Pliny the Younger & Pliny the Elder · a new plain-English translation from the Latin
1| The third gulf of Europe begins at the Acroceraunian mountains and ends at the Hellespont; not counting the smaller gulfs, it takes in 1,925,000 paces. On it lie Epirus, Acarnania, Aetolia, Phocis, Locris, Achaia, Messenia, Laconica, Argolis, Megaris, Attica, Boeotia, and again, from the opposite sea, those same Phocis and Locris, Doris, Phthiotis, Thessaly, Magnesia, Macedonia and Thrace. All the legend-making of Greece, like the glory of its literature, first shone out from this gulf, and for that reason we shall linger on it a little.
2| Epirus, taken as a whole, begins at the Ceraunian mountains. In it are first the Chaones, from whom Chaonia is named, then the Thesproti and the Antigonenses; the place Aornos, with its exhalation deadly to birds; the Cestrini; the Perrhaebi, whose mountain is Pindus; the Cassopaei, Dryopes, Selloe and Hellopes; and the Molossi, among whom are the temple of Dodonaean Jupiter, famous for its oracle, and Mount Talarus, celebrated by Theopompus for the hundred springs around its foot.
3| Epirus proper, stretching toward Magnesia and Macedonia, has behind it the Dassaretae mentioned above, a free people, and then the Dardani, a wild one. Along the left side of the Dardani stretch the Triballi and the Moesian peoples; in front they are joined by the Maedi and the Denselatae, and these by the Thracians, who reach all the way to the Pontus. Thus the heights of Rhodope, and then of Haemus too, are girded about and walled in. On the shore of Epirus stands the stronghold Chimera, among the Acroceraunian mountains,
4| and below it the spring called the Royal Waters; the towns of Maeandria and Cestria; the river Thyamis of Thesprotia; Buthrotum, a colony; and, most famous of all, the Ambracian Gulf, which takes in a spacious expanse of water through a mouth of 500 paces, and is 37,000 long and 15,000 broad. Into it is carried the river Acheron, which flows from the Acherusian lake in Thesprotia, 35,000 paces away, and is remarkable, to those who marvel at everything of their own, for a bridge a thousand feet long. On the gulf is the town of Ambracia. The rivers of the Molossi are the Aphas and the Aratthus; there is also the community of Anactorium and the place Pandosia.
5| The towns of Acarnania, which was formerly called Curetis, are Heraclia and Echinus, and, at the very mouth of the gulf, Actium, a colony of Augustus, having the renowned temple of Apollo and the free community of Nicopolis. Those who leave the Ambracian Gulf for the Ionian sea are met by the Leucadian coast and the promontory of Leucates; then by a gulf, and by Leucadia itself, a peninsula once called Neritis, which the labor of its inhabitants cut off from the mainland and the blowing of the winds gave back to it, heaping up a mass of sand; the place is called Dioryctos and is three stadia long. The town on it is Leucas, once called Neritum. Then come the cities of the Acarnanians, Alyzia, Stratos, and Argos surnamed Amphilochian. The river Achelous flows from Pindus, separating Acarnania from Aetolia and attaching the island Artemita to the mainland through its unceasing deposit of earth.
6| The peoples of the Aetolians are the Athamnanes, Tymphaei, Ephyri, Aenienses, Perrhaebi, Dolopes, Maraces and Atraces, from whose land the river Atrax empties into the Ionian sea. Calydon is a town of Aetolia, 7,500 paces from the sea, near the river Euenus. Then come Macynia and Molycria, behind which are Mount Chalcis and Taphiassus. On the coast is the promontory of Antirrhium, where the mouth of the Corinthian Gulf flows in, less than 1,000 paces wide, separating the Aetolians from the Peloponnese. The promontory that juts out opposite is called Rion. On the Corinthian Gulf are the towns of Aetolia, Naupactos and Eupalimna, and inland are Pleuron and Halicarna. The famous mountains are Tomarus in Dodona, Crania in Ambracia, Aracynthus in Acarnania, and in Aetolia Achaton, Panaetolium and Macynium.
7| Nearest the Aetolians are the Locri, called Ozolae, who are free of tribute. There are the town of Oeanthe, the port of Phaestian Apollo, and the Crisaean Gulf. Inland are the towns of Argyna, Eupalia, Phaestum and Calamisus. Farther on are the plains of Phocis around Cirrha, then the town of Cirrha, and Chalaeon, a port, 7,000 paces inland from which is the free town of Delphi, below Mount Parnassus, seat of the most famous oracle of Apollo on earth.
8| There are the Castalian spring and the river Cephisus, which runs past Delphi and has its source at the city of Lilaea. Besides these there was once the town of Crisa, and, together with the Bulenses, there are Anticyra, Naulochum, Pyrrha, Amphisa, which is exempt from tribute, Tithrone, Tithorea, Ambrysus and Mirana, the region called Daulis. Then, in the innermost part of the gulf, a corner of Boeotia lies on the water, with the towns of Siphae and Thebes surnamed Corsiae, near Mount Helicon. The third town of Boeotia on this sea is Pagae, from which the neck of the Peloponnese springs forward.
9| The Peloponnese, formerly called Apia and Pelasgia, a peninsula second to no land in renown, lies between two seas, the Aegean and the Ionian. It is like a plane-tree leaf because of its angular inlets, and its circuit totals 563,000 paces on the authority of Isidorus; following the gulfs adds almost as much again. The narrows from which it projects are called the Isthmus. At that place the seas we have named, bursting in from opposite directions, from the north and from the east, devour all its breadth, until, the sides having been eaten away on both hands by the contrary onset of such great waters to a gap of 5,000 paces, Hellas holds the Peloponnese by a narrow neck.
10| On one side the gulf is called Corinthian, on the other Saronic. Lecheae on one side and Cenchreae on the other mark the ends of the narrows, with a long and dangerous voyage around for ships whose size prevents their being carried across on wagons. For this reason King Demetrius, Caesar the dictator, the emperor Gaius and Domitius Nero tried to dig through these narrows with a navigable channel: an ill-omened undertaking, as the end of every one of them made plain.
11| In the middle of this space, which we have called the Isthmus, lies the colony of Corinth, formerly called Ephyra, built against a hill sixty stadia from each shore; from the summit of its citadel, which is called Acrocorinthus and contains the spring of Pirene, it looks out over the two opposite seas. The crossing from Leucas to Patrae, to the Corinthian Gulf, is 88,000 paces. From Patrae, a colony founded on the longest promontory of the Peloponnese, opposite Aetolia and the river Euenus, at a distance of less than 1,000 paces, as has been said, in the very mouth of the gulf, they reckon the Corinthian Gulf as running 85,000 in length all the way to the Isthmus.
12| The name of the province of Achaia begins at the Isthmus. Formerly it was called Aegialos, on account of the cities set in order along the shore. First there are those we mentioned, Lechaeae, the harbour of the Corinthians, then Olyros, a fort of the Pellenaeans, the towns Helice and Bura, to which the earlier ones fled when swallowed, Sicyon, Aegira, Aegium, Erineos. Inland Cleonae and Hysiae.
13| The harbour Panhormus, and the Rhium already pointed out, 5 from which promontory is Patrae, mentioned by us above. The place Pherae. In Achaia, of nine mountains Scioessa is the best known; the spring Cymothoe. Beyond Patrae the town Olenum, the colony Dyme, the places Buprasium and Hyrmine, the promontory Araxus, the Cyllenian gulf, the promontory Chelonates, from which to Cyllene 15,000 paces, the fort Phlius, which region was called Araethyrea by Homer, afterwards Asopis.
14| Then the territory of the Elei, who were formerly called Epioe. Elis itself is inland; and 13,000 from Pylus, inland, is the shrine of Olympian Jupiter, which through the fame of the games embraces the calendar of Greece, once a town of the Pisaei, with the river Alpheus flowing past it. But on the coast the promontory Ichthys; the river Alpheus, navigable for 6,000 paces; the towns Aulon and Leprium; the promontory Platanodes. All these face west,
15| but to the south is the Cyparissian gulf with the city Cyparissus, 75,000 in circuit; the towns Pylos and Mothone; the place Helos; the promontory Acritas; the gulf Asinaeus, from the town Asine; the Coronaean, from Corone. They are bounded by the promontory Taenarum. There is the region Messenia of eighteen mountains; the river Pamisus; and inland Messene itself, Ithome, Oechalia, Arene, Pteleon, Thryon, Dorion, Zancle, each famous at different times. The circuit of this gulf is 80,000, the crossing 30,000.
16| Then from Taenarum the Laconian territory, of a free people, and a gulf of 106,000 in circuit, 38,000 in crossing. The towns Taenarum, Amyclae, Pherae, Leuctra, and inland Sparta, Therapne, and where there were Cardamyle, Pitane, Anthia; the place Thyreae; Gerania. The mountain Taygetus; the river Eurotas. The gulf Aegilodes; the town Psamathus. The gulf Gytheates, from the town, from which the course to the island of Crete is surest. All are enclosed by the promontory Maleum.
