Natural History 4.75-88

This is a Good Works Translation produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from Pliny the Elder's Latin Natural History.

The source-unit belongs to the Scythian shelf because it preserves Roman geographic testimony about the Pontus, Maeotis, Scythian and Sarmatian peoples, Taurica, Achilles' island and racecourse, Hylaea, or the northern ocean.

The English was made from inspected Latin text in The Latin Library. The page claims only an independent source-language rendering from the named witness.

Translation

The fourth of the great bays, beginning from the Hellespont, ends at the mouth of Maeotis. But the whole form of the Pontus must be briefly gathered together, so that its parts may be known more easily. A vast sea lies before Asia, and, driven back from Europe by the stretched-out shore of the Chersonese, it breaks into the lands by a narrow passage, seven stadia wide, removing Europe from Asia, as has been said. The first narrows are called the Hellespont; there Xerxes, king of the Persians, led his army over a bridge laid on ships.

From there a narrow Euripus stretches for a distance of eighty-six miles to the city of Priapus in Asia, where Alexander the Great crossed over. Then the sea spreads out again and narrows once more. The broad part is called Propontis; the narrows are the Thracian Bosporus, five hundred paces wide, where Darius, father of Xerxes, carried his forces over by a bridge. The whole length from the Hellespont is two hundred and thirty-nine miles. Then the vast sea, the Pontus Euxinus, once called Axenus, occupies lands withdrawing far away, and, curved backward in a great bend of shores, stretches out from them on each side into horns, so that it is plainly in the form of a Scythian bow. At the middle of the bend it is joined to the mouth of Lake Maeotis.

That mouth is called the Cimmerian Bosporus, two thousand five hundred paces wide.

The lake Maeotis itself receives the river Tanais, flowing down from the Riphaean mountains, the last boundary between Europe and Asia. It is said to have a circuit of fourteen hundred and six miles, others saying eleven hundred and twenty-five. From its mouth to the mouth of the Tanais in a straight course is agreed to be two hundred and seventy-five miles. From there are the mouths of the Hister.

That river rises in Germany from the ridges of Mount Abnoba, opposite the Gallic town of the Raurici. Flowing for many miles beyond the Alps and through countless peoples under the name Danube, it receives an immense increase of waters; and from the point where it first touches Illyricum it is called the Hister. Receiving sixty rivers, almost half of them navigable, it rolls into the Pontus through six vast channels.

From that point, in general, all the peoples are Scythian, though different peoples have held the shore in different ways: in one place the Getae, called Daci by the Romans; in another the Sarmatae, called Sauromatae by the Greeks, and their Hamaxobii or Aorsi; elsewhere degenerate Scythians and people sprung from slaves, or Troglodytae; then the Alani and Rhoxolani.

The upper parts between the Danube and the Hercynian Forest, as far as the Pannonian winter-quarters of Carnuntum and the German borders there, are occupied in the fields and plains by the Iazyges Sarmatae; but the mountains and forests, from which they have been driven, are held by the Daci as far as the river Pathissus.

The name of the Scythians has passed everywhere into the Sarmatians and Germans. That ancient name has endured for no others than those who live at the furthest edges of these peoples, almost unknown to the rest of mortals.

From the Hister come the towns Cremniscoe and Aepolium, the mountains Macrocremni, and the famous river Tyra, giving its name to a town that was formerly called Ophiusa. In that same river is a spacious island, famous among the Tyragetae; it is one hundred and thirty miles from the Pseudostomon mouth of the Hister. Soon come the Axiacae, named after the river; beyond them the Crobyzi; the river Rhode; the bay Saggarius; the harbor Ordesos; and, one hundred and twenty miles from the Tyra, the river Borysthenes, and a lake and people of the same name, and a town set back fifteen miles from the sea, called by old names Olbiopolis and Miletopolis.

Again along the shore come the harbor of the Achaeans and the island of Achilles, famous for the tomb of that man. From it, one hundred and twenty-five miles away, stretches a peninsula crosswise in the shape of a sword, named from his exercise, the Racecourse of Achilles; Agrippa gave its length as eighty miles. The whole tract is held by the Sardi Scythae and the Siraci. Then comes the wooded region Hylaea, which gave its name to the sea by which it is washed; its inhabitants are called Enoecadiae. Beyond are the rivers Panticapes, which separates the Nomads and the Georgi, and Acesinus.

Some report that the Panticapes flows into the Borysthenes within Olbia; the more careful report the Hypanis, so great is the error of those who placed it in the Asian part.

The sea enters with a great recess until it is only five miles from Maeotis, enclosing vast spaces and many peoples. The bay is called Carcinites. There is the river Pacyris; the towns Navarum and Carcine. Behind it lies Lake Buces, let out into the sea by a ditch. Buces itself is separated from Coretus, a bay of Lake Maeotis, by a stony ridge. It receives the rivers Buces and Gerrhus and Hypanis, coming from different directions. For the Gerrhus separates the Basilidae and the Nomads, while the Hypanis flows through the Nomads and Hylaeans, by a man-made channel into Buces and by a natural one into Coretus.

The region is called Scythia Sindica.

But from Carcinites Taurica begins, once surrounded by the sea also where now the plains lie; then it rises into vast ridges. There are thirty peoples there, twenty-three of them inland; six towns: Orgocyni, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae, and Caliordi. The ridge itself is held by the Scythotauri; they are enclosed from the west by Cherronesus Nea, from the east by the Scythian Satarci.

On the shore from Carcine are the towns Taphrae, at the very narrows of the peninsula; then Heraclea Cherronesus, given freedom by the Romans. It was formerly called Megarice, and is of outstanding brilliance, preserving Greek customs in that whole tract, with a wall five miles around.

From there comes the Parthenium promontory, the Taurian town Placia, the harbor Symbolum, and the promontory Criu Metopon, opposite the Asian promontory Carambis, running out through the middle of the Euxine with a distance of one hundred and seventy miles between them; this is the feature that most strongly makes the shape of the Scythian bow. From it come many Taurian harbors and lakes. The town Theodosia is one hundred and twenty-five miles from Criu Metopon, and one hundred and sixty-five from Cherronesus. Beyond it once stood the towns Cytae, Zephyrium, Acrae, Nymphaeum, and Dia.

There remains Panticapaeum of the Milesians, far the strongest city at the very entrance of the Bosporus, eighty-seven and a half miles from Theodosia and two and a half miles across the strait from the Cimmerian town, as we have said. This width separates Asia from Europe, and the frozen strait is often passable on foot. The Cimmerian Bosporus is twelve and a half miles long. It has the towns Hermisium and Myrmecium, and within it the island Alopece. Through Maeotis, from the farthest isthmus called Taphras to the mouth of the Bosporus, the length is reckoned at two hundred and sixty miles.

From Taphris inland across the continent are held by the Auchetae, among whom the Hypanis rises; the Neuroe, among whom the Borysthenes rises; the Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, Basilidae, and the Agathyrsi with blue hair. Above them are the Nomads, then the Anthropophagi; from Buces above Maeotis are the Sauromatae and Essedones; and along the shore as far as the Tanais are the Maeotae, from whom the lake took its name. Last behind them are the Arimaspi.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin text of Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4.75-95, as presented by The Latin Library. The English is independently derived from the Latin; names and numerals are preserved cautiously where Pliny's geography is difficult.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: forma arcus Scythici

Latin source text from Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4.75-95, The Latin Library. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Quartus e magnis Europae sinus ab Hellespontio incipiens Maeotis ostio finitur. sed totius Ponti forma breviter conplectenda est, ut facilius partes noscantur. vastum mare, praeiacens Asiae et ab Europa porrecto Cherronesi litore expulsu, ancgusto meatu inrumpit in terras, VII stadiorum, ut dictum est, intervallo Europam auferens Asiae. primas angustias Hellespontum vocant; hac Xerxes Persarum rex constrato in navibus ponte duxit exercitum.

porrigitur deinde tenuis Euripus LXXXVI spatio ad Priapum urbem Asiae, qua Magnus Alexander transcendit.

inde exspatiatur aequor rursusque in artum coit. laxitas Propontis appellatur, angustiae Thracius Bosporus, latitudine quingentorum passuum, qua Darius pater Xerxis copias ponte transvexit. tota ab Hellesponto longitudo CCXXXIX. dein vastum mare Pontus Euxinus, qui quondam Axenus, longe refugientes occupat terras magnoque litorum flexu retro curvatus in cornua ab iis utrimque porrigitur, ut sit plane arcus Scythici forma. medio flexu iungitur ostio Maeotii lacus.

