Book VI. An Account of Countries, Nations, Seas, Towns, Havens, Mountains, Rivers, Distances, and Peoples Who Now Exist, or Formerly Existed.

Chaps. 1-4.

Chap. 1. (1.)—The Euxine and the Maryandini.

T HE Euxine [Or the “Hospitable” Sea, now the Black Sea.] Sea, which in former times had the name of Axenus, [Or the “Inhospitable.”] from the savage and inhospitable character of the nations living on its borders, by a peculiar whim of nature, which is continually giving way before the greedy inroads of the sea, lies between Europe and Asia. It was not enough for the ocean to have surrounded the earth, and then deprived us of a considerable portion of it, thus rendering still greater its uninhabitable proportion; it was not enough for it to have forced a passage through the mountains, to have torn away Calpe from Africa, and to have swallowed up a much larger space than it left untouched; it was not enough for it to have poured its tide into the Propontis through the Hellespont, after swallowing up still more of the dry land—for beyond the Bosporus, as well, it opens with its insatiate appetite upon another space of immense extent, until the Mæotian lakes [The streams which discharge their waters into the Palus Mæotis, or Sea of Azof.] unite their ravening waters with it as it ranges far and wide.

That all this has taken place in spite, as it were, of the earth, is manifested by the existence of so many straits and such numbers of narrow passages formed against the will of nature—that of the Hellespont, [Straits of the Dardanelles or of Gallipoli, spoken of in B. iv. c. 18, as seven stadia in width.] being only eight hundred and seventy-five paces in width, while at the two Bospori [The Thracian Bosporus, now the Channel or Straits of Constantinople, and the Cimmerian Bosporus or Straits of Kaffa, or Yeni Kale.] the passage across may be effected by oxen [From βοῦς, an ox, and πορός, “a passage.” According to the legend, it was at the Thracian Bosporus that the cow Io made her passage from one continent to the other, and hence the name, in all probability, celebrated alike in the fables and the history of antiquity. The Cimmerian Bosporus not improbably borrowed its name from the Thracian. See Æsch. Prom. Vinc. l. 733.] swimming, a fact from which they have both derived their name. And then besides, [This sentence seems to bear reference to the one that follows, and not, as punctuated in the Latin, to the one immediately preceding it.] although they are thus severed, there are certain points on which these coasts stand in the relation of brotherhood towards each other—the singing of birds and the barking of dogs on the one side can be heard on the other, and an intercourse can be maintained between these two worlds by the medium even of the human voice, [It is not probable that this is the case at the Straits of Kaffa, which are nearly four miles in width at the narrowest part.] if the winds should not happen to carry away the sound thereof.

The length of the borders of the Euxine from the Bosporus to the Lake Mæotis has been reckoned by some writers at fourteen hundred and thirty-eight miles; Eratosthenes, however, says that it is one hundred less. According to Agrippa, the distance from Chalcedon to the Phasis is one thousand miles, and from that river to the Cimmerian Bosporus three hundred and sixty. We will here give in a general form the distances as they have been ascertained in our own times; for our arms have even penetrated to the very mouth of the Cimmerian Straits.

After passing the mouth of the Bosporus we come to the river Rhebas, [Now the Riva, a river of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, falling into the Euxine north-east of Chalcedon.] by some writers called the Rhesus. We next come to Psillis, [Probably an obscure town.] the port of Calpas, [On the river Calpas or Calpe, in Bithynia. Xenophon, in the Anabasis, describes it as about half way between Byzantium and Heraclea. The spot is identified in some of the maps as Kirpeh Limán, and the promontory as Cape Kirpeh.] and the Sagaris, [Still known as the Sakaria.] a famous river, which rises in Phrygia and receives the waters of other rivers of vast magnitude, among which are the Tembrogius [Now called the Sursak, according to Parisot.] and the Gallus, [Now the Lef-ke. See the end of c. 42 of the last Book.] the last of which is by many called the Sangarius. After leaving the Sagaris the Gulf of the Mariandyni [The modern Gulf of Sakaria. Of the Mariandyni, who gave the ancient name to it, little or nothing is known.] begins, and we come to the town of Heraclea, [Its site is now known as Harakli or Eregli. By Strabo it is erroneously called a colony of Miletus. It was situate a few miles to the north of the river Lycus.] on the river Lycus; [Now called the Kilij.] this place is distant from the mouth of the Euxine two hundred miles. The sea-port of Acone [Stephanus Byzantinus speaks of this place as producing whetstones, or ἀκοναὶ, as well as the plant aconite.] comes next, which has a fearful notoriety for its aconite or wolf’s-bane, a deadly poison, and then the cavern of Acherusia, [This name was given to the cavern in common with several other lakes or caverns in various parts of the world, which, like the various rivers of the name of Acheron, were at some time supposed to be connected with the lower world.] the rivers Pædopides, Callichorus, and Sonautes, the town of Tium, [Now called Falios (or more properly Filiyos), according to D’Anville, from the river of that name in its vicinity, supposed by him and other geographers to be the same as the ancient Billis, here mentioned by Pliny. By others of the ancient writers it is called Billæus.] distant from Heraclea thirty-eight miles, and the river Billis.

