Greek Texts & Translations

AT the bottom of the bay (Carcinites) commences the isthmus ^note 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. ^note This, according to some, is 360 stadia across. The Putrid Lake ^note is said to extend 4000 stadia (in circumference), and forms part of the [Palus] Maeotis on its western side, with which it communicates by a large opening. It abounds in marshy tracts, and is scarcely navigable with sewn ^note 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. 7.4.2

On the left in sailing out of the bay [Carcinites] there is a small town and another harbour ^note 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 Heracleotae, who are a colony from Heraclea ^note in the Euxine; it bears the same name, Chersonesus, as the territory. It is distant from the Dniester, ^note in following the coast, 4400 stadia. In this city is a temple of the Virgin, some goddess, ^note 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 ^note 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, ^note 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. 7.4.3

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 Chersonitae has been subject to the princes of the Bosporus.

Ctenus is equally distant from the city of the Chersonitae, and from Symbolon Limen. From Symbolon Limen the Tauric coast extends 1000 stadia to the city Theodosia. ^note 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 Ca-

rambis, ^note 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. ^note

In the mountainous district of the Tauri there is a hill called Trapezus, ^note of the same name as the city, ^note which is near Tibarania and Colchis. There is another hill also, the Kimmerium, ^note 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] Maeotis is called the Kimmerian Bosporus.