When did the name "Scythia" disappear from the maps and the name "Tartaria" appeared and why? Looking at many old maps, I drew attention to one pattern: The inscriptions "Scythia", "Sarmatia" are present in parallel with the inscriptions: Borisfen, Tanais, Pontus, Palus Meotis, Panticapaeum, Mirmekiy, Phanagoria, Hermonassa, Gorgippia.
And the name "Tartaria" - in parallel with the names: Dnieper, Don, Black Sea, Azov Sea, Kafa, Kerch, Taman.
Official history dates the existence of the Scythians from the 11th century BC. until the 2nd century AD, the Sarmatians - 6-4 centuries BC … But in reality? True, these peoples are described by ancient authors:
- Herodotus (484 BC - about 425 BC),
- Strabo (c. 64/63 BC - c. 23/24 AD),
- Pliny the Elder (between 22 and 24 C. E. - 24 or 25 August 79 C. E.),
- Cornelius Tacitus (mid 50s - c. 120)
- Ptolemy (c. 100 - c. 170 AD),
Other authors known to us, who were born already in the 16-19th centuries, referred to these ancient authors in their descriptions. What do ancient authors write about Scythia - Sarmatia? They were confused in the names, but from these confused names it is still possible to understand that the Sarmatians and Scythians are one and the same people. They are Russians and Slavs. Several excerpts from the most interesting book by Yegor Klassen "The Ancient History of the Slavs and Slavs-Russ":
Consider the old cards. Not all, of course, there are a lot of them. I chose maps from a collection of French historian and cartographer Nicholas Sanson (1600-1667), because they are presented on the Internet in high resolution, in good quality. Even the names of the cities on these maps are clearly visible. The collection is called “Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne et Nouvelle ou Methode pour s'Instruire Avec facilite de la Geographie, et Connoistre des Empires, Monarchies, Royaumes, Estats, Republiques, et Peuples … Par les Srs. Sanson, Geographes du Roy … A Paris. Chez l'Autheur … 1697. (Maps and tables of ancient and modern geography or methods of easy teaching of geography and understanding of empires, monarchies, kingdoms, states, republics and peoples. Sons of Sansan, geographers, king. Paris, house of the author, 1697).
We could not find information about where Sanson, and other cartographers too, copied their "Ancient Maps", so I got the impression that this information was not so ancient at the time of their depiction by 17th century cartographers.
Let's start in the south. Caucasus Map:
Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Caucasian peoples living between the Black and Caspian seas.
In addition to Sarmatia, there are also the old names Colchis, Iberia, Albania instead of the modern Georgia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan and Russia.
Crimea map:
Bosphorus Cimmerian and Bosphorus Kingdom, Geographical Collection of Guillaume Sanson.
Guillaume Sanson is the son of Nikolai Sanson, also a geographer, who continued his father's work, together with his brother Andien. According to the official version of history, the Bosphorus kingdom existed from the 7th century BC. until 520-530 AD, when Byzantium established its rule over it. Inscriptions on the map: Lida Scythia, Tauroscythia. There is an inscription “Cerceta” on the territory of Taman. It looks like Circassia. In another way, Cherkassia or Chirkassia - according to one of the Cossack names. I already wrote about Chirkassia in the article "Cossacks and the Cossack Horde". Several rivers are depicted in the Crimea. Currently, as far as I know, there are no serious rivers that do not dry up in Crimea. Until recently, the main source of water in Crimea was the Dnieper water, which flows into the Crimea through the North Crimean Canal. At present, water supply is mainly due to artesian wells, for example, on the Kerch Peninsula. Many cities are also depicted. More close-up:
On the Kerch Peninsula: Hercileum, Pharthenium ats Porthmiu, Myrmecium (Mirmekiy), Hermissium, Panticapeum (Panticapeum), Terictace (Tiritaka), Dia, Nymphaum (Nymphaeum), Acra (Acra), Zephyrium (Zephyry), Cyte (Kitte), Cimmerium (Cimmerik). Perhaps it was one city, because at present half of these cities are located on the territory of the small (by modern standards) city of Kerch (150 thousand inhabitants, 42 km along the sea).
And in Taman: Cerberion seu Cimmerium ats Pagus Cimbricus, Achilleum, Satyri Monumentum, Patraus Pagus, Corocondama, Phanagoria (Phanagoria), Sirakoclia, Cepi, Apaturum, Tyrambis, Hermonessa (Hermanassa), Sintmutarakanika, Gorgippia (Gorgippia).
She translated into Russian the names of those cities that are known now. At present, all these cities have been destroyed and covered with a thick layer of soil from 3 (Gorgippia) to 10 (Phanagoria) meters. Read more about this in my article "Who covered up the ancient cities of the Black Sea region?"
I wonder what cards he drew it from? Because the freely available antique maps look like this:
World map of Mark Vipsanius Agrippa, 1st century BC
Strabo map 18g. AD
Ebstorf (1290) and Hereford (about 1300) maps of the world are next in terms of dates. On which little can be understood:
Fragment of Hereford Mappa Mundi.
I have drawn a red circle around the area of interest. It supposedly depicts the Sea of Azov with the Don and Dnieper rivers; above is the Golden Fleece. And all more or less readable maps start from the 17th century and later. But the fact is that many of these cities were only discovered in the 20th century. And at present they are only partially excavated. Because on top of many of them are cities. And therefore it is not possible to conduct excavations. About the excavations of the city of Gorgippia:
Phanagoria was known in the 19th century:
The site of ancient Phanagoria. City buildings are hidden under the earth. Mid-19th century watercolor.
