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Herodotus |
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Herodotus, The Persian Wars, transl. by G. Rawlinson, 1942 |
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1 1. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν Βαβυλῶνος αἵρεσιν ἐγένετο ἐπὶ Σκύθας αὐτοῦ Δαρείου ἔλασις. ἀνθεύσης γὰρ τῆς Ἀσίης ἀνδράσι καὶ χρημάτων μεγάλων συνιόντων ἐπεθύμησε ὁ Δαρεῖος τίσασθαι Σκύθας, ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι πρότεροι ἐσβαλόντες ἐς τὴν Μηδικὴν καὶ νικήσαντες μάχῃ τοὺς ἀντιουμένους ὑπῆρξαν ἀδικίης. 2. τῆς γὰρ ἄνω Ἀσίης ἦρξαν, ὡς καὶ πρότερόν μοι εἴρηται, Σκύθαι ἔτεα δυῶν δέοντα τριήκοντα, Κιμμερίους γὰρ ἐπιδιώκοντες ἐσέβαλον ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην καταπαύσαντες τῆς ἀρχῆς Μήδους· οὗτοι γὰρ πρὶν ἢ Σκύθας ἀπικέσθαι ἦρχον τῆς Ἀσίης. 3. τοὺς δὲ Σκύθας ἀποδημήσαντας ὀκτὼ καὶ εἴκοσι ἔτεα καὶ διὰ χρόνου τοσούτου κατιόντας ἐς τὴν σφετέρην ἐξεδέξατο οὐκ ἐλάσσων πόνος τοῦ Μηδικοῦ, εὗρον γὰρ ἀντιουμένην σφι στρατιὴν οὐκ ὀλίγην· αἱ γὰρ τῶν Σκυθέων γυναῖκες, ὥς σφι οἱ ἄνδρες ἀπῆσαν χρόνον πολλόν, ἐφοίτων παρὰ τοὺς δούλους. 2 1. τοὺς δὲ δούλους οἱ Σκύθαι πάντας τυφλοῦσι τοῦ γάλακτος εἵνεκεν τοῦ πίνουσι, ποιεῦντες ὧδε· ἐπεὰν φυσητῆρας λάβωσι ὀστείνους αὐλοῖσι προσεμφερεστάτους, τούτους ἐσθέντες ἐς τῶν θηλέων ἵππων τὰ ἄρθρα φυσῶσι, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλων φυσώντων ἀμέλγουσι. φασὶ δὲ τοῦδε εἵνεκα τοῦτο ποιέειν· τὰς φλέβας τε πίμπλασθαι φυσωμένας τῆς ἵππου καὶ τὸ οὖθαρ κατίεσθαι. 2. ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀμέλξωσι τὸ γάλα, ἐσχέαντες ἐς ξύλινα ἀγγήια κοῖλα καὶ περιστίξαντες κατὰ τὰ ἀγγήια τοὺς τυφλοὺς δονέουσι τὸ γάλα καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ ἐπιστάμενον ἀπαρύσαντες ἡγεῦνται εἶναι τιμιώτερον, τὸ δ᾽ ὑπιστάμενον ἧσσον τοῦ ἑτέρου. τούτων μὲν εἵνεκα ἅπαντα, τὸν ἂν λάβωσι Σκύθαι, ἐκτυφλοῦσι· οὐ γὰρ ἀρόται εἰσὶ, ἀλλὰ νομάδες. 3 1. ἐκ τουτέων δὴ ὦν σφι τῶν δούλων καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν ἐπετράφη νεότης, οἳ ἐπείτε ἔμαθον τὴν σφετέρην γένεσιν, ἠντιοῦντο αὐτοῖσι κατιοῦσι ἐκ τῶν Μήδων. 2. καὶ πρῶτα μὲν τὴν χώρην ἀπετάμοντο τάφρον ὀρυξάμενοι εὐρέαν κατατείνουσαν ἐκ τῶν Ταυρικῶν ὀρέων ἐς τὴν Μαιῆτιν λίμνην, ἣ περίεστι μεγίστη· μετὰ δὲ πειρωμένοισι ἐσβάλλειν τοῖσι Σκύθῃσι ἀντικατιεύμενοι ἐμάχοντο. 3. γινομένης δὲ μάχης πολλάκις καὶ οὐ δυναμένων οὐδὲν πλέον ἔχειν τῶν Σκυθέων τῇ μάχῃ εἷς αὐτῶν ἔλεξε, τάδε «οἷα ποιεῦμεν, ἄνδρες Σκύθαι. δούλοισι τοῖσιν ἡμετέροισι μαχόμενοι αὐτοί τε κτεινόμενοι ἐλάσσονες γινόμεθα καὶ ἐκείνους κτείνοντες ἐλασσόνων τὸ λοιπὸν ἄρξομεν. 4. νῦν ὦν μοι δοκέει αἰχμὰς μὲν καὶ τόξα μετεῖναι, λαβόντας δὲ ἕκαστον τοῦ ἵππου τὴν μάστιγα ἰέναι ἆσσον αὐτῶν. μέχρι μὲν γὰρ ὥρων ἡμέας ὅπλα ἔχοντας, οἱ δὲ ἐνόμιζον ὅμοιοί τε καὶ ἐξ ὁμοίων ἡμῖν εἶναι· ἐπεὰν δὲ ἴδωνται μάστιγας ἀντὶ ὅπλων ἔχοντας, μαθόντες ὡς εἰσὶ ἡμέτεροι δοῦλοι, καὶ συγγνόντες τοῦτο οὐχ ὑπομενέουσι.» 4 ταῦτα ἀκούσαντες οἱ Σκύθαι ἐποίευν ἐπιτελέα· οἱ δ᾽ ἐκπλαγέντες τῷ γινομένῳ τῆς μάχης τε ἐπελάθοντο καὶ ἔφευγον. οὕτως οἱ Σκύθαι τῆς τε Ἀσίης ἦρξαν καὶ ἐξελασθέντες αὖτις ὑπὸ Μήδων κατῆλθον τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ ἐς τὴν σφετέρην. τῶν δὲ εἵνεκα ὁ Δαρεῖος τείσασθαι βουλόμενος συνήγειρε ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς στράτευμα. |
After the taking of Babylon, an expedition was led by Darius into Scythia. Asia abounding in men, and vast sums flowing into the treasury, the desire seized him to exact vengeance from the Scyths, who had once in days gone by invaded Media, defeated those who met them in the field, and so begun the quarrel. During the space of eight-and-twenty years, as I have before mentioned, the Scyths continued lords of the whole of Upper Asia. They entered Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and overthrew the empire of the Medes, who till they came possessed the sovereignty. On their return to their homes after the long absence of twenty-eight years, a task awaited them little less troublesome than their struggle with the Medes. They found an army of no small size prepared to oppose their entrance. For the Scythian women, when they saw that time went on, and their husbands did not come back, had intermarried with their slaves. Now the Scythians blind all their slaves, to use them in preparing their milk. The plan they follow is to thrust tubes made of bone, not unlike our musical pipes, up the vulva of the mare, and then to blow into the tubes with their mouths, some milking while the others blow. They say that they do this because when the veins of the animal are full of air, the udder is forced down. The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round. That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part; the under portion is of less account. Such is the reason why the Scythians blind all those whom they take in war; it arises from their not being tillers of the ground, but a pastoral race. When therefore the children sprung from these slaves and the Scythian women grew to manhood, and understood the circumstances of their birth, they resolved to oppose the army which was returning from Media. And, first of all, they cut off a tract of country from the rest of Scythia by digging a broad dyke from the Tauric mountains to the vast lake of the Maeotis. Afterwards, when the Scythians tried to force an entrance, they marched out and engaged them. Many battles were fought, and the Scythians gained no advantage, until at last one of them thus addressed the remainder: "What are we doing, Scythians? We are fighting our slaves, diminishing our own number when we fall, and the number of those that belong to us when they fall by our hands. Take my advice- lay spear and bow aside, and let each man fetch his horsewhip, and go boldly up to them. So long as they see us with arms in our hands, they imagine themselves our equals in birth and bravery; but let them behold us with no other weapon but the whip, and they will feel that they are our slaves, and flee before us." The Scythians followed this counsel, and the slaves were so astounded, that they forgot to fight, and immediately ran away. Such was the mode in which the Scythians, after being for a time the lords of Asia, and being forced to quit it by the Medes, returned and settled in their own country. This inroad of theirs it was that Darius was anxious to avenge, and such was the purpose for which he was now collecting an army to invade them. |
5 1. ὡς δὲ Σκύθαι λέγουσι, νεώτατον ἁπάντων ἐθνέων εἶναι τὸ σφέτερον, τοῦτο δὲ γενέσθαι ὧδε· ἄνδρα γενέσθαι πρῶτον ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ ἐούσῃ ἐρήμῳ τῷ οὔνομα εἶναι Ταργίταον· τοῦ δὲ Ταργιτάου τούτου τοὺς τοκέας λέγουσι εἶναι (ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐ πιστὰ λέγοντες), λέγουσι δ᾽ ὦν Δία τε καὶ Βορυσθένεος τοῦ ποταμοῦ θυγατέρα. 2. γένεος μὲν τοιούτου δή τινος γενέσθαι τὸν Ταργίταον, τούτου δὲ γενέσθαι παῖδας τρεῖς, Λιπόξαϊν καὶ Ἀρπόξαϊν καὶ νεώτατον Κολάξαϊν. 3. ἐπὶ τούτων ἀρχόντων ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φερόμενα χρύσεα ποιήματα, ἄροτρόν τε καὶ ζυγὸν καὶ σάγαριν καὶ φιάλην, πεσεῖν ἐς τὴν Σκυθικήν, καὶ αὐτῶν ἰδόντα πρῶτον τὸν πρεσβύτατον ἆσσον ἰέναι βουλόμενον λαβεῖν, τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν ἐπιόντος καίεσθαι. 4. ἀπαλλαχθέντος δὲ τούτου προσιέναι τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τὸν αὖτις ταὐτὰ ποιέειν. τοὺς μὲν δὴ καιόμενον τὸν χρυσὸν ἀπώσασθαι, τρίτῳ δὲ τῷ νεωτάτῳ ἐπελθόντι κατασβῆναι καί μιν ἐκεῖνον κομίσαι ἐς ἑωυτοῦ· καὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἀδελφεοὺς πρὸς ταῦτα συγγνόντας τὴν βασιληίην πᾶσαν παραδοῦναι τῷ νεωτάτῳ. 6 1. ἀπὸ μὲν δὴ Λιποξάιος γεγονέναι τούτους τῶν Σκυθέων, οἳ Αὐχᾶται γένος καλέονται, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ μέσου Ἀρποξάιος, οἳ Κατίαροί τε καὶ Τράσπιες καλέονται, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ νεωτάτου αὐτῶν τοὺς βασιλέας, οἳ καλέονται Παραλάται· 2. σύμπασι δὲ εἶναι οὔνομα Σκολότους· τοῦ βασιλέος ἐπωνυμίην Σκύθας δὲ Ἕλληνες ὠνόμασαν. γεγονέναι μέν νυν σφέας ὧδε λέγουσι οἱ Σκύθαι. 7 1. ἔτεα δέ σφι ἐπείτε γεγόνασι τὰ σύμπαντα λέγουσι εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου βασιλέος Ταργιτάου ἐς τὴν Δαρείου διάβασιν τὴν ἐπὶ σφέας χιλίων οὐ πλέω ἀλλὰ τοσαῦτα. τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν τοῦτον τὸν ἱρὸν φυλάσσουσι οἱ βασιλέες ἐς τὰ μάλιστα καὶ θυσίῃσι μεγάλῃσι ἱλασκόμενοι μετέρχονται ἀνὰ πᾶν ἔτος. 2. ὃς δ᾽ ἂν ἔχων τὸν χρυσὸν τὸν ἱρὸν ἐν τῇ ὁρτῇ ὑπαίθριος κατακοιμηθῇ, οὗτος λέγεται ὑπὸ Σκυθέων οὐ διενιαυτίζειν, δίδοσθαι δέ οἱ διὰ τοῦτο, ὅσα ἂν ἵππῳ ἐν ἡμέρῃ μιῇ περιελάσῃ αὐτός. τῆς δὲ χώρης ἐούσης μεγάλης τριφασίας τὰς βασιληίας τοῖσι παισὶ τοῖσι ἑωυτοῦ καταστήσασθαι Κολάξαϊν καὶ τουτέων μίαν ποιῆσαι μεγίστην, ἐν τῇ τὸν χρυσὸν φυλάσσεσθαι. 3. τὰ δὲ κατύπερθε πρὸς βορέην λέγουσι ἄνεμον τῶν ὑπεροίκων τῆς χώρης οὐκ οἷά τε εἶναι ἔτι προσωτέρω οὔτε ὁρᾶν οὔτε διεξιέναι ὑπὸ πτερῶν κεχυμένων· πτερῶν γὰρ καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν ἠέρα εἶναι πλέον, καὶ ταῦτα εἶναι τὰ ἀποκλῄοντα τὴν ὄψιν. |
According to the account which the Scythians themselves give, they are the youngest of all nations. Their tradition is as follows. A certain Targitaus was the first man who ever lived in their country, which before his time was a desert without inhabitants. He was a child- I do not believe the tale, but it is told nevertheless- of Jove and a daughter of the Borysthenes. Targitaus, thus descended, begat three sons, Leipoxais, Arpoxais, and Colaxais, who was the youngest born of the three. While they still ruled the land, there fell from the sky four implements, all of gold - a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe, and a drinking-cup. The eldest of the brothers perceived them first, and approached to pick them up; when lo! as he came near, the gold took fire, and blazed. He therefore went his way, and the second coming forward made the attempt, but the same thing happened again. The gold rejected both the eldest and the second brother. Last of all the youngest brother approached, and immediately the flames were extinguished; so he picked up the gold, and carried it to his home. Then the two elder agreed together, and made the whole kingdom over to the youngest born. From Leipoxais sprang the Scythians of the race called Auchatae; from Arpoxais, the middle brother, those known as the Catiari and Traspians; from Colaxais, the youngest, the Royal Scythians, or Paralatae. All together they are named Scoloti, after one of their kings: the Greeks, however, call them Scythians. Such is the account which the Scythians give of their origin. They add that from the time of Targitaus, their first king, to the invasion of their country by Darius, is a period of one thousand years, neither less nor more. The Royal Scythians guard the sacred gold with most especial care, and year by year offer great sacrifices in its honour. At this feast, if the man who has the custody of the gold should fall asleep in the open air, he is sure (the Scythians say) not to outlive the year. His pay therefore is as much land as he can ride round on horseback in a day. As the extent of Scythia is very great, Colaxais gave each of his three sons a separate kingdom, one of which was of ampler size than the other two: in this the gold was preserved. Above, to the northward of the farthest dwellers in Scythia, the country is said to be concealed from sight and made impassable by reason of the feathers which are shed abroad abundantly. The earth and air are alike full of them, and this it is which prevents the eye from obtaining any view of the region. |
8 1. Σκύθαι μὲν ὧδε ὑπὲρ σφέων τε αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς χώρης τῆς κατύπερθε λέγουσι, Ἑλλήνων δὲ οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες ὧδε. Ἡρακλέα ἐλαύνοντα τὰς Γηρυόνεω βοῦς ἀπικέσθαι ἐς γῆν ταύτην ἐοῦσαν ἐρήμην, ἥντινα νῦν Σκύθαι νέμονται. 2. Γηρυόνην δὲ οἰκέειν ἔξω τοῦ Πόντου, κατοικημένον τὴν Ἕλληνες λέγουσι Ἐρύθειαν νῆσον, τὴν πρὸς Γηδείροισι τοῖσι ἔξω Ἡρακλέων στηλέων ἐπὶ τῷ Ὠκεανῷ· τὸν δὲ Ὠκεανὸν λόγῳ μὲν λέγουσι ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων ἀρξάμενον γῆν περὶ πᾶσαν ῥέειν, ἔργῳ δὲ οὐκ ἀποδεικνύουσι. 3. ἐνθεῦτεν τὸν Ἡρακλέα ὡς ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν νῦν Σκυθικὴν χώρην καλεομένην, -καταλαβεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν χειμῶνά τε καὶ κρυμόν, -ἐπειρυσάμενον [δὲ] τὴν λεοντέην κατυπνῶσαι, τὰς δέ οἱ ἵππους τὰς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος νεμομένας ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ ἀφανισθῆναι θείῃ τύχῃ. 9 1. ὡς δ᾽ ἐγερθῆναι τὸν Ἡρακλέα, δίζησθαι, πάντα δὲ τῆς χώρης ἐπεξελθόντα τέλος ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν Ὑλαίην καλεομένην γῆν· ἐνθαῦτα δὲ αὐτὸν εὑρεῖν ἐν ἄντρῳ μιξο πάρθενόν τινα ἔχιδναν διφυέα, τῆς τὰ μὲν ἄνω ἀπὸ τῶν γλουτῶν εἶναι γυναικός, τὰ δὲ ἔνερθε ὄφιος. 2. ἰδόντα δὲ καὶ θωμάσαντα ἐπειρέσθαι μιν εἴ κου εἶδεν ἵππους πλανω μένας. τὴν δὲ φάναι ἑωυτὴν ἔχειν καὶ οὐκ ἀποδώσειν ἐκείνῳ πρὶν ἤ οἱ μιχθῇ· τὸν δὲ Ἡρακλέα μιχθῆναι ἐπὶ τῷ μισθῷ τούτῳ. 3. κείνην τε δὴ ὑπερβάλλεσθαι τὴν ἀπόδοσιν τῶν ἵππων, βουλομένην ὡς πλεῖστον χρόνον συνεῖναι τῷ Ἡρακλέϊ, καὶ τὸν κομισάμενον ἐθέλειν ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι. τέλος δὲ ἀποδιδοῦσαν αὐτὴν εἰπεῖν· «ἱππους μὲν δὴ ταύτας ἀπικομένας ἐνθάδε ἔσωσά τοι ἐγώ, σῶστρα δὲ σὺ παρέσχες· ἔχω γὰρ ἐκ σέο παῖδας τρεῖς. 4. τούτους, ἐπεὰν γένωνται τρόφιες, ὅ τι χρὴ ποιέειν ἐξηγέο σύ, εἴτε αὐτοῦ κατοικίζω (χώρης γὰρ τῆσδε ἔχω τὸ κράτος αὐτή) εἴτε ἀποπέμπω παρὰ σέ.» τὴν μὲν δὴ ταῦτα ἐπειρωτᾶν, τὸν δὲ λέγουσι πρὸς ταῦτα εἰπεῖν· 5. «ἐπεὰν ἀνδρωθέντας ἴδηαι τοὺς παῖδας, τάδε ποιεῦσα οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτάνοις· τὸν μὲν ἂν ὁρᾷς αὐτῶν τόδε τὸ τόξον ὧδε διατεινόμενον καὶ τῷ ζωστῆρι τῷδε κατὰ τάδε ζωννύμενον, τοῦτον μὲν τῆσδε τῆς χώρης οἰκήτορα ποιεῦ· ὃς δ᾽ ἂν τούτων τῶν ἔργων τῶν ἐντέλλομαι λείπηται, ἔκπεμπε ἐκ τῆς χώρης. Καὶ ταῦτα ποιεῦσα αὐτή τε εὐφρανέαι καὶ τὰ ἐντεταλμένα ποιήσεις.» 10 1. τὸν μὲν δὴ εἰρύσαντα τῶν τόξων τὸ ἕτερον (δύο γὰρ δὴ φορέειν τέως Ἡρακλέα) καὶ τὸν ζωστῆρα προδέξαντα παραδοῦναι τὸ τόξον τε καὶ τὸν ζωστῆρα ἔχοντα ἐπ᾽ ἄκρης τῆς συμβολῆς φιάλην χρυσέην, δόντα δὲ ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι. τὴν δ᾽, ἐπεί οἱ γενομένους τοὺς παῖδας ἀνδρωθῆναι, τοῦτο μέν σφι οὐνόματα θέσθαι, τῷ μὲν Ἀγάθυρσον αὐτῶν, τῷ δ᾽ ἑπομένῳ Γελωνόν, Σκύθην δὲ τῷ νεωτάτῳ· τοῦτο δὲ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς μεμνημένην αὐτὴν ποιῆσαι τὰ ἐντεταλμένα. 2. καὶ δὴ δύο μέν οἱ τῶν παίδων, τόν τε Ἀγάθυρσον καὶ τὸν Γελωνόν, οὐκ οἵους τε γενο μένους ἐξικέσθαι πρὸς τὸν προκείμενον ἄεθλον, οἴχεσθαι ἐκ τῆς χώρης ἐκβληθέντας ὑπὸ τῆς γειναμένης, τὸν δὲ νεώτατον αὐτῶν Σκύθην ἐπιτελέσαντα καταμεῖναι ἐν τῇ χώρῃ. 3. αὶ ἀπὸ μὲν Σκύθεω τοῦ Ἡρακλέος γενέσθαι τοὺς αἰεὶ βασιλέας γινομένους Σκυθέων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς φιάλης ἔτι καὶ ἐς τόδε φιάλας ἐκ τῶν ζωστήρων φορέειν Σκύθας. Τὸ δὲ μεῖναι μηχανήσασθαι τὴν μητέρα Σκύθῃ. ταῦτα δὲ Ἑλλήνων οἱ τὸν Πόντον οἰκέοντες λέγουσι. |
Such is the account which the Scythians give of themselves, and of the country which lies above them. The Greeks who dwell about the Pontus tell a different story. According to Hercules, when he was carrying off the cows of Geryon, arrived in the region which is now inhabited by the Scyths, but which was then a desert. Geryon lived outside the Pontus, in an island called by the Greeks Erytheia, near Gades, which is beyond the Pillars of Hercules upon the Ocean. Now some say that the Ocean begins in the east, and runs the whole way round the world; but they give no proof that this is really so. Hercules came from thence into the region now called Scythia, and, being overtaken by storm and frost, drew his lion's skin about him, and fell fast asleep. While he slept, his mares, which he had loosed from his chariot to graze, by some wonderful chance disappeared. On waking, he went in quest of them, and, after wandering over the whole country, came at last to the district called "the Woodland," where he found in a cave a strange being, between a maiden and a serpent, whose form from the waist upwards was like that of a woman, while all below was like a snake. He looked at her wonderingly; but nevertheless inquired, whether she had chanced to see his strayed mares anywhere. She answered him, "Yes, and they were now in her keeping; but never would she consent to give them back, unless he took her for his mistress." So Hercules, to get his mares back, agreed; but afterwards she put him off and delayed restoring the mares, since she wished to keep him with her as long as possible. He, on the other hand, was only anxious to secure them and to get away. At last, when she gave them up, she said to him, "When thy mares strayed hither, it was I who saved them for thee: now thou hast paid their salvage; for lo! I bear in my womb three sons of thine. Tell me therefore when thy sons grow up, what must I do with them? Wouldst thou wish that I should settle them here in this land, whereof I am mistress, or shall I send them to thee?" Thus questioned, they say, Hercules answered, "When the lads have grown to manhood, do thus, and assuredly thou wilt not err. Watch them, and when thou seest one of them bend this bow as I now bend it, and gird himself with this girdle thus, choose him to remain in the land. Those who fail in the trial, send away. Thus wilt thou at once please thyself and obey me." Hereupon he strung one of his bows- up to that time he had carried two- and showed her how to fasten the belt. Then he gave both bow and belt into her hands. Now the belt had a golden goblet attached to its clasp. So after he had given them to her, he went his way; and the woman, when her children grew to manhood, first gave them severally their names. One she called Agathyrsus, one Gelonus, and the other, who was the youngest, Scythes. Then she remembered the instructions she had received from Hercules, and, in obedience to his orders, she put her sons to the test. Two of them, Agathyrsus and Gelonus, proving unequal to the task enjoined, their mother sent them out of the land; Scythes, the youngest, succeeded, and so he was allowed to remain. From Scythes, the son of Hercules, were descended the after kings of Scythia; and from the circumstance of the goblet which hung from the belt, the Scythians to this day wear goblets at their girdles. This was the only thing which the mother of Scythes did for him. Such is the tale told by the Greeks who dwell around the Pontus. |
11 1. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλος λόγος ἔχων ὧδε, τῷ μάλιστα λεγο μένῳ αὐτὸς πρόσκειμαι. Σκύθας τοὺς νομάδας οἰκέοντας ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ, πολέμῳ πιεσθέντας ὑπὸ Μασσαγετέων, οἴχεσθαι διαβάντας ποταμὸν Ἀράξην ἐπὶ γῆν τὴν Κιμμερίην (τὴν γὰρ νῦν νέμονται Σκύθαι, αὕτη λέγεται τὸ παλαιὸν εἶναι Κιμμερίων), 2. τοὺς δὲ Κιμμερίους ἐπιόντων Σκυθέων βουλεύεσθαι ὡς στρατοῦ ἐπιόντος μεγάλου· καὶ δὴ τὰς γνώμας σφέων κεχωρισμένας, ἐντόνους μὲν ἀμφοτέρας, ἀμείνω δὲ τὴν τῶν βασιλέων· τὴν μὲν γὰρ [δὴ] τοῦ δήμου φέρειν γνώμην ὡς ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι πρῆγμα εἴη μηδὲ πρὸς πολλοὺς δέοι μένοντας κινδυνεύειν, τὴν δὲ τῶν βασιλέων διαμάχεσθαι περὶ τῆς χώρης τοῖσι ἐπιοῦσι. 3. οὐκ ὦν δὴ ἐθέλειν πείθεσθαι οὔτε τοῖσι βασιλεῦσι τὸν δῆμον οὔτε τῷ δήμῳ τοὺς βασιλέας. τοὺς μὲν δὴ ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι βουλεύεσθαι ἀμαχητὶ τὴν χώρην παραδιδόντας τοῖσι ἐπιοῦσι, τοῖσι δὲ βασιλεῦσι δόξαι ἐν τῇ ἑωυτῶν κεῖσθαι ἀποθανόντας μηδὲ συμφεύγειν τῷ δήμῳ, λογισαμένους ὅσα τε ἀγαθὰ πεπόνθασι καὶ ὅσα φεύγοντας ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος κακὰ ἐπίδοξα καταλαμβάνειν. 4. ὡς δὲ δόξαι σφι ταῦτα, διαστάντας καὶ ἀριθμὸν ἴσους γενομένους μάχεσθαι πρὸς ἀλλήλους· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀποθανόντας πάντας ὑπ᾽ ἑωυτῶν θάψαι τὸν δῆμον τῶν Κιμμερίων· παρὰ ποταμὸν Τύρην (καί σφεων ἔτι δῆλός ἐστι ὁ τάφος), θάψαντας δὲ οὕτω τὴν ἔξοδον ἐκ τῆς χώρης ποιέεσθαι. Σκύθας δὲ ἐπελθόντας λαβεῖν τὴν χώρην ἐρήμην. 12 1. καὶ νῦν ἔστι μὲν ἐν τῇ Σκυθικῇ Κιμμέρια τείχεα, ἔστι δὲ πορθμήια Κιμμέρια, ἔστι δὲ καὶ χώρη οὔνομα Κιμμερίη, ἔστι δὲ Βόσπορος Κιμμέριος καλεόμενος. 2. φαίνονται δὲ οἱ Κιμμέριοι φυγόντες ἐς τὴν Ἀσίην τοὺς Σκύθας καὶ τὴν χερσόνησον κτίσαντες ἐν τῇ νῦν Σινώπη πόλις Ἑλλὰς οἴκηται· φανεροὶ δέ εἰσι καὶ οἱ Σκύθαι διώξαντες αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐσβαλόντες ἐς γῆν τὴν Μηδικήν, ἁμαρτόντες τῆς ὁδοῦ· 3. οἱ μὲν γὰρ Κιμμέριοι αἰεὶ τὴν παρὰ θάλασσαν ἔφευγον, οἱ δὲ Σκύθαι ἐν δεξιῇ τὸν Καύκασιν ἔχοντες ἐδίωκον ἐς οὗ ἐσέβαλον ἐς γῆν τὴν Μηδικήν, ἐς μεσόγαιαν τῆς ὁδοῦ τραφθέντες. οὗτος δὲ ἄλλος ξυνὸς Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων λεγόμενος λόγος εἴρηται. 13 1. ἔφη δὲ Ἀριστέης ὁ Καϋστροβίου ἀνὴρ Προκοννήσιος, ποιέων ἔπεα, ἀπικέσθαι ἐς Ἰσσηδόνας φοιβόλαμπτος γενόμενος, Ἰσσηδόνων δὲ ὑπεροικέειν Ἀριμασποὺς ἄνδρας μουνοφθάλμους, ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων τοὺς χρυσοφύλακας γρῦπας, τούτων δὲ τοὺς Ὑπερβορέους κατήκοντας ἐπὶ θάλασσαν· 2. τούτους ὦν πάντας πλὴν Ὑπερβορέων, ἀρξάντων Ἀριμασπῶν, αἰεὶ τοῖσι πλησιοχώροισι ἐπιτίθεσθαι, καὶ ὑπὸ μὲν Ἀριμασπῶν ἐξωθέεσθαι ἐκ τῆς χώρης Ἰσσηδόνας, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἰσσηδόνων Σκύθας, Κιμμερίους δὲ οἰκέοντας ἐπὶ τῇ νοτίῃ θαλάσσῃ ὑπὸ Σκυθέων πιεζομένους ἐκλείπειν τὴν χώρην. οὕτω οὐδὲ οὗτος συμφέρεται περὶ τῆς χώρης ταύτης Σκύθῃσι. |
