Now the Autariatae were once the largest and best tribe of the Illyrians. In earlier times they were continually at war with the Ardiaei over the salt-works on the common frontiers. The salt was made to crystallize out of water which in the spring-time flowed at the foot of a certain mountain-glen, for if they drew off the water and stowed it away for five days the salt would become thoroughly crystallized. They would agree to use the salt-works alternately, but would break the agreements and go to war. At one time when the Autariatae had subdued the Triballi, whose territory extended from that of the Agrianes as far as the Ister, a journey of fifteen days, they held sway also over the rest of the Thracians and the Illyrians; but they were overpowered, at first by the Scordisci, and later on by the Romans, who also subdued the Scordisci themselves, after these had been in power for a long time. The Scordisci lived along the Ister and were divided into two tribes called the Great Scordisci and the Little Scordisci. The former lived between two rivers that empty into the Ister—the Noarus, See 7. 5. 2. which flows past Segestica, and the Margus Now the Morava. (by some called the Bargus), whereas the Little Scordisci lived on the far side of this river, i.e. east of the Margus. and their territory bordered on that of the Triballi and the Mysi. The Scordisci also held some of the islands; and they increased to such an extent that they advanced as far as the Illyrian, Paeonian, and Thracian mountains; accordingly, they also took possession of most of the islands in the Ister. And they also had two cities—Heorta and Capedunum. The sites of these places are unknown. Groskurd and Forbiger identify them with what are now Heortberg (Hartberg) and Kappenberg (Kapfenstein). After the country of the Scordisci, along the Ister, comes that of the Triballi and the Mysi (whom I have mentioned before), 7. 3. 7, 8, 10, 13. and also the marshes of that part of what is called Little Scythia which is this side the Ister (these too I have mentioned). 7. 4. 5. These people, as also the Crobyzi and what are called the Troglodytae, live above i.e. “in the interior and back of.” the region round about Callatis, Now Mangalia, on the Black Sea. Tomis, Now Kostanza. and Ister. Now Karanasib. Then come the peoples who live in the neighborhood of the Haemus Mountain and those who live at its base and extend as far as the Pontus—I mean the Coralli, the Bessi, and some of the Medi Cp. 7. 5. 7 and the footnote. and Dantheletae. Now these tribes are very brigandish themselves, but the Bessi, who inhabit the greater part of the Haemus Mountain, are called brigands even by the brigands. The Bessi live in huts and lead a wretched life; and their country borders on Mount Rhodope, on the country of the Paeonians, and on that of two Illyrian peoples—the Autariatae, and the Dardanians. Between these The word “these” would naturally refer to the Autariatae and the Dardanians, but it might refer to the Bessi (see next footnote). and the Ardiaei are the Dassaretii, the Hybrianes, The “Hybrianes” are otherwise unknown. Casaubon and Meineke emend to “Agrianes” (cp. 7. 5. 11 and Fragments 36, 37 and 41). If this doubtful emendation be accepted, the “these” (see preceding footnote) must refer to the Bessi. and other insignificant tribes, which the Scordisci kept on ravaging until they had depopulated the country and made it full of trackless forests for a distance of several days’ journey.