Chap. 2. (2.)—Paphlagonia.

Beyond this river begins the nation of Paphlagonia, [Paphlagonia was bounded by Bithynia on the west, and by Pontus on the east, being separated from the last by the river Halys; on the south it was divided by the chain of Mount Olympus from Phrygia in the earlier times, from Galatia at a later period; and on the north it bordered on the Euxine.] by some writers called Pylæmenia; [In the Homeric catalogue we find Pylæmenes leading the Paphlagonians as allies of the Trojans; from this Pylæmenes the later princes of Paphlagonia claimed their descent, and the country was sometimes from them called Pylæmenia.] it is closed in behind by the country of Galatia. In it are Mastya, [Suspected by Hardouin to have been the same as the Moson or Moston mentioned by Ptolemy as in Galatia.] a town founded by the Milesians, and then Cromna, [It is mentioned by Homer, Il. ii. 855, as situate on the coast of Paphlagonia.] at which spot Cornelius Nepos also places the Heneti, [Strabo also, in B. xii., says that these people afterwards established themselves in Thrace, and that gradually moving to the west, they finally settled in the Italian Venetia, which from them took its name. But in his Fourth Book he says that the Veneti of Italy owe their origin to the Gallic Veneti, who came from the neighbourhood known as the modern Vannes.] from whom he would have us believe that the Veneti of Italy, who have a similar name, are descended. The city also of Sesamon, now called Amastris, [This city, ninety stadia east of the river Parthenius, occupied a peninsula, and on each side of the isthmus was a harbour. The original city, as here mentioned, seems to have had the name of Sesamus or Sesamum, and it is spoken of by that name in Homer, Il. ii. 853, in conjunction with Cytorus. The territory of Amastris was famous for its growth of the best box-wood, which grew on Mount Cytorus. The present Amasra or Hanasserah occupies its site.] Mount Cytorus, [See the last] distant sixty-three miles from Tium, the towns of Cimolis [Otherwise called “Cinolis.” There is a place called Kinla or Kinoglu in the maps, about half-way between Kerempeh and Sinope, which is the Kinuli of Abulfeda, and probably the Cirolis or Cimolis of the Greek geographers.] and Stephane, [The modern Estefan or Stefanos.] and the river Parthenius. [Now known by the name of Bartin, a corruption of its ancient appellation.] The promontory of Carambis, [It still retains its ancient appellation in its name of Cape Kerempeh: of the ancient town nothing is known.] which extends a great distance into the sea, is distant from the mouth of the Euxine three hundred and twenty-five miles, or, according to some writers, three hundred and fifty, being the same distance from the Cimmerian Bosporus, or, as some persons think, only three hundred and twelve miles. There was formerly also a town of the same name, and another near it called Armene; we now find there the colony of Sinope, [Now called Sinope, or Sinoub. Some ruins of it are still to be seen. The modern town is but a poor place, and has probably greatly declined since the recent attack upon it by the Russian fleet. Diogenes, the Cynic philosopher, was a native of ancient Sinope.] distant from Mount Cytorus one hundred and sixty-four miles. We then come to the river Evarchus, [The boundary, according to Stephanus Byzantinus, also of the nations of Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. As Parisot remarks, this is an error, arising from the circumstance of a small tribe bearing the name of Cappadocians, having settled on its banks, between whom and the Paphlagonians it served as a limit.] and after that a people of the Cappadocians, the towns of Gaziura [On the river Iris. It was the ancient residence of the kings of Pontus, but in Strabo’s time it was deserted. It has been suggested that the modern Azurnis occupies its site.] and Gazelum, [In the north-west of Pontus, in a fertile plain between the rivers Halys and Amisus. It is also called Gadilon by Strabo. D’Anville makes it the modern Aladgiam; while he calls Gaziura by the name of Guedes.] the river Halys, [Now called the Kisil Irmak, or Red River. It has been remarked that Pliny, in making this river to come down from Mount Taurus and flow at once from south to north, appears to confound the Halys with one of its tributaries, now known as the Izchel Irmak.] which runs from the foot of Mount Taurus through Cataonia and Cappadocia, the towns of Gangre [Its site is now called Kiengareh, Kangreh, or Changeri. This was a town of Paphlagonia, to the south of Mount Olgasys, at a distance of thirty-five miles from Pompeiopolis.] and Carusa, [A commercial place to the south of Sinope. Its site is the modern Gherseh on the coast.] the free town of Amisus, [Now called Eski Samsun; on the west side of the bay or gulf, anciently called Sinus Amisenus. According to Strabo, it was only 900 stadia from Sinope, or 112½ Roman miles. The walls of the ancient city are to be seen on a promontory about a mile and a half from the modern town.] distant from Sinope one hundred and thirty miles, and a gulf of the same name, of such vast extent [He means the numerous indentations which run southward into the coast, from the headland of Sinope to a distance of about one degree to the south.] as to make Asia assume the form of a peninsula, the isthmus of which is only some two hundred [On examining the map, we shall find that the distance is at least 300 miles across to the gulf of Issus or Iskenderoon.] miles in breadth, or a little more, across to the gulf of Issus in Cilicia. In all this district there are, it is said, only three races that can rightly be termed Greeks, the Dorians, the Ionians, and the Æolians, all the rest being of barbarian origin. [Not speaking the Greek language.] To Amisus was joined the town of Eupatoria, [A part of it only was added to Eupatoria; and it was separated from the rest by a wall, and probably contained a different population from that of Amisus. This new quarter contained the residence of the king, Mithridates Eupator, who built Eupatoria.] founded by Mithridates: after his defeat they were both included under the name of Pompeiopolis.

