Histories

The fourth is the Borysthenes river. This is the next greatest after the Ister, and the most productive, in our judgment, not only of the Scythian but of all rivers, except the Egyptian Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile, with which no other river can be compared.

But of the rest, the +Dnepr (river), Europe Borysthenes is the most productive; it provides the finest and best-nurturing pasture lands for beasts, and the fish in it are beyond all in their excellence and abundance. Its water is most sweet to drink, flowing with a clear current, whereas the other rivers are turbid. There is excellent soil on its banks, and very rich grass where the land is not planted;

and self-formed crusts of salt abound at its mouth; it provides great spineless fish, called sturgeons, for salting, and many other wonderful things besides.

Its course is from the north, and it is known as far as the Gerrhan land; that is, for forty days' voyage; beyond that, no one can say through what nations it flows; but it is plain that it flows through desolate country to the land of the farming Scythians, who live beside it for a ten days' voyage.

This is the only river, besides the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile, whose source I cannot identify; nor, I think, can any Greek. When the +Dnepr (river), Europe Borysthenes comes near the sea, the Hypanis mingles with it, running into the same marsh;

the land between these rivers, where the land projects like a ship's beak, is called Hippolaus' promontory; a temple of Demeter stands there. The settlement of the Borystheneïtae is beyond the temple, on the Hypanis.