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478

STRABO.

CASAUB. 311.

Asiatic side is not without inhabitants. The whole circumference of the lake is 9000 stadia.

The Great Chersonesus resembles Peloponnesus both in figure and size. The kings of the Bosporus possess it, but the whole country has been devastated by continual wars. They formerly possessed a small tract only at the mouth of the [Palus] Mæotis near Panticapæum, extending as far as Theodosia. The largest part of the territory, as far as the isthmus and the Gulf Carcinites, was in possession of the Tauri, a Scythian nation. The whole of this country, comprehending also a portion on the other side of the isthmus as far as the Dnieper, was called Little Scythia. In consequence of the number of people who passed from thence across the Dniester and the Danube, and settled there, no small part of that country also bore the name of Little Scythia. The Thracians surrendered a part of it to superior force, and a part was abandoned on account of the bad quality of the ground, a large portion of which is marshy.

6. Except the mountainous tract of the Chersonesus on the sea-coast, extending as far as Theodosia, all the rest consist of plains, the soil of which is rich, and remarkably fertile in corn. It yields thirty-fold, when turned up by the most ordinary implements of husbandry. The tribute paid to Mithridates by the inhabitants, including that from the neighbourhood of Sindace in Asia, amounted to 180,000 medimni of corn, and 200 talents of silver. The Greeks in former times imported from this country corn, and the cured fish of Palus Mæotis. Leucon is said to have sent to the Athenians 2,100,000 medimni of corn from Theodosia.^[1]

↑ The amount is enormous, if it refers to the quantity of corn shipped in a single year. Neither manuscripts nor translations afford any various reading. The abbreviator, however, instead of 2,100,000, (μυριάδας μεδίμνων διακοσίας καὶ δέκα,) gives 150,000 (μεδίμνους ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΙΕ). But instead of correcting Strabo by his abbreviator, it is more probable that the text of the latter should be changed to 2,100,000, or even to 2,150,000 (ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΣΙΕ). Brequigny, by an oversight, or because he thought proper to change the ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ of the text to ΧΙΛΙΑΔΑΣ, translates 210,000 medimni. However it may be, we know from Demosthenes, that this same prince of the Bosporus mentioned by Strabo, sent annually to Athens 400,000 medimni of corn, a quantity far below that mentioned in the text. To reconcile these authors, Mr. Wolf supposes that we ought to understand by 2,100,000 medimni of corn, the shipment made in the year of the great famine, which occurred in the

[p478-1] The amount is enormous, if it refers to the quantity of corn shipped in a single year. Neither manuscripts nor translations afford any various reading. The abbreviator, however, instead of 2,100,000, (μυριάδας μεδίμνων διακοσίας καὶ δέκα,) gives 150,000 (μεδίμνους ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΙΕ). But instead of correcting Strabo by his abbreviator, it is more probable that the text of the latter should be changed to 2,100,000, or even to 2,150,000 (ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ ΣΙΕ). Brequigny, by an oversight, or because he thought proper to change the ΜΥΡΙΑΔΑΣ of the text to ΧΙΛΙΑΔΑΣ, translates 210,000 medimni. However it may be, we know from Demosthenes, that this same prince of the Bosporus mentioned by Strabo, sent annually to Athens 400,000 medimni of corn, a quantity far below that mentioned in the text. To reconcile these authors, Mr. Wolf supposes that we ought to understand by 2,100,000 medimni of corn, the shipment made in the year of the great famine, which occurred in the

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