previous next
[14] Among these the Nervii 1 inhabit the interior of the country near the lofty, precipitous peaks nipped by the north winds and benumbed with ice and snow. Behind these are the Vidini 2 and the Geloni, exceedingly savage races, who strip the skins from their slain enemies to make clothing for themselves and coverings for their horses in war. 3 On the frontier of the Geloni are the Agathyrsi, who checker their bodies and dye their hair with a blue colour 4 —the common people with a few small marks, but the nobles with more and broader spots of dye. 5

1 Cf. xxii. 8, 40; these are the Neuri of Herodotus (iv. 105).

2 The Budini of Herodotus, iv. 108–9.

3 See Mela, ii. 1, 14.

4 This detail is not mentioned by Herodotus (iv. 101).

5 Cf. Pliny, N.H. iv. 80; Mela, ii. 1, 10.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1940)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1939)
load focus Introduction (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1935)
load focus Latin (John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D., 1935)
hide References (2 total)
  • Cross-references to this page (2):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GELO´NI
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NEURI
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: