Chapter 27

648Games in honour of Proserpine, or Cora.

649Ptolemy VII., king of Egypt, also styled Euergetes II.; he is more commonly known by the surname of Physcon. His reign commencedB. C.170.

650The ancients believed that crystals consisted of water which had been frozen by excessive cold, and remained congealed for centuries. Vide Pliny, lib. xxxvii. c. 9.

651Cleopatra, besides being the wife, was also the niece of Ptolemy, being the offspring of his former wife, whom he had divorced, by her former marriage with Philometor.

652Ptolemy VIII. was nominally king, but his mother Cleopatra still held most of the real authority in her hands.

653Cadiz.

654Western Mauritania, the modern kingdom of Fez.

655This river is now named Lucos, and its mouth, which is about 30 leagues distant from Cadiz, is called Larais or Larache.

656Humboldt, Cosmos ii. 489, note, mentions the remains of a ship of the Red Sea having been brought to the coast of Crete by westerly currents.

657Pozzuolo, close by Naples.

658Gosselin observes, that this steady westerly wind, so far from carrying him towards India, would be entirely adverse to him in coasting along Africa, and doubling Cape Bojador; and infers from hence that Eudoxus never really went that expedition, and that Strabo himself was ignorant of the true position of Africa.

659A name common to many sovereigns of the different parts of Mauritania; the king Bogus, or Bocchus, here spoken of, governed the kingdom of Fez.

660Round Africa.

661A term by which incredible narrations were designated. It owes its origin to Antiphanes, a writer born at Bergè, a city of Thrace, and famous for trumping up false and auld-world stories. Βεργαΐζειν, was a proverbial and polite term for lying.

662The wall mentioned in Iliad, vii. 436,et seq.Gosselin says that in the time of Aristotle the commentators of the Iliad, having vainly sought for the ruins or other traces of the wall, the Philosopher came to the conclusion that the wall was altogether a fiction of Homer’s. Strabo speaks further on this subject in the 13th Book.

663As the above assertion is at variance with the statement of Strabo, in his 7th Book, concerning Posidonius’s views on this subject, it seems probable that the passage as it stands is corrupt. It is more likely Strabo wrote, “It is the opinion of Posidonius that the emigration of the Cimbrians and other kindred races from their native territory wasnotoccasioned by an inundation of the sea, since their departure took place at various times.”

664Odyssey i. 23.

665Aratus, who lived aboutB. C.270, was the author of two Greek astronomical poems, called Φαινόμενα and Διοσημεία. It is from the former of these that the above quotation is taken. Aratus, Phænom. v. 61.

666Evemerus, or Euhemerus, a Sicilian author of the time of Alexander the Great and his immediate successors, and a native of Messina. He is said to have sailed down the Red Sea and round the southern coasts of Asia to a very great distance, until he came to an island called Panchæa. After his return from this voyage, he wrote a work entitled Ἱερὰ Ἀναγραφή, which consisted of at least nine books. The title of this “Sacred History,” as we may call it, was taken from the ἀναγραφαί, or the inscriptions on columns and walls, which existed in great numbers in the temples of Greece; and Euhemerus chose it, because he pretended to have derived his information from public documents of that kind, which he had discovered in his travels, especially in the island of Panchæa. The work contained accounts of the several gods, whom Euhemerus represented as having originally been men who had distinguished themselves either as warriors, kings, inventors, or benefactors of mankind, and who, after their death, were worshipped as gods by the grateful people. This book, which seems to have been written in a popular style, must have been very attractive; for all the fables of mythology were dressed up in it as so many true narratives; and many of the subsequent historians adopted his mode of dealing with myths, or at least followed in his track, as we find to be the case with Polybius and Dionysius. Vide Smith.

667Every one will observe, that this criticism of Strabo is entirely gratuitous and captious. Polybius cites Dicæarchus as a most credulous writer, but states that even he would not believe Pytheas: how then could so distinguished a writer as Eratosthenes put faith in his nonsense?

668On the contrary, the distance in a right line from Cape Tenarum, off the Peloponnesus, to the recess of the Adriatic Gulf, is only about half the distance from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules. This mistake of Dicæarchus is a proof of the very slight acquaintance the Greeks could have had with the western portions of the Mediterranean in his time, about 320 years before the Christian era.

669Literally, “He assigns 3000 to the interval which stretches towards the Pillars as far as the Strait, and 7000 from the Strait to the Pillars.” The distance from Cape Tenarum to the Strait of Messina is in proportion to the distance from the Strait of Messina to Gibraltar, about 3 to 10, not 3 to 7, as given by Dicæarchus.

670That part of the Mediterranean which lies on the coast of Italy, from the mouth of the Arno to Naples.

671The sea which washes the western coast of Sardinia.

