Pomponius Mela

[31] super Albim Codanus ingens sinus magnis parvisque insulis refertus est. hac re mare quod gremio litorum accipitur nusquam late patet nec usquam mari simile, verum aquis passim (20) interfluentibus ac saepe transgressis vagum atque diffusum facie amnium spargitur; qua litora adtingit, ripis contentum insularum non longe distantibus et ubique paene tantundem, it angustum et par freto, curvansque se subinde longo supercilio inflexum est. [32] In eo (25) sunt Cimbri et Teutoni, ultra ultimi Germaniae Hermiones.

[36] (15) Inde Asiae confinia nisi ubi perpetuae hiemes sedent et intolerabilis rigor. Scythici populi incolunt, fere omnes et in unum Belcae adpellati. in Asiatico litore primi Hyperborei super aquilonem Riphaeosque montes sub ipso siderum cardine iacent; ubi sol non (20) cotidie ut nobis sed primum verno aequinoctio exortus autumnali demum occidit; ideo sex mensibus dies et totidem aliis nox usque continua est. [37] terra angusta aprica per se fertilis. cultores iustissimi et diutius quam ulli mortalium et beatius vivunt. quippe festo (25) semper otio laeti non bella novere non iurgia, sacris operati maxime Apollinis, quorum primitias Delon misisse initio per virgines suas, deinde per populos subinde tradentes ulterioribus, moremque eum diu et donec vitio gentium temeratus est servasse referuntur. (30) habitant lucos silvasque, et ubi eos vivendi satietas magis quam taedium cepit, hilares redimiti sertis semet ipsi in pelagus ex certa rupe praecipites dant.

[54] triginta sunt (10) Orcades angustis inter se diductae spatiis, septem Haemodae contra Germaniam vectae. in illo sinu quem Codanum diximus eximia Scadinavia, quam adhuc Teutoni tenent, et ut fecunditate alias ita magnitudine antestat. [55] quae Sarmatis adversa sunt ob alternos (15) accessus recursusque pelagi, et quod spatia quis distant modo operiuntur undis modo nuda sunt, alias insulae videntur alias una et continens terra. [56] in his esse Oeonas, qui ovis avium palustrium et avenis tantum alantur, esse equinis pedibus Hippopodas et Panuatios (20) quibus magnae aures et ad ambiendum corpus omne patulae nudis alioquin pro veste sint, praeterquam quod fabulis traditur, apud auctores etiam quos sequi non pigeat invenio. [57] Thyle Belcarum litori adposita est, Grais et nostris celebrata carminibus. in ea, quod (25) ibi sol longe occasurus exsurgit, breves utique noctes sunt, sed per hiemem sicut aliubi obscurae, aestate lucidae, quod per id tempus iam se altius evehens, quamquam ipse non cernatur, vicino tamen splendore proxima inlustrat, per solstitium vero nullae, quod (5) tum iam manifestior non fulgorem modo sed sui quoque partem maximam ostentat. [58] Talge in Caspio mari sine cultu fertilis, omni fruge ac fructibus abundans, sed vicini populi quae gignuntur adtingere nefas et pro sacrilegio habent, diis parata existimantes (10) diisque servanda. aliquot et illis oris quas desertas diximus aeque desertae adiacent, quas sine propriis nominibus Scythicas vocant.

31. On the other side of the Albis [Elbe], the huge Codanus Bay [Baltic Sea] is filled with big and small islands. For this reason, where the sea is received within the fold of the bay, it never lies wide open and never really looks like a sea but is sprinkled around, rambling and scattered like rivers, with water flowing in every direction and crossing many times. Where the sea comes into contact with the mainland, the sea is contained by the banks of islands, banks that are not far offshore and that are virtually equidistant everywhere. There the sea runs a narrow course like a strait, then, curving, it promptly adapts to a long brow of land. 32. On the bay are the Cimbri and the Teutoni; farther on, the farthest people of Germany, the Hermiones.

36. After that, the Scythian peoples - almost all designated under one name as the Belcae - inhabit the Asian frontier except where winter remains continuous and the cold remains unbearable. On the Asiatic litoral, first of all, the Hyperboreans are located beyond the north wind, above the Riphaean Mountains, and under the very pole of the stars, where the sun rises, not every day as it does for us, but for the first time at the vernal equinox, and where it eventually sets at the autumnal equinox. Therefore, for six months daylight is completely uninterrupted, an for the next six months night is completely uninterrupted. 37. The land is narrow, exposed to the sun, and spontaneously fruitful. Its inhabitants live in the most equitable way possible, and they live longer and more happily than any mortals. To be sure, because they delight in their always festive leisure, they know no wars, no disputes, and they devote themselves primarily to the sacred rites of Apollo. According to tradition, they sent their firstfruits to Delos initially in the hands of their own virgins, and later they sent them through peoples who handed them on in succession to farther peoples. They preserved that custom for a long time until it was profaned by the sacrilege of those peoples. The Hyperboreans inhabit groves and forests, and when a sense of having been satisfied by life (rather than boredom) has gripped them, they cheerfully wreathe themselves in flowers and actually throw themselves into the sea from a particular cliff. For them that is the finest death ritual.

54. The thirty Orcades [Orkney Islands] are separated by narrow spaces between them; the seven Haemodae [Denmark] extend opposite Germany in what we call the Codanus Bay; of the islands there, Scadinavia, which the Teutoni still hold, stands out as much for its size as for its fertility besides. 55. Because of the sea's tidal ebb and flow, and because the distance is sometimes covered by waves and other times bare, what faces the Sarmatae sometimes seems to be islands and at other times seems to be one continuous land mass. 56. In addition to what is handed down in legend, I discover - in authors whom I am not embarrassed to follow - that on these islands are the Oeonae [Grk., Birds of Prey], who feed only on oats and the eggs of marsh birds, and that the Hippodes [Grk., Horsefeet], with their equine hooves, are also there, and the Panotii [Grk., All-Ears] too, who for clothing have big ears broad enough to go around their whole body (they are otherwise naked).
57. Thule is located near the coast of the Belcae, who are celebrated in Greek poetry and in our own. On it - because there the sun rises far from where it will set - nights are necessarily brief, but all winter long they are as dark as anywhere, and in summer, bright. All summer the sun moves higher in the sky all this time, and although it is not actually seen at night, the sun nevertheless illuminates adjacent places when its radiance is close by; but during the solstice there is no night, because at that time the sun is now more visible and shows not only its brilliance but most of itself too. 58. Talge [Cheleken], on the Caspian Sea, is fertile without being cultivated and is abundant in every root crop and fruit, but the local peoples consider it an abomination and a sacrilege to touch what grows there. They think that these things have been prepared by the gods and must be saved for the gods. Alongside those coasts that we have called deserted lie a number of equally deserted islands, which, being without names of their own, are called the Scythian Islands.