GEOGRAPHERS OF THE

ANCIENT GREEK WORLD

VOLUME II
Ancient Greek geographical writing is represented not just by the surviving works of
the well-known authors Strabo, Pausanias, and Ptolemy, but also by many other texts
dating from the Archaic to the Late Antique period. Most of these texts are, however,
hard for non-specialists to find, and many have never been translated into English. The
present volumes, the work of an international team of experts, present the most impor-
tant ­thirty-six texts in new, accurate translations. In addition, there are e­ xplanatory
notes and authoritative introductions to each text, which offer a new understanding of
the individual writings and demonstrate their importance: no longer marginal, but in
the mainstream of Greek literature and science. The book includes twenty-eight newly
drawn maps, images of the medieval manuscripts in which most of these works ­survive,
and a full Introduction providing a comprehensive survey of the field of Greek and
Roman geography.

GRAHAM SHIPLEY is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leicester, and

the author of many studies of Greek history that bring together written sources, archae-
ology, and landscape, such as The Greek World after Alexander (2000) and The Early
Hellenistic Peloponnese (Cambridge, 2018). In 2019, he was elected a member of the
international association GAHIA, ‘Geography & Historiography in Antiquity’.
About the Author
D. Graham J. Shipley, a native of Northumberland and alumnus of the Royal Grammar
School, Newcastle upon Tyne, is Professor of Ancient History and a Public Orator at the
University of Leicester, where he was a founding member of the highly regarded School
of Archaeology & Ancient History. He is the author of many studies of Greek history
that bring together written sources, archaeology, and landscape.
A Literae Humaniores graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, he held research fellow-
ships at Wadham and Balliol, and then at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, before his
appointment at Leicester. He has been Visiting Fellow at the British School at Athens,
and has held a British Academy–Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowship. He is a fellow
of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Historical
Society, and the Society of Antiquaries of London, as well as a Senior Fellow of the High-
er Education Academy. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford, and was awarded a D.Litt. by
examination in 2020. His interest in local identities led him to inaugurate the successful
campaign for a registered flag for the historic county of Leicestershire.
A former Chair of the Council of University Classical Departments and member of
the UK Education Honours Committee, he currently serves on the Oxford ­Classical
Texts Committee of Oxford University Press. In 2019 he was elected a member of
­GAHIA, the Asociación Internacional ‘Geography & Historiography in Antiquity’.

Selected works by the same author

A History of Samos 800–188 bc
(Clarendon Press, 1987; revised Modern Greek edition, 2021)

(edited with J. W. Rich)

War and Society in the Greek World and War and Society in the Roman World
(Routledge, 1993)

(edited with J. B. Salmon)

Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity: Environment and Culture
(Routledge, 1996)

(with W. G. Cavanagh, J. H. Crouwel, R. W. V. Catling)

Continuity and Change in a Greek Rural Landscape: The Laconia Survey
(British School at Athens, 1996–2002)

The Greek World after Alexander: 323–30 bc

(Routledge, 2000; Spanish translation, 2001; Modern Greek edition, 2012)
(edited with J. Vanderspoel, D. J. Mattingly, L. Foxhall)
The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization
(Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Pseudo-Skylax’s Periplous: The Circumnavigation of the Inhabited World

(Exeter University Press, 2011; 2nd edition, Liverpool University Press, 2019)

The Early Hellenistic Peloponnese, 338–197 bc: Politics, Economies, and Networks
(Cambridge University Press, 2018)
 GEOGRAPHERS
of the
ANCIENT GREEK
WORLD
Selected Texts in Translation
volume ii
by
D. Graham J. Shipley
Professor of Ancient History at the
University of Leicester

with contributions by

Colin E. P. Adams Daniela Dueck Ralph Morley

David C. Braund James W. Ermatinger Oliver Nicholson
Stanley M. Burstein Robert C. Helmer Thomas Russell
J. Brian Campbell Yumna Z. N. Khan Richard J. A. Talbert
Katherine J. Clarke Aidan Liddle

Completed with the assistance of

Ancient World Mapping Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Arts & Humanities Research Council
Loeb Classical Library Foundation
 Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge cb2 8ea, United Kingdom
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a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781009194204
doi: 10.1017/9781009184236
© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2024
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names: Shipley, D. Graham J., editor.
title: Geographers of the ancient Greek world : selected texts in
translation / [compiled] by D. Graham J. Shipley.
description: Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge
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9781009194204 (v. 1 ; hardback) | isbn 9781009184229 (v. 2 ; hardback) |
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 to the memory of
Yi-Fu Tuan, geographer
(1930–2022)
 Κύπριδος οὗτος ὁ χῶρος, ἐπεὶ φίλον ἔπλετο τήνᾳ
αἰὲν ἀπ’ ἠπείρου λαμπρὸν ὁρῆν πέλαγος,
ὄφρα φίλον ναύτῃσι τελῇ πλόον· ἀμφὶ δὲ πόντος
δειμαίνει λιπαρὸν δερκόμενος ξόανον.

Kypris’ place is this, since it was her own joy ever

  to look from land at the shining open sea (pelagos)
and complete sailors’ own journey for them. Around her
  the main (pontos) is fearful, beholding the bright carved statue.

Anyte of Tegea (C3e),

Anthologia Graeca 9. 144 (my translation)
 Contents
VOLUME I
List of Figures xiv
List of Mapsxv
List of Tablesxvi
Contributorsxvii
Prefacexxi
Glossaryxxv
Abbreviationsxxxii

Introduction: Greek Geography and Geographers D. Graham J. Shipley 1

I. Aims 1
II. What Is, and Was, Geography? 2
III. The Character of Ancient Geographical Writing 8
IV. Distance 26
V. Space and Cartography 30
VI. The Range of Ancient Geographical Writing 36
VII. Scope of the Volumes 57
VIII. Transmission 67
IX. Organization of the Volumes 73
X. The Translator’s Art 74
XI. Selected Further Reading 79
Time-line D. Graham J. Shipley 86
Prologue: The Homeric Catalogue of Ships (Iliad, 2. 484–760)
D. Graham J. Shipley 96
Introduction96
Text97

PART I: ARCHAIC PERIOD

1 Aristeas of Prokonnesos David C. Braund 109

Introduction109
Texts116
2 Skylax of Karyanda D. Graham J. Shipley120
Introduction120
Texts122
3 Hekataios of Miletos D. Graham J. Shipley127
Introduction127
A. General Texts 130
x • contents

B. Histories or Genealogies133
C. Periegesis (Guided Tour) or Periodos ges (Circuit of the Earth)136

PART II: CLASSICAL PERIOD

4 Hanno of Carthage Richard J. A. Talbert and D. Graham J. Shipley 149

Introduction149
A. Circumnavigation (Periplous)151
B. Other texts 155
5 Hippokrates of Kos (?), Airs, Waters, and Places D. Graham J. Shipley 157
Introduction157
Text159
6 Eudoxos of Knidos D. Graham J. Shipley 177
Introduction177
Texts180
7 Pseudo-Skylax D. Graham J. Shipley 193
Introduction193
A. Periplous of the Inhabited World198
B. Other texts 229
8 Pytheas of Massalia D. Graham J. Shipley 231
Introduction231
Texts236

PART III: HELLENISTIC PERIOD

9 Dikaiarchos of Messana D. Graham J. Shipley 249

Introduction249
Texts252
10 Timosthenes of Rhodes D. Graham J. Shipley 258
Introduction258
Texts262
Appendix: Aristotle, Meteorologika, 2. 6 271
11 Herakleides Kritikos D. Graham J. Shipley 275
Introduction275
A. On the Cities in Hellas278
B. Other Texts 287
Appendix: Anonymous Description of Piraeus (BNJ 369) 288
12 Eratosthenes of Kyrene D. Graham J. Shipley 289
Introduction289
Geographia or Geographika292
13 Mnaseas of Patara Daniela Dueck 360
Introduction360
Periplous or Periegesis362
14 Skymnos of Chios D. Graham J. Shipley 370
Introduction370
Periplous (Circumnavigation)371
 contents • xi

15 Agatharchides of Knidos, On the Erythraian Sea Stanley M. Burstein

and D. Graham J. Shipley 373
Introduction373
A. On the Erythraian Sea378
B. Other Texts 439
16 Hipparchos of Nikaia D. Graham J. Shipley 445
Introduction445
A. Testimonia 447
B. Against the Geography of Eratosthenes449
17 The Nikomedean Periodos [‘Pseudo-Skymnos’] D. Graham J. Shipley 466
Introduction466
A. Continuous Text 471
B. Fragments 494
18 Artemidoros of Ephesos D. Graham J. Shipley 501
Introduction501
Text510
Appendix 1: The Artemidoros Papyrus 555
Appendix 2: The ‘Munich Fragment’ 559
19 Poseidonios of Apameia Katherine J. Clarke 561
Introduction561
A. Principles and Practice of Geography 565
B. Geology, etc. 582
C. Hydrology, etc. 587
D. Observed Geography 599
E. From the History603
F. Other Historical Extracts 605
20 Dionysios son of Kalliphon D. Graham J. Shipley 612
Introduction612
Text615
21 Menippos of Pergamon J. Brian Campbell 620
Introduction620
A. Markianos’ Epitome622
B. Other Texts 627

VOLUME II

PART IV: ROMAN PERIOD

22 Juba II of Mauretania D. Graham J. Shipley 631

Introduction 631
A. On Assyria (?) 634
B. Wanderings of Hanno 634
C. Libyka 634
D. From Libyka or On Arabia 641
E. On Arabia 642
F. On Euphorbion 651
xii • contents

23 Isidoros of Charax Richard J. A. Talbert 653

Introduction 653
A. Stathmoi Parthikoi 654
B. Other Texts 660
24 Pseudo-Aristotle, On the Cosmos (De mundo) D. Graham J. Shipley 663
Introduction 663
Text 666
25 Pseudo-Arrian, Circumnavigation of the Erythraian Sea Colin E. P. Adams 684
Introduction 684
Text 690
26 Pseudo-Plutarch, On the Names of Rivers and Mountains
and the Things in Them J. Brian Campbell 710
Introduction 710
Text 717
27 Arrian of Nikomedeia, Circumnavigation of the Euxine Aidan Liddle 740
Introduction 740
Text 745
28 Dionysios Periegetes Yumna Z. N. Khan 760
Introduction 760
Text 769
29 Agathemeros son of Orthon D. Graham J. Shipley 809
Introduction 809
Text 811
30 Dionysios of Byzantion Oliver Nicholson and Thomas Russell 820
Introduction 820
Text 825
31 Pseudo-Hippolytos, Stadiasmos (Stade Table or Circumnavigation
of the Great Sea) James W. Ermatinger and Robert C. Helmer 853
Introduction 853
Text 860

PART V: LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD

32 Avienus (Avienius), Ora maritima (The Sea Coast) Ralph Morley 889
Introduction 889
Text 894
33 Expositio totius mundi et gentium (Account of the Whole World
and its Peoples) and Iunior Philosophus Richard J. A. Talbert 921
Introduction 921
Text 926
34 Markianos of Herakleia D. Graham J. Shipley 939
Introduction 939
A. Epitome of the Geographoumena of Artemidoros 943
B. Periplous of the Outer Ocean 943
 contents • xiii

C. Preface to the Epitome of Menippos 980

D. Preface to Pseudo-Skylax 983
E. Distances from Rome to the Notable Cities of the Inhabited World (?) 983
F. Other sources 984
35 Hypotypōsis tēs geōgraphias en epitomēi (Outline of Geography
in Summary) D. Graham J. Shipley 985
Introduction 985
Text 988
36 Pseudo-Arrian, Circumnavigation of the Euxine D. Graham J. Shipley 1000
Introduction 1000
Text 1004
Appendix: Anametresis of the Oikoumene and Perimetros of the Pontos 1025

Sources of Extracts (Selected) 1028

Works Cited 1038
Concordances 1095
I. Concordance of Extracts by Chapter 1096
II. Concordance of Extracts by Source Author 1132
Selective Index D. Graham J. Shipley1167
 part four
ROMAN PERIOD
•
(c. 30 bc–ad 300)

The whole of the land inhabited by you—narrowed at the corners, broader

at the sides—is something of a small island embraced by that sea which
you people in these lands call the Atlantic, the Great Sea, the Ocean: yet
you can see, for all its great name, how small it is.
Surely your name, or that of any of our people, has not succeeded in going
from these very lands we cultivate and know, to transcend either this
Caucasus that you observe, or swim across that Ganges over there? Who,
in the rest of the distant places under the rising or setting sun, or in the
parts belonging to the north or south wind, shall hear your name? Cut
them off and you shall observe in what a tight space your glory would like
to be broadcast.
Cicero, De re publica, 6. 21–2 (my translation)
 22
JUBA II OF MAURETANIA
(active c.27 bc–ad 23/4)

Selection of geographical testimonia and fragments

D. Graham J. Shipley

To the memory of
Simon J. W. Squires, classicist
(1944–2023)

INTRODUCTION
Juba II of Mauretania (c.47 bc–ad 23/4) is the only author in these volumes—apart
from Hanno (Chapter 4), if that text be genuine—whose first language was probably
neither Greek nor Latin.1 He was, however, both a Roman citizen and steeped in the
Greek culture of the hellenistic kingdoms ruled by Macedonian dynasties during the
last three centuries bc. He may have been personally acquainted with the historian and
geographer Strabo;2 at the least, he must have been aware of him.3 Juba’s wide-ranging
intellectual accomplishments include richly detailed accounts of the physical geogra-
phy of North Africa and Arabia, including copious new observational data on hydrol-
ogy, geology, and natural history which—as we are now learning from new research
on the use of his work by Arabic and, via them, Latin scholars—were highly influential
on the development of the natural sciences.
Juba (in Latin Iuba; in Greek Iobas) was the direct descendant of Numidian kings,
including the Romans’ enemy-turned-ally Masinissa (r. 202–148 bc) and their van-
quished enemy Jugurtha (r. 118–105). He married Kleopatra Selene II, daughter of Kleo-
patra VII by Mark Antony; she was the last acknowledged descendant of the Ptolemaic
dynasty until she and Juba had a son, significantly named Ptolemaios. After supporting
Octavian, the future Augustus, at the battle of Actium (31) which ended the Roman
civil wars, Juba, still a teenager, was made king of Numidia. When that was made into
a Roman province he received as his kingdom Mauretania,4 lying further west and
corresponding to northern Morocco and northern Algeria today, and running from
the area of the strait of Gibraltar up to the province of Africa Proconsularis, including
Carthage, to the east. The royal couple had their capital at Iol, which they renamed

1
For a general outline, see Dueck 2012, 45.
2
Roller 2003, 69; Dueck 2000, 88, however, implies that they did not coincide at Rome. Strabo 17. 3. 7,
C828, says that Juba has recently died.
3
The point is discussed by Draycott 2010, 215–16.
4
The modern state of Mauritania (sic) lies further S and W than ancient Mauretania.
632 • 22 juba

Caesarea (mod. Cherchel). An effective client king of Rome, he and his queen fostered
Greek culture and architecture and promoted Mauretania’s international trade, includ-
ing the luxury commodities that feature often in the extracts below.5
Juba’s considerable literary output, likewise, can be seen as part of the attempt to in-
tegrate the kingdom into Roman culture at the highest level through royal patronage,
and to add lustre to its reputation. He deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest
scholars of his age. As well as early books on Roman culture and history, a study of the
Greek and Latin languages, a probable autobiography, and histories of painting and the
theatre—fragments of the last are a valuable source for ancient comedy and music—he
ventured into geography with a study of the voyage of Hanno of Carthage (2 below;
Chapter 4 above) and important researches into Mesopotamia, the Arabian peninsula,
and his own homeland in the wider context of Libyē (North Africa) as a whole.6 His
late works Libyka (3–16, possibly 17–19) and On Arabia7 (20–40, possibly 17–19) were
drawn upon (but rarely cited) by Strabo and frequently cited by Pliny the Elder as well
as later authors, though the geographical fragments in the present chapter are nearly
all from Pliny (and probably do not exhaust the material on Arabia which Pliny took
from Juba without continually naming him).8 They were extensively based not only on
expeditions that Juba commissioned but also on his own travels to Egypt and western
Asia. He also relied extensively on earlier writers such as Agatharchides (Chapter 15
above) and Carthaginian authors to whom he had direct access, as well as eye-witness
reports which allowed him to produce, among other things, the first detailed periplous
of the Ocean coast of the Arabian peninsula (possibly in Latin). His most extended
‘fragments’ (20–3) are lengthy paraphrases by Pliny of parts of that work.
His conception of geography was a wide one—indeed, as with other writers in these
volumes it is slightly misleading to call him a ‘geographer’ when his interests in these
fragments embrace the origins of names (1, 8, 14, 16, 19, 21–3, 30, 38), geology and
mineralogy (13–14, 18, 33–9), ethnography (6 §176, 20, 22–3), flora (2–3, 8, 12, 24–7,
29–30) including medicinal plants (31, 41–3), and fauna (4, 9–11, 15–17, 19, 32) includ-
ing the now extinct North African elephant (9, 15).9
Unsurprisingly, his scholarly interests included the geography of North-West
­Africa, such as the Atlas mountains and the Nile (3–5, 16, 23, 41 §78); he was not
alone in placing its source in that region.10 He is particularly keen to note islands (3–8,

  5
On J., see Roller 2003; Roller 2008 (with English trans.); and generally Zucker 2008; Dueck 2012,
45; Roller 2015, 157–61.
  6
Roller 2003, 261–4, identifies ten works by J. and lists all known ‘fragments’ (in a commendably
wide sense of the term).
  7
Its exact title is uncertain; possibly Peri Arabias (On Arabia), Arabika (Arabian Matters), Peri
Arabōn (On the Arabians), or even De Arabia in Latin.
  8
A point made by Roller 2008b commenting on various ‘fragments’.
  9
On the identity of the African elephant, see Charles 2020.
10
Silberman 1988, 318–19, on Mela 3. 96, says the view went back to the early writer Promathos of
Samos and to Hdt. 2. 32–4. Roller 2003, 193–6, finds that the idea that the Nile rose here made sense; he
offers several possible rivers, including the Ziz in Morocco (c.32° 16′ N, 4° 30′ W). For the evolution of
this tradition, see also Merrills 2017, 44–8.
 introduction • 633

11–12, 20, 22–4, 26, 34, 36, 38–9), important for traders, including those of the eastern
­Atlantic such as the Canaries (3 §15, 8), which he did not, of course, discover—they,
or the clouds over them, are visible from the mainland—but on whose names and
fauna he reported in detail, though he did not necessarily visit them. He may not have
devised their collective name, derived from the species of dogs (canes in Latin) found
there, but he is at least responsible for its transmission, as he is for the name of the
plant family Euphorbiaceae, the spurges (3, 41–3).
Juba is praised by Avienus in a striking passage of the Ora maritima (Chapter 32
below, lines 273–83) for his power, his pride in the Roman connexion, and his devo-
tion to literature. His influence on other writers, notably Pliny (see the many extracts
below), Plutarch, and Aelian—especially for matters other than geography—extended
into the Middle Ages: medieval Latin authors (some still unpublished) cite him often,
both from Pliny and from an Arabic version, for information on an astonishing range
of plants and animals.11 The fact that most of those citations refer to species not attested
in the fragments below will allow us to extend the range of Juba’s interests with some
confidence.12
The passages below follow Roller’s edition of testimonia and fragments,13 from
which a selection has been re-translated. This is the first collection of extracts repre-
senting Juba’s geographical work as such.

selected further reading

Domínguez Monedero, A. J. (2017), ‘Rex Iuba, monarca e intellectual helenistico, y la

­Hispania de Augusto’, Gerión, 35: 61–85.
Draelants, I. M. C. (2000), ‘Le dossier des livres sur les animaux et les plantes de Iorach:
tradition occidentale et orientale’, in I. M. C. Draelants (ed.), Occident et Proche-­Orient:
contacts scientifiques au temps des Croisades (Turnhout), 191–276.
Roller, D. W. (2003), The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome’s
African Frontier. London.
*—— (2018), ‘Juba II of Mauretania (275)’, in BNJ².
Zucker, A. (2008), ‘Iouba II of Mauretania, C. Iulius (ca 20 bce–24 ce)’, Encyclopedia of
­Ancient Natural Scientists, 441–2. [Fuller than most EANS entries on geographers.]

11
Sometimes under the name Iorach, a modification of ‘Iobas’; see esp. the revelatory work of
Draelants 2000; pp. 230–76 catalogue citations of Iorach, principally by Arnoldus Saxo, De floribus
rerum naturalium (c.1225–60); see nn. on 4, 8–9, 17, 27, 29, and 40 below. The identification of Iorach
with J. was suggested, but not published, by H. Prell in 1946 (Draelants 2000, 192 n. 2; 231).
12
To name only some of the more easily identified: (plants, trees) cedar, cypress, fig, mandragora, olive,
plane, rose, vine; (animals) ant, antelope, bear, beaver, camel, crocodile, deer, dormouse, dragon, fox,
hedgehog, horned serpent, hyena, ibex, lion, lizard, newt, panther, rhinoceros, salamander, scorpion,
seps (a venomous snake), snake, tiger, viper, water-serpent, weasel, wolf; (birds) bee-eater, crane, crow,
diver, eagle, kingfisher, kite (?), owl, partridge, peacock, pelican, quail, sparrow, swan, turtle-dove,
vulture, plus the legendary phoenix; (sea-creatures) crab, dolphin, mullet, murena, ray, sea-monster,
sea-serpent, whale; (spices and perfumes) balsam, cinnamon, nard. All from Draelants 2000, 234–75.
13
Roller 2008b.
634 • 22 juba

A. ON ASSYR IA (?)

1 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxx. 124: The navigable Euphrates

Nearchus and Onesicritus record that one can sail on the Euphrates to Babylon from
the Persian sea for 412 miles.14 Those who wrote later, however, (say it is) 440 to Seleu-
cia; Juba (says that) from Babylon to Charace (i.e. Characene) (is) 175½.

B. WA NDER INGS OF HA N NO

2 Athenaios 3. 25, 83a–c: The citron fruit

There is much investigation into this . . . as to whether there is mention of it among
the old (writers). Aemilianus said that Iobas (Juba), king of the Maurousians, a very
learned man, when mentioning the kitrion in his compositions On Libyē, stated that
it was a Hesperic apple among the Libyans, from whom Herakles brought to Hellas
the apples that are called golden on account of their appearance. . . . Looking at them,
Demokritos said, ‘if Iobas says any of these things, say farewell to his Libyan books
and even his Wanderings of Hanno; but I say this name does not exist among the old
(writers), though the fact that the thing is said by Theophrastos in his History of Plants
compels me to hear his observations about kitria’.15

C . LIBYK A

3 Pliny, Natural History, 5. i. 14–16: Forests of Mauretania

(14) Suetonius Paulinus, whom we saw when he was consul (ad 66), is the first among
Roman generals to have passed through the whole of (Mt) Atlas; he also went a number
of miles beyond.16 He has reported what others have about its height, and also that its
roots were full of dense, tall forests of an unknown kind of tree, which was notable for
its altitude and its shiny appearance, free of knots. It had leaves similar to the cypress,
apart from the heaviness of their scent; they were covered in a fine down from which,
with the application of skill, garments could be made like those from the silk-worm.
The summit was covered in deep snow even in summer.
(15) . . . The people who inhabited the adjacent forests, which were packed with
­elephants, wild animals, and all kinds of serpents, were called the Canarii (Dog-­
people) because they had a common diet with the said animal, including portions of

14
On these explorers, see Introduction, §VI. 2. h.
15
This may be the first literary reference to the citron (kitron or kitrion) under the name familiar
today (Roller 2008b, commentary on F6). Theophrastos, HP 1. 13. 4 and 4. 4. 2, mentions the citron (cf.
Loeb trans.) but calls it ‘Median apple’, mēlea Mēdikē.
16
Reading emensus, transgressus quoque with Desanges. This took place after J.’s lifetime, so ‘what
others have’ (next sentence) is the key phrase (Roller 2008b).
map 22.1. Juba II: regions and selected places covered in his works.
636 • 22 juba

the ­innards of wild animals.17 (16) It is agreed that the neighbouring nation (gens) is
that of the Aethiopes whom they call the Perorsi. Juba, father of Ptolemy, who was the
first to exercise command over both Mauretanias—more renowned for the distinction
of his scholarship even than for his reign—has related similar things about the Atlas,
as well as that there grows there a plant called Euphorbea, named after its finder, his
physician.18 He commends its milk-like juice with exceptional praise for (bringing)
clarity to the vision and (for its power) against serpents and all poisons, and devotes a
special book to it.
4 Pliny, Natural History, 5. x. 51–5: Source and course of the Nile
(51) The Nile—rising from unknown springs, for it travels through deserts and torrid
places over the unmeasurable distance of its length, and has been searched for only by
unarmed rumour without the wars that have revealed all other lands—has its origin,
as King Juba was able to ascertain, in a mountain of lower Mauretania not far from
the Ocean, at first in a stagnant lake which they call Nilis. Fish are found there: the
alabetae, coracini, and siluri. To furnish a proof (that the Nile rises here), a crocodile
from this place, donated by him, is on show today at the shrine of Isis in Caesarea.19
Furthermore, it has been noted that in proportion as the snows and rains have filled
up Mauretania, so the Nile rises.
(52) Pouring forth from this lake, it scorns flowing through sandy or rough places,
and conceals itself for a journey of some days. Soon it bursts forth at a larger lake in
(the territory of) the nation (gens) of the Masaesyles, who belong to Mauretania Cae-
sariensis, and it surveys, as it were, the gathering of humans, using the same proofs
in the form of animals (as before). Once more, embraced by the sands of the desert,
it hides again for twenty days as far as the nearest Aethiopes and, when it once more
becomes aware of a human it leaps out in a fountain, very probably the one they have
named Nigris.
(53) From this point it divides Africa from Aethiopia, and even though it does
not immediately support people it is stocked with wild animals and monsters. It cuts
through the middle of the Aethiopes, and is here given the additional name of Astapus
(Sobat), which in the language of those nations (gentes) signifies ‘water flowing forth
from darkness’. It strews countless islands about, some of such vast size that, however
great its speed, it still flies past them in a run of not less than five days. Round the
most famous of these, Meroë, it is called Astabores in the left channel, that is, ‘branch
of water coming from darkness’, but Astosapes on the right, which gives the meaning

17
So Rackham and Desanges; alternatively, with Winkler, they consume dogs as well as wild animals.
18
See nn. on 41–3.
19
The former Iol, J.’s capital of Mauretania. On the search for the source of the Nile, and the ancient
belief that it arose in NW Africa, see chapter introduction, and Introduction, §III. 3. k. Draycott 2010
argues that by consecrating a crocodile at Caesarea Juba and his Ptolemaic queen were imitating sacred
crocodiles at the temple of Sobek in Egypt. Kleopatra Selene may have used a crocodile as her symbol
on coins (Draycott 2012). Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on crocodiles;
see Draelants 2000, 267 no. 7 (comparing Pliny 8. xxxvii. 89).
 c. libyka • 637

‘side’. Nor is it (again) the Nile before it reunites all of itself with the waters once more
in harmony.
(54) Here, though, it is still named Giris as it was before, but also over its whole
course it was the Aegyptus for Homer, for others the Triton. Presently it collides with
islands. Hastened on by so many incitements, and finally enclosed by mountains, it
is nowhere more furious and is carried along by the hurrying waters to the place in
(the territory of) the Aethiopes which is named Catadupi. (Here,) at the last cataract,20
between rocks that continually obstruct it, it is believed not (merely) to flow but to
dash with a mighty crash.21 After that it is smooth, its waters tamed and its violence
subdued, and it is rather tired by the (long) distance. It spills itself into the Egyptian sea
by a fair number of mouths, but for several days, with great expansion, it spreads over
the whole of Egypt and with its fertility it floods over the earth.
5 Pliny, Natural History, 5. x. 59: The Nile’s course in Egypt
It (the Nile) begins to be under Egyptian jurisdiction where Aethiopia ends, at Syene.
This is the name of a peninsula which has a circuit of 1,000 (double) paces (1 mile),
where there is a fort on the Arabian side (of the Nile); opposite are the four islands of
Philae, 600 (miles) from the division of the Nile, from which point on, as we have said,
the area is called the Delta. This distance is given by Artemidorus, who says there are
250 towns in it; Juba (gives) 400 miles; Aristocreon22 750 from Elephantis to the sea.
6 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxiv. 175–xxxv. 179: The Erythraian sea (western Indian
Ocean)
(175) After the Mossylitic promontory,23 Juba makes the Atlantic sea begin, to which
one can sail, past his own Mauretania, as far as Gades with the Corus (north-westerly
wind). One must not fail to mention the entirety of his opinion at this point.
From the promontory of the Indians that is to be called Lepte Acra (‘Narrow Cape’
in Greek), or by others Drepanum (Sickle), he proposes that by a direct course past
Exusta (Burnt I.)24 to the islands of Malichu is 1,500 miles; from there to the place they
call Scenei25 225 miles; and from there to the Adanu islands 150.26 Thus it is 1,875 miles
to the open sea (apertum mare).
(176) The others have all believed that no sailing is possible because of the sun’s
heat. In fact, trade voyages themselves are also attacked from the islands by the Arabs
called Ascitae (‘Wineskin Men’ in Greek) because they cover pairs of oxhide flasks with
rafts and pursue piracy using poisoned arrows.

20
i.e. the First Cataract in modern parlance (the most northerly), at Aswan (anc. Syene).
21
non fluere . . . sed ruere. Cf. the rhyme in 16.
22
Aristokreon (BNJ 667) is assumed to have been despatched by Ptolemy II to explore the Nile.
23
As this cape, near the trading-place of Mosylon, is in the Horn of Africa (in mod. Somalia), J. is
here claiming that the Atlantic extends all the way round Libyē to Arabia.
24
Probably Jabal al-Tair in the S part of the (mod.) Red Sea, Brodersen.
25
Or Skeneos, Brodersen; unidentified.    26 Unidentified.
638 • 22 juba

The same Juba records the nations of Trogodytae called Therothoae (‘Hunt-run-
ners’ in Greek), who are named from their hunting—and are marvellously fast, like the
Ichthyophagi (Fish-eaters) who can swim like sea creatures—(and) the Bangeni, Zan-
genae, Thalibae, Saxinae, Sirechae, Deramae, and Domazenes. (177) Indeed, he says
that the people living on the Nile from Syene onwards are not nations of Aethiopes
but of Arabs, as far as Meroë. Furthermore, (he says) Solis Oppidum (Sun’s Town, i.e.
Heliopolis), which we said was not far from Memphis in the region of Egypt, has Arab
founders. There are those who detach the further bank from Aethiopia and attach it
to Africa. Leaving to each (reader) the judgement about how to understand this, we
shall set out the towns on each side, in the order in which they are recorded, beginning
from Syene.
xxxv. (178) First, on the side towards Arabia, is the nation of the Catadupi . . . (list
of places) . . . So Bion relates.27 (179) Juba says otherwise: the fortified town of Meg-
atichos (‘Great Fort’ in Greek), between Egypt and Aethiopia, which the Arabs have
called Mirsion. Then Tacompsos, Aramus, Sesamus, Pidema, Muda, Corambis beside
a spring of bitumen, Amodata, Prosda, Parenta, Mania, Tessata, Gallae, Zoton, Grau
Come (‘Old Woman’s Hair’ in Greek), Emeum, the Pidibotae, the Endondacometae,
the Nomads who live in tents, Cistaepe, Magadale, Parva (Little) Primis, Nups, Direlis,
Patinga, Breves (Short Men), Magasneos, Egasmala, Cramda, Denna, Cadeum, Athe-
na, Nabatta, Alana, Macua, Scammos, Gora on its island, from there Abale, Androca-
lis, Sere, Mallos, and Agoce.28
7 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxvi. 201: Islands off Mauretania
Nor is there any more reliable report concerning the islands of Mauretania; it is only
agreed that a few were found opposite the Autololes by Juba, in which he had estab-
lished dyeing with Gaetulic purple.29
8 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxvii. 202–5: The Fortunate Islands
(202) Some would believe that beyond these (islands) lie the Fortunatae (Fortunate)
islands and certain others.30 Together with their number, the same Sebosus has ascer-
tained their distances: he records that Iunonia is 750 miles from Gades, and that at the
same distance westwards from it lie Pluvialia (Rainy I.) and Capraria (Goat I.); and
that in Pluvialia there is no water other than from the rain. At 250 miles from these,
the Fortunatae lie against the left hand of Mauretania towards the eighth hour by the

27
Bion is perhaps another explorer under the early Ptolemies.
28
The spelling of names follows Desanges.
29
These purple-processing stations may be those on Mogador I. at Essaouira in Morocco, rather than
those in the Canaries (for which see 8). On purple-processing in this region, and on J.’s involvement,
see among other studies López Pardo and Mederos Martín 2008; Álvarez Delgado, Mederos Martín,
and Escribano Cobo 2015; Mederos Martín and Escribano Cobo 2015.
30
Here identified with the Canary Is., the Fortunate Islands or Blessed Isles were a topos of ancient
legend. J. was the first writer to describe them. This passage may lie behind a citation of ‘Iuba’ by David
de Dinant (C12/C13) for the Insulae Beatorum (Isles of the Blest); see Draelants 2000, 234 at ‘B’.
 c. libyka • 639

sun. They are called, (first) Invallis for its roundness,31 (second) Planasia from its (level)
appearance; and the tallness of the trees attains 140 feet.
(203) Juba discovered this about the Fortunates: they also lie towards the south and
by the sunset: 625 miles from the Purpurarii (Islands), that is, if one were to sail 250
beyond (i.e. north of) west and then 375 eastwards. The first (he says) is called Ombrios
(Rainy) and has no traces of buildings; it has a pool in the mountains, and trees like
fennel from which liquid is expressed: from the black ones bitter, from the paler ones
pleasant to drink.
(204) The second island is named Iunonia. On it is only a small shrine built of
stone. Not far from it is a smaller (island) of the same name; then Capraria, packed
with great lizards. Within sight of these is Ninguaria, which received this name from
the endless snow; a cloudy island.
(205) Very close to it is Canaria, so called from the multitude of dogs (canes) of
enormous size, two of which were brought to Juba. (He says) traces of buildings are
seen there. While all (the islands) are well supplied with fruits and with birds of all
kinds, this last is also supplied with palm-groves that produce caryotae (nut-shaped
dates), and with pine cones; there is also plenty of honey; even papyrus and the silurus
(catfish) grow in the rivers. They (the islands) are infested with sea-monsters that are
continually washed up and go rotten.
9 Pliny, Natural History, 8. iv. 7: North African elephants
They themselves (the elephants) know that the prize for which they are sought is only
in their weapons, which Juba called horns but Herodotus, so much earlier, as well as
common custom, more accurately call teeth.32
10 Pliny, Natural History, 8. xlv. 107: The mantichora
The mantichora in Aethiopia, too, imitates the speech of men; the authority for this is
Juba.33
11 Pliny, Natural History, 10. lxi. 126–7: The Diomedean birds
(126) Nor shall I fail to mention the Diomedean birds.34 Juba calls them cataractae
(divers), and records that they have teeth and eyes of a fiery colour while the rest of
them is white. These birds always have two leaders: one leads the procession, the other
drives it (from behind). (He says) they excavate trenches with their beak, strew twigs
over them and cover them with the earth they previously removed, and in these they
rear their young. Each trench has double openings: the eastward by which they are to
go out to feed, the westward by which they are to return. To empty their bowels they

31
Possibly we should read Nivalis, ‘snowy’ (Brodersen ad loc.).
32
J. is the main written source for the now extinct North African elephant (Roller 2008b, commen-
tary). Cf. 15. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on elephants; see Draelants
2000, 242–3 no. 13 (comparing Pliny 8. xii. 34).
33
If not a creature of fantasy, the mantichora may be based on a tiger (Roller 2008b).
34
Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on a bird called the dyameda; see
Draelants 2000, 257 no. 11.
640 • 22 juba

always fly up and into the wind. (127) These birds are seen only in one place in all the
world: in the island which we called notable for Diomedes’ tomb and shrine, facing the
shore of Apulia. They are similar to fulicae (coots). They harry barbarian visitors with
their cry but fawn upon Greeks alone with admirable judgement, as if paying tribute
in this way to the nation of Diomedes. His temple they wash clean and purify each day
with their throat full (of water) and with wetted wings;35 whence comes the story that
Diomedes’ companions were turned into the likeness of these birds.
12 Pliny, Natural History, 13. lii. 142: Corals on the Trogodytic islands
Juba records that around the islands of the Trogodytae there is a shrub in the depths
that is called Isis’ Hair, similar to coral without the leaves; and that when it is cut off,
its colour changes to black and it turns hard; when it falls, it is broken. (He records)
another which is called Charitōn Blepharon (Graces’ Eyelid), efficacious in matters of
love; women (he says) make bracelets and necklaces out of it. (He says) it realizes when
it is being caught and turns as hard as horn, even blunting a blade of iron; but if the
attack has caught it by surprise, it is transformed into stone.
13 Pliny, Natural History, 37. xviii. 69: Emeralds from Aithiopia
After these (sc. emeralds from Cyprus), the Aethiopic are praised; they are twenty-five
days’ journey from Coptus, for which Juba is the authority. They are intensely green
but not commonly pure or consistent in colour.
14 Pliny, Natural History, 37. xxxv. 114: Green stones from Aithiopia
India produces these (green) stones and also nilios, which is inferior (to chrysoprase)
by reason of its limited brightness, deceptive when one looks at it. Sudines36 says it
also occurs in the river Siberus in Attica, but is the colour of smoky, or sometimes of
honey-coloured, topaz. Juba records that it is produced in Aethiopia on the banks of
the river which we call the Nile and takes its name from that.
15 Philostratos, Life of Apollonios 2. 13: Elephants’ tusks
This Iobas (Juba) thinks that (elephants’) teeth are horns, from the fact that they grow
from the place where the temples are and are in no way sharpened one upon the other
but stay as they grew and do not fall out and regrow as teeth do. But I do not accept
this account.37

35
Cf. the similar story of Achilles’ Isle in Arrian 21. 4. Juba was surely aware of the importance of the
Homeric hero Diomedes for Greek cults in colonial settings (cf. Ps.-Skylax §16; Nik. 432–3; Artemidor-
os 73; Poseidonios 40; Dion. Peri. 483), and seized an opportunity of extending Homeric geography to
his own domains.
36
Possibly the author cited several times by Pliny, incl. at 18 below, for the qualities of various pearls
including those from Mauretania. The stone is identified as the blue sapphire by Roller 2008b ad loc.,
citing Healy 1999, 268.
37
Cf. 9.
 d. from libyka or on arabia • 641

16 Ammianus Marcellinus 22. 15. 8: Source and course of the Nile; its mouths
But King Juba, relying on the text of Punic books,38 declares that it (the Nile) rises
from a particular mountain which is located in Mauretania and looks over the Ocean.
This, he says, is proclaimed by the following indications: that similar fish, plants, and
water-monsters (to those in the Nile) grow in its marshes. (9) But the Nile, wandering
across parts of Aethiopia, and after the variety of names with which several nations
have endowed it as it travels the world has been discarded,39 swelling (?) with the richest
flood, comes to the cataracts—that is, rugged crags—from which it throws itself rather
than flows.40 For this reason necessity compelled the neighbouring Ati, their sense of
hearing reduced by the continuous crashing, to change their home for quieter parts.
(10) Wandering more smoothly from there, it is discharged through seven mouths,
all of which individually present the utility and appearance of continuous rivers, aided
by no outside waters within Egypt. Besides the numerous rivers deviating from the
originating channel and falling into its nearly comparable (channels), seven are navi-
gable with waves forming in them. The old (writers) endowed them with the appella-
tions set out below: Heracleotic, Sebennytic, Bolbitic, Pathmitic, Mendesian, Tanitic,
and Pelusiac.

D. FROM LIBYK A OR ON AR ABIA

17 Pliny, Natural History, 8. xiii. 35: Giant snakes in Aithiopia

Aethiopia gives birth to ones (sc. snakes) that are the equal of the Indian ones,41 each
20 cubits in length. This only is surprising: why Juba believed they were crested. The
Aethiopes among whom most of them are born are called Asachaei. They tell that in
the coastal parts (of their land) groups of four and five of them, weaving themselves
together after the manner of hurdles, set sail by raising up their heads and are borne
by the waves to the better pastures of Arabia.
18 Pliny, Natural History, 9. lvi. 115: Varieties of pearls
In our sea they (pearls) used to be found more often around the Thracian Bosporos:
small red ones in shells that they call myës (‘mice’ in Greek). But in Acarnania grows
the one that is called the pina, by which it is evident that they do not grow in just one
variety of shell: for Juba also records that the Arabian ones have a shell that is like an

38
A vital element in building a picture of J.’s intellectual achievement: the proof that he used books in
Punic language, perhaps preserved from the destruction of Carthage in 146.
39
Several words in this sentence are uncertain.
40
ruit potius quam fluit. Cf. the rhyme in 4 §54. Ammianus, however, includes information not found
in the Pliny passage.
41
The information about crested snakes has become tangled with Pliny’s discussion of elephants in
the preceding passage (Roller 2008b ad loc.). Cf. 19 for other giant snakes. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter
introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) for many kinds of snakes; see Draelants 2000, 268–75 passim (com-
paring Pliny 8. viii. 25; xli. 99; etc.).
642 • 22 juba

incised comb, that it is hairy like a hedgehog, and that there is a singleton within the
flesh, similar to a hailstone. Shells of this variety are not brought to us. And neither
are the ones I praised found in Acarnania, the giant ones, rough and marble-coloured.
Better ones (are found) around Actium, but these too are small; also in the coastal parts
of Mauretania. Alexander Polyhistor and Sudines believe that they age and that their
colour is dissipated.
19 Pliny, Natural History, 31. xv. 18: Strange waters in Aithiopia
Juba (says that) among the Trogodytae lies Lacus Insanus (Crazy Lake), so named from
its noxious power. Thrice daily (he says) it turns bitter and salty, then sweet again. It
swarms with serpents, each 20 cubits long.42 The same author (says that) in Arabia a
spring bursts forth with such force that no heavy object, if thrust in, is not spat out
again.

E . ON AR ABIA

20 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxvi. 96–100: The voyage of Onesikritos and Nearchos,
as told by Juba43
(96) But before we pursue these matters one at a time, it is fitting that those things
should be disclosed which Onesicritus related after sailing in Alexander’s fleet from
India into the inland parts of Persis, which have very recently been narrated by Juba;
and then that sea-route journey (navigatio) that was discovered in those years and is
used today. The sea journey ‘route description’ (navigatio) by Onesicritus and Nearchus
contains neither the names of the stations nor the distances. First, it is not made suf-
ficiently clear where Xylinepolis (Wooden City), founded by Alexander,44 from which
they made their start, was located or which river it adjoins.
(97) The following things worthy of remembering are, however, related. The town
of Arbis (Hab?), which was founded by Nearchus during the sea journey to the river
Arbis and capable of accommodating ships; opposite it, an island 70 stades away. Al-
exandria (Khandawari?), founded by Leonnatus by order of Alexander, in the confines
of this nation. Argenuos, with a salubrious harbour. The river Tonberus (Hingol?),
which is navigable; around it the Pasirae (Ormara?).45 Then the Ichthyophagi, over so
lengthy a stretch that they sailed past them for a duration of 20 days. An island named
Solis (Island of the Sun), the same being (called) Nympharum Cubile (Nymphs’ Bed;

42
Cf. the 20-cubit snakes (?) at 17.
43
J. does not appear to have used Nearchos’ account directly, unlike Arrian in his much fuller Indike,
§§20–43, but to have relied on that of Onesikritos (André and Filliozat 1980, 126).
44
Somewhere in the area of the mouths of the Indus. See Roller 2008b ad loc. for this and the other
identifications in this passage.
45
We are passing the coast of Pakistan here.
 e. on arabia • 643

Astalu?), ‹always› coloured red, on which there is no creature that does not die, for
unknown reasons.
(98) The nation of the Ori. The river Hyctanis river in Carmania, which has har-
bours and is productive of gold. From this place on, they observed that the Septentri-
ones (Ursa Major) had first become visible, nor could Arcturus be spotted every night,
or for the whole night. (Juba says) the Achaemenidae had possessed it all the way from
that point; and that veins of copper, iron, arsenic, and cinnabar were worked. Next is
the promontory of Carmania from which the crossing to the opposite shore and the
nation of the Macae in Arabia is 50 miles wide. Three islands, among which only Orac-
ta (Tavilah?)46 is settled and has water; (it is) 25 miles from the mainland.
(99) Next four islands in the gulf, opposite Persis; in the area of these, sea-hydras,
each 20 cubits long, swam up and terrified the fleet. The island of Athotadrus; also the
Gauratae, in which (lives) the nation of the Gyani. The river Hyperis in the middle
of the Persian gulf, capable of accommodating cargo ships.47 The river Sitioganus, by
which Pasargadae is reached in 7 days’ sailing. The navigable river Phristimus. An
island without a name. The river Granis, which accommodates ships of middling size,
flows through Susiane; its right bank is inhabited by the Mountain Dexi, who process
bitumen. The river Zarotis, with an entrance that is difficult except for the skilful. Two
small islands, and from there one sails shallow water similar to a marsh, but one gets
through via particular channels.
(100) The mouth of the Euphrates. The lake which the Eulaeus and the Tigris form
near Charace (Charax). Then via the Tigris48 to Susa; there they found Alexander
keeping a holiday in the seventh month since he had diverted from them at Patale, and
the third month of their voyage. Such was the voyage of Alexander’s fleet.
21 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxi. 136–41: Topography and history of Characene in
Arabia
(136) The part of it (Elymaïs) that is particularly inaccessible is called Characene after
the town in Arabia that marks the end of those kingdoms. We shall speak of it after first
setting out the opinion of Marcus Agrippa.49
(137) For he has related that Media, Parthia, and Persis are demarcated on the east
by the Indus, on the west by the Tigris, on the north by the Caucasian Taurus, and on
the south by the Rubrum Mare,50 and have a length of 1,320 miles and a breadth of 840;
furthermore, that Mesopotamia proper is enclosed on the east by the Tigris, on the

46
On the Straits of Hormuz, the entrance to the Arabian gulf.
47
This section reveals the influence of J.’s commercial awareness, modifying the original data of
Alexander’s captains (Roller 2008b, ad loc.).
48
i.e. Pasitigris (Karun?), a different river.
49
An indication that Pliny had consulted the map or gazetteer of the Roman empire prepared by
Agrippa: see Introduction, §V. 4.
50
Lit. ‘red sea’, equivalent to ‘Erythraian sea’, i.e. NW Indian Ocean plus modern Red Sea.
644 • 22 juba

west by the Euphrates, on the north by the Taurus, and on the south by the Persian sea,
and is 800 miles in length and 360 in breadth.
(138) Charax is the innermost town in the Persian gulf;51 from it the Arabia named
Eudaemon (Fortunate) extends. It is a settlement on a manmade hill of 2 miles’ breadth,
between the Tigris on the right and the Eulaeus on the left, where they flow into one
another. It was first founded by Alexander the Great, its settlers brought from the roy-
al city of Durine which ceased to exist at that time. Leaving invalided soldiers there,
he had given orders that it be called Alexandria, and had created a Pellaean district,
(named) after his fatherland, reserved for Macedonians.
(139) The rivers captured this town. Later Antiochus (III), the fifth of the (Seleukid)
kings, restored it and called it by his own name. When it was again destroyed, Spa-
osines son of Sagdodonacus, king of the neighbouring Arabs, whom Juba mistakenly
records as a satrap of Antiochus,52 restored it with ramparts opposite one another and
gave it his own name, the adjacent area being fortified53 for 6 miles’ length and slightly
less in width. Formerly it was 10 stades from the shore—the Porticus Vipsania54 actu-
ally makes it a coastal place, though Juba relates 50 miles.
(140) But envoys from the Arabs, and our traders coming from there, assert that it is
now 120 (miles) from the shore. Nor is there any place where the lands have progressed,
borne on by rivers, in greater quantity or more swiftly. More amazing is that they are
not beaten back by the surge of the sea, though it advances well beyond this point.
(141) It does not escape me that it was in this place that Isidorus55 was born, the lat-
est authority on the territory of the Earth, whom the divine Augustus had sent ahead
to the East to research everything fully when his elder son was due to go to Armenia to
manage the business with the Parthians and the Arabians.56 Nor have I forgotten that,
at the opening of this work, it was my view that each author is most diligent regarding
his own territory. In this passage, however, my resolve is to follow the Roman forces
and King Juba in the books he wrote to the same Gaius Caesar concerning the same
Arabian expedition.
22 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxii. 149–56: The coasts of the Arabian peninsula
(149) It is Juba who records that beyond this57 the sea voyage (of Arabia) on that side is
unknown because of reefs, though he omits to mention the town of the Omani called

51
J. produced the first full account of the entire coast of the Arabian peninsula, including the
Ocean-facing shore (Roller 2008b, ad loc.). Charax (now in SE Iraq) was the starting-point of his
circuit, and home city of Isidoros (Ch. 23 above), probably named at §141 below.
52
In fact, Hyspaosines (the correct form of his name) was a client ruler under Antiochos IV (r.
175–164), seceding later (Roller 2008b, F 1).
53
Or perhaps ‘built up’.
54
i.e. Agrippa’s survey, displayed at Rome in a colonnade named after him.
55
The MSS have ‘Dionysius’ here; Brodersen prints ‘Isidorus’.
56
Gaius Caesar’s expedition began in ad 1; he died in ad 4 (Brodersen 1996, 225).
57
J.’s circuit—probably not an eye-witness account—has reached the vicinity of Tylos (Bahrain); but
many of the place-names appear to have been rendered unidentifiable by being turned into Latin and
in the course of MS transmission (Roller 2008b, F 30–3).
 e. on arabia • 645

Batrasaves, as well as Omana, which earlier writers made a notable harbour in Car-
mania; also Homna and Attana, which our businessmen say are the most renowned
towns in the Persian sea. Past the river Canis, Juba says, is a mountain that looks as if
it is burned; the nations of the Epimaranitae; not far beyond are the Ichthyophagi; an
uninhabited island; the nations of the Bathymi; the Eblythaei mountains; the island
of Omoemus; the harbour of Mochorbae; the islands of Etaxalos and Inchobriche;
(150) the nation of the Cadaei; many islands without names, but also the renowned
ones of Isura and Rhinnea, and one very close by on which there are stone pillars with
unknown scripts; the harbour of Coboea; the uninhabited Bragae islands; the nation
of the Taludaei; the region of Dabanegoris; Mount Orsa with a harbour; the bay of
Duatas; many islands; Mt Tricoryphus (Three Heads); the region of Chardaleon; the
islands of Solanades and Cachina, and those of the Ichthyophagi; then the Clari; the
shore of Mamaeum, where there are gold mines; the region of Canauna; the nations
of the Apitami and Casani; the island of Devade, the spring of Coralis; the Carphati;
the islands of Alaea and Amnamethus; the nation of the Darae; (151) the islands
of Chelonitis (Turtle I.), many others of the Ichthyophagi, the uninhabited Odanda,
Basa, and many of the Sabaei; the rivers Thanar and Amnum; the Doric islands; the
springs of Daulotos and Dora; the islands of Pteros, Labatanis, Coboris, and Sambra-
chate and a town of the same name on the mainland; to the south many islands, the
greatest being Camari; the river of Musecros; the harbour of Laupas; the Sabaei (called)
Scenitae (Tent-dwellers); many islands; their trading-place Acila, from which one sails
to India; (152) the ­region of Amithoscatta; Damnia; the greater and lesser Mizi;
Drymatina; and the Macae, whose promontory is opposite Carmania at a distance of
50† miles.58
An amazing thing is reported there: that Numenius, put in charge of Mesena by
King Antiochus,59 won a battle with his fleet on the same day that, when the tide
turned, he was fighting against the Persians again with his cavalry, and set up twin
trophies in the same place to Jupiter and Neptune.
(153) Opposite on the open sea is the island of Ogyris, famous as the burial place of
King Erythras;60 it is 125 miles from the mainland and has a circuit of 112½.61 The next
one in the Azanian sea is no less famous: Dioscorides’s (Island; Socotra), at a distance
of 280 (miles) from the tip of the promontory of Syagros.
The other people on the mainland, continuing to the south, are the Autaridae, 8
days’ journey into the mountains; the nations of the Larendani and Catabani; the Geb-
banitae with numerous towns, though the largest are Nagia and Thomna with six-
ty-five temples; this is a mark of its size.

58
We have reached the Straits of Hormuz.
59
One of the four Seleukid kings of that name.
60
The supposed eponym of the Erythraian sea; cf. Eratosthenes 87 §5; Agatharchides 4ab, 5a; Artem.
100.
61
Cf. Erat. 87.
646 • 22 juba

(154) (Next is) a promontory from which it is 50 (miles) to the mainland of the
Trogodytae;62 the Thoani, Actaei, Chatramotitae, Tonabaei, Antiadalaei, Lexianae,
Agraei, Cerbani, and Sabaei, who are the most famous of the Arabs on account of
frankincense; these nations extend to the sea on both sides. The towns on the Red
coast are Merme, Marma, Corolia, and Sabbatha; inland are the towns of Nascus,
Cardava, Carnus, and the one to which they bring down their cargoes of aromatics,
Thomala. (155) One division of them is the Atramitae, whose chief town is Sabo-
ta (Shabwa?), which contains sixty temples within its walls; but the royal capital of
them all is Marelibata (Marib?). They occupy 94 (miles of the coast),63 packed with
perfume-bearing islands. Adjoining the Atramitae in the interior are the Minaei. Also
living on the sea are the Aelamitae with a town of the same name. Contiguous with
them are the Chaculatae and the town of Sibi, which the Greeks called Apate (Deceit);
the Arsi, Codani, and Vadaei with a large town; the Barasasaei and Lechieni; the island
of Sygaros, which dogs are unable to alight upon and so, having disembarked around
the shores, they die from wandering about.
(156) (Next is) a deep gulf in which (live) the Laeanitae, who have given their name
to it. Their royal capital is Agra, and (they have) Laeana (Aqaba), or as others have it
Aelana, in the bay; for our own writers have written the name of the gulf (of Aqaba) as
Laeaniticus, others as Aelaniticus, Artemidorus as Alaeniticus, Juba as Leaniticus. The
circuit of Arabia from Charax to Laeana is related as 4,765 miles;64 Juba thinks it is not
much less than 4,000. It is broadest at the north, between the towns of Heroönpolis
(Heroes’ Town) and Charace (i.e. Charax).
23 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxiii. 165–70: From the gulf of Aqaba along the west coast
of the Red Sea
(165) After the Laeanitic gulf there is the other gulf that the Arabians call Aea, on
which is the town of Heroön (Hero Shrine); there, too, was Kambyses’ Town between
the Neloi and the Marchadae, the sick men in his army being brought there. (Then)
the nation of the Tyri; the harbour of the Danei. The plan to drive a navigable channel
through from here to the Nile in the area where it runs into the aforementioned Delta,
across the interval of 62½ miles lying between the river and the Red Sea, was first
devised by Sesostris king of Egypt, later by Darius of the Persians,65 next in sequence
by Ptolemy (II), who also made a ditch with a breadth of 100 feet and a depth of 30 over
a distance of 37½66 miles up to Fontes Amari (Bitter Springs). (166) Beyond that,
the fear of flooding discouraged (him), once it was understood that the Red Sea was
3 cubits higher than the land of Egypt. Some do not refer to this as the reason rather
than the fear that the water of the Nile, which alone supplies drinkable water, would be
corrupted by letting the sea in.

62
J. has progressed rapidly to the general area of Yemen.    63 96 Loeb, probably a misprint.
64
Presumably in Agrippa’s survey. So Mayhoof, Brodersen; 4,665 Rackham.
65
Necho tried to construct a canal to the Red Sea (Hdt. 2. 158); Darius succeeded (cf. 4. 39, 4. 42).
66
Rackham adopts the variant reading 34½.
 e. on arabia • 647

Nevertheless, the whole journey is often made by land from the Egyptian sea. It
is threefold: one (route) from Pelusium through the sands, on which the way can-
not be found unless the fixed reeds guide one, as the wind immediately obscures the
tracks. (167) The second is beyond Mt Casius, which after 60 miles returns to the
Pelusiac Way; the Arabs called Antaei live beside it. The third is from Gerrhum, which
they call Agipsus, via those same Arabs; it is 9 (?)67 miles closer, but a rough way with
mountains, and without water supplies.
All these routes lead to Arsinoë, founded under his sister’s name by Ptolemy (II)
Philadelphus on the gulf of Carandra. It was he that first opened up Trogodytice. He
named the river that flows past Arsinoë the Ptolemaeus.
(168) Soon after lies the small town of Aenum; others write ‘Philoterias’ instead.
Then there are the Asaraei, who are wild Arabs produced by intermarriage with the
Trogodytae. Then the islands of Sapirine and Scytala; soon desert lands up to Myos
Hormos (Mussel Anchorage), where the spring of Tatnos lies; Mount Aeas; the island
of Iambe; many harbours; the town of Berenice, bearing the name of Philadelphus’
mother, to which the journey from Coptos, mentioned above, leads; then the Arabs
(called) Autaei and Gebadaei.
(169) Then Trogodytice, which ancient writers called Midoë and others Midioë;
Mount Pentedactylos (Five Fingers); the islands of Stenae Thyrae (Narrow Gates), of
which there are several;68 the Halonesi (Salt Is.), at least as many; Cardamine; Topa-
zos, which gave its name to the gemstone.69 Then a bay packed with islands; of these,
those called Maraeos’ (Islands) are well-watered while those called Eraton’s (Islands)
are thirsty; the prefects of the kings were once here. Inland are the Candaei, whom
they call Ophiophagi (Snake-eaters) and who are used to feeding on serpents; for no
other region is so productive of those.70
(170) In this district Juba, who appears to have gone into these matters most dil-
igently, omitted—unless it is a fault in the copies (of his work)—the other Berenice
which is surnamed Panchrysos (All-golden), and a third which (is surnamed) Epi Dirēs
(On the Neck; Ras Siyyan?), notable for its situation, for it is located on a long neck (of
land) that runs far out where the jaws of the Red Sea are 7½ miles from Arabia.71
24 Pliny, Natural History, 12. xxi. 38–xxii. 39: Silk from Bahrain
(38) . . . On a rather lofty height of the same island (Tylos; Bahrain) are trees that bear
wool in a different way from those of the Seres. These have infertile leaves, which, but
for the fact of being smaller, might have been thought to belong to vines. They bear
gourds about as big as an apple which, at the point of ripeness, break to reveal balls

67
Desanges 2008, 3 and 50–1, prints ix for the lx of the MSS (which would only make sense if trans-
lated as ‘shorter than 60 miles’).
68
Desanges emends Deirae to Thyrae.   69 Cf. 34, 36, and 38 below; Agatharch. 84abc.
70
Names in this passage follow the spelling in Desanges 2008.
71
At Djibouti; the mouth of the Red Sea is in fact c.16 mi (c.26 km) wide today. The figure of 7½ miles
is from Timosthenes 15 (cf. Erat. 104; Artem. 113).
648 • 22 juba

of wool from which people make garments of costly linen.72 (39) They call the tree
gossypinus, and the island of Tylus Minor (Lesser Tylos), which is 10 miles away, is
more productive of them. xxii. Juba (says) that around the fruit are quantities of wool,
and that these linen fabrics are more excellent than the Indian kind. There is (he says),
however, a tree in Arabia called the cynas from which they make garments, with a leaf
similar to a palm-tree.73
25 Pliny, Natural History, 12. xxxi. 56: Frankincense from Arabia
King Juba, in those volumes which he wrote to Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, who was
passionate about the reputation of Arabia, recorded that it (the frankincense tree) had a
twisted stem with branches very much those of the Pontic maple, and discharged juice
in the manner of the almond; and that such trees were present in Carmania, and had
been cultivated in Egypt by the efforts of the ruling Ptolemies.74
26 Pliny, Natural History, 12. xxxii. 60: Frankincense from Arabian islands
Certain people think that a better sort (of frankincense tree) is produced in the islands.
Juba denies that it is produced in the islands.
27 Pliny, Natural History, 12. xxxiv. 67: Myrrh
Others say that the bark (of the myrrh tree), which is smooth and similar to the arbutus,
is rough and thorny, its leaf like that of the olive-tree but more wrinkled and prickly;
Juba (says it is like) the olusatrum (black cabbage).75
28 Pliny, Natural History, 12. xxxviii. 78–xl. 80: The perfume trade
(78) Arabia itself, amazingly, searches for perfumes from abroad and goes to people
elsewhere for them. . . . (80) They have opened Carra (Carrhae) for these trades, be-
cause there is a market-day there. They all used to make for Gabba from there, by a
journey of twenty days, and for Syria Palaestina. Afterwards it began to be Charace (i.e.
Charax) that they made for and the kingdom of the Parthians, for this purpose; Juba
is the authority for this.
29 Pliny, Natural History, 13. vii. 34: Palm-trees
In Arabia, too, palm-trees are recorded as being mildly sweet, although Juba esteems
above all others the one in the land of the Scenitae (Tent-dwelling) Arabs that they call
dabla.76

72
Probably a variety of silk, now unknown (Roller 2008b, F 62).    73 Unidentified.
74
J.’s emphasis on frankincense and other luxury products (cf. 24, 26–8) reflects his interest in com-
merce, though his own kingdom was at the other end of Africa. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduc-
tion) cites Iorach (Juba) on myrrh; see Draelants 2000, 240–1 no. 9.
75
The myrrh tree grows over a wider area than Arabia (Roller 2008b, F 27.
76
Unidentified. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on palm-trees; see
Draelants 2000, 237–8 no. 4.
 e. on arabia • 649

30 Pliny, Natural History, 15. xxviii. 99: The arbutus

The fruit (of the wild strawberry, ‘unedo’)77 is unregarded, given that its name comes
from the evidence that only one can be eaten (unum edendi). The Greeks, however,
call it by the two following names: comaron and memaecylon. By this it appears that
there is also that number of varieties. Among ourselves it is called by another name,
arbutus. Juba is the authority (for the information) that in Arabia they have a height of
50 cubits each.78
31 Pliny, Natural History, 25. v. 14: A magical plant
And Juba records that in Arabia a man was brought back to life by a herb.79
32 Pliny, Natural History, 32. iv. 10: Creatures of Arabia
Juba, in those volumes about Arabia which he wrote to Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus,
records that its mussels have a capacity of three heminai;80 that a sea-monster with a
length of 600 feet and a breadth of 360 entered a river in Arabia, and that traders did
business in its fat;81 and that camels in that location are anointed with the grease of
every fish in order to drive gadflies away from them by the smell.
33 Pliny, Natural History, 33. xl. 118: Cinnabar from Karmania
Juba records that minium (cinnabar)82 is produced in Carmania too; Timagenes (says)
in Aethiopia too.
34 Pliny, Natural History, 35. xxii. 39: Minerals from Topazos I.
Juba records that sandaraca (realgar)83 and ochre are produced on the island of Topa-
zos in the Red Sea.
35 Pliny, Natural History, 36. xlvi. 163: Translucent stone from Arabia
In Arabia, too, there is a strong stone, translucent after the manner of glass, which they
use in place of ‘mirror-stones’;84 Juba is the authority for this.
36 Pliny, Natural History, 37. ix. 24: Rock-crystal stones from Red Sea islands
Juba is the authority (for the information) that in a certain island in the Red Sea, lying
off Arabia, a type (of rock crystal) is produced which is called Necron (Dead),85 as well
as on the neighbouring one that bears the gemstone topaz. A cubit-sized piece was
excavated by Pythagoras, Ptolemy’s prefect.

77
It is, however, unrelated to the cultivated strawberry (König 1981, 310).
78
An error, or an exaggeration (Roller 2008b, F 68).
79
Once again, J. is no doubt relying on second-hand information about Arabia.
80
Nearly a litre, and unlikely (Roller 2008b, F 3).
81
Possibly a reference to whaling, though the size is impossible (Roller 2008b, F3).
82
A red pigment.    83 Another red dye, also medicinal.
84
Probably translucent onyx-marble, thin slabs of which created light within a building. Which stone
from Arabia was the substitute for these is uncertain (König 2007, 196–7).
85
Unidentified.
650 • 22 juba

37 Pliny, Natural History, 37. xviii. 73: Emeralds

Juba is the authority (for the information) that the smaragdus they call chlora (green)
is inserted into the decoration of buildings in Arabia, and likewise the stone which
the Egyptians call alabastritēs; but several (authors) close to our own day (say that)
Laconian ones are dug up in (Mount) Taÿgetos, similar to those of Media; and others
in Sicily.86
38 Pliny, Natural History, 37. xxxii. 107–8: Topaz (peridotite) from a Red Sea island
(107) Even now, exceptional fame attaches to topaz; it is one of the green variety (of
stones).87 When it was first found, it was preferred to all other (stones). It occurs on an
island in Arabia which used to be called Cytis (St John’s I.?), to which Trogodyte pirates
had put in, tired out by hunger and the weather; while excavating for plants and roots,
they dug up topaz. This is the opinion of Archelaus. (108) Juba records that the island of
Topazus in the Red Sea is 300 stades from the mainland, and that it is cloud-covered and
accordingly has been the object of searches by sailors on many occasions. (He says) it
gained its name for that reason, for topazin in the tongue of the Trogodytae has the sense
of ‘seeking’.88 From this (he says) it was first brought to Queen Berenice—who was the
mother of the Ptolemy who succeeded (the first one)—by the king’s prefect, Philo, and
pleased the king wonderfully; wherefore a statue of Arsinoë, Ptolemy’s wife, 4 cubits high,
was made (from it) and dedicated in the sanctuary that was surnamed the Arsinoëum.
39 Aelian, On the Nature of Animals, 15. 8: Pearls from different seas
Now the best (pearl) is the Indic and that from the Erythraian sea.89 It is also found in
the western Ocean, where the island of Brettanike lies, and appears to be somewhat
more gold-like, also with a duller and darker shine.90 Iobas (Juba) says it is also found
in the strait by the Bosporos and this one is outclassed by the Bretannic (sic) and in no
way compares to the Indian or Erythraian in its origin. The inland sort is not said to
have its own nature but to be a progeny of crystal, since it is constituted not from the
frosts but by mining.
40 Hesychios s.v. Terebinthos: A city (or a plant?)
Terebinthos: a city. Iobas (Juba).91

86
alabastritēs may be a type of onyx (Roller 2008b, F74). Smaragdus, usually ‘emerald’, also refers to
semi-precious stones such as the variegated green Laconian marble mentioned here, known by the
Latin name lapis Lacedaemonius, which was used to decorate Roman buildings. It was (and is) found
not in Mt Taÿgetos but at Krokeai in the foothills of Mt Parnon, across the Eurotas valley to the E (see
e.g. Warren 1992).
87
Probably peridot (Eichholz 1962, 250 n.; ‘a green semi-precious variety of forsterite (olivine)’,
COD¹²), which occurs on St John’s I. What we call topaz today is ‘1 a precious stone, typically colour-
less, yellow, or pale blue, consisting of a fluorine containing aluminium silicate. 2 a dark yellow colour’
(COD¹²).
88
In fact, topazein is simply the infinitive of the Greek verb ‘seek’, ‘guess’.
89
PME §59.   90 Tacitus, Agricola (from after Juba’s time), 12.
91
Roller 2008b, F 45, suggests that this may have been a reference not to a place but to the ‘Indian
terebinth’ or pistachio, which would reflect J.’s interest in luxury trade. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter
introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on the terebinth; see Draelants 2000, 238 no. 5.
 f. on euphorbion • 651

F. ON EUPHOR BION

41 Pliny, Natural History, 25. xxxviii. 77–9: Discovery of euphorbia

(77) In the days of our fathers, King Juba found (a plant) which he named Euphorbea
after the name of his doctor.92 That man was the brother of Musa, by whom, as we
have noted, the divine Augustus was saved. These brothers introduced the practice
of constricting the body with plenty of cold (water) on leaving the bath; earlier it was
not the custom to wash except in warm, just as we likewise find in Homer. (78) But
Juba’s book on this plant is also extant and is an enthusiastic celebration. He found it
on Mount Atlas, having the appearance of a thyrsus and leaves like an acanthus. Its
power is so great that the juice is removed at a distance after it is cut with a pike; it is
received in receptacles made from the stomach of a young goat. What flows down has
the appearance of milk; when it dries and has congealed, it looks like frankincense.
Those that collect it see more clearly. It is efficacious against serpents, a cut being
made on the crown of the head irrespective of where the bite is, and the medication
applied there. (79) The Gaetuli who collect it adulterate it with milk because of its
unpleasant taste, but it can be identified by applying fire: for by the fact of being
impure it has a smell that is found disgusting. Far inferior to this juice is the one that
is produced in Gallia from the chamelaea plant, which bears a seed (like that) of the
kermes oak (Quercus coccifera). When broken, it is like gum resin, and after even a
slight taste it keeps the mouth feeling burnt, more so after an interval, until the throat
goes dry as well.93
42 Pedanios Dioskorides, On Medical Material, 3. 82. 1–2: Processing of euphorbia
Euphorbion:94 this is a Libyan tree similar to fennel, growing in Autololia by Maure-
tania. It is full of the most bitter juice, which the people here collect fearfully because
of the intense inflammation. At any rate, they tie round the tree the washed bellies
of sheep, and split the stem with javelins from a distance. Straightaway, as if from
a vessel, a large quantity of juice pours out into the bellies and also squirts out in
a spray onto the ground. (2) There are two kinds of juice. The first is translucent
like sarkokolla95 and about the size of vetch (seeds); the other is full of particles and
compacted. It is adulterated with sarkokolla and gum mixed together. Choose the
translucent, bitter sort; but it is difficult to test by being tasted, because as soon as the
tongue is caught96 the inflammation persists for quite a long time, so that everything

92
In 3 §15 Pliny credits Euphorbos himself with the discovery. Roller 2008b, F 7, cites a suggestion
that the particular plant in question was the Canary Island spurge (Euphorbia canariensis), now a
symbol of Gran Canaria; it is toxic, like other Euphorbiaceae.
93
Cf. 3 §15.
94
Beck 2005, 220, translates the name as ‘spurge’ and identifies it as Euphorbia resinifera Berg.
95
A Persian gum. Arnoldus Saxo (see chapter introduction) cites Iorach (Juba) on gum (gummi); see
Draelants 2000, 240–1 no. 9.
96
Lit. ‘bitten’.
652 • 22 juba

brought into contact with it seems to be euphorbion. But its discovery was attested by
Iobas (Juba) king of Libyē.
43 Galen, On Compound Drugs according to Places, 9, p. 271: Nature of euphorbia
juice
It (euphorbion) is the juice of a certain acanthus-like plant that grows in the land of the
Maurousioi, very hot in its action. A small booklet has been written about it by Iobas
(Juba) who held the kingship of the Maurousioi.
 23
ISIDOROS OF CHARAX
(active c. ad 1–14)
Richard J. A. Talbert

fig. 23.1. Opening of the text of Isidoros, p. 106 (detail).

INTRODUCTION
Isidoros from Charax in the Tigris delta is an elusive figure to us. According to Pliny the
Elder writing in the 70s ad, our sole informant,1 he was the most recent author to de-
scribe the world, and was sent (Pliny does not say from where) to the East by Augustus
‘to make a complete record’ when Gaius Caesar was dispatched there on a diplomatic
mission in 1 bc. To judge by Pliny’s numerous citations of distance figures drawn from
Isidoros, it is plain that the coverage of his works did indeed extend far beyond the East,
but altogether their scope, character, and relation to one another are irrecoverable. Only
one work is named by a reader of Isidoros (Athenaios, around ad 200; 20 below), a
Guided Tour of Parthia (Parthias periegetikon)—the Parthian empire, that is, not just the
region so named. He is included in a list of authors of periploi by Markianos (21), but
this evidence is not precise enough to permit us to credit him with a work of that name.
Most of our citations of Isidoros are indeed by Pliny (2–18), who lists him among his
foreign (non-Roman) sources in books 2 to 6 (2), citing him repeatedly for ­distances
(9–10, 17) and perimeters (6–7, 12–16), and once for peoples in Asia (11).
Nothing by Isidoros himself survives except a terse itinerary in Greek entitled Par-
thian Stopping-points (1),2 in the course of which (after §1) the information offered

1
18 below. In the MSS the name here is Dionysium, but editors are surely justified in taking this to
be a copyists’ slip for Isidorum.
2
In the late C13 manuscript ‘D’ (Parisinus supplément grec 443, pp. 106. 13–111. 10) and the con-
temporary or later manuscript ‘E’ (Parisinus graecus 571, pp. 417r–418r); see Introduction, §VIII. 2. b;
also introduction to Ch. 11 above. According to Diller 1952, 30, the copies are almost identical though
E remedies three omissions and avoids some of the errors in D.
654 • 23 isidoros

becomes notably (and inexplicably) less detailed. The route proceeds in eighteen long
stages from the Roman–Parthian frontier at Zeugma on the Euphrates through to the
Parthians’ easternmost region, Arachosia (now in southern Afghanistan), a distance
of over two thousand miles spanning some thirty degrees of longitude. Isidoros seems
often to match Artemidoros, though sometimes adding slightly to his predecessor’s
distances (cf. 9, 15). If this itinerary was compiled with one or more particular con-
cerns in mind, these are not readily apparent: they could be military operations, for
example, or trade, or communications. Distances are given in schoinoi, a flexible unit
(30–120 stades, roughly 3¾–15 miles, see Introduction, §IV. 1, but here probably closer
to the shorter value), which leaves them inexact; some names of places and regions
defy identification and may have been garbled by copyists.3 Even so, this overland itin-
erary is of marked interest as the only surviving example in Greek of a type of record
commonly found in Latin.4

selected further reading

Hartmann, U. (2017), ‘Die Parthischen Stationen des Isidor von Charax: eine Handelsroute,
eine Militärkarte oder ein Werk geographischer Gelehrsamkeit?’, in Wiesehöfer–Müller
(below), 87–125.
Hauser, S. R. (2017), ‘Isidor von Charax Σταθμοὶ Παρθικοί: Annäherungen an den Autor, den
Routenverlauf und die Bedeutung des Werkes’, in Wiesehöfer–Müller (below), 127–87.
Kramer, N. (2003), ‘Das Itinerar Stathmoi Parthikoi des Isidor von Charax: Beschreibung
eines Handelsweges?’, Klio, 85. 1: 120–30.
*Roller, D. W. (2019), ‘Isidoros of Charax (781)’, in BNJ².
Schmitt, R. (2012), ‘Isidorus of Charax’, Encyclopaedia Iranica xiv. 2. 125–7.
—— (2017), ‘Isidors “Stathmoi Parthikoi” aus Sicht der iranischen Toponomastik’, in Wiese-
höfer–Müller (below), 189–220.
Schuol, M. (2017), ‘Isidor von Charax und die literarische Gattung der Stathmoi’, in Wiese-
höfer–Müller (below), 71–85.
Wiesehöfer, J., and Müller, S. (eds 2017), Parthika: Greek and Roman Authors’ Views of the
Arsacid Empire. Wiesbaden.

A. STATHMOI PARTHIKOI

1 Codex Parisinus supplément grec 443, pp. 106. 13–111. 10

Summary (in the manuscript)
(Through) Mesopotamia and Babylonia, 171 schoinoi.
Apolloniatis, 33 schoinoi.
Chalonitis, 21 schoinoi.

3
For all names and distance figures, with outline maps, see Hauser 2017, 166–82.
4
On Roman itineraria, cf. Dueck 2012, 60–1.
map 23.1. Isidoros: western stages.
656 • 23 isidoros

Media, 22 schoinoi.
Kambadene, 31 schoinoi.
Upper Media, 38 schoinoi.
Rhagiane Media, 58 schoinoi.
Choarene, 19 schoinoi.
Komisene, 58 schoinoi.
Hyrkania, 60 schoinoi.
Astauene, 60 schoinoi.
Parthyene, 25 schoinoi.
Apauarktikene, 27 schoinoi.
Margiane, 30 schoinoi.
Areia, 30 schoinoi.
Anaue, 55 schoinoi.
Zarangiane, 21 schoinoi.
Sakastane, 63 schoinoi.
Arachosia, 36 schoinoi.
Total, 858 schoinoi.
Main text
1. Mesopotamia and Babylon, 171 schoinoi.
Opposite Zeugma, for those crossing the Euphrates, there is a city Apameia.
Next a village Daiara. Its distance from Apameia and the river Euphrates is 3
­schoinoi.
Next Charax Sidou city, ‹called› Anthemousias by Greeks, 5 schoinoi.
After it, Koraia in Batane, stronghold, 3 schoinoi.
To its right, Mannouorrha Auÿreth stronghold and spring from which the locals
draw water, 5 schoinoi.
Next Kommisimbela stronghold which river Bilecha skirts, 4 schoinoi.
Next fortress Alagma, royal stopping-place, 3 schoinoi.
After it, Ichnai, Greek city founded by Macedonians, situated on Balicha river, 3
schoinoi.
Next Nikephorion on Euphrates, Greek city founded by king Alexander, 5 schoinoi.
From there, on the riverbank Galabatha, deserted village, 4 schoinoi.
Next Choumbane village, 1 schoinos.
From there Thillada Mirrhada, royal stopping-place, 4 schoinoi.
Next Basileia, temple of Artemis founded by Darius, village-city; Semiramis’ trench
is here, and the Euphrates has been blocked by boulders so that its confinement should
cause the plains to be flooded, although in summer boats are wrecked as a result,
‹7 schoinoi›.
map 23.2. Isidoros: eastern stages.
658 • 23 isidoros

Next Allan, village-city, 4 schoinoi.

From there, Beonan, shrine of Artemis, 4 schoinoi.
Next Phaliga, village on the Euphrates—said to mean ‘halfway point’ in Greek—6
schoinoi.
From Antiocheia to here, 120 schoinoi.
From here to Seleukeia on the Tigris, 100 schoinoi.
Situated by Phaliga is village-city Nabagath, skirted by river Abouras, which emp-
ties into the Euphrates. From here armies cross to the limit of Roman control.
Next Asicha village, 4 schoinoi.
From there, Doura, Nicanor’s city founded by Macedonians—called Europos by
Greeks—6 schoinoi.
Next stronghold Merran, village-city, 5 schoinoi.
Next Giddan city, 5 schoinoi.
Next Belesi Biblada, 7 schoinoi.
From here an island in the Euphrates, 6 schoinoi; here used to be treasure of the
Phraates who slaughtered his concubines when attacked by the fugitive Tiridates.
Next Anathō island in the Euphrates, 4 stades (in size), with a city on it, 4 schoinoi.
After it, Thilabous island on the Euphrates, with Parthians’ treasure here, 2 schoinoi.
Next Izan island-city, 12 schoinoi.
Next Aëipolis with streams of bitumen here, 16 schoinoi.
From here Besechana city with a temple of Atargatis there, 12 schoinoi.
Next Neapolis on the Euphrates, 22 schoinoi.
From there, proceeding across the Euphrates and Narmalchan to Seleukeia on the
Tigris, 9 schoinoi.
Here Mesopotamia and Babylonia end, and from Zeugma to Seleukeia is 171
­schoinoi.
2. From there begins Apolloniatis, which extends for 33 schoinoi. It has [— (number
lost)] villages in which there is a stopping-place, and a Greek city, Artamita; through
its middle flows river Silla.
From Seleukeia to it is 15 schoinoi. However, nowadays the city is called Chalasar.
3. From there, Chalonitis, 21 schoinoi, with 5 villages in it and a stopping-place in
them, Chala a Greek city 15 schoinoi from Apolloniatis.
Next, 5 schoinoi on, a mountain called Zagros, which divides the Chalonitis region
and that of the Medes.
4. From there, Media which extends for 22 schoinoi. It starts at [— (name missing?)]
and Karina region, with 5 villages in it and a stopping-place in them, but no city.
5. From there, Kambadene which extends for 31 schoinoi, with 5 villages in it and a
stopping-place in them, and a city Bagistana situated on a mountain with Semiramis’
statue and pillar there.
6. From there, Upper Media, 38 schoinoi. Right at the start of it is Konkobar city with
a temple of Artemis, 3 schoinoi. Next Bazigraban, which is a customs-post, 3 schoinoi.
 a. stathmoi parthikoi • 659

Next to Adrapana the establishment of Batana’s royalty, which the Armenian Ti-
granes destroyed, 4 schoinoi.
Next, Batana, metropolis of Media and a treasury and temple of Anaitis where sac-
rifices are made regularly, 12 schoinoi.
Next three villages in succession and a stopping-place in them.
7. From there, ‹Rhagiane› Media, ‹58› schoinoi, with 10 villages in it, 5 cities. Seven
schoinoi further, Rhaga and Charax, Rhaga the largest of Media’s (cities). At Charax the
first king Phraates settled the Mardoi; it is below the mountain called Kaspios, with the
Kaspiai Pylai (Caspian Gates) beyond.
8. From there, after proceeding beyond the Kaspiai Pylai, there is a valley and Cho-
arene, ‹19 schoinoi›, with a city in it, Apameia, 4 schoinoi further on.
Four villages and a stopping-point in them.
9. From there, Komisene, 58 schoinoi, with 8 villages in it and a stopping-point in
them. There is no city.
10. From there, Hyrkania, 60 schoinoi, with 11 villages in it and a stopping-point in
them.
11. From there, Astauene, 60 schoinoi, with 12 villages in it and a stopping-point in
them.
A city, Asaak, where Arsakes was first proclaimed king, and a perpetual fire is main-
tained here.
12. From there, Parthyene, 25 schoinoi, with a valley.
Six schoinoi further, the city Parthaunisa, with royal tombs here; Greeks call it Ni-
saia.
Next Gathar city, 6 schoinoi further.
Next Sirōk city, 5 schoinoi further. It has only a single village, by the name of Saphri.
13. From there, Apauarktikene, 27 schoinoi, with a city in it, Apauarktike.
Next Rhagau city and 2 villages.
14. From there, Margiane, 30 schoinoi, with the Antiocheia called Anydros (Water-
less) here, but there are no villages.
15. From there, Areia, 30 schoinoi, with Kandak city here and Artakauan city and
Alexandreia among the Areioi. Four villages.
16. From there, Anauōn, a region of Areia, 55 schoinoi; in it Phra city, the largest,
and Bis city and Gari city and Niē city. There is no village.
17. From there, Zarangiane, 21 schoinoi, with Parin city and Korok city here.
18. From there, Sakastane of (the) Skythian Sakai which is also Paraitakene, 63 scho-
inoi, with Barda city and Min city and Palakenti city, and Sigal city with a royal estab-
lishment of (the) Sakai here; and nearby, Alexandropolis city.
Six villages.
19. From there, Arachosia, 36 schoinoi; the Parthians call it Indike Leuke (White
India).
Biyt city here and Pharsana city and Chorochoad city and Demetrias city.
660 • 23 isidoros

Next Alexandreia, metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and Arachotos river skirts

it. This is as far as the Parthians’ rule extends.

