C. 1550. The citadel of Thebes was named after him.

[2825] Sues, Σύας, swine, in allusion to their ignorance.

[2826] There were two kings of Athens named Cecrops. The first of this name, first king of Attica and Bœotia, came from Egypt. Cecrops II. was the 7th, and Codrus the 17th and last king of Attica. Strabo informs us, b. x. c. i. § 3, that Œclus and Cothus were brothers of Ellops, who founded Ellopia in Eubœa, and gave the name to the whole island.

[2827] B. v. c. ii. § 4.

[2828] The capture of Troy by Hercules. See Grote i. 388.

[2829] B. C. 168.

[2830] Ipsala.

[2831] Maritza.

[2832] D’Anville (Mesures Itineraires) conjectures the difference between Polybius and Strabo to arise from the Greek foot being less than the Roman foot in the ratio of 24 to 25; or 24 Roman stadia = 25 Greek stadia containing the same number of feet.

[2833] Polina.

[2834] Durazzo.

[2835] Lago d’ Ochrida.

[2836] Vodina.

[2837] The ruins of Pella are at a little distance on the east of the lake Tenidscheh.

[2838] Salonica.

[2839] Gulf of Arta.

[2840] Iemboli.

[2841] Balkan applies to the whole mountainous range of Hæmus; Emineh to the part bordering on the Black Sea.

[2842] Sea of Marmora.

[2843] Gulf of Saros.

[2844] Cape Colonna.

[2845] Karasu, or Mesta.

[2846] The site of Dodona is unknown.

[2847] Panormo.

[2848] Santi Quaranta.

[2849] Corfu.

[2850] Cassiopo.

[2851] Brindisi.

[2852] Butrinto.

[2853] Syvota.

[2854] C. Bianco.

[2855] The Thyamus, or Thyamis, is now called Glycys, and the Acheron, Calamas.

[2856] Sopoto.

[2857] Porto Fanari.

[2858] The ruins of Nicopolis are to the north of Prevesa.

[2859] Cæsar Augustus (then Cæsar Octavianus) obtained the celebrated victory of Actium over Marcus Antonius, B. C. 31. The latter, after his defeat, fled into Egypt with Cleopatra. The battle would appear to have taken place at the entrance into the Gulf of Arta, and therefore probably off La Punta, opposite Prevesa, and not off the modern town of Azio.

[2860] In the Austrian map a ground-plan of the ruins of Nicopolis are given, at about one mile to the north of Prevesa.

[2861] The Gulf of Ambracia, and the rivers which flow into it, are much distorted in D’Anville. According to more modern maps, the Arathus is the most western of the streams which flow into the gulf, and the ancient city was situated at about 15 miles from the mouth. The Lorn (the Arathus); the Mauro Potamo or Glykys (the Acheron); the Zagura (the Selleis?) which falls into it; and the Tercino, which falls into the Kalamas, (the Thyamis or Thyamus,) all rise in the mountain ridge Olytkiza, about 10 miles to the west of Ianina.

[2862] Livy xxxviii. c. 3.

[2863] Virg. Æn. iii. 280.

[2864] Descendants of the seven chiefs who fought and perished before Thebes.

[2865] These nations are mentioned by other authors; they were probably separated by the numerous mountain ridges to the west of Pindus. See below, § 9. But compare D’Anville and the Austrian military map.

[2866] Alcomenæ.

[2867] Styberra, _Polyb._; Stubera, _Liv._; Stobera, _Suid._

[2868] Iliad, book xvi. 233.

[2869] ὑποφῆται.

[2870] τομοῦροι.

[2871] Odys. xvi. 403.

[2872] τομούρους.

[2873] θέμιστας.

[2874] βουλαί.

[2875] τομούρους.

[2876] τομαρούρους.

[2877] βουλὴν.

[2878] ὑποφῆται.

[2879] προφῆται.

[2880] The Fragments are collected from the Palatine (EPIT.) and Vatican (E.) Epitomes; and, in the opinion of Kramer, much is not lost. By the diligence and research of Kramer, the former length of these Fragments is more than doubled; but for a more particular account of his labours, the reader is referred to his preface and notes.

[2881] This proverb is quoted in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus.

[2882] Indesche Karasu.

[2883] Oxas.

[2884] Ipsala.

[2885] The Maritza.

[2886] Schar-dagh.

[2887] Egrisou-dagh.

[2888] Despoto-dagh.

[2889] Veliki-dagh.

[2890] Above Agios-Mamas, in the Bay of Cassandra.

[2891] The Gallico.

[2892] Kramer quotes the following passage from Eustathius: “In the passage ἐπικίδναται αἴῃ, or αἶαν, (for there are two readings,) some have understood αἶαv not to mean the earth, but a spring, as is evident from the words of the geographer, where he says that the Amydon of Homer was afterwards called Abydos, but was razed. For there is a spring of clearest water near Amydon, called Æa, running into the Axius, which is itself turbid, in consequence of the numerous rivers which flow into it. There is, therefore, he says, an error in the quotation, Ἀξίου κάλλιστον ὕδωρ ἐπικίδναται αἴῃ, as it is clearly not the Axius which diffuses its water over the spring, but the contrary. The geographer rather intemperately finds fault with the supposition of αἶαν meaning the earth, and seems anxious to reject altogether this reading in the Homeric poem.”

[2893] Buræus.

[2894] Gulf of Salonica.

[2895] Cape Pailuri.

[2896] The ruins of Potidæa, or Cassandria, are near Pinako.

[2897] Karafaja.

[2898] Monte Santo.

[2899] Gulf of Zeitun.

[2900] G. of Volo.

[2901] G. of Salonica.

[2902] G. of Cassandra.

[2903] G. of Monte Santo.

[2904] G. of Orfano.

[2905] Cape Stauros.

[2906] C. Demitri.

[2907] C. Pailuri.

[2908] C. Drepano.

[2909] C. St. George.

[2910] C. Monte Santo.

[2911] Kavala.

[2912] Δάτον ἀγαθῶν. Ἀγαθῶν ἀγαθίδες.

[2913] This extract should be numbered 42, and not 43. As the error in Kramer continues to the end of the book, it has not been corrected.

[2914] Gulf of Saros.

[2915] Kavaktshai.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Geography of Strabo, Volume I (of 3), by Strabo