Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/486

 472 STRABO. CASAUB. 307. common in the neighbourhood of the embouchure of the Palus Mseotis ; 1 for the passage from Panticapasum, 2 across to Pha- nagoria, 3 is at times performed in waggons, thus being both a sea passage 4 and an overland route [as the season may de- termine]. There are also fish which are taken in the ice by means of a round net called a gangama, and especially a kind of sturgeon called antacaaus, 5 nearly the size of a dolphin. It is related that Neoptolemus, the general of Mithridates, 6 defeated the barbarians during summer-time in a naval en- gagement in this very strait, and during the winter in a cavalry action. They say that about the Bosphorus the vine is hidden away in the earth in winter, great mounds of mould being piled over it [to preserve it from the frost]. They also report that the heats are excessive, [this may be accounted for in several ways,] perhaps men's bodies not being accus- tomed to them, feel them the more ; perhaps the plains are at that time unrefreshed by winds ; or perhaps the thickness of the air is heated to a great degree, similar to the way in which the misty air is affected in times when a parhelion is observed. It appears that Ateas, 7 who carried on war against Philip, 8 the son of Amyntas, had the rule over most of the barbarians of these parts. 19. After the island 9 situated opposite the mouth of the Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of the Course of Achilles. 10 The district is quite bare, notwith- standing that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles. Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula ; for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two 1 The Strait of Zabache, or leni-Kale. 2 Panticapeeum, now Kertsch or Wospor in Europe. 3 Phanagoria was on the Asiatic coast of the Bosphorus. 4 We entirely agree with Kramer in favouring Coray's emendation of irovv for 7ri]v, the reading of MSS. 5 Herodotus, book iv. chap. 53, says this fishing was carried on in the Dnieper. ^Elian, de Natur. Animal, book xiv. chap. 26, refers it to the Danube. 6 Strabo has before alluded to this fact, book ii. chap. i. 16, p. 114. 7 Lucian, in Macrob. 10, spells his name Anteas, and relates that he was killed in this war when upwards of 90 years of age. 8 Father of Alexander the Great. 9 The Island of Berezan. 10 M, Gossellin identifies this as Cape Czile.