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Credits and Source Information
Original Text
Giorgio Interiano, *La vita et sito de Zychi, chiamati Ciarcassi: historia notabile*.
Venice: Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius), October 1502. First edition (editio princeps).
Digital Facsimile
Digital facsimile based on the copy held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, accessed through Italian Wikisource and Wikimedia Commons.
Critical Transcription Used for Translation
Francesco Crifò and Wolfgang Schweickard, “Vita et Sito de Zychi di Giorgio Interiano: Trascrizione e commento dell’editio princeps del 1502,” Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 130, no. 1 (2014): 160–178. (EBSCO OpenURL)
English Translation
English translation by an custom made AI model developed by Huseyin Oylupinar
The model is a facsimile-based OCR/HTR pipeline, corrected against a critical transcription, producing a semi-diplomatic Italian source text and a literal English translation with interpretation confined to notes.
Editorial Principles
This translation preserves the terminology, ethnonyms, syntax, and conceptual structure of the original text as closely as possible. Explanatory commentary and historical interpretation are separated from the translation itself.
Publication date: May 28, 2026
Translated Text
[AIIIr]
The Zychi, so called in the vulgar, Greek, and Latin tongue, and called Ciarcassi by Tartars and Turks, and in their own language named Adiga, inhabit from the river Tana along Lasia all that maritime coast toward the Cimmerian Bosphorus, today called Vospero and the mouth of Saint Zohane, and the mouth of the Sea of Ciabachi and of the Sea of Tana. Anciently, the Maeotian marsh. From there, beyond the mouth along the maritime coast as far as near the head of Bussi, toward the southeast and the river Phasi; and there they border Angaxia, that is, part of Colchis. And all their maritime coast, both within the aforesaid marsh and outside it, may be five hundred miles. It penetrates inland toward the east for eight days’ journey, or thereabouts, at its widest.
[AIIIr–AIIIv]
They inhabit all this country in scattered settlements, without any town or walled place. And their greatest and best place is a small inland valley called Cromuc, better situated and inhabited than the rest. They border inland with the Scythians, that is, Tartars. Their language is entirely separate from that of their neighbors, and very much in the throat. They profess themselves Christians and have priests according to the Greek rite. They are not baptized except as adults, from eight years and above, and several together, with simple aspersion of blessed water in their manner and with a brief blessing by the said priests.
The nobles do not enter church unless they have reached sixty years, because living by plunder, as they all do, they think it not lawful, and would believe themselves to profane the church. After the said time, or thereabouts, they cease from robbery, and then enter into those divine offices, which also in youth they hear outside the church door, but on horseback and not otherwise.
Their women give birth upon straw, which they wish to be the first bed of the child. Then, the child having been carried to the river, they wash it there, despite any frost or cold, which is very particular to those regions.
They give the said child the name of the first stranger who enters the house after the birth; and if he be Greek or Latin, or named in the foreign manner, they always add -uc to that name, as to Pietro, Petrúc; to Paulo, Paulúc, etc.
They have no letters, nor do they use any, neither their own nor foreign. Their priests conduct their offices in their own manner with Greek words and characters without understanding them. When it happens that they must write to someone, which they rarely do, they have Jews for the most part perform this office with Hebrew letters; but for the most part they send ambassadors by word of mouth from one to another.
Among them there are nobles, vassals, and servants or slaves. The nobles among the others are much revered and spend most of their time on horseback. They do not permit subjects to keep horses, and if by chance a vassal raises some colt, once it has grown it is immediately taken from him by the nobleman, and oxen are given to him in exchange, saying:
“This belongs to you, and not a horse.”
Among the said nobles there are many lords of vassals, and they all live without subjection of one to another and desire no superior except God; nor do they keep any administrator of justice or any written law. Force, cunning, or intermediary persons are the means of their disputes.
Among a great part of the said nobles, one kinsman kills another, and most often brothers. And as soon as one brother has killed another, on the following night he sleeps with the wife of the deceased, his sister-in-law; because they permit themselves also to have several wives, which afterward they all hold to be legitimate.
As soon as the son of a noble is two or three years old, they place him in the care of one of the servants, who every day leads him riding with a little bow in his hand; and when he sees a hen, or bird, or pig, or another animal, he teaches him to shoot. And afterward, having become somewhat older, he himself goes hunting these animals within their own settlements; nor would the subject dare place any obstacle before him.
And once they have become men, their life is daily devoted to plunder: of wild beasts, and still more of domestic ones, and also of human creatures.
Their country for the greater part is marshland, much occupied by reeds and rushes, from the roots of which aromatic calamus is gathered.
These marshes proceed from the great rivers of the Tanai, likewise so called today, and the Rhombite called Copa, and many other large and small streams, which make many mouths and almost infinite marshes, as has been said; among these there are many channels and passages made.