But they also began to dig it up only in the 20th century. As well as the Crimean cities. Traces of the catastrophe that destroyed the city, in my opinion, can not be replaced only by those who consciously do not want to notice them. According to the official version, all these cities perished from the raids of wild nomads. What kind of nomads? Ready, the Scythians, who just built all these cities. Of course, according to the official version, these cities were Greek settlements, but Greece itself did not exist at that time. In any case, it is not on the old maps. Macedonia is, Illyria is (Slavic states), but Greece is not.
But back to the map. Consider the following fragment, steppe Crimea:
It turns out that there are cities here too: Tarona, Posrigia, Iluratum, Tazis, Bocon (or Boeon). And this is only a small part of Crimea. Unfortunately, I did not find a close-up map of the whole Crimea in this collection. But who built these cities? Greek colonists too? Or are they the "wild nomads" of the Scythians? The country is called Scythia. Moreover, not the whole country is shown on the map, but only its Tauride part.
I could not find references to these cities. Only one mention of Iluratum in Victionar:
And the mention of Bokon there. That this word of the Proto-Slavic language is botjjanъ. Only I did not understand what it means. This map also shows fields labeled “Regio Frumenti Ferax” (large wheat fields?). And there are no rivers in this area. Now the climate in Crimea is so dry that nothing grows there without watering. How were those fields cultivated? Artificial irrigation? Or did it rain regularly?
Next map: the same place, but some names are already different:
Tartary European or Little Tartary, where there are Crimean or Perekop tartars, Nogai tartars, Ochakov and Budzhak tartars.
For comparison, this is what this place looks like now:
There may be cartographer errors, or the banks have changed. The cities, of course, could not move. But they could occupy a larger territory (than now), and some of them now rest at the bottom of the Black Sea.
I highlighted the names on the map in red. Instead of "Cerceta" it already says "Circasses". There is an inscription “Ukraine is the country of the Cossacks”. Seas and rivers already have a double name - old and new, but instead of the Scythians - tartars. The fact that the tartars are Scythians were written by many, including me. Therefore, I will not repeat myself. The explanation to the map says:
- Turkish places
- A ford through Borisfen, which tartars are used to enter Poland.
- The ways by which tartars enter Poland and Muscovy
- Rapids or rock ledges in Borisfen
- The main waste of the Cossacks
- Tartare carts or mobile homes.
I highlighted these paths on the map in blue. One says in Polish "Black Way", on the other "Muravskiy Way", now known as Muravskiy Shlyakh. From the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1906 about this path:
Although the Cossacks are the Tartar army. I've already written a lot about this. "The Book to the Big Drawing" is now considered lost, as, probably, the drawing itself. Crimean cities on this map, besides Panticapaeum, have other names.
Found another card, similar to this one, but upside down. Those. south is above and north is below - in the old fashion:
Delineatio Generalis Camporum Desertorum vulgo Ukraina, 1648 (General plan of wild fields, in the whole of Ukraine).
The map was compiled by Guillaume de Beauplan (1595 - 1673), a French engineer and cartographer in the Polish service, mainly in the territory of Ukraine. The name "Little Tartary" or "Nogai Tartary" (as on the previous map) is absent here. Instead, there is the name "Palatinate". What does "Voivodeship" mean. There are also names: Part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Severia (by the name of the Slavic people who inhabited it: northerners. Now it is part of the territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia), Braslavia, Budzhak (later became part of Bessarabia), Wallachia, Podolia (now Western Ukraine), Kiev region, Volynia, Russia, with the designated large city of Lvov or Leopolis. Those. all this is the territory of present-day Ukraine. The map shows many cities and towns, which are well readable in high resolution. Trade routes (highlighted in blue) are also plotted: Muravsky - to Muscovy, Black - to Poland. One branch of which is called the Kuchmansky Way. Great Soviet Encyclopedia about this path:
Later Cherny Shlyakh was renamed Chumatsky. The entire upper part of the map is occupied by the inscriptions "loca deserta" (desert places). There are very few settlements there. Densely populated places begin approximately in the region of Central Ukraine: Pultava, Oltva, Kobelyaki, Kremenchug, Chigirin (shown on the map as a large city, and now - a small village). Fragment of the map, close-up:
On it there are also inscriptions "Naked field", "Drzy Pole" (buried field?). Those. "Wild Field" stretches from the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas for about 400 km inland. Is it possible that the former cities and settlements of these places are still under the layers of the earth, as in the Kuban and Crimea? Or did people there never live in historical times? Currently, some part of this territory is occupied by the natural reserve "Askania Nova". Founded, as it is believed, on the "absolutely reserved" steppe zone, that is, virgin territory that has never been touched by a plow.
There is another map, made by the same author, very similar to the previous map, but already rotated normally - north up, south down:
Ukraine. Kiovia Palatinatus. Beauplan 1648 (Ukraine, Kiev Voivodeship. Boplan).
It is notable for the fact that all major cities are shown in the form of stars. Moreover, all the stars are of different shapes, which means this is clearly not a schematic symbol, but real plans of cities. A fragment of a close-up for clarity:
And an explanation for this map:
Urbs is a large city. As it appears; Oppidum - Medium City for some reason there was no analogue at all for the Sloboda of the new colony in the Latin language; Pagus - village; Ruine - ruins; Loca paludosa - harmful places; Fons - source; Molendinum -mill; Transitus - transition
By its identification marks, this map resembles an audit of the post-disaster state of the area. Let me remind you that this is the middle of the 17th century. The period in which, according to some researchers, a major catastrophe occurred on the planet, which changed the contours of the continents and geographical names. But the names "Scythia" and "Sarmatia" will still be present on some maps until the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century.
Continued: Part 2