Racecourse of Achilles

{{Expand French|Cours achilléen|topic=geo|date=July 2015}}

The Racecourse of Achilles ({{langx|grc|Αχίλλειος δρόμος}})[https://topostext.org/work/241#A152.9 Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §A152.9] is a narrow strip of land north-west of Crimea and south of the mouth of the Dnieper in Ukraine, running nearly due west and cast.Plin. Nat. 4,26Strab. Geogr. 7,3.19 It is now divided into two parts called Tendra Spit and Dzharylhach.

According to ancient legends Achilles pursued Iphigenia to this peninsula and there practised for his races. The land was called Racecourse of Achilles because the hero celebrated his victory there with competitive games and also there he and his men routinely exercised when there was a respite from the fighting.

[https://topostext.org/work/145#2.5 Pomponius Mela, Chorographia, §2.5][https://topostext.org/work/148#4.26.1 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, §4.26.1]

Herodotus briefly mentions a "racetrack of Achilles" in the fourth book of the Histories while he describes the history and geography of the Black Sea region controlled by the Scythians. He describes it as laying nearby the River Hypacyris, known today as the Southern Bug River.Herodotus, the Histories. Edited by Paul Cartledge. Translated by Tom Holland, Penguin Books, 2015. Page 283

The Leuke island in the Black Sea, modern Snake island, was also called racecourse of Achilles.[https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Περίπλους_Ευξείνου_Πόντου#32 Arrian, Periplus of the Euxine Sea, §32]