Herodotus’ Histories contain references to certain peoples that may have, in part, been ancestors of the Suavs. The usual suspects include the Budini, Geloni (whose name appears to have eventually been given over to some or all of the Budini) and, perhaps, the Neuri. The Geloni name is a special case because therein we have the name of one of the brothers of Scythes (Gelonus), the name of the tribe (Geloni) and the name of the capital city of the Geloni (Gelonus). This in Book 4. Separately, in Book 7, there appears also Gelon in Sicily, perhaps from Gela, a town on the southwest side of that island and his people, the Geloans, but these do not seem to have an obvious connection to our Geloni so we do not discuss them here beyond this mention (unless the Greek Scythian Geloni were originally Sicilians from Gela which is, I suppose, possible since these Sicilians were supposed to have come from Rhodes and Crete as Greek colonists; if you think this possible, suggest you explore the Histories yourself).
For the long time I intended to provide these but they take up a lot of space as the context is important. Thus, we have here the description of much of the background as well as Darius’ campaign against the Scythians. All of the relevant stuff here comes from Book 4. The translation is that of Henry Cary.
Scythians Galloping on the Cover of the Osprey Series Book
BOOK IV
MELPOMENE
1. After the capture of Babylon, Darius’s expedition against the Scythians took place; for as Asia was flourishing in men, and large revenues came in, Darius was desirous of revenging himself upon the Scythians, because they formerly, having invaded the Median territory, and defeated in battle those that opposed them, were the first beginners of violence. For the Scythians, as I have before mentioned, ruled over Upper Asia for eight-and-twenty years; for while in pursuit of the Cimmerians, they entered Asia, and overthrew the empire of the Medes; for these last, before the arrival of the Scythians, ruled over Asia. Those Scythians, however, after they had been abroad eight-and-twenty years, and returned to their own country, after such an interval, a task no less than the invasion of Media awaited; for they found an army of no inconsiderable force ready to oppose them; for the wives of the Scythians, seeing their husbands were a long time absent, had sought the company of their slaves.
2. The Scythians deprive all their slaves of sight for the sake of the milk which they drink, doing
as follows: when they have taken bone tubes very like flutes, they thrust them into the genital parts of the mares, and blow with their mouths; while some blow, others milk. They say they do this for the following reason: because the veins of the mare, being inflated, become filled, and the udder is depressed. When they have finished milking, they pour it into hollow wooden vessels, and having placed the blind men round about the vessels, they agitate the milk; and having skimmed off that which swims on the surface, they consider it the most valuable, but that which subsides is of less value than the other. On this account the Scythians put out the eyes of every prisoner they take; for they are not agriculturists, but feeders of cattle.
3. From these slaves, then, and the women, a race of youths had grown up, who, when they knew their own extraction, opposed those who were returning from Media. And first they cut off the country by digging a wide ditch, stretching from Mount Taurus to the lake Maeotis, which is of great extent, and afterward encamping opposite, they came to an engagement with the Scythians, who were endeavoring to enter. When several battles had been fought, and the Scythians were unable to obtain any advantage, one of them said, “Men of Scythia, what are we doing? by fighting with our slaves, both we ourselves by being slain become fewer in number, and by killing them we shall hereafter have fewer to rule over. Now, therefore, it seems to me that we should lay aside our spears and bows, and that every one, taking a horsewhip, should go directly to them; for so long as they saw us with arms, they considered themselves equal to
us, and born of equal birth; but when they shall see us with our whips instead of arms, they will soon learn that they are our slaves, and being conscious of that, will no longer resist.”
4. The Scythians, having heard this, adopted the advice; and the slaves, struck with astonishment at what was done, forgot to fight, and fled. Thus the Scythians both ruled over Asia, and being afterward expelled by the Medes, returned in this manner to their own country; and for the above-mentioned reasons, Darius, desiring to take revenge, assembled an army
to invade them.
5. As the Scythians say, theirs is the most recent of all nations; and it arose in the following manner. The first man that appeared in this country, which was a wilderness, was
named Targitaus; they say that the parents of this Targitaus — in my opinion relating what is incredible — they say, however, that they were Jupiter and a daughter of the river Borysthenes; that such was the origin of Targitaus; and that he had three sons, who went by the names of Lipoxais, Apoxais, and the youngest, Colaxais; that during their reign a plow, a yoke, an axe, and a bowl of golden workmanship, dropping down from heaven, fell on the Scythian territory; that the eldest, seeing them first, approached, intending to take them up, but as he came near, the gold began to burn; when he had retired the second went up, and it did the same again; accordingly the burning gold repulsed these; but when the youngest went up the third, it became extinguished, and he carried the things home with him, and that the elder brothers, in consequence of this giving way, surrendered the whole authority to the youngest.
6. From Lipoxais, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called Auchatae; from the
second, Apoxais, those who are called Catiari and Traspies; and from the youngest of them, the royal race, who are called Paralatae; but all have the name of Scoloti, from the surname of their king, but the Grecians call them Scythians.
7. The Scythians say that such was their origin, and they reckon the whole number of years from their first beginning, from king Targitaus to the time that Darius crossed over against
them, to be not more than a thousand years, but just that number. This sacred gold the kings watch with the greatest care, and annually approach it with magnificent sacrifices to render
it propitious. If he who has the sacred gold happens to fall asleep in the open air on the festival, the Scythians say he can not survive the year, and on this account they give him as much land as he can ride round on horseback in one day. The country being very extensive, Colaxais established three of the kingdoms for his sons, and made that one the largest in which the gold is kept. The parts beyond the north of the inhabited districts, the Scythians say, can neither be seen nor passed through, by reason of the feathers shed there; for that the earth and air are full of feathers, and that it is these which intercept the view.
8. Such is the account the Scythians give of themselves and of the country above them, but the Greeks who inhabit Pontus give the following account: they say that Hercules, as he was driving away the herds of Geryon, arrived in this country, that was then a desert, and which the Scythians now inhabit; that Geryon, fixing his abode outside the Pontus, inhabited the island which the Greeks call Erythia, situate near Gades, beyond the columns of Hercules in the ocean. The ocean, they say, beginning from the sun-rise, flows round the whole earth, but they do not prove it in fact; that Hercules thence came to the country now called Scythia, and as a storm
and frost overtook him, he drew his lion’s skin over him, and went to sleep, and in the mean while his mares, which were feeding apart from his chariot, vanished by some divine chance.
9. They add that when Hercules awoke, he sought for them, and that having gone over the whole country, he at length came to the land called Hylaea; there he found a monster having two natures, half virgin, half viper, of which the upper parts, from the buttocks, resembled a woman, and the lower parts a serpent: when he saw he was astonished, but asked her
if she had any where seen his strayed mares. She said that she herself had them, and would not restore them to him before she had laid with him: Hercules accordingly lay with her on these
terms. She, however, delayed giving back the mares, out of a desire to enjoy the company of Hercules as long as she could; he, however, was desirous of recovering them and departing.
At last, as she restored the mares, she said, “These mares that strayed hither I preserved for you, and you have paid me salvage, for I have three sons by you; tell me, therefore, what
must I do with them when they are grown up? whether shall I establish them here, for I possess the rule over this country, or shall I send them to you?” She asked this question, but he
replied, they say, ” When you see the children arrived at the age of men, you can not err if you do this; whichever of them you see able thus to bend this bow, and thus girding himself
with this girdle, make him an inhabitant of this country; and whichever fails in these tasks which I enjoin, send out of the country. If you do this, you will please yourself and perform
my injunctions.”
10. Then, having drawn out one of his bows, for Hercules carried two at that time, and having shown her the belt, he gave her both the bow and the belt, which had a golden cup at the extremity of the clasp, and having given them, he departed. But she, when the sons who were born to her attained to the age of men, in the first place gave them names: to the first, Agathyrsis; to the second, Gelonus; and to the youngest, Scythes; and, in the next place, remembering the orders, she did what had been enjoined; and two of her sons, Agathyrsis and Gelonus, being unable to come up to the proposed task, left the country, being expelled by their mother; but the youngest of them, Scythes, having accomplished it, remained there. From this Scythes, son of Hercules, are descended those who have been successively kings of the Scythians, and from the cup, the Scythians even to this day wear cups from their belts. This thing only the mother did for Scythes. Such is the account given by the Greeks who inhabit Pontus.
11. There is another account, to the following effect, to which I myself rather incline. It is said that the Scythian nomades who dwelt in Asia, being harassed in war by the Massagetse, crossed the river Araxes, and entered the Cimmerian territory; for the country which the Scythians now inhabit is said to have formerly belonged to the Cimmerians. The Cimmerians, when the Scythians invaded them, deliberated, seeing a large army was coming against them; however, their opinions were divided, which both vehemently upheld, though that of the kings was the best; for the opinion of the people was, that it was necessary to retire, and that there was no
need to hazard a battle against superior numbers; but the opinion of the kings was, that they should fight to the last for their country against the invaders. When, therefore, neither the people would submit to the kings, nor the kings to the people; and one party resolved to depart without fighting, and abandon the country to the invaders, while the kings determined to die and be buried in their own country, and not fly with the people, considering what great advantages they had enjoyed, and how many misfortunes would probably befall them if they fled from their country: when they had come to this resolution, having divided, and being equal in numbers, they fought with one another; and the one party, the royal race, having all perished, the people of the Cimmerians buried them near the river Tyras; and their sepulchre is still to be seen. After they had buried them, they then abandoned the country; and the Scythians coming up, took possession of the deserted country.
