Comisene[1008]
and Chorene are parts of Parthiene, and perhaps also the country as far
as the Caspian Gates, Rhagæ, and the Tapyri, which formerly belonged to
Media.
and Chorene are parts of Parthiene, and perhaps also the country as far
as the Caspian Gates, Rhagæ, and the Tapyri, which formerly belonged to
Media.
Strabo
This is as much as to say that the men of those days were women,
and the women men. But even now the same things are told of the Amazons,
and the peculiarity of their history is increased by the credit which is
given to ancient, in preference to modern, accounts.
4. They are said to have founded cities, and to have given their names
to them, as Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, Myrina, besides leaving sepulchres
and other memorials. Themiscyra, the plains about the Thermodon, and the
mountains lying above, are mentioned by all writers as once belonging to
the Amazons, from whence, they say, they were driven out. Where they are
at present few writers undertake to point out, nor do they advance
proofs or probability for what they state; as in the case of Thalestria,
queen of the Amazons, with whom Alexander is said to have had
intercourse in Hyrcania with the hope of having offspring. Writers are
not agreed on this point, and among many who have paid the greatest
regard to truth none mention the circumstance, nor do writers of the
highest credit mention anything of the kind, nor do those who record it
relate the same facts. Cleitarchus says that Thalestria set out from the
Caspian Gates and Thermodon to meet Alexander. Now from the Caspian
Gates to Thermodon are more than 6000 stadia.
5. Stories circulated for the purpose of exalting the fame [of eminent
persons] are not received with equal favour by all; the object of the
inventors was flattery rather than truth; [CAS. 505] they transferred,
for example, the Caucasus to the mountains of India, and to the eastern
sea, which approaches close to them, from the mountains situated above
Colchis, and the Euxine Sea. These are the mountains to which the Greeks
give the name of Caucasus, and are distant more than 30,000 stadia from
India. Here they lay the scene of Prometheus and his chains, for these
were the farthest places towards the east with which the people of those
times were acquainted. The expeditions of Bacchus and of Hercules
against the Indi indicate a mythological story of later date, for
Hercules is said to have released Prometheus a thousand years after he
was first chained to the rock. It was more glorious too for Alexander to
subjugate Asia as far as the mountains of India, than to the recess only
of the Euxine Sea and the Caucasus. The celebrity, and the name of the
mountain, together with the persuasion that Jason and his companions had
accomplished the most distant of all expeditions when they had arrived
in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, and the tradition that Prometheus
had been chained on Caucasus at the extremity of the earth, induced
writers to suppose that they should gratify the king by transferring the
name of the mountain to India.
6. The highest points of the actual Caucasus are the most southerly, and
lie near Albania, Iberia, the Colchi, and Heniochi. They are inhabited
by the people whom I have mentioned as assembling at Dioscurias. They
resort thither chiefly for the purpose of procuring salt. Of these
tribes some occupy the heights; others live in wooded valleys, and
subsist chiefly on the flesh of wild animals, wild fruits, and milk. The
heights are impassable in winter; in summer they are ascended by
fastening on the feet shoes as wide as drums, made of raw hide, and
furnished with spikes on account of the snow and ice. The natives in
descending with their loads slide down seated upon skins, which is the
practice in Media, Atropatia, and at Mount Masius in Armenia, but there
they fasten circular disks of wood with spikes to the soles of their
feet. Such then is the nature of the heights of Caucasus.
7. On descending to the country lying at the foot of these heights the
climate is more northerly, but milder, for the land below the heights
joins the plains of the Siraces. There are some tribes of Troglodytæ who
inhabit caves on account of the cold. There is plenty[967] of grain to
be had in the country.
Next to the Troglodytæ are Chamæcœtæ,[968] and a tribe called Polyphagi
(the voracious), and the villages of the Eisadici, who are able to
cultivate the ground because they are not altogether exposed to the
north.
8. Immediately afterwards follow shepherd tribes, situated between the
Mæotis and the Caspian Sea, Nabiani, Pangani,[969] the tribes also of
the Siraces and Aorsi.
The Aorsi and Siraces seem to be a fugitive people from parts situated
above. The Aorsi lie more to the north. [970]
Abeacus, king of the Siraces, when Pharnases occupied the Bosporus,
equipped 20,000 horse, and Spadines, king of the Aorsi 200,000, and the
Upper Aorsi even a larger body, for they were masters of a greater
extent of territory, and nearly the largest part of the coast of the
Caspian Sea was under their power. They were thus enabled to transport
on camels the merchandise of India and Babylonia, receiving it from
Armenians and Medes. They wore gold also in their dress in consequence
of their wealth.
The Aorsi live on the banks of the Tanaïs, and the Siraces on those of
Achardeus, which rises in Caucasus, and discharges itself into the
Mæotis.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The second portion of northern Asia begins from the Caspian Sea,
where the first terminates. This sea is called also the Hyrcanian Sea.
We must first speak of this sea, and of the nations that live near its
shores.
It is a bay extending from the Ocean to the south. At its commencement
it is very narrow; as it advances further inwards, and particularly
towards the extremity, it widens to the extent of about 500 stadia. The
voyage from the entrance [CAS. 507] to the extremity may exceed that a
little, the entrance approaching very near the uninhabited regions.
Eratosthenes says that the navigation of this sea was known to the
Greeks, that the part of the voyage along the coast of the Albanians and
Cadusïi[971] comprised 5400 stadia; and the part along the country of
the Anariaci, Mardi, [or Amardi,] and Hyrcani, as far as the mouth of
the river Oxus,[972] 4800 stadia, and thence to the Iaxartes[973] 2400
stadia.
But with respect to the places situated in this portion of Asia, and to
those lying so far removed from our own country, we must not understand
the accounts of writers in too literal a sense, particularly with regard
to distances.
2. Upon sailing into the Caspian, on the right hand, contiguous to the
Europeans, Scythians and Sarmatians occupy the country between the
Tanaïs and this sea; they are chiefly Nomades, or shepherd tribes, of
whom I have already spoken. On the left hand are the Eastern Scythian
Nomades, who extend as far as the Eastern sea, and India.
The ancient Greek historians called all the nations towards the north by
the common name of Scythians, and Kelto-Scythians. Writers still more
ancient than these called the nations living above the Euxine, Danube,
and Adriatic, Hyperboreans, Sauromatæ, and Arimaspi. [974] But in
speaking of the nations on the other side the Caspian Sea, they called
some Sacæ,[975] others Massagetæ. They were unable to give any exact
account of them, although they relate the history of the war of Cyrus
with the Massagetæ. Concerning these nations no one has ascertained the
truth, and the ancient histories of Persia, Media, and Syria have not
obtained much credit on account of the credulity of the writers and
their love of fable.
3. For these authors, having observed that those who professedly were
writers of fables obtained repute and success, supposed that they also
should make their writings agreeable, if, under the form of history,
they related what they had never seen nor heard, (not at least from
eye-witnesses,) and had no other object than to please and surprise the
reader. A person would more readily believe the stories of the heroes in
Hesiod, Homer, and in the tragic poets, than Ctesias, Herodotus,
Hellanicus, and writers of this kind.
4. We cannot easily credit the generality of the historians of
Alexander, for they practise deception with a view to enhance the glory
of Alexander; the expedition also was directed to the extremities of
Asia, at a great distance from our country, and it is difficult to
ascertain or detect the truth or falsehood of what is remote. The
dominion of the Romans and of the Parthians has added very much to
former discoveries, and the writers who speak of these people describe
nations and places, where certain actions were performed, in a manner
more likely to produce belief than preceding historians, for they had
better opportunities of personal observation.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The nomades, or wandering tribes, who live on the left side of the
coast on entering the Caspian Sea, are called by the moderns Dahæ, and
surnamed Parni. [976] Then there intervenes a desert tract, which is
followed by Hyrcania; here the Caspian spreads like a deep sea till it
approaches the Median and Armenian mountains. The shape of these hills
at the foot is lunated. [977] Their extremities terminate at the sea, and
form the recess of the bay.
A small part of this country at the foot of the mountains, as far as the
heights, if we reckon from the sea, is inhabited by some tribes of
Albanians and Armenians, but the greater portion by Gelæ, Cadusii,
Amardi, Vitii, and Anariacæ. It is said, that some Parrhasii were
settled together with the Anariacæ, who are now called Parrhasii,
(Parsii? ) and that the Ænianes built a walled city in the territory of
the Vitii, which city is [CAS. 508] now called Æniana (Ænia). Grecian
armour, brazen vessels, and sepulchres are shown there. There also is a
city Anariacæ, in which it is said an oracle is shown, where the answer
is given to those who consult it, during sleep, [and some vestiges of
Greek colonization, but all these] tribes are predatory, and more
disposed to war than husbandry, which arises from the rugged nature of
the country. The greater part of the coast at the foot of the
mountainous region is occupied by Cadusii, to the extent of nearly 5000
stadia, according to Patrocles, who thinks that this sea equals the
Euxine in size. These countries are sterile.
2. Hyrcania[978] is very fertile, and extensive, consisting for the most
part of plains, and has considerable cities dispersed throughout it, as
Talabroce, Samariane, Carta, and the royal residence, Tape,[979] which
is said to be situated a little above the sea, and distant 1400 stadia
from the Caspian Gates. The following facts are narrated as indications
of the fertility of the country. [980] The vine produces a metretes[981]
of wine; the fig-tree sixty medimni[982] of fruit; the corn grows from
the seed which falls out of the stalk; bees make their hives in the
trees, and honey drops from among the leaves. This is the case also in
the territory of Matiane in Media, and in the Sacasene, and Araxene of
Armenia. [983]
But neither this country, nor the sea which is named after it, has
received proper care and attention from the inhabitants, for there are
no vessels upon the sea, nor is it turned to any use. According to some
writers there are islands on it, capable of being inhabited, in which
gold is found. The cause of this neglect is this; the first governors of
Hyrcania were barbarians, Medes, and Persians, and lastly, people who
were more oppressive than these, namely, Parthians. The whole of the
neighbouring country was the haunt of robbers and wandering tribes, and
abounded with tracts of desert land. For a short time Macedonians were
sovereigns of the country, but being engaged in war were unable to
attend to remote possessions. Aristobulus says that Hyrcania has
forests, and produces the oak, but not the pitch pine,[984] nor the
fir,[985] nor the pine,[986] but that India abounds with these trees.
Nesæa[987] belongs to Hyrcania, but some writers make it an independent
district.
3. Hyrcania[988] is watered by the rivers Ochus and Oxus as far as their
entrance into the sea. The Ochus flows through Nesæa, but some writers
say that the Ochus empties itself into the Oxus.