Chap. 3. (3.)—Cappadocia.

Cappadocia [The boundaries of Cappadocia varied under the dominion of the Persians, after the Macedonian conquest, and as a Roman province under the emperors.] has in the interior Archelais, [Founded by Archelaüs, the last king of Cappadocia. In Hamilton’s Researches, the site has been assumed to be the modern Ak-serai, but that place is not on the river Halys, as Leake supposes. It is, however, considered that Ak-serai agrees very well with the position of Archelais as laid down in the Itineraries, and that Pliny may have been misled in supposing that the stream on which it stood was the Halys.] a colony founded by Claudius Cæsar, and past which the river Halys flows; also the towns of Comana, [Also called by the name of Chryse, or “Golden,” to distinguish it from another place of the same name in Pontus. It is generally supposed that the town of Al-Bostan, on the Sihoon or Sarus, is on or near the site of this Comana.] watered by the Sarus, Neocæsarea, [Now called Niksar, according to D’Anville, though Hardouin says that it is Tocat. Parisot remarks, that this place belonged rather to Pontus than to Cappadocia.] by the Lycus, [A small tributary of the Iris, or Yeshil-Irmak, mentioned in the next Chapter.] and Amasia, [Still called Amasia, or Amasiyeh, and situate on the river Iris, or Yeshil Ermak. It was at one time the residence of the princes of Pontus, and the birth-place of the geographer Strabo. The remains of antiquity here are very considerable, and extremely interesting.] in the region of Gazacene, washed by the Iris. In Colopene it has Sebastia and Sebastopolis; [Both to the west of Neo-Cæsarea. According to Tavernier, as quoted by Hardouin, the modern name of Sebastia is Sivas.] these are insignificant places, but still equal in importance to those just mentioned. In its remaining districts there is Melita, [Which gave name to the district of Melitene, mentioned in c. 20 of the last Book.] founded by Semiramis, and not far from the Euphrates, Diocæsarea, [Near Nazianzus, in Cappadocia, the birth-place of Gregory Nazianzen. The traveller Ainsworth, on his road from Ak-Serai to Kara Hissar, came to a place called Kaisar Koi, and he has remarked that by its name and position it might be identified with Diocæsarea. Some geographers, indeed, look upon Diocæsarea and Nazianzus as the same place.] Tyana, [Its ruins are still to be seen at Kiz Hisar. It stood in the south of Cappadocia, at the northern foot of Mount Taurus. Tyana was the native place of Apollonius, the supposed worker of miracles, whom the enemies of Christianity have not scrupled to place on a par with Jesus Christ.] Castabala, [Some ruins, nineteen geographical miles from Ayas, are supposed to denote the site of ancient Castabala or Castabulum.] Magnopolis, [This place was first called Eupatoria, but not the same which Mithridates united with a part of Amisus. D’Anville supposes that the modern town of Tchenikeb occupies its site.] Zela, [Or Ziela, now known as Zillah, not far south of Amasia. It was here that Julius Cæsar conquered Pharnaces, on the occasion on which he wrote his dispatch to Rome, “Veni, vidi, vici.”] and at the foot of Mount Argæus [Still known by the name of Ardgeh-Dagh.] Mazaca, now called Cæsarea. [Its site is still called Kaisiriyeh. It was a city of the district Cilicia, in Cappadocia, at the base of the mountain Argæus. It was first called Mazaca, and after that, Eusebeia. There are considerable remains of the ancient city.] That part of Cappadocia which lies stretched out before the Greater Armenia is called Melitene, before Commagene Cataonia, before Phrygia Garsauritis, Sargarausene, [Hardouin remarks, that the district of Sargarausene was not situate in front of Phrygia, but lay between Morimene and Colopenene, in the vicinity of Pontus.] and Cammanene, before Galatia Morimene, where their territories are divided by the river Cappadox, [Now known as the Konax, a tributary of the Halys, rising in Mount Littarus, in the chain of Paryadres.] from which this people have taken their name; they were formerly known as the Leucosyri. [Or “White Syrians.” Strabo says that in his time both the Cappadocian peoples, those situate above the Taurus and those on the Euxine, were called Leucosyri, or White Syrians, as there were some Syrians who were black, and who dwelt to the east of the Amanus.] From Neocæsarea above mentioned, the lesser Armenia is separated by the river Lycus. In the interior also there is the famous river Ceraunus, [It is doubtful whether this is the name of a river or a town. Notwithstanding its alleged celebrity, nothing is known of it.] and on the coast beyond the town of Amisus, the town and river of Chadisia, [Hecatæus, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, speaks of Chadisia as a city of the Leucosyri, or Cappadocians. Neither the river nor the town appears to have been identified.] and the town of Lycastum, [Probably on the river of that name, which has been identified with the Mers Imak, a river two or three miles east of the Acropolis of Amisus.] after which the region of Themiscyra [The extensive plain on the coast of Pontus, extending east of the river Iris beyond the Thermodon, and celebrated as the country of the Amazons. At the mouth of the Thermodon was a city of the same name, which had been destroyed by the time of Augustus. It is doubtful whether the modern Thermeh occupies its site.] begins.

