Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/590

 672 CAUCASUS. extent, containing in itself nnmerons peoples of all kinds (xcarroioj i. e. of all known races), respecting whom, however, the Persians do not seem to have had anj exact knowledge to commonicate. (Herod, i. 203, 204, followed bj Aristot Meteor, i. IS.) He knew of the great pass at the E. extremity of the chain {Pass o/Derbend)^ by which, he tells us, the Scythians invaded W. Asia (i. 104, iv. 12). After Herodotus the knowledge of the Greeks respecting Caucasus seems to have gone backward. Impressed with vague ideas of its magnitude and remoteness, they regarded its ascent as an achievement worthy of the greatest of conquerors (Strab. xi. pp. 505, 506) ; and so, when Alexander passed the Paropa- misus, the honour of having scaled the heights of Caucasus was assigned to him by the flattery rather than the ignorance of his followers, who transferred the ancient name to the scene of his achievements. The name is used by the geographers rather more frequently for the Indian than the W. mountain ; and the former still retains the name, as the Hindoo Koosh. [Paropamisus.] The glory of having reached, though not of actually crossing, the real Caucasus, was reserved for Pompey, when his pursuit of Mithridstes led him into Iberia and Albania, b. c. 65. (Pint. Pomp. 34, et seq., fjuctdl. 14; Appian Mithr. 103.) The knowledge (Stained in this expedition enabled Strabo to give a description of the Caucasus, to which very little was added by later writers (ii. p. 1 18). His chief passages are in the 11th Book. The mountain, he says, overhangs each of the two seas, the Pontic and the Caspian, and forms a wall across the isthmus which separates them. It is the boun- dary between Albania and Iberia on the S. and the plains of the Sarmatians on the N. It is well wooded with all sorts of timber, includmg that fit for shipbuilding. It throws out branches towards the S., which surround Iberia, and join on to the moun> tains of Armenia and Colchis (oomp. pp. 500, 527), and to those called MoscHici,and moreover to the chains of Sctdises and Paryadres, by which it is connected with the Taurus system. The na- tives, according to Eratosthenes, called the Caucasus Caspius. (Strab. xi. p. 497.) In another passage he gives a more particular description of the inhabitants (xi. p. 506). The loftiest parts of the chain are those on its S. side, adjacent to Albania, Iberia, and the Colchi and Heuiochi. The inhabitants, whom he calls by the general name of KavKdatoi, and among whom he particularly mentions the Phthbirophaoi and SoAKES, frequent the city of Dioscurias, chiefly to obtain salt. (Com p. pp. 498, 499.) Some of them inhabit the summits of the mountains (he must mean the lower summits) and others the wooded valleys, and they live for the most part on game, wild fruits, and milk. In winter the summits are inaccessible, but in summer they mount over the snow and ice by means of broad snow-shoes furnished with spikes (one almost wonders that the alpautock does not appear), and they glide down again with their bur- thens on a hide as a sledge. As you descend the N. slopes, the climate, in spite of the nearer approach to the N., becomes milder, from its proximity to the plains of the Siracae. But there are some Troglo- dytes, who dwell in caves on account of the cold; and after them are the Chaeonoetae and Polyphagi, and the villages of the Eisadicae, who are able to till the soil, on account of not being too far N. : and thus you descend to the great plain of Sarmatia. CAUCONES. Elsewhere he enumerates the peoples on tiie N. of the Caucasus, between the Euxine and Caspian, namely, the Sauromatae, Scythians (Aond and Siraci), Achaei, Zygi, and Heniochi, the last three peoples being within the Caucasus itself (iL pi 129, xi. fp. 492, 495, 498, 499). In his account of certain extraordinary customs of the Caucasians and other mountaineers (xL 519, 520), his language is so general, that it may apply to the tribes either of Caucasus Proper or of the Indian Caucasus. The E. part of the chain, near the Caspian, and forming part of the K. boundary of Albania, be calls the Ceraunii Mtns. (r3t Kcpa^ia ^ir), and in them he places the Amazons (xL pp. 501, 504; Plot. Pomp. 35 ; comp. CsRAUini M.). Mela merely makes a passing mention of the Caucasus as one of many names applied to the mountains of the Caucasian isthmus (i. 19); and Pliny scarcely notices them more particularlj (v. 27, vi. 4, 5, 10. B. 1 1, &c.): he tells us that the Scythians called the mountains GraucasiSf i. e. wAste with snow (vi. 17. s. 19). Seneca calls it mcosus (Here. Oet 1451). Its great height is often noticed (Aristot. Meteor, i. 13; Prooop. B. G. iv. 3); and it is compared, in this respect, by Agatherocrua (iL 9) to the Rhipaean mountains, and by Arrian (PeripL p. 12) to the Alps. To the notices in Pbdemy and Dionysius Periegetes a mere reference is suflKcaeat. (Ptol. V. 9. §§ 14, 15, 22, 10. § 4, 12. § 4; DioDjs. Per. 663, comp. Eustath. ad he.: see abo OWd. Met. iL 224, viL 798: comp. CsRAUirn M ) In ancient times, as is still the case, the Caucasus was inhabited by a great variety of tribes, speaking different hnguages (Strabo says, at least 70), bat all belonging to that family of the human race, which has peopled Europe and W. Asia, and which has obtained the name of Caucasian from the fact that in no other part of the world are such perfect examples of it found, as among the mountainecrB of the Caucasus. Passes of the Caucasus. — ^Therearetwochief passes over the chain, both of which were known to the an- cients : the one, between the E. extremity of its chief NE. spur and the Caspian, near Derhend, was called Albaniae and sometimes Caspiae Pylae [Albania] : the other, nearly in the centre of the range, was called Caucasiae, or Sarmaticae Pylae (Pom of 2>arM). But there is so much confusion in the names used by the ancient writers, that it is often di£Bcult to make out which of the two passes they mean. (Plin. v. 27, vi. 11. s. 12, 15; PtoL v. 9. § 11; Suet Ner. 19; Tac. HisL L 6, claustra Caspiarttm ; Aim. vi. 33, via Caspia"). [P. S.] CAUCASUS TNDICUS. [Paropamisus.] CAUCHABE'NI (Kavxatf^roO^ » People of Arabia Deserta, bordering on the Euj^rates. (PtoL V. 19.) [G. W.] CAUCHI. [Chauci.] CAUCI, a population of the eastern coast of Ire- land, contiguous to the Menapii. For the difficulties caused by tinis juxtaposition, see Mbnapu. [R. G. L.] CAUCO'NES (Kai^Kwrer), are mentioned by Ho- mer, along with the Leleges and Pelasgians, as auxiliaries of the Trojans. (//. x. 429, xx. 329.) According to Strabo, they dwelt near the Marian- dyni, upon the sea-coast of Bithynia and Paphla- gonia, and had possession of the dty Tieium. The most different opinions pivvailed respecting their origin; some supposing them to be Scythians, otheis Macedonians, and others again Pelas^ans. (Strabp viii. p. 345, xii. p. 542.)