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CHAP. 4.—THE REGION OF THEMISCYRA, AND THE NATIONS THEREIN.

The river Iris brings down to the sea the waters of the Lycus. In the interior is the city of Ziela,1 famous for the defeat of Triarius2 and the victory of C. Cæsar.3 Upon the coast there is the river Thermodon, which rises at the fortified place called Phanarœa,4 and flows past the foot of Mount Amazonius.5 There was formerly a town of the same name as the river, and five others in all, Amazonium, Themiseyra, Sotira, Amasia, and Comana,6 now only a Manteium. (4.) We find here the nations of the Genetæ,7 the Chalybes,8 the town of Cotyorum,9 the nations of the Tibareni and the Mossyni, who make marks upon their bodies,10 the people called Macro- cephali,11 the town of Cerasus,12 the port of Chordule, the nations called the Bechires13 and the Buzeri, the river Melas,14 the people called the Macrones, and Sidene with its river Sidenus,15 by which the town of Polemonium16 is washed, at a distance from Amisus of one hundred and twenty miles. We next come to the rivers Iasonius17 on the site of the older city of Side, at the mouth of the Sidenus and Melanthius,18 and at a distance of eighty miles from Amisus, the town of Pharnacea,19 the fortress and river of Tripolis;20 the fortress and river of Philocalia, the fortress of Liviopolis, but not upon a river, and at a distance of one hundred miles from Pharnacea, the free city of Trapezus,21 shut in by a mountain of vast size. Beyond this town is the nation of the Armenochalybes22 and the Greater Armenia, at a distance of thirty miles. On the coast, before Trapezus, flows the river Pyxites, and beyond it is the nation of the Sanni23 Heniochi. Next comes the river Absarus,24 with a fortress of the same name at its mouth, distant from Trapezus one hundred and forty miles.

At the back of the mountains of this district is Iberia, while on the coast are the Heniochi, the Ampreutæ,25 the Lazi, the rivers Acampsis,26 Isis,27 Mogrus, and Bathys,28 the nations of the Colchi, the town of Matium,29 the river Heracleum and the promontory of the same name,30 and the Phasis,31 the most celebrated river of Pontus. This river rises among the Moschi, and is navigable for the largest vessels a distance of thirty-eight miles and a half, and for small ones very much higher up; it is crossed by one hundred and twenty bridges. It formerly had many cities of note on its banks, the more famous of which were Tyndaris, Circæum, Cygnus, and Phasis32 at its mouth. But the most celebrated of them all was Æa, fifteen miles33 distant from the sea, where the Hippos and the Cyaneos,34 rivers of vast size, flow into it from opposite directions. At the present day its only place of note is Surium, which derives its name from the river which flows at that spot into the Phasis, and up to which place the Phasis is navigable for large vessels, as we have already35 mentioned. It receives also some other rivers, wonderful for their number and magnitude, and among them the Glaucus.36 At the mouth of the Phasis, at a distance of seventy miles from Absarus, are some islands, which, however, have no name. After passing this, we come to another river, the Charieis,37 and the nation of the Salæ, by the ancients called Phthirophagi,38 as also Suani.39 The river Chobus40 flows from the Caucasus through the country of the Suani. The river Rhoas comes next, then the region of Ecrectice, the rivers Singames,41 Tarsuras,42 Astelephus,43 Chrysorrhoas, the nation of the Absilæ, the castle of Sebastopolis,44 one hundred miles distant from Phasis, the nation of the Sannigæ, the town of Cygnus,45 and the river and town of Penius.46 We then come to the tribes of the Heniochi,47 who are distinguished by numerous names.

1 The same place apparently as is mentioned in the last Chapter under the name of Zela.

2 Valerius Triarius, one of the legates of Lucullus, in the war against Mithridates. Plutarch tells us that Lucullus was obliged to conceal Triarius from the fury of his troops.

3 Over Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates.

4 Now called the Thermea.

5 Still called Mason-Dagh.

6 He alludes to Comana, in Pontus, the site of which is now called Gumenek, near to which, on the Tocat-su, the modern name of the Iris, Hamilton found some remains of a Roman town, and part of a bridge apparently of Roman construction. The language of Pliny seems to imply that it had become in his day nothing beyond a manteium or seat of an oracle.

7 Strabo speaks of a promontory called Genetes; and Stephanus Byzantinus mentions a river and port of the same name.

8 Strabo places the Chaldei, who, he says, were originally called Chalybes, in that part of the country which lies above Pharnacia (the modern Kerasunt).

9 Or Cotyora. According to Xenophon, this was a colony of Sinope, which furnished supplies for the Ten Thousand in their retreat. The place was on a bay called after the town. Hamilton, in his Researches, &c., Vol. i., is of opinion that Cotyorum may have stood on the site of Ordou, where some remains of an ancient port, cut out of the solid rock, are still visible. He remarks, however, that some writers suppose that Cotvora was the modern bay of Pershembah, which is more sheltered than Ordou. Cotyora was the place of embarkation of the Ten Thousand.

