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, Now Karkinit Bay. or Carcinites, which is the isthmus of the Great Chersonesus. The Tauric Chersonese, now the Crimea. 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 See 2. 1. 16. 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 Now Kertch. across to Phanagoria Near what is now Taman. is traversed by wagons, so that it is both ice and roadway. And fish that become caught in the ice are obtained by digging Strabo seems to mean that the fish were imbedded in the ice, and not that “the ice was first broken, and the fish extracted from the water beneath with a net” (Tozer, Selections from Strabo , p. 196). with an implement called the “gangame,” A pronged instrument like a trident. Tozer (loc. cit.) takes “gangame” to mean here “ a small round net;” but see Stephanus, Thesaurus, and especially Hesychius (s.v.). and particularly the antacaei, A kind of sturgeon (see Hdt. 4.53 ), being one of the fish from the roe of which the Russian caviar is now prepared. which are about the size of dolphins. This sentence is transposed by Meineke to a position after the sentence that follows, but see footnote on “Carcinites,” 7. 4. 1. 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. Cp. 2. 1. 16. 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 Aristot. Meteorologica 3.2.6, 3.6.5 refers to, and explains, the phenomena of the “parhelia” (“mock-suns”) in the Bosporus region. in the clouds). It appears that Ateas, According to Lucian Macrob. 10 Anteas (sic) fell in the war with Philip when about ninety years of age. The Roman writers spell the name “Atheas.” who waged war with Philip 359 -336 B.C.; the father of Alexander the Great. the son of Amyntas, ruled over most of the barbarians in this part of the world. After the island See 7. 3. 17. that lies off the Borysthenes, and next towards the rising sun, one sails to the cape Now Cape Tendra. of the Race Course of Achilles, which, though a treeless place, is called Alsos i.e.,, “a grove”; the word usually means a sacred precinct planted with trees, but is often used of any sacred precinct. and is sacred to Achilles. Then comes the Race Course of Achilles, a peninsula The western part (now an island) of this peninsula is called “Tendra,” and the eastern, “Zharylgatch” (or Djarilgatch”). According to ancient legends Achilles pursued Iphigenia to this peninsula and there practised for his races. 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, The plethron was one-sixth of a stadium, or 100 feet. and it is only sixty stadia distant from the mainland that lies on either side of the neck. It is sandy, We would call it a “sand-bank.” 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, Now Cape Czile. 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 Isthmus of Perekop. which separates what is called Lake Sapra i.e., “Putrid”; called by Ptolemaeus 3.5.2 and other ancient writers “Byce”; now called by the Russians “Ghuiloje More.” 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, Strabo does not specify whether in breadth, length, or perimeter: he must mean perimeter, in which case the figure is, roughly speaking, correct. 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 i.e., Carcinites. In numerous cases Strabo unexpectedly reverts to a subject previously dismissed (cp. 7. 3. 18 and footnote). The present instance, among others, clearly shows that Groskurd, Forbiger, and Meineke are hardly justified in transferring passages of the text to different positions. However, they do not make a transfer here. 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 Corais, from a conjecture of Casaubon, emends “another harbor” to Fair Harbor.” But since Ptolemaeus 3.5.2 refers to a Kalos Limen on the opposite coast, the present translator conjectures that Strabo wrote “another Fair Harbor.” It is known that there were two settlements of the Chersonesites north of the great bay on which the city of Chersonesus was situated and that their names were “Cercinitis” and “Kalos Limen.” See Latyschew, and the inscription is S. Ber. Akad. Berl. 1892, 479 ; and Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. “Bosporus,” p. 772 and s.v. “Chersonesos,” p. 2265. 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; Also called the “Great Chersonesus” (the Crimea), as distinguished from the “Little Chersonesus.” Strabo means that the cape in question and the Little Chersonesus are identical. The cape (or peninsula) was bounded on the north by the isthmus (later mentioned), and this isthmus was marked by a wall and trench (see 7. 4. 7) which connected Ctenus Harbor (now the Harbor of Sebastopol) with Symbolon Limen (now the Harbor of Balaklava). and on this cape is situated a city of the Heracleotae, a colony of the Heracleotae who live on the Pontus, In the Paphlagonian city called Heracleia Pontica (now Erekli). and this place itself The “city” just mentioned. is called Chersonesus, “New Chersonesus,” which is now in ruins near Sebastopol. “Old Chersonesus” (in ruins in Strabo’s time) was near the isthmus of the little peninsula which terminates in Cape Fanary. being distant as one sails along the coast That is, including the entire circuit around the coast of Karkinit Bay. four thousand four hundred stadia from the Tyras. In this city is the temple of the Parthenos, a certain deity; “Parthenos” (“Virgin”) usually means Athene; but in this case it means either the Tauric Artemis (see 5. 3. 12 and Diod. Sic. 4.44 ), or (what is more likely) Iphigenia (see Herodotus, 4. 103). In saying “deity,” and not “goddess,” Strabo seems purposely non-committal as between the two. and the cape Now Cape Fanary. 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 See 4. 1. 4, and footnote. 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. “Signal Harbor”; now the Harbor of Balaklava. This harbor forms with another harbor called Ctenus Limen “Comb Harbor” (now the Harbor of Sebastopol); probably so called from the sharp indentations in the coast. 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 Strabo is now thinking of the Old Chersonesus. 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 Isthmus of Perekop. as far as the Borysthenes and the Adrias; That is, the head of the Adriatic. 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 See 7. 3. 17. and the rest—who, according to Poseidonius were fifty in number, but according to Apollonides Little is known of this Apollonides. According to the scholiast on Apollonius Argonautica 4.983, 1175 , he wrote a geographical treatise entitled Periplus of Europe . were eighty. At the same time, also, he not only subdued all these by force, but also established himself as lord of the Bosporus, The Cimmerian Bosporus, the country about the strait of Kertch. The capital was Panticapaeum (now Kertch). receiving the country as a voluntary gift from Parisades The correct spelling of the name seems to be “Paerisades” (so on coins), but several ancient writers spell it 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, Now called Feodosia or Kaffa. 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; Now Amasra. it is called Criumetopon. Literally, “Ram’s-forehead”; now Cape Karadje. And opposite it lies that promontory of the Paphlagonians, Carambis, Now Cape Kerembe. which, by means of the strait, which is contracted on both sides, divides the Euxine Pontus into two seas. Cp. 2. 5. 22, where the same thought is clearly expressed. Now the distance from Carambis to the city of the Chersonesites is two thousand five hundred stadia, But cp. 2. 5. 22. 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. Cp. the footnote on seeing from Lilybaeum to the Carthaginian harbor, 6. 2. 1. In the mountainous district of the Taurians is also the mountain Trapezus, Now Tchadir-Dagh. which has the same name as the city i.e., the Trebizond of today. in the neighborhood of Tibarania and Colchis. And near the same mountainous district is also another mountain, Cimmerius, Now Aghirmisch-Daghi. so called because the Cimmerians once held sway in the Bosporus; and it is because of this fact that the whole of the strait The strait of Kertch. which extends to the mouth of Lake Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus.