HKB
differing from one another in language and habits; the Jaxamatæ, the Mæotæ, the Jazyges, the Roxolani, the Alani, the Melanchlænæ, the Geloni, and the Agathyrsi, whose land abounds in adamant.
And there are others beyond, who are the most remote people of the whole world. On the left side of this gulf lies the Crimea, full of Greek colonies; the people of which are quiet and steady: they practise agriculture, and live on the produce of the land.
From them the Tauri, though at no great distance, are separated by several kingdoms, among which are the Arinchi, a most savage tribe, the Sinchi, and the Napæi, whose cruelty, being aggravated by continual licence, is the reason why the sea is called the Inhospitable,[129] from which by the rule of contrary it gets the name of the Euxine, just as the Greeks call a fool +euêthês+, and night +euthronê+, and the furies, the +Eumenides+.
For they propitiated the gods with human victims, sacrificing strangers to Diana, whom they call Oreiloche, and fix the heads of the slain on the walls of their temples, as perpetual monuments of their deeds.
In this kingdom of the Tauri lies the uninhabited island of Leuce, which is consecrated to Achilles; and if any ever visit it, as soon as they have examined the traces of antiquity, and the temple and offerings dedicated to the hero, they return the same evening to their ships, as it is said that no one can pass the night there without danger to his life.
There is water there, and white birds like kingfishers, the origin of which, and the battles of the Hellespont, we will discuss at a proper time. And there are some cities in this region of which the most eminent are Eupatoria, Dandaca, and Theodosia, and several others which are free from the wickedness of human sacrifices.
Up to this we reckon that one of the extremities of the arc extends. We will now follow, as order suggests, the rest of the curve which extends towards the north, along the left side of the Thracian Bosphorus, just reminding the reader that while the bows of all other nations bend along the whole of their material, those of the Scythians and Parthians have a straight rounded line in the centre, from which they curve their spreading horns so as to present the figure of the waning moon.
At the very beginning then of this district, where the Rhipæan mountains end, lie the Arimphæi, a just people known for their quiet character, whose land is watered by the rivers Chronius and Bisula; and next to them are the Massagetæ, the Alani, and the Sargetæ, and several other tribes of little note, of whom we know neither the names nor the customs.
Then, a long way off, is the bay Carcinites, and a river of the same name, and a grove of Diana, frequented by many votaries in those countries.
After that we come to the Dnieper (Borysthenes), which rises in the mountains of the Neuri; a river very large at its first beginning, and which increases by the influx of many other streams, till it falls into the sea with great violence; on its woody banks is the town of Borysthenes, and Cephalonesus, and some altars consecrated to Alexander the Great and Augustus Cæsar.
Next, at a great distance, is an island inhabited by the Sindi, a tribe of low-born persons, who upon the overthrow of their lords and masters in Asia, took possession of their wives and properties. Below them is a narrow strip of coast called by the natives the Course of Achilles, having been made memorable in olden time by the exercises of the Thessalian chief, and next to that is the city of Tyros, a colony of the Phoenicians, watered by the river Dniester.