§7.4.4μετὰ δὲ τὴν ὀρεινὴν τὴν λεχθεῖσαν ἡ Θεοδοσία κεῖται πόλις, πεδίον εὔγεων ἔχουσα καὶ λιμένα ναυσὶ καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐπιτήδειον· οὗτος δὲ ὅρος ἦν πρότερον τῆς τῶν Βοσποριανῶν καὶ Ταύρων γῆς·
After the mountainous country just mentioned lies the city of Theodosia, having a fertile plain and a harbor suitable even for a hundred ships; and this was formerly the boundary between the land of the Bosporans and that of the Tauri.
καὶ ἡ ἑξῆς δʼ ἐστὶν εὔγεως χώρα μέχρι Παντικαπαίου, τῆς μητροπόλεως τῶν Βοσποριανῶν ἱδρυμένης ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι τῆς Μαιώτιδος.
And the territory next to it is fertile as far as Panticapaeum, the metropolis of the Bosporans, situated at the mouth of the Maeotis.
ἔστι δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ τῆς Θεοδοσίας καὶ τοῦ Παντικαπαίου σταδίων περὶ πεντακοσίων καὶ τριάκοντα, χώρα πᾶσα σιτοφόρος, κώμας ἔχουσα καὶ πόλιν εὐλίμενον τὸ Νύμφαιον καλούμενον.
The distance between Theodosia and Panticapaeum is about five hundred and thirty stadia, the whole country being grain-producing, having villages and a city with a good harbor called Nymphaeum.
τὸ δὲ Παντικάπαιον λόφος ἐστὶ πάντη περιοικούμενος ἐν κύκλῳ σταδίων εἴκοσι· πρὸς ἕω δʼ ἔχει λιμένα καὶ νεώρια ὅσον τριάκοντα νεῶν, ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἀκρόπολιν· κτίσμα δʼ ἐστὶ Μιλησίων.
Panticapaeum is a hill inhabited all around in a circle of twenty stadia; on the east it has a harbor and docks for about thirty ships, and it also has an acropolis; it is a foundation of the Milesians.
ἐμοναρχεῖτο δὲ πολὺν χρόνον ὑπὸ δυναστῶν τῶν περὶ Λεύκωνα καὶ Σάτυρον καὶ Παιρισάδην αὕτη τε καὶ αἱ πλησιόχωροι κατοικίαι πᾶσαι αἱ περὶ τὸ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος ἑκατέρωθεν μέχρι Παιρισάδου τοῦ Μιθριδάτῃ παραδόντος τὴν ἀρχήν.
It was ruled as a monarchy for a long time by the dynasts around Leucon, Satyrus, and Pairisades, both this city itself and all the neighboring settlements around the mouth of the Maeotis on both sides, until Pairisades who surrendered the sovereignty to Mithridates.
ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ τύραννοι, καίπερ οἱ πλείους ἐπιεικεῖς γεγονότες, ἀρξάμενοι ἀπὸ Παιρισάδου καὶ Λεύκωνος.
They were called tyrants, although most of them proved to be mild rulers, beginning with Pairisades and Leucon.
Παιρισάδης δὲ καὶ θεὸς νενόμισται· τούτῳ δὲ ὁμώνυμος καὶ ὁ ὕστατος, ὃς οὐχ οἷός τε ὢν ἀντέχειν πρὸς τοὺς βαρβάρους φόρον πραττομένους μείζω τοῦ πρότερον Μιθριδάτῃ τῷ Εὐπάτορι παρέδωκε τὴν ἀρχήν· ἐξ ἐκείνου δʼ ἡ βασιλεία γεγένηται Ῥωμαίοις ὑπήκοος.
And Pairisades was even deemed a god; and the last ruler, homonymous with him, being unable to hold out against the barbarians who demanded a greater tribute than before, surrendered the sovereignty to Mithridates Eupator; and from that time the kingdom has been subject to the Romans.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πλέον αὐτῆς μέρος ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης, μέρος δέ τι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας.
Now the greater part of it is in Europe, but a certain part is also in Asia.
§7.4.5τὸ δὲ στόμα τῆς Μαιώτιδος καλεῖται μὲν Κιμμερικὸς Βόσπορος, ἄρχεται δὲ ἀπὸ μείζονος πλάτους ἑβδομήκοντά που σταδίων· καθʼ ὃ διαίρουσιν ἐκ τῶν περὶ Παντικάπαιον τόπων εἰς τὴν ἐγγυτάτω πόλιν τῆς Ἀσίας τὴν Φαναγόρειαν· τελευτᾷ δʼ εἰς πολὺ στενώτερον πορθμόν.
The mouth of the Maeotis is called the Cimmerian Bosporus, and it begins with a greater width of about seventy stadia, at which point people cross over from the places around Panticapaeum to Phanagoria, the nearest city of Asia; and it ends in a much narrower strait.
