18. The whole of this country, which reaches to the sea-coast extending from the Dnieper[2701] to the Palus Mæotis, is subject to severe winters; so also are the most northern of the districts bordering on the sea, as the mouth of the Palus Mæotis, and farther that of the Dnieper and the head of the Gulf of Tamyraca, or Carcinites,[2702] which washes the isthmus[2703] of the Magna Chersonesus. The intense cold of the districts inhabited, notwithstanding their being plains, is manifest, for they rear no asses, as that animal is too susceptible of cold; some of their oxen are without horns by nature, of the others they file off the horns, as a part most susceptible of injury from cold. Their horses are diminutive and their sheep large. Their brazen vessels are split with the frosts, and their contents frozen into a solid mass. However, the rigour of the frosts may be best illustrated by the phænomena which are common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus Mæotis;[2704] for the passage from Panticapæum,[2705] across to Phanagoria,[2706] is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage[2707] and an overland route [as the season may determine]. There are also fish which are taken in the ice by means of a round net called a gangama, and especially a kind of sturgeon called antacæus,[2708] nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates,[2709] defeated the barbarians during summer-time in a naval engagement in this very strait, and during the winter in a cavalry action. They say that about the Bosphorus the vine is hidden away in the earth in winter, great mounds of mould being piled over it [to preserve it from the frost]. They also report that the heats are excessive, [this may be accounted for in several ways,] perhaps men’s bodies not being accustomed to them, feel them the more; perhaps the plains are at that time unrefreshed by winds; or perhaps the thickness of the air is heated to a great degree, similar to the way in which the misty air is affected in times when a parhelion is observed.
It appears that Ateas,[2710] who carried on war against Philip,[2711] the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts.
19. After the island[2712] situated opposite the mouth of the Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of the Course of Achilles.[2713] The district is quite bare, notwithstanding that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles. Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula; for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two stadia[2714] in the broadest part, and but four plethra[2715] in the narrowest. It is distant from the mainland, which runs out on both sides of the neck, about 60 stadia. It is sandy, but water is obtainable by digging. About the midst of the Course of Achilles[2716] is the neck of the isthmus [joining it to the mainland]. It is about 40 stadia in breadth, and terminates in a headland which they call Tamyraca.[2717] This possesses an anchorage opposite the mainland. Next comes the Gulf Carcinites, which is of considerable extent, reaching towards the north[2718] about 1000 stadia. Some affirm that it is three times that distance to the head of the gulf ... are called Taphrii. They likewise call the Gulf Carcinites the Gulf Tamyraca, the same as the headland.
CHAPTER IV.
1. At the bottom of the bay (Carcinites) commences the isthmus[2719] which separates the lake called Sapra, [or the Putrid Lake,] from the sea; it is 40 stadia in width, and forms the Tauric or Scythian Chersonese.[2720] This, according to some, is 360 stadia across. The Putrid Lake[2721] is said to extend 4000 stadia (in circumference), and forms part of the [Palus] Mæotis on its western side, with which it communicates by a large opening. It abounds in marshy tracts, and is scarcely navigable with “sewn”[2722] boats. The shallower parts are soon uncovered, and again covered with water, by the force of the wind; but the marsh will not bear boats of a deeper draught. In the bay are three small islands; and in sailing along the coast, some shallows are met with, and rocks which rise above water.
2. On the left in sailing out of the bay [Carcinites] there is a small town and another harbour[2723] belonging to the people of the Chersonese; for in coasting along the bay, there projects towards the south a large promontory, which is a part of the great Chersonese. Upon it stands a city of the Heracleotæ, who are a colony from Heraclea[2724] in the Euxine; it bears the same name, Chersonesus, as the territory. It is distant from the Dniester,[2725] in following the coast, 4400 stadia. In this city is a temple of the Virgin, some goddess,[2726] after whom the promontory, which is in front of the city, at the distance of 100 stadia, is called Parthenium. It has a shrine of the goddess and a statue. Between the city[2727] and the promontory are three harbours; next is the old city Chersonesus in ruins; then follows a harbour with a narrow entrance. It was called Symbolon Limen, or Signal Harbour; and here principally was carried on a system of piracy against those who took refuge in the ports. This, together with another harbour, called Ctenus,[2728] forms an isthmus of 40 stadia in extent. This isthmus locks in the Smaller Chersonesus, which we said was a part of the Great Chersonesus, having on it a city of the same name.
3. It was formerly governed by its own laws, but after it was ravaged by barbarous nations, the inhabitants were obliged to elect as their protector, Mithridates Eupator, who was anxious to direct his forces against the barbarians who lived above the isthmus, and occupied the country as far as the Dnieper and the Adriatic, and thus to prepare himself against war with the Romans. Mithridates, with these views, readily despatched an expedition into the Chersonesus, and carried on war at the same time against the Scythians, Scilurus, and the sons of Scilurus, namely, Palacus and his brothers, whom Posidonius reckons to have been fifty, and Apollonides eighty, in number. By the subjugation of these enemies he became at once master of the Bosporus, which Pairisades, who held the command of it, voluntarily surrendered. From that time to the present the city of the Chersonitæ has been subject to the princes of the Bosporus.
Ctenus is equally distant from the city of the Chersonitæ, and from Symbolon Limen. From Symbolon Limen the Tauric coast extends 1000 stadia to the city Theodosia.[2729] The coast is rugged and mountainous, and during the prevalence of the north winds, tempestuous. From this coast a promontory projects far into the sea, and stretches out southwards towards Paphlagonia, and the city Amastris. It is called Criu-metopon, or Ram’s Head. Opposite to it is Carambis,[2730] the promontory of the Paphlagonians. Criu-metopon and Carambis together form a strait compressed between them, and divide the Euxine into two parts. Carambis is distant from the city of the Chersonesus 2500 stadia, and from Criu-metopon much less; for many persons who have sailed through the strait say, that they saw both promontories at once.[2731]
In the mountainous district of the Tauri there is a hill called Trapezus,[2732] of the same name as the city,[2733] which is near Tibarania and Colchis. There is another hill also, the Kimmerium,[2734] in the same mountainous district, for the Kimmerii were once sovereigns of the Bosporus, and hence the whole of the strait at the mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus.