CHAP. 46, 47. RIVERS OF SCYTHIA. 4I husbandry but on their cattle, their waggons the only houses that they possess, how can they fail of being unconquerable, and unassailable even? 47. The nature of their country, and the rivers by which it is intersected, greatly favour this mode of resisting attacks. For the land is level, well watered, and abounding in pasture; 8 while the rivers which traverse it are almost equal in number to the canals of Egypt. Of these I shall only mention the most famous and such as are navigable to some distance from the sea. They are, the Ister, which has five mouths; the Hippocrates, who visited Scythia a generation later than Herodotus, gave a similar account, adding the fact that the Scythian wagons were either four-wheeled or six-wheeled. (De Aëre, Aquâ, et Locis, § 44, p. 353.) It may be doubted whether the ancient Scythians really lived entirely in their wagons. More probably their wagons carried a tent, consisting of a light framework of wood covered with felt or matting (Fig. 1), which could be readily transferred from the wheels to the ground, and vice versa. This Fig. 1. at least is the case with the modern Nogai and Kundure Tatars, who how. ever use also a sort of covered cart Fig. 2. (Figs. 2 and 3), not very unlike the caravans of our wealthy gypsies. The subjoined representations of Tatar Fig. 3. vehicles are from the works of Pallas (Figs. 1 and 2), and of Mr. Oliphant (Fig. 3). 8 The pasture is now not good excepting in the immediate vicinity of the rivers; otherwise the picture drawn of the country accords exactly with the accounts given by modern travellers. The extreme flatness of the whole region is especially noted. De Hell speaks of the "cheerless aspect of those vast plains, with nothing to vary their surface but the tumuli, and with no other boundaries than the sea." (Travels, p. 38, E. T.) Dr. Clarke says, "All the south of Russia, from the Dnieper to the Volga, and even to the territories of the Kirgissian and Thibet Tartars (?), with all the north of the Crimea, is one flat uncultivated desolate waste, forming, as it were, a series of those deserts bearing the name of STEPPES." (Travels in Russia, &c., p. 306.) 9 So Ephorus (Fr. 77), Arrian (Peripl. P. E. p. 135), and the Anonymous Peripl. P. E. (p. 155); but Pliny (H. N. iv. 12) and Mela (ii. 7) mention six mouths, while Strabo (vii. p. 441) and Solinus (c. 19) have seven. There would no doubt be perpetual changes. At present the number is but four. 42 THE ISTER. Book IV. Tyras, the Hypanis, the Borysthenes, the Panticapes, the Hypacyris, the Gerrhus, and the Tanais. The courses of these streams I shall now proceed to describe. 48. The Ister is of all the rivers with which we are acquainted the mightiest. It never varies in height, but continues at the same level summer and winter. Counting from the west it is the first of the Scythian rivers, and the reason of its being the greatest is, that it receives the waters of several tributaries. Now the tributaries which swell its flood are the following: first, on the side of Scythia, these five -the stream called by the Scythians Porata, and by the Greeks Pyretus, the Tiarantus, the Ararus, the Naparis, and the Ordessus. The first-mentioned is a great stream, and is the easternmost of the tributaries. The Tiarantus is of less volume, and more to the west. The Ararus, Naparis, and Ordessus fall into the Ister between these two. All the above-mentioned are genuine Scythian rivers, and go to swell the current of the Ister. 49. From the country of the Agathyrsi comes down another river, the Maris, which empties itself into the same; and from the heights of Hamus descend with a northern course three mighty streams, the Atlas, the Auras, and the Tibisis, 1 For the identification of these rivers, see below, chs. 51.57. 2 For the etymology of these names, see the Appendix, Essay ii., 'On the Ethnography of the European Scyths.' With respect to the identification of the rivers, that the Porata is the Pruth would seem to be certain. Probably the Tiarantus is the Aluta, in which case the Ararus will be the Sereth, the Naparis the Praova or Jalomnitza, and the Ordessus the Arditch. (See Niebuhr's Scythia, page 39, E. T.) The names Arditch and Sereth may be corruptions of the ancient appellations. 3 This must certainly be the modern Marosch, a tributary of the Theiss, which runs with a course almost due west from the eastern Carpathians, through Transylvania into Hungary. The Theiss apparently was unknown to Herodotus, or regarded as a tribu. tary of the Maris. 