10 Similar to what we call tatooing. Parisot suggests that these people may have been the ancestors of the Mongol tribes who still dwell in tents similar to those mentioned by Mela as used by the Mossyni.

11 Or the "long-headed people."

12 Its site is not improbably that of the modern Kheresoun, on the coast of Asia Minor, and west of Trebizond. Lucullus is said to have brought thence the first cherry-trees planted in Europe.

13 It has been remarked, that Pliny's enumeration of names often rather confuses than helps, and that it is difficult to say where he intends to place the Bechires. We may perhaps infer from Mela that they were west of Trapezus and east of the Thermodon.

14 Now the Kara Su, or Black River, still retaining its ancient appellation. It rises in Cappadocia, in the chain of Mount Argæus.

15 Still called by the same name, according to Parisot, though sometimes it is called the river of Vatisa. More recent authorities, however, call it Poleman Chai.

16 On the coast of Pontus, built by king Polémon, perhaps the Second,

17 Probably near the promontory of Jasonium, 130 stadia to the northeast of Polemonium. It was believed to have received its name from Jason the Argonaut having landed there. It still bears the name of Jasoon, though more commonly called Bona or Vona.

18 Sixty stadia, according to arrian, from the town of cotyora

19 Supposed to have stood on almost the same site as the modern Kheresoun or Kerasunda. It was built near, or, as some think, on the site of Cerasus.

20 Still known by the name of Tireboli, on a river of the same name, the Tireboli Su.

21 Now called Tarabosan, Trabezun, or Trebizond. This place was originally a colony of Sinope, after the loss of whose independence Trapezus belonged, first to Lesser Armenia, and afterwards to the kingdom of Pontus. In the middle ages it was the seat of the so-called empire of Trebizond. It is now the second commercial port of the Black Sea, ranking next after Odessa.

22 The "Chalybes of Armenia." See p. 21.

23 Theodoret says that the Sanni, and the Lazi, subsequently mentioned, although subdued by the Roman arms, were never obedient to the Roman laws. The Heniochi were probably of Grecian origin, as they were said to have been descended from the charioteers of the Argonauts, who had been wrecked upon these coasts.

24 Or Apsarus, or Absarum. Several geographers have placed the site of this town near the modern one known as Gonieh. Its name was connected with the myth of Medea and her brother Absyrtus. It is not improbable that the names Acampsis and Absarus have been given to the same river by different writers, and that they both apply to the modern Joruk.

25 It is suggested by Hardouin that these are the same as the Zydretæ mentioned in the Periplus of Arrian, and by him placed between the Heniochi and the Lazi.

26 See note 91.

27 Supposed to be the same as the modem Tshorok.

28 Or "Deep" River. This stream may possibly be identified by observing that Pliny places only one river between it and the Phasis.

29 Probably the Madia of Ptolemy, who places it in the interior.

30 At the present day called Eraklia, according to Parisot.

31 Now called the Faz or Poti.

32 Still called El Faz or Poti.

33 This place was in reality thirty-seven miles and a half from the sea. It was said to have been the native place of the enchantresses Circe and Medea.

34 The rivers Hippos and Cyaneos do not appear to have been identified.

35 In the previous page.

36 Now called the Tehorocsu.

37 It is doubtful whether this is the same river as that mentioned by Strabo under the name of Chares. D'Anville says that its modern name is Enguri.

38 Or "Feeders on Lice;" so called, according to Strabo, from the extreme filthiness of their habits.

39 There is a nation in this vicinity still called by a similar name. Professor Pallas, who visited them, says that nothing can equal their dishonesty, rapacity, and voracity. Parisot suggests that they are probably the descendants of the Phthirophagi of Pliny.

40 Now called the Khalira, according to D'Anville.

41 Now called the Hati-Scari, according to D'Anville.

42 Now the Okhum, according to D'Anville.

43 Now the Mosti-Skari, according to D'Anville.

44 Still called Savastopoli, according to Hardouin.

45 This must not be confounded with the other place of the same name mentioned in the present Chapter. See p. 10.

46 Hermoläus suggests Pityus as the correct reading.

47 The Sanni Heniochi; one of these nations has been already mentioned in the last page.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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  • Cross-references to this page (43):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APSARUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), APSILAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARME´NIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ASTE´LEPHUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BATHYS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CHA´LYBES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CHARIEIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CORDYLE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), COTYO´RA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GENE´TES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GLAUCUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HENIOCHI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HERACLEIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HIPPUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), IRIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ISIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LAZI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LYCUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MACROCE´PHALI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MACRO´NES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MA´DIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MELA´NTHIUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MELAS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MOGRUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MOSCHI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MOSYNOECI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHANAROEA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHARNA´CIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHASIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHASIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHILOCALEIA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHTHIRO´PHAGI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), POLEMO´NIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PYXITES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SIDE´NE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SIDE´NUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SINGAMES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SU´RIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SU´RIUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TARSU´RAS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TIBARE´NI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TRA´PEZUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), TRI´POLIS
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