There is also another different story, now to be related, in which I am more inclined to put faith than in any other. It is that the wandering Scythians once dwelt in Asia, and there warred with the Massagetae, but with ill success; they therefore quitted their homes, crossed the Araxes, and entered the land of Cimmeria. For the land which is now inhabited by the Scyths was formerly the country of the Cimmerians. On their coming, the natives, who heard how numerous the invading army was, held a council. At this meeting opinion was divided, and both parties stiffly maintained their own view; but the counsel of the Royal tribe was the braver. For the others urged that the best thing to be done was to leave the country, and avoid a contest with so vast a host; but the Royal tribe advised remaining and fighting for the soil to the last. As neither party chose to give way, the one determined to retire without a blow and yield their lands to the invaders; but the other, remembering the good things which they had enjoyed in their homes, and picturing to themselves the evils which they had to expect if they gave them up, resolved not to flee, but rather to die and at least be buried in their fatherland. Having thus decided, they drew apart in two bodies, the one as numerous as the other, and fought together. All of the Royal tribe were slain, and the people buried them near the river Tyras, where their grave is still to be seen. Then the rest of the Cimmerians departed, and the Scythians, on their coming, took possession of a deserted land. Scythia still retains traces of the Cimmerians; there are Cimmerian castles, and a Cimmerian ferry, also a tract called Cimmeria, and a Cimmerian Bosphorus. It appears likewise that the Cimmerians, when they fled into Asia to escape the Scyths, made a settlement in the peninsula where the Greek city of Sinope was afterwards built. The Scyths, it is plain, pursued them, and missing their road, poured into Media. For the Cimmerians kept the line which led along the sea-shore, but the Scyths in their pursuit held the Caucasus upon their right, thus proceeding inland, and falling upon Media. This account is one which is common both to Greeks and barbarians. Aristeas also, son of Caystrobius, a native of Proconnesus, says in the course of his poem that wrapt in Bacchic fury he went as far as the Issedones. Above them dwelt the Arimaspi, men with one eye; still further, the gold-guarding griffins; and beyond these, the Hyperboreans, who extended to the sea. Except the Hyperboreans, all these nations, beginning with the Arimaspi, were continually encroaching upon their neighbours. Hence it came to pass that the Arimaspi drove the Issedonians from their country, while the Issedonians dispossessed the Scyths; and the Scyths, pressing upon the Cimmerians, who dwelt on the shores of the Southern Sea, forced them to leave their land. Thus even Aristeas does not agree in his account of this region with the Scythians. |
14 1. Καὶ ὅθεν μὲν ἦν Ἀριστέης ὁ ταῦτα ποιήσας, εἴρηκα· τὸν δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἤκουον λόγον ἐν Προκοννήσῳ καὶ Κυζίκῳ, λέξω. Ἀριστέην γὰρ λέγουσι, ἐόντα τῶν ἀστῶν οὐδενὸς γένος ὑποδεέστερον, ἐσελθόντα ἐς κναφήιον ἐν Προκοννήσῳ ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ τὸν κναφέα κατακληίσαντα τὸ ἐργαστήριον οἴχεσθαι ἀγγελέοντα τοῖσι προσήκουσι τῷ νεκρῷ. 2. ἐσκεδασμένου δὲ ἤδη τοῦ λόγου ἀνὰ τὴν πόλιν ὡς τεθνεὼς εἴη ὁ Ἀριστέης, ἐς ἀμφισβασίας τοῖσι λέγουσι ἀπικνέεσθαι ἄνδρα Κυζικηνὸν ἥκοντα ἐξ Ἀρτάκης πόλιος, φάντα συντυχεῖν τέ οἱ ἰόντι ἐπὶ Κυζίκον καὶ ἐς λόγους ἀπικέ σθαι. καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἐντεταμένως ἀμφισβατέειν, τοὺς δὲ προσήκοντας τῷ νεκρῷ ἐπὶ τὸ κναφήιον παρεῖναι ἔχοντας τὰ πρόσφορα ὡς ἀναιρησομένους· 3. ἀνοιχθέντος δὲ τοῦ οἰκήματος οὔτε τεθνεῶτα οὔτε ζώοντα φαίνεσθαι Ἀριστέην. μετὰ δὲ ἑβδόμῳ ἔτεϊ φανέντα αὐτὸν ἐς Προκόννησον ποιῆσαι τὰ ἔπεα ταῦτα τὰ νῦν ὑπ᾽ Ἑλλήνων Ἀριμάσπεα καλέεται, ποιήσαντα δὲ ἀφανισθῆναι τὸ δεύτερον. 15 1. ταῦτα μὲν αἱ πόλιες αὗται λέγουσι, τάδε δὲ οἶδα Μεταποντίνοισι τοῖσι ἐν Ἰταλίῃ συγκυρήσαντα μετὰ τὴν ἀφάνισιν τὴν δευτέρην Ἀριστέω ἔτεσι τεσσεράκοντα καὶ διηκοσίοισι, ὡς ἐγὼ συμ βαλλόμενος ἐν Προκοννήσῳ τε καὶ Μεταποντίῳ εὕρισκον. 2. Μεταποντῖνοι <γάρ> φασι αὐτὸν Ἀριστέην φανέντα σφι ἐς τὴν χώρην κελεῦσαι βωμὸν Ἀπόλλωνος ἱδρύσασθαι καὶ Ἀριστέω τοῦ Προκοννησίου ἐπωνυμίην ἔχοντα ἀνδριάντα παρ᾽ αὐτὸν στῆσαι· φάναι γάρ σφι τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἰταλιω τέων μούνοισι δὴ ἀπικέσθαι ἐς τὴν χώρην, καὶ αὐτός οἱ ἕπεσθαι ὁ νῦν ἐὼν Ἀριστέης· τότε δέ, ὅτε εἵπετο τῷ θεῷ, εἶναι κόραξ. 3. καὶ τὸν μὲν εἰπόντα ταῦτα ἀφανισθῆναι, σφέας δὲ Μεταποντῖνοι λέγουσι ἐς Δελφοὺς πέμψαντας τὸν θεὸν ἐπειρωτᾶν ὅ τι τὸ φάσμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἴη. τὴν δὲ Πυθίην σφέας κελεύειν πείθεσθαι τῷ φάσματι, πειθομέ νοισι δὲ ἄμεινον συνοίσεσθαι· καὶ σφέας δεξαμένους ταῦτα ποιῆσαι ἐπιτελέα. 4. καὶ νῦν ἕστηκε ἀνδριὰς ἐπωνυμίην ἔχων Ἀριστέω παρ᾽ αὐτῷ τῷ ἀγάλματι τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, πέριξ δὲ αὐτὸν δάφναι ἑστᾶσι· τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα ἐν τῇ ἀγορῇ ἵδρυται. Ἀριστέω μέν νυν πέρι τοσαῦτα εἰρήσθω. |
The birthplace of Aristeas, the poet who sung of these things, I have already mentioned. I will now relate a tale which I heard concerning him both at Proconnesus and at Cyzicus. Aristeas, they said, who belonged to one of the noblest families in the island, had entered one day into a fuller's shop, when he suddenly dropt down dead. Hereupon the fuller shut up his shop, and went to tell Aristeas' kindred what had happened. The report of the death had just spread through the town, when a certain Cyzicenian, lately arrived from Artaca, contradicted the rumour, affirming that he had met Aristeas on his road to Cyzicus, and had spoken with him. This man, therefore, strenuously denied the rumour; the relations, however, proceeded to the fuller's shop with all things necessary for the funeral, intending to carry the body away. But on the shop being opened, no Aristeas was found, either dead or alive. Seven years afterwards he reappeared, they told me, in Proconnesus, and wrote the poem called by the Greeks The Arimaspeia, after which he disappeared a second time. This is the tale current in the two cities above-mentioned. What follows I know to have happened to the Metapontines of Italy, three hundred and forty years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I collect by comparing the accounts given me at Proconnesus and Metapontum. Aristeas then, as the Metapontines affirm, appeared to them in their own country, and ordered them to set up an altar in honour of Apollo, and to place near it a statue to be called that of Aristeas the Proconnesian. "Apollo," he told them, "had come to their country once, though he had visited no other Italiots; and he had been with Apollo at the time, not however in his present form, but in the shape of a crow." Having said so much, he vanished. Then the Metapontines, as they relate, sent to Delphi, and inquired of the god in what light they were to regard the appearance of this ghost of a man. The Pythoness, in reply, bade them attend to what the spectre said, "for so it would go best with them." Thus advised, they did as they had been directed: and there is now a statue bearing the name of Aristeas, close by the image of Apollo in the market-place of Metapontum, with bay-trees standing around it. But enough has been said concerning Aristeas. |
16 1. Τῆς δὲ γῆς τῆς πέρι ὅδε ὁ λόγος ὅρμηται λέγεσθαι, οὐδεὶς οἶδε ἀτρεκέως ὅ τι τὸ κατύπερθέ ἐστι. οὐδενὸς γὰρ δὴ αὐτόπτεω εἰδέναι φαμένου δύναμαι πυθέσθαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ Ἀριστέης, τοῦ περ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον τούτων μνήμην ἐποιεύμην, οὐδὲ οὗτος προσωτέρω Ἰσσηδόνων αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖσι ἔπεσι ποιέων ἔφησε ἀπικέσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὰ κατύπερθε ἔλεγε ἀκοῇ, φὰς Ἰσσηδόνας εἶναι τοὺς ταῦτα λέγοντας. 2. ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον μὲν ἡμεῖς ἀτρεκέως ἐπὶ μακρότατον οἷοί τε ἐγενόμεθα ἀκοῇ ἐξικέσθαι, πᾶν εἰρήσεται. |
With regard to the regions which lie above the country whereof this portion of my history treats, there is no one who possesses any exact knowledge. Not a single person can I find who professes to be acquainted with them by actual observation. Even Aristeas, the traveller of whom I lately spoke, does not claim- and he is writing poetry- to have reached any farther than the Issedonians. What he relates concerning the regions beyond is, he confesses, mere hearsay, being the account which the Issedonians gave him of those countries. However, I shall proceed to mention all that I have learnt of these parts by the most exact inquiries which I have been able to make concerning them. |