4 Mannert (Geograph. vii. p. 8) proposes to read où μeyáλo; and certainly it is untrue to say that any great rivers descend from the northern skirts of Mount Hæmus (the modern Balkan). It is almost impossible to decide to which of the many small streams running from this mountain range the names in Herodotus apply. The Scius, however, which is no doubt the Oscius of Thucydides (ii. 96), and the Escus of Pliny (Hist. Nat. iii. 26), may be identified both from its name and position with the Isker. The six rivers, therefore the Atlas, Auras, Tibisis, Athrys, Noës, and Artanes-have to be found between the Isker and the sea. They may be conjectured to represent the Taban, Drista, Kara Lom, Jantra, Osma, and Vid. CHAP. 47-49. TRIBUTARIES OF THE ISTER. 43 and pour their waters into it. Thrace gives it three tributaries, the Athrys, the Noës, and the Artanes, which all pass through the country of the Crobyzian Thracians.5 Another tributary is furnished by Pæonia, namely, the Scius; this river, rising near Mount Rhodopé, forces its way through the chain of Hæmus, and so reaches the Ister. From Illyria comes another stream, the Angrus, which has a course from south to north, and after watering the Triballian plain, falls into the Brongus, which falls into the Ister. So the Ister is augmented by these two streams, both considerable. Besides all these, the Ister receives also the waters of the Carpiss and the Alpis,9 two rivers running in a northerly direction from the country above the Umbrians. For the Ister flows through the whole extent of Europe, rising in the country of the Celts10 5 The Crobyzi are supposed to be a Slavic population, and the same mentioned by Strabo (vii. 461), and Pliny (iv. 12). The name is thought to be retained in the Krivitshi, a tribe of Russia.-[G. W.] 6 This is untrue. No stream forces its way through this chain. The Scius (Isker) rises on the northern flank of Hæmus, exactly opposite to the point where the range of Rhodopé (Despoto Dagh) branches out from it towards the south-east. From the two opposite angles made by Rhodopé with Hæmus, spring the two streams of Hebrus and Nestus. Hence it appears that Thucydides is more accurate than Herodotus, when he says of the Scius or Oscius, ῥεῖ δ ̓ οὗτος ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους ὅθεν περ καὶ ὁ Νέστος καί ὁ Εβρος (ii. 96.) 7 The Angrus is either the western Morava or the Ibar, most probably the latter. The Brongus is the eastern or Bulgarian Morava. The Triballian plain is thus the principality of Servia. * As Herodotus plunges deeper into the European continent, his knowledge is less exact. He knows the fact that the Danube receives two great tributaries from the south (the Drave and the Save) in the upper part of its course, but he does not any longer know the true direction of the streams. Possibly also he conceives the rivers, of which he has heard the Umbrians tell as running northwards from the Alps above their country, to be identical with the great tributaries whereof the dwellers on the middle Danube spoke. Thus the Carpis and the Alpis would represent, in one point of view, the Save and the Drave, in another, the Salza and the Inn (cf. Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. vol. i. p. 142, E. T.); or possibly, if we consider where he placed the sources of the Danube (near Pyrene), the Inn and the Rhine. 9 It is interesting to find in He. rodotus this first trace of the word Alp, by which, from the time of Polybius, the great European chain has been known. At the present day it is applied in the country itself, not to the high mountain tops, but to the green pastures on their slopes. can hardly have been at any time the real name of a river. It 10 Vide supra, ii. 33. Aristotle's knowledge did not greatly exceed that of Herodotus. He too made the Danube rise in Celtica, and from Pyrêné (Meteorolog. i. 13, p.350). He knew, however, that Pyrêné was a mountain. 44 THE ISTER AND NILE COMPARED. Book IV. (the most westerly of all the nations of Europe, excepting the Cynetians 1), and thence running across the continent till it reaches Scythia, whereof it washes the flanks. 