Aristobulus avers that the Oxus was the largest river, except those in
India, which he had seen in Asia. He says also that it is navigable with
ease, (this circumstance both Aristobulus and Eratosthenes borrow from
Patrocles,) and that large quantities of Indian merchandise are conveyed
by it to the Hyrcanian Sea, and are transferred from thence into Albania
by the Cyrus, and through the adjoining countries to the Euxine. The
Ochus is not often mentioned by the ancients, but Apollodorus, the
author of the Parthica, frequently mentions it, [and describes it] as
flowing very near the Parthians.
4. Many additional falsehoods were invented inspecting this sea, to
flatter the ambition of Alexander and his love of glory; for, as it was
generally acknowledged that the river Tanaïs separated Europe from Asia
throughout its whole course, and that a large part of Asia, lying
between this sea and the Tanaïs, had never been subjected to the power
of the Macedonians, it was resolved to invent an expedition, in order
that, according to fame at least, Alexander might seem to have conquered
those countries. They therefore made the lake Mæotis, which receives the
Tanaïs, and the Caspian Sea, which also they call a lake, one body of
water, affirming that there was a subterraneous opening between both,
and that one was part of the other. Polycleitus produces proofs to show
that this sea is a lake, for instance, that it breeds serpents, and that
the water is sweetish. [989] That it was not a [CAS. 510] different lake
from the Mæotis, he conjectures from the circumstance of the Tanaïs
discharging itself into it. From the same mountains in India, where the
Ochus and the Oxus rise, many other rivers take their course, and among
these the Iaxartes, which like the former empties itself into the
Caspian Sea, although it is the most northerly of them all. This river
then they called Tanaïs, and alleged, as a proof that it was the Tanaïs
mentioned by Polycleitus, that the country on the other side of the
river produced the fir-tree, and that the Scythians there used arrows
made of fir-wood. It was a proof also that the country on the other side
of the river was a part of Europe and not of Asia, that Upper and
Eastern Asia do not produce the fir-tree. But Eratosthenes says that the
fir does grow even in India, and that Alexander built his ships of that
wood. Eratosthenes collects many things of this kind, with a view to
show their contradictory character. But I have said enough about them.
5. Among the peculiarities recorded of the Hyrcanian sea, Eudoxus and
others relate the following. There is a certain coast in front of the
sea hollowed out into caverns, between which and the sea there lies a
flat shore. Rivers on reaching this coast descend from the precipices
above with sufficient force to dart the water into the sea without
wetting the intervening shore, so that even an army could pass
underneath sheltered by the stream above. The inhabitants frequently
resort to this place for the purposes of festivity and of performing
sacrifices, one while reclining beneath the caverns, at another basking
in the sun (even) beneath the fall of water. They divert themselves in
various ways, having in sight on each side the sea and shore, the latter
of which by the dew [and moisture of the falls] is rendered a grassy and
flowery meadow.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. In proceeding from the Hyrcanian Sea towards the east, on the right
hand are the mountains which the Greeks call Taurus, extending as far as
India. They begin from Pamphylia and Cilicia, and stretch to this part
from the west in a continuous line, bearing different names in different
places. The northern parts[990] of this range are occupied first by
Gelæ, Cadusii, and Amardi, as we have said, and by some tribes of
Hyrcanians; then follow, as we proceed towards the east and the Ochus,
the nation of the Parthians, then that of the Margiani and Arii, and the
desert country which the river Sarnius separates from Hyrcania. The
mountain, which extends to this country, or within a small distance of
it, from Armenia, is called Parachoathras.
From the Hyrcanian sea to the Arii are about 6000 stadia. [991] Next
follow Bactriana, Sogdiana, and lastly nomade Scythians. The Macedonians
gave the name of Caucasus to all the mountains which follow after
Ariana,[992] but among the barbarians the heights and the northern parts
of the Parapomisus were called Emoda, and Mount Imaus;[993] and other
names of this kind were assigned to each portion of this range.
2. On the left hand[994] opposite to these parts are situated the
Scythian and nomadic nations, occupying the whole of the northern side.
Most of the Scythians, beginning from the Caspian Sea, are called Dahæ
Scythæ, and those situated more towards the east Massagetæ and Sacæ; the
rest have the common appellation of Scythians, but each separate tribe
has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomades.
The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana,
the Asii, Pasiani, (Asiani? ) Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the
country on the other side of the Iaxartes,[995] opposite the Sacæ and
Sogdiani, and which country was also occupied by Sacæ; some tribes of
the Dahæ are surnamed Aparni, some Xanthii, others Pissuri. [996]
[CAS. 511] The Aparni approach the nearest of any of these people to
Hyrcania, and to the Caspian Sea. The others extend as far as the
country opposite to Aria.
3. Between these people, Hyrcania, and Parthia as far as Aria lies a
vast and arid desert, which they crossed by long journeys, and overran
Hyrcania, the Nesæan country, and the plains of Parthia. These people
agreed to pay a tribute on condition of having permission to overrun the
country at stated times, and to carry away the plunder. But when these
incursions became more frequent than the agreement allowed, war ensued,
afterwards peace was made, and then again war was renewed. Such is the
kind of life which the other Nomades also lead, continually attacking
their neighbours, and then making peace with them.
4. The Sacæ had made incursions similar to those of the Cimmerians and
Treres, some near their own country, others at a greater distance. They
occupied Bactriana, and got possession of the most fertile tract in
Armenia, which was called after their own name, Sacasene. They advanced
even as far as the Cappadocians, those particularly situated near the
Euxine; who are now called Pontici. When they were assembled together
and feasting on the division of the booty, they were attacked by night
by the Persian generals who were then stationed in that quarter, and
were utterly exterminated. The Persians raised a mound of earth in the
form of a hill over a rock in the plain, (where this occurred,) and
fortified it. They erected there a temple to Anaïtis and the gods Omanus
and Anadatus, Persian deities who have a common altar. [997] They also
instituted an annual festival, (in memory of the event,) the Sacæa,
which the occupiers of Zela, for this is the name of the place,
celebrate to this day. It is a small city chiefly appropriated to the
sacred attendants. Pompey added to it a considerable tract of territory,
the inhabitants of which he collected within the walls. It was one of
the cities which he settled after the overthrow of Mithridates.
5. Such is the account which is given of the Sacæ by some writers.
Others say, that Cyrus in an expedition against the Sacæ was defeated,
and fled. He advanced with his army to the spot where he had left his
stores, consisting of large supplies of every kind, particularly of
wine; he stopped a short time to refresh his army, and set out in the
evening, as though he continued his flight, the tents being left full of
provisions. He proceeded as far as he thought requisite, and then
halted. The Sacæ pursued, who, finding the camp abandoned and full of
the means of gratifying their appetites, indulged themselves without
restraint. Cyrus then returned and found them drunk and frantic; some
were killed, stretched on the ground drowsy or asleep; others, dancing
and maddened with wine, fell defenceless on the weapons of their
enemies. Nearly all of them perished. Cyrus ascribed this success to the
gods; he consecrated the day to the goddess worshipped in his own
country, and called it Sacæa. Wherever there is a temple of this
goddess, there the Sacæan festival, a sort of Bacchanalian feast, is
celebrated, in which both men and women, dressed in the Scythian habit,
pass day and night in drinking and wanton play.
6. The Massagetæ signalized their bravery in the war with Cyrus, of
which many writers have published accounts; we must get our information
from them. Such particulars as the following are narrated respecting
this nation; some tribes inhabit mountains, some plains, others live
among marshes formed by the rivers, others on the islands among the
marshes. The Araxes is said to be the river which is the chief cause of
inundating the country; it is divided into various branches and
discharges itself by many mouths into the other sea[998] towards the
north, but by one only into the Hyrcanian Gulf. The Massagetæ regard no
other deity than the sun, and to his honour they sacrifice a horse. Each
man marries only one wife, but they have intercourse with the wives of
each other without any concealment. He who has intercourse with the wife
of another man hangs up his quiver on a waggon, and lies with her
openly. They account the best mode of death to be chopped up when they
grow old with the flesh of sheep, and both to be devoured together.
Those who die of disease are cast out as impious, and only fit to be the
prey of wild beasts; they are excellent horsemen, and also fight well on
foot. They use bows, swords, breastplates, and sagares [CAS. 513] of
brass, they wear golden belts, and turbans[999] on their heads in
battle. Their horses have bits of gold, and golden breastplates; they
have no silver, iron in small quantity, but gold and brass in great
plenty.
7. Those who live in the islands have no corn-fields. Their food
consists of roots and wild fruits. Their clothes are made of the bark of
trees, for they have no sheep. They press out and drink the juice of the
fruit of certain trees.
The inhabitants of the marshes eat fish. They are clothed in the skins
of seals, which come upon the island from the sea.
The mountaineers subsist on wild fruits. They have besides a few sheep,
but they kill them sparingly, and keep them for the sake of their wool
and milk. Their clothes they variegate by steeping them in dyes, which
produce a colour not easily effaced.
The inhabitants of the plains, although they possess land, do not
cultivate it, but derive their subsistence from their fiocks, and from
fish, after the manner of the nomades and Scythians. I have frequently
described a certain way of life common to all these people. Their
burial-places and their manners are alike, and their whole manner of
living is independent, but rude, savage, and hostile; in their compacts,
however, they are simple and without deceit.
8. The Attasii (Augasii? ) and the Chorasmii belong to the Massagetæ and
Sacæ, to whom Spitamenes directed his flight from Bactria and Sogdiana.
He was one of the Persians who, like Bessus, made his escape from
Alexander by flight, as Arsaces afterwards fled from Seleucus
Callinicus, and retreated among the Aspasiacæ.
Eratosthenes says, that the Bactrians lie along the Arachoti and
Massagetæ on the west near the Oxus, and that Sacæ and Sogdiani, through
the whole extent of their territory,[1000] are opposite to India, but
the Bactrii in part only, for the greater part of their country lies
parallel to the Parapomisus; that the Sacæ and Sogdiani are separated by
the Iaxartes, and the Sogdiani and Bactriani by the Oxus; that Tapyri
occupy the country between Hyrcani and Arii; that around the shores of
the sea, next to the Hyrcani, are Amardi, Anariacæ, Cadusii, Albani,
Caspii, Vitii, and perhaps other tribes extending as far as the
Scythians; that on the other side of the Hyrcani are Derbices, that the
Caducii are contiguous both to the Medes and Matiani below the
Parachoathras.
9. These are the distances which he gives.
Stadia.
From the Caspian Sea to the Cyrus about 1800
Thence to the Caspian Gates 5600
Thence to Alexandreia in the territory of the Arii 6400
Thence to the city Bactra, which is called also Zariaspa 3870
Thence to the river Iaxartes, which Alexander reached, about 5000
------
Making a total of 22,670
------
He also assigns the following distances from the Caspian Gates to India.
Stadia.
