BOOK VI. IV. 14-V. 17 



Chrysorrhoas, the Absilae tribe, the fortress of 

 Sebastopol 100 niile.s from Phasis, the Sanicae tribe, 

 the town of Cygnus, the rivcr and town of Penius ; 

 and then tribes of the Charioteers 'WTth a variety of 

 names. 



V. Below this lies the Black Sea district named CoUea. 

 Colica, in which the Caucasus range curves round 

 to the Ripaean Mountains, as we have previously v. 98. 

 statetl, one side sloping down towards the Black Sea 

 and the Sea of Azov, and the other towards the 

 Caspian and Ilyrcanian Sea. The tribes occupying 

 almost all the rcst of the coasLs are the Blackcloalcs 

 and the Coraxi, witli the Colcliian city of Dioscurias 

 on the river Anthemus, now deserted, but once so 

 farnoiis that according to Timosthenes 300 tribes 

 speakiiig different languages used to resort to it ; and 

 subsequently bu.^^iness was carried on there by Roman 

 traders with the help of a staff of 130 interpreters. 

 Some people think that Dioscui*ias was founded 

 by tlie charioteers of Ca.stor and Polhix, Ampliitus 

 and TlielchiiLS, froni whom it is virtually certain that 

 the CharioLeer tribe are descended. The town of 

 Heracleum is 100 miles from Dioscurias and 70 miles 

 from Sebastopol. The tribes herc are the Achaei, 

 Mardi and Cercetae, and after these the Serri and 

 Ceplialotomi. In the interior of this region was the 

 extremely wealthy town of Pityus, which was sacked 

 by the Charioteers. Behind Pityus are the Epagerri- 

 tae, a Sarmntian people on the Caucasus range, and 

 after them come the Sauromatians. It was with 

 this tribe that Mithridates " took refuge in the 

 principate of Claudius, and from him we learn tliat 

 there is a neighbouring tribe, the Thali, who on the 

 eastem side extend to the mouth * of the Caspian 



349 