Chap. 4.—The Region of Themiscyra, and the Nations Therein.

The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In the interior is the city of Ziela, [The same place apparently as is mentioned in the last Chapter under the name of Zela.] famous for the defeat of Triarius [Valerius Triarius, one of the legates of Lucullus, in the war against Mithridates. Plutarch tells us that Lucullus was obliged to conceal Triarius from the fury of his troops.] and the victory of C. Cæsar. [Over Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates.] Upon the coast there is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called Phanarœa, [Now called the Thermea.] and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius. [Still called Mason-Dagh.] There was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others in all, Amazonium, Themiscyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana, [He alludes to Comana, in Pontus, the site of which is now called Gumenek, near to which, on the Tocat-su, the modern name of the Iris, Hamilton found some remains of a Roman town, and part of a bridge apparently of Roman construction. The language of Pliny seems to imply that it had become in his day nothing beyond a manteium or seat of an oracle.] now only a Manteium. (4.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ, [Strabo speaks of a promontory called Genetes; and Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a river and port of the same name.] the Chalybes, [Strabo places the Chaldei, who, he says, were originally called Chalybes, in that part of the country which lies above Pharnacia (the modern Kerasunt).] the town of Cotyorum, [Or Cotyora. According to Xenophon, this was a colony of Sinope which furnished supplies for the Ten Thousand in their retreat. The place was on a bay called after the town. Hamilton, in his Researches, &c., Vol. i., is of opinion that Cotyorum may have stood on the site of Ordou, where some remains of an ancient port, cut out of the solid rock are still visible. He remarks, however, that some writers suppose that Cotyora was the modern bay of Pershembah, which is more sheltered than Ordou. Cotyora was the place of embarkation of the Ten Thousand.] the nations of the Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies, [Similar to what we call tatooing. Parisot suggests that these people may have been the ancestors of the Mongol tribes who still dwell in tents similar to those mentioned by Mela as used by the Mossyni.] the people called Macrocephali, [Or the “long-headed people.”] the town of Cerasus, [Its site is not improbably that of the modern Kheresoun, on the coast of Asia Minor, and west of Trebizond. Lucullus is said to have brought thence the first cherry-trees planted in Europe.] the port of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires [It has been remarked, that Pliny’s enumeration of names often rather confuses than helps, and that it is difficult to say where he intends to place the Bechires. We may perhaps infer from Mela that they were west of Trapezus and east of the Thermodon.] and the Buzeri, the river Melas, [Now the Kara Su, or Black River, still retaining its ancient appellation. It rises in Cappadocia, in the chain of Mount Argæus.] the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its river Sidenus, [Still called by the same name, according to Parisot, though sometimes it is called the river of Vatisa. More recent authorities, however, call it Poleman Chai.] by which the town of Polemonium [On the coast of Pontus, built by king Polemon, perhaps the Second, on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus.] is washed, at a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come to the rivers Iasonius [Probably near the promontory of Jasonium, 130 stadia to the north-east of Polemonium. It was believed to have received its name from Jason the Argonaut having landed there. It still bears the name of Jasoon, though more commonly called Bona or Vona.] and Melanthius, [Sixty stadia, according to Arrian, from the town of Cotyora.] and, at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea, [Supposed to have stood on almost the same site as the modern Kheresoun or Kerasunda. It was built near, or, as some think, on the site of Cerasus.] the fortress and river of Tripolis; [Still known by the name of Tireboli, on a river of the same name, the Tireboli Su.] the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and, at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus, [Now called Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond. This place was originally a colony of Sinope, after the loss of whose independence Trapezus belonged, first to Lesser Armenia, and afterwards to the kingdom of Pontus. In the middle ages it was the seat of the so-called empire of Trebizond. It is now the second commercial port of the Black Sea, ranking next after Odessa.] shut in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the Armenochalybes [The “Chalybes of Armenia.” See p.] and the Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and beyond it is the nation of the Sanni [Theodoret says that the Sanni, and the Lazi, subsequently mentioned, although subdued by the Roman arms, were never obedient to the Roman laws. The Heniochi were probably of Grecian origin, as they were said to have been descended from the charioteers of the Argonauts, who had been wrecked upon these coasts.] Heniochi. Next comes the river Absarus, [Or Apsarus, or Absarum. Several geographers have placed the site of this town near the modern one known as Gonieh. Its name was connected with the myth of Medea and her brother Absyrtus. It is not improbable that the names Acampsis and Absarus have been given to the same river by different writers, and that they both apply to the modern Joruk.] with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.