To Hecatompylos[1001] 1960
To Alexandreia[1002] in the country of the Arii (Ariana) 4530
Thence to Prophthasia[1003] in Dranga[1004]
(or according to others 1500) 1600
Thence to the city Arachoti[1005] 4120
Thence to Ortospana on the three roads from Bactra[1006] 2000
Thence to the confines of India 1000
------
Which together amount to 15,300[1007]
------
We [CAS. 514] must regard as continuous with this distance, in a
straight line, the length of India, reckoned from the Indus to the
Eastern Sea.
Thus much then respecting the Sacæ.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Parthia is not an extensive tract of country; for this reason it was
united with the Hyrcani for the purpose of paying tribute under the
Persian dominion and afterwards, during a long period when the
Macedonians were masters of the country. Besides its small extent, it is
thickly wooded, mountainous, and produces nothing; so that the kings
with their multitude of followers pass with great speed through the
country, which is unable to furnish subsistence for such numbers even
for a short time. At present it is augmented in extent.
Comisene[1008]
and Chorene are parts of Parthiene, and perhaps also the country as far
as the Caspian Gates, Rhagæ, and the Tapyri, which formerly belonged to
Media. Apameia and Heracleia are cities in the neighbourhood of Rhagæ.
From the Caspian Gates to Rhagæ are 500 stadia according to Apollodorus,
and to Hecatompylos, the royal seat of the Parthians, 1260 stadia.
Rhagæ[1009] is said to have had its name from the earthquakes which
occurred in that country, by which many cities and two thousand
villages, as Poseidonius relates, were overthrown. The Tapyri are said
to live between the Derbices and the Hyrcani. Historians say, that it is
a custom among the Tapyri to surrender the married women to other men,
even when the husbands have had two or three children by them, as Cato
surrendered Marcia in our times, according to an ancient custom of the
Romans, to Hortensius, at his request.
2. Disturbances having arisen in the countries beyond the Taurus in
consequence of the kings of Syria and Media, who possessed the tract of
which we are speaking, being engaged in other affairs,[1010] those who
were intrusted with the government of it occasioned first the revolt of
Bactriana; then Euthydemus and his party the revolt of all the country
near that province. Afterwards Arsaces, a Scythian, (with the Parni,
called nomades, a tribe of the Dahæ, who live on the banks of the
Ochus,) invaded Parthia, and made himself master of it. At first both
Arsaces and his successors were weakened by maintaining wars with those
who had been deprived of their territory. Afterwards they became so
powerful, in consequence of their successful warfare, continually
depriving their neighbours of portions of their territory, that at last
they took possession of all the country within the Euphrates. They
deprived Eucratidas, and then the Scythians, by force of arms, of a part
of Bactriana. They now have an empire comprehending so large an extent
of country, and so many nations, that it almost rivals that of the
Romans in magnitude. This is to be attributed to their mode of life and
manners, which have indeed much of the barbarous and Scythian character,
but are very well adapted for establishing dominion, and for insuring
success in war.
3. They say that the Dahæ Parni were an emigrant tribe from the Dahæ
above the Mæotis, who are called Xandii and Parii. But it is not
generally acknowledged that Dahæ are to be found among the Scythians
above the Mæotis, yet from these Arsaces according to some was
descended; according to others he was a Bactrian, and withdrawing
himself from the increasing power of Diodotus, occasioned the revolt of
Parthia.
We have enlarged on the subject of the Parthian customs in the sixth
book of historical commentaries, and in the second of those, which are a
sequel to Polybius: we shall omit what we said, in order to avoid
repetition; adding this only, that Poseidonius affirms that the council
of the Parthians is composed of two classes, one of relatives, (of the
royal family,) and another of wise men and magi, by both of which kings
are chosen.
CHAPTER X.
1. Aria and Margiana, which are the best districts in this portion of
Asia, are partly composed of valleys enclosed by [CAS. 516] mountains,
and partly of inhabited plains. Some tribes of Scenitæ (dwellers in
tents) occupy the mountains; the plains are watered by the rivers Arius
and by the Margus.
Aria borders upon Bactriana, and the mountain[1011] which has Bactriana
at its foot. It is distant from [the] Hyrcania[n sea] about 6000 stadia.
Drangiana as far as Carmania furnished jointly with Aria payment of the
tribute. The greater part of this country is situated at the foot of the
southern side of the mountains; some tracts however approach the
northern side opposite Aria.
Arachosia, which belongs to the territory of Aria, is not far distant;
it lies at the foot of the southern side of the mountains, and extends
to the river Indus.
The length of Aria is about 2000 stadia, and the breadth of the plain
300 stadia. Its cities are Artacaëna, Alexandreia, and Achaïa, which are
called after the names of their founders.
The soil produces excellent wines, which may be kept for three
generations in unpitched vessels.
2. Margiana is like this country, but the plain is surrounded by
deserts. Antiochus Soter admired its fertility; he enclosed a circle of
1500 stadia with a wall, and founded a city, Antiocheia. The soil is
well adapted to vines. They say that a vine stem has been frequently
seen there which would require two men to girth it, and bunches of
grapes two cubits in size.
CHAPTER XI.
1. Some parts of Bactria lie along Aria to the north, but the greater
part stretches beyond (Aria) to the east. It is an extensive country,
and produces everything except oil.
The Greeks who occasioned its revolt became so powerful by means of the
fertility and advantages of the country, that they became masters of
Ariana and India, according to Apollodorus of Artamita. Their chiefs,
particularly Menander, (if he really crossed the Hypanis to the east and
reached Isamus,)[1012] conquered more nations than Alexander. These
conquests were achieved partly by Menander, partly by Demetrius, son of
Euthydemus, king of the Bactrians. They got possession not only of
Pattalene,[1013] but of the kingdoms of Saraostus, and Sigerdis, which
constitute the remainder of the coast. Apollodorus in short says that
Bactriana is the ornament of all Ariana. They extended their empire even
as far as the Seres and Phryni.
2. Their cities were Bactra, which they call also Zariaspa, (a river of
the same name flows through it, and empties itself into the Oxus,) and
Darapsa,[1014] and many others. Among these was Eucratidia, which had
its name from Eucratidas, the king. When the Greeks got possession of
the country, they divided it into satrapies; that of Aspionus and
Turiva[1015] the Parthians took from Eucratidas. They possessed Sogdiana
also, situated above Bactriana to the east, between the river Oxus
(which bounds Bactriana and Sogdiana) and the Iaxartes; the latter river
separates the Sogdii and the nomades.
3. Anciently the Sogdiani and Bactriani did not differ much from the
nomades in their mode of life and manners, yet the manners of the
Bactriani were a little more civilized. Onesicritus however does not
give the most favourable account of this people. Those who are disabled
by disease or old age are thrown alive to be devoured by dogs kept
expressly for this purpose, and whom in the language of the country they
call entombers. [1016] The places on the exterior of the walls of the
capital of the Bactrians are clean, but the interior is for the most
part full of human bones. Alexander abolished this custom. Something of
the same kind is related of the Caspii also, who, when their parents
have attained the age of 70 years, confine them, and let them die of
hunger. This custom, although Scythian in character, is more tolerable
than that of the Bactrians, and is similar to the domestic law of the
Cei;[1017] the custom however of the Bactrians is much more according to
Scythian manners. We may be justly at a loss [CAS. 517] to
conjecture,[1018] if Alexander found such customs prevailing there, what
were the customs which probably were observed by them in the time of the
first kings of Persia, and of the princes who preceded them.
4. Alexander, it is said, founded eight cities in Bactriana and
Sogdiana; some he razed, among which were Cariatæ in Bactriana, where
Callisthenes was seized and imprisoned; Maracanda in Sogdiana, and Cyra,
the last of the places founded by Cyrus, situated upon the river
Iaxartes, and the boundary of the Persian empire. This also, although it
was attached to Cyrus, he razed on account of its frequent revolts.
Alexander took also, it is said, by means of treachery, strong fortified
rocks; one of which belonged to Sisimithres in Bactriana, where Oxyartes
kept his daughter Roxana; another to Oxus in Sogdiana, or, according to
some writers, to Ariamazas. The stronghold of Sisimithres is described
by historians to have been fifteen stadia in height, and eighty stadia
in circuit. On the summit is a level ground, which is fertile and
capable of maintaining 500 men. Here Alexander was entertained with
sumptuous hospitality, and here he espoused Roxana the daughter of
Oxyartes. The height of the fortress in Sogdiana is double the height of
this. It was near these places that he destroyed the city of the
Branchidæ, whom Xerxes settled there, and who had voluntarily
accompanied him from their own country. They had delivered up to the
Persians the riches of the god at Didymi, and the treasure there
deposited. Alexander destroyed their city in abhorrence of their
treachery and sacrilege.
5. Aristobulus calls the river, which runs through Sogdiana,
Polytimetus, a name imposed by the Macedonians, as they imposed many
others, some of which were altogether new, others were deflections[1019]
from the native appellations. This river after watering the country
flows through a desert and sandy soil, and is absorbed in the sand, like
the Arius, which flows through the territory of the Arii.
It is said that on digging near the river Ochus a spring of oil was
discovered. It is probable, that as certain nitrous, astringent,
bituminous, and sulphurous fluids permeate the earth, greasy fluids may
be found, but the rarity of their occurrence makes their existence
almost doubtful.
The course of the Ochus, according to some writers, is through
Bactriana, according to others parallel to it. Some allege that, taking
a more southerly direction, it is distinct from the Oxus to its mouths,
but that they both discharge themselves (separately) into the Caspian in
Hyrcania. Others again say that it is distinct, at its commencement,
from the Oxus, but that it (afterwards) unites with the latter river,
having in many places a breadth of six or seven stadia.
The Iaxartes is distinct from the Oxus from its commencement to its
termination, and empties itself into the same sea. Their mouths,
according to Patrocles, are about 80 parasangs distant from each other.
The Persian parasang some say contains 60, others 30 or 40, stadia.
When I was sailing up the Nile, schœni of different measures were used
in passing from one city to another, so that the same number of schoeni
gave in some places a longer, in others a shorter, length to the voyage.
This mode of computation has been handed down from an early period, and
is continued to the present time.
6. In proceeding from Hyrcania towards the rising sun as far as
Sogdiana, the nations beyond (within? ) the Taurus were known first to
the Persians, and afterwards to the Macedonians and Parthians. The
nations lying in a straight line[1020] above these people are supposed
to be Scythian, from their resemblance to that nation. But we are not
acquainted with any expeditions which have been undertaken against them,
nor against the most northerly tribes of the nomades. Alexander proposed
to conduct his army against them, when he was in pursuit of Bessus and
Spitamenes, but when Bessus was taken prisoner, and Spitamenes put to
death by the Barbarians, he desisted from executing his intention.
It is not generally admitted, that persons have passed round by sea from
India to Hyrcania, but Patrocles asserts that it may be done.
7. It is said that the termination of Taurus, which is called Imaus,
approaches close to the Indian Sea, and neither advances towards nor
recedes from the East more than India itself. But on passing to the
northern side, the sea contracts (throughout the whole coast) the length
and breadth of India, so as to shorten on the East the portion of Asia
we are now [CAS. 519] describing, comprehended between the Taurus and
the Northern Ocean, which forms the Caspian Sea.
The greatest length of this portion, reckoned from the Hyrcanian Sea to
the (Eastern) Ocean opposite Imaus, is about 30,000 stadia,[1021] the
route being along the mountainous tract of Taurus; the breadth is less
than 10,000 stadia. [1022] We have said before, that[1023] from the bay
of Issus to the eastern sea along the coast of India is about 40,000
stadia, and to Issus from the western extremities at the pillars 30,000
stadia. The recess of the bay of Issus is little, if at all, more to the
east than Amisus; from Amisus to Hyrcania is about 10,000 stadia in a
line parallel to that which we have described as drawn from the bay of
Issus to India. There remains therefore for the portion now delineated
the above-mentioned length towards the east, namely, 30,000
stadia. [1024]
Again, since the breadth of the longest part of the habitable earth,
which has the shape of a chlamys, (or a military cloak,) is about 30,000
stadia, this distance would be near the meridian line drawn through the
Hyrcanian and the Persian Seas, for the length of the habitable earth is
70,000 stadia. If therefore from Hyrcania to Artemita[1025] in Babylonia
are 8000 stadia according to Apollodorus of Artemita, and thence to the
mouth of the Persian Sea 8000, and again 8000, or a little short of that
number, to the places on the same parallel with the extremities of
Æthiopia, there would remain, to complete the breadth as I have
described it, of the habitable earth, the number of stadia[1026] which I
have mentioned, reckoning from the recess of the Hyrcanian Sea to its
mouth. This segment of the earth being truncated towards the eastern
parts, its figure would resemble a cook’s knife, for the mountainous
range being prolonged in a straight line, answers to the edge, while the
shape of the coast from the mouth of the Hyrcanian Sea to Tamarus on the
other side terminates in a circular truncated line.
8. [CAS. 519] We must mention some of the extraordinary circumstances
which are related of those tribes which are perfectly barbarous, living
about Mount Caucasus, and the other mountainous districts.
What Euripides expresses in the following lines is said to be a custom
among them;
“they lament the birth of the new-born on account of the many
evils to which they are exposed; but the dead, and one at rest
from his troubles, is carried forth from his home with joy and
gratulation. ”
Other tribes do not put to death even the greatest offenders, but only
banish them from their territories together with their children; which
is contrary to the custom of the Derbices, who punish even slight
offences with death. The Derbices worship the earth. They neither
sacrifice, nor eat the female of any animal. Persons who attain the age
of above seventy years are put to death by them, and their nearest
relations eat their flesh. Old women are strangled, and then buried.
Those who die under seventy years of age are not eaten, but are only
buried.
The Siginni in general practise Persian customs. They have small horses
with shaggy hair, but which are not able to carry a rider. Four of these
horses are harnessed together, driven by women, who are trained to this
employment from childhood. The best driver marries whom she pleases.
Some, they say, make it their study to appear with heads as long as
possible, and with foreheads projecting over their chins.
The Tapyrii have a custom for the men to dress in black, and wear their
hair long, and the women to dress in white, and wear their hair short.
[They live between the Derbices and Hyrcani. ][1027] He who is esteemed
the bravest marries whom he likes.
The Caspii starve to death those who are above seventy years old, by
exposing them in a desert place. The exposed are observed at a distance;
if they are dragged from their resting-place by birds, they are then
pronounced happy; but if by wild beasts, or dogs, less fortunate; but if
by none of these, ill-fated.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Since the Taurus constitutes the northern parts of Asia, which are
called also the parts within the Taurus, I propose to speak first of
these.
They are situated either entirely, or chiefly, among the mountains.
Those to the east of the Caspian Gates admit of a shorter description on
account of the rude state of the people, nor is there much difference
whether they are referred to one climate[1028] or the other. All the
western countries furnish abundant matter for description. We must
therefore proceed to the places situated near the Caspian Gates.
Media lies towards the west, an extensive country, and formerly
powerful; it is situated in the middle of Taurus, which here has many
branches, and contains large valleys, as is the case in Armenia.
2. This mountain has its beginning in Caria and Lycia, but does not
exhibit there either considerable breadth or height. It first appears to
have a great altitude opposite the Chelidoneæ,[1029] which are islands
situated in front of the commencement of the Pamphylian coast. It
extends towards the east, and includes the long valleys of Cilicia. Then
on one side the Amanus[1030] is detached from it, and on the other the
Anti-Taurus. [1031] In the latter is situated Comana,[1032] belonging to
the Upper Cappadocia. It terminates in Cataonia, but Mount Amanus is
continued as far as the Euphrates, and Melitene,[1033] where Commagene
extends along Cappadocia. It receives the mountains beyond the
Euphrates, which are continuous with those before mentioned, except the
part which is intercepted by the river flowing through the middle of
them. [CAS. 521] Here its height and breadth become greater, and its
branches more numerous. The Taurus extends the farthest distance towards
the south, where it separates Armenia from Mesopotamia.
3. From the south flow both rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which
encircle Mesopotamia, and approach close to each other at Babylonia, and
then discharge themselves into the sea on the coast of Persia. The
Euphrates is the larger river, and traverses a greater tract of country
with a tortuous course, it rises in the northern part of Taurus, and
flows toward the west through Armenia the Greater, as it is called, to
Armenia the Less, having the latter on the right and Acilisene on the
left hand. It then turns to the south, and at its bend touches the
boundaries of Cappadocia. It leaves this and Commagene on the right
hand; on the left Acilisene and Sophene,[1034] belonging to the Greater
Armenia. It proceeds onwards to Syria, and again makes another bend in
its way to Babylonia and the Persian Gulf.
The Tigris takes its course from the southern part of the same mountains
to Seleucia,[1035] approaches close to the Euphrates, with which it
forms Mesopotamia. It then empties itself into the same gulf.
The sources of the Tigris and of the Euphrates are distant from each
other about 2500 stadia.
4. Towards the north there are many forks which branch away from the
Taurus. One of these is called Anti-Taurus, for there the mountain had
this name, and includes Sophene in a valley situated between Anti-Taurus
and the Taurus.
Next to the Anti-Taurus on the other side of the Euphrates, along the
Lesser Armenia, there stretches towards the north a large mountain with
many branches, one of which is called Paryadres,[1036] another the
Moschic mountains, and others by other names. The Moschic mountains
comprehend the whole of Armenians as far as the Iberians and Albanians.
Other mountains again rise towards the east above the Caspian Sea, and
extend as far as Media the Greater, and the Atropatian-Media. They call
all these parts of the mountains Parachoathras, as well as those which
extend to the Caspian Gates, and those still farther above towards the
east, which are contiguous to Asia. The following are the names of the
mountains towards the north.
The southern mountains on the other side of the Euphrates, extending
towards the east from Cappadocia and Commagene,[1037] at their
commencement have the name of Taurus, which separates Sophene and the
rest of Armenia from Mesopotamia, but some writers call them the
Gordyæan mountains. [1038] Among these is Mount Masius,[1039] which is
situated above Nisibis,[1040] and Tigranocerta. [1041] It then becomes
more elevated, and is called Niphates. [1042] Somewhere in this part on
the southern side of the mountainous chain are the sources of the
Tigris. Then the ridge of mountains continuing to extend from the
Niphates forms the mountain Zagrius, which separates Media and
Babylonia. After the Zagrius follows above Babylonia the mountainous
range of the Elymæi and Parætaceni, and above Media that of the Cossæi.
In the middle of these branches are situated Media and Armenia, which
comprise many mountains, and many mountain plains, as well as plains and
large valleys. Numerous small tribes live around among the mountains,
who are for the most part robbers.
We thus place within the Taurus Armenia and Media, to which belong the
Caspian Gates.
5. In our opinion these nations may be considered as situated to the
north, since they are within the Taurus. But Eratosthenes, having
divided Asia into southern and northern portions, and what he calls
seals, (or sections,)[1043] designating some as northern, others as
southern, makes the Caspian Gates the boundary of both climates. He
might without any impropriety have represented the more southern parts
of the Caspian Gates as in southern Asia, among which are Media and
Armenia, and the parts more to the north than the Caspian Gates in
northern Asia, which might be the case according to different
descriptions of the country. But perhaps Eratosthenes did not attend to
the circumstance, that there [CAS. 523] is no part of Armenia nor of
Media towards the south on the other side of the Taurus.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. Media is divided into two parts, one of which is called the Greater
Media. Its capital is Ecbatana,[1044] a large city containing the royal
seat of the Median empire. This palace the Parthians continue to occupy
even at this time. Here their kings pass the summer, for the air of
Media is cool. Their winter residence is at Seleucia, on the Tigris,
near Babylon.
The other division is Atropatian Media. It had its name from Atropatus,
a chief who prevented this country, which is a part of Greater Media,
from being subjected to the dominion of the Macedonians. When he was
made king he established the independence of this country; his
successors continue to the present day, and have at different times
contracted marriages with the kings of Armenia, Syria, and Parthia.
2. Atropatian Media borders upon Armenia and Matiane[1045] towards the
east, towards the west on the Greater Media, and on both towards the
north; towards the south it is contiguous to the people living about the
recess of the Hyrcanian Sea, and to Matiane.
According to Apollonides its strength is not inconsiderable, since it
can furnish 10,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry.
It contains a lake called Spauta,[1046] (Kapauta,) in which salt
effloresces, and is consolidated. The salt occasions itching and pain,
but oil is a cure for both, and sweet water restores the colour of
clothes, which have the appearance of being burnt,[1047] when they have
been immersed in the lake by ignorant persons for the purpose of washing
them.
They have powerful neighbours in the Armenians and Parthians, by whom
they are frequently plundered; they resist however, and recover what has
been taken away, as they recovered Symbace[1048] from the Armenians, who
were defeated by the Romans, and they themselves became the friends of
Cæsar. They at the same time endeavour to conciliate the Parthians.
3. The summer palace is at Gazaka, situated in a plain; the winter
palace[1049] is in Vera, a strong fortress which Antony besieged in his
expedition against the Parthians. The last is distant from the Araxes,
which separates Armenia and Atropatene, 2400 stadia, according to
Dellius, the friend of Antony, who wrote an account of the expedition of
Antony against the Parthians, which he himself accompanied, and in which
he held a command.
The other parts of this country are fertile, but that towards the north
is mountainous, rugged, and cold, the abode of the mountain tribes of
Cadusii, Amardi, Tapyri, Curtii, and other similar nations, who are
migratory, and robbers. These people are scattered over the Zagrus and
Niphates. The Curtii in Persia, and Mardi, (for so they call the
Amardi,) and those in Armenia, and who bear the same name at present,
have the same kind of character.
4. The Cadusii have an army of foot soldiers not inferior in number to
that of the Ariani. They are very expert in throwing the javelin. In the
rocky places the soldiers engage in battle on foot, instead of on their
horses.
and the women men. But even now the same things are told of the Amazons,
and the peculiarity of their history is increased by the credit which is
given to ancient, in preference to modern, accounts.
4. They are said to have founded cities, and to have given their names
to them, as Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, Myrina, besides leaving sepulchres
and other memorials. Themiscyra, the plains about the Thermodon, and the
mountains lying above, are mentioned by all writers as once belonging to
the Amazons, from whence, they say, they were driven out. Where they are
at present few writers undertake to point out, nor do they advance
proofs or probability for what they state; as in the case of Thalestria,
queen of the Amazons, with whom Alexander is said to have had
intercourse in Hyrcania with the hope of having offspring. Writers are
not agreed on this point, and among many who have paid the greatest
regard to truth none mention the circumstance, nor do writers of the
highest credit mention anything of the kind, nor do those who record it
relate the same facts. Cleitarchus says that Thalestria set out from the
Caspian Gates and Thermodon to meet Alexander. Now from the Caspian
Gates to Thermodon are more than 6000 stadia.
5. Stories circulated for the purpose of exalting the fame [of eminent
persons] are not received with equal favour by all; the object of the
inventors was flattery rather than truth; [CAS. 505] they transferred,
for example, the Caucasus to the mountains of India, and to the eastern
sea, which approaches close to them, from the mountains situated above
Colchis, and the Euxine Sea. These are the mountains to which the Greeks
give the name of Caucasus, and are distant more than 30,000 stadia from
India. Here they lay the scene of Prometheus and his chains, for these
were the farthest places towards the east with which the people of those
times were acquainted. The expeditions of Bacchus and of Hercules
against the Indi indicate a mythological story of later date, for
Hercules is said to have released Prometheus a thousand years after he
was first chained to the rock. It was more glorious too for Alexander to
subjugate Asia as far as the mountains of India, than to the recess only
of the Euxine Sea and the Caucasus. The celebrity, and the name of the
mountain, together with the persuasion that Jason and his companions had
accomplished the most distant of all expeditions when they had arrived
in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, and the tradition that Prometheus
had been chained on Caucasus at the extremity of the earth, induced
writers to suppose that they should gratify the king by transferring the
name of the mountain to India.
6. The highest points of the actual Caucasus are the most southerly, and
lie near Albania, Iberia, the Colchi, and Heniochi. They are inhabited
by the people whom I have mentioned as assembling at Dioscurias. They
resort thither chiefly for the purpose of procuring salt. Of these
tribes some occupy the heights; others live in wooded valleys, and
subsist chiefly on the flesh of wild animals, wild fruits, and milk. The
heights are impassable in winter; in summer they are ascended by
fastening on the feet shoes as wide as drums, made of raw hide, and
furnished with spikes on account of the snow and ice. The natives in
descending with their loads slide down seated upon skins, which is the
practice in Media, Atropatia, and at Mount Masius in Armenia, but there
they fasten circular disks of wood with spikes to the soles of their
feet. Such then is the nature of the heights of Caucasus.
7. On descending to the country lying at the foot of these heights the
climate is more northerly, but milder, for the land below the heights
joins the plains of the Siraces. There are some tribes of Troglodytæ who
inhabit caves on account of the cold. There is plenty[967] of grain to
be had in the country.
Next to the Troglodytæ are Chamæcœtæ,[968] and a tribe called Polyphagi
(the voracious), and the villages of the Eisadici, who are able to
cultivate the ground because they are not altogether exposed to the
north.
8. Immediately afterwards follow shepherd tribes, situated between the
Mæotis and the Caspian Sea, Nabiani, Pangani,[969] the tribes also of
the Siraces and Aorsi.
The Aorsi and Siraces seem to be a fugitive people from parts situated
above. The Aorsi lie more to the north. [970]
Abeacus, king of the Siraces, when Pharnases occupied the Bosporus,
equipped 20,000 horse, and Spadines, king of the Aorsi 200,000, and the
Upper Aorsi even a larger body, for they were masters of a greater
extent of territory, and nearly the largest part of the coast of the
Caspian Sea was under their power. They were thus enabled to transport
on camels the merchandise of India and Babylonia, receiving it from
Armenians and Medes. They wore gold also in their dress in consequence
of their wealth.
The Aorsi live on the banks of the Tanaïs, and the Siraces on those of
Achardeus, which rises in Caucasus, and discharges itself into the
Mæotis.
CHAPTER VI.
1. The second portion of northern Asia begins from the Caspian Sea,
where the first terminates. This sea is called also the Hyrcanian Sea.
We must first speak of this sea, and of the nations that live near its
shores.
It is a bay extending from the Ocean to the south. At its commencement
it is very narrow; as it advances further inwards, and particularly
towards the extremity, it widens to the extent of about 500 stadia. The
voyage from the entrance [CAS. 507] to the extremity may exceed that a
little, the entrance approaching very near the uninhabited regions.
Eratosthenes says that the navigation of this sea was known to the
Greeks, that the part of the voyage along the coast of the Albanians and
Cadusïi[971] comprised 5400 stadia; and the part along the country of
the Anariaci, Mardi, [or Amardi,] and Hyrcani, as far as the mouth of
the river Oxus,[972] 4800 stadia, and thence to the Iaxartes[973] 2400
stadia.
But with respect to the places situated in this portion of Asia, and to
those lying so far removed from our own country, we must not understand
the accounts of writers in too literal a sense, particularly with regard
to distances.
2. Upon sailing into the Caspian, on the right hand, contiguous to the
Europeans, Scythians and Sarmatians occupy the country between the
Tanaïs and this sea; they are chiefly Nomades, or shepherd tribes, of
whom I have already spoken. On the left hand are the Eastern Scythian
Nomades, who extend as far as the Eastern sea, and India.
The ancient Greek historians called all the nations towards the north by
the common name of Scythians, and Kelto-Scythians. Writers still more
ancient than these called the nations living above the Euxine, Danube,
and Adriatic, Hyperboreans, Sauromatæ, and Arimaspi. [974] But in
speaking of the nations on the other side the Caspian Sea, they called
some Sacæ,[975] others Massagetæ. They were unable to give any exact
account of them, although they relate the history of the war of Cyrus
with the Massagetæ. Concerning these nations no one has ascertained the
truth, and the ancient histories of Persia, Media, and Syria have not
obtained much credit on account of the credulity of the writers and
their love of fable.
3. For these authors, having observed that those who professedly were
writers of fables obtained repute and success, supposed that they also
should make their writings agreeable, if, under the form of history,
they related what they had never seen nor heard, (not at least from
eye-witnesses,) and had no other object than to please and surprise the
reader. A person would more readily believe the stories of the heroes in
Hesiod, Homer, and in the tragic poets, than Ctesias, Herodotus,
Hellanicus, and writers of this kind.
4. We cannot easily credit the generality of the historians of
Alexander, for they practise deception with a view to enhance the glory
of Alexander; the expedition also was directed to the extremities of
Asia, at a great distance from our country, and it is difficult to
ascertain or detect the truth or falsehood of what is remote. The
dominion of the Romans and of the Parthians has added very much to
former discoveries, and the writers who speak of these people describe
nations and places, where certain actions were performed, in a manner
more likely to produce belief than preceding historians, for they had
better opportunities of personal observation.
CHAPTER VII.
1. The nomades, or wandering tribes, who live on the left side of the
coast on entering the Caspian Sea, are called by the moderns Dahæ, and
surnamed Parni. [976] Then there intervenes a desert tract, which is
followed by Hyrcania; here the Caspian spreads like a deep sea till it
approaches the Median and Armenian mountains. The shape of these hills
at the foot is lunated. [977] Their extremities terminate at the sea, and
form the recess of the bay.
A small part of this country at the foot of the mountains, as far as the
heights, if we reckon from the sea, is inhabited by some tribes of
Albanians and Armenians, but the greater portion by Gelæ, Cadusii,
Amardi, Vitii, and Anariacæ. It is said, that some Parrhasii were
settled together with the Anariacæ, who are now called Parrhasii,
(Parsii? ) and that the Ænianes built a walled city in the territory of
the Vitii, which city is [CAS. 508] now called Æniana (Ænia). Grecian
armour, brazen vessels, and sepulchres are shown there. There also is a
city Anariacæ, in which it is said an oracle is shown, where the answer
is given to those who consult it, during sleep, [and some vestiges of
Greek colonization, but all these] tribes are predatory, and more
disposed to war than husbandry, which arises from the rugged nature of
the country. The greater part of the coast at the foot of the
mountainous region is occupied by Cadusii, to the extent of nearly 5000
stadia, according to Patrocles, who thinks that this sea equals the
Euxine in size. These countries are sterile.
2. Hyrcania[978] is very fertile, and extensive, consisting for the most
part of plains, and has considerable cities dispersed throughout it, as
Talabroce, Samariane, Carta, and the royal residence, Tape,[979] which
is said to be situated a little above the sea, and distant 1400 stadia
from the Caspian Gates. The following facts are narrated as indications
of the fertility of the country. [980] The vine produces a metretes[981]
of wine; the fig-tree sixty medimni[982] of fruit; the corn grows from
the seed which falls out of the stalk; bees make their hives in the
trees, and honey drops from among the leaves. This is the case also in
the territory of Matiane in Media, and in the Sacasene, and Araxene of
Armenia. [983]
But neither this country, nor the sea which is named after it, has
received proper care and attention from the inhabitants, for there are
no vessels upon the sea, nor is it turned to any use. According to some
writers there are islands on it, capable of being inhabited, in which
gold is found. The cause of this neglect is this; the first governors of
Hyrcania were barbarians, Medes, and Persians, and lastly, people who
were more oppressive than these, namely, Parthians. The whole of the
neighbouring country was the haunt of robbers and wandering tribes, and
abounded with tracts of desert land. For a short time Macedonians were
sovereigns of the country, but being engaged in war were unable to
attend to remote possessions. Aristobulus says that Hyrcania has
forests, and produces the oak, but not the pitch pine,[984] nor the
fir,[985] nor the pine,[986] but that India abounds with these trees.
Nesæa[987] belongs to Hyrcania, but some writers make it an independent
district.
3. Hyrcania[988] is watered by the rivers Ochus and Oxus as far as their
entrance into the sea. The Ochus flows through Nesæa, but some writers
say that the Ochus empties itself into the Oxus.
Aristobulus avers that the Oxus was the largest river, except those in
India, which he had seen in Asia. He says also that it is navigable with
ease, (this circumstance both Aristobulus and Eratosthenes borrow from
Patrocles,) and that large quantities of Indian merchandise are conveyed
by it to the Hyrcanian Sea, and are transferred from thence into Albania
by the Cyrus, and through the adjoining countries to the Euxine. The
Ochus is not often mentioned by the ancients, but Apollodorus, the
author of the Parthica, frequently mentions it, [and describes it] as
flowing very near the Parthians.
4. Many additional falsehoods were invented inspecting this sea, to
flatter the ambition of Alexander and his love of glory; for, as it was
generally acknowledged that the river Tanaïs separated Europe from Asia
throughout its whole course, and that a large part of Asia, lying
between this sea and the Tanaïs, had never been subjected to the power
of the Macedonians, it was resolved to invent an expedition, in order
that, according to fame at least, Alexander might seem to have conquered
those countries. They therefore made the lake Mæotis, which receives the
Tanaïs, and the Caspian Sea, which also they call a lake, one body of
water, affirming that there was a subterraneous opening between both,
and that one was part of the other. Polycleitus produces proofs to show
that this sea is a lake, for instance, that it breeds serpents, and that
the water is sweetish. [989] That it was not a [CAS. 510] different lake
from the Mæotis, he conjectures from the circumstance of the Tanaïs
discharging itself into it. From the same mountains in India, where the
Ochus and the Oxus rise, many other rivers take their course, and among
these the Iaxartes, which like the former empties itself into the
Caspian Sea, although it is the most northerly of them all. This river
then they called Tanaïs, and alleged, as a proof that it was the Tanaïs
mentioned by Polycleitus, that the country on the other side of the
river produced the fir-tree, and that the Scythians there used arrows
made of fir-wood. It was a proof also that the country on the other side
of the river was a part of Europe and not of Asia, that Upper and
Eastern Asia do not produce the fir-tree. But Eratosthenes says that the
fir does grow even in India, and that Alexander built his ships of that
wood. Eratosthenes collects many things of this kind, with a view to
show their contradictory character. But I have said enough about them.
5. Among the peculiarities recorded of the Hyrcanian sea, Eudoxus and
others relate the following. There is a certain coast in front of the
sea hollowed out into caverns, between which and the sea there lies a
flat shore. Rivers on reaching this coast descend from the precipices
above with sufficient force to dart the water into the sea without
wetting the intervening shore, so that even an army could pass
underneath sheltered by the stream above. The inhabitants frequently
resort to this place for the purposes of festivity and of performing
sacrifices, one while reclining beneath the caverns, at another basking
in the sun (even) beneath the fall of water. They divert themselves in
various ways, having in sight on each side the sea and shore, the latter
of which by the dew [and moisture of the falls] is rendered a grassy and
flowery meadow.
CHAPTER VIII.
1. In proceeding from the Hyrcanian Sea towards the east, on the right
hand are the mountains which the Greeks call Taurus, extending as far as
India. They begin from Pamphylia and Cilicia, and stretch to this part
from the west in a continuous line, bearing different names in different
places. The northern parts[990] of this range are occupied first by
Gelæ, Cadusii, and Amardi, as we have said, and by some tribes of
Hyrcanians; then follow, as we proceed towards the east and the Ochus,
the nation of the Parthians, then that of the Margiani and Arii, and the
desert country which the river Sarnius separates from Hyrcania. The
mountain, which extends to this country, or within a small distance of
it, from Armenia, is called Parachoathras.
From the Hyrcanian sea to the Arii are about 6000 stadia. [991] Next
follow Bactriana, Sogdiana, and lastly nomade Scythians. The Macedonians
gave the name of Caucasus to all the mountains which follow after
Ariana,[992] but among the barbarians the heights and the northern parts
of the Parapomisus were called Emoda, and Mount Imaus;[993] and other
names of this kind were assigned to each portion of this range.
2. On the left hand[994] opposite to these parts are situated the
Scythian and nomadic nations, occupying the whole of the northern side.
Most of the Scythians, beginning from the Caspian Sea, are called Dahæ
Scythæ, and those situated more towards the east Massagetæ and Sacæ; the
rest have the common appellation of Scythians, but each separate tribe
has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomades.
The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana,
the Asii, Pasiani, (Asiani? ) Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the
country on the other side of the Iaxartes,[995] opposite the Sacæ and
Sogdiani, and which country was also occupied by Sacæ; some tribes of
the Dahæ are surnamed Aparni, some Xanthii, others Pissuri. [996]
[CAS. 511] The Aparni approach the nearest of any of these people to
Hyrcania, and to the Caspian Sea. The others extend as far as the
country opposite to Aria.
3. Between these people, Hyrcania, and Parthia as far as Aria lies a
vast and arid desert, which they crossed by long journeys, and overran
Hyrcania, the Nesæan country, and the plains of Parthia. These people
agreed to pay a tribute on condition of having permission to overrun the
country at stated times, and to carry away the plunder. But when these
incursions became more frequent than the agreement allowed, war ensued,
afterwards peace was made, and then again war was renewed. Such is the
kind of life which the other Nomades also lead, continually attacking
their neighbours, and then making peace with them.
4. The Sacæ had made incursions similar to those of the Cimmerians and
Treres, some near their own country, others at a greater distance. They
occupied Bactriana, and got possession of the most fertile tract in
Armenia, which was called after their own name, Sacasene. They advanced
even as far as the Cappadocians, those particularly situated near the
Euxine; who are now called Pontici. When they were assembled together
and feasting on the division of the booty, they were attacked by night
by the Persian generals who were then stationed in that quarter, and
were utterly exterminated. The Persians raised a mound of earth in the
form of a hill over a rock in the plain, (where this occurred,) and
fortified it. They erected there a temple to Anaïtis and the gods Omanus
and Anadatus, Persian deities who have a common altar. [997] They also
instituted an annual festival, (in memory of the event,) the Sacæa,
which the occupiers of Zela, for this is the name of the place,
celebrate to this day. It is a small city chiefly appropriated to the
sacred attendants. Pompey added to it a considerable tract of territory,
the inhabitants of which he collected within the walls. It was one of
the cities which he settled after the overthrow of Mithridates.
5. Such is the account which is given of the Sacæ by some writers.
Others say, that Cyrus in an expedition against the Sacæ was defeated,
and fled. He advanced with his army to the spot where he had left his
stores, consisting of large supplies of every kind, particularly of
wine; he stopped a short time to refresh his army, and set out in the
evening, as though he continued his flight, the tents being left full of
provisions. He proceeded as far as he thought requisite, and then
halted. The Sacæ pursued, who, finding the camp abandoned and full of
the means of gratifying their appetites, indulged themselves without
restraint. Cyrus then returned and found them drunk and frantic; some
were killed, stretched on the ground drowsy or asleep; others, dancing
and maddened with wine, fell defenceless on the weapons of their
enemies. Nearly all of them perished. Cyrus ascribed this success to the
gods; he consecrated the day to the goddess worshipped in his own
country, and called it Sacæa. Wherever there is a temple of this
goddess, there the Sacæan festival, a sort of Bacchanalian feast, is
celebrated, in which both men and women, dressed in the Scythian habit,
pass day and night in drinking and wanton play.
6. The Massagetæ signalized their bravery in the war with Cyrus, of
which many writers have published accounts; we must get our information
from them. Such particulars as the following are narrated respecting
this nation; some tribes inhabit mountains, some plains, others live
among marshes formed by the rivers, others on the islands among the
marshes. The Araxes is said to be the river which is the chief cause of
inundating the country; it is divided into various branches and
discharges itself by many mouths into the other sea[998] towards the
north, but by one only into the Hyrcanian Gulf. The Massagetæ regard no
other deity than the sun, and to his honour they sacrifice a horse. Each
man marries only one wife, but they have intercourse with the wives of
each other without any concealment. He who has intercourse with the wife
of another man hangs up his quiver on a waggon, and lies with her
openly. They account the best mode of death to be chopped up when they
grow old with the flesh of sheep, and both to be devoured together.
Those who die of disease are cast out as impious, and only fit to be the
prey of wild beasts; they are excellent horsemen, and also fight well on
foot. They use bows, swords, breastplates, and sagares [CAS. 513] of
brass, they wear golden belts, and turbans[999] on their heads in
battle. Their horses have bits of gold, and golden breastplates; they
have no silver, iron in small quantity, but gold and brass in great
plenty.
7. Those who live in the islands have no corn-fields. Their food
consists of roots and wild fruits. Their clothes are made of the bark of
trees, for they have no sheep. They press out and drink the juice of the
fruit of certain trees.
The inhabitants of the marshes eat fish. They are clothed in the skins
of seals, which come upon the island from the sea.
The mountaineers subsist on wild fruits. They have besides a few sheep,
but they kill them sparingly, and keep them for the sake of their wool
and milk. Their clothes they variegate by steeping them in dyes, which
produce a colour not easily effaced.
The inhabitants of the plains, although they possess land, do not
cultivate it, but derive their subsistence from their fiocks, and from
fish, after the manner of the nomades and Scythians. I have frequently
described a certain way of life common to all these people. Their
burial-places and their manners are alike, and their whole manner of
living is independent, but rude, savage, and hostile; in their compacts,
however, they are simple and without deceit.
8. The Attasii (Augasii? ) and the Chorasmii belong to the Massagetæ and
Sacæ, to whom Spitamenes directed his flight from Bactria and Sogdiana.
He was one of the Persians who, like Bessus, made his escape from
Alexander by flight, as Arsaces afterwards fled from Seleucus
Callinicus, and retreated among the Aspasiacæ.
Eratosthenes says, that the Bactrians lie along the Arachoti and
Massagetæ on the west near the Oxus, and that Sacæ and Sogdiani, through
the whole extent of their territory,[1000] are opposite to India, but
the Bactrii in part only, for the greater part of their country lies
parallel to the Parapomisus; that the Sacæ and Sogdiani are separated by
the Iaxartes, and the Sogdiani and Bactriani by the Oxus; that Tapyri
occupy the country between Hyrcani and Arii; that around the shores of
the sea, next to the Hyrcani, are Amardi, Anariacæ, Cadusii, Albani,
Caspii, Vitii, and perhaps other tribes extending as far as the
Scythians; that on the other side of the Hyrcani are Derbices, that the
Caducii are contiguous both to the Medes and Matiani below the
Parachoathras.
9. These are the distances which he gives.
Stadia.
From the Caspian Sea to the Cyrus about 1800
Thence to the Caspian Gates 5600
Thence to Alexandreia in the territory of the Arii 6400
Thence to the city Bactra, which is called also Zariaspa 3870
Thence to the river Iaxartes, which Alexander reached, about 5000
------
Making a total of 22,670
------
He also assigns the following distances from the Caspian Gates to India.
Stadia.
To Hecatompylos[1001] 1960
To Alexandreia[1002] in the country of the Arii (Ariana) 4530
Thence to Prophthasia[1003] in Dranga[1004]
(or according to others 1500) 1600
Thence to the city Arachoti[1005] 4120
Thence to Ortospana on the three roads from Bactra[1006] 2000
Thence to the confines of India 1000
------
Which together amount to 15,300[1007]
------
We [CAS. 514] must regard as continuous with this distance, in a
straight line, the length of India, reckoned from the Indus to the
Eastern Sea.
Thus much then respecting the Sacæ.
CHAPTER IX.
1. Parthia is not an extensive tract of country; for this reason it was
united with the Hyrcani for the purpose of paying tribute under the
Persian dominion and afterwards, during a long period when the
Macedonians were masters of the country. Besides its small extent, it is
thickly wooded, mountainous, and produces nothing; so that the kings
with their multitude of followers pass with great speed through the
country, which is unable to furnish subsistence for such numbers even
for a short time. At present it is augmented in extent.
Comisene[1008]
and Chorene are parts of Parthiene, and perhaps also the country as far
as the Caspian Gates, Rhagæ, and the Tapyri, which formerly belonged to
Media. Apameia and Heracleia are cities in the neighbourhood of Rhagæ.
From the Caspian Gates to Rhagæ are 500 stadia according to Apollodorus,
and to Hecatompylos, the royal seat of the Parthians, 1260 stadia.
Rhagæ[1009] is said to have had its name from the earthquakes which
occurred in that country, by which many cities and two thousand
villages, as Poseidonius relates, were overthrown. The Tapyri are said
to live between the Derbices and the Hyrcani. Historians say, that it is
a custom among the Tapyri to surrender the married women to other men,
even when the husbands have had two or three children by them, as Cato
surrendered Marcia in our times, according to an ancient custom of the
Romans, to Hortensius, at his request.
2. Disturbances having arisen in the countries beyond the Taurus in
consequence of the kings of Syria and Media, who possessed the tract of
which we are speaking, being engaged in other affairs,[1010] those who
were intrusted with the government of it occasioned first the revolt of
Bactriana; then Euthydemus and his party the revolt of all the country
near that province. Afterwards Arsaces, a Scythian, (with the Parni,
called nomades, a tribe of the Dahæ, who live on the banks of the
Ochus,) invaded Parthia, and made himself master of it. At first both
Arsaces and his successors were weakened by maintaining wars with those
who had been deprived of their territory. Afterwards they became so
powerful, in consequence of their successful warfare, continually
depriving their neighbours of portions of their territory, that at last
they took possession of all the country within the Euphrates. They
deprived Eucratidas, and then the Scythians, by force of arms, of a part
of Bactriana. They now have an empire comprehending so large an extent
of country, and so many nations, that it almost rivals that of the
Romans in magnitude. This is to be attributed to their mode of life and
manners, which have indeed much of the barbarous and Scythian character,
but are very well adapted for establishing dominion, and for insuring
success in war.
3. They say that the Dahæ Parni were an emigrant tribe from the Dahæ
above the Mæotis, who are called Xandii and Parii. But it is not
generally acknowledged that Dahæ are to be found among the Scythians
above the Mæotis, yet from these Arsaces according to some was
descended; according to others he was a Bactrian, and withdrawing
himself from the increasing power of Diodotus, occasioned the revolt of
Parthia.
We have enlarged on the subject of the Parthian customs in the sixth
book of historical commentaries, and in the second of those, which are a
sequel to Polybius: we shall omit what we said, in order to avoid
repetition; adding this only, that Poseidonius affirms that the council
of the Parthians is composed of two classes, one of relatives, (of the
royal family,) and another of wise men and magi, by both of which kings
are chosen.
CHAPTER X.
1. Aria and Margiana, which are the best districts in this portion of
Asia, are partly composed of valleys enclosed by [CAS. 516] mountains,
and partly of inhabited plains. Some tribes of Scenitæ (dwellers in
tents) occupy the mountains; the plains are watered by the rivers Arius
and by the Margus.
Aria borders upon Bactriana, and the mountain[1011] which has Bactriana
at its foot. It is distant from [the] Hyrcania[n sea] about 6000 stadia.
Drangiana as far as Carmania furnished jointly with Aria payment of the
tribute. The greater part of this country is situated at the foot of the
southern side of the mountains; some tracts however approach the
northern side opposite Aria.
Arachosia, which belongs to the territory of Aria, is not far distant;
it lies at the foot of the southern side of the mountains, and extends
to the river Indus.
The length of Aria is about 2000 stadia, and the breadth of the plain
300 stadia. Its cities are Artacaëna, Alexandreia, and Achaïa, which are
called after the names of their founders.
The soil produces excellent wines, which may be kept for three
generations in unpitched vessels.
2. Margiana is like this country, but the plain is surrounded by
deserts. Antiochus Soter admired its fertility; he enclosed a circle of
1500 stadia with a wall, and founded a city, Antiocheia. The soil is
well adapted to vines. They say that a vine stem has been frequently
seen there which would require two men to girth it, and bunches of
grapes two cubits in size.
CHAPTER XI.
1. Some parts of Bactria lie along Aria to the north, but the greater
part stretches beyond (Aria) to the east. It is an extensive country,
and produces everything except oil.
The Greeks who occasioned its revolt became so powerful by means of the
fertility and advantages of the country, that they became masters of
Ariana and India, according to Apollodorus of Artamita. Their chiefs,
particularly Menander, (if he really crossed the Hypanis to the east and
reached Isamus,)[1012] conquered more nations than Alexander. These
conquests were achieved partly by Menander, partly by Demetrius, son of
Euthydemus, king of the Bactrians. They got possession not only of
Pattalene,[1013] but of the kingdoms of Saraostus, and Sigerdis, which
constitute the remainder of the coast. Apollodorus in short says that
Bactriana is the ornament of all Ariana. They extended their empire even
as far as the Seres and Phryni.
2. Their cities were Bactra, which they call also Zariaspa, (a river of
the same name flows through it, and empties itself into the Oxus,) and
Darapsa,[1014] and many others. Among these was Eucratidia, which had
its name from Eucratidas, the king. When the Greeks got possession of
the country, they divided it into satrapies; that of Aspionus and
Turiva[1015] the Parthians took from Eucratidas. They possessed Sogdiana
also, situated above Bactriana to the east, between the river Oxus
(which bounds Bactriana and Sogdiana) and the Iaxartes; the latter river
separates the Sogdii and the nomades.
3. Anciently the Sogdiani and Bactriani did not differ much from the
nomades in their mode of life and manners, yet the manners of the
Bactriani were a little more civilized. Onesicritus however does not
give the most favourable account of this people. Those who are disabled
by disease or old age are thrown alive to be devoured by dogs kept
expressly for this purpose, and whom in the language of the country they
call entombers. [1016] The places on the exterior of the walls of the
capital of the Bactrians are clean, but the interior is for the most
part full of human bones. Alexander abolished this custom. Something of
the same kind is related of the Caspii also, who, when their parents
have attained the age of 70 years, confine them, and let them die of
hunger. This custom, although Scythian in character, is more tolerable
than that of the Bactrians, and is similar to the domestic law of the
Cei;[1017] the custom however of the Bactrians is much more according to
Scythian manners. We may be justly at a loss [CAS. 517] to
conjecture,[1018] if Alexander found such customs prevailing there, what
were the customs which probably were observed by them in the time of the
first kings of Persia, and of the princes who preceded them.
4. Alexander, it is said, founded eight cities in Bactriana and
Sogdiana; some he razed, among which were Cariatæ in Bactriana, where
Callisthenes was seized and imprisoned; Maracanda in Sogdiana, and Cyra,
the last of the places founded by Cyrus, situated upon the river
Iaxartes, and the boundary of the Persian empire. This also, although it
was attached to Cyrus, he razed on account of its frequent revolts.
Alexander took also, it is said, by means of treachery, strong fortified
rocks; one of which belonged to Sisimithres in Bactriana, where Oxyartes
kept his daughter Roxana; another to Oxus in Sogdiana, or, according to
some writers, to Ariamazas. The stronghold of Sisimithres is described
by historians to have been fifteen stadia in height, and eighty stadia
in circuit. On the summit is a level ground, which is fertile and
capable of maintaining 500 men. Here Alexander was entertained with
sumptuous hospitality, and here he espoused Roxana the daughter of
Oxyartes. The height of the fortress in Sogdiana is double the height of
this. It was near these places that he destroyed the city of the
Branchidæ, whom Xerxes settled there, and who had voluntarily
accompanied him from their own country. They had delivered up to the
Persians the riches of the god at Didymi, and the treasure there
deposited. Alexander destroyed their city in abhorrence of their
treachery and sacrilege.
5. Aristobulus calls the river, which runs through Sogdiana,
Polytimetus, a name imposed by the Macedonians, as they imposed many
others, some of which were altogether new, others were deflections[1019]
from the native appellations. This river after watering the country
flows through a desert and sandy soil, and is absorbed in the sand, like
the Arius, which flows through the territory of the Arii.
It is said that on digging near the river Ochus a spring of oil was
discovered. It is probable, that as certain nitrous, astringent,
bituminous, and sulphurous fluids permeate the earth, greasy fluids may
be found, but the rarity of their occurrence makes their existence
almost doubtful.
The course of the Ochus, according to some writers, is through
Bactriana, according to others parallel to it. Some allege that, taking
a more southerly direction, it is distinct from the Oxus to its mouths,
but that they both discharge themselves (separately) into the Caspian in
Hyrcania. Others again say that it is distinct, at its commencement,
from the Oxus, but that it (afterwards) unites with the latter river,
having in many places a breadth of six or seven stadia.
The Iaxartes is distinct from the Oxus from its commencement to its
termination, and empties itself into the same sea. Their mouths,
according to Patrocles, are about 80 parasangs distant from each other.
The Persian parasang some say contains 60, others 30 or 40, stadia.
When I was sailing up the Nile, schœni of different measures were used
in passing from one city to another, so that the same number of schoeni
gave in some places a longer, in others a shorter, length to the voyage.
This mode of computation has been handed down from an early period, and
is continued to the present time.
6. In proceeding from Hyrcania towards the rising sun as far as
Sogdiana, the nations beyond (within? ) the Taurus were known first to
the Persians, and afterwards to the Macedonians and Parthians. The
nations lying in a straight line[1020] above these people are supposed
to be Scythian, from their resemblance to that nation. But we are not
acquainted with any expeditions which have been undertaken against them,
nor against the most northerly tribes of the nomades. Alexander proposed
to conduct his army against them, when he was in pursuit of Bessus and
Spitamenes, but when Bessus was taken prisoner, and Spitamenes put to
death by the Barbarians, he desisted from executing his intention.
It is not generally admitted, that persons have passed round by sea from
India to Hyrcania, but Patrocles asserts that it may be done.
7. It is said that the termination of Taurus, which is called Imaus,
approaches close to the Indian Sea, and neither advances towards nor
recedes from the East more than India itself. But on passing to the
northern side, the sea contracts (throughout the whole coast) the length
and breadth of India, so as to shorten on the East the portion of Asia
we are now [CAS. 519] describing, comprehended between the Taurus and
the Northern Ocean, which forms the Caspian Sea.