17| The gulf that follows, as far as Scyllaeum, is called the Argolic, 50 in crossing, and 162,000 in circuit. The towns Boea, Epidaurus, surnamed Limera, Zarax, the harbour Cyphans. The rivers Inachus and Erasinus, between which is Argos, surnamed Hippium, above the place Lerna, 2,000 from the sea, and, with nine thousand added, Mycenae, and where they say Tiryns was, and the place Mantinea. The mountains Artemisius, Apesantus, Asterion, Parparus and others, 11 in number.
18| The springs Niobe, Amymone, Psamathe. From Scyllaeum to the Isthmus 80,000 paces. The towns Hermione, Troezen, Coryphasium; Argos called at other times Inachium, at others Dipsium; the harbour Schoenitas. The Saronic gulf, once wreathed with an oak grove, whence the name, ancient Greece so calling the oak; in it the town Epidaurus, famous for the shrine of Aesculapius; the promontory Spiraeum; the harbours Anthedus and Bucephalus, and Cenchreae, which we had mentioned above, the other part of the Isthmus with the shrine of Neptune, renowned for its games every fifth year.
19| So many gulfs tear at the coast of the Peloponnese, so many seas bark at it, since from the north the Ionian breaks in, from the west it is beaten by the Sicilian, from the south pressed by the Cretan, from the winter east by the Aegean, from the summer-solstice east by the Myrtoan, which, beginning from the Megarian gulf, washes all of Attica.
20| Its interior Arcadia holds chiefly, remote on every side from the sea, called at first Drymodes, soon Pelasgis. Its towns: Psophis, Mantinea, Stymphalum, Tegea, Antigonea, Orchomenum, Pheneum, Pallantium, whence the Palatium at Rome, Megalepolis, Gortyna, Bucolium, Carnion, Parrhasie, Thelpusa, Melaenae, Heraea, Pylae, Pallene, Agrae, Epium, Cynaethae, Lepreon of Arcadia, Parthenium, Alea, Methydrium, Enispe, Macistum, Lampia, Clitorium, Cleonae. Between these two towns lies the region Nemea, also called Bembinadia.
21| The mountains in Arcadia: Pholoe, with a town; likewise Cyllene, Lycaeus, on which is the shrine of Lycaean Jupiter, Maenalus, Artemisius, Parthenius, Lampeus, Nonacris, and besides these 8 obscure ones. The rivers: the Ladon, from the marshes of Pheneus; the Erymanthus, from the mountain of the same name, flowing down into the Alpheus.
22| The remaining communities of Achaia to be named: the Alipheraei, Abeatae, Pyrgenses, Paroreatae, Pharygenitae, Tortuni, Typanei, Thriusi, Tritienses. Domitius Nero gave freedom to the whole of Achaia. The Peloponnese in breadth extends 190,000, from the promontory of Malea as far as the town of Aegium on the Corinthian gulf; but across, from Elis to Epidaurus 125,000, from Olympia through Arcadia to Argos 68,000; from the same place to Pylos the measure has been stated. The whole, as though nature were balancing the incursions of the seas, rises into six and seventy mountains.
23| From the narrows of the Isthmus Hellas begins, called Graecia by our people. In it comes first Attica, called Acte in ancient times. It reaches the Isthmus with a part of itself which is called Megaris, from the colony Megara, opposite Pagae. These two towns lie where the Peloponnese runs out, on either side as though on the shoulders of Hellas, the Pagaei and, in addition, the Aegosthenenses being attached to the Megarians. On the coast the harbour Schoenos; the towns Sidus and Cremmyon; the Scironian rocks, 6,000 in length; Gerania, Megara, Eleusis.
24| There were also Oenoe and Probalinthos. Now from the Isthmus 55,000 are the Piraeus and the harbour of Phalerum, joined by a wall of 5 to Athens, which lies back. This free community has no need of any further proclamation: so great is the fame that overflows. In Attica the springs Cephisia, Larine, Callirrhoe Enneacrunos; the mountains Brilessus, Aegialeus, Icarius, Hymettus, Lycabettus; the place Ilisus. From the Piraeus, 45,000, the promontory Sunium; the promontory Thoricos, Potamos, Steria, Brauron, once towns; the village Rhamnus; the place Marathon; the Thriasian plain; the town Melita and Oropus on the border of Boeotia.
25| Of this region are Anthedon, Onchestos, Thespiae, a free town, Lebadea, and, not yielding to Athens in fame, Thebes, called the Boeotian, the fatherland, as they will have it, of two divinities, Liber and Hercules. And they assign the birthplace of the Muses to the grove of Helicon. To this Thebes are also given the glade Cithaeron and the river Ismenus. Besides, springs in Boeotia: Oedipodia, Psamathe, Dirce, Epicrane, Arethusa, Hippocrene, Aganippe, Gargaphie. Mountains besides those named: Mycalesus, Hadylius, Acontius.
26| The remaining towns between the Megarian territory and Thebes: Eleutherae, Haliartus, Plataeae, Pherae, Aspledon, Hyle, Thisbe, Erythrae, Glissa, Copae; near the river Cephisus, Lamiae and Anichiae, Medeon, Phlygone, Acraephia, Coronea, Chaeronea. On the coast, below Thebes: Ocalee, Eteonos, Scolos, Schoenos, Peteon, Hyrie, Mycalesos, Ireseum and Eleon, Ollarum, Tanagra, a free people, and in the very jaws of the Euripus, which the island of Euboea lying in front makes, Aulis, noted for its capacious harbour. The Boeotians the ancients called Hyantes.
27| The Locri are next, surnamed Epicnemidii, formerly called Leleges, through whom the river Cephisus is carried into the sea. The towns Opus, whence also the Opuntian gulf, and Cynus. On the shore of Phocis, one, Daphnus; inland Larisa, Elatea, and on the bank of the Cephisus, as we have said, Lilaea, and, facing Delphi, Cnemis and Hyampolis. Again the coast of the Locri, on which Larumna, Thronium, near which the river Boagrius is carried into the sea. The towns Narycum, Alope, Scarphia. Afterwards the Maliac gulf, so called by its inhabitants, in which are the towns Halcyone, Aegonia, Phalara.
28| Then Doris, in which are Sparthos, Erineon, Boion, Pindus, Cytinum. Behind Doris stands mount Oeta. There follows, with often changed names, Haemonia, also Pelasgis, and Pelasgic Argos, Hellas, also Thessaly and Dryopis, always named from its kings. There a king was begotten named Graecus, from whom Graecia; there Hellen, from whom the Hellenes. These same people Homer called by three names, Myrmidons, Hellenes and Achaeans. Of these the Phthiotae are named, dwelling next to Doris. Their towns: Echinus; in the jaws of the river Sperchius the narrows of Thermopylae, by which proof 4,000 from there Heraclea was called Trechin. The mountain Callidromus there; famous towns Hellas, Halos, Lamia, Phthia, Arne.
29| In Thessaly, moreover, Orchomenus, formerly called Minyius, and the town Alimon, by others Holmon, Atrax, Palamna; the spring Hyperia; the towns Pherae, behind which Pieria stretches toward Macedonia; Larisa, Gomphi, Thessalian Thebes, the grove Pteleon, the Pagasaean gulf, the town Pagasa, afterwards called Demetrias too, Tricca, the plains of Pharsalus with a free community, Crannon, Iletia. The mountains of Phthiotis: Nymphaeus, remarkable for a kind of topiary work of nature, Buzygaeus, Donacoessa, Bromiaeus, Daphusa, Chimarone, Athamas, Stephane.
30| In Thessaly there are thirty-four, the most noble of which are the Cercetii, Olympus of Pieria, Ossa, opposite which are Pindus and Othrys, the seat of the Lapithae; these slope toward the west, and toward the east Pelius, all curved in the manner of a theatre, with 75 cities enclosed in front of them like tiered seats. The rivers of Thessaly: the Apidanus, Phoenix, Enipeus, Onochonus, Pamisus; the spring Messeis; the lake Boebeis; and before all in fame the Penius, rising near Gomphi and flowing between Ossa and Olympus in a wooded valley for 500 stadia, half of that space being navigable.
31| In that course is what they call Tempe, 5 paces in length and about an iugerum and a half in breadth, with ridges rising gently convex on right and left beyond the sight of man, within a forest widely green; and the Penius glides, green with pebbles, pleasant along its banks with grass, melodious with the harmony of birds. It receives the river Horcon and does not take it in, but, floating on top like oil, as Homer said, bears it along a short space and casts it off, refusing to let waters of punishment, born of the dread powers, be mingled with its silvery ones.
