Geography (Books 6-14) (7.3.18-7.4.3)

The whole of the country has severe winters as far as the regions by the sea that are between the Borysthenes and the mouth of Lake Maeotis; but of the regions themselves that are by the sea the most northerly are the mouth of the Maeotis and, still more northerly, the mouth of the Borysthenes, and the recess of the Gulf of Tamyraces,[*] or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus.[*] The coldness of these regions, albeit the people live in plains, is evident, for they do not breed asses, an animal that is very sensitive to cold; and as for their cattle, some are born without horns, while the horns of others are filed off, for this part of the animal is sensitive to cold; and the horses are small, whereas the sheep are large; and bronze water-jars burst[*] and their contents freeze solid. But the severity of the frosts is most clearly evidenced by what takes place in the region of the mouth of Lake Maeotis: the waterway from Panticapaeum[*] across to Phanagoria[*] is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging[*] with an implement called the “gangame,”[*] and particularly the antacaei,[*] which are about the size of dolphins.[*] It is said of Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, that in the same strait he overcame the barbarians in a naval engagement in summer and in a cavalry engagement in winter.[*] And it is further said that the vine in the Bosporus region is buried during the winter, the people heaping quantities of earth upon it. And it is said that the heat too becomes severe, perhaps because the bodies of the people are unaccustomed to it, or perhaps because no winds blow on the plains at that time, or else because the air, by reason of its density, becomes superheated (like the effect of the parhelia[*] in the clouds). It appears that Ateas,[*] who waged war with Philip[*] the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world.

After the island[*] that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one sails to the cape[*] of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos[*] and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a peninsula[*] that lies flat on the sea; it is a ribbon-like stretch of land, as much as one thousand stadia in length, extending towards the east; its maximum breadth is only two stadia, and its minimum only four plethra,[*] and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on either side of the neck. It is sandy,[*] and water may be had by digging. The neck of the isthmus is near the center of the peninsula and is about forty stadia wide. It terminates in a cape called Tamyrace,[*] which has a mooring-place that faces the mainland. And after this cape comes the Carcinites Gulf. It is a very large gulf, reaching up towards the north as far as one thousand stadia; some say, however, that the distance to its recess is three times as much. The people there are called Taphrians. The gulf is also called Tamyrace, the same name as that of the cape.

Here is the isthmus[*] which separates what is called Lake Sapra[*] from the sea; it is forty stadia in width and forms what is called the Tauric, or Scythian, Chersonese. Some, however, say that the breadth of the isthmus is three hundred and sixty stadia. But though Lake Sapra is said to be as much as four thousand stadia,[*] it is only a part, the western part, of Lake Maeotis, for it is connected with the latter by a wide mouth. It is very marshy and is scarcely navigable for sewn boats, for the winds readily uncover the shallow places and then cover them with water again, and therefore the marshes are impassable for the larger boats. The gulf[*] contains three small islands, and also some shoals and a few reefs along the coast.

As one sails out of the gulf, one comes, on the left, to a small city and another harbor[*] belonging to the Chersonesites. For next in order as one sails along the coast is a great cape which projects towards the south and is a part of the Chersonesus as a whole;[*] and on this cape is situated a city of the Heracleotae, a colony of the Heracleotae who live on the Pontus,[*] and this place itself[*] is called Chersonesus,[*] being distant as one sails along the coast[*] four thousand four hundred stadia from the Tyras. In this city is the temple of the Parthenos, a certain deity;[*] and the cape[*] which is in front of the city, at a distance of one hundred stadia, is also named after this deity, for it is called the Parthenium, and it has a shrine and xoanon[*] of her. Between the city and the cape are three harbors. Then comes the Old Chersonesus, which has been razed to the ground; and after it comes a narrow-mouthed harbor, where, generally speaking, the Tauri, a Scythian tribe, used to assemble their bands of pirates in order to attack all who fled thither for refuge. It is called Symbolon Limen.[*] This harbor forms with another harbor called Ctenus Limen[*] an isthmus forty stadia in width; and this is the isthmus that encloses the Little Chersonesus, which, as I was saying, is a part of the Great Chersonesus and has on it the city of Chersonesus, which bears the same name as the peninsula.

This city[*] was at first self-governing, but when it was sacked by the barbarians it was forced to choose Mithridates Eupator as protector. He was then leading an army against the barbarians who lived beyond the isthmus[*] as far as the Borysthenes and the Adrias;[*] this, however, was prepratory to a campaign against the Romans. So, then, in accordance with these hopes of his he gladly sent an army to Chersonesus, and at the same time carried on war against the Scythians, not only against Scilurus, but also the sons of Scilurus—Palacus[*] and the rest—who, according to Poseidonius were fifty in number, but according to Apollonides[*] were eighty. At the same time, also, he not only subdued all these by force, but also established himself as lord of the Bosporus,[*] receiving the country as a voluntary gift from Parisades[*] who held sway over it. So from that time on down to the present the city of the Chersonesites has been subject to the potentates of the Bosporus. Again, Ctenus Limen is equidistant from the city of the Chersonesites and Symbolon Limen. And after Symbolon Limen, as far as the city Theodosia,[*] lies the Tauric seaboard, which is about one thousand stadia in length. It is rugged and mountainous, and is subject to furious storms from the north. And in front of it lies a promontory which extends far out towards the high sea and the south in the direction of Paphlagonia and the city Amastris;[*] it is called Criumetopon.[*] And opposite it lies that promontory of the Paphlagonians, Carambis,[*] which, by means of the strait, which is contracted on both sides, divides the Euxine Pontus into two seas.[*] Now the distance from Carambis to the city of the Chersonesites is two thousand five hundred stadia,[*] but the number to Criumetopon is much less; at any rate, many who have sailed across the strait say that they have seen both promontories, on either side, at the same time.[*] In the mountainous district of the Taurians is also the mountain Trapezus,[*] which has the same name as the city[*] in the neighborhood of Tibarania and Colchis. And near the same mountainous district is also another mountain, Cimmerius,[*] so called because the Cimmerians once held sway in the Bosporus; and it is because of this fact that the whole of the strait[*] which extends to the mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus.