A Latin Dossier from History Against the Pagans Book 1

This Good Works Translation gathers the Scythian passages from Book 1 of Orosius' History Against the Pagans, a fifth-century Latin Christian universal history written in conversation with Augustine.

The dossier is useful beside Justin, Jordanes, Strabo, Solinus, and the broader Scythian shelf because Orosius links geography, old Scythian power, the Amazon tradition, the Cimmerian incursion, and late antique Getic-Gothic argument in one compact Latin source body.

The English below was newly translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Latin text based on C. Zangemeister's 1889 edition and preserved by Attalus. The source Latin is printed after the colophon for verification.

Translation

Orosius I.2.4-5

Europe begins, as I have said, in the northern quarter, from the river Tanais, where the Riphaean mountains, turned toward the Sarmatian Ocean, pour out the Tanais. This river, passing the altars and boundary stones of Alexander the Great in the lands of the Rhobasci, enlarges the Maeotian marshes, whose immeasurable overflow near the city Theodosia enters broadly into the Euxine Pontus.

Orosius I.2.36-53

Mount Caucasus first rises between the Colchians, who are above the Cimmerian Sea, and the Albanians, who are by the Caspian Sea. Its ridge seems to be one all the way to the farthest east, but it has many names. Many wish this same ridge to be thought part of Mount Taurus, because the Armenian mountain Parcohatras, standing between Taurus and Caucasus, is believed to join Taurus to Caucasus. But the river Euphrates distinguishes that this is not so: flowing out from the root of Mount Parcohatras, it tends southward, leaving that mountain on its left and shutting Taurus out on its right.

So Caucasus itself, between the Colchians and Albanians, where it also has gates, is called Mount Caucasus. From the Caspian Gates to the Armenian Gates, or as far as the source of the river Tigris between Armenia and Hiberia, the mountains are called Acroceraunian. From the source of the Tigris to the city Carrhae, between the Massagetae and the Parthians, the mountain is Ariobarzanes. From Carrhae to the town Cathippi, between the Hyrcanians and Bactrians, it is Mount Memarmali, where amomum grows; and the next ridge from it is called Mount Parthau. From the town Cathippi to the village Safris, between the Dahae, Sacaraucae, and Parthyenae, it is Mount Oscobares, where the river Ganges rises and laser grows. From the source of the Ganges to the sources of the Ottorogorra, which are in the north, where the mountain Paropanisadae are, it is Mount Taurus. From the sources of the Ottorogorra to the city Ottorogorra, between the Huns, Scythians, and Gandaridae, it is Mount Caucasus. The last mountain, between the Eoas and Passyadrae, is Imaus, where the river Chrysorhoas and the promontory Samara are received by the eastern Ocean.

Therefore from Mount Imaus, that is, from the bottom of Caucasus and from the right-hand part of the east where the Seric Ocean extends, to the Boreal promontory and the Boreal river, and from there along the Scythian Sea, which is in the north, to the Caspian Sea, which is toward the west, and to the stretched-out ridge of Caucasus, which is toward the south, there are forty-two nations of Hyrcanians and Scythians, wandering widely because the land is spread out and barren.

The Caspian Sea rises from the Ocean under the northern region; both its shores and places around the Ocean are held to be deserted and uncultivated. From there it stretches southward through long narrows until, broadened into great spaces, it is bounded by the roots of Mount Caucasus. And so from the Caspian Sea, which is toward the east, along the shore of the northern Ocean to the river Tanais and the Maeotian marshes, which are toward the west, and along the shore of the Cimmerian Sea, which is toward the southwest, to the head and gates of Caucasus, which are toward the south, there are thirty-four nations. But in general the nearer region is called Albania, and the farther region under the sea and Mount Caspius is called the land of the Amazons.

The boundaries of Asia have been set out as briefly as possible. Now I shall traverse Europe with the pen as far as human knowledge allows.