32| Joined to Thessaly is Magnesia, whose spring is Libethra; the towns Iolcus, Ormenium, Pyrra, Methone, Olizon; the promontory Sepias; the towns Castana and Spalathra; the promontory Aeantium; the towns Meliboea, Rhizus, Erymnae; the mouth of the Penius; the towns Homolium, Orthe, Iresiae, Pelinna, Thaumacie, Gyrton, Crannon, Acharne, Dotion, Melite, Phylace, Potniae. For Epirus, Achaia, Attica and Thessaly extended in a line, the length is given as 490,000, and the breadth as 297,000.
33| Macedonia afterwards, of 150 peoples, renowned for two kings and once for empire over the lands, was formerly called Emathia. This, receding toward the Epirote peoples at the setting of the sun, behind Magnesia and Thessaly, is harassed by the Dardani; its northern part is protected from the Triballi by Paeonia and Pelagonia. The towns Aegae, in which it is the custom to bury the kings, Beroea, and in the region called Pieria, from its grove, Aeginium.
34| On the coast Heraclea; the river Apilas; the towns Pydna and Aloros; the river Haliacmon. Inland the Aloritae, Vallaei, Phylacaei, Cyrrestae, Tyrissaei; Pella, a colony; the town Stobi, of Roman citizens; then Antigonea; Europus on the river Axius, and of the same name the one through which the Rhoedias flows; Scydra, Eordaea, Mieza, Gordyniae.
35| Then on the coast Ichnae; the river Axius. At the end of this the Dardani, Treres and Pieres border Macedonia. From this river the Paeonian peoples: the Paraxiaei, Eordenses, Almopi, Pelagones, Mygdones. The mountains Rhodope, Scopius, Orbelus. Then, with the lap of the lands lying in front: the Arethusii, Antiochienses, Idomenenses, Doberi, Aestrienses, Allantenses, Audaristenses, Morylli, Garresci, Lyncestae, Othryonei, and the free Amantini and Orestae; the colonies Bullidenses and Dienses; the Xylopolitae; the free Scotusaei; Heraclea Sintica; the Tymphaei; the Toronaei.
36| On the coast of the Macedonian gulf, the town Chalastra, and inland Piloros, Lete, and at the middle of the bend of the shore Thessalonice, of free status (245,000 from Dyrrhachium to it), Therme on the Thermaic gulf, the towns Dicaea, Palinandrea, Scione, the promontory Canastraeum, the towns Pallene and Phlegra. In this region the mountains Hypsizonus, Epytus, Alcyon, Elaeuomne; the towns Nissos, Phryxelon, Mendae, and on the Isthmus of Pallene formerly Potidaea, now the colony Cassandrea, Anthemus, Olophyxus,
37| the gulf Mecyberna; the towns Myscella, Ampelos, Torone, Siggos, Stolos; the channel by which Xerxes, king of the Persians, cut mount Athos off from the mainland, for a length of 1,500 paces. The mountain itself runs out from the plain into the seas for 75,000 paces; the circuit of its base amounts to 150,000. A town on the summit was Acrothoon; now there are Uranopolis, Palaehorium, Thyssus, Cleonae, and Apollonia, whose inhabitants are surnamed Macrobii.
38| The town Cassera and the other jaws of the Isthmus; Acanthus, Stagira, Sithone, Heraclea, and the region of Mygdonia lying below, in which, receding from the sea, are Apollonia and Arethusa. On the coast again Posidium and a gulf with the town Cermorus; Amphipolis, free; the people the Bisaltae. Then the boundary of Macedonia, the river Strymon, rising in Haemus. It is worth recording that it is poured into seven lakes before it directs its course.
39| This is the Macedonia that once gained empire over the lands, that crossed Asia, Armenia, Iberia, Albania, Cappadocia, Syria, Egypt, the Taurus and the Caucasus, that ruled in Bactria, Media and Persia, having possessed the whole east, that, victor also over India, wandered over the footsteps of Father Liber and Hercules. This same is the Macedonia whose 72 cities our commander Paulus Aemilius plundered and sold in one day. So great a difference of fortune did two men afford!
40| Thrace follows, among the mightiest peoples of Europe, divided into 50 strategiae. Of its peoples, whom it would not be wearisome to name, dwell along the river Strymon on the right side the Denseletae and Maedi as far as the Bisaltae mentioned above; on the left the Digerri and many names of the Bessi as far as the river Mestus, which skirts the foot of mount Pangaeus, among the Haleti, Diobessi, Carbilesi; then the Brigae, Sapaei and Odomanti. The people of the Odrysae sends out the Hebrus, with the Carbileti, Pyrogeri, Drugeri, Caenici, Hypsalti, Beni, Corpili, Bottiaei and Edoni dwelling beside it.
41| In the same tract are the Sialetae, Priantae, Dolongae, Thyni, and the Coelaletae, the greater under Haemus and the lesser under Rhodope. Between them is the river Hebrus, and a town under Rhodope, formerly Poneropolis, soon, from its founder, Philippopolis, now, from its situation, called Trimontium. The height of Haemus is climbed by an ascent of 6,000 paces. The side turned away from it and sloping down to the Hister is held by the Moesi, Getae, Aedi, Scaugdae and Clariae, and under them the Sarmatian Arraei, whom they call Areatae, and the Scythians, and around the shores of the Pontus the Moriseni and Sitoni, the parents of the bard Orpheus.
42| So the Hister bounds it on the north, on the east the Pontus and Propontis, on the south the Aegean sea. On its coast, from the Strymon: Apollonia, Oesyma, Neapolis, Datos. Inland Philippi, a colony (325,000 from Dyrrhachium), Scotusa, the community of Topirus. The mouth of the river Mestus; mount Pangaeus. Heraclea, Olynthos, Abdera, a free community. The marsh and people of the Bistones. There was a town Tirida, dreaded for Diomedes' stables of horses; now there are Dicaea, Ismaron, the place Parthenion, Phalesina, Maronea, formerly called Orthagurea.
43| Mount Serrium; Zone; then the place Doriscum, able to hold X men (so Xerxes counted his army there); the mouth of the Hebrus; the harbour of Stentor; the free town Aenos, with the tomb of Polydorus, once the region of the Cicones. From Doriscum the coast curves to Macron Tichos, 112,000 paces, about which place the river Melas, from which the gulf is named. The towns Cypsela, Bisanthe, and Macron Tichos, so called because a wall stretched between the two seas, from the Propontis to the Melas gulf, shuts out the Chersonese which juts out.
44| For Thrace on the other side, beginning from the Pontic shore, where the river Hister empties, has very beautiful cities on that part: Histropolis of the Milesians, Tomi, Callatis, formerly called Cerbatis, and Heraclea. It had also Bizone, snatched away by a chasm of the earth; now it has Dionysopolis, formerly called Crunos; the river Zyras washes it. The Scythians surnamed Aroteres held all that tract. Their towns: Aphrodisias, Libistos, Zygere, Rhocobae, Eumenia, Parthenopolis, Gerania, where a people of Pygmies is reported to have been; the barbarians called them Catizi, and believe them driven off by cranes.
45| On the coast from Dionysopolis is Odessus of the Milesians, the river Pannysis, the town Ereta, Naulochus. Mount Haemus, sloping with a vast ridge down into the Pontus, had a town on its peak, Aristaeum; now on the coast Mesembria, Anchialum, where Messa had been. The region of Astice had the town Anthium; now it is Apollonia. The rivers Panisus, Iuras, Tearus, Orosines; the towns Thynias, Halmydesos, Develtum with a marsh, now called Deultum of the veterans, Phinopolis, next to which lies the Bosporus. From the mouth of the Hister to the mouth of the Pontus others have made 500 paces; Agrippa added 60,000; thence to the wall mentioned above 150,000; from it, along the Chersonese, 126,000.
46| But from the Bosporus the gulf Lasthenes, the harbour of the Old Men, and another that is surnamed that of the Women. The promontory Chryseon Ceras, on which the town Byzantium, of free status, formerly called Lygos; it is 711,000 paces from Dyrrhachium: so great is the length of the lands between the Adriatic sea and the Propontis.
47| The rivers Bathynias, Pidaras or Athyras. The towns Selymbria and Perinthus, joined to the mainland by a breadth of 200 feet. Inland Bizye, the stronghold of the kings of Thrace, hated by swallows because of the crime of Tereus; the region Caenica; the colony Flaviopolis, where earlier a town called Caela stood, and 50 paces from Bizye the colony Apros, which is 189,000 from Philippi. But on the coast the river Erginus; there was a town Ganos. Lysimachea too, now in the Chersonese, is deserted.