Thus through such secret ways they furtively fall upon poor villagers; and the animals and children of those villagers bear the penalty for it, because, carried from one country to another, they barter and sell them.
[AIVr–AIVv]
And because in that country no money is used nor circulated, especially among those inland, their agreements are made in boccasini, which is a piece of cloth for making a shirt; and thus they reckon all their buying and selling, and value all merchandise in boccasini.
The greater part of the said peoples who are sold are brought to Cairo in Egypt; and thus fortune transforms them from the most subjected peasants in the world into some of the greatest states and lordships of our age, such as Sultan, Admirals, etc.
Their outer garments are of felt, in the manner of church cloaks, worn open on one side so that the right arm may be put forth.
On their head they wear likewise a felt cap in the form of a loaf of sugar.
Beneath the said mantle they wear trelicci, so called, of silk or cloth folded and gathered from the belt downward, almost resembling the skirts of ancient Roman armor.
They wear boots and little boots one above the other, arranged and very elegant, and wide cloth trousers.
They wear very long mustaches and beards.
They likewise always carry beside them these other implements: a fire striker in a neat leather pouch made and embroidered by their women.
They carry a razor and a sharpening stone, with which they shave one another’s heads, leaving at the crown a long and braided line of hair, which some say is left as a hold for the head should it ever be cut off, so that the face may not be stained and disfigured by the bloody and foul hands of the killer.
They also shave the pubic hair whenever they are about to fight, saying that it would be shameful and sinful to be seen dead with hair in that place.
They set fire to the houses of enemies, which are all of straw, fastening burning sulfur to arrows.
The powerful keep in their houses great cups of gold worth from three hundred to five hundred ducats, and also of silver, with which they drink with very great ceremony, using them more for drinking than for many other furnishings, drinking continually in the name of God, and in the name of saints, and of dead relatives and friends, commemorating some notable deed or condition with great honors and reverence, almost as a sacrifice, and always with the head uncovered in greater humility.
[AVr–AVv]
They sleep with the lorica, so called by them, which is a shirt of mail, under the head as a pillow, and with their weapons nearby; and rising suddenly, immediately they put on the said panzera and stand armed.
Husband and wife lie in bed head to foot, and their beds are of leather, filled with flowers of reeds or rushes.
They hold this opinion among themselves: that no one should be considered of noble generation if it is known that at any time that generation had been ignoble, even if afterward it had produced several kings.
They wish that the nobleman should know neither accounts nor mercantile business, except for selling their booty, saying that nothing belongs to the noble except to rule peoples and defend them, and to occupy himself in hunts and military exercises.
And they greatly praise liberality, and very easily give away every possession, except horse and arms. But of their clothing above all they are not only liberal, but prodigal; and for this reason it happens for the most part that they are worse dressed in order than their subjects.
And as many times in the year as they make new garments or shirts of crimson silk used by them, immediately these are requested as gifts by vassals. And if they refused to give them, or showed ill will about it, very great shame would follow them.
And therefore, as soon as it is asked of them, and in that very instant offering it, they strip it off themselves, and in exchange take the poor shirt of the lowest petitioner, for the most part miserable and dirty.
And thus almost always the nobles are worse dressed than the others, except for boots, weapons, and horse, which they never give away; in these things above all consists their pomp.
And many times they give all the movable property they have in order to have a horse that pleases them, nor do they hold anything more precious than an excellent horse.
[AVv–AVIr]
If it happens to them to acquire gold or silver by plunder or in some other manner, they immediately spend it on the aforesaid cups, or on the adornment of saddles, or for the use of military ornaments.
As for spending among themselves, they do not practice it, especially those inland, whereas those of the coast are more accustomed to commerce.
They fight daily with the Tartars, by whom they are almost surrounded on every side.
They also cross the Bosphorus into the province of Tauric Chersonese, where Chafa, a colony founded long ago by the Genoese, is situated.
And they willingly cross the said strait in winter when the sea is frozen, to prey upon the inhabitants called Scythians.
And a small number of them puts to flight a great multitude of those people, because they are much more agile and better equipped in arms and horses, and show greater spirit.
Their helmets are made exactly as may be seen among antiquities, with cheek-pieces attached beneath the throat in the ancient manner.
The Tartars are more patient in every hardship, so much so that it is a marvelous thing; and many times they prevail, especially when they can lead others into extreme marshes, or snow, or ice, or places lacking every good thing, where by constancy and obstinacy they most often prevail.
The said Zychi for the most part are handsome and beautiful; and in Cairo, among those Mamluks and Admirals, most of whom are of that stock, as has been said, one sees people of great appearance.
And likewise their women, who in their own country are also very sociable with foreigners.
