Borysthenes (; grc, Βορυσθένης) is a geographical name from

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

. The term usually refers to the

Dnieper River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

and its eponymous river god, but also seems to have been an alternative name for

Pontic Olbia Pontic Olbia ( grc, Ὀλβία Ποντική, uk, Ольвія) or simply Olbia is an archaeological site of an ancient Greek city on the shore of the Southern Bug estuary (''Hypanis'' or Ὕπανις,) in Ukraine, near the village of Parut ...

, a town situated near the mouth of the same river on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast, or the earlier settlement on

Berezan Island Berezan (Cyrillic: Береза́нь; Ancient Greek: Borysthenes; former tr, Pirezin) is an island in the Black Sea at the entrance of the Dnieper-Bug Estuary, Ochakiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Located 8 kilometers from the city of Och ...

. The Greek historian

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

describes both the river and the town in some detail in the fourth book of his '' Histories'': This is the name that Herodotus in his Histories chooses to talk about Olbia. Supposedly, it was originally the name of another settlement located on

Berezan island Berezan (Cyrillic: Береза́нь; Ancient Greek: Borysthenes; former tr, Pirezin) is an island in the Black Sea at the entrance of the Dnieper-Bug Estuary, Ochakiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Located 8 kilometers from the city of Och ...

which is located at the mouth of the Dnieper and in the vicinity of Olbia. In

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Borysthenes fathered a nymph daughter

Borysthenis In Greek mythology, Borysthenis () may refer to two distinct individuals: * Borysthenes, one of the three Muses that were daughters of Apollo. Her sisters were Apollonis and Cephisso. * Borysthenis, daughter of Borysthenes, god of the Dneper Rive ...

, and a son Thoas, who became a king of the

Taurians The Tauri (; in Ancient Greek), or Taurians, also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae (Pliny the Elder, Pliny, ''H. N.'' 4.85) were an ancient people settled on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains in ...

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

, ''Metamorphoses'' 27. The Borysthenes is mentioned numerous times in ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to th ...

'' by

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...

. It was used as a route to the Black Sea by, among others, the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

References

{{Pontic colonies Ancient Greek geography Dnieper Scythia Potamoi Personifications in Greek mythology