B. OTHER TE XTS
In date order.

2 Pliny, Natural History, 1. 2–6: Pliny’s sources

In the 2nd book are contained . . . the measurement of the entire Earth . . . from these
authors: . . . foreign (i.e. non-Roman): . . . Isidorus of Charax . . .
In the 3rd book are contained places, peoples, seas, towns, harbours, mountains,
rivers, measurements, and peoples who exist or who existed . . . from these authors: . . .
foreign (i.e. non-Roman): . . . Isidorus . . .
In the 4th book . . . (the same).
In the 5th book . . . (the same).
In the 6th book . . . (the same).
3 Pliny, Natural History, 2. cxii. 242: Earth’s west–east extent
As was stated (earlier), our part of the Earth, which I am discussing—swimming, as
it were, in the surrounding Ocean—extends furthest from sunrise to sunset: that is to
say, from India to the Pillars of Hercules dedicated at Gades (Cádiz) it is 8,578 miles in
the judgement of Artemidorus, but 9,818 in that of Isidorus.5
4 Pliny, Natural History, 2. cxii. 245: Earth’s south–north extent
But the width of the Earth from the southern position to the north is roughly one-half
less: for Isidorus it amounts to 5,462 (miles).
5 Pliny, Natural History, 2. cxii. 246: Distance from the Tanaïs (Don) to Thule
From the entrance of the Tanaïs, the most careful authors have perpetrated no exagger-
ations. . . . Isidorus added 1,250 (miles) up to Thyle (Thoule), which is an interpretation
based on divine foresight.
6 Pliny, Natural History, 4. iv. 9: Circumference of the Peloponnese
The Peloponnese . . . because of its angular bays amounts to 563 miles in circumference,
according to Isidorus.
7 Pliny, Natural History, 4. xvi. 102: Circumference of Britannia
Pytheas and Isidorus report that in its circuit it (Britannia) extends 4,875 (miles).
8 Pliny, Natural History, 4. xxiii. 121: Distance from the Tanaïs to Gades
With the tour of Europe complete, a reckoning must now be given, so that nothing
may be inconvenient for those who desire knowledge. Artemidorus and Isidorus have
presented (the distance of) 8,714 (miles) from the Tanaïs to Gades.

5
See nn. on Artemidoros 4.
 b. other texts • 661

9 Pliny, Natural History, 5. vi. 40: Tingi to Canopus

Isidorus (has given the distance as) 3,6976 (miles) from Tingis to Canopus, Artemidorus
40 miles less than Isidorus.7
10 Pliny, Natural History, 5. ix. 47: Egypt to Tanaïs river
Asia joins it (Libyē) . . . Eratosthenes and Isidorus (record) the whole of it, including
Egypt, as far as the Tanaïs, as 5,013 miles and 750 paces (i.e. ¾ mile).
11 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxiii. 127: Former peoples of Asia
From Asia various nations have perished: . . . Isidorus (names) Arienei and Capreatae,
where Apamea was founded by King Seleucus between Cilicia, Cappadocia, Cataonia,
and Armenia, and (records that?) since it had subdued very fierce races (gentes) it was
at first called Damea.8
12 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxv. 129: Cyprus
Timosthenes offers the figure of 427½ miles for its (Cyprus’s) circuit; Isidorus gives 375.
13 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxvi. 132: Rhodos and its distance from Alexandria
Rhodes, with a circumference of 125 (miles) or, if we rather believe Isidorus, 103. . . . It
is 583 (miles) from Alexandria in Egypt, as Isidorus records; 469 as Eratosthenes (says);
as Mucianus, 500; from Cyprus, 176.
14 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxvii. 135: Samos
Samos, with a circumference of 87½ (miles) or, as Isidorus says, 100.
15 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxviii. 136: Chios
Chius . . . amounts to 125 (miles) in circumference, as older writers recorded; Isidorus
adds 9.
16 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xxxix. 140: Lesbos
The circumference of the whole island (Lesbos) is, as Isidorus (says), 168 (miles); as
older writers (say), 195.
17 Pliny, Natural History, 5. xliii. 150: Kalchedon to Sigeion
Isidorus records 322½ (miles) from Calchadon to Sigeum.
18 Pliny, Natural History, 6. xxxi. 141: Isidoros’ work superseded by that of Juba
It does not escape me that it was in this place that Isidorus was born, the latest authority
on the territory of the Earth. The divine Augustus had sent him ahead to the East to
research everything fully when his elder son was due to go to Armenia to manage the
business with the Parthians and the Arabians. Nor have I forgotten that, at the opening
of this work, it was my view that each author is most diligent regarding his own territory.
In this passage, however, my resolve is to follow the Roman forces and King Juba in the
books he wrote to the same Gaius Caesar concerning the same Arabian expedition.9

6
3,519 Rackham.   7 Cf. 8.
8
Roller (whose translation differs) notes that the last comment is not necessarily by Isidoros.
9
See nn. on this passage at Juba 21 §141 above.
662 • 23 isidoros

19 Pseudo-Lucian, Makrobioi (‘The Long-lived’), 15–17: Historical information from

Isidoros
(15) Another Persian king, Artaxerxes—who reigned, according to the Charakene
historian Isidoros, in the time of his forefathers—was murdered at the age of 93 as a
result of a plot by his brother Gosithras. . . . (17) According to Isidoros of Charakene,
the king of Omana—known for its spices—in his youth was Goaisos, who died from
an illness at the age of 115.
20 Athenaios 3. 46, 93d–94b: Pearl-fishing
Isidoros of Charakene in his Guided Tour of Parthia says that there is some island in the
Persian open-sea (pelagos) where great quantities of pearls are found. Consequently
the island is encircled by reed rafts from which men dive 20 orguiai (fathoms) down
into the sea to bring up bivalve shellfish.
It is said that the oysters mostly conceive during bouts of thunder and pouring
rain, and that this is when the pearls are most numerous and of good size. The oysters
typically go down to recesses on the seabed during the winter, but in summer they
swim around open at night though closed by day. Those that attach to rocks or cliffs
put down roots and produce pearls there. They give birth and are fed through the part
attached to their flesh. This is a growth at the shell’s mouth which has claws and draws
in food; really it is like a small crab and is called pinophylax (oyster-guard). From here,
flesh extends to the centre of the shell like a root; next to it a pearl, after being gener-
ated, grows thanks to the shell’s toughness, and it is fed for as long as it stays attached.
But in the course of this growth the flesh worms under it and by gently cutting in
separates the pearl from the shell, so that with this embrace it no longer feeds it, but
makes it smoother, more translucent and less flawed. Oysters from the seabed produce
pearls that are the most translucent and large, whereas those that rise to the surface are
discoloured and smaller because of their exposure to the sun’s rays.
Men who hunt for pearls take a risk whenever they put their hand into an open
shell, because then it closes and often their fingers are sliced off; some even die there
and then. But if they can successfully put a hand underneath from the side, then it is
easy for them to prise shells from the rock.
21 Markianos of Herakleia, Epitome of the Periplous of Menippos of Pergamon 2:
Isidoros as a source
I write this having encountered many periploi and having spent a lot of time acquiring
knowledge of these topics. . . . Those who in my view have investigated these matters
intelligently are: Timosthenes of Rhodes . . . and after him Eratosthenes . . . in addition
to these Pytheas of Massilia, Isidoros of Charax . . .
22 Hesychios s.v. Dousaren: A Nabataean name for Dionysos
Dousares: Dionysos to the Nabataeans, according to Isidoros.10

10
It is plausible, though not certain, that the reference is to Isidoros Charakenos.
 24
PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE, ON
THE COSMOS (DE MUNDO)
(1st c. ad?)
D. Graham J. Shipley
To the memory of
Michael D. J. Easton, traveller
(1955–2012)

INTRODUCTION
This elegant philosophical–theological disquisition—relatively neglected in modern
scholarship—is more literary than most works in these volumes, characterized as it is
by polished periods and a rich vocabulary including a notable number of hapax legom-
ena (words ‘said once’, found nowhere else). Written in Greek and apparently entitled
Peri kosmou (On the Universe), it is usually known by the Latin title De mundo (On the
World).1 Although not a work of detailed geographical exposition, it draws upon the
Greek and specifically Peripatetic (Aristotelian) tradition of geographical science and
deploys it in the service of philosophical and theological debate.
The treatise is preserved among the works of Aristotle, and presents itself as an
address to his sometime pupil Alexander the Great, but among other features it uses
certain items of vocabulary not attested in Aristotle’s day and probably drawn from
philosophical compendia of hellenistic times.2 It is generally believed to have been
written long after both Alexander and Aristotle’s lifetimes: current consensus favours
the 1st century bc or the Julio-Claudian period (reigns of Augustus to Nero, 27 bc–ad
69), and certainly it can be no later than the third quarter of the 2nd century if it was
adapted by Apuleius (below).3

1
Not to be confused with Aristotle’s genuine work Peri ouranou (On the Heavens), known as De caelo
in Latin.
2
Gregorić and Karamanolis 2020a, 6; Baksa 2020, 124, 137, 141, 146, 148.
3
Geus and Dan 2018, 415, prefer Wilamowitz’s Julio-Claudian dating to that proposed by Mansfeld
1992 (not pre-C1). Furley 1955, 339–41, argues for ‘before or not long after’ (p. 341) Andronikos’
­edition of Aristotle appeared (C1l), and at the outside between c.50 bc and c. ad 180–90. (Apuleius
was born c. ad 125 and died by c.190, BNP s.v.) Among recent commentators, Keyser 2008b adopts
80–20 bc (and is less precise about the work’s relationship to Aristotelianism than are the chapters
in Gregorić and Karamanolis 2020b); Thom 2014b, 7, identifies a dependence upon Eratosthenes
(d. c.200 bc) and suggests a date around ‘the turn of the era’ (i.e. c. ad 1) at the latest. Gregorić
and ­Karamanolis 2020a, 8, while preferring not to debate the chronology, prefer a wide window of 250
bc–ad 50, though Pajón Leyra and Bartoš 2020, 120, in the same ­volume, suggest that Ps.-Arist. knew
664 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

The author’s primary aim is philosophical and theological rather than scientific; he
offers a ‘protreptic’ work: that is, one designed to encourage the reader to learn more
about the field—in this case, philosophy. Accordingly, he does not indulge in polemic
against particular schools, but maintains a positive tone and implicitly approves of
certain features of different philosophies. The work stands close to the fountain-head
of a broad current of reworked Platonism and Aristotelianism that stretches forward
through the centuries into the medieval period, when the De mundo was much read;
but as well as drawing largely upon Eratosthenes (Chapter 12 above) for its geography,4
it carefully positions itself in the Peripatetic tradition of cosmology, albeit with mod-
ifications.5 Some scholars have seen echoes of Jewish writers of the hellenistic period,
such as Aristoboulos of Alexandria (2nd century);6 one might add Ecclesiasticus or
Sirach (written in Hebrew and translated into Greek in the same century),7 though
again there are philosophical differences.8 It is also firmly, albeit implicitly, opposed to
Stoic cosmology:9 the chief difference being that God is not immanent in the world,
only his power is, he himself standing at the highest level of the concentric spheres and
making the world move.10
Conventionally divided into seven chapters of uneven length, which seem to cor-
respond to an original programme, the text begins by urging ‘Alexander’ to cultivate
the study of the universe (kosmos). The author develops his theme by describing the
geocentric universe, then moves downwards and inwards via the celestial bodies to
the form of the Earth, its seas, and the placement of the inhabited portion of the globe
(oikoumenē)—or, rather, portions, for he supposes that other inhabited areas exist (an
idea with a precedent in Aristotle, Meteorologika, 2. 5)11—and a range of meteorologi-
cal and geological phenomena.
In the long chapter 6 he begins to build upwards and outwards again to his cosmo-
logical climax, using a series of twelve similes and analogies about the divine power
(‘a god’ or ‘the god’) who maintains the balance and smooth running of the universe.
These comparisons are not randomly juxtaposed, but form a careful developmental

the work of Artemidoros (fl. 104–100 bc) and therefore favour 100 bc–ad 50. Exceptionally, Bos 2020,
reviewing Gregorić and Karamanolis, still attributes it to Aristotle (as do Reale and Bos 1995); while
Sider 2015, reviewing Thom, likewise upholds a date before 323 but sees ‘this patently u­ nAristotelian’
work as by a pupil of Arist.
4
Geus and Dan 2018, 402.    5 Gregorić and Karamanolis 2020a, 6–9.
6
On Aristoboulos, see J. Cook 2008.
7
Cf. Ecclus. 43: 11–26, a paean to the panorama of Nature, with ch. 4 of De mundo. On the date of
Ecclus., see McKechnie 2000.
8
Tzvetkova-Glaser 2014, 135–7.
9
In particular, it cannot be proved that De mundo drew directly upon Poseidonios: Pajón Leyra and
Bartoš 2020, 81–2.
10
For the work’s relation to Stoicism and Aristotle, see now the chapters in Gregorić and Karamanolis
2020b, especially the introduction (Gregorić and Karamanolis 2020a).
11
See Jirsa 2020, 77–9, also noting De caelo 2. 2 and 2. 13 as well as Strabo’s discussion of Eratos-
thenes at 1. 4. 6, C65 (Erat. 26 above), but only as a hypothesis.
 introduction • 665

sequence, each refining the message of the one before.12 (i) The god is like leaders of
men, who need to rule from a distance, not administer in detail (6. 3–4). (ii) Instru-
ment-makers and (iii) puppeteers may, by a single movement, create many movements
(6. 5). (iv) Objects and (v) animals of different form can be impelled or released into
movements that bear their individual character (6. 6). (vi) A chorus leader directs his
chorus to sing in harmony (6. 8). (vii) The cosmos is like an army at war, each member
fulfilling his role in accordance with signals that he understands (6. 9). (viii) The soul
is an instance of an unseen mover that produces ordered effects (6. 10). (ix) The key-
stone in an arch creates an instantaneous and unchanging harmony which is broken if
the stone is removed, while (x) Pheidias’ portrait was built into Athena’s statue in such
a way that its removal would cause the whole to collapse (6. 11). The last two examples
are inanimate, but (xi) humans, too, can direct other animate beings or inanimate or
objects (6. 12). (xii) Finally, and most memorably, the cosmos is compared to a polis
or city-state run by the unchanging law that enables each of its members to play his
part (6. 13). Short-term change is continually contrasted with the essential constancy
of everything. The author seems to engage in a debate among Aristotelians, in which
he may be taking the position that the deity not only exercises power remotely but can
be credited with the material effects of that power in both the sublunary world and the
wider cosmos.
Finally, in the short but almost ecstatic chapter 7, ‘the god’ is equated with Zeus.
Previously named only at 2. 4 and 6. 7 in reference to the planet Jupiter, then in his
own person at 6. 11—with a quotation from the Iliad showing that he occupies the
loftiest place in the world—Zeus is now praised with a catalogue of titles to illustrate
his many roles, and then an enumeration of the ways in which he embodies fate and
justice (7. 3). One can hardly read this final chapter without taking it as a passionate
expression of devotion. It is no coincidence, perhaps, that the 2nd-century ad author
Apuleius—whose most famous work, The Golden Ass, presents itself as a work of per-
sonal allegiance to a deity, in his case the Mother Goddess—probably adapted the De
mundo for a Latin readership.13 The work ends with an invocation of Plato in support
of the author’s theology.
The author demonstrates his broad learning by a wide-ranging appeal to the knowl-
edge accumulated by his hellenistic predecessors and the cosmological and geograph-
ical theories they developed. He also makes frequent use of etymologies to explain
the workings of the universe. Astronomy, meteorology, and geography are deployed
in the service of theology with the aim of inspiring the reader to further study of
philosophy. The enumeration of islands, gulfs, continental boundaries, climatic and
geological phenomena in chapters 3–4 seems designed to pique the reader’s interest

12
See Betegh and Gregorić 2020, 181–201.
13
Brodersen 2019; on its adaptation to a new cultural context, see Harrison 2000. Furley 1955, 340,
comments that ‘it is not quite certain’ that Apuleius was the adapter.
666 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

with ­fascinating details, and adds up to an important overview of late hellenistic geo-
graphical understanding.
This translation follows the Greek of Furley’s Loeb edition,14 with one change neces-
sitated by a recent comparison with the Armenian version of the text.15

selected further reading

Federspiel, M., and Levet, J.-P. (eds 2018) with A. Cohen-Skalli and M. Cronier, Pseudo-­
Aristote, Du monde; Positions et dénominations des vents; Des plantes. Paris. [Translation;
pp. 55–82 (nn., 130–64).]
*Furley, D. J. (1955), ‘Aristotle, On the Cosmos’, in E. S. Forster and D. J. Furley, Aristotle, On
Sophistical Refutations; On Coming-to-be and Passing Away; On the Cosmos [Loeb edi-
tion], 333–409. [‘Introduction’ at pp. 333–43; useful notes.]
Gregorić, P., and Karamanolis, G. (eds 2020), Pseudo-Aristotle, De Mundo (On the Cosmos):
A Commentary. Cambridge. [Includes detailed chapter on the geography by Pajón Leyra
and Bartoš, cited in the notes below.]
Kraye, J. (1990), ‘Aristotle’s god and the authenticity of “De mundo”: an early modern contro-
versy’, Journal of the History of Philosophy, 28. 3: 339–58.
*Reale, G., and Bos, A. P. (1995), Il trattato Sul cosmo per Alessandro attribuito ad Aristotele,
2nd edn. Milan.
*Thom, J. C. (2014a), Cosmic Order and Divine Power: Pseudo-Aristotle, On the Cosmos.
Tübingen.

TE XT
The chapter divisions (1–7) are traditional; section numbers have been added for the present
edition.

1. (1) (391a 1) On many occasions, Alexander,16 philosophy has seemed, to me at least,

an essentially godlike and divine thing; especially when, raising itself independently to
a view of the wholes,17 it has endeavoured to learn the truth in them. While other pur-
suits had stood aside from this viewpoint by reason of its lofty and grand character, this
one neither feared the undertaking nor considered itself unfit to contemplate the most
beautiful things, but deemed such learning most akin and especially fitting to itself.
(2) (391a 8) For—since it was not possible to arrive at the heavenly location, or to
leave the Earth and observe that heavenly space, as the unintelligent Aloadai18 once

14
In Forster and Furley 1955, 333–409. The Greek text of Thom 2014c differs only occasionally.
15
Reading πολυμερεστάτοις ὕδασι in ch. 3, with Geus and Dan 2018, 403–10.
16
The work purports to be addressed to Alexander the Great. On the subject matter of ch. 1, see
Karamanolis 2020.
17
Perhaps ‘the massive structures of the universe’, as argued by Karamanolis 2020, 17. Cf. the begin-
ning of ch. 2, two contexts in ch. 5, and two in ch. 6.
18
The giants who attempted to pile Mt Pelion on top of Mt Ossa in order to get to heaven.
 text • 667

did—at any rate through philosophy the soul, taking intelligence as guide, has passed
over and ventured abroad to find some unwearying road; and has comprehended in
understanding the things that are most distant from one another in location. It has,
in my view, easily recognized kindred things and with the divine eye of the soul has
grasped equally divine things and proclaimed them to the human race. It had this
experience, in so far as it was able, because it wished to share ungrudgingly with all
people the treasures it possessed. Therefore those who have earnestly depicted for us
the nature of a single place, the form of one city, the size of a river, or the beauty of
a mountain, as some in the past have done—some telling of Ossa, others of Nyssa,
others again of the Korykian cave,19 others of whatever detail of an area it happened to
be—these might be pitied for their small-mindedness, fascinated as they are by chance
encounters with things and thinking great thoughts about small objects of reflection.
This is their experience because they are unobservant of greater matters—I mean the
cosmos and the greatest things in the cosmos; for if they genuinely knew about these
things they would never be amazed by the others, but these other things would appear
of no value compared with the pre-eminence of the former.
(3) (391b 3) Let us speak and, in so far as it is attainable, theologize about all these
things: what nature each has, what position, and what movement. Actually I consider
it fitting even for you, best of leaders, to pursue an inquiry into the greatest things; and
(fitting) for philosophy to conceive of nothing mean but to shake hands with the best
men and present them with these kinds of gifts.
2. (1) (391b 9) Kosmos, then, is the combination of heaven, Earth, and the natures20
contained within them. Kosmos can be otherwise expressed as the appointment and
adornment of the wholes,21 which is preserved by the god and because of the god. The
middle of this, being unmoved and fixed, has been taken by the ‘life-bearing Earth’22
which is the hearth and mother of all kinds of creatures. The place above it, whose
extremity is entirely and everywhere in the highest, is the dwelling-place of the gods
and has been named heaven. It is full of divine bodies which we are accustomed to
call stars. Moving with an eternal motion, it performs a continual dance in circular
revolution with all these (bodies), never ceasing through the ages.
(2) (391b 19) Since the entire heaven or kosmos23 is spherical and, as I have said,
moves continuously, there are of necessity two unmoved points directly opposite one
another, as in a revolving sphere on the lathe; they remain stationary and hold to-
gether the sphere, and around them the whole mass turns in a circle. They are called
poles; and if we were to conceive of a straight line, which some call an axle, it shall be
the diameter of the cosmos, having the Earth in its centre and the two poles as the

19
On Mt Parnassos: Pausanias 10. 32. 2.
20
physeis, a metonymy for ‘things with a nature’. On the polysemy of the term physis, see Jirsa 2020,
63–4. On the content and organization of ch. 2, see Thein 2020; on its later part, Jirsa 2020.
21
For this expression, cf. n. on ch. 1.    22 A quotation from Hesiod, Theogony, 693.
23
A sense of kosmos distinct from those in the previous paragraph (Furley ad loc.).
668 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

e­ xtremities. Of these unmoving poles one is always visible overhead, in the northern
latitude, and is called the Arctic; the other is always hidden below the Earth in the
southern, and called Antarctic.
(3) (392a 5) The aether (aithēr) is what we call the substance (ousia)24 of the heaven
and the stars; not, as some say, because being made of fire it aithetai, ‘burns’—they are
mistaken about its (the aithēr’s) power, quite removed from that of fire—but because it
aëi thei, ‘always runs’, being carried round in a circle. It is a different element from the
other four;25 it is pure and divine. Of the stars contained in it, some do not wander but
revolve with the entirety of heaven, keeping the same positions; in the middle of them
is the so-called zōöphoros, ‘animal-bearing’, circle (Zodiac), formed as a girdle oblique-
ly between the tropics and divided section by section into the twelve spaces for the
animals. Others, being planēta, ‘wanderers’, do not by nature move at the same speed
as the above, or as each other, but in one or another circle so that one of them will be
closer to the Earth, another higher. (4) (392a 16) The multitude of the unwandering,
fixed ones is undiscoverable by humans, even though they move upon a single surface
of the entirety of heaven. That of the planets, appointed in seven sections, exists in as
many circles lying in succession so that the upper is always greater than the lower and
the seven are contained within one another; all of them, nevertheless, are embraced by
the sphere of the unwandering ones. The circle called that of the shining one (phainōn)
or Kronos (Saturn) has its position permanently contiguous with this (outermost) one;
next is the one called the (circle) of the radiant one (phaëthōn) or Zeus (Jupiter); next
the fiery one (pyroëis), designated the circle of Herakles and Ares (Mars); next the
gleamer (stilbōn), which some call the sacred circle of Hermes (Mercury) but others
that of Apollo; after which is that of the light-bringer (phosphoros) which they desig-
nate as that of Aphrodite (Venus), though others of Hera. Next is the circle of the Sun;
the last is that of the Moon whose limit extends to the Earth. The aether contains the
divine bodies and their appointed movement.
(5) (392a 31) After the aetherial and divine nature—which, as we have demonstrat-
ed, is so appointed, is unalterable, unchangeable, and unaffected by anything—the
next adjacent nature is in all respects able to be affected and altered and, to tell the
entire tale, capable of being destroyed and of perishing. Of this the first substance is
the fine-grained and inflammable one, set on fire by the aetherial nature on account
of the latter’s size and the rapidity of its motion. In this fiery and disorganized one
the meteors dart through, flames are shot, beam-meteors and cavity-meteors and so-
called comets are set and often extinguished.
(6) (392b 5) Next after this flows the aēr (air), which is by its nature opaque and
ice-cold, but when in motion becomes illuminated as well as burning, both radiant
and heated. In this, as it belongs to the (sphere) capable of being affected and is itself
associated with power and is altered in every way, clouds are produced and rains

24
On the translation of ousia, see Jirsa 2020, 64–5.    25
Earth, air, fire, and water (Furley ad loc.).
 text • 669

tumble down, with snow, hoar-frost, hail, and breaths of winds and whirlwinds (ty-
phōnes),26 plus thunder, lightning, thunderbolts, and ten thousand collisions of dark
clouds.
3. (1) (392b 14) Next after the aerial nature are fixed the Earth and sea, teeming with
plants and animals, springs and rivers, some winding across the Earth, others dis-
gorged into the sea.27 It is variegated with ten thousand kinds of greenery, high moun-
tains, thick-set forests, and cities which the wise creature, the human, has founded;
and with sea-girt islands and continents. The majority of accounts have divided the
inhabited world into islands and continents, not realizing that the whole is one island
surrounded by the so-called Atlantic sea (thalassa). It is probable that many other
(inhabited worlds) lie far away across the water from this one, some larger than it,
others smaller; but all except this one are invisible to us.28 The islands in our part bear
the same relationship towards these open seas (pelagē) here as does this inhabited
world in relation to the Atlantic sea (thalassa), and many others in relation to the
entire sea; for these are like great islands with great open seas (pelagē) beating upon
them. The entire nature of the moist is on the surface, but in some parts of the Earth it
reveals the so-called cliffs, which are the inhabited areas and might be said to belong
to the aerial nature. After this, in the depths at the very centre of the cosmos, stands
the Earth, firmly set and compressed, unmoved and undisturbed; and this is the whole
lower part, as we call it, of the cosmos.
(2) (392b 35) These five elements, lying in five spaces in a spherical relationship, the
lesser always being enclosed by the greater—I mean the Earth in the water, the water in
the air, the air in the fire, the fire in the aether—have constituted the whole cosmos and
appointed all the upper part as the dwelling-place of gods, the lower that of short-lived
creatures. Of the latter part, some is moist, which we are accustomed to call rivers,
streams, and seas; and some dry, which we name land, continents, and islands.
(3) (393a 9) Of the islands some are large, as is this entire inhabited world, as has
been said, and many others surrounded by great open seas (pelagē); others smaller,
being visible to us and within (our sea). Of the latter some are noteworthy, (namely)­
Sicily, Sardo (Sardinia), Kyrnos (Corsica), also Crete, Euboia, Cyprus, and Lesbos;
others less substantial, among which some are named Sporades, others Cyclades, and
o
­ thers ­differently.29

26
See ch. 4 for a possibly different use of this term.
27
On the first part of ch. 3, see Jirsa 2020; on the geographical content, see Burri 2014, and the com-
prehensive discussion by Pajón Leyra and Bartoš 2020.
28
Cf. Erat. 26 §6.
29
On lists of islands in the geographers, see Pajón Leyra and Bartoš 2020, 82–5, noting (83) that the
only identical list is in the C4f–C3e comic poet Alexis, fr. 260 in Arnott 1996 (268 in Kock 1880–8) =
Steph. Byz. σ 155a Sikelia (from Constantine Porphyrogennetos): ‘of the seven greatest islands which
Nature has shown to mortals Sikelia, it is said, is the greatest, second Sardo, third Kyrnos, fourth Crete
the nurse of Zeus, narrow-formed Euboia fifth, sixth Cyprus; Lesbos has received the seventh rank’.
670 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

(4) (393a 16) The open sea (pelagos) outside the inhabited world is called the At-
lantic and Okeanos, and it surrounds us; and opening out from a narrow passage in
the west (of our inhabited world) it forms, at the so-called Pillars of Herakles, its inflow
into the inner sea as if it were a harbour; broadening out little by little, it flows along
and incorporates great bays connected to one another: here given a mouth at a narrow
neck, there broadening again. The first gulf that is formed on the right as one sails in
at the Pillars of Herakles is in two parts: the so-called Syrteis, one of which they call
Great (gulf of Sidra), the other Small (gulf of Gabès). On the other side it is not similar-
ly formed into a gulf but makes three open seas (pelagē), the Sardinian, the so-called
Galatic (Gallic), and the Adriatic; and next after these at an oblique angle the Sicilian;
after this the Cretan; contiguous with this in one direction the Egyptian, the Pam-
phylian, and Syrian, in the other the Aegean and the Myrtoan. Running beside and
opposite the aforementioned (seas) with their many parts30 is the Pontos, of which the
innermost (part) is called Maiotis and the outer, towards the Hellespont, is connected
by a mouth to the so-called Propontis.
(5) (393b 2) In the direction of the Sun’s uprisings (anascheseis),31 the Ocean flows
in again, opening up the Indian and Persian gulfs, and reveals the contiguous Erythra-
ian sea, dividing it off. Towards the other horn (of Asia),32 running through a long, nar-
row neck, it widens out again and defines the Hyrkanian or Caspian (land);33 beyond
this, it has a deep place beyond Lake Maiotis. Next, beyond the Skythians and Keltike,
it constricts the inhabited world towards the Galatic gulf and the aforementioned Pil-
lars of Herakles, outside which Okeanos flows round the land. In this part there turn
out to be two very large islands, called the Brettanic: Albion (Great Britain) and Ierne
(Ireland), lying beyond the Keltoi. No smaller than these are Taprobane beyond the
Indians, at an angle to the inhabited world; and the so-called Phebol (Socotra?), which
lies by the Arabian gulf (Red Sea).34 A good number of small ones in the area of the
Brettanic islands and Iberia form a crown round this inhabited world, which of course
is an island, as we have said, whose breadth at the deepest point of the continent wants
little of 40,000 stades—as those who have practised geography well assert—and whose
length is roughly about 70,000.35 It is divided into Europe, Asia, and Libyē.
(6) (393b 23) Europe is the (part) whose boundary markers in a circle are the Pil-
lars of Herakles, the head of the Pontos, and the Hyrkanian sea at the point where a
very narrow isthmus runs through into the Pontos; though some have said it is the

30
Reading πολυμερεστάτοις δ’ οὖσι with Geus and Dan.
31
Rare word, nowhere else used thus.    32 ‘Horn’ (keras) in the sense of headland; see Glossary.
33
On the identity of this region, and the question whether the Caspian was a gulf of Ocean, see Pajón
Leyra and Bartoš 2020, 96–102.
34
Altomare 2014 identifies Phebol as Madagascar, which suits some evidence, but somewhere further
N is implied here. Pajón Leyra and Bartoš 2020, 84–5, suggest (at 84) a corruption of ‘Phoibos’ in
reference to the Island of the Sun (mentioned e.g. by Iamboulos as reported by Diod. 2. 55. 1–60. 3),
which they tentatively identify as either Socotra or Sri Lanka.
35
Pajón Leyra and Bartoš 2020, 112–18, prefer ‘around 70,000 stades at most’.
 text • 671

river Tanaïs (Don) rather than the isthmus. Asia is the (part) from the isthmus pre-
viously mentioned, the Pontos, and the Hyrkanian sea up to the other isthmus that
lies between the Arabian gulf and the outer sea, enclosed by this and Okeanos on
the outside; though some make the boundary of Asia run from the Tanaïs up to the
mouths of the Nile. Libyē is the (part) from the Arabian isthmus as far as the Pillars
of Herakles; though some say (it runs) from the Nile to the latter. Some attach Egypt,
surrounded (sc. at its seaward end) by the mouths of the Nile, to Asia, others to Libyē.
Some make the islands independent, others assign them to their various neighbouring
sections. (394a 4) Now we have inquired after the nature and position of the Earth
and of the sea, what we are accustomed to call the inhabited world, and found it to be
of the above character.
4. (1) (394a 7) Let us now speak of the most noteworthy phenomena within and
around it, summarizing the essentials.36 (394a 9) For two particular exhalations are
continuously carried out of it into the air above us; they are fine-grained and wholly
invisible unless they are sometimes observed around the dawn (hours) being carried
up along rivers and streams. The first of these is dry and smoky, flowing out of the
Earth; the second is damp and vaporous, being exhaled by the moist nature. From
the latter arise mists, dews, and forms of frost, also clouds, rain, snow, and hail; from
the dry one winds, varieties of breeze, thunder and lightning, firestorms, lightning
bolts, and other things that are akin to these.
(2) (394a 19) Mist is a vaporous exhalation unproductive of water, thicker than air
and thinner than cloud; it arises from the initial stage of a cloud or from its remnant.
The opposite of this is said to be a clear sky, as indeed is the case, for it is nothing ex-
cept cloudless and mistless air. Dew is moisture that is carried out of a clear sky and
has a fine consistency. Ice is compacted water solidified in a clear sky. Hoar-frost is
solidified dew. Dew-frost is half-frozen dew. Cloud is a thick, vaporous concentration
productive of water. Rain arises from the squeezing out of well-thickened cloud, and
has as many varieties as does the compression of cloud; for when the latter is mild it
sprinkles soft raindrops, but if intense they are solider; we call this a rainstorm, greater
than rain and carried to the ground as continuous concentrations. Snow arises at the
breaking up of thickened clouds which are cut up before they are turned into water;
the cutting produces foaminess and extreme whiteness, while the consolidation inside
produces the coldness of the moisture which is not yet liquefied or thinned out. When
this is strongly and thickly deposited, it is named a blizzard. Hail arises from a blizzard
that has been concentrated and has gained weight from compression (lit. ‘felting’) so
that its descent is swifter; according to the sizes of the fragments broken off, the masses
are greater and their courses become more violent. These, therefore, are the things that
occur as a result of moist exhalation.

36
On ch. 4, see Baksa 2020; and cf. Aristotle, Meteorologika 2. 6 (appendix to Ch. 10 above).
672 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

(3) (394b 7) From the dry (exhalation), pressured into flowing by cold, wind has
arisen; for this is nothing other than a lot of air flowing as a mass, which at the same
time is called a breath. ‘Breath’ is a term used in another sense for the substance in
plants and animals that runs through all things and is animate and fertile; it is not nec-
essary to talk of this now. The ‘breaths’ that blow in air we call winds; the exhalations
carried from moisture we call breezes. Of the winds, those blowing from soaked earth
are called land winds; those darting out from gulfs are called gulf winds. Winds from
rivers and lakes have a certain similarity to these. Those arising from the break-up of
cloud and the dissolution of its density towards themselves, are called cloud winds; if
they break up massively with water they are called water winds.
(4) (394b 19) And the continuous winds from the east (i.e. eastern quarter) are
called Euroi, but those from the north (i.e. northern quarter) are called Boreai, those
from the west (i.e. western quarter) Zephyroi, and those from the south (i.e. southern
quarter) Notoi.37 Of the Euroi, moreover, Kaikias is the name of the wind blowing
from the area around the summer sunrises (north-east), but Apeliotes (is the name) of
that from the area around the equinoctial38 ones (due east), and Euros of that from the
area around the winter ones (south-east). And of the contrary Zephyroi the Argestes,
which some call Olympias and others Iapyx, is that from the summer sunset (north-
west), but Zephyros is that from the equinoctial one (due west), and Lips that from the
winter one (south-west). And of the Boreai the one next to the Kaikias is specifically
called Boreas (NNE), but the next one Aparktias (north), blowing from the pole onto
the south point, and the next one Thraskias (NNW), which some call Kirkias, blowing
next to the Argestes. And of the Notoi the one running contrary to the Aparktias from
the invisible pole (i.e. the South Pole) is called Notos, but the one between Notos and
Euros Euronotos (SSE), and the one on the other side, between Lips and Notos, some
call Libonotos (SSW), others Libophoinix.
(5) (394b 34) Some of the winds are ‘straight-blowing’, those that blow forwards
in a straight line; others are ‘curve-blowing’, such as the so-called Kaikias. Some pre-
dominate in winter, like the Notoi; others in summer, like the so-called Etesiai, which
contain a mixture of those carried from the north and of the Zephyroi; the so-called
Ornithiai (‘bird-winds’), which are among the spring winds, are of the Boreas category.
(6) (395a 5) Among the violent winds, a squall is a wind that strikes suddenly from
above; a hurricane is a violent wind that springs up suddenly. A storm or tornado is a
wind twisting upwards from below. An up-draught is a wind carried upwards during
emission from some depth or fracture. When it has a tightly twisting movement, it
is a ‘land firestorm’. When wind is twisted within a thick, damp cloud and forced out
through it, violently breaking the compressed layers (lit. ‘feltings’) of the cloud, it has
developed a great crashing and banging which is called thunder, like wind forcefully
driven through water. During the break-up of the cloud the wind is set on fire and

37
For the wind rose, see Timosthenes 18 and nn.
38
Lit. ‘equidiurnal’. See Introduction, §X. 3. b fin.
 text • 673

becomes luminous, and is called lightning, which has fallen (upon us) earlier than the
thunder despite happening later: for in the nature of things what is heard is overtaken
by what is seen. The latter is seen from afar, the former only when it approaches the
hearing; particularly when the latter is the swiftest of essences—I mean the fiery one—
but the former is less swift because it is made of air and arrives at one’s hearing by an
impact. Once aflame, the hurled lightning that hastens violently to the ground is called
a thunderbolt; if it is half on fire but otherwise substantial and dense, a firestorm;
if wholly without fire a whirlwind (typhōn).39 Each of these, striking the ground, is
named a lightning strike. Some thunderbolts are called ‘sooty’ if they are dark; others
that dart rapidly, ‘brilliant’; ‘forked’ if carried along a line; ‘lightning strikes’ if they
strike something.
(7) (395a 28) In short, some appearances in the air are by reflection, others by sub-
stance. Those by reflection are rainbows, staves, and such things; those by substance
are darting meteors, comets, and things similar to those. A rainbow is a reflection,
as in a mirror, of a section of the Sun or Moon in damp, hollow cloud of continuous
appearance, observed to resemble the circumference of a circle. A stave is a straight
reflection of a rainbow. A halo is a very bright reflection of the illumination of a star;
it differs from a rainbow in that the rainbow appears opposite the Sun or Moon, while
the halo is seen in a circle round the whole star. A meteor is the ignition of dense fire
in the air. Among meteors some are cast like javelins, others are stationary. The javelin
throw is the generation of fire by rubbing; the fire is carried swiftly in air and presents
the appearance of length because of its speed; the stationary position is an elongated
extension without movement, like the motion of a star; when broadened at the end, it
is called a comet. Often it happens that some of the meteors persist for a considerable
time while others are extinguished immediately. Many other forms of appearances are
observed, called torches, bars, jars, and pits, having been so designated in accordance
with their resemblance to these things. Some of these are observed in the west, some
in the east, others everywhere; rarely in the north and south. All are unstable; for none
of these has been described as always visible and fixed in position. So aerial matters
have the above character.
(8) (395b 18) But just as the Earth contains in itself many springs of water, similarly
there are springs of wind and fire. Of these, some are invisible under the ground, but
many have places where they inhale and exhale, such as Lipara, Aitna (Etna), and
those in the Aeolian islands. They often flow in the manner of a river, and throw up
fiery anvils. Some, being underground near spring-waters, warm these and send up
warm streams, boiling ones, or those with a good mixture. Similarly, many mouths
have opened for winds in many parts of the Earth; some cause people who come near
them to be divinely inspired, others to lose appetite, others to prophesy, like those at

39
At ch. 2 typhōn appears to mean a variety of wind, but here it seems to be a form of lightning
without fire.
674 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

Delphi and Lebadeia;40 others kill outright, as is the case in Phrygia. Often a related
breath of moderate quality within the Earth has been forced into the inner ends of
caves, being displaced from its usual region, and has severely rocked many parts. Of-
ten a large quantity from outside has been cooped up in the cavities of the Earth and,
being confined with no way out, has agitated the Earth very violently, seeking its exit,
and has created this effect, which we are accustomed to call an earthquake. (9) 395b
36. Among earthquakes, some move the Earth obliquely at sharp angles; these are
called ‘leaners’. Those that throw the Earth up and down at right angles are ‘boilers’;41
those causing subsidence into cavities, ‘sinkers’; those opening chasms and shattering
the Earth are called ‘breakers’. Some of these additionally project wind, some rocks,
some mud; others reveal springs that previously did not exist. Some overturn things at
one push; they are called ‘thrusters’. Others, which make the shaken ground sway back
and forth and, by inclining and swaying back, continually correct the movement, are
called ‘swingers’; they induce an effect similar to trembling. There are also ‘bellower’
earthquakes, shaking the ground with a loud noise; often, too, a roaring of the ground
takes place without an earthquake, when the wind is insufficient to shake it, but being
cooped up in it is beaten about with a roaring force. The penetrating winds are also
corporealized (i.e. condensed) by the moisture hidden in the Earth.
(10) (396a 17) Analogous things to these also occur in the sea. For sea chasms
appear, and often there are retreats and assaults by waves; sometimes with a reverse
strike, sometimes with only a forward thrust, as is reported about Helike and Boura.42
Up-draughts of fire often occur in the sea, springs gush forth, rivers discharge, trees
grow up; there are currents and whirlpools analogous to those of winds, some in the
middle of open seas (pelagē), others at narrows and straits. Many ebb-tides and reced-
ing waves are said to occur in time with the Moon, at particular defined times.
(11) (396a 27) In sum, since the elements are mixed with one another, it makes
sense that in the air, Earth, and sea similarities of effects are produced. Some bring
about the destruction and generation of particular parts (of the whole) while protect-
ing the entirety from ruin and generation.
5. (1) (396a 33) All the same, it seems amazing to some persons how, if the cosmos
is composed of contrary principles—I mean those of dry and moist, cold and hot—it
has not been destroyed and annihilated long since; as if one were amazed by how a
city survives when it is composed of the most contrary nations—I mean poor and
rich, young and old, weak and strong, wicked and noble.43 They do not know that
the most amazing thing about civic concord has been this: I mean the fact that out of

40
For exhalations from the ground at Delphi, see Etiope, Papatheodorou et al. 2006; inconclusive as
to possible psychological effects.
41
Cf. Pos. 39 above; also Arist. Meteorologika 2. 8 (368b).
42
Towns in Achaia (N. Peloponnese) destroyed by a geological or tectonic event in 373. See Introduc-
tion, §III. 4. b.
43
On the content and organization of ch. 5, see Gregorić 2020.
 text • 675

many things it accomplishes one organization that is uniform yet made of dissimilar
things, and accommodates every nature and fortune. Perhaps, however, nature clings
to contraries and accomplishes unison out of these and not out of similar things: for
example, it has combined male with female and not combined either with the object
of the same sex; it has conjoined them into the first concord through contraries, not
through similar things. Art, too, appears to do this by imitating nature. For by mixing
together the natures of white and black colours, ochres and reds, it effected images that
conform to the objects that precede them. Music, on the other hand, by mixing high
and low sounds, long and short, effected harmony among different voices. Grammar,
again, by making a blend of vowels and consonants composed its whole art from them.
(2) (396b 19) This very same thing was said by Herakleitos, known as the Dark
Man: ‘conjunctions are wholes and non-wholes, combination and separation, unison
and dissonance; and from all, one; yet from one, all’.44 Thus, therefore, the composite of
the wholes45—I mean the heaven, the Earth, and the entire cosmos—has been appoint-
ed by a single harmony through the blending of the most contrary principles. For the
single power that runs through everything has mixed the dry with the moist, the hot
with the cold, with the light the heavy, the straight with the round; it has coordinated
all the Earth, sea, and air; Sun, Moon, and the whole of heaven. It has crafted the entire
cosmos from things unmixed and alien—air, earth, fire, and water—and has taken
each within the single surface of a sphere; has compelled the most hostile natures with-
in it to make agreements; and from them has contrived the safe keeping of the whole.
(3) (396b 34) The cause of this security is the agreement of the elements. The cause
of the agreement is equality of shares and the fact that none of them is more powerful
than another: for heavy things have the same equilibrium with light as do hot things
with their contrary. Nature teaches that equality has some power to maintain con-
cord, and concord to maintain the ancestor of all: that most beautiful of beauteous
things, the cosmos. For what (particular) nature could be mightier than the cosmos?
For whatever one might name is a part of the cosmos.
(4) (397a 6) All that is beautiful, all that is appointed, is named after this: it is said
kekosmēsthai, ‘to have been well ordered’, from kosmos, the ‘good order’ (of everything).
What, among the parts, could be equated with the appointment and motion in heaven
of the stars, Sun, and Moon, which move in the most precise measures from one age
to another age? What honesty could be like that which is preserved by the beautiful
and generative seasons of all things, which bring around summers and winters at the
appointed time, and days and nights to the accomplishment of the month and the
year? Moreover, in size this (cosmos) is supreme, in movement swiftest, in brightness
most radiant, in power ageless and indestructible. This is what has separated the na-
tures of marine creatures, those on foot, and those of the air, and has measured their
lives by its own movements. From it, all creatures inhale and hold onto life. Even its

44
This is probably not from Herakleitos but from Neo-Pythagorean sources (Furley ad loc.).
45
I follow Betegh and Gregorić 2020, 177, in translating τὰ ὅλα as ‘the wholes’.
676 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

unexpected novelties are accomplished in the appointed manner: the various winds
that clash, the thunderbolts that fall from heaven, the exceptional storms that break
out. Through these things the moist that is forced out, and the fiery that is transpired,
bring everything into concord and establish it. The Earth also, shaggy with all kinds
of plants, bursting with springs, crossed in all directions by creatures, putting forth
everything in season, nourishing it and receiving it, bringing about ten thousand
forms and effects, likewise conserves its ageless nature despite being agitated by earth-
quakes, awash with high tides, and in places aflame with conflagrations.
(5) (397a 30) All these things seem to happen to the Earth for good ends and to give
it safe keeping through the ages. For when it is shaken, the influxes of the winds dart
through it and make their exhalation at the breaches, as has been said above. When it
is cleaned by rains, all harmful things are washed away. When it is blown by breezes,
the things under it and over it are purified. Moreover, the flames soften the icy mate-
rial and the frosts moderate the flames. And of the particular things some arise, some
reach their prime, and others are destroyed. Generation resists destruction, destruc-
tion reduces the weight of generation. One (power of) safe keeping—passing through
all things that surround and oppose one another and now dominate, now are domi-
nated—protects the entirety from destruction through the ages.
6. (1) (397b 9) The remaining task is to tell of the sustaining cause of the wholes,46 at
least in outline, in the way we have treated other matters; for it is outrageous, if we
are speaking of the cosmos—if not in a precise manner, at least for the purpose of
summary learning—to leave out the highest power in the cosmos.47 It is an ancient
account, inherited by all humans, that all things are constituted by the god and through
the god, but that no kind of nature exists by itself and independently if it is deserted
by the power of safe keeping that comes from him. Therefore certain ancient (writers)
were induced to say that all the things that appear to us through the eyes, hearing, or
any other sense are full of gods. They let fall an account befitting the divine power but
not its substance (ousia).
(2) (397b 20) For the keeper of all things and progenitor of the things in this cos-
mos, however they be accomplished, is truly the god; truly he does not undergo the
hard labour of a self-employed, hard-working creature, but employs an unwearied
power through which he prevails even over things that seem to be far away. He himself
possesses the highest and first seat and for this reason is named Highest. According to
the poet, he is installed ‘upon the topmost peak’ of the whole of heaven. The body close
to him has the greatest benefit of his power; next the one after it, and so in succession
as far as our regions. (397b 30) For this reason, the Earth and the things on the
Earth, being at the greatest distance from the god, are naturally weak and incongruous
and filled with great confusion. All the same, in so far as it is natural for the divine to
reach everything, both the things in our world and those above us turn out similarly,

46
For this expression, see n. on ch. 1 above.    47
On this section, see Betegh and Gregorić 2020.
 text • 677

­ artaking of the benefit of the god to a larger or smaller degree according to whether
p
they are nearer or further from him.
(3) (398a 1) It is therefore stronger to suppose—as is also befitting and especially
appropriate for the god—that the power established in heaven is also the cause of safe
keeping both for the things most distant, to put it briefly, and for all things, rather
than that it does its work by running around and roaming where it is neither good nor
elegant (that it should be).
(i)48 For this is not appropriate even for the leaders of men: to stand over every task
that happens to arise, such as the governor of an army, city, or house—supposing it
were necessary to tie up a sack of bedding or accomplish some even more trivial task
that any random slave might do—but rather only what is recorded under the Great
King.49 For the outward show of Kambyses, Xerxes, and Darius was ordered mag-
nificently, to the height of solemnity and eminence. For he himself, the story goes,
was established in Sousa or Ekbatana, invisible to everyone, occupying a marvellous
royal palace, its outer wall glittering with gold, electrum, and ivory. The long line of
gateposts, the porches separated from one another by distances of many stades, were
fortified by bronze doors and great walls. Outside these, the first and most trusted men
were placed in order, some as spear-bearers and servants around the king himself; oth-
ers, called gatekeepers and eavesdroppers, as guards of each outer wall; so that the king
himself, who was named master and god, might see all things and hear all things. (4)
(398a 23) As well as these, others were installed as revenue stewards, generals for wars
and hunts, and receivers of gifts, and for other tasks; while others were superintendents
of the remaining tasks, according to need. The whole empire of Asia, whose extremi-
ties were the Hellespont in the parts towards the west and the Indos in those towards
the east, had been divided, nation by nation, between generals, satraps, and kings—the
Great King’s slaves—with day-runners, scouts, message-carriers, and watchmen for
beacon-towers. Such was the good order—particularly of the beacon-towers, which
would light up one after the other from the extremities of the empire to Sousa and Ek-
batana—that the king knew within one day of everything that was developing in Asia.
It is to be supposed that the king’s pre-eminence was as inferior to that of the god who
holds the cosmos as the (status of the) most trivial and weakest creature fell short of
that of the king. Thus, if it was undignified for Xerxes to be seen to be performing his
own labour, accomplishing what he wanted, and directing things by supervising them,
it would be much more unbefitting for the god. (5) (398b 6) It is more solemn and
befitting for him to be established upon the highest place, but for his power, running
through the entire universe, to move the Sun and Moon and turn round the whole of
heaven, and be responsible for the safe keeping of the things upon the Earth. He does

48
I assign roman numerals to the series of analogies that begins here, in accordance with the
­discussion in Betegh and Gregorić 2020, 183–201.
49
Cf. Deiokes’ luxurious surroundings at Ekbatana (Hdt. 1. 98) (Furley ad loc.).
678 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

not need the ingenuity and service of others, in the way that rulers in our world need
a host of hands because of their weakness.
This has been the most divine thing: to bring into being all kinds of forms with ease
and with a single movement; (ii) as do, for example, the makers of instruments,50 who
accomplish many and various actions with one trigger on a device.
(iii) Similarly, puppeteers by pulling one cord cause the creature’s neck to move, or
its hand, shoulder, or eye, and sometimes all the parts, in a rhythmical sequence. (6)
(398b 25) Thus, therefore, the divine nature, from a simple movement of the first
(body), passes his power to the succeeding one and again from these to the ones fur-
ther off, until it has come through the whole. For one thing, being moved by another,
then itself moves another in due order; all of them act in the manner suited to their
own make-up. The road is not the same for all, but different and alien and, for some,
contrary. The first keynote for the process, as it were, is a single one.
(iv) Likewise, if one were to throw from a vessel51 a sphere, a cube, a cone, and a
cylinder at the same moment, each of them will be set in motion according to its own
form.
(v) Or if one were to hold a water-creature, a land-creature, and a winged creature
in one’s cloak and throw them out at the same moment, it is clear that the swimmer
will jump into its own dwelling-place and swim away, but the land animal will move
away to its own normal behaviour and feeding-place, and the aerial creature will rise
from the ground and be gone, flying high in the air. A single cause, the first, will have
given each of them its own opportunity. (7) (398b 35) It is the same with the cosmos:
for with a single revolution of the entirety of heaven, terminated in a day and a night,
the differing trajectories of them all are produced; and, though contained in a single
sphere, some move more rapidly, others more tardily in relationship with the lengths
of their distances and each one’s specific make-up. For the Moon passes through its
own circle in a month, increasing, decreasing, and perishing; the Sun does so in a year,
as do its running partners Phosphoros (Venus) and Hermes (Mercury); the Fiery One
(Mars) in double its time; Zeus (Jupiter) in six times longer than the latter; and last
of all the one called Kronos (Saturn) in two and a half times (the period of) the one
beneath it. From all of them, singing together and dancing across the heavens, one
harmony starts from a single place and ends at a single place, giving the totality the
accurate name of kosmos, ‘order’, not akosmia, ‘disorder’.
(8) (399a 14) (vi) As, in a chorus, when the leader starts off, the whole chorus of
men and sometimes of women takes up the sound, blending a well-tuned harmony
with their different voices, some high and some low: so it is, too, with the god who
manages everything. For in accordance with the keynote (sounded) by him who would
appropriately be designated leader, the stars and all the heaven move continuously

50
Or military catapults (Furley ad loc.).
51
i.e. a pot (not a ship). Furley emends ἄγγους to αἴπους ‘height’, but the text makes sense.
 text • 679

and the resplendent Sun travels its double course: by one (movement) dividing day
and night by its rising and setting; by the other bringing the four seasons of the year
by moving away forwards when in the north and backwards when in the south. Rains
occur in season, and winds, dew, and the effects that arise in the enclosing (substance)
through the first, originating cause. Upon these follow the emergence of rivers, up-
swellings of the sea, the sprouting of trees, the ripening of fruits, the reproduction of
animals, the upbringing, prime, and decline of all things. The make-up of each has an
input to these events, as I have said. (9) (399a 30) When, therefore, the leader and
progenitor of all, invisible other than to reason, signals to every nature that is present
between heaven and Earth, it is all moved continuously in its own circles and extrem-
ities, now disappearing, now revealed, revealing ten thousand forms and hiding them
again, from one principle.
(vii) It closely resembles what is done at times that occur most in war, when the
trumpet signals to the camp. For after each hears the sound, one lifts up his shield, but
another gets into his breastplate; another puts on greaves, helmet, or belt; one sets a
bridle on a horse, one mounts a chariot, another communicates the password; the cap-
tain quickly gets into position in his company, the commander in his contingent, the
cavalryman runs to his squadron, the light-armed solider to his own place: everything
is in commotion under one signaller, in line with the specification of the leader who
wields the power. (10) (399b 10) One must conceive of the entirety (of things) in the
same way. By one displacement, the particular tasks of all things are brought about as
they are spurred on; yet it is invisible and unrevealed, which in no way hinders it from
acting or us from believing.
(viii) For the soul, through which we live and have houses and cities, though it is
invisible, is seen in its works. All the ordering of life has been discovered, arranged,
and sustained by it: the ploughing and planting of the ground, the devices of art,
laws’ application, a constitution’s good order, international affairs, external war and
peace. This also must one conceive about the god, who is most strong in power, most
conspicuous in beauty, immortal in life, mightiest in virtue: for, while he has been
unobserved by any mortal nature, he is observed through his very deeds. All the ef-
fects in the air, on the land, and in the water could rightly be said to be the works of
him that holds the cosmos. (399b 25) From him, according to the natural philosopher
Empedokles,52 come
all things that were, and are, and shall come after,
the trees that have grown up, the men and women,
animals, birds, the water-nourished fish.

52
Fr. B 21 in Diels and Kranz 1959–60, i. 319–20.
680 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

(ix) It truly resembles, if one may compare a minor thing, the so-called navel-stones of
vaults, which lying in the middle are so connected to each side as to keep in harmony
and proper arrangement the whole form of the arch, and make it immovable.
(x) They say, again, that the statue-maker Pheidias, while constructing the Athena
on the Acropolis, carved his own face in the centre of her shield and connected it to the
statue by some unrevealed craft, so that if someone should wish to take it off he would
necessarily cause the whole statue to be dismantled and collapse. (11) (400a 3) This,
then, is the rationale that the god has in the cosmos, holding together the harmony
and safe keeping of everything; except that he is not in the middle, where the Earth
and this unclean region are found, but upward, a clean one set in a clean place which
we correctly called ouranos, ‘heaven’, because it is the horos anō, the ‘boundary above’,
or ‘Olympos’ in that it is hololampes, ‘all-shining’, and separated from all the dark re-
gion and uncoordinated movement such as occurs in our world because of the force of
a storm or winds, as the poet has said:
to Olympos, where they say the gods’ steadfast seat
lies ever: not shaken by winds, nor ever soaked
by rain, nor neared by snow, but fresh air spreads out
cloudless, and gleaming white light overruns it.53

All of life testifies to this, assigning the upper space to the god. As humans, we all
extend our hands to heaven as we make our prayers. On this basis the following utter-
ance, too, is not inappropriate:
Zeus hath wide heaven in aether and the clouds.54

(12) (400a 20) Wherefore also the most distinguished of sensory things hold place: the
stars, Sun, and Moon. On this account the heavenly bodies alone are always ordered so
as to preserve the same arrangement, are never altered, never relocated as are the things
upon the Earth, which being easily turned entertain many mutations and effects. For
violent earthquakes have broken up many parts of the Earth in the past; exceptional
rains have broken out and inundated them; assaults and retreats by waves have often
made continents into seas and seas into continents; the force of winds and whirlwinds
(typhōnes) has sometimes uprooted cities; and in former times conflagrations and
flames from heaven, they say, burned the eastern parts in the time of Phaëthon,55 while
in the west they boiled up out of the Earth and were blown out, for example when
the craters on Aitna (Etna) broke up and were carried over the ground like a torrent.
There the divine power particularly honoured the race of pious men when they were
caught and surrounded by the stream, for they lifted up their aged parents onto their
shoulders and saved them: and when the river of fire came close it was split apart and

53
Hom. Od. 6. 42–5.    54 Hom. Il. 15. 192.
55
The son of Helios (the Sun), while rashly driving his father’s chariot which he could not control.
 text • 681

turned one of its parts to this side, one to the other, thus keeping unharmed not only
the parents but also the young men.
(13) (400b 6) (xi) All in all, what the steersman is to the ship, the charioteer to
the chariot, the leader to the chorus, the lawgiver to the city, and the governor to the
camp, so the god is to the cosmos; except in so far as for the former the task of ruling
is full of toil, movement, and cares while for the latter it is without pain and effort,
and separated from all corporeal weakness. For being established in the unmoved he
moves and brings around all, where and how he wishes, in different forms and natures;
(xii) just as, for example, the law of the city, being unmoved, manages the affairs of the
constitution in the souls of those who employ it. For it is evident that by attending to
it the rulers go out to their offices, the judges to their own courts, the councillors and
assembly members to the meeting-rooms assigned to them; one man walks to the pry-
taneion to enjoy a meal, one to the jurors to speak in his defence, another to the prison
to die. There are public meals instituted by law, annual festivals, sacrifices to the gods,
worship of heroes, and libations to the deceased; while other things practised in other
ways, according to one injunction or legal power, truly confirm that, as the poet said:
The city at one time is laden with incense,
at the same time with paeans and with groans.56

(14) (400b 27) We must understand the same of the greater city—I mean the cosmos.
The god is an evenly balanced law for us, undergoing no correction or alteration. He
is, I believe, more powerful and more reliable than those written upon kyrbeis.57 While
he gives unmoving and well-tuned leadership, the whole good order of heaven and
Earth is managed, distributed over all natures—plants and animals—through their
own seeds, according to their race and form. For vines, date-palms, and perseas, ‘both
sweet fig-trees and olives’,58 as the poet says; those without fruit but meeting other
needs, (such as) planes, pines, box-trees, ‘the alder, the poplar, and the well-scented
cypress’;59 those bearing autumn fruit, sweet but hard to preserve, (such as) ‘pear-trees,
pomegranates, shiny-fruited apple-trees’;60 and among animals the wild and the tame,
those feeding in the air, upon the ground, and in the water—all these arise, reach their
prime, and are destroyed in obedience to the ordinances of the god. ‘For all that walks
is driven to the fields with blows’; so says Herakleitos.61
7. (1) (401a 12) Being one, he is many-named, being so named from the effects that
he inaugurates himself.62 We call him Zena and Dia,63 employing the names in parallel,
as if we said ‘the one dia hon, “through whom”, we zēn, “live”’. He is said to be the child

56
Sophokles, Oedipus the King, 4–5.   57 Early law-tablets of the Athenians.
58
Hom. Od. 11. 590.    59 Hom. Od. 5. 64.    60 Hom. Od. 11. 589.
61
Fr. B 11 in Diels and Kranz 1959–60, i. 153.
62
On ch. 7, see Hladký 2020, though at p. 229 he overstates the closeness of the text’s relationship to
Stoic authorities, cf. Thein 2020, 37, 42; Jirsa 2020, 67, 72.
63
Alternative forms of the name ‘Zeus’ in the accusative (grammatical object) case.
682 • 24 pseudo-aristotle, de mundo

of Kronos (Cronus) and of chronos (time), since he runs through from one boundless
age to another age. He is called the god of lightning and thunder, of the clear sky and
the aithēr, of the thunderbolt and the rain, after the rains, thunderbolts, and the rest.
(2) (401a 19) He is indeed called Epikarpios after the harvest; Polieus after cities;
Genethlios (of Kindred), Herkeios (of the Courtyard), Homognios (of Siblings), and
Patroös (of the Family) from his association with these things; Hetaireios (of Compan-
ionship), Philios (of Friendship), Xenios (of Guests), Stratios (of Armies), Tropaiou-
chos (Trophy-holder); also Katharsios (of Purification), Palamnaios (of Blood-guilt),
Hikesios (of Suppliants), Meilichios (of Mildness), as the poets say. Truly he is Soter
(Saviour) and Eleutherios (of Freedom). In short, he is a god of heaven and Earth,
named after every nature and every degree of fortune; since he himself is the cause of
all things. (3) (401a 27) Wherefore in the Orphic books it is written, not inappro-
priately:64
Zeus was born first, Zeus last, the lord of thunderbolts.
Zeus is head, Zeus centre, from Zeus all is made.
Zeus is foundation of Earth and starry heaven.
Zeus was born man, Zeus became immortal bride.
Zeus is breath of all, Zeus the thrust of untiring fire.
Zeus the root of the main (pontos), Zeus Sun and Moon.
Zeus is king, Zeus chief of all, lord of thunderbolts.
Hiding all men, he brought them up again into joyous
light from his sacred heart, dealing out mischief.

(4) (401b 8) I believe, too, that Ananke, ‘necessity’, refers to none other than him,
since he is a cause that is anikētos, ‘unconquerable’; likewise Heimarmene, ‘destiny’,
because he eirei, ‘strings together’, and goes unhindered; and Pepromene, ‘fate’, because
everything peperatōsthai, ‘is limited’, and nothing that exists is without limit; and Moira,
one’s ‘lot’, because things memeristhai, ‘are allotted’ (by him); Nemesis, ‘retribution’,
from the dianemēsis, ‘distribution’ to each; and Adrasteia, ‘ineluctability’, because he
is the inescapable (anapodrastos) cause by his nature; and Aisa, ‘dispensation’, because
(this cause) is aëi ousa, ‘always existing’.
(5) (401b 14) The matters concerning the Moirai (Allotters, i.e. Fates) and the spin-
dle inclines in the same direction. For the Moirai are three in number, and are allotted
to different times. The thread on the spindle is in one part fully made, another is about
to be made, and the other is being spun. To the past is assigned one of the Moirai,
Atropos, since all past things are atrepta, ‘unalterable’; to the future Lachesis, for a
lēxis, ‘chance outcome’, awaits all things according to their nature; and to the present
Klotho, who brings about and ‘spins’, klōthei, each creature’s particular end. And the
myth, too, ends; and in no irregular way.

64
On this hymn, see Hladký 2020, 218–25; at p. 219, Hladký notes that the hymn’s origins go back
before C5l.
 text • 683

(6) (401b 23) All these things are nothing other than the god, as the noble Plato
says:65
The god, as the ancient tale goes, holds the beginning, end, and middle of all things
that exist. He draws them to an end, travelling straight as is his nature. Always he is
followed by justice, which punishes those who depart from divine law. He who is to
become happy and blessed, let him partake of this from the very start. (401b 29)

65
A combination of Laws 715e–716a and 730c (Furley ad loc.).
 25
PSEUDO-ARRIAN,
CIRCUMNAVIGATION
OF THE ERYTHR AIAN SEA
(periplus maris erythraei; pme)
(1st c. ad)
Colin E. P. Adams*

fig. 25.1. Opening of the PME, fo. 40r (detail).

INTRODUCTION
The Greek Periplous tēs Erythras thalassēs (Circumnavigation of the Erythraian Sea),
often known by its Latin title Periplus maris Erythraei, or PME for short, is preserved
in the 9th-century Codex Palatinus Graecus 398 (fols. 40v-54v) in the Universitäts-
bibliothek, Heidelberg—one of the two main geographical manuscripts discussed in
the Introduction to the present book.1 The work is quite unique. It does not really
correspond in style and content to other known periploi. The identity, even the back-
ground, of the author is debated.2 Although it is attributed to Arrian of Nikomedeia
in the manuscript, this is almost certainly nothing more than wishful thinking.3 It was
written before his time, around the mid- to late 1st century ad (at the end of §26, it
refers to the annexation of Egypt in 30 bc as ‘not long before our own time’), and the

*
The late Alan Astin introduced me to this wonderful text many years ago. I would like to thank Gra-
ham Shipley for his invitation to contribute and for his insightful comments on drafts, and Ben Cartlidge
for his advice on etymology. Over the years I benefited greatly from discussions of the Red Sea with Steven
Sidebotham, Dario Nappo, and Federico de Romanis.

1
There is a later apograph in codex B, dated C15 (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a).
2
On authorship, see Casson 1989, 7–10; Belfiore 2013, 2–3. Brodersen 2021 presents a text with
German trans.   2 Marcotte 2012.
 introduction • 685

mentioning of the Nabataean king Malichas (§19) suggests a date between 40 and 70.4
It was undoubtedly written by one man, who, although he says nothing of himself, was
most probably from Egypt and of Greek descent.5 Internal evidence suggests that he
had personal experience of the regions he describes, due to his direct reporting, de-
tailed account, and occasional use of the first person plural. It is written in koine Greek
by a man who was most probably an experienced merchant.6 Thus, the text is replete
with lexicographical and orthographical problems, compounded by errors in copying
and careless emendation by the medieval scribes responsible for the transmission of
the original. The Greek is quirky and difficult, and not a little graceless at times, even if
there is the occasional literary touch. It is not the Greek of Arrian, and the consistency
of composition prohibits any notion that it is his work, developed and augmented by
others after him.7 One hint at the identity of the author is contained in the later work
of Markianos of Herakleia in his Epitome of Menippos (Chapter 21 below), in which
it is clear he has read the work of Sosandros, a ship’s captain (kybernētēs), styled The
Places in Indike (Ta kata tēn Indikēn).8 That this is our author is an attractive possibility,
although its title suggests a work more narrow in focus.
While we should accept some personal experience on the part of the author, we
should not see PME merely as a travelogue. Its ambition is to be a comprehensive
guide to the topography, political geography, and commercial characteristics of the
African, Arabian, and Indian coasts.9 As such it falls partly within the genre of historia
periodikē described by Ptolemy as a synthesis of information set out by a larger literary
tradition.10 A curious feature of PME is its clear periplographic organization, despite
the fact that Egyptian sailors en route to southern Arabia or India would sail direct-
ly and continuously across water (by a diaplous, sea crossing, rather than a coastal
periplous or paraplous), not stop at all ports and stations along the way.11 Their modus
operandi was not cabotage.12 It seems clear that our author has gathered information
preserved in a range of different accounts and organized his material. This is apparent
in the author’s account of the discovery of the monsoon winds (§57). He describes how
‘people previously sailed . . . by coasting’ in small ships, until the captain Hippalos ‘dis-
covered the route across the open sea’. In other passages a linear sequence is evident,

   4
PME §19, with Casson 1989, 7. Josephus, BJ 3. 4. 2, states that a King Malichas sent troops to sup-
port Titus in the Jewish war in ad 70.
   5
On the date, see literature cited by Raschke 1978, 979–81 nn. 1342–6; Casson 1989, 6–7; Robin
1997; Belfiore 2013, 3–6.
   6
Casson 1989, 10.   7 As argued by Marcotte 2012, 9.
   8
Markianos, Epitome of Menippos, 2.
  9
See Marcotte 2016, 174–83, on the contribution of the text to knowledge of the Indian Ocean.
10
Ptolemy, Geog. 1. 2. 2.
11
The practice of using diaploi was, for example, well known to Pliny, e.g. at 6. xxvi. 100–6, where he
describes three such routes.
12
De Romanis 2020, esp. 59–83, argues that two patterns of trade existed: the first, the coastal trade
depicted in the PME; second, that from C2 ad larger ships sailed directly to and from India from the
Red Sea ports, largely carrying pepper. Thus, the commercial activity recorded in the PME is very
different in character from that of the Muziris Papyrus.
686 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

places described as being ‘one after the other’.13 This points towards a range of different
sources used by the author. It has been pointed out that distances in PME are recorded
either in multiples of 400 and 600 stadioi or in dromoi (‘days’ running’). The differ-
ences in stadioi can be put down to the different speeds of ships used for coasting and
direct navigation, which could be accurately assessed, and in dromoi, where it could
not.14 This again suggests different sources.
But the genre to which this work can be attached is not at all clear, for it is specific
in its focus on trade.15 Thus it is a handbook for merchants, not a work of geographical
research in the tradition of other so-called periploi such as that of Ps.-Skylax (Chapter
7) and in part that of Arrian (Chapter 27)—if that is indeed what they are. It is not a
work of ethnography, paradoxa, or history. The author is concerned with recording
details that would not only be useful to merchants, but to sailors—indeed there is a
focus on navigational matters, wind direction, dangerous reefs, shoals, and currents.
However, that the author has an interest in paradoxa is clear, and although perhaps a
little rough round the edges, this points to some education, whether through reading
or experience, or both. This, perhaps, goes some way to making him a more reliable
reporter than other writers in the related genres. How might such works be related
to geographical scholarship? There is a hint in our sources that such handbooks may
indeed have been carried by ships—for Ptolemy III Euergetes is said have issued an
order to seize books found on those entering the harbour of Alexandria and for them
to be copied, the originals being deposited in the Library of Alexandria.16 Captains are
perhaps unlikely to have been interested in written copies of Homer. Did, then, the in-
formation from these works before PME find its way into the work of Agatharchides of
Knidos (Chapter 15) or Artemidoros of Ephesos (Chapter 18), who were both resident
in Egypt at times, not to speak of Poseidonios (Chapter 19) and eventually Strabo?17
It is clear from Diodoros that he was aware of, and made use of, accounts of journeys
made by merchants in the Red Sea region, when he states that they agree in their ac-
counts of the region up to the land of the Ichthyophagoi.18 Agatharchides, though, like
Strabo, was sceptical of merchants and their like as sources of evidence.19 The import-
ance, however, of such information is noted by a number of authors, and is surprising-
ly well encapsulated by Cicero (Pro Murena, 4) in a simile where he states that sailors
exchanged information on weather, pirates, and ports.20

13
e.g. §7 κείμενα μὲν κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς.   14 De Romanis 2016.
15
For general discussion of ‘genre’ in ancient geographical writing, see the Introduction to the book,
§III. 2. a.
16
See Galen’s commentary on Hippokrates, Epidemics, 3, in Wenkebach 1936, 79: ‘eager concerning
books, Ptolemy the king of Egypt at that time ordered all books to be collected in this way, that the
books of all who sailed there were brought to him and were copied into new manuscripts, the new
copies being given back to those whose books had been brought to him after they had sailed there, and
the original books were put into the library with the inscription ‘from the ships’.
17
On both writers in Egypt, see Diod. 3. 11. 1.    18 Diod. 3. 18. 3.    19 Strabo 15. 1. 4, C686.
20
praecipere summo studio solent et tempestatum rationem et praedonum et locorum. Cited by De
­Romanis 2016, 104. Note also Caesar’s hope for similar information from merchants on Britain, cf. BG 5. 1.
 introduction • 687

All this points to the author of PME being an individual who was a merchant, a
member of Egypt’s metropolitan class, and thus most likely associated with people of
considerable influence and wealth. Modern scholars tend to focus on Roman traders,
but the identity of the author of the periplous is to be sought in the Egyptian evidence.
The 1st-century ‘Archive of Nikanor’ preserves the names of a number of the Alexan-
drian metropolite class who received deliveries of produce in the Egyptian ports of
Myos Hormos and Berenike, including one Marcus Julius Alexander, a wealthy man
and brother of the praefectus Aegypti Tiberius Julius Alexander.21 A more likely back-
ground is that similar to two women of metropolite class described as nauklēroi and
emporoi Erythraïkai (‘shipowners’ and ‘traders in the Erythraian sea’).22
Greeks and Egyptian had sailed in the Red Sea and beyond for a considerable
time, and this increased with the discovery of how to use the monsoon winds, this
attributed by Strabo to Eudoxos of Kyzikos in c.116 bc.23 The author of PME credits a
captain named Hippalos (§57) but assigns no date to his journey.24 Whatever the case,
the increase in traffic noted by Strabo may have prompted the production of a hand-
book to assist merchants.25 The author begins his description at the Egyptian Red Sea
ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike. Sixty-six short sections follow, which make their
progress through the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean past the shores of Ethiopia,
describing ports on these shores and the opposite Arabian peninsula, before turning
east into the Arabian sea as far as the gulf of Oman, then east to the coast of India, and
south-south-east to the tip of India and Sri Lanka.26 It is significant that the Persian
gulf is not included; it is possible that this was due to Parthian hostility to Rome, but
equally it may be that Palmyrene trading interests through Spasinou Charax provided
an easier overland route, obviating the need for the much longer maritime route.
Most of the chapters contain information on the ports of trade that merchants
would find along the route, with details of what was regularly imported and exported,
often with information on the quantities and qualities generally traded. But there is
a good deal of other information, including the nature and identity of the rulers, the
names of the principal cities, snippets of ethnographical information, some histori-
cal reference, and importantly, a good deal of navigational information. This covers
the best times of year to sail (from Egypt), the distances and duration of different

21
C. E. P. Adams 2007a, 223–4; Kruse 2018. On notable traders and their links with Roman authori-
ties, see De Romanis 2020, 298–324.
22
SB 5. 7, 539 = SEG 8. 703 from Medamud.
23
Strabo 2. 3. 4–5, C98–102; see Habicht 2013; Roller 2015, 141–2, 146–7, for Eudoxos of Kyzikos;
contra, Dueck 2012, 57; and Roller 2015, 99, on the use of Nearchos’ and Onesikritos’ route until the
discovery of the monsoon. On Eudoxos, see also Introduction, §VI. 4. c; Poseidonios 2 §§34–5.
24
De Romanis 1997 points out that the character of Hippalos is fictional; the name given to the
south-westerly monsoon in Greek was hypalos (ὕπαλος). Casson 1989, 224, discounts this. Mooren
1972 suggests a connection between Eudoxos of Kyzikos and Hippalos, perhaps being shipmates; pure
speculation, of course. Pliny 6. xxvi. 100 and 104 simply calls the wind hippalus; see Mazzarino 1997.
25
Strabo 2. 5. 12, C117–18; 17. 1. 13, C798.
26
See Roller 2015, 174–8, on Chryse and lands E of India.
688 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

c­ omponents of the routes, direction, information on reefs and shoals, currents and
tides—all pointing towards the author’s particular interest in navigating safely to ports
of trade. Occasionally, paradoxa, observations on levels of civilization, and other cu-
riosities are mentioned. Strangely, there is no information on local taxation, but only
of the tetartē, the tax of 25 per cent charged on goods entering Egypt and at Leuke
Kome.27 This tax was focused on luxury goods, and this too is the main interest of the
author. The African shores traded principally in ivory, tortoiseshell, aromatics, frank-
incense, cassia, and some slaves; the Arabian coast in myrrh, frankincense, and aloe;
and India in spices, pepper, nard, silk, cotton, pearls, gems, and clothes, among other
things. We know from other evidence that these were items of particular interest to
traders in Roman Egypt. Most goods were easily transported in bulk, and cargoes were
of considerable value. There was risk, but the rewards in terms of profit were spectacu-
lar. The so-called Muziris Papyrus gives a notion of scale and value and is supported by
increasing archaeological and textual evidence from the port of Berenike especially.28
PME departs from other periploi in another important way. The journeys it either
envisages or records indirectly were entirely private in nature; there is no sign of state
involvement, implied clearly in Hanno’s journey (if genuine) or in Arrian’s periplous.
The value of trade, however, suggests, as noted above, that the traders were, or at least
represented, wealthy individuals. Evidence suggests that traders employed agents in
the Red Sea ports of Egypt, and it is quite possible they had them in foreign ports as
well.29 A papyrus of ad 72/3 notes that a certain Gaion is ‘away in India’, quite pos-
sibly acting as such an agent.30 The Archive of Nikanor clearly shows that non-luxury
staple items were transported to Red Sea ports, no doubt to feed the communities
there.31 Ports in India, too, no doubt had their complement of Roman agents, who may
have wanted some goods ‘from home’, but the evidence is ambiguous.32 In PME §56,
the author notes that grain is imported into Muziris ‘for those involved in shipping
there’, suggesting Romans.33 The ‘Muziris Papyrus’ was a contract clearly drawn up by
individuals in both Egypt and Muziris. It is clear too that foreigners were involved in
trade—we know of Palmyrenes, a man from Aden, and Indians in Alexandria.34
The question of state involvement remains an important one, however.35 There is
evidence to suggest the presence of a Roman fleet in the Red Sea, perhaps as early as
the Augustan period; Roman navy officers are mentioned in the Archive of Nikanor
receiving supplies; and it is possible that under Trajan the canal re-excavated between
Klysma and the Nile offered increased naval access to the sea. Additionally, inscrip-
tions recently found on the Farasan islands, at the southern end of the Red Sea, attest

27
§19. See De Romanis 2020, 277–94.
28
De Romanis 2020; Sidebotham 2011 for an overview; Nappo 2018a.
29
On agency, see Ruffing 2013.   30 P. Lond. 2. 260 = Stud. Pal. 4. p. 74, l. 549.
31
C. E. P. Adams 2007a, 224–5.   32 Sidebotham 2011, 191.
33
Casson 1989, 24.   34 Discussed by Casson 1989, 34 with n. 53.
35
Most recently Nappo 2015; A. I. Wilson 2015a.
 introduction • 689

to the presence of a Roman military unit in the 2nd century ad.36 Perhaps this is how
we must also understand PME §19, which mentions a centurion and detachment at
Leuke Kome on the Arabian coast.37 State involvement is also suggested by the military
presence in the eastern desert of Egypt, where there were garrisons at strategic points
along desert routes and where watering-stations (hydreumata) were maintained. Ro-
man fiscal administration came under the remit of the Praefectus Montis Berenicid-
is, and ‘arabarchs’ supervised tax collection.38 It is clear also that the state possessed
warehouses at Koptos and Alexandria in which to receive the portoria collected from
the eastern trade.39 It seems likely that they were redistributed by the state for further
profit, perhaps from imperial warehouses in Rome.40 A further indication of state in-
volvement was the dual role played by the stratēgoi (state officials in charge of nomes)
of the Koptite and Ombite nomes, who were also paralemptai (receivers of tax) of the
Red Sea.41
The evidence provided by PME adds weight to the statements of Pliny the Elder that
India absorbed (exhauriente) 50 million sesterces, and that India, the Seres, and ‘all
their peninsula’ absorbed 100 million sesterces ‘every year’ from the Roman empire.42
Until the discovery of the ‘Muziris Papyrus’ this was usually thought to be an exagger-
ation. It is clear it was not. PME records the importation of bullion and Roman coin
into the ports of India. That there was onward trade with China is also clear, Indians
no doubt serving as middlemen.
PME offers a wealth of information on the political geography of the regions con-
cerned. It complements information preserved in other geographical works such as
Agatharchides (Chapter 15 above) and Strabo on economic matters, geographical
features, indigenous peoples, rulers, local climates, and fauna. It also offers the op-
portunity for comparison with non-Greek and Roman sources, especially those on
India.43 Strabo yields important information on trade between Rome and the east, and
especially on matters of taxation, where it is possible to infer, for example, that import
taxes were not a Roman innovation. His stress on the ‘heavy’ nature of the taxes is not
misplaced.
What use was made of PME, and the contribution it made to general knowledge of
the regions covered, is hard to gauge. It is worth noting Pliny the Elder’s observation,
in his discussion of routes to India (relating to ad 48–52), that it was only recently that

36
AE 2005, 1638 and 1639, with corrections at AE 2010, 1761. See Speidel 2016.
37
ἑκατοντάρχης μετὰ στρατεύματος ἀποστέλλεται, ‘a hekatontarchēs’ (‘commander of a hundred’, sc.
men) ‘is sent off with an army’. See Casson 1989, 145. De Romanis 2020, 318, assumes a Roman officer.
It seems unnecessary to run with the suggestion that it was a Nabataean ‘centurion’, cf. Bowersock
1983, 71.
38
On ‘arabarchs’, see De Romanis 2020, s.v.    39 Rathbone 2000; De Romanis 2020, 277–97.
40
Dio 72. 24. 1.    41 Ast and Bagnall 2015, 182.
42
Pliny 6. xxvi. 101 (India 50 million sesterces); 12. xl. 84 (India, the Seres, and ‘all their peninsula’
100 million).
43
See generally Karttunen 1997; Whittaker 2004; Parker 2008 on India; Pitts and Versluys 2015 on
Rome and globalization.
690 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

reliable information had become available.44 This goes nicely with a date between 40
and 70 for the writing of PME. Perhaps Pliny read it, among other material? Marcotte
has argued that it was used directly by Markianos.45 There is no satisfactory answer as
to why, out of all the similar literature which must have formed the evidence base for
the work of Ptolemy and others, PME is the sole survivor.
The Greek text translated is that of Belfiore.

selected further reading

*Belfiore, S. (2013), ‘Periplus maris Erythraei (2036)’, in FGrH v.

Bowersock, G. (1983), Roman Arabia. Cambridge, Mass.
*Brodersen, K. (2021), Periplus Maris Erythraei: zweisprachige Ausgabe. Speyer.
*Casson, L. (1989), The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and
Commentary. Princeton.
De Romanis, F. (2020), The Indo-Roman Pepper Trade and the Muziris Papyrus. Oxford.
Nappo, D. (2015), ‘Roman policy on the Red Sea in the second century’, in F. De Romanis
and M. Maiuro (eds), Across the Ocean: Nine Essays in Indo-Roman Trade (Leiden), 55–72.
Sidebotham, S. E. (2011), Berenike and the Ancient Maritime Spice Route. Berkeley.

TE XT
1. Of the anchorages for departure found in the Erythraian sea and the trading-places
around it,46 the first is the Egyptian harbour of Myos Hormos (Mussel Anchorage).
For those sailing on from it, after 1,800 stades, on the right, there is Berenike.47 The
harbours of each of them are inlets of the Erythraian sea, on the edge of Egypt.
2. On the right of these, continuing on from Berenike, is the Land of the Barbaroi
(Barbarians). Those parts beside the sea are inhabited by the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eat-
ers) living in scattered enclosures they have built in narrow passes,48 while inland live
the Barbaroi, and those beyond them, the Agriophagoi (Wild-animal-eaters) and Mo-
schophagoi,49 living under chieftains (tyrannoi). Behind them, further inland towards
the West, there is a ‹mother-city called Meroë›.