12. And there are now in Scythia Cimmerian fortifications and Cimmerian Porthmia; there is also a district named Cimmeria, and a bosphorus called Cimmerian. The Cimmerians evidently appear to have fled from the Scythians into Asia, and settled in the peninsula in which the
Grecian city Sinope now stands; and it is evident that the Scythians, pursuing them, and entering the Median territory, missed their way, for the Cimmerians fled constantly by the
sea-coast; whereas the Scythians pursued, keeping Caucasus on the right, until they entered the Median territory, toward the midland. This last account is given in common both by Greeks and barbarians.
13. But Aristeas, son of Caystrobius, a native of Proconnesus, says in his epic verses that, inspired by Apollo, he came to the Issedones; that beyond the Issedones dwell the Arimaspians, a people that have only one eye; and beyond them the gold-guarding griffins; and beyond these the Hyperboreans, who reach to the sea: that all these, except the Hyperboreans, beginning from the Arimaspians, continually encroached upon their neighbors; that the Issedones were expelled from their country by the Arimaspians, the Scythians by the Issedones, and that the Cimmerians, who inhabited on the south sea, being pressed by the Scythians, abandoned their country. Thus he does not agree with the Scythians respecting this country.
14. Of what country Aristeas, who made these verses, was, has already been mentioned, and I shall now relate the account I heard of him in Proconnesus and Cyzicus. They say that Aristeas, who was inferior to none of the citizens by birth, entering into a fuller’s shop in Proconnesus, died suddenly; and that the fuller, having closed his work-shop, went to acquaint the relatives of the deceased. When the report had spread through the city that Aristeas was dead, a certain
Cyzicenian, arriving from Artace, fell into a dispute with those who made the report, affirming that he had met and conversed with him on his way to Cyzicus, and he vehemently disputed the truth of the report; but the relations of the deceased went to the fuller’s shop, taking with them what was necessary for the purpose of carrying the body away, but when the house was opened, Aristeas was not to be seen either dead or alive. They say that afterward, in the seventh year, he appeared in Proconnesus, composed those verses which by the Greeks are now called Arimaspian, and having composed them, disappeared a second time. Such is the
story current in these cities.
15. But these things I know happened to the Metapontines in Italy, three hundred and forty years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I discovered by computation in Proconnesus and Metapontium. The Metapontines say that Aristeas himself, having appeared
in their country, exhorted them to erect an altar to Apollo, and to place near it a statue bearing the name of Aristeas the Proconnesian; for he said that Apollo had visited their country only of all the Italians, and that he himself, who was now Aristeas, accompanied him; and that when he accompanied the god, he was a crow; and after saying this, he vanished; and the Metapontines say they sent to Delphi to inquire of the god what the apparition of the man meant; but the Pythian bade them obey the apparition, and if they obeyed it would conduce to their benefit. They accordingly, having received this answer, fulfilled the injunctions; and now a statue bearing the name of Aristeas is placed near the image of Apollo, and around it laurels are planted. The image is placed in the public square. Thus much concerning Aristeas.
16. No one knows with certainty what is beyond the country about which this account proceeds to speak; for I have not been able to hear of any one who says he has seen them with his own eyes; nor even did Aristeas, of whom I have just now made mention, say in his poems that he went farther than the Issedones, but of the parts beyond he spoke by hearsay, stating that the Issedones gave him his information; but, as far as we have been able to arrive at the truth with accuracy from hearsay, the whole shall be related.
17. From the port of the Borysthenitae, for this is the most central part of the sea-coast of all Scythia, the first people are the Callipida, being Greek-Scythians; beyond these is another nation, called Alazones. These and the Callipidae, in other respects, follow the usages of the Scythians, but they both sow and feed on wheat, onions, garlic, lentils, and millet; but beyond
the Alazones dwell husbandmen who do not sow wheat for food, but for sale. Beyond these the Neuri dwell, and to the north of the Neuri the country is utterly uninhabited, as far as I know. These nations are by the side of the river Hypanis, to the west of the Borysthenes.
18. But if one crosses the Borysthenes, the first country from the sea is Plylsea; and from this higher up live Scythian agriculturists, where the Greeks settled on the river Hypanis, called Borysthenitae, but they call themselves Olbiopolitae. These Scythian husband-men, then, occupy the country eastward, for three days’ journey, extending to the river whose name is Panticapes; and northward, a passage of eleven days up the Borysthenes. Beyond this region the country is desert for a great distance; and beyond the desert Androphagi dwell, who are a distinct people, and not in any respect Scythian. Beyond this is really desert, and no nation of men is found there as far as we know.
19. The country eastward of these Scythian agriculturists, when one crosses the Panticapes, nomades occupy, who neither sow at all, nor plow; and all this country is destitute of trees except Hylaea. These nomades occupy a tract eastward for fourteen days’ journey, stretching to the river Gerrhus.
20. Beyond the Gerrhus are the parts called the Royal, and the most valiant and numerous of the Scythians, who deem all other Scythians to be their slaves. These extend southward to Taurica, and eastward to the trench, which those sprung from the blind men dug, and to the port on the lake Maeotis, which is called Cremni, and some of them reach to the river Tanais. The parts above, to the north of the Royal Scythians, the Melanchlami inhabit, a distinct race, and not Scythian; but above the Melanchlaeni are lakes, and an uninhabited desert, as far as we know.
21. After one crosses the river Tanais, it is no longer Scythian, but the first region belongs to the Sauromatae, who, beginning from the recess of the lake Maeotis, occupy the country northward, for a fifteen days’ journey, all destitute both of wild and cultivated trees. Above these dwell the Budini, occupying the second region, and possessing a country thickly covered with all sorts of trees.
22. Above the Budini, toward the north, there is first a desert of seven days’ journey, and next to the desert, if one turns somewhat toward the east, dwell the Thyssagetre, a numerous and distinct race, and they live by hunting. Contiguous to these, in the same regions, dwell those who are called Iyrcae, who also live by hunting in the following manner: the huntsman, having
climbed a tree, lies in ambush (and the whole country is thickly wooded), and each man has a horse ready, taught to lie on his belly, that he may not be much above the ground, and a dog besides. When he sees any game from the tree, having let fly an arrow and mounted his horse, he goes in pursuit, and the dog keeps close to him. Above these, as one bends toward the east, dwell other Scythians, who revolted from the Koyal Scythians, and so came to this country.
23. As far as the territory of these Scythians, the whole country that has been described is level and deep-soiled, but after this it is stony and rugged. When one has passed through a considerable extent of the rugged country, a people are found living at the foot of lofty mountains who are said to be all bald from their birth, both men and women alike, and they
are flat-nosed, and have large chins; they speak a peculiar language, wear the Scythian costume, and live on the fruit of a tree: the name of the tree on which they live is called ponticon, about the size of a fig-tree; it bears fruit like a bean, and has a stone. When this is ripe they strain it through a cloth, and a thick and black liquor flows from it; the name of what flows from it is aschy; this they suck, and drink mingled with milk; from the thick sediment of the pulp they make cakes, and feed on them; for they have not many cattle in these parts, as the pastures there are not good. Every man lives under a tree in the winter, when he has covered the tree with a thick white woolen covering; but in summer, without the woolen covering. No man does any injury to this people, for they are accounted sacred; nor do they possess any
warlike weapon. And, in the first place, they determine the differences that arise among their neighbors; and, in the next place, whoever takes refuge among them is injured by no one.
They are called Argippaei.
24. As far, then, as these bald* beople, our knowledge respecting the country and the nations before them is very good, for some Scythians frequently go there, from whom it is not difficult to obtain information, as also from Greeks belonging to the port of the Borysthenes, and other ports in Pontus. The Scythians who go to them transact business by means of seven interpreters and seven languages.
25. So far, then, is known; but beyond the bald men no one can speak with certainty, for lofty and impassable mountains form their boundary, and no one has ever crossed them; but these bald men say, what to me is incredible, that men with goat’s feet inhabit these mountains; and when one has passed beyond them, other men are found, who sleep six months at a time,
but this I do not at all admit. However, the country eastward of the bald men is well known, being inhabited by Issedones, though the country above to the north, either of the
bald men or the Issedones, is utterly unknown, except only such things as these people relate.
26. The Issedones are said to observe these customs. When a man’s father dies, all his
relations bring cattle, and then, having sacrificed them and cut up the flesh, they cut up also the dead parent of their host, and, having mingled all the flesh together, they spread out a
banquet; then, having made bare and cleansed his head, they gild it; and afterward they treat it as a sacred image, performing grand annual sacrifices to it. A son does this to his father, as the Greeks celebrate the anniversary of their fathers’ death. These people are likewise accounted just; and the women have equal authority with the men. These, then, are well known.
27. Above them, the Issedones affirm, are the men with only one eye, and the gold-guarding griffins. The Scythians repeat this account, having received it from them; and we have adopted it from the Scythians, and call them, in the Scythian language, Arimaspi; for Arima, in the Scythian language, signifies one, and Spoil, the eye.
28. All this country which I have been speaking of is subject to such a severe winter, that for eight months the frost is so intolerable, that if you pour water on the ground you will not make mud, but if you light a fire you will make mud. Even the sea freezes, and the whole Cimmerian bosphorus; and the Scythians who live within the trench lead their armies and drive their chariots over the ice to the Sindians, on the other side. Thus winter continues eight months, and during the other four it is cold there. And this winter is different in character from the winters in all other countries; for in this no rain worth mentioning falls in the usual season, but during the
summer it never leaves off raining. At the time when there is thunder elsewhere there is none there, but in summer it is violent; if there should be thunder in winter, it is accounted a prodigy to be wondered at; so, should there be an earthquake, whether in summer or winter, in Scythia, it is accounted a prodigy. Their horses endure this cold, but their asses and mules can not endure it at all; but in other places, horses that stand exposed to frost become frost-bitten in the cold, waste away, but asses and mules endure it.
29. On this account, also, the race of beeves appears to me to be defective there, and not to have horns; and the following verse of Homer, in his Odyssey, confirms my opinion: “And Libya, where the lambs soon put forth their horns;” rightly observing, that in warm climates horns shoot out quickly; but in very severe cold, the cattle either do not produce them at all, or if they do produce them, they do so with difficulty. Here, then, such are the effects of the cold.
30. I am surprised (for my narrative has from its commencement sought for digressions), that in the whole territory of Elis no mules are able to breed, though neither is the climate cold, nor is there any other visible cause. The Eleans themselves say that mules do not breed with them in consequence of a curse; therefore, when the time for the mares breeding approaches, they lead them to the neighboring districts, and there put the he-asses with them until they are in foal; then they drive them home again.
31. With respect to the feathers with which the Scythians say the air is filled, and that on account of them it is not possible either to see farther upon the continent or to pass through it, I entertain the following opinion: in the upper parts of this country it continually snows, less in summer than in winter, as is reasonable: now whoever has seen snow falling thick near him will know what I mean, for snow is like feathers; and on account of the winter being so severe, the northern parts of this continent are uninhabited. I think, then, that the Scythians and their neighbors call the snow feathers, comparing them together. These regions, therefore, which are said to be the most remote, have been sufficiently described.
32. Concerning the Hyperboreans, neither the Scythians say any tiling, nor any people of those parts, except the Issedones; and, as I think, neither do they say any thing, for then the Scythians would mention it, as they do the one-eyed people. Hesiod, however, has made mention of the Hyperboreans, and Homer, in the Epigoni, if indeed Homer was in reality the author of that poem.
33. But the Delians say very much more than any others about them, affirming that sacred things, wrapped in wheat-straw, were brought from the Hyperboreans and came to the Scythians; and from the Scythians each contiguous nation receiving them in succession,
carried them to the extreme west as far as the Adriatic; that, being forwarded thence toward the south, the Dodonceans, the first of the Greeks received them; that from them they de-
scended to the Maliac Gulf, and passed over into Eubcea, and that one city sent them on to another as far as Carystus; that after this Andros was passed by, for the Carystians conveyed
them to Tenos, and the Tenians to Delos: in this manner they say these sacred things reached Delos. They add that the Hyperboreans first sent two virgins, whom they call by the names of Hyperoche and Laodice, to carry these sacred things; and with them, for the sake of safety, the Hyperboreans sent five of their citizens as attendants, the same who are now called Perpherees, and are held in high honor at Delos. But when those who were sent out by the Hyperboreans did not return, they, thinking it a grievous thing if it should always happen to them not to receive back those whom they sent out, therefore carried their offerings wrapped in wheat-straw to their borders, and enjoined their neighbors to forward them to the next nation; and these being so forwarded, they say, reached Delos. I myself know that the following practice is observed, resembling that of these sacred things: the Thracian and Paeonian women, when they sacrifice to Poyal Diana, do not offer their sacrifices without wheatstraw; and I know that they do this.
34. In honor of those Hyperborean virgins who died in Delos, both the virgins and youths of the Delians shear their hair: the former, having cut off a lock before marriage, and having wound it about a distaff, lay it upon the sepulchre; the sepulchre is within the temple of Diana, on the left as one enters, and on it grows an olive-tree: the youths of the Delians having wound some of
their hair round a plant, place it also on the sepulchre. These virgins receive such honor from the inhabitants of Delos.
35. These same persons also affirm that Arge and Opis, who were Hyperborean virgins, passing through the same nations, came to Delos even before Hyperoche and Laodice: that these last came to bring the tribute they had agreed to pay to Ilithya for a speedy delivery; but they say that Arge and Opis arrived with the gods themselves, and that different honors are paid them by themselves, for that the women collect contributions for them, calling on their names in a hymn, which Olen, a Lycian, composed for them; and that the islanders and Ionians afterward, having learned it from them, celebrate Opis and Arge in song, mentioning their names, and
collecting contributions (now this Olen, coming from Lycia, composed also the other ancient hymns which are sung in Delos); and that the ashes of the thighs burned on the altar are thrown and expended on the sepulchre of Opis and Arge; but their sepulchre is behind the temple of Diana, facing the east, very near the banqueting-room of the Ceians.
36. And thus much may be said concerning the Hyperboreans, for I do not relate the story concerning Abaris, who was said to be an Hyperborean, to the effect that he carried an arrow round the whole earth without eating any thing. If, however, there are Hyperboreans, there must also be Hypernotians. But I smile when I see many persons describing the circumference of the earth, who have no sound reason to guide them; they describe the ocean flowing round the earth, which is made circular as if by a lathe, and make Asia equal to Europe. I will therefore briefly show the dimensions of each of them, and what is the figure of each.
37. The Persian settlements extend to the southern sea, called the Erythraean; above them, to the north, are the Medes; above the Medes, the Saspires; and above the Saspires, the Colchians, who reach to the northern sea, into which the river Phasis discharges itself. These four nations occupy the space from sea to sea.
38. Thence westward two tracts stretch out to the sea, which I shall describe. On one side, the one tract, beginning at the north from the Phasis, extends along the Euxine and the Hellespont, as far as the Trojan Sigaeum; and on the south, this same tract, beginning from the Myriandrian Gulf, which is adjacent to Phoenicia, stretches toward the sea as far as the Triopian promontory. In this tract dwell thirty different nations. This, then, is one of the tracts.
39. The other, beginning at Persia, reaches to the Red Sea; it comprises Persia, and after that Assyria, and after Assyria, Arabia; it terminates (terminating only by custom) at the Arabian Gulf, into which Darius carried a canal from the Nile. Now as far as Phoenicia from Persia the country is wide and open, but from Phoenicia the same tract stretches along this sea by Syrian Palestine and Egypt, where it terminates; in it are only three nations. These, then, are the parts of Asia that lie westward of Persia.
40. Beyond the Persians, Medes, Saspires, and Colchians, toward the east and rising sun, extends the Red Sea, and on the north the Caspian Sea, and the river Araxes, which flows toward the rising sun. Asia is inhabited as far as India; but beyond this, it is all desert toward the east, nor is any one able to describe what it is. Such and so great is Asia.
51. One of the rivers, then, of the Scythians is the Ister; after this is the Tyres, which proceeds from the north, and begins flowing from a vast lake, which separates Scythia and Neuris. At its mouth are settled Grecians, who are called Tyritae.
52. The third river, the Hypanis, proceeds from Scythia, and flows from a vast lake, around which wild white horses graze. This lake is rightly called the mother of the Hypanis. The river Hypanis, then, rising from this, is small and still sweet for a five days’ voyage, but from thence, for a four days’ voyage to the sea, it is exceedingly bitter; for a bitter fountain discharges itself into it, which is so very bitter, though small in size, that it taints the Hypanis, which is a considerable river among small ones. This fountain is on the borders of the territory of the Scythian husbandmen and the Alazones; the name of the fountain, and of the district whence it flows, is, in the Scythian language, Exampaeus, but in the language of the Greeks, “The Sacred Ways.” The Tyres and Hypanis contract their boundaries in the country of the Alazones; but after that, each turning away, flows on widening the intermediate space.
53. The fourth is the river Borysthenes, which is the largest of these after the Ister, and, in my opinion, the most productive, not only of the Scythian rivers, but of all others, except the Egyptian Nile, for to this it is impossible to compare any other river, but of the rest the Borysthenes is the most productive. It affords the most excellent and valuable pasture for cattle, and fish of the highest excellence and in great quantities; it is most sweet to drink; it flows pure in the midst of turbid rivers; the sown land near it is of the best quality, and the herbage where the land is not sown is very tall; at its mouth abundance of salt is crystallized spontaneously; and it produces large whales, without any spinal bones, which they call Antacaei, fit for salting, and many other things that deserve admiration. As far as the country of Gerrhus, a voyage of forty days, this river is known to flow from the north, but above that, through what people it flows no one is able to tell; but it evidently flows through a desert to the country of the agricultural Scythians; for these Scythians dwell near it for the space of a ten days’ voyage. Of this river only and of the Nile I am unable to describe the sources, and I think that no Greek can do so. The Borysthenes continues floating near the sea, and the Hypanis mingles with it, discharging itself into the same morass. The space between these rivers, which is a projecting piece of land, is called the promontory of Hippoleon, and in it a temple of Ceres is built; beyond the temple, on the Hypanis, the Borysthenitse are settled. Thus much concerning these rivers.
54. After these is the fifth river, the name of which is the Panticapes; this also flows from the north and out of a lake, and between this and the Borysthenes dwell the agricultural Scythians; it discharges itself into Hylaea, and having passed through that region, mingles with the Borysthenes.
55. The Hypacyris is the sixth river, which proceeds from a lake, and flowing through the middle of the Scythian nomades, discharges itself near the city Carcinitis*, skirting Hylaea on the right, and that which is called the Course of Achilles.
[*note: Related to Karkonosze?]
56. The seventh river, the Gerrhus, is separated from the Borysthenes near the place at which the Borysthenes is first known. It is separated, then, from this very spot, and has the same name as the country, Gerrhus; and flowing toward the sea, it divides the territory of the Nomadic and the Royal Scythians, and discharges itself into the Hypacyris.
57. The eighth river is the Tanais, which flows originally from a vast lake, and discharges itself into a still larger lake, called Maeotis, which divides the Royal Scythians and the Sauromatae. Into this river Tanais runs another river, the name of which is Hyrgis.
58. Thus the Scythians are provided with these celebrated rivers. The grass that grows in Scythia is the most productive of bile for cattle of any with which we are acquainted, and when the cattle are opened one may infer that such is the case.
59. Thus the greatest commodities are furnished them in abundance. Their other customs are established as follows. They propitiate the following gods only: Vesta, most of all; then Jupiter, deeming the Earth to be the wife of Jupiter; after these, Apollo, and Venus Urania, and Hercules, and Mars. All the Scythians acknowledge these, but those who are called Royal Scythians, sacrifice also to Neptune. Vesta, in the Scythian language, is named Tabiti; Jupiter is, in my opinion, very rightly called Papaeus; the Earth, Apia; Apollo, Oetosyrus [Oitosyrus – the Sun]; Venus Urania, Artimpasa; and Neptune, Thamimasadas. They are not accustomed to erect images, altars, and temples, except to Mars; to him they are accustomed.
60. The same mode of sacrificing is adopted by all, with respect to all kinds of victims alike, being as follows: the victim itself stands with its fore feet tied together; he who sacrifices, standing behind the beast, having drawn the extremity of the cord, throws it down, and as the victim falls he invokes the god to whom he is sacrificing; then he throws a halter round its neck, and having put in a stick, he twists it round and strangles it, without kindling any fire, or performing any preparatory ceremonies, or making any libation, but having strangled and flayed it, he applies himself to cook it.
61. As the Scythian country is wholly destitute of wood, they have invented the following method of cooking flesh. When they have flayed the victims, they strip the flesh from the bones, then they put it into caldrons made in the country, if they happen to have any, which very much resemble Lesbian bowls, except that they are much larger; having put it into these, they cook it by burning underneath the bones of the victims. If they have no caldron at hand, they put all the flesh into the paunches of the victims, and having poured in water, burn the bones underneath; they burn very well, and the paunches easily contain the flesh stripped from the bones; thus the ox cooks himself, and all other victims each cooks itself. When the flesh is cooked, he that sacrifices, offering the first-fruits of the flesh and entrails, throws it before him. They sacrifice both other cattle, and chiefly horses.
62. In this manner, then, and these victims, they sacrifice to the other gods; but to Mars as follows. In each district, in the place where the magistrates assemble, is erected a structure sacred to Mars, of the following kind. Bundles of fagots are heaped up to the length and breadth of three stades, but less in height; on the top of this a square platform is formed; and three of the sides are perpendicular, but on the fourth it is accessible. Every year they heap on it one hundred and fifty wagon-loads of fagots, for it is continually sinking by reason of the weather. On this heap an old iron cimeter is placed by each tribe, and this is the image of Mars; and to this cimeter they bring yearly sacrifices of cattle and horses; and to these cimeters they offer more sacrifices than to the rest of the gods. Whatever enemies they take alive, of these they sacrifice one in a hundred, not in the same manner as they do the cattle, but in a different manner; for after they have poured a libation of wine on their heads, they cut the throats of the men over a bowl; then, having carried the bowl on the heap of fagots, they pour the blood over the cimeter. This, then, they carry up; but below, at the sacred precinct, they do as follows: having cut off all the right shoulders of the men that have been killed, with the arms, they throw them into the air; and then, having finished the rest of the sacrificial rites, they depart; but the arm lies wherever it has fallen, and the body apart.
63. Such, then, are the sacrifices instituted among them. Swine they never use, nor suffer them to be reared in their country at all.
64. Their military affairs are ordered as follows. When a Scythian overthrows his first enemy, he drinks his blood; and presents the king with the heads of the enemies he has killed in battle; for if he brings a head, he shares the booty that they take, but not if he does not bring one. He skins it in the following manner. Having made a circular incision round the ears and taking hold of the skin, he shakes it from the skull; then, having scraped off the flesh with the rib of an ox, he softens the skin with his hands, and having made it supple, he uses it as a napkin: each man hangs it on the bridle of the horse which he rides, and prides himself on it, for whoever has the greatest number of these skin napkins is accounted the most valiant man. Many of them make cloaks of these skins to throw over themselves, sewing them together like shepherd’s coats; and many, having flayed the right hands of their enemies that are dead, together with the nailS, make coverings for their quivers: the skin of a man, which is both thick and shining, surpasses almost all other skins in the brightness of its white. Many, having flayed men whole, and stretched the skin on wood, carry it about on horseback. Such usages are received among them.
65. The heads themselves, not indeed of all, but of their greatest enemies, they treat as follows: each, having sawn off all below the eye-brows, cleanses it, and if the man is poor, he covers only the outside with leather, and so uses it; but if he is rich, he covers it indeed with leather, and, having gilded the inside, he so uses it for a drinking-cup. And they do this to their relatives if they are at variance, and one prevails over another in the presence of the king. When strangers of consideration come to him, he produces these heads, and relates how, though they were his relatives, they made war against him, and he overcame them, considering this a proof of bravery.
66. Once in every year, the governor of a district, each in his own district, mingles a bowl of wine, from which those Scythians drink by whom enemies have been captured; but they who have not achieved this do not taste of this wine, but sit at a distance in dishonor; this is accounted the greatest disgrace: such of them as have killed very many men, having two cups at once, drink them together.
67. Soothsayers among the Scythians are numerous, who divine by the help of a number of willow rods, in the following manner. When they have brought with them large bundles of twigs, they lay them on the ground and untie them; and, having placed each rod apart, they utter their predictions; and while they are pronouncing them, they gather up the rods again, and put them together again one by one. This is their national mode of divination. But the Enarees, or Androgyni, say that Venus gave them the power of divining. They divine by means of the bark of a linden-tree: when a man has split the linden-tree in three pieces, twisting it round his own fingers, and then untwisting it, he utters a response.
68. When the king of the Scythians is sick, he sends for three of the most famous of these prophets, who prophesy in the manner above mentioned; and they generally say as follows, that such or such a citizen has sworn falsely by the royal hearth, mentioning the name of the citizen of whom they speak; for it is a custom with the Scythians in general to swear by the royal hearth when they would use the most solemn oath. The person who they say has sworn falsely is immediately seized and brought forward, and when he is come, the prophets charge him with being clearly proved by their prophetic art to have sworn falsely by the royal hearth, and for this reason the king, is ill. He denies it, affirming that he has not sworn falsely, and complains bitterly. On his denial, the king sends for twice as many more prophets; and if they also, examining into the prophetic art, condemn him with having sworn falsely, they straightway cut off his head, and the first prophets divide his property between them; but if the prophets who came last acquit him, other prophets are called in, and others after them. If, then, the greater number acquit the man, it is decreed that the first prophets shall be put to death.
69. They accordingly put them to death in the following manner: when they have filled a wagon with fagots, and have yoked oxen to it, having tied the feet of the prophets and bound their hands behind them, and having gagged them, they inclose them in the midst of the fagots; then having set fire to them, they terrify the oxen and let them go. Many oxen, therefore, are burned with the prophets, and many escape very much scorched, when the pole has been burned asunder. In this manner, and for other reasons, they burn the prophets, calling them false prophets. The king does not spare the children of those whom he puts to death, but kills all the males, and does not hurt the females.
70. The Scythians make solemn contracts in the following manner, with whomsoever they make them. Having poured wine into a large earthen vessel, they mingle with it blood taken from those who are entering into covenant, having struck with an awl or cut with a knife a small part of the body; then, having dipped a scimetar, some arrows, a hatchet, and a javelin in the vessel, when they have done this, they make many solemn prayers, and then both those who make the contract, and the most considerable of their attendants, drink up the mixture.
71. The sepulchres of the kings are in the country of the Gerrhi, as far as which the Borysthenes is navigable. There, when their king dies, they dig a large square hole in the ground; and having prepared this, they take up the corpse, having the body covered with wax, the belly opened and cleaned, filled with bruised cypress, incense, and parsley and anise-seed, and then sewn up again, and carry it in a chariot to another nation: those who receive the corpse brought to them do the same as the Royal Scythians; they cut off part off their ear, shave off their hair, wound themselves on the arms, lacerate their forehead and nose, and drive arrows through their left hand. Thence they carry the corpse of the king to another nation whom they govern, and those to whom they first came accompany them. When they have carried the corpse round all the provinces, they arrive among the Gerrhi, who are the most remote of the nations they rule over, and at the sepulchres. Then, when they have placed the corpse in the grave on a bed of leaves, having fixed spears on each side of the dead body, they lay pieces of wood over it, and cover it over with mats. In the remaining space of the grave they bury one of the king’s concubines, having strangled her, and his cup-bearer, a cook, a groom, a page, a courier, and horses, and firstlings of every thing else, and golden goblets: they make no use of silver or brass. Having done this, they all heap up a large mound, striving and vying with each other to make it as large as possible.
72. When a year has elapsed, they then do as follows: having taken the most fitting of his remaining servants — they are all native Scythians, for they serve him whomsoever the king may order, and they have no servants bought with money — when, therefore, they have strangled fifty of these servants, and fifty of the finest horses, having taken out their bowels and cleansed them, they fill them with chaff, and sew them up again. Then, having placed the half of a wheel, with its concave side uppermost, on two pieces of wood, and the other half on two other pieces of wood, and having fixed many of these in the same manner, then having thrust thick pieces of wood through the horses lengthwise up to the neck, they mount them on the half wheels; and of these the foremost part of the half wheels supports the shoulders of the horses, and the hinder part supports the belly near the thighs, but the legs on both sides are suspended in the air; then, having put bridles and bits on the horses, they stretch them in front, and fasten them to a stake; they then mount upon a horse each, one of the fifty young men that have been strangled, mounting them in the following manner: when they have driven a straight piece of wood along the spine as far as the neck, but a part of this wood projects from the bottom, they fix it into a hole bored in the other piece of wood that passes through the horse. Having placed such horsemen round the monument, they depart.
73. Thus they bury their kings. But the other Scythians, when they die, their nearest relations carry about among their friends, laid in chariots; and of these each one receives and entertains the attendants, and sets the same things before the dead body as before the rest. In this manner private persons are carried about for forty days, and then buried. The Scythians, having buried them, purify themselves in the following manner: having wiped and thoroughly washed their heads, they do thus with regard to the body: when they have set up three pieces of wood leaning against each other, they extend around them woolen cloths; and having joined them together as closely as possible, they throw red-hot stones into a vessel placed in the middle of the pieces of wood and the cloths.
74. They have a sort of hemp growing in this country, very like flax, except in thickness and height; in this respect the hemp is far superior: it grows both spontaneously and from cultivation, and from it the Thracians make garments very like linen; nor would any one who is not well skilled in such matters distinguish whether they are made of flax or hemp; but a person who has never seen this hemp would think the garment was made of flax.
75. When, therefore, the Scythians have taken some seed of this hemp, they creep under the cloths, and then put the seed on the red-hot stones but this being put on smokes, and produces such a steam that no Grecian vapor-bath would surpass it. The Scythians, transported with the vapor, shout aloud; and this serves them instead of washing, for they never bathe the body in water. Their women, pouring on water, pound on a rough stone pieces of cypress, cedar, and incense-tree; and then this pounded matter, when it is thick, they smear over the whole body and face; and this at the same time gives them an agreeable odor, and when they take off the cataplasm on the following day they become clean and shining.
76. They studiously avoid the use of foreign customs; not only, therefore, will they not adopt those of each other, but, least of all, Grecian usages, as the example of Anacharsis, and afterward of Scylas, sufficiently demonstrated; for, in the first place, Anacharsis, having visited many countries, and having displayed great wisdom during his progress, was returning to the abodes of the Scythians, and sailing through the Hellespont toward Cyzicus, and as he found the Cyzicenians celebrating a festival to the mother of the gods with great magnificence, Anacharsis made a vow to the goddess, that if he should return safe and sound to his own country, he would sacrifice in the same manner as he saw the inhabitants of Cyzicus doing, and would also institute a vigil. Accordingly, when he arrived in Scythia, he returned into the country called Hylsea; it is near the Course of Achilles, and is full of trees of all kinds; to this Anacharsis having retired, performed all the rites to the goddess, holding a timbrel in his hand, and fastening images about his person; but one of the Scythians, having observed him doing this, gave information to the king, Saulius; but he, having come in person, when he saw Anacharsis thus employed, shot at him with an arrow, and killed him; and now, if any one speaks about Anacharsis, the Scythians say they do not know him, because he traveled into Greece and adopted foreign customs. However, I heard from Timnes, the guardian of Ariapithes, that Anacharsis was paternal uncle to Idanthyrsus, king of the Scythians, and that he was son of Gnurus, son of Lycus, son of Spargapithes; if, then, Anacharsis was of this family, let him know he was killed by his own brother; for Idanthyrsus was son of Saulius, and it was Saulius who killed Anacharsis.
77. However, I have heard another story told by the Peloponnesians, that Anacharsis, being sent abroad by the king of the Scythians, became a disciple of the Grecians; and on his return home he said to the king who sent him abroad that all the Greeks were employed in acquiring all kinds of knowledge except the Lacedaemonians, but that they only were able to give and receive a reason with prudence. But this story is told in sport by the Greeks themselves. The man, then, was killed in the manner before mentioned. Thus, therefore, he fared because of foreign customs and intercourse with the Grecians.
78. Many years afterward, Scylas, son of Ariapithes, met with a similar fate; for Ariapithes, king of the Scythians, had, among other children, Scylas; he was born of an Istrian woman, who did not in any way belong to the country. His mother taught him the Grecian language and letters; afterward, in course of time, Ariapithes met his death by treachery at the hands of Spargapithes, king of the Agathyrsi, and Scylas succeeded to the kingdom, and his father’s wife, whose name was Opoea; this Opcea was a native, by whom Ariapithes had a son, Oricus. Scylas, though reigning over the Scythians, was by no means pleased with the Scythian mode of life, but was much more inclined to the Grecian manners, on account of the education he had received; he therefore acted thus. Whenever he led the Scythian army to the city of the Borysthenitae (now these Borysthenitae say they are Milesians), as soon as Scylas reached them, he used to leave his army in the suburbs, and, when he himself had gone within the walls, and had closed the gates, having laid aside his Scythian dress, he used to assume the Grecian habit, and in this dress he walked in public, unattended by guards or any one else; and they kept watch at the gates, that no Scythian might see him wearing this dress; and in other respects he adopted the Grecian mode of living, and performed sacrifices to the gods according to the rites of the Grecians. When he had staid a month or more, he used to depart, resuming the Scythian habit. This he used frequently to do; he also built a palace in the Borysthenes, and married a native woman to inhabit it.
79. Since, however, it was fated that misfortune should befall him, it happened on this occasion. He was veiy desirous to be initiated in the mysteries of Bacchus; and as he was just about to commence the sacred rites, a very great prodigy occurred. He had in the city of the Borysthenitae a large and magnificent mansion, of which I have just now made mention; round it were placed sphinxes and griffins of white marble; on this the god hurled a bolt, and it was entirely burned down; Scylas, nevertheless, accomplished his initiation. Now the Scythians reproach the Grecians on account of their Bacchic ceremonies, for they say it is not reasonable to discover such a god as this, who drives men to madness. When Scylas had been initiated in the Bacchic mysteries, one of the Borysthenitae carried the information to the Scythians, saying, “You Scythians laugh at us because we celebrate Bacchic rites, and the god takes possession of us. Now this same deity has taken possession of your king, and he celebrates the rites of Bacchus, and is maddened by the god; but if you disbelieve me, follow, and I will show you.” The chief men of the Scythians followed him; and the Borysthenite, conducting them in, placed them secretly on a tower: but when Scylas went past with a thyasus, and the Scythians saw him acting the bacchanal, they regarded it as a very great calamity; and, having returned, they acquainted all the army with what they had seen.
80. After this, when Scylas returned to his own home, the Scythians, having set up his brother Octamasades, born of the daughter of Tereus, revolted from Scylas; but he, being informed of what was being done against him, and the reason for which it was done, fled to Thrace. Octamasades, being informed of this, marched against Thrace, but when he arrived on the Ister, the Thracians advanced to meet him. As they were about to engage, Sitalces sent to Octamasades saying as follows: “Why need we try each other’s strength? You are the son of my sister, and have with you my brother. Do you restore him to me, and I will deliver up Scylas to you, and so neither you nor I shall expose our army to peril.” Sitalces sent this message to him by a herald; for there was with Octamasades a brother of Sitalces, who had fled from the latter. Octamasades acceded to this proposal, and having surrendered his maternal uncle to Sitalces, received his brother Scylas in exchange. Now Sitalces, having got his brother in his power, drew off his forces; but Octamasades beheaded Scylas on the same spot. Thus the Scythians maintain their own customs, and impose such punishments on those who introduce foreign usages.
81. I have never been able to learn with accuracy the amount of the population of the Scythians, but I heard different accounts concerning the number; for some pretend that they are exceedingly numerous, and others that there are very few real Scythians: thus much, however, they exposed to my sight. There is a spot between the river Borysthenes and the Hypanis, called Exampaeus, which I mentioned a little before, saying that there was in it a fountain of bitter water, from which the water flowing made the Hypanis unfit to be drunk. In this spot lies a brass caldron, in size six times as large as the bowl at the mouth of the Pontus, which Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, dedicated. For the benefit of any one who has never seen this, I will here describe it: the brass caldron among the Scythians easily contains six hundred amphorae; and this Scythian vessel is six fingers in thickness. Now the inhabitants say it was made from the points of arrows, for that their king, whose name was Ariantas, wishing to know the population of the Scythians, commanded all the Scythians to bring him each severally one point of an arrow, and he threatened death on whosoever should fail to bring it. Accordingly, a vast number of arrow points were brought, and he resolved to leave a monument made from them; he therefore made this brass bowl, and dedicated it at Exampaeus. This I heard concerning the population of the Scythians.
82. Their country has nothing wonderful, except the rivers, which are very large and very many in number; but what it affords also worthy of admiration, besides the rivers and the extent of the plains, shall be mentioned: they show the print of the foot of Hercules upon a rock: it resembles the footstep of a man, is two cubits in length, near the river Tyras. Such, then, is this; but I will now return to the subject I at first set out to relate.
83. While Darius was making preparations against the Scythians, and sending messengers to command some to contribute land forces, and others a fleet, and others to bridge over the Thracian Bosphorus, Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, and brother of Darius, entreated him on no account to make an expedition against the Scythians, representing the poverty of Scythia; but when he found that although he gave him good counsel he could not persuade him, he desisted: Darius therefore, when every thing was prepared, marched his army from Susa.