672Viz. from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules.

673Santa Maura, an island in the Ionian Sea.

674Corfu.

675The mountains of Chimera, forming the Cape della Linguetta on the coast of Albania.

676The maritime portion of Liburnia, comprised between the coasts of Dalmatia and Istria. It is now comprehended in the district of Murlaka.

677In all 8250 stadia.

678Issus, now Aias, a town of Cilicia on the confines of Syria, famous for the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius, in consequence of which it was called Nicopolis.

679Salamoni.

680Cape Krio.

681Cape Passaro.

682Cape St. Vincent.

683Total 28,500 stadia.

684Spoken of by Polybius.

685The Gulf of Genoa.

686These measures are taken along the coast, in stadia of 700 to a degree. Of these, from Marseilles to Gibraltar there are 9300, and from the ancient promontory of Pyrenæum to Gibraltar 7380. Consequently the corrections of Polybius were neither inaccurate nor uncalled for.

687These 6000 stadia, taken in a direct line, are just the distance from Cape St. Vincent to the chain of the Pyrenees.

688Kelts.

689The rising of the sun in summer.

690The east.

691This is an error into which Strabo fell with most of the ancient geographers. The course of the Don certainly begins from the north, but afterwards it turns eastward, and then suddenly shifts to the west. So that its entire course as known in the time of Strabo, differed from the Palus Mæotis and Sea of Azof by about 9 degrees of longitude. Polybius is here more exact than Strabo.

692Palus Mæotis.

693This was the opinion of Theophanes of Mytilene, who followed Pompey in his expeditions to the East. The Caucasus here mentioned is that which bounds Georgia in the north, and from whence the modern river Kuban (the Vardanus of Pompey) takes its rise. This river does incline slightly to the north, and afterwards turns westward in its course to the Palus Mæotis. It is possible that some confusion between this river and the Don gave occasion to the belief that the latter rose in the Caucasus.

694Cape Malio, in the Morea. See also Humboldt’s Cosmos ii. 482.

695Cape Malio. Gosselin is of opinion that some omission has occurred in this passage, and proposes to substitute the following: “The two former of these Polybius describes in the same manner as Eratosthenes, but he subdivides the third. He comprehends within Cape Malea all the Peloponnesus; within Cape Sunium the whole of Greece, Illyria, and a part of Thrace.”

696Cape Colonna.

697The Strait of the Dardanelles.

698The Rock of Gibraltar.

699Cape St. Vincent.

700Cadiz.

701The Italian Promontory.

702The Gulf of Venice.

703Capo di Leuca.

704ἡ δὲ φυσικὴ ἀρετή τις. We learn from the work entitled De Placitis Philosophorum, commonly attributed to Plutarch, that the Stoics dignified with the name of ἀρεταὶ, the three sciences of Physics, Ethics, and Logic, Φυσικὴ, Ἠθικὴ, Λογικὴ. The exact meaning of ἀρετὴ in these instances it is impossible to give, and Strabo’s own explanation is perhaps the best that can be had; we have here rendered it, “perfect science,” for want of a better phrase.

705Φυσικοὶ.

706We have followed the suggestion of Gosselin in reading τῷ ὅλῳ,the whole, instead of τῷ πόλῳ,the pole, as in the text. Strabo having just previously stated that theaxisof the earth wasstationary, it does not seem probable that he would immediately after speak of themotionof thepole.

707Odyssey xi. 156, 157.

708From this point Strabo, strictly speaking, commences his exposition of the principles of Geography.

709Strabo supposed this circle at a distance of 38,100 stadia from the equator, or 54° 25′ 42″ of latitude.

710The whole of what follows to the end of the section is extremely embarrassing in the original; we must therefore claim the indulgence of the reader for any obscurity he may find in the translation.

711The Greeks, besides the division of the equator into 360 degrees, had also another method of dividing it into sixty portions or degrees.

712These 21,800 stadia would give to Alexandria a latitude of 31° 8′ 34″; according to modern calculation it is 31° 11′ 20″ of latitude. The following presents Strabo’s calculations of the latitude of the preceding places in a tabular form.Names of places.ParticularDistance.TotalDistance.Latitudes.Stadia.Stadia.Equator000° 0′ 0″Limits of the habitable earth8800880012° 34′ 17″Meroe30001180016° 51′ 25″Syene and the Tropic50001680024° 0′ 0″Alexandria50002180031° 8′ 34″

713Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Strabo, all believed that the longitude of Rhodes was the same as that of Alexandria, although actually it is 2° 22′ 45″ west of that place. The coasts of Caria, Ionia, and the Troad incline considerably to the west, while Byzantium is about 3° east of the Troad, and the mouth of the Dnieper is above 3° 46′ east of Byzantium.

