καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸ ἔνδοξον θρυληθέντα οὐκ ἀνωμολόγηται παρὰ πάντων, οἱ δὲ πλάσαντες ἦσαν οἱ κολακείας μᾶλλον ἢ ἀληθείας φροντίζοντες· οἷον τὸ τὸν Καύκασον μετενεγκεῖν εἰς τὰ Ἰνδικὰ ὄρη καὶ τὴν πλησιάζουσαν ἐκείνοις ἑῴαν θάλατταν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων τῆς Κολχίδος καὶ τοῦ Εὐξείνου ὀρῶν· ταῦτα γὰρ οἱ Ἕλληνες καὶ Καύκασον ὠνόμαζον, διέχοντα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς πλείους ἢ τρισμυρίους σταδίους, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐμύθευσαν τὰ περὶ Προμηθέα καὶ τὸν δεσμὸν αὐτοῦ· ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ ὕστατα πρὸς ἕω ἐγνώριζον οἱ τότε. ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ Ἰνδοὺς στρατεία Διονύσου καὶ Ἡρακλέους ὑστερογενῆ τὴν μυθοποιίαν ἐμφαίνει, ἅτε τοῦ Ἡρακλέους καὶ τὸν Προμηθέα λῦσαι λεγομένου χιλιάσιν ἐτῶν ὕστερον. καὶ ἦν μὲν ἐνδοξότερον τὸ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον μέχρι τῶν Ἰνδικῶν ὀρῶν καταστρέψασθαι τὴν Ἀσίαν ἢ μέχρι τοῦ μυχοῦ τοῦ Εὐξείνου καὶ τοῦ Καυκάσου· ἀλλʼ ἡ δόξα τοῦ ὄρους καὶ τοὔνομα καὶ τὸ τοὺς περὶ Ἰάσονα δοκεῖν μακροτάτην στρατείαν τελέσαι τὴν μέχρι τῶν πλησίον Καυκάσου καὶ τὸ τὸν Προμηθέα παραδεδόσθαι δεδεμένον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐσχάτοις τῆς γῆς ἐν τῷ Καυκάσῳ […] χαριεῖσθαί τι τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑπέλαβον τοὔνομα τοῦ ὄρους μετενέγκαντες εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικήν.
Stories circulated for the purpose of exalting the fame [of eminent persons] are not received with equal favour by all; the object of the inventors was flattery rather than truth; they transferred, for example, the Caucasus to the mountains of India, and to the eastern sea, which approaches close to them, from the mountains situated above Colchis, and the Euxine Sea. These are the mountains to which the Greeks give the name of Caucasus, and are distant more than 30,000 stadia from India. Here they lay the scene of Prometheus and his chains, for these were the farthest places towards the east with which the people of those times were acquainted. The expeditions of Bacchus and of Hercules against the Indi indicate a mythological story of later date, for Hercules is said to have released Prometheus a thousand years after he was first chained to the rock. It was more glorious too for Alexander to subjugate Asia as far as the mountains of India, than to the recess only of the Euxine Sea and the Caucasus The celebrity, and the name of the mountain, together with the persuasion that Jason and his companions had accomplished the most distant of all expeditions when they had arrived in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, and the tradition that Prometheus had been chained on Caucasus at the extremity of the earth, induced writers to suppose that they should gratify the king by transferring the name of the mountain to India.
τὰ μὲν οὖν ὑψηλότατα τοῦ ὄντως Καυκάσου τὰ νοτιώτατά ἐστι τὰ πρὸς Ἀλβανίᾳ καὶ Ἰβηρίᾳ καὶ Κόλχοις καὶ Ἡνιόχοις· οἰκοῦσι δὲ οὓς εἶπον τοὺς συνερχομένους εἰς τὴν Διοσκουριάδα· συνέρχονται δὲ τὸ πλεῖστον ἁλῶν χάριν. τούτων δʼ οἱ μὲν τὰς ἀκρωρείας κατέχουσιν, οἱ δὲ ἐν νάπαις αὐλίζονται καὶ ζῶσιν ἀπὸ θηρείων σαρκῶν τὸ πλέον καὶ καρπῶν ἀγρίων καὶ γάλακτος. αἱ δὲ κορυφαὶ χειμῶνος μὲν ἄβατοι, θέρους δὲ προσβαίνουσιν ὑποδούμενοι κεντρωτὰ ὠμοβόινα δίκην τυμπάνων πλατεῖα διὰ τὰς χιόνας καὶ τοὺς κρυστάλλους. καταβαίνουσι δʼ ἐπὶ δορᾶς κείμενοι σὺν τοῖς φορτίοις καὶ κατολισθαίνοντες, ὅπερ καὶ κατὰ τὴν Ἀτροπατίαν Μηδίαν καὶ κατὰ τὸ Μάσιον ὄρος τὸ ἐν Ἀρμενίᾳ συμβαίνει· ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ τροχίσκοι ξύλινοι κεντρωτοὶ τοῖς πέλμασιν ὑποτίθενται. τοῦ γοῦν Καυκάσου τὰ μὲν ἄκρα τοιαῦτα.
The highest points of the actual Caucasus are the most southerly, and lie near Albania, Iberia, the Colchi, and Heniochi. They are inhabited by the people whom I have mentioned as assembling at Dioscurias. They resort thither chiefly for the purpose of procuring salt. Of these tribes some occupy the heights; others live in wooded valleys, and subsist chiefly on the flesh of wild animals, wild fruits, and milk. The heights are impassable in winter; in summer they are ascended by fastening on the feet shoes as wide as drums, made of raw hide, and furnished with spikes on account of the snow and ice. The natives in descending with their loads slide down seated upon skins, which is the practice in Media, Atropatia, and at Mount Masius in Armenia, but there they fasten circular disks of wood with spikes to the soles of their feet. Such then is the nature of the heights of Caucasus.
καταβαίνοντι δʼ εἰς τὰς ὑπωρείας ἀρκτικώτερα μέν ἐστι τὰ κλίματα, ἡμερώτερα δέ· ἤδη γὰρ συνάπτει τοῖς πεδίοις τῶν Σιράκων. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ τρωγλοδύται τινὲς ἐν φωλεοῖς οἰκοῦντες διὰ τὰ ψύχη, παρʼ οἷς ἤδη καὶ ἀλφίτων ἐστὶν εὐπορία· μετὰ δὲ τοὺς τρωγλοδύτας καὶ χαμαικοῖται καὶ πολυφάγοι τινὲς καλούμενοι καὶ αἱ τῶν Εἰσαδίκων κῶμαι, δυναμένων γεωργεῖν διὰ τὸ μὴ παντελῶς ὑποπεπτωκέναι ταῖς ἄρκτοις.
On descending to the country lying at the foot of these heights the climate is more northerly, but milder, for the land below the heights joins the plains of the Siraces. There are some tribes of Troglodytae who inhabit caves on account of the cold. There is plenty of grain to be had in the country.
Next to the Troglodytee are Chamaecoet, and a tribe called Polyphagi (the voracious), and the villages of the Eisadici, who are able to cultivate the ground because they are not altogether exposed to the north.
οἱ δʼ ἐφεξῆς ἤδη νομάδες οἱ μεταξὺ τῆς Μαιώτιδος καὶ τῆς Κασπίας Ναβιανοὶ καὶ Πανξανοὶ καὶ ἤδη τὰ τῶν Σιράκων καὶ Ἀόρσων φῦλα. δοκοῦσι δʼ οἱ Ἄορσοι καὶ οἱ Σίρακες φυγάδες εἶναι τῶν ἀνωτέρω […] καὶ προσάρκτιοι μᾶλλον Ἀόρσων. Ἀβέακος μὲν οὖν ὁ τῶν Σιράκων βασιλεύς, ἡνίκα Φαρνάκης τὸν Βόσπορον εἶχε, δύο μυριάδας ἱππέων ἔστελλε, Σπαδίνης δʼ ὁ τῶν Ἀόρσων καὶ εἴκοσιν, οἱ δὲ ἄνω Ἄορσοι καὶ πλείονας· καὶ γὰρ ἐπεκράτουν πλείονος γῆς καὶ σχεδόν τι τῆς Κασπίων παραλίας τῆς πλείστης ἦρχον, ὥστε καὶ ἐνεπορεύοντο καμήλοις τὸν Ἰνδικὸν φόρτον καὶ τὸν Βαβυλώνιον παρά τε Ἀρμενίων καὶ Μήδων διαδεχόμενοι· ἐχρυσοφόρουν δὲ διὰ τὴν εὐπορίαν. οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἄορσοι τὸν Τάναϊν παροικοῦσιν, οἱ Σίρακες δὲ τὸν Ἀχαρδέον, ὃς ἐκ τοῦ Καυκάσου ῥέων ἐκδίδωσιν εἰς τὴν Μαιῶτιν.
Immediately afterwards follow shepherd tribes, situated between the Maeotis and the Caspian Sea, Nabiani, Pangani, the tribes also of the Siraces and Aorsi.
The Aorsi and Siraces seem to be a fugitive people from parts situated above. The Aorsi lie more to the north.
Abeacus, king of the Siraces, when Pharnases occupied the Bosporus, equipped 20,000 horse, and Spadines, king of the Aorsi 200,000, and the Upper Aorsi even a larger body, for they were masters of a greater extent of territory, and nearly the largest part of the coast of the Caspian Sea was under their power. They were thus enabled to transport on camels the merchandise of India and Babylonia, receiving it from Armenians and Medes. They wore gold also in their dress in consequence of their wealth.
The Aorsi live on the banks of the Tanaïs, and the Siraces on those of Achardeus, which rises in Caucasus, and discharges itself into the Maeotis.
Cite This Text