[AVIr–AVIv]
They practice the office of hospitality toward everyone with great kindness, and both the host and the guest they call conacco, as hospes in Latin.
And at departure the host accompanies the foreign conacco as far as another lodging and defends him, and if necessary puts his life at risk most faithfully.
And although, as has been said, plundering is so customary in those parts that it comes to seem almost a gain from just labor, nevertheless toward their conacchi they show much faithfulness, both in their house and outside, with very great kindnesses.
They permit their virgin maidens to be touched from head to foot, especially in the presence of relatives, always excepting the venereal act.
And when the foreign conacco is resting, whether asleep or awake, the said maidens with many caresses search him for lice or other unclean things, as matters most peculiar and natural to those countries.
The said maidens enter naked into the rivers before the eyes of everyone, where one sees an infinite number of most well-formed and very fair creatures.
Their food consists largely of those fish called Anticei, so called by them today and also in antiquity according to Strabo, which indeed are larger and smaller sturgeons.
And they drink the waters of those rivers, very beneficial for digestion.
They also use every other domestic and wild flesh.
They have neither wheat nor grape wine.
They have much millet and similar seeds, from which they make bread and various foods and beverages called boza.
They also use honey wine.
Their dwellings are all of straw, reeds, or timber.
And it would be a great shame for a lord or nobleman to build either a fortress or a strong stone dwelling, saying that such a man would show himself cowardly and fearful, and not sufficient either to guard or defend himself.
Thus they all dwell in the aforesaid houses, from settlement to settlement, and not the least fortress is used or inhabited in all that country.
[AVIv–AVIIr]
And because some ancient towers and walls are found there, the villagers use them for some of their own purposes, whereas the nobles would be ashamed of them.
They themselves work every day upon their own arrows, even on horseback, and make them most perfectly. And few arrows are found of greater force than theirs, with heads or iron points of excellent making, most well tempered and of terrible penetration.
Their noble women occupy themselves in no other works except embroidery, even upon leather. And they embroider leather pouches for fire strikers, as has been said above, and most elegant leather belts.
Their funeral rites are very strange.
After the death of noblemen they make raised wooden thalami in the open country*, upon which they place the dead body seated, having first removed the entrails.
And there for eight days they are visited by relatives, friends, and subjects, by whom they are presented with various things, such as silver cups, bows, arrows, and other wares.
On the two sides of the thalamus stand the two nearest relatives of age, upright and each leaning upon a staff.
And upon the thalamus, on the left side, stands a maiden with an arrow in her hand, above which she has a silk handkerchief spread, with which she drives the flies away from him, although the weather may be frozen, as it is for the greater part of the year in those countries.
And before the face of the dead man upon the ground sits the first wife upon a chair, looking continually at her dead husband steadfastly and without weeping, because weeping would be shameful.
And this they do for a great part of the day until the eighth day, and afterward they bury him in this manner:
they take a very great tree, and from its thickest part they cut sufficient length, and split it into two parts, and hollow it out enough so that the body may fit within it, together with part of the gifts presented, as above described.
[AVIIr–AVIIv]
Then, the body having been placed within the hollow of the said wood, they place it in the appointed place of burial where there is a great multitude of people.
There they make the thomba, so called, that is, the mound of earth above it; and the greater the master has been, and the more subjects and friends he has had, the greater and higher they make the mound.
The closest relative, having gathered all the offerings and having continually borne the expenses for visitors, buries with the body more or less of the said offerings according to how much the deceased had been beloved and honorable.
They also practice at the funerals of great masters another barbarous sacrifice, a meritorious work of spectacle:
they take a maiden of twelve to fourteen years and place her seated upon the hide of an ox newly killed and spread with the hair upon the ground, in the presence of all the men and women standing around.
The strongest or boldest youth among them, beneath his felt cloak, attempts to deflower the said maiden.
And rarely does it happen that, resisting, she does not weary three or four, and sometimes more, before she is overcome.
Then at last, exhausted and weary, with a thousand promises that she will be kept as wife, or by other persuasions, the valiant man breaks the door and enters the house.
And then as victor he immediately shows to those present the spoils stained with blood; and thus the women present, perhaps with feigned shame, turn their faces away pretending not to look, though they cannot restrain their laughter.
Then after the burial, for several days at the hour of eating they have the horse of the deceased put in order, and send it by the hand of one of the servants to the burial place.
There, having called the dead man by name up to three times, on behalf of relatives and friends, they invite him to come and eat if he wishes.
And seeing that the servant receives no reply, he returns with the horse to report that there is no answer.
And thus, excused because they seem to have done their duty, they eat and drink in his honor.
Footnote
Thalami (sing. thalamus): a learned classical term literally meaning “chamber” or “inner room.” Here Interiano uses it for a raised funerary wooden structure or bier upon which the deceased was displayed before burial.