44
Pliny 6. xxvi. 101, cited by De Romanis 2016, 105.   45 Marcotte 2012, 19.
46
Over-interpretation of the participle ἀποδεδειγμένους has led to the translation ‘designated har-
bours’ (Casson 1989, 272–4), which in turn has found its way into scholarly discussion. The use of
the participle suggests ‘pointing away from’, i.e. ‘points of departure’. Hormos was used to denote an
‘anchorage’, not a port or emporion, so the term can have nothing to do with trading status. In the texts
cited by Casson, ‘designated’ harbours are merely those harbours to which individuals were instructed
to go. There seems to me to be no good reason to adopt a technical sense.
47
The locations of Myos Hormos and Berenike are now well established. In the following, modern
place-names of locations outside Egypt are added in parentheses (when plausibly known) at first ap-
pearance. I have omitted those for which there are difficulties of identification or disputed attribution.
Regions and nations are not included in this.
48
μάνδρα–mandra: huts or pens; ‘enclosures’ seems a better description.
49
Either Calf-eaters or Twig-eaters.
 text • 691

3. Beyond the Moschophagoi there is a small trading-place upon the sea, at a dis-
tance †the end of the return† about 4,000 stades, called Ptolemaïs Theron (Ptolemaïs
of the Hunts); under the Ptolemaic kings, hunters left it for the interior. This trad-
ing-place has small quantities of true land-tortoise, white and smaller in the shell.
Here is also found a little ivory, similar to that of Adoulis.50 But this place has no har-
bour, and shelters only small craft.
4. Beyond Ptolemaïs Theron about 3,000 stades, there is Adoulis, a legally limited
trading-place,51 lying in a deep bay running due south. In front of this is an island
called Oreine (Mountainous), situated about 200 stades towards the open sea from the
innermost part of the bay, and, on both sides, the shores of the mainland lie close by.
Ships now arriving at this port anchor because of attacks from the mainland. Before
now they used to anchor at the innermost point of the bay, at an island called Didor-
os (i.e. Diodoros), close by the mainland, which has a crossing on foot by which the
barbarians attacked the island.52 Opposite Oreine, on the mainland, 20 stades from
the sea, lies Adoulis, a village of moderate size. From here it is three days’ journey
to Koloë (Kohaito), an inland town, the first trading-place for ivory; and from that
place another five days to the mother-city called Axomites (Axum).53 Into that place is
brought all the ivory from beyond the Nile through what is called Kyeneion, and from
there to Adoulis.54 The whole multitude of the elephants and rhinoceroses inhabit the
upland areas, although occasionally they are observed on the coast near to Adoulis.
Lying in front of the trading-place, towards the open sea, to the right, lie several small,
sandy islands, called the Alalaiou; these provide the tortoiseshell which is carried to
the trading-place by the Ichthyophagoi.
5. And about 800 stades beyond there is another very deep bay, near the entrance
of which there is a great sandbank spreading out on the right; deeply buried under this
is obsidian stone, the only place where it occurs.55 The king of these regions, from the
Moschophagoi to the other Barbaria, is Zoskales,56 miserly in his ways and holding out
for more, but for the rest a good person and versed in Greek literature.

50
Ivory from Adoulis was held to be a standard of quality against which other ivory was compared;
cf. Pliny, NH 8. iv. 7 and PME §§6 and 16–17, with De Romanis 2020, 105 n. 93, and 273.
51
emporion nomimon: the meaning of this term is debated. Casson 1989, 274–6, summarizes this,
and his suggestion that a legally limited port was one with no free market, but one in which all trade
passed through an authorized office, seems the best solution.
52
ēpeiros, ‘mainland’, sometimes shore.
53
The village, town, and city are distinguished from each other as kōmē, polis, and mētropolis respec-
tively.
54
kynēgion or kynēgesion, ‘hunting-ground’.   55 Baia di Oucachil.
56
Perhaps the first known king of Axum, but other possibilities exist, cf. the exhaustive commentary
of Casson 1989, 109–10.
map 25.1. Periplous of the Erythraian sea. ▼ emporion nomimon. ▽ small emporion.
694 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

6. Imported into this area are undyed cloaks made in Egypt for the Barbaroi;57 robes
from Arsinoë;58 second-rate coloured cloaks;59 linens, and double-fringed clothes; sev-
eral kinds of coloured stones, others of myrrhinē60 made in Diospolis; and brass, which
they use for ornaments and cut up as a substitute for coinage; and copper honey-jars
for cooking and for cutting up as bracelets and anklets for women; and iron, which
is employed for spearheads used against elephants and other wild animals, and for
their wars. Among other things, axes are imported, along with adzes and large knives;
copper drinking-vessels, round and large; a small amount of denarii for those living
among the people there;61 Laodikeian and Italic wine, a little;62 olive oil, a little. For the
king, gold and silver plate manufactured in local style, and among clothing military
cloaks and heavy cloaks, these of modest quality. Among other things, from the interi-
or of Ariake across the sea, there is imported Indian iron and steel, and Indian cotton
of broad cut, the so-called monachē and sagmatogēnai,63 girdles, heavy cloaks, some
muslins, and coloured lakkos.64 Exported from this region are ivory, tortoiseshell, and
rhinoceros (horn). Most of these are exported from Egypt in the months of January
to September, that is, from Tybi to Thoth; the best time to leave Egypt is around the
month of September.
7. The gulf of Arabia now stretches eastward and reaches its narrowest point at
Aualites. After about 4,000 stades’ sailing along the mainland to the east, there are
other trading-places of the barbarians, called ‘The Far Side’;65 they are located one after
the other, and have anchorages with places to drop anchor (ankyrobolia) and road-
steads (saloi) as seasons allow. The first is called Aualites; from this point the crossing
to the coast of Arabia is the shortest. At this place lies the small trading-place called
Aualites, which is reached by rafts and small boats. You find a market in this place for
assorted glass stones; ‹juice› of unripe olives66 from Diospolis;67 assorted clothing for

57
P. Oxy. 14. 1684 (C4 ad) mentions a barbarikion in a list of clothing. See van Minnen 1986 on
textile production in Oxyrhynchus, based on P. Oxy. Hels. 40 (ad 275), which, allowing for variation
in interpretation due to textual uncertainties, still suggests production on a significant scale.
58
On textiles from Roman Egypt and the PME, see Vivero 2013 and Droß-Krüpe 2013. The main
study of the Egyptian textile industry remains Wipszycka 1965.
59
‘Crude’: the adjective defining abollai is nothos (normally ‘illegitimate child’), which often carries
the meanings ‘spurious’, ‘counterfeit’. I wonder in this case if we see an equivalent to imitation luxury
goods, available the world over.
60
Myrtle-coloured (Pliny 37. lxiii. 174).
61
Perhaps traders living abroad. On the flow of money to the East, see Nappo 2018b.
62
Egypt being the conduit, see Rathbone 1983; evidence for its transport in the Nikanor archive, see
C. E. P. Adams 2007b, 220–8, and Kruse 2018. Ruffing 1993, 24, rejects the notion that the wine so
carried was for export; it is difficult to explain its presence in the PME if at least a proportion of it was
not, and ostraca from Berenike show wine going through the customs process and being loaded onto
ships, see O. Ber. 1. pp. 16–21.
63
Cotton garments?   64 A red dye, resin.    65 τὰ πέρα‹ν›—perhaps ‘The Other Side’.
66
Müller argues for the insertion of chylos (juice) in a small lacuna before Diospolis. Omphax can be
unripe grapes or olives; Casson B 7. 3 argues for the latter.
67
Thebes in Egypt, see www.trismegistos.org/place/576.
 text • 695

the ­barbarians, cleaned by fulling;68 wheat, wine, and a little tin. Exported from this
place, and sometimes by the barbaroi themselves crossing to Okelis and Mouza on
the opposite shore on rafts, are aromatics, a little ivory, tortoiseshell, and a very small
amount of myrrh that is better than others. The barbarians living in this place are
rather unruly.
8. About 800 stades’ sailing beyond Aualites there is another, better trading-place
called Malaō (Berbera). Its anchorage is a rough roadstead (episalos)69 sheltered by a
promontory extending from the east. The natives here are more peaceful. You find a
market in this place for the aforementioned items as well as various tunics,70 cloaks
(sagoi) from Arsinoë cleaned by fulling and dyed,71 drinking-cups, honey-jars in small
numbers, iron, and Roman money, both gold and silver, but not much. Exported from
this place are myrrh, a small amount of Far Side frankincense, hard cassia, douaka,72
kankamon,73 and makeir,74 which are exported to Arabia, and, rarely, slaves.
9. Two days’ running beyond Malaō is the trading-place of Moundou (Heis), where
ships anchor quite safely at the island very close to the shore. Imported into this place
are the aforementioned items; exported from this place are the aforementioned car-
goes ‹as well as› the incense called mokrotou.75 The merchants who dwell around here
are harsh (bargainers).
10. From Moundou, on an eastward heading, similarly after two days’ running,
perhaps three, near ‹a promontory?›, lies Mosyllon, on a beach and with a poor an-
chorage. Imported into this place are the aforementioned categories, also silverware,
ironware to a lesser extent, and precious stones.76 Exported from this place are cassia,
in large quantity—for this reason larger ships are required at this trading-place—and
other perfumes and aromatics, poor-quality tortoiseshell in small quantity, mokrotou
of lesser quality than from Moundou, Far Side frankincense, and rarely ivory and
myrrh.
11. From Mosyllon †after two days’ running beside† the so-called Neiloptolemaiou,
Tapatege†, and a small laurel-grove, is Elephas promontory [—] it has a river, the so-
called Elephas, and a large laurel grove called Akannai, the only place which produces
Far Side frankincense, in great quantity and of good quality.
12. And beyond this, with the land now going back towards the south, is the Trad-
ing-place of the Aromatics (Damo) and a precipitous promontory (Ras Asir), the
last in the land of the Barbaroi towards the east. Its anchorage is a rough roadstead,

68
Perhaps previously owned clothes? If so, this is interesting in terms of both economics and charity.
69
For this term, cf. Stadiasmos §55 (in Ch. 31 below).
70
προχωρέω. LSJ has ‘to be imported’ (citing PME §6), or to ‘find a market’ cf. P. Amh. 2. 133, l. 18.
71
A square woollen cloak, fastened on the right shoulder with a pin, somewhat similar to an abolla,
and often red in colour.
72
Either an inferior form of cinnamon imported from India, or a local incense. Unattested elsewhere.
73
A gum resin, mentioned by Dioskorides 1. 24 and Pliny 12. xliv. 98.
74
Possibly a medicine derived from bark imported from India, cf. Pliny 12. xvi. 32.
75
Probably an incense, unattested elsewhere.
76
lithia; others translate it as ‘glass’, but see Casson B 10. 4. 9.
696 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

­ angerous in some seasons as the place is exposed to the north wind. A local sign of
d
an imminent storm is when the deep water becomes turbid and changes colour. When
this happens, everyone flees to the large promontory for shelter, the so-called Tabai.
Imported into this trading-place are the aforementioned items. It produces cassia,
gizeir, asyphē, aromatics, magla, motō, and frankincense.77
13. From Tabai after sailing 400 stades along a peninsula towards which the current
draws you, there is another trading-place, Opone (Hafun), into which are imported
the aforementioned items. In it is produced the greatest amount of cassia, aromatics,
motō, better-quality slaves,78 most of whom are imported into Egypt, and the greatest
amount of tortoiseshell, finer than any other.
14. One sails to all these Far Side trading-places from Egypt around the month
of July, that is Epeiph. It is customary to fit out from the inner parts of Ariake and
Barygaza with goods exported from those places to the trading-places on the Far Side:
wheat, rice, ghee, sesame oil and cotton, the monachē, the sagmatogēnē,79 girdles, and
the cane honey called sakchari. Some ships sail directly to these trading-places, others
sail ‹along› the coast taking on cargo when they fall upon them. The region is not
ruled by a king, but each trading-place is managed by its own chieftain (tyrannos).
15. From Opone, with the coast veering more to the south, there are first the so-
called Small and Great Bluffs of Azania—†for places to drop anchor there are r­ ivers†—
six days’ running directly towards the Lips (south-west wind). Then there are the Small
and Great Seashores for another six days’ running; and after that, by turn, the runs of
Azania, first the so-called Sarapion, then the Nikōn. Beyond that, several rivers and
harbours come at once, separated by stations and days’ running, seven in all, up to the
Pyralaoi islands (Lamu archipelago) and the so-called Dioryx (Canal); from here, a lit-
tle round from the Lips (i.e. to the WSW), after two nights’ and days’ running due west
comes Menouthias island (Madagascar), about 300 stades from land, low and wooded.
On it there are rivers and a great number of birds of many types, and mountain tor-
toise. There are no wild animals, except crocodiles, but not at all harmful to humans.
On it there are sewn boats and others made of a single piece of wood80 used for fishing
and for catching turtles. On this island they have their own way of catching them in
baskets instead of nets, placing them across the mouths †of inlets†.
16. Two days’ running beyond this comes the final trading-place on the mainland
of Azania, called Rhapta (Dar es Salaam), a name derived from the sewn (rhapta)
boats already mentioned, where there are great quantities of ivory and tortoiseshell.
Large-bodied people inhabit the land, the Rha‹p›toi, administered from place to place
by men acting like chieftains (tyrannoi). The region is held by the chieftain of Maphar-
itis, for by some ancient right it is subject to the kingdom of Arabia from when it first
came into being. Those from Mouza have charge of it through the king subject to taxes,

77
These are terms to denote the best, second best, and cheaper grades of cassia.
78
Poorer- and better-quality slaves.    79 Probably different grades of cotton cloth or clothing.
80
monoxylae: see De Romanis 2020, 89, cf. Pliny 6. xxvi. 105.
 text • 697

and send out to it small barges,81 mostly under the charge of Arab captains and crew,
who, being familiar with the natives and intermarried with them, know the place and
its language.
17. Imported into these markets are principally spearheads from Mouza manufac-
tured locally, axes, knives, small awls, and various types of glass. And to some places,
wine and wheat in no small quantity, not however for trade, but to use to ensure the
favour of the Barbaroi. Exports from this place are ivory in great quantity, but inferior
to that of Adoulis, rhinoceros (horn), and tortoiseshell, superior to others except the
Indian,82 and nautilus shell in small quantity.
18. These are more or less the last trading-places on the coast of Azania to the right
of Berenike. For beyond these regions lies the unexplored Ocean that bends back to
the west, and extending south to the remote parts of Aithiopia and Libyē and Africa
(Aphrikē), mingles with the western sea.
19. To the left of Berenike, after two or three days’ running eastward from Myos
Hormos, after one has sailed across the adjoining bay, there is another anchorage with
a fort, called Leuke Kome (‘White Village’; ‘Aynûnah), from which there is ‹a road›
to Petra and Malichas, the king of the Nabataeans.83 This trading-place also regularly
serves for fitting out84 Arabian ships, not large ones. Therefore, for the sake of safe-
guarding, a collector of the 25 per cent tax on incoming goods is sent there, as well as
a centurion with a detachment of soldiers.85
20. Straight after this it (the gulf) joins the coast of Arabia, stretching far down
the Erythraian sea. It is inhabited by different peoples speaking different languages,
some (different) to a limited extent, others completely. Similarly, the areas by the sea
are interspersed with the enclosures of the Ichthyophagoi, while inland there are vil-
lages and pastures inhabited by roguish, bilingual people. Any people who fall among
them while voyaging away from the middle course are plundered, and any who are
shipwrecked and saved are enslaved. For this they are continually taken prisoner by
the chieftains (tyrannoi) and kings of Arabia. They are called Kanraitai. On the whole,
the coastal sailing along the mainland of Arabia is dangerous, for the territory has no
harbours and poor anchorages, and is plagued by rocky shores,86 unapproachable be-
cause of cliffs, and is in all manners threatening. For this reason, when sailing we fol-
low ‹the› course in the middle, and make exceeding haste to Katakekaumene (Burnt)

81
epholkia: LSJ gives ‘small boat towed after a ship’.
82
nauplios. Casson translates as ‘nautilus shell’, but states at B 17. 6. 20 that the reading ναύπλιος is
clear in the MS. Discussion at Casson 1980, 496–7.
83
On the location, see Nappo 2010.
84
exartismos, the equipment of a ship. Fitting out is suggested by ostraca from Berenike, where the
phrase εἰς ἐξαρτισμόν (or -μοῦ followed by a name in the genitive) appears, e.g. O. Ber. 1. 68–79, orders
for outfitting ships.
85
paralēmptēs, a tax-collector. De Romanis 2020, 318, properly assumes a Roman officer is meant by
‘centurion’. On the Roman military presence in the Red Sea regions, see Speidel 2016.
86
Possibly tidal flows in the rocky inlets?
698 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

Island ­(Jabal at Ta’ir), for straight after this there are continuous shores with peaceful
peoples, pasture animals, and camels.
21. And beyond these places, in the last bay on the left-hand shore of this open sea,
on the coast, is the legally limited trading-place of Mouza (al Mukha), about 12,000
stades distance in all from Berenike along a course due south. Truly the whole place
abounds with Arabs—shipowners and sailors—and is busy with matters of commerce.
For they have dealings with the Far Side and Barygaza using their own outfittings.
22. Three days’ journey ‹inland› beyond there is Sauē (Sawwâ), the city of the
country around it, called Mapharitis. It is there that the chief (tyrannos) Cholaibos
himself dwells.
23. And in another nine days ‹inland› is ‹S›aphar (Zufar), the mother-city, where
Charibaël, the rightful king of the two peoples—the Homerite and the adjacent one
called the Sabaite—resides, a friend of the emperors through successive embassies and
gifts.
24. The trading-place of Mouza, although harbourless, offers a good roadstead and
anchorage because of the sandy seabed all around where one can drop anchor. Cargoes
which it imports are: purple cloth, excellent and lower quality; sleeved Arabian cloaks,
some plain and some regular, some chequered, some embroidered with gold; saffron;
cyperus;87 cloth; cloaks; blankets, but not many, plain and of local type; dark girdles;
a reasonable amount of unguent; money, in considerable amounts; wine and grain in
limited quantities, for the country produces a reasonable amount of wheat and even
more wine. To the king and chief are offered horses and pack-mules;88 gold vessels;
turned silver; expensive cloaks; and copper vessels. Exported from here are local prod-
ucts, choice myrrh and staktē,89 Abeir‹ian and› Minaean myrrh, white marble, and all
of the aforementioned cargoes from around Adoulis on the Far Side. The best time to
sail to them is around September, that is Thoth, although nothing prevents a quicker
departure.
25. Beyond this, after you sail about 300 stades, at this point the Arabian mainland
and the Far Side land of the barbarians below the Aualites, come together. There is a
narrow passage, not long, which confines and shuts in the open sea (pelagos). Diodor-
os’ Island (Perim) blocks the middle of the passage, (which is) 60 stades wide. Hence,
strong currents, blown along by winds from the adjacent mountains, affect the passage
through it. Beside this isthmus, on the coast, is the Arab village of Okelis (Shykh Sa’îd),
belonging to the same chiefdom (tyrannis); it is less of a trading-place than an anchor-
age and watering-station, and the first place to hold up for those sailing on.
26. Beyond Okelis, the sea opening out once more towards the east the open sea
is gradually revealed. After as much as 1,200 stades is Eudaimon Arabia, (and) a vil-
lage on the coast, in the said kingdom of Charibaēl. It has convenient anchorages and

87
A leek-like medicinal plant.
88
The sense seems to be that this is separate from trade, so probably gifts.
89
Oil produced from myrrh of high quality.
 text • 699

watering-stations with much fresher water than is found at Okelis. It lies immediately
at the head of a gulf receding from the coast. Eudaimon Arabia, being formerly a city
called Eudaimon, at the time when vessels from India did not dare come to Egypt
and those from Egypt did not dare to cross further into the places beyond, but (only)
reached this place. In the same way, Alexandria received cargoes brought from Egypt
and beyond. Now, not long before our own time, Caesar (Augustus) overthrew it.90
27. Next after Eudaimon Arabia comes at once a long seashore and a bay stretching
2,000 stades or more, settled with villages of Nomads and Ichthyophagoi, where after
the projecting cape there is another trading-place on the coast, Kanē (Husn al Ghur-
ab), of the kingdom of Eleazos, a frankincense-bearing land. Beside it are two unin-
habited islands, one called Orneōn (Bird Island; Sikha), the other Troullas (Barraqah),
about 120 stades from Kanē. Above it inland is the mother-city of Saubatha (Shabwa),
which is also where the king dwells. All of the frankincense produced in the country
is brought in for storage as it were, by camels and on leather rafts of a local type made
of hide bags, and by ships. It also carries out trade with trading-places on the Far Side,
Barygaza (Broach), Skythia, Omana, and neighbouring Persis.91
28. Imported into it from Egypt are indeed as usual: wheat in small quantities,
wine, as it is to Mouza, Arabian cloaks, some plain and some regular and much of it
fake, copper, tin, coral, storax, and the other items that go to Mouza. Further, large
quantities of worked silverware and money for the king, also horses and statues and
plain cloaks of superior quality. Exported from it are local cargoes, that is, frankin-
cense and aloe; the remainder are down to its connections to other trading-places. The
time to set sail is around the same as for Mouza, but earlier.
29. Beyond Kanē, the ‹land› receding further, there comes next another deep bay
called Sachalites, stretching out a great way, and a frankincense-bearing land; both
mountainous and impassable, having dense haze and mist, with frankincense pro-
duced by the trees. The frankincense-bearing trees are neither large nor tall; they pro-
duce frankincense solidified upon their bark, just as some of the trees we have in Egypt
exude gum. The frankincense is collected by royal slaves and others sent for punish-
ment. The region is terribly disease-ridden, pestilent to those sailing by, and always
deadly to those working there, and besides, they die more readily through lack of food.
30. On this bay there is a massive promontory, facing east, called Syagros (Ras
Fartak), on which is a fort for ‹the defence of› the land, a harbour, and a storehouse
for gathering frankincense. In the open sea beside it is an island called Dioskourides’
Island (Socotra), between it and the Cape of Aromata (Spices) opposite, but much clos-
er to Syagros; it is very large but desolate and very damp, and contains rivers, croco-
diles, very many snakes, and lizards exceedingly large, whose flesh is eaten; their fat is

90
This refers to Augustus’ ill-fated expedition into Arabia Eudaimon, led by Aelius Gallus in 26/5 bc,
cf. RGDA 26. 2; Strabo 16. 4. 22–4, C780–2; Cassius Dio 53. 29. 3; Pliny 6. xxxii. 160, with Jameson
1968; Marek 1993; Nicolet 1991, 21, on Roman knowledge of the region.
91
Skythia here is NW India.
700 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

melted down and used instead of olive oil. The island produces no crops, either vine
or wheat. Those few dwelling there live only on one side of the island, towards the
north wind, facing towards part of the mainland. They are immigrant foreigners, a
mixture of Arabs and Indians and even some Greeks, who sail out there to trade. The
island produces tortoiseshell, the genuine thing found there, the land tortoise, and
white coloured, in great quantity and excellent in quality by reason of its larger shell,92
and produces mountain tortoiseshell, exceedingly thick, of which the parts over the
belly which are needed do not admit cutting, and are quite hard. What can be used
is made into caskets, tablets, and plates,93 and any such small pieces are cut up. Also
found there is the so-called Indian cinnabar, collected as sap from trees.
31. Actually, this island falls under the king of the frankincense-bearing land, just
as Azania does to Charibaēl and the chieftain (tyrannos) of Mapharitis. Some of the
(shippers) from Mouza dealt with it, and those sailing out of Limyrike and Barygaza,
as several of them by chance put in there. They exchanged rice, wheat, Indian cloth,
and female slaves, finding a market for importing in their absence there, in return for
large quantities of tortoiseshell. At present the island is leased out by the kings, and it
is guarded closely.
32. Beyond Syagros there is an adjoining bay, cutting deeply into the land, Omana,
with a strait 600 stades in width, and beyond it high mountains, rocky and precipitous,
with men living in caves, for another 500 stades. And beyond them an anchorage was
found for loading Sachalite frankincense, called Moscha Limen (‘Moscha Harbour’;
Khôr Rûri). Customarily some ships are sent to it from Kanē; and those sailing by from
Limyrike or Barygaza winter there in late season, and through the authority of the king
take as a return cargo cloth, wheat, and oil in exchange for Sachalite frankincense at a
jetty placed there and unguarded, for the power of gods is watching over that place. For
neither secretly nor openly can ships be loaded without the authority of the king. Even
if a granule was to be taken, a ship would not dare to sail against the will of the god.
33. Next after Moscha Limen for about another 1,500 stades as far as Asichōn (Ras
Hasik), a mountain extends along the shore and off the furthest tip of this lie seven
islands in succession one after another, called Zenobios’ Islands (Kuria Muria Is.). Be-
yond these lies another barbarian land, no longer of the same kingdom but now in Per-
sis. After sailing over open water for about 2,000 stades from Zenobios’ Islands, you
encounter the so-called Sarapis’ Island (Masirah), about 120 stades from the coast. It is
some 200 stades across and 600 long, inhabited by three villages, and the holy men of
the Ichthyophagoi. They speak the Arabic language and wear loincloths of palm leaf.
The island is rich in superior tortoiseshell. Those from Kanē customarily fit out ships
and small barges to go to it.94

92
I think the author is trying to stress that these shells are different in size and quality.
93
magidion: LSJ says it is a diminutive of magis, also scholion on Aristophanes, Clouds 1250.
94
epholkia, cf. n. 80. Oddly, Casson does nothing with this, but it clearly should be taken in the pl.
with σκάφας–skaphas, and ‘trade’, though implied, is not specifically stated. On barges, see Strabo 2. 3.
4, C99, rowed barges’ used by pirates.
 text • 701

34. After cutting closely along the following coast due north, around the entrance
to the Persian gulf there lie several islands, called Kalaios’ Islands (Jazair Daymaniyat
Is.), stretched out beside the coast for almost 2,000 stades. The men who dwell there
are roguish and do not look out much during the day.95
35. Around the furthest point of Kalaios’ Islands and of the so-called Kalon (Good)
Mountain, a little beyond is the mouth of the Persian gulf, and there are the greatest
fisheries for pearl oysters. On the left side of this mouth there are great mountains
called the Asabō (Ruus al Jibal); on the right side, visible opposite, is another, round
and high, called Semiramis’ Mountain. The sailing in between them across the mouth
is about 600 stades; through this is the Persian gulf, vast and broad, flowing into its
innermost parts. At the edge of it is a legally limited trading-place called Apologou
(Apologos’ Trading-place; Ubulla), lying near Spasinou Charax and the River Euphra-
tes.
36. After sailing by the mouth of the gulf, after six days’ running there is another
trading-place in Persis, called Omana. Customarily those from Barygaza fit out great
ships to go to both trading-places in Persis with copper and teak-wood, and beams,96
sailyards,97 logs of sissoo and ebony; frankincense from Kanē is imported into Oma-
na, and from Omana to Arabia are sent local sewn boats,98 called madarate. Each of
these trading-places exports to Barygaza and Arabia pearls in great quantity but lesser
quality than Indian; and purple, local clothing, wine, dates in great quantity, gold, and
slaves.
37. Beyond the land of Omana in like manner lies that of the Parsidai, another
kingdom, and the bay called the Bay of the Terabdoi, where in the middle into the bay
[—] stretches alongside. And by this there is a river, into which boats can set a course;
at the mouth of which there is a small trading-place called Horaia (Seasonable), and
behind it there is an inland city, being seven days’ road from the sea, where there is a
palace, called [—]. The country bears grain in great quantity and wine and rice and
dates, but along the coast there is nothing except bdellium.99
38. Beyond that land, now with the land curving like a horn from the east because
of the depth of the bay, next comes the coastal parts of Skythia, lying due north, ex-
ceedingly low-lying, from which flows the river Sinthos, the greatest of the rivers of

95
Casson has ‘who do not do much looking during the daytime’; it might be better understood as
‘they aren’t seen much during the day’, a different version of the same metaphor.
96
See N. Lewis 1960 on timber and Nile shipping. Judging by the Coptos Tariff Inscription (OGIS
674), detailing charges for road use in the eastern desert of Egypt, such wood also found its way into
the Nile Valley, notoriously short of good timber.
97
Literally ‘horns’: Casson B36. 12. 6a, citing Casson 1986, 232.
98
Cf. Strabo 7. 4. 1, C308.
99
I translate ἤπειρος–ēpeiros as ‘coast’ instead of the usual ‘mainland’. Bdellium: resin of Commiphora,
see §§48–9, Dioskorides 1. 67; Pliny 12. xix. 35–6.
702 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

the Erythraian sea region, discharging vast quantities of water into the sea, up to a
long way out, and before you reach land, this white-coloured water meets you in open
sea. A sign to those coming from the open sea that they are approaching land is that
serpents come out of the depths to meet them; for there is such a sign also in the places
above and around Persis, which are called graai.100 This river has seven mouths, these
narrow and formed of shoals, and indeed none of these have passage, but only the
middle one, where, by the coast there is the trading-place Barbarikon. A small islet lies
before it, and behind it the mother-city of Skythia itself, Minnagar. It is ruled by the
Parthians, who drive out each other continuously.
39. Therefore, ships anchor at Barbarikon, but all cargoes are carried up the river
to the king at the mother-city. Imported into this trading-place are: cloaks, plain but
of sufficient quality and not often second-rate,101 multi-coloured fabrics,102 goldstone,103
coral, storax, frankincense, glass vessels, silverware, money, and wine, but not much.
Exported are: costus,104 bdellium, lykion,105 nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli; and Sirikan
hides, cloth, and yarn; and Indian Black.106 Those who set out sailing with the Indian
(winds) leave around the month of July, that is Epeiph; the voyage is hard going, but
quicker if they are favourable.
40. Beyond the Sinthos river there is another bay, hidden, to the north. It is named
Eirinon, with the epithets Small and Great. Both open bodies of water (pelagē) are
formed of shoals and continuous shallow eddies far from the land; thus frequently,
with the land out of sight, ships run aground, and being taken further in are destroyed
utterly. Above this bay a promontory, curving around Eirinon, first east and south,
then west, surrounds another bay called Barake (gulf of Kutch), (itself) surrounding107
seven islands. Here vessels which happen upon the beginning of this bay and pull
back a little to the open sea escape, but those drawn into the bowels of Barake are de-
stroyed utterly. For the waves there are large and very strong, with a rough and turbid
sea which has shoals and violent whirlpools.108 The bottom here has in some places

100
Karttunen 1997, 227 on Indian sea-snakes.    101 Or ‘counterfeit’ Cf. §6.
102
Pliny 8. lxxiv. 196, a speciality of Alexandria.
103
chrysolithon is peridot according to Casson 1989, 190 and B39. 13. 8a. Casson connects this with
a highly prized peridot from St John’s I. in the Red Sea serving as ‘gifts to royalty’, see Pliny 37. xxxii.
107–8 (who calls it topaz; he mentions chrysolithon by name at 37. xxiv. 90–1; xxviii. 101; xlii. 126–xliii.
127; xlvi. 154; xlviii. 127; lxii. 172). If this is the case, it is odd indeed that it is merely contained within a
list of much more common items. Translating as ‘goldstone’ leaves open a more mundane interpretation.
104
A fragrant root, possibly from Kashmir. Papyri show its use in medicine.
105
Possibly an extract from acacia trees.
106
Casson has ‘Chinese hides’; more likely ‘seric’ cloth, or silk, which was ‘combed’ from trees, cf.
Pliny 21. viii. 11 (thus could be seen as a hide or bark; it was not known to be an animal product until
C2 ad), cf. Karttunen 1997, 219. Ben Cartlidge suggests to me that there may be a link with σέος–seos,
possibly derived from the Semitic for ‘moth’. I am not convinced by Casson B 39:13. 11, for although
he agrees that this is Chinese silk, he does nothing with the noun sirikon. Indian Black is thought to be
indigo of a very deep colour.
107
ἐμπεριειλημμένον, a correction to the MS, which is corrupt at this point.
108
Whirlpools, from εἴλω–eilō, ‘whirl’, leading to a vortex. This area near the gulf of Kutch is known to
be treacherous, with shoals and strong rip tides.
 text • 703

­ recipitous drops, in others rocky and sheer, such that anchors set beside each other to
p
hold against the treacherous water are cut, and some are smashed together in the deep.
A sign of these for ships approaching from the open sea are the huge black snakes that
come out to meet them. For in the regions beyond this, and around Barygaza, those
(snakes) encountered are smaller and yellow and golden.
41. Immediately beyond Barake there is the bay of Barygaza and the coastline of
the land of Ariâke, which is the beginning of the kingdom of Manbanos and in fact of
the whole of India. This part inland bordering on Skythia is called Aberia, that part
on the coast Syrastrene (Kathiawar peninsula). The country bears much grain, rice,
sesame oil, ghee, cotton,109 and the ordinary Indian cloths made from it. But there is
the greatest number of herds of cattle and the men are of great size with skin dark in
colour. The mother-city of the land is Minnagara, from which great quantities of cloth
are brought down to Barygaza. Even now in the region signs of Alexander’s expedi-
tion are preserved: ancient shrines, foundations of encampments, and great wells. The
coastal sailing along this land from Barbarikon as far as the promontory at Astakapra,
opposite Barygaza, called Papike (Kuda Point), is 3,000 stades.
42. Beyond it there is another bay, outside the waves, which goes in northwards.
Near its mouth there is an island called Baiones (Piram I.), and at the innermost places
there is a very great river called the Mais (R. Mahi). Those sailing to Barygaza cross
this bay, which is about 300 stades wide, leaving on their left the island, so that its
highest point is visible, and (head) due east, straight towards the mouth of the river at
Barygaza. The river is called the Lamnaios.
43. The narrow bay which leads down to Barygaza is risky for those coming from
the open sea to undertake. For they fall either to the right or to the left-hand side, but
the latter approach is better than the former. For on the right, by the mouth of the bay
itself, lies a jagged and rocky strip of land, called Herone, beside the village of Kam-
moni. Opposite this, on the left side, is the promontory in front of Astakapra, called
Papike. Anchoring here ‹is difficult› because of the current around it, and because
ship’s tackle and anchors are cut by the jagged, rocky bottom. Even if you attempt the
bay itself, the mouth of the river itself at Barygaza is hard to find, for the land is low-ly-
ing and nothing of it can be observed safely from closer in. Even if you find it, it is hard
to enter because of the shoals of the river around it.
44. Right around the entrance, because of this, local fishermen in the king’s ser-
vice110 show goodwill to those sailing in with crews and long ships called trappaga and
kotymba, and come out as far as Syrastrene to meet them and to guide the ships up to
Barygaza. For they (the fishermen) steer using the crews (sc. by rowing?) directly from
the mouth of the bay through the shoals they tow them to stations already ­appointed,

109
κάρπασος–karpasos, from the Sanskrit, should be distinguished from ὀθόνιον–othonion, which
many translators take to be cotton but is linen cloth made from flax, or simply ‘cloth’ here.
110
Lit. ‘royal local fishermen’, essentially local pilots in the king’s service.
704 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

beginning when the tide rises and establishing them at anchorages and potholes111
when it stops. These potholes are deeper points along the river up to Barygaza. For
this lies upstream at about 300 stades from the mouth of the river.
45. All over the land of India there are many rivers, with strong ebb and flow tides,
which at the rising (i.e. at new moon) and at the full moon last for three days, lessening
in the intervening phases of the moon.112 They are more frequent and stronger down
to Barygaza, in as much as the bottom suddenly becomes visible and some parts of the
land, which shortly before were navigable, are now dry land, the rivers with incoming
tides from the open sea are completely pushed back violently against the flow of their
natural stream for many stades.
46. Thus it is dangerous for ships to put in and draw out for those unacquainted
and setting into this trading-place for the first time. As, by the time of the impulse
of the flood tide nothing can hold fast and ‹the› anchors cannot hold, and thus the
ships are taken by its force, thrust sideways under the quickness of the stream, and
run aground on the shoals and break up, and smaller ‹ships› even capsize. In the case
of some channels, some (ships) are broached on their sides during the ebb tide, if not
propped, and when suddenly high tide occurs they pitch head-first and are swamped
with the flow.113 There is so much strength produced in the surge of the sea that, under
the new moon,114 if the flood-tide arrives at night, inasmuch as when it first begins to
flow in, and the sea is calm, it carries to the people at the mouth (of the river) a noise
resembling an army heard from afar, and after a short pause the sea rushes over the
shoals with a hiss.
47. Lying behind Barygaza there are several inland nations: those of the Aratrioi,
Arachousioi, Gandaraioi, and the Proklaïs, where Boukephalos Alexandreia is found.
And beyond these is a warlike nation, that of the Baktrians under a king, †in its own
place†. And Alexander setting out from these parts passed as far as the Ganges but
failed to reach Limyrike or the south of India. Even now, from the region of Barygaza
old drachmas are in circulation,115 inscribed with Greek characters the devices of Apol-
lodotos and Menandros, who ruled after Alexander.
48. To the east of this region there is a city called Ozene (Ujjain), the former seat
of the kingdom, from which all the good produce of the country is brought down to
Barygaza and that which is traded with us: onyx, agate, Indian cotton, and molochi-
non, and great quantities of clothing of ordinary quality. Things also brought down
through this region are nard, which is brought through Proklaïs (the Kattybourine,

111
χυτρῖνος–chytrinos (κυθρῖνος–kythrinos in Ionic and later Greek) is a deep hole or basin. For
χύτροι in the same sense, see Thphr. HP 4. 11. 8.
112
Referring to high ‘spring’ tides at full and new moon, and lower ‘neap’ tides in between.
113
I have inserted terms here which are more nautical in sense.
114
symmēnia: LSJ gives ‘period when the moon does not shine’. The period of new moon is when the
Moon is on the same side of Earth as the Sun, and is neither illuminated nor visible.
115
προχωροῦσιν: LSJ gives ‘pass current’, i.e. be regarded as legitimate tender, ‘be expended’, etc.
 text • 705

Patropapige, and Kabalite), and that coming through the neighbouring Skythia, and
costos, and bdellium.
49. Finding a market in this trading-place are wine, principally Italian and
Laodikeian and Arabian, copper, tin, and lead; coral and goldstone; plain clothing,
and counterfeits of all sorts; multi-coloured girdles a cubit in width, storax, yellow
sweet clover,116 unfinished glass, realgar, sulphide of antimony; gold and silver denarii,
exchanged with the local currency with interest, unguent of low value, but not much
of it. For the king at that time there was imported valuable silverware, slave musicians,
beautiful girls as concubines, fine wines, plain but expensive clothing, and excellent
unguent. Exported from this region are: nard, costos, bdellium, ivory, onyx, agate, ly-
kion, all sorts of cotton clothing, silk, molochinon, yarn, long pepper, and that brought
from the trading-places. They sail to this trading-place from Egypt in season, around
the month of July, that is Epeiph.
50. Just beyond Barygaza the succeeding coast extends directly from north to
south. Therefore, the country is called Dachinabades, for Dachanos is what the south
wind is called in their tongue. That inland ‹region› which lies above to the east has
much desolate land and great mountains and wild animals of several kinds: leopards,
tigers, elephants, enormous dragons, krokottai (hyenas), many kinds of ‘dog-heads’
(monkeys), and many populous nations as far as the Ganges.
51. Of those in Dachinabades itself, two trading-places are important: Paithana
(Paithan), twenty days’ road south from Barygaza, and from there about ten days
to the east the other city, a large one, Tagara (Têr). From these are brought down to
Barygaza, by wagon through great roadless tracts, from Paithana onyx in large quanti-
ties; from Tagara, many clothes of ordinary quality, all kinds of cotton, and molochina,
and any other wares from the coastal parts that find a market there. The whole coastal
sailing as far as Limyrike is 7,000 stades; most people go on to Aigialos (‘The Shore’).117
52. The local trading-places located one after the other are Akabarou, Souppara,
and the city of Kalliena (Kalyân), which became an authorized trading-place in the
time of the Elder Saraganos, but no longer is, for after Sandanes seized it it was much
held back. And for those Greek ships that by chance come to these places they are led
into Barygaza under guard.
53. Beyond Kalliena other local trading-places are Semylla (Chaul), Mandago-
ra (Bânkot), Palaipatmai (Dâbhol), Melizeigara (Jaigarh), Byzantion (Vijayadurg),
Toparon†, and Tyrannosboas†. Next come the so-called Sesekreienai Islands (Vengur-
la Rocks), that of the Aigidioi (Goa), and that of the Kaineitoi by the so-called Cher-
sonese (Oyster Rocks), around which places there are pirates, and beyond these Leuke
(White) Island (Pigeon Island). Next are Naoura (Mangalore) and Tyndis (­ Ponnâni),

116
μελίλωτον–melilōton: Casson has ‘yellow sweet clover’. Some sort of mustard?
117
Casson has ‘The Strand’, an unusual English synonym for beach or sea-shore (cf. COD¹² s.v. 1).
Belfiore has ‘Spiaggia’.
706 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

the first trading-places of Limyrike (Malabar coast), and beyond these Mouziris
(Cranganore) and Nelkynda (Niranom); these are now busy.
54. In the kingdom of Keprobotos is Tyndis, an important village on the coast. In
the same kingdom is Mouziris, flourishing because of ships that come there from Ari-
ake and those of the Greeks. It lies by a river and is 500 stades from Tyndis by river or
by sea, and from [—] it is 20. Nelkynda is almost 500 stades from Mouziris, similarly
by river, on foot, and by sea, and is in another kingdom, that of Pandion. It also lies
beside a river, about 120 stades from the sea.
55. Another village lies before the mouth of the river: Bakare (Pirakkâd), to which
ships arrive coming upstream from Nelkynda. One anchors in a roadstead in order
to take up cargoes because the river has reefs and shallow channels. Themselves, the
kings of both trading-places dwell inland. A sign of these for those approaching this
region from the open sea are the snakes that come out to meet them; these, too, are
black in colour, but shorter and with dragon-shaped heads and blood-red eyes.
56. Ships sailing to these trading-places are of great size and burden for the pep-
per and malabathron.118 Imported into them are principally large amounts of money,
goldstone, plain clothing in limited quantity, multi-coloured ‹clothing›, sulphide of
antimony, coral, unfinished glass, copper, tin, lead, wine in limited quantity, as much
as to Barygaza, realgar, orpiment, grain, as much as is necessary for shippers as the
traders there do not furnish it. Exported are pepper, which grows only in one place for
these trading-places, in large quantity, called Kottanarike (Kut.t.anâd.u). Also exported:
pearls of fine quality in reasonable amounts, ivory, and silk cloth, Gangetic nard, ma-
labathron, brought here from the interior places, all sorts of transparent stones, dia-
monds, sapphires, tortoiseshell, both from Chrysonetikōn (‘Golden Island’, Lakkadive
Is.) and from the sort hunted in the islands around Limyrike itself. They sail here from
Egypt in season, setting off, the time to set out to sea is around the month of July, that
is Epeiph.
57. People ‹previously› sailed all the aforementioned circumnavigation from Kanē
and Eudaimon Arabia in small ships by coasting, before Hippalos the sea-captain,119
after observing the position of trading-places and the form of the sea, discovered the
route across the open sea. In this part the winds we call etesian blow seasonally from
the Ocean, (and thus) the Libonotos (south-south-westerly) appears in the Indian
open-sea. It is also called after the name of the man who first discovered the cross-
ing. Because of this, until now, some set forth directly from Kanē, and some from the
­trading-place of the Aromata. Those making for Limyrike mostly sail with the wind
on the (starboard) quarter,120 while those setting for Barygaza and those for Skythia

118
See De Romanis 2020, 138–9.   119 See introduction.
120
This is difficult. Casson has ‘on the quarter for most of the way’. LSJ defines τράχηλος–trachēlos as
usually the neck, etc., but the ‘middle part of a mast’. The quarterdeck is the deck behind the mast. It
could mean ‘at a broad reach’, ‘running before the wind’, or the like. For discussion, see De Romanis
2020, 64–6.
map 25.2. Periplous of the Erythraian sea: trade winds, and sources of commodities.
708 • 25 periplous of the erythraian sea

hold this course for not more than three days, and then for the rest †are borne along†
on their own course away from the land, on the high ‹seas› and through the outer
(Ocean), and sail past the aforementioned gulfs.
58. After Bakare is the so-called Pyrrhon (Red) Mountain ‹and› another land ex-
tends [—] called Paralia (The Coast), directly to the south. The first place is called
Balita, with a village on the coast, and has a good anchorage. After this comes another
place called Komar (Cape Comorin), where there is a settlement (?) and harbour.121 To
it those wishing to become holy in their future life come there and perform ablutions
and remain celibate. Women do likewise. For it is recorded that the goddess at one
time stayed and performed ablutions.
59. After Komar the land extends as far as Kolchoi, where pearl fishing is car-
ried out by convicts; it is under King Pandion. Beyond Kolchoi is first Aigialos† (The
Shore), lying in a bay and with territory inland, called Argarou. In one place ‹along it
bountiful› pearls are collected.122 Exported are the cotton clothes called Argaritides.
60. Of the trading-places and anchorages here, where those sailing both from Li-
myrike and the north come to land, the significant ones, lying one after another, are
the trading-places of Kamara, Podouke (Pondicherry), and Sopatma, at which there
are local boats sailing along the coast as far as Limyrike, and other kinds of very large
boats, called sangara, made from a single piece of wood and held together by yokes.
The ships that set out for Chryse and the Ganges are the very large kolandiophonta.123
Imported into these places are all of the merchandises imported into Limyrike, and, in
general, money coming from Egypt is brought down to them at all times and all of the
many things brought to Limyrike and furnished abundantly along this coast.
61. Around the lands beyond it, with the course turning away to the east, an island
projects into the open sea to the west, now called Palaisimoundou, but by the ancients
Taprobane (Sri Lanka).124 Those parts that are to the north are civilized and they sail
through there [—] and it extends almost up to the coast of Azania opposite to it. It
produces pearls, transparent stones, fine cloth, and tortoiseshell.
62. Around those regions, extending far inland, lies the adjacent country of
Masalia. Much fine quality cloth is produced there. Due east from this, after you cross
a bay that lies alongside, is the country of Desarene, producing ivory called bōsarē,
and beyond it, the course turning to the north, are many barbarian nations, among

121
βριάριον–briarion: Belfiore suggests ‘un centro di commercio’. The MS is unclear, and φρούριον–
phrourion has been suggested as a restoration, for ‘fortress’ or ‘citadel’.
122
This part of the MS is corrupt, and a number of restorations and explanations have been suggest-
ed. Belfiore has ‘lungo la costa della regione sono soggette ai diritti di dogana’, suggesting τελωνεῖται.
123
Large ocean-going ships from SE Asia.
124
From Παλαισιμούνδου to ‹Τα›προβάνη, see Casson 1989, 230–1; Belfiore 2013, nn. 611–14, for
references. PME here contradicts Ptolemy 7. 4. 1, who says its ancient name was palai (‘long ago’)
Simoundou, but no easy resolution is possible. Pliny 6. xxiv. 85–6 has Palaesimundus as a mother city
and a river. The MS of PME is clear in these readings, despite Casson’s note that it is defective. πάλαι
Σιμούνδου, ‘Simoundou of old’, is suggested by the early edition of Stuckius 1577, but not followed by
Frisk 1927.
 text • 709

which are the Kirrhadai, a race of people with flat noses, and wild, and another nation,
that of the Bargysoi, and that of the Hippoprosopoi (Horsefaces), who, it is said, are
man-eaters (anthrōpophagoi).125
63. Beyond this to the east, keeping the Ocean on the right and sailing outside
the other outer parts on the left, you meet the Ganges, and around it the furthest
point of the mainland to the east, Chryse (Golden Land). There is a river near it, itself
called the Ganges, the greatest of the rivers of India, which has a rise and fall just like
the Nile, and on it there is a trading-place with the same name as the river, Ganges,
through which are carried malabathron, Gangetic nard, pearls, the finest cloths, called
Gangetic. It is said there are gold mines in the area, and gold coin called kaltis. By this
river there is an island in the Ocean, the furthest extremity to the east of the inhabited
world, under the rising sun itself, called Chryse. It has the finest tortoiseshell of all the
regions of the Erythraian sea.
64. Beyond this country, now to the north, the sea ends at a place on the outside,
where lies a great inland city called Thina, from which silken thread, yarn, and cloth
are carried overland through Baktria to Barygaza and via the river Ganges back to
Limyrike. It is not easy to get to Thina, for rarely does anyone come from it, and (then)
not many. The place lies under the Little Bear (Ursa Minor), and it is said that it joins
with the remote parts of Pontos and the Caspian sea, near where the adjacent Lake
Maiotis discharges into the Ocean like them.
65. Every year there appears at the borderland of Thina a certain people, circum-
cised,126 and very flat-faced, †notable in the end, themselves† called Sesatai. They come
with their wives and children carrying large loads resembling mats of fresh vine leaves,
and stay at a certain place on the borderland between them and those at Thina. They
hold a festival for several days setting out the mats beneath them, and then set off for
their own homes in the interior regions. Expecting this, the locals (?) come to that
place and gather up what the Sesatai have laid out. They separate the fibres from reeds,
which they call petroi, lay the leaves out in layers, and roll them into globe shapes,
stringing them on the fibres from the reeds. There are three types: from the bigger leaf
what is called large-globular malabathron; from the smaller, medium-globular; and
from the smallest, small-globular. Thus three types of malabathron are produced, and
they are often carried to India by those that made them.
66. That which lies beyond these parts, through fierce storms, harsh cold, and im-
passable terrain, as though through some divine power of the gods, has not been in-
vestigated.

125
Cf. ‘man-eaters’ or ‘man-eating’ cf. Nik. fr. 15 = Eux. §78 and Markianos, Periplous 1. 13, both on
the Black Sea; Hypotyposis §18 on the E coast of Africa further S.
126
Lit. ‘mutilated’, see Strabo 16. 4. 9, C771.
 26
PSEUDO-PLUTARCH, ON THE NAMES
OF RIVERS AND MOUNTAINS AND THE
THINGS IN THEM
(‘de fluviis’)
(1st c. ad, or first half of 2nd c.)
J. Brian Campbell

fig. 26.1. Opening of the text of Ps.-Plutarch, fo. 157r (detail).

INTRODUCTION
the text

A Greek text is preserved in manuscript A (the 9th-century ad Heidelberg Codex 398;

see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a) as one of a collection of eighteen works. The manuscript’s
contents, mainly non-geographical—and by no means all genuine—are worth listing
in order to appreciate the context and nature of the present text (the geographical ones
are marked *):
*Ps.-Arrian, Periplous of the Euxine (Eux.)
Arrian, Kynegetikos (Huntsman)
*Arrian, Periplous of the Euxine
*Ps.-Arrian, Periplous of the Erythraian sea (PME)
*Hanno
Philon of Byzantion, On the Seven Wonders of the World
*Chrestomatheiai (extracts from Strabo)
*Plutarch, On the Names of Rivers and Mountains (the present text)
Parthenios, Love Stories
 introduction • 711

Antonius Liberalis, Collection of Metamorphoses

Hesychios, Byzantine History
Phlegon, Marvels
Apollonios, Miraculous Stories
(Pseudo-)Antigonos, Collection of Miraculous Stories
Hippokrates, Letters
Themistokles, Letters
Diogenes, Letters
Brutus, Letters

This is a curious grouping; besides the geographical works, the contents comprise ac-
counts of miraculous events, historical snippets, and erotic stories. The text On the
Names of Rivers and Mountains, which appears under the name of Plutarch, between
Strabo and Parthenios, more or less fits into all these categories.

the author

There is general agreement that the author of the treatise on the names of rivers and
mountains is not Plutarch of Chaironeia.1 Indeed, on the manuscript there is an anon-
ymous marginal comment: ‘This is falsely ascribed. The thought and diction are far
from the grandeur of Plutarch; unless he might be some other Plutarch’. Therefore the
author is now referred to as Pseudo-Plutarch. There are some grounds for thinking
that he may be identical with the person responsible for A Collection of Parallel Greek
and Roman Histories, which the codices of Plutarch place among his real works (at
Moralia 306–16). The reasons for making the identification are subjective but rea-
sonably convincing, in that both works exhibit similar failings with a self-important,
cumbersome presentation, tedious repetition of words and phrases, and the frequent
citation of other writers to support the contentions of the author. One advantage of
making the identification is that the work on parallel histories is vaguely datable. The
author refers to a Juba (Parallel Histories 23 = Mor. 311b 9–c 4); this was Juba II, king of
Mauretania (Chapter 22 above), who wrote about Libya and Rome and died c. ad 23.
Furthermore, Clement of Alexandria (end of 2nd century ad) knew of these Parallel
Histories. Therefore Pseudo-Plutarch (if we accept that the authors of the names of
rivers and mountains and of the parallel histories are identical) lived in the 1st century
ad or the first half of the 2nd.2 Beyond that there is no clear date, and no evidence on
the author’s origins or domicile.

1
As observed in the earliest printed edition, that of Gelenius 1533, p. [iii] (preface), who had read the
Heidelberg MS.
2
Bollansée, Haegemans, and Schepens 2008 prefer a date around ad 300. But if, as is generally
believed, our text was included in his geographical corpus by Arrian (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a), it
must date from before c.150 bc.
712 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

How did Pseudo-Plutarch come to be confused with Plutarch of Chaironeia? If we

accept the idea that our author simply shares a name with Plutarch, we have to accept
the coincidence that, like his homonym, he wrote a series of parallel histories. Howev-
er, it is possible that Pseudo-Plutarch’s parallel histories were originally written by an
anonymous author and included along with the real Plutarch’s Parallel Lives; by this
association the anonymous author acquired the name Plutarch, which then came to
be given to the other work of the same author on the names of rivers and mountains.3
Anonymous works often acquire the name of an author with whom they happen to
be joined in a codex. This seems a more plausible explanation, though no certainty is
possible.

nature of the work

The treatise explains the origins of the names of rivers, and of mountains situated
nearby. The author usually gives an older name with its explanation, and then the more
recent with an explanation for the change. He proceeds to describe plants and rocks
found in the rivers and on the mountains, and their often miraculous qualities. At the
end of every section an authority is cited for the information given. All this material
is presented in a very formulaic way, as each section follows a regular plan with little
variation and a limited number of phrases frequently repeated.
The work names twenty-five rivers, with a strong bias towards Greece and the east:
Greece (6), Asia (6), Thrace (2), Skythia (3), Egypt (1), India (3), Armenia (1), Mesopo-
tamia (2), and Gaul (1). There are no Italian rivers, only one from the western part of
the empire, and no mention of the Rhine or Danube. This, of course, does not mean
that the author came from the Greek east. In compiling or choosing the rivers he may
have been at the mercy of his sources. It is possible that the surviving text was excerpt-
ed from a longer work, or perhaps another section dealing with additional rivers has
been lost.
On the Names of Rivers and Mountains is not really geographical in character,
though it does in very general terms give the location of rivers and mountains. The
author is more interested in nomenclature, mythological story-telling, often with a
strong erotic content, and the miraculous qualities of plants and stones. Given the
limited connection with geography, and in some cases the author’s geographical ig-
norance (see below), it is worth asking about his choice of this topic and the cultural
context in which it was written. Are rivers merely incidental to his purpose or integral
in some way? The work may to some extent be part of the tradition of paradoxography,
often enhanced by illicit sexual activity, and it is true that some of the other works in
the Heidelberg codex deal with marvels and the trials of love. In the treatise there is
a recurrent theme of just retribution, the punishment of the wrongdoer, and vindi-
cation of those who suffered injustice through the memorial of riverine or mountain

3
GGM ii, p. lii.
 introduction • 713

nomenclature. Rivers and mountains are the locations on which are played out the
mythological or quasi-mythological dramas. This may, perhaps, suggest that there was
a lot of interest in natural phenomena and that it served the author’s purpose to attach
his stories to rivers and mountains. Rivers, personified as lusty men, had always had
a strong association with erotic adventures and were no strangers to the abduction
and rape of women. The author presumably knew his audience. Such stories, as well
as being a good read, may have contributed to a process of establishing local identity
for communities in the riverine vicinity and may reflect the cultural and psychological
importance of locality and local traditions. It is worth noting that the genre of litera-
ture on rivers can be traced back to Homer and especially Hesiod, and this tradition
may have inspired Kallimachos to write on rivers, along with winds and marvels. Fur-
thermore, Suetonius dealt with rivers, seas, and winds.
Pseudo-Plutarch makes mistakes in basic geography and seems not to have studied
any geographical writers. For example, he claims that the Hydaspes was once called the
Indus (1. 1), and manages to conflate the Inachos and the Haliakmon (18. 1) although
the first is in the Argolid in the Peloponnese, the second is near Argos in Macedonia.
In claiming that the Indus was previously called Mausolos (25. 1), the author seems to
be confusing the river with the one flowing in Lycia. He is also in error in claiming
that Euphrates was previously called Medos (20. 1), and conflates the Araxes with the
Baltros in Baktria (23. 1). Furthermore, mountains are sometimes inaccurately identi-
fied in relation to rivers: Mt Sipylos is located next to the Maeander (9. 4), whereas it is
near the Hermos in Lydia. Mt Pangaios is adjacent to the Strymon not the Hebros (3.
2). He locates Mt Kokkygion next to the Inachos (18. 1 and 4), whereas it is adjacent to
Hermion in the Argolid.
While some of Pseudo-Plutarch’s material is reliably confirmed by other writers, in
many cases we have no other evidence for his assertions about rivers (Arar, Brigoulos,
Kaikos, Astraios, Euphrates, Xaranda) and mountains (Elephas, Anatole, Athenaion,
Drimylon, Argillon). It is difficult to trust our author’s information and much is like-
ly to be fictitious or based on imaginative fantasy. In respect of stones and plants, we
have information from elsewhere about certain stones (aëtites, antipathes, lychnis) and
plants (leukoion, prometheios; the Thracian plant at 3. 3). There is no other information
on any of the other stones and plants he mentions.

nomenclature

Our author’s explanations of riverine names are very similar. With a few exceptions
rivers are named because people throw themselves into them as a result of grief, pain,
insanity, or fear. The background to this is often sexual, including forbidden liaisons,
often incestuous. In some cases a man sees gods naked, or making love, or is caught
committing theft or murder, or spurns divine mysteries, or a stepmother lusts after her
stepson. The same type of story appears in other authors: for example, Livy describes
how the Indus was allegedly named because one Indos had fallen off an elephant into
714 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

it (38. 14). And some stories are known elsewhere: for example, Apollodoros (1. 7. 8)
has the same story on the naming of the river Euenos, adding the detail that Euenos
slaughtered his horses before throwing himself in the river. But in other cases we have
no confirmation. In other cases, The Tigris was so-named because Dionysos was car-
ried across the river on a tiger (24. 1), while the Marsyas is connected to the legend
of the famous piper (10. 1). The Tanaïs was formerly called the Amazonios because
the Amazons bathed there (14. 1), while the Eurotas was formerly the Himeros after
Eurotas’ amorous exploits (17. 1). The Ismenos was formerly called the Foot of Kadmos,
based on an old fable (2. 1).
In the author’s presentation, events and the fate of humans in individual regions
occasionally match the plants in the vicinity. Marsyas, having lost his musical contest
with Apollo, was flayed and from his blood the river flowed; the indigenous plant was
the aulos (pipe) and the local stone was the machaira (knife). (10). At the river Phasis
we have the story of an adulterous woman that is linked to a stone that protects the
purity of marriage (5. 2). At the river Paktolos the story concerns a virgin who is raped,
and the local stone protects virgins from assault (7. 5–6). Another story attached to the
same river concerns a thief and the related stone wards off thieves (7. 1). When Palais-
tinos threw himself in the Strymon because of grief at the death of his son, the stone is
called pausilypon (‘grief-stopping’; 9. 1–2). At the Kaikos a man is afflicted with leprosy
and the local stone is a remedy for skin infections and leprosy (21. 4–5). In another
case the name of a mountain (Mykenai) is derived from the sound of the Greek word
describing an incident in the related story (18. 6). The author’s method neatly com-
bines local history and the supernatural, and in some regions events, the fate of men
and women, and the qualities of plants and stones found there, are inextricably linked.
It is an interesting point that some of the explanations for the earlier names of rivers
are based on characteristics of the river or the surrounding environment. The Maean-
der was formerly called the Anabainon (‘ascender’) since it seemed to flow back on
itself (9. 1). The Phasis was formerly the Arktouros because of its position in cold re-
gions (5. 1), while the Thermodon was formerly called the Krystallos since it froze over
(15. 1). The Hebros was previously the Rhombos, getting the name from its violently
swirling water (3. 1). The Sagaris was formerly the Xerobates because in the summer
season it was often seen to be dry (xeros; 12. 1). The Acheloös was previously called
Axenos because it was situated in an inhospitable region (22. 1). This form of nomen-
clature is likely to be fictitious, but that may not be as important as a story based on
local characteristics and connections.

sources

Pseudo-Plutarch is meticulous about citing his sources. Forty-five names of authors are
adduced, most of whom also appear in the Parallel Histories, and he refers to 14 works
about rivers, 8 about stones, 2 about mountains, and 1 about trees. Others deal with
the history of regions and other topics, for example, foundations (of cities), hunting,
 introduction • 715

and collections of mythological stories. However, our author does not refer to Kalli-
machos, who wrote on winds, marvels, and rivers. In the case of the story of Marsyas,
the satyrs who spring from his blood, and the naming of the river, which is attributed
to Alexander Polyhistor’s work on Phrygia, the author, his work, and the story are well
known. This may inspire some confidence in Pseudo-Plutarch’s reliability. But even
this is not certain since the Marsyas story may not fit in its position and was perhaps
added by a later author.4 Furthermore, since this is the only instance where the name of
author, the work and the story are known, perhaps we should not place much emphasis
on it. Elsewhere (5. 3) Pseudo-Plutarch refers to Kleanthes and his work the Battle
of the Gods; he was probably thinking of the Stoic philosopher, who did write about
gods and giants. Timagenes (6. 3) seems to be the Greek scholar from Alexandria (no
other writer claims that he came from Syria) who was captured and brought to Rome
in 55 bc. He was set free and later became a friend of Augustus, though after a quarrel
he was barred from the emperor’s house. He produced a universal history and wrote
extensively about Gaul.5
In some cases it may be that Pseudo-Plutarch has confused the name of a genuine
author or that the name has been corrupted in the manuscript tradition. For example,
Kallisthenes, cited as author of a work Galatika (6. 3), might be a mistake for Erato-
sthenes, whose work was used by Stephanos of Byzantion. ‘Plesimachos’ (18. 13) is
probably the well-known Lysimachos, while Ktesias of Ephesos (18. 6) may well be
Mousaios of Ephesos (3rd century bc) who wrote an epic poem, Perseis. The scholiast
on Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika, 2. 401 and 1017, cites information about moun-
tains taken from the work of one Ktesias, who may be identical with Ktesias of Knidos
(21. 5), writing on Mt Teuthras. Kleitophon on Foundations (6. 4) may be the same
man who wrote about the origins of Miletos, as cited by the scholiast on Iliad 20. 404.
Thrasyllos, who is cited as the author of a work on stones (11. 4), also appears as the
author of a work on Egypt (16. 2), where he describes the building of a wall to prevent
flooding by the Nile, a story that also appears in the Elder Pliny (10. xlix. 94).
Other writers whose works Pseudo-Plutarch claims to be using are completely un-
known to us. It is difficult to say how many of these authors are fictitious, and we might
compare the late antique Historia Augusta (written in Latin), which is assiduous in its
invention of authorities. Even when an author is known from other sources, we cannot
be sure that they wrote the works cited, since many ancient writers tend to attribute to
famous authors works they never wrote. Therefore we may incline to agree with Carl
Müller that even when Pseudo-Plutarch cites material from well-known authors we
must suspect that he has invented it, unless there are strong arguments to the contrary.
Hercher argued bizarrely that Pseudo-Plutarch cited his authorities on the basis of a
kind of word game, in that in some instances the first syllable in the name of an au-
thor is identical with the first syllable of another name which occurs in the preceding

4
Suggested by Müller, GGM ii, p. lvi.    5
BNJ 88.
716 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

section.6 He apparently meant that, for example at 1. 1 the name of the protagonist,
Chrysippe, starts with the same letters as the authority cited just below, Chrysermos
(1. 4). At 21 Timandros is killed and the authority cited later is Timagoras. These and
other similar suggestions, such as Agathokles (9. 1) followed by Agenor (9. 4) and
Agatharchides (9. 5), seem entirely fanciful, but if true would further undermine the
credibility of Pseudo-Plutarch’s citation of sources.

editions

After early printed editions, the text was well served by several 19th-century editors.7
The text used in this edition is mainly that of Müller, with changes indicated in the
notes.

selected further reading

In Greek myth there are connections between love-madness and leaping into water
and engulfment. See (in date order):
Nagy, G. (1973), ‘Phaethon, Sappho’s Phaon, and the white rock of Leukas: “reading” the
symbols of Greek lyric’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 77: 137–77. Reprinted with
revisions in G. Nagy, Greek Mythology and Poetics (Ithaca, NY, 1990), 223–62 (ch. 9). [Esp.
pp. 141–54 (226–40).]
Segal, C. (1974), ‘Death by water: a narrative pattern in Theocritus’, Hermes, 102: 20–38.
Calame, C. (1992), ‘Espaces limineaux et voix discursives dans l’Idylle 1 de Théocrite’, in C.
Calame (ed.), Figures grecques de l’intermédiaire (Lausanne), 58–85.

Other References
Bonneau, D. (1993), Le Régime administratif de l’eau du Nil dans l’Égypte grecque, romaine et
byzantine. Leiden.
Braund, D. C. (1994), Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia
550 bc–ad 562. Oxford.
Broadhead, H. D. (1960), The Persae of Aeschylus. Cambridge.
Hercher, R. (1855–6), ‘Über die Glaubwürdigkeit der Neuen Geschichte des Ptolemaeus
Chennus’, in A. Fleckeisen (ed.), Jahrbücher für classische Philologie, 1. Supplementband
(Leipzig), 269–93.
Hunter, R. L. (1989), Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, Book III. Cambridge.
Lightfoot, Jane L. (1999), Parthenius of Nicaea. Oxford.
Magie, D. (1950), Roman Rule in Asia Minor: To the End of the Third Century after Christ. 2
vols. Princeton.
*Müller, GGM ii, pp. lii–lvii, 637–55.
Thonemann, P. J. (2011), The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to
­Byzantium. Cambridge.

6
Hercher 1851, 22–3; Hercher 1855–6, 279–80.
7
Hercher 1851; Dübner 1856; Müller, GGM ii, pp. lii–lvii, 637–55; and Bernardakis 1896, 282–328,
who makes few changes to the text.
 text • 717

TE XT
Treatise of Plutarch concerning the Naming of Rivers and Mountains and Those Things
Found in Them8

1. hydaspes 9

(1) Chrysippe, as a result of Aphrodite’s anger, was infatuated with her father Hydaspes
and, unable to master this unnatural passion, at dead of night had intercourse with him
with the connivance of her old nurse.10 When the king discovered what had happened,
he buried alive the old woman who had ensnared him. His daughter, however, he
crucified, and in an extremity of grief threw himself into the river Indos, which was
renamed Hydaspes after him. This river is in India and flows with great force into the
Saronike Syrtis.11
(2) A stone called lychnis originates in it. It is olive-coloured and exceedingly fiery
(zestos) in nature. When the moon waxes, it is found at the sound of pipes. The chief
men use it.12
(3) A plant similar to heliotrope is found there near the so-called Pylai (Gates).13
They (the locals) rub it and with (the resulting) liquid anoint themselves against burn-
ing heat, and can endure without danger the vapour arising from excessive tempera-
tures.
(4) The local inhabitants attach to stakes virgins who have behaved indecently and
throw them into this river, singing a hymn to Aphrodite in their own language. As
well as this, every year, they bury alive at the hill named Therogonos (Beast-bearer) an
old woman who has been condemned. Simultaneously with the burial of the woman,

8
This is the title, Πλουτάρχου περὶ ποταμῶν καὶ ὀρῶν ἐπωνυμίας καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς εὑρισκομένων, that
stands in the manuscript.
9
The Hydaspes (Jhelum), according to Pliny 6. xxiii. 71, is a tributary of the Indus and brings the
waters of four other distinguished rivers with it. Indeed, the Hydaspes merges with the Akesinos
(Chenab) before both join the Indus. Ps.-Plut., along with some other writers, possibly believes that the
Hydaspes flows all the way to the coast. He does not think that the name Hydaspes was given to the
whole course of the Indus, since at §25 he has a separate entry for the Indus.
10
Hercher 1851 wishes to add a sentence at the beginning to make it conform to other introductions,
which announce the river and its geographical location. The only exception is §17, where material
also seems to have been omitted. It is possible that since the work lacks a prologue the whole opening
section has been lost. We should expect an introduction such as ‘The Hydaspes is a river in India that
was previously called the Indus. It was renamed for the following reason’.
11
The Saronic gulf is actually in Greece, the greater and lesser Syrteis in N. Africa. Ps.-Plutarch is
confused: he seems to mean the bay of the E mouth of the Indus, Lonibarai (?) Stoma.
12
Lychnis: Pliny 37. xxviii. 102–xxix. 103 refers to a gemstone particularly found in India often with
a fiery colour like burning lamps (lucernae), though sometimes it was purple and sometimes yellow. It
also allegedly had a magnetic effect when heated. It was associated with a gem sandastros, olive-green
in colour. The word zestos is surely meant to convey the impression of heat from the colour, and there
is no need for Müller’s suggested reading of nastos (‘dense’). John Lydus, On Months, 3. 11, under-
stands pros melōdian aulōn to mean that the stone emitted a sound like that of pipes at the full moon.
13
Philostratos, Life of Apollonios, 2. 42, refers to two sets of Gates two days’ journey from Taxila,
erected as a trophy to Alexander’s victory over Poros. Heliotrope is a strongly scented plant with
purple blossoms.
718 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

reptiles in huge numbers come from the summit and eat all the dumb creatures flying
round (the body), as Chrysermos relates in book 80 of the Indika.14 Archelaos has a
more precise account of these matters in book 13 of Concerning Rivers.
(5) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Elephas (Elephant) for the fol-
lowing reason. When Alexander of Macedonia arrived in India with his army and the
local people were discussing whether to fight against him, an elephant belonging to
Poros, the king of the region, was suddenly driven wild, charged up the hill of Helios
(the Sun), and speaking with a human voice said ‘My lord king, who are descended
from Gegasios, do not do anything to oppose Alexander. For he is the son of Zeus,
‹not of› Gegasios’.15 When it had said this it dropped dead. When Poros heard this he
was terrified and fell at Alexander’s knees begging for peace. Having received what he
wanted he changed the name of the mountain to ‘Elephas’, as Derkyllos relates in book
3 of Concerning Mountains.

2. ismenos

(1) The river Ismenos is in Boiotia near the city of Thebes.16 Formerly it was called
the Foot of Kadmos for the following reason. When Kadmos shot with an arrow the
serpent guarding the spring and discovered that the water was, so to speak, poisoned
with its blood, he roamed round the country looking for a source of water. Having
arrived in the vicinity of the cave Korykion thanks to the providence of Athena, he
planted his right foot more deeply into the mud. From this spot a river flowed out, and
the hero after sacrificing a bull named it the Foot of Kadmos. A little later Ismenos, son
of Amphion and Niobe, struck by an arrow fired by Apollo and afflicted by pain, threw
himself headlong into this river, which was named Ismenos after him, as Sostratos
relates in book 2 of Concerning Rivers.
(2) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Kithairon, which was formerly named Asterion
(Little Star) for the following reason. When Boiotos son of Poseidon wished, of two
distinguished ladies, to marry the one who would be most valuable to him, and was
waiting for both of them one night on the heights of an unnamed hill, suddenly a star
drawn down from the heavens fell onto the shoulders of Eurythemiste before imme-
diately vanishing. Boiotos understood the meaning of the sign, married the girl, and
named the mountain Asterion because of this occurrence. Later it was called Kithai-
ron for the following reason.17 Tisiphone, one of the Furies, fell in love with a hand-
some boy called Kithairon and, unable to subdue the intensity of her passion, sent him

14
The MS reading is π′ (80). This seems improbable and suggested emendations are β′ (2) and η′ (8).
15
The text is meaningless as it stands, and something seems to have been omitted. I accept Müller’s
supplement (οὐ) and emendation Gegasiou.
16
Ps.-Plut. apparently refers to a river flowing N of Thebes into L. Hylike; Pausanias 9. 10. 2–5 says
that it was previously called Ladon; in mythology Ismenos was the son of Okeanos and Tethys, but for
other versions see Pindar, Pythian 11. 3–7; Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 224–9.
17
Mt Kithairon and Mt Helikon (2. 3 below) are in Boiotia in central Greece.
 text • 719

a message about an encounter. But he was terrified by the horrifying appearance of the
Fury and did not even deign to give her a reply. When the Fury did not get what she
wanted she plucked one of the serpents from her curls and threw it onto the arrogant
youth. The snake tightly coiled round his middle and killed him while he was looking
after his flocks on the heights of Asterion. By decision of the gods the mountain was
renamed Kithairon after him, as Leon of Byzantion relates in The History of Boiotia.
(3) However, Hermesianax of Cyprus mentions the following story. Helikon and
Kithairon were brothers with distinctly different characteristics. Helikon was gentle
and kind, and compassionately looked after his elderly parents. But Kithairon was
greedy and wanted to get all the property for himself; first he killed his father and then
ambushed his brother and threw him down a precipice, but was dragged down with
him. By decision of the gods both were changed into mountains named after them, but
Kithairon because of his impiety became the cave of the Furies, while Helikon because
of his love of his parents became the dwelling-place of the Muses.

3. hebros

(1) The Hebros is a river in Thrace.18 ‹It was previously called Rhombos›,19 getting the
name from the swirling of the water as it plunged down. Kasandros, the king of this
region, married Krotonike and from her sired a son, Hebros. Then, breaking off his
relationship with his first wife, he took Damasippe, daughter of Atrax, as a second wife
and stepmother for his son. She fell in love with her stepson and sent him a message
about an encounter. But Hebros fled from his stepmother as if she were a Fury and
spent his leisure time hunting. Since she did not get what she wanted this lascivious
woman falsely accused the virtuous youth, saying that he had wanted to rape her.
Carried away with jealousy Kasandros charged into the wood and drawing his sword
pursued his son, believing him to be a violator of his marriage. His son when trapped
hurled himself into the river Rhombos, which was renamed Hebros after him, as Tim-
otheos relates in book 11 of Concerning Rivers.
(2) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Pangaios, which gets its name for the following
reason.20 Pangaios, son of Ares and Kritoboule, unknowingly had intercourse with his
daughter and overcome with despair fled to Mount Karmanion, where because of an

18
The Hebros (Evros, Martisa) flows through E. Thrace for c.335 mi (c.540 km), passing Hadrianou­
polis (Edirne) and entering the sea at Ainos; important tributaries are the Harpessos ­(Ardhas) and
Tonzos (Tundja); Strabo 7, fragments 51, 51a.
19
The supplement is necessary to maintain the sense. Müller speculated (based on Parthenios, Erot.
19) that for Kasandros we should read ‘Kassamenos’, who was notorious as a rapist of Thessalian wom-
en. But Jane L. Lightfoot 1999, 344 and 491–3, accepts a reading of ‘Agassamenos’ at Erot. 19.
20
Hercher unnecessarily places §2 after §3; Ps.-Plut. describes the adjacent Mt Pangaios and then dis-
cusses plants growing in the river and on the mountain. There is a geographical error: Mt Pangaion is
adjacent to the R. Strymon, not the Hebros. At 7. 5 Ps.-Plut. gives Karmanorion as the previous name
of Mt Tmolos in Asia; possibly ‘Karmanorion’ should be read here.
720 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

extremity of grief he drew his sword and killed himself. By decision of the gods the
place was renamed Pangaios.
(3) A plant similar to oregano grows in this river. The Thracians harvest the top of
it and place it on a fire after they have had their fill of nourishment from corn, and then
inhaling the rising vapour they are stupefied and plunge into a deep sleep.21
(4) There also grows on Mount Pangaios a plant called kithara (lyre) for the follow-
ing reason. Women who tore apart Orpheus threw his limbs into the river Hebros. The
dead man’s head by decision of the gods changed into the physical shape of a serpent.22
But his lyre was conveyed to the stars according to Apollo’s decision. From his flowing
blood a plant sprang up called kithara. During the ceremonies of Dionysos it emits the
sound of a lyre. The local people don fawn-skins, shake the thyrsus and sing a hymn:
‘Do not display wisdom whenever you will be wise in vain’. Kleitonymos relates this in
book 3 of The History of Thrace.

4. ganges

(1) The Ganges, a river in India, obtained its name for the following reason.23 A nymph
called Kalauria bore to Indos an outstandingly handsome son whose name was Gan-
ges. This youth when drunk unknowingly had intercourse with his mother. On the
following day he learnt the truth from his nurse and in an excess of grief hurled himself
into the river called Chliaros, which was renamed Ganges after him.
(2) A plant similar to bouglossos (ox-tongue) grows in it, which they grind down
and carefully keep the juice; then in the dead of night they sprinkle it round the lairs of
tigers. The tigers because of the power of the liquid spread around are unable to come
out, and then die, as Kallisthenes relates in book 3 of Concerning Hunting.
(3) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain called Anatole for the following reason.
Helios (the Sun), when he saw the nymph Anaxibia enjoying herself dancing, was con-
sumed with a passion for her, and unable to subdue his lust chased her, intending to
rape her.24 But, being trapped, she fled into the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, which
was on the mountain called Koryphe (summit), and vanished.25 The god, following on
behind and finding his beloved nowhere in sight, in an extremity of grief ascended

21
Herodotos 4. 75 mentions kannabis (hemp-seed) which the Skythians throw onto hot stones,
enjoying the resulting vapour bath so much that they howl with delight.
22
The phrase tēn morphēn tou sōmatos (lit. ‘the shape of the body’) is difficult. But we may compare
the similar phrase at 24. 1 and interpret ‘in respect of its bodily shape’. Müller wishes to read tou
schēmatos for tou sōmatos, ‘in respect of its appearance’.
23
The Ganges flows eastwards for 1,568 mi (2,525 km) from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.
24
The words ton erōtōn as they stand do not make sense. The easiest change is to read ton erōta, or
perhaps epistasin tōn erōtōn, ‘the onset of his lust’.
25
Artemis Orthia: cf. 21. 4, where the MS has Orthosia. There is a Mt Koryphos in Greece in the
Argolid.
 text • 721

from there. The local people changed the name of the mountain to Anatole (Ascend-
ing) because of this occurrence, as Kaimaron relates in book 10 of Indian History.26

5. phasis

(1) The Phasis (Rioni) is a river in Skythia flowing past a city.27 It was formerly called
Arktouros, getting that name from its location in cold regions. It was renamed for the
following reason. Phasis, son of Helios and Okyrrhoë daughter of Okeanos, catching
his mother in the act of committing adultery killed her. Driven mad by the appearance
of the Furies he flung himself into the Arktouros, which was renamed Phasis after
him.
(2) A shoot named leukophyllos (white foliage) grows in this river. In the celebration
of the mysteries of Hekate it is found around dawn during the divinely inspired hymn
of praise, at the beginning of spring. Jealous men pick the plant, spread it around the
bridal chamber, and so ensure that the marriage is kept irreproachable. If some un-
principled man28 approaches aggressively while drunk and comes to this place (the
bridal chamber), he is deprived of his proper wits and immediately confesses to every-
one whatever improper thing he has done or is intending to do. The bystanders seize
him and sewing him up in skins hurl him into the place called ‘Mouth of the Wicked’.
This is circular in shape, resembling a well, and thirty days later spits out into Lake
Maiotis what has been thrown into it, now full of worms. Vultures suddenly appear
and thronging round tear to pieces the body lying there, as Ktesippos relates in book
2 of Skythian History.
(3) Adjacent to it (the river) is situated Mount Kaukasos (the Caucasus). It was
formerly called the ‘Bed of Boreas’ (the North Wind) for the following reason. Boreas
in the throes of passion seized Chione, daughter of Arktouros, brought her to a hill
called Niphante, and from her sired a son, Hyrpax, who became king in succession to
Heniochos. So, the mountain was renamed ‘Bed of Boreas’. Later it was named Kau-
kasos in the following circumstances. After the battle of the giants, Kronos avoiding
the threats of Zeus, fled to the summit of the ‘Bed of Boreas’. Changing himself into
a crocodile ‹he escaped detection. But Prometheus› cut up one of the local people, a
shepherd called Kaukasos, and inspecting the disposition of his entrails said that the

26
Kaimaron is suspect. Müller, GGM ii, p. lvi, thinks that it was corrupted from Daimachos, who is
known to have written about Indian affairs.
27
The Phasis, in Georgia, flows W for 203 mi (327 km) from the Caucasus to the Black Sea; see
Braund 1994, 25. The name of the city adjacent to the river may have fallen out of the text; it was
possibly Phasis. In one legend the Phasis was the son of Okeanos and Tethys (Hesiod, Theog. 337–40).
For the character of the river see Hdt. 4. 37–8; Ap. Rhod. 2. 1261 (a broad estuary where the Black Sea
ends); Virgil, Georgics 4. 367 (one of the great rivers); Strabo 11. 2. 17, C498 (its sources and current);
11. 3. 4, C500 (its many bridges and eventual navigability); Pomponius Mela 1. 108; Arr. §§8–9 (its
water); Paus. 4. 34. 2 (its large fish).
28
For the meaningless ti, Gilenius restored tis, as translated in the text.
722 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

enemy were not far away.29 When Zeus appeared he bound his father with plaited wool
and threw him down into Tartaros. He (Zeus) changed the name of the mountain to
Kaukasos in honour of the shepherd, and binding Prometheus to it, forced him to en-
dure torture by an entrail-devouring eagle, because he had committed an atrocity on
entrails, as Kleanthes narrates in book 3 of The Battle of the Gods.
(4) A plant called prometheios grows on it, which Medea collected, ground down
and used against the enmity of her father, as the same writer relates.30

6. arar

(1) The Arar is a river in Keltike (Gaul), and it got its name from the fact that it joins
with the Rhodanos (Rhône), for it flows into this river in the land of the Allobroges.31 It
was formerly called Brigoulos and was renamed for the following reason. Arar entered
a wood while hunting and finding his brother Keltiberos torn apart by wild beasts,
fatally stabbed himself in an extremity of grief and threw himself into the Brigoulos,
which was renamed Arar after him.
(2) A large fish is nourished in it, named skolopias by local people.32 This is white
at the time of the waxing of the moon but becomes entirely black when it is waning.
However, if it gets too big it is pierced by its own spines.
(3) At the head (of the river) a stone is found which resembles a lump of salt, which,
if attached to the left side of the body when the moon is waning, is particularly effec-
tive against quartan fevers, as Kallisthenes of Sybaris relates in book 13 of The History
of the Gauls, from whom Timagenes of Syria took the subject.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain called Lougdounos, which was renamed
for the following reason. Momoros and Atepomaros were ejected by Seseroneus from
his kingdom and ‹came› to this mountain according to a command ‹of an oracle›,
wishing to found a city.33 When they were digging the foundations, crows suddenly
appeared and flitted about, filling the neighbouring trees. Momoros was skilled in au-
gury and named the city Lougdounon (Lyon). For in their language they call a crow
lougos, and a high place dounon, as Kleitophon relates in book 13 of Foundations.

