[118] There were two places called Heracleium on this coast, one north and the other south of the river Achæus: probably the latter is here meant.
[119] Said to have been descended from the Achæans or Greeks who accompanied Jason in the Argonautic Expedition, or, according to Ammianus, who resorted thither after the conclusion of the Trojan war.
[120] Probably meaning the “martial people,” or the “people of Mars.” This was the title, not of a single nation, but of a number of peoples distinguished for their predatory habits.
[121] This people occupied the N.E. shore of the Euxine, between the Cimmerian Bosporus and the frontier of Colchis. Their name is still in existence, and is applied to the whole western district of the Caucasus, in the forms of Tcherkas, as applied to the people, and Tcherkeskaia or Circassia, to the country.
[122] Hardouin suggests that these ought to be read as forming one name, the “Cerri Cephalatomi,” and suggests that they were so called from their habit of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies.
[123] Meaning, nearly in the extreme corner of Pontus.
[124] In the time of Strabo this was a considerable sea-port, and after its destruction by the Heniochi, it was restored, and served as an important frontier fortress of the Roman empire against the Scythians.
[125] This was Mithridates, king of Bosporus, which sovereignty he obtained by the favour of the emperor Claudius, in A.D. 41. The circumstances are unknown which led to his subsequent expulsion by the Romans, who placed his younger brother Cotys on the throne in his stead.
[126] Hardouin thinks that the Thalli inhabited the present country of Astrakan.
[127] It was the ancient opinion, to which we shall find frequent reference made in the present Book, that the northern portion of the Caspian communicated with the Scythian or Septentrional ocean.