Listed 1 sub titles with search on: The inhabitants for wider area of: "TAVRIS Peninsula SKYTHIA" .
TAVRIS (Peninsula) SKYTHIA
Tauri (Tauroi, Strab. vii. p. 308), the inhabitants of the Chersonesus
Taurica, or modern Crimea. They were probably the remains of the Cimmerians, who
were driven out of the Chersonese by the Scythians. (Herod. iv. 11, 12; Heeren,
Ideen, i. 2. p. 271; Mannert, iv. p. 278.) They seem to have been divided into
several tribes: but the two main divisions of them were the nomad Tauri and the
agricultural. (Strab. vii. p. 311.) The former possessed the northern part of
the country, and lived on meat, mare's milk, and cheese prepared from it. The
agricultural Tauri were somewhat more civilised; yet altogether they were a rude
and savage people, delighting in war and plunder, and particularly addicted to
piracy. (Herod. iv. 103; Strab. vii. p. 308; Mela, ii. 1; Tac. Ann. xii. 17.),
Nevertheless, in early times at least, they appear to have been united under a
monarchical government (Herod. iv. 119). Their religion was particularly gloomy
and horrible, consisting of human sacrifices to a virgin goddess, who, according
to Ammianus Marcelinus (xxii. 8. s. 34), was named Oreiloche, though the Greeks
regarded her as identical with Their Artemis, and called her Tauropolos. (Soph.
Aj. 172; Eur. Iph. Taur. 1457; Diod. iv. 44; Ach. Tat. viii. 2; Strab. xiii. 535;
Bockh, Inscr. ii. p. 89.) These victims consisted of shipwrecked persons, or Greeks
that fell into their. hands. After killing them, they stuck their heads upon poles,
or, according to Ammianus (l. c.), affixed them to the wall of the temple, whilst
they cast down the bodies from the rock on which the temple stood. (Herod. iv.
103; Ov. ex Pont. iii. 2 45, seq., Trist. iv. 4. 63.) According to a tradition
among the Tauri themselves, this goddess was Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon
(Herod. l. c.) They had also a custom of cutting off the heads of prisoners of
war, and setting them on poles above the chimneys of their houses, which usage
they regarded as a protection of their dwellings (lb). If the king died, all his
dearest friends were buried with him. On the decease of a friend of the king's,
he either cut off the whole or part of the deceased person's ear, according to
his dignity. (Nic. Damasc. p. 160, Orell.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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