The greatest length of this portion, reckoned from the Hyrcanian Sea to
the (Eastern) Ocean opposite Imaus, is about 30,000 stadia,[1021] the
route being along the mountainous tract of Taurus; the breadth is less
than 10,000 stadia. [1022] We have said before, that[1023] from the bay
of Issus to the eastern sea along the coast of India is about 40,000
stadia, and to Issus from the western extremities at the pillars 30,000
stadia. The recess of the bay of Issus is little, if at all, more to the
east than Amisus; from Amisus to Hyrcania is about 10,000 stadia in a
line parallel to that which we have described as drawn from the bay of
Issus to India. There remains therefore for the portion now delineated
the above-mentioned length towards the east, namely, 30,000
stadia. [1024]
Again, since the breadth of the longest part of the habitable earth,
which has the shape of a chlamys, (or a military cloak,) is about 30,000
stadia, this distance would be near the meridian line drawn through the
Hyrcanian and the Persian Seas, for the length of the habitable earth is
70,000 stadia. If therefore from Hyrcania to Artemita[1025] in Babylonia
are 8000 stadia according to Apollodorus of Artemita, and thence to the
mouth of the Persian Sea 8000, and again 8000, or a little short of that
number, to the places on the same parallel with the extremities of
Æthiopia, there would remain, to complete the breadth as I have
described it, of the habitable earth, the number of stadia[1026] which I
have mentioned, reckoning from the recess of the Hyrcanian Sea to its
mouth. This segment of the earth being truncated towards the eastern
parts, its figure would resemble a cook’s knife, for the mountainous
range being prolonged in a straight line, answers to the edge, while the
shape of the coast from the mouth of the Hyrcanian Sea to Tamarus on the
other side terminates in a circular truncated line.
8. [CAS. 519] We must mention some of the extraordinary circumstances
which are related of those tribes which are perfectly barbarous, living
about Mount Caucasus, and the other mountainous districts.
What Euripides expresses in the following lines is said to be a custom
among them;
“they lament the birth of the new-born on account of the many
evils to which they are exposed; but the dead, and one at rest
from his troubles, is carried forth from his home with joy and
gratulation. ”
Other tribes do not put to death even the greatest offenders, but only
banish them from their territories together with their children; which
is contrary to the custom of the Derbices, who punish even slight
offences with death. The Derbices worship the earth. They neither
sacrifice, nor eat the female of any animal. Persons who attain the age
of above seventy years are put to death by them, and their nearest
relations eat their flesh. Old women are strangled, and then buried.
Those who die under seventy years of age are not eaten, but are only
buried.
The Siginni in general practise Persian customs. They have small horses
with shaggy hair, but which are not able to carry a rider. Four of these
horses are harnessed together, driven by women, who are trained to this
employment from childhood. The best driver marries whom she pleases.
Some, they say, make it their study to appear with heads as long as
possible, and with foreheads projecting over their chins.
The Tapyrii have a custom for the men to dress in black, and wear their
hair long, and the women to dress in white, and wear their hair short.
[They live between the Derbices and Hyrcani. ][1027] He who is esteemed
the bravest marries whom he likes.
The Caspii starve to death those who are above seventy years old, by
exposing them in a desert place. The exposed are observed at a distance;
if they are dragged from their resting-place by birds, they are then
pronounced happy; but if by wild beasts, or dogs, less fortunate; but if
by none of these, ill-fated.
CHAPTER XII.
1. Since the Taurus constitutes the northern parts of Asia, which are
called also the parts within the Taurus, I propose to speak first of
these.
They are situated either entirely, or chiefly, among the mountains.
Those to the east of the Caspian Gates admit of a shorter description on
account of the rude state of the people, nor is there much difference
whether they are referred to one climate[1028] or the other. All the
western countries furnish abundant matter for description. We must
therefore proceed to the places situated near the Caspian Gates.
Media lies towards the west, an extensive country, and formerly
powerful; it is situated in the middle of Taurus, which here has many
branches, and contains large valleys, as is the case in Armenia.
2. This mountain has its beginning in Caria and Lycia, but does not
exhibit there either considerable breadth or height. It first appears to
have a great altitude opposite the Chelidoneæ,[1029] which are islands
situated in front of the commencement of the Pamphylian coast. It
extends towards the east, and includes the long valleys of Cilicia. Then
on one side the Amanus[1030] is detached from it, and on the other the
Anti-Taurus. [1031] In the latter is situated Comana,[1032] belonging to
the Upper Cappadocia. It terminates in Cataonia, but Mount Amanus is
continued as far as the Euphrates, and Melitene,[1033] where Commagene
extends along Cappadocia. It receives the mountains beyond the
Euphrates, which are continuous with those before mentioned, except the
part which is intercepted by the river flowing through the middle of
them. [CAS. 521] Here its height and breadth become greater, and its
branches more numerous. The Taurus extends the farthest distance towards
the south, where it separates Armenia from Mesopotamia.
3. From the south flow both rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which
encircle Mesopotamia, and approach close to each other at Babylonia, and
then discharge themselves into the sea on the coast of Persia. The
Euphrates is the larger river, and traverses a greater tract of country
with a tortuous course, it rises in the northern part of Taurus, and
flows toward the west through Armenia the Greater, as it is called, to
Armenia the Less, having the latter on the right and Acilisene on the
left hand. It then turns to the south, and at its bend touches the
boundaries of Cappadocia. It leaves this and Commagene on the right
hand; on the left Acilisene and Sophene,[1034] belonging to the Greater
Armenia. It proceeds onwards to Syria, and again makes another bend in
its way to Babylonia and the Persian Gulf.
The Tigris takes its course from the southern part of the same mountains
to Seleucia,[1035] approaches close to the Euphrates, with which it
forms Mesopotamia. It then empties itself into the same gulf.
The sources of the Tigris and of the Euphrates are distant from each
other about 2500 stadia.
4. Towards the north there are many forks which branch away from the
Taurus. One of these is called Anti-Taurus, for there the mountain had
this name, and includes Sophene in a valley situated between Anti-Taurus
and the Taurus.
Next to the Anti-Taurus on the other side of the Euphrates, along the
Lesser Armenia, there stretches towards the north a large mountain with
many branches, one of which is called Paryadres,[1036] another the
Moschic mountains, and others by other names. The Moschic mountains
comprehend the whole of Armenians as far as the Iberians and Albanians.
Other mountains again rise towards the east above the Caspian Sea, and
extend as far as Media the Greater, and the Atropatian-Media. They call
all these parts of the mountains Parachoathras, as well as those which
extend to the Caspian Gates, and those still farther above towards the
east, which are contiguous to Asia. The following are the names of the
mountains towards the north.
The southern mountains on the other side of the Euphrates, extending
towards the east from Cappadocia and Commagene,[1037] at their
commencement have the name of Taurus, which separates Sophene and the
rest of Armenia from Mesopotamia, but some writers call them the
Gordyæan mountains. [1038] Among these is Mount Masius,[1039] which is
situated above Nisibis,[1040] and Tigranocerta. [1041] It then becomes
more elevated, and is called Niphates. [1042] Somewhere in this part on
the southern side of the mountainous chain are the sources of the
Tigris. Then the ridge of mountains continuing to extend from the
Niphates forms the mountain Zagrius, which separates Media and
Babylonia. After the Zagrius follows above Babylonia the mountainous
range of the Elymæi and Parætaceni, and above Media that of the Cossæi.
In the middle of these branches are situated Media and Armenia, which
comprise many mountains, and many mountain plains, as well as plains and
large valleys. Numerous small tribes live around among the mountains,
who are for the most part robbers.
We thus place within the Taurus Armenia and Media, to which belong the
Caspian Gates.
5. In our opinion these nations may be considered as situated to the
north, since they are within the Taurus. But Eratosthenes, having
divided Asia into southern and northern portions, and what he calls
seals, (or sections,)[1043] designating some as northern, others as
southern, makes the Caspian Gates the boundary of both climates. He
might without any impropriety have represented the more southern parts
of the Caspian Gates as in southern Asia, among which are Media and
Armenia, and the parts more to the north than the Caspian Gates in
northern Asia, which might be the case according to different
descriptions of the country. But perhaps Eratosthenes did not attend to
the circumstance, that there [CAS. 523] is no part of Armenia nor of
Media towards the south on the other side of the Taurus.
CHAPTER XIII.
1. Media is divided into two parts, one of which is called the Greater
Media. Its capital is Ecbatana,[1044] a large city containing the royal
seat of the Median empire. This palace the Parthians continue to occupy
even at this time. Here their kings pass the summer, for the air of
Media is cool. Their winter residence is at Seleucia, on the Tigris,
near Babylon.
The other division is Atropatian Media. It had its name from Atropatus,
a chief who prevented this country, which is a part of Greater Media,
from being subjected to the dominion of the Macedonians. When he was
made king he established the independence of this country; his
successors continue to the present day, and have at different times
contracted marriages with the kings of Armenia, Syria, and Parthia.
2. Atropatian Media borders upon Armenia and Matiane[1045] towards the
east, towards the west on the Greater Media, and on both towards the
north; towards the south it is contiguous to the people living about the
recess of the Hyrcanian Sea, and to Matiane.
According to Apollonides its strength is not inconsiderable, since it
can furnish 10,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry.
It contains a lake called Spauta,[1046] (Kapauta,) in which salt
effloresces, and is consolidated. The salt occasions itching and pain,
but oil is a cure for both, and sweet water restores the colour of
clothes, which have the appearance of being burnt,[1047] when they have
been immersed in the lake by ignorant persons for the purpose of washing
them.
They have powerful neighbours in the Armenians and Parthians, by whom
they are frequently plundered; they resist however, and recover what has
been taken away, as they recovered Symbace[1048] from the Armenians, who
were defeated by the Romans, and they themselves became the friends of
Cæsar. They at the same time endeavour to conciliate the Parthians.
3. The summer palace is at Gazaka, situated in a plain; the winter
palace[1049] is in Vera, a strong fortress which Antony besieged in his
expedition against the Parthians. The last is distant from the Araxes,
which separates Armenia and Atropatene, 2400 stadia, according to
Dellius, the friend of Antony, who wrote an account of the expedition of
Antony against the Parthians, which he himself accompanied, and in which
he held a command.
The other parts of this country are fertile, but that towards the north
is mountainous, rugged, and cold, the abode of the mountain tribes of
Cadusii, Amardi, Tapyri, Curtii, and other similar nations, who are
migratory, and robbers. These people are scattered over the Zagrus and
Niphates. The Curtii in Persia, and Mardi, (for so they call the
Amardi,) and those in Armenia, and who bear the same name at present,
have the same kind of character.
4. The Cadusii have an army of foot soldiers not inferior in number to
that of the Ariani. They are very expert in throwing the javelin. In the
rocky places the soldiers engage in battle on foot, instead of on their
horses.
