InGreco-Roman geography, theRiphean Mountains (alsoRiphaean;/rɪˈfiən/;Ancient Greek:Ῥιπαῖα ὄρη; Latin:Rhipaei orRiphaei montes) were a supposedmountain range located in the far north ofEurasia.[1] The name of the mountains is probably derived fromAncient Greek:ῥιπή ("wind gust").[2] The Ripheans were often considered the northern boundary of theknown world. As such, classical and medieval writers described them as extremely cold and covered in perennial snow. Ancient geographers considered the Ripheans the source ofBoreas (thenorth wind) and several large rivers (theDnieper, theDon, and theVolga). The location of the Ripheans, as described by most classical geographers, would correspond roughly with theVolga region of modern-day Russia.[3]
Greeks initially used the term Hyperborei Montes to denote a mythical mountain range in the far north, associated with the legendary land ofHyperborea, but later ancient geographers applied it to actual mountain ranges, including theCaucasus, theUral Mountains and the Rhipaei Montes.[4][5]
Early references to the Ripheans appear in the writings of the Greek choral poetAlcman (7th century BC) and the Athenian playwrightSophocles (5th century BC).[6] Many other ancient Hellenic writers mentioned the Ripheans, includingAristotle,Hippocrates,Callimachus,Apollonius of Rhodes, andClaudius Ptolemy.[7] Ancient Roman writers also described the Ripheans in Latin literature:Plutarch,Vergil, andPliny the Elder, among others.[8] Late antique and early medieval writers, likeSolinus,Martianus Capella,Orosius, andIsidore of Seville, ensured the Ripheans' continued place in geographic writing during theMiddle Ages.[9] These writers often disagreed on the exact location of the mountains, and a small minority of geographers (e.g.Strabo) doubted their existence entirely.[10] In antiquity, the inhabitants of the mountains were variously calledRipheans (e.g.Pomponius Mela) orArimaspi (e.g.Pliny). Geographers sometimes located the home of the legendaryHyperboreans in the inaccessible regions north of the Ripheans.[11] While the Riphean Mountains appear only in Greek or Greek-influenced geographies, the name of the mountains has sometimes been connected by Christian theologians withRiphath, son ofGomer inGenesis 10. TheBook of Jubilees (8:12, 16, 28) also mentions a mountain range calledRafa, which some have cautiously linked to the Ripheans.[12]
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In late 15th-century western Europe, new access to Claudius Ptolemy'sGeography led to many new maps of "Sarmatia," which notably featured the Riphean Mountains. In tandem with new contacts with theGrand Duchy of Moscow, Renaissance humanists and ambassadors debated the existence of the Riphean Mountains in the first half of the sixteenth century. Some, likeMaciej Miechowita andPaolo Giovio, argued that the mountains were non-existent.[13] Others, like the ambassadorsFrancesco Da Collo [it] andSigismund von Herberstein, argued that the ancient Ripheans referred to theUral Mountains, then recently explored by Muscovy.[14] Over the course of the sixteenth century, the Ripheans gradually disappeared from western maps of eastern Europe, along with many other ancient claims about the region.[15]
While people since the 16th century have tended to connect the Ripheans to the Ural Mountains, the original identity of the classical Ripheans remains unclear. The Alps, the Carpathians, and the Urals have all been suggested as the real-world inspiration for the Riphean Mountains.
TheMontes Riphaeusmountain range on the Moon is named after the Riphean Mountains.Johannes Hevelius was the first astronomer to apply the Riphean label to a feature of the lunar landscape, butJohann Heinrich von Mädler is responsible for the current designation of the Montes Riphaeus.[16]
TheRiphean geochronological period was also named after the Riphean Mountains, in reference to the Ural Mountains.