48| For there another Isthmus, of the same name and equal breadth, displays similar narrows. Two cities held the shores on either side in not dissimilar fashion, Pactye on the Propontis, Cardia on the Melas gulf, the latter having taken its name from the shape of the place; both were afterwards absorbed into Lysimachea, 5 paces from the Long Walls. The Chersonese on the Propontis had Tiristasis, Crithote, and Cissa, set beside the river Aegos; now it has Resisthon, 22,000 paces from the colony Apros, opposite the colony of Parium.
49| And the Hellespont, dividing, as we have said, Europe from Asia by 7 stadia, has 4 cities opposite one another, in Europe Callipolis and Sestos, in Asia Lampsacus and Abydos. Then the promontory of the Chersonese, Mastusia, opposite Sigeum, on the front of which, slanting, is Cynossema (so Hecuba's tomb is called), the station of the Achaeans and a tower, the shrine of Protesilaus, and at the extreme front of the Chersonese, which is called Aeolium, the town Elaeus. Then, to one making for the Melas gulf, the harbour Coelos and Panhormus and Cardia mentioned above.
50| The third gulf of Europe is closed in this manner. The mountains of Thrace besides those named: Edonus, Gygemeros, Meritus, Melamphyllos. The rivers falling into the Hebrus: Bargus and Syrmus. Macedonia, Thrace and the Hellespont have the length stated above; some make it 720,000. The breadth is 384,000.
51| The Aegean sea was given its name by a rock between Tenedos and Chios, rather than an island, Aex by name, from its appearance as of a goat, which the Greeks so call, suddenly leaping up from the middle of the sea. Navigators from Achaia see it on the right-hand side toward Antandrus, dire and pestilential. A part of the Aegaean is given to the Myrtoan, called from a small island which is seen by those making for Macedonia from Geraestus, not far from Carystus in Euboea. The Romans call all these seas by two names: Macedonian wherever it touches Macedonia or Thrace, Graeciense where it washes Greece. For the Greeks divide even the Ionian into the Sicilian and the Cretan, from the islands, likewise the Icarian, which is between Samos and Myconos. The other names are given by the gulfs, as we have said.
52| And such are the seas and peoples in the third gulf of Europe; the islands, however, opposite Thesprotia, 12,000 paces from Buthrotum and 50 from the Acroceraunian mountains: Corcyra, which has a city of the same name, a free community, and the town Cassiope and the temple of Cassian Jupiter, extending 97,000 in length, called by Homer Scheria and Phaeacia, by Callimachus also Drepane. Around it are a few, but, leaning toward Italy, Othronos; toward Leucas, Paxos; two Subotae, 5 separated from Corcyra.
53| Not far from these, before Corcyra, Ericusa, Marathe, Elaphusa, Malthace, Trachie, Pythionia, Ptychia, Tarachie; and from Phalacrum, the promontory of Corcyra, a rock into which, it is told, the ship of Ulysses was changed, from its similar appearance. Before Leucas and Aetolia, however, very many, of which the Teleboides, the same as the Taphiae, called by the inhabitants before Leucas Taphias, Carnos, Oxia, Prinoessa; before Aetolia the Echinades: Aegialia, Cotonis, Thyatira, Geoaris, Dionysia, Cyrnus, Chalcis, Pinara, Nystrus.
54| Before these in the deep, Cephallania, Zacynthus, each free, Ithaca, Dulichium, Same, Crocyle. From Paxos, Cephallania, formerly called Melaena, is 10,000 paces distant, and extends 93,000 in circuit. Same, destroyed by the Romans, yet still has three towns. Between this and Achaia, magnificent with its town and outstanding in fertility, Zacynthus, at one time called Hyrie, is 25,000 distant from the southern part of Cephallania. The mountain Elatus there is noted;
55| It itself amounts to 36,000 in circuit. From it Ithaca is 15,000 distant, on which is mount Neritus; the whole extends 25,000 in circuit. From it to Araxum, the promontory of the Peloponnese, 15,000. Before this, in the deep, Asteris, Prote; before Zacynthus, 35,000 toward the east wind, the two Strophades, called by others the Plotae; before Cephallania, Letoia; before Pylos, 3 Sphagiae, and as many before Messene, the Oenussae.
56| In the Asinaean gulf the three Thyrides; in the Laconian, Theganusa, Cothon; Cythera with a town, formerly called Porphyris. This lies 5 paces from the promontory of Malea, with a doubtful circuit for ships there on account of the narrows. In the Argolic gulf, Pityusa, Arine, Ephyre. Opposite the territory of Hermione, Tricarenus, Aperopia, Colonis, Aristera; opposite the Troezenian, Calauria, 50 distant from Plateae, Belbina, Lasia, Baucidias,
57| opposite Epidaurus, Cecryphalos, Pityonesos, 6,000 from the mainland. From this Aegina, of free status, is 15,000, of which the sailing along is 19,000; the same is 20,000 from the Piraeus, the harbour of the Athenians, and was formerly called Oenone. Off the promontory Spiraeum lie Eleusa, Adendros, the two Craugiae, the two Caeciae, Selacosa; and from Cenchreae, Aspis, 7,000, and in the Megarian gulf the Methurides, 4,000; Aegila, however, 15,000 from Cythera, and the same 25,000 from Phalasarna, a town of Crete.
58| Crete itself, facing south on one side and north on the other, stretches between the east and the west, famed for its hundred cities. Dosiades says that it was named from the nymph Crete, a daughter of Hesperis; Anaximander, after a king of the Curetes; Philistides Mallotes and Crates say that it was first called Aeria and afterwards Curetis; and some have thought that it was also called Macaron, from the mildness of its climate. Nowhere does it exceed 50 in breadth, and it is broadest around its middle; in length it fills 270,000, and in circuit 589,000. Curving into the Cretan sea, which is named after it, it thrusts out at its longest point a headland to the east, Samonium, facing Rhodes, and to the west Criu Metopon, toward Cyrene.
59| Its notable towns are Phalasarna, Elaea, Cisamon, Pergamum, Cydonea, Minoium, Apteron, Pantomatrium, Amphimala, Rhithymna, Panhormum, Cytaeum, Apollonia, Matium, Heraclea, Miletos, Ampelos, Hierapytna, Lebena, Hierapolis, and inland Gortyna, Phaestum, Gnosus, Polyrrhenum, Myrina, Lycastos, Rhamnus, Lyctus, Dium, Asium, Pyloros, Rhytion, Elatos, Pherae, Olopyxos, Lasos, Eleuthernae, Therapnae, Marathusa and Tylisos; and the record survives of about 60 other towns. Its mountains are Cadistus, Idaeus, Dictynnaeus and Corycus.
60| The island itself is distant, as Agrippa reports, from the Cyrenaic promontory Phycus, by way of its own headland called Criu Metopon, 125,000; likewise, by Cadistus, [….] from Malea in the Peloponnese 80,000; and from the island of Carpathos, by the headland Samonium, 60,000, in the direction of the west wind. Carpathos lies between it and Rhodes;
61| the remaining islands around it are, in front of the Peloponnese, two called Corycae and as many Mylae; and on the northern side, with Crete on one's right, opposite Cydonea Leuce and two called Budroae, opposite Matium Dia, opposite the promontory Itanum Onysia and Leuce, opposite Hierapytna Chrysea and Gaudos. In the same stretch lie Ophiussa, Butoa and Ramnus, and, past Criu Metopon, three islands called Acusagorus. Before the promontory Samonium lie Phocoe, Platiae, Syrnides, Naulochos, Harmedon and Zephyre.
62| But in Hellas, still within the Aegean, there are the Lichades, Scarphia, Corese, Phocasia and several others opposite Attica, without towns and therefore obscure. Opposite Eleusis, however, lies the famous Salamis. In front of it is Psyttalia, and from Sunium lies Helene, 5 away. Then comes Ceos, as far again from it, which some of our writers have called Cea and the Greeks also Hydrusa, torn away from Euboea. It was once five hundred stades long; later, when the sea devoured nearly four parts of it, those that inclined toward Boeotia, it kept as its remaining towns Iulis and Carthaea; Coresus and Poeeessa have perished. Varro is our authority that the more luxurious dress for women originated from this island.
63| Euboea, itself torn away from Boeotia, with so narrow a strait of the Euripus flowing between that they are joined by a bridge, is notable on the south for two promontories, Geraestus, which inclines toward Attica, and Caphereus, toward the Hellespont, and on the north for Cenaeum. Nowhere does it extend its breadth beyond 40,000, nowhere does it draw it in to less than 2,000; but in length it stretches along the whole of Boeotia from Attica as far as Thessaly, 150,000, and in circuit 365,000.