17 1. Ἀπὸ τοῦ Βορυσθενεϊτέων ἐμπορίου (τοῦτο γὰρ τῶν παραθαλασσίων μεσαίτατόν ἐστι πάσης τῆς Σκυθίης), ἀπὸ τούτου πρῶτοι Καλλιππίδαι νέμονται ἐόντες Ἕλληνες Σκύθαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων ἄλλο ἔθνος, οἳ Ἀλάζονες καλέονται. οὗτοι δὲ καὶ οἱ Καλλιπίδαι τὰ μὲν ἄλλα κατὰ ταὐτὰ Σκύθῃσι ἐπασκέουσι, σῖτον δὲ καὶ σπείρουσι καὶ σιτέονται, καὶ κρόμμυα καὶ σκόροδα καὶ φακοὺς καὶ κέγχρους. 2. ὑπὲρ δὲ Ἀλαζόνων οἰκέουσι Σκύθαι ἀροτῆρες, οἳ οὐκ ἐπὶ σιτήσει σπείρουσι τὸν σῖτον ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ πρήσει. τούτων δὲ κατύπερθε οἰκέουσι Νευροί, Νευρῶν δὲ τὸ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἔρημος ἀνθρώπων, ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. ταῦτα μὲν παρὰ τὸν Ὕπανιν ποταμόν ἐστι ἔθνεα πρὸς ἑσπέρης τοῦ Βορυσθένεος. 18 1. ἀτὰρ διαβάντι τὸν Βορυσθένεα ἀπὸ θαλάσσης πρῶτον μὲν ἡ Ὑλαίη, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης ἄνω οἰκέουσι Σκύθαι γεωργοί, τοὺς Ἕλληνες οἱ οἰκέοντες ἐπὶ τῷ Ὑπάνι ποταμῷ καλέουσι Βορυσθενεΐτας, σφέας δὲ αὐτοὺς Ὀλβιοπολίτας. 2. οὗτοι ὦν οἱ γεωργοὶ Σκύθαι νέμονται τὸ μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ὁδοῦ, κατήκοντες ἐπὶ ποταμὸν, τῷ οὔνομα κεῖται Παντικάπης, τὸ δὲ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον πλόον ἀνὰ τὸν Βορυσθένεα ἡμερέων ἕνδεκα· ἤδη δὲ κατύπερθε τούτων ἔρημός ἐστι ἐπὶ πολλόν. 3. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἔρημον Ἀνδροφάγοι οἰκέουσι, ἔθνος ἐὸν ἴδιον καὶ οὐδαμῶς Σκυθικόν. τὸ δὲ τούτων κατύπερθε ἔρημος ἤδη ἀληθέως καὶ ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲν, ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. 19 1. τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ τῶν γεωργῶν τούτων Σκυθέων διαβάντι τὸν Παντικάπην ποταμὸν νομάδες ἤδη Σκύθαι νέμονται, οὔτε τι σπείροντες οὐδὲν οὔτε ἀροῦντες, ψιλὴ δὲ δενδρέων ἡ πᾶσα αὕτη πλὴν τῆς Ὑλαίης. οἱ δὲ νομάδες οὗτοι τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἡμερέων τεσσέρων καὶ δέκα ὁδὸν νέμονται χώρην κατατείνουσαν ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Γέρρον. 20 1. πέρην δὲ τοῦ Γέρρου ταῦτα δὴ τὰ καλεόμενα βασιλήιά ἐστι καὶ Σκύθαι οἱ ἄριστοί τε καὶ πλεῖστοι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους νομίζοντες Σκύθας δούλους σφετέρους εἶναι· κατήκουσι δὲ οὗτοι τὸ μὲν πρὸς μεσαμβρίην ἐς τὴν Ταυρικήν, τὸ δὲ πρὸς ἠῶ ἐπί τε τάφρον, τὴν δὴ οἱ ἐκ τῶν τυφλῶν γενόμενοι ὤρυξαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς λίμνης τῆς Μαιήτιδος τὸ ἐμπόριον τὸ καλέεται Κρημνοί· τὰ δὲ αὐτῶν κατήκουσι ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Τάναϊν. 2. τὰ δὲ κατύπερθε πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον τῶν βασιληίων Σκυθέων οἰκέουσι Μελάγχλαινοι, ἄλλο ἔθνος καὶ οὐ Σκυθικόν. Μελαγχλαίνων δὲ τὸ κατύπερθε λίμναι καὶ ἔρημός ἐστι ἀνθρώπων, κατ᾽ ὅσον ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν. |
Above the mart of the Borysthenites, which is situated in the very centre of the whole sea-coast of Scythia, the first people who inhabit the land are the Callipedae, a Greco-Scythic race. Next to them, as you go inland, dwell the people called the Alazonians. These two nations in other respects resemble the Scythians in their usages, but sow and eat corn, also onions, garlic, lentils, and millet. Beyond the Alazonians reside Scythian cultivators, who grow corn, not for their own use, but for sale. Still higher up are the Neuri. Northwards of the Neuri the continent, as far as it is known to us, is uninhabited. These are the nations along the course of the river Hypanis, west of the Borysthenes. Across the Borysthenes, the first country after you leave the coast is Hylaea (the Woodland). Above this dwell the Scythian Husbandmen, whom the Greeks living near the Hypanis call Borysthenites, while they call themselves Olbiopolites. These Husbandmen extend eastward a distance of three days' journey to a river bearing the name of Panticapes, while northward the country is theirs for eleven days' sail up the course of the Borysthenes. Further inland there is a vast tract which is uninhabited. Above this desolate region dwell the Cannibals, who are a people apart, much unlike the Scythians. Above them the country becomes an utter desert; not a single tribe, so far as we know, inhabits it. Crossing the Panticapes, and proceeding eastward of the Husbandmen, we come upon the wandering Scythians, who neither plough nor sow. Their country, and the whole of this region, except Hylaea, is quite bare of trees. They extend towards the east a distance of fourteen' days' journey, occupying a tract which reaches to the river Gerrhus. On the opposite side of the Gerrhus is the Royal district, as it is called: here dwells the largest and bravest of the Scythian tribes, which looks upon all the other tribes in the light of slaves. Its country reaches on the south to Taurica, on the east to the trench dug by the sons of the blind slaves, the mart upon the Palus Maeotis, called Cremni (the Cliffs), and in part to the river Tanais. North of the country of the Royal Scythians are the Melanchaeni (Black-Robes), a people of quite a different race from the Scythians. Beyond them lie marshes and a region without inhabitants, so far as our knowledge reaches. |
21 Τάναϊν δὲ ποταμὸν διαβάντι οὐκέτι Σκυθική, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ μὲν πρώτη τῶν λαξίων Σαυροματέων ἐστί, οἳ ἐκ τοῦ μυχοῦ ἀρξάμενοι τῆς Μαιήτιδος λίμνης νέμονται τὸ πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον, ἡμερέων πεντεκαίδεκα ὁδόν, πᾶσαν ἐοῦσαν ψιλὴν καὶ ἀγρίων καὶ ἡμέρων δενδρέων. Ὑπεροικέουσι δὲ τούτων δευτέρην λάξιν ἔχοντες Βουδῖνοι, γῆν νεμόμενοι πᾶσανδασέαν ὕλῃ παντοίῃ. |
When one crosses the Tanais, one is no longer in Scythia; the first region on crossing is that of the Sauromatae, who, beginning at the upper end of the Palus Maeotis, stretch northward a distance of fifteen days' journey, inhabiting a country which is entirely bare of trees, whether wild or cultivated. Above them, possessing the second region, dwell the Budini, whose territory is thickly wooded with trees of every kind. |
22 Βουδίνων δὲ κατύπερθε πρὸς βορέην ἐστὶ πρώτη μὲν ἔρημος ἐπ᾽ ἡμερέων ἑπτὰ ὁδόν, μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἔρημον ἀποκλίνοντι μᾶλλον πρὸς ἀπηλιώτην ἄνεμον νέμονται Θυσσαγέται, ἔθνος πολλὸν καὶ ἴδιον· ζώουσι δὲ ἀπὸ θήρης. Συνεχέες δὲ τούτοισι ἐν τοῖσι αὐτοῖσι τόποισι κατοικημένοι εἰσὶ τοῖσι οὔνομα κεῖται Ἰύρκαι, καὶ οὗτοι ἀπὸ θήρης ζώοντες τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· λοχᾷ ἐπὶ δένδρεον ἀνα βάς, τὰ δέ ἐστι πυκνὰ ἀνὰ πᾶσαν τὴν χώρην· ἵππος δὲ ἑκάστῳ δεδιδαγμένος ἐπὶ γαστέρα κεῖσθαι ταπεινότητος εἵνεκα ἕτοιμός ἐστι καὶ κύων· ἐπεὰν δὲ ἀπίδῃ τὸ θηρίον ἀπὸ τοῦ δενδρέου, τοξεύσας [καὶ] ἐπιβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον διώκει, καὶ ὁ κύων ἔχεται. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ ἀποκλίνοντι οἰκέουσι Σκύθαι ἄλλοι, ἀπὸ τῶν βασιληίων Σκυθέων ἀποστάντες καὶ οὕτω ἀπικόμενοι ἐς τοῦτον τὸν χῶρον. |
Beyond the Budini, as one goes northward, first there is a desert, seven days' journey across; after which, if one inclines somewhat to the east, the Thyssagetae are reached, a numerous nation quite distinct from any other, and living by the chase. Adjoining them, and within the limits of the same region, are the people who bear the name of Iyrcae; they also support themselves by hunting, which they practise in the following manner. The hunter climbs a tree, the whole country abounding in wood, and there sets himself in ambush; he has a dog at hand, and a horse, trained to lie down upon its belly, and thus make itself low; the hunter keeps watch, and when he sees his game, lets fly an arrow; then mounting his horse, he gives the beast chase, his dog following hard all the while. Beyond these people, a little to the east, dwells a distinct tribe of Scyths, who revolted once from the Royal Scythians, and migrated into these parts. |
23 μέχρι μὲν δὴ τῆς τούτων τῶν Σκυθέων χώρης ἐστὶ ἡ καταλεχθεῖσα πᾶσα πεδιάς τε γῆ καὶ βαθύγαιος, τὸ δ᾽ ἀπὸ τούτου λιθώδης τ᾽ ἐστὶ καὶ τρηχέα. διεξελθόντι δὲ καὶ τῆς τρηχέης χῶρον πολλὸν οἰκέουσι ὑπωρείην ὀρέων ὑψηλῶν ἄνθρωποι λεγόμενοι εἶναι πάντες φαλακροὶ ἐκ γενετῆς γινόμενοι, καὶ ἔρσενες καὶ θήλεαι ὁμοίως, καὶ σιμοὶ καὶ γένεια ἔχοντες μεγάλα, φωνὴν δὲ ἰδίην ἱέντες, ἐσθῆτι δὲ χρεώμενοι Σκυθικῇ, ζώοντες δὲ ἀπὸ δενδρέων. Ποντικὸν μὲν οὔνομα τῷ δενδρέῳ ἀπ᾽ οὗ ζώουσι, μέγαθος δὲ κατὰ συκέην μάλιστά κῃ· καρπὸν δὲ φορέει κυάμῳ ἴσον, πυρῆνα δὲ ἔχει. τοῦτο ἐπεὰν γένηται πέπον, σακκέουσι ἱματίοισι, ἀπορρέει δὲ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ παχὺ καὶ μέλαν, οὔνομα δὲ τῷ ἀπορρέοντί ἐστι ἄσχυ· τοῦτο καὶ λείχουσι καὶ γάλακτι συμμίσγοντες πίνουσι, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς παχύτητος αὐτοῦ τῆς τρυγὸς παλάθας συντιθεῖσι καὶ ταύτας σιτέονται· πρόβατα γάρ σφι οὐ πολλά ἐστι· οὐ γάρ τι σπουδαῖαι αἱ νομαὶ αὐτόθι εἰσί. Ὑπὸ δενδρέῳ δὲ ἕκαστος κατοίκηται, τὸν μὲν χειμῶνα ἐπεὰν τὸ δένδρεον περικαλύψῃ πίλῳ στεγνῷ λευκῷ, τὸ δὲ θέρος ἄνευ πίλου. τούτους οὐδεὶς ἀδικέει ἀνθρώπων (ἱροὶ γὰρ λέγονται εἶναι), οὐδέ τι ἀρήιον ὅπλον ἐκτέαται· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τοῖσι περιοικέουσι οὗτοί εἰσι οἱ τὰς διαφορὰς διαιρέοντες, τοῦτο δέ, ὃς ἂν φεύγων καταφύγῃ ἐς τούτους, ὑπ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἀδικέεται. οὔνομα δέ σφί ἐστι Ἀργιππαῖοι. |
As far as their country, the tract of land whereof I have been speaking is all a smooth plain, and the soil deep; beyond you enter on a region which is rugged and stony. Passing over a great extent of this rough country, you come to a people dwelling at the foot of lofty mountains, who are said to be all- both men and women- bald from their birth, to have flat noses, and very long chins. These people speak a language of their own,. the dress which they wear is the same as the Scythian. They live on the fruit of a certain tree, the name of which is Ponticum; in size it is about equal to our fig-tree, and it bears a fruit like a bean, with a stone inside. When the fruit is ripe, they strain it through cloths; the juice which runs off is black and thick, and is called by the natives "aschy." They lap this up with their tongues, and also mix it with milk for a drink; while they make the lees, which are solid, into cakes, and eat them instead of meat; for they have but few sheep in their country, in which there is no good pasturage. Each of them dwells under a tree, and they cover the tree in winter with a cloth of thick white felt, but take off the covering in the summer-time. No one harms these people, for they are looked upon as sacred- they do not even possess any warlike weapons. When their neighbours fall out, they make up the quarrel; and when one flies to them for refuge, he is safe from all hurt. They are called the Argippaeans. |
24 μέχρι μέν νυν τῶν φαλακρῶν τούτων πολλὴ περιφα νείη τῆς χώρης ἐστὶ καὶ τῶν ἔμπροσθε ἐθνέων· καὶ γὰρ Σκυθέων τινὲς ἀπικνέονται ἐς αὐτούς, τῶν οὐ χαλεπόν ἐστι πυθέσθαι, καὶ Ἑλλήνων τῶν ἐκ Βορυσθένεός τε ἐμπο ρίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ποντικῶν ἐμπορίων. Σκυθέων δὲ οἳ ἂν ἔλθωσι ἐς αὐτοὺς δι᾽ ἑπτὰ ἑρμηνέων καὶ δι᾽ ἑπτὰ γλωσσέων διαπρήσσονται. |