 The remainder of the country between the Ister and the mountains on either side of Paeonia consists of that part of the Pontic seaboard which extends from the Sacred Mouth of the Ister as far as the mountainous country in the neighborhood of the Haemus and as far as the mouth at Byzantium. And just as, in traversing the Illyrian seaboard, I proceeded as far as the Ceraunian Mountains, because, although they fall outside the mountainous country of Illyria, they afford an appropriate limit, and just as I determined the positions of the tribes of the interior by these mountains, because I thought that marks Others wrongly emend “marks” to “outlines.” See critical note to Greek text, and especially cp. 17. 1. 48 where the “marks” on the wall of the well indicate the risings of the Nile. of this kind would be more significant as regards both the description at hand and what was to follow, so also in this case the seaboard, even though it falls beyond the mountain-line, will nevertheless end at an appropriate limit—the mouth of the Pontus—as regards both the description at hand and that which comes next in order. So, then, if one begins at the Sacred Mouth of the Ister and keeps the continuous seaboard on the right, one comes, at a distance of five hundred stadia, to a small town, Ister, founded by the Milesians; then, at a distance of two hundred and fifty stadia, to a second small town, Tomis; then, at two hundred and eighty stadia, to a city Callatis, On these three places, see 7. 5. 12. a colony of the Heracleotae; Cp. 7. 4. 2. then, at one thousand three hundred stadia, to Apollonia, Now Sizeboli. a colony of the Milesians. The greater part of Apollonia was founded on a certain isle, where there is a temple of Apollo, from which Marcus Lucullus carried off the colossal statue of Apollo, a work of Calamis, Flourished at Athens about 450 B.C. This colossal statue was thirty cubits high and cost 500 talents ( Pliny 34.18 ). which he set up in the Capitolium. In the interval between Callatis and Apollonia come also Bizone, Now Kavarna. of which a considerable part was engulfed by earthquakes, Cp. 1. 3. 10. Cruni, Now Baltchik. Odessus, Now Varna. a colony of the Milesians, and Naulochus, In Pliny 4.18 , “Tetranaulochus”; site unknown. a small town of the Mesembriani. Then comes the Haemus Mountain, which reaches the sea here; In Cape Emineh-bouroun (“End of Haemus”). then Mesembria, a colony of the Megarians, formerly called “Menebria” (that is, “city of Menas,” because the name of its founder was Menas, while “bria” is the word for “city” in the Thracian language. In this way, also, the city of Selys is called Selybria Or Selymbria; now Selivri. and Aenus Now Aenos. was once called Poltyobria Or Poltymbria; city of Poltys. ). Then come Anchiale, Now Ankhialo. a small town belonging to the Apolloniatae, and Apollonia itself. On this coast-line is Cape Tirizis, Cape Kaliakra. a stronghold, which Lysimachus See 7. 3. 8, 14. once used as a treasury. Again, from Apollonia to the Cyaneae the distance is about one thousand five hundred stadia; and in the interval are Thynias, Now Cape Iniada. a territory belonging to the Apolloniatae (Anchiale, which also belongs to the Apolloniatae The parenthesized words seem to be merely a gloss (see critical note). ), and also Phinopolis and Andriaca, The sites of these two places are unknown. which border on Salmydessus. Including the city of Salmydessus (now Midia). Salmydessus is a desert and stony beach, harborless and wide open to the north winds, and in length extends as far as the Cyaneae, a distance of about seven hundred stadia; and all who are cast ashore on this beach are plundered by the Astae, a Thracian tribe who are situated above it. The Cyaneae Cp. 1. 2. 10 and 3. 2. The islet, or rock, on the Asiatic side was visible in the sixteenth century, but “is now submerged,”—”on the bight of Kabakos” (Tozer, op. cit., p. 198). Tozer (loc. cit.) rightly believes that the ancients often restricted the Cyanean Rocks to those on the European side—what are now the Oräkje Tashy (see Pliny 4. 27 ). are two islets near the mouth of the Pontus, one close to Europe and the other to Asia; they are separated by a channel of about twenty stadia and are twenty stadia distant both from the temple of the Byzantines and from the temple of the Chalcedonians. These temples were called the Sarapieium and the temple of Zeno Urius; and they were on the present sites of the two Turkish forts which command the entrance to the Bosporus (Tozer). And this is the narrowest part of the mouth of the Euxine, for when one proceeds only ten stadia farther one comes to a headland which makes the strait only five stadia But cp. “four stadia” in 2. 5. 23. in width, and then the strait opens to a greater width and begins to form the Propontis. Now the distance from the headland that makes the strait only five stadia wide to the harbor which is called “Under the Fig-tree “ Now Galata. is thirty-five stadia; and thence to the Horn of the Byzantines, The Golden Horn. five stadia. The Horn, which is close to the wall of the Byzantines, is a gulf that extends approximately towards the west for a distance of sixty stadia; it resembles a stag’s horn, So the harbor of Brindisi (6. 