12 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VI. 



which, the mountain chain of Caucasus bends away towards the 

 Biphsean mountains, as we have previously 17 mentioned; one 

 side running down towards the Euxine and. the Lake Mseotis, 

 the other towards the Caspian and the Hyrcanian sea. The 

 remaining portion of these shores is peopled by savage nations, 

 the Melanchla3ni, 18 and the Coraxi, who formerly dwelt in Dios- 

 curias, 19 near the river Anthemus, now deserted, but once a 

 famous city ; so much so, indeed, that we learn from Timos- 

 thenes, that three hundred nations, all of different languages, 

 were in the habit of resorting to it, and in later times we had 

 there one hundred and thirty interpreters for the purpose of 

 transacting business. There are some authors who are of 

 opinion that this place was built by Amphitus and Telchius, 

 the charioteers 20 of Castor and Pollux, from whom it is gene- 

 rally understood that the nation of the Heniochi sprang. After 

 passing Dioscurias we come to the town of Heracleium, 21 

 seventy miles distant from Sebastopolis, and then the Achsei, 23 

 the Mardi, 23 and the Cercetse, 24 and, behind them, the Cerri and 

 the Cephalotomi. 25 In the innermost part 26 of this district 

 there was Pityus, 27 a city of very considerable opulence, but 



17 In B. v. c. 27. 



18 Or nation " with the black cloaks," from some peculiarity in their 

 dress. 



19 This was the great trading-place of the wild tribes in the interior ; 

 and so numerous were they, that the Greeks asserted that there were seventy 

 different languages spoken in the market of Dioscurias. 



20 Whence the appellation Heniochi^ from the Greek ^vio^bq. 



21 There were two places called Heracleium on this coast, one north and 

 the other south of the river Achseus : prohably the latter is here meant. 



22 Said to have been descended from the Achseans or Greeks who ac- 

 companied Jason in the Argonautic Expedition, or, according to Ammi- 

 anus, who resorted thither after the conclusion of the Trojan war. 



33 Probably meaning the "martial people," or the "people of Mars." 

 This was the title, not of a single nation, but of a number of peoples dis- 

 tinguished for their predatory habits. 



24 This people occupied the 1S.E. shore of the Euxine, between the 

 Cimmerian Bosporus and the frontier of Colchis. Their name is still in 

 existence, and is applied to the whole western district of the Caucasus, in 

 the forms of Tcherkas, as applied to the people, and Tcherkeskaia or Cir- 

 cassia, to the country. 



25 Hardouin suggests that these ought to be read as forming one name, 

 the "Cerri Cephalatomi," and suggests that they were so called from their 

 habit of cutting off the heads of their slain enemies. 



26 Meaning, nearly in the extreme corner cf Pontus. 



27 In the time of Strabo this was a considerable sea-port, and after its 



