The ancient Greeks back in the VIII-VI centuries. BC. densely settled and mastered the northern coast of the Black Sea and Crimea. Crimea was especially densely populated by them, where the indigenous population bore the name of the Taurians. At the same time, the Greek colony of Phanagoria appeared on the Caucasian side of the Kerch Strait (“in the land of the Sindi”). The Greek colony of Tanais at the mouth of the Don arose much later, already in the 3rd century BC. However, there are indications, and we will say about them that much earlier the Greeks even penetrated into the Upper Don region. The coast of the Azov Sea, which they called Meotida and considered not a real sea, but a lake, was well known to them already in this ancient era of the Great Greek colonization.
Herodotus (V century BC) provides a body of knowledge of the Greeks of that time about the lands of present-day Russia. The Greeks then received the main information from the Scythians - the people who dominated the territory of present-day Ukraine and southern Russia. They knew that before the Scythians, the Cimmerians lived throughout this territory, whom the Scythians drove out. At the time of Herodotus, the royal Scythians, the dominant tribe among this huge people, lived north of the Sea of Azov, that is, partially on the territory of present-day Russia. The Don River in the lower reaches separated Scythia from the habitats of the Savromats (Sarmatians), subsequently, from the 3rd century BC, who began to oust the Scythians from their places. Therefore, in the 5th century BC. in the steppes of the North Caucasus (Zadonia and the Kuban region), the Sarmatians dominated.
As for the Don, the opinion is erroneous that the Greeks called him all Tanais. This name was inherent in the Don only in its lower reaches, below the confluence of the Seversky Donets. Unlike us, the Greeks believed that the Donets did not flow into the Don, but vice versa. Thus, the Seversky Donets and the Don below its confluence were called Tanais. The Don, above the confluence of the Seversky Donets, was called Sirgis by the Greeks. To the east of Tanais, that is, the Seversky Donets, in the steppes ("fifteen days' journey to the east," according to Herodotus), all the lands also belonged to the Sarmatians. There were the main camps of this huge people.
To the north of the Sarmatians, already in the forest zone ("their land is covered with a dense forest of various species"), the numerous people of Budins settled. About boudins, Herodotus gives curious information that they all have light blue eyes and blonde hair. This gave some historians a reason to see the ancestors of the Slavs in Budins, although with no less reason one can see in them Germans, Balts and even Finns. So far, this people has no precise identifications. According to Herodotus, the city of Gelon was founded by Greek colonists in the land of Budins. The inhabitants of Gelon were engaged in, among other things, the hunt for beavers. It is strange that, so far, Russian archaeologists have not attempted to find Gelon. Judging by the instructions of Herodotus, I would advise you to look for him in the area of modern Voronezh.
Among the Boudins in the middle of the 6th century BC. (“One generation before the campaign of Darius”, which took place in 512) a tribe of Neuros settled (apparently, only a part), whose ancestral lands were located somewhere in the west of present-day Ukraine, north of the sources of the Southern Bug (Hypanis). An interesting feature of the neurons was their ability to "turn into a wolf for several days every year." This clear indication of ritual shapeshifting also prompted many researchers to see the ancient Slavs in the neurons, although for the same reason one can see both the Balts and the Celts in them.
Herodotus' information about the lands to the north of the Budins no longer even gives an approximate geographical reference point and is limited to the enumeration of peoples with their largely fantastic customs. Beyond the unsettled land to the north of Budins, also in dense forests, first the Fissagets and Yirks live, and both of them live mainly not by agriculture, but by hunting. Among the Yirks, as Herodotus reported, a part of the Scythians settled, who fled from the yoke of the royal Scythians. Further to the east, “at the foot of the high mountains” (an indication of the Ural ridge?) Live Argippes. The Scythians maintained direct relations with the Argippaeans. But information about the peoples living further to the north and east, they received from the Argippeans, differed by their perfect fantasy, and Herodotus himself did not believe them.
The ancient Greeks saw the climate of Scythia as follows: “The winter is so severe that an inexpressible cold lasts for eight months. At this time, at least pour water on the ground, there will be no dirt, unless you make a fire … Such cold weather continues in those countries for eight months, and the remaining four months are not warm … When thunderstorms occur in other places, they do not happen here, in summer they are frequent. The thunderstorm in winter is amazing, like a miracle."
Herodotus reported absolutely accurate data about the Caspian Sea, that it does not communicate with other seas and is elongated from north to south, and its length is twice its width. It seems surprising that with such knowledge Herodotus did not know anything about the Volga, but I have no doubt that in the name of the Araks river (by which the modern Araks and Kuru in Transcaucasia are usually understood) Herodotus mixed two rivers, and that in most cases, speaking about Araks, Herodotus meant the Volga. This is evidenced by many facts.
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The Massagets lived behind the Araks, and all historians locate them in the Trans-Volga steppes and Kazakhstan. Yes, and according to Herodotus, the Massagets lived east of the Issedons, and those - to the east of the already named Argippey. There is an abundance of fish in the Araks, and those living on its shores feed on it alone, and in addition, they dress in seal skins (that is, a clear indication of the northern coast of the Caspian Sea). Further, the Araks branches into forty branches, and we know that in the lower reaches the Volga is intertwined with Akhtuba by many channels. The Scythians drove out the Cimmerians, crossing the Araks, and according to modern archeological data, the Scythians really came from across the Volga. Finally, Herodotus writes that they argue which of the two rivers is fuller - the Istres (Danube) or the Araks. Of course, the Kura could not cause such disputes, but the Volga and Danube are comparable in terms of water content (the Volga is a little more full-flowing).
It is paradoxical that since the time of Herodotus, ancient geography has not reported anything essentially new about the lands of Russia, and in some cases even took steps back. So, Strabo (1st century BC - 1st century AD) argued that the Caspian Sea is the bay of the World Ocean. He knew nothing about the Volga. Claudius Ptolemy (II century AD), however, did not repeat his mistakes. His Volga is called Ra. About the sources of the Volga, a number of ancient authors have reports that it flows from the Riphean mountains. If we talk about the Volga in our understanding, then the Riphean Mountains are completely mythical. However, knowing that the Kama is more full-flowing than the Volga before their confluence, and that later the Türks considered the course of the Volga (Itil) from the sources of the Belaya - a tributary of the Kama - then one can see in the Riphean mountains a vague indication of the Ural mountains.
Yaroslav Butakov