Chap. 24.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTBIES, ETC. 327 



In the middle of the curve it is joined by the mouth of 

 Lake Mreotis, which is called the Cimmerian^ Bosporus, 

 and is two miles and a half in width. Between the two 

 Bospori, the Thracian and the Cimmerian, there is a distance 

 in a straight line, of 500 miles, as Polybius informs us. We 

 learn from Varro and most of the ancient writers, that the 

 circumference of the Euxine is altogether 2150 miles ; but 

 to this number Cornelius Nepos adds 350 more; while 

 Artemidorus makes it 2919 miles, Agrippa 2360, and Mu- 

 cianus 2425. In a similar manner some writers have fixed 

 the length of the European shores of this sea at 1478 miles, 

 others again at 1172. M. Varro gives the measurement as 

 follows: — from the mouth of the Euxine to ApoUonia 187 

 miles, and to Callatis the same distance; thence to the 

 mouth of the Ister 125 miles ; to the Borysthenes 250 ; to 

 Chersonesus^, a town of the Heracleotae, 325 ; to Pantica- 

 paeum^, by some called Bosporus, at the very extremity of 

 the shores of Europe, 212 miles : the whole of which added 

 together, makes 1337^ miles. Agrippa makes the distance 

 from Byzantium to the river Ister 560 miles, and from 

 thence to Panticapseum, 635. 



Lake Mseotis, which receives the river Tanais as it flows 

 from the Biphaean Mountains*, and forms the extreme boun- 

 dary between Europe and Asia, is said to be 1406 miles in 

 circumference; which however some writers state at only 

 1125. From the entrance of this lake to the mouth of the 

 Tanais in a straight line is, it is generally agreed, a distance 

 of 375 miles. 



The inhabitants of the coasts of this fourth great G-ulf of 



* Now the Straits of Kaffa or Enikale. 



* This town lay about the middle of the Tauric Chersonesus or Crimea, 

 and was situate on a small peninsula, called the Smaller Chersonesus, to 

 distinguish it from the larger one, of which it formed a part. It was 

 founded by the inhabitants of the Pontic Heraclea, or Heracleium, the 

 site of which is unknown. See note ^ to p. 333. 



* Now Kertsch, in the Crimea. It derived its name from the river 

 Panticapes ; and was fotmded by the Milesians about B.C. 541. It was 

 the residence of the Greek kings of Bosporus, and hence it was some- 

 times so called. •* " Thirty-six" properly. 



5 The Tanais or Don does not rise in the Riphsean Mountains, or 

 western branch of the Uralian chain, but on slightly elevated ground in 

 the centre of European Kussia. 