Cimmerius Bosporus id os vocatur,II quingentorum passuum latitudine.

M. Varro ad hunc modum metitur: ab ostio Ponti Apolloniam CLXXXVII:D p., Callatim tantundem, ad ostium Histri CXXV, ad Borysthenem CCL, Cherronesum Heracleotarum oppidum CCCLXXV p., ad Panticapaeum, quod aliqui Bosporum vocant, extremum in Europae ora,CCXII:D, quae summa efficit |XIII|:XXXVII:D. Agrippa a Byzantio ad flumen Histrum DLX, inde Panticapaeum DCXXXVIII.

lacus ipse Maeotis, Tanain amnem ex Ripaeis montibus defluentem accipiens, novissimum inter Europam Asiamque finem, |XIIII|:VI circuitu patere traditur, ab aliis |XI|:XXV. ab ostio eius ad Tanais ostium derecto cursu CCLXXV esse constat. accolae sinus eius in mentione Thraciae dicti sunt Histropolin usque. inde ostia Histri.

Ortus hic in Germania iugis montis Abnouae ex adverso Raurici Galliae oppidi, multis ultra Alpes milibus ac per innumeras lapsus gentes Danuvi nomine, inmenso aquarum auctu et unde primum Illyricum adluit Hister appellatus, LX amnibus receptis, medio ferme eorum numero navigabili, in Pontum vastis sex fluminibus evolvitur.

primum ostium Peuces, mox ipsa Peuce insula, in qua proximus alveus appellatus XIX p. magna palude sorbetur.

ex eodem alveo et super Histropolim lacus gignitur LXIII passuum ambitu; Halmyrin vocant. secundum ostium Naracustoma appellatur, tertium Calon Stoma iuxta insulam Sarmaticam, quartum Pseudostomon et insula Conopon Diabasis, postea Borion Stoma et Psilon Stoma. singula autem ora sunt tanta, ut prodatur in XL passuum longitudinis vinci mare dulcemque intellegi haustum.

Ab eo in plenum quidem omnes Scytharum sunt gentes, varie tamen litori adposita tenuere, alias Getae, Daci Romanis dicti, alias Sarmatae, Graecis Sauromatae, eorumque Hamaxobli aut Aorsi, alias Scythae degeneres et a servis orti aut Trogodytae, mox Alani et Rhoxolani; superiora autem inter Danuvium et Hercynium saltum usque ad Pannonica hiberna Carnunti Germanorumque ibi confinium, campos et plana Iazyges Sarmatae, montes vero et saltus pulsi ab iis Daci ad Pathissum amnem,

a Maro, sive Duria est a Suebis regnoque Vanniano dirimens eos, aversa Basternae tenent aliique inde Germani.grippa totum eum tractum ab Histro ad oceanum bis ad decies centenum milium passuum in longitudinem, quattuor milibus minus CCCC in latitudinem, ad flumen Vistlam a desertis Sarmatiae prodidit. Scytharum nomen usquequaque transiit in Sarmatas atque Germanos. nec aliis prisca illa duravit appellatio quam qui extremi gentium harum, ignotic prope ceteris mortalibus, degunt.