Up to this point the territory of which we are speaking is very completely explored, and all the nations between the coast and the bald-headed men are well known to us. For some of the Scythians are accustomed to penetrate as far, of whom inquiry may easily be made, and Greeks also go there from the mart on the Borysthenes, and from the other marts along the Euxine. The Scythians who make this journey communicate with the inhabitants by means of seven interpreters and seven languages. |
25 μέχρι μὲν δὴ τούτων γινώσκεται, τὸ δὲ τῶν φαλακρῶν κατύπερθε οὐδεὶς ἀτρεκέως οἶδε φράσαι· ὄρεα γὰρ ὑψηλὰ ἀποτάμνει ἄβατα καὶ οὐδείς σφεα ὑπερ βαίνει. οἱ δὲ φαλακροὶ οὗτοι λέγουσι, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐ πιστὰ λέγοντες, οἰκέειν τὰ ὄρεα αἰγίποδας ἄνδρας, ὑπερβάντι δὲ τούτους ἀνθρώπους ἄλλους οἳ τὴν ἑξάμηνον καθεύδουσι· τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἐνδέκομαι ἀρχήν. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πρὸς ἠῶ τῶν φαλακρῶν γινώσκεται ἀτρεκέως ὑπὸ Ἰσσηδόνων οἰκεόμενον, τὸ μέντοι κατύπερθε πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον οὐ γινώσκεται οὔτε τῶν φαλακρῶν οὔτε τῶν Ἰσσηδόνων, εἰ μὴ ὅσα αὐτῶν τούτων λεγόντων. |
Thus far, therefore, the land is known; but beyond the bald-headed men lies a region of which no one can give any exact account. Lofty and precipitous mountains, which are never crossed, bar further progress. The bald men say, but it does not seem to me credible, that the people who live in these mountains have feet like goats; and that after passing them you find another race of men, who sleep during one half of the year. This latter statement appears to me quite unworthy of credit. The region east of the bald-headed men is well known to be inhabited by the Issedonians, but the tract that lies to the north of these two nations is entirely unknown, except by the accounts which they give of it. |
26 νόμοισι δὲ Ἰσσηδόνες τοιοισίδε λέγονται χρᾶσθαι. ἐπεὰν ἀνδρὶ ἀποθάνῃ πατήρ, οἱ προσήκοντες πάντες προσάγουσι πρόβατα καὶ ἔπειτα ταῦτα θύσαντες καὶ κατα ταμόντες τὰ κρέα κατατάμνουσι καὶ τὸν τοῦ δεκομένου τεθνεῶτα γονέα, ἀναμείξαντες δὲ πάντα τὰ κρέα δαῖτα προτιθέαται. τὴν δὲ κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ψιλώσαντες καὶ ἐκκα θήραντες καταχρυσοῦσι καὶ ἔπειτα ἅτε ἀγάλματι χρέωνται, θυσίας μεγάλας ἐπετείους ἐπιτελέοντες. Παῖς δὲ πατρὶ τοῦτο ποιέει, κατά περ Ἕλληνες τὰ γενέσια. ἄλλως δὲ δίκαιοι καὶ οὗτοι λέγονται εἶναι, ἰσοκρατέες δὲ ὁμοίως αἱ γυναῖκες τοῖσι ἀνδράσι. |
The Issedonians are said to have the following customs. When a man's father dies, all the near relatives bring sheep to the house; which are sacrificed, and their flesh cut in pieces, while at the same time the dead body undergoes the like treatment. The two sorts of flesh are afterwards mixed together, and the whole is served up at a banquet. The head of the dead man is treated differently: it is stripped bare, cleansed, and set in gold. It then becomes an ornament on which they pride themselves, and is brought out year by year at the great festival which sons keep in honour of their fathers' death, just as the Greeks keep their Genesia. In other respects the Issedonians are reputed to be observers of justice: and it is to be remarked that their women have equal authority with the men. Thus our knowledge extends as far as this nation. |
27 γινώσκονται μὲν δὴ καὶ οὗτοι. τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτων τὸ κατύπερθε Ἰσσηδόνες εἰσὶ οἱ λέγοντες τοὺς μουνοφθάλμους ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοὺς χρυσοφύλακας γρῦπας εἶναι, παρὰ δὲ τούτων Σκύθαι παραλαβόντες λέγουσι, παρὰ δὲ Σκυθέων ἡμεῖς οἱ ἄλλοι νενομίκαμεν, καὶ ὀνομάζομεν αὐτοὺς σκυθιστὶ Ἀριμασπούς· ἄριμα γὰρ ἓν καλέουσι Σκύθαι, σποῦ δὲ ὀφθαλμόν. |
The regions beyond are known only from the accounts of the Issedonians, by whom the stories are told of the one-eyed race of men and the gold-guarding griffins. These stories are received by the Scythians from the Issedonians, and by them passed on to us Greeks: whence it arises that we give the one-eyed race the Scythian name of Arimaspi, "arima" being the Scythic word for "one," and "spu" for "the eye." |
28 δυσχείμερος δὲ αὕτη ἡ καταλεχθεῖσα πᾶσα χώρη οὕτω δή τί ἐστι, ἔνθα τοὺς μὲν ὀκτὼ τῶν μηνῶν ἀφόρητος οἷος γίνεται κρυμός, ἐν τοῖσι ὕδωρ ἐκχέας πηλὸν οὐ ποιήσεις, πῦρ δὲ ἀνακαίων ποιήσεις πηλόν· ἡ δὲ θάλασσα πήγνυται καὶ ὁ Βόσπορος πᾶς ὁ Κιμμέριος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κρυστάλλου οἱ ἐκτὸς <τῆς> τάφρου Σκύθαι κατοικημένοι στρατεύονται καὶ τὰς ἁμάξας ἐπελαύνουσι πέρην ἐς τοὺς Σίνδους. οὕτω μὲν δὴ τοὺς ὀκτὼ μῆνας διατελέει χειμὼν ἐών, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐπιλοίπους τέσσερας ψύχεα αὐτόθι ἐστί. κεχώρισται δὲ οὗτος ὁ χειμὼν τοὺς τρόπους πᾶσι τοῖσι ἐν ἄλλοισι χωρίοισι γινομένοισι χειμῶσι, ἐν τῷ τὴν μὲν ὡραίην οὐκ ὕει λόγου ἄξιον οὐδέν, τὸ δὲ θέρος ὕων οὐκ ἀνιεῖ. βρονταί τε ἦμος τῇ ἄλλῃ γίνονται, τηνικαῦτα μὲν οὐ γίνονται, θέρεος δὲ ἀμφιλαφέες· ἢν δὲ χειμῶνος βροντὴ γένηται, ὡς τέρας θωμάζεται. ὣς δὲ καὶ ἢν σεισμὸς γένηται, ἤν τε θέρεος ἤν τε χειμῶνος, ἐν τῇ Σκυθικῇ τέρας νενόμισται. ἵπποι δὲ ἀνεχόμενοι φέρουσι τὸν χειμῶνα τοῦτον, ἡμίονοι δὲ οὐδὲ ὄνοι οὐκ ἀνέχονται ἀρχήν· τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ ἵπποι μὲν ἐν κρυμῷ ἑστεῶτες ἀποσφακελίζουσι, ὄνοι δὲ καὶ ἡμίονοι ἀνέχονται. |
The whole district whereof we have here discoursed has winters of exceeding rigour. During eight months the frost is so intense that water poured upon the ground does not form mud, but if a fire be lighted on it mud is produced. The sea freezes, and the Cimmerian Bosphorus is frozen over. At that season the Scythians who dwell inside the trench make warlike expeditions upon the ice, and even drive their waggons across to the country of the Sindians. Such is the intensity of the cold during eight months out of the twelve; and even in the remaining four the climate is still cool. The character of the winter likewise is unlike that of the same season in any other country; for at that time, when the rains ought to fall in Scythia, there is scarcely any rain worth mentioning, while in summer it never gives over raining; and thunder, which elsewhere is frequent then, in Scythia is unknown in that part of the year, coming only in summer, when it is very heavy. Thunder in the winter-time is there accounted a prodigy; as also are earthquakes, whether they happen in winter or summer. Horses bear the winter well, cold as it is, but mules and asses are quite unable to bear it; whereas in other countries mules and asses are found to endure the cold, while horses, if they stand still, are frost-bitten. |
29 δοκέει δέ μοι καὶ τὸ γένος τῶν βοῶν τὸ κόλον διὰ ταῦτα οὐ φύειν κέρεα αὐτόθι. Μαρτυρέει δέ μοι τῇ γνώμῃ καὶ Ὁμήρου ἔπος ἐν Ὀδυσσηίῃ ἔχον ὧδε· καὶ Λιβύην, ὅθι τ᾽ ἄρνες ἄφαρ κεραοὶ τελέθουσι· ὀρθῶς εἰρημένον, ἐν τοῖσι θερμοῖσι ταχὺ παραγίνεσθαι τὰ κέρεα· ἐν δὲ τοῖσι ἰσχυροῖσι ψύχεσι ἢ οὐ φύει κέρεα τὰ κτήνεα ἀρχὴν ἢ φύοντα φύει μόγις. |
To me it seems that the cold may likewise be the cause which prevents the oxen in Scythia from having horns. There is a line of Homer's in the Odyssey which gives a support to my opinion: Libya too, where horns hud quick on the foreheads of lambkins. He means to say what is quite true, that in warm countries the horns come early. So too in countries where the cold is severe animals either have no horns, or grow them with difficulty- the cold being the cause in this instance. |
30 ἐνθαῦτα μέν νυν διὰ τὰ ψύχεα γίνεται ταῦτα. Θωμάζω δέ (προσθήκας γὰρ δή μοι ὁ λόγος ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐδίζητο) ὅ τι ἐν τῇ Ἠλείῃ πάσῃ χώρῃ οὐ δυνέαται γίνεσθαι ἡμίονοι, οὔτε ψυχροῦ τοῦ χώρου ἐόντος οὔτε ἄλλου φανεροῦ αἰτίου οὐδενός· φασὶ δὲ αὐτοὶ Ἠλεῖοι ἐκ κατάρης τέο οὐ γίνεσθαι σφίσι ἡμιόνους. ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὰν προσίῃ ἡ ὥρη κυΐσκεσθαι τὰς ἵππους, ἐξελαύνουσι ἐς τοὺς πλησιοχώρους αὐτὰς καὶ ἔπειτά σφι ἐν τῇ τῶν πέλας ἐπιεῖσι τοὺς ὄνους, ἐς οὗ ἂν σχῶσι αἱ ἵπποι ἐν γαστρί· ἔπειτα δὲ ὀπίσω ἀπελαύνουσι. |
Here I must express my wonder- additions being what my work always from the very first affected- that in Elis, where the cold is not remarkable, and there is nothing else to account for it, mules are never produced. The Eleans say it is in consequence of a curse; and their habit is, when the breeding-time comes, to take their mares into one of the adjoining countries, and there keep them till they are in foal, when they bring them back again into Elis. |
31 περὶ δὲ τῶν πτερῶν τῶν Σκύθαι λέγουσι ἀνάπλεον εἶναι τὸν ἠέρα, καὶ τούτων εἵνεκα οὐκ οἷά τε εἶναι οὔτε ἰδεῖν τὸ πρόσω τῆς ἠπείρου οὔτε διεξιέναι, τήνδε ἔχω περὶ αὐτῶν γνώμην. Τὰ κατύπερθε ταύτης τῆς χώρης αἰεὶ νίφεται, ἐλάσσονι δὲ τοῦ θέρεος ἢ τοῦ χειμῶνος, ὥσπερ καὶ οἰκός· ἤδη ὦν ὅστις ἀγχόθεν χιόνα ἁδρὴν πίπτουσαν εἶδε, οἶδε τὸ λέγω· ἔοικε γὰρ ἡ χιὼν πτεροῖσι· καὶ διὰ τὸν χειμῶνα τοῦ τον ἐόντα τοιοῦτον ἀνοίκητα τὰ πρὸς βορέην ἐστὶ τῆς ἠπείρου ταύτης. τὰ ὦν πτερὰ εἰκάζοντας τὴν χιόνα τοὺς Σκύθας τε καὶ τοὺς περιοίκους δοκέω λέγειν. |
With respect to the feathers which are said by the Scythians to fill the air, and to prevent persons from penetrating into the remoter parts of the continent, even having any view of those regions, my opinion is that in the countries above Scythia it always snows- less, of course, in the summer than in the wintertime. Now snow when it falls looks like feathers, as every one is aware who has seen it come down close to him. These northern regions, therefore, are uninhabitable by reason of the severity of the winter; and the Scythians, with their neighbours, call the snow-flakes feathers because, I think, of the likeness which they bear to them. I have now related what is said of the most distant parts of this continent whereof any account is given. |
32 ταῦτα μέν νυν τὰ λέγεται μακρότατα εἴρηται. Ὑπερβορέων δὲ πέρι ἀνθρώπων οὔτε τι Σκύθαι λέγουσι οὐδὲν οὔτε τινὲς ἄλλοι τῶν ταύτῃ οἰκημένων, εἰ μὴ ἄρα Ἰσσηδόνες· ὡς δ᾽ ἐγὼ δοκέω, οὐδ᾽ οὗτοι λέγουσι οὐδέν· ἔλεγον γὰρ ἂν καὶ Σκύθαι, ὡς περὶ τῶν μουνοφθάλμων λέγουσι. ἀλλ᾽ Ἡσιόδῳ μέν ἐστι περὶ Ὑπερβορέων εἰρημένα, ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ ἐν Ἐπιγόνοισι, εἰ δὴ τῷ ἐόντι γε Ὅμηρος ταῦτα τὰ ἔπεα ἐποίησε. |
