Res Gestae

Behind these dwell the inhabitants of the Cimmercian Bosporus, where Milesian cities are, and Panticapaeum, the mother, so to speak, of all; this the river Hypanis washes, swollen with its own and tributary waters.

Next, at a considerable distance, are the Amazons, who extend to the Caspian Sea and live about the Tanaïs,[*](To-day the Don.) which rises among the crags of Caucasus, flows in a course

Near this is the river Ra,[*](Now the Volga.) on whose banks grows a plant of the same name, the root of which is used for many medicinal purposes.[*](Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum, Linnaeus), the vegetable radix Pontica (Celsus, v. 23, 3); the drug is made from Chinese rhubarbs.)

Beyond the Tanais the Sauromatae have a territory of wide extent, through which flow the never - failing rivers Maraccus, Rombites, Theophanes and Totordanes. However, there is also another nation of the Sauromatae, an enormous distance away, extending along the shore which receives the river Corax and pours it far out into the Euxine Sea.

Nearby is the Maeotic Gulf[*](The Sea of Azov.) of wide circuit, from whose abundant springs a great body of water bursts through the narrows of Panticapes into the Pontus. On its right side are the islands Phanagorus and Hermonassa, founded by the industry of the Greeks.