Eridanos

Is the river Herodotus doesn't believe in the Vistula?

Piotr

Herodotus, Histories, Book 3

CXV. hautai men nun en te tei Asiei eschatiai eisi kai en tei Libuei. peri de tôn en tei Eurôpei tôn pros hesperen eschatieôn echô men ouk atrekeôs legein: oute gar egôge endekomai Eridanon kaleesthai pros barbarôn potamon ekdidonta es thalassan ten pros boreen anemon, ap' hoteu to elektron phoitan logos esti, oute nesous oida Kassiteridas eousas, ek tôn ho kassiteros hemin phoitai. [2] touto men gar ho Eridanos auto kategoreei to ounoma hôs esti Hellenikon kai ou barbaron, hupo poieteô de tinos poiethen: touto de oudenos autopteô genomenou dunamai akousai, touto meletôn, hokôs thalassa esti ta epekeina Eurôpes. ex eschates d' ôn ho kassiteros hemin phoitai kai to elektron.

(These then are the most distant lands in Asia and Libya. But concerning those in Europe that are the farthest away towards evening, I cannot speak with assurance; for I do not believe that there is a river called by foreigners Eridanus issuing into the northern sea, where our amber is said to come from, nor do I have any knowledge of Tin Islands, where our tin is brought from. [2] The very name Eridanus betrays itself as not a foreign but a Greek name, invented by some poet [H. certainly suggests a derivation from eridainô 'quarrel, wrangle, compete with' -- PG]; nor for all my diligence have I been able to learn from one who has seen it that there is a sea beyond Europe. All we know is that our tin and amber come from the most distant parts.)