Of the Hyperboreans nothing is said either by the Scythians or by any of the other dwellers in these regions, unless it be the Issedonians. But in my opinion, even the Issedonians are silent concerning them; otherwise the Scythians would have repeated their statements, as they do those concerning the one-eyed men. Hesiod, however, mentions them, and Homer also in the Epigoni, if that be really a work of his. |
33 πολλῷ δέ τι πλεῖστα περὶ αὐτῶν Δήλιοι λέγουσι, φάμενοι ἱρὰ ἐνδεδεμένα ἐν καλάμῃ πυρῶν ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων φερόμενα ἀπικνέεσθαι ἐς Σκύθας, ἀπὸ δὲ Σκυθέων ἤδη δεκομένους αἰεὶ τοὺς πλησιοχώρους ἑκάστους κομίζειν αὐτὰ τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρης ἑκαστάτω ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδρίην, ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ πρὸς μεσαμβρίην προπεμπόμενα πρώτους Δωδωναίους Ἑλλήνων δέκεσθαι, ἀπὸ δὲ τούτων καταβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὸν Μηλιέα κόλπον καὶ διαπορεύεσθαι ἐς Εὔβοιαν, πόλιν τε ἐς πόλιν πέμπειν μέχρι Καρύστου, τὸ δ᾽ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐκλείπειν Ἄνδρον· Καρυστίους γὰρ εἶναι τοὺς κομίζοντας ἐς Τῆνον, Τηνίους δὲ ἐς Δῆλον. ἀπικνέεσθαι μέν νυν οὕτω ταῦτα τὰ ἱρὰ λέγουσι ἐς Δῆλον, πρῶτον δὲ τοὺς Ὑπερβορέους πέμψαι φερούσας τὰ ἱρὰ δύο κόρας, τὰς ὀνομάζουσι Δήλιοι εἶναι Ὑπερόχην τε καὶ Λαοδίκην· ἅμα δὲ αὐτῇσι ἀσφαλείης εἵνεκεν πέμψαι τοὺς Ὑπερ βορέους τῶν ἀστῶν ἄνδρας πέντε πομπούς, τούτους οἳ νῦν Περφερέες καλέονται, τιμὰς μεγάλας ἐν Δήλῳ ἔχοντες· ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῖσι Ὑπερβορέοισι τοὺς ἀποπεμφθέντας ὀπίσω οὐκ ἀπονοστέειν, δεινὰ ποιευμένους εἴ σφεας αἰεὶ κατα λάμψεται ἀποστέλλοντας μὴ ἀποδέκεσθαι, οὕτω δὴ φέροντας ἐς τοὺς οὔρους τὰ ἱρὰ ἐνδεδεμένα ἐν πυρῶν καλάμῃ τοῖσι πλησιοχώροισι ἐπισκήπτειν κελεύοντας προπέμπειν σφέα ἀπὸ ἑωυτῶν ἐς ἄλλο ἔθνος. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτω προπεμπόμενα ἀπικνέεσθαι λέγουσι ἐς Δῆλον. οἶδα δὲ αὐτὸς τούτοισι τοῖσι ἱροῖσι τόδε ποιεύμενον προσφερές, τὰς Θρηΐσσας καὶ τὰς Παιονίδας γυναῖκας, ἐπεὰν θύωσι τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι τῇ Βασιληίῃ, οὐκ ἄνευ πυρῶν καλάμης ἐχούσας τὰ ἱρά. |
But the persons who have by far the most to say on this subject are the Delians. They declare that certain offerings, packed in wheaten straw, were brought from the country of the Hyperboreans into Scythia, and that the Scythians received them and passed them on to their neighbours upon the west, who continued to pass them on until at last they reached the Adriatic. From hence they were sent southward, and when they came to Greece, were received first of all by the Dodonaeans. Thence they descended to the Maliac Gulf, from which they were carried across into Euboea, where the people handed them on from city to city, till they came at length to Carystus. The Carystians took them over to Tenos, without stopping at Andros; and the Tenians brought them finally to Delos. Such, according to their own account, was the road by which the offerings reached the Delians. Two damsels, they say, named Hyperoche and Laodice, brought the first offerings from the Hyperboreans; and with them the Hyperboreans sent five men to keep them from all harm by the way; these are the persons whom the Delians call "Perpherees," and to whom great honours are paid at Delos. Afterwards the Hyperboreans, when they found that their messengers did not return, thinking it would be a grievous thing always to be liable to lose the envoys they should send, adopted the following plan:- they wrapped their offerings in the wheaten straw, and bearing them to their borders, charged their neighbours to send them forward from one nation to another, which was done accordingly, and in this way the offerings reached Delos. I myself know of a practice like this, which obtains with the women of Thrace and Paeonia. They in their sacrifices to the queenly Diana bring wheaten straw always with their offerings. Of my own knowledge I can testify that this is so. |
34 καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ταύτας οἶδα ποιεύσας. τῇσι δὲ παρθένοισι ταύτῃσι τῇσι ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων τελευ τησάσῃσι ἐν Δήλῳ κείρονται καὶ αἱ κόραι καὶ οἱ παῖδες οἱ Δηλίων· αἱ μὲν πρὸ γάμου πλόκαμον ἀποταμόμεναι καὶ περὶ ἄτρακτον εἱλίξασαι ἐπὶ τὸ σῆμα τιθεῖσι (τὸ δὲ σῆμά ἐστι ἔσω ἐς τὸ Ἀρτεμίσιον ἐσιόντι ἀριστερῆς χειρός, ἐπιπέφυκε δέ οἱ ἐλαίη), ὅσοι δὲ παῖδες τῶν Δηλίων περὶ χλόην τινὰ εἱλίξαντες τῶν τριχῶν τιθεῖσι καὶ οὗτοι ἐπὶ τὸ σῆμα. |
The damsels sent by the Hyperboreans died in Delos; and in their honour all the Delian girls and youths are wont to cut off their hair. The girls, before their marriage-day, cut off a curl, and twining it round a distaff, lay it upon the grave of the strangers. This grave is on the left as one enters the precinct of Diana, and has an olive-tree growing on it. The youths wind some of their hair round a kind of grass, and, like the girls, place it upon the tomb. Such are the honours paid to these damsels by the Delians. |
35 αὗται μὲν δὴ ταύτην [τὴν] τιμὴν ἔχουσι πρὸς τῶν Δήλου οἰκητόρων. φασὶ δὲ οἱ αὐτοὶ οὗτοι καὶ τὴν Ἄργην τε καὶ τὴν Ὦπιν, ἐούσας παρθένους ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων, κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς τούτους ἀνθρώπους πορευομένας ἀπικέσθαι ἐς Δῆλον ἔτι πρότερον Ὑπερόχης τε καὶ Λαοδίκης· ταύτας μέν νυν τῇ Εἰλειθυίῃ ἀποφερούσας ἀντὶ τοῦ ὠκυτόκου τὸν ἐτάξαντο φόρον ἀπικέσθαι, τὴν δὲ Ἄργην τε καὶ τὴν Ὦπιν ἅμα αὐτῇσι τῇσι θεοῖσι ἀπικέσθαι. λέγουσι καί σφι τιμὰς ἄλλας δεδόσθαι πρὸς σφέων· καὶ γὰρ ἀγείρειν σφι τὰς γυναῖκας, ἐπονομαζούσας τὰ οὐνόματα ἐν τῷ ὕμνῳ τόν σφι Ὠλὴν ἀνὴρ Λύκιος ἐποίησε, παρὰ δὲ σφέων μαθόντας νησιώτας τε καὶ Ἴωνας ὑμνέειν Ὦπίν τε καὶ Ἄργην ὀνομάζοντάς τε καὶ ἀγείροντας (οὗτος δὲ ὁ Ὠλὴν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς παλαιοὺς ὕμνους ἐποίησε ἐκ Λυκίης ἐλθὼν τοὺς ἀειδομένους ἐν Δήλῳ), καὶ τῶν μηρίων καταγι ζομένων ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὴν σποδὸν ταύτην ἐπὶ τὴν θήκην τὴν Ὤπιός τε καὶ Ἄργης ἀναισιμοῦσθαι ἐπιβαλλομένην. ἡ δὲ θήκη αὐτέων ἐστὶ ὄπισθε τοῦ Ἀρτεμισίου, πρὸς ἠῶ τετραμμένη, ἀγχοτάτω τοῦ Κηίων ἱστιητορίου. |
They add that, once before, there came to Delos by the same road as Hyperoche and Laodice, two other virgins from the Hyperboreans, whose names were Arge and Opis. Hyperoche and Laodice came to bring to Ilithyia the offering which they had laid upon themselves, in acknowledgment of their quick labours; but Arge and Opis came at the same time as the gods of Delos,' and are honoured by the Delians in a different way. For the Delian women make collections in these maidens' names, and invoke them in the hymn which Olen, a Lycian, composed for them; and the rest of the islanders, and even the Ionians, have been taught by the Delians to do the like. This Olen, who came from Lycia, made the other old hymns also which are sung in Delos. The Delians add that the ashes from the thigh-bones burnt upon the altar are scattered over the tomb of Opis and Arge. Their tomb lies behind the temple of Diana, facing the east, near the banqueting-hall of the Ceians. Thus much then, and no more, concerning the Hyperboreans. |
36 καὶ ταῦτα μὲν Ὑπερβορέων πέρι εἰρήσθω. Τὸν γὰρ περὶ Ἀβάριος λόγον· τοῦ λεγομένου εἶναι Ὑπερβορέου οὐ λέγω, λέγοντα ὡς τὸν ὀϊστὸν περιέφερε κατὰ πᾶσαν γῆν οὐδὲν σιτεόμενος. εἰ δέ εἰσι ὑπερβόρεοί τινες ἄνθρωποι, εἰσὶ καὶ ὑπερνότιοι ἄλλοι. Γελῶ δὲ ὁρέων γῆς περιόδους γράψαντας πολλοὺς ἤδη καὶ οὐδένα νόον ἐχόντως ἐξηγη σάμενον, οἳ Ὠκεανόν τε ῥέοντα γράφουσι πέριξ τὴν γῆν, ἐοῦσαν κυκλοτερέα ὡς ἀπὸ τόρνου, καὶ τὴν Ἀσίην τῇ Εὐρώπῃ ποιεῦνται ἴσην. ἐν ὀλίγοισι γὰρ ἐγὼ δηλώσω μέγαθός τε ἑκάστης αὐτέων καὶ οἵη τίς ἐστι ἐς γραφὴν ἑκάστη. |
As for the tale of Abaris, who is said to have been a Hyperborean, and to have gone with his arrow all round the world without once eating, I shall pass it by in silence. Thus much, however, is clear: if there are Hyperboreans, there must also be Hypernotians. For my part, I cannot but laugh when I see numbers of persons drawing maps of the world without having any reason to guide them; making, as they do, the ocean-stream to run all round the earth, and the earth itself to be an exact circle, as if described by a pair of compasses, with Europe and Asia just of the same size. The truth in this matter I will now proceed to explain in a very few words, making it clear what the real size of each region is, and what shape should be given them. |
37 <Ἐν μέσῃ Ἀσίῃ> Πέρσαι οἰκέουσι κατήκοντες ἐπὶ τὴν νοτίην θάλασσαν τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν καλεομένην· τούτων δ᾽ ὑπεροικέουσι πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον Μῆδοι, Μήδων δὲ Σάσπειρες, Σασπείρων δὲ Κόλχοι κατήκοντες ἐπὶ τὴν βορηίην θάλασσαν, ἐς τὴν Φᾶσις ποταμὸς ἐκδιδοῖ. Ταῦτα τέσσερα ἔθνεα οἰκέει ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐς θάλασσαν. |
The Persians inhabit a country upon the southern or Erythraean sea; above them, to the north, are the Medes; beyond the Medes, the Saspirians; beyond them, the Colchians, reaching to the northern sea, into which the Phasis empties itself. These four nations fill the whole space from one sea to the other. |
38 ἐνθεῦτεν δὲ τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέρης ἀκταὶ διφάσιαι ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς κατατείνουσι ἐς θάλασσαν, τὰς ἐγὼ ἀπηγήσομαι. ἔνθεν μὲν ἡ ἀκτὴ ἡ ἑτέρη τὰ πρὸς βορέην ἀπὸ Φάσιος ἀρξαμένη παρα τέταται ἐς θάλασσαν παρά τε τὸν Πόντον καὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον μέχρι Σιγείου τοῦ Τρωϊκοῦ, τὰ δὲ πρὸς νότου ἡ αὐτὴ αὕτη ἀκτὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ Μυριανδρικοῦ κόλπου τοῦ πρὸς Φοινίκῃ κειμένου τείνει [τὰ] ἐς θάλασσαν μέχρι Τριοπίου ἄκρης. Οἰκέει δ᾽ ἐν τῇ ἀκτῇ ταύτῃ ἔθνεα ἀνθρώπων τριήκοντα. |
West of these nations there project into the sea two tracts which I will now describe; one, beginning at the river Phasis on the north, stretches along the Euxine and the Hellespont to Sigeum in the Troas; while on the south it reaches from the Myriandrian gulf, which adjoins Phoenicia, to the Triopic promontory. This is one of the tracts, and is inhabited by thirty different nations. |