29
Prometheus needs to be added to the text to establish the context for the rest of the section. For
Prometheus, see Lucian, Dialogues of Gods, Zeus and Prometheus 5. 1; Zeus Catechized, 8. For the story
of how Saturn was tied up with woollen bands, see Macrobius, Sat. 1. 8. 5.
30
For the qualities of the plant see Apollonios of Rhodes 3. 845–57; it allegedly protected a man
against sword and fire and gave him exceptional strength. Apollonios may have been referring to man-
drake, or possibly a poisonous plant called kolchikon. See also Hunter 1989, 187–8.
31
The Arar (Saône) flows for c.300 mi (480 km) from the E side of the Rhône to join the river at Lyon.
Ps.-Plut.’s opening sentence is inaccurate since the explanation of the name Arar emerges subsequently.
32
For the name of the fish we may accept the MS reading skolopias (skolopes are spines or spikes),
although John Lydus, On Months, 3. 11, with reference to this river mentions klopias, a fish that whit-
ens as the moon waxes. This should not be confused with clupea pisces in Pliny 9. xvii. 44, a small fish
which kills larger fish.
33
The supplements suggested by Wyttenbach are necessary to complete the sense. In Ps.-Plut. Parallel
Histories, 30, Atepomaros appears as king of the Gauls.
 text • 723

7. paktolos

(1) The Paktolos is a river in Lydia near the city of Sardis.34 It was formerly called
Chrysorrhoas ‹for the following reason. Chrysorrhoas›, son of Apollo and Apathip-
pe,35 practised an engineering trade, and, being afflicted with dire poverty, in dead of
night opened up the treasure houses of king Kroisos (Croesus), and taking away the
gold distributed it among his household. But he was pursued by the guards and when
trapped hurled himself into the river, which was renamed to Chrysorrhoas (golden
flowing) after him.
It was changed to Paktolos in the following circumstances. Paktolos, son of ‹Zeus›
and Leukothea, during the mysteries of Aphrodite unknowingly raped his sister De-
modike and, discovering what had happened, in an extremity of grief hurled himself
into the river Chrysorrhoas, which was named Paktolos after him.
(2) There originates in it the dust of Darius’ gold, which is carried down to Eudai-
mon (Happy) gulf.36
(3) There originates in it a stone called argyrophylax (money-guard), which resem-
bles silver.37 It is difficult to find mixed up with the gold dust that has been carried
down. It has the following property. The chief men among the Lydians buy it up and,
putting it in front of the entrance to the treasuries, safely guard the gold placed inside.
For whenever thieves come the stone emits the sound of a trumpet. The thieves, as if
closely pursued by spearmen, are swept over precipices. The place where they meet
this violent death is called the Guard Post of Paktolos.
(4) A plant also grows ‹there› with purple flowers called chrysopolē. With its help
the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities test if gold is uncontaminated. For as soon as
they liquefy gold they dip this plant in it. If the gold is unadulterated the leaves become
coated in gold. But if the gold is impure they reject the moisture spread over them and
keep the property of a plant, as Chrysermos relates in book 3 of Concerning Rivers.
(5) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Tmolos, which is full of all kinds of wild ani-
mals. It was formerly called Karmanorion after Karmanor, son of Dionysos and Alex-
irrhoia, who died while out hunting after being wounded by a boar. Later it was re-
named Tmolos for the following reason. Tmolos, son of Ares and Theogone, was king

34
Paktolos (Sart Çay), with its source on Mt Tmolos in Lydia, flows past Sardis. Pliny notes the two
names of the river and also observes that Tmolos was previously called Timolos (5. xxx. 110).
35
The MS has the meaningless Chios . . . Pais. Hercher plausibly suggests ho huios for Chios, arguing
that huios ‘son’ is a variant of pais ‘child’ employed elsewhere. Apathippe has not found acceptance
among scholars, but there is no consensus on an alternative reading. The MS’s oeiolios is meaningless,
and again it may be a corruption of huios Dios ‘son of Zeus’.
36
Dareikon is suggested for Dareion, see Pollux, Omonastikon, 7. 98; but ‘Dareion’ might stand for
the better-known word. The Happy Bay in Müller’s view does not refer to the sea but to the valley of
the Hermos and the plain round Sardis.
37
The MS has arouraphylax, which is inappropriate in the context of protecting treasure. Of
various suggestions, argyrophylax (Herscher) is translated here; but note thesaurophylax (Müller),
­‘treasury-guard’. Strabo 13. 1. 56, C610, describes a stone found near Andeira in Mysia which, when
heated, produces ‘mock-silver’, that is, zinc.
724 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

of Lydia, and while hunting on Mount Karmanorion caught sight of Arsippe, a virgin
who accompanied Artemis, and lusted after her. Overcome with his passion he pur-
sued her, intending to rape her. She becoming trapped fled to the shrine of Artemis.
The tyrant, disdaining any respect for religious sanctity, raped the virgin in the shrine.
Overcome with despair she ended her life with a noose. The goddess was furious at
what had been done and sent against Tmolos a bull that had been goaded to madness.
He was tossed up in the air by the bull and crashing down onto sharp stakes died in
agony. Theoklymenos, son of this Tmolos, buried his father and renamed the moun-
tain after him.
(6) A stone similar to pumice originates on it, but is rarely found: for four times a
day it changes its colour. It is observed by virgins who because of their youth have not
attained awareness. But if those who have attained marriageable age see it, they suffer
no outrage from those wanting to molest them, as Kleitophon relates [—].

8. lykormas

(1) The Lykormas is a river in Aitolia.38 It was renamed Euenos for the following rea-
son. Idas son of Aphareus because of sexual passion seized Marpessa and took her
away to Pleuron. Euenos, when he was informed about what had happened, pursued
the man who had corrupted his daughter. But when he got to the Lykormas he gave
up hope of catching (the culprit) and threw himself into the river, which was renamed
Euenos after him.
(2) A plant ‹named sarisa› similar to a spearhead grows in it, which is exception-
ally valuable in treating dim-sightedness, ‹as Archelaos relates in book 1 of Concerning
Rivers›.39
(3) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Myenon, called after Myenos, son of Telestor
and Alphesiboia. This man was loved by his stepmother, and unwilling to defile his
father’s bed, retired to Mount Alphion.40 But Telestor, responding to the jealousy of his
wife, pursued his son with his spearmen into that desolate spot with the intention of
capturing him. But Myenos escaped his father’s threats by throwing himself off a prec-
ipice. By decision of the gods the mountain was renamed Myenon after him.
(4) There grows on it a flower, the white violet (leukoion), which withers whenever
the name of a stepmother is mentioned, as Derkyllos relates in book 3 of Concerning
Mountains.

38
For the change of name see also Strabo 7. 7. 8, C327; 10. 2. 5, C451.
39
The supplement sarisa is taken from Stobaeus, Florilegium 110, as is the reference to Archelaos.
Stobaeus (C5 ad) assembled a collection of excerpts from a wide range of authors, and is often valu-
able as a check on textual problems in the MS tradition of those authors.
40
Müller makes the plausible suggestion that we should read Taphion for Alphion, arguing that the
reference is to Mt Taphiassos, adjacent to the Euenos.
 text • 725

9. maeander

(1) The Maeander is a river in Asia formerly called Anabainon (Flowing Back).41 For it
alone of all rivers rises from its own source and then flows back on itself. It was named
Maeander after Maiandros, son of Kerkaphos and Anaxibia, who, while fighting a war
against the people of Pessinous, made a vow to the Mother of the Gods that if he gained
a victory he would sacrifice the first person who congratulated him as he brought back
trophies for his valiant deeds. However when he returned, the first to meet and con-
gratulate him was his son Archelaos, followed by his mother and his sister. Maiandros,
remembering this religious vow, had to lead his own kin to the altar. In despair at what
he had done he hurled himself into the river Anabainon, which was named Maeander
after him, as Timolaos relates in book 1 of The History of Phrygia. Agathokles of Samos
also recounts these events in The Constitution of the Pessinountians.
(2) But Demostratos of Apameia relates the following story. Maiandros, having
just been chosen as commander in the war against the people of Pessinous,42 won a
victory contrary to expectation and distributed to the soldiers offerings belonging to
the Mother of the Gods. By decision of the goddess he was suddenly deprived of his
proper wits and killed his wife and son. Soon after, he regained his senses and coming
to repent of what he had done threw himself into the river, which was given the name
Maeander after him.
(3) A stone originates in it called in the contrary sense sophron (wise), and if you
throw it into someone’s lap he becomes possessed and murders one of his relatives.
However, if he propitiates the Mother of the Gods he will escape from the affliction, as
Demaratos relates in book 3 of Concerning Rivers. Archelaos refers to these matters in
book 1 of Concerning Stones.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Sipylon, which gets its name from Sipylos, son
of Agenor and Dioxippe.43 For this man unknowingly killed his mother, and having
been driven mad by the Furies came to Mount Keraunion and in an extremity of grief
ended his life with a noose. By decision of the gods the mountain was named Sipylon
after him.
(5) A stone similar to a cylinder originates on it, and when pious sons find it they
place it in the shrine of the Mother of the Gods and never incur any sin of impiety, but
love their fathers and are tender towards their relatives, as Agatharchides of Samos re-
lates in book 4 of Concerning Stones. Demaratos refers to these matters in more detail
in book 4 of Phrygia.

41
The Maeander (Çine Çay) flows from the W part of central Turkey westwards for 340 mi (548
km) into the Aegean near Miletos; Thonemann 2011. In Hesiod, Theog. 339 Maeander was the son of
Okeanos and Tethys.
42
For akmestratēgos of the MS editors have suggested akmēn, ‘just then’. Müller doubts this meaning
and suggests that the text may originally have read archistratēgos, ‘chief general’.
43
For the geographical error with Mt Sipylos see introduction to the chapter.
726 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

10. marsyas

(1) The Marsyas is a river in Phrygia situated near the city of Kelainai.44 It formerly
had the name the spring of Midas for the following reason. Midas, the king of the
Phrygians, while journeying round the more remote areas of his country and suffering
from a lack of water, touched the earth and it sent out a golden stream, with the water
itself turning into gold. Since he was very thirsty and his subjects were also afflicted,
he called upon Dionysos. The god heard him and provided a generous supply of water.
When the Phrygians had had their fill of water, Midas called the river flowing from the
spring the Spring of Midas.
It was renamed Marsyas for the following reason. When Marsyas had been defeated
by Apollo and flayed, from the stream of his blood Satyrs grew up, and also the river
of the same name, called Marsyas, as Alexander Kornelios relates in book 3 of The
History of Phrygia.
(2) But Euemeridas of Knidos relates the following story. When the skin of Marsyas
had been eaten away by the passage of time, it slipped down and fell from the land into
the Spring of Midas. Being carried gradually downstream it came up to a fisherman. In
accordance with the command of an oracle, Peisistratos the Lakedaimonian founded a
city near the remains of the satyr, and named it Norikon because of this occurrence.45
For the Phrygians in their language call a wineskin norikon.
(3) A plant named aulos (pipe) grows in this river, and if someone shakes it in
the wind it produces a musical melody, as Derkyllos relates in book 1 of Concerning
Satyrs.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Berekynthion, which gets its
name from Berekynthos, who became the first priest of the Mother of the Gods.
(5) A stone originates on it called machaira (knife), for it is similar to iron. If an-
yone finds it while the celebration of the mysteries of the goddess is taking place, he
goes mad, as Agatharchides relates in The History of Phrygia.46

44
The Marsyas (Çine Çay) was a tributary of the Maeander. Marsyas was the inventor of the pipes
and the rules of playing them; he challenged Apollo to a contest, lost, and was flayed alive: Ovid,
Metamorphoses 6. 382–91. Müller suggests that material in §2 about the fate of Marsyas’ skin should
be transposed to §1, which goes on to describe the birth of Satyrs from his flowing blood; but this is
unnecessary since §2 simply builds on the details of the story set out in §1.
45
Norikon in Phrygia is not otherwise known. There is no plausible emendation of the text.
46
In Ps.-Aristotle, On Miraculous Things Heard (dated C3?), §173, 847a 5–7 = Eudoxos 8 (in Chapter
6 above), Eudoxos rather than Agatharchides is cited as the authority for the qualities of this stone.
Müller thinks that the full text of Ps.-Plut. was excerpted, and that the excerptor in places has substi-
tuted the name of a well-known author in place of the more obscure writer that occurred in the fuller
version of the text that is occasionally preserved by Stobaeus.
 text • 727

11. strymon

(1) The Strymon is a river in Thrace near the city of Edonis.47 It was formerly named
Palaistinos after Palaistinos son of Poseidon.48 For he was engaged in war with the
neighbouring peoples and, when he became seriously ill, sent his son Haliakmon as
commander. He fought too recklessly and was killed. When Palaistinos heard what
had happened he slipped away from his spearmen and in an extremity of grief hurled
himself into the river Konozos, which was named Palaistinos after him.
‹However, it was called Strymon for the following reason.›49 Strymon, son of Ares
and Helike, hearing about the death of Rhesos50 and, overcome with despair, hurled
himself into the river Palaistinos, which was renamed Strymon after him.
(2) A stone called pausilypon (grief-ending) originates in it. If anyone who is griev-
ing finds it he is immediately set free from the affliction enveloping him, as Iason of
Byzantion relates in The History of Thrace.
(3) Adjacent to it are situated the mountains Rhodope and Haimos. These were sis-
ter and brother and fell in love with one another; he named her Hera, and she named
her beloved Zeus. But the gods, being dishonoured, took what had been done very
badly and changed the two into mountains of the same names.51
(4) Stones originate on them called philadelphoi (brother-sister-loving), black in
colour like crows and with human shape. If these are placed apart and their name
called, they immediately ‹leap across the space›,52 as Thrasyllos of Mende relates in
book 3 of Concerning Stones. He refers to these matters in more detail in The History
of Thrace.

12. sagaris

(1) The Sagaris (Sangarios) is a river in Phrygia.53 It was formerly named Xerobates be-
cause of the following occurrence. In the summer season it is often seen to be dry (xeros).

47
The Strymon (Strúma, Strymónas) flows 258 mi (415 km) from the mountains of Bulgaria, enter-
ing the Aegean sea at Amphipolis. Edonis is not known; if not simply in error, Ps.-Plut. may refer to
Eion, the port of Amphipolis at the mouth of the Strymon. In Hesiod, Theog. 339, Strymon is the son
of Okeanos and Tethys.
48
The original name Palaistinos for the river may be the origin of the incredible story that the
Odomantes (they were allegedly circumcised: Aristophanes, Acharnians 157–8) who lived round the
Strymon were Jewish. But note John Lydus, De magistratibus populi Romani, 3. 46, who relates the
view that the people of Epeiros (who allegedly had a city called Palaiste) were colonists from Syria, and
so Epeiros was once called Palaistina.
49
The supplement is necessary to explain the transition to Strymon.
50
Leader of the Thracian force in the Trojan war.    51 See Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 87–9.
52
The text dialuontai parachrēma kai idias makes no sense as it stands. The context seems to require
that stones do something brotherly (philadelphoi). I therefore accept Müller’s plausible suggestion (and
his emended text) that they immediately leap across the distance (between them), diallontai parachrē-
ma to diastēma.
53
Sangarios (Sakarya): a river in Phrygia flowing for 512 mi (824 km) from the Bayat plateau to
the Black Sea; Magie 1950, 38–9, 302–3. According to Hesiod, Theog. 344 Sangarios was the son of
728 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

It was called Sagaris for the following reason. Sagaris, son of Mygdon and Alexirrhoë,
mocked the mysteries of the Mother of the Gods and insulted her priests, the Galloi.54 She
took this behaviour very badly and inflicted madness on him. He, being out of his proper
wits, threw himself into the river Xerobates, which was renamed Sagaris after him.
(2) A stone originates in it called autoglyphos (self-engraved). It is found with an
image of the Mother of the Gods engraved on it. This stone can rarely be found and if
one ‹of those› who have been castrated finds it,55 he is not astonished but courageously
bears the sight of what was done contrary to nature, as Aretades relates in The History
of Phrygia.
(3) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Ballenaion, which is interpreted
as indicating royalty, getting its name from Ballenaios, son of Ganymede and Medesi-
giste.56 For this man when he saw his father wasting away [—] to the neighbouring
peoples, and established the ‘feast of Ballenaios’, which even now still has this name.
(4) A stone called aster (star) originates on it. From the start of autumn this nor-
mally burns like a fire at dead of night. In the language of the local people it is named
ballēn, which is interpreted as ‘king’, as Hermesianax of Cyprus relates in book 2 of The
History of Phrygia.

13. skamandros

(1) The Skamandros is a river in the Troad.57 It was formerly called the Xanthos and
was renamed for the following reason. Skamandros, son of Korybas and Demodike,
during the celebration of the mysteries of Rhea suddenly caught sight of ‹the goddess›,
went mad, and swept along in an impulsive rush to the Xanthos threw himself into this
river, which was renamed Skamandros after him.
(2) A plant called seistros (shaker), similar to the chickpea, grows in it; this has
seeds moving to and fro in it, from which it gets its name. People who have this do
not fear phantoms or the manifestation of a god, as Demostratos relates in book 2 of
Concerning Rivers.
(3) Adjacent to it is situated Mount Ida, which formerly was called Gargaron and
on which are situated the altars of Zeus and the Mother of the Gods.58 It was renamed

Okeanos and Tethys. As a river god he was venerated in Pessinous, Juliopolis, and Nimaia. Sagaris is
probably a variant of Sangarios.
54
Galloi were the priests of Kybele, the mother goddess of Anatolia, a spirit of fertility who also acted
as protector of her followers. She was brought to Rome in 205/4 bc and her worship was celebrated in
public games, the Megalesia. Some of the Galloi were self-castrates.
55
This translation follows Hercher’s rearrangement of the disturbed word order of the MS.
56
For the name Ballenaios and balēn as a possibly Phrygian word for king, see Aeschylus, Persians
657–9, and commentary by Broadhead 1960, 170. Some words seem to have fallen out of this section
explaining how the mountain got the name Ballenaion.
57
Skamandros (Menderes Çay) is a river in the Troad, in NW Turkey, rising on Mt Ida. According to
Hesiod, Theog. 345, Skamandros was the son of Okeanos and Tethys; he was said to be the father of
Teukros (Diodorus Siculus, 4. 75).
58
I accept the emendation Gargaron for Tartaron of the MS.
 text • 729

Ida for the following reason. Aigesthios son of Zeus59 fell in love with the girl Ida, who
carried the sacred basket, had intercourse with her, and sired from her the children
known as the Idaean Daktyloi. But when Ida lost her wits in the temple of Rhea, Aiges-
thios renamed the mountain Ida in her honour.
(4) A stone originates on it (called) kryphios (secret) which appears only during the
mysteries of the gods, as Herakleitos of Sikyon relates in book 2 of Concerning Stones.

14. tanaïs

(1) The Tanaïs is a river in Skythia.60 Formerly it was called Amazonios because the
Amazons bathed in it, but was renamed for the following reason. Tanaïs, son of Ber-
ossos and Lysippe, one of the Amazons, was exceptionally temperate, hated the entire
race of women, worshipped only Ares, and had no respect for marriage. But Aphrodite
instilled in him a passion for his mother. To start with he fought against his feelings,
but was overcome by a goading compulsion, and wanting to remain virtuous, hurled
himself into the river Amazonios, which was renamed Tanaïs after him.
(2) A plant called halinda grows in it and has foliage resembling a cabbage.61 The
inhabitants of the country grind this down and anoint themselves with the juice, as a
result of which they become warm and can stoutly endure the cold. In their language
they call this ‘oil of Berossos’.
(3) A stone similar to crystal originates in it, which resembles a man wearing a
garland. Whenever a king dies they hold the meeting close to the river to choose his
successor, and whoever is found in possession of this stone immediately becomes king
and takes the sceptre of the dead king, as Ktesiphon narrates in book 3 of Concerning
Plants. Aristoboulos also refers to these matters in book 1 of Concerning Stones.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain, which, in the language of the inhabitants,
is named Brixaba, which is interpreted to mean Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow). It was
named for the following reason. Phrixos, having lost his sister Helle in the Euxine sea,
was naturally very upset and lodged on the heights of a hill. Some barbarians saw him
and climbed up fully armed. The ram with the Golden Fleece peering out and seeing
the mass of men approaching, adopted a human voice, aroused Phrixos from his sleep,
and then lifted him up and carried him to the Kolchoi. As a result of this occurrence
the hill was named Kriou Metopon.

59
The MS ek tou dios phorou korēs is difficult to explain. I follow the emendation of Wyttenbach:
kanēphorou korēs. W. also suggests that for aphronos (‘lost her wits’) we should read aphanous (‘disap-
peared’); cf. 4. 3.
60
The Tanaïs (Don) flows for c.1,210 mi (1,950 km) into the Sea of Azov. In the explanation of the
name change, Aphrodite, omitted by the MS, was added by another hand in the margin.
61
14. 2 Herscher prefers to read alinda as the name of the plant, thinking that it was repeated from
the name of a town, but none is known in this vicinity. Müller notes that Ptolemy, 3. 5. 10 refers to the
Borouskoi who dwell at the Rhipaian Mts from which the Tanaïs flows; perhaps Berossos is associated
with this.
730 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

(5) There grows on it a plant called phrixa in the language of the barbarians, which
can be interpreted to mean ‘hating the wicked’. It resembles rue, and if stepchildren
get hold of it they suffer no harm from stepmothers. It grows particularly abundantly
round the place named ‘Cave of Boreas’. When picked it is colder than snow, but when-
ever a stepmother plots harm against someone it emits flames. Taking this sign, those
who fear wives from a second marriage avoid the compulsion of fear hanging over
them, as Agathon of Samos relates in book 2 of The History of Skythia.

15. thermodon

(1) Thermodon is a river in Skythia which gets its name from an occurrence.62 It was
formerly called Krystallos, since even in summer it froze over, a characteristic caused
by its particular location. It was renamed for the following reason. [—]

16. nile

(1) The Neilos (Nile) is a river in Egypt near the city of Alexandria.63 It was formerly
called Melas after Melas son of Poseidon. Later it was called Aigyptos for the following
reason. Aigyptos, son of Hephaistos and Leukippe, was king of the region. Because
of a civil war the Nile did not rise and the inhabitants were afflicted by famine. The
oracle of Pythian Apollo prophesied that there would be plenty if the king sacrificed
his daughter to the gods as an averter of evil.64 Crushed by his troubles, the tyrant led
Aganippe to the altar. When she had been slaughtered, Aigyptos in an extremity of
grief hurled himself into the river Melas, which was renamed Aigyptos after him.
It was named Nile for the following reason. Garmathone, queen of the land of Egypt,
lost her son Chrysochoas in the bloom of his youth, and along with her household ser-
vants deeply mourned him. But when Isis suddenly appeared she put aside her grief
for a time and, putting on an appearance of happiness, received the goddess kindly.
But Isis wished to change this state of affairs because of her piety and gave instructions
to Osiris to bring Garmathone’s son back from the underworld. Osiris indulged her
plea, but Kerberos, whom some call Phoberos, barked. Consequently Neilos, husband
of Garmathone, suddenly became divinely possessed and hurled himself into the river
called Aigyptos, which was renamed Nile after him.
(2) A stone resembling a bean originates in it, and if dogs see it they do not bark. It
is most helpful for those who are possessed by an evil spirit. For as soon as it is placed

62
Thermodon (Terme Çay): a river in N. Turkey flowing into the Black Sea. Part of the text has been
lost at the end of the section.
63
The Blue Nile originating in L. Tana, and the White Nile originating in L. Victoria, join at Khar-
toum to form the Nile; its total length is c.4,132 mi (6,650 km); Bonneau 1993. The Nile as a divinity
was invented by the Greeks and was thought to be the son of Okeanos and Tethys.
64
Herscher, on the basis of 23. 1 and 3, prefers apotropaiois (‘(the gods who) avert evil’) to the MS
apotropaion, which must otherwise refer to the about-to-be sacrificed daughter.
 text • 731

against the nostrils, the evil spirit departs. Other stones originate there, called kollotes.
Swallows collect these during the ‹rising› of the Nile65 and make what is named the
‘Swallows’ Wall’, which holds back the surge of water and does not allow the land to be
destroyed by a flood, as Thrasyllos relates in The History of Egypt.66
(3) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain called Argillon for the following reason.
Zeus in the throes of passion seized the maiden Arge from the city of Lyktos in Crete
and carried her away to the mountain in Egypt called Argillon.67 He sired a son from
her called Dionysos. When he grew up he changed the name of the mountain to Ar-
gillon in honour of his mother. Enlisting an army comprising Pans and the Satyrs he
brought the Indians under his own rule. When he had conquered Iberia he left Pan
behind to run the place, and he changed its name to Pania after himself. Subsequent
people, making a slight change, named it Spania, as Sosthenes relates in book 13 of the
History of Iberia.

17. eurotas

(1) The Eurotas ‹is a river in Lakedaimon, which was formerly called Himeros for the
following reason›.68 Himeros, son of the nymph Taÿgete and Lakedaimon, because
of Aphrodite’s anger, in ignorance forced himself on and raped his sister Kleodike
during an all-night festival. The following day he was overcome with despair when he
realized what had happened and in an extremity of grief hurled himself into the river
Marathon, which was renamed Himeros after him.
Later it was called Eurotas for the following reason. When the Lakedaimonians
were at war with the Athenians and were waiting for the full moon, Eurotas, their com-
mander, despising all religious feeling, drew up his army and committed it to battle,
although thunder and lightning were against him. He lost his army and overcome with
grief hurled himself into the river, which was renamed Eurotas after him.
(2) A stone resembling a helmet originates in it and is named thrasydeilos
(brave-coward). As soon as it hears the sound of a trumpet it advances to the bank. But
when the Athenians are mentioned it slips down into the depths. Many of these stones
lie consecrated in the temple of Athena Chalkioikos (of the Bronze House), as Nikanor
of Samos relates in book 2 of Concerning Rivers.

65
The MS asebeian (wickedness) is inappropriate. I translate anabasin, originally conjectured by
Wyttenbach, referring to the rising of the river. Another possibility is astheneian (‘weakness’, i.e. when
the river had low water).
66
On the wall built by swallows, see Pliny 10. xlix. 94.
67
This name is incorrect since the existing name of the mountain is required. Also, instead of its new
name Argillon we might expect Argennon or Arginnon, if the name of the nymph is correct.
68
Eurotas (Evrótas): a river in Lakonia flowing past Sparta for 51 mi (82 km) into the Laconian gulf.
See Pausanias 3. 1. 1 for Eurotas, son of Myles, cutting a channel to drain away marsh water and nam-
ing Eurotas the river left running there; Strabo 6. 2. 9, C275. There is a conjectural restoration at the
start of §1, where some words are missing.
732 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

(3) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain named Taÿgetos, which gets its name
from the nymph Taÿgete whom Zeus forced himself on and raped. She was overcome
with grief and ended her life with a noose on the heights of Mount Amyklaios, which
was named Taÿgetos after her.
(4) A plant called charisia grows on it, which women at the beginning of spring
attach to their neck with the result that they are loved more passionately by their men,
as Kleanthes relates in book 1 of Concerning Mountains.69 Sosthenes of Knidos deals
with these matters in more detail, from whose work Hermogenes took the subject.

18. inachos

(1) The Inachos is a river in the territory of Argos.70 It was formerly called Karmanor.
Haliakmon, a Tirynthian by family, was shepherding his flock on mount Kokkygion
when he accidentally saw Zeus and Hera making love. He became mad and swept
along in an impulsive rush threw himself into the river Karmanor, which was renamed
Haliakmon after him.
It was named Inachos for the following reason. Inachos son of Okeanos (Ocean),
after his daughter Io had been raped by Zeus, followed along behind bombarding the
god with profane abuse. Zeus was furious at this insulting treatment and sent one of
the Furies, Tisiphone, against him. Driven mad by her he threw himself into the river
Haliakmon, which was renamed Inachos after him.
(2) A plant called kynoura resembling rue grows in it. Whenever women want to
abort a child without risk, they soak it in wine and place it in their navel.
(3) A stone similar to beryl is found in it, which, if held by those intending to bear
false witness, turns black.71 Many of these stones lie in the sanctuary of Hera Prosymnaia,
as Timotheos relates in The History of Argos. Agathon of Samos mentions them in book
2 of Concerning Rivers. Agathokles of Miletos in his work Concerning Rivers says that
Inachos was struck by a thunderbolt from Zeus because of his wickedness and dried up.
(4) Adjacent to it are situated the mountains Mykenai, Apesantos, Kokkygion, and
Athenaion, which got their names for the following reasons.72 Apesantos was formerly

69
The MS has charision and the plant name charisia is taken from Ps.-Aristotle, On Miraculous
Things Heard, §163, 846b 7–9, quoting this passage.
70
The Inachos (mod. Inachos) rises in the Peloponnese in Mt Lyrkeion and flows past Argos into the
Argolic gulf. The etymology is unclear, and is perhaps pre-Greek. In mythology Inachos was the son
of Okeanos and Tethys: Pausanias 2. 15. 5; 2. 18. 3; Strabo 6. 2. 4, C271. Ps.-Plut. confuses the Argive
Inachos with the Haliakmon in Macedonia (possibly because of a town named Argos in N. Macedo-
nia). See introduction to this chapter.
71
The last sentence in the section should perhaps come at the end of §1. Hercher thinks that the
story about the stone changing colour in hands of those bearing false witness is accommodated to the
legend that Inachos bore false witness against Poseidon when it was decided that the Argolid belonged
to Hera. Ps.-Plut. may have left out this story deliberately, or our text may have been excerpted from a
longer work. For the story see Pausanias 2. 15. 5.
72
It is possible that §9, which offers an alternative story about the naming of Mt Apesantos, should be
placed at the end of §4. These mountains are not known.
 text • 733

called Selenaion. For Hera, wishing to punish Herakles, enlisted Selene (the moon) as
an accomplice. Selene using magic spells filled a chest with froth, from which a huge
lion was born; Iris bound the lion with her own belt and took it to mount Opheltion.
The lion ripped apart and killed a local shepherd called Apesantos, and by decision of
the gods the place was renamed Apesantos after him, as Demodokos relates in book 1
of Herakleia.
(5) A plant called selene (‘moon’) grows on it and the shepherds collect the froth
that comes from it at the beginning of summer and anoint their feet with it; as a result
they suffer no harm from reptiles.
(6) Mount Mykenai was formerly called Argion after Argos the all-seeing. It was
renamed Mykenai for the following reason. When Perseus killed Medusa, Stheno and
Euryale, sisters of the murdered woman, pursued the treacherous killer. When they
got to this mountain, giving up hope of catching him, in their distress they emitted
a bellow (mykēthmos). The local inhabitants because of this occurrence changed the
name of the mountain to Mykenai,73 as Ktesias of Ephesos relates in book 1 of Perseid.
(7) But Chrysermos of Corinth mentions the following story in book 1 of the His-
tory of the Peloponnese. Perseus was carried aloft and when he arrived at this mountain
the cap of his sword’s scabbard accidently fell. But Gorgophonos, king of the Epidau-
rians, who had been thrown out of his kingdom, obtained an oracle that he should go
round the cities of the Argolid and found a city where he discovered the scabbard-cap
of a sword. When he came to Mount Argion and found the ivory scabbard cap he
founded a city, which he named Mykenai because of this occurrence.
(8) A stone called korybas, raven-black in colour, originates on it. If anyone finds it
and keeps it next to his body he will not fear monstrous visions.
(9) The mountain ‹Apesantos was named after› Apesantos son of Akrisios.74 For
when he was hunting in that place he trod on a poisonous snake and perished. The
king buried his son and changed the name of the mountain, then called Selinountion,
to Apesantos.
(10) Mount Kokkygion was so named for the following reason. Zeus fell in love
with his sister Hera and feeling ashamed about his beloved, ‹changed into the form
of a cuckoo and› from her sired Ares.75 Therefore the mountain called Lyrkeion was
named Kokkygion (Cuckoo) as a result of this occurrence, as Agathonymos relates in
Perseid.
(11) A tree called palinouros grows on it. If any of the dumb animals sits on the tree
it is held fast as if by bird-lime, except for the cuckoo. For it spares this bird, as Ktesi-
phon ‹relates› in book 1 of Concerning Trees.

73
Here there is a play on the sound of the Greek word ‘to roar’ (mykēsasthai). Furthermore, in §7
there is another play on sound with mykēs, the scabbard-cap; see Steph. Byz. μ 231 Mykenai.
74
Editors have accepted the supplement necessary to complete the sense.
75
After agapomenēn some words have fallen out; the context suggests a reference to Zeus changing
into a cuckoo; cf. Pausanias 2. 36. 2.
734 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

(12) Mount Athenaion got its name from Athena.76 For after the sack of Ilion (Troy)
Diomedes returned to Argos, went up Mount Keraunion, and established a sanctuary
of Athena; he renamed the mountain Athenaion after the goddess.
(13) On the summit of the mountain grows a root resembling rue. If a woman
accidentally eats it she becomes mad. It is called Adrasteia, as Plesimachos relates in
book 2 of Returns.77

19. alpheios

(1) The Alpheios is a river in Arkadia near Pisa at Olympia.78 It was formerly called
Stymphelos after Stymphelos, son of Ares and Dormothea. For when this man lost his
son, the horse-loving Alkmaion, he was overcome by despair and hurled himself into
the river Nyktimon, which was renamed Stymphelos after him.
But it was called Alpheios for the following reason. Alpheios, one of those who
traced their descent from Helios, fought with his brother Kerkaphos over the kingship,
killed him, and driven on by the Poinai (goddesses of vengeance) threw himself into the
river Nyktimon, which was renamed Alpheios after him.
(2) A plant named kenchritis resembling honeycomb grows in this river. If doctors
boil this down and give it as a drink to those who have lost their wits, they free them
from their madness, as Ktesias relates in book 1 of Concerning Rivers.
(3) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain which is named for the following reason.
After the battle of the giants, Kronos, avoiding the threats of Zeus, came to the moun-
tain called Ktouron, which he renamed Kronion after himself. He hid here for a short
time, then seizing an opportunity moved over to Mount Caucasus in Skythia.
(4) There originates on this mountain a stone called kylindros because of the fol-
lowing occurrence. Whenever Zeus sends lightning or thunder, it rolls down from the
summit in fright, as Derkyllos relates in book 1 of Concerning Stones.

20. euphrates

(1) The Euphrates is a river in Parthia near the city of Babylon.79 It was formerly called
Medos after Medos son of Artaxerxes. For this man in the grip of passion forced h ­ imself

76
There is no evidence for this mountain in the Argolid.
77
‘Plesimachos’ is perhaps a mistake for Lysimachos, who was known as a writer of Nostoi; for the
problem of the authorities cited by Ps.-Plut., see introduction to this chapter.
78
The Alpheios (mod. Alpheios) in the Peloponnese flows past Olympia. Alpheios was the son of
Okeanos and Tethys (Hesiod, Theog. 338), or a descendant of Helios. In one story he fell in love with
Arethousa or Artemis, Pausanias 4. 30. 2; 5. 7. 2; 6. 22. 9–10; 7. 23. 2; 8. 20. 3 (Leukippos grows his
hair long in honour of the river); Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 572–641. In the context perhaps we should
read ‘Stymphelon’ for Nyktimon in the last sentence; but Müller thinks that Nyktimon may refer to the
subterranean course of the Alpheios.
79
The Euphrates (Firat) from its source in E. Turkey flows for 1,740 mi (2,800 km) through Syria and
Iraq into the Shatt al-Arab and the Persian gulf. Various legends are associated with the river, which
was allegedly the son of the priestess of Aphrodite and brother of the Tigris.
 text • 735

on and raped Rhoxane, the daughter of Kordyos. Next day when he was sought out by
the king for punishment, in terror he threw himself into the river Xaranda, which was
then named Medos after him.
It was named Euphrates for the following reason. Euphrates son of Arandakos
found his son Axourtas asleep with his mother and thinking that he was one of the
citizens, in a spate of wicked jealousy drew his sword and cut his throat. When he saw
that he was responsible for this unimaginable deed, in an extremity of grief he threw
himself into the river Medos, which was renamed Euphrates after him.
(2) A stone called aëtites originates in it. Midwives place it on the stomachs of
those women who have difficulty in giving birth, and they immediately give birth
without pain.
(3) A plant grows in it called axalla, which is interpreted to mean ‘hot’. Whenever
people suffering from quartan fever place it on their chest they are immediately freed
from the symptoms, as Chrysermos of Corinth relates in book 13 of Concerning Rivers.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain called Drimylon, on which originates a
stone resembling sardonyx, which kings use in their crowns. When thrown into hot
water it is an excellent remedy for dim-sightedness, as Nikias of Mallos relates in his
work Concerning Stones.

21. kaikos

(1) The Kaikos is a river in Mysia that was formerly called Astraios after Astraios son
of Poseidon.80 This man during the all-night festival in honour of Athena unknowingly
forced himself on and raped his sister Alkippe and took her ring. Next day when he
recognized his sister’s seal, in an extremity of grief he threw himself into the river
Adouros, which was renamed Astraios after him.
But it was named Kaikos for the following reason. Kaikos, son of Hermes and the
nymph Okyrrhoë, killed Timandros one of the nobles, and in fear of his kinsfolk
hurled himself into the Astraios, which was renamed Kaikos after him.
(2) A poppy grows in the river and instead of flowers bears ‹a number of › peb-
bles.81 From these come certain black things resembling wheat, which the Mysians hurl
onto ploughed earth. If the land is destined to be barren the pebbles lie in the place
where they were thrown, but if fertile, they jump about like locusts.
(3) A plant called helipharmakos also grows in it, which doctors place on those suf-
fering from a haemorrhage and cut off the flow of blood from the veins, as Timagoras
relates in book 1 of Concerning Rivers.82

80
The Kaikos (Bakir Çay) in Asia flows through Mysia and Lydia. According to Hesiod, Theog. 343,
Kaikos was the son of Okeanos and Tethys; Pomponius Mela 1. 90.
81
I follow Müller’s simple solution of adding plēthos to make sense of the problematic text.
82
On the basis of Stobaeus, Florilegium, 100. 17, en autōi ‘in it’ has been added (probably by over-
sight, the phrase is not bracketed as a supplement in Müller’s text, whereas it is at 22. 3); also heliphar-
makos for the MS’s pharmakos. Hercher suggests elelisphakos (salvia).
736 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

(4) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Teuthras after Teuthras, king of
the Mysians, who climbed Mount Thrasyllos to go hunting, and catching sight of an
enormous boar chased it with his spearmen. But the boar got away and fled as a sup-
pliant to the temple of Artemis Orthosia. When they all tried to force their way into
the temple the boar shouted out in a human voice loud enough to be heard: ‘King,
spare the nursling of the goddess’. But Teuthras buoyed up by his emotions killed the
animal. Artemis was furious at what he had done, revived the boar, and inflicted lep-
rosy and madness on the perpetrator. He was ashamed of this affliction and spent his
time in the heights. However Lysippe, his mother, when she was informed about what
had happened, ran into the wood, bringing with her the seer Polyidos son of Koiranos.
By careful enquiry she got the entire truth out of him and placated the anger of the
goddess by the sacrifice of oxen. Having rescued her son, whose sanity now returned,
she set up an altar to Artemis Orthosia. She also had a golden boar manufactured,
fashioned with a man’s face. Even now, when hunters enter the temple, this statue, just
as if it is being pursued, emits a voice: ‘Spare me!’ Teuthras, having unexpectedly got
his normal countenance back, renamed the mountain Teuthras.
(5) A stone called antipathes originates on it, which is an excellent remedy for skin
infections and leprosy when ground down with wine and applied to those who are
afflicted, as Ktesias of Knidos relates in book 2 of Concerning Mountains.83

22. acheloös

(1) The Acheloös is a river in Aitolia.84 It was formerly called Thestios for the following
reason. Thestios, son of Ares and Peisidike, because of family circumstances went to
live abroad in Sikyon, and when he had spent a sufficient time there he returned to
his ancestral land. Finding his son Kalydon asleep with his mother and thinking that
he was an adulterer, he killed him in ignorance. When he saw that he had committed
this unimaginable act he hurled himself into the river Axenos, which was renamed
Thestios after him.
But it was named Acheloös for the following reason. Acheloös, son of Okeanos
(Ocean) and the nymph Naïs, unknowingly had intercourse with his daughter Kle-
toria, and overcome with despair threw himself into the river Thestios, which was
renamed Acheloös after him.

83
For the stone see Dioscorides, De materia medica, 5. 140; it resembled corallium, useful for treating
diseases of the eye, the bringing up of blood, and urinary problems.
84
The Acheloös (mod. Achéloös) flows for 135 mi (217 km) through Aetolia and Akarnania into the
Ionian sea (Adriatic); in mythology he was son of Okeanos and Tethys. The name Acheloös is perhaps
pre-Greek, and smaller rivers also have the name. Acheloös was seen as the father of other springs:
Kastalia at Delphi, Peirene in Corinth, and Dirke in Thebes. It was the scene of the battle between
Herakles and Acheloös (in the form of a bull) when Herakles ripped off his horn which became the
horn of plenty. See Homer, Il. 21. 194–7; Strabo 10. 2. 2, C450; Paus. 1. 34. 2; 8. 38. 9–10; 10. 8. 5; Ovid
Metam. 9. 8–88.
 text • 737

(2) A plant called zaklon resembling wool grows in this river. If you rub this and
throw it into wine it turns into water and retains the bouquet but not the potency.
(3) There is found in it a stone of livid colour called linourgos because of the fol-
lowing occurrence. If you throw it onto linen cloth, through mutual attraction it takes
its shape and becomes white (?),85 as Antisthenes relates in book 3 of his Meleagrid.
Diokles of Rhodes refers to these matters in more detail in The History of Aitolia.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Kalydon, which got its name
from Kalydon, son of Ares and Astynome.86 For this man unintentionally saw Artemis
washing herself and had the shape of his body changed into a rock. By decision of the
gods the mountain previously called Gyron was renamed Kalydon after him.
(5) A plant named myops grows on it, and if someone throws it into water and
washes his face he loses his sight, but if he propitiates Artemis he regains the light, as
Derkyllos relates in book 3 of The History of Aitolia.

23. araxes

(1) The Araxes is a river in Armenia and gets its name from Araxes son of Pylos.87 For
this man being in dispute with Arbelos his grandfather over the kingship, shot him
with an arrow. Pursued in vengeance by the Furies he hurled himself into the river
Baktron, which was renamed Araxes after him, as Ktesiphon relates in book 1 of The
History of Persia.
Araxes, king of Armenia, when he was marshalling the army during his war with
the neighbouring Persians, received an oracle that he would gain a victory if he sacri-
ficed two of the most nobly born virgins to the gods who avert evil. He spared his own
daughters because of his fatherly feelings, but led two of the most admired girls of one
of his subjects to the altar and killed them. Mnesalkes, the father of the slain girls, was
furious at what had been done, but for a time concealed his feeling of outrage. Then
seizing his opportunity he ambushed the tyrant’s daughters and killed them; leaving
his ancestral land he sailed to Skythia. Araxes when he found out what had happened
was overcome with despair and hurled himself into the river Halmos, which was re-
named Araxes after him.
(2) A plant called araxa in the language of the local inhabitants grows in it, which
is interpreted to mean ‘hater of virgins’. As soon as this plant is found by virgins it
pours out blood and withers away.
(3) A stone called sikyonos, which is black in colour, originates in it. Whenever any
oracle involving the killing of a man is issued, this stone is placed by two virgins on

85
argion seems meaningless in the context; the most plausible conjecture, taking account of the name
of the stone (linourgos) is one propounded by Müller, kai othonion araion ginetai, ‘and becomes linen
of loose texture’.
86
There is a town in Aitolia called Kalydon.
87
The Araxes (Aras, Arax) flows E from mountains S of Erzurum in Turkey for 665 mi (1,070 km)
through the Caucasus.
738 • 26 pseudo-plutarch

the altars of the gods who avert evil. When the priest touches it with a knife there is a
copious flow of blood. When they have performed the religious ceremonies in this way
they withdraw uttering lamentations, and move the stone to the temple, as Dorotheos
of Chaldaea relates in book 2 of Concerning Stones.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Diorphon after Diorphos the
earthborn, about whom the following story is told. Mithras wishing to have a son but
hating the race of women, masturbated onto a stone.88 The stone became pregnant and
after the appropriate time gave birth to a child named Diorphos. When he grew up he
was killed by Ares whom he had challenged to a contest of valour. By decision of the
gods he was changed into a mountain of the same name.
(5) A tree resembling a mulberry grows on it; it produces a generous crop of fruit
similar to grapes but with a taste of apples. If someone plucks ripe fruit from this tree
and calls on Ares by name, it turns pale as it is plucked, as Ktesiphon relates in book
13 of Concerning Trees.

24. tigris

(1) The Tigris is a river in Armenia and flows into the Araxes and the Arsakis marsh.89
It was formerly called Sollax, which is interpreted to mean ‘sloping downwards’. It was
named Tigris for the following reason. Dionysos became mad by decision of Hera
and roamed the land and sea wanting to escape his affliction. When he came to the
area round Armenia, being unable to cross this river, he called upon Zeus. The god
came to Dionysos’ assistance by sending him a tiger on which he was carried across
without any danger. In honour of what had happened he renamed the river Tigris, as
Theophilos relates in book 1 of Concerning Stones.
But Hermesianax of Cyprus records the following story. Dionysos fell in love with
the nymph Alphesiboia and, being unable to seduce her either with gifts or entreaties,
changed the shape of his body to that of a tiger. He therefore terrorized his beloved
into acceptance, swept her up, carried her across the river, and sired a son, Medos.
When he grew up, in honour of this occurrence he renamed the river Tigris, as Aris-
tonymos relates in book 3 of [—].
(2) There originates in it a stone called myndan, which is entirely white in colour.
If someone holds it he suffers no harm from wild beasts, as Leon of Byzantion relates
in book 3 of Concerning Rivers.

88
Diorphon: Hercher suggests Dimorphon as the earthborn are sometimes referred to as dimorphoi,
but it is probably best to follow Müller’s warning and avoid conjecture.
89
The Tigris (Tigris) from its source in L. Hazar flows for 1,150 mi (1,850 km) through Turkey, Syria,
and Iraq to the Shatt Al-Arab (Persian gulf). For L. Arsakis cf. Ptolemy 5. 2, L. Arsissa; Strabo 11. 14. 8,
C529, refers to L. Arsene. Tigris in legend was the brother of Euphrates. Sollas perhaps stands for Silla,
supposed to be a tributary of the Tigris.
 text • 739

(3) Adjacent to it is situated the mountain called Gauranon after Gauranos the
satrap, son of Rhoxanes.90 He was pious towards the gods and received good fortune
in return. For alone of all the Persians he lived for 300 years, died without suffering
any illness, and was thought worthy of an elaborate tomb on the heights of Mount
Mausoron. By decision of the gods the mountain was renamed Gauranon after him.
(4) A plant resembling wild barley grows on it. The local inhabitants heat this in
olive oil and having anointed themselves with it never suffer any illness until the com-
pulsion of death, as Sostratos relates in book 1 of the Collection of Mythical Tales.

25. indos

(1) The Indos is a river in India, flowing with a rapid current down to the land of
the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eaters).91 It was formerly called Mausolos after Mausolos son
of Helios. It was renamed for the following reason. When the mysteries of Dionysos
were being carried on and the local inhabitants were intent on observing the religious
rites, Indos, an aristocratic young man, forced himself on and raped king Oxyalkos’
daughter, Damasalkida, who carried a sacred basket. Pursued by the tyrant for pun-
ishment, Indos in a panic threw himself into the river Mausolos, which was renamed
Indos after him.
(2) A stone named [—] originates in it.92 Whenever virgins carry it they do not in
any way fear seducers.
(3) A plant called karpyle resembling ox-tongue grows in it. If given with tepid wa-
ter to those suffering from jaundice, it is an excellent remedy, as Kleitophon of Rhodes
relates in book 1 of Indian History.
(4) Adjacent to it is situated a mountain named Lilaion after the shepherd Lilaios.
For this man was very god-fearing, and, worshipping only Selene (the Moon), carried
on her religious ceremonies at dead of night. The other gods took this insult badly and
sent two huge lions against him. He was ripped apart by them and lost his life. Selene
changed her devotee into a mountain of the same name.
(5) A stone named kleitoris, which is very dark in colour, originates on it. The local
inhabitants wear it on their earlobes as a decoration, as Aristotle relates in book 4 of
Concerning Rivers.

90
Gauranon or Gaurus is a mountain in Campania near Cumae, perhaps mistakenly transferred
to the vicinity of the Tigris by Ps.-Plut. Note that Pliny 6. xxxi. 133 refers to a Mt Carbantus near the
Tigris.
91
The Indos (Indus) from its source in Tibet flows for c.1,990 mi (3,200 km) through China, Paki-
stan, and India before discharging into the Arabian sea. For the problem with the name Mausolos, see
the introduction to the chapter.
 ‑92
The name of the stone has fallen out of the text.
 27
ARRIAN OF NIKOMEDEIA,
­C IRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EUXINE
(written c. ad 131–5)
Aidan Liddle*

fig. 27.1. Opening of Arrian’s Periplous, 398, fo. 30v (detail).

IN TRODUCTION
Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianos Xenophon, c. ad 86–c.150), a native of the Greek city
of Nikomedeia on the southern shore of the Black Sea, is the writer among those in
these volumes about whom we know the most. A Roman citizen, as his forenames
show, he was the first member of his ancient family to attain the consulship at Rome
(in 129 or 130), and probably the first to reach senatorial rank. He returned to Asia
Minor as a statesman and soldier at the peak of his public career under the emperor
Hadrian (r. 117–38) to govern its most important province, Cappadocia, whose capital
was his home city.
The work in Greek that this return to the Black Sea inspired, the Periplous tou Eu-
xeinou Pontou or Circumnavigation of the Black Sea (often known by its Latin title,
Periplus Ponti Euxini), was written between the death of Kotys II, ruler of the Bos-
poran kingdom, in 131/2 (Periplous, 17. 3) and Arrian’s expedition against the Alani in
135 (below).1 It is a strange and disparate work—part military and diplomatic report,

*
I would like to thank all those who have offered helpful comments on my 2003 translation and com-
mentary, particularly Stephanie West, Owen Hodkinson, Torben Retboll, and especially the originator of
the present volumes, Graham Shipley. Nicholas Purcell sparked my original interest in Arrian’s Periplous
and the world it describes, for which I am ever grateful.

1
Liddle 2003 (hereinafter ‘Liddle’), 5 n. 12 (on p. 35) and p. 11.
 introduction • 741

part fantastic mythological guidebook, part friendly private correspondence (covering

an accompanying report in Latin, which does not survive: see 6. 2; 10. 1)—but sheds
much light upon a vital corner of the Roman frontier; it illuminates the contemporary
image of Hadrian, one of the most elusive men ever to have ascended to the purple;
and it stands almost alone as a record of the activity of the governor of this important
province. Above all, it is a product of its times, and its author, as revealed in its pages,
supremely representative of them.2
Part of Arrian’s responsibility as provincial governor was to quell the threat to Ro-
man control from piracy, especially emanating from the area of Kolchis (approximate-
ly the western part of modern Georgia). The voyage he narrates in the present work
focuses most of its attention, accordingly, on the eastern half of the Black Sea, an area
that had been less well known to Greeks and Romans than the western half, where
Greek colonies were more numerous. The area was vital to shore up Roman control
of the Black Sea as a whole, and to prevent any unrest that might spark a civil war in
the empire. The many navigable rivers of the eastern Black Sea needed to be moni-
tored, as they gave access to, and from, the interior of the Caucasus lands from which
not only trade but also potential trouble might come. Arrian’s repeated mentions of
living rulers in the area whose allegiance to Rome needed to be kept firm (e.g. in ch.
11) reflects these strategic and economic interests. The Caucasus also represented a
military avenue to the regions of Iberia and Armenia, and thus north-eastern Asia Mi-
nor, which Hadrian’s predecessor, Trajan, had exploited a few years earlier and which
Arrian himself would defend from the invading Alani in 135 from the Roman base at
Apsaros (mentioned in the Periplous at ch. 6). Arrian’s responsibilities also extended
to oversight of the Roman fleet based at Trapezous, the classis Pontica, and his reports
on the condition of the ships, during his anti-clockwise tour of the Black Sea, form an
important part of the present text.
After a six-year tenure in Cappadocia, Arrian held the archonship at Athens in the
year 145/6; the date of his death is unknown. Such was his prodigious literary output
that it seems difficult to suppose he had not begun to publish before attaining provin-
cial command. He is best known today for his Anabasis of Alexander, the best account
we have of Alexander the Great along with Plutarch’s Life, even though both were com-
posed several centuries after Alexander’s death in 323 bc. His works also included sur-
viving treatises on hunting and military tactics, though it was as a philosopher that he
was chiefly honoured in his lifetime. Much has been made of his close association with
the philhellene emperor Hadrian, and the two of them embody the complex world
of the early 2nd century, in which Greek culture and the old families of the East were
raised from the doldrums of the previous two hundred years of Roman occupation.
That great flowering of Greek letters and rhetoric, looking back to the golden age of
Hellenic culture, is the cultural movement known as the Second Sophistic, best seen in

2
Important points are covered by Braund and Kakhidze 2022, of which it has not been possible to
take full account.
742 • 27 arrian

the works of such orators as Dio Chrysostom and Aelius Aristeides, as well as those of
the biographer and essayist Plutarch (who, like Arrian, wrote a Dion and a Timoleon,
in his celebrated Parallel Lives). Important elements of this movement were a renewed
interest in the classical Greek past, especially in what we would call ‘local history’, and
a corresponding new generation of tourists, who formed the audience for Pausanias’
guide to the sights of old Greece.
The most obvious manifestation of this great respect for classical Greek culture
in Arrian is clearly visible in his deliberate echoes of the Athenian soldier-philoso-
pher Xenophon. Arrian took his hero’s name as part of his own: whether this was
a nickname bestowed by his literary milieu or the emperor himself, or even a given
name from birth, is unclear, though he does use it to refer to himself in his writings,
especially in connection with ‘the elder Xenophon’ (as he is referred to, for instance,
at ch. 12. 5 of the Periplous). It was not only a name that they shared: Xenophon, like
Arrian, was a soldier as well as an historian, philosopher, and essayist; both enjoyed,
and wrote treatises on, hunting; both composed instructive memoirs of their youth-
ful studies with great philosophers. Throughout Arrian’s oeuvre there is a deliberate
reflection of his respect for the Athenian, and thus an affinity for the world of classical
Greek culture. More than his near-contemporary Plutarch, however, Arrian expresses
the standpoint of the Roman elite as well as the Greek. That standpoint included an
interest in supporting the traditional cultural life of the Greek poleis (cities, formerly
city-states) in the various provinces, as we see from Hadrian’s patronage of Athens and
his foundation of the Panhellenion, a cultic association spanning many of the oldest
and most admired Greek cities.
The Periplous is addressed to Hadrian in person; the emperor, though originally
from Roman Spain, had spoken Greek before he knew Latin. The relationship between
the two men was a close one, and Arrian has no hesitation in writing frankly about
conditions in the Black Sea, expressing the assumption that Hadrian has a genuine
concern for the region (which he himself visited twice in the 120s), not only from the
strategic point of view but also because of his interest in Greek polis culture, antiqui-
ties, and mythology (e.g. the anchor of the Argo, 9. 2; the lengthy discussion of Achil-
les’ presence on Leuke Island, chs 21–3). Like other geographical writers, Arrian evinc-
es an interest in the origins of city names (see the brief aside concerning the village of
Athenai, 5. 3). But strategic realities also impinge, as when Arrian suggests the need
for information following a potential change in the balance of power in the area (17. 3).
At the same time, the Periplous, as its name suggests, consciously places itself in
the tradition of ‘circumnavigation’ texts of which several earlier examples occur in
the present volumes; though this is, perhaps, the first prose periplous that we can call
‘literary’ (see discussion in the Introduction, §III. 1. b), with the possible exception
of Arrian’s own Indike, appended to the seven books of his Anabasis. The model of
the periplous provided a framework which would easily accommodate the narrative
of a voyage of inspection—the pretext for writing the letter to Hadrian in the first
 introduction • 743

place—as well as plenty of scope, given the development of the genre, for the inclusion
of material of more general interest to the reader.3 Thus Arrian—again demonstrating
the ease with which he could work in an idiom deriving elements from both Greece
and Rome—could incorporate his letter, concerned as it was with contemporary issues
facing the Roman empire and its princeps, within a form that was both a successor to a
long-established tradition of Greek scholarship and a suggestion of the power of mili-
tary exploration in the sophisticated imagery of the Roman emperors.
So, the Periplous is cast at once as both revealing private correspondence and a new
take on the traditional Greek scholarly geographical treatise, mixed with the Roman
military report.4
The odd structure of the Periplous will be apparent to the reader, though it need not
occasion any doubts as to the authenticity of the work, which is perfectly consistent
with the style of Arrian as witnessed in his other extant works.5 The tour of the Black
Sea begins at Trapezous on the southern shore, and moves eastwards as far as Diosk-
ourias–Sebastopolis, the last Roman town on the east coast. Then, at chapter 12, we
have a ‘flashback’ (which runs to the end of 17. 1) describing the coastline from Byzan-
tion eastwards as far as Trapezous. The third and last part of the work (18–25) resumes
the description of the coast from Dioskourias, continuing anticlockwise to Byzantion,
thus completing the description of the Black Sea coasts. This time, though, there is a
bridge paragraph (17. 2–3), summing up the journey from Byzantion to Dioskourias
and supplying the reason for continuing the description—namely, that, following the
death of the ruler of the Bosporan kingdom, the emperor would need information
concerning the region upon which to decide Roman policy. The description thus con-
tinues without a break, all the way round to Byzantion, completing the Periplous, like
its predecessors, at the customary point rather than at Trapezous. The partly literary
nature of the work is reinforced by the use of the rivers Phasis and Istros as comple-
mentary landmarks, as well as the blend of references to sources (e.g. ‘they also report
these things’, 22. 1) with personal observations and literary references. The latter in-
clude frequent allusions to Xenophon, to whom Arrian looked for much of his inspi-
ration, and whose visit to the southern shore of the Black Sea with the Ten Thousand is
echoed so strongly in Arrian’s treatment of that part of his work. The elegant, implicit
reference to Hadrian and his beloved companion Antinoös, who had died as recently
as 130—paralleled by the acrostic in the contemporary poem of Dionysios Periegetes
(Chapter 28 below)—removes any doubt about the authenticity of the work; a forger
would have had to be exceptionally skilled to devise so convincing a deceit; and to
what purpose? No other antique forgery so far recognized is as inventive and learned

3
On A.’s possible use of the Augustan geographer Menippos’ account of the Black Sea, see introduc-
tion to Ch. 21.
4
On the Periplous as evoking the Black Sea as a ‘storied landscape’, see Rood 2011 (phrase quoted
from p. 138).
5
For fuller discussion of this and other points regarding the Periplous, see Liddle 1–38.
744 • 27 arrian

as this one would be;6 least of all the Pseudo-Arrianic Periplous of the Black Sea (Eux.)
from the 6th century ad, though that work deserves rehabilitation (Chapter 36 below)
and explicitly offers new names for over thirty places mentioned by Arrian.
The Periplous gives us a vital glimpse of the dynamics of a remarkable, yet obscure,
part of the Roman world, and some idea of how such a place could be governed and
controlled within the flexibility of the Roman system. Written by a man standing
astride two worlds, and addressed to the master of both, it offers us an insight into the
workings of the elusive Hadrian through his friend and servant who, though born at
the opposite end of the Roman dominions, shared (or at least understood) the con-
victions and aims of his emperor. Written by a man who grew up in the traditions of
the classical Greek authors, it demonstrates how a conventional, scholarly form could
be adapted by a literary craftsman to incorporate interesting local legend, useful stra-
tegic information, and subtle encomium of Rome’s Princeps. Above all, written by a
man who was perhaps the most representative of the culture of his age, it affords us an
epitome of that culture in a tightly packed nutshell. It is a nutshell well worth opening.
We are fortunate that Arrian’s Periplous has survived at all. Like many Greek and
Roman works, it has come down to us in only one manuscript, in this case the 9th-cen-
tury Heidelberg codex described in the Introduction (known as ‘P’ in scholarship on
the Periplous, but as ‘A’ to scholars of Greek geography). The Pseudo-Arrianic Periplous
is partly preserved in the same manuscript; together these two works formed the nu-
cleus of a corpus of Greek geographical writings compiled, in all likelihood, by Arrian
himself (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a).
The present translation follows the standard Teubner edition of Arrian’s works.7 It
follows the chapter divisions established by Müller,8 rather than those in his GGM.9
The translation is adapted from my Bristol Classical Press edition, used by permission
of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Modern names of important places are in parentheses;
others in footnotes. [The 1st edition (2022) of Brodersen 2023a appeared too late to be
taken into account.]

selected further reading

*Belfiore, S. (2009), Il Periplo del Ponto Eusino di Arriano e altri testi sul Mar Nero e il Bosforo:
spazio geografico, mito e dominio ai confini dell’impero romano. Venice.
Braund, D. C., and Kakhidze, E. (2022), ‘Reflections on the southeastern coast of the Black
Sea in the Roman period’, in D. C. Braund, A. Chaniotis, and E. K. Petropoulos (eds), The
Black Sea Region in the Context of the Roman Empire (Athens), 59–73.
*Liddle, A. (2003), Arrian, Periplus Ponti Euxini. London.
*Marenghi, G. (1958), Arriano, Periplo del Ponto Eusino. Naples.

6
The consensus that the work is genuine is exemplified by Silberman 1993.
7
Roos and Wirth 1968. The edition of Marenghi 1958 (with Italian trans.), and the Budé of Silber-
man 1995 (with French trans.), have also been consulted.
8
C. W. L. Müller 1846.    9 GGM i. 370–401.
 text • 745

Rood, T. (2011), ‘Black Sea variations: Arrian’s Periplus’, Cambridge Classical Journal, 57:
137–63.
Silberman, A. (1978), ‘Quelques remarques sur la composition du Périple d’Arrien’, Revue des
études grecques, 91: 158–64.
—— (1993), ‘Arrien, “Périple du Pont-Euxin”: essai d’interprétation et d’évaluation des don-
nées historiques et géographiques’, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ii. 34.
1, 276–311.
*—— (1995), Arrien, Périple du Pont-Euxin. [‘Budé’ edition.] Paris.

TE XT

anti-clo ckwise from trapezous

to dioskourias–sebastop olis

To the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Sebastos (Augustus), Arrian (sends) greetings.
1. We came to Trapezous, a Hellenic city, as the other Xenophon says,10 founded on
the sea, a colony of the Sinopeans; and gladly we looked down on the sea of the Euxine
from the very same spot as both Xenophon and you.11 (2) The altars are already set
up, though in rather rough stone, and as such the inscribed letters are not particularly
clear; the Greek inscription is also inaccurately carved, as it was written by barbarians.
I therefore decided to rebuild the altars in white stone, and to carve the inscriptions
in clear letters.12 (3) And though your statue has been erected in a pleasing pose—it
points out to the sea—in its workmanship it neither resembles you nor is beautiful in
any other way. (4) So send for a statue worthy to bear your name, in the same pose;
for that spot is very well suited to an everlasting monument.13
2. The temple14 has also been built in squared stone, not without care; but the im-
age of Hermes is worthy neither of the temple nor of the place itself. If you approve,
send me a statue of Hermes about five feet tall—for it seems to me that that will be
proportionate to the temple—and another, four feet tall, of Philesios; (2) for it is not

10
i.e. the famous historian of the Anabasis, as opposed to Arrian himself; see introduction to this
chapter.
11
Xenophon and the Greek army reached Trapezous in the spring of 400 bc (Anabasis 4. 8. 22);
Hadrian visited in ad 123/4 or 129. A. places himself and Hadrian in an historical continuum with
Xenophon, emphasizing the roots of Hadrian’s new imperial culture in Cl Greece.
12
For this passage as an example of rulers’ names being added to renovated structures, as well as
expressing A.’s own claim to power, see Zadorojnyi 2013, 373. On the possible site of Hadrian’s shrine,
see Mitford 2000, 129.
13
A. reports on progress on two public works projects commissioned by Hadrian, as was his habit,
during his visit. ‘The altars’ refers to the construction of a sanctuary dedicated to Hadrian, and possibly
to Rome as well.
14
The second project is a temple to Hermes and Philesios, probably a local hero or the legendary
founder of the city, descended from the former. The double cult echoes that of Achilles and Patroklos
at Leuke I. (see ch. 21 below).
map 27.1. Arrian, Euxine: the three stages, and principal places. ■ military fort.
 text • 747

against the custom, I think, for him to share a temple and an altar with his ancestor,
and what one passer-by will sacrifice to Hermes, another will to Philesios, and still
another to both. All of these will gratify both Hermes and Philesios; Hermes, because
they will be honouring his descendant, and Philesios, his ancestor. (3) I also sacri-
ficed an ox there—not like the other Xenophon in Kalpes Limen (who, lacking animals
for sacrifice, took an ox from a chariot),15 as I had been provided with an ox of not
ignoble stock by the Trapezountines themselves—and we examined the entrails on
the spot, and poured a libation on them. (4) We do not forget that you, for whose
well-being we first offered prayers, are aware of our custom, and that you know your-
self to be worthy of prayers from all, including those who have benefited less from you
than we have, for your prosperity.
3. Having set off from Trapezous, on the first day we put into Hyssou Limen16 and
exercised the infantry who were there.17 That cohort, as you know, is made up of infan-
try and also has 20 cavalry, which is sufficient; but we also made the latter throw their
javelins. (2) From there at first we sailed with the winds that blow from the rivers
in the morning and at the same time used the oars; for the winds were cold, as Homer
too says,18 but were not strong enough for those who want to sail quickly. Soon a calm
took hold, so we too just proceeded by rowing. (3) Then suddenly clouds rose up
and broke out from the east, and an extraordinary wind came upon us from exactly
the opposite direction, which was the only thing that helped us, as for a short while it
made a hollow in the sea, without which we would have been swamped with plenty of
water from both sides, not only over the oars but even over the decks too. (4) Just
as in that tragic verse,
We baled it out, but it still rushèd in;19
but the surf did not come over the sides. So we made our way with difficulty by rowing:
but at last, having suffered much, we arrived at Athenai.
4. For there is in the Euxeinos Pontos a place so named,20 and there, there is a Hel-
lenic sanctuary of Athena from which I imagine the place got that name, and also an
abandoned fort. (2) The anchorage at the right time of year can accommodate only
a few ships and shelters them from the Notos (south wind), and even the Euros (SE
wind); it may also save ships that are anchoring from the Boreas (NNE wind), but not
from the Aparktias (north wind), nor from the wind called the Thraskias (NNW wind)
in the Pontos, and the Skiron in Hellas. (3) Towards night came violent thunder,
and lightning too; the wind was not constant, but had turned into a Notos, and for

15
Xen. Anab. 6. 4. 22.    16 Hyssos’s Harbour; Araklıçarşışı/Sürmene.
17
An auxiliary cohort garrisoning a small fort, possibly (‘as you know’) visited by Hadrian on his
tour in 129.
18
Od. 5. 469.    19 A line in tragic metre; author unknown.
20
A. enjoys the coincidence of finding a spot in such a remote location that shares a name with the
cosmopolitan centre of culture and learning both he and Hadrian knew so well, seeming to put the
storm that forced them to put in there down to Providence. The name may in fact derive from a local
word meaning a shady place, rather than have any connection to Athena.
748 • 27 arrian

a while from the Notos to the Lips (SW wind), and the anchorage (hormos) was no
longer safe for the ships. (4) Therefore, before the sea turned completely savage, we
beached all the ships that that place Athenai could hold, except the trireme; for that,
anchored (hyphormousa)21 by a rock, safely rode at anchor (esaleuen).
5. I decided to send the large ships to the neighbouring coast to be beached. They
were beached so that they all came through unscathed except one, which, its side hav-
ing turned side-on too early while anchoring, was taken up by a wave and dashed
against the shore, and broken up. (2) Everything was rescued, though; not only the
sail, the rigging, and the men, but also the nails and sealing-wax were stripped off, so
that nothing of the fittings was lost but the ship’s timber, of which, as you know,22 there
is a great abundance in the Pontos. (3) The storm lasted two days, and forced us to
stay there. And thus we could not sail past Athenai in the Pontos like some deserted
and nameless anchorage.
6. Having started from there towards morning we did battle with the waves com-
ing over the sides, but as the day went by a light Boreas (NNE wind) blew down and
steadied the sea and made it thoroughly calm. And before midday we came more than
‹2›50 stades to Apsaros (Gonio), where the five cohorts are stationed. (2) I gave the
army its pay and inspected its weapons, the fort,23 the trench, the sick, and the food
supplies that were there. My opinion about this latter point I have written to you in
the Latin (lit. ‘Roman’) report.24 (3) It is said that Apsaros was once, long ago, called
Apsyrtos; for it was there that Apsyrtos was killed by Medea,25 and the tomb of Apsyr-
tos is pointed out. The name was subsequently corrupted by the barbarians who live
around there, just as many others were corrupted too; (4) since they say that Tyana
in Kappadokia was named Thoana after Thoas, king of the Tauroi, who, while pursu-
ing Orestes and Pylades, is claimed to have come as far as this region and to have died
here of a disease.
7. The rivers we passed on our coastal sailing from Trapezous were the Hyssos,
after which the Hyssou Limen (The Harbour of Hyssos) is named, and which is 180 sta-
des from Trapezous, and the Ophis (‘Snake’; mod. Of), which is about 90 stades from

21
The term hyphormos does not occur in A.; only this compound here.
22
Another nod to Hadrian’s tour, and his personal knowledge of his empire. Xen. Anab. 6. 4. 4 and
Strabo 12. 3. 12, C546, also talk about the abundance of good shipbuilding timber in this area.
23
Apsaros was a significant military installation (mentioned also by Pliny 6. iv. 12) guarding the
frontier between the Roman-controlled coastal strip and the Iberian kingdom of the hostile King
Pharasmanes. Its importance can be seen from the size of its garrison mentioned by A. and of its for-
tifications, later used by the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, which are still impressive today. A. may
have launched his campaign against the Alanoi from here in 135.
24
The Periplous is presented as a learned and discursive personal letter in Greek, accompanying an
official report in Latin, of A.’s tour of inspection of this important and sensitive sector of the Roman
frontier. Hadrian’s interest in this part of the world is therefore suggested to be at once historical and
cultural, and military and political.
25
In the legend of the Argonauts, Apsyrtos was the brother of Medea, who either killed him and
scattered his body to slow her father down as he pursued her and Jason in their escape from Kolchis,
or set him up for an ambush to be killed by Jason.
 text • 749

­ yssos harbour and separates the territory of the Kolchoi from Thiannike. (2) Then
H
the river called Psychros (‘Cold’; Baltacı Dere), about 30 stades from the Ophis.
Then the Kalos (Good) river (İyi Dere/​Kalopotamos); this one too is 30 stades distant
from the Psychros. Coming next after the Psychros is the Rhizios (Rize) river, 120
stades distant from the Kalos. (3) And 30 after this comes another river, the Ask-
ouros (Taşlı Dere), and one called Adienos (Kanlü Dere/​Kıbledağı Dere) 60 after the
Askouros; then it is 180 to Athenai. The river Zagatis (Pazar Dere/​Susa Dere) lies near
Athenai, about 7 stades distant from it. Setting off from Athenai we passed by the
Prytanis (‘Chief ’; Büyük Dere/​Furtuna Dere), where Anchialos’ palace is.26 And that is
40 stades distant from Athenai. (4) The Pyxites river (Piskala Dere?) is the Prytanis’
neighbour; there are 90 stades between the two. And from the Pyxites to the Archabis
(Arhavi) is another 90, and from the Archabis to Apsaros,27 60.
Starting from Apsaros we passed the Akampsis (Çoruh) by night, 15 stades distant
from Apsaros. (5) The river Bathys (Qorolistsqali) is 75 distant from there, and the
Akinases (Kintrish) 90 from the Bathys, and the Isis (Natanebi) 90 from the Akinas-
es. Both the Akampsis and the Isis are navigable, and send out strong winds in the
morning. From the Isis we passed the Mogros (Supsa); there are 90 stades between the
Mogros and the Isis. It too is navigable.
8. From there, we sailed into the Phasis (Rioni),28 90 stades distant from the
­Mogros, which supplies the lightest and the strangest-coloured water of any of the
rivers I know. (2) One may judge its lightness by means of a balance, and, more
immediately, by the fact that it floats on the sea, not mixing with it, just as Homer
said of the ­Titaresos, that it floats ‘on top of the Peneios ‘like olive oil’.29 (3) Indeed,
if one should dip just beneath the surface, it was possible to draw out fresh water,
but then, if one sinks the cup deeper, to draw out salty water. Moreover, the whole
Pontos has much fresher water than the sea outside it; the reason for this is its rivers,
being so many and so great in volume. (4) The proof of this freshness—if proof of

26
Anchialos was an important Roman client king, who ruled over the Machelones and Heniochoi,
and had been received by Trajan at Satala on his way to Mesopotamia in 114 (Cassius Dio 68. 19).
27
Mentioned earlier, at 1. 6.
28
The significance of the Phasis in A.’s narrative was both mythological and strategic. The river was
the means by which Jason and the Argonauts came to Kolchis on their quest for the Golden Fleece,
and by extension had acquired metaphorical status for the limit of the navigable seas (Ap. Rhod. 2.
1261; Strabo 11. 2. 16, C497); that the river was now an integrated part of the Roman world was a
symbol of the uniting of Cl Greek myth and contemporary Roman power as personified by Hadri-
an. Xenophon had also travelled in this region, following the route of the Argonauts (Anab. 6. 2. 1).
Strategically, the river controlled access to the interior of this sensitive part of the Roman frontier. The
identification of A.’s Phasis with the modern Rioni appears safe, though see Dan 2016 for a discussion
of other rivers in the region that may have shared its name.
29
Il. 2. 754, quoted in the Prologue to these volumes. The R. Peneios was the boundary between
Thessaly and Macedonia, and for some the limit of continuous Hellas (see Introduction, §VI. 4. b). The
relative freshness of the Black Sea, owing to the large number of rivers emptying into it and the small
volume of water leaving it at the Bosporos, is commented on by Aristotle, Problems 23. 6; Polybios 4.
42; and Strabo 1. 3. 4, C50. In fact, the Black Sea as a whole has two distinct layers of water, an upper
one of lighter, fresher water and a lower one of denser, salt water.
750 • 27 arrian

­ erceptible p
p ­ henomena be necessary—is that those who live around the sea lead all
their cattle down to the sea and water them from it; they seem to drink happily, and
the opinion is that this drink is more beneficial to them than fresh water is. (5) The
colour of the Phasis is that of water that has been tainted with lead or tin; but, being left
to stand, it becomes extremely clear. Furthermore, those who sail in30 are traditionally
forbidden from importing water into the Phasis, and as soon as they enter its stream
they are ordered to pour out all water that is on the ships. Those neglecting to do so, it
is said, will not otherwise sail on favourably. And the water of the Phasis does not stag-
nate, but remains unchanged for upwards of ten years—if anything, it becomes fresher.
9. On the left-hand side for those entering the Phasis has been erected (an image
of) the Phasian goddess. Judging by her pose, she is Rhea;31 for she has a cymbal in
her hands and lions beneath her throne, and sits just like the one by Phidias in the
Metroön at Athens. (2) Here too is displayed the anchor from the Argo. This object,
made of iron, does not look old to me—although it is not the size of modern anchors,
and the shape has been altered in some way—but appeared to me of more recent date.
But also pointed out were some old fragments of a stone one, and it is rather these,
one would guess, which are the remains of the anchor of the Argo. But there was no
other monument there to the legends about Jason. (3) In any case, the fort itself, in
which 400 select troops are quartered,32 seemed to me, owing to the nature of its site,
to be very secure, and to lie in the most convenient spot for the safety of those who sail
this way. In addition, a double ditch has been put round the wall, each ditch as broad
as the other. (4) The wall used to be of earth, and wooden towers were set up above
it; now both it and the towers are made of baked brick. And its foundations are firm,
and war engines are installed—and in short, it is fully equipped to prevent any of the
barbarians from even approaching it, let alone to place those garrisoning it at any risk
of a siege.33 (5) But since the anchorage for the ships must also be secure, as well as
the whole area outside the fort settled by veterans of the army, various merchants and
others, I decided to throw out another ditch from the double ditch that surrounds the
wall as far as the river, which will enclose both the harbour and the houses outside
the walls.
10. From the Phasis, we passed the navigable river Charieis (Khobi); there are 90
stades between the two. From the Charieis, we sailed on another 90 stades to the river
Chobos (Inguri), and there we anchored. The reason for this, and what we did there, my

30
The Phasis was navigable even by large vessels for 38½ miles: Pliny 6. iv. 13.
31
Rhea was the wife and sister of Kronos and the mother of the gods, and often identified with the
Phrygian earth-goddess Kybele, who was assimilated into the official cult of the Roman empire by
Claudius.
32
‘Select troops’ could denote auxiliaries (e.g. Xen. Anab. 3. 4. 3; Polyb. 6. 26. 6–8), but probably here
refers to the governor’s singulares or personal guard.
33
The fortifications described here are unusually strong, and the presence of artillery is unexpected
in a frontier fort. It is unclear what threat these measures were designed to counter; the Iberian king
Pharasmenes (see 11. 2 below) has been suggested by Speidel 2016.
 text • 751

letter in Latin will explain to you.34 (2) From the Chobos, we passed the n ­ avigable
river Sigames (Galizga); it is approximately 210 stades from the Chobos. A­ fter the Sig-
ames is the river Tarsouras (Tanoush); there are 120 stades between the two. The river
Hippos (Horse) is 150 stades beyond the Tarsouras, and the Astelephos 30 beyond the
Hippos.35 (3) Leaving behind the Astelephos, we came to Sebastopolis (Sukhumi)
before midday, having set out from the Chobos and having done 120 stades since the
Astelephos, so that we could give the soldiers their pay on the same day, and inspect
the horses and weapons, the horsemen leaping on to their mounts,36 the sick and the
supplies, and also make a tour of the fort and the ditch. (4) It is 630 stades from the
Chobos to Sebastopolis; from Trapezous to Sebastopolis it is 2,260. Sebastopolis used
to be called Dioskourias, and is a colony of the Milesians.37
11. We passed the following nations. The Kolchoi border on the Trapezountines,
just as Xenophon says.38 And the people he records as being most warlike and hostile
towards the Trapezountines, he calls Drillai, but I think they are actually the San-
noi.39 For they too are very warlike, even to this day, (2) and are extremely hostile to
the Trapezountines, live in fortified places, and are a nation (ethnos) without a king.
They were also formerly liable for tribute to the Romans, although, being pirates, they
are not anxious to pay their tribute. But nowadays, God willing, they will be, or we
will crush them. After them come the Machelones and the Heniochoi; their king is
Anchialos.40 Coming after the Machelones and the Heniochoi are the Zydreitai; they
are subject to Pharasmanes. After the Zydreitai are the Lazoi; the king of the Lazoi
is Malassas, who holds his kingdom from you. (3) After the Lazoi come the Apsi-
lai; their king is Ioulianos (Julian), and he holds his kingdom from your father.41 The
Abaskoi42 border on the Apsilai; the king of the Abaskoi is Rhesmagas, and this man,

34
A.’s activity, presumably diplomatic, was clearly too sensitive for a general readership, and is left to
the confidential official report of his tour. Vespasian’s forces had cornered Aniketos, who had fomented
a rebellion in Pontos on behalf of Vitellius and had sought the protection of a local king, at the river
Chobos in 68/9 (Tacitus, Hist. 3. 47–8).
35
The Astelephos and the Hippos may be the two mouths of the Kodor, separated by a low island.
36
Horsemen leaping onto their mounts as they galloped by was the climax of the series of drills
described by A. in his Taktika (43. 3), and must have been immensely difficult, particularly before the
invention of stirrups. Under the name of kelēs, racing with dismounts was a well-established part of
Greek cavalry training: see Christesen 2019 for its importance in C4 bc and later Sparta.
37
The colony of Dioskourias was still a flourishing town in Strabo’s time (11. 2. 16, C497–8), but a
generation later Pliny 6. v. 15 describes it as abandoned, and places the fort of Sebastopolis 30 miles
further N along the coast. The town of Sukhumi now stands on the site.
38
The Kolchoi, according to Hdt. 2. 104–5, were of Egyptian origin, being the remnants of the army
of the legendary pharaoh Sesostris. Though the term is sometimes used as a blanket name for all the
tribes of the region, A. distinguishes a separate tribe of that name.
39
Another reference to Xenophon’s expedition, this time the battle of Feb. 400 bc, in which the Ten
Thousand fought with the Trapezountines against the Drillai (Anab. 5. 2). Strabo 12. 3. 18, C548, and
Pliny 6. iv. 12 and 14, also record the Sannoi, but the former equates them with the Makrones, and the
latter with the Heniochoi, recorded by A. as a distinct group here.
40
See n. 25 above.
41
Nothing is known of King Ioulianos, though his name suggests he was a Roman citizen, and per-
haps that he had received his crown from Trajan at Satala in 114.
42
The name of the Abaskoi lives on in that of Abkhazia, the troubled NW extremity of mod. Georgia;
this is their first appearance in recorded history.
752 • 27 arrian

too, holds his kingdom from you. After the Abaskoi come the Sanigai, where Sebas-
topolis was founded: the king of the Sanigai is Spadagas, who holds his kingdom from
you.43 (4) As far as Apsaros we were sailing towards the east, in the right-hand part
of the Pontos, and Apsaros seemed to me to be the limit of the length of the Pontos;
for from there our voyage was northwards as far as the river Chobos, and beyond the
Chobos to the Sigames. From the Sigames we veered towards the left-hand flank of
the Pontos as far as the river Hippos. (5) From the Hippos to the Astelephos and
Dioskourias, we clearly sailed directly towards the left of the Pontos, and our voyage
was into the setting sun; then, turning from the Astelephos towards Dioskourias, we
saw the Caucasus mountain, which is just as high as the Keltic Alps. And one summit
of the Caucasus—the summit called Strobilos—was pointed out, where, legend has it,
Prometheus was hung up by Hephaistos, as instructed by Zeus.44

anti-clo ckwise ‘fl ashback’ from byz antion

to trapezous

12. The coast from the Thracian Bosporos as far as Trapezous is like this. (2) The
sanctuary (Hieron) of Zeus Ourios45 is 120 stades from Byzantium, and it is here that
the so-called mouth of the Pontos is narrowest, where it enters the Propontis. These
things that I tell you, you already know.46 (3) But on sailing from Hieron to the
right,47 there is the river Rhebas (Riva Kalesi); it is 90 stades from the sanctuary of
Zeus. Thereafter, Cape Melaina (Dark; Kara Burunu), as it is called, is 150 stades away.
From Cape Melaina to the river Artane (Kuzgun), where there is an anchorage for
small vessels near the sanctuary of Aphrodite, it is another 150. (4) From the Artane
to the river Psilis (Gök Su) it is 150; small boats might be anchored near the rock
that emerges not far from the outlet of the river. From there to Kalpes Limen (Kerpe
Limani) it is 210 stades. (5) Of Kalpes Limen, of the nature of the place and of its
anchorage, of the spring there of cold, pure water, and of the forest, infested with wild
beasts, of shipbuilding wood near the sea, Xenophon the Elder spoke.48

43
This phrase offers an insight into the fluid dynamics between the tribes of the region. Writing a
century before A., Strabo puts Dioskourias in the territory of the Kolchoi (11. 2. 14, C497); Pomponi-
us Mela, in about ad 43, locates it in the territory of the Heniochoi (1. 111); Pliny places it under the
control of the Melanchlaeni and Coraxi (6. iv. 15); and here A. has it in Sanigai country.
44
The name of the peak is not attested in any other ancient author, but the location of Prometheus’
punishment in the Caucasus, at the extremity of the known world, goes back to Aeschylus’ Prometheus
Unbound.
45
Mentioned again at 25. 4 below.
46
Hadrian knew Bithynia from his travels, but there is no evidence that he visited this shore of the
Black Sea. This part of the coast though was very well documented, having been part of the Grae-
co-Roman world for centuries.
47
‘Sailing to the right’, or anticlockwise, had been predominant in the periplous tradition since Arte-
midoros in C1l–C1e.
48
Xen. Anab. 6. 4. 3–6.
 text • 753

13. From Kalpes Limen to the Rhoë (‘Stream’; Kumkagız Dere), where there is
an anchorage for small ships, 20 stades. From Rhoë to the small island of Apollonia
(Kefken Adası),49 a short distance from the mainland, is another 20. There is a har-
bour at the bottom of the islet. From there to Chelai is also 20 stades. 180 from Chelai
is where the river Sangarios (Sakarya) flows into the Pontos. (2) From there to
the mouth of the Hypios (Büyuk Melen Çayı) is another 180. To the trading-place of
Lilaion (Akçakoca) from the Hypios is 100 stades, and from Lilaion to (the?) Elaion
(Aftun Deresı?) is 60. From there to Kalēs (Alaplı), (3) another trading-place, is
120. From Kalēs to the river Lykos (Gülüç Çay?) is 80, and from the Lykos to the
city of Herakleia (Ereğli), a Hellenic, Dorian one and a colony of the Megarians,
is 100 stades. In Herakleia there is an anchorage for ships. From Herakleia to the
so-called Metroön is 80 stades. (4) From there to the Posideion is 40, and from
there to Tyndaridai 45, and 15 from there to the Nymphaion.50 From the Nymphaion
to the river Oxinas (Ilık Su) is 30. And from the Oxinas to Sandarake (Zonguldak),
90. (5) Sandarake is an anchorage for small ships. From there to Krenides (Kilim-
li), 60. From Krenides to the trading-place of Psylla (Çatal Ağzi), 30. From there to
Tios (Filyos/​Hisarönü), a Hellenic, Ionian city built on the sea, another colony of the
Milesians, 90. From Tios to the river Billaios (Filyos Çayı/​Yenice Ç.), 20 stades. From
the Billaios to the river Parthenios (Bartin Çayı) is 100 stades. Up to here live the
Bithynian Thracians, of whom Xenophon also made mention in his writings,51 to the
effect that they were the most warlike people in Asia, and that it was in their territory
that the Hellenic army suffered most of their hardships after the Arkadians had been
separated from the portion of Cheirisophos and Xenophon.
14. From here onwards is Paphlagonia. From the Parthenios to the Hellenic city of
Amastris (Amasra) is 90 stades; it is an anchorage for ships. From there to Erythinoi,
60. And from Erythinoi (by Çakraz Burunu) to Kromna (Korç Şile/​Tekeönü), another
60. (2) From there to Kytoros (Kidros), 90; there is an anchorage for ships in Kytoros.
And from Kytoros to Aigialoi (Karaagaç Limanı), 60. (3) To Thymena (Timne),
90. And to Karambis (C. Kerempe), 120. From there to Zephyrion (near Doganyurt),
60. From Zephyrion to Abonou Teichos (Inebolu), a little city, 150. The anchorage is
not secure for ships; though they could ride at anchor (saleuoien) without harm, unless
a large storm occurred. From Abonou Teichos to Aiginetes (Hacıveli Burunu), another
150. From there to the trading-place of Kinolis (Ginoğlu), another 60; and at Kinolis
ships could ride at anchor (saleuoien) in the season of the year. (4) From Kinolis
to Stephane (Usta Burunu), 180; there is a safe anchorage for ships. From Stephane to
Potamoi (by Cebelit Burunu), 150. From there to Cape Lepte (İnce Burunu), 120. From

49
Known as Thynias in Pliny (5. xliv. 151), Ps.-Skylax (§92) and Ap. Rhod. (2. 672), who tells of an
encounter there between the Argonauts and Apollo; hence, presumably, the name used by Arrian.
Also, it seems, known in ancient times as Daphnousia, the contemporary names being given in the
margin of MS P and in Eux. §6.
50
The four places just named were probably local sanctuaries.    51 Xen. Anab. 6. 4. 1.
754 • 27 arrian

Cape Lepte to Armene (Ak Limanı), 60; there is a harbour there. Xenophon also men-
tions Armene.52 (5) And from there to Sinope (Sinop) is 40 stades; the Sinopeans are
colonists of the Milesians. From Sinope to Karousa (Gerze), 150; there is a roadstead
(salos) for ships. From there to Zagara (Çayağzi) is again another 150; from there to the
river Halys (Kızıl Irmak) is 300.53
15. This river was of old the boundary between the kingdoms of Kroisos (Croe-
sus) and of the Persians, and now flows under Roman rule—not from the south, as
Herodotos says, but from the rising sun. And there, where it flows into the Pontos, it
separates the territories of the Sinopeans and the Amisenians. (2) From the river
Halys to Naustathmos, where there is a lagoon, is 90 stades. From there to Konopeion
(Mosquito Place),54 another lake (or ‘harbour’), again 50. From Konopeion to Eusene,
120. (3) From there to Amisos (Samsun), 160. Amisos, a Hellenic city and a colony
of the Athenians, is built on the sea. From Amisos to the harbour at Ankon, where the
Iris (Yeşil Irmak) flows into the Pontos, is 160 stades. From the outflow of the Iris to
Herakleion (at Caltı Burunu), 360; it is an anchorage for ships. From there to the river
Thermodon (Terme Suyu), 40. This Thermodon is where, they say, the Amazons lived.
16. From the Thermodon to the river Beris (Miliç Suyu) is 90 stades. From there to
the river Thoaris (Zindan Dere), 60. From the Thoaris to the Oinoë (Ünye Dere), 30.
From the Oinoë to the river Phigamous (Yevis Dere?) 40. From there to the fort of Pha-
disane (Fatsa), 150. From there to the city of Polemonion55 is 10 stades. From Polemon-
ion to the so-called Cape Iasonion (Yasun Burunu) is 130 stades. From there (3) to
the Island of the Kilikians (Hoynat Kale) is 15 stades. From the Island of the Kilikians
to Boön (Persembe/​Vona), 75. In Boön there is an anchorage for ships. From there to
Kotyora (Ordu), 90. Xenophon mentions this town, and says that it was a colony of the
Sinopeans; now it is a village, and not a large one. From Kotyora to the river Melanthi-
os (Melet Irmak), is about 60 stades. From there to the Pharmatenos (Bazar Suyu), an-
other river, 150. (4) And from there to Pharnakeia (Giresun), 120. This Pharnakeia
used to be called Kerasous,56 and was another colony of the Sinopeans. From there to
the island of Aretias,57 30. From there to Zephyrion (Çam Burunu), 120; there is an
anchorage (Zefre Liman) for ships. From Zephyrion to Tripolis (Tirebolu) is 90 stades.
From there to the Argyria (‘Silver Mines’)58 is 20 stades.