714The Roxolani inhabited the Ukraine. It has been thought that from these people the Russians derived their name.

715Strabo here alludes to Ireland, which he placed north of England, and believed to be the most northerly region fitted for the habitation of man. He gave it a latitude of 36,700 stadia, equivalent to 52° 25′ 42″, which answers to the southern portions of that island.

716The Sauromatæ, or Sarmatians, occupied the lands north of the sea of Azof on either side of the Don.

717The Scythians here spoken of dwelt between the Don and the Wolga; east of this last river were the Eastern Scythians, who were thought to occupy the whole north of Asia.

718The tropic being placed at 24° from the equator by Strabo, and most probably by Pytheas also, the latitude of Thule, according to the observation of this traveller, would be fixed at 66°, which corresponds with the north of Iceland.

719Hipparchus.

720Hipparchus placed Marseilles and Byzantium at 30,142 stadia, or 43° 3′ 38″ of latitude, and estimated the parallel for the centre of Britain at 33,942 stadia, or 48° 29′ 19″. Whereas Strabo only allowed for this latter 32,700 stadia, or 46° 42′ 51″.

721Viz. the 36° of latitude. The actual latitudes are as follow:The Pillars of Hercules, or Strait of Gibraltar, 36°.The Strait of Messina, 38° 12´.Athens, 38° 5´.The middle of the Isle of Rhodes, 36° 18´; and the city, 36° 28′ 30″.

721Viz. the 36° of latitude. The actual latitudes are as follow:

The Pillars of Hercules, or Strait of Gibraltar, 36°.The Strait of Messina, 38° 12´.Athens, 38° 5´.The middle of the Isle of Rhodes, 36° 18´; and the city, 36° 28′ 30″.

722This mistake of Strabo caused the derangement in his chart of the whole contour of this portion of the Mediterranean, and falsifies the position of the surrounding districts.

723Strabo having allowed 25,400 stadia, or 36° 17′ 8″, for the latitude of Rhodes and the Strait of Messina, determined the latitude of Marseilles at 27,700 stadia, or 39° 34′ 17″; its real latitude being 43° 17′ 45″, as exactly stated by Pytheas.

724Or about 7°. The actual difference in latitude between Rhodes and Byzantium is 4° 32′ 54″.

725On the contrary, Marseilles is 2° 16′ 21″ north of Byzantium.

7263800 stadia, or 5° 25′ 43″.

727The following is a tabular form of the latitudes as stated by Strabo:Stadia.Latitude.From the equator to Alexandria21,80031° 8′ 34″From Alexandria to Rhodes, he computes in this instance 3600 stadia25,40036° 17′ 8″From the parallel of Rhodes to Marseilles, about 2300 stadia27,70039° 34′ 17″From the parallel of Rhodes to the bottom of the Galatic Gulf, 2500 stadia27,70039° 51′ 25″From Marseilles to the northern extremity of Gaul, or the southern extremity of Britain, 3800 stadia31,50045° 0′ 0″From Marseilles to the middle of Britain, 5000 stadia32,70046° 42′ 51″From the northern extremity of Gaul to the parallel of the northern extremity of Britain, 2500 stadia34,00048° 34′ 17″From the northern extremity of Gaul to Ierne, 5000 stadia36,50052° 8′ 34″From the northern extremity of Britain to the limits of the habitable earth, 4000 stadia38,00054° 17′ 9″

727The following is a tabular form of the latitudes as stated by Strabo:

From the equator to Alexandria

From Alexandria to Rhodes, he computes in this instance 3600 stadia

From the parallel of Rhodes to Marseilles, about 2300 stadia

From the parallel of Rhodes to the bottom of the Galatic Gulf, 2500 stadia

From Marseilles to the northern extremity of Gaul, or the southern extremity of Britain, 3800 stadia

From Marseilles to the middle of Britain, 5000 stadia

From the northern extremity of Gaul to the parallel of the northern extremity of Britain, 2500 stadia

From the northern extremity of Gaul to Ierne, 5000 stadia

From the northern extremity of Britain to the limits of the habitable earth, 4000 stadia

728Namely, 29,300.Stadia.From Rhodes to Byzantium Strabo estimated4900From Byzantium to the Dnieper3800——8700From the Dnieper to the northern limits of the habitable earth4000——12,700From Rhodes to the southern limits of the habitable earth16,600——Total 29,300

728Namely, 29,300.

From Rhodes to Byzantium Strabo estimated

From Byzantium to the Dnieper

From the Dnieper to the northern limits of the habitable earth

From Rhodes to the southern limits of the habitable earth

729The artificial globe of 10 ft. diameter.

730Tuscany.

731Strabo was of Amasea, a city of Pontus, close to the Euxine. He travelled through Egypt and reached Philæ, which is about 100 stadia above Syene, the commencement of Ethiopia.

