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The European Expedition of Darius

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Abstract

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Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright The Classical Association 1897

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References

page 277 note 1 In App. II. Geography of Scythia, and App. III. The Date, Motives, and Course of the Expedition of Dareios in Europe, in Herodotus, Vol. II. NO. XCVIII. VOL. XI.

page 277 note 2 IV. p. 1901.

page 278 note 1 For the Tyras or Dniester it may be urged there is something to be said on evidence outside Herodotus altogether. The notice of Strabo of the Desert of the Getae between the Pruth and the Dniester, and of the Dniester as the limit of the Persian expedition, lends itself of course to reconstruction. But what was the source of Strabo (or Ephorus) ? How do we know that it was any source independent of Herodotus ? Mr. Macan justly observes that the record may be in part or in whole a product of reflection and criticism, rather than a survival of living memory and tradition (p 47). Nor can we practically deal with the notice of Ctesias, or put any confidence in the fifteen days' march and the exchange of bows.

page 278 note 2 And it is the conquest of Thrace without doubt that Darius means when he records an expedition overseas against the Scyths. Records of the Past, 9, 68,

page 278 note 3 This seems to be Mr. Macan's opinion. Duncker has done more than any other scholar to rescue the story of events beyond the Danube from total and indiscriminate condemnation. The itemsyield an historical deposit (op. cit. p. 47). But on the same page he speaks doubtfully: If Dareios crossed the Danube at all, if the passage of the river be anything more than an exaggerated replica of the passage of the Bosphorus, &c. Duncker's line of argument is not altogether convincing.

page 279 note 1 C. 124 These words do not suggest to me that Herodotus desired to leave the impression that he had seen them, without seating it. But they do imply that he had special reasons for believing the to exist.

page 280 note 1 The name Lykos seems also out of place in the Maeotic region. This river, like the Hypakyris, Gerros, and Pantikapes, remains unexplained. To interpret the Oaros as the Volga is to enter a new region and new difficulties. I cannot see the slightest plausibility in going to Hunnic (var, fluentum) and Lesghian (wor, river) for the etymology of the name. With our present lights, Iordanes cannot safely be used for the illustration of Herodotus.

page 280 note 2 C. 48,

page 280 note 3 The earliest mention I remember of the name in its modern form is in the De Adm. Imp. of Constantine Porph., c. 38, p. 171, ed. Bonn, . In the same passage the Pruth is .

page 281 note 1 Xnopol maintains this view, I believe rightly (Hist, des Roumains de la Dacie Trajane, i. p. 11); but in doing so, he makes a curious mistake. He says that Strabo (7, 3, 13) states that Trajan sent boats with provisions up the Maris.

page 281 note 2 IV. c. 104.

page 282 note 1 Cp. Jung, Die Rmer und Romanen, p. 44.

page 282 note 2 Macan, op. cit. p. 48, It seems improbable that Dareios voluntarily cut his communications with the Danube:rather, impossible, in the circumstances it seems probable that they were cut, and therefore cut by the Scythians.

page 282 note 3 C. 136 sqq. The name of the chieftain Skopasis should be claimed as Daco-Thracian. is Thracian (cf. C.I.A. 3, 2496). The Aga-thyrsi were a Dacian people, as the name shows, and Idan-thyrsus too is clearly Dacian (presumably Aga-thyrsian) not Iranian. Nor is even the third leader, Taxakis, necessarily of Iranian character (for the termination cp. Thracian Ῥ).