Europe begins from the Riphaean mountains and the river Tanais and the Maeotian marshes, which are in the east, and runs along the shore of the northern Ocean to Belgic Gaul and the river Rhine, which descends in the west, then to the Danube, also called the Hister, which is in the south and runs eastward into the Pontus. In the east is Alania; in the middle is Dacia, where Gothia also is; then comes Germany, where the Suebi hold a very large part. All these peoples number fifty-four nations.

Orosius I.14

In the four hundred eightieth year before the founding of the City, Vesozes king of Egypt, striving either to mingle south and north by war, though they are divided by almost the whole sky and sea, or to join them under one kingdom, first declared war on the Scythians. He first sent envoys to state the terms on which the enemy must obey.

To these envoys the Scythians replied that the richest king had foolishly taken up war against the poor, and that, when fortune was turned the other way, war was more to be feared by him, since the outcomes of war are uncertain, its prizes none, and its losses manifest. As for themselves, they would not wait until he came to them, but would go out of their own accord to meet the prey.

There was no delay, for words followed upon deeds. First they forced Vesozes himself, terrified, to flee back to his kingdom. Then they attacked the abandoned army and seized all the equipment of war; they would also have ravaged all Egypt if they had not been driven back by the marshes. From there they immediately returned and, having subdued Asia with unnumbered slaughter, made it tributary. There they remained fifteen years without peace, until at last they were recalled by the urging of their wives, who announced that unless they returned, the women would seek offspring from their neighbors.

Orosius I.15-16

In the middle of this time among the Scythians, two young royal men, Plynos and Scolopetius, were driven from home through a faction of the nobles. They drew a huge body of young men with them and settled in the Pontic shore of Cappadocia near the river Thermodon, after bringing the Themiscyrian plains under their power. There, after they had long ravaged the nearest places, they were slaughtered by treachery through a conspiracy of their neighbors.

Their wives, stirred by exile and widowhood, took up arms. So that all might have equal courage from the same condition, they killed the men who had survived; then, kindled against the enemy by their own blood, they gained revenge for their slain husbands by destroying their neighbors. Then, after securing peace by arms, they entered into unions with outsiders. The male children they bore they killed at once; the females they carefully raised, burning the right breasts of the infants so that the throwing of arrows would not be hindered. From this they were called Amazons.

There were two queens of these women, Marpesia and Lampeto. Dividing the army into two parts, they took turns by lot in guarding the business of war and the care of the home. So, after they had subdued the greatest part of Europe and had taken some cities of Asia, and after they themselves had founded Ephesus and other cities, they recalled the main part of their army home, loaded with very rich spoil. The rest, left to protect their rule in Asia, were slaughtered with Queen Marpesia in an attack by the enemy.

Her daughter Sinope took her place and increased the singular glory of courage by perpetual virginity. Such admiration and fear had seized the nations, stirred by this report, that when Hercules was ordered by his master to bring back the weapons of the queen, as though sent toward an unavoidable danger, he gathered all the chosen and noble youth of Greece, prepared nine long ships, and yet, not content with the proof of strength, preferred to attack suddenly and surround them when they did not expect it.

At that time two sisters, Antiope and Orithyia, ruled the kingdom. Hercules came by sea and overwhelmed them while they were unwary, unarmed, and idle through the negligence of peace. Among the many killed and captured were two sisters of Antiope: Melanippe was kept by Hercules, Hippolyte by Theseus. Theseus took Hippolyte into marriage; Hercules returned Melanippe to her sister and received the queen's weapons as the price of redemption. Afterward Orithyia's daughter Penthesilea gained the kingdom; in the Trojan War we hear of the clearest proofs of her courage among men.

Alas for grief: one is ashamed of human error. Women, exiles from their fatherland, entered, wandered through, and destroyed Europe and Asia, that is, many of the strongest parts of the world; for almost a hundred years they held them, overturning very many cities and founding others, and yet the pressure of misery was not charged against the times of men.

