Pseudo-Scylax -- Scythia, Taurica, Maeotis, and the Tanais -- Good Works Translation

selected from the Periplus

This Good Works Translation renders selected Greek sections from the Periplus attributed to Pseudo-Scylax.

The passage belongs on the Scythian shelf because it gives one compact coastal itinerary from Thrace through Scythian territory, Taurica, Pantikapaion, Maeotis, the Tanais boundary, Sauromatae, Maeotians, and Sindoi.

The translation is limited to the selected Greek sections printed below.

Translation

Scythia and the Taurians

After Thrace come the Scythians, a people; and among them are these Greek cities: the Tyras River, the city Nikonion, and the city Ophiousa.

On Scythian land the Taurians also dwell, a people occupying a promontory of the mainland; the promontory reaches into the sea. In Taurica Greeks live, and their places are these: Chersonesos, a trading station; Kriou Metopon, the Ram's Forehead, the promontory of Taurica.

After these there are Scythians again, and the Greek cities in that land are these: Theodosia, Kytaia and Nymphaia, Pantikapaion, and Myrmekion.

The straight coasting voyage from the Ister to the Ram's Forehead is three days and three nights. The voyage along the land is twice as long, for there is a gulf. In this gulf there is an island, a deserted island, named Leuke, sacred to Achilles.

From the Ram's Forehead the voyage to Pantikapaion is a day and a night. From Pantikapaion to the mouth of the Maeotian lake is twenty stades. The Maeotis is said to be half the size of the Pontus. In the Maeotian lake, immediately on the left as one sails in, are Scythians; for they reach from the outer sea above Taurica into the Maeotian lake. After the Scythians come the Syrmatai, a people, and the Tanais River, which marks the boundary between Asia and Europe.

The Circuit of Europe

For one sailing around all Europe from the Pillars of Heracles in Europe, coasting along the gulfs by land, counting the nights written in the account as days, and wherever stades are written counting five hundred stades as a day's sailing, the coasting voyage of Europe comes to one hundred fifty-three days, since half the Pontus is equal to the Maeotian lake. The greatest rivers in Europe are the Tanais, the Ister, and the Rhodanos.

Sauromatae

From the Tanais River Asia begins, and the first people of Asia in the Pontus are the Sauromatae. Among the Sauromatae there is a people ruled by women.

Maeotians

Next to those ruled by women are the Maeotians.

Sindoi

After the Maeotians come the Sindoi, a people. They extend also to the outside of the lake, and among them are these Greek cities: the city of Phanagoros, Kepoi, Sindic Harbor, and Patous.

Colophon

This selected Good Works Translation renders Pseudo-Scylax, Periplus 68-72 from the Greek printed below. The passage is kept narrow because the full periplus requires a separate full-text source audit before it can be treated as a public source-language base.

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Source Text: Pseudo-Scylax, Periplus 68-72

68. Σκυθία. Ταῦροι.
Μετὰ δὲ Θράικην καὶ Σκύθαι ἔθνος καὶ πόλεις ἐν αὐτοῖς Ἑλληνίδες αἵδε· Τύρις ποταμός, Νικώνιον πόλις, Ὀφιοῦσα πόλις. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆι Σκυθικῆι ἐποικοῦσι Ταῦροι ἔθνος ἀκρωτήριον τῆς ἠπείρου· εἰς θάλατταν δὲ τὸ ἀκρωτήριόν ἐστιν. Ἐν δὲ τῆι Ταυρικῆι οἰκοῦσιν Ἕλληνες <καὶ πόλεις αὐτῶν> αἵδε· Χερρόνησος ἐμπόριον, Κριοῦ μέτωπον, ἀκρωτήριον τῆς Ταυρικῆς. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά εἰσι Σκύθαι πάλιν, πόλεις δὲ Ἑλληνίδες αἵδε ἐν αὐτῆι· Θευδοσία, Κύταια καὶ Νυμφαία, Παντικάπαιον, Μυρμήκειον. Παράπλους εὐθὺς ἀπὸ Ἴστρου ἐπὶ Κριοῦ μέτωπον τριῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τριῶν νυκτῶν, ὁ δὲ παρὰ γῆν διπλάσιος· ἔστι γὰρ κόλπος. Ἐν δὲ τῶι κόλπωι τούτωι νῆσός ἐστι, νῆσος δὲ ἐρήμη, ἧι ὄνομα Λευκή, ἱερὰ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως. Ἀπὸ δὲ Κριοῦ μέτωπον πλοῦς εἰς Παντικάπαιον ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός· ἀπὸ δὲ Παντικαπαίου ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος λίμνης ἐστὶ στάδια κʹ. Ἡ δὲ Μαιῶτις λίμνη λέγεται ἥμισυ εἶναι τοῦ Πόντου. Ἐν δὲ τῆι Μαιώτιδι λίμνηι εὐθὺς εἰσπλέοντί εἰσιν ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερᾶς Σκύθαι· καθήκουσι γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἔξω θαλὰσσης ὑπὲρ τῆς Ταυρικῆς εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν λίμνην. <Μετὰ δὲ Σκύθας Συρμάται> ἔθνος καὶ ποταμὸς Τάναις, <ὃς> ὁρίζει Ἀσίαν καὶ Εὐρώπην.

69. Παράπλους ἀπάσης τῆς Εὐρώπης.
Ἀπὸ Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν τῶν ἐν τῆι Εὐρώπηι περιπλέοντι τοὺς κόλπους παρὰ γῆν, λογιζομένωι δὲ ὅσαι γεγραμμέναι εἰσί, νύκτες ἀντὶ τούτων ἡμέρας, καὶ, ὅπου στάδιά εἰσι γεγραμμένα, ἀντὶ τῶν φʹ σταδίων ἡμεραῖον τὸν πλοῦν, γίνεται τῆς Εὐρώπης ὁ παράπλους, τοῦ ἡμίσεος μέρους τοῦ Πόντου ὄντος ἴσου τῆς Μαιώτιδος λίμνης, ἡμερῶν ρνʹ τριῶν. Μέγιστοι δὲ ποταμοί εἰσιν ἐν Εὐρώπηι ὁ Τάναις, ὁ Ἴστρος, ὁ Ῥοδανός.

70. Σαυρομάται.
Ἀπὸ Τανάϊδος δὲ ποταμοῦ ἄρχεται ἡ Ἀσία, καὶ πρῶτον ἔθνος αὐτῆς ἐστὶν ἐν τῶι Πόντωι Σαυρομάται. Σαυροματῶν δέ ἐστιν ἔθνος γυναικοκρατούμενον.

71. Μαιῶται.
Τῶν γυναικοκρατουμένων ἔχονται Μαιῶται.

72. Σίνδοι.
Μετὰ δὲ Μαιώτας Σίνδοι ἔθνος· διήκουσι γὰρ οὗτοι καὶ εἰς τὸ ἔξω τῆς λίμνης· καί εἰσιν πόλεις ἐν αὐτοῖς Ἑλληνίδες αἵδε· Φαναγόρου πόλις, Κῆποι, Σινδικὸς λιμήν, Πάτους.

Source Colophon

The Greek text printed here is a selected excerpt from Pseudo-Scylax, Periplus 68-72, in C. Mueller, Geographi Graeci Minores I (Paris: Ambroise-Firmin Didot, 1855), pages 15-96. The local Greek capture was compared with the OpenGreekAndLatin First1KGreek XML route, whose header identifies Mueller's edition and a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International digital license. The English translation was made from the Greek printed on this page.

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