100. From Taurica, Scythians inhabit the country above the Tauri, and the parts along the eastern sea, and the parts westward of the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the lake Maeotis, as far as the river Tanais, which flows into the farthest recess of that lake. Now from the Ister at the parts above, stretching to the interior, Scythia is shut off first by the Agathyrsi, next by the Neuri, then by the Androphagi, and last by the Melanchlaeni.
101. Of Scythia, therefore, which is quadrangular, with two parts reaching to the sea, that which stretches to the interior and that along the coast is in every way equal; for from the Ister to the Borysthenes is a journey of ten days, and from the Borysthenes to the lake Maeotis ten more; from the sea to the interior, as far as the Melanchlaeni, who inhabit above the Scythians, is a journey of twenty days. The day’s journey has been computed by me at two hundred stades. Thus the extent of Scythia crossways would be four thousand stades, and the direct route leading to the interior would be the same number of stades. Such is the extent of this country.
102. The Scythians, considering with themselves that they were not able alone to repel the army of Darius in a pitched battle, sent messengers to the adjoining nations; and the kings of those nations, having met together, consulted, since so great an army was advancing against them. The kings who met together were those of the Tauri, the Agathyrsi, the Neuri, the Androphagi, the Melanchlaeni, the Geloni, the Budini, and the Sauromatse.
103. Of these, the Tauri observe the following customs: they sacrifice to the virgin all who suffer shipwreck, and any Greeks they meet with driven on their coasts, in the following manner: having performed the preparatory ceremonies, they strike the head with a club; some say they throw the body down from a precipice (for their temple is built on a precipice), and impale the head; but others agree with respect to the head, but say that the body is not thrown from the precipice, but buried in the earth. The Tauri themselves say, that this deity to whom they sacrifice is Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. Enemies whom they subdue they treat as follows: each having cut off a head, carries it home with him, then having fixed it on a long pole, he raises it far above the roof of his house, at all events above the chimney; they say that these are suspended as guards over the whole household. This people live by rapine and war.
104. The Agathyrsi are a most luxurious people, and wear a profusion of gold. They have promiscuous intercourse with women, to the end that they may be brethren one of another, and being all of one family, may not entertain hatred toward each other. In other respects they approach the usages of the Thracians.
105. The Neuri observe Scythian customs. One generation before the expedition of Darius, it happened to them to be driven out of their whole country by serpents; for their country produced many serpents, and a much greater number came down upon them from the deserts above; until, being hard pressed, they abandoned their territory, and settled among the Budini. These men seem to be magicians, for it is said of them by the Scythians and the Greeks settled in Scythia, that once every year each Neurian becomes a wolf for a few days, and then is restored again to the same state. Though they affirm this, however, they do not persuade me; they affirm it nevertheless, and support their assertion with an oath.
106. The Androphagi have the most savage customs of all men; they pay no regard to justice, nor make use of any established law. They are nomades, and wear a dress like the Scythian; they speak a peculiar language; and of those nations, are the only people that eat human flesh.
107. The Melanchlseni all wear black garments, from which circumstance they take their name. These follow Scythian usages.
108. The Budini, who are a great and populous nation, paint their whole bodies with a deep blue and red. There is in their country a city built of wood; its name is Gelonus; each side of the wall is thirty stades in length; it is lofty, and made entirely of wood. Their houses, also, and their temples are of wood; for there are there temples of the Grecian gods, adorned after the Grecian manner, with images, altars, and shrines of wood. They celebrate the triennial festivals of Bacchus, and perform the bacchanalian ceremonies; for the Geloni were originally Grecians, but being expelled from the trading ports, settled among the Budini: and they use a language partly Scythian and partly Grecian.
109. The Budini, however, do not use the same language as the Geloni, nor the same mode of living; for the Budini, being indigenous, are nomades, and are the only people of those parts who eat vermin; whereas the Geloni are tillers of the soil, feed upon corn, cultivate gardens, and are not at all like the Budini in form or complexion. By the Greeks, however, the Budini are called Geloni, though erroneously so called. Their country is thickly covered with trees of all kinds, and in the thickest wood is a spacious and large lake, and a morass, and reeds around it: in this, otters are taken, and beavers, and other square-faced animals: their skins are sewn as borders to cloaks, and their testicles are useful for the cure of diseases of the womb.
110. Concerning the Sauromatae, the following account is given. When the Grecians had fought with the Amazons (the Scythians call the Amazons Aiorpata, and this name in the Grecian language means manslayers, for they call Aior a man, and Pata to kill), the story goes that the Greeks, having been victorious in the battle at the Thermodon, sailed away, taking with them in three ships as many Amazons as they had been able to take alive; but the Amazons, attacking them out at sea, cut the men to pieces. However, as they had no knowledge of navigation, nor any skill in the use of the rudder, sails, or oars, when they had cut the men to pieces, they were carried by the waves and wind, and arrived at Cremni, on the lake Maeotis; but Cremni belongs to the territory of the free Scythians. Here the Amazons, landing from the vessels, marched to the inhabited parts and seized the first herd of horses they happened to fall in with, and mounting on them, plundered the lands of the Scythians.
111. The Scythians knew not what to make of the matter; for they were not acquainted either with their language, dress, or nation, but wondered from whence they came. They conjectured that they were men of the same stature, and therefore gave them battle; but after the battle the Scythians got possession of the dead, and so discovered that they were women. On deliberation, therefore, they resolved on no account to kill them any more, but to send out to them the youngest of their own party, guessing a number equal to theirs; these were to encamp near them, and do the same as they did; should the Amazons pursue them, they were not to fight, but fly; and when they halted, were to come and encamp near them. The Scythians resolved on this out of a desire to have children by these women.
112. The young men, being dispatched, did as they were ordered. When the Amazons found that they had not come to hurt them, they let them alone, and they drew one camp nearer to the other every day. The youths, as well as the Amazons, had nothing except their arms and horses, but obtained their subsistence in the same way that the Amazons did, by hunting and pillage.
113. The Amazons, about midday, were wont to do as follows: they separated themselves into parties of one and two, at a distance from each other, being dispersed for the purpose of easing themselves. The Scythians, observing this, did the same; and one of them drew near one of the Amazons who was alone; and she did not repel him, but suffered him to enjoy her person. She could not speak to him, because they did not understand each other, but she made signs to him by her hand to come the next day to the same place, and to bring another with him, signifying that they should be two, and she would bring another with her. “When the youth departed, he related this to the rest, and on the next day he himself went to the place, and took another with him, and found the Amazon with a companion waiting for him. The rest of the youths, when they heard this, conciliated the rest of the Amazons.
114. Afterward, having joined their camps, they lived together, each having for his wife the person he first attached himself to. The men were not able to learn the language of the women, but the women soon attained that of the men. When, therefore, they understood one another, the men spoke to the Amazons as follows: “We have parents and possessions; let us, then, no longer lead this kind of life, but let us return to the bulk of our people and live with them; we will have you as our wives, and no others.” To this they answered: “We never could live with the women of your country, because we have not the same customs with them. We shoot with the bow, throw the javelin, and ride on horseback, and have never learned the employments of women. But your women do none of the things we have mentioned, but are engaged in women’s employments, remaining in their wagons, and do not go out to hunt, or any where else; we could not, therefore, consort with them. If, then, you desire to have us for your wives, and to prove yourselves honest men, go to your parents, claim your share of their property, then return, and let us live by ourselves.”
115. The youths yielded, and acted accordingly; but when they came back to the Amazons, having received what fell to their share of the possessions, the women spoke to them as follows: “Alarm and fear come upon us when we consider that we must live in this country; in the first place, because we have deprived you of your parents; and in the next, have committed great depredations in your territory. Since, therefore, you think us worthy to be your wives, do thus with us: come, let us leave this country, and, having crossed the river Tanais, let us settle there.”
116. The youths consented to this also; accordingly, having crossed the Tanais, they advanced a journey of three days eastward from the Tanais, and three from the lake Maeotis northward, and, having reached the country in which they are now settled, they took up their abode there. From that time the wives of the Sauromatae retain their ancient mode of living, both going out on horseback to hunt with their husbands and without their husbands, and joining in war, and wearing the same dress as the men.
117. The Sauromatue use the Scythian language, speaking it corruptly from the first, since the Amazons never learned it correctly. Their rules respecting marriage are thus settled; no virgin is permitted to marry until she has killed an enemy; some of them, therefore, die of old age without being married, not being able to satisfy the law.
118. The messengers of the Scythians, therefore, coming to the assembled kings of the nations above mentioned, informed them that the Persian, when he had subdued all the nations on the other continent, had constructed a bridge over the neck of the Bosphorus, and crossed over to this continent; and, having crossed over and subdued the Thracians, he was building a bridge over the river Ister, designing to make all these regions also subject to him: “Do you, therefore, on no account, sit aloof, and suffer us to be destroyed, but with one accord let us oppose the invader. If you will not do this, we, being pressed, shall either abandon the country, or, if we stay, shall submit to terms; for what would be our condition if you refuse to assist us? Nor will it fall more lightly on you on that account; for the Persian is advancing not more against us than against you; nor will he be content to subdue us and abstain from you; and we will give you a strong proof of what we say; for if the Persian had undertaken this expedition against us only, wishing to revenge his former subjection, he would have abstained from all others, and have marched directly against our territories, and would have made it clear to all that he was Inarching against the Scythians, and not against others. But now, as soon as he crossed over to this continent, he subdued all that laid in his way; and holds in subjection the rest of the Thracians, and more particularly our neighbors, the Getae.”