διαιρεῖ δʼ ὁ στενωπὸς οὗτος τὴν Ἀσίαν ἀπὸ τῆς Εὐρώπης καὶ ὁ Τάναϊς ποταμός, καταντικρὺ ῥέων ἀπὸ τῶν ἄρκτων εἴς τε τὴν λίμνην καὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς· δύο δʼ ἔχει τὰς εἰς τὴν λίμνην ἐκβολὰς διεχούσας ἀλλήλων ὅσον σταδίους ἑξήκοντα.
This narrow passage and the river Tanais, which flows directly from the north into both the lake and its mouth, divide Asia from Europe; and the river has two outlets into the lake, which are distant from each other about sixty stadia.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ πόλις ὁμώνυμος τῷ ποταμῷ, μέγιστον τῶν βαρβάρων ἐμπόριον μετὰ τὸ Παντικάπαιον.
There is also a city homonymous with the river, the greatest emporium of the barbarians after Panticapaeum.
ἐν ἀριστερᾷ δʼ εἰσπλέοντι τὸν Κιμμερικὸν Βόσπορον πολίχνιόν ἐστι Μυρμήκιον ἐν εἴκοσι σταδίοις ἀπὸ τοῦ Παντικαπαίου.
On the left as one sails into the Cimmerian Bosporus is the small town of Myrmecium, at a distance of twenty stadia from Panticapaeum.
τοῦ δὲ Μυρμηκίου διπλάσιον διέχει κώμη Παρθένιον, καθʼ ἣν στενώτατος ὁ εἴσπλους ἐστὶν ὅσον εἴκοσι σταδίων, ἔχων ἀντικειμένην ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ κώμην Ἀχίλλειον καλουμένην.
At twice this distance from Myrmecium lies the village of Parthenium, where the entrance is narrowest, about twenty stadia, having opposite to it in Asia a village called Achilleum.
ἐντεῦθεν δʼ εὐθυπλοίᾳ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν Τάναϊν καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὰς ἐκβολὰς νῆσον στάδιοι δισχίλιοι διακόσιοι, μικρὸν δʼ ὑπερβάλλει τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τούτου πλέοντι παρὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν· πλέον δʼ ἢ τριπλάσιον ἐν ἀριστερᾷ πλέοντι μέχρι τοῦ Τανάιδος, ἐν ᾧ παράπλῳ καὶ ὁ ἰσθμὸς ἵδρυται.
From here, for one sailing in a straight course to the Tanais and the island at its outlets, the distance is two thousand two hundred stadia, but it slightly exceeds this number for one sailing along the coast of Asia; and it is more than threefold for one sailing on the left as far as the Tanais, along which coasting-voyage the isthmus is also situated.
οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὁ παράπλους ἔρημος πᾶς ὁ παρὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην, ὁ δʼ ἐν δεξιᾷ οὐκ ἔρημος· ὁ δὲ σύμπας τῆς λίμνης κύκλος ἐνακισχιλίων ἱστορεῖται σταδίων.
Now this coasting-voyage along Europe is entirely desert, but that on the right is not desert; and the whole circuit of the lake is said to be nine thousand stadia.
ἡ δὲ μεγάλη χερρόνησος τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ προσέοικε καὶ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὸ μέγεθος.
The great peninsula is like the Peloponnese both in shape and in size.
ἔχουσι δʼ αὐτὴν οἱ τοῦ Βοσπόρου δυνάσται κεκακωμένην πᾶσαν ὑπὸ τῶν συνεχῶν πολέμων.
And the rulers of the Bosporus hold it, entirely devastated by the continuous wars.
πρότερον δʼ εἶχον ὀλίγην μὲν τὴν πρὸς τῷ στόματι τῆς Μαιώτιδος καὶ τῷ Παντικαπαίῳ μέχρι Θεοδοσίας τῶν Βοσπορίων τύραννοι, τὴν δὲ πλείστην μέχρι τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ καὶ τοῦ κόλπου τοῦ Καρκινίτου Ταῦροι, Σκυθικὸν ἔθνος· καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο ἡ χώρα πᾶσα αὕτη, σχεδὸν δέ τι καὶ ἡ ἔξω τοῦ ἰσθμοῦ μέχρι Βορυσθένους, μικρὰ Σκυθία· διὰ δὲ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐνθένδε περαιουμένων τόν τε Τύραν καὶ τὸν Ἴστρον καὶ ἐποικούντων τὴν γῆν καὶ ταύτης οὐκ ὀλίγη μικρὰ προσηγορεύθη Σκυθία, τῶν Θρᾳκῶν τὰ μὲν τῇ βίᾳ συγχωρούντων τὰ δὲ τῇ κακίᾳ τῆς χώρας· ἑλώδης γάρ ἐστιν ἡ πολλὴ αὐτῆς.
Formerly, the tyrants of the Bosporans held only a small part near the mouth of the Maeotis and Panticapaeum as far as Theodosia, but the Tauri, a Scythian tribe, held most of it as far as the isthmus and the Gulf of Carcinites; and all this country, and almost also that outside the isthmus as far as the Borysthenes, was called Little Scythia; and because of the multitude of those who crossed over from there across both the Tyras and the Ister and colonized the land, not a small part of this also was called Little Scythia, the Thracians yielding partly to force and partly because of the bad quality of the country, for most of it is marshy.