52
Xen. Anab. 6. 1. 15.
53
A. highlights another resonant landmark of Cl Greece now incorporated into the Roman world:
the Halys was the river King Kroisos (Croesus) of Lydia crossed to invade Persia, in his misinterpreta-
tion of the famous oracle that foretold the destruction of a great empire (Hdt. 1. 53, 72–5).
54
This, like Naustathmos and Eusene, is not definitely identified, though the mosquitoes fit the
marshy area E of the Halys.
55
Earlier Sidē (Strabo 12. 3. 16, C548); renamed after either Polemon I (r. 38–8 bc) or Polemon II
(ad 38–64) of Kappadokia.
56
It was renamed Pharnakeia after the king of that name in or after 183 bc, and again Kerasous from
ad 64. For discussion of the changing toponyms and sites, see Liddle 117.
57
Unlocated.   58 At Halkavala.
 text • 755

(5) From the Argyria to Philokaleia, 90. From there to Koralla, 100. From Koralla
to the Sacred Mountain (Yoros Burunu), 150. From the Sacred Mount to Kordyle (near
Akçakale), 40; there is an anchorage for ships. (6) From Kordyle to Hermonassa
(Akçaabat), 45; here too is an anchorage. From Hermonassa to Trapezous is 60 stades.
There you are building a harbour;59 for of old there was an anchorage where one could
ride at anchor (aposaleuein) only in the season of the year.
17. The distances from Trapezous as far as Dioskourias are already given by the
measurements between the rivers. They amount collectively, from Trapezous to
­Dioskourias, now called Sebastopolis, to 2,260 stades.

anti-clo ckwise from dioskourias–sebastop olis

to byz antion

(2) Thus, then, is the voyage sailing to the right60 from Byzantion to Dioskourias,
the camp which is the limit of Roman control when one sails to the right of the Pon-
tos. (3) But when I heard that Kotys, king of the so-called Kimmerian Bosporos, had
died,61 I decided that it was my duty to explain the voyage as far as the Bosporos62 to
you, so that, if you were planning something with regard to the Bosporos, you would
be able to plan it without being ignorant of the voyage.
18. For those who have set out from Dioskourias, then, the first anchorage would
be at Pityous (Pitzunda); it is 350 stades. From there it is 150 stades to Nitike (Gagra?),
where a Skythian tribe used to live of old, of whom the writer Herodotos makes men-
tion.63 (2) He says that they are the eaters of fir-cones (or ‘lice’); and still people
hold that opinion concerning them. From Nitike to the river Abaskos is 90 stades.
And the Borgys64 is 120 stades distant from the Abaskos, and the Nesis 60 from the
Borgys, which also has Cape Herakleion (C. Adler?). (3) From the Nesis to Masai-
tike (Matsesta) is 90 stades. From there to the Achaious (R. Sochi) is 60 stades, which
river separates the Zilchoi and the Sanigai. King of the Zilchoi is Stachemphax; and
he holds his kingdom from you. From the Achaious to Herakleia Point (Mys Kodosh?)

59
The remains of an ancient harbour wall, now largely submerged, known as the Molos, are associat-
ed with Hadrian’s harbour, another legacy of the emperor’s visit (see ch. 1 above).
60
See n. 36 above.
61
Kotys II was client ruler of the Bosporan kingdom in what is now Crimea from 123/4 until his
death in the year 131/2. As Kotys, or Tiberius Julius Cotys, was a Roman citizen who called himself
‘friend of Caesar and friend of Rome’, A. was well aware of the importance of his kingdom for control
of both the Bosporan corn supply and the barbarian tribes between Crimea and the Danube. In the
event, Kotys’ successor, (Ti. Julius) Rhoimetalkes I, dedicated a statue to Hadrian on his accession and
was also an assiduous friend of Rome until his own death in 153/4.
62
The first phrase refers to both the sections of the anti-clockwise circuit—the first from Trapezous
to Dioskourias (1–11), the second the ‘flashback’ from Byzantion to Trapezous (12–16). We now re-
sume the anti-clockwise circuit from Dioskourias–Sebastopolis round the N and W Black Sea as far as
Byzantion; but this time the voyage is not an eye-witness account of A.’s own travel, but a second-hand
‘journey’ based on oral and written sources (cf. 19. 3, 23. 3 below).
63
Hdt. 4. 109.    64 Unlocated.
756 • 27 arrian

is 150 stades.65 From there to the cape (Mys Gryaznova?) which is a shelter from the
Thraskias (NNW wind) and Boreas (NNE wind), 180. (4) From there to Palaia (Old)
Lazike, as it is called, is 120 stades. From there to Palaia (Old) Achaia, 150;66 and from
there to Pagra Limen (Gelendzhik?), 350. From Pagra Limen to the Sacred Harbour
(Novorossisk), 180. From there to Sindike, 300.67
19. From Sindike to the so-called Kimmerian Bosporos and city of Pantikapaion
(Kerch’) on the Bosporos, 540. From there to the river Tanaïs (Don), which is said to
divide Europe from Asia, 60.68 And it starts from the Maiotis lake (Sea of Azov), and
flows into the sea of the Euxeinos Pontos. (2) Aeschylus, however, in Prometheus
Unbound, makes the Phasis the boundary of Europe and Asia. In his play the Titans,
at any rate, tell Prometheus:
We have come, Prometheus, to witness
Your struggle, and your torment in chains.69

Then they recount the lands they have come through:

Where the soils of Europe and Asia
have a twin limit in the great Phasis.

(3) It is said that the circumnavigation round the Maiotis lake is about 9,000 sta-
des.70 From Pantikapaion to the village of Kazeka (Katschik), which is built on the
sea, is 420 stades. From there to Theodosia (Feodosiya), a deserted city,71 is 280 sta-
des. (4) It used to be a Hellenic, Ionian city, a colony of the Milesians, and there
is a mention of it in many works. From there to the deserted harbour (Sudak) of the
Skythotauroi is 200 stades; and from there to Lampas (Biyuk Lambat) in Taurike is
600 stades. (5) From Lampas to the harbour of the Symbola72 (in the bay of Balak-
lava), also in Tauris, is 520 stades. And from there to the Taurike Cherronesos,73 180.
From Cherronesos to Kerkinitis (near Evpatoria)74 is 600 stades, and from Kerkinitis
to Kalos Limen (Good Harbour; Chernomorskoye), also in Skythia, another 700.

65
For the possible identification of this and the next cape, see Liddle 121–2.
66
Palaia Lazike and P. Achaia are in the area of the anchorages at Tenginskaya and Gelendzhik.
67
Sindike is a region rather than a city; cf. Strabo 11. 2. 10, C495, who situates its main settlement at
Gorgippia, ‘near the sea’.
68
A. does not commit to either the Phasis (8. 1–5) or the Tanaïs as the beginning of Asia.
69
Aeschylus’ Promethus Unbound is lost; these lines appear to come at the very beginning of the play.
70
An indication of the second-hand sources A. is using for this part of the Periplous. Strabo 2. 5. 23,
C125, uses the same figure; Polybios 4. 39 is closer with 8,000 st. Pliny 4. xii. 78 gives the circumfer-
ence as 1,406 miles, almost double the real size of the Sea of Azov.
71
Theodosia was founded in C6e. There is no other evidence that it was deserted when A. was writ-
ing, and plenty, literary and archaeological, to indicate that it was flourishing. A. could be referring to a
temporary abandonment after a barbarian raid, or relying on an old source going back to the destruc-
tion of the city by Polemon I of Pontos in C1.
72
Reading Συμβόλων λιμήν with Radt. Symbola are usually tokens, sometimes treaties.
73
Or Chersonesos; the Crimea in mod. Ukraine.    74 For the identification, see Liddle 125.
 text • 757

20. From Kalos Limen to Tamyrake,75 300; within Tamyrake there is a lake, which
is not large. From there to the outflow of the lake, another 300. From the outflow of
the lake to Eïones76 (‘Beaches’; Tendrovskiy Point) is 380 stades. From there to the river
Borysthenes (Dnieper), 150. (2) On the Borysthenes, as one sails upstream, a Hel-
lenic city called Olbia (Parutino) has been created. From the Borysthenes to a small
island, deserted and nameless (Berezan), is 60 stades. And from there to Odessos,77 80.
In Odessos there is an anchorage for ships. After Odessos comes the harbour of the
Istrianoi (Luzanovka?). (3) It is 250 stades to there. After there comes the harbour of
the Isiakoi (Odessa). It is 150 stades to there. And from there to the mouth of the Istros
(Danube) called Psilon, 1,200. The places between are deserted and nameless.78
21. Just about opposite this mouth—straight across the open sea (pelagos), espe-
cially when you sail with the Aparktias wind—lies an island beside it, which some call
Achilles’ Island (Zmiinyi), others Dromos Achilleos (Achilles’ Racetrack),79 and others
still Leuke (White) because of its colour. Thetis is said to have set it up for her son, and
that Achilles lived there. And there is a temple of Achilles there, and a wooden image
(xoanon) of ancient workmanship.80 (2) The island is deserted of humans, but a few
goats live there—they say that those who put in there dedicate one to Achilles—and
there are many other votive offerings set up in the temple—bowls and rings and rather
costly stones. All these thank-offerings are laid up for Achilles, as well as inscriptions,
some made in the Roman way (i.e. in Latin), some in the Greek way, in one metre or in
another, praising Achilles;81 (3) and there are some for Patroklos too, for those who
wish to please Achilles also honour Patroklos along with him.82 Many birds also nest
on the island—gulls, great and small shearwaters,83 and cormorants in an innumerable

75
Tamyrake corresponds to the long strip of land known in antiquity as Dromos Achilleos, ‘Achilles’
Racetrack’. At 21. 1, A. mistakenly gives that as an alternative name for Achilles’ Island, or Leuke; cf.
Eux. §87, where it is correctly a beach or shore, but also §93 where Arr.’s error is repeated.
76
On Tendra island.
77
Unlocated, though clearly E of the large mod. city of Odesa to which it has given its name; not to be
confused with the Odessos at 24. 4.
78
Arr. is wrong again: this stretch of coast includes the mouth of the major river Tyras (Dniester),
and the city of the same name (Strabo 7. 3. 16, C305–6), in the Roman province of Lower Moesia. See
Liddle 127–8.
79
See n. on 20. 1 Tamyrake. It is clear that several locations in the NW corner of the Black Sea had a
strong association with Achilles, including Berezan (the ‘deserted and nameless’ island mentioned by
A. at 20. 2) and the city of Olbia, which housed the cult of Achilles Pontarchos, ‘lord of the Pontos’.
80
The temple is first mentioned in Euripides’ Andromache (1259–62), and attested to by several
authors including Dio Chrysostom in C1 ad (Orat. 36. 21–3) and Pausanias in C2 ad (3. 19. 11–13).
The remains of a temple on Zmiinyi were investigated by a Russian sea-captain in 1823 but obliterated
shortly after by the construction of a lighthouse, and its identification with the temple of Achilles is
uncertain.
81
See Robert 1960, 274, for the few (Greek) inscriptions found on Zmiinyi.
82
The double cult echoes that of Hermes and Philesios at Trapezous (2. 2 above).
83
On Achilles’ afterlife in the Black Sea, see S. R. West 2003, esp. 162–4 on Leuke I. and Achilles’
cult there. On the possible identification of these two bird species, aithuia and korōnis thalassia, see
Thompson 1936, 27–9, 172–3, to which Prof. West drew my attention. On birds washing temples, cf.
Juba 11.
758 • 27 arrian

quantity. (4) These birds attend to the temple of Achilles. Each morning they fly
down to the sea; then, having wetted their wings in the sea, they quickly fly up again
to the temple, and sprinkle the temple. When this has been done thoroughly, they
beautify the pavement, again with their wings.
22. There are also those who report this: that of those who have put in to the island,
the ones who deliberately sail there bring offerings on board their ships, and sacrifice
some of them and set the rest free for Achilles; (2) whereas others are forced to put
in by a storm, and ask for a victim from the god himself, whom they consult regard-
ing the sacrifices—whether it is better and preferable for them to sacrifice whatever
grazing animal they have taken, according to their liking—while depositing the value
which seems appropriate to them. (3) And if the oracle—for oracles are given at the
temple—should refuse, they add to that sum; if it should still refuse, still they add; and
when it agrees, they know that that sum is sufficient. (4) The victim then stands
there of its own accord, and no longer tries to escape. And this is why there is so much
money laid up to the hero as payment for the victims.
23. It is also said that Achilles appears in dreams to those who put in to the island,
and to those who sail by when they are not far from it, and shows them where the
best place on the island to put in is, and where to anchor. And others say that Achil-
les has appeared to them when awake, on their sail or on the tip of the prow, like the
Dioskouroi; (2) they say that Achilles is only inferior to the Dioskouroi in that the
Dioskouroi appear visibly to sailors everywhere, and having appeared they behave as
saviours, whereas he appears only to those already approaching the island. (3) They
also say that they have seen Patroklos in dreams. These things that I have recorded
about Achilles’ Island are reports from those who have either put in there, or have
learned it from others, and they do not seem incredible to me. (4) For I myself be-
lieve that Achilles was a hero second to none, on the evidence of his nobility, beauty,
and strength of soul; his early departure from mankind; Homer’s poem to him; and the
love and friendship because of which he wanted to die after his beloved.84
24. From the mouth of the Istros called Psilon to the second mouth is 60 stades.85
From there to the mouth called Kalon (Good) is 40 stades, and from Kalon to Nar-
akon, as the fourth mouth of the Istros is called, it is 60 stades. (2) From there to the
fifth, 120; and from there to the city of Istria (or Istros), 500 stades. From there to the
city of Tomis (Costanţa) is 300 stades. (3) From Tomis to the city of Kallatis (Man-
galia) is another 300; there is an anchorage for ships. From there to Karōn Limen86
(Nos Shabla), 180; and the land in a circle around the harbour is called Karia. From
Karōn Limen to Tetrisias (Nos Kaliakra) is 120 stades. (4) From there to Bizone, a

84
The relationship between Achilles and Patroklos recalls that between Hadrian and Antinoös, the
emperor’s favourite, who had drowned in the Nile in 130, only a year or two before the composition of
the Periplous. Arrian subtly reinforces the comparison, elevating Patroklos by making him appear with
Achilles in visions to sailors (a detail not attested elsewhere), and emphasizing the nobility of Achilles’
grief.
85
For these multiple mouths of the Danube, see Liddle 127, 131.    86 Lit. ‘Karians’ Harbour’.
 text • 759

deserted spot,87 is 60 stades. From Bizone to Dionysopolis (Balchik) is 80 stades. From

there to Odessos (Varna) is 200;88 there is an anchorage for ships. From Odessos to
the foothills of Haimos,89 which falls right down to the Pontos, is 360 stades; and here
there is an anchorage for ships. (5) From Haimos to the city of Mesembria (Nese-
bur), 90; there is an anchorage for ships. And from Mesembria to the city of Anchialos
is 70 stades; and from Anchialos to Apollonia (Sozopol), 180. (6) This is all of the
Hellenic cities founded in Skythia, on the left-hand side as one sails into the Pontos.
From Apollonia to Cherronesos90 is 60 stades; there is an anchorage for ships. And
from Cherronesos to Aulaiou Teichos (Akhtopol), 250. From there to the headland of
Thynias (Tunny; mod. Koru Burunu), 120.
25. From Thynias to Salmydessos (Midye) is 200 stades. Xenophon the Elder makes
mention of this place:91 it was to here, he says, that the army of the Hellenes came which
he led when he campaigned for the last time with Seuthes the Thracian. (2) And he
wrote much concerning the lack of harbours in that place, how ships are wrecked there
when hit by storms, and how the neighbouring Thracians fight among themselves over
the wreckage. (3) From Salmydessos to Phrygia (Kara Burunu)92 is 330 stades. From
there to the Kyaneai, 320. These Kyaneai are those that the poets say once used to
wander, and through which the first ship to pass was the Argo when it carried Jason
to Kolchis.93 (4) From the Kyaneai to the Sanctuary (Hieron) of Zeus Ourios, where
the mouth of the Pontos lies,94 is 40 stades. From there to the harbour of Daphne,
called Mainomene (The Mad), is 40 stades. From Daphne to Byzantion, 80. These,
then, are the things from the so-called Kimmerian Bosporos to Thrace and the city of
Byzantion.

87
For details of its successive locations, see Liddle 132.    88 Distinct from the Odessos at 20. 2.
89
The vast range of Stara Planina or Great Balkan.
90
Not certainly located; the place-name, meaning ‘peninsula’, is common.
91
Xen. Anab. 7. 5. 12–13.    92 A headland, not the region of central N. Turkey.
93
The Kyaneai (‘dark’) rocks, also known as the Symplegades, guarded the passage from the Bosporos
into the Black Sea. In mythology they clashed together, crushing passing ships between them. The
Argo, however, passed through them safely, with the help of Athena, and the rocks were thereafter
fixed in place (Ap. Rhod. 2. 317–40, 549–606).
94
Already mentioned at 12. 2 in the description of the outward journey from Byzantion. Both the
sanctuary of Zeus Ourios (Anadolu Kavağı) and the harbour of Daphne are on the Asian side of the
Bosporos.
 28
DIONYSIOS PERIEGETES
(dionysios of alexandria)
(written ad 130–8)
Yumna Z. N. Khan*

INTRODUCTION

the author

The Oikoumenes periegesis (Guided Tour of the Inhabited World) attributed to Dio-
nysios of Alexandria was probably more popular, among the educated classes of late
antiquity and the medieval period, than any other work in this volume, judging by the
number of copies that survive. It was probably the first work of ancient geography to be
printed in the original Greek (at Ferrara in 1512) rather than in a Latin translation.1 It
comprises nearly 1,200 hexameters in Homeric dialect, outlining the geography of the
world as known to the Greeks and Romans in the first half of the 2nd century ad. In
accordance with the title of the work, the author has received the sobriquet Periegetes,
‘guide’.
He is named in an acrostic in lines 109–34 that also identifies him as Alexandrian
(‘My (book?), by Dionysios, (one) of those within Pharos’). The acrostic is one of two
discovered within the poem in the late 19th century by Leue,2 though the author had
always been known as Dionysios. The second, in lines 513–32 (‘The god Hermes in the
reign of Hadrian’), identifies the work as a product of Hadrian’s reign (117–38). The ref-
erence to Hermes has been variously explained as, among other things, a proclamation

*
I would like to offer my sincere and deepest thanks to Graham Shipley for his encouragement and
support, his invaluable insights, comments, and suggestions, and his assistance in reworking the lines
containing acrostics to reproduce them in English.

1
Macochius 1512; Greaves 1994, 5. Latin editions had appeared a generation earlier, the first known
being Beccaria 1477 (information from ‘Incunabula Short Title Catalogue’, British Library, last ac-
cessed 26 January 2022).
2
Leue 1884. Leue originally held that the acrostic of ll. 109–34 began ἐμή (‘my’), but he later emend-
ed μακρὸν to πολλὸν in 110 in order to read the beginning of the acrostic as ἔπη (‘epic verses’) (Leue
1925). This emendation was first proposed by Nauck 1889, 325. There is no evidence, however, to sup-
port altering the text. Indeed, the only reason for adopting any such emendation lies in the difficulty
of reading ἐμή as part of the acrostic. C. Wachsmuth 1889 argues that the initial letters of 109–11 were
not, in fact, intended to form part of the acrostic. On the acrostics, see further the ‘Supplementary
note’ at the end of this chapter; and Introduction, §X. 4.
 introduction • 761

of faith in the deified Antinoös (Hadrian’s late companion, also alluded to in Arrian’s
contemporary account of the Black Sea, Chapter 27 above), with a date-stamp intend-
ed by Dionysios to place the Periegesis at, or not long after, the time of Antinoös’ death
in 130;3 a declaration by Dionysios of his own role as a guide to the inhabited world;4
and an allusion to Hermes’ role as creator of, and guide to, the oikoumenē.5
Little is known about the author beyond what is communicated in the acrostics.
A biography transmitted in the 15th-century manuscript Vaticanus Chisianus R. IV.
20, and hence known as the Vita Chisiana, provides the fullest extant account.6 The
Vita Chisiana tells us that Dionysios was also the name of the poet’s father, whom
Klotz identified with the Dionysios of Alexandria described in the Suda as having
lived in the second half of the 1st century ad and as having served as a librarian and
imperial secretary.7 The Vita Chisiana also makes Dionysios author of several other
works including Lithiaka (On Stones), Gigantias (Tale of the Giants), Bassarika (Bac-
chic Matters), and Ornithiaka (On Birds). The Suda, however, expresses uncertainty as
to whether the author of the Guided Tour of the Oikoumene in Epic Verses, whom he
makes a Corinthian, is the Dionysios who wrote the Lithiaka.8 No text of a Lithiaka
ascribed to a Dionysios has survived and, although an interest in stones is certainly
shown by the Periegete, it is impossible to say with any certainty that he was in fact the
author of a work on the subject. In 1973 Livrea published an edition of the fragments
of a Gigantias and a Bassarika which had previously been ascribed to the Periegete,
and convincingly refuted earlier claims that these works were by the same Dionysios
on the grounds that the language and style of the poems are quite distinct.9 As for the
Ornithiaka, there has survived a prose paraphrase of a poem on birds that is said to
have been composed by a certain Dionysios.10 The nature of the paraphrase makes it
difficult, however, to identify the author of the original poem, and this poem is var-
iously identified with the Ornithiaka ascribed to the Periegete and with the Ixeutika
(On Fowling) ascribed to Oppian of Apameia.

dionysios and the geographical tradition

There is no clear indication in the poem as to which geographical sources Dionysios

used in composing the Periegesis. Similarly, to what extent he relied on earlier geo-
graphical texts and to what extent, if any, he innovated upon previous descriptions of
the oikoumenē is largely difficult to gauge. He appears to have taken his material from
more than one source, so that the resulting picture is in some respects original to him.

3
Tsavari 1990, 30–1.   4 Brodersen 1994a, 10; Jacob 1981, 31–2.   5 Khan 2002, pp. 10–11.
6
Two shorter biographies have also survived: one transmitted with the text of the scholia, the other
with Eustathios’ commentary, on which see p. 767 below.
7
Suda s.v. Dionysios of Alexandria, son of Glaukos (δ 1173). Three bearers of the name are identified
in Suda as authors of Oikoumenes periegeseis: D. of Corinth (δ 1177); D. of Miletos (δ 1180); and D. of
Rhodes (δ 1181); but only in the first case does Suda specify that the work was a poem in epic Greek.
8
Suda δ 1177 s.v. Dionysios of Corinth.    9 Livrea 1973, 10.   10 Garzya 1963.
762 • 28 dionysios periegetes

In the opening verses of the poem Dionysios describes the inhabited world as
not quite circular, but wider from east to west11 than from north to south, like a sling
(lines 5–6). The background to this way of characterizing the shape of the inhabit-
ed world is somewhat obscure. Poseidonios (15–16 in Chapter 19 above) is cited as
having drawn this same comparison,12 and it may be that Dionysios used him as a
source for his geography. However, there is little else in the poem to indicate that this
representation of the world was based specifically on Poseidonios, and Dionysios’
depiction of the oikoumenē later in the poem (271–8) as divided into two cones (kō-
noi)—their bases joined, one apex pointing east, the other west—finds no parallel in
the earlier author.
Berger traced the division of the oikoumenē into two kōnoi back to the 3rd century
bc and Eratosthenes of Kyrene.13 There are, however, essential differences between
Eratosthenes’ depiction of the oikoumenē and Dionysios’, which make it impossible
to assert that the former was a source used directly by the latter. Berger also notes
that there is some correspondence between Dionysios’ representation of Europe and
that of Eratosthenes, in that both describe the continent as having three south-facing
peninsulas;14 but again the distinction between Dionysios’ definition of these three
peninsulas and that of Eratosthenes makes it difficult to tie the two conclusively
­together.
There are various parallels between the geographies of Dionysios and Strabo, and
it has been suggested that Dionysios depended on Strabo to a significant extent.15 It is
in the descriptions of specific regions that these parallels are obvious. The outlines of
the Black Sea (146–57), Libyē (174–7), Iberia (287), the Peloponnese (404), and India
(1130–1) are each similar to the descriptions of these regions by Strabo. In Strabo there
can be found the same comparisons, made by Dionysios, of the Euxine to a Skythian
bow (2. 5. 22), of Libyē to a leopard-skin and to a trapezium (2. 5. 33), of Iberia to an ox-
hide (2. 1. 30), of the Peloponnese to a plane-leaf (ibid.), and of India to a rhombus (2.
1. 22). Strabo, however, does not claim that these comparisons are his own. In fact, he
states specifically in the case of India that it was Eratosthenes who drew the country as
a rhombus. It is also possible, if not likely, that such comparisons held greater currency
at a time when maps were less easily accessible. Thus, with Strabo, as with Poseidonios
and Eratosthenes, it is difficult to show direct influence upon Dionysios.

11
D. actually says ‘towards the sun’s paths’, which strictly should mean the ecliptic but here more
vaguely connotes the notion of a westward progress across the oikoumenē.
12
Eustathios (Poseidonios 15–16 in Ch. 19 above) notes the parallel between D. and P. See also
Agathemeros i. 2.
13
H. Berger 1903, 432–3.
14
See the discussion of Eratosthenes fr. III B, 97 = Strabo 2. 4. 8, C108–9, in H. Berger 1964, 342–3.
15
See Greaves 1994, 61–75. See also Jane L. Lightfoot 2014, 29–33. It is worth remembering, how-
ever, that Strabo’s Geography is not cited before C6 ad, and widespread interest in the work is attested
really only from C9 on (Aujac 2000, esp. 134–5).
 introduction • 763

contents and structure

Dionysios’ oikoumenē has a neat and symmetrical structure, which is reflected in the
order of the poem itself:
General prologue (1–9): Ocean and continents
Division of continents (10–26)
Ocean (27–169): division into seas (27–57); the Mediterranean (58–168)
Prologue to continents (170–3)
Libyē (174–269): overall form (174–83); Pillars of Herakles to Kyrene (184–210); the interior
(211–21); the Nile and Egypt (222–64); summary of remaining peoples (265–9)
Europe (270–446): overall form (270–80): Pillars of Herakles to Rhine (281–97); Danube,
north (298–319); Danube, south (319–29); Pillars of Herakles to Greece (330–446)
Islands (447–619): invocation (447–9): Mediterranean islands, Pillars of Herakles to Hel-
lespont (450–537); Hellespont to Maiotis (538–53); islands in the Ocean, clockwise from
Pillars of Herakles (555–611); summary of remaining islands (612–19)
Asia (620–1165): overall form (620–51); the north, Tanaïs to Kolchis (652–94); Kolchis to
Caspian (695–761); Kolchis to Hellespont (762–98); Hellespont to Syria (799–880); pro-
logue to southern Asia (881–6); the south, its form (887–96); Syria to Arabia (897–961);
west of Erythraian sea (962–9); Syria to Persia (970–1079); Persia to Pillars of Dionysos
(1080–165)
Epilogue (1166–86)

Virtually all the first half of the poem is dedicated to the two continents that make up
the western hemisphere, while the second half is devoted to the eastern, comprising
Asia. For almost every subdivision of the oikoumenē Dionysios begins his description
in the north and then proceeds to describe the south. He makes an exception of the
western hemisphere, where he begins in the south with Libyē, his native continent.
There is also linear movement from west to east, discernible at various levels within
the Periegesis. The west–east progression is present both in his description of the two
hemispheres and, for example, within the description of Libyē. Dionysios begins by
tracing the overall shape of the continent and proceeds to divide it into northern and
southern zones. He then describes each in turn in an eastward movement. This same
pattern of description is seen in the section on Europe. A west-to-east movement is, of
course, typical of geographical texts and seems to go back to the early Ionian periploi.16

literary models

Dionysios makes no claim to be giving an empirical or scientific account of the inhab-

ited world and its peoples. On the contrary, in a passage just over halfway through the
poem he disclaims physical travel, and thereby autopsy and empiricism, asserting that

16
On spatial orientation in DP, see Ilyushechkina et al. 2014.
764 • 28 dionysios periegetes

his knowledge comes directly from the Muses (707–17). Here he highlights the literar-
iness of his work by the very language of his claim, recalling a passage from Hesiod’s
Works and Days (646–53), also imitated in the hellenistic period by Kallimachos (fr.
178. 33 Pfeiffer). By alluding to the Hesiodic passage as he does here, Dionysios is not
simply distancing himself from merchants but describing himself first and foremost as
a poet. He is also asserting his literary affiliations.
Hesiod’s didactic epic is an obvious model for Dionysios’ poem as a whole. He bor-
rows language, motifs, and subject matter from both Works and Days and Theogony.
Sometimes he recalls a passage from one or other of these poems in a deliberate allu-
sion to the Hesiodic context, as at 186–94 (cf. WD 529–35). More often he echoes the
language and rhythm of a particular verse without any obvious direct appeal to its
context. On one occasion he cites the name of a river only otherwise attested in Hes-
iod, the Aldeskos (line 314).
Dionysios’ language is largely Homeric. Parallels between the Periegesis and the
Homeric poems vary widely in form and significance. Dionysios frequently recalls
Homeric clausulae (end-of-line rhythms recalling those of Homer), at times drawing
on the Homeric context, as at 189 (cf. Od. 24. 250). Occasionally he echoes longer Ho-
meric passages and can be seen to be drawing on these passages similarly as a means
of heightening the significance of his words, as at 341–2 (cf. Il. 15. 410–12). Another
way in which he points explicitly to the literariness of the Periegesis is by alluding to
problems perceived in the interpretation of the Homeric texts, as in his reference to
the Aithiopes at 179–80 (cf. Od. 1. 23–4). Similarly, Dionysios’ frequent use of Homeric
hapax legomena also indicates the literary nature of the Periegesis. Rarely he uses a Ho-
meric hapax which is not earlier attested elsewhere, such as auchmēëssa (182, meaning
‘parched’; cf. Od. 24. 250 auchmeis). More often, however, the hapax legomena which
are found in Dionysios are also to be found in hellenistic poetry.
Dionysios’ debt to the hellenistic poets Kallimachos, Theokritos, Apollonios of
Rhodes, Nicander, and Aratos in particular is significant. The imitation of the begin-
ning of Apollonios’ Argonautika (1. 1–2) in the opening verses of the Periegesis (1–3)
seems to be indicative of the hellenistic poet’s importance for Dionysios, and, as Bowie
has pointed out, Apollonios’ books on the travels of the Argonauts were an obvious
source of material for Dionysios.17 Dionysios sometimes recalls Apollonios’ descrip-
tions of particular places, as at 315 (the Rhipaian mountains, cf. Ap. Rhod. 4. 287),
and from time to time imitates Apollonian phrases for places and peoples, as at 185
(‘peoples of the Maurousian land’, cf. ‘customs of the Kianian land’, Ap. Rhod. 1. 1177
and elsewhere). More surprisingly, perhaps, some of Dionysios’ descriptions of geo-
graphical features appear to be modelled upon Nicander’s descriptions of snakes, as
at 23 and elsewhere with ‘creeps’ (herpei, cf. Nicander, Theriaka, 159 etc.) and 286 with
‘­ massifs’ (oronkoi, cf. Nicander, Alexipharmaka, 42). He imitates the didactic language

17
Bowie 2000, 7–8.
 introduction • 765

of ­Nicander’s epics on snakes and poisons at 238 and elsewhere (audēsaimi, ‘may I
voice’, cf. Nicander, Theriaka, 770); and of course the acrostic of 112–34 recalls that
of Theriaka 345–53 (‘Nikandros’).18 Of all the hellenistic poets Dionysios owes most,
however, to Aratos, whose didactic poem on the stars and constellations, like Hesiod’s
Works and Days, provides a model for the Periegesis as a whole. Aratos’ Phainomena
(1,154 lines) is of almost the same length as the Periegesis and, as Dionysios maps the
inhabited world, so Aratos maps the skies. Dionysios’ language contains numerous
echoes of the Phainomena. In some cases similarities between the two poets may stem
from a common dependence on the Homeric poems, as at 202 (cf. Aratos 425–6, cf.
Homer, Od. 5. 331–2). But at times Dionysios seems to have had in mind a specific
Aratean imitation of Homer, as at 235 (cf. Aratos 44, cf. Homer, Il. 18. 508), and the
closing verses of the Periegesis are a clear evocation of the opening of Aratos’ Phain-
omena specifically.
Moreover, a third acrostic was found in the Periegesis recently by Counillon, which
seems to affirm the importance of Aratos for Dionysios.19 The acrostic reads stenē,
‘slender’ (307–11). The initial letter of the acrostic introduces another form of the same
word (steinon) on the horizontal, suggesting that the acrostic was intentional. Further-
more, the gamma (Γ) pattern thus created is also visible at Aratos, Phaen. 783–7, where
the word leptē (‘slim’) is found vertically and horizontally. Aratos’ acrostic seems to
offer something of a programmatic statement, serving to link him with Kallimachos,
who claims to have pursued leptotēs, ‘slimness’, in his own poetry (see esp. Aitia fr. 1.
23–8), and indeed praises Aratos for his leptai rhēseis, ‘slim expressions’.20 In Kallima-
chos’ Reply to the Telchines (fr. 1. 1 Pfeiffer) Apollo’s address begins with an explicit
demand for leptotēs and ends with an exhortation to the poet to follow the unworn
path, even though it may be steinoterē, ‘narrower’. It is surely more than coincidental
that Dionysios chooses to highlight through his acrostic a word that, like leptē, carries
echoes of Kallimachos’ work. Dionysios seems here to claim for his poem an affiliation
with that of Aratos.
It is here proposed to identify a fourth acrostic, and a second of the ‘gamma’ form,
at lines 681–5, which evokes the acrostic at 307–11 and similarly highlights the literary
nature of this didactic poem (see ‘Supplementary note’ following the translation).
The densely allusive and highly literary nature of the poem appears to suggest that
it was intended to appeal to a learned adult readership. Thus, although the Periegesis
was to become popular as a school text, it is unlikely to have been intended as such, as
certain scholars have recently tried to suggest it was.21

18
For a fuller treatment of Dionysos’ debt to Nicander, see Jane L. Lightfoot 2014, esp. 88–9, 108–9.
19
Counillon 1981.
20
Anth. Pal. 9. 507 = fr. 27. 3–4 in Pfeiffer 1949–53 = Gow and Page 1965, Callimachus 56. On
λεπτότης as a literary term see Hutchinson 1988, 77–84, 278–354; Pfeiffer 1968, 136–8.
21
Jacob 1981, 57–62.
766 • 28 dionysios periegetes

the manuscript tradition

The Oikoumenes periegesis survives in more than 140 known manuscripts.22 The earli-
est of these, Parisinus suppl. gr. 388 (A), is dated to the 10th century. The most recent
critical edition of the text, by Brodersen, is based almost entirely on the readings of A,
which he describes as the ‘oldest preserved manuscript and likewise the most valuable’.23
Tsavari collated 134 manuscripts in preparing her edition of the text. She, like Brod-
ersen, trusts heavily in A, and shows a tendency to privilege chronological priority
over other criteria in determining the value of the manuscripts, which is reflected also
in her decision to report readings from only those 44 that antedate the 15th century.24
Tsavari claims to have used as a basis for her edition of the text the 1861 edition by
Müller,25 the first to report the readings of A.26 Where Tsavari differs from Müller it is
almost always to follow A.
Tsavari’s trust in A rests largely on the argument that it was copied from a Roman
archetype and was not subject to the contamination suffered by the vast majority of
the surviving manuscripts which, she argues, belong to a separate tradition, descended
from one lost source in Constantinople.27 According to Tsavari the only extant man-
uscript to have descended from A is Vaticanus gr. 910 (V9), which she dates to the
beginning of the 14th century. Counillon, however, has pointed out that the double
readings which Tsavari herself admits are transmitted by A28 indicate that A also shows
signs of contamination;29 he goes on to reject the idea of an early Roman edition alto-
gether,30 and concludes by rightly questioning Tsavari’s assumption of the superiority
of the testimony of A in establishing the text.31 The stemma constructed by Tsavari has
also been criticized by Reeve, who has shown that Tsavari has inadequately defined
the relationships between a number of manuscripts.32 Therefore, although I have used

22
See Amato 2005, 176–8.
23
‘ältesten erhaltenen und zugleich wertvollsten Handschrift’, Brodersen 1994a, 147. (Jane L. Light-
foot 2014 includes a selective apparatus criticus but does not claim to offer a full critical edition; see
her p. 197.)
24
See also Nicolai 1992, esp. 481: ‘non sembra aver tenuto presente il principio pasqualiano dei
recentiores non deteriores (per i manoscritti dei secc. XV e XVI esamina soltanto dei campioni di testo
e dichiara di non tenerne conto nell’edizione: cosi a p. 443)’.
25
Müller, GGM ii. 103–76.    26 Tsavari 1990, 22.
27
Tsavari 1990, esp. 43–7, 212–17.    28 Tsavari 1990, 45.
29
Counillon 1991, esp. 368: ‘en admettant l’existence de ces doubles leçons, elle renonce à la “pureté
remarquable” de sa tradition romaine, et reconnaît que l’ancêtre de toute la tradition lui-meme était
déjà fortement contaminé, ce qui entache terriblement ses conclusions’.
30
‘Il faut donc renoncer au mythe inutile de la “Recension Romaine” et chercher l’ancêtre commun
de toute la tradition à Constantinople’ (Counillon 1991, 371).
31
Counillon 1991, 371: ‘Quant à l’etablissement du texte, on ne peut se contenter de s’en remettre à
A [. . .] Il serait sans doute beaucoup plus profitable d’analyser de plus près le Vaticanus 910 et sa con-
stitution. Tant que cela ne sera pas fait on n’aura pas des meilleures raisons de choisir l’une ou l’autre
leçon que celles qu’avaient nos prédécesseurs, depuis le premier copiste jusqu’à K. Müller’.
32
See Reeve 1992; Reeve 1994.
 introduction • 767

Tsavari’s edition as the basis for my commentary and translation, I also list (in n. 41
below) those variant readings I have preferred.

scholia, commentaries, translations, etc.

Two Latin verse translations provide some suggestion of the early popularity of the
Periegesis, the one by Avienus (or Avienius) in the 4th century (the Descriptio orbis
terrae or terrarum) and the other by Priscianus (Priscian) Caesariensis (called Periege-
sis) in the 6th.33 Tsavari argues that Avienus and Priscian based their translations on
different manuscripts, which indeed seems to be borne out by differences in their
translations, such as at Avienus 319, where urbs procera arces suggests that εὔπυργος
(eupyrgos) stood in Dionysios’ line 213, whereas at Priscian 197 clarorum mater equo-
rum translates εὔιππος (euippos).34 However, whether, as Tsavari suggests, Avienus had
before him the archetype from which A was copied is a matter for debate, given that the
very existence of such an archetype has been questioned (see above).
Avienus’ translation is relatively free. It seems unwise, then, to rely on his readings
in attempting to establish the text of the Periegesis, even though Tsavari argues that
his access to the ‘Roman’ archetype from which A was copied makes his translation
particularly valuable as testimony to the original text of the poem.35 Priscian seems to
be more faithful to Dionysios’ Greek than does Avienus, and his translation may often,
therefore, prove the more useful in helping to assess the relative weight of different
readings.
Scholia to the poem, which formed the basis for Eustathios’ 12th-century commen-
tary, may have been in circulation as early as the 4th century, if, as Gualandri suggests,
the freedom with which Avienus often translates Dionysios’ words is indeed due to the
fact that a set of scholia already accompanied his text of the Periegesis.36 According to
Tsavari, scholia in fact accompanied the archetypes of both the ‘Roman’ and ‘Constan-
tinopolitan’ traditions and, therefore, also the 2nd-century ‘prearchetype’ from which
these two archetypes were copied.37
Eustathios’ commentary is transmitted in over fifty known manuscripts, the major-
ity of which also preserve the text of the poem itself.38 Tsavari argues that of the many
manuscripts to which Eustathios had access one was an early descendant of A, the now
lost ancestor of V9.39
There is also an anonymous paraphrase of the poem in Greek prose that accompan-
ies the text in around fifty of the extant manuscripts. It has so far proved impossible to
date this paraphrase with any certainty, but Tsavari tentatively assigns it to the 9th or

33
For Avienus’ text, see Müller, GGM ii. 177–89; van de Woestijne 1961. For Priscian’s, see Müller,
GGM 190–9. These poems are not included in the present work, as they would largely duplicate
­Dionysios Periegetes and form part of the Latin geographical tradition rather than the Greek; but
Avienus’ Ora maritima is included as Ch. 32 below, since it preserves material from lost Greek sources.
34
Tsavari 1990, 43–5, 212–14.    35 Tsavari 1990, 41–7.   36 Gualandri 1982.
37
Tsavari 1990, 41.   38 See Diller 1975b, appendix.   39 Tsavari 1990, 61–5.
768 • 28 dionysios periegetes

10th century on the evidence of similarities between the paraphrase itself and the MSS
she classifies as belonging to family e.40 (Another Greek paraphrase of the Periegesis
purports to be by the 13th-century writer Nikephoros Blemmydes, but is a later in-
vention.)41 The paraphrases are of less help as a tool for establishing the text of the
Periegesis, but provide a useful testimony to interpretations of Dionysios (see below
on lines 348 and 350).
I follow Tsavari’s Greek text, with the exceptions noted in this footnote.42

selected further reading

Bowie, E. L. (1990), ‘Greek poetry in the Antonine age’, in D. A. Russell (ed.), Antonine Liter-
ature (Oxford), pp. 53–90.
—— (2004), ‘Denys d’Alexandrie: un poète grec dans l’empire romain’, Revue des études
­anciennes, 106: 177–86.
*Brodersen, K. (1994), Dionysios von Alexandria, Das Lied von der Welt (zweisprachige Aus-
gabe). Hildesheim–Zürich–New York. [Includes translation into German hexameters.]
Counillon, P. (2001), ‘Dionysos dans la Description de la terre habitée de Denys d’Alexandrie’,
in I. Zinguer (ed.), Dionysos: origines et resurgences (Paris), 105–14.
—— (2004), ‘La Périégèse de la terre habitée et l’Hymne à Délos de Callimaque’, Revue des
études anciennes, 106: 187–202.
Cusset, C. (2004), ‘Denys lecteur d’Apollonios de Rhodes? L’exemple de la description des
fleuves’, Revue des études anciennes, 106: 203–16.
Hunter, R. (2004), ‘The Periegesis of Dionysius and the traditions of hellenistic poetry’, Revue
des études anciennes, 106: 217–32.
Ilyushechkina, E. (2010), ‘Studien zu Dionysios von Alexandria’. Ph.D. thesis. Universiteit
van Groningen.
—— (2011) ‘Die sakrale Geographie: zu einigen Passagen des Apollonios Rhodios in der
Bearbeitung des Dionysios Periegetes’, in M. A. Harder et al. (eds), Gods and Religion in
Hellenistic Poetry (Leuven), 165–79.
Jacob, C. (1990), La Description de la terre habitée de Denys d’Alexandrie: ou la leçon de géog-
raphie. Paris.
*Khan, Y. Z. N. (2002), ‘A commentary on Dionysius of Alexandria’s Guide to the Inhabited
World, 174–382’. Ph.D. thesis. University College London.

40
Tsavari 1990, 58–61.
41
This text (Müller, GGM ii. 458–68) has been shown to be a C16 forgery by Antonios Episkopoulos
(Diller 1936). Tsavari suggests that Episkopoulos used a number of MSS, in particular Vaticanus gr.
121 (V22), dated C13, and a lost MS (d12) whose earliest surviving descendant, Parisinus gr. 2708 (L), is
dated C15/C16 (Tsavari 1990, 69–70). Reeve, however, has cast doubt on Tsavari’s classification of V22,
and shown that there are problems with her definition and classification of the MSS of family d (Reeve
1994, esp. 214, 216–20).
42
Readings differ from Tsavari as follows: 6 ὀξυτέρη, 35 αἰεὶ, 128 ἐπὶ, 267 εὐρείης Τριτωνίδος ὕδατι,
268 πόντον, 299 αὐτός, 321 ἐρεμνὰ, 333 αὐτῶν, 339 ἄκρη, 430 ἐστεφάνωται, 444 μεγάλῳ, 485 τηλίστων,
509 αἶα, 548 ἐπήρατον, 549 ἀνὰ, 555 ἄλλας . . . περὶ ῥόος ἐστεφάνωται, 564 παῖδες, 569 οὐ κέ . . .
ἰσοφαρίζοι, 583 ἀγκέχυται, 642 ὀρθόκραιρον, 660 μεσὰ, 760 κεκλειμένη, 792 αὐτόθι, 822 παῖδες, 835 ἔτι,
861 περιτέλλεται, 934 γαιάων, 940 αὐτὸς, 941 γείνατο πέζαν, 943 αὐτόματοι, 948 δ’ ἀνεδήσατο, 1080
λεπτὸν, 1118 προμολῇσιν, 1142 ἄσπετα, 1160 κισσῷ, 1164 ἐρύσας, 1165 μέγα, 1177 ὑπὸ μορφῇ, 1178
ἐναλιγκίου.
 text • 769

—— (2004), ‘Denys lecteur des Phénomènes d’Aratos’, Revue des études anciennes, 106:
233–46.
*Lightfoot, Jane L. (2014), Dionysius Periegetes, Description of the Known World. Oxford.
Oudot, E. (2004), ‘Athènes dans la Périégèse de Denys d’Alexandrie ou la mutation d’une
image’, Revue des études anciennes, 106: 247–61.
*Schneider, P. (forthcoming), ‘Denys le Périégète (2019)’, in FGrH v.

TE XT

To begin my song of the Earth and the broad main,

and the rivers and cities and countless tribes of men,
I shall recall the deep-flowing Ocean. For therein
the whole world is crowned, like an immense island,
not wholly circular all round, but on either side,
towards the sun’s paths, becoming narrower,
like a sling. And, although it is one,
men have divided it into three lands:
first Libyē, and then Europe and Asia.
10   Well, then, Libyē has an oblique division from Europe
and, on this line, are Gadeira43 and the mouth of the Nile,
where lies the northernmost corner of Egypt
and the well-known precinct of Amyklaian Kanobos.44
The Tanaïs divides Europe from Asia, through the middle.
This river, winding through the land of the Sauromatai,45
sweeps forth to Skythia and Lake Maiotis
in the north. In the south the boundary is the Hellespont,
and the line stretches further south to the mouth of the Nile.
  But others divide the land by continents.
20 A certain isthmus stretches above, uppermost in the
Asian land, in between the Caspian and Euxine seas.
This they have called the boundary of Europe and Asia.
Another again, unutterably long, creeps towards the south,
In between the Arabian gulf and Egypt,
and this divides Libyē from the Asian land.
  Such have mortals broadcast about the boundaries,

43
Cádiz.
44
Kanobos or Kanopos was the Greek name for the westernmost mouth of the Nile and the settle-
ment beside it, famous for its sanctuary of Sarapis. According to one tradition, Kanobos took its name
from Menelaos’ helmsman, buried there after being bitten by a snake. Amyklai, S of Sparta, fell within
the realm of Menelaos, according to the Homeric Catalogue (see Prologue to these volumes); D. uses
‘Amyklaian’ as a poeticism for ‘Spartan’ throughout the poem.
45
D., like his contemporary Ptolemy, has the Sauromatai or Sarmatai occupying areas of E Europe
and central Asia either side of the R. Tanaïs (Don) (Ptolemy, Geography 3. 5; 5. 10).
770 • 28 dionysios periegetes

but on all sides flows the might of the tireless Ocean,

one, yet endowed with many appellations.
Indeed by the furthest recess of Lokrian Zephyros46
30 it is called the western Atlas, but beyond, to the north,
where dwell the children of the war-mad Arimaspoi,47
they call it the Frozen (pepēgos) main and Kronian.
Others again call it the Dead one (nekros), because of the
weakness of the sun, for it shines over that salt-sea
with a dim light; always it is dulled by dark clouds.
But there, where it first shines upon men,
they call the swell of the sea Eastern or Indian.
Nearby they call it Erythraian and Ethiopian,
to the south, that is, where a great curve of uninhabited
40 land lies stretched, burned by the sun’s fierce rays.
  Thus does the Ocean run round the whole Earth,
in such a form and bearing such names among men.
Here and there it churns out gulfs, casting itself inward
into a salt-sea. There are many small gulfs, but four large ones.
So, then, first of all, it begets the Western salt-sea,
sweeping from Libyē to the Pamphylian land.
The second is small, but far surpassing others,
which, spreading from the Kronian salt-sea in the north
sends forth a lofty stream into the Caspian sea,
50 which others have called the Hyrkanian sea.
Of the others, which are both from the southern salt-sea,
one reaches higher, pouring forth the Persian wave,
turned to face the Caspian Amphitrite,48
and the other, the Arabian gulf,49 swells within,
winding its channel south of the Euxine main.
  So many are the gulfs of the deep-waved Ocean,
the greater ones, but there are countless others.
  Now I will tell of the path of the western salt-sea, which
wanders to and from all the lands with its oblique open seas (pelagē),
60 sometimes encircling islands, and sometimes in turn
brushing below the feet of mountains or cities.
But you, O Muses, tell of its winding paths,

46
The west wind.
47
The storied Arimaspoi were commonly located in the extreme N of Europe (see e.g. Hdt. 4. 13.
1–2).
48
The Nereid Amphitrite was the wife of Poseidon. Her (tetrasyllabic) name is used a dozen times in
the poem as a synonym for ‘sea’ (cf. ‘the waves of Amphitrite’ at Odyssey 3. 91).
49
Mod. Red Sea.
 text • 771

beginning in order from the western Ocean.

  Here, by the boundaries the Pillars of Herakles
stand, a great marvel, beside outermost Gadeira,50
beneath the high peak of the far-flung Atlas mountains,
where too a bronze column reaches to heaven,
tall, and enveloped within dense clouds.
  First of all, as one begins, the Iberian main
70 flows forth, which is the beginning of Europe
and of Libyē, for it winds in the midst of the two.
The Pillars stand on its shores, on this side and that,
the one looking at Europe, the other at Libyē.
After this comes the Gallic stream, where the land
of Massalia lies stretched, with its curved harbour.
Next after these flows the Ligurian salt-sea,
where the sons of the Italians dwell on the land,
descendants of Ausonian Zeus, ever mighty rulers.
Beginning from the north the sea stretches as far as the White Rock,51
80 which is rooted in the Sicilian strait.
Next the briny water bellows at Kyrnos.
After this the Sardinian main roars within,
and after this the swell of the Tyrrhenian52 sea howls
towards the south. But then towards the rays of the sun53
the curved Sicilian stream runs back and forth, bringing waters
up from its depths between wave-beaten Pachynos
and the headland of Crete, which juts far into the salt-sea,
beside holy Gortyn and mainland Phaiston,
stretched forth, in the image of the head of a ram.
90 Because of this they call it the Ram’s Brow.54
indeed it also stretches towards the Iapygian land.
  From there the swell of the Adriatic salt-sea grows wide and
stretches to the north, creeping again to the western corner,
and those dwelling nearby also call it the Ionian sea.
It pours forth onto two lands. As one travels,
on the right there appears the Illyrian land,
and Dalmatia above, province of warlike men.
On the left extends the immense isthmus of the Ausonians,

50
D.’s location of the Pillars of Herakles is somewhat vague.
51
This promontory is now Capo dell’Armi at the toe of Italy.
52
i.e. Etruscan.   53 i.e. eastwards.
54
‘Kriou Metopon’, the SW tip of Crete (as distinct from Kriou Metopon in the Black Sea, ll. 153,
312).
772 • 28 dionysios periegetes

far-reaching, and surrounded by three Amphitrites,

100 the Tyrrhenian, the Sicilian, and the brimming Adriatic.
Each one stretches its channel in the direction of a wind,
the Tyrrhenian to Zephyros, the Sicilian to Notos, the Adriatic to Euros.55
  But beyond the soil of Sicily the main flows towards Libyē
raising crested waves, winding about the southern Syrtis,56
the one which they also name the Wider Syrtis.
The other one,57 which has a lesser path, being an inlet,
receives the flood of the main making its way from afar.
So do the two bays thunder as they twist and turn,
Even as the wave of Crete stretches from the
110 Mountains of Sicily far to the east, as far as the headland, the
Eastern cape of Crete, as they say, Salmonis.
  Double seas next further ahead tremble,
Ismaric Boreas’ blasts driving them
Onward, blowing straight at them, for they lie opposite.
Navigators call the first the Pharian salt-sea58
Up to the furthest cape of Kasion stretching;
117 Sidonian the other,59 where stretching into the land’s recess
119 Issos’ boundless main does northward drive,60
120 Outstretching not far in this direction; for it halts directly
Under the dark bend of the Kilikians’ land.
Then it disgorges its crooked salt-water to the west (zephyros).
On, as a grim-looking serpent winds, coiled and creeping,
Now sluggish, and beneath it the summit of a mountain is crushed
Entirely as it moves—so that gulf winds in the salt-sea, full-flowing,
Now and again weighed down by the flooding waters.
The Pamphylians dwell around its flood-waters,
Over to where it reaches the Chelidonian islands.
So it has as its boundary far in the west the summit of Patara.
130   Figure61 now, turning from there again to the north,
A broad path of the Aegean main, where the waves

55
Notos is the south wind; Euros here, it seems, is the east wind.
56
The Great Syrtis (Gulf of Sidra).   57 The Lesser Syrtis (Gulf of Gabès).
58
The Egyptian sea, called ‘Pharian’ after the island of Pharos at Alexandria. The co-occurrence of
‘Pharian’ here and ‘Pharou’ as part of the acrostic (130–4) is hardly coincidental.
59
D. again uses metonymy to refer to the Phoenician sea by way of the Phoenician city of Sidon.
60
I have here excluded the preceding line, included in my 2002 trans. (Khan 2002, 200–44) and in
Lightfoot’s trans.: ‘To Issos city, going along the Kilikians’ land’. In Greek it begins with an iota, which
would make the name in the acrostic Dionysiiou. For arguments in favour of excluding it rather than
the present line, see Amato 2004, 1–4; Jane L. Lightfoot 2014, 289.
61
For ‘F’ understand ‘PH’. It has so far proved impossible to find a suitable word beginning with ph
with which to begin this line.
 text • 773

Round the Sporades islands thunder as they break.

Other paths of the Amphitrite, roaring
Up high, do not raise waves like this one.
It sets its limit at furthest Tenedos,
with Imbros on the other side, whence there goes a narrow strait,
sweeping northward within all Propontis.
Above this the countless tribes of the land of Asia extend
towards the south, for it reaches a wide isthmus of land.
140 After this is the mouth of the Thracian Bosporos,
which Io, as a young heifer, once swam at Hera’s
prompting. That is the narrowest strait of all
the others, which the stormy sea holds,
where the story goes that the pitiless Dark Rocks62
range in the salt-sea and clash against one another with a resounding din.
  From here opens up and spreads the nearby Pontos.
It is vast, and vast is its creeping span into the heart
of the east. Its paths run on obliquely,
always looking to the north and to the east.
150 In the middle, on this side and that, rise two peaks,
one to the far south, which they call Karambis,
the other further north, above the European land,
which those who dwell round about call the Ram’s Brow.63
These two meet face to face, although they are not
close, but as far apart as a ship might reach on the third day.
From here you could also see that the Pontos is two seas,
and resembles the cord of a rounded bow in its curvature.
Now the right-hand side of the Pontos would be the bow-string,
drawn straight, but Karambis is alone,
160 standing outside the line, and looking to the north.
The left-hand path has the shape of horns. It is bent
in a double curve, like the horns of a bow.
To its north the waters of Lake Maiotis
spread. Around this dwell the Skythians,
men of countless number, and they call it the Mother of the Pontos.
For from this flows the measureless water of the Pontos
straight through the Kimmerian Bosporos, on which
many Kimmerians dwell beneath the cold foot of the Tauros.
Such, then, is the shape of the dark-shining Amphitrite.
170   Now I shall recall the form of the whole Earth,

62
The Symplegades rocks are within the Thracian Bosporos.
63
‘Kriou Metopon’ (cf. 312), as opposed to the one in Crete (90).
774 • 28 dionysios periegetes

so that, even without seeing it, still you should have a distinct view,
and as a result of this you should be honoured and well respected,
as you explain the details to the man of ignorance.
  Well, then, Libyē goes creeping to the south,
to the south and east, like a trapezium in form.
Beginning first from Gadeira, where the point
is sharp and reaches into the heart of the Ocean.
A wider boundary is marked near the Arabian sea,
where lies the land of the dark Aithiopes,
180 the other ones,64 close to whom stretches the soil of the Eremboi.65
Men say that the continent is like a leopard-skin,
for indeed it is dry and parched,
and dotted here and there with dark spots.
  So, then, below the outermost point there dwell
near the Pillars the peoples of the Maurousian land.66
After them there stretch the countless nations of Nomads,
where the Masaisylioi and country-dwelling Masyleës67
go to pasture with their children through plain and forest
chasing a grim and wretched hunt for sustenance.
190 For they do not know the cleft of the earth-parting plough
and they never hear the sweet sound of the carriage’s course,
nor the lowing of cattle, returning to their pens.
But they just herd through the thickets, like wild animals,
ignorant of corn and unaware of the harvest.
After them Carthage embraces her lovely harbour,68
Carthage, now Libyan, but once Phoenician,
Carthage, which the story says was measured with an ox-hide.
Next the Syrtis rolls its strong-flowing course,
the Lesser Syrtis. After this towards the sunlight the other flows,

64
D. seems to allude here to Homer Od. 1. 23–4, which lines were a subject of debate among Homer-
ic scholars (Strabo 1. 2. 24–8, C31–5). Pliny asserts that Homer was right to distinguish two Aethiopi-
ae, one in the E and one in the W (5. viii. 43).
65
The Eremboi are first attested at Homer Od. 4. 84. Their identification was another subject of con-
cern for Homeric scholars (see Strabo 1. 1. 3, C2; 1. 2. 34–5, C41–2). According to Strabo, their name
was derived from the fact that they lived in caves, and they were therefore probably to be identified
with the Trogodytai, whom he situates on the W coast of the Erythraian sea (mod. Red Sea), on the
borders of Egypt and Aithiopia.
66
For the Maurousioi occupying NW Libyē, see e.g. Strabo 17. 3. 2, C825–6; Pliny 5. i. 17.
67
On the Masaisylioi and Masyleës, see Strabo 2. 5. 33, C131; 17. 3. 7–9, C828–30; and Pliny 5. i. 17,
who indicates that the former became extinct and their land occupied by the Gaitouloi.
68
Carthage is the first of four places to receive special emphasis in the poem. After Carthage, D.
highlights the Tiber and Rome (350–6), then the Rhebas (794–6), and finally Ilion or Troy (815–19)
using the same device of epanalepsis and repeating the place-name three times in each case but the
last, where Ilion is repeated four times.
 text • 775

200 immense, burdened as it is by fuller floods.

Here, when the Tyrrhenian Amphitrite raises its crested waves,
sometimes the flood rises high, and sometimes, in turn,
the ebb-tide runs over the dry sands.
In the middle of these two is set a city,
which they call Neapolis. Inland of this
the Lotus-eaters dwell, a people who welcome strangers.69
Here the wily Odysseus once came in his wanderings.
In that region you might view the deserted homes
of the Nasamones70 who have perished,
210 for the Ausonian spear destroyed this people who paid no heed to Zeus.71
After them are the Asbystai, inland,72
and the precinct of the Libyan god,73 beneath thick sand,
and Kyrene of the fine horses, seat of the Amyklaians.74
Nearby are the Marmaridai who extend before Egypt,
and the Gaitouloi beyond them and the neighbouring Nigretes.75
Next after these are the Phaurousioi,76 and beyond them the land
is inhabited by the innumerable Garamantes.77
The remote corners
of the continent feed the furthermost Aithiopes,78
by the Ocean itself, beside the vales of farthest Kerne.79

69
For the Lotus-eaters as a historical people situated near the Syrtes, see also e.g. Hdt. 4. 177, Strabo
17. 3. 17, C834; Pliny 5. iv. 28, Ps.-Skylax §110.
70
Commonly situated E and S of the Greater Syrtis (see e.g. Hdt. 2. 32–3; Ps.-Skyl. §109; Strabo 2. 5.
33, C131; Pliny 5. v. 33–4).
71
The only Roman defeat of the Nasamones which the surviving sources relate is that under Domi-
tian in ad 86 (see e.g. Dio 67. 4. 6).
72
On this people in Cyrenaica, see e.g. Hdt. 4. 170; Pliny 5. v. 34; Strabo 2. 5. 33, C131.
73
The temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwa, once famous for its oracle (Hdt. 1. 46, 2. 55; Strabo 1. 3. 4,
C50; etc.).
74
For ‘Amyklaian’, see n. on l. 13. On Kyrene and the neighbouring Marmaridai (below), see Pliny 5.
v. 33; Strabo 2. 5. 33, C131; 17. 3. 23, C838.
75
The Gaitouloi lived inland from the Lesser Syrtis. The Nigretes or Nigritai were further W but pos-
sibly in proximity to the Melanogaitouloi.
76
This people are similarly mentioned in connection with the Nigretes by Strabo 17. 3. 7, C828.
Pha(ou)rousioi was another name for the Gymnetes, according to Pliny (5. viii. 43).
77
The Garamantes may have been further N, inland from the Greater Syrtis.
78
D. here presumably refers to the western Aithiopes. Cf. Strabo 17. 3. 7, C828, for the Phaurousioi
and Nigretes as dwelling near them.
79
D. here appears to situate Kerne on the mainland, and indeed he does not mention it in his discus-
sion of the islands. Most other ancient writers, however, refer to it as an island, although they differ as
to its position. For example, Pliny tells us that Polybios and others situate it off the W coast of Libyē,
in the Atlantic ocean, while he himself describes it as lying in the Aithiopian sea, S of Libyē (6. xxxvi.
98; cf. Ps.-Skyl. §112. 5–6 for earlier evidence of the view supported by Pliny). Diodoros does relate an
account by Dionysios Skytobrachion (BNJ 32 F 7), who, like the Periegete, appears to place Kerne on
the mainland. It seems clear that there was no consensus as to its whereabouts. Indeed, Strabo 1. 3. 2,
C47–8, questions its existence altogether.
776 • 28 dionysios periegetes

220 Above them there rise the peaks of the smoky Blemyes,80
Down from which flow the waters of the most fertile Nile,
which, as it creeps from Libyē towards the east,
is called Siris81 by the Aithiopes. But the inhabitants of Syene,
once it has turned, change its name to Nile.
From there stretching towards the north, this way and that,
it winds through seven mouths and falls into the salt-sea,
enriching with its waters the fertile plain of Egypt.
For of all the rivers none is like the Nile,
not in depositing silt, nor in increasing the wealth of the land.
230   This river also divides Libyē from the land of Asia,
to the Lips82 Libyē, and to the sunlight the Asian land.
Beside it dwells a race of most illustrious men,
who were the first to distinguish the ways of life,
the first to put the beloved plough to the test,
and scatter seed over the straightest furrow,
and the first to divide the heavenly pole with lines,
considering at heart the oblique course of the sun.
May I voice the limits and form of their land itself,
for it has been allotted no small share of honour,
240 and it is of no small size, but beyond others
it abounds in pasture and meadows, and yields every glory.
Its shape, then, rests on three sides.
  It is broad around the northern shores, but pointed towards the east,83
and stretches as far as high-peaked Syene,
fenced on both sides by sheltering mountains,
through the middle of which pour the waters of the fair-flowing Nile.
And many prosperous men occupy this land,
as many as inhabit glorious Thebes,
ancient Thebes, with a hundred gates, where, with a loud cry,
250 Memnon welcomes his mother, Dawn, as she rises.84

80
The ancient sources differ somewhat as to the precise location of this people. According to Strabo
17. 1. 2, C786 = Eratosthenes 89, they lived either side of the Nile, between the island of Meroë and the
Red Sea. Strabo later mentions them among the nomadic Aithiopian peoples inhabiting S Egypt (17. 1.
53). Mela too makes them nomadic (1. 4), but, like Pliny (5. viii. 44), locates them in the interior of the
continent.
81
Or Giris, Pliny 5. x. 53.    82 The south-west wind.
83
According to Eustathios, and consistent with D.’s use of similar phrases in ll. 332, 421, and 437, he
uses ‘dawn’ here to refer to the south and Thebes.
84
The Greeks identified the colossus of Amenophis III in front of the Memnoneion near Thebes with
Memnon, the son of Eos. After the colossus was damaged by an earthquake, it would reportedly give
out a sound at sunrise (Strabo 17. 1. 46, C816).
 text • 777

As many too as inhabit the midmost land of the Seven Cities,85

and as many as there are on the moist shores of the sea
occupying the coast as far as lake Serbonis.86
To the west of this is the Macedonian city,87
where stands the home of mighty Zeus of Sinope,88
adorned with precious gold. You could not see
another temple more divine than that among men,
nor another city as wealthy, where high up
there appear the summits of Pallenian Eidothea.89
260 Next, towards the east, by the rock of Kasios
the city named after Peleus90 is occupied by a people
exceptionally skilled in seafaring. Those men are not
numbered among the Libyans, for the city allotted them
is situated towards the sunlight91 from the seven-mouthed Nile.
But a great many others inhabit this land,
some by the Ocean, some in the centre of the mainland,
and others around the wide water of Lake Tritonis,92
which embraces a wide gulf in the middle of Libyē.
  Such, then, is the shape and form of Libyē.
270 But if you want an outline of Europe too, I shall not hide it from you.
The shape is the same as that of Libyē, but it is turned
towards the north, and it creeps back towards the east
just as that of the southerly Libyē leans towards the boundary.
Both alike have their furthest track on the border with Asia,
the one to the north, and the other to the south. But if you made
the two of them one land, then altogether
it would be the shape of a cone with two equal sides,
pointed in the west, but broad in the east at the middle.
So, having seen that this is the course of the two
280 continents, you will easily grasp the bounds of Europe.

85
D. coins this term for the Heptanomid, the Roman district of middle Egypt. Cf. Ptolemy 4. 5. 25.
86
Bardawil. See n. on Agathem. i. 3.    87 Alexandria.
88
The Serapeion at Alexandria, originally built under Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 241–221 bc) and
reconstructed in the imperial period, is described by Ammianus Marcellinus as the most magnificent
monument in the world after Rome’s Capitol (22. 16. 2).
89
Probably the lighthouse of Alexandria situated on the island of Pharos, which was said to have
been the home of Proteus and his daughter Eidothea by Torone of Pallene (for which see l. 327 below).
The scholiast and Eustathios, however, suggest that the reference may be to the Antipharos in Tapho-
siris.
90
Pelousion.   91 i.e. the east.
92
The precise location of this lake was disputed in antiquity, although it was commonly situated
near the Mediterranean coast (see e.g. Hdt. 4. 178; Strabo 17. 3. 20, C836). It may have been near the
Greater Syrtis.
778 • 28 dionysios periegetes

  At its furthest borders there dwell,

near the Pillars, the nation of brave-hearted Iberians,
reaching across the length of the land, where lies the cold
stream of the northern Ocean, where the Britons
and the white tribes of the war-mad Germans dwell,
running beside the massifs of the Hercynian forest.93
They say that that land is like an ox-hide.
After the Iberians are Mount Pyrene and the homes of the Keltoi,
near the springs of the fair-flowing Eridanos,94
290 beside the streams of which once in the solitary night
the Heliades cried, lamenting Phaëthon.
There the children of the Keltoi, seated beneath the poplars,
milk the tears of gold-gleaming amber.
Next after this are the haunts of the Tyrrhenian land.95
To the east of this appears the start of the Alp,
through the middle of which flow down the waters of the Rhine,
towards the furthermost tide of the northern Amphitrite.
Next after the Rhine there rises the sacred Istros96
itself, turned to the east as far as the Euxine
300 sea, where it emits all the foam of its water,
winding around Peuke with its mouth of five channels.97
  To its north dwell very many scattered tribes
which succeed one another as far as the mouth of Lake Maiotis:
Germans and Samatai98 and Getai together with Bastarnai,99
and the boundless land of the Dakai and the mighty Alans,100

93
In antiquity this forest was situated as far S as the Pyrenees by some (see the scholia ad loc.) and as
far N as the N coast of Germany by others (see e.g. Diod. Sic. 5. 21). Its exact location remains unclear.
94
The river was identified variously with the Rhodanos (Rhône) and Padus (Po), singly and together.
‘Eridanos’ is an alternative name for the Po.
95
D. is unusual in omitting Liguria (cf. e.g. Ap. Rhod. 4. 647, Ps.-Skyl. §§3–4, Strabo 2. 5. 28, C128).
It is possible he uses ‘Tyrrhenia’ here for Italy as opposed to the administrative region of Tyrrhenia
or Etruria. However, see ll. 347–50, where the Tyrrhenians or Etruscans are distinguished from other
peoples of Italy.
96
The Danube.
97
Peuke was the name given to a southern promontory and an ‘island’ within the delta. D.’s descrip-
tion suggests that he, like Apollonios of Rhodes (4. 309–13), may apply the name to the entire delta.
98
Probably the Sarmatai, as the scholia here suggest.
99
For the Getai as occupying the lower stretch of the Istros, see e.g. Strabo 7. 3. 13–14, C305. For the
Bastarnai as occupying Peuke and an area NW of the delta, see e.g. Strabo 7. 2. 4, C294.
100
For this area (a shore or promontory), see n. to Arrian 21. 1; Eux. §§87, 93–5. For the Dacians,
who occupied a vast area, as probably a Thracian people like the Getai, see Strabo 7. 3. 12–13, C304–5.
The Alans were a Skythian people sometimes identified with the Massagetai (see e.g. Amm. Marc. 23.
5. 16, Dio 69. 15, and Ptolemy 3. 5. 7).
 text • 779

and the Tauroi, who inhabit the lofty Racetrack of Achilles,101

Slender both and long, as far as the mouth of the lake itself.
The Agauoi102 tribe extends above them, rich in horses.
Even the Melanchlainoi103 and the Hippemolgoi,
310 Neuroi, Hippopodes,104 Gelonoi,105 and Agathyrsoi.106 Here
Extends the far-reaching stream of the Borysthenes river,107
mixing with the Euxine before the Ram’s Brow,108
directly in a line opposite the Kyaneai.
Here the waters of the Aldeskos109 and Pantikapes110
roar each in their own corner of the Rhipaian mountains.111
Beside them, near the waters of the Frozen Sea112
sweet-gleaming amber swells, like a beam
of the waxing moon, and nearby you might see
diamonds all-a-glitter beside the cold Agathyrsoi.
320   So many, then, are the peoples north of the Istros,
while to the south are the Gerrhai113 and the obscure towns of the Norikoi,114
and Pannonians and Mysians,115 north of the Thracians,
and the Thracians themselves, who inhabit a limitless land,116
some on the shores of the Amphitrite of the Propontis,

101
On the Tauroi as once occupying the greater part of the Chersonesos and continuing to occupy
pockets of the peninsula and neighbouring regions on the Euxine, see Hdt. 4. 11; Strabo 7. 4. 2–5,
C308–11; Ptolemy 3. 6 Stückelberger–Graßhoff; Mela 2. 1. The ‘Racetrack’ (Dromos) of Achilles was
an elongated peninsula NW of the Chersonesos, though sometimes confused with Achilles’ Island (cf.
Arr. §§20. 1 and 21. 2 with nn.; Eux. 87 and 93). The following five lines describing the peninsula and
the surrounding peoples include a ‘gamma’ acrostic (στενή–stenē), which D. appears to use not only as
a nod to Homer (see Counillon 1981), but also as a programmatic statement by way of a reference to
Aratos’ Phainomena, on which connection see Khan 2004.
102
In referring to the Agauoi and Hippemolgoi (below) as two separate peoples D. is alluding to
Homer, Il. 13. 1–6, and the debate over which of these two forms is to be taken as an adjective and
which a proper noun. An alternative reading here is Alanoi.
103
This people, like the Neuroi below, are situated by Herodotos on the N borders of Skythia (4. 17–20).
104
This people is treated as historical and also grouped with the Melanchlainoi, Gelonoi, and Agath-
yrsoi as occupying the same region of Skythia by Ptolemy (3. 5. 10).
105
Herodotos appears to locate this people further E (4. 108–9).
106
This people is situated N of Skythia.    107 The Dnieper.   108 Cf. l. 153.
109
The only earlier extant reference to this river is in Hesiod’s catalogue (Theog. 345).
110
Herodotos (4. 54), Pliny (4. xii. 83), and Mela (2. 1) describe this river as joining the Borysthenes
near the Racetrack of Achilles.
111
These mountains were widely associated with the mythical Hyperboreans (see e.g. Mela 3. 5), and
located to the far north of the inhabited world. The mountains themselves are treated as mythical by
Strabo 7. 3. 1, C295.
112
Cf. l. 32.
113
There is no other surviving reference to these Gerrhai. Some editors have therefore been tempted
to emend the text (see Bernhardy ad loc.).
114
According to Pliny, the Norikoi were previously known as the Tauriskoi (3. xx. 133; see also 3.
xxiv. 146), located in the Roman province of Noricum.
115
Mysia is here the Roman province of Moesia, not the region in NW Asia Minor.
116
The exact boundaries of the province of Thrace, particularly in the W, seem to have been unclear.
780 • 28 dionysios periegetes

some beside the strong-flowing Hellespont, and others

beside the deep wave of the loud-roaring Aegean sea itself.
Here on the summits of bee-feeding Pallene,117
springs the beautiful asterios stone, which glows
like a star, and the lychnis, just like a flame of fire.
330   So many are the peoples who dwell round the river Istros.
Consider now the remaining path of Europe,
which extends towards the east on three foundations, the Iberians’,
the Panhellenes’, and that of the very Ausonians.
  Well, then, the outermost is that of the illustrious Iberians,
neighbours of the Ocean to the west. On it stands
the summit of Alybe,118 one of the Pillars. Below this
is lovely Tartesos,119 land of affluent men,
and the Kempsoi,120 who dwell by the foot of Pyrene.
  In the middle of the other two extends the Ausonian cape,
340 far-reaching. A mountain cuts it in two down the middle,
straight, as though it had been aligned with a ruler. No
skilled servant of artful Athene would find fault with it.
This they call the Apennine, and beginning from the
Alp in the north it ends at the Strait of Sicily.
Many tribes dwell around it, and I shall easily tell you of them all,
beginning on the west (zephyritis) side from the north.
The Tyrrhenians121 are first, and after them are the tribes of the Pelasgians,122
who once came from Kyllene123 to the western salt-sea,

117
Pallene, the westernmost of the three peninsulas to project into the Aegean from Chalkidike, was
also known as Phlegra.
118
Although the scholia on l. 64 indicate that Charax of Pergamon gave this as the name for the Euro-
pean Pillar of Herakles, the pillar was commonly called Kalpe, while the African Pillar was known by
the name Abyla. D. may have had in mind Homer, Il. 2. 856–7, where Alybe is the ‘birthplace of silver’,
given that S. Spain was associated with silver-mining (see e.g. Strabo 3. 2. 8, C146; Pliny 3. iii. 30). The
Homeric lines were the source of some discussion. For D.’s allusions to such Homeric problems see
above on ll. 308 and 333.
119
The name of a river near Cádiz, and also a city which stood between its mouths according to Stra-
bo 3. 2. 11, C149; Pausanias 6. 19. 3; Nikomedean Periodos 162–6; Avienus, OM 283–5; et al. Certain
ancient authors identified the city of Tartessos with the site at Cádiz (Pliny 4. xxii. 120; Avien. Descrip-
tio orbis 610–16, OM 265–72). Others attributed the name to a town known also as Karteia (Pliny 3. i.
7; Mela 2. 6), Karpe(i)a (Strabo 3. 2. 14, C151; Pausanias 6. 19. 3) or Karpessos (Appian, Iberike 2 and
63), situated beside Mt Kalpe, the Pillar of Herakles, with which it was sometimes apparently assimilat-
ed (Itin. Anton. 406. 3; Strabo 3. 1. 7, C145; Nik. Dam. BNJ 90 F127. 23).
120
The only other surviving references to this people are by Avienus, who describes them as inhabit-
ing Ophioussa in NW Iberia: OM 195–201, 255–9, 301–2.
121
The Etruscans.
122
This Greek people was sometimes identified with the Tyrrhenians (see e.g. Dion. Hal. 1. 28) and
sometimes said to have displaced the Tyrrhenians (see e.g. Pliny 3. v. 71, Strabo 5. 2. 3, C220).
123
Probably Mt Kyllene in Arkadia. See Strabo 5. 2. 4, C220–1, for the tradition that the Pelasgians
originated in Arkadia.
 text • 781

where they settled with the Tyrrhenian men.