50. All these streams, then, and many others, add their waters to swell the flood of the Ister, which thus increased becomes the mightiest of rivers; for undoubtedly if we compare the stream of the Nile with the single stream of the Ister, we must give the preference to the Nile, of which no tributary river, nor even rivulet, augments the volume. The Ister remains at the same level both summer and winter-owing to the following reasons, as I believe. During the winter it runs at its natural height, or a very little higher, because in those countries there is scarcely any rain in winter, but constant snow. When summer comes, this snow, which is of great depth, begins to melt, and flows into the Ister, which is swelled at that season, not only by this cause, but also by the rains, which are heavy and frequent at that part of the year. Thus the various streams which go to form the Ister are higher in summer than in winter, and just so much higher as the sun's power and attraction are greater; so that these two causes counteract each other, and the effect is to produce a balance, whereby the Ister remains always at the same level. 1 Vide supra, ii. 33, note 1. 2 The lengths of the two rivers are -of the Nile, 2600 miles, according to its present known or supposed course; of the Danube, 1760 miles. (See ch. 33, Book ii.) The Nile, which has no tributaries except in Abyssinia, and is not fed by rains except in the upper part of its course during the tropical rains, continues of about the same breadth during all its course. It is occasionally narrower in Nubia, in consequence of the nature of the rocky land through which it passes; but having no tributary in Ethiopia and Egypt, there is of course no reason for its becoming larger towards its mouth. The broadest part is the White River, which is some times miles across, and divided into several broad but shallow channels. In Egypt its general breadth is about one-third of a mile, and the rate of its mid-stream is generally from 1 to about 2 knots, but during the inundation more rapid, or above 3 miles an hour.-[G. W.] 3 Too much force is here assigned to the attracting power of the sun. The "balance" of which Herodotus speaks is caused by the increased volume of the southern tributaries during the summer (which is caused by the melting of the snows along the range of the Alps), being just sufficient to compensate for the diminished volume of the northern tributaries, which in winter are swelled by the CHAP. 49-52. THE TYRAS AND THE HYPANIS. 45 51. This, then, is one of the great Scythian rivers; the next to it is the Tyras, which rises from a great lake separating Scythia from the land of the Neuri, and runs with a southerly course to the sea. Greeks dwell at the mouth of the river, who are called Tyritæ.5 52. The third river is the Hypanis. This stream rises within the limits of Scythia, and has its source in another vast lake, around which wild white horses graze. The lake is called, properly enough, the Mother of the Hypanis. The Hypanis, rising here, during the distance of five days' navigation is a shallow stream, and the water sweet and pure; thence, however, to the sea, which is a distance of four days, it is exceedingly bitter. This change is caused by its receiving into it at that point a brook the waters of which are so bitter that, although it is but a tiny rivulet, it nevertheless taints the entire Hypanis, which is a large stream among those of the second order. The source of this bitter spring is on the borders of the Scythian Husbandmen,8 where they adjoin rains. It is not true that the rains of summer are heavier than those of winter in the basin which the Danube drains: rather the exact reverse is the case. Were it otherwise, the Danube, like the Nile, would over. flow in the summer; for the evaporating power of the sun's rays on the surface of a river in the latitude of the Danube is very trifling. The Tyras is the modern Dniestr (= Danas-Ter), still called, according to Heeren (As. Nat. vol. ii. p. 257, note 3), the Tyral near its mouth. Its main stream does not rise from a lake, but one of its chief tributaries, the Sered, which rises near Zloczow in Gallicia, does flow from a small lake. There is also a largish lake on the Werezysca, near Lemberg, in the same country, which communicates with the main stream of the Dniestr, not far from its source. Heeren regards this as the lake of which Herodotus had heard. (As. Nat. 1. s. c.) A Greek town called Tyras, and also Ophiusa (Plin. His. Nat. iv. 11; Steph. Byz. ad voc.), lay at the mouth 6 The Hypanis is undoubtedly the Bog, a main tributary of the Dniepr. The marshes of Volhynia, from which flow the feeders of the Pripet, are in this direction; but it is scarcely possible that the Bog can at any time have flowed out of them. 7 Compare below, ch. 86. 8 Herodotus appears to have penetrated as far as this fountain (infra, ch. 81), no traces of which are to be found at the present day. The water of the Scythian rivers is brackish to a considerable distance from the sea, but there is now nothing peculiar in the water of the Hypanis. |