39 αὕτη μέν νυν ἡ ἑτέρη τῶν ἀκτέων. ἡ δὲ δὴ ἑτέρη ἀπὸ Περσέων ἀρξαμένη παρατέταται ἐς τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν θάλασσαν, ἥ τε Περσικὴ καὶ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐκδε κομένη ἡ Ἀσσυρίη καὶ ἀπὸ Ἀσσυρίης ἡ Ἀραβίη· λήγει δὲ αὕτη, οὐ λήγουσα εἰ μὴ νόμῳ, ἐς τὸν κόλπον τὸν Ἀράβιον, ἐς τὸν Δαρεῖος ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου διώρυχα ἐσήγαγε· μέχρι μέν νυν Φοινίκης ἀπὸ Περσέων χῶρος πλατὺς καὶ πολλός ἐστι, τὸ δ᾽ ἀπὸ Φοινίκης παρήκει διὰ τῆσδε τῆς θαλάσσης ἡ ἀκτὴ αὕτη παρά τε Συρίην τὴν Παλαιστίνην καὶ Αἴγυπτον, ἐς τὴν τελευτᾷ· ἐν τῇ ἔθνεά ἐστι τρία μοῦνα. |
The other starts from the country of the Persians, and stretches into the Erythraean sea, containing first Persia, then Assyria, and after Assyria, Arabia. It ends, that is to say, it is considered to end, though it does not really come to a termination, at the Arabian gulf- the gulf whereinto Darius conducted the canal which he made from the Nile. Between Persia and Phoenicia lies a broad and ample tract of country, after which the region I am describing skirts our sea, stretching from Phoenicia along the coast of Palestine-Syria till it comes to Egypt, where it terminates. This entire tract contains but three nations. The whole of Asia west of the country of the Persians is comprised in these two regions. |
40 ταῦτα μὲν ἀπὸ Περσέων τὰ πρὸς ἑσπέρης τῆς Ἀσίης ἔχοντά ἐστι. τὰ δὲ κατύπερθε Περσέων καὶ Μήδων καὶ Σασπείρων καὶ Κόλχων, τὰ πρὸς ἠῶ τε καὶ ἥλιον ἀνατέλλοντα, ἔνθεν μὲν ἡ Ἐρυθρὴ παρήκει θάλασσα, πρὸς βορέω δὲ ἡ Κασπίη τε θάλασσα καὶ ὁ Ἀράξης ποταμός, ῥέων πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσ χοντα. Μέχρι δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς οἰκέεται [ἡ] Ἀσίη· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ ταύτης ἔρημος ἤδη τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ, οὐδὲ ἔχει οὐδεὶς φράσαι οἷον δή τι ἐστί. |
Beyond the tract occupied by the Persians, Medes, Saspirians, and Colchians, towards the east and the region of the sunrise, Asia is bounded on the south by the Erythraean sea, and on the north by the Caspian and the river Araxes, which flows towards the rising sun. Till you reach India the country is peopled; but further east it is void of inhabitants, and no one can say what sort of region it is. Such then is the shape, and such the size of Asia. |
41 τοιαύτη μὲν καὶ τοσαύτη ἡ Ἀσίη ἐστί. Ἡ δὲ Λιβύη ἐν τῇ ἀκτῇ τῇ ἑτέρῃ ἐστί· ἀπὸ γὰρ Αἰγύπτου Λιβύη ἤδη ἐκδέκεται. κατὰ μέν νυν Αἴγυπτον ἡ ἀκτὴ αὕτη στεινή ἐστι· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆσδε τῆς θαλάσσης ἐς τὴν Ἐρυθρὴν θάλασσαν δέκα μυριάδες εἰσὶ ὀργυιέων, αὗται δ᾽ ἂν εἶεν χίλιοι στάδιοι· τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ στεινοῦ τούτου κάρτα πλατέα τυγχάνει ἐοῦσα ἡ ἀκτὴ, ἥτις Λιβύη κέκληται. |
Libya belongs to one of the above-mentioned tracts, for it adjoins on Egypt. In Egypt the tract is at first a narrow neck, the distance from our sea to the Erythraean not exceeding a hundred thousand fathoms, in other words, a thousand furlongs; but from the point where the neck ends, the tract which bears the name of Libya is of very great breadth. |
42 1. Θωμάζω ὦν τῶν διουρισάντων καὶ διελόντων Λιβύην τε καὶ Ἀσίην καὶ Εὐρώπην (οὐ γὰρ σμικρὰ τὰ διαφέροντα αὐτῶν ἐστί), μήκεϊ μὲν γὰρ παρ᾽ ἀμφοτέρας παρήκει ἡ Εὐρώπη, εὔρεος δὲ πέρι οὐδὲ συμβαλεῖν ἀξίη φαίνεταί μοι εἶναι. |
For my part I am astonished that men should ever have divided Libya, Asia, and Europe as they have, for they are exceedingly unequal. Europe extends the entire length of the other two, and for breadth will not even (as I think) bear to be compared to them. As for Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home. On their return, they declared- I for my part do not believe them, but perhaps others may- that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered. Next to these Phoenicians the Carthaginians, according to their own accounts, made the voyage. For Sataspes, son of Teaspes the Achaemenian, did not circumnavigate Libya, though he was sent to do so; but, fearing the length and desolateness of the journey, he turned back and left unaccomplished the task which had been set him by his mother. This man had used violence towards a maiden, the daughter of Zopyrus, son of Megabyzus, and King Xerxes was about to impale him for the offence, when his mother, who was a sister of Darius, begged him off, undertaking to punish his crime more heavily than the king himself had designed. She would force him, she said, to sail round Libya and return to Egypt by the Arabian gulf. Xerxes gave his consent; and Sataspes went down to Egypt, and there got a ship and crew, with which he set sail for the Pillars of Hercules. Having passed the Straits, he doubled the Libyan headland, known as Cape Soloeis, and proceeded southward. Following this course for many months over a vast stretch of sea, and finding that more water than he had crossed still lay ever before him, he put about, and came back to Egypt. Thence proceeding to the court, he made report to Xerxes, that at the farthest point to which he had reached, the coast was occupied by a dwarfish race, who wore a dress made from the palm tree. These people, whenever he landed, left their towns and fled away to the mountains; his men, however, did them no wrong, only entering into their cities and taking some of their cattle. The reason why he had not sailed quite round Libya was, he said, because the ship stopped, and would no go any further. Xerxes, however, did not accept this account for true; and so Sataspes, as he had failed to accomplish the task set him, was impaled by the king's orders in accordance with the former sentence. One of his eunuchs, on hearing of his death, ran away with a great portion of his wealth, and reached Samos, where a certain Samian seized the whole. I know the man's name well, but I shall willingly forget it here. |
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44 1. Τῆς δὲ Ἀσίης τὰ πολλὰ ὑπὸ Δαρείου ἐξευρέθη, ὃς βουλόμενος Ἰνδὸν ποταμόν, ὃς κροκοδείλους δεύτερος οὗτος ποταμῶν πάντων παρέχεται, τοῦτον τὸν ποταμὸν εἰδέναι, τῇ ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκδιδοῖ, πέμπει πλοίοισι ἄλλους τε, τοῖσι ἐπίστευε τὴν ἀληθείην ἐρέειν, καὶ δὴ καὶ Σκύλακα ἄνδρα Καρυανδέα. 2. οἱ δὲ ὁρμηθέντες ἐκ Κασπατύρου τε πόλιος καὶ τῆς Πακτυϊκῆς γῆς ἔπλεον κατὰ ποταμὸν πρὸς ἠῶ τε καὶ ἡλίου ἀνατολὰς ἐς θάλασσαν, διὰ θαλάσσης δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέρην πλέοντες τριηκοστῷ μηνὶ ἀπικνέονται ἐς τοῦτον τὸν χῶρον, ὅθεν ὁ Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεὺς τοὺς Φοίνικας, τοὺς πρότερον εἶπα, ἀπέστειλε περιπλέειν Λιβύην. μετὰ δὲ τούτους περιπλώσαντας Ἰνδούς τε κατεστρέψατο Δαρεῖος καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ ταύτῃ ἐχρᾶτο. Οὕτω καὶ τῆς Ἀσίης, πλὴν τὰ πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα, τὰ ἄλλα ἀνεύρηται ὅμοια παρεχομένη τῇ Λιβύῃ. |
Of the greater part of Asia Darius was the discoverer. Wishing to know where the Indus (which is the only river save one that produces crocodiles) emptied itself into the sea, he sent a number of men, on whose truthfulness he could rely, and among them Scylax of Caryanda, to sail down the river. They started from the city of Caspatyrus, in the region called Pactyica, and sailed down the stream in an easterly direction to the sea. Here they turned westward, and, after a voyage of thirty months, reached the place from which the Egyptian king, of whom I spoke above, sent the Phoenicians to sail round Libya. After this voyage was completed, Darius conquered the Indians, and made use of the sea in those parts. Thus all Asia, except the eastern portion, has been found to be similarly circumstanced with Libya. |
45 1. Ἡ δὲ Εὐρώπη πρὸς οὐδαμῶν φανερή ἐστι γινωσκομένη οὔτε τὰ πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνατέλλοντα οὔτε τὰ πρὸς βορέην, εἰ περίρρυτός ἐστι· μήκεϊ δὲ γινώσκεται παρ᾽ ἀμφοτέρας παρήκουσα. 2. οὐδ᾽ ἔχω συμβαλέσθαι, ἐπ᾽ ὅτευ μιῇ ἐούσῃ γῇ οὐνόματα τριφάσια κεῖται ἐπωνυμίας ἔχοντα γυναικῶν, καὶ οὐρίσματα αὐτῇ Νεῖλός τε ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ποταμὸς ἐτέθη καὶ Φᾶσις ὁ Κόλχος (οἱ δὲ Τάναϊν ποταμὸν τὸν Μαιήτην καὶ Πορθμήια τὰ Κιμμέρια λέγουσι), οὐδὲ τῶν διουρισάντων τὰ οὐνόματα πυθέσθαι, καὶ ὅθεν ἔθεντο τὰς ἐπωνυμίας. 3. ἤδη γὰρ Λιβύη μὲν ἐπὶ Λιβύης λέγεται ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔχειν τὸ οὔνομα γυναικὸς αὐτόχθονος, ἡ δὲ Ἀσίη ἐπὶ τῆς Προμηθέος γυναικὸς τὴν ἐπωνυμίην· καὶ τούτου μὲν μεταλαμβάνονται τοῦ οὐνόματος Λυδοί φάμενοι ἐπὶ Ἀσίεω τοῦ Κότυος τοῦ Μάνεω κεκλῆσθαι τὴν Ἀσίην, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς Προμηθέος Ἀσίης, ἐπ᾽ ὅτευ καὶ τὴν ἐν Σάρδισι φυλὴν κεκλῆσθαι Ἀσιάδα. 4. ἡ δὲ δὴ Εὐρώπη οὔτε εἰ περίρρυτός ἐστι γινώσκεται πρὸς οὐδαμῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὔτε ὁκόθεν τὸ οὔνομα ἔλαβε τοῦτο, οὔτε ὅστις οἱ ἦν ὁ θέμενος φαίνεται, εἰ μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς Τυρίης φήσομεν Εὐρώπης λαβεῖν τὸ οὔνομα τὴν χώρην· πρότερον δὲ ἦν ἄρα ἀνώνυμος ὥσπερ αἱ ἕτεραι. 5. ἀλλ᾽ αὕτη γε ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης τε φαίνεται ἐοῦσα καὶ οὐκ ἀπικομένη ἐς τὴν γῆν ταύτην, ἥτις ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων Εὐρώπη καλέεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον ἐκ Φοινίκης ἐς Κρήτην, ἐκ Κρήτης δὲ ἐς Λυκίην. ταῦτα μέν νυν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτο εἰρήσθω· τοῖσι γὰρ νομιζομένοισι αὐτῶν χρησόμεθα. |
But the boundaries of Europe are quite unknown, and there is not a man who can say whether any sea girds it round either on the north or on the east, while in length it undoubtedly extends as far as both the other two. For my part I cannot conceive why three names, and women's names especially, should ever have been given to a tract which is in reality one, nor why the Egyptian Nile and the Colchian Phasis (or according to others the Maeotic Tanais and Cimmerian ferry) should have been fixed upon for the boundary lines; nor can I even say who gave the three tracts their names, or whence they took the epithets. According to the Greeks in general, Libya was so called after a certain Libya, a native woman, and Asia after the wife of Prometheus. The Lydians, however, put in a claim to the latter name, which, they declare, was not derived from Asia the wife of Prometheus, but from Asies, the son of Cotys, and grandson of Manes, who also gave name to the tribe Asias at Sardis. As for Europe, no one can say whether it is surrounded by the sea or not, neither is it known whence the name of Europe was derived, nor who gave it name, unless we say that Europe was so called after the Tyrian Europe, and before her time was nameless, like the other divisions. But it is certain that Europe was an Asiatic, and never even set foot on the land which the Greeks now call Europe, only sailing from Phoenicia to Crete, and from Crete to Lycia. However let us quit these matters. We shall ourselves continue to use the names which custom sanctions. |