But now those Getae, who are now also Goths, whom Alexander declared should be avoided, whom Pyrrhus dreaded, and whom even Caesar shunned, have left their empty seats and, with all their strength, have entered the Roman provinces. Though for a long time they were displayed for terror, they hope by entreaties for the fellowship of a Roman treaty, which they could have claimed by arms. They ask for a narrow seat of habitation, not by their own choice but by our judgment, though all the earth lies subject and open and it would have been free for them to presume whatever place they wished. They offer themselves for the protection of the Roman kingdom, though they alone were feared by unconquered kingdoms.

And yet blind paganism, when it does not see these things done by Roman virtue, and when it gains them through Roman good faith, does not believe or yield, though it understands that by the benefit of the Christian religion, which joins kindred faith through all peoples, those men have been subjected to it without battle whose women destroyed the greater part of the lands with immeasurable slaughter.

Orosius I.19.2-3

Then, while many battles were boiling up everywhere, which it does not seem suitable to discuss in order, rule passed by a similar way through various outcomes to the Scythians and Chaldaeans, and then again to the Medes. In this brief statement one must weigh how many falls and disasters of nations there were, how many wars flowed, where so many and such kingdoms were changed so often.

Orosius I.21.1-2

In the thirtieth year before the founding of the City, a very great war of the Peloponnesians and Athenians was joined with all their strength and spirit; in it, driven by mutual slaughter to this point, they withdrew from one another as though defeated and abandoned the war. At that time also a sudden incursion of the Amazons and of the Cimmerian people into Asia produced very wide devastation and slaughter.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin text of Paulus Orosius, Historiarum adversum paganos Book 1, based on C. Zangemeister's 1889 edition and preserved by Attalus. The selected passages were chosen for the Scythian source shelf because they preserve Orosius' late antique Latin witness to Scythian geography, old Scythian victories, Amazon origins, Cimmerian incursion, Alania, and Getic-Gothic comparative framing.

The local source capture used for this translation is Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/orosius1_attalus_latin_large05.html. The translated selection is a dossier from Book 1.

Compiled and translated for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Pauli Orosii Historiarum adversum paganos liber primus

Latin source text from Orosius, History Against the Pagans Book 1, based on C. Zangemeister's 1889 edition and preserved by Attalus. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Orosius I.2.4-5

Europa incipit ut dixi sub plaga septentrionis, a flumine Tanai, qua Riphaei montes Sarmatico auersi oceano Tanaim fluuium fundunt, qui praeteriens aras ac terminos Alexandri Magni in Rhobascorum finibus sitos Maeotidas auget paludes, quarum inmensa exundatio iuxta Theodosiam urbem Euxinum Pontum late ingreditur.

Orosius I.2.36-53

Mons Caucasus inter Colchos, qui sunt super Cimmericum mare, et inter Albanos, qui sunt ad mare Caspium, primum attollitur. cuius quidem usque in ultimum orientem unum uidetur iugum, sed multa sunt nomina; et multi hoc ipsum iugum Tauri montis credi uolunt, quia re uera Parcohatras mons Armeniae inter Taurum et Caucasum medius continuare Taurum cum Caucaso putatur; sed hoc ita non esse discernit fluuius Euphrates, qui, radice Parcohatrae montis effusus, tendens in meridiem, ipsum ad sinistram, Taurum excludit ad dextram.

itaque ipse Caucasus inter Colchos et Albanos, ubi et portas habet, mons Caucasus dicitur; a portis Caspiis usque ad Armenias pylas uel usque ad fontem Tigridis fluminis inter Armeniam et Hiberiam montes Acrocerauni dicuntur; a fonte Tigridis usque ad Carras ciuitatem inter Massagetas et Parthos mons Ariobarzanes; a Carris ciuitate usque ad oppidum Cathippi inter Hyrcanos et Bactrianos mons Memarmali, ubi amomum nascitur; a quo proximum iugum mons Parthau dicitur; ab oppido Cathippi usque ad uicum Safrim inter Dahas Sacaraucas et Parthyenas mons Oscobares, ubi Ganges fluuius oritur et laser nascitur; a fonte fluminis Gangis usque ad fontes fluminis Ottorogorrae qui sunt a septentrione, ubi sunt montani Paropanisadae, mons Taurus; a fontibus Ottorogorrae usque ad ciuitatem Ottorogorram inter Chunos Scythas et Gandaridas mons Caucasus. ultimus autem inter Eoas et Passyadras mons Imauus, ubi flumen Chrysorhoas et promunturium Samara orientali excipiuntur oceano.

