CHAP. XCVIII.] POLITICAL CONDITION OF BOSPORUS. 653 was durable as well as intimate; its corn-trade being of high importance to the subsistence of the people. Every Athenian exporter was bound by law to bring his cargo in the first instance to Athens. The freighting and navigating of ships for that purpose, together with the advance of money by rich capitalists (citizens and metics) upon interest and conditions enforced by the Athenian judicature, was a standing and profitable business. And we may appreciate the value of equitable treatment, not to say favour, from the kings of Bosporus-when we contrast it with the fraudulent and extortionate behaviour of Kleomenes, satrap of Egypt, in reference to the export of Egyptian corn'. condition of of Bosporus called archons The political condition of the Greeks at Bos- Political porus was somewhat peculiar. The hereditary the Greeks princes (above enumerated), who ruled them sub-the stantially as despots, assumed no other title (in princes respect to the Greeks) than that of Archon. They themselves paid tribute to the powerful Scythian tribes who their bounded them on the European side, and even barbaric thought it necessary to carry a ditch across the tribes. narrow isthmus, from some point near Theodosia northward to the Palus Mæotis, as a protection against incursions. Their dominion did not extend farther west than Theodosia; this ditch was their The name stands Berisades as printed in the oration; but it is plain that Parisades is the person designated. See Boeckh, Introd. ad Inscr. No. 2056, p. 92. Deinarchus avers, that Demosthenes received an annual present of 1000 modii of corn from Bosporus. 1 Demosthen. adv. Dionysodor. p. 1285. 2 Strabo, vii. p. 310, 311. pire over B.C. 310304. Family feuds among the extreme western boundary; and even for the land within it, they paid tribute. But on the Asiatic side of the strait, they were lords paramount for a considerable distance, over the feebler and less warlike tribes who pass under the common name of Mæotæ or Mæêtæ-the Sindi, Toreti, Dandarii, Thatês, &c. Inscriptions, yet remaining, of Parisades I. record him as King of these various barbaric tribes, but as Archon of Bosporus and Theodosia1. His dominion on the Asiatic side of the Kimmerian Bosporus, sustained by Grecian and Thracian mercenaries, was of considerable (though to us unknown) extent, reaching to somewhere near the borders of Caucasus2. Parisades I. on his death left three sons-Satyrus, Prytanis, and Eumelus. Satyrus, as the eldest, succeeded; but Eumelus claimed the crown, sought Bosporanic aid without, and prevailed on various neighbours -among them a powerful Thracian king named Satyrus and Ariopharnes-to espouse his cause. At the head of an army said to consist of 20,000 horse and princes war be tween Eumelus death of Satyrus II. 1 See Inscript. Nos. 2117, 2118, 2119, in Boeckh's Collection, p. 156. In the Memorabilia of Xenophon (ii. 1, 10), Sokrates cites the Scythians as an example of ruling people, and the Mæotæ as an example of subjects. Probably this refers to the position of the Bosporanic Greeks, who paid tribute to the Scythians, but ruled over the Mæotæ. The name Mæotæ seems confined to tribes on the Asiatic side of the Palus Mæotis; while the Scythians were on the European side of that Sokrates and the Athenians had good means of being informed about the situation of the Bosporani and their neighbours on both sides. See K. Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande, b. ii. p. 216. sea. This boundary is attested in another Inscription No. 2104, of the same collection. Inscription No. 2103, seems to indicate Arcadian mercenaries in the service of Leukon: about the mercenaries, see Diodor. xx. 22. Parisades I. is said to have been worshiped as a God, after his death (Strabo, vii. p. 310). CHAP. XCVIII.] FEUDS OF THE BOSPORANIC PRINCES. 655 22,000 foot, the two allies marched to attack the territories of Satyrus, who advanced to meet them, with 2000 Grecian mercenaries, and 2000 Thracians of his own, reinforced by a numerous body of Scythian allies-20,000 foot, and 10,000 horse, and carrying with him a plentiful supply of provisions in waggons. He gained a complete victory, compelling Eumelus and Ariopharnes to retreat and seek refuge in the regal residence of the latter, near the river Thapsis; a fortress built of timber, and surrounded with forest, river, marsh, and rock, so as to be very difficult of approach. Satyrus, having first plundered the country around, which supplied a rich booty of prisoners and cattle, proceeded to assail his enemies in their almost impracticable position. But though he, and Meniskus his general of mercenaries, made the most strenuous efforts, and even carried some of the outworks, they were repulsed from the fortress itself; and Satyrus, exposing himself forwardly to extricate Meniskus, received a wound of which he shortly died-after a reign of nine months. Meniskus, raising the siege, withdrew the army to Gargaza; from whence he conveyed back the regal corpse to Pantikapæum1. 1 1 Diodor. xx. 24. The scene of these military operations (as far as we can pretend to make it out from the brief and superficial narrative of Diodorus), seems to have been on the European side of Bosporus; somewhere between the Borysthenes river and the Isthmus of Perekop, in the territory called by Herodotus Hylaa. This is Niebuhr's opinion, which I think more probable than that of Boeckh, who supposes the operations to have occurred on the Asiatic territory of Bosporus. So far I concur with Niebuhr; but his reasons for placing Dromichætes king of the Geta (the victor over Lysimachus), east of the Borysthenes, are noway satisfactory. Compare Niebuhr's Untersuchungen über die Skythen, &c. (in his B.C. 309. Civil war between Prytanis and Eumelus victory of Eumelus wives, children, and friends of his brother. Prytanis, the next brother, rejecting an offer of partition tendered by Eumelus, assumed the sceptre, and marched forth to continue the struggle. But the tide of fortune now turned in favour of Eumelus; who took Gargaza with several other places, worsted he kills the his brother in battle, and so blocked him up in the isthmus near the Palus Mæotis, that he was forced to capitulate and resign his pretensions. Eumelus entered Pantikapæum as conqueror. Nevertheless, the defeated Prytanis, in spite of his recent covenant, made a renewed attempt upon the crown; wherein he was again baffled, forced to escape to Kêpi, and there slain. To assure himself of the throne, Eumelus put to death the wives and children of both his two brothers, Satyrus and Prytanistogether with all their principal friends. One youth alone-Parisades, son of Satyrus-escaped and found protection with the Scythian prince Agarus. His reign and con speedy death. Eumelus had now put down all rivals; yet his quests-his recent cruelties had occasioned wrath and disgust among the Bosporanic citizens. He convoked them in assembly, to excuse his past conduct, and promised good government for the future; at the same time guaranteeing to them their full civic constitution, with such privileges and immunities Kleine Schriften, p. 380), with Boeckh's Commentary on the Sarmatian The mention by Diodorus of a wooden fortress, surrounded by morass and forest, is curious, and may be illustrated by the description in Herodotus (iv. 108) of the city of the Budini. This habit, of building towns and fortifications of wood, prevailed among the Slavonic population in Russia and Poland until far down in the middle ages. See Paul Joseph Schaffarik, Slavische Alterthümer, in the German translation of Wuttke, vol. i. ch. 10. p. 192; also K. Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande, p. 91. CHAP. XCVIII.] POWER OF EUMELUS. 657 as they had before enjoyed, and freedom from direct taxation'. Such assurances, combined probably with an imposing mercenary force, appeased or at least silenced the prevailing disaffection. Eumelus kept his promises so far as to govern in a mild and popular spirit. While thus rendering himself acceptable at home, he maintained an energetic foreign policy, and made several conquests among the surrounding tribes. He constituted himself a sort of protector of the Euxine, repressing the piracies of the Heniochi and Achæi (among the Caucasian mountains to the east) as well as of the Tauri in the Chersonesus (Crimea); much to the satisfaction of the Byzantines, Sinopians, and other Pontic Greeks. He received a portion of the fugitives from Kallatis, when besieged by Lysimachus, and provided for them a settlement in his dominions. Having thus acquired great reputation, Eumelus was in the full career of conquest and aggrandisement, when an accident terminated his life, after a reign of rather more than five years. In returning from Scythia to Pantikapæum, in a fourwheeled carriage (or waggon) and four with a tent upon it, his horses took fright and ran away. Perceiving that they were carrying him towards a precipice, he tried to jump out; but his sword becoming entangled in the wheel, he was killed on the spot2. He was succeeded by his son Spartokus IV., who reigned twenty years (304-284 B.C.); afterwards came the son of Spartokus, Parisades II.; with whose name our information breaks off3. 1 Diodor. xx. 24. 2 Diodor. xx. 25. 3 Diodor.xx.100. Spartokus IV.-son of Eumelus-is recognized in VOL. XII. 2 U |