350   After them comes the dread nation of the noble Latins,
who inhabit a lovely land, through the middle of which
the Thymbris124 winds, casting its pure stream into the salt-sea,
the fair-flowing Thymbris, most regal of all rivers,
the Thymbris which divides in two beloved Rome,
Honoured Rome, the great home of my lords,
the mother of all cities, rich abode.
  After this is the fertile plain of the Campanians, where
stands the home of chaste Parthenope,125 laden with sheaves of corn,
Parthenope, whom the sea welcomed in its embrace.
360 To the south, some way beyond the Siren’s Rock,126
appear the streams of the Pikentine Silaros.127
Nearby are the men of the Leukanoi and the Brentioi,
who inhabit the land as far as the White Rock.128
From there to the north appears the cape of Zephyros,129
below it are the Lokroi,130 all those who in years gone by,
came to Ausonia, after coupling with their ladies.
Even now their people dwell by the streams of the Alēx.131
Next after them are the Metapontioi, and near them
the beloved city of well-crowned Kroton,
370 situated by the waters of the charming Aisaros,
where you might see the lofty home of Lakinian Hera.132
There too, at the anger of mighty Zeus
is wretched Sybaris, mourning her fallen inhabitants,
who were overly mad for Alpheios’ honours.133

124
The R. Tiber.    125 A poetic name for Naples.
126
The Sirens were sometimes associated with the Cape of Minerva (see e.g. Strabo 1. 2. 13, C22–3),
so that the rock mentioned may be the Cape of Minerva itself (as Pliny 3. v. 62) or the Kapreai just off
the cape (as Servius ad Aen. 5. 684). The cape is Punta Campanella at the tip of the Sorrento peninsula,
where there is a temple of Minerva–Athena.
127
The river formed the N border of Lucania (see e.g. Strabo 5. 4. 13, C251; Pliny 3. v. 38). Between
the Silaros and the Cape of Minerva was the Ager Picentinus (Pliny 3. v. 70), to which D. presumably
alludes here.
128
Leukopetra was the name of a promontory on the outermost tip of the Bruttian peninsula.
129
Zephyrion was the name of the promontory lying across from Leukopetra in the bay of Bruttium.
130
A reference to Lokroi Ephizephyrioi, which lay N of Zephyrion on the Bruttian coast.
131
The precise identification of the R. Alex or Halex, first mentioned by Thucydides (3. 99), is uncer-
tain. Strabo 6. 1. 9, C260, tells us that it divided Lokroi from Rhegion. It was at the tip of the Bruttian
peninsula.
132
A temple to Hera was situated on C. Lakinion, SE of Kroton. According to Livy the temple was
more famous than Kroton itself (24. 3).
133
There are various accounts of the hubris of the inhabitants of Sybaris and it is not entirely clear to
which of these accounts D. is alluding here. The scholia and Eustathios ad loc. suggest that the allusion
is to the story that the Sybarites stole offerings made to the R. Alpheios of Olympia. In another account
782 • 28 dionysios periegetes

The Saunitai134 after them inhabit the middle territory,

and the nimble tribes of the Marsoi.135 Taras136 lies near the salt-sea,
which strong Amyklaian Ares once built.137
Next after these are the haunts of the Calabrian land
and the tribes of the Iapyges reaching as far as Hyrion,138
380 by the salt-sea, Hyrion, where the flood of the Adriatic flows
to the neighbouring sea of Aquileia where stands
the city of the Tegestraioi, on the edges of the innermost sea.139
  So many are the nations who inhabit the Ausonian land.
From there to the sunlight140 the winding salt-sea flows,
brushing at the Libyrnian shores,141 and around all the
fortified country of the Hylloi,142 all that lies beside the isthmus,
and the coasts of the Boulimeis.143 Onward it drives its immense course,
winding to the Illyrian land as far as the peak
and the steep mountains, which they call the Keraunians.144
390 Moreover in that region you might see the famous tomb,
the tomb which rumour has it belongs to Kadmos and Harmonia.
For it was there that they were changed into coiled snakes,145
when they came from Ismenos in their rich old age.
Here the gods brought about another miracle for them.
For in that region, on either side two rocks stand firmly fixed,
which both tremble and come together, whenever any
ill begins to threaten those who dwell there.146
  To the south, quite far below147 fertile Thrace

attributed to Herakleides of Pontos the Sybarites are described as having established a festival to com-
pete with that at Olympia (12. 522c–d = Timaios, BNJ 566 F45). D.’s reference to Zeus may suggest
that it is this tradition to which he alludes.
134
i.e. Samnites.
135
For the Samnites and Marsi, near L. Fucinus (as Livy 26. 11. 11; Strabo 5. 3. 13, C240; etc.).
136
Tarentum.   137 Taras was a Spartan colony.
138
Probably Hyria, Uria, or Urion in Apulia, on the N shores of the Garganum promontory.
139
Also called Tergeste and Trieste.    140 i.e. the east.
141
The coastal region between Histria and Dalmatia.
142
Ptolemy lists the Hyllaioi among the peoples occupying the Illyrian coast (2. 16. 5). The Hylloi are
similarly listed among the peoples of Illyria by Ps.-Skyl. §22 and Nik. 405–12, who make them inhabit-
ants of a peninsula almost as large as the Peloponnese. The promontory of Hyllis is below Liburnia on
the Dalmatian coast, occupied by the Hylloi and Boulinoi (see on the Boulimeis below).
143
See again Ptolemy 2. 16. 5, Ps.-Skyl. §22, and Nik. 404 for the Boulimeis or Boulinoi as neighbours
of the Hyllaioi or Hylloi.    144 Coastal mountain range, just N of Epeiros.
145
For the Illyrian metamorphosis of Kadmos and Harmonia into snakes, see Apollodoros 3. 5. 4;
Eurip. Bacch. 1330–2; Nicander, Ther. 607–9; et al. For the descendants of K. and H. ruling over the
Illyrian Encheleis, see Hdt. 5. 61, 9. 43; Strabo 7. 7. 8, C326 (Encheleioi). On them and their relation-
ship to similarly names peoples, see Proeva 2021.
146
Cf. Ps.-Skyl. §24 for the rocks of Kadmos and Harmonia in Illyria. The precise location is unclear.
147
This surely suggests a cartographic perspective.
 text • 783

and beyond the land of Orikia,148 is the beginning of Hellas,

400 stretching far, girded by twin seas,
the Aegean and the Sicilian. Each has been allotted a wind:
the Sicilian sea the western, which they also call Zephyros,
the Aegean the Euros.
      The island of Pelops follows next,
like the tapering leaf of a plane-tree.
For the narrow Isthmus to the north is pinched
like the stem, and is attached to Hellas by a common path.
The land is like a wind-tossed leaf in outline,
wreathed with coastal bays on this side and that.
To its west are the haunts of the Triphylian land,149
410 where the loveliest of rivers, the Alpheios, makes its way
separating itself from the waters of the Messenian Eurotas.150
Both these rivers churn forth their streams from Asea,151
but the one divides the land of the Eleians, and the other that of the
  Amyklaians.
In the middle of the island the Apidanian Arkadians
inhabit a hollow country below the peak of Erymanthos,152
where Melas, where Krathis, where the moist Iaon flows,153
where too ancient Ladon stretches with its waters.154
Nearby is the soil of the Argives and the land of the Lakones,
the one looking to the east, the other to the south.
420 Two seas thunder around the shores of the Isthmus,
one flowing opposite Ephyre155 towards the darkness,
the other towards the dawn. This they call the Saronic.

148
The town of Orikos was located in the bay formed by the Keraunian mountains. It is not clear
what, beyond this town, D. intends as the ‘land of Orikia’.
149
Triphylia was a small region on the W coast of the Peloponnese, S of Elis.
150
Although the Eurotas flowed through Laconia and Sparta, E of Messenia, Strabo, in discuss-
ing Homeric geography, suggests that Messenia and Laconia were once considered as one (8. 3. 29,
C352–3; 8. 4. 1, C358–9). This was certainly the case during the period of Spartan rule over Messenia,
when the political name for the combined territory was Lakonike.
151
An Arkadian town near Megalopolis, where the Alpheios and Eurotas were said to have flowed as
one (Strabo 8. 3. 12, C343; Pausanias 8. 44. 4 and 54. 2).
152
The name was shared by a river and mountain range in N. Arkadia.
153
All three rivers are named in Kallimachos, Hymn 1. His reference to the Iaon in verse 22 of the
hymn is the earliest extant reference and the river’s identification remains obscure. Similarly the
­Arkadian Melas is first attested in l. 123 of the same hymn, and has proved difficult to identify with
any certainty. The R. Krathis, however, is first attested by Herodotos, who locates it in Aigai in Achaia
(1. 145).
154
The Ladon is the first of the rivers named in Kallimachos’ catalogue of Arkadian rivers (H. 1.
18). It is first attested at Hesiod, Theog. 344. According to Strabo it flowed into the Alpheios (8. 3. 12,
C343).
155
Corinth.
784 • 28 dionysios periegetes

  Beyond the Isthmus to the sunlight lies the Attic land,

through which flows the stream of the divine Ilissos.
It was from here too that Boreas once snatched Oreithyia.
After this there is the plain of the Boiotians and the Lokrian soil,
and Thessaly is after these and the cities of Macedonia.
After this there appear the summits of snowy Haimos156
in Thrace. Facing this towards the blast of the Zephyros
430 the immense land of Dodona157 is crowned.
Beyond this, below the peak of Arakynthos, the great
plain of the Aitolians goes towards the south.158 Through
the middle sweeps the silver-eddied Acheloös,159 driving its course,
winding to the sea of Trinakria160 through the midst
of the islands, which they call the Echinades.161 There
follow here and there the cities of the neighbouring Kephallenians.162
After this there is the soil of Phokis, towards the east and the dawn,
coursing northwards to the mouth of Thermopylai,
below the cleft of snowy Parnassos. Through the middle
440 of this the great wave of Kephisos descends with a murmur.
Beside this is the fragrant plain of Python,163 where the coil
of the serpent Delphyne lies next to the tripods of the god,
the coil, rough with countless scales,
in the great temple, where often Apollo himself
stops and loosens the cord of his golden quiver,
just back from Miletos or from Klaros.
  So, then, may he be gracious. But you, Muse of Zeus, tell
me of the sacred path of all the islands, which appear in
the sea before men’s eyes, facing this way and that.
450 Well, then, in the middle beneath the western Pillars
furthest Gadeira appears before men,
on a sea-bound island, beside the limits of Ocean.
Here dwells a race of Phoenician men

156
Mt Haimos (i.e. the Balkan range) is NE Macedonia.
157
Renowned for its ancient oracle (see e.g. Strabo 7. 7. 9–12, C327–9; Pausanias 10. 12. 10), Dodona
is in central Epeiros.
158
Mt Arakynthos is in the SW corner of Aitolia (mod. Zygos).
159
The Acheloös flows through W. Aitolia and exits into the Ionian sea.
160
‘Three-cape’, i.e. Sicily.
161
These islands off the Aitolian coast are described as gradually becoming assimilated by mainland
Greece as the mouth of the Acheloös became silted up (Hdt. 2. 10; Thuc. 2. 102; Ps.-Skyl. §34; Strabo
10. 2. 19, C458–9).
162
The Kephallenians were held to have occupied various islands in the Ionian sea, including Kephal-
lenia itself, and mainland Akarnania also (see Hom. Il. 2. 634).
163
Delphi.
 text • 785

who worship mighty Zeus’ son, Herakles.

This island too, which among men of old
was called Kotinoussa, the inhabitants call Gadeira.
Next are the Gymnesian islands.164 Nearby there is Bousos,165
and broadest Sardo, and Kyrnos lovely in the salt-sea,
which the people who live there call Korsis.166
460 There is no forest which is as vast as that.
After this the islands of Aiolos form a circle in the salt-sea,
Aiolos, son of Hippotas, the king who welcomes strangers,
Aiolos, who was allotted gifts wondrous among men,
the command of the winds as they rage and as they rest.
He has seven, named by men the Plotai,167
because in their midst they have a winding path that may be sailed around.
After these Trinakria168 extends beyond the land
of the Ausonians, standing on three sides.
its headlands are Pachynos, Peloris, and Lilybe.
470 So, then, Lilybe rises up into the blast of the Zephyros,
Pachynos is towards the sunlight, and towards the north
lies windy Peloris, looking at Ausonia.
To its north the passage is deadly for sailors,
narrow and winding and unruly, where the sea
as it flows thunders about the high rocks,
the sea pierced by the many-barbed Aonian iron.169
To the south is the path of Libyē and the beginning of the Syrtis,
the one. The other you might see as you made your way further,
the western one. Before this there are two islands,
480 Meninx and Kerkinna, occupying the Libyan anchorage.
But whenever you sail the left-hand path of the Adriatic
Amphitrite in your ship, to the Iapygian land,
you will immediately find the island of mighty Diomedes,170
where the hero came, after enraging Aphrodite,
when he sought the nation of the furthest Iberes,
at the advice of his wife, ill-minded Aigialeia.

164
The Balearic islands.   165 Bousos or Ebousos is Ibiza.   166 Sardinia and Corsica.
167
‘Navigable Isles’. The Aiolian or Liparaian Is. seem to have been known by various names (Pliny 3.
viii. 92).
168
Lit. ‘Three-capes’, i.e. Sicily.
169
The reference appears to be to Poseidon’s trident via the poeticism for Boiotian, ‘Aonian’ (cf.
Kallimachos, Hymns 4. 75). For Boiotian Onchestos as site of a famous sanctuary of Poseidon, see e.g.
Pausanias 9. 26. 5.
170
The islands of Diomedes are off the S coast of Italy in the Adriatic. For the connection of the
­Homeric hero with these islands, cf. Nik. 425; Strabo 5. 1. 9, C215; 6. 3. 9, C283–4.
786 • 28 dionysios periegetes

Next after this passage towards the rays of the sun,

there appears the immense course of the islands of Apsyrtes,171
which the sons of the Kolchoi once invaded, when they took pains
490 in searching after the traces of the errant daughter of Aietes.
Next after these the Libyrnian islands stand rooted.
To the south, after the Keraunian forests, before the passing ship,
there would appear on the far side the islands of the Amprakians,
and fertile Kerkyra,172 beloved land of Alkinoös.
After this is fixed the seat of Nerikian Ithaca,173
and of all the other islands that Acheloös flowing
from Chalkis creeps about with silver eddies.
Many can be seen to the north of Amnisos:174
Aigila, and Kythera and rugged Kalauria.175
500 Karpathos is on the other side. Towards the darkness, nearby,
is Crete full of honour, mighty Zeus’ nurse-maid,
great and fertile and abounding in pastures, above which is Ida,
Ida, lush under its fair-tressed oaks.
Its size too is indeed immense. Opposite the foot
of Egypt is Rhodes, land of the Ialysian men.176
After this to the east are the Chelidoniai,177
three islands inside the great promontory of Patara.178
To the sunlight, in the Pamphylian gulf, Cyprus
is washed by the sea, the lovely land of Dionaian Aphrodite.179
510 Near Phoenicia Arados sits in the great gulf.180
before the peak of Sounion, beyond the Abantes,181
there appear Salamis and the city of Aigina.
  The deep path of the Aegean is a wonder,182

171
Islands N of the Liburnian Is. in the Adriatic.    172 Corfù.
173
Nerikos seems to have been the name of a town on the neighbouring island of Leukas said to have
been captured by Laërtes (Homer, Od. 24. 375–82; Thucydides 3. 7; Strabo 10. 2. 8, C452; et al.).
174
Amnisos was the name of a river on the N shores of Crete, renowned for the nearby sanctuary of
Eileithyia (Homer, Od. 19. 188; Strabo 10. 4. 8, C476; et al.).
175
Aigila and Kythera are in the waters NW of Crete; Kalauria further N, off the shores of Argolis
near Troizen.
176
Ialysos was a polis on the N tip of Rhodes.
177
On the Chelidoniai Is. (Beş Adalar) off SW Lykia, see e.g. Ps.-Skyl. §83, Pliny 5. xxxv. 131, Mela 2.
102.
178
Patara was renowned for its temple of Apollo (Hdt. 1. 182; Strabo 14. 3. 6, C666; et al.), and was
the homeland of the geographer Mnaseas (Ch. 13 above).
179
Cyprus.
180
On this island and city of the same name off the coast of Phoenicia, see Ps.-Skyl. §87, Pliny 5. xvii.
78, et al.
181
The Abantes were a people in Euboia, as D. indicates in l. 520 below.
182
With this line D. introduces the extended acrostic θεὸς Ἑρμῆς ἐπὶ Ἁδριανοῦ (‘the god Hermes in
the time of Hadrian’) which he uses to sign and date his poem (see Introduction on the acrostic of ll.
513–32).
 text • 787

Endless the islands lined on either side in it,

Over to the narrow water of Helle, Athamas’ child, where
Sestos and Abydos each have a harbour facing the other.183
Europe’s islands beneath the left-hand quarter of heaven
Run in order, and those of Asia lie to the right,
Making lengthways for the Bears’ north.
520 Europe also holds Abantian Makris,184
Skyros the windy, and lofty Peparethos.185
Elsewhere Lemnos, the rugged land of Hephaistos,186
Projects, and ancient Thasos, Demeter’s headland (aktē),
Imbros, and Thracian Samos, the city of the Korybantes.187
Asia’s islands that took the first place by lot have encircled
Delos round about, and are called the Cyclades.
Round they all go in their dances, their offerings to Apollo,
In the sweet new spring as it begins, when in the mountains,
Away from people, the clear-voiced nightingale conceives.
530 Next the Sporades islands beam brightly all around,
On a time when stars are seen through cloudless air
Upon swift Boreas’ dispersal of damp mists.
After these are the Ionian islands. Here are Kaunos
and lovely Samos, the abode of Pelasgian Hera,188
and Chios at the foot of steep Pelinnaion.189
From there the mountains of the Aiolian isles appear,
spacious Lesbos, and beloved Tenedos.
From there too the gulf of Melas flows towards the Hellespont,
churning foam. As one goes far to the north,
540 there extends on this side and that the swell of the Propontic sea.
There is also, above the left-hand path of the Euxine,
opposite the Borysthenes, a well-known island in the salt-sea,
the Island of Heroes. They call it by the name of Leuke,190
because the serpents there are white.
There rumour has it the spirits of Achilles and other
heroes roam this way and that through the deserted glens.
This is the gift from Zeus which attends the most noble

183
Sestos and Abydos are on opposite sides of the Hellespont.
184
Makris = ‘Long One’. This poeticism for Euboia is borrowed from Kallimachos, Hymn 4. 20. The
Abantes were said to have occupied the island in antiquity (Homer, Il 2. 536–45; Hdt. 1. 146; Strabo 10.
1. 3, C445, et al.).
185
Skyros and Peparethos are N of Euboia.    186 Lemnos was sacred to Hephaistos.
187
For Samothrake as centre of a mystery cult see Hdt. 2. 51, Dion Hal. 1. 68. 1, Tacitus Ann. 2. 54, et al.
188
Kaunos is on the coast of Lykia. Hera was the patron goddess of the island of Samos.
189
Pelinnaion is the principal mountain on Chios.    190 ‘White’ I. Cf. Ps.-Skyl. §68. 4.
788 • 28 dionysios periegetes

in reward for their virtue. For virtue is allotted a lovely honour.191

As one goes straight up along the Kimmerian Bosporos
550 there is another immense island, which is situated
within Lake Maiotis on the right-hand side,
and on which stand Phainagora and well-built Hermonassa.192
Here dwell the children of the Ionian land.
  These are the islands in the salt-sea famous among men,
but there are others the Ocean’s stream garlands all around.
I would tell of the notable position of these,
and at the foot of which wind each of them lies.
  So, then, there dwell about cattle-rearing Erytheia,193
by the wave of the Atlantic, the god-fearing Aithiopes,
560 noble sons of the Makrobioi,194 who once came here
after the death of proud Geryon. Below the Sacred
cape, which they say is the head of Europe,195
the islands of the Hesperides, the birthplace of tin,196
are inhabited by the rich children of the illustrious Iberians.
There are other islands by the northern shores
of Ocean, twin Bretanides, opposite the Rhine.
For there the river pours forth its last eddy into the salt-sea.
The size of these islands is immense and no other
among all the islands could equal the Bretanides isles.
570 Nearby there is another path of islets, where the wives
of the noble Amnitian197 men on the opposite shores
excitedly perform the sacred rites for Bakchos according to custom,
wreathed with clusters of black-leaved ivy
by night; and the clear sound of the tumult rises.
Not so on the banks of the Thracian Apsynthos
do the Bistonides198 call upon loud-roaring Eiraphiotes;

191
For Leuke as inhabited by the spirit of Achilles see Euripides, Andromache, 1259–62; Pliny 4. xiii.
93; Arrian §21; etc.
192
Phanagoria and Hermonassa are on the Asian side of the Thracian Bosporos.
193
For Erytheia as located near Gadeira see Hdt. 4. 8; Nik. 137; et al. Herakles was said to have killed
Geryon here, after being sent by Eurystheus to steal the monster’s cattle (Hesiod, Theog. 270 and 979;
Eurip. Her. 420; et al.)
194
‘Long-lived’. This people were identified with the Aithiopes by Herodotos (see e.g. Hdt. 3. 21).
195
Cape Hieron (Sacred), the SW tip of Portugal.
196
D. alludes to the alternative name for these islands, the Kassiterides, apparently situating them in
or near Tartessos (cf. above on l. 337).
197
There is no other extant reference to this people. However, cf. the Namnetai at Strabo 4. 2. 1, C190;
Caesar BG 3. 9. 9; Pliny 4. xviii. 107; and the Samnitai at Strabo 4. 4. 6, C198, who occupy an island at
the mouth of the Loire and perform Bacchic rites.
198
For the possible location of this Thracian people and the region of Apsinthis, to which D. presum-
ably refers, see Barr. 51.
 text • 789

not so beside the black-eddying Ganges do the Indians,

with their children, lead the revelry for loud-thundering Dionysos,
not as the women in that spot raise their cries of ‘Euoi’.
580 Cutting further along Ocean’s long path
in your well-built ship you would reach the island of Thoule.199
Here, when the sun reaches the pole of the Bears,
the ever-blazing fire pours forth days and nights alike.
For then it revolves in a more oblique orbit
its rays travelling in a straight descent,
until it moves along its southern path again towards the dark peoples.
But whenever you cleave the deep stream of the Skythian
ocean in your ship, and you turn further towards the eastern salt-sea,
your path leads you to the island of Chryseia,200 where the
590 rising of the bright sun itself is even visible.
Turning from there before the southern headland,
you would immediately come to the island of mighty Kolias,
Taprobane,201 mother of the Asian-born elephants,
beyond which, raised high in the revolution of the heavens,
the fiery Crab spins in a circle in the ether.
This island is very broad in size, and all around
sea-creatures inhabit the shores, beasts of the Erythraian sea,
like lofty mountains. On the ridges
of their backs there rises a long track of spines.
600 May the children of our enemies, as they wander over the sea,
meet these creatures in their travels! For there is no escape
inside their wretched jaws, since it is a gaping chasm.
Often these monsters even gulp down the ship along with the
ship’s very men. For the god (daimōn) has placed myriad ills
on the salt-sea and on land for those who are wicked.
There is further on, outside the Karmanian headland
Ogyris, where lies the tomb of king Erythraios.202
From there you would make your way to the mouth of the Persian salt-sea,
if you set out northwards, and you would come to Ikaros,203

199
For discussion of the existence and location of this island, first recorded by Pytheas and synony-
mous with the extreme north, see e.g. Strabo 2. 5. 8, C115; Pliny 4. xvi. 104; Mela 3. 57.
200
For Chryse(ia) as an island in the Indian Ocean (to which mythical qualities may have been
ascribed), see e.g. Pliny 6. xxiii. 80.
201
The Koliakon promontory is situated across from Taprobane (Sri Lanka).
202
For the island of Ogyris (Hormuz) as site of the tomb of Erythras (as he is usually spelled), see e.g.
Strabo 16. 3. 5, C766; Pliny 6. xxxii. 153.
203
The island of Failaka in the Persian gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates.
790 • 28 dionysios periegetes

610 Ikaros on the sea, where the altars of the goddess Tauropolos,204
full of the steam of burnt sacrifices, bear bitter smoke.
  So many are the islands which Ocean’s stream meets,
the larger islands. But there are countless others,
some in the waters of the Libyan Amphitrite,
some Asian, and some again around the latitude of Europe.
The other islands elsewhere are innumerable. There are
some which are inhabited by men and have a lovely anchorage for ships,
and some which have high cliffs and are not suitable for sailors.
The names of all these it is not easy for me to relate.
620   The shape of Asia is the same as the form of the two
continents, facing in the other direction, like the outline of a cone,
heading little by little towards the furthest nooks of all the east,
where too stand the Pillars of Theban-born Dionysos,
beside the stream of the outermost Ocean,
in the most distant mountains of the Indians, where
the Ganges winds its white water to the Nysaian plain.205
But the size of the Asian land is not so great,
nor is its shape entirely alike. For there is one sea
which guides its stream into those continents,
630 but in Asia there is the great Ocean. For it winds
and pours forth three seething gulfs, casting them inwards:
the Persian, the Arabian, and the Hyrkanian with its deep eddies.
Two in the south, and one looking towards Boreas,206
looking towards Boreas and the Lips,207 neighbour to the
Euxine sea, where countless men dwell all around.
An immense isthmus of land marks the boundary between the two,
stretching here and there in vast plains.
At the centre of all Asia a mountain-range extends,
beginning from the Pamphylian land as far as even the Indians,
640 at times at an angle and winding, and at times in turn
completely straight in its tracks. They call it Tauros,
because it looks like a bull and makes its way with upright horns,
divided here and there into outstretched mountains.

204
Tauropolos was an epithet of Artemis. On this island, like the homonymous island in the Aegean,
as the site of a temple of Apollo and oracle of (Artemis) Tauropolos, see Strabo 16. 3. 2, C766; temple
of Artemis, Arrian, Anab. 7. 20. 3–4.
205
On the tradition that Nysa(ea), where Dionysos was said to have been born (Hom. Hymn 1; Hom.
Il. 6. 130–7; etc.), was an area of N. India see e.g. Strabo 15. 1. 7–8, C687–8; Arrian, Anab. 8. 1. 4–5.
On the Pillars of Dionysos in this same region see e.g. Strabo 3. 5. 6, C171. See also l. 1159 for the
‘Nysaian path’.
206
The north wind.    207 The SW wind.
 text • 791

From there countless rivers flow with a loud din,

some to the north, some to the south, and some towards
the blasts of the Euros and Zephyros. Who could tell the names of them all?
It has not been allotted one name, but in each
valley it has a name. These names might concern those
men who have their homes in the neighbouring country.
650   Now, then, I will go through all the renowned nations
who dwell there. May the Muses lead a most straight path.
  Well, then, near lake Maiotis there dwell
the Maiotai themselves and the nation of the Sauromatai,
noble race of warlike Ares.208 For they are sprung
from that powerful love of the Amazons,
in which they once joined with the men of the Sauromatai,
when they had wandered from their homeland far from the Thermodon.209
Because of this great-hearted children were born too,
who inhabit an immense forest, through the middle of
660 which the Tanaïs sweeps, falling into the middle of the Maiotis.
The river also divides Europe from the Asian land,
to the west Europe, and to the sunlight the land of Asia.
Its springs roar in the Caucasian mountains
far away. Broad, it rushes here and there
running over the Skythian plains.
And, when it seethes in immense waves from the north,
you would see ice freezing in the frost.
Wretched are those who have their homes around that place.
Constantly they suffer the cold snow and excessive frost.
670 Indeed, when the winds bring the fiercest frost,
you could see horses dying before your eyes,
or even mules, or the tribe of field-dwelling sheep.
Not even the men themselves would stay unharmed,
those who remained exposed to those blasts.
So they harness up their carts and roam
to another place, leaving the land to the wintry
gales, which rage against them in cruel storms,
and shake the land and the pine-covered mountains.
  So many dwell around the Tanaïs river,
680 while beside the Sauromatai one after another are210

208
These peoples lived E of L. Maiotis.
209
See Hdt. 4. 110–14 for this story of the union of the Amazons and Sarmatai. The Thermodon joins
the Euxine in the region of Pontos.
210
The following lines (681–5), listing the peoples neighbouring the Sarmatai to the S, appear to con-
tain another acrostic, σκοπέ. See Note at end of chapter.
792 • 28 dionysios periegetes

Sindoi and Kimmerioi211 and, bordering on the Euxine,212

Kerketioi, Toretai, and the valiant Achaioi213 whom,
Once on a time, the gusts of the Notos and the Zephyros
Parted from Xanthos and Idaian Simoëis,
Escorting as they were Ares’ son, the king, after the battle.
After them there dwell, inhabitants of the neighbouring land,
the Heniochoi and Zygioi, descendants of the Pelasgian land.214
Beside the furthest nook of the Pontos, after the country of the Tyndaridai,215
there dwell the Kolchoi, settlers from Egypt,
690 near the Caucasus, which rises in lofty mountains
around the Hyrkanian sea.216 Here the Phasis
winds across the flat of the Kirkaian plain,217
and churns its swift foam towards the wave of the Euxine,
beginning first from the Armenian mountain.218
To the east and north of this there lies an isthmus,
the isthmus of the Caspian and Euxine seas.
Here dwells the eastern nation of the Iberians,219
who once came from Pyrene to the east,
when they engaged in a hostile war with the Hyrkanians,
700 and the great tribe of the Kamaritai, who once
received and welcomed Bakchos after his war with the Indians,
and, together with the Lenai, established a sacred dance,
placing loin-cloths and fawn-skins around their middles,
crying ‘Euoi, Bakchos!’ And the god cherished in his
heart the race of those men and their haunts on the land.220

211
D. is referring to the Kimmerian Bosporos and to Sindike on its SE shore.
212
This and the following four lines contain another acrostic, σκοπέ–skope. See Supplementary Note
below (following the translation).
213
For these peoples on the NE shores of the Euxine, see e.g. Strabo 11. 2. 1, C492, and 11. 2. 11–12,
C495–6 (Strabo here offers one of various accounts as to the origins of these Achaians; cf. e.g. Amm.
Marc. 22. 8. 25; Strabo 9. 2. 42, C416).
214
These peoples were E and S of the Euxine. See Strabo 11. 2. 12, C495–6; Pliny 6. v. 16, for the trad-
ition that the Heniochoi were Spartan in origin, descendants of the ‘charioteers’ of Castor and Pollux.
215
D. appears here to refer to the city of Dioskourias, named after Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of
Tyndareus (Appian Mith. 2. 101, Hyginus Fab. 275, et al.).
216
The tradition that the Kolchians were originally from Egypt can be traced back to Herodotos (2.
104–5).
217
Both the R. Phasis on the E shore of the Euxine and the Kirkaian plain recall the voyage of the
Argonauts (see esp. Ap. Rhod 2. 400–1).
218
For the location of the source of the Kolchian Phasis in Armenia, see Strabo 11. 2. 17, C498.
219
On the eastern Iberians as descended from those in the W. Mediterranean, see Strabo 11. 2. 18–19,
C499.
220
On the Kamaritai and the establishment of the rites of Dionysos near the R. Kallichoros in the
same region, see Amm. Marc. 22. 8. 23–4. Cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 904 for a similar description of the estab-
lishment of a Bacchic festival beside the R. Kallichoros. See Ps.-Skyl. §73 for the location of this river
in Paphlagonia.
 text • 793

  After them the Caspian Amphitrite swells with waves.

I would easily draw you this sea, without having seen
its faraway paths, without having travelled in a ship.
For my livelihood is not on black ships,
710 and my family is not in commerce, nor do I sail to
the Ganges, like others do, through the Erythraian sea,
without a care for their lives, in order to win immense wealth,
and I do not mix with the Hyrkanians, nor search for
the Caucasian peaks of the Erythraian Arianoi.221
But I am carried by the mind of the Muses, who,
without wandering, can measure vast tracts of salt-sea,
the mountains, the mainland, the course of the heavenly stars.
  So, then, the shape of the great Caspian salt-sea as a whole
would be round, circular. You would not cross it
720 in a ship before the circling of the third moon.
For so great is its relentless course. Flowing sharply
towards the north, it mixes with the waters of Ocean.
Indeed it nurtures many other marvels for men.
It produces crystal and cloudy jasper,
hateful to spectres and other phantoms.
I shall tell you of all those tribes who dwell around it,
beginning on the western side from the north.
  First are the Skythians, as many as inhabit the coast
near the sea of Kronos along the mouth of the Caspian salt-sea.222
730 Next are the Thynoi,223 and after them are the Caspians,
and the warlike Albanoi after them, and the Kadousioi224
who dwell beyond the rugged land. Nearby are the Mardoi,
the Hyrkanians,225 and the Tapyroi.226 After them the Mardos227 winds

221
See e.g. Strabo 11. 8. 2, C511; 11. 10. 1, C516; 15. 2. 1, C720; Arrian, Anab. 3. 25. 1, and Amm.
Marc. 23. 6. 69 for the Arianoi as inhabiting a region in the extreme NE bounded by the Caucasus and
the Erythraian sea. They took their name from the plain of Ar(e)ia in western Asia.
222
For the name ‘Skythian’ as attached to a large number of peoples in the N of Europe and Asia, see
e.g. Strabo 11. 6. 2, C507.
223
This people is typically said to have originated in Thrace, before settling in Bithynia (see e.g. Stra-
bo 12. 3. 3, C541).
224
See e.g. Strabo 11. 7. 1, C508, for the location of this people on the W shores of the Caspian.
225
For the Mardi and Hyrkanians following the Albanians and Kadusians on the coast of the Caspian
as one travels S, see Strabo 11. 6. 1, C507.
226
See e.g. Strabo 11. 8. 8, C514, Pliny 6. xviii. 46, for the Tapyroi as situated on the S shore of the
Caspian.
227
Presumably the R. Amardos.
794 • 28 dionysios periegetes

its course, the draught of the Derkebioi228 and the rich Baktrians.229
For between the two it descends into the Hyrkanian salt-sea.
So, then, the Baktrians inhabit a wider region
inland beneath the ridges of Parnasos,230
and the Derkebians dwell on the other side by the Caspian waters.
After them to the east, beyond the resounding Araxes,231
740 dwell the Massagetai,232 drawers of swift arrows.
May neither I myself nor any companion go near
these men, for they are far more hostile to strangers than others.
For they do not have the food of sweet grain,
nor even native wine. But by mixing white milk
with the blood of horses, they prepare their meals.
After them to the north are the Chorasmioi,233 beyond whom lies the land
of Sougdia,234 through the middle of which winds the sacred Oxos,
which leaves the Emodos mountain235 and descends into the Caspian.
After this there dwell beside the waters of the Iaxartes236
750 the Sakai,237 bearing bows which no other archer
could put to shame. For it is not customary for them to cast arrows in vain.
Also Tocharoi, Phrouroi,238 and barbarous nations of the Seres,
who renounce cattle and fat sheep
and comb the shimmering blossoms of their desolate land
and weave finely wrought garments, prized garments,
resembling in colour the flowers of the grassy meadow.239
No work of spiders would rival them.
There are other Skythians in dense numbers, who inhabit
the furthest regions. Beside them there lies stretched a stormy land,
760 confined by the wintry winds and hail.
  So many are the peoples around the Caspian waves.

228
Probably the Derbekes, situated in proximity to the Hyrkanians by Strabo 11. 8. 8, C514, and Pliny
6. xviii. 48 ‘Dribyces’.
229
NE Afghanistan.
230
Probably the Paropamisos (cf. e.g. Strabo 11. 8. 1, C511; 11. 8. 8, C513), a range S of Baktria.
231
An Armenian river.
232
On the location and customs of the Massagetai, see e.g. Hdt. 1. 201, Strabo 11. 8. 6–8, C512–13.
233
For this people among a list of those belonging to the Massagetai and Sakai (l. 750 below) see
Strabo 11. 8. 8, C513.
234
Sogdiane, NW of Baktria.
235
Probably the Himalayas. Cf. Pliny 5. xxvii. 98 for Emodos, like Paropamisos (l. 737 above), among
the list of names given to the Tauros Mts in different parts.
236
Syr Darya.
237
On this large Skythian people, see e.g. Strabo 11. 8. 4–5, C511–12; Pliny 6. xix. 50.
238
For the Tocharoi see Strabo 11. 8. 2, C511; for the Tocharoi and Phrouroi together, Pliny 6. xx. 55.
Strabo seems to call the latter Phaunoi, mentioning them in connection with the Seres (below) at 11.
11. 1, C516.
239
On the customs of the Seres see e.g. Pliny 6. xx. 54; Amm. Marc. 23. 6. 64–8.
 text • 795

But consider now from the Kolchoi and the Phasis to the west,
by the edge of the Euxine, the abundant nations of the Pontos
as far as the Thracian mouth, where lies the land of Chalkis.240
First there are the Byzeres and nearby the tribes of the Becheiroi,
the Makrones and the Philyres241 and those who have
wooden houses (mosynai).242 Near them are the Tibarenoi rich in lambs.
After them there are also the Chalybes, inhabiting a cruel
and harsh land,243 experts in the working of toilsome iron,
770 who, standing over their loud-thundering anvils,
never cease from their labour and terrible misery.244
After them the alluvial soil of the Assyrian land extends,
where, from the Armenian mountain to the Amazons,
the furious Thermodon sends forth its white water,245
Thermodon, who once received Sinope, the wandering daughter of Asopos,
and, as she grieved, consoled her in his own land
at Zeus’s bidding. For Zeus, desiring sweet love,
sent her from her fatherland, unwilling as she was.246
Men also inhabit a city named after her.247
780 Around the frozen banks of that river,
you could cut the pure stone of crystal, like ice
in winter. You will also find watery jasper.
Next the Iris casts its pure stream into the salt-sea.248
After this there roar the streams of the river Halys,
coursing towards the north near the peak of Karambis,249
beginning first from the Armenian mountain.
Next on the shores there reside the Paphlagonians
and the sacred plain of the Maryandinoi.250 Here they say

240
i.e. Chalkedon, opposite Byzantion across the Hellespont.
241
Cf. Ap. Rhod 2. 392–7, 1242–5, for the Argonauts as travelling past these same four peoples. Here
and in the following description of the Pontos, D. traces their journey in reverse.
242
See Strabo 12. 3. 18, C548–9, on the ‘Mosynoikoi’ of this region, so called because they lived in
trees or in towers which they called mosynoi. Cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 1016–17 for an allusion to the same
derivation for ‘Mossynoikoi’.
243
On the Chalybes, see Olshausen 2012.
244
Cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 377–8, 1000–8, for similar descriptions of the Tibarenoi and Chalybes. See Strabo
12. 3. 19, C549, on the Chaldaioi or Chalybes and the iron-mines of Pharnakia.
245
See above on l. 657 for the Thermodon as associated with the Amazons. See also Ap. Rhod. 2. 966–
1000. Bekker-Nielsen and Jensen 2015 show that D.’s description fits the R. Iris, not the Thermodon.
246
Sinope’s abduction by Zeus is related at Ap. Rhod. 2. 946–54.
247
The settlement sat on the S shores of the Euxine.
248
For D.’s confusion between Iris and Thermodon, see n. to 774 above.
249
See Ap. Rhod. 2. 365–72 for the Halys, Iris, and Thermodon as rivers the Argonauts were to pass
after rounding the promontory of Karambis.
250
Cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 351–2, 357–9, 720–4 for the territory of the Maryandinoi and Paphlagonians as
passed by the Argonauts.
796 • 28 dionysios periegetes

infernal Zeus’ great dog with its voice of brass,

790 when dragged up by the hands of great-hearted Herakles,
cast from its mouth a terrible slavering humour,
which the Earth received and bore as a bane on the spot.251
Nearby the Bithynians inhabit a fertile land.
The Rhebas here sends forth a lovely stream,
the Rhebas, which courses beside the mouth of the Pontos,
the Rhebas, whose water is the fairest to sweep over the land.252
  So many are the men who dwell around the Pontos.
Let the Skythian tribes, then, be those that I have mentioned.
  Now, I would tell in turn of the path of the Asian coast,
800 which goes to the south at the Hellespont coursing
even to the southern stream of the most vast Aegean,
as far as Syria itself and lovely Arabia.
The Chalkidians first of all inhabit the land near the mouth,
looking at the soil of Byzantion on the opposite coast.
After these are the Bebrykes and the mountains of the Mysian land,253
where Kios sends forth its beloved streams,
at the waters of which a nymph once stole Hylas,
the ready servant of giant Herakles.254
From here to the Hellespont runs the immense curve
810 of Lesser Phrygia. The other Phrygia lies inland,
greater in extent, by the waters of the Sangarios.
So, then, it is vast and stretches to the east,
A fertile land grazed by horses. To the west you would see the other,
which lies beneath the foot of sacred Ida,
Ilion, wind-blown, held along its borders,255
Ilion, glorious city of heroes of old,
Ilion, which Poseidon and Apollo founded,
Ilion, which Athene and Hera destroyed,
beside the broad-flowing Xanthos and Idaian Simoeis.
820 After this there extend the haunts of the Aiolian land,
by the edge of the Aegean, beyond the great Hellespont.
After this there dwell the children of the noble Ionians,

251
For a path to Hades as situated in the territory of the Maryandinoi near the promontory of Acher-
ousia and the polis of Herakleia on the Euxine, cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 351–6, 734–42.
252
Cf. Ap. Rhod. 2. 650 for the Bithynian river Rhebas, situated N of Chalkedon, as passed by the
Argonauts.
253
The Bebrykes and Mysia both again have roles in the Argonautica (see e.g. Ap. Rhod. 2. 1–4; and 1.
1114–15 respectively).
254
See Ap. Rhod. 1. 1177–272 for the Mysian river Kios and the story of Hylas and the nymph.
255
Ilion was the polis near the site of Troy.
 text • 797

near the sea, in that country through the middle of which

the Maeander descends into the salt-sea with fertile eddies,
between Miletos and spacious Priene.
To the north of both these two you will see
Ephesos on the coast, the great city of the arrow-shooter,256
where the Amazons once built a temple to the goddess
in the trunk of an elm, an extraordinary wonder to men.257
830 After these Maionia extends to the east
beneath windy Tmolos, whence the Paktolos makes its way,
bringing gold in its eddies and murmuring.258
Sitting on its banks in the season of Spring
you would hear the clear voices of the swans, which beside the water
graze here and there on the grass still259 growing.
For many meadows flourish in Asia,
especially on the plain of Maeander, where the gleaming
water of the gently splashing Kaÿstros flows.260
You certainly would not fault the women, who around
840 that divine spot, wearing a belt of gold at their waists,
dance, turning in a wondrous circle,
when the dances of Dionysos take place.
With them maidens skip, like young fawns,
and round about them the sounding winds
stir the lovely tunics on their breasts.
But this is the concern of the Lydian people.
By the salt-sea the Lykians inhabit a land
on the waters of the Xanthos, the fair-flowing river.
Here the mountains of the high-cliffed Tauros appear,
850 as far as Pamphylia. They call it Kragos.261
There you would see a city on the sea,
Aspendos, by the stream of the river Eurymedon,262
where they appease the daughter of Dione with the slaughter of swine.
Other Pamphylian cities follow in sequence,

256
Artemis.
257
See e.g. Kallim. Hymn 3 (To Artemis), 237–46, for the myth of the founding of the temple to Arte-
mis at Ephesos by Amazons.
258
Maionia, Mt Tmolos, and the R. Paktolos are E of Ionia. For the tradition that the river carried
gold, see e.g. Hdt. 5. 101.
259
For the swans of the Paktolos see Kallim. Hymn 4 (To Delos), 249–54; Ap. Rhod. 4. 1300–2.
260
The Kaÿstros lies N of the Maeander. The reference to this river is an allusion to Homer Il. 2.
459–65, to which Ap. Rhod. also alludes in the passage cited above.
261
For Kragos as a name for the Tauros, see also Pliny 5. xxvii. 98.
262
On the Pamphylian town of Aspe(n)dos and the R. Eurymedon, see e.g. Ps.-Skyl. §84; Diod. Sic.
14. 99. 1; Strabo 14. 4. 2, C668.
798 • 28 dionysios periegetes

Korykos, and Perge, and wind-blown Phaselis.263

To the east of these, inhabiting an inland region,
are the Lykaones with their crooked bows, experts in war.
After them there is the fertile plain of the Pisidians, where stand the cities
of Telmessos and Lyrbe and that city which the people
860 of Amyklai once built in times past, Selge, renowned in the land.264
From there to the sunlight a curved Amphitrite winds
A twisted path reaching far inland,
neighbour to the stormy Euxine sea.
That gulf sweeps around the nations of the Kilikians
A long way to the east. They call it the Strait of Asia.
The waters of many rivers which come from afar
mix with this, the waters of the Pyramos and the Pinaros,
and the winding Kydnos, which flows through the middle of Tarsos,
well-built Tarsos, where the horse Pegasus once,
870 lost a hoof and left his name to that place, when the hero
Bellerophon fell from the horse on his way to the home of Zeus.
There too is the Aleian plain, on the flat of which,
as he wandered far from men, Bellerophon rested.265
Next are the many cities of the Kilikians in sequence,
Lyrnessos and Mallos and Anchialeia and Soli,266
some inland, and others near the sea itself.
After these are the seat of Kommagenos and the cities of Syria
stretching along the winding shore.267 For the course of the
grey salt-sea turns around to the west, as far as the peak
880 of the mountain near the sea, high-cliffed Kasios.268
  I would easily tell of the remaining path
of the lands of Asia. Keep these words in your heart,

263
On Korykos see e.g. Strabo 14. 3. 8, C666. On Phaselis and Perge see e.g. Ps.-Skyl. §§83–4, Strabo
14. 3. 9–10, C666–7.
264
On Termessos, and on Selge as a Spartan settlement, see e.g. Strabo 12. 7. 1–3, C569–71; Arrian,
Anab. 1. 28. 1. There is no earlier reference to Lyrbe, although it is listed among the cities of Kilikia by
Ptolemy (5. 5. 8).
265
See e.g. Homer Il. 6. 200 for Bellerophon as left to wander the Kilikian plain of Aleia after being
caused to fall from Pegasos by a gadfly, sent by Zeus.
266
On the Kilikian towns of Mallos and Sol(o)i see e.g., Ps.-Skyl. §85, Strabo 14. 5. 16–17, C675–6;
Pliny 5. xxii. 91–2. For Anchiale(ia) see e.g. Strabo 14. 5. 9–10, C671–2; Pliny 5. xxii. 91. Lyrnessos is
best known as the town from which Achilles took Briseis (Hom. Il. 2. 690, et al.) in the Mysian Kilikia,
SW of Troy. Cf. Kallisthenes, BNJ 124 F 32 = Strabo 14. 4. 1, C667, on the ‘Trojan Kilikians’ founding a
city by the same name in Pamphylia.
267
Kommagene is NW of Syria.
268
Probably not the Mt Kasios on the Phoenician coast (Barr. 68), but the Egyptian Mt Kasios (Barr.
70), also named as a landmark at ll. 116 and 260 above, and 901 below.
 text • 799

and do not let the grace of my hard work be carried away by the winds.
For if you were to observe this path clearly,
then you could soon tell others too in an expert fashion
of the rivers and of the location of the cities and of each land.
  So let there be a shape of four sides,
stretching towards the east in long plains.
Now you know, as you heard me say so in the first place,
890 that a mountain cuts all of Asia in two as far as the Indians.
That would form the more northerly of the sides,
and the Nile would be the western side. The eastern side
would be the Indian Ocean, and the southern would be formed by the waves
of the Erythraian salt-sea.
Consider how I shall now make my way to the sunlight along the coast,
beginning from Syria, where I left off, and no man
could accuse me of giving a false account.
  Well, then, Syria creeps beyond the salt-sea nearby
to the south and east, with a land that has many cities,
which they call ‘Hollow’, because it is in the middle
900 of mountain-peaks which render it low down,
the peaks of Kasios in the west and Libanos in the east.269
Many wealthy men inhabit this land,
though they do not dwell together under one name, but separately,
some inland, who are called Syrians,
and some near the salt-sea, named Phoenicians.
They are of the race of men who are Erythraians,
who first made an attempt on the sea in ships,
and were the first to turn their minds to trade by sea
and consider the far chorus of the heavenly stars.
910 These men inhabit Iope and Gaza and Elaïs,270
and ancient Tyre and the lovely land of Berytos,
and Byblos by the sea and flowery Sidon,
situated by the waters of the charming Bostrenos,
and fertile Tripolis, and Orthosis and Marathos
and Laodike, which lies on the shores of the sea,271
916 and the fields of Poseidon272 and the sacred vales of Daphne.273

269
Mt Libanos (Mt Lebanon) is on the Phoenician coast.
270
Elaïs has proved difficult to identify with any certainty (see Counillon 1983 for a conjecture).
271
On all these coastal cities, see e.g. Strabo 16. 2. 12, C753; Pliny 5. i. 17–18.
272
Possibly a reference to Posideion S of the Phoenician Mt Kas(s)ios. Cf. Hdt. 3. 91, Strabo 16. 2. 8,
C751; Pliny 5. xviii. 79 on the same.
273
Daphne is immediately S of Antioch. The next line is excised by editors: ‘Where lies Antioch,
named after Antiochos’.
800 • 28 dionysios periegetes

918 In the midst of these is the city of Apameia,

to the east of which flows the moist Orontes,
920 immense, and dividing the land of Antiochos through the middle.274
The whole region is fertile and abounds in pasture,
to feed the sheep and cause the fruit on the trees to grow.
  Beyond this land you would see, as you made your way further south,
the innermost path of the Arabian gulf, which winds
between Syria and lovely Arabia,
turning a little to the east as far as Elana.275
From there the land of the most fortunate Arabs extends
reaching far, and girded by twin seas,
the Persian and the Arabian. Each has been allotted a wind,
930 The Arabian the Zephyros, the Persian the paths of the Euros.
The southern coast facing the east
is washed by the waves of the Erythraian ocean.
And I shall tell you of its position. For exceptionally among
lands it is inhabited by tribes who are very fortunate and noble.
This land has been allotted another exceptionally great wonder.
It always smells sweetly from the perfume of burnt offerings,
either of incense, or myrrh, or fragrant grass
or even divinely scented aged frankincense
or cassia. For indeed it was in that very place that Zeus
940 himself freed Dionysos from his well-stitched thigh;
and at his birth made the plain fragrant.
The sheep too then became laden with shaggy fleeces
in the pasture, and the lakes flowed with waters spontaneously.
Birds from uninhabited islands elsewhere
came bearing leaves of untouched cinnamon.
Then the god stretched a fawn-skin over his shoulders
and garlanded his fair hair with lovely ivy,
slightly drunk with wine, and took up his wreathed thyrsi,
smiling, and showered the men with great wealth.
950 For this reason even today the fields are thick with frankincense,
the mountains with gold, and the rivers elsewhere with sacrificial offerings.
The inhabitants themselves are a very wealthy people,
glorying in soft robes of gold.
So, then, first beyond the slope of Libanos
dwell the rich people called the Nabataioi.
Near them are the Chaulasioi and the Agreis, beyond whom

274
The Orontes runs from Antioch S past Apameia.
275
Presumably Ailana or Aila, described by e.g. Strabo at 16. 2. 30, C759.
 text • 801

is the land of Chatramis, opposite the Persian land.

Inhabiting the coast of the Erythraian sea
are the Minnaioi and Sabai and the neighbouring Kletabanoi.276
960   So many immense tribes inhabit Arabia,
but there are also many more, for it is extremely vast.
  Towards the opposite shore, under the blast of the Zephyros
appears the wretched land of the mountain-dwelling Eremboi,
who live their lives in dug-out rocks,
naked and without possessions. On their bodies
burning from the heat the parched skin grows black.277
Thus, like wild animals, they roam and suffer hardships,
unlike the people of the soft-living Arabs. For the deity
has not given to all men an equal share in wealth.
970   Beyond Libanos towards the rays of the sun
there lies stretched the extensive land of the other Syria,
reaching as far as sea-washed Sinope.278
In the middle of this deep land there dwell
the Kappadokians, experts in horsemanship,279
and the Assyrians near the salt-sea, by the mouth of the Thermodon.
  To the east, out from the rugged mountains
there appears the stream of the boundless Euphrates.
This starts first from the Armenian mountain
and goes far towards the south, and back, winding in curves,
980 facing the sun as it journeys through the middle of Babylon,
it pours forth its swift foam into the swell of the Persian salt-sea,
passing near Teredon with its furthermost waters.280
After this to the sunlight the most rapid of all rivers,
the fair-flowing Tigris bears its stream leading an even course,
As far as a strong, fast traveller could achieve
If he had travelled as much as seven days.
There is in the middle a certain lake encircled by its waters,
named Thonitis, into the corners of which the Tigris flows,

276
For similar lists of peoples beyond Nabataea and on the coast of the Erythraian sea, cf. e.g. Strabo
16. 4. 2–3, C767–8; Pliny 6. xxxii. 144–56. (Both Strabo and Pliny have ‘Kataban(o)i’ rather than ‘Clet-
abani’, and neither author lists the Chaulasioi, although Strabo refers to ‘Chaulotaioi’ in connection
with the Nabataioi and Agraioi.)
277
D. describes the Trogodytai associated with E. Africa. Cf. Strabo 1. 1. 3, C2, alluding to Homer,
Od. 4. 84 ‘Eremboi’, whom S. takes to be the ‘Trogodytai Arabes’.
278
See above on ll. 775–9 for Assyrian Sinope on the S coast of the Euxine.
279
On the Kappadokians as (‘White’) Syrians see e.g. Herodotos 1. 6. 72; Strabo 12. 3. 5, C542.
280
Teredon remains difficult to identify; see e.g. Strabo 2. 1. 26, C80; Amm, Marc. 23. 6. 11. Ptolemy,
however, situates it on the Tigris (5. 19), Pliny below the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates (6.
xxxii. 145).
802 • 28 dionysios periegetes

sinking far below. On rising back up again,

990 it casts southward a swifter stream.281 Among all the rivers
you would not see another more rapid.
All the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris
the people who live round about call ‘amid the rivers’.282
No herdsman has faulted the pastures of that land,
nor anyone who honours horn-hoofed Pan on the syrinx
and follows the sheep of the field. No man who tends plants
has made light of the variety of fruits,
for such is the soil in that land, in fostering
the grass, the pastures full of flowers, and even the race
1000 of men, most handsome and similar to the immortals.
  To the north of this a fertile country is inhabited by
the Armenian men and the close-fighting Matienoi,
who live in the mountains, along the river Euphrates,
rich and wealthy and expert in war.283
To the south is the sacred city of Babylon, the whole of
which Semiramis crowned with impenetrable walls.284
Moreover on the acropolis she built a great temple to Belos,
and adorned it with gold and ivory and silver.
The plain of Babylon is immense, where many
1010 overhanging palms grow with leafy crowns.
Yes, it bears something else more beautiful than gold,
the sea-green stone of watery beryl, which forms
on the jutting rocks in that region within the stone of serpentine.
  Beyond Babylon towards the blast of Boreas
the Kissoi and Messabatai and Chalonitai dwell.285
But whenever you should journey beyond the Armenian mountains,
to the sunlight, then you will find the valleys of the Medes.
To the north of these a flourishing land is inhabited
by Geloi and Mardoi and Atropatenoi.286

281
On the speed of the Tigris and its course through L. Tho(s)pitis, Arsene, or Arethusa, see e.g.
Strabo 11. 14. 8, C529; Pliny 6. xxxi. 128 (Thospites and Arrhene), cf. 6. xxxii. 159 Arethusa.
282
Messē potamōn, i.e. Mesopotamia.
283
For the Matienoi as dwelling E of Phrygia, see Hdt. 1. 72; for Matiane as part of Media, see Strabo
11. 7. 2, C509.
284
For Semiramis as building Babylon’s walls and a temple to Belos, see Ktesias BNJ 688 F 1b, §8. 4–9.
4 = Diod Sic. 2. 8. 4–9. 4.
285
For the Kissian country near Sousa, see Hdt. 3. 91. For the Kossiaioi (sic) as living E of Sousa, and
the region of Mesabatene as N of this people, see Pliny 6. xii. 31. For Massabatike as in the S of Media,
see Strabo 16. 1. 18, C744–5. For the Chalonitis as near Mt Zagron (mod. Zagros), see Strabo 16. 1. 1,
C736, and for the same name as applying to a region near Ktesiphon, see Pliny 6. xii. 30.
286
See on 732 above for the Mardoi, E of Media Atropatene near the Caspian. For the location of the
Gel(a)i, S of the Albanians (on which cf. 731 above), see Strabo 11. 5. 1, C503–4.
 text • 803

1020   To the south there dwell the nations of the noble

Medes, descendants of that glorious line
of Aiëtes’ daughter, blameless heroine.287
For when, beside the stream of the Aktaian Ilissos,288
she prepared the baneful drugs for the son of Pandion,
she left that place in shame, and, as she wandered among men,
she came to that rich land, which shares her name,
not far from the Kolchoi. To the land of the Kolchoi
she could not come, for she feared her father’s anger.
For this reason still now men expert in many drugs
1030 inhabit that immense land, some dwelling on the very
rocks, which produce dark narcissite,
and some also in the overgrown meadows,
pasturing their fine flocks, which are utterly weighed down by their fleeces.
These men reach towards the east, as far as the Caspian
gates,289 which lie below hollow rocks,
keys to the Asian land, where a path
lies stretched for those travelling both to the north and to the south,
one to the Hyrkanians, another to the mountains of the Persian land.
  Well, then, below the foot of the Caspian Gates
1040 dwell the warlike Parthians,290 who carry curved bows,
experts in every form of combat. For they do not
trace the furrow with the plough, cleaving the farm-lands,
nor do they cut through the salt-sea with oars aboard ships,
nor do they feed the race of cattle in the pastures. But from birth,
as children, they concern themselves with bows and horses,
and always over this echoing land there is the noise of
javelins or arrows, and everywhere the running of storm-swift horses,
racing. For it is not customary for them to take their
supper before showering their heads with sweat from the strains of battle.
1050 They feed on the prey of a livelihood won by the spear.
Nevertheless, though they are relentless in battle,
the sword-point of the Ausonian king has tamed them.
  If sweet longing to learn of the Persians also grips you,
with eloquent words I would tell you of their race too,
and of the course of the ever-flowing rivers and of the paths of the mountains.

287
See Hdt. 7. 62 for the tradition that the Medes were descended from Medea.
288
For the Ilissos, see 424 above.
289
See e.g. Arrian Anab. 3. 20 and Pliny 6. iv. 14–v. 15 on this narrow mountain pass, S of the Caspian.
290
On the extent of Parthia, see e.g. Strabo 11. 9. 1, C514; Pliny 6. v. 17–vi. 18.
804 • 28 dionysios periegetes

For they alone have the most kingly nation of Asia,

and they alone laid boundless wealth in their homes,
when they sacked Maionia and Sardis.291
Golden is the armour worn on the flesh of those men,
1060 golden are the bits in the mouths of their horses,
and with gold they adorn the shoes on their feet.
For so immense is their wealth. Well, all
the land of Persia is surrounded by great mountains,
and its path reaches to the south of the Caspian Gates,
going even as far as the Amphitrite of the same name.
They inhabit it in three distinct areas, some in the north
situated near the shady mountains of the bow-carrying Medes,
some in the interior, and some to the south as far as the sea.292
First are the Sabai, after them are the Pasargadai, and nearby the Taskoi,293
1070 and others, who inhabit various parts of the Persian land.
Many rivers make this region very fertile,
turning this way and that with their winding waters.
On one side is the great Koros, on the other the Choaspes,294
drawing Indian water, and flowing beside the country of the Sousai.
On its banks you would see beautiful agate,
lying like a tree-trunk on the ground, which the torrents
of the stormy river sweep down from the rock.
What’s more, ever rejoicing in the warm wind,
fruits flourish densely packed against one another.
1080   Now consider the small (lepton) path of Asia to the sunlight.
For nearby the coast of the land comes to an end.
So, then, by the Persian wave of the Ocean,
the Karmanoi dwell, beneath the rising sun.295
They occupy a land in two parts not far from Persia,
some as a coast-people, others mainlanders.
To the east of them extends the land of the Gedrosoi,296
neighbours of the Ocean with great monsters, to the sunlight from whom
dwell the southern Skythians beside the Indos river,297

291
For Maionia (Lydia) see above on 830. Sardis was its capital.
292
For a similar division of Persia into three, see e.g. Strabo 15. 3. 1, C727.
293
D. here seems to refer to three cities of Persia—Pasargadai and Taoke being two, Gabai a third—if
we accept that ‘Taskoi’ is a corruption of Taoke, and ‘Gabai’ of Sabai. On the palaces at Pasagardai and
Gabai and another near Taoke, see e.g. Strabo 15. 3. 3, C728.
294
See Strabo 15. 3. 6, C729, for the Choaspes and ‘Kyros’ rivers. (For the possible identification of
the Choaspes, near Sousa, see Barr. 93; for the Koros (Kor) near Pasagardai see Barr. 94.
295
On Karmania as lying E of Persia and N of the Persian gulf, see also e.g. Strabo 2. 1. 22–3, C78.
296
See also below on 1096 (Gedrosoi).
297
See Barr. 5 for Indo-Skythia as E of Gedrosia and W of the Indus.
 text • 805

which flows opposite the Erythraian sea,

1090 furiously driving its swift stream directly south,
beginning first from the windy Caucasus.
It has two mouths, and it runs past an island in the middle,
an island which the inhabitants call Patalene.298
That river divides the tribes of many nations:
Towards the descent of the setting sun
the Oreitai and the Aribai and the Arachotai in their tunics of linen,299
and the Satraidai, and all those beside the valley of Parpanisos,300
together with very well all those alike who are called Arianoi,301
who do not inhabit a fair land, but one filled
1100 with fine sand and rough with thickets.
But, nevertheless, the means are sufficient for those living there.
For the land provides for them a pure wealth of a different kind.
For everywhere there is the stone of red coral,
and everywhere, moreover, beneath the rocks, the veins
bear the fair stone of the golden and blue sapphire,
from the mining of which they have the merchandise to live on.
  To the sunlight stretches the lovely land of the Indians,
last of all, by the edges of Ocean.
The sun as it rises over the workings of the blessed ones and mankind
1110 scorches this land with its first rays.
For this reason the inhabitants of the land are dark-skinned,
divinely sleek, and they bear on their heads
the most luxuriant hair like hyacinths.
Of these men, some mine the sources of gold,
digging the sand with well-made picks,
some weave webs of linen, and some polish
the silvery sawn-off tusks of elephants.
Others hunt at the approaches to mountain-torrents
for the sea-green stone of beryl or sparkling
1120 diamond or green-glancing jasper
or again the glittering stone of pure topaz
and sweet softly flushing amethyst.

298
See e.g. Strabo 15. 1. 32–3, C700–1; Pliny 6. viii. 23 on the course of the Indus and the island of
Patalene at its mouth.
299
For the ‘Oreitai’ and ‘Arabiës’ as separated by the R. Arabis on the Erythraian coast, see Arrian,
Indike 21. 8–9. For the Arachotai (like the Gedrosoi) as an Indian people, see Pliny 6. vii. 23; for their
location, 6. ix. 25. Cf. Strabo 11. 10. 1, C516, on Arachosia.
300
Usually called Paropamisos; see above on 737 for the location. The Satraidai are not otherwise
attested.
301
For the Arianoi see above on 714.
806 • 28 dionysios periegetes

For the land fosters wealth of every kind for the men,
watered here and there by ever-flowing rivers.
Yes, even the meadows are always thick with leaves.
For on one side millet grows, and on the other, in turn,
there flourish forests of the Erythraian reed.
  Consider how I am to describe to you the shape and the rivers,
and the windy mountains and the nations of the land itself.
1130 Well, then, it is fixed on four sides,
all of them at an angle, like the shape of a rhombus.
So Indos, neighbouring on the western waters,
cuts off the land, the Erythraian salt-sea’s swell the south,
Ganges towards the sunlight, the Caucasus towards the pole of the Bears.
Many fortunate men inhabit this land,
Not all of them living under the same name, but
distinguished into separate groups. So, near the boundless river Indos,
are the Dardaneis,302 where the Akesine, which flows in a crooked
course from the rocks, is received by the Hydaspes, navigable to ships.303
1140 After them there follows a third, the silver-eddying Kophes.304
Amidst these rivers there dwell the Sabai and the Toxiloi,305
and next the Skodroi.306 And following on there are the boundless tribes,
of the Peukales.307 After them the servers of Dionysos,
the Gargaridai,308 dwell, there where the Hypanis and the
divine Magarsos,309 most turbulent of rivers, bear the marvellous
progeny of gold. Starting from the mountain of Emodos,310
they flow towards the country of the Ganges,

302
Possibly the same as the Dardai of Pliny 6. vii. 22, whose exact localization is not clear, and/or the
Daradrai of Ptolemy 7. 1. 42 situated in the mountains NW of the Akesine(s), a tributary of the Indus.
303
See e.g. Arrian, Anab. 6. 14, on the Akesine(s) and its confluence with the Hydaspes before joining
the Indus.
304
On the R. Kophe(s) see e.g. Strabo 15. 1. 26, C697; Pliny 6. viii. 23, who makes it the boundary of
India.
305
The Sabai are possibly the Sibai on the Akesine(s) (Arrian, Ind. 8. 5. 12; Strabo 15. 1. 8, C688; et
al.). The Toxiloi are presumably to be identified with the Taxilai mentioned by Pliny (6. viii. 23) and
Strabo (15. 1. 28, C698).
306
These Skodroi are perhaps to be identified with the Oxydrakai or Soudrakai mentioned by Arrian
(Ind. 8. 4. 9) and Strabo (15. 1. 33, C701) as situated near the confluence of the Akesine(s) and Hy-
daspes rivers. (Strabo here names them in connection with the Sibai.)
307
See Barr. 6 for the possible location of Peukelaotis, along the R. Kophe(s), as indicated by Arrian
(Ind. 8. 4. 11).
308
Probably a reference to the people of Gandaris, the capital of the region of Peukolaïtis, rather than
to the Gangaridai, typically situated near the mouth of the Ganges in NE India (see e.g. Strabo 15. 1.
27, C698; Pliny 6. vii. 22).
309
For the Hypanis or Hyp(h)asis see e.g. Strabo 15. 1. 17, C391–2; Pliny 6. vii. 21. The Magarsos is
perhaps to be identified with another river of the Punjab, but no such river is described in the surviv-
ing sources.
310
See above on l. 748.
 text • 807

which reaches to the south along the borders of the Kolian land.311
This, indeed, juts out into the deep-eddying Ocean.
1150 It is steep, inaccessible to swift birds.
For this reason men call it Aornis, ‘Land without Birds’.312
There is a certain spectacular place beside the fair-flowing Ganges,
a place which is revered and sacred, where Bakchos once
walked in anger, when the delicate fawn-skins
of the Lenai313 were turned into shields, and their thyrsi
were changed into iron, and their belts and the tendrils
of the twisting vine into the coils of serpents,
then when in their folly they slighted the festival of the god.
For this reason they call it the Nysaian path,314
1160 and with ivy they established together with their sons all his rites.
He himself, when he destroyed the tribes of the dark Indians,
ascended the mountains of Emodos, below the foot of
which flows the mighty stream of the eastern Ocean.
Here he placed two pillars near the borders of the land,
and exultant he returned to the great wave of the Ismenos.
  So many are the most eminent men on the Earth,
but others wander here and there over the lands
in their thousands, whom no-one could tell of clearly,
no mortal. Only the gods are able to do all with ease.
1170 For they rounded off the first foundations
and revealed the deep swell of the measureless sea.
They marked out all that is immutable in life,
distinguishing the stars, and allotting each
A share of the sea and the deep Earth.
For this reason each land has been allotted a nature of a different kind.
For one has been made white and shining,
another is darker, and another has the appearance of both.
One is red-hued like the blooms of Assyria,
others are otherwise. For mighty Zeus has conceived it thus.
1180 So is everything among men diverse.
  Farewell, you countries and islands in the salt-sea,

311
See above on ll. 593–4 for this promontory opposite Sri Lanka in the far S of India.
312
Aornis or Aornos was a name given to various places. Cf. e.g. Arrian, Anab. 4. 28. 1–3 and Strabo
15. 1. 8, C688, for Aornos as a rocky summit in N. India, near the source of the Indus.
313
Cf. 701 above for the Lenai as followers of Dionysos, who joined the Kamaritai in establishing the
rites of the god near the R. Kallichoros.
314
The mythical place of Dionysos’ upbringing, Nysa, like Aornis or Aornos, was a name given to
various locations. On the Indian Nysa, see e.g. Arrian Ind. 8. 1. 4–7 and Strabo 15. 1. 7–8, C687, who
quotes a passage from Sophokles (fr. 959) connecting Nysa with Aornis or Aornos.
808 • 28 dionysios periegetes

waters of Ocean and sacred waves of the deep,

rivers and springs and mountain glens.
Now I have run over the swell of the entire sea,
and the winding path of the lands. So may my hymns
receive from the Blessed Ones themselves a worthy answer.

note on the acrostic at lines 681–5

As noted above, the initial letters of lines 681–5 form an acrostic, σκοπέ–skope. If we
exclude τε καὶ (te kai, ‘both . . . and’), the initial letters of the remaining words in 681
(Σινδοὶ Κιμμέριοί τε καὶ οἱ πέλας Εὐξείνοιο, Sindoi Kimmerioi te kai (h)oi pelas Euxeinoio),
also spell σκοπέ, thus offering a ‘gamma’ acrostic like that in lines 307–11. This suggests
that this acrostic, like the others in the poem, is intentional.
In fact, the acrostic here evokes that at 307–11 in more than its form. In describing the
peoples on the NE shores of the Black Sea, these lines—like 306–7, describing the Black
Sea’s NW coast—refer to the myths surrounding Agamemnon, Achilles, and the Trojan
War (Khan 2002, 125). While σκοπός is widely used of mortals and immortals as observ-
ers or guardians (see e.g. Hom. Il. 23. 539 of Phoinix; Pindar, Ol. 1. 54 of the Olympian
gods and 6. 59 of Apollo), the vocative form is found in the compound λιμενοσκόπε (li-
menoskope, ‘harbour-watcher’) in an address to Artemis by Kallimachos (Hymn 3. 259),
which Dionysios may well have had in mind here, so that it is tempting to see in the
acrostic an invocation to Artemis in her role as watcher over routes and harbours.
In the lines of his hymn that follow, Kallimachos goes on to allude to the myth of
Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigeneia (Hymn 3. 262–3), consort of Achilles (cf. scholia
on D. 306). He also refers to this myth in the preceding passage, in which he describes
Artemis pursuing first Agamemnon (Hymn 3. 228–32) and then Lygdamis (251–8). He
describes Lygdamis’ Kimmerian troops as ἱππημολγοί–hippēmolgoi (‘mare-milkers’, 252),
on which, as a proper name for a Skythian tribe at Dionysios line 309, see Khan 2002, 127.
Another indication that lines 681–5 are intended to evoke the passage containing the
earlier acrostic may lie in Dionysios’ reference to Sarmatai in 304 and Sauromatai in 680,
both alternative names for the Sarmatians, on whom see Khan 2002, 122. This people,
like the Tauroi whom Kallimachos has Artemis renounce in the same hymn (Hymn 3.
174), and whom Dionysios describes as occupying the area known as Achilles’ Racetrack
(306–7), were identified with the Skythians. (On the identification of the Tauroi, see
Khan 2002, 125.) D. may have wished to suggest that the naming, identification, and lo-
cation of such peoples were fluid, or to highlight symmetries between opposite shores of
the Black Sea. For D.’s interest in drawing symmetries between peoples and places across
continents, see Khan 2002, 19–21.
 29
AGATHEMEROS SON OF ORTHON
(written c. ad 125–50)
D. Graham J. Shipley

fig. 29.1. Opening of the text of Agathemeros, fo. 3r (detail).

INTRODUCTION
This Greek text—short but seemingly complete; strictly factual rather than literary—is
contained within the detached London and Paris portions of the late medieval manu-
script B (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a).1 The piece is entitled Hypotypōsis geōgraphias,
meaning Outline of Geography.2 Its author is named as Agathemeros son of Orthon,
who is otherwise unknown. It falls naturally into five parts and is conventionally sub-
divided into 26 short sections, numbered continuously. Parts i–ii (§§1–7) make general
observations about geography and the oikoumenē; parts iii–v (§§8–26) are more de-
scriptive. It has no conclusion, and may have been designed as a preface to the corpus
of geographical texts compiled by Arrian during or soon after the reign of Hadrian
(ad 117–38; Arrian died around 150). Whether it was written at Arrian’s instigation we
can only surmise.
As regards the date of the work, strictly speaking we can only be sure that it post-
dates Menippos (cited at v. 20), and that it is unlikely to be later than the 3rd century
ad because of the form in which Agathemeros’ father’s name is given in the title.3 A
date during or just after Arrian’s lifetime, however, is a strong possibility if we consid-
er that Agathemeros shows no knowledge of Ptolemy of Alexandria (c.100–70); that

1
On the MSS see Guzmán Guerra 1977; González Ponce 2019a, 87–8. The second most important
MS, a C16 copy of B, is Cambridge, University Library Gg. II. 33 (images at https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/
view/MS-GG-00002-00033/249 and next four pp.).
2
Called Geographiae informatio by Müller in GGM ii. Not to be confused with the late antique Hypo-
typosis (Ch. 35 below); see below in the present chapter introduction.
3
So González Ponce 2019a, 88.
810 • 29 agathemeros

Arrian, too, may have drawn upon the work of Menippos;4 and that both writers com-
ment on changing views of the division between Europe and Asia (formerly the river
Phasis, now the Tanaïs: compare Arrian 19. 1–2, in Chapter 27 above, with i. 3 below).5
Whether or not it was accompanied by a map, it is partly conceived in cartographic
perspective, but it is no less dependent upon the hodological perspective that gives the
reader a sense of movement and of connexions between places.6
A date around the second quarter of the 2nd century, and a relationship to Arrian’s
corpus (which apart from Arrian’s own Periplous of the Black Sea contained only Han-
no, PME, and Ps.-Plutarch), go some way towards explaining why Agathemeros pre-
sents a retrospective, essentially hellenistic picture of geography that takes no account
of recent work.7 Much of §§1–20 also appears in earlier chapters of the present volume,
since it quotes several earlier authors.8 Accordingly, his importance lies primarily in
the material he preserves that is either unique or superior to similar information else-
where. Apart from the authors he cites, part iv. 15–19, for example, is clearly based on
Artemidoros, since Pliny repeatedly cites him by name for the same material (2. cxii.
242–6 = Artemidoros 4), though Agathemeros’ version is the more detailed.9
The first part begins with a brief chronological catalogue of geographers, mapmak-
ers (§1), and their changing views on the shape of the world or its inhabited portion
(the oikoumenē; §2). The latest authority cited is Poseidonios (Chapter 19 above), who
is probably the source for the rest of part i, covering the evolution of views of the conti-
nents (§3), the etymology of their names (§4), and a definition of Dikaiarchos’ central
parallel of latitude (§5).
The second part details the wind rose, initially (§6) in an eightfold scheme derived
ultimately from Aristotle’s Meteorologika (2. 6; see Chapter 10, introduction and ap-
pendix);10 then (§7) in a twelvefold version, including an enumeration of which peo-
ples live in the part of the world from which each wind blows. The originator of the
latter version is named as Timosthenes (Chapter 10, no. 18), though the immediate
source may have been Poseidonios.11
The third part lists some two dozen constituent bodies of water within the Medi-
terranean and Black Sea (§§8–9), the coastal lengths of the continents (§10), and the
dimensions of four outer gulfs of the Ocean outside the Mediterranean (§§11–14). The
whole of this part has been thought to derive ultimately from Artemidoros (though he
is named only at v. 20).12

4
Accepted by Leroy 2018, following Silberman 1995, xxix n. 104 and xxxiii, who notes that Diller
1952, 149, doubts it.
5
Diller 1975a, 60; Leroy 2018, introduction, for these several dating arguments.
6
González Ponce 2019a, e.g. 91–7, 99–102.    7 González Ponce 2019a, esp. 89.
8
See Hekataios 9, Eudoxos 1–2, Dikaiarchos 10–11, Timosthenes 18–19, Eratosthenes 37, Artemi-
doros 8, Poseidonios 12, Menippos 3.
9
See Leroy 2018 (also citing Schiano 2010, 50–83, a wider discussion); Panichi 2013.
10
On Arist. Mete., see also Roller 2015, 76–7.
11
For discussion of Agathemeros, I rely mainly on Leroy 2018; see also Diller 1975a.
12
Leroy 2018, introduction.
 text • 811

The fourth part details the length of the oikoumenē from the Ganges to NW Iberia
by adding up a sequence of shorter distances (§15–16), and then offers a second version
extending only to Gadeira (§17). This exercise is repeated (§18) for the breadth of the
oikoumenē from the coast south of Meroë to the Tanaïs, and then again in an alterna-
tive version starting at Alexandria but with the same endpoint (§19).
The fifth and final part (§§20–6) specifies its sources as Artemidoros (Chapter 18),
Menippos (Chapter 21), ‘other trustworthy writers’, and (further on) Timosthenes. It
is a collection of data about the 33 major islands and groups of islands in the Mediter-
ranean, as well as Gadeira just outside the strait of Gibraltar. It proceeds from west to
east, ending with Cyprus and the larger eastern Aegean islands. Along the way, the au-
thor dwells at some length on the Peloponnese (§24)—perhaps treated here as techni-
cally an island; its name means ‘isle of Pelops’—and details its promontories and bays.
In the manuscript the treatise is preceded by a short, anonymous text from the late
antique period with the same title, Geōgraphias hypotypōsis (Chapter 35 below), which
was probably intended to remedy the lack of a perspective on recent work. Before both
texts stands the jejune Diagnōsis of still later date (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a).13
The translation follows the Greek text of Leroy.

selected further reading

*Diller, A. (1975), ‘Agathemerus, Sketch of Geography’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies,
16. 1: 59–76; repr. in A. Diller, Studies in Greek Manuscript Tradition (Amsterdam, 1983),
69–86.
González Ponce, F. J. (2019a), ‘Agatémero y las reminiscencias de una literatura náutica’, in S.
Panichi (ed.), Dall’Egeo all’Eufrate: dinasti, città e santuari in età ellenistica = Geographia
antiqua, 28: 87–104.
*Leroy, P.-O. (2018), ‘Agathemeros (2102)’, in FGrH v.

TE XT
The headings are in the manuscript, though perhaps added by Markianos rather than original
to Agathemeros’ work.

i. introduction

On the Geography of the Old Writers

1. Anaximandros of Miletos, a pupil14 of Thales, was the first man bold enough to draw
the inhabited world (oikoumenē) in a map (pinax).15 After him Hekataios of Miletos,16

13
At one time, both these were also attributed to Agathemeros.    14 akoustēs, lit. ‘listener’.
15
On Anaximandros and the cartographic issue, see Introduction, §V. 1–2. For the term pinax, see
also the Glossary.
16
BNJ 1; see Ch. 3 above, nos 5 and 9–10. It is difficult to avoid the inference that Hekat. is here
credited with a map. See next n.
812 • 29 agathemeros

a much-travelled man, examined the matter thoroughly to the extent that it was a
cause of wonder: for Hellanikos of Lesbos, a very knowledgeable man, transmitted his
history without artistry.17 Next Damastes of Kition, transcribing most of his writings
from those of Hekataios, wrote a Circumnavigation (Periplous).18 Then Demokritos,19
Eudoxos,20 and certain others created circuits of the Earth (gēs periodoi) and circum-
navigations.
2. The old writers drew the inhabited world as round, and believed that Hellas lay
in the middle, with Delphi in the middle of Hellas as it contained the navel of the
Earth. But Demokritos, a man of great experience, was the first to perceive that the
Earth (i.e. the inhabited part) is oblong, with a length one and a half times its breadth.
Dikaiarchos the Peripatetic agreed with this; but Eudoxos (made) the length double
the breadth, Eratosthenes more than double; Krates21 made it a semicircle, Hippar-
chos22 a trapezium, others the shape of a tail. Poseidonios the Stoic made it sling-
shaped: broad in the middle from south to north, narrow to east and west, but broader
towards the Euros (south-east wind), in the parts towards India.

Boundaries of the Continents

3. That of Europe and Libyē is the Pillars of Herakles, while that of Libyē and Asia is the
Nile, though some say it is the isthmus running from Lake Serbonis23 to the Arabian
gulf (Red Sea). That of Asia and Europe, according to the old writers, is the river Phasis
and the isthmus running as far as the Caspian, but according to later, more recent
writers Lake Maiotis (Sea of Azov) and the river Tanaïs (Don).
4. The ēpeiroi (continents) were so called because some of them were apeiroi,
‘boundless’, though this was due to ignorance. Thus Asia was so called from its being
āsson, ‘nearer’, to those departing from Europe whether on foot or by islands lying in
a row including Euboia, Andros, Tenos, Mykonos, Ikaria, Samos, and (Cape) Mykale.
Europe was named from its euros, ‘breadth’. Libyē was altogether unknown to Hel-
lenes, but the Phoenicians in their sailing voyages gave it its name, after a notable
nation. The Ocean (Ōkeanos) was named from the fact that it ōkeōs, ‘swiftly’, anuei,
‘finishes with’, the Earth in a circle.
5. Dikaiarchos, however, divides the Earth not with waters but with a straight line
in the temperate zone, from the Pillars (of Herakles) through Sardo (Sardinia), Sicily,

17
Hellanikos (BNJ 4) was a C5s historian mentioned by Thucydides (1. 97). Depending on how this
is translated, this may be a key passage in the debate about the place of cartography in antiquity before
the Roman Imperial period. Leroy discusses alternative interpretations of the last phrase: the adverb
aplastōs (‘without affectation’, ‘without disguise’) has been taken to mean that Hellanikos did not
bother with a map.
18
Rather, Damastes of Sigeion (see Introduction, §VI. 4. b); rather than this being a MS corruption,
A. may indeed have written ‘Kition’ (Leroy ad loc.).
19
Fr. B 15 in Diels and Kranz 1959–60, ii. 145.    20 Eudoxos of Knidos.
21
Krates of Mallos (FGrH v 2113 = Broggiato 2013).
22
Hipparchos 15–16 (the present passage is extract 12).
23
A lagoon on the Mediterranean coast E of the Nile Delta, on the N coast of the Sinai peninsula.
 text • 813

the Peloponnese, Ionia, Karia, Lykia, Pamphylia, Kilikia, and (Mt) Tauros as far as Mt
Imaos (Himalaya?). Of the areas (thus defined) he names one the northern, the other
the southern.

ii. on winds

6. The winds that blow are: from the equinoctial24 sunrise (due east) Apeliotes; from
the equinoctial sunset (due west), Zephyros; from the south, Notos; from the north,
Aparktias.
‹The easterly winds:›25 from the summer turning-point (solstice; approx. north-
east), Kaikias; next, from the equinoctial sunrise, Apeliotes; and from the winter one
(approx. south-east), Euros.
The westerly winds: from the winter sunset (approx. south-west), Lips; from the
equinoctial sunset, Zephyros again; from the summer sunset (approx. north-west), Ar-
gestes or Olympias, also known as Iapyx.
Next Notos and Aparktias, blowing opposite to one another.
Thus there are eight.26
7. But Timosthenes, the author of the Periploi (Circumnavigations), says there are
twelve. Between Aparktias and Kaikias he adds the Boreas (NNE); between Euros and
Notos, Phoinix (SSE), also called Euronotos; between Notos and Lips, Leukonotos or
Libonotos (SSW); between Aparktias and Argestes, Thraskias (NNW), also ‹named›
Kirkios by those living around that area.
He states that the nations living at the furthest points towards Apeliotes are the
Baktrians; towards Euros, the Indians; towards Phoinix (lie) the Erythraian sea and
Arabia; towards Notos, the Aithiopia that is beyond Egypt; towards Leukonotos, the
Garamantes beyond the Syrteis; towards Lips, the western Aithiopes, ‹those› beyond
the Mauroi; towards Zephyros, the Pillars (of Herakles) and the beginnings of Libyē
and Europe; towards Argestes, Iberia, which is now Hispania; towards Thraskias, ‹the
Keltoi (Celts) and the neighbouring places; towards Aparktias›, those Skythians that
are beyond the Thracians; towards Boreas, the Pontos, (Lake) Maiotis, and the Sar-
matai; towards Kaikias, the Caspian sea and the Sakai.27

iii. circumnavigation of the seas

8. The Great Syrtis (gulf of Sidra) is 5,000 stades (wide), the Small (gulf of Gabès) 1,600
stades.
The mouth of the Adriatic, which some call the Ionian open-sea (pelagos), has a
crossing of 700 stades from Cape Iapygia to the Keraunian mountains of Epeiros.