119. “When the Scythians had made this representation, the kings who had come from the severa) nations consulted together, and their opinions were divided. The Gelonian, Budinian, and Sauromatian, agreeing together, promised to assist the Scythians; but the Agathyrsian, Neurian, Androphagian, and the Melanchlasnian and Taurian princes gave this answer to the Scythians: “If you, who make the request that you now do, had not been the first to injure the Persians and begin war, you would have appeared to us to speak rightly, and we, yielding to your wishes, would have acted in concert with you; but, in fact, you have invaded their territory without us, had the mastery of the Persians as long as the god allowed you; and they, when the same god instigates them, repay you like for like. We, however, neither on that occasion injured these men at all, nor will we now be the first to attempt to injure them. Nevertheless, should he invade our territory also, and become the aggressor, we will not submit to it. But until we see that, we will remain quiet at home, for we think that the Persians are not coming against us, but against those who were the authors of wrong.”
120. When the Scythians heard this answer brought back, they determined to fight no battle in the open field, because these allies did not come to their assistance; but to retreat and draw off covertly, and fill up the wells they passed by, and the springs, and destroy the herbage on the ground, having divided their forces into two bodies, and they resolved that to one of the divisions, which Scopasis commanded, the Sauromatre should attach themselves, and that they should retire if the Persian should take that course, retreating direct to the river Tanais, along the lake Maeotis; and when the Persian marched back, they were to follow him and harass his rear. This was one division of the kingdom appointed to pursue its march in the way that has been described. The two other divisions of the kingdom, the greater one, which Indathyrsus commanded, and the third, which Taxacis ruled over, were directed to act in conjunction, and, with the addition of the Geloni and Budini, to keep a day’s march before the Persians, and gradually retreat, retiring slowly, and doing as had been determined; and, first of all, they were to withdraw direct toward the territories of those who had renounced their alliance, in order that they might bring the war upon them; so that, though they would not willingly take part in the war against the Persians, they might be compelled to engage in it against their will; afterward they were to return to their own country, and attack the enemy, if, on consultation, it should seem advisable.
121. The Scythians, having come to this determination, went out to meet Darius’s army, having sent forward the best of their cavalry as an advanced guard; but the wagons, in which all their children and wives lived, and all the cattle, except so many as were necessary for their subsistence, which they left behind — the rest they sent forward with the wagons, ordering them to march continually toward the north. These, therefore, were carried to a distance.
122. When the advanced guard of the Scythians fell in with the Persians, about three days’ march from the Ister, they, having fallen in with them, kept a day’s march in advance, and encamped, and destroyed all the produce of the ground; but the Persians, when they saw the Scythian cavalry before them, followed their track, while they continually retired; and then, for they directed their march after one of the divisions, the Persians pursued toward the east and the Tanais; and when they had crossed the river Tanais, the Persians alsb crossed over and pursued them, until, having passed through the country of the Sauromatae, they reached that of the Budini.
123. As long as the Persians were marching through the Scythian and Sauromatian regions, they had nothing to ravage, as the country was all barren; but when they entered the territory of the Budini, there meeting with the wooden town, the Budini having abandoned it, and the town being emptied of every thing, they set it on fire. Having done this, they continued to follow in the track of the enemy, until, having traversed this region, they reached the desert: this desert is destitute of inhabitants, and is situate above the territory of the Budini, and is a seven days’ march in extent. Beyond the desert the Thyssagetae dwell; and four large rivers, flowing from them through the Maeotians, discharge themselves into the lake called Maeotis; their names are these, Lycus, Oarus, Tanais, and Syrgis.
124. When Darius came to the desert, having ceased his pursuit, he encamped his army on the river Oarus; and having done this, he built eight large forts, equally distant from each other, about sixty stades apart, the ruins of which remain to this day. While he was employed about these, the Scythians who were pursued, having made a circuit of the upper parts, returned into Scythia: these having entirely vanished, when they could no longer be seen, Darius left the forts half finished, and himself wheeling round, marched westward, supposing them to be all the Scythians, and that they had fled to the west.
125. Advancing with his army as quick as possible, when he reached Scythia, he fell in with the two Scythian divisions, and having fallen in with them, he pursued them, but they kept a day’s march before him. The Scythians, for Darius did not relax his pursuit, fled, as had been determined, toward those nations that had refused to assist them, and first they entered the territories of the Melanchlaeni; and when the Scythians and the Persians, entering into their country, had put all things into confusion, the Scythians led the way into the country of the Androphagi; and when they had been thrown into confusion, they retreated to Neuris; and when they were thrown into confusion, the Scythians advanced in their flight toward the Agathyrsi; but the Agathyrsi, seeing their neighbors flying before the Scythians, and thrown into confusion before the Scythians entered, dispatched a herald, and forbade the Scythians to cross their borders, warning them that if they should attempt to force their way they must fight with them. The Agathyrsi, having sent this message beforehand, advanced to protect their frontiers, determined to repel the invaders; whereas the Melanchlaeni, Androphagi, and Neuri, when the Persians and Scythians together invaded them, offered no resistance, but, forgetting their former menaces, fled continually in great confusion northward toward the desert. The Scythians no longer advanced toward the Agathyrsi when they warned them not to do so, but, departing from the Neurian territory, they led the Persians into their own.
126. When this had continued for a considerable time, and did not cease, Darius sent a horseman to Indathyrsus, king of the Scythians, with the following message: “Most miserable of men, why dost thou continually fly, when it is in thy power to do one of these two other things? For, if thou thinkest thou art able to resist my power, stand, and having ceased thy wanderings, fight; but if thou art conscious of thy inferiority, in that case also cease thy hurried march, and, bringing earth and water as presents to thy master, come to a conference.”
127. To this Indathyrsus, the king of the Scythians, made answer as follows: “This is the case with me, O Persian: I never yet fled from any man out of fear, neither before, nor do I now so flee from thee; nor have I done any thing different now from what I am wont to do even in time of peace; but why I do not forthwith fight thee, I will now explain. We have no cities nor cultivated lands for which we are under any apprehension lest they should be taken or ravaged, and therefore should hastily offer you battle. Yet if it is by all means necessary to come to this at once, we have the sepulchres of our ancestors; come, find these, and attempt to disturb them, then you will know whether we will fight for our sepulchres or not; but before that, unless we choose, we will not engage with thee. Thus much about fighting. The only masters I acknowledge are Jupiter, my progenitor,* and Vesta, queen of the Scythians; but to thee, instead of presents of earth and water, I will send such presents as are proper to come to thee; and in answer to thy boast that thou art my master, I bid thee weep.” (This is a Scythian saying.) The herald therefore departed, carrying this answer to Darius.
[*note: if Jupiter is his progenitor then the reference may be to Jason from whom the Scythians thought to be descended; the fact that Papaeus was the actual name may not matter – Papa may simply mean father – of course, all of this is speculation]
128. The kings of the Scythians, when they heard the name of servitude, were filled with indignation; whereupon they sent the division united with the Sauromatae, which Scopasis commanded, with orders to confer with the Ionians, who guarded the bridge over the Ister. Those who were left resolved no longer to lead the Persians about, but to attack them whenever they were taking their meals. Accordingly, observing the soldiers of Darius taking their meals, they put their design in execution. The Scythian cavalry always routed the Persian cavalry, but the Persian horsemen, in their flight, fell back on the infantry, and the infantry supported them. The Scythians, having beaten back the cavalry, wheeled round through fear of the infantry. The Scythians also made similar attacks at night.
129. A very remarkable circumstance, that was advantageous to the Persians and adverse to the Scythians when they attacked the camp of Darius, I will now proceed to mention: this was the braying of the asses and the appearance of the mules; for Scythia produces neither ass nor mule, as I have before observed; nor is there in the whole Scythian territory a single ass or mule, by reason of cold. The asses, then, growing wanton, put the Scythian horse into confusion; and frequently, as they were advancing upon the Persians, when the horses heard, midway, the braying of the asses, they wheeled round in confusion and were greatly amazed, pricking up their ears, as having never before heard such a sound nor seen such a shape. Now this circumstance in some slight degree affected the fortune of the war.
130. The Scythians, when they saw the Persians in great commotion, in order that they might remain longer in Scythia, and by remaining might be harassed through want of all things necessary, adopted the following expedient: when they had left some of their own cattle in the care of the herdsmen, they themselves withdrew to another spot, and the Persians coming up, took the cattle, and having taken them, exulted in what they had done.
131. When this had happened several times, at last Darius was in a great strait, and the kings of the Scythians, having ascertained this, sent a herald, bearing as gifts to Darius a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The Persians asked the bearer of the gifts the meaning of this present; but he answered that he had no other orders than to deliver them and return immediately; and he advised the Persians, if they were wise, to discover what the gifts meant. The Persians, having heard this, consulted together.
132. Darius’s opinion was that the Scythians meant to give themselves up to him, as well as earth and water, forming his conjecture thus: since a mouse is bred in the earth, and subsists on the same food as a man; a frog lives in the water; a bird is very like a horse; and the arrows they deliver up as their whole strength. This was the opinion given by Darius. But the opinion of Gobryas, one of the seven who had deposed the magus, did not coincide with this; he conjectured that the presents intimated, “Unless, O ye Persians, ye become birds and fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves beneath the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never return home again, but be stricken by these arrows.” And thus the other Persians interpreted the gifts.
