Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 2.djvu/248

 240 STRABO. CASAUB. 507. to the extremity may exceed that a little, the entrance ap- proaching very near the uninhabited regions. Eratosthenes says that the navigation of this sea was known to the Greeks, that the part of the voyage along the coast of the Albanians and Cadusii 1 comprised 5400 stadia ; and the part along the country of the Anariaci, Mardi, [or Amardi,] and Hyrcani, as far as the mouth of the river Oxus, 2 4800 stadia, and thence to the laxartes 3 2400 stadia. But with respect to the places situated in this portion of Asia, and to those lying so far removed from our own coun- try, we must not understand the accounts of writers in too literal a sense, particularly with regard to distances. 2. Upon sailing into the Caspian, on the right hand, con- tiguous to the Europeans, Scythians and Sarmatians occupy the country between the Tanais and this sea ; they are chiefly Nomades, or shepherd tribes, of whom I have already spoken. On the left hand are the Eastern Scythian Nomades, who extend as far as the Eastern sea, and India. The ancient Greek historians called all the nations towards the north by the common name of Scythians, and Kelto- Scy- thians. Writers still more ancient than these called the nations living above the Euxine, Danube, and Adriatic, Hyperboreans, Sauromatae, and Arimaspi. 4 But in speaking of the nations on the other side the Caspian Sea, they called some Saca?, 5 others Massageta?. They were unable to give any exact ac- count of them, although they relate the history of the war of Cyrus with the Massagetae. Concerning these nations no one has ascertained the truth, and the ancient histories of Persia, Media, and Syria have not obtained much credit on account of the credulity of the writers and their love of fable. 3. For these authors, having observed that those who pro- fessedly were writers of fables obtained repute and success, supposed that they also should make their writings agreeable, 1 The country occupied by the Cadusii of whom Eratosthenes speaks appears to have been the Ghilan, a name probably derived from the Gelae, who are constantly associated with the Cadusii. 2 The Gihon. 3 The Sihon. 4 i. e. the Hyperboreans above the Adriatic, the Sauromatae above the Danube, and the Arimaspi above the Euxine. fi The name Sacae is to be traced in Sakita, a district on the confines of those of Vash and Gil, situated on the north of the Gihon or Oxus, con- sequently in ancient Sogdiana. D'Anville.