24
Lit. ‘equidiurnal’. See Introduction, §X. 3. b fin.    25 Meyer’s supplement.
26
This ‘wind rose’ appears to be derived from that of Aristotle (see appendix to Ch. 10 above),
­prob­ably via Poseidonios (Leroy on ii. 6 with full bibliography on wind roses).
27
This passage is Tim. 18 (cf. 3); see nn. there as well as Fig. 10.1.
814 • 29 agathemeros

9. The Aegean open-sea (pelagos) is followed by the Hellespont, ending at Abydos

and Sestos. Next the Propontis, ending at Chalkedon and Byzantion, where the nar-
rows lie from which the Pontos begins. Next Lake Maiotis. Again from the beginning
of Europe and Libyē: the Iberian (open-sea) from the Pillars to Mt Pyrene; the Ligurian
as far as the limits of Tyrrhenia (Tuscany); the Sardoan (Sardinian) beyond Sardo, in-
clining down towards Libyē; the Tyrrhenic as far as Sicily, beginning from the points28
of Ligystike (Liguria); next the Libyan, next the Cretan, the Sicilian, and the Ionian or
Adriatic that spreads out from the Sicilian open-sea (pelagos), ‹and the one› which
they call the Corinthian gulf or Halkyonid sea. The open-sea (pelagos) surrounding
Sounion and (Cape) Skyllaion is the Saronic; next are the Myrtoan and the Ikarian,
in which are the Cyclades; next the Karpathian, the Pamphylian, and the Egyptian.
Beyond the Ikarian, the Aegean next spreads out.29
10. The circumnavigation of Europe, from the outflows of the river Tanaïs (Don) as
far as the Pillars of Herakles, is 69,709 stades.
That of Libyē from Tingis (Tangier) as far as the Canopic mouth (of the Nile), 29,252
stades.
Of Asia from Kanobos to the river Tanaïs, with the gulfs, the coastal sailing is 40,111
stades.
Altogether the ‹coastal› (sailing), with gulfs, of the inhabited world in our region
is 139,072 stades, including in the count Lake Maiotis, whose circumference is 9,000
stades. Its mouth, the Kimmerian Bosporos, is 20 stades (wide).30
11. The Pontos is 3,350 stades (in breadth?). The Thracian Bosporos, at the narrows
where Darius connected (the opposite banks) with a raft against the Skythai,31 is 6 sta-
des (wide).
12. The Persian sea (thalassa),32 being rounded and drawing together its mouth at
the point (akron) of Karmania and Arabia, has a circumference of 20,000 stades. The
mouth between Arabia and Karmania is of 400 stades.33
13. The Hyrkanian or Caspian sea, being crescent-shaped, but according to some
elongated, is 20,000 stades (in circumference). Its mouth has a crossing of 1,000 sta-
des.34
14. The Arabian gulf, being narrow and elongated, begins from the recess of
Heroönpolis35 (and lies) beside the Troglodytic land as far as Ptolemaïs of the Hunt-
ing (Ptolemaïs Thērōn), being 9,000 stades in length. From here there is next a

28
akra (neuter plural), here meaning the extremity of a land mass or island.
29
I take ἀναχέομαι to be metaphorical, not lit. ‘is poured forth’ vel sim.
30
These distances are taken from Artemidoros, as also by Pliny: see Artem. 5–7 above.
31
Hdt. 4. 83–8.    32 i.e. Persian gulf.    33 Actually c.30 mi (c.50 km) today, or c.240 st.
34
This strange assertion may derive from Patrokles’ information that it was possible to sail from India
to the Caspian (Strabo 2. 1. 17, C74; 11. 11. 6, C518–19; Leroy on iii. 13).
35
Possibly Tell el-Maskhuta in NE Egypt. The information in §14 derives from Eratosthenes (Leroy
ad loc.).
 text • 815

v­ oyage of 6,500 stades; and the narrows by Deira (Ras Siyyan) are of 60 stades.36
Beside the Erythraian sea as far as the Ocean is (a voyage) of 5,000 stades; the re-
mainder is not sailed. On the Arabian side, from the Ailanites recess (gulf of Aqaba)
is 14,000 stades. Arabia itself extends into the Erythraian (sea) and is elongated to
12,000 stades.

iv. on the length and breadth of

the inhabited world

15. The length of the inhabited world (oikoumenē) from the Ganges to Gadeira (Cádiz)
is 68,545 stades, as follows:37
From the river Ganges as far as Myriandros (İskenderun) in the gulf of Issos (of Issos/of​
Alexandretta/of ​İskenderun), 41,725 stades, as follows:
from the Ganges to the outflows of the river Indos, 16,000 stades;
from the Indos to the Caspian Gates, 15,300;
to the Euphrates, 10,050;
to Myriandros, 375 stades.38

16. From Myriandros to Gadeira, 26,820 stades,39 as follows:

from Myriandros to Kleïdes (The Keys) on Cyprus, 1,400 stades;
to the promontory of Akamas, 1,300 stades;
to the Chelidoniai (islands; Beş Adalar)40 via the Pamphylian open-sea (pelagos), 1,900
stades;
to Patara, 800 stades;
to Rhodes, 700 stades;
to Astypalaia via the Karpathian (open-sea), 140† stades;
to Tainaron, 1,950 stades;
to Pachynos in Sicily, 4,600 stades;
to Lilybaion via the Libyan open-sea (pelagos), 1,520 stades;
to Karalis in Sardo via the Tyrsenian (Etruscan) open-sea (pelagos), 1,800 stades;
to Gadeira, sailing beyond the Gymnasiai (Balearic) islands, 10,000 stades.41

36
Actually c.16 mi (c.25 km) today, which is approx. 144 st.
37
Ch. 4 presents the same data as Artem. 4 = Pliny 2. cxii. 242–6, where they are in miles.
38
The last four figures total 41,275.    39 Which added to 41,725 gives 68,545, as above.
40
The Turkish name means ‘five islands’.    41 The last eleven figures add up to 26,110, not 26,820.
816 • 29 agathemeros

From Gadeira via Hieron (Sacred) Promontory42 to the harbour of Artabra (Ortegal),
7,932 stades.43
Altogether these make 76,477.44
17. Or in another manner:45
from the Ganges as far as the river Euphrates, 41,350;46
from the Euphrates to Mazaka (Kayseri) among the Kappadokians, 1,950 stades;
from Mazaka via Phrygia Paroreia (beside the Mountains), Great (Phrygia),47 and Karia as
far as Ephesos, 3,990 stades.
Altogether from the Ganges to Ephesos, 47,290 stades.48
From Ephesos to Delos via the Aegean, 1,600 stades;
to the Isthmus, 1,700 stades;
from the Isthmus via the Corinthian gulf to Patrai, 720 stades;
to Leukas, 700 stades;
to Kerkyra, 700 stades;
to the Akrokeraunian mountains, 660 stades;
to Brentesion (Brindisi), 700 stades;
from Brentesion, for a man travelling on foot, as far as Rome, 2,880 stades;
from Rome to the Alps as far as Skingomagos, located under the Alps, 4,152 stades;
next via Keltike as far as the city of Illigyris, ‹3,744 stades;
from Illigyris› via the inns as far as Gadeira, 6,654 stades;
and the voyage across to Gadeira, 60 stades.49

Altogether from the Ganges to Gadeira, 71,560 stades.

18. The breadth of the inhabited world from the Aithiopic sea to Meroë, 5,000 stades.
From Meroë to Alexandria, 10,000 stades.
From Alexandria to the river Tanaïs (Don), 11,056†—for the parts above the mouths of
the Tanaïs to the north are unknown—as follows:
from Alexandria to Lindos on Rhodes, 4,500.
to Thoanteion,50 as you sail with Rhodes on your right, 400 stades;
to Telos, 160 stades;

42
Cape St Vincent, or possibly Trafalgar.
43
At 8 st. to the mile, this exactly matches Pliny’s 991½ miles at 2. cxii. 242: see Artem. 4.
44
The sum of 68,545 and 7,932.    45 This transect is mainly land-based (Leroy ad loc.).
46
A much shorter journey than in §15.
47
The former is part of the latter, Strabo 12. 8. 13, C576.
48
The sum of the previous three figures.
49
The last twelve figures (but one is restored) total 24,270, which being added to 47,290 makes 71,560.
50
On the W side of Rhodes, opposite Chalke I.
 text • 817

to Lakter (Andimáchi) in Koan territory, 120 stades;

to Drepanon in Koan territory, 100 stades;
to Arkitis (Arkoí) island, 230 stades;
to (the) Korsiai (islands; Phoúrnoi), 100;
to (Cape) Ampelos in Samian territory, 30 stades;
to Argennon51 †via the Aegean†, 500 stades;
to Korynaion in Erythraian territory, 270 stades;
to Phlion†, the tip of Chios, 50 stades;
to Melaneus, the tip of Lesbos, 450 stades;
to Sigrion on Lesbos, 500 stades;
to Tenedos island, 450 stades;
to Sigeion, 100 stades;
to the mouth of the Pontos, 2,500 stades;
to Karambis, 2,800 stades;
to the mouth of Maiotis, 2,500 stades;
to the Tanaïs, 2,200 stades.52

19. Or in another manner, from city to city:

From Alexandria to Rhodes, 4,670 stades:
to Knidos, 700 stades;
to Kos, 200 stades;
to Samos, 800 stades;
to Chios, 750 stades;
to Mytilene, 520 stades;
to Tenedos, 950 stades;
to Sigeion, 100 stades;
to the mouth of the Pontos, 2,500 stades;
to Karambis, 2,800 stades;
to the mouth of Maiotis, 2,500 stades;
to the river Tanaïs, 2,200 stades.53

Altogether from Alexandria to the Tanaïs, 18,690 stades.

51
The mainland cape opposite Chios.
52
The above nineteen figures add up to 17,960, close to the total in §19 below.
53
These twelve figures correctly total 18,690.
818 • 29 agathemeros

v. measurement of the islands

20. In what follows, we shall state the circumferences of the islands in our part of the
world, taking them from Artemidoros, Menippos, and other reliable (authorities).
Gadeira is 120 stades in length, 16 in breadth. The crossing by the Pillars of Herakles
is narrowest (here), at 80 stades.
In the Iberian open-sea (pelagos) are the islands called Pityoussai (‘Pine Is.’; Ibiza
and Formentera): the larger, inhabited one is 300 stades long, the lesser one 100 stades.
Of the Gymnasioi (Balearic Is.), which the Carthaginians called Baliariai—for their
slingers are likewise called Baliareis—the larger (Majorca) is 1,200 stades in length and
400 stades in breadth; the lesser (Minorca) is 300 stades (long).
Those bearing the name Stoichades (Îles d’Hyères) lie in succession directly in front
of the Massaliac cities; the greater are three in number, but two small ones are close to
Massalia itself.
Sardo (Sardinia) has a form like that of a footprint, and is hollow in the middle; its
length is 2,200. Kyrnos (Corsica) is close to Sardo but much more undistinguished; it
is less than half the length of Sardo. The point of departure for Sardo and Kyrnos (Cor-
sica) is Popoulonion (Populonium) in Tyrsenia (Etruria); the crossing is 1,200 stades.
The circumference of Sicily, according to Timosthenes, is 4,740 stades; its form is a
triangle with unequal sides, and it has a crossing from Peloron Akron (Monster Point)
to Italia of 12 stades. The side of the island from Peloron to Pachynos is 1,360 stades;
from Pachynos to Lilybaion, 1,600 stades; according to Timosthenes, from Lilybaion
to Pelorias (Peloron), 1,700 stades.54 From Lilybaion, the voyage across to Aspis in
­Libyē is close to 1,500 stades.
21. Kerkina (Grande Kerkenna/​Chergui) island is ‹200› (stades) in length, in breadth
70 stades, though where it is narrowest 40 stades. It lies beyond the mainland city of
Theēnē, which lies in the Small Syrtis, at its beginning. Beside Kerkina lies the island
of Karkinitis (Petite Kerkenna/​Gharbi), joined to it by a bridge; in length 40 stades, in
breadth 25 stades.
22. From Kerkina to the island of Meninx (Djerba) Lotophagitis (the Lotus-eating),
the voyage across is 600 stades, as much as the mouth of the Small Syrtis is said to
measure. Meninx is 200 stades in length, 180 stades in breadth. Around it are strong
tides.
23. The island of Kephallenia, with four cities, has a length of 400 stades. There are
also islands in the Adriatic beside Illyria, of which the more notable are Isse (Vis),
Korkyra Melaina (Black Corcyra), Pharos (Hvar), and Melite (Mljet), whose circum-
ferences I do not know.
24. The circumference of the Peloponnese, the gulfs also being reckoned in, is 5,627
stades; without following the gulfs the circumnavigation is 4,000 stades. Its length

54
These three data do not total 4,740.
 text • 819

from Malea to Aigion is 1,400 stades. It has a form similar to a plane leaf, being dis-
sected by great gulfs. It is drawn in at the isthmus of the Corinthians to 40 stades in
breadth, between the Corinthian gulf and the Saronic. ‹The Saronic gulf extends› to-
wards Sounion Point55 on the left ‹and towards Skyllaion Point on the right›, where the
island of Kalauria, sacred to Poseidon, projects. Next is the Hermionic gulf.56 Next is
the Argolic gulf up to Cape Malea, which is set forward far into the open sea (pelagos).
Next, after Malea, is the Laconic gulf as far as Tainaron on the right, which bounds
the Messenian gulf on its left, on the right of which is Cape Akritas.57 Next is set for-
ward Ichthys (Fish) Point,58 by which lies Zakynthos; and another (point), Chelonatas
(Tortoise Point).59 The last point (of the Peloponnese) is Araxos, confronting Akarnania;
after this the Corinthian gulf spreads out,60 closed by a mouth of 7 stades by Rhion
Point, which is in the Peloponnese, while Antirrhion is in Lokris. From Tainaron to
Phykous (Ras Aamer) in Libyē the crossing is 3,000 stades.
25. The oblong island of Aigina is 160 stades ‹in circumference›; it lies opposite
Attica. Salamis is 70 stades in length, Keia (Keos) 120.61 Of the Cyclades the mightiest
is Naxos, wherefore it is called Little Sicily. To the right are the Sporades. Euboia is
joined to Boiotia by a bridge, and lies alongside Boiotis (sic), Phokis, the Lokrians, and
on the other side to some extent by Attica: for it is long, for which reason it was named
Makris (Long Island), 1,700 stades in length.
26. Crete approaches the Peloponnese opposite Malea. Its circumference is 4,100
stades, its length 2,300, for it is greatly elongated. Kythera is midway between Crete
and Lakonike.
Cyprus is like an oxhide in form; its circumnavigation is 3,420 stades, its length
1,300. From Paphos to Alexandria is a passage of 3,800 stades with the north wind.
The circumference of Rhodes is 1,300 stades; the circumference of Kos 550 stades;
that of Samos 630 stades. Ikaria is long, rough, and 300 stades in length. The circum-
ference of Chios is 660 stades; the circumference of Lesbos 1,100.

55
The S cape of Attica.    56 The last words stand after the following sentence in the MS.
57
The writer seems to imagine sailing with the coast on one’s right in this passage.
58
In Eleia, in the NW Peloponnese.    59 Further N, also opposite Zakynthos.
60
anachei, lit. ‘pours out’.    61 In cases such as these, ‘length’ refers to coastal circumference.
 30
DIONYSIOS OF BYZANTION
(c. mid-2nd c. ad)
Oliver Nicholson and Thomas Russell*

fig. 30.1. Opening of the text of Dionysios of Byzantion, fo. 2r (detail).

INTRODUCTION
The Anaplous Bosporou (Upstream Voyage on the Bosporos)1 in Greek by Dionysios of
Byzantion describes in detail the shores, currents, mythological associations, and fish-
eries of the Bosporos, the channel which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara
and so separates Europe from Asia. After a brief ecphrasis of the northern end of the
waterway, where it meets the Black Sea, the author takes his readers downstream to the
city of Byzantion2 at its southern end, and works his way up the Golden Horn and then
the European bank of the Bosporos to the Clashing Rocks (Kyaneai, ‘blue (rocks)’)
at the mouth of the Black Sea, where he turns round and takes them back down the
eastern bank to the Asian cities of Chrysopolis and Chalkedon opposite Byzantion.
This is perhaps the most detailed description of a landscape to have survived from
the ancient world. It is certainly the most detailed account of the physical, cultural,
and sacred landscape of the Bosporos as it was before Constantine transformed the
area completely by founding Constantinople and incorporating into it the ancient city
of Byzantion. Dionysios appears to have been a local man, animated by local pride.3

*
Oliver Nicholson acknowledges the award by the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota of a
Faculty Summer Research Fellowship and McKnight Summer Fellowship in the Summer of 2002 which
enabled him to make a start on Dionysios.

1
The term anaplous (Latin anaplus) has a variety of meanings. In general terms, it refers to the
‘sailing up’ into the Black Sea through the Bosporos (e.g. Ps.-Skyl. §67), and more specifically to the
European shore of the Bosporos.
2
In accordance with a convention observed by some historians who study the eastern Roman Empire
in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, the pre-Constantinian Greek city is referred to as Byzantion to
differentiate it from the medieval empire known as Byzantium.
3
As argued by T. Russell 2017, 4–5.
 introduction • 821

His work is more literary than the bald enumeration of distances typical of many a
periplous. And it enters into more detail than the accounts of other classical authors
who found so much to marvel at in Byzantion and the Bosporos: Herodotos (4. 83–9),
for whom the Black Sea was ‘the most marvellous of all open-seas’; Polybios (4. 38–52),
who understood the currents in the Bosporos and much else; Strabo (7. 6. 1–2, C318–
20); Tacitus (Annals, 4. 62–3), who was principally interested in Roman relations with
so strategic a location; and Cassius Dio (75 [74]. 10–14) and Herodian of Antioch (3. 1.
5), both of them mightily impressed with the massive city walls of Byzantion destroyed
in the late 2nd century ad.
Dionysios’ purpose is to present readers with the experience they would have
were they witnessing for themselves the spectacle offered by the Bosporos. He begins
self-deprecatingly by comparing its beauties with the relatively disagreeable descrip-
tion he is going to provide; he finishes somewhat abruptly when he gets to Chalkedon
and announces that this marks the end of the Bosporos and the end of his discourse.
In between he has provided a portrait, ut pictura poesis, a description of the landscape
in all its various detail, from the passage of the Argonauts on their way to Kolchis and
the contrasting traditions of the foundations of Byzantion and Chalkedon, through
the vicissitudes of the waterway during the classical and hellenistic periods, and the
fish that are to be caught there, to the gods associated with each place along the shore.
He shares with grammarians and Stoic philosophers a conviction that the name of a
place is no arbitrary appellation but provides the key to understanding its quintessen-
tial character.
Much of what he says might be true of any period of classical or hellenistic history,
but Dionysios clearly wrote in the Roman period, presumably in the 1st or 2nd century
ad; he mentions the altar to Apollo set up ‘by the Romans’ on the Kyaneai (§86), but
there is no sign in what he writes that he knew of the progress and destructive results
of the siege of Byzantion laid by troops loyal to the emperor Septimius Severus in the
years ad 193–5. The work which his Anaplous most closely resembles, not least in a
shared engagement with Herodotos and Thucydides, is surely the large description
of Greece by Pausanias, which comes from the middle years of the 2nd century ad.4
For both men the landscape is punctuated by temples and understood in terms of
classical mythology; they provide not just a catalogue of places but an interpretation
of the entire terrain, seen not as wild but in terms of its relationship with both gods
and men—and fish.
In this respect the landscape Dionysios describes is different from what could be
seen in the centuries after Constantine had supplanted ancient Byzantion with Chris-
tian Constantinople. By the late 5th century the Bosporos was lined not with ­temples

4
‘Perhaps Pausanias was [. . .] approaching seventy when he completed the work not later than a.d.
180’: Bowie 2001, 23. For the details of Dionysios’ debt to Herodotos and Thucydides, see Güngerich
1927, xxxix–xl.
822 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

but with monasteries and shrines of St Michael and other saints.5 Its heroes were less
Byzas and Keroëssa than the likes of St Alexander the Sleepless6 and St Hypatios, who
meeting one day on the road the goddess Artemis, ten times taller than a man, riding
on wild boars, potnia thērōn, made the sign of the cross and so put the boars to flight.7
When such men did seek out temples, it was to disinfect them of their demons, like
those which, according to the disciple who wrote the Life of St Daniel the Stylite, ‘often
sank ships’.8 Hieron, the greatest of the pagan temples, became notable as a customs
post. That is not to say that Byzantine antiquarians had lost all interest in the Argonauts
and the first founders of Byzantion. The learned Byzantine lawyer Hesychios Illustris
(born c.505), whose Chronike historia survives in fragments and a summary, records
the sites of former temples and embeds an account of the foundation of Constantino-
ple in his world chronicle; he may indeed have used Dionysios of Byzantion, or the
two writers may have drawn on a common source.9 The chronicler John Malalas even
tells a tale in which the Incarnation of Christ was prophesied to the Argonauts, who
also founded the temple at Lasthenes (subsequently Sosthenion) which Constantine,
so Malalas claims, turned into a church.10 That an interest in the pre-Christian past of
Byzantion and the Bosporos persisted among learned Byzantines is indicated by quo-
tations from Dionysios’ Anaplous in the 6th-century encyclopaedia of Stephanos of
Byzantion, who cites Dionysios’ description of Chrysopolis.11 The 10th- or 11th-century
encyclopaedia known as the Suda (or Suidas) notes Dionysios and his Anaplous, and
adds that he also wrote a poem on lamentations, but may have been confusing him
with the better-known Dionysios Periegetes, author of a lengthy didactic poem about
world geography (Chapter 28 above).
The last person we can be sure read the whole of Dionysios, though, was French.
Petrus Gyllius (Pierre Gilles, 1490–1555) was a man of large learning who lived an

5
The urban planning and Christian sacred geography of Constantinople and the Bosporos have been
a preoccupation of Byzantine scholars since C16, though ignored in Constable and Kazhdan 1982.
Details of the churches, monasteries, and shrines on the European and Asiatic coasts of the Bosporos,
respectively, are given by Janin 1969; Janin 1975. Details of the European coast, apart from the area
inside the walls of the City (including details from the Cl period), are given by Külzer 2008 (hereinaf-
ter TIB 12). Belke 2020 (TIB 13) provides similar information for the Asiatic coast, but appeared too
late to be considered in detail here. The secular gazetteer of the City and its suburbs by Janin 1964 is
not always accurate.
6
ed. de Stoop 1911, 605–704 (with French trans.).
7
Kallinikos, Life of Hypatios, 45, ed. Bartelink 1971, 270–2 (with French trans.).
8
Life of Daniel the Stylite, 14–16, ed. Delehaye 1923, 14–16.
9
Summary in Photios, Bibliotheca, 69, ed. (with French trans.) Henry 1959, with index by Schamp
1991. Fragments in Patria i, 1–30, ed. A. Berger 2013 (with English trans.). For the context of the frag-
ments, see Dagron 1984, 23–9. Kaldellis 2005 is inclined to consider this antiquarianism as in some
way pagan.
10
Malalas 4. 13. 78, trans. Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986, 38. A similar story appears among the
fragments attributed to the C6 ad chronicler John of Antioch, ed. Roberto 2005, fr. 26. 2, pp. 62–5. On
Malalas’ antiquarianism, see R. D. Scott 1990.
11
Steph. Byz. χ 59 Chrysopolis, quoting Dionysios of Byzantion 109. Stephanos wrote his Ethnika
after ad 540.
 introduction • 823

exciting life.12 He had already published copiously13 when in 1544 he was sent by Fran-
cis I, the scholarly king of France, to Constantinople to further his alliance with the
Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (Kanuni) and to collect manuscripts. On the death
of Francis in 1547, Gyllius was left without money, so he joined the Ottoman army
and in 1548 took part in a Turkish campaign against the Safavid rulers of Persia which
carried him across Anatolia to Tabriz and back through Diyarbakir (Amida) and Urfa
(Edessa) to Aleppo (Beroea) where he wrote a letter to a friend, detailing his experi-
ences.14 Thence he went on to the Holy Land and Egypt, but was captured by Barbary
pirates in 1550 who threatened to take his accumulated notes and throw them into the
sea. He made it back to Constantinople where he was able to reconstitute his observa-
tions and then went back to France and on to Rome where he wrote up his two topo-
graphical accounts, De topographia Constantinopoleos et de illius antiquitatibus libri IV
(‘four books on the topography of Constantinople and its antiquities’) and De Bosporo
Thracio libri III (‘three books on the Thracian Bosporos’). Both works are construct-
ed around the framework of an ancient text: the book about Constantinople around
the early 5th-century ad Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae, and the book about the
Bosporos around the Anaplous Bosporou of Dionysios of Byzantion.15 Gyllius died in
1555, and his nephew Antoine Gilles prepared the two books for publication in 1561.
The whereabouts of the manuscript of Dionysios’ original Greek, on which he drew,
is unknown.16
Till the mid-19th century, all that was known of Dionysios, therefore, was the sum-
mary by Gyllius and the opening passage preserved in a number of Greek geograph-
ical manuscripts.17 Then a manuscript of the 13th or 14th century came to light at the
monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos (Vatopedi 655; see also Introduction, §VIII.
2. a).18 A manuscript collector called Constantinos Minoides Menas (1788/9–1859), a
former professor at Serres in Macedonia who had taken refuge in France in 1819, was
sent to the Levant in 1840 by the French minister of public instruction to recover

12
The most recent account of his life is in the French trans. of his topographical works by Grélois
2007.
13
Müller, GGM i, p. i n. 1, lists a Latin trans. of Demetrios of Constantinople (Pepagoumenos) on
birds of prey, an edition of Aelian, Historia animalium, an edition of Theodoret of Cyrrhus’ commen-
tary on the Twelve Prophets, an edition of a historical work of Lorenzo Valla on Ferdinand of Aragon,
and the speech he wrote asking the emperor Charles V to release Francis I from captivity in 1525, as
well as contributions to a Greek–Latin dictionary, further work on Aelian and other ancient writers on
animals, and a work on the French and Latin names of fish.
14
Conveniently available in the French trans. by Grélois (n. 12 above). Other autobiographical infor-
mation is preserved in asides in his works on Constantinople and the Bosporos.
15
The text of the Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae was published by Seeck 1876, 227–43.
16
Wescher 1874, xxii–xxiv, lists probable variations between the surviving MS and that used by
Gyllius.
17
All, therefore, that is published by Müller, GGM i. 1–101, is the equivalent of Güngerich’s first page,
corresponding to Gungerich’s §1 and the first part of §2, and the fragments, generously conceived,
preserved by Gyllius.
18
What survives on Mt Athos of Vatopedi 655, principally Ptolemy and Strabo, is listed by Eustratia-
des and Arcadios 1924, 131.
824 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

manuscripts and bring them to Paris. Seven folios, the opening pages of Dionysios
(containing §§1–56), were among the manuscripts found in his library after his death
and they were subsequently acquired by the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, BN suppl.
gr. 443a).19 Then, in 1853, the notorious Constantinos Simonides (1824–67)20 sold the
folios which include the single page that provides the closing chapters of Dionysios’
work (§§96–112) to the British Museum Library (now London, BL adds. gr. 19391, folio
4 recto).21 The Greek text of the middle section (§§57–95), however, is still lost, and for
it we are obliged to rely on Gyllius’ Latin version.22
The present version follows the edition of Güngerich in giving only those passages
from Gyllius where he specifically says he is quoting Dionysios.23 The Vatopedi man-
uscript contained numerous geographical works besides this.24 From what survives
at Vatopedi itself, and in Paris and London, it is possible to infer what its complete
contents were, and it appears that it is a descendant of ms. Palatinus Heidelbergensis
398 (codex A in the study of ancient geographers: see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a), a mis-
cellany containing numerous geographical and paradoxographical works and written
in the third quarter of the 9th century, from which unfortunately the leaves bearing
the Anaplous Bosporou are missing.25 It is likely therefore that the scholia in the mar-
gin of the surviving manuscript of the Anaplous derive from the manuscript now in
Heidelberg when it was complete, and so date from the 9th century. These marginal
notes mostly indicate the content of the passages to which they are appended. Where
they provide further information, they have been translated in the notes to the present
version.
In almost all particulars we translate the text of Güngerich.

selected further reading

Belfiore, S. (2009), Il Periplo del Ponto Eusino di Arriano e altri testi sul Mar Nero e il Bosforo:
spazio geografico, mito e dominio ai confini dell’impero romano. Venice.

19
Minoides Menas’s first stay in Greece lasted four years, from 1840 to 1843, He was at Vatopedi in
mid-September 1841, returning in January 1843 to retrieve MSS he was to take away. He reported on
the geographical MS containing the text of Dionysios in a letter to the minister of public instruction of
7 December 1841 (Omont 1916, 365–6), but does not appear to allude to it in his other reports.
20
An account of the famous forger is given by Farrer 1907, 39–66. He spent time on Mt Athos be-
tween 1839 and 1841, just before Minoides Menas was there, and again in 1852.
21
For a facsimile, see www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_19391_f004r.
22
According to Wescher 1874, p. v n. 1, the leaf which would have contained §§57–95 was already
missing when Minoides catalogued the manuscripts of Vatopedi in September 1841.
23
Gyllius (Gilles) embeds such quotations in his own prose. Müller and Wescher both print more of
the context in which each fragment occurs than Güngerich does. Fragments known only from Latin
citations in Gyllius’ editio princeps of 1561 (De Bosporo Thracio) are marked in this translation with the
letters ‘Gb’ followed by his book, chapter, and page number.
24
What is stated summarily here is argued in full in the introduction to the editions of both Wescher
1874, v–xix, and Güngerich 1927, vi–xiii.
25
On this MS, its contents, and its context, see Eleftheriou 2015.
 text • 825

Belke, K. (2020), Bithynien und Hellespont, i (Tabula Imperii Byzantini, 13). Vienna. [Ap-
peared too late to be taken fully into account.]
—— (2021), ‘Gates to Asia Minor: the harbours of Chalcedon, Chrysopolis, Hiereia and Eu-
tropiu Limen opposite Constantinople’, in F. Daim and E. Kislinger (eds), The Byzantine
Harbours of Constantinople (Heidelberg), 223–33.
Grélois, P. (2007), Pierre Gilles, Itinéraires byzantins; Lettre à un ami; Du Bosphore de Thrace;
De la topographie de Constantinople et de ses antiquités: introduction, traduction du latin
et notes. Paris.
*Güngerich, R. (1927), Dionysii Byzantii Anaplus Bospori. Berlin. (Reprinted with revisions,
1958.)
Kislinger, E. (2021), ‘Neorion and Prosphorion: the old harbours on the Golden Horn’, in
F. Daim and E. Kislinger (eds), The Byzantine Harbours of Constantinople (Heidelberg),
133–9.
Külzer, A. (2008), Ostthrakien (Tabula Imperii Byzantini, 12). Vienna.
Mango, C. (2001), ‘The shoreline of Constantinople in the fourth century’, in N. Necipoğlu
(ed.), Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life (Leiden–Bos-
ton–Cologne: Brill), 17–28.
Russell, T. (2017), Byzantium and the Bosporus: A Historical Study, from the Seventh Century
bc until the Foundation of Constantinople. Oxford.

TE XT
Section divisions follow Güngerich.

Codex B, Paris folios 2 r –3 v

1. Although, for those who sail up into the Euxeinos Pontos along its so-called Mouth
(Stoma), the sight of this place is both delightful and incredible, the description (logos)
of the things which they have seen is on the other hand in itself disagreeable.26 For
everything is brought to perfection by looking at it; for it presents successively to the
sight as worthy of wonder the narrows and straits of the channel, and the association
through so small an expanse of sea of the two mainlands facing one another, together
with the deep narrow outpourings of the gulfs and harbours beneath which the shelter
and the abundance of fish is second to none.27 The current for the most part flows

26
D.’s preface raises questions about his intended audience. He claims that he is not writing only
for those who have seen the strait, but also for those who have not seen it, and who have not appre-
ciated its full wonder through personal autopsy. This is not merely a navigational treatise designed,
like a modern ‘pilot’, with the aim of providing sailors with advice on passing through the strait by
explaining how to overcome the currents at certain spots or avoid dangerous capes in the fog. Instead,
D.’s purpose is to promote a ‘full appreciation’ of his homeland, encompassing both its natural and
mythological landscapes.
27
D. throughout the Anaplous tries to convey his own sense of wonder and amazement about the
strait; he is a ‘patriotic’ geographer, perhaps more so even than Herakleides Kritikos (Ch. 11), Juba
(Ch. 22), or Arrian (Ch. 27). Much of his wonder concentrates on the dangerous and deceptive
 15 altar of Apollo
16 sanctuary of Mother of the Gods
17 Baka (?) hill
18 temple of Hecate
19 Pharmacias
20 C. Dotina
21 tower of Medea

map 30.1. Dionysios of Byzantion: places mentioned. Around Byzantion, the map reflects
the estimated shape of the coastline before late antique land reclamations (Mango 2001).
 text • 827

1 altar of Athena Ekbasios

2 temple of Poseidon
3 temple of Ge Anesidora
4 sanctuaries of Demeter and Kore
5 C. Pluto and C. Hera
6 Kykla
7 Mandrai
8 Drys
9 altar of Nikaios
10 Neos Bolos
11 Kyboi
12 sanctuary of Schoiniklos
13 Auletes
14 Artemis Phosphoros and Aphrodite Praëia

map 30.2. Dionysios of Byzantion: inset showing Byzantion area.

downwards, but it sometimes twists back on itself through being overcome, as the
promontories enter it and unfold on either side as it goes round them, they divert the
force of the current from its direct course. Since all this is apparent to the hearing not
less than to the sight, it seemed necessary to me to write about these things, so that,
for those who have seen them, there may be nothing wanting from a full and complete
account (historia), while those who have not seen them may, at any rate, be able to
learn at least something about them.28

currents of the strait, which in concert with the rolling, twisting capes of the Bosporos were infamous.
Locals like D. understood the currents and could explain their apparently random violence, just as
modern fishermen in Istanbul know what parts of the strait to avoid, or where to fish to exploit the
currents better. D. provides the outsider with a taste of this local knowledge, but only a taste; a magi-
cian offering a glimpse into how the trick works. The emphasis on the importance of autopsy may be
intended to encourage visitors.
28
D. conceives of his task in Herodotean terms: his Anaplous is a display of inquiry, and he is endeav-
ouring through ekphrasis to render in words the effect of what he sees: ut pictura poiesis. The dialect
and style are consciously classicizing: the Anaplous should be viewed as part of the literary movement
known as the Second Sophistic, in which Cl Greek texts, themes, and styles enjoyed a second renais-
sance under the Roman empire.
 828 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

2. But the beginning, both of the account (logos) and of the nature of the places, is
the open sea of the Pontos Euxeinos. In size it is the greatest in comparison to the other
seas, apart from the Outer Ocean to which alone it is unequal. Only Lake Maiotis (Sea
of Azov) pours in from beyond it, which the account (logos) passed down from ancient
memory has agreed to be the mother and nurse of the Pontos. Its circumference is
‹8,000 stades, the diameter› 2,000,29 and the river Tanaïs forms its limit, the boundary
between two continents,30 and springing up from an area, uninhabited on account of
the icy cold.31 There are narrow outflows along the so-called Kimmerian Bosporos, all
of which the Pontos receives in a single mass and much of it flows back up into both
sides of the mainland. Greek cities occupy the area around this sea, which some of
the Greeks colonized after the birth of Byzantion, but beyond the sea are many great
barbarian nations.32 The sea shares with the Lake, and is altered by, the copious rivers
coming down from each side of the continent, sweetening its harsh nature. The Pontos
ends in the Thracian Bosporos and falls out through Stoma (The Mouth).33
3. This is a strait with a strong current; in length it is 120 stades, and in width, at its
narrowest point, 4 stades.34 Yet it is not productive of fish, either because Herakles had
completely cleansed the Pontos, according to legend,35 or because of the force of the
sea, which is not straight, but broken by the continuous projections of the promonto-
ries parallel to one another, along which also are continuous whirlpools and checks to
the sea. The current is stirred up at these spots, where the distance between the conti-
nents is most narrow and confined, and it is squeezed with spasm and confusion as it

29
All the MSS read ‘its circumference is 2,000 stades’, but by any calculation the figure of 2,000 st.
for the perimeter of the Black Sea is incorrect. This led Güngerich to suggest that some words had
dropped out and that the clause should read ‘Its circumference is ‹8,000 stades, the diameter› 2,000
stades’, and his emendation is printed here.
30
The various MSS which preserve only the beginning of the Anaplous (including Paris, BN 1405,
1406, 2554) break off here with the words ‘two continents’. From this point onwards, the text survives
only in the Vatopedi MS (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a) and in the Latin epitome by Petrus Gyllius.
31
On the divisions between continents, see Introduction.
32
It is interesting to note that he imagines Byzantion to have been founded before the Greek cities of
the Pontos, evidencing the ancient tendency to attribute foundational acts to discrete moments.
33
Stoma means ‘mouth’, but became the proper name for the said channel. Detailed identification of
sites in the Golden Horn is provided by Oberhummer 1921 (with map); along the Bosporos by Ober-
hummer 1897 (using Ottoman names), and by TIB 12. For a brief history of the waterway, see TIB 12,
295–7, s.v. Bosporos.
34
D.’s description of the currents accords with reality. Digressions on the currents of the Bosporos
have a long pedigree: they feature in Polyb. 4. 43, 3–44. 11 and Strabo 7. 6. 2, C320. D.’s account agrees
generally with these authors, while the length and width of the Bosporos given by D. match the figures
provided by Hdt. 4. 85. It is not clear what spot he measures the Bosporos from: the Kyaneai at the
mouth of the Black Sea (as Strabo does), which mark the termination of his voyage N, or the sanctuary
of Hieron, from where mariners measured the voyage in maritime loans (and which Polyb. uses as his
terminus).
35
The claim that the Black Sea is not productive in fish is difficult to digest. The Pontos is one of the
few regions of the ancient world to preserve significant archaeological evidence of industrial-scale fish-
ing and salting installations, and the ancients were well aware of the region’s productive potential. It is
possible that D.’s localist pride extends to the Bosporos fishing industries, and that he finds it difficult
to acknowledge the Pontos as a rival exporter of fish.
 text • 829

issues down. The capes of the continents overlap each other, and they almost deceive
navigators that the way forward is shut. This is why I think these rocks are called the
Symplegades, since as people are sailing towards them they are separated, but on the
voyage back they come close together—their appearance gives a false notion, for what
seems to be the end is really just another beginning.36
4. The current is borne along a twisting course, and, at the point where the nature
of the places first impels it, it is compacted and driven along, and is cloven in two at
Cape Bosporios.37 This is in Europe and juts out from the city, at a distance of 7 stades
facing towards Asia.38
5. As the current is sharply rent asunder around it, the larger part pushes violently
down into the Propontis, while the milder arm of the current, guiding in a harvest of
fish, is received into the so-called Keras (Horn). This gulf, tucked in behind Cape Bos-
porios, is rather too deep for an anchorage—for it continues on for 60 stades (north-
west)—but it is a safe harbour, enclosed by mountains and hills which protect it from
the winds39 but on the other hand they carry along in the rivers thick, soft mud down
into the mouth under the cape upon which is the city.40
6. The whole of the city (Byzantion) is completely surrounded by sea, except for
the isthmus which joins it to the mainland. The size of its entire circuit of walls is 35
stades, while at its neck, which alone prevents it (Byzantion) from being an island, it is
5 stades.41 It all slopes towards the sea which washes it, except that it inclines on both
sides gently and not abruptly away from the Thracian wall.42 Through the middle it is

36
This is the first reference to Argonautic traditions in the Anaplous. Allusions to the Argonauts form
a leitmotif in the mythological tableau of D.’s Bosporos. Ancient inhabitants of the Bosporos shores
derived a great deal of pride from identifying their local region and its individual places with Argonau-
tic stories. D.’s explanation for the origin of the name of the ‘clashing rocks’ is elegant and rational, the
myth deriving from the real phenomenon of the overlapping shores which seem to close the way ahead
and behind. In poor weather or fog, the overlapping banks can be obscured, so causing shipwreck—a
plausible explanation for the dangerous nature of the mythical rocks. On Argonautic traditions in the
region, see Dewing 1924; Vian 1974.
37
This promontory, mod. Saray Burnu, is the site of the acropolis of ancient Byzantion.
38
Having contemplated the magnificence of the Black Sea, the reader is now carried down with the
current to the S end of the Bosporos, to the site of the city of Byzantion. He is then taken up the Euro-
pean shore (beginning with the Golden Horn) to the Symplegades and then back down the Asian coast
to finish at Chalkedon.
39
Strabo 7. 6. 2, C319–20, also makes the Golden Horn 60 st. long. Procopius (Buildings 1. 5. 3) is
closer to the truth in making it over 40 st.
40
The Golden Horn (Turkish Haliç) provided the principal harbours of ancient Byzantion, including
the Prosphorion and Neorion. Its advantages derive from the fact that it constitutes a sheltered, calm
cul-de-sac hidden away from the violence of the currents in the strait itself.
41
D.’s description of ancient Byzantion as connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus only 5
st. in width does not accord with the topography of Byzantine Constantinople or modern Istanbul. It
seems that in late antiquity considerable land was reclaimed from the shores of both the Golden Horn
and the Sea of Marmara, in modern Unkapanı and Aksaray: Mango 1985, 16–18; Mango 2001, esp.
17–21.
42
The walls of ancient Byzantion may have been called ‘Thracian’ because they enclose the W side
of the city, which opens toward Thrace. Alternatively, they may have been called ‘Thracian’ because
they were used for shelter each time the Thracians attacked Byzantion’s hinterland: cf. Polyb. 4. 45. 5.
830 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

generally level, except on the heights, and on both sides there is level ground by the
sea. The current flows round the whole city, deep and strong-flowing, driven by the
Pontic open-sea and also by the narrowness of its strait, along which there are violent
clashes each time it meets the blows and counterblows of the continents, before it
gathers together and falls against the city. Thereupon the current is cloven in two at
Cape Bosporios, and one part goes back into the gulf, where there is an abundance of
fish, and it flows at its end into shallow shoals. This gulf is called Keras because of its
resemblance to that shape. The size of the gulf provides, as I said before, the conveni-
ence of a harbour. It is surrounded by large mountains which protect it from the force
of the winds, while the city and the mainland opposite shut off the sea at its mouth,
as by running alongside and turning it away the narrowness caused by being turned
sideways much diminishes the speed of the current. This is the overall account for
those who do not wish to continue further, but now we must report point-by-point
the things which follow.
7. Concerning the cape called Bosporios, the account is twofold.43 Some say that a
cow was driven to this place by a gadfly, and that it swam across the strait; while others,
recollecting more in the vein of legend, say that Io the daughter of Inachos was driven
by the jealousy of Hera and crossed into Asia from here. But let the more divine of
these accounts be trusted. For the story would not, it seems to me, have prevailed to
such an extent if it was only a local experience, nor would it have given the name to the
Kimmerian Bosporos as well as the Thracian, unless there was something more than
the local tale (historia). In any case the name seems to have taken some share from the
memory of this event.
8. A little above this is the altar of Athena Ekbasios, where the leaders of the colonial
expedition first disembarked, each of them forthwith competing for the land as if it
was their own.44 9. There is also a temple of Poseidon, which is old, and also quite

­ enophon, who visited Cl Byzantion, mentions a square called the Thrakion, overlooked by the ‘Thra-
X
cian gates’ (Anab. 7. 1. 15; Hell. 1. 3. 20). On Byzantion’s relationship with its Greek neighbours, see
Firatlı and Robert 1964, esp. 26–7, 37, 45, 133–5, 152; Loukopoulou 1989, 190–200. Herodian 3. 1. 7
suggests the extent of the damage to Byzantion’s famous walls in the siege of ad 193–5 when he writes,
‘even now the surviving ruins of this wall are enough to make the viewer marvel both at the technical
skill of the original builders and the might of those who finally destroyed it’. Cassius Dio 75. 14. 4–5
also emphasizes the destruction of the walls in the siege.
43
These stories must derive from local oral traditions, privileged information D. is sharing with the
rest of the world.
44
Ekbasios: ‘of disembarkation’. The epithet is not otherwise known except for a reference to an
Apollo Ekbasios in the Argonautika of Apollonios of Rhodes (1. 996 and 1186), which locates the altar
near Kyzikos. The correspondence with the Argonautic story connects the European shores of the Bos-
poros with a story from that myth, transplanting it from a local rival. The mythological dispute may be
mirrored in an actual territorial dispute between Byzantion and Kyzikos. In the Hl period, Byzantion
possessed various territories along the S coast of the Propontis which neighboured the domains of
Kyzikos, while Strabo 12. 8. 11, C576, claims that Byzantion possessed territory around Lake Daskylitis
bordering the territory of Kyzikos. For bibliography on Byzantion’s overseas possessions, see T. Russell
2017, ch. 3. 3 (pp. 104–12).
 text • 831

simple, and which overlooks the sea. They (the Byzantines) once contemplated moving
this to a site above the running track, which was a very fine and spacious and, in a few
similar respects, remarkable place, but he did not permit it.45 For he advised them not
to in an oracle: either because he was fond of his beloved place next to the sea, or to
demonstrate what a small thing riches are in comparison to piety. 10. Under the
temple of Poseidon, inside the circuit of the walls, are the stadiums, gymnasiums and
running courses of the young men, all on level ground, while at sea the current flows
gently and the voyage into the Keras is easy.
11. Three harbours follow in succession as one first rounds the cape;46 of these
the one in the middle is tolerably deep, and it is protected from other winds, though
it is not entirely secure when the south-west wind dominates; it is closed off from
both sides—for the onward motion of the sea is shut out by the construction of the
walls. 12. After this, as one passes along its length there is a great tower, rounded in
its appearance and particularly large, the wall joining on to the mainland. Then, in the
first place, the flat terrain of the isthmus, which prevents the city from being an island,
slopes down gently towards the shore. After this there is a sanctuary of Ge Anesidora
(Earth the Giftgiver) overlooking the sea, not covered by any roof. These antiquities
signify, I think, the self-determination of Earth.47 This sanctuary is surrounded by a
circuit-wall of polished stone. 13. A little above this are the sanctuaries of Demeter
and Kore side by side; in them there are a number of paintings, surviving signs and
remnants of an earlier prosperity, and the statues (xoana) are of an exact skill second
to none of the highest.
14. There are two temples in the direction of the opening to the sea, of Hera and
Pluto: nothing remains of them save their names. The first of these was burned down
by the Persians who accompanied Darius on his expedition against Skythia, exacting
vengeance for the King for the things which he accused the city of,48 while that of
Pluto was burned down by Philip of Macedonia, when he was besieging the city and
in need of resources.49 Memory endows the places with their names—for one is called
Cape Pluto, the other Cape Hera. Here victims are sacrificed each year to the prophet
Polyeides, and his children, as one year ceases and another begins. It is a Megarian
custom.50

45
Poseidon was the father of Byzas (cf. §24), Byzantion’s mythological eponymous founder.
46
There are two medieval scholia here. One reads ‘Concerning the harbours of the city below the
Bosporian Heights’. The other says ‘Concerning the harbour which still survives now in the so-called
Neorion’. On the Neorion and Prosphorion, see Kislinger 2021.
47
The cult may be a reflection of the fertility of this part of Byzantion’s hinterland.
48
See Hdt. 4. 85–7: Darius crossed the Bosporos on his Skythian expedition in 513 bc.
49
Either Philip II of Macedonia in 340 bc, or possibly Philip V in 200/199 (Dumitru 2006; cf. n. 129).
50
D. is alluding to the view that Megarians were involved in Byzantion’s original foundation.
832 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

15. After this are the rocks called Skironides, so called by the Corinthians from their
similarity to rough ground.51 For Corinthians too took part in the colonization, and
they wondered at the resemblance.52
16. After this there is a long beach, a place worse than none of the best for the
hunting of fish thanks to its considerable depth—for it is, in a few words, precipitously
profound—and for the mildness of the sea and the approach to the shore. It is named
Kykla (Circles), because, I think, the Greeks here encircled the barbarians. Here is the
altar of Athena Skedasia (the Scatterer), alluding to the scattering of this multitude by
their encirclement.
17. Kykla is followed by the gulf of Melias, a rich hunting ground like no other, for
it surpasses them all in every respect—it is shut in by lofty capes and on both sides by
reefs under the sea. It is named after a certain local hero, and it never fails to provide
large amounts of fish for hunting.53
18. After this is the place called Kepos (Garden), which takes its name from the
land—for it is, in short, good for gardening, and its cultivation is aided by the sea.
For it was not long ago discovered, and was before then idle and unexplored, but now
offers access to migrating fish.54 19. Above this is the Hapsasieion: it was named thus
by those from Arkadia and Zeus Hapsasios is honoured in this place.55
20. After this a great headland overshadows the others, and weathers the violence
of both the current and the winds. From here the projecting part of the cape has col-
lapsed into the sea, so that it runs over the deeps without support. Below the cape the
rock is notched and cut through, so that it is joined to the mainland with only a small
amount of rock, and it appears that it will be loosened and is likely ‹to be cut off›. Its
name was given to it for its similarity to the sight, for it is called Mellapokopsas (About
To Be Cut Off).
21. After this there are two places which provide fishing all year long, on account
both of their location below the capes and of the depths of gulfs and the sea pouring
into them calm and undisturbed by the wind. One of these is called Ingenidas, named
after a local hero; the other is Peraikos, named, according to the more popular ac-
count, after Peiraieus, which is near the city of Athens, though as others say a certain
Peron, one of the ancient settlers named it after himself.56 Kittos (Ivy) lies in the middle

51
The Skironian rocks were located in the hilly country between Megara and Corinth. The word
skiros means rough land covered with scrub.
52
D. states here explicitly that the foundation of Byzantion was a mixed enterprise.
53
Oberhummer (RE xi. 1. 258) places Melias at the foot of the hill now crowned by the Süleymaniye
Camii and Mahmudiye Camii. Gyllius notes that the bay there was already filled in and built on by his
time (ii. 2. 60).
54
MS A places this sentence at the end of §19; Güngerich places it here.
55
D. makes allusion to the possible involvement of Arkadians in Byzantion’s early development.
Oberhummer places the Apsasieion at Unkapanı (RE xi. 1. 258, s.v. Keras 1), but admits that the coast-
line has altered considerably since antiquity. Hapsasios is not otherwise attested.
56
The reference to the Peiraieus may be an oblique allusion to the late tradition that Athenians were
involved in the foundation of Byzantion (Amm. Marc. 12. 8. 8).
 text • 833

of both, named for the amount and luxuriance of ivy which it produces. 22. Beside
Peraikos is Kamara (Vault), a steep shore positioned towards the winds, which weath-
ers great impact from the sea.
23. Then comes the place called the Sapra Thalassa (Foul Sea), the very end of the
entire gulf—for it lies at the base of the Keras—and is the beginning of the rivers which
issue into it.57 Why it is named so I do not know, either because of the proximity to
these rivers which rise in this area—for by pressing forward they destroy the local
character of the sea—or because the sea here is motionless and not affected by the
wind. It might, however, be possible to explain the name from the silting up of the
rivers, which carry down constant, soft sediment which makes the sea shallow and
full of shoals. Fishing takes place here. The first of the places here is Polyrrhetion,
named after the man called Polyrrhetos,58 and after this comes Bathea Skopia (Deep
Watch), named because of the depth of the water;59 then third Blachernas, a barbarian
name derived from one of the kings of the area,60 and finally Palodes (Marshy Place),
because of the fact that the sunken embankment of the rivers is marshy and mired in
clay. For the depth is neither firm nor sandy, and because of the amount of mud being
brought down it is not navigable for ships except for small ones. Here there is an es-
tuary, raised and with shoals, which stretches as far as the outflow of the rivers, where
they split in two from one another, but later come together at the outpouring as they
fall out through one single mouth. In between the two rivers (Kydaros and Barbyses)
the marshes are rich in animals, with meadows that give plentiful land for grazing
beasts. The god spoke darkly of these (the two rivers) as whelps, when he was encour-
aging those who consulted the oracle about the colony. He spoke thus:
Where two whelps grasp the grey sea,
Where a fish and a deer feed on the same pasture.61

57
The rivers are the Kydaros (mod. Alibey Su) and Barbyses (mod. Kağithane Su), the two rivers
which flow together into the Golden Horn.
58
Polyrrhetos is otherwise unknown.
59
Given that D. has just mentioned the importance of fishing to this spot, it may be that the toponym
relates to a fishing emplacement (madrague) with attached lookout tower, a skopeia. Over thirty mad-
ragues were located along the Bosporos in the 1920s: see T. Russell 2017, 152–3; Lytle 2006, 42–68.
60
Site of the suburb of Blachernai (Ayvansaray), on the sixth hill and at the N end of the walls of late
Roman and medieval Constantinople.
61
Hesychios (2 = BNJ 390 F 1.3) quotes the same oracle and ascribes it to the Pythia. He adds two
extra lines at the beginning: ‘Blessed are those who will dwell in the sacred city | By the narrow Thra-
cian shore at the mouth of the Pontos’. All four lines are also added in the margin of MS A of Dionysios
(scholion 28), preceded by the words ‘The oracle runs thus from beginning to end’. Steph. Byz. β 190
Byzantion cites similar lines, and there is yet another variant in the commentary by Eustathios on
Dionysios Periegetes (l. 803). Gyllius (ii. 2. 65) prints a version of ll. 1, 2, and 4 but omits to mention
the puppies. The riddle to which D. refers, which survives in longer versions, is imagined as an oracu-
lar pronouncement given to the future founders of Byzantion. In Hesychios’ version, we are told that
it was Argives who asked the oracle of Pythian Apollo. It was traditional to consult an oracle before
embarking on a colonial enterprise, ideally the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
834 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

He says these things because of an event which happens here: the deer come down
from the woods during the winter and eat the reed which grows in the marsh, and
those of the fish which lurk in the stillness of the Keras, mixed in with both the sea and
the rivers, gorge themselves on the roots at the bottom of the sea, fat and lazy from
their good eating.62
24. Of these rivers the Kydaros begins from the direction of sunset in the summer,
the Barbyses on the other hand with the north wind. Some call this latter river after the
nurse of Byzas, others after the helmsman of the boat of Jason and the Minyans who
sailed with him, yet others after a local hero. Where the rivers join together and move
forward, washing onto and over a massive headland facing them and going down into
the sea there is the altar of Semystra, from which also comes the name of the place.63
Semystra, a water nymph, was the nurse of Keroëssa. For when by the arts of Zeus
on the one hand and the anger of Hera on the other, Io was let loose in the shape of a
cow and, driven by fear of a winged gadfly, roamed over many lands, it was indeed at
this spot that she endured the pangs of childbirth—for she was pregnant with a divine
child—and she produced a female child. Semystra reared the child who bore a sign of
her mother’s transformation, for the form of horns with which she was marked pro-
jected on each side of her forehead. For this she was named Keroëssa.64 From her and
Poseidon the man Byzas was born, who is honoured equal to a god, and from whom
Byzantion came to be. Semystra, in fact, nearly had the chance to become a city. For
it was here that the leaders of the colonizers decided to found their city. But while the
sacrifices were burning, a raven snatched some of the thigh bones from the middle
of the flame, and raised them up in flight and bore them to Cape Bosporios. This the
learned men of the Greeks thought to be a sign from Apollo. A herdsman, who had
seen from a vantage point, indicated to them where the thing seized from the holy
offerings had been set down. And so they followed the sign.65
25. After Semystra, a little beyond the outflow of the rivers, is the beginning of the
circumambulation round the Keras on the other side, at the curved promontory of
Drepanon (Scythe).66 After this there is a sharp crest, inclining markedly downwards
towards the sea. It is named Boukolos (Cowherd), in appropriate commemoration of

62
A similar oracle suggesting that a city should be founded where land and sea meet was given to the
founders of Ephesos who were told they should build ‘wherever a fish shall show them and a boar shall
lead the way’: Rogers 2014, 106.
63
This, the promontory between the two rivers flowing into the Golden Horn, is mod. Sılahtarağa.
Cf. TIB 12, 643–44 s.v. Semystra. Hesychios (13) records a healing shrine of Castor and Pollux at the
altar of Semestre.
64
Keras is the Greek for ‘horn’. Keroëssa, a maiden with horns, appears on Byzantine coins from the
Roman period.
65
The original location may have enjoyed fresh water from the Kydaros and Barbyses, but the Bos-
porios Akra could boast the ability to monitor shipping in the Bosporos. The provision of fresh water
has always been a problem for Constantinople-Istanbul: Crow 2007; Crow, Bardill, and Bayliss 2008.
66
Drepanon is modern Sütlüce, on the left bank of the Golden Horn. Foss 2000, 785–7, argues that
katopin (‘after’) and hyper (‘beyond’) indicate that D. has crossed over to the other side of the water
and is now proceeding down the left bank of the Horn.
 text • 835

the man who brought the information, for it was from here that he seems to have seen
the founding bird. 26. After Boukolos are Mandrai (Enclosures)67 and Drys (Oak
Tree): the first is named from the still and sheltered character of the place—for it is
washed by a windless sea—while Drys is named after a sacred grove: this is a sanctuary
of Apollo.
27. Rounding the headland there is an oblong gulf, named Auleon.68 ‹After it there
is a bridge›,69 a work of Philip of Macedonia when he was extending a connection from
both shores of the mainland. He threw down supports of stones into the depths, and a
massive earthen mound was raised by many hands, so that with the Keras bridged for
him by land he might be able to bring in plentiful supplies. For indeed this area was
not conquerable with ships, since the Byzantines ruled the sea all around.70
28. On this spot there is an altar of the hero Nikaios and it is a gently curving place.
There is a reservoir of wild fish and so it is called, from what you find there, Neos Bolos
(New Cast).71 29. Both the name and the nature of Aktina agree.72 ‹After which is a
gulf› . . . around it Kanopos, Kyboi (Dice), and Krenides (Springs).73 These derive from
the running streams that rise from springs, for the land is particularly damp and dewy
here. Kyboi is an indication from Persian history—for certain people used to visit here
and take part in its entertainments74—while Kanopos took its name from Egypt as
being most similar to the luxury in that place. Here the river Meizon (Greater) cuts
into the depth, whence also comes the name of the gulf, which is big enough but not
navigable.75
30. From here there is a very deep mudflat, surrounded by undersea roots, which
shuts off the gulf. In this area there is a lack of fish, because of the rock-pools met with
in the sea about the entrances, except for the fish which glide through in error in the
dimness of night. 31. After this mud is the so-called Choiragria (Wild Hog); it is
called this for what happened there, since certain people used to seize by guile boars
coming down from the mountains. For indeed the whole side of the Keras facing to-
wards the south wind is covered with forests.76

67
The calm bay is that created by the bend of the Golden Horn near Sütlüce.
68
This will be where the Hasköy Çeşmesi enters the Golden Horn, downstream from the present
bridge at Piri Paşa.
69
We follow Güngerich in inserting the words in angle brackets, basing them on Gyllius’ statement
that ‘after Auleon, D. says there is a bridge, a work of Philip of Macedonia’.
70
See note to §14.
71
Bolos relates to the modern Turkish voli, which denotes a fishing emplacement where fixed net
traps can be deployed.
72
D.’s meaning is unclear.
73
The brackets mark a lacuna in the MS. None of these three places is named elsewhere, but they
appear to lie in the area of mod. Kasimpaşa.
74
In C6l and C5e, before Byzantion entered the anti-Persian Delian league, the city was under Per-
sian control with brief interludes, and may have become for Persians a gambling resort in Europe; the
apolaustic tendency of Persians was proverbial: Hdt. 1. 135.
75
The stream is that which flows down the Kasımpaşa valley into the Golden Horn.
76
This area of mod. Galata is not otherwise referred to.
836 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

32. Along here the Keras terminates, and there begins the narrow channel that is
laid out in front of the Pontos and is directed by this time towards the promontory
which overlooks the broad and spread-out Propontis.77 Upon it is the tomb of the hero
Hipposthenes of Megara, after whom came the name of the land.78 33. Following
Hipposthenes is Sykides (Fig-trees), named for the quantity and beauty of the plants.
Some of the inquisitive say that here is where it (the fig-tree) took its general begin-
ning. 34. Here there is a sanctuary of Schoiniklos, the honour and memory of which
was brought by the Byzantines from Megara. They say that this man was the charioteer
of Amphiaros the seer.79 35. The place connected to it is named Auletes, from the
founder and piper Python. Memory honours his trade in the name.80 36. Then after
this is Bolos, which is naturally suited in the winter for the hunting of fish.81 At this
place there is a sanctuary of Artemis Phosphoros (Lightbearer) and Aphrodite Praëia
(Gentle), at which the Byzantines sacrifice annually. For indeed she seems to manage
the good nature of the winds, making them gentle and causing them to settle from
their considerable confusion.82
37. Then comes the place named Ostreodes (Oystery), named for a local event: for
there is a reef under the sea, and the depth is whitened by the mass of oysters there; the
depth is visible to observers at moments when the winds are silent and still. The place
always reproduces what is consumed, so as someone might say, the provision is lavish,
since their reproduction outstrips the speed at which they are caught.83
38. Next after Ostreodes comes the place called Metopon (Brow).84 This lies before
the face of the city—for it looks directly towards Cape Bosporios—and it is named
after its shape: for it is level towards the mainland, with earthen hills, but abrupt and
perpendicular where it rises from the sea. It is not, however, without a share in divine
testimony, for Apollo is honoured at this place.
39. After Metopon comes Aianteion, named after Ajax son of Telamon, whom the
Megarians honour according to a certain prophecy. For the customs of the founders
gave laws to the colonists.85 40. From here, where the cliff falls away and turns into

77
The narrow channel is the Bosporos itself. The cape is marked by the Karaköy end of the present
Galata Bridge, where the Golden Horn meets the Bosporos.
78
A further allusion to Megara’s foundational role at Byzantion.
79
Another reference is given to Megarian heroes. The temple was in Sykai, modern Galata. See
further the note on §63.
80
This is in the area of modern Karaköy: TIB 12, 275–76.
81
This is in the area of modern Karaköy and Kemankeş.
82
Phosphoros, ‘light-bearer’, was an important divine epithet at Byzantion, alluded to again at §78.
The idea that the Byzantines honoured specific gods to seek help with the winds or currents is evi-
denced elsewhere: one inscription at Hieron records the dedication of cake offerings to Zeus Ourios in
exchange for good winds: IKalch 14.
83
This is in the area of modern Kemankeş and appears not to be otherwise attested: TIB 12, 554.
84
lit. ‘Forehead’, but cf. the name Kriou Metopon for a cape in the Black Sea and another in Crete
(trans. Ram’s Brow in these volumes; and see the Index). This is the S part of Tophane.
85
Modern Tophane. Here we have an explicit reference to Megarian involvement in the foundation.
The Greek is rather abbreviated and laconic. This is the Greater Ajax of Iliadic fame: as for most other
places in the Greek world, the Trojan war formed one mythological focal point on the shores of the
Bosporos.
 text • 837

the sea, is Palinormikon, which is named for the second anchoring, since after they
first put in here, having set off again they turned back; the experience of what hap-
pened here gave the place its name.86
41. A little above this comes the temple of Ptolemy Philadelphos: to this man the
Byzantines gave honour equal to a god, since they have enjoyed both his great charity
and his honour towards their city. For he gave them land in Asia, many myriads of
grain, and arms, and money.
42. The next place is called Delphin and Karandas, and the reason for the names
is the following. A man named Chalkis was settling here, a Byzantine by race, and by
profession a lyre-player, second in skill to none of the best. At this place, wearing full
apparel, he sang the Orthian Strain, 87 and a dolphin joined him from the open sea;
moving down into earshot of the song and standing out by emerging from the sea, it
rose from the water out into view, so that it might take its fill of all the melody, and so
that it might not be hindered from a full appreciation by the depth of its movement.
There was for the dolphin a measure of sweetness in the song of Chalkis, and when he
had finished, it went back under the sea, and returned to its own recesses. Karandas
was a shepherd who lived in the neighbouring area, and either out of envy and hatred
of Chalkis, or maybe for personal gain as well, he lay in wait in the quiet as it slipped
through the sea, and as it was gliding on the surface, enjoying the pleasure of the song,
he killed it with a missile. But he did not make off with his prey. Chalkis buried his
listener magnificently. Thus he gave this place the names Delphin and Karandas, the
first in honour of its memory, the other for vengeance.88
43. After this there is a cape which unfolds for a short distance: its base and root,
a rock along the depth, is named Thermastis (Hot Springs?).89 44. After this a beach
spreads out facing the south wind. It is called, after those who came in their pente-
conters and occupied it, Pentekontorikon.90 For the founding of the city began at the
same time as the names of each of its villages came into use. Next to it are Ta Skythou
(The Places of the Skythian) for the following reason: 45. for they say that a Scythian
migrant named Tauros had come from his own home to anchor here—they say that
on his way to Crete that he ravaged Pasiphae, the daughter of Minos,91 from which the
story of his love and of his offspring (i.e. the Minotaur) arose.

86
Presumably referring to the first arrival of Greek colonists.
87
The Orthian Strain was the tune played by the bard Arion before he leapt into the sea and was
carried away on a dolphin’s back: Hdt. 1. 24.
88
Dolphins held some amount of cultural significance in the lands surrounding the Bosporos. Byzan-
tine coins carried an image of a cow on top of a dolphin. The image may relate to Io’s famous passage
of the Bosporos, and this spot, Delphin, stood opposite a place named Bous (Cow), on the Asiatic
coast. See T. Russell 2012.
89
The name is not otherwise attested. It was in the area of Kabataş.
90
The coastline here has altered since antiquity, but this is in the neighbourhood of Dolmabahçe.
91
The story serves to tie the shores of the Bosporos into a wider, popular Greek myth: Theseus and
the Minotaur. Indeed, D.’s explanation allows for the claim that the myth of the Minotaur owed its
origin to this Skythian immigrant, localizing it to the shores of the Bosporos.
838 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

46. One then comes immediately upon Iasonion where those who came with Jason
anchored.92 There is a glade here of deep laurel, easy to traverse, as well as an altar of
Apollo. The beach is elongated and is exposed to winds from the west and south. 47.
After this there is the Rhodion Periboloi (Enclosures of the Rhodians)93—here, having
made fast their ships’ cables, the Rhodians attacked those who disputed their com-
mand of the sea. There remain even to our own day some drilled stones used for tying
up the ships, but most have been lost to time.94
48. Following this is the place called Archeion.95 Here there is a fairly fertile plain,
rich in vineyards and shut in on either side by tall hills which fall away towards the
sea. Through the middle of it a river flows to the soft and deep shore. Here there settled
Archias of Thasos, son of Aristonymos, who resolved to found a city here. However
he was prevented from this by the Chalkedonians, who feared that the place would be
founded in opposition to them. Archias then removed himself and colonized Ainos,
leaving behind his name to the place.96
49. After Archeion there stands a large cliff, which is split right down to its base. It
projects over the summit of the cape, and is the first place to receive the cumulative
violence of the open sea and it has been cloven by the strong-running sea current.
At its peak there is set up Gerōn Halios (The Old Man of The Sea). Some say that he
was Nereus, others Phorkys, others Proteus, certain others the father of Semystra, still
others that he was the guide for the voyage of Jason and his company, and that he be-
came their pilot through the exit of the narrows. Lakiades, they say, a certain prophet
of the ‹Megarian?›97 race, gave an oracle to those setting out at the birth of the colony,
announcing a vision from a dream, that they should indeed sacrifice to Gerōn Halios;
he is honoured by the community.98

92
D. seems not to care that the number of disembarkations attributed to the Argonauts on their short
passage through the strait is becoming excessive. Iasonion was in the area of modern Beşiktaş.
93
In the neighbourhood of Çirağan Sarayı in Beşiktaş.
94
This sea battle involving Rhodians may relate to early colonists; or it could relate to the siege of
Byzantion by Rhodes in 220 bc during the short-lived Byzantine–Rhodian war: Polyb. 4. 47–52.
95
At Ortaköy, N of Beşiktaş.
96
For the Chalkedonians to be deterring would-be colonists from the European shores, Chalkedon
would have to have existed before Byzantion, as the story of the famous ‘riddle of the blind’ claims.
Ainos (mod. Enez) lies in Thrace.
97
The reference to Megara is provided by Güngerich in order to make sense of the text (cf. his pp.
lxii–lxiv).
98
Nereus, Phorkys, and Proteus are all early sea-gods, mentioned in Homer as versions of the Old
Man of the Sea. D.’s various explanations of the Old Man of the Sea reflect a particularly confused and
muddled piece of local oral tradition, and each explanation serves to emphasize a slightly different
feature of the site: Nereus, Phorkys, and Proteus relate the site to pan-Hellenic mythology and the
Homeric myths; the relation to Semystra emphasizes his epichoric connection and relation to Byzas,
the founder of the city of Byzantion; as the expounder for the Argonauts, the Old Man of the Sea fits in
with the Argonautic cycle, while the version involving Lakiades links the site in to early Greek coloni-
zation of the area. These stories were fluid and malleable.
 text • 839

50. Neighbouring this is Parabolos (Perilous),99 named because of the danger in-
volved in hunting (fish) here due to the irregularity of the open sea. For as you pass
down into this unprotected, naked and rocky shore of the sea, the current is decep-
tive as if to disguise its truth, which is that it gives forth good fishing to those who
happen to come near it.100 51. Then there is Kalamos (Reed) and Bythias (Depth).101
Kalamos is named from the number ‹of reeds›, while Bythias, which ‹lies in› the
shelter of the promontories, is named because of its depth at its turning point. There
is laurel here, which was planted by Medea the daughter of Aietes, so the story
goes. 52. Parallel to this there is a flat-crested hill, which inclines gently to the sea,
and the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods. It is called Baka (?) after those who
colonized the area.
53. After this there is a cape which spreads out, and a completely enveloped harbour
which is protected from the northern impact of the sea by a thick, protruding cliff. For
along here it turns back towards the west, having fallen down into an immeasurable
depth, and providing a big enough anchorage and protection from the winds.102 Since
it stretches out here it receives the reckless force of the current, which is like that of a
dragon. For sometimes a churning counter-surge of the open sea rushes against it, but
at other times the rushing comes in the opposite direction and it thrusts the sea back.
And I have seen many laden ships running with a fair wind in their sails be carried
backwards on their course, the current fighting against the wind.103 It is turned back on
close contact with the rocks and, pushed back and forced into the direction opposite to
that of the open sea, the sea itself runs back on its own course. Βoth fear and perplex-
ity afflict ‹sailors›, being unable to make a second attempt. It therefore comes about
that often they take their ships in tow and drag them upstream from the land, forcing
them against the current which is pressing upon them mightily. It is close to here that
they give out the cables and loose themselves, using the momentum from their dis-
embarkation to travel along the rocks and contend with the current, supporting their
rowing towards the rocky shore and defeating the strength of the sea in alliance with
the continent. There are certain marks and indentations of the feet of sea crabs which

  99
Parabolos is in the area of Kuruçeşme.
100
Locations with bolos in their name relate to fishing spots from which nets could be thrown
or coastal emplacements could be operated. Chaniotis and Mylonopoulos 2003, 280–2, stress the
alternative meaning of Parabolos, ‘deceitful’ or ‘dangerous’, and it may be that the fishermen honoured
Dionysos ‘the deceiver’ for his help dealing with the deceptive nature of the current at this spot.
101
These are in the area of Kuruçeşme.
102
The former harbour at Arnavutköy was sheltered by the promontory of Akıntı Burnu from the
current coming down the Bosporos from the N.
103
D.’s use of the first person is an important indication of his local knowledge. The dangerous
current is nowadays called the ‘Devil’s Current’ (Şeytan Akıntısı). Polybios (4. 43. 3–10) describes how
it flows S from the Black Sea, is deflected by this promontory on the European shore, sweeps across
to the Asian side and recoils to the European bank at Hestiai (‘the Hearths’; cf. §§53–4) from which it
passes over to a place on the Asian coast called Bous (‘the Cow’; cf. §110) before dividing to go partly
up the Golden Horn and partly S towards Chalkedon.
840 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

bypass the most forceful part of the current.104 This place is called Hestiai (Hearths).105
For the leaders of the colonizing expedition put in with their ships here, since when
they had come past Cape Bosporios they saw that the landing sites were occupied by a
massed barbarian army. They founded hearths according to the place where each city
disembarked.106 When they learned that the barbarians were coming by land against
them, they waited until most of them had withdrawn a long way from these places,
and launched their fleet into the current. Thus they landed on the now unguarded
cape, emptied of men, having out-generalled the barbarians. For the voyage was short
for them as they took shortcuts across the inlets, while the barbarians went round
circuitously by land. Some say that Hestiai was founded not from cities, but from the
seven best houses of Megara. Let each believe as he wishes.
54. Turning past Hestiai the voyage is largely peaceful and steady towards the
curve of the promontory, and towards the force of the current of both open sea and
air.107 From here they say that before the Trojan War, Mysians with Teukrians passed
through and reached right up to Thessaly, having overcome every land through
which they passed; and that, around the time of the Iliac War (Trojan war), there
was Asteropaios, King of those Paionians who lived at the river Axios.108 55. Chelai
(Claws or Hooves)109 comes after Hestiai, named for its resemblance to the image.
For the name is similar to the sight: here are harbours on both sides, some bigger,
others shorter.
56. After this is a sanctuary of Artemis Diktynna (Τhrower of Nets). Here they
dedicated to her the catches made at sea, as the only one of the gods that is capable
in both types of hunting (i.e. on land and on sea). This goddess the Cyzicenes were
instructed to honour when they were repressed by the barren nature of the sea. They
secretly withdrew themselves, but the goddess became invisible—for a god has pow-
er over all things—and they drew no better experience from the sea. So the statue
of the goddess was seated where she was before. But the Cyzicenes sailed openly
bringing her back secured with golden chains, and from then the goddess let go of
her anger for them.110

104
Aelian, Historia Animalium, 7. 24, similarly describes how crabs crawl onto the shore of the
­Bosporos, as does Pliny 9. xx. 51.
105
Mod. Akıntı Burnu. The name Hestiai appears in Pliny 5. xliii. 150 and elsewhere. Scholion 61 to
the text of Dionysios (placed at the start of §53) alludes to ‘the heights called Hestiai, where is now the
Michaelion’.
106
More evidence of a ‘mixed’ foundation, with a variety of poleis occupying the site.
107
Scholion 63, placed at the start of this paragraph, reads ‘Concerning the bay now called
­Philemporion and that in this place Mysoi and Teukroi came into Europe and Asteropaios crossed to
Troy’.
108
D. connects the shores of the Bosporos to mythology from the Trojan War: Asteropaios
­commanded the Paionians and was killed in single combat by Achilles: Homer Iliad 12. 123; 21.
159–230.
109
Mod. Bebek.   110 The command of the god presumably came through an oracle.
 text • 841

From the L atin of Petrus Gyllius (Pierre Gilles) 111

57. (ii. 12. 109–10) After the temple of Diana (Artemis) Dictynna, says Dionysius, navi-
gation is turbulent and vehemently agitated because the current is held back. The place
is called Pyrrhias Cyon (Red Hound), from the resemblance, it seems to me, which the
sea here has to a dog. Indeed a story told by many people maintains that a shepherd’s
dog ran around the shore here and barked at those who were obliged by the violence
of the current to navigate along the edge of the coast. There also the channel of the
strait separating the two continents is narrowest.112 In the same place also, it is said,
was the crossing of Darius, for here Androcles of Samos joined together a bridge on
the Bosporus.113 This place offers other monuments of history, as well as a seat carved
on the rock; for they say that Darius sat on it and looked out at the bridge and at the
crossing over of the army.114
58. (ii. 15. 120) After Pyrrhias Cyon, Dionysius locates a sea coast with a cape raised
up to a sheer height which is hard for sailors and difficult to pass on account of the
violent collision caused by both continents resisting the Bosporus as it flows forward
through the narrows. For the tide bursts out and foams with continuous whirlpools
not less than a cauldron when a fire is placed under it is accustomed to boil and to bub-
ble over with the emission of the flame and to rumble with a seething sound. Therefore
on account of its nature this coast is called Rhoödes, that is to say turbulent.115
59. (ii. 13. 122) Then, says Dionysius, having gone beyond the promontory there
appears a rock made by nature, not by the hand of men. It is white in colour, and bears
in front of it the likeness of an eagle’s wings and it stretches out like the sole of a foot,
drawing back on the other side, like some plaything of nature imitating everything.
It is called Phidalia,116 and you would not know whether you ought to say it is an
island or belongs to the mainland, being the one by nature and the other indeed by
proximity.117 Some say that it was called Phaidalia, from the fact that in it a fishery first
appears.118 Others say that it was named after the daughter of Barbyssa,119 who when

111
References in this section of the form ‘ii. 12. 109–10’ are to the book, chapter, and page numbers
in Gyllius 1561.
112
At its narrowest point, the Bosporos is less than ½ mi (c.800 m) wide. This is at the Ottoman castle
called Rumeli Hisar. The narrowest point of the Mouth of the Black Sea is at Hieron.
113
In 514 bc Darius king of the Persians, in preparation for his invasion of Skythia, ordered a bridge
to be built over the Bosporos (Hdt. 4. 83).
114
The seat of Darius known to Hdt. (4. 85) would seem (according to the MS reading) to have been
at Hieron: Moreno 2008, 661–2.
115
Gyllius prints Rhoödes in Greek. It is modern Şeytan Burnu.
116
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.
117
Phidalia is contiguous to Gynaikopolis (Portus Mulierum) which corresponds to modern Balta
Limanı.
118
T. Russell 2017, 147–51, relates D.’s references to fisheries to the actual operation of the coastal
fisheries known as madragues.
119
Barbyses, the eponym of one of the rivers which flows into the Golden Horn, was thought various-
ly to be either the tutor of Byzas or the guide of Jason and the Argonauts: §24.
842 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

she had mixed herself in loving congress with Byzas was disturbed by the shame of her
fornication and by fear of her father, so threw herself into the sea and perished. And
Neptune her father, moved by mercy and by indulgence towards his own family, broke
off a large part of the mainland and fixed and secured it in the deep, and the island was
deemed to be the tomb of Phidalia by those who came after.120
60. (ii. 13. 123) A bay recedes inwards from the east, and is deep and fairly capacious,
and enclosed by a short circuit of the mainland. Into the middle of the bay comes
down a cheimarrous,121 that is a winter stream, for it fails in the height of summer. In
this bay is Portus Mulierum (Harbour of the Women), named either because it is in no
way troubled either from the sea or from the mainland—for it is not less safe from the
waves of the sea than it is protected from strong winds from the land—or it was named
thus because men were absent when women caught a great multitude of fish which
had come into this harbour.122
61. (ii. 13. 124–5) Then the same Dionysius adds a place called Kyparodes,123 named
after the cypress tree, follows immediately after Portus Mulierum.124
62. (ii. 13. 125) After Cyparodes, Dionysius places a Temple of Hecate on a rock
which resounds loudly on being struck by waves when winds come, for around it
waves whipped up together are broken apart. Indeed it gathers up the same quantity as
it throws back under the overhang of the seashore.
63. (ii. 14. 127) After the Temple of Hecate, he says, follows ‹a bay› called Lasthenes,
named after Lasthenes, a man of Megara.125 It is similar to the inlet called Cornu (Horn)
in its marshy inmost recess, in the loftiness of its headlands and in its profound depth,
in so far as it is permissible to compare great things with small. At the entrance it is
restricted, but going further it broadens greatly. It is tranquil and safe, surrounded by
mountains, which protect like walls against winds. Into it also descends a certain river,
perennial but inaccessible to ships. In this place Amphiaraus is worshipped in obedi-
ence to the divine command of an oracle.126
64. (ii. 15. 130–1) After Lasthenium, he says, is Comarodes, named from a forest of
arbutus, beaten by the billowy sea.127 65. After Comarodes there succeeds a raised
shore, harsh and with hollow crags rising up out of the sea, which the ancients named
Bacchiae because around them the tide stirred into motion seems to rage and behave

120
This legend recalls those in Ps.-Plutarch (Ch. 26 above).
121
Gyllius prints this word in Greek.
122
The river is now called Baltalimanı. Portus . . . Mulierum is named in Pliny 4. xi. 46; Steph. Byz. γ
119 Gynaikospolis (Artemidoros 136).
123
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.    124 Mod. Boyacıköy, formerly Bapheochorion.
125
The place Lasthenes is mentioned as such by Pliny 4. xi. 46, by John of Antioch (frag. 26. 3 = p. 64
Roberto) and by Steph. Byz. γ 119 Gynaikopolis as Leostheneion. It corresponds to modern İstinye,
whose name derives from Byzantine Sosthenion, on which see John Malalas 4. 13. 78.
126
Dionysios (§34) records a shrine of Schoiniklos, the charioteer of Amphiaraos the seer, which was
honoured by the Megarians of Byzantion further S along the Bosporos shore.
127
The Greek word komaros denotes the strawberry-tree (Linnaean arbutus unedo). Comarodes was
within the bounds of mod. Yeniköy and Byzantine Neapolis.
 text • 843

bacchically. Here when the Byzantines had overcome Demetrius leader of the army of
Philip they called the place Thermemeria (Hot Day)128 from the event which had oc-
curred, for they had fought the naval battle of that day with great care and the utmost
ardour.129 66. Below the shore where it juts out there follows a bay in which is Portus
Pitheci (Harbour of the Ape). They say that Asteropaeo, king of the barbarians living
in this place, together with his sons, was the leader of the crossing over into Asia. The
mainland here has a shore both rugged and precipitous.130 67. From there follows a
shore sloping into a bay called Eudion Kalon (Beautiful Calm),131 which is surrounded
by a beach shrunk into such a small space by the sea that by nature it belongs to the
mainland but seems by appearance to be an island. 68. Immediately thereafter suc-
ceeds a bay named Pharmacias after Medea of Colchis who stored in this place small
boxes of drugs (pharmaca).132 It is very beautiful and very suitable for fishing and most
apt for running ships ashore. Up to the margin of the shore it is considered deep and
extremely safe from winds. It attracts a multitude of fishes to it. Thick forests and deep
woods of every kind and meadows overhang it, just as if, so I think, the earth was com-
peting with the sea. Its circuit is overshadowed by a wood leaning down into the sea;
down through the middle of it into the bay, there flows a river running without sound.
69. (ii. 16. 136–7) Rocky shores and cliffs follow Pharmacias. These overhang the sea
looking, from the way that they present to the eyes a flexible appearance, like things
bent by the vision.133 For the Pontus which had been concealed by projecting prom-
ontories, is opened out, with nothing further impeding a proper view, for often what
seems to be the end is found once more to be a new beginning, and afterwards the
sight of the sea which had previously been hidden restores faith in the fact which was
not previously believed. Those rocks and the crags of the coast are called (the) Kleides
and Kleithra of the Pontos,134 that is, the Keys and Bars of the Pontus.135 70. Now once
one has gone past the Keys there is, rather than the sight of the Pontus, a rock raised up
to a sharp peak, bearing a similarity to a pine cone. This is named Dicaea, that is Just,
from the fact that some merchants sailing into the Pontus in triremes had deposited
gold at this rock, having agreed between themselves that neither of them would take it
away before both had come together to the rock at the same time. The talk of men has
it that one of the two evaded the agreement but the gold concealed itself, because the

