Panticapes

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography

PANTICAPES(Παντυκάπης), a river of European Sarmatia, between the Borysthenes and the Tanais, rises in a lake, according to Herodotus, in the N., separates the agricultural and nomad Scythians, flows through the district Hylaea, and falls into the Borysthenes. (Hdt. 4.18, 19, 47, 54; comp. Plin. Nat. 4.12. s. 26; Mela, 2.1.5.) Dionysius Per. (314) says that it rises in the Rhipaean mountains. Many suppose it to be the Samara;but it cannot be identified with certainty with any modern river. For the various opinions held on the subject, see Bahr, ad Herod. 4.54; Ukert, vol. iii. pt. 2. p. 191. Stephanus B. erroneously states that the town of Panticapaeum stood upon a river Panticapes. [PANTICAPAEUM]