64| From the Hellespont, on the side of Caphereus, it is distant 225,000. Its cities were once Pyrrha, Porthmos, Nesos, Cerinthus, Oreus, Dium, Aedepsus and Oechalia, and are now Chalcis, opposite which on the mainland lies Aulis, Geraestus, Eretria, Carystus, Oritanum and Artemisium; it is renowned for the spring Arethusa, the river Lelantus and the hot waters called the Ellopiae, but better known still for Carystian marble. It was formerly called Chalcodontis or Macris, as Dionysius and Ephorus relate; Macra, as Aristides says; Chalcis, as Callidemus says, because copper was first found there; Abantias, as Menaechmus says; and, as the poets commonly call it, Asopis.
65| Outside it, in the Myrtoan sea, lie many islands, but the most famous are Glauconnesos and Aegilia, and, set in a circle around Delos from the promontory Geraestus, the Cyclades, which took their name from this. The first of them, Andrus, with a town, is 10 from Geraestus and 38,000 from Ceos. Myrsilus reports that it was itself called Cauros, then Antandros; Callimachus, Lasia; others, Nonagria, Hydrusa, Epagris. It extends 93,000 in circuit. A thousand paces from Andrus, and 15,000 from Delos, lies Tenos with a town, extending 15,000; Aristotle says that it was called Hydrusa on account of its abundance of water, and some call it Ophiusa. The others are Myconus, with Mount Dimastus, 15,000 from Delos, and Siphnus,
66| formerly called Meropia and Acis, 28,000 in circuit; Seriphus, 15,000; Prepesinthus; Cythnos; and the most famous of all by far, and in the middle of the Cyclades, celebrated for its temple of Apollo and its market, Delos, which, after being long tossed by the waves, as is reported, alone did not feel the movement of the earth down to the time of Marcus Varro; Mucianus reported that it was shaken twice. Aristotle says it was so named because it appeared suddenly, risen from the sea; Aglaosthenes says it was called Cynthia, and others Ortygia, Asteria, Lagia, Chlamydia, Cynethus and Pyrpyle, since fire was first discovered there. It measures 5 paces around and rises in Mount Cynthus.
67| Next to it is Rhene, which Anticlides calls Celadusa, also Artemite and Celadine. Then Syros, which the ancients reported to extend 20,000 in circuit, Mucianus 160,000; Olearos; Paros, with a town, 38,000 from Delos, famed for its marble, which they first called Platea and afterwards Minois. From it 7,500 away is Naxos, 18,000 from Delos, with a town, which they called Strongyle, then Dia, soon Dionysias from the fertility of its vines, and others called Sicilia the Lesser or Callipolis. It extends 75,000 paces in circuit and is half as large again as Paros.
68| Thus far, indeed, they are the Cyclades; the others following are the Sporades. They are Helene, Phacusa, Nicasia, Schinusa, Pholegandros, and, 38,000 paces from Naxos, Icaros, which gave its name to the sea; it extends the same distance in length, with two towns, a third having been lost, and was formerly called Doliche, Macris and Ichthyusa. It lies 50 from Delos toward the rising of the midsummer sun, and 35,000 from Samos, with a strait of 10 paces between Euboea and Andrus; from it to Geraestus is 112,500 paces.
69| Nor after this can an order be kept; so the remaining islands will be set down in a heap. Scyros; Ios, 18,000 from Naxos, venerable for Homer's tomb, 22,000 in length, formerly called Phoenice; Odia; Oletandros. Gyara, with a town, 15,000 paces in circuit, is 62,000 from Andrus, and from it Syrnos is 80,000; Cynethus; Telos, famous for its unguent, called Agathusa by Callimachus; Donusa;
70| Patmos, 30,000 in circuit; the Corassiae; Lebinthus; Gyrus; Cinara; Sicinus, which was formerly Oenoe; Heraclia, which was Onus; Casos, which was Astrabe; Cimolos, which was Echinusa; Melos, with a town, which Aristides calls Mimblis, Aristotle Zephyria, Callimachus Mimallis, and Heraclides Siphis and Acyta; this is the roundest of the islands. Buporthmos; Machia; Hypere, once Patage or, as others say, Platage, now Amorgos; Polyaegas; Sapyle; Thera, called Calliste when it first emerged. Torn away from it later was Therasia, and between the two there soon arose Automate, which is also Hiera, and in our own age Thia arose beside them. Ios is 25,000 paces from Thera. Next come Lea, Ascania, Anaphe and Hippuris.
71| Astypalaea, a free state, is 88,000 in circuit and is 125,000 from Cadistus in Crete; from it Platea is 60,000, and from there Caminia is 38,000, then Azibintha, Lamse, Atragia, Pharmacusa, Thetaedia, Chalcia, Calymna, on which there is a town, Coos, Eulimna, and from this Carpathos, which gave its name to the Carpathian sea, 25,000. From there to Rhodes, with a south-west wind, is 50; from Carpathos to Casos 7,000; from Casos to Samonium, the promontory of Crete, 30,000. In the Euboean Euripus, near its first entrance, are four islands called Petaliae, and at its exit Atalante. The Cyclades and Sporades, enclosed on the east by the Icarian shores of Asia, on the west by the Myrtoan sea of Attica, on the north by the Aegean sea, and to the south by the Cretan sea and the Carpathian, lie across 700,000 in length and 200,000 in breadth.
72| The Pagasaean gulf has before it Euthia, Cicynethus, Scyros mentioned above (but the outermost of the Cyclades and Sporades), Gerontia and Scandira; the Thermaean gulf has Iresia, Solymnia, Eudemia and Nea, which is sacred to Minerva; before Athos lie four; Peparethus, with a town, formerly called Euoenos, nine thousand; Sciathus, 15,000; Imbros, with a town, 88,000. The same island is 22,000 paces from Mastusia in the Chersonese, and is itself 62,500 in circuit; it is watered by the river Ilissus.
73| From it Lemnos is 22,000, which is 87,000 from Athos; it extends 115,500 paces in circuit and has the towns Hephaestia and Myrina, onto whose market-place Athos casts its shadow at the solstice. From it Thasos, a free island, is 6,000 paces away, once called Aeria or Aethria. From there Abdera on the mainland is 22,000, and Athos 62,500, the same distance as the free island of Samothrace, before the Hebrus, which is 32,000 from Imbros, 22,500 paces from Lemnos, and 38,000 from the Thracian coast; its circuit is 35,000; it rises in Mount Saoce, 10 paces in height, and it is the most harbourless of all. Callimachus calls it by its ancient name Dardania.
74| Between the Chersonese and Samothrace, about 15,000 on each side, lie Halonesos; beyond, Gethone and Lamponia; Alopeconnesos not far from Coelos, the harbour of the Chersonese; and certain obscure islands. Let the deserted islands in this gulf also be recorded, those whose names at least could be found: Avesticos, Sarnos, Cissyros, Charbrusa, Calathusa, Scyllia, Dialeon, Dictaea, Melanthia, Dracanon, Arconesos, Diethusa, Ascapos, Capheris, Mesate, Aeantion, Pateronnesos, Pateria, Calathe, Neriphus and Pelendos.
75| The fourth of the great gulfs of Europe begins from the Hellespont and ends at the mouth of the Maeotis. But the shape of the whole Pontus must be briefly embraced, so that its parts may be more easily known. A vast sea, lying before Asia and driven back from Europe by the stretching shore of the Chersonese, bursts into the lands by a narrow passage, carrying Europe away from Asia by an interval of 7 stades, as has been said. The first narrows they call the Hellespont; here Xerxes, king of the Persians, led his army across a bridge laid over ships. Then a slender Euripus stretches out over a space of 86,000 as far as Priapus, an Asian city, where Alexander the Great crossed over.
76| From there the water spreads out and again draws together into a narrow. The wide part is called the Propontis, the narrows the Thracian Bosporus, five hundred paces in breadth, where Darius, the father of Xerxes, carried his forces across by a bridge. The whole length from the Hellespont is 239,000. Then comes a vast sea, the Pontus Euxinus, formerly the Axenus, which occupies lands that recede far away; bent back in a great curve of its shores, it is extended from them on either side into horns, so that it is plainly the shape of a Scythian bow. At the midpoint of its curve it is joined to the mouth of the Maeotic lake. This mouth is called the Cimmerian Bosporus, with a breadth of 2,000 and 500 paces.
77| But between the two Bosporuses, the Thracian and the Cimmerian, by a direct course, as Polybius is our authority, the distance is 500. The circuit of the whole Pontus is twenty-one times, and 50, as Varro is our authority and, nearly, the ancients. Cornelius Nepos adds 350,000; Artemidorus makes it twenty-nine times and nineteen thousand; Agrippa 2,640,000; Mucianus 2,425,000. In a similar way, concerning the measurement of the European side, some have fixed it at 1,479,000, others at 1,100,000. Marcus Varro measures it in this way:
78| From the mouth of the Pontus to Apollonia is 187,500 paces; to Callatis the same; to the mouth of the Hister 125,000; to the Borysthenes 250,000; to Cherronesus, a town of the people of Heraclea, 375,000 paces; to Panticapaeum, which some call Bosporus, the last place on the coast of Europe, 212,500; the sum of which makes 1,437,500. Agrippa gives from Byzantium to the river Hister 560,000, and from there to Panticapaeum 638,000. The lake Maeotis itself, which receives the river Tanais flowing down from the Ripaean mountains and is the last boundary between Europe and Asia, is reported to extend 1,406,000 in circuit, by others 1,125,000. From its mouth to the mouth of the Tanais by a direct course it is agreed to be 275,000. The dwellers on its gulf were mentioned in the account of Thrace, as far as Histropolis. From there come the mouths of the Hister.