46 ὁ δὲ Πόντος ὁ Εὔξεινος, ἐπ᾽ ὃν ἐστρατεύετο ὁ Δαρεῖος, χωρέων πασέων παρέχεται ἔξω τοῦ Σκυθικοῦ ἔθνεα ἀμαθέστατα· οὔτε γὰρ ἔθνος τῶν ἐντὸς τοῦ Πόντου οὐδὲν ἔχομεν προβαλέσθαι σοφίης πέρι οὔτε ἄνδρα λόγιον οἴδαμεν γενόμενον, πάρεξ τοῦ Σκυθικοῦ ἔθνεος καὶ Ἀναχάρσιος. τῷ δὲ Σκυθικῷ γένεϊ ἓν μὲν τὸ μέγιστον τῶν ἀνθρωπηίων πρηγμάτων σοφώτατα πάντων ἐξεύρηται τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, τὰ μέντοι ἄλλα οὐκ ἄγαμαι. Τὸ δὲ μέγιστον οὕτω σφι ἀνεύρηται ὥστε ἀποφυγεῖν τε μηδένα ἐπελθόντα ἐπὶ σφέας, μὴ βουλομένους τε ἐξευρεθῆναι καταλαβεῖν μὴ οἷόν τε εἶναι. Τοῖσι γὰρ μήτε ἄστεα μήτε τείχεα ᾖ ἐκτισ μένα, ἀλλὰ φερέοικοι ἐόντες πάντες ἔωσι ἱπποτοξόται, ζώοντες μὴ ἀπ᾽ ἀρότου ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ κτηνέων, οἰκήματά τέ σφι ᾖ ἐπὶ ζευγέων, κῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴησαν οὗτοι ἄμαχοί τε καὶ ἄποροι προσμίσγειν; |
The Euxine sea, where Darius now went to war, has nations dwelling around it, with the one exception of the Scythians, more unpolished than those of any other region that we know of. For, setting aside Anacharsis and the Scythian people, there is not within this region a single nation which can be put forward as having any claims to wisdom, or which has produced a single person of any high repute. The Scythians indeed have in one respect, and that the very most important of all those that fall under man's control, shown themselves wiser than any nation upon the face of the earth. Their customs otherwise are not such as I admire. The one thing of which I speak is the contrivance whereby they make it impossible for the enemy who invades them to escape destruction, while they themselves are entirely out of his reach, unless it please them to engage with him. Having neither cities nor forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever they go; accustomed, moreover, one and all of them, to shoot from horseback; and living not by husbandry but on their cattle, their waggons the only houses that they possess, how can they fail of being unconquerable, and unassailable even? |
47 ἐξεύρηται δέ σφι ταῦτα τῆς τε γῆς ἐούσης ἐπιτηδέης καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν ἐόντων σφι συμμάχων· ἥ τε γὰρ γῆ ἐοῦσα πεδιὰς αὕτη ποιώδης τε καὶ εὔυδρός ἐστι, ποταμοί τε δι᾽ αὐτῆς ῥέουσι οὐ πολλῷ τεῳ ἀριθμὸν ἐλάσσονες τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διωρύχων. ὅσοι δὲ ὀνομαστοί τέ εἰσι αὐτῶν καὶ προσπλωτοὶ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης, τούτους ὀνομανέω· Ἴστρος μὲν πεντάστομος, μετὰ δὲ Τύρης τε καὶ Ὕπανις καὶ Βορυσθένης καὶ Παντικάπης καὶ Ὑπάκυρις καὶ Γέρρος καὶ Τάναϊς. ῥέουσι δὲ οὗτοι κατὰ τάδε. |
The nature of their country, and the rivers by which it is intersected, greatly favour this mode of resisting attacks. For the land is level, well watered, and abounding in pasture; while the rivers which traverse it are almost equal in number to the canals of Egypt. Of these I shall only mention the most famous and such as are navigable to some distance from the sea. They are, the Ister, which has five mouths; the Tyras, the Hypanis, the Borysthenes, the Panticapes, the Hypacyris, the Gerrhus, and the Tanais. The courses of these streams I shall now proceed to describe. |
48 Ἴστρος μὲν ἐὼν μέγιστος ποταμῶν πάντων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν, ἴσος αἰεὶ αὐτὸς ἑωυτῷ ῥέει καὶ θέρεος καὶ χειμῶνος, πρῶτος δὲ τὸ ἀπ᾽ ἑσπέρης τῶν ἐν τῇ Σκυθικῇ ῥέων κατὰ τοιόνδε μέγιστος γέγονε, ποταμῶν καὶ ἄλλων ἐς αὐτὸν ἐκδιδόντων. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἵδε οἱ μέγαν αὐτὸν ποιεῦντες· διὰ μέν γε τῆς Σκυθικῆς χώρης πέντε μεγάλοι ῥέοντες, τόν τε Σκύθαι Πόρατα καλέουσι, Ἕλληνες δὲ Πυρετόν, καὶ ἄλλος Τιάραντος καὶ Ἄραρός τε καὶ Νάπαρις καὶ Ὀρδησσός. ὁ μὲν πρῶτος λεχθεὶς τῶν ποταμῶν μέγας καὶ πρὸς ἠῶ ῥέων ἀνακοινοῦται τῷ Ἴστρῳ τὸ ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος λεχθεὶς Τιάραντος πρὸς ἑσπέρης τε μᾶλλον καὶ ἐλάσσων, ὁ δὲ δὴ Ἄραρός τε καὶ ὁ Νάπαρις καὶ ὁ Ὀρδησ σὸς διὰ μέσου τούτων ἰόντες ἐσβάλλουσι ἐς τὸν Ἴστρον. Οὗτοι μὲν αὐθιγενέες Σκυθικοὶ ποταμοὶ συμπληθύουσι αὐτόν. ἐκ δὲ Ἀγαθύρσων Μάρις ποταμὸς ῥέων συμμίσγεται τῷ Ἴστρῳ. |
The Ister is of all the rivers with which we are acquainted the mightiest. It never varies in height, but continues at the same level summer and winter. Counting from the west it is the first of the Scythian rivers, and the reason of its being the greatest is that it receives the water of several tributaries. Now the tributaries which swell its flood are the following: first, on the side of Scythia, these five- the stream called by the Scythians Porata, and by the Greeks Pyretus, the Tiarantus, the Ararus, the Naparis, and the Ordessus. The first mentioned is a great stream, and is the easternmost of the tributaries. The Tiarantus is of less volume, and more to the west. The Ararus, Naparis, and Ordessus fall into the Ister between these two. All the above mentioned are genuine Scythian rivers, and go to swell the current of the Ister. |
49 ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Αἵμου τῶν κορυφέων τρεῖς ἄλλοι μεγάλοι ῥέοντες πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον ἐσβάλλουσι ἐς αὐτόν, Ἄτλας καὶ Αὔρας καὶ Τίβισις· διὰ δὲ Θρηίκης καὶ Θρηίκων τῶν Κροβύζων ῥέοντες Ἄθρυς καὶ Νόης καὶ Ἀρτάνης ἐκδιδοῦσι ἐς τὸν Ἴστρον· ἐκ δὲ Παιόνων καὶ ὄρεος Ῥοδόπης Σκίος ποταμὸς μέσον σχίζων τὸν Αἷμον ἐκδιδοῖ ἐς αὐτόν. ἐξ Ἰλλυριῶν δὲ ῥέων πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον Ἄγγρος ποταμὸς ἐσβάλλει ἐς πεδίον τὸ Τριβαλλικὸν καὶ ἐς ποταμὸν Βρόγγον, ὁ δὲ Βρόγγος ἐς τὸν Ἴστρον· οὕτω ἀμφοτέρους ἐόντας μεγάλους ὁ Ἴστρος δέκεται. Ἐκ δὲ τῆς κατύπερθε χώρης Ὀμβρικῶν Κάρπις ποταμὸς καὶ ἄλλος Ἄλπις πρὸς βορέην ἄνεμον καὶ οὗτοι ῥέοντες ἐκδιδοῦσι ἐς αὐτόν. ῥέει γὰρ δὴ διὰ πάσης [τῆς] Εὐρώπης ὁ Ἴστρος, ἀρξάμενος ἐκ Κελτῶν, οἳ ἔσχατοι πρὸς ἡλίου δυσμέων μετὰ Κύνητας οἰκέουσι τῶν ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ· ῥέων δὲ διὰ πάσης [τῆς] Εὐρώπης ἐς τὰ πλάγια τῆς Σκυθικῆς ἐσβάλλει. |
From the country of the Agathyrsi comes down another river, the Maris, which empties itself into the same; and from the heights of Haemus descend with a northern course three mighty streams, the Atlas, the Auras, and the Tibisis, and pour their waters into it. Thrace gives it three tributaries, the Athrys, the Noes, and the Artanes, which all pass through the country of the Crobyzian Thracians. Another tributary is furnished by Paeonia, namely, the Scius; this river, rising near Mount Rhodope, forces its way through the chain of Haemus, and so reaches the Ister. From Illyria comes another stream, the Angrus, which has a course from south to north, and after watering the Triballian plain, falls into the Brongus, which falls into the Ister. So the Ister is augmented by these two streams, both considerable. Besides all these, the Ister receives also the waters of the Carpis and the Alpis, two rivers running in a northerly direction from the country above the Umbrians. For the Ister flows through the whole extent of Europe, rising in the country of the Celts (the most westerly of all the nations of Europe, excepting the Cynetians), and thence running across the continent till it reaches Scythia, whereof it washes the flanks. |
50 τούτων ὦν τῶν καταλεχθέντων καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν συμβαλλομένων τὸ σφέτερον ὕδωρ γίνεται ὁ Ἴστρος ποταμῶν μέγιστος, ἐπεὶ ὕδωρ γε ἓν πρὸς ἓν συμβάλλειν ὁ Νεῖλος πλήθεϊ ἀποκρατέει· ἐς γὰρ δὴ τοῦτον οὔτε ποταμὸς οὔτε κρήνη οὐδεμία ἐκδιδοῦσα ἐς πλῆθός οἱ συμβάλλεται. ἴσος δὲ αἰεὶ ῥέει ἔν τε θέρεϊ καὶ ἐν χειμῶνι ὁ Ἴστρος κατὰ τοιόνδε τι, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει. τοῦ μὲν χειμῶνός ἐστι ὅσος περ ἐστί, ὀλίγῳ τε μέζων τῆς ἑωυτοῦ φύσιος γίνεται· ὕεται γὰρ ἡ γῆ αὕτη τοῦ χειμῶνος πάμπαν ὀλίγῳ, νιφετῷ δὲ [τὰ] πάντα χρᾶται. Τοῦ δὲ θέρεος ἡ χιὼν ἡ ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι πεσοῦσα, ἐοῦσα ἀμφιλαφής, τηκομένη πάντοθεν ἐκδιδοῖ ἐς τὸν Ἴστρον· αὕτη τε δὴ ἡ χιὼν ἐκδιδοῦσα ἐς αὐτὸν συμπληθύει καὶ ὄμβροι πολλοί τε καὶ λάβροι σὺν αὐτῇ· ὕει γὰρ δὴ τὸ θέρος· ὅσῳ δὲ πλέον ἐπ᾽ ἑωυτὸν ὕδωρ ὁ ἥλιος ἐπέλκεται ἐν τῷ θέρεϊ ἢ ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι, τοσούτῳ τὰ συμμισγόμενα τῷ Ἴστρῳ πολλαπλήσιά ἐστι τοῦ θέρεος ἤ περ τοῦ χειμῶνος. Ἀντιτιθέμενα δὲ ταῦτα ἀντισήκωσις γίνεται, ὥστε ἴσον μιν αἰεὶ φαίνεσθαι ἐόντα. |
All these streams, then, and many others, add their waters to swell the flood of the Ister, which thus increased becomes the mightiest of rivers; for undoubtedly if we compare the stream of the Nile with the single stream of the Ister, we must give the preference to the Nile, of which no tributary river, nor even rivulet, augments the volume. The Ister remains at the same level both summer and winter- owing to the following reasons, as I believe. During the winter it runs at its natural height, or a very little higher, because in those countries there is scarcely any rain in winter, but constant snow. When summer comes, this snow, which is of great depth, begins to melt, and flows into the Ister, which is swelled at that season, not only by this cause but also by the rains, which are heavy and frequent at that part of the year. Thus the various streams which go to form the Ister are higher in summer than in winter, and just so much higher as the sun's power and attraction are greater; so that these two causes counteract each other, and the effect is to produce a balance, whereby the Ister remains always at the same level. |
51 Εἷς μὲν δὴ τῶν ποταμῶν τοῖσι Σκύθῃσί ἐστι ὁ Ἴστρος. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον Τύρης, ὃς ἀπὸ βορέω μὲν ἀνέμου ὁρμᾶται, ἄρχεται δὲ ῥέων ἐκ λίμνης μεγάλης ἣ οὐρίζει τήν τε Σκυθικὴν καὶ τὴν Νευρίδα γῆν· ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ κατοίκηνται Ἕλληνες, οἳ Τυρῖται καλέο |