Category: Arimasps
The Arimasps were mythical creatures that were human in form, but were hairy all over their bodies and had only one eye. They inhabited the ascents from the south of the Rhipai mountains, and they fought with griffins who inhabited the mountain peaks and guarded a source of gold. The Arimasps also fought with the people called Issedones who lived below them. Their Greek name, Ἀριμασποί, has traditionally been translated as ‘Arimaspians,’ but this collection uses ‘Arimasps’ to better clarify that they are mythical monsters, not a human nation or ethnic group.
Six lines of the Arimaspeia: ‘Issedoi’ describing Arimasps
Posted in Arimasps, Author and poem, Issedones[So say] the Issedoi, glorying in their flowing hair, that there are men sharing a border above them, near Boreas, many and very brave warriors, rich in horses, of many sheep, of many cows. And…
Herodotos on Aristeas’ account of his journey
Posted in Arimasps, Author and poem, Eastern Sea, Extracorporeal travel, Griffins, Hyperboreans, Issedones, Kimmerians, Seizure and possession, SkythiansAnd Aristeas son of Kaustrobios, a man of Prokonnesos, composed verses saying he reached the Issedones while seized by Apollo; and dwelling above the Issedones, the one-eyed Arimasps-men; and above them, the gold-guarding griffins; and…
Herodotos on Hyperboreans
Posted in Abaris, Arimasps, Hyperboreans, SkythiansAbout the Hyperborean people, neither the Skythians nor any others of those living by them tell us anything, unless perhaps the Issedones. And I myself think even they say nothing. For if they spoke of…
Pherenikos on an Arimasp king and the origin of Hyperboreans in Zeus’ war with the Titans
Posted in Arimasps, HyperboreansAnd about the Hyperboreans, who inhabit the edges, under the temple of Apollo, unknowing of war. They sing now of their origins from the blood of the Titans, sprouting above the clear-skied course, of the…
The Souda on Aristeas’ life and works
Posted in Arimasps, Author and poem, Extracorporeal travel, HyperboreansAristeas, son of Democharis or of Kaustrobios, from Prokonnesos, a poet. [He wrote] the verses called Arimaspeian, and it is a story of the Hyperborean Arimasps, 3 books. They say that his soul, whenever it…