3. 6). for it is split into numerous gulfs—branches, as it were. The pelamydes A kind of tunny-fish. rush into these gulfs and are easily caught—because of their numbers, the force of the current that drives them together, and the narrowness of the gulfs; in fact, because of the narrowness of the area, they are even caught by hand. Now these fish are hatched in the marshes of Lake Maeotis, and when they have gained a little strength they rush out through the mouth of the lake in schools and move along the Asian shore as far as Trapezus and Pharnacia. It is here Pharnacia (cp. 12. 3. 19). that the catching of the fish first takes place, though the catch is not considerable, for the fish have not yet grown to their normal size. But when they reach Sinope, they are mature enough for catching and salting. Yet when once they touch the Cyaneae and pass by these, the creatures take such fright at a certain white rock which projects from the Chalcedonian shore that they forthwith turn to the opposite shore. There they are caught by the current, and since at the same time the region is so formed by nature as to turn the current of the sea there to Byzantium and the Horn at Byzantium, they naturally are driven together thither and thus afford the Byzantines and the Roman people considerable revenue. But the Chalcedonians, though situated near by, on the opposite shore, have no share in this abundance, because the pelamydes do not approach their harbors; hence the saying that Apollo, when the men who founded Byzantium at a time subsequent to the founding of Chalcedon Byzantium appears to have been founded about 659 B.C. (see Pauly-Wissowa, s.v.). According to Herodotus (4. 144), Chalcedon (now Kadi Koi) was founded seventeen years earlier. Both were Megarian colonies. by the Megarians consulted the oracle, ordered them to “make their settlement opposite the blind,” thus calling the Chalcedonians “blind”, because, although they sailed the regions in question at an earlier time, they failed to take possession of the country on the far side, with all its wealth, and chose the poorer country. I have now carried my description as far as Byzantium, because a famous city, lying as it does very near to the mouth, marked a better-known limit to the coasting-voyage from the Ister. And above Byzantium is situated the tribe of the Astae, in whose territory is a city Calybe, i.e., “Hut,” called by Ptolemaeus (3. 11) and others “Cabyle”; to be identified, apparently, with the modern Tauschan-tepe, on the Toundja River. where Philip the son of Amyntas settled the most villainous people of his kingdom. Suidas (s.v. Δούλων πόλις ) quotes Theopompus as saying that Philip founded in Thrace a small city called Poneropolis (“City of Villains”), settling the same with about two thousand men—the false-accusers, false-witnesses, lawyers, and all other bad mean; but Poneropolis is not to be identified with Cabyle if the positions assigned to the two places by Ptolemaeus (3. 11) are correct. However, Ptolemaeus does not mention Ponerpolois, but Philippopolis, which latter, according to Pliny (4. 18), was the later name of Poneropolis. 
 These alone, then, of all the tribes that are marked off by the Ister and by the Illyrian and Thracian mountains, deserve to be mentioned, occupying as they do the whole of the Adriatic seaboard beginning at the recess, and also the sea-board that is called “the left parts of the Pontus,” and extends from the Ister River as far as Byzantium. But there remain to be described the southerly parts of the aforesaid See 7. 5. 1. mountainous country and next thereafter the districts that are situated below them, among which are both Greece and the adjacent barbarian country as far as the mountains. Now Hecataeus of Miletus says of the Peloponnesus that before the time of the Greeks it was inhabited by barbarians. Yet one might say that in the ancient times the whole of Greece was a settlement of barbarians, if one reasons from the traditions themselves: Pelops See 8. 3. 31, 4. 4, 5. 5 and 12. 8. 2. brought over peoples See the quotation from Hesiod (2 following) and footnote on “peoples.” from Phrygia to the Peloponnesus that received its name from him; and Danaüs See 8. 6. 9, 10. from Egypt; whereas the Dryopes, the Caucones, the Pelasgi, the Leleges, and other such peoples, apportioned among themselves the parts that are inside the isthmus—and also the parts outside, for Attica was once held by the Thracians who came with Eumolpus, son of Poseidon, king of the Thracians, and reputed founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Daulis in Phocis by Tereus, See 9. 3. 13. Cadmeia Thebes and surrounding territory (9. 2. 3, 32). by the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and Boeotia itself by the Aones and Temmices and Hyantes. According to Pindar, “there was a time when the Boeotian tribe was called “Syes.” Pind. Fr. Dith. 83 (Bergk) Strabo identifies “Hyantes” with “Syes”=“Hyes,” i.e. “swine.” Moreover, the barbarian origin of some is indicated by their names—Cecrops, Godrus, Aïclus, Cothus, Drymas, and Crinacus. And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians—Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes—Epeirotic tribes.