79| This river rises in Germany in the ridges of Mount Abnoba, opposite the Gallic town of Raurica, many thousands of paces beyond the Alps, and glides through countless peoples under the name of the Danube; with an immense increase of waters, and called the Hister from the point where it first washes Illyricum, it receives 60 rivers, about half of them navigable, and rolls into the Pontus by six vast channels. The first mouth is Peuce; then comes the island Peuce itself, on which the nearest channel, called [….], is swallowed up in a great marsh of 19,000 paces. From the same channel, and above Histropolis, a lake is formed, 63,000 paces in circumference; they call it Halmyris. The second mouth has the name Naracustoma, the third Calon Stoma beside the Sarmatian island, the fourth Pseudostomon and the island Conopon Diabasis, and afterwards Borion Stoma and Psilon Stoma. Each of these mouths is so great that it is reported that for 40,000 paces of length the sea is overcome and the water drunk is perceived to be sweet.
80| From there onward, all the peoples are Scythian, though they have held the coast adjoining in various ways: in some places the Getae, called Daci by the Romans; in others the Sarmatae, called Sauromatae by the Greeks, and among them the Hamaxobii or Aorsi; elsewhere the degenerate Scythians, sprung from slaves, or the Trogodytae, and soon the Alani and the Rhoxolani. The upper country, lying between the Danube and the Hercynian forest and extending to the Pannonian winter quarters at Carnuntum and the borders there of the Germans, is held on the plains and flat lands by the Sarmatian Iazyges, while the mountains and forest passes are held by the Daci, who were driven out by them as far as the river Pathissus,
81| from the Marus, or Duria, which separates them from the Suebi and the kingdom of Vannius; the far side is held by the Basternae and other Germans beyond. Agrippa reported that this whole tract, from the Hister to the ocean, is twelve times a hundred thousand paces in length, and in breadth, as far as the river Vistula from the deserts of Sarmatia, 400,000 less four thousand. The name of the Scythians has everywhere passed over to the Sarmatae and the Germans. Nor has that ancient appellation lasted for any others than those who live at the farthest edge of these peoples, almost unknown to the rest of mankind.
82| But from the Hister the towns are Cremniscoe and Aepolium, the Macrocremni mountains, and the famous river Tyras, which gives its name to the town where it was formerly called Ophiusa. On the same river the Tyragetae inhabit a spacious island; it is 130,000 from Pseudostomon, the mouth of the Hister. Next the Axiacae, who share the river's name, beyond whom the Crolyzi, the river Rhode, the gulf Saggarius, the harbour Ordesos, and 120,000 from the Tyras the river Borysthenes, and a lake and a people of the same name, and a town receding 15,000 paces from the sea, with the ancient names Olbiopolis and Miletopolis.
83| Again on the shore is the Achaeans' harbour, the island of Achilles, renowned through the tomb of that hero, and 125,000 paces from it a peninsula stretching crosswise in the form of a sword, named from the same man's exercising there Dromos Achilleos, whose length Agrippa gave as 80,000. The Sardi, Scythae and Siraci hold this whole tract. Next a wooded region gave its name to the Hylaean sea by which it is washed; the inhabitants are called Enoecadioe. Beyond is the river Panticapes, which divides the Nomads from the Georgi, and soon the Acesinus. Some report that the Panticapes joins the Borysthenes within Olbia, the more careful that it is the Hypanis, such being the great error of those who have placed it in the part of Asia.
84| The sea enters with a great recess, until it is distant from the Maeotis by an interval of 5 paces, enclosing vast spaces and many peoples. The gulf is called Carcinites. There are the river Pacyris and the towns Navarum and Carcine. Behind is the lake Buces, released by a ditch into the sea. The Buces itself is divided from the Coretus, a gulf of the Maeotic lake, by a rocky ridge. It receives the rivers Buces, Gerrhus and Hypanis, which come from opposite directions. For the Gerrhus separates the Basilidae and the Nomads, and the Hypanis flows through the Nomads and the Hylaei, by a channel made by hand into the Buces and a natural one into the Coretus. The region is called the Sindic region of Scythia.
85| But from Carcinites Taurica begins, once itself surrounded by the sea where the plains now lie; then it rises in vast ridges. There are thirty peoples of them, of whom 23 are inland; six towns: the Orgocini, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae and Caliordi. The ridge itself is held by the Scythotauri; they are shut in on the west by Cherronesus Nea, on the east by the Scythi Satarcae. On the coast from Carcine are the towns Taphrae, in the very narrows of the peninsula, and soon Heraclea Cherronesus, given freedom by the Romans; it was formerly called Megarice, of outstanding brilliance, preserving throughout all that tract the manners of Greece, with a wall 5 paces around.
86| From there the promontory Parthenium, Placia, a city of the Tauri, the harbour Symbolum, and the promontory Criu Metopon, opposite the promontory Carambis of Asia, running out through the middle of the Euxine with an interval of 170,000, a reckoning that most of all produces the shape of the Scythian bow. After it lie many harbours and lakes of the Tauri. Theodosia, a town, is 125,000 paces from Criu Metopon, and 165,000 from Cherronesus. Beyond were the towns Cytae, Zephyrium, Acrae, Nymphaeum and Dia.
87| There remains, by far the strongest, at the very entrance of the Bosporus, Panticapaeum of the Milesians, 87,500 paces from Theodosia, and from the Cimmerian town lying across the strait, as we have said, 2,500 paces. This is the breadth that there separates Asia from Europe, and it can for the most part be crossed on foot when the strait is frozen. The length of the Cimmerian Bosporus is 12,500 paces. It has the towns Hermisium and Myrmecium, and inside it the island Alopece. Through the Maeotis, from the farthest Isthmus, a place called Taphrae, to the mouth of the Bosporus, the length comes to 260,000.
88| From Taphrae, inland through the continent, are the Auchetae, among whom the Hypanis rises, the Neuri, among whom the Borysthenes rises, the Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, Basilidae, and the Agathyrsi with blue hair. Above them are the Nomads, then the Anthropophagi, and from the Buces, above the Maeotis, the Sauromatae and Essedones. But along the coast as far as the Tanais are the Maeotae, from whom the lake received its name, and behind them, farthest of all, the Arimaspi. Then come the Ripaean mountains and, from the ceaseless fall of snow resembling feathers, the region called Pterophoros, a part of the world condemned by nature and sunk in thick gloom, with no work but that of frost and the icy storehouses of the north wind.
89| Behind those mountains and beyond the north wind a happy people, if we believe it, whom they have called the Hyperboreans, passes a life of long years, celebrated in fabulous wonders. There the hinges of the world are believed to be, and the farthest circuits of the stars, with a six-month light [and one day] of the sun turned toward them, not, as the ignorant have said, from the spring equinox to the autumn one: once in the year, at the solstice, the suns rise for them, and once, at midwinter, they set. The region is sunny, of happy climate, free of every harmful breath. Their homes are groves and woods, and the worship of the gods is carried on by individuals and by crowds; discord and every sickness are unknown. Death comes only when they have had their fill of life; after feasting and anointing their old age with luxury, they leap from a certain rock into the sea; this kind of burial is the happiest.
90| Some have placed them in the first part of the shores of Asia, not in Europe, because there is a similar people with a similar situation, called the Attacori. Others have put them midway between the two suns, the setting of the antipodes and our rising, which can in no way be, since so vast a sea lies between. Those who have placed them anywhere other than in a six-month light have reported that they sow in the morning, reap at midday, pick the fruits of the trees at sunset, and hide in caves at night.
91| Nor is it allowed to doubt that people: so many authorities report that they were accustomed to send the first fruits of their crops to Delos for Apollo, whom they especially worship. Maidens carried them, venerable for some years through the hospitality of the nations, until, faith having been broken, they instituted that these offerings be deposited within the nearest borders of their neighbours, and that those should carry them on to the next, and so as far as Delos. Soon even this lapsed. The length of Sarmatia, Scythia, Taurica and the whole tract from the river Borysthenes has been given by Marcus Agrippa as 980,000, and the breadth as 716,000. I think the measurement in this part of the earth uncertain. But let the remaining parts of this gulf be told in the order begun, and its seas indeed we have named.