Verum ab Histro oppida Cremniscoe, Aepolium, montes Macrocremni, clarus amnis Tyra, oppido nomen inponens ubi antea Ophiusa dicebatur. in eodem insulam spatiosam inclutn Tyragetae; abest a Pseudostomo Histri ostio CXXX. mox Axiacae cognomines flumini, ultra quos Crobyzi, flumen Rhode, sinus Saggarius, portus Ordesos et a Tyra CXX flumen Borysthenes lacusque et gens eodem nomine et oppidum ab mari recedens XV passuum, Olbiopolis et Miletopolis antiquis nominibus.

rursus litore portus Achaeorum, insula Achillis, tumulo eius viri clara, et ab ea CXXV passuum paeninsula ad formam gladii in transversum porrecta, exercitatione eiusdem cognominata Dromos Achilleos, cuius longitudinem LXXX tradidit Agrippa. totum eum tractum tenent Sardi Scythae et Siraci. inde silvestris regio Hylaeo mare, quo adluitur, cognominavit; Enoaecadioe vocantur incolae. ultra Panticapes amnes, qui Nomadas et Georgos disterminat, mos Acesinus.

quidam Panticapen confluere intra Olbiam cum Borysthene tradunt, diligentiores Hypanim, tanto errore eorum, qui illum in Asiae parte prodidere.

Mare subit magno recessu, donec V passuum intervallo absit a Maeotide, vasta ambiens spatia multasque gentes. sinus Carcinites appellatur. flumen Pacyris; oppida Navarum, Carcine. a tergo lacus Buces, fossa emissus in mare. ipse Buces a Coreto, Maeoti lacus sinu, petroso discluditur dorso. recipit amnes Bucem, Gerrhum. Hypanim, ex diverso venientes tractu. nam Gerrhus Basilidas et Nomadas separat, Hypanis per Nomadas et Hylaeos fluit, manu facto alveo in Bucen, naturali in Coretum.

regio Scythiae Sindica nominatur.

Sed a Carcinite Taurica incipit, quondam mari circumfusa et ipsa qua nunc campi iacent; dein vastis attollitur iugis. triginta sunt eorum populi, ex iis mediterranei XXIII; VI oppida Orgociini, Characeni, Assyrani, Stactari, Acisalitae, Caliordi. iugum ipsum Scythotauri tenent; cluduntur ab occidente Cherroneso Nea, ab ortu Scythis Satarcis.

in ora a Carcine oppida Taphrae in ipsis angustiis paeninsulae, mox Heraclea Cherronesus, libertate a Romanis donatum; Megarice vocabatur antea, praecipui nitoris, in toto eo tractu custoditis Graeciae moribus,V passuum ambiente muro.

inde Parthenium promunturium, Taurorum civitas Placia, Symbolum portus, promunturium Criu Metopon adverso Carambico Asiae promunturio, per medium Euxinum procurrens CLXX intervallo, quae maxime ratio Scythici arcus formam efficit. ab eo Taurorum portus multi et lacus. oppidum Theodosia a Criu Metopo CXXV p., a Cheroneso vero CLXV. ultra fuere oppida Cytae, Zephyrium, Acrae, Nymphaeum, Dia.

restat longe validissimum in ipso Bospori introitu Panticapaeum Milesiorum, a Theodosia LXXXVII:D p., a Cimmerio vero oppido trans fretum sito MM:D, ut diximus, passuum. haec ibi latitudo Asiam ab Europa separat, eaque ipsa pedibus plerumque pervia glaciato freto. Bospori Cimmerii longitudo XII:D passuum. oppida habet Hermisium, Myrmecium et intus insulam Alopecen. per Maeotim autem ab extremo Isthmo, qui locus Taphrase vocatur, ad os Bospori CCLX longitudo colligit.

A Taphris per continentem introrsus tenent Auchetae, apud quos Hypanis oritur, Neuroe, apud quos Borysthenes, Geloni, Thyssagetae, Budini, Basilidae et careuleo capillo Agathyrsi. super eos Nomades, deinde Anthropophagi, a Buce vero super Maeotim Sauromatae et Essedones. at per oram ad Tanain usque ad Maeotae, a quibus lacus nomen accepit, ultimique a tergo eorum Arimaspi.

Source Colophon

The Latin source was checked in The Latin Library: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pliny.nh4.html. This page presents a coherent excerpt from the larger Book 4 Scythian and northern-ocean passage.

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