Greek Texts & Translations

common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus Maeotis; ^note for the passage from Panticapaeum, ^note across to Phanagoria, ^note is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage ^note 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 antacaeus, ^note nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, ^note 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, ^note who carried on war against Philip, ^note the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts. 19

After the island ^note situated opposite the mouth of the Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of the Course of Achilles. ^note 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