igitur a monte Imauo, hoc est ab imo Caucaso et dextra orientis parte qua oceanus Sericus tenditur, usque ad promunturium Boreum et flumen Boreum, inde tenus Scythico mari quod est a septentrione, usque ad mare Caspium quod est ab occasu, et usque ad extentum Caucasi iugum quod est ad meridiem, Hyrcanorum et Scytharum gentes sunt XLII, propter terrarum infecundam diffusionem late oberrantes.

Mare Caspium sub Aquilonis plaga ab oceano oritur, cuius utraque circa oceanum litora et loca deserta incultaque habentur. inde meridiem uersus per longas angustias tenditur, donec per magna spatia dilatatum Caucasi montis radicibus terminetur. itaque a mari Caspio quod est ad orientem, per oram oceani septentrionalis usque ad Tanaim fluuium et Maeotidas paludes quae sunt ad occasum, per litus Cimmerici maris quod est ab Africo, usque ad caput et portas Caucasi quae sunt ad meridiem, gentes sunt XXXIIII. sed generaliter regio proxima Albania, ulterior sub mari et monte Caspio Amazonum nominatur.

Expliciti sunt quam breuissime fines Asiae. nunc Europam in quantum cognitioni hominis conceditur stilo peruagabor.

Incipit a montibus Riphaeis ac flumine Tanai Maeotidisque paludibus quae sunt ad orientem, per litus septentrionalis oceani usque ad Galliam Belgicam et flumen Rhenum quod est ab occasu descendens, deinde usque ad Danuuium quem et Histrum uocant, qui est a meridie et ad orientem directus Ponto accipitur. ab oriente Alania est, in medio Dacia ubi et Gothia, deinde Germania est ubi plurimam partem Suebi tenent. quorum omnium sunt gentes LIIII.

Orosius I.14

Anno ante urbem conditam CCCCLXXX Vesozes rex Aegypti meridiem et septentrionem, diuisas paene toto caelo ac pelago plagas, aut miscere bello aut regno iungere studens, Scythis bellum primus indixit missis prius legatis, qui hostibus parendi leges dicerent.

ad quae Scythae legatis respondent, stolide opulentissimum regem aduersus inopes sumpsisse bellum, quod timendum ipsi magis uersa uice fuerit propter incertos belli euentus nulla praemia et damna manifesta. porro sibi non exspectandum, dum ad se ueniatur, sed ultro praedae obuiam ituros.

nec mora, nam dicta factis insequuntur. primum ipsum Vesozen territum refugere in regnum cogunt, destitutum uero exercitum inuadunt omnemque belli apparatum capessunt, uniuersam quoque Aegyptum populauissent, ni paludibus inpediti repellerentur. inde continuo reuersi perdomitam infinitis caedibus Asiam uectigalem fecere; ubi per XV annos sine pace inmorati tandem uxorum flagitatione reuocantur denuntiantibus, ni redeant subolem se a finitimis quaesituras.

Orosius I.15-16

Medio autem tempore apud Scythas duo regii iuuenes Plynos et Scolopetius, per factionem optimatium domo pulsi, ingentem iuuentutem secum traxere et in Cappadociae Ponticae ora iuxta amnem Thermodontem consederunt campis Themiscyriis sibi subiectis; ubi diu proxima quaeque populati conspiratione finitimorum per insidias trucidantur.

horum uxores exilio ac uiduitate permotae arma sumunt et, ut omnibus par ex simili condicione animus fieret, uiros qui superfuerant interficiunt atque accensae in hostem sanguine suo ultionem caesorum coniugum finitimorum excidio consequuntur. tunc pace armis quaesita externos concubitus ineunt, editos mares mox enecant, feminas studiose nutriunt inustis infantium dexterioribus mammillis, ne sagittarum iactus impedirentur; unde Amazones dictae.