At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ, [It is suggested by Hardouin that these are the same as the Zydretæ mentioned in the Periplus of Arrian, and by him placed between the Heniochi and the Lazi.] the Lazi, the rivers Acampsis, [See note] Isis, [Supposed to be the same as the modern Tshorok.] Mogrus, and Bathys, [Or “Deep” River. This stream may possibly be identified by observing that Pliny places only one river between it and the Phasis.] the nations of the Colchi, the town of Matium, [Probably the Madia of Ptolemy, who places it in the interior.] the river Heracleum and the promontory of the same name, [At the present day called Eraklia, according to Parisot.] and the Phasis, [Now called the Faz or Rhioni.] the most celebrated river of Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis [Still called El Faz or Poti.] at its mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles [This place was in reality thirty-seven miles and a half from the sea. It was said to have been the native place of the enchantresses Circe and Medea.] distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos, [The rivers Hippos and Cyaneos do not appear to have been identified.] rivers of vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day its only place of note is Surium, which derives its name from the river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already [In the previous page.] mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus. [Now called the Tchorocsu.] At the mouth of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come to another river, the Charieis, [It is doubtful whether this is the same river as that mentioned by Strabo under the name of Chares. D’Anville says that its modern name is Enguri.] and the nation of the Salæ, by the ancients called Phthirophagi, [Or “Feeders on Lice;” so called, according to Strabo, from the extreme filthiness of their habits.] as also Suani. [There is a nation in this vicinity still called by a similar name. Professor Pallas, who visited them, says that nothing can equal their dishonesty, rapacity, and voracity. Parisot suggests that they are probably the descendants of the Phthirophagi of Pliny.] The river Chobus [Now called the Khalira, according to D’Anville.] flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani. The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers Singames, [Now called the Hati-Scari, according to D’Anville.] Tarsuras, [Now the Okhum, according to D’Anville.] Astelephus, [Now the Mosti-Skari, according to D’Anville.] Chrysorrhoas, the nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis, [Still called Savastopoli, according to Hardouin.] one hundred miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of Cygnus, [This must not be confounded with the other place of the same name mentioned in the present Chapter. See p..] and the river and town of Penius. [Hermoläus suggests Pityus as the correct reading.] We then come to the tribes of the Heniochi, [The Sanni Heniochi; one of these nations has been already mentioned in the last page.] who are distinguished by numerous names.