92| The Hellespont has no islands in Europe that need be mentioned. In the Pontus there are two, 1,500 from Europe and 14,000 from the mouth, the Cyaneae, called by others the Symplegades, and handed down in fables as having run together, because, separated by a small interval, they were seen as twins by those entering from the opposite side, and, the line of sight being slightly turned, gave the appearance of colliding. On this side of the Hister is one belonging to the people of Apollonia, 80,000 paces from the Thracian Bosporus, from which Marcus Lucullus brought the Apollo of the Capitol. What islands lie between the mouths of the Hister we have told.
93| Before the Borysthenes lies the Achillea mentioned above, also called Leuce and Macaron. The demonstration of these times places it 140,000 from the Borysthenes, 120,000 from the Tyras, and 50 from the island Peuce; it is encircled by about 10 paces. The others, in the gulf of Carcinites, are Cephalonesos, Spodusa and Macra. Before we depart from the Pontus, the opinion of many must not be omitted, who have thought that all the inner seas are born from that source, not from the strait of Gades, on an argument not improbable, since the tide, always flowing out from the Pontus, never flows back.
94| Next we must go out, so that the remaining parts of Europe may be told, and, having crossed the Ripaean mountains, the shore of the northern ocean must be followed on the left until Gades is reached. Several islands without names are reported in that region, of which one lying before Scythia, called Baunonia, is a day's voyage away; Timaeus reported that in the spring amber is thrown up on it by the waves. The remaining shores are uncertain. The northern ocean is marked by report. Hecataeus calls it the Amalchian sea, from the river Parapanisus, where it washes Scythia; in the language of that people the name means frozen.
95| Philemon says that it is called Morimarusa by the Cimbri, that is, the dead sea, from there as far as the promontory Rusbeae, and beyond that the Cronian. Xenophon of Lampsacus reports that at a three days' voyage from the shore of the Scythians there is an island of immense size, Balcia; Pytheas names the same island Basilia. Islands called the Oeonae are also said to exist, on which the inhabitants live on the eggs of birds and on oats; others, on which men are born with horses' feet, called Hippopodes; others of the Phanesii, on which very large ears cover their bodies, otherwise naked, entirely.
96| Then clearer report begins to open, from the people of the Inguaeones, which is the first in Germany. There is a mountain there, Saevo, immense and no smaller than the Ripaean ridges, which forms a vast gulf reaching to the promontory of the Cimbri, and called the Codanus, full of islands, the most famous of which is Scatinavia, of unascertained size, only a portion of it, so far as is known, being inhabited, by the people of the Hilleviones, in five hundred districts; for this reason they call it a second world. Aeningia is no smaller, in the common opinion.
97| Some report that these lands are inhabited as far as the river Vistula by Sarmatae, Venedi, Sciri and Hirri, that the gulf is called Cylipenus, and that at its mouth lies the island Latris, and soon another gulf, Lagnus, bordering the Cimbri. The promontory of the Cimbri, running far out into the seas, makes a peninsula called Tastris. From there 23 islands are known to Roman arms. The most famous of them are Burcana, called Fabaria by our people from the abundance of grain that grows there of its own accord, likewise Glaesaria, named by our soldiers from amber, called Austeravia by the barbarians, and besides these Actania.
98| But along the whole sea as far as the river Scaldis, the peoples of Germany dwell on the shore, in a measure that cannot be unravelled: so immoderate is the disagreement of those who report it. The Greeks and some of our writers have given the coast of Germany as 2,500,000; Agrippa, with Raetia and Noricum, gives the length as 636,000 and the breadth as CCX̅L̅V̅I̅I̅I̅, Raetia alone having nearly the greater breadth, and Raetia was in fact subdued at about the time of his death; for Germany was not wholly explored even many years afterwards.
99| If conjecture is permitted, the coast will not fall much short of the opinion of the Greeks, nor of the length given by Agrippa. There are five kinds of Germans: the Vandili, of whom the Burgodiones, Varinnae, Charini and Gutones are a part. The second kind is the Inguaeones, of whom the Cimbri, Teutoni and the tribes of the Chauci are a part.
100| The nearest to the Rhine are the Istuaeones, of whom [….]; the inland ones are the Hermiones, of whom the Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti and Cherusci are a part. The fifth part is the Peucini and Basternae, bordering the Dacians mentioned above. The renowned rivers running down into the ocean are the Guthalus, the Visculus or Vistula, the Albis, the Visurgis, the Amisis, the Rhine and the Mosa. Inland, however, stretches the Hercynian ridge, inferior in fame to none.
101| In the Rhine itself, for nearly 100 in length, lies the most famous island, that of the Batavi and Cannenefates, and others of the Frisii, Chauci, Frisiavones, Sturii and Marsaci, which are spread out between the Helinium and the Flevum. So the mouths are called into which the Rhine, pouring out, spreads itself on the north into lakes and, on the western side, into the river Mosa, keeping in the mouth between these a modest channel for its own name.
102| Opposite this region lies the island of Britain, famous in Greek records and in ours, between the north and the west, facing with a great interval Germany, Gaul and Spain, by far the greatest parts of Europe. Its own name was Albion, when all the islands of which we shall speak soon were called Britanniae. It is 50 distant from Gesoriacum, on the shore of the people of the Morini, by the nearest crossing. Pytheas and Isidorus report that it extends 4,875,000 in circuit; for nearly 30 years now Roman arms have carried knowledge of it no farther than the neighbourhood of the Caledonian forest. Agrippa believes the length to be 800,000 and the breadth 300,000, and the same for Hibernia, but with the length 200,000 less.
103| Beyond it lies this island, distant by the shortest crossing from the people of the Silures 30,000. No other of the remaining islands is reported to be larger than 125,000 in circuit. There are, however, 40 Orcades, separated from one another by modest spaces; 7 Haemodae; 30 Hebudes; and between Hibernia and Britain Mona, Monapia, Riginia, Vectis, Silumnus, Andros; below them Samnis and Axanthos; and, scattered on the opposite side toward the Germanic sea, the Glaesiae, which more recent Greeks have called the Electrides, because amber was produced there.
104| The last of all that are mentioned is Tyle, on which, as we have indicated, there are at the solstice no nights, while the sun crosses the sign of Cancer, and, on the contrary, no days at midwinter. Some think that this happens for six months continuously. The historian Timaeus says that the island Ictis lies a six days' voyage inland from Britain, on which white lead is produced; to it the Britons sail in wicker vessels sewn round with hide. There are some who report other islands also, Scandiae, Dumna, Bergi, and the largest of all, Berrice, from which one sails to Tyle. A day's voyage from Tyle the sea is congealed, and by some is called the Cronian.
105| The whole of Gaul called Comata, under one name, is divided into three kinds of peoples, distinguished chiefly by rivers. From the Scaldis to the Sequana is Belgica; from it to the Garunna, Celtica, which is also Lugdunensis; from there to the extension of the Pyrenees mountain, Aquitanica, formerly called Aremorica. Agrippa gives the whole coast as 1,700,000 and 50; he has computed the length of the Gauls, between the Rhine and the Pyrenees and the ocean and the mountains Cebenna and Iura, by which he shuts out Gallia Narbonensis, as 420,000, and the breadth as 318,000.
106| From the Scaldis there dwell [texero], the Texuandri under several names, then the Menapi, the Morini, on the coast, joined to the Marsaci by the district which is called Gesoriacus, the Britanni, Ambiani, Bellovaci, Bassi. Inland, the Catoslugi, Atrebates, the free Nervi, Veromandui, Suaeuconi, the free Suessiones, the free Vlmanectes, Tungri, Sunuci, Frisiavones, Baetasi, the free Leuci, the Treveri, formerly free, and the allied Lingones, the allied Remi, Mediomatrici, Sequani, Raurici, Helveti, the colonies Equestris and Raurica. Of the peoples of Germany dwelling along the Rhine, in the same province are the Nemetes, Triboci, Vangiones, among the Ubii the colony Agrippinensis, the Guberni, the Batavi, and those of the Rhine whom we mentioned on the islands.
107| Gallia Lugdunensis has the Lexovii, Veliocasses, Caleti, Veneti, Abrincatui and Ossismi, and the famous river Liger; but a more conspicuous peninsula runs out into the ocean from the border of the Ossismi, 625,000 in circuit, with a neck 125,000 in breadth. Beyond it are the Namnetes; inland, the allied Aedui, the allied Carnuteni, the Boi, Senones, the Aulerci who are surnamed Eburovices and those who are Cenomani, the free Meldi, the Parisi, Tricasses, Andecavi, Viducasses, Bodiocasses, Venelli, Coriosvelites, Diablinti, Riedones, Turones, Atesui, and the free Segusiavi, in whose territory is the colony Lugudunum.