harum duae fuere reginae, Marpesia et Lampeto, quae agmine diuiso in duas partes uicissim curam belli et domus custodiam sortiebantur. igitur cum Europam maxima e parte domuissent, Asiae uero aliquantis ciuitatibus captis, ipsae autem Ephesum aliasque urbes condidissent, praecipuam exercitus sui partem onustam opulentissima praeda domum reuocant, reliquae ad tuendum Asiae imperium relictae cum Marpesia regina concursu hostium trucidantur.

huius locum Sinope filia capessit, quae singularem uirtutis gloriam perpetua uirginitate cumulauit. hac fama excitas gentes tanta admiratio et formido inuaserat, ut Hercules quoque cum iussus fuisset a domino suo exhibere arma reginae quasi ad ineuitabile periculum destinatus, uniuersam Graeciae lectam ac nobilem iuuentutem contraxerit, nouem longas naues praepararit, nec tamen contentus examine uirium ex inprouiso adgredi et insperatas circumuenire maluerit.

duae tunc sorores regno praeerant, Antiope et Orithyia. Hercules mari aduectus incautas inermesque et pacis incuria desides oppressit. inter caesas captasque complurimas duae sorores Antiopae, Melanippe ab Hercule, Hippolyte a Theseo retentae. sed Theseus Hippolyten matrimonio adsciuit, Hercules Melanippen sorori reddidit et arma reginae pretio redemptionis accepit. post Orithyiam Penthesilea regno potita est, cuius Troiano bello clarissima inter uiros documenta uirtutis accepimus.

Pro dolor, pudet erroris humani. mulieres patria profugae Europam atque Asiam, id est plurimas fortissimasque mundi partes, intrauerunt peruagatae sunt deleuerunt, centum paene annis euertendo urbes plurimas atque alias constituendo tenuerunt: nec tamen miseriae hominum pressura temporum deputata est.

modo autem Getae illi qui et nunc Gothi, quos Alexander euitandos pronuntiauit, Pyrrhus exhorruit, Caesar etiam declinauit, relictis uacuefactisque sedibus suis ac totis uiribus toti Romanas ingressi prouincias simulque ad terrorem diu ostentati societatem Romani foederis precibus sperant, quam armis uindicare potuissent; exiguae habitationis sedem non ex sua electione sed ex nostro iudicio rogant, quibus subiecta et patente uniuersa terra praesumere, quam esset libitum, liberum fuit; semet ipsos ad tuitionem Romani regni offerunt, quos solos inuicta regna timuerunt.

et tamen caeca gentilitas cum haec Romana uirtute gesta non uideat, fide Romanorum inpetrata non credit nec adquiescit, cum intellegat, confiteri, beneficio Christianae religionis - quae cognatam per omnes populos fidem iungit - eos uiros sine proelio sibi esse subiectos, quorum feminae maiorem terrarum partem inmensis caedibus deleuerunt.

Orosius I.19.2-3

deinde multis proeliis undique scatescentibus, quae per ordinem disserere nequaquam aptum uidetur, per uarios prouentus ad Scythas Chaldaeosque et rursus ad Medos parili uia rediit. in qua breuitate pensandum est: quantae ruinae cladesque gentium fuere, quanta bella fluxerunt ubi totiens tot et talia regna mutata sunt.

Orosius I.21.1-2

Anno ante urbem conditam XXX Peloponnensium Atheniensiumque maximum bellum totis uiribus animisque commissum est: in quo mutuis caedibus ad hoc coacti sunt, ut uelut uicti se ab alterutro subtraherent bellumque desererent. tunc etiam Amazonum gentis et Cimmeriorum in Asiam repentinus incursus plurimam diu late uastationem stragemque edidit.

Source Colophon

Source route: https://www.attalus.org/latin/orosius1.html. The underlying work is ancient Latin; the web transcription states that it is based on C. Zangemeister's 1889 edition. The local HTML capture and extracted Latin dossier were saved under Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/ for source inspection.

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