Geography

​And it is said that the extremity of the Taurus, which they call Imaus, joining the Indian Sea, neither projects further to the east than India nor recedes; but to one passing along to the northern side, the sea always takes away something from its length and width, so as to make the part of Asia now being outlined—which the Taurus encloses against the ocean that fills the Caspian Sea—appear tapered toward the east. And the greatest length of this part is about thirty thousand stadia from the Hyrcanian Sea to the ocean at the Imaus, the route being along the mountainous region of the Taurus, and the width is less than ten thousand. For it has been said that from the Gulf of Issus to the eastern sea at India is about forty thousand stadia, and from the western extremities at the Pillars to Issus another thirty thousand; and the innermost part of the Gulf of Issus is little or not at all further east than Amisus, and the distance from Amisus to the Hyrcanian land is about ten thousand stadia, being parallel to the route mentioned from Issus to the Indians. Therefore, there remain the thirty thousand stadia as the mentioned length to the east of the part now being traversed. Again, since the greatest width of the inhabited world is about thirty thousand stadia, it being chlamys-shaped, this distance would be close to the meridian drawn through the Hyrcanian Sea and the Persian Sea, if indeed the length of the inhabited world is seventy thousand; if, then, from Hyrcania to Artemita in Babylonia is eight thousand stadia, as Apollodorus of Artemita has said, and from there to the mouth of the Persian Sea is another equal amount, and again the same amount or a little less to the points opposite the extremities of Ethiopia, the remainder of the mentioned width of the inhabited world from the innermost part of the Hyrcanian Sea to its mouth would be as much as we have said. And since this section of the earth is tapered toward the eastern parts, its shape would be similar to a butcher’s knife, the mountain being straight and conceived as the edge of the knife, while the coastline from the mouth of the Hyrcanian Sea to Tamaron on the other side ends in a curved and tapering line.

​We must also mention some of the marvels that are rumored about the completely barbarian peoples, such as those around the Caucasus and the rest of the mountainous country. For they say that for some of them, the words of Euripides are a law: ‘To bewail the newborn for the many evils he comes into, but, on the other hand, to escort the dead who has ceased from his labors out of the house with joy and blessings.’ And for others, they kill no one who has committed even the greatest offenses, but only banish them with their children, contrary to the Derbices; for these latter slaughter even for small offenses. The Derbices worship the earth; they sacrifice no female animal, nor do they eat them; and they slaughter those who have become over seventy years of age, and the closest of kin consume their flesh; but they strangle the old women and then bury them; those who die under seventy years of age they do not eat, but bury. The Siginni in other respects follow Persian customs, but they use small, shaggy horses, which indeed cannot carry a rider, but they yoke them in four-horse chariots; women act as charioteers, having been trained from childhood, and the one who drives best cohabits with whomsoever she pleases; and they say that some of them make it a practice to appear as long-headed as possible and to have their foreheads projecting so as to overhang their chins. It is also a custom of the Tapyri for the men to wear black garments and keep their hair long, and for the women to wear white garments and keep their hair short; and the one who is judged the bravest marries whomsoever he wishes. The Caspians starve to death those who are over seventy years of age and expose them in the desert; and watching from a distance, if they see them dragged down from their beds by birds, they deem them happy, but if by wild beasts or dogs, less so, and if by nothing, unhappy.