108| The peoples of Aquitanica are the Ambilatri, Anagnutes, Pictones, the free Santoni, the free Bituriges with the cognomen Vivisci, the Aquitani, from whom the province has its name, and the Sediboviates. Then, joined together into one town, the Convenae, Begerri, Tarbelli Quattuorsignani, Cocosates Sexsignani, Venami, Onobrisates and Belendi; the Pyrenean pass, and below it the Monesi; the Oscidates Montani, Sybillates, Camponi, Bercorcates, Pinpedunni, Lassunni, Vellates, Toruates, Consoranni, Ausci, Elusates, Sottiates, Oscidates Campestres, Succasses, Latusates, Basaboiates, Vassei, Sennates and Cambolectri Agessinates.
109| Joined to the Pictones are the free Bituriges who are called Cubi, then the Lemovices, the free Arverni, the free Vellavi, and the Gabales. Again, bordering the province of Narbonensis, are the Ruteni, Cadurci and Nitiobroges, and, separated from the people of Tolosa by the river Tarnis, the Petrocori. The seas around the coast: toward the Rhine, the northern ocean; between the Rhine and the Sequana, the Britannic; between that and the Pyrenees, the Gallic. There are several islands of the Venesti, and those which are called Venetic, and in the Aquitanian gulf Vliaros.
110| From the promontory of the Pyrenees Spain begins, narrower not merely than Gaul, but than itself as well, as we have said, immensely so, the ocean pressing on it from one side and the Iberian sea from the other. The ridges of the Pyrenees themselves, running from the equinoctial rising to the winter setting, make the Spains shorter there than along their southern side. The nearest coast belongs to Hither Spain, which is also the situation of Tarraconensis. From the Pyrenees, along the ocean, are the Vascones' pass, Olarso, the towns of the Varduli, Morogi, Menosca, Vesperies, the harbour of Amanus, where the colony Flaviobrica now stands.
111| The region of the Cantabri comprises nine states. The river Sauga. The harbour of Victoria of the Iuliobrigenses; from that place the sources of the Hiberus are 40,000 paces away; the harbour Blendium. The Orgenomesci, from the Cantabri; their harbour is Veseiasueca. The region of the Astures, the town Noega. In the peninsula the Paesici, and then of the jurisdiction of Lucus, from the river Navia, the Albiones, Cibarci, Egi, the Varri surnamed Namarini, the Adovi, Arroni and Arrotrebae. The Celtic promontory, and the rivers Florius and Nelo. The Celtici with the cognomen Neri, and above them the Tamarci, in whose peninsula there are three altars, the Sestian, dedicated to Augustus; the Copori; the town Noeta; the Celtici surnamed Praestamarci; the Cileni. Of the islands, Corticata and Aunios are to be named.
112| After the Cileni, of the jurisdiction of Bracara, are the Helleni and the Grovi, the fortress Tyde, all of Greek stock. The islands Siccae; the town Abobrica. The river Minius, spacious at its mouth, 4,000 wide; the Leuni, Seurbi, the Bracarian town Augusta, above whom is Gallaecia. The river Limia; the river Durius, among the greatest of Spain, which rises among the Pelendones and glides past Numantia, then through the Arevaci and Vaccaei, dividing the Vettones from Asturia and the Gallaeci from Lusitania, and there also keeping the Turduli apart from the Bracari. The entire region that has been described from the Pyrenees is crammed with mines of gold, silver, iron, and black and white lead.
113| From the Durius Lusitania begins. The ancient Turduli, the Paesuri, the river Vagia, the town Talabrica, a town and river Aeminium, the towns Conimbriga, Collippo and Eburobrittium. Then there runs out into the deep, in a vast horn, a promontory which some have called Artabrum, others Magnum, and many Olisiponense from the town, dividing land, sea and sky. With it the flank of Spain ends, and from its circuit the front begins.
114| Hence the north and the Gallic ocean lie on one side, the west and the Atlantic ocean on the other. The extent of the promontory they have given as 60,000, others as 90,000, and thence to the Pyrenees not a few as 1,200,000 and 50, and they place there a people, the Artabri, which never existed, by an evident error. For they have put there, with letters exchanged, the Arrotrebae, whom we placed before the Celtic promontory.
115| There is error also about famous rivers. From the Minius, which we mentioned above, the Aeminius, which some elsewhere understand and call the Limaea, is, as Varro is our authority, 200,000 distant; it was called by the ancients the river of Oblivion, and has much fable about it. From the Durius the Tagus is 200,000 distant, with the Munda flowing between. The Tagus is celebrated for its gold-bearing sands. From it, 160,000 away, the Sacred promontory leaps out from almost the middle of the front of Spain. Varro reports that from there to the middle of the Pyrenees the total comes to 1,400,000,
116| and to the Anas, where we separated Lusitania from Baetica, 126,000, and from Gades, with 102,000 added. The nations are the Celtici and the Turduli, and around the Tagus the Vettones, and from the Anas to the Sacred promontory the Lusitani. The towns worth remembering from the Tagus on the coast are Olisipo, famed for the conceiving of its mares from the west wind, Salacia, surnamed the Imperial City, and Merobrica. The Sacred promontory, and another, the Cuneus. The towns Ossonoba, Balsa and Myrtilis.
117| The whole province is divided into three jurisdictions, the Emeritensian, the Pacensian and the Scalabitanian, comprising in all 45 peoples, among which are five colonies, one municipality of Roman citizens, three of ancient Latin right, and 36 tributary. The colonies are Augusta Emerita, placed on the river Anas; Metellinensis; Pacensis; Norba, surnamed Caesarina, into which have been incorporated Castra Servilia and Castra Caecilia. The fifth is Scalabis, which is called Praesidium Iulium. The municipality of Roman citizens is Olisipo, surnamed Felicitas Iulia. The towns of ancient Latin right are Ebora, which is also Liberalitas Iulia, and Myrtilis and Salacia, which we have mentioned.
118| Of the tributary peoples, those it is no trouble to name, besides those already given among the surnames of Baetica, are the Augustobrigenses, Aeminienses, Aranditani, Arabricenses, Balsenses, Caesarobrigenses, Caperenses, Caurienses, Colarni, Cibilitani, Concordienses, Elbocori, Interannienses and Lancienses; the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Celtici; the Medubrigenses, surnamed Plumbari; the Ocelenses; the Turduli, called Bardili; and the Tapori. Agrippa recorded that Lusitania, with Asturia and Gallaecia, extends 540,000 in length and 536,000 in breadth. All the Spanish provinces together, measured from the two promontories of the Pyrenees by sea round the circuit of the whole coast, are reckoned to total 2,924,000, and by others 2,600,000.
119| Opposite Celtiberia are a number of islands, called the Cassiterides by the Greeks from their abundance of lead; and facing the promontory of the Arrotrebae are the 6 Islands of the Gods, which some have named the Fortunate Islands. At the very head of Baetica, 25,000 paces from the mouth of the strait, lies Gades, 12,000 long, as Polybius writes, and 3,000 broad. At its nearest point it is less than 700 feet from the mainland, elsewhere more than 7,000. Its own circuit is 15,000. It has a town of Roman citizens, who bear the name Augustani of the City of Iulia Gaditana.
120| On the side that faces Spain, about 100 paces off, is another island, 1,000 paces long and 1,000 broad, on which the town of Gades formerly stood. It is called Erythea by Ephorus and Philistides, Aphrodisias by Timaeus and Silenus, and the island of Juno by the natives. Timaeus says that among them the larger island used regularly to be called Cotinusa; our people call it Tartesos, the Carthaginians Gadir, this being the Punic word for a hedge. It was called Erythea because its first inhabitants, the Tyrians, were said to have come from the Erythraean Sea. Some think that Geryon lived on it, whose herds Hercules drove off. There are those who believe that his island is a different one, opposite Lusitania, and they call a certain island there by the same name.
121| Now that the circuit of Europe is complete, a summing-up must be given, so that nothing may be out of easy reach for those who wish to know. Artemidorus and Isidorus have recorded the length of it as 8,714,000, from the Tanais to Gades. Polybius wrote that the breadth of Europe from Italy to the ocean is 1,300,050, its extent being still unexplored even then. Italy itself, as we have said, measures X.XX to the Alps; and from there by way of Lugdunum to the Britannic harbour of the Morini, the line along which Polybius seems to take his measurement, is 1,169,000. But a more certain and a longer measurement is drawn from the same Alps toward the summer sunset and the Rhine's mouth, passing through the camps of the legions of Germany: 1,342,000. Next, Africa and Asia will be described.
Cite a passage by its number: every paragraph here has its own anchor (for example https://openscriptorium.com/read/pliny/015-natural-history-book-iv#p1), and the bracketed reference numbers link the same way.
← All of Pliny the Younger & Pliny the Elder: Letters, Panegyricus & Natural History