133. In the mean time, that division of the Scythians that had been before appointed to keep guard about the lake Maeotis, and then to confer with the Ionians at the Ister, when they arrived at the bridge, spoke as follows: “Men of Ionia, we are come bringing freedom to you, if only you will listen to us. We have heard that Darius commanded you to guard the bridge sixty days only, and if he did not come up within that time, then to return into your own country. Now, therefore, if you do this, you will be free from all blame as regards him and as regards us; when you have waited the appointed number of days, after that depart.” On the Ionians promising to do so, the Scythians hastened back with all expedition.
134. The rest of the Scythians, after they had sent the presents to Darius, drew themselves opposite the Persians, with their foot and horse, as if they intended to come to an engagement; and as the Scythians were standing in their ranks, a hare started in the midst of them, and each of them, as they saw the hare, went in pursuit of it. The Scythians being in great confusion, and shouting loudly, Darius asked the meaning of the uproar in the enemy’s ranks; but when he heard that they were pursuing a hare, he said to those he was accustomed to address on such occasions, “These men treat us with great contempt, and I am convinced that Gobryas spoke rightly concerning the Scythian presents. Since, then, I am of opinion that the case is so, we have need of the best advice how our return home may be effected in safety.” To this Gobryas answered, “O king, I was in some measure acquainted by report with the indigence of these men, but I have learned much more since I came hither, and seen how they make sport of us. My opinion therefore is, that as soon as night draws on, we should light fires, as we are accustomed to do, and having deceived those soldiers who are least able to bear hardships, and having tethered all the asses, should depart before the Scythians direct their march to the Ister for the purpose of destroying the bridge, or the Ionians take any resolution which may occasion our ruin.” Such was the advice of Gobryas.
135. Afterward night came on, and Darius acted on this opinion: the infirm among the soldiers, and those whose loss would be of the least consequence, and all the asses tethered, he left on the spot in the camp. And he left the asses and the sick of his army for the following reason: that the asses might make a noise; and the men were left on this pretext, namely, that he, with the strength of his army, was about to attack the Scythians, and they, during that time, would defend the camp. Darius, having laid these injunctions on those he was preparing to abandon, and having caused the fires to be lighted, marched away with all speed toward the Ister. The asses, being deserted by the multitude, began to bray much louder than usual, so that the Scythians, hearing the asses, firmly believed that the Persians were still at their station.
136. When day appeared, the men that were abandoned, discovering that they had been betrayed by Darius, extended their hands to the Scythians, and told them what had occurred. When they heard this, the two divisions of the Scythians, and the single one, the Sauromatae, Budini, and Geloni, having joined their forces together as quickly as possible, pursued the Persians straight toward the Ister. But as a great part of the Persian army consisted of infantry, and they did not know the way, there being no roads cut, and as the Scythian army consisted of cavalry, and knew the shortest route, they missed each other, and the Scythians arrived at the bridge much before the Persians. And havinglearned that the Persians were not yet arrived, they spoke to the Ionians who were on board the ships in these terms: “Men of Ionia, the number of days appointed for your stay is already passed, and you do not as you ought in continuing here; but if you remained before through fear, now break up the passage and depart as quickly as possible, rejoicing that you are free, and give thanks to the gods and the Scythians. As for the man who before was your master, we will so deal with him that he shall never hereafter make war on any people.”
137. Upon this the Ionians held a consultation. The opinion of Miltiades the Athenian, who commanded and reigned over the Chersonesites on the Hellespont, was, that they should comply with the request of the Scythians, and restore liberty to Ionia. But Histiaeus the Milesian was of a contrary opinion, and said “that every one reigned over his own city through Darius; and if Darius’s power should be destroyed, neither would he himself continue master of Miletus, nor any of the rest of other places, because every one of the cities would choose to be governed rather by a democracy than a tyranny. Histiaeus had no sooner delivered this opinion than all went over to his side who had before assented to that of Miltiades.
138. These were they who gave their votes and were in high estimation with Darius; the tyrants of the Hellespontines, Daphnis of Abydos, Hippocles of Lampsacus, Herophantus of Parium, Metrodorus of Proconnesus, Aristagoras of Cyzicum, and Ariston of Byzantium; these were from the Hellespont. From Ionia, Strattis of Chios, Aeaces of Samos, Laodamas of Phocaea, and Histiaeus of Miletus, whose opinion was opposed to that of Miltiades. Of the Aeolians, the only person of consideration present was Aristagoras of Cyme.
139. When these men had approved the opinion of Histiseus, they determined to add to it the following acts and words: to break up the bridge on the Scythian side, as far as a bowshot might reach, that they might seem to do something, when in effect they did nothing; and that the Scythians might not attempt to use violence and purpose to cross the Ister by the bridge; and to say, while they were breaking up the bridge on the Scythian side, they would do every thing that might be agreeable to the Scythians. This, then, they added to the opinion of Histiaeus. And, afterward, Histiaeus delivered the answer in the name of all, saying as follows: “Men of Scythia, you have brought us good advice, and urge it seasonably; you, on your part, have pointed out the right way to us, and we, on ours, readily submit to you; for, as you see, we are breaking up the passage, and will use all diligence, desiring to be free. But while we are breaking it up, it is fitting you should seek for them, and having found them, avenge us and yourselves on them, as they deserve.”
140. The Scythians, believing a second time that the Ionians were sincere, turned back to seek the Persians, but entirely missed the way they had taken. The Scythians themselves were the cause of this, having destroyed the pastures for the horses in this direction, and having filled in the wells; for if they had not done this, they might easily have found the Persians if they wished; but now they erred in the very thing which they thought they had contrived for the best; for the Scythians sought the enemy by traversing those parts of the country where there was forage and water for the horses, thinking that they too would make their retreat by that way. But the Persians, carefully observing their former track, returned by it, and thus with difficulty found the passage. As they arrived in the night, and perceived the bridge broken off, they fell into the utmost consternation lest the Ionians had abandoned them.
141. There was with Darius an Egyptian, who had an exceedingly loud voice. This man Darius commanded to stand on the bank of the Ister, and call Histiaeus the Milesian. He did so, and Histiaeus, having heard the first shout, brought up all the ships to carry the army across, and joined the bridge. Thus the Persians escaped.
142. The Scythians, in their search, missed them a second time; and, on the one hand, considering the Ionians free and cowardly, they deem them to be the most base of men; but, on the other, accounting the Ionians as slaves, they say that they are most attached to their masters, and least inclined to run away. These reproaches the Scythians fling out against the Ionians.
143. Darius, marching through Thrace, reached Sestos in the Chersonesus; and thence he himself crossed over on shipboard into Asia, and left Megabazus, a Persian, to be his general in Europe. Darius once paid this man great honor, having expressed himself in this manner in the presence of the Persians: Darius being about to eat some pomegranates, as soon as he opened the first, his brother Artabanus asked him, Of what thing he would wish to possess a number equal to the grains in the pomegranate. Darius said that he would rather have as many Megabazuses, than Greece subject to him. By saying this, he honored him in the presence of the Persians, and now he left him as general with eighty thousand men of his own army.
144. This Megabazus, by making the following remark, left an everlasting memorial of himself among the Hellespontines; for when he was at Byzantium, he was informed that the Chalcedonians had settled in that country seventeen years before the Byzantians; but when he heard it, he said that the Chalcedonians must have been blind at that time, for if they had not been blind, they would never have chosen so bad a situation, when they might have had so beautiful a spot to settle in. This Megabazus, then, being left as general in the country of the Hellespontines, subdued those nations who were not in the interest of the Medes. He accordingly did this.
145. About the same time another great expedition was undertaken against Libya, on what pretext I will relate, when I have first given the following account by way of preface. The descendants of the Argonauts, being expelled from Lemnos by the Pelasgians, who carried off the Athenian women from Brauron, set sail for Lacedaemon, and seating themselves on Mount Taygetus, lighted fires. The Lacedaemonians, having seen this, dispatched a messenger to demand who and whence they were. They said to the messenger who questioned them that “they were Minyae, descendants of those heroes who sailed in the Argo, and that they, having touched at Lemnos, begot them.” The Lacedaemonians, having heard this account of the extraction of the Minyae, sent a second time to inquire with what design they had come to their territory and lighted fires; they said that, being ejected by the Pelasgians, they had come to their fathers; for that it was most proper for them so to do; and they requested leave to dwell with them, participating in their honors, and being allotted a portion of land. The Lacedaemonians determined to receive the Minyae on the terms they themselves proposed; and the sailing of the Tyndaridae in the Argo especially induced them to do this: having, therefore, received the Minyae, they assigned them a portion of land, and distributed them among their tribes, and they immediately contracted marriages, and gave to others the wives they brought from Lemnos.
146. But when no long time had elapsed, the Minyae became insolent, and demanded a share in the sovereignty, and committed other crimes. The Lacedaemonians therefore determined to put them to death, and having seized them, they threw them into prison. Now those whom they kill, the Lacedaemonians kill by night, but no one by day. When, therefore, they were about to put them to death, the wives of the Minyae, who were citizens, and daughters to the principal Spartans, begged permission to enter the prison, and confer each with her husband. The Lacedaemonians gave them permission, not suspecting any fraud on their part; but they, when they entered, did as follows: having given all the clothes they had on to their husbands, themselves took their husbands’ clothes. Upon which, the Minyae, having put on the women’s dress, passed out as women, and having thus escaped, again seated themselves on Mount Taygetus.
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