732The Getæ occupied a portion of present Moldavia; the Tyrigetæ were those of the Getæ who dwelt along the banks of the Tyras or Dniester.

733The Bastarnæ occupied the south and eastern portions of Poland.

734The Georgians of the present day.

735Corcan.

736The precise time when this writer lived is unknown. The work here referred to is also mentioned by Athenæus, xv. p. 682.

737Prefect of Egypt in the reign of Augustus. This expedition into Arabia completely failed, through the treachery of the guide, a Roman named Syllæus. A long account of it is given by Strabo in the 16th book. “It would be extremely interesting,” says Professor Schmitz, “to trace this expedition of Ælius Gallus into Arabia, but our knowledge of that country is as yet too scanty to enable us to identify the route as described by Strabo, who derived most of his information about Arabia from his friend Ælius Gallus.”

738Red Sea.

739Myos-hormos,Mouse’s Harbour, a sea-port of Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. Arrian says that it was one of the most celebrated ports on this sea. It was chosen by Ptolemy Philadelphus for the convenience of commerce, in preference to Arsinoe orSuez, on account of the difficulty of navigating the western extremity of the gulf. It was called also Aphroditis Portus, or the Port of Venus. Its modern name is Suffange-el-Bahri, or “Sponge of the Sea.”Lemprière.

740Humboldt commends Strabo’s zeal in prosecuting his gigantic work, Cosmos ii. 557.

741The Gulf of Aïas.

742The Bay of Bengal.

743Strabo seems here to confound the parallel of Ierna with that of the northern limits of the habitable earth, although a little above, as we have seen, he determines these limits at 15,000 stadia north of Ierna.

744These narrowed extremities of the continent are, Spain on the west, terminated by Cape St. Vincent, and on the east the peninsula of India, terminated by Cape Comorin. This cape Strabo supposed was continued in an easterly direction, and thus formed the most eastern portion of Asia.

745The island of Ceylon.

746Strabo supposed the Hyrcanian or Caspian Sea communicated with the northern ocean.

747Cape St. Vincent.

748Cape St. Vincent is north of Cadiz by 30′ 30″, north of the Strait of Gibraltar, or Pillars of Hercules, by 1° 2′, south of the Strait of Messina by 1° 10′, and north of Rhodes by 33′ 30″.

749Casaubon conjectures that the words τὸν Κάνωβον originally occupied the space of the lacuna. The passage would then stand thus—From the coast of Cadiz and Iberia the star Canopus is said to have been formerly observed. Groskurd rejects this, and proposes to read τοὺς πλησιαιτάτους τοῦ Κανώβου ἀστέρας, “the stars nearest to Canopus.” But this too is not certain, and the passage is otherwise evidently corrupt.

750The most southern.

751Cape St. Vincent.

752The Artabri inhabited the country around Cape Finisterre.

753Principally contained in the modern kingdom of Portugal.

754The Scilly Islands off the Cornwall coast.

755We have long had the custom of tracing on every map the parallels of latitude and longitude at every degree, or every five or ten degrees, as the case may be. By means of these lines drawn at equal distances, the eye at once recognises the relative position of any place in the map. This method was not in use when Strabo wrote: at that time it was customary to draw a meridian or longitude, and a parallel of latitude, for every important place of which the position was considered as determined. This was certainly an obscure way of dividing the globe; nevertheless it is requisite to keep it in mind, in order that we may the more readily understand the general language of our geographer, who instead of simply stating the latitude and longitude of places, says such a place is situated under the same latitude, or about the same latitude, as such another place, &c. Ptolemy seems to have been the first who freed the study of geography from the confusion inseparable from the ancient method. He substituted tables easy of construction and amendment; where the position of each place was marked by isolated numbers, which denoted the exact latitude and longitude.

756Demosthenes, Philipp. III. edit. Reisk. t. i. p. 117, l. 22.—Demosthenes is here alluding to the cities which different Grecian colonies had founded in the maritime districts of Thrace. The principal of these was the opulent and populous city of Olynthus, which, together with others, was taken, and razed to its foundations, by Philip of Macedon. Olynthus has become famous through the three orations of Demosthenes, urging the Athenians to its succour.

757The Mediterranean.

758The entrance to the Arabian Gulf is about six or seven marine leagues, that of the Mediterranean two and three-fourths. The entrance to the Persian Gulf is seven or eight leagues in extent; while the Caspian, being a lake, has of course no outlet whatever.

759Mediterranean.

760Strabo here means the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

761Viz. the Mediterranean.

762The state of Genoa.

763The Gulf of Genoa.

764Vide Humboldt’s Cosmos, ii. 480.

765Corsica.

766Vento Tiene.

767Ponza.

768Elba.

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