Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/963

 SCYTHIA, anv Tfhulesale cliaiic;e can be proveJ, or even reason- ably supposed. Who can be shown to have eliminated any definite Scythian population from any definite Scytliiaii occupancy? With the Greeks and Ho- mans the negative evidence is nearly conclusive to the fact that no such elimination ever took place. That the Barbarians might have displaced each other is admitted ; but there is no trustworthy evi- dence to their having done so in any single instance. All opinions in favour of such changes rest upon either the loose statements of insufficiently-informed writers, or the supposed necessity of accounting for the appearance and change of certain names by means of certain appearance and changes of popula- tion. The bearings of this will appear in the notice of the Ethnology of Scythia. They appear also under HUNNI. Of the Sacae, eo nomine, the histoiy is obscure. In one sense, indeed, it is a nonentity. There is no classical historian of the Sacae. How far the eth- nologist can ittfer them is a question which will be treated in the sequel. Of the history of the populations akin to the Sacae, the details are important; but then it is a his- tory of the Massagetae, Parthi, &c., a history full of critical preliminaries and points of inference rather than testimony. The Scythia of all the authors between Herodotus and Ptolemy means merely the country of the Scythae, the Scythae being such northern nations as, without being, eo nomine, Sarmatian, were Ha- niasobii and Hippemolgi; their habits of milking their mares and travelling in tented wagons being their most genuine characteristic. These it was which determined the views of even Strabo, whose extension of Germania and Galatia (already noticed) left him no room for a Scythia or even a Sarmatia; Sarmatia, which is to Ptolemy as Germania was to Strabo: for the Sarmatia of Ptolemy leaves no room in Europe for a Scythia; indeed, it cuts deeply into Asiatic Scythia, the only Scythia of Ptolemy. — The Scythia of Ptolemy is exclusively Asiatic, falling into, 1. The Scythia within the Imaus. 2. The Scythia beyond the Imaus. This is a geographical division, not an ethno- logical one. Scythae Alauni are especially recog- nised as a population of European Sarmatia. As Ptolemy's Sarmatia seems to have been formed out of an extension of the area of the Herodotean Sauromatae, his Scythia seems to have grown out of the eastern Scythae of the Herodotean Scythia, i. 8. the Scythae of Orenburg. It did not grow out of the country of the Sacae, inasmuch as they are mentioned separately; even as the Jazyges of the Theiss were separated from the Sarmatians. The continuator, however, of the Herodotean account must make the Sacae Scythians. They may be disposed of first. The Sacae of Ptolemy were bounded by the Sogdians on the west, the Scythians on the north, and the Seres on the east. They were nomads, without towns, and resident in woods and caves. The mountain-range of the Comedi (r} Kaj/nrjSic opeif})) was in their country ; so was the Stone Tower (Ait^iros Vlvpyos^. The populations were: 1, 2. The Caratae and Comari along the Jaxartes. .3. The Comedae, on the Comedian mountain. 4. The JIassagetae along the range of the Ascatancas {'AcrKaTdyKai). 5. In the inteijacent country, the SCYTHIA. 943 Grynaei Scythae; and, 6, the Toornac; south of whom, along the Imaus, 7, the Byltae. (I'tol. vi. 13.) Scythia intra Imaitm. — Bounded on the S. and E. by Sogdiana, Margiana, and the Sacae ; on the W. by the Caspian and Sarmatia Asiatica ; on the N. by a terra incognita; and on the E. by the northern prolongation of the Imaus. (Ptol. vi. 14.) Rivers. -— The Ehymmus, the Daix, the Jaxartes, the lastus, and the Polytimetus. ISloiintains. — The eastern part of the Jlontes Hyperborei, the Montes Alani ((observe the reappear- ance of this name), the Montes Khymmici, the Jlons Norossus, the MM. Aspisii, Tapyri, Syebi, Anarei, — all W. of the Imaus. Populations. — The Alani Scytliae (on the con- fines of the terra incognita), the Suabeni, the Ala- norsi, S. of whom theSaetiani, and Massaei,and Syebi; and (along the Imaus) the Tectosaces and (on the eastern head-waters of the Pha) the Rhobosci, S. of whom the Asmani ; and then the Paniardi, S. of whom, along the river, the district called Canodipsas, S. of which the Coraxi ; then the Orgasi, after whom, as far as the sea (i. e. the Caspian, in this chapter called Hyrcanian), the Erymmi, with the Asiotae on the E. of them, succeeded by the Aorsi ; after whom the Jaxartae, a great nation along the river of the same name ; then S. of the Saetiani, the Mologeni and Samnitae, as far as the BUI. Ilhymmici. Then, S. of the Massaei and MM. Alani, the Zaratae and Sasones ; and further W. and as f;ir as the MAI. Phymmici, the Tybiacae, succeeded by the Tabieni, S. of the Zaratae, and the lastae and Machaetegi along the Mons Norossus ; S. of whom the Norosbes and Norossi, and the Cachagae Scythae along the .Jaxartae. On the W. of the MM. Aspisii, the Aspisii Scythae ; on the E. the Galactophagi Scythae ; E. of the MM. Tapuri and the Suebi, the Tapurei ; and above the MM. Anarei and the Mons Ascatancas, the Scythae Anarei, and the Ascatancae and Ariacae along the Jaxartes, S. of whom the Namastae ; then the Sagaraucae, and, along the Oxus, the Khibii, with their town Davaba. Scythia extra Imaum was bounded by Scythia intra Imaum, the Sacae, the Terra Incognita, and the Seres. It contained the western part of MM. Auxacii, Casii and Emodi, with the source of the river Oechardus. (Ptol. vi. 1.5.) Its Populatio7is were the Abii Scytliae, the Hippo- phagi Scythae, the Cliatae Scythae, the Charaunaei Scythae ; the designation Scythae being applied to each. Districts. — The Auxacitis, the Casia (ji Yiaria. Xiipa), the Achasa (rj 'Axnc" X'^P")- Towns. — Auxacia, Issedon, Scythica, Chaurana, Sceta. The remarks that applied to the Sarmatia Asiatica of Ptolemy apply here. Few names can be safely identified. Keither is it safe to say through what languages the information came. Some words sug- gest a Persian, some a Turk source, some are Mon- gol. Then the geography is obscure. That the range oi Tamer was unduly prolonged northwards is evident [biAUs] ; this being an error of the geo- grapher. The courses, however, of the Oxus and Jaxartes may themselves have changed. The prolongation of the Pamer range being carried in a northern and north-eastern direction, so as to include not only the drainages of the Oxus and Jax- artes, but that of the Balkash LaJce as well, gives us tlic line of the Imaus ; the terra incognita to thu