128
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.
129
The headland here is modern Karaca Burnu. Dumitru 2006 argues that the king whose forces were
involved in this battle was Philip V of Macedonia in 200/199 bc. (Cf. n. 49.)
130
This corresponds to mod. Kalender Köy.   131 Gyllius prints this name in Greek.
132
Modern Tarabya, Byzantine Therapia (TIB 12, 673–4). Medea will have deposited her potions at
Pharmakias on the return voyage of the Argonauts from Kolchis, as indicated by Vian 1974, 103.
133
§3 and Moreno 2008, 662 n. 18, indicate that actual experience of the visual effects produced by
the promontories lining the Bosporos could inspire belief in the Clashing Rocks (Symplegades, Kya-
neai) at the mouth of the Bosporos.
134
These three names are printed in Greek by Gyllius.
135
The point where travellers passing N up the Bosporos enjoy a first unimpeded view of the Black
Sea corresponds to Kireçburnu in the Sarıyer district.
844 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

rock rejected the bad faith of the perfidious partner, until such time that both came
together there and took the deposit. The name of the stone has remained as a reward
for this righteousness.
71. (iii. 17. 140) Near the rock named Dicaea, says Dionysius, is the place called
Bathykolpos,136 that is, the Deep Gulf, not so much from the contour of its own very
beautiful inner declivity which debouches onto a deep and broad beach as from the
great depth of the sea, for there are steep and precipitous declivities right next to
the sea shore. A river goes out into the bay, of which the name is the same as that
of the bay. Here is the altar of Saron a hero of Megara, and a casting-place for fishes
which, at a time suitable and appropriate for themselves, continually swim in close
formation, first up and then down the Bosporus, deceived by the depth of the sea.137
72. (ii. 17. 141) A short way below the promontory of Saron is situated Kalos Agros138
(Good Field); it has its name by nature from the pleasantness of both sea and land.139
73. (ii. 18. 144) After Kalos Agros, says Dionysius, is the promontory Simas and a
statue of Venus Meretricia; for the word of men has it that a certain courtesan, Sima,
beautiful and gifted and solicitous, inhabited this place and that she was accustomed
to receive from those sailing past the payments of Venus.140
74. (ii. 18. 144) To these things Dionysius adds that for those who have passed the
promontory called Simas there follows the bay (named) Scletrinas, I know not wheth-
er from the roughness of its wooded landscape or from the river flowing down into it.
And after it follow also the Altars of Apollo and the Mother of the Gods and, after a
brief interval, navigation into the Pontus.141
75. (ii. 19. 150) After Scletrina, says Dionysius, is the promontory Miltos (Red Ochre),
named from its similarity to the colour.142 There is also the house alongside of a certain
naval commander, and a steep shore sloping directly and precipitately towards the
sunrise. Around it the sea is broken up by reefs and there is Fanum (Sanctuary; ‘Hier-
on’ in Greek), sited exactly opposite the frontage of the Asiatic Fanum.143 They say that

136
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.
137
Saron was a mythical king of Troizen, who was drowned in a hunting accident and so gave his
name to the Saronic gulf between Attica and the Argolid: Pausanias 2. 30. 7. On the seasonal migration
of fish in the Black Sea and Bosporos, and the advantage taken of this phenomenon by coastal fisher-
ies, both ancient and more recent, see T. Russell 2017, 143–4, 147–50, 152–9.
138
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.    139 Kalos Agros corresponds to the valley of Büyükdere.
140
The promontory of Simas is now called Mesarburnu.
141
At anc. Skletrinas (from Greek sklēros, hard) are now the modern Istanbul suburbs of Sarıyer and
Yeni Mahalle. The seasonal river flowing into the bay here is mod. Gül Dere. The statement that sailing
into the Pontos begins just beyond Skletrinas reflects the way that ships gathered at Asiatic Hieron
(roughly opposite Sarıyer) before passing into the Black Sea, so that Hieron was generally the point on
the Bosporos from which distances were measured and was often deemed the mouth of the Black Sea
(e.g. Arr. §25. 3–4; Ps-Skylax §§67, 92; see below, note on §92).
142
The headland called Miltos corresponds to modern Tellitabya.
143
There were two places on the shores of the Bosporos called Hieron (Temple, Latin Fanum); one,
mentioned here, is on the European shore and the other, more celebrated, is on the Asiatic shore and is
discussed in §93. On the latter, see Moreno 2008.
 text • 845

Jason sacrificed here to the twelve Gods.144 These Fana are small towns placed next to
the mouth of the Pontus;145 there is also a temple of the Phrygian Goddess, a famous
holy place publicly cultivated.
76. (ii. 20. 152–3) Dionysius, after he has described the temple of the Phrygian God-
dess, says this: After these, the river Chrysorrhoas (Golden Stream) runs down with a
mild flow through a narrow valley situated in its rear that is difficult of access. It carries
down sand similar to gold. Around this are trenches cut in the earth and pits made to
examine the veins of metal, works of men of old exploring the resources of the rich
earth.146 A little beyond the river are the so-called Chalcaea, a place neighbouring a
choppy sea, but nonetheless full of fish; it is named after the metal bronze. 77. At the
topmost peak of the hill down which the Chrysorrhoas runs, there is Timaea, a very
high tower, visible and prominent across much of the sea, raised up for the safety of
seafarers. For both parts of the Pontus lack harbours for receiving ships; for the long
shore of the turbulent and unquiet sea has bends on neither mainland.147 From this
tower burning torches used to be carried all the way down at night, as guides to the
right course to the gateway of the Pontus. But the barbarians destroyed trust in the
true torches, by putting out fraudulent torches from the shores of Salmydessus so that
mariners might be drawn into error and led on to shipwreck. The seaward shore has
no harbour and the seabed is not firm for anchors because of the outflow of waters, so
that for those who strayed from the right course, having confused the true signs with
the false signals, a shipwreck was prepared.148 Now indeed time devouring all things
has extinguished the light and has in large part destroyed the tower.
78. (ii. 20. 154) Near to these places, he says, comes the place called Phosphorus,
which has the further name of Pharo, either from Diana or from the former neigh-
bouring lighthouse (pharos).149 79. Joined to this and continuous with it is a long

144
Polybios 4. 39. 6 says that it was at Asiatic Hieron that Jason first sacrificed to the Twelve Gods on
his way back from Kolchis, but Pindar refers to ‘Thracian bulls’ (Pythian 4. 204–6), an allusion which
suggests the European shore as the site of this sacrifice, as emphasized by Vian 1974, 96. Similarly, in
Argonautica 2. 531–2 Apollonios of Rhodes has the Argonauts raise an altar to the Twelve Gods on ‘the
foreshore opposite’ and make offerings there on their outward voyage; the scholia to Ap. Rhod. take
this to refer to the European shore opposite Asiatic Hieron. The scholia go on to say that Timosthenes
(see Ch. 10 above, no. 22) ascribed the building of the altar of the Twelve Gods to the sons of Phrixos
and that of the altar of Poseidon to the Argonauts, and also that Herodoros (a mythographer) says
that the Argonauts sacrificed at the altar where Argos the son of Phrixos had sacrificed on his return.
Pindar, Pythian 4. 204–5, says that the Argonauts established a shrine and altar to Poseidon.
145
Much of this area is now occupied by the village of Rumelikavağı.
146
The river called Chrysorroas is now the İskender Dere.
147
This lighthouse is also marked on the Peutinger Map (VIII, 1).
148
According to Strabo 7. 6. 1, C319, the Salmydessos coast, the stretch of Black Sea coastline NW
of the mouth of the Bosporos, is an unsheltered, stony lee shore with no harbour, stretching 700 st.
up from the Kyaneai, ‘and all who are cast ashore on this beach are plundered by the Astai, a Thracian
tribe’ (cf. Artemidoros 129, from Steph. Byz.). Xenophon (Anab. 7. 5. 12–14) also accuses the Thra-
cians of plundering wrecked ships (cf. Arr. §37).
149
This light is to be distinguished from that further N at Phanarion (mod. Rumelifener): TIB 12, 591.
846 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

shore called Portus Ephesiorum, from the many ships of the Ephesians brought to
land there.150
80. (ii. 20. 155) After the Portus Ephesiorum, says Dionysius, is Aphrodysium,
sheltered by a formidable precipice.151 81. After this is the Portus Lyciorum; this
has a somewhat sandy barren shore, in a small stretch extremely good and firm and
safe.152 82. Above this is Myrlaeum, the home of those who on account of sedition
were driven into exile from Myrlaea and headed hither to this land.153
83. (ii. 22. 160) After Myrileum (sic), he says, is Licnias (Winnowing Fan), perhaps
named either from the fact that it is concave like a cradle or because it spreads out its
raised height evenly from its lowest parts.154
84. (ii. 22. 160–1) At this place is a rocky hill called Gypopolis (Vulture City), a name
it got either from Thracian savagery, both barbarian and uncouth—for they say that
there lived here subjects of King Phineus very eminent for their cruelty—or indeed
that it is called Gypopolis from the fact that vultures often rejoice to go about at this
place.155 So, at least, says Dionysius.
85. (ii. 23. 168) A little beyond Gypopolis, says Dionysius, is the rock called Dotina,
not raised up to a great height above the sea nor standing out above the water. Ships
run onto it; the name of the rock mocks with irony and dissimulation the ignorance of
the sailors; the Dorians call dōtinē what is called proix (gift) by other Greeks.156
86. (ii. 24. 170) After the rock of Dotina, says Dionysius, is the promontory called
Panium parallel to the Cyaneae—that is to say, sited level with and contending against
the Cyaneae—the shore of the sea coming in between. For at the end of the promon-
tory are small islands, the endpoints of the Pontic Sea, separated from the continent
by a small intervening space of sea, for it is only possible for very light and extremely
small ships to run through and go across on account of the very slight depth of the
sea.157 The Cyaneae are lofty and raised up above the sea; they bear an aspect like the
blue c­ ornflower (cyanus), either from being made from earth of many forms or from

150
This is mod. Büyük Liman.
151
The headland here corresponds to mod. Çalı Burnu, at the European end of the Yavuz Selim bridge
over the Bosporos.
152
The Harbour of the Lycians corresponds to modern Garipçe.
153
The site of Myrileion probably lay about 200 yards inland from Limen Lykion. The city of Apameia
Myrleia was on the Bithynian coast of the Sea of Marmara, NW of Prousa (mod. Bursa): Strabo 12. 4.
3, C563. But the original home of the exiles may rather have been Myra in Lycia.
154
The etymology of Licnias is unclear; perhaps Gyllius associates it with liknon, which can mean a
cradle or a winnowing fan, a broad shallow container from which threshed grain is thrown into the air
to separate the corn from the chaff. It corresponds to mod. Bağlaraltı Liman.
155
The ‘rocky hill’ of Gypopolis probably corresponds to the headland now called Papazburnu.
Phineus was a mythical king ruling in Salmydessos who helped the Argonauts. On relations between
Greek citizens and local Thracians (to whom Cl sources attribute an unwelcoming demeanour), T.
Russell 2017, ch. 5.
156
The two terms here are printed in Greek by Gyllius. Dōtinē is a word used to mean ‘gift’ in Homer
and Herodotos. The irony is that this reef is an unwanted gift for those who run aground on it.
157
The northernmost point of the European shore of the Bosporos is now occupied by the village and
lighthouse of Rumelifeneri (Byzantine Phanarion).
 text • 847

the beating back of the sea.158 An altar of Apollo has been set up by the Romans on the
Cyaneae.159
87. (iii. 2. 186) From the Cyaneae, says Dionysius, to the east the Pontus opens wide
towards a limit not grasped by sight and a vastness not perceived by the eyes. I do not
know whether the wonder or the pleasure of the spectacle is greater; for to the south
is a promontory closing the beautiful mouth of the Pontus and a great and open sea
draws together into a narrow strait.160 For one going across into Asia from the Europe-
an Cyaneae, indeed, the first promontory is called Ancyreum; for they say that those
who sailed with Jason received a stone anchor on the advice of a prophet, so that they
gave the same promontory the name Ancyreum.161
88. (iii. 3. 191) After the promontory Ancyreum, says Dionysius, is the Pyrgos (Tow-
er) of Medea of Colchis, a round rock raised up on a steep mound.162 89. Beyond
the Pyrgos of Medea is an island, which is covered by the waves of a disturbed sea
but appears openly in a calm sea. The uttermost parts and peaks of this they call Cy-
aneae, so that nature should not be devoid of islands on the Asian side nor the story
lack credibility according to which the Cyaneae once clashed together and were called
Symplegades from what had happened. Thus they have a firm position on both con-
tinents, resting by fate on the channel of the sea as to their own roots, and preserving
confidence by their separation into two parts.163 So, at least, says Dionysius.
90. (iii. 4. 196) Dionysius says that after the Cyaneae is the promontory of Coracium
and a broad shore which has the name Panteichion (Complete Wall)164 from the con-
struction of ditches which go round this place.165

158
The Kyaneai (‘Dark Blues’) represent the European side of the famous Clashing Rocks, the myth-
ical Symplegades through which the Argo was the first ship to sail. At §3 and §69 D. remarks on the
optical illusions which appear to those sailing up the Bosporos.
159
The drawing of the monument known as ‘Pompey’s Pillar’ done by an anonymous German artist
in 1574, now fig. 17 in the Freshfield Album at Trinity College, Cambridge, shows a round altar deco-
rated with an inscription, garlands, and bulls’ heads surmounted by a marble column with a composite
capital. Discussion and black and white reproduction in Mango 1965, 313–15. It is illustrated also by
Sandys 1621, 40. For the inscription, published already by Sandys, see CIL III, 1, 732 and IByz, inscr.
14. It reads Caesari Augusto / f(e)c(i)t L. Annidius / L. f. Cla(udia) Fronto. The column fell in 1680: de
Bruijn 1700, 54. By the mid-C18 it was in three or four pieces: Pococke 1745, ii. 2. 138; little of the
altar now survives.
160
Arr. §25. 3–4 reckons 40 st. from the Kyaneai to Hieron (stoma tou Pontou). D. reiterates the
admiration he expressed at the start of his treatise of the view from the Mouth of the Bosporos into the
Black Sea. According to Herodotos (4. 85), King Darius admired the same view. The description now
moves to the N end of the Asiatic shore of the Bosporos and works its way S.
161
The headland on the Asiatic shore at the NE end of the Bosporos is now called Yum Burnu.
162
The Tower of Medea is the most northerly of the places on the banks of the Bosporos which D.
associates with Medea, as she accompanied the Argonauts on their return journey from Kolchis; the
others are Pharmakias (§68) and Bythias (§§51–2).
163
Apollonios of Rhodes has it that after the passage through them of the Argo, the Symplegades
stopped clashing and were rooted fast (2. 604–6).
164
Gyllius prints this name in Greek.
165
Corax in Latin and Greek means ‘raven’. Teichos in Greek means ‘wall’. Coracium corresponds to
mod. Fil Burnu (Elephant Headland).
848 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

91. (iii. 4. 199) The Chelae (Claws or Breakwaters), he says, follow on after Pantichi-
um; some of them are named after their shape, the others are called after other things.166
92. (iii. 5. 199–200) Then the Anaplus of Dionysius adds: After Chelae is the so called
Hieron, that is Fanum (Temple),167 built by Phryxus son of Nephele and Athamas, when
he sailed to the Colchians.168 It is in fact a possession of the Byzantines but a common
resort of all seafarers. Above the temple is a wall going about in a circle. On this is a
fortified citadel which the Galatae laid waste like many others in Asia.169 Ownership
of Fanum has been disputed, many claiming it for themselves at the time when they
controlled the sea, but above all the Chalkedonians used to attempt to assert this place
as hereditary to themselves. However the ownership always remained of old with the
Byzantines on account indeed of their hegemony and their native authority—for they
possessed the sea with many ships—and again indeed when they bought (it) from
Callimedes, the leader of the army of Seleucus.170 This, at least, is what Dionysius says
about the Fanum.
93. (iii. 5. 206–7) At Fanum, says Dionysius, is a bronze statue of ancient workman-
ship representing one of a boy’s age holding his hands in front of him stretching them
out.171 Many reasons are brought forward why this statue was formed into this shape;
certain people (he says) assert that it is a sign for the daring of sailors, deterring them
from foolhardiness of navigation, replete as it is with dangers, and displaying dutiful-
ness and good fortune in the safety of those who return home, for neither is lacking
in terror. Others say that a boy wandering on the shore arrived some time after the
ship had left the harbour and, being moved with despair for his safety, he stretched

166
The primary meaning of Greek chēlē is ‘hoof ’. It comes to mean ‘breakwater’ because the outline of
a breakwater may be considered hoof-shaped. Chelae corresponds to Keçilik Liman (Goat Harbour).
167
Hieron, the temple on the Asiatic side of the Bosporos, overlooked what was generally considered
to be the Mouth of the Bosporos, and it was in the harbour there that ships would wait for favourable
sailing conditions into or out of the Black Sea. Moreno 2008, 656–66, shows that the temple occupied a
position on the Kavak promontory now occupied by a Byzantine castle called Yoros Kalesi.
168
Phrixos was the son of Nephele, a goddess of clouds and Athamas a king of Boiotia. He and his
sister Helle fled from their wicked stepmother to Kolchis at the E end of the Black Sea on the back of a
flying ram with a golden fleece. The four sons of Phrixos co-operated with Jason and the Argonauts in
their voyage to Kolchis to recover the Golden Fleece. The circumstances of the founding of the temple
at Hieron and of the god(s) to whom it was dedicated are variously recorded, and are confused by the
existence of European Hieron. Only D. attributes the foundation to Phrixos; other accounts are con-
veniently collected by Moreno 2008. By the Roman period the temple was associated with Zeus Ourios
(Jupiter of the Fair Airs): Cicero, In Verrem 4. 128–30; Arrian, Periplous 12. 2–3; 25. 4; Markianos,
Epitome of Menippos (Ch. 21 above, A. 1), §§6–7; cf. CIG II, 3797 = IKalch 14. Catullus surely had this
in mind in his poem about the boat which brought him back from Bithynia (4. 18–24).
169
The Galatians destroyed Hieron probably soon after crossing over into Asia c.280 bc; on the im-
portance of Hieron at this juncture, see T. Russell 2017, 95–8, 198.
170
Strabo (7. 6. 1, C319) refers to Asiatic Hieron as Hieron of the Chalkedonians and European
Hieron (on which see §75, with note) as Hieron of the Byzantines. In fact the city of Byzantion had
purchased Asiatic Hieron from an official of the Seleukid kings in C3 (Polybios 4. 50, 2–3). On the
wish of the citizens of Byzantion to establish a maritime ‘zone of control’, see T. Russell 2017, 108–13.
171
A. B. Cook 1914–40, iii. 1. 149, provides extensive commentary on this statue, possibly by a pupil
of Lysippos.
 text • 849

his hands to heaven and the god then hearing the prayers of the boy brought the ship
back into the harbour. Others say that during a great calm at sea with all wind stilled
a ship was held back for a long time and the sailors were suffering from lack of drink
and that a vision came to the captain ordering that the captain should sacrifice his own
son, for in no other way would he be able to procure progress and winds. The captain
was compelled by necessity and made preparation to sacrifice his son, he had stretched
out his hand to the boy when the god indeed moved by pity on account of the harsh
execution of the boy and on account of the boy’s age, raised the boy up and sent along
a favourable wind. These things and those which contradict them as each man pleases,
let them be considered credible.
94. (iii. 6. 212–13) Under the promontory of Fanum, says Dionysius, there succeeds
and follows Argyronium, named from the fact that it had been bought with much
money.
95. (iii. 6. 214–15) Afterwards, says Dionysius, there succeed and follow the places
called Herculis Kline, that is Bed (of Hercules),172 and Nymphaeum, and then the so-
called Insana Laurus (Manic Laurel),173 at which they say Amycus Bebrycus the king
used to live, the most outstanding man of his time in fighting with his fists, except that
he was beaten by Pollux, the son of Jupiter and Leda.174 For on the Colchian expedition,
as the result of a challenge, he fought with Pollux and was killed by the same Pollux
and paid the penalty for his cruelty to the foreigners, and as a sign of his insanity a
plant was raised up divinely in a way which the human mind is able to comprehend:
for if anyone should take this laurel to a banquet it will affect the guests with similar
madness and will fill them with violence. From this indeed I have learned by experi-
ence that nature has passed down to immortal memory the iniquity of this king from
this very laurel.

Codex B, Lond on Folio 4 r

96. ‹After this (i.e. after Laurus Insana) is Moukaporis, a very deep bay, named›175
from a certain one of the kings of Bithynia.176 There is an extremely fine harbour in it.
Beyond this is the cape called Aietou Rhynchos (Eagle’s Beak), the name being from its
shape, being stony and deep inshore.

172
Mod. Yuşa Tepesi (Mount Joshua). Gyllius prints Kline in Greek.
173
Mod. Umur Yeri. It is the Daphne Mainomene (Greek for ‘Manic Laurel’), mentioned by Arr. §25.
4; Steph. Byz. δ 35 Daphne. Eux. §119 (Ch. 36 below) erroneously identifies this with Sosthenion on
the other side of the Bosporos.
174
Apollonios of Rhodes 2. 1–177 places the fatal boxing match between Polydeukes and Amykos
king of the Bebrykes on a beach visited by the Argonauts before they entered the Bosporos; Theokritos
(Idyll 22. 27–134) places it after the Argonauts had safely passed through the Clashing Rocks. Vian
1974, 98–100, argues that D.’s version rather than those of the poets represents ancient local tradition.
175
These words are restored from the Latin of Gyllius, iii. 5, pp. 215–16.
176
Mod. Hunkar İskelesi.
850 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

97. From then on the bay they call Amykos and Gronychia, a level plain.177 There is
in it fishing for monstrous quantities of fish. Next is Palodes (Marshy), similar in shape
to that which protrudes below Byzantion.
98. After this there is Katangeion, a bay alluring to fish like no other; if indeed one
were restricted to telling the truth, it is the only part of the Chalkedonian shore rich in
fish, for the other parts are as different from the European shore as sea is from land.178
Beyond this is Cape Oxyrrhous.
99. After this there is a large level beach called Phrixos’s Harbour.179
100. Beyond this another anchorage, Phiela of the Chalkedonians, men capable of
doing great things.180
101. Above it is a low curved mound, whose base is circumscribed in the shape of a
circle. One might compare it to a theatre in appearance, an unplanned work of Nature.
And that indeed is what it is called.
102. Nearby is the cape called Lembos (Skiff). It is so called from its shape. There is
also a beach alongside. Down from its mouth is a very low-lying island, beyond which
the deep, foaming with submerged breakers, directs the run of fish away towards Eu-
rope. For indeed being alarmed at the current carried to their sight they cut off their
passage.181 The Chalkedonians call this Blabe (Damage), giving it an appropriate name
and one fitting for the experience of those who pass by.
103. Then there is Potamonion and after that Nausikleia, off which, they say, the
Chalkedonians defeated those sailing against them in a sea battle.182 104. Then Echaia,
a cape with the sea flowing round it, and the reasonably deep bay of Lykadion. The
former is named after a man of Megara, and Lukadion after one of the local people.183
105. Beyond this is Nausimachion, famous as the site of another naval battle.184 106.
After this Kikonion, which is named from the overweening crudeness and depravity
of the colonists there, for having been overcome in a revolution, they were cast out of
their land.185

177
The Bay is that of Beyköz, and Çengelköy occupies the plain.
178
The medieval scholion reads: ‘Concerning the so-called Katangion, now in accordance with cor-
ruption Katakios’. This is modern Çubuklu, opposite Istinye on the European shore, and the Oxyrrhous
Cliffs are where the Asiatic coast briefly protrudes to the W. In this area was late Roman Irenaion
(Place of Peace), the place where the important monastic community of the Akoimetoi finally settled,
after their founder Alexander the Sleepless died at Gomon, at the N end of the Asiatic shore of the
Bosporos, c. ad 430: Janin 1975, 13–15.
179
This corresponds to Kanlıca.
180
This corresponds to Körfez (‘Gulf ’), at the E end of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge.
181
Strabo (7. 6. 2, C320) and Pliny (9. xx. 50; cf. Tacitus, Annals 12. 6. 3) describe how when the
shoals of pelamydes migrate from the Black Sea and down the Bosporos they are alarmed at ‘a certain
white rock’ and are carried by the current across to the European bank.
182
Potamion corresponds to Anadoluhisarı. Nausikleia corresponds to the mouth of the Küçüksu.
183
These correspond to Kandılı Burnu and Vanıköy.
184
Nausimachios corresponds to modern Vanıköy.
185
The bay probably corresponds to modern Çengelköy.
 text • 851

107. After this is Cape Rhoizousai (Rushing Ones),186 so called from the waves crash-
ing and rushing round it and the Diskoi (Quoits), the former greater, the ‹latter› lesser
by far, both named from their resemblance in form. 108. Next to these is Metopon
(Forehead) opposite the one on the shore of Europe,187 and next to it a harbour, very fine
for its magnitude and peacefulness; a broad and soft beach circumscribes its great size.
109. Above the sea is a plain sloping onto the promontory. It is called Chrysopolis
(Golden City).188 Some say this is because in the time of Persian rule the accumulation
of the gold coming in from the cities was put there, but as more people say, it is from
the tomb of Chryses, the son of Chryseis and Agamemnon. For, fleeing from fear of
Aigistheus and Klytaimnestra, he arrived there having it in mind to pass over to Tauris
to his sister Iphigeneia, for Iphigeneia was now a priestess of Artemis. But falling ill
of a disease what he left from himself to the place was his name. On the other hand
it might also be that it is so called because of the convenience of the harbour, whose
remarkable character can be compared to gold.
110. Thereafter a cape stands out, overrun by the blows of the sea; for a strong cur-
rent pushing against it contends with what is called the Bous (Ox).189 This is by way
of being a setting-off point for sailing over into Europe; there is a column of white
stone, on which is an ox, for there Boïdion, the concubine of Chares the general of the
Athenians, perished and was mourned by him.190 The inscription indicates the truth
of the tale:191 for some, performing their investigation (historia) rashly and carelessly,
suppose the image to be of the ancient swimming,192 wholly erring from the truth.
111. After the Bous there is the spring Heragora and the sacred enclosure of the
hero Eurhostos,193 after which is a flat beach watered by the river Himeros, and on it a
sacred enclosure of Aphrodite,194 and alongside it a small isthmus forms the limit of a
large peninsula, on which is the city, slightly above the river Chalkedon.195 There are

186
Mod. Kirazlıtepe and Nakkaştepe respectively.   187 See §38.
188
Mod. Üsküdar (formerly Scutari). Strabo calls Chrysopolis a village (12. 4. 2). Evidence for the
harbour of Chrysopolis, now completely silted up, is summarized by Belke 2021, 227–9.
189
The coastline here has altered considerably, but Bous, otherwise known as Damalis (‘Heifer’), was
the promontory which formerly closed off the S side of the harbour at Chrysopolis. Polybius (4. 44)
explains in detail how the set of the currents favours Byzantion over Chalkedon.
190
Chares (c.400–c.325 bc) was an Athenian general. In 340 he was sent to Byzantion to aid the city
against Philip II of Macedonia. Boïdion, ‘Little Calf ’, is a neuter name, but its bearer was evidently
female since ‘concubine’ (pallakē) is grammatically feminine.
191
The medieval scholion in the MS provides the text of the inscription, which is also found in the
Anthologia Graeca 7. 169, and other sources.
192
Reading νήξεως rather than the λήξεως (‘termination’?) of the MS. (ON owes the suggestion to an
annotation by the unknown earlier owner of his copy of Güngerich.) ‘The swimming’ will refer to the
story of the ox swimming the Bosporos.
193
Otherwise unknown: Frick 1865, viii.
194
The Himeros river is the modern Ayırlık Çeşme.
195
Chalkedon is modern Kadıköy. It was a colony of Megara, founded, according to Eusebios, in 685
bc, and known as the ‘city of the blind’ because its founders preferred it to the site of Byzantion (Hdt.
4. 144; cf. Strabo 7. 6, 2, C320; Hesychios 19). On the city of Chalkedon, the peninsula on which it
stood and its ancient harbours, see Mango 2001, 22–3; Belke 2021, 224–7.
852 • 30 dionysios of byzantion

harbours on both sides, in accordance with the way the isthmus recedes: the one look-
ing out towards the west being natural, that looking towards the east and Byzantion
being manmade.196 The city rises lower than the hill-crest but is more rugged than the
plain. There are many things in it wonderful for the antiquity of the foundation and
deeds, their destinies and their vicissitudes of both kinds, but especially for the sacred
enclosure and oracle of Apollo, inferior to none of the most highly esteemed.
112. Let this be the conclusion of the exposition of my investigation, that and also of
the traverse of the Bosporos.

196
D. bizarrely refers to the more easterly harbour of Chalkedon as ‘looking towards Byzantion’. Not
only is it further from Byzantion than the other, but it opens to the S, not the W. Gyllius’ Latin version
does not render the words ‘and Byzantion’, whether because he sensed a problem or because they were
not in the Greek text. If they are not the author’s mistake, they may have been displaced from the pre-
vious clause, or may be a misplaced note deriving from an earlier copyist’s marginal comment.
 31
PSEUDO-HIPPOLYTOS, STADIASMOS
(STADE TABLE OR ­C IRCUMNAVIGATION
OF THE GREAT SEA)
(stadiasmus maris magni; stadiasmus matritensis)
(3rd c. ad? early 1st c. ad?)
James W. Ermatinger and Robert C. Helmer

fig. 31.1. Opening of the Stadiasmos (Madrid codex, fo. 63r (detail)).

INTRODUCTION
The work commonly referred as the Stadiasmus maris magni (hereinafter SMM) is a
gazetteer of short and summative navigational distances, whose surviving portions
cover the coasts of North Africa (from Egypt to Tunisia), the Levant (from Alexandria
to south-western Asia Minor), Cyprus, and Crete. It is uniquely detailed in ancient
works of Greek geography in what it tells us about harbours and their facilities.

manuscript

The surviving passages of the work are preserved at the end of a single Greek manuscript
of around ad 950–75, written during or soon after the reign of the scholar–emperor
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–59) and now housed in the Biblioteca Na-
cional in Madrid.1 The manuscript has 82 folios of variable size, approximately 8 by 6
inches (20 × 15 cm), the length of a line of text being 10 to 10.5 cm.2 These contain, first,

1
Originally catalogued as Matritensis Graecus 121, now 4701. Comparison with other MSS enables
this close dating (Pérez Martín 2016, 81). Diktyon no. 40177. Images at http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/
detalle/bdh0000253269 (last accessed 8 February 2023).
2
Pérez Martín 2016, 80.
854 • 31 stadiasmos

the Chronikon (Chronicle or Chronology) by the Christian author Hippolytos of Rome

(fl. ad 234), an account of all the peoples of the world from Biblical times to his day. This
is followed by the same author’s Diamerismos (Division), a geographical extension of
his Christian chronology; after the enumeration of the major mountains and rivers of
the world, we encounter SMM on folios 63r–82v.3 It has its own prologue, presumably by
Hippolytos,4 and is described in the first sentence as Stadiasmos ētoi periplous tēs megalēs
thalassēs, ‘stade table or circumnavigation of the Great Sea’.5 Hippolytos’ work in other
manuscripts (but not the Madrid codex) then continues with an account of the kings of
the Jews.
Debate has centred on its original author. Some argue for Hippolytos himself; oth-
ers believe it is an appendage to his work. Diller argues for an earlier 1st-century ad
date for SMM, while Müller and Cuntz view it as late 3rd-century.6 Bunbury believes
that the preface and title were added during the time of the manuscript’s compilation
and not during its original composition.7 Arnaud follows Cuntz and Helm in suggest-
ing that SMM—already lacking extensive passages—was incorporated into a second
version of the Diamerismos.8 Be that as it may, the latest date of which SMM shows
awareness, that of the foundation of Caesarea Maritima by Augustus (§272), is ad
10.9 Recent studies posit a core of Augustan or post-Augustan date with linguistic and
factual modifications, some of them doubtless the result of Hippolytos’ integration of
the text into his Chronikon.10 It may be a compilation from four or more sources, none
later than Augustus and none attributable to a known author.11 Whatever its ‘origi-
nal’ date, SMM itself is agreed to be a compilation from various sources (see further
below);12 but, like other Roman-period itineraries, it may have undergone ‘dynamic
evolution’ rather than being a fixed document.13

3
The horizontal catchword at 82v clearly indicates that the MS had a continuation. For full details of
the physical character of the MS, see De Andres 1987, 264–5; and now Pérez Martín 2016, 79–84. We
are grateful to Dr Joseph Werne (History Dept, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau,
Mo.) for helping translate the Spanish descriptions. According to Dr Solange Garcia Moll (Professor of
Spanish, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania), who visited the library in June 2008 and who helped
obtain information and images, the staff indicated that the MS is in fragile condition.
4
Arnaud 2017b, 705, notes that its style reflects that of Christian exegetical works.
5
Here the Mediterranean rather than the outer Ocean. The prologue to the SMM begins without
any notification after the Diamerismos, where it ends with the Dead Sea. The title only occurs after the
prologue.   6 Diller 1952, 149–50; GGM i. 427–514; Cuntz 1905.
7
Bunbury 1879, ii. 672–4.    8 Arnaud 2017b, 707–8.
9
The work does not contain any late Roman city names, and does not take into account the silting up
of some of the harbours that had occurred. Only twice does it give distances in miles instead of stades
(§§344, 346).
10
Altomare 2013, 37; Pérez Martín 2016; Arnaud 2017a, 15–17.    11 Arnaud 2017b, 714–20.
12
Compiled from different navigational works: e.g. Medas 2013. Similarities to Menippos: Diller
1952, 149–50; and see Campbell in Ch. 21 above. Proposal of C1m ad date: Uggeri 1996, 45. Arnaud
2009, 166–70 (also Arnaud 2010) notes a relationship with the travels of St Paul and the Acts of the
Apostles; and denies that SMM has a close connexion with the C3 bc work of Timosthenes (Ch. 10
above).
13
‘[M]odèle dynamique d’évolution’: Arnaud 2009, 170; cf. Arnaud 2004. Cf. the updating of outdat-
ed itineraries by the explorers whom Nero sent up the Nile: Merrills 2017, 206–12.
 introduction • 855

Constantine Lascaris was born at Constantinople in 1434 or 1435 to a noble Byz-

antine family that had produced three emperors. After the fall of Constantinople in
1453, he stayed seven years on Corfù. He later travelled to Rhodes, where he acquired
some manuscripts, and it is tempting to postulate that SMM originally came from
there, although there is no direct evidence.14 He then travelled to Italy with his library
including this manuscript. Since SMM deals with sea travel from Alexandria and the
majority of the surviving parts are from the eastern Mediterranean, the original of the
work that was copied in Constantinople most likely came from the Greek east, perhaps
even from Alexandria where the text begins.

terminolo gy

SMM is unusual among our texts in the amount of detail it provides about the topogra-
phy of places where ships can put in, and in occasionally including detail of the course
to be steered for safe entry.15 It uses several different terms for ports, harbours, and
anchorages. Are the terms used interchangeably or do they denote specific meanings?
By examining and analysing these terms the author’s intentions may be gleaned. The
suggestions of Leonard have much to commend them, though for the purposes of
these volumes we have preferred to standardize with other chapters.16
limēn (λιμήν). This denotes a large or important, natural or artificial port, specifically in
a commercial sense. It may contain architectural remains, breakwaters, or quays. It was
sheltered either naturally or with manmade structures and is translated here as ‘harbour’,
as it is throughout the volumes. As such, a limēn should be seen as a regional centre where
commerce and shipping interacted with the countryside and provided jumping-off points
for inter-regional commerce.
hormos (ὅρμος). Ιn Leonard’s view this denotes a medium natural or artificial harbour,
generally circular or ring-shaped; it could also mean an inner basin containing a break-
water. The standard dictionary LSJ allows for these meanings, but in Greek geographical
texts there seems little evidence to suggest that the word normally means a circular har-
bour or an inner basin. It is often variously translated as ‘haven’, ‘anchorage’, or ‘roadstead’;
but see below for ‘roadstead’. Here it is translated ‘anchorage’. From the signs in SMM, a
hormos could be used as a territorial or smaller regional centre for commerce allowing
ships to arrive and depart from the main regional centre or limēn, but still serving a region
larger than that of the hyphormos.
hyphormos (ὕφορμος). As its name suggests (hyp- meaning ‘under’ or ‘sub-), this means
a minor, never really predictable, natural anchorage; perhaps a concealed anchorage or

14
For discussions of Constantine and the MSS, see Fernández Pomar 1966, 211–88; Martínez Man-
zano 1994; and now Pérez Martín 2016.
15
On these practical details, see Medas 2013.
16
Leonard 1997, 192–4. See the Introduction, §IX; and for a more detailed consideration of this and
other points, see Shipley 2021b.
856 • 31 stadiasmos

a place below a headland or promontory, somewhat sheltered from the environment or

winds as a hormos is, but smaller and rougher. It could be translated as ‘sheltered anchor-
age’ or ‘just anchorage’, but here is translated as ‘minor anchorage’ to distinguish it from a
sheltered anchorage or hormos. The hyphormos allowed a place for ships to be provisioned
and to load and unload cargo for local markets.
emporion (ἐμπόριον). This was both a functional term referring exclusively to harbours
of a type more commonly called epineion (ἐπίνειον, a ‘dependent harbour’ of a city), and
denoted the commercial port of an inland city. For consistency with the rest of the book,
we translate emporion as ‘trading-place’, though it may be the case that in SMM the term
has a more precise meaning.
salos (σάλος). This technically denotes a ‘tossing’ or ‘rolling’ of the seas, but can also
mean an open, natural anchorage. Either ‘open anchorage’ or ‘roadstead’ would serve
to distinguish it from hyphormos; as in the other chapters, we have adopted ‘road-
stead’. Since it was unpredictable and tied to the weather, a salos was probably the least
desirable spot for merchants, unless there was a need for water or the cargo was des-
tined for the immediate area or for illicit trade. At §55 a place is described as episalos,
which we have translated as ‘with a rough roadstead’.17

Other terms for stopping-points are used more sparingly in SMM. Ankyrobolia
(ἀγκυροβολία, lit. ‘anchor-casting’), used only once (§25), means a ‘temporary nat-
ural anchorage’ and is translated as such; cheiropoiētos hormos (χειροποίητος ὅρμος,
lit. ‘handmade’ hormos; §30), means an ‘artificial manmade basin’; and katagōgē
(καταγωγή, §§103, 134) means ‘landing’. Finally the adjective alimenos (ἀλίμενος, §§3,
4, 70, etc.) literally means ‘without a harbour’, and is translated as such.
Besides the above terms discussed earlier, we translate thīs (θίς) as ‘sandbank’,18 sko-
pelos (σκόπελος) as ‘peak’,19 and chōrion (χωρίον) as ‘locality’ (rather than ‘settlement’
as elsewhere in the volumes).20
For water there are several descriptive terms but two, kalos (καλός) and glykys
(γλυκύς, literally ‘sweet’), occur several times and can be translated in the same way
each time: thus kalos is translated as ‘good’ and glykys as ‘fresh’.21 In SMM, kalos also
describes anchorages or harbours and we have kept the same term there, ‘good’. What
these terms really meant, and whether there was any real distinction, is hard to deter-
mine.
The author uses three terms for projections of the coast. We have translated akra
(ἄκρα) as ‘cape’, aktē (ἀκτή) as ‘headland’, and akrōtērion (ἀκρωτήριον) as ‘promon-
tory’, as is the practice in other chapters. Did this author, however, mean them with
different sense or interchangeably? In SMM the answer seems to be the latter, but we
keep the distinction so that the reader will note the difference relayed in the text.

17
Cf. PME §8 (Ch. 25 below).    18 §§36, 66–7, 93.
19
§§10, 17–18, 25–6, 28, 73–4, 164, 284.
20
§§129, 133, 169, 183, 187, 199–201, 206, 208–9, 224–5.
21
In British English ‘fresh’, applied to water, is equivalent to ‘sweet’ in US English.
 introduction • 857

An internal analysis of the text can help show the complexity and differences in
terms used by the author, especially for harbours. In §30, salos and hormos are both
used, and in §9 both limēn and salos occur together, while in §3 and §99 salos and ali-
menos are mentioned. This last instance is important, since salos is used specifically with
alimenos meaning ‘no harbour’; therefore salos means here a roadstead. In §128 both
­salos and koitōn (κοιτών, lit. ‘chamber’) occur, the latter probably equivalent to kōthōn
(κώθων, originally ‘cup’) and so meaning slips or chambers as we translate it; but it
could also mean an artificial, protected inner harbour such as that of ancient Carthage,
which was known as the Kōthōn. In both instances salos was used to indicate potential
landing-places or docks; the instance still allows salos to mean ‘roadstead’ with ‘cothons’
or ‘chambers’ to indicate landing slips, land-based repair facilities, or even a protected,
artificial inner harbour. In §§112 and 328 limēn occurs twice, while in §303 the terms
limēn and hyphormos are given, and in §319 hormos and limēn occur. §336 has hormos
twice, limēn twice, and emporion once. It appears, therefore, that these terms were not
interchangeable but had distinct and definite meanings for the author of SMM.

purp ose of the work

While sea-captains know the way from A to B once they have sailed it, what do they
do when they have no first-hand practical knowledge? Clearly, the captain would ben-
efit from some kind of work. For the ancients a possibility would be a periplous. But
could the surviving or mentioned periploi really help ancient captains? Hanno’s work
(Chapter 4 above) was a Carthaginian commemorative inscription which hung in a
temple at Carthage, not something one would carry around on ship. Pseudo-Skylax
(Chapter 7), although providing a more in-depth descriptive narrative than the SMM,
beginning in the west and moving east to Italy, Asia Minor, and then Egypt—the exact
opposite of SMM’s trajectory—does not help with concrete sailing information and, as
argued in Volume One, was a desk-based exercise in geographical exposition. The PME
(Circumnavigation of the Erythraian Sea, Chapter 25), though much closer in time to
SMM, is more of a voyage summary than a ‘how to sail’ manual, and may have been
intended for rich merchants and traders managing business at a high level rather than
for practising sailors. Arrian’s Circumnavigation of the Black Sea (Chapter 27), again,
is a summary of his expedition and not necessarily a navigational manual, although it
does present some ports and sites and was probably meant to be like Nearchos’ work
preserved in the Indike, appended by Arrian to his Anabasis of Alexander as its eighth
book. These works, then, were created for the armchair geographer, administrator,
military commander, or investor who wanted to be provided with a background to
the ethnographical and historical environment of a region, and not a practical sailing
manual. Is the SMM, then, a set of directions for an ancient sea-captain, or is it a work
meant to be read in leisure in hopes of understanding the Mediterranean? The answer
helps determine whether the text was meant to be a pilot’s manual or a pedantic work
for armchair geographers.
858 • 31 stadiasmos

As Bunbury notes, even great cities like Leptis and Carthage have directions on
how to approach. He further stresses that, unlike other existing periploi, SMM gives
practical information even though it is irregular.22 The purpose of SMM, as stated in
the preface, is to describe what can be seen as one sails along the regions, not using
legends but observations. Works by Herodotos, Pomponius Mela, and even Strabo
presented material in the guise of histories and geographies in which local legends
were meant to be factual. The SMM does not present material in a narrative: instead,
the work provides descriptions. It does not present fanciful or outrageous ideas: rather,
it provides material straightforwardly, even if many sections are monotonous repeats
of one another. With the exception of the preface, there are no long narratives in the
text, no great descriptions; instead there are just lists (e.g. §272).
While the material may or may not be accurate, it can be seen that there are no
ludicrous additions, such as gold-digging ants or strange humans. For example, §112,
dealing with the territory of the Lotus-eaters, does not provide any fanciful descrip-
tions well known from mythology, but gives matter-of-fact geographical descriptions
and distances of the islands and the surrounding region.
From the manuscript and an analysis of what kind of material is presented, there-
fore, some conclusions can be made. First, there are four main surviving sections: (1)
Africa, (2) Asia Minor, (3) Cyprus, and (4) Crete. Second, Africa, Cyprus, and Crete
have extensive descriptions concerning what a captain might see or how to navigate,
while the second has the fewest. Third, Asia Minor (§§128–297) is the largest part
of the document but has the smallest amount of descriptions. Finally, the individual
descriptions in Africa, occupying the first 127 sections, provide the most detail in the
entire work.

conclusions

The SMM contains some detailed areas: (1) Africa, (3) Cyprus, and (4) Crete, while
passage (2) on Asia Minor merely gives listings. The original SMM probably was a
series of compilations, four or more, similar in style to what we have for Asia Minor,
which probably just gave listings of ports and distances.23 These may have then been
reworked with supplementary details, as seen in parts 1, 3, and 4, occasionally under
the influence of Latin sources.24 Not all the information may be reliable; and some
places may be doublets of others, potentially frustrating any attempt to locate them
all cartographically.25 Are there similar works in existence? While there are none in
Greek exactly like the SMM, in Latin there is the Maritime Itinerary, dating from the
late 3rd century, which gives a listing of cities, ports, and distances without details. Still

22
Bunbury (n. 7 above).
23
Arnaud’s studies identify a plurality of sources to explain the variation in how entries are ex-
pressed. See Arnaud 2009; Arnaud 2010; and now Arnaud 2017a.
24
Arnaud 2009, 186.
25
See the cautions of Arnaud 2017a, focusing upon the Syrian section, esp. 28–9.
 introduction • 859

later, Diocletian’s Price Edict (ad 301) gives ports and regions with prices instead of
distances, although most likely based upon distances.
What, then, was the purpose of the SMM? There are three likely possibilities.
(a) First, the SMM may have been a sea captain’s piloting manual. As shown, the mate-
rial only concerns the sea coasts and approaches to and from them. Also the descrip-
tions do not contain frivolous points; they are all matter-of-fact. Additionally, in §2
there is a reference to merchant ships. Finally, in several sections there are references
to winds and their directions. (b) A second possibility is that the SMM may have been
similar to the periploi of Pseudo-Skylax and Arrian: a work primarily to be read at
leisure as a geographical work, something produced by or for an armchair geographer;
but if that were the case, it would have been a monotonous piece to read. (c) Finally, the
SMM may have been used for official purposes by a tax or naval official, and it may have
collected data to create some kind of official listing similar to Diocletian’s Price Edict.
The first possibility is the most likely in view of the SMM’s scope and nature. It
should be seen as an ancient pilot’s or captain’s manual, used either in the planning of
voyages or even possibly onboard ships.

note on the text

The corrections by Cuntz, contained in Bauer’s collection of Hippolytos’ works,26

represent an advance on the previously standard edition by Müller. They are incor-
porated into the most recent authoritative text, that by Helm,27 which the present
translation uses. In addition, we have checked the readings from photographs of the
manuscript.
Modern place-names appear in parentheses where a simple equivalence is pro-
posed. Names in the Barrington Atlas are in footnotes, with ‘Barr.’ appended. Some
names are inconsistent, especially when grammatical inflexions imply different nomi-
native forms; if not clarified by a note, these are corrected silently by adopting the first
form or a likely alternative (e.g. 20–1 Zephyrion).
The different wordings of summative distances28 reflect the variations in the Greek.
The manuscript is inconsistent as regards the placing of the definite article before a
name; we have generally omitted it.
Section numbers from 1 (the title) to 355 are Müller’s; those in parentheses (begin-
ning at 240, the preface) are those of Bauer, Cuntz, and Helm, which continue the
numeration of Hippolytos’ Chronikon. We have divided §§272, 279, and 282–4 into
multiple paragraphs, as in the manuscript; it will be noted that in three of those sec-
tions all the entries refer to distances from the same departure point (Rhodes in §272,
Kos in §279, and Delos in §284).
Part divisions are those of the manuscript.

26
Cuntz 1905.   27 Helm 1955
28
These are hardly ever the same: see §§19, 30 (33), 52, 57, 84, 93, 103, 124, 132, 153, 183, 213, 232,
254, 296, and 315. The only ones whose phrasings match are §93 = §103 and §153 = §232.
860 • 31 stadiasmos

Special symbols in this chapter

‹› insertion by Helm
« » insertion by Müller, rejected by Helm (may or may not be accepted by the present
editors)
(90) numeral proposed by Müller

selected further reading

Arnaud, P. (2009), ‘Notes sur le Stadiasme de la Grande Mer (1): la Lycie et la Carie’, La car-
tografia degli antichi e dei moderni = Geographia antiqua, 18: 165–93.
—— (2010), ‘Notes sur le Stadiasme de la Grande Mer (2): rose des vents, systèmes d’orienta-
tion et Quellenforschung’, Geographia antiqua, 19: 157–62.
—— (2017a), ‘Playing dominoes with the Stadiasmus Maris Magni: the description of Syria.
Sources, compilation, historical topography’, in A. Külzer and M. S. Popović (eds), Space,
Landscapes and Settlements in Byzantium: Studies in Historical Geography of the Eastern
Mediterranean presented to Johannes Koder (Vienna–Novi Sad), 15–49 (map, 442).
—— (2017b) ‘Un illustre inconnu: la Stadiasme de la (Grande) Mer’, Comptes-rendus des
séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 2017. 2: 701–27.
*—— (forthcoming), ‘Stadiasmos (2049)’, in FGrH v.
*Helm, R. (1955), ‘Der Stadiasmos des mittelländischen Meeres’, in A. Bauer and R. Helm,
Die Chronik, 2nd edn (Hippolytus’ Werke, 4; Berlin), 43–69.
Medas, S. (2008), Lo Stadiasmo o Periplo del Mare Grande e la navigazione antica: commento
nautico al più antico testo portolanico attualmente noto. Madrid. [Uses Müller’s text, citing
Helm’s only in notes.]
—— (2009–10), ‘Il più antico portolano attualmente noto: lo Stadiasmo o Periplo del Mare
Grande’, Mayurqa, 33: 333–64.
Pérez Martín, I. (2016), ‘Chronography and geography in tenth-century Constantinople: the
manuscript of the Stadiasmos (Madrid, BN, Mss/4701)’, Geographia antiqua, 25: 79–97.

TE XT
Inconsistencies in the spelling of names are retained.

‹preface ›
(240) These things having been demonstrated,29 and as I admire those features of
your love—your devotion to learning and your excellence—most honoured brother, it
pleases me to show you this stade table (stadiasmos) or circumnavigation (periplous)

29
In the preceding sections of his Christian chronology, Hippolytos enumerates prominent moun-
tains and rivers in the world.
 text • 861

of the Great Sea30 as accurately as possible so that, after reading these things, you may
gain in experience. I have begun from Alexandria in the district of the Pharos (Light-
house),31 up to Dioskourias situated in the Pontos; and then in Europe from Hieron
situated by Chalkedon, up to the Pillars of Herakles and Gadeira, as I want to help all
men. I shall exhibit the division of Asia from Europe. I shall write about the distances
of the islands from one another, how many they are, which ones are visible during the
voyage, how large they are, and what winds they employ, what the voyage is like—(all
this) I shall show you truthfully.

(241) stade table of the sea 32

Westwards from Alexandria33

1. (242) From Alexandria to Chersonesos: it is a harbour; 2 stades.
2. (243) From Chersonesos to Dysmai (?):34 it is a harbour for merchant trade not
exceeding a thousand (measures); 7 (70) ‹stades›.
3. (244) From Dysmai (?) to Plinthine: it is a roadstead (salos); the locality is with-
out a harbour; 90 stades.
4. (245) From Plinthine to Taposiris:35 it is a city without a harbour; a sanctuary of
Osiris; 7 (90) stades.
5. (246) From Taposiris to Chio: it is a village; rocky shallows are apparent; 7 (90)
stades.
6. (247) From Chio to Glaukos, 80 stades.
7. (248) From Glaukos to Antiphrai: the locality is a roadstead; 80 stades.
8. (249) From Antiphrai to Derrhon: it is a minor anchorage (hyphormos) in sum-
mer, and has water; 7 (90) stades.
9. (250) From Derrhon to Zephyrion: it is a harbour and has a roadstead; 400
(170) stades.
10. (251) From Zephyrion to Pezone,36 110 stades. At [—] stades from this, there is
a peak called Myrmex, also a promontory called Tracheia (Rough).
11. (252) From Pezone to Pnigeus, 7 (90) stades. There is a low promontory; enter
on the right into a flat rocky area.

30
τῆς μεγάλης θαλάσσης σταδιασμὸν ἢ περίπλουν (tēs megalēs thalassēs stadiasmon ē periploun).
‘Great’ is omitted in the heading lower down, but it seems appropriate to retain it in the chapter title
since this is how the author (be he Hippolytos or a predecessor) describes the work.
31
Muller’s expansion here, ‘I will detail the places in Libyē up to the Pillars of Herakles, then those in
Asia, again beginning from Alexandria in the district of the Pharos’, is rejected by Helm.
32
This title, Σταδιασμὸς τῆς θαλάσσης–Stadiasmos tēs thalassēs, is obelized by Cuntz as a later addi-
tion, but retained by Helm.
33
Heading added by translators.
34
dysmai, ‘sunset’, is presented as a place-name in the MS but is surely a directional indication, ‘west-
wards’; a place-name has dropped out (Arnaud 2017b, 708).
35
Taposiris Megale, Barr. But cf. also ‘Taphosiris’ in Eudoxos of Knidos?
36
Pedonia, Barr.
map 31.1. Stadiasmos: Alexandria to Utica.
 text • 863

12. (253) From Pnigeus to Phoinikous, 140 stades. There are the Didyma (Twin)
islets; a minor anchorage is in front of them; it is deep enough for merchant ships; it
has cistern (lakkaion) water in the ravine.
13. (254) From Phoinikous to Hermaia, 7 (90) stades; anchor while holding the
cape on your right; it has water at the tower.
14. (255) From the Hermaia to Leuke Akte (White Headland),37 20 stades. A low
islet lies off it, 2 stades distant from the land. It is a sheltered minor anchorage for mer-
chant ships in the westerly winds. On the land under the promontory there is a long
anchorage for ships of all kinds; (there is) a sanctuary of Apollo, with a well-known
oracle, and it has water by the sanctuary.
15. (256) From Leuke Akte to Zygris, 7 (90) stades. It is an islet; hold it on the left as
you drop anchor (prosormizou); it has water in the sand.
16. (257) From Zygris to Ladamantia, 20 stades. Beside it lies a large island; holding
this to the right, bring your ship in (katagou). It is a sheltered harbour in any wind; it
has water.
17. (258) From Ladamantia to the (places of) Kalamaios, 40 stades. It is a promon-
tory with a peak; to the right of it there is a minor anchorage.
18. (259) From the (places of) Kalamaios to Graias Gony (Old Woman’s Knee),38
9 (70) stades. It is a rough cape which has a peak on the heights; on the shore there is
a tree. It is an anchorage (hormos) and it has water under the tree; watch out for the
south wind.
19. (260) From Graias Gony to Artos, 120 stades. It is a rough promontory without
a minor anchorage, and on the promontory there are two bulls39 protruding like is-
lands into the open sea. After rounding this you will see the city of Paraitonion.
(261) Together all the stades from Alexandria to Paraitonion become 1,550.
20. (262) From Paraitonion to Delphines (Dolphins), 7 stades.
(263) From Delphines to Zephyrion, 7 (90) stades. There are two islands and a
promontory. It is a harbour in all winds, and it has water.
21. (264) From Zephyrion and Delphines to Apis, 30 stades; it is a village; if you sail
20 stades from this place there is an anchorage. It has water in the village.
22. (265) From Apis to Nesoi (The Islands), 7 (90) stades.
23. (266) From Nesoi to Linydai,40 70 stades. It is a cape which has a minor anchor-
age; it has shallows on the right; upon seeing the shallows, bring your ship in.
24. (267) From Linydai to Azy, 8 (50) stades.41
25. (268) From Azy to Dareios’ ‹Peaks?›,42 120 stades. There are peaks; under these
there is a temporary natural anchorage (ankyrobolia)43 for cargo ships.

37
Leuke Akte, Barr.   38 Graias Gonu, Barr.
39
i.e. features resembling bull’s horns.    40 Selenis, Barr.
41
Helm misprints the number 50, emended by Müller instead of 8 in the MS.
42
Tyndareioi Inss. Barr.; cf. Tyndareioi Skopeloi, Ps.-Skyl. §108. 1 bis.
43
See chapter introduction.
864 • 31 stadiasmos

26. (269) From ‹Dareios’› Peaks to Chautaion, 140 stades. It is a minor anchorage
for small ships. It has drawn-up (anaktos) water gushing out into the fields.
27. (270) From Chautaion to Zygrai, 140 stades.
28. (271) From Zygrai to Ennesyphora, 200 (210) stades. It is a minor anchorage in
summer. It has water in the sand, and a peak upon the sea.
29. (272) From Ennesyphora to Kabathlios,44 120 (250) stades. It is a high area; it is
a harbour in all winds; it has water in the first valley towards the south part, in the fort,
which is from rain (ombrios).
30. (273) From Kabathlios to Petraous,45 150 stades. Sailing along about 30 stades,
you will see appearing next to you a high and large cape; and on the other side you will
see a roadstead and a big lake. On the left side there is an artificial anchorage; it has
water under the fig-tree, and because of this the place is called Sykē (Fig-tree).
31. (274) From Sykē to Panormos, 30 stades. It is a deep valley; under the fig-trees
it has very good water.
32. (275) From Panormos to Eureia, 150 (50) stades. It is a ravine, but within is a
beach, and there are fig-trees on it. It is a good anchorage; it has fresh water.
33. (276) From Eureia to Petreuōn,46 ‹40 stades›; it has much water in both r­ egions.
[Together the stades from Alexandria as far as Petreuōn become 1,006 (2,890).]47

[marmarike follows]
34. (277) From Petreuōn to Kardamis, 150 stades; it is an anchorage. It is a cape that
tapers and has lookouts; anchor upon it with offshore winds. It has water on the main-
land.
35. (278) From Kardamis to Menelaos, 100 stades; it is a harbour; it has brackish
water in the sand.
36. (279) From Menelaos to Kataneai, 70 stades. Upon coming near you will see a
white sandbank (thīs). It has brackish water in the sand.
37. (280) From Kataneai to Pyrthmanion,48 150 stades; sail 8 stades from the beach,
for it has high shoals; it also has water.
38. (281) From Pyrthmanion to Antipyrgos, 220 stades; it is a summer anchorage.
It is an island, and at it there is a tower; a sanctuary of Ammon; it has water on the
opposite beach.
39. (282) ‹From Antipyrgos to Mikros (Little) Petreuōn49 [—] (380) stades.›
40. (283) From Mikros Petreuōn to Batrachos (Frog), 30 stades. It is a minor an-
chorage in summer, there is a cape which has lookouts. It has much water in the valley.

44
Catabathmus Maior, Barr.   45 Petras Megas, Barr.   46 Same as Petraous, §30.
47
Helm places this, together with ‘Marmarica follows’, after §30 where they occur in the MS; Müller
places it after §33 where it occurs geographically. Both probably derive from a later interpolation, as do
the other bracketed headings below.
48
Kyrthanion, Barr. The distance of 8 st. is one of several in Stad. which may have been converted
from miles (Arnaud 2017b, 716).
49
Petras Mikros, Barr. The distance has been added by both Müller and Helm; Müller gives the
­number.
 text • 865

41. (284) From Batrachos to Platea, 250 (150) stades. 30 stades out in the open sea
lies an island called Sidonia—it has a minor anchorage in summer for cargo ships—at
a distance of 30 stades; it has water towards the land in the tower.
42. (285) From Platea to Paliouros ‹— (30) stades›; it has brackish water.
43. (286) From Paliouros to Phaia, 90 stades; 15 stades from there it has collected
(synaktos) water.
44. (287) From Phaia to Dionysos, 90 stades; afterwards bring your ship in on the
left.
45. (288) From Dionysos to Cherronesos,50 90 stades.
46. (289) From Cherronesos to Azaris, 100 stades; sail from here at high tide: there
are raised rocks; it has water and a great river.
47. (290) From Azaris, sailing close to shore, to the region of Zarine51 is 150 stades.
48. (291) From Zarine to Zephyrion, 150 (50) stades; there is a forested cape; it is a
minor anchorage in summer.
49. (292) From Zephyrion to Chersis, 70 stades; midway between Zephyrion and
Chersis, 10 stades distant (from the shore), there is an anchorage called Aphrodisias; at
it there is a sanctuary of Aphrodite.
50. (293) From Chersios to Erythron (Red), 90 stades; it is a village.
51. (294) From Erythron to Naustathmos (Naval Station), 70 stades; there is a broad
roadstead; it has water in the sand.
52. (295) From Naustathmos to Apollonias, 120 stades.
(296) Altogether the stades from Paraitonios to Apollonias are 3,550.

[kyrene follows]
53. (297) From Apollonias to Phoinikous,52 100 (160) stades; it has a village. They
­anchor under here in the westerly winds. It is a summer anchorage. It has water.
54. (298) From Phoinikous to Nausis,53 190 stades; it is a village; it has water on the
beach.
55. (299) From Nausis to Ptolemaïs, 250 stades; it is a very great city; it is a place
with a rough roadstead (episalos),54 and it has an island; it is called Ilos; make fast the
ship.55
56. (300) From Ptolemaïs to Teucheira,56 250 (200) stades. It is an old city of the
Pentapolis. This is called Arsinoë.
57. (301) From Teucheira to Ber(e)nikis,57 350 stades. The sailing voyage makes a
bend. After sailing 90 (6) stades you see a promontory stretching out towards the west.
Raised shallows lie beside it: keep watch as you sail alongside. You will see a low-lying
black island. The promontory is called the Shallows (Brachea); on the left it has an
anchorage for small boats.

50
Chersonesos Akra, Barr.   51 Darnis, Barr.   52 Phykous, Barr.   53 Ausigda? Barr.
54
See p. 856.    55 The same warning (asphalizou) occurs at §§126 and 302.
56
Arsinoe/Taucheira, Barr.   57 Berenike, Barr.
866 • 31 stadiasmos

(302) All the stades together out of Apollonias to Berenike are 1,150.

[syrtis of the kyrenaians follows]

58. (303) From Berenike to Rhinon, 60 stades.
59. (304) From Rhinon to Pithos, 10 stades.
60. (305) From Pithos to Theotimaion, 1 stade; it is a summer anchorage; the beach
is deep.
61. (306) From Theotimaion to Halai (Salt-pans), 710 (10) stades; it is a beach.
62. (307) From Halai to Boreion (Northern), 50 stades; it is a promontory which
has a minor anchorage.
63. (308) From Boreion to Chersis, 140 stades; it has an anchorage from the Ete-
sians (annual winds). It has water at the fort.

[syrtis of kyrene] 58
64. (309) From Chersion to Amastoros,59 110 stades.
65. (310) From Amastor to Herakleion,60 80 stades.
66. (311) From Herakleion to Drepanon (Sickle),61 7 stades; it is a high promontory
of Herakles, with a white sandbank; it has water.
67. (312) From Drepanon to Serapeion,62 100 stades; running alongside, you will see
a great white beach; out of which if you dig you will have fresh water.
68. (313) From Serapeion to Diarhoas, 50 stades.
69. (314) From Diarhoas to Apis, 1 stade; it is a minor anchorage.
70. (315) From Serapeion to Kainon (New, sc. Place?), 150 stades; it is a deserted
fort; it has water; but it is without a harbour.
71. (316) From Kainon to Euschoinos, 70 stades; it is a deep beach; there is a round
hill in the territory; it has water.
72. (317) From Euschoinos to Hyphaloi, 70 stades; it is an islet under the swell
(­ hyposalos); it also has a wide beach.
73. (318) From Hyphaloi to Skopelites, 80 (40) stades; it is a peak, stretching out 15
stades from shore, high and similar to an elephant.
74. (319) From the peak towards the Lips (SW wind), at 2 (20) stades, is a high
­island; it is called Pontia.
75. (320) From Pontia to the south, at 7 (90) stades, is an island called Maia and
under it a minor anchorage. It has drawn-up (anaktos) water.
76. (321) From Maia to Astrochonda, 50 stades.
77. (322) From Astrochonda to Korkodeilos (sic), 80 stades. It is a summer anchor-
age and has flowing water.63

58
The MS and Helm have this heading after §63 while Müller has it after §62.
59
Amastor, Barr.   60 Probably a place with a sanctuary of Herakles.
61
Probably a cape.    62 A place with a sanctuary of Serapis.
63
Lit. ‘water containing streams’ (rheumata).
 text • 867

78. (323) From Korkodeilos to Boreion (Northern),64 84 stades; it is a village; a

­deserted tower; it is a good anchorage against the Lips (SW wind); it has water.
79. (324) From Boreion to Antidrepanon, 20 stades; it is a promontory which has
water.
80. (325) From Antidrepanon to Mendrion, 50 stades; it has no water.
81. (326) From Mendrion to Kozynthion, 120 (20) stades; it is a rough cape. It is a
good anchorage, but has no water.
82. (327) From Kozynthion to Ammoniou Pegai (Springs of Ammonios), 110 stades;
it is a beach.
83. (328) From Ammoniou Pegai to Automalakes, 180 stades.
84. (329) From Automalakes to Philainon Bomoi (Altars of the Philainoi),65 185
stades. It is a good summer anchorage, and it has water. Up to this promontory the
mountains and country belong to the Kyrenaians.
(330) All the stades together from Berenike as far as Philainon Bomoi are 2,000.
[syrtis megale (great) follows]
85. (331) From Philainon Bomoi as far as Cape Hippos (Horse),66 400 stades. It is a
rugged promontory. It has a minor anchorage and water.
86. (332) From Cape Hippos to Eperos, 350 stades; it is a harbour for small ships.
There is water. This is a fort belonging to barbarians.
87. (333) From Eperos to Korax (Crow),67 150 stades.
88. (334) From Korax to Euphrantai, 200 (290) stades; it is a harbour and has water.
89. (335) From Euphrantai to Dysopos, 150 stades.
90. (336) From Dysopos to Aspis, 350 stades.
91. (337) From Aspis to Tarichaiai (Saltings), 350 stades.
92. (338) From Tarichaiai to Kephalai (Heads), 400 stades.
93. (339) «From Kephalai to Neapolis68 550 stades.» Sailing into port from the open-
sea, you will see a low area with islets; when you get near it, you will see the seaside
city and a white sandbank and a beach, and the city is completely white, but it has no
harbour; anchor securely at Hermaios. It is called Leptis.69
(340) All the stades together from the Altars of the Philainoi to Lepte Megale are
4,200 (3,090).
94. (341) From Leptis to Hermaios, 5 (15) stades; it is an anchorage for small ships.
95. (342) From Hermaios to Gaphara, 300 (200) stades. It is a cape which has an
anchorage on each side; it has water. It is called ‹Ai›neospora, for it is like an island.
96. (343) From Gaphara to Amaraias, 40 stades. It is a tower with a minor ­anchorage.
It has river water. There are tilled lands near the river. The river is called O
­ inoladon.
97. (344) From Amaraias to Megerthis, 40 (140) stades. It is a city and it has a har-
bour and water.

64
Boreum, Barr.   65 Arae Philaenorum, Barr.   66 Hippou Akra, Barr.
67
Charax, Barr.   68 Neapolis/Lepcis Magna, Barr.   69 Same as Neapolis above.
868 • 31 stadiasmos

98. (345) From Megerthis to Makaraia, 400 (250) stades.

99. (346) From Makaraia to Sarathra,70 400 stades; it is a city without a harbour. It
has a roadstead.

[syrtis mikra (small) follows]

100. (347) From Alathre (i.e. Sarathra) to Lokroi, 300 stades. It is a village, and above
it is a high tower.
101. (348) From Lokroi to Zeucharis,71 300 stades, a fort which has a tower; the
tower [—]; it is a famous harbour.
102. (349) From Zeucharis to Gergis,72 350 stades. It is a tower and has a fort, a
harbour, and water.
103. (350) From Gergis to Meninx, 150 stades; it is a city on an island. The island
lies 8 stades from shore. It has considerable cities, and is a metropolis. This, then, is the
island of the Lotophagoi (Lotus-eaters).73 On it there is an altar to Hercules; he is called
Greatest. There is a harbour and it has water.
(351) All the stades together from Leptis to Meninx are 2,300.
104. (352) From Meninx to Epeiros,74 200 stades. It is a city, and has a good harbour
and water.
105. (353)75 From Gergeis to Kidiphtha,76 180 stades; it is a city and has a harbour.
106. (354) ‹From Kidiphtha to Takape, [—] (200) stades.›
107. (355) From Takape to Neapolis,77 100 (400) stades; it is a city and has a harbour.
108. (356) ‹From Neapolis to Thythna, [—] (220) stades.
109. (357) From Thythna to Anchola, [—] (500) stades.›
110. (358) From Anchola to Halipota, 120 stades.
111. (359) ‹From Halipota to Thapsos, [—] (120) stades.›
112. (360) These cities have harbours; and because shallows lie off these cities, mod-
erate-sized boats sail to them. The island of Kerkina lies alongside Anchola and Hali-
pota and Kidiphtha, 120 stades from shore. From the land of the Lotophagoi, which is
Menix, to the island of Kerkina through the channel is 750 stades. From Thythna to the
‹island and› city of Kerkina, [—] stades. There are shoals running up to the city. From
Kerkina to Thapsos is 700 stades. There is a beautiful island in the open-sea lying near
Thapsos towards the north, about 80 stades distant. It has a harbour and water. These
islands enclose the Ikarian open-sea.

[phoinike (punica) follows]

113. (361) From Thapsos to Leptes Mikra,78 170 stades; it is a small city; it has conspic-
uous shallows, and the landing at the city is difficult.

70
Abrotonum/Sabratha, Barr.   71 Taricheiai/Zouchis/Praesidium, Barr.
72
Gergis, Barr.   73 Meninx/Lotophagitis/Girba, Barr.   74 Gigthis, Barr.
75
Helm omits ‘353’ but clearly intended it to stand here.    76 Gidaphta, Barr.
77
Macomades Minores, Barr.   78 Lepti Minus, Barr.
 text • 869

114. (362) From Lepteis to Thermai, 60 stades; it is a village, and here in the same
way the shallows make landing difficult.
115. (363) Sailing 40 stades from Thermai, you will see the promontory which has
two islets protected by palisades; it is a minor anchorage.
116. (364) From the promontory you will see the city of Adramytes79 from 40 stades
away; (it is) without a harbour.
117. (365) From Adramytes to Aspis (Shield),80 500 stades. It is a high and conspic-
uous promontory, like a shield. Keep the north on the left as you sail towards it, for
there are in that open-sea many shallows and rocks. Then the Aspis will appear to you,
and upon it Neapolis. From the gulf of Neapolis to Aspis, 200 stades.81 It has a harbour
towards the west, 10 stades beyond the city.
118. (366) From Aspis82 ‹to Cape Hermaia, [—] (200) stades.›
119. (367) ‹From Cape Hermaia to Misoua harbour, [—] (120) stades.›
120. (368) ‹From Misoua harbour› to Therma, 60 stades; it is a village and the hot
springs are above it.
121. (369) From Therma to Karpe, 160 stades; it is a city and has a harbour.
122. (370) From Karpe to Maxyla, 20 stades; it is a city and has a harbour.
123. (371) From Maxyla to Galabras, 50 stades; it is an anchorage as far as ‹the›
onset of ‹the› sandy places.
124. (372) From Galabras to Karchedon (Carthage),83 120 stades; it is a very great
city and has a harbour; in the city there is a tower; anchor on the right under the mole.
(373) All the stades together from Meninx, the island of the Lotophagoi, as far as
to Carthage are 550 (3,550).
125. (374) From Carthage to Kastra Korneliou,84 303 stades; the harbour is fit for win-
tering; in it many ships can pass the winter.
126. (375) From Kastra Korneliou to Oustika,85 24 stades; it is a city; it does not have
a harbour, but it has a roadstead. Make fast the ship.
127. (376) From Oustika [—].86

79
Hadrumetum, Barr.   80 Pupput, Barr.
81
Here Helm deletes the words ‘It is a high place and the city is there’ from the MS; this passage is
confusing.
82
The error or ‘lacuna’ in transmission is probably due to the copyist losing his place when beginning
the new folio.
83
The MS reads Chalkēdon, which matches none of the usual forms of the name of Carthage (Arnaud
2017b, 708).
84
Castra Corneli(ana), Barr.   85 Utica, Barr.
86
This is where the text for Africa breaks off. In the actual MS, however, this beginning and the fol-
lowing lines are connected as if one line. It is probable that the compiler or a previous copyist lost their
place in the process and skipped over a folio (or a folio was missing) and acted as if the line here was
really a continuation of the earlier African line.
870 • 31 stadiasmos

Eastwards from Alexandria87

128. (377) [—] ‹From Arados› to Karnai, 24 stades; it is a roadstead; there are kothōnes
(slipways) for small ships; go in carefully.
129. (378) From Karnai to the promontory of Balaneis, as it is called, 200 stades.
(379) ‹From Balaneis› to the localities of ‹the Balaneotai, [—] stades.›88
130. (380) From the Balaneis promontory to Paltos promontory, 90 stades.
131. (381) From the Paltos promontory, curving round to the promontory of Bran-
chion†,89 10 stades.
132. (382) From Cape Balaneis straight to Paltos,90 200 (70) stades.
(383) All the stades out of Ptolemaïs as you sail by the shore to Paltos are 2,000.

[and koile (hollow) syria follows]

133. (384) From Paltos to the locality of Pelleta,91 30 stades.
134. (385) From Pelleta to a harbour situated on the seashore, which has a ravine
alongside it, 20 stades.
135. (386) From Pelleta to Gabala, 30 stades.
136. (387) From Gabala to the navigable river which is called [—], 40 (80) stades.
137. (388) From ‹the› navigable river to the cape upon which lies the city of
Laodikeia, 200 (70) stades. From that river to Balaneis, 70 (170) stades. From Balaneis
to Laodikeia (Latakia), running a straight course with the Leukonotos (SSW wind),
(travelling) to the east of north, 200 stades.
138. (389) From ‹Cape› Laodikeia to Herakleia,92 20 (120) stades.
139. (390) As one rounds the promontory, there is a harbour called Leukos
(White),93 30 stades.
140. (391) From Leukos Limen to the village called Pasieria (Minet al-Farsi),94 30
stades.
141. (392) From the village to the cape called Polia, 120 stades.
142. (393) From Herakleia to Poseidion95 by the short way, 100 stades.
143. (394) From the cape at Poseidion to the city of Sidon, 300 (80) stades.96 Above
that is a high mountain called Thronos.97

87
Heading added by translators.
88
Helm reconstructs these lines as ‘From Karna to the promontory called Balanea 200 stades ‹from
Balanea to the territory of Balanea [—] stades (40)›. Arnaud 2017a, 30, identifies Balaneis vel sim. as
mod. Banyas, noting that its city status is attested by Augustan coins.
89
Arnaud 2017a, 37, replaces Branchion with a reference to brachea, ‘shallows’, as originally
­suggested by Müller.
90
Arnaud 2017a, 31, locates this at ‘Arab al-Mulk and Belda al-Mulk.
91
Arnaud 2017a, 38–9, argues that Paltos and Pelleta are the same place.
92
‘Herakleia?’, Barr. 68 A2. Arnaud 2017a, 32, notes the important excavations at Ras Ibn Hani.
93
Leukos Limen, Barr. 68 A2.    94 Arnaud 2017a, 33.
95
The prominent cape between Laodikeia and Seleukeia Pieria, Barr. 68. A2.
96
Arnaud 2017a, 39–40, follows earlier scholars in taking polin Sidōna (‘the city of Sidon’) as a
­corruption of Posideion.
97
Arnaud 2017a, 40, speculates that Mt Thronos is the same as Mt Kasios in the next entry.
map 31.2. Stadiasmos: Levant, S. Asia Minor, Cyprus.
872 • 31 stadiasmos

144. (395) From the city of Sidon to the place bordering Kasios98 called Chaladrop-
olis, 60 stades.
145. (396) From Chaladron to the island called Makra (Long), 10 stades.
146. (397) From Makra island to Nymphaion,99 50 stades. All of this circumnaviga-
tion is rugged from Kasios. Sail to this place (keeping) 20 stades from land.
147. (398) From Nymphaion to the city of Antiocheia (Antioch), which also has
a trading-place and beside it a river called Orontes, 400 stades. The river is 15 stades
away.
148. (399) From the river to Seleukeia,100 40 stades. From Poseidion, sailing the
short way to Seleukeia with the west wind, 110 (170) stades.
149. (400) From Seleukeia to Georgia,101 142 (40) stades.
150. (401) From Georgia to the Peak of the Rhossaioi,102 300 (80) stades. From the
Poseidion promontory to the gulf, with the fairest wind, 200 (270) stades.
151. (402) From Rhossos Terdnia to the city of Myriandros,103 90 stades.
152. (403) From Myriandros to Alexandreia by Issos, 120 (80) stades.
153. (404) From Alexandreia to the Kilikian Gates,104 200 (45) stades.
(405) Together all the stades from Paltos as far as the Kilikian Gates are 2,500 (1,100).

[kilikia follows] 105

154. (406) From the Kilikian Gates to Hieron (The Sanctuary), 120 stades; that is, going
from the place to (the) city.106
155. (407) From Hieron to the city of Aminsos,107 700 (30) stades.
156. (408) From Aminsos to the Amanic Gates108 in the innermost part of the gulf,
90 stades.
157. (409) From the Gates to the village of Alai,109 50 stades; from Myriandros, run-
ning with a fair wind, 100 stades.
158. (410) From Alai to the city of Aigaiai, 100 stades; from Myriandros, running a
straight course towards the (North) Pole with a south wind, 100 stades.
159. (411) From Aigaiai, the coastal sailing is beside cliffs to the village of Seretile,110
150 stades. From Rhosos, running a straight course towards the (North) Pole, to

98
Cassius Mons, Barr.   99 Nymphaion/Balaneion Tiberinon, Barr. 67 A4.
100
Seleukeia Pieria, Barr. 67 A4.
101
Arnaud 2017a, 40–1, suggests a corruption of Pterygion, another name for Pliny’s Rossiorum
montes (see next n.).
102
Arnaud 2017a, 35–6, corrects kolpon (‘gulf ’) to skopelon. Pliny 5. 18. 80 names the town of Rhosos
near the ‘mountains of the Rhossii’ (Rhossiorum montes); cf. Ptolemy 5. 15. 2 Rhosos and Skopelos ho
Rhosikos.
103
Arnaud 2017a, 41–2, points out that the name Myriandos was assimilated to Greek myriandros
(‘of ten thousand men’), and that its existence as a city rather than a geographical location (cf. Ps.-Skyl.
§102. 1; Artemidoros 4, from Strabo; Agathemeros iv. 16) is disputable.
104
Kilikiai Pylai, Barr.
105
Helm omits this heading in his text although it is clearly present in the MS.
106
Or perhaps ‘From there one may go beyond to the place near the city’.
107
i.e. Amisos.   108 Amanikai Pylai, Barr.   109 (H)Alai, Barr.   110 Serretillis, Barr.
 text • 873

Seretile, with a south wind, 250 stades. Opposite the village of Seretile, above it, is a
village called Pyramos, and above that is the mountain called Parion, 60 stades away.
160. (412) From Seretilleus to the village at the end of Cape Ianouaria†,111 1 stade.
161. (413) From Cape Ianouaria† to the Didymoi (Twin) islands,112 30 stades.
162. (414) From the Didymoi islands to the city named Mallos, 100 stades.
163. (415) From Mallos to Antioch on the Pyramos river, 150 stades.
164. (416) From Antiocheia (Antioch) to Ionia, which they now call Kephale, 70
stades. Next to this promontory there is a navigable river; it is called Pyramos. †From
the [—] peak, not running around the bay but sailing straight to Antiocheia, then to
the east of the mainland with the south wind, raising (the land?) far to the left,† 350
stades.113
165. (417) From the Pyramos river, running a straight course to Soloi, being led to
the west of north with a light south wind, 500 stades.
166. (418) From Kephale (Head) (on) the Pyramos to the river Saros, 120 stades.
167. (419) From the Saros river to the mouth of the lake, which is called Rhegmoi
(Breaches),114 70 stades.
168. (420) From Rhegmoi to Tarsos (Mersin), 70 stades. The Kydnos river flows
through the middle of the city.115
169. (421) From Tarsos to the locality of Zephyrion, 120 stades.
170. (422) ‹From Zephyrion to Soloi, [—] (50) stades.›
171. (423) And from Soloi to the village of Kalanthia, 50 (150) stades.
172. (424) From the village of Kalanthia to Elaious (Olive City),116 100 stades.
173. (425) From Elaiousa to the town called Korykos, 20 stades. And from Soloi to
Korykos, 280 stades; above which at a distance is the cave called Korykion, 100 (20?)
stades.
174. (426) From Korykos to the harbour called Kalon (Fine) Korakesion,117 125 (25)
stades.
175. (427) From Korakesion to Poikile Petra (Multi-coloured Rock),118 which has a
stairway by which (one reaches) the road to Seleukeia on the Kalykadnos, 70 stades.
176. (428) From the stairway to the river Kalykadnos, 40 stades.
177. (429) From the river to a narrow, sandy cape called Sarpedonia, 80 stades.
From it the shallows extend from Sarpedonia119 for 20 stades.

111
Possibly Magarsia (Müller) or Ionia as in §164 (Helm).    112 Didymoi, Barr.
113
This passage is corrupt; Helm’s text differs substantially from Müller’s. Müller reconstructs, some-
what speculatively, ‘From the ‹Rhosic› headland, not running around the bay, but by sailing straight
to Antiocheia toward the west ‹part of the promontory› by the south wind, retreating from the broad
mainland on the left, 350 stades’. What may originally have been described, however, is a direct transit
from Antioch (mod. Antakya) across the bay of İskenderun (bay of Alexandretta) to the mouth of the
Pyramos (Ceyhan).
114
The mouth, that is, not the lake.
115
On the r. side the MS has the phrase περὶ Ταρσοῦ as given by Cuntz and seen in the photo.
116
Elaioussa/Sebeste, Barr.   117 Kalon Korakesion, Barr.   118 Poikile Petra, Barr.
119
These two words repeat information in the previous phrase and may not be original.
874 • 31 stadiasmos

178. (430) From the cape—the closest (point) to Cyprus—to the city of Karpasia120
by the most favourable winds, 400 stades.
179. (431) From Cape Sarpedonia to Seleukeia, 120 stades.
180. (432) And likewise to Holmoi, 120 stades.
181. (433) From Holmoi to the cape and village called Mylai, 40 stades.
182. (434) From the cape to the harbour of Nesoulion and the cape on the island,
60 stades.
183. (435) From the cape to the locality (called) Philaia, 20 stades.
(436) All the stades from Mylaia direct to Philaia are 500 (50).
184. (437) From Philaia to Pityousa (Pine) Island, 130 (30) stades. Pityousa is distant
from the peninsula near Myle by 20 (80) stades. From the capes of Pityousa to Aph-
rodisias, 45 stades.
185. (438) From Aphrodisias, keeping Pityousa on the left, to the tower lying near
the cape which is given the name Zephyrion, 40 stades. From Zephyrion to the cape
and city of Aphrodisias, 40 stades. From Cape Sarpedonia to Aphrodisias, the sailing
towards the setting of the Crab (Karkinos)121 is 120 (180) stades.
186. (439) Aphrodisias lies nearest to Cyprus towards the headland of Aulion; as
you hold the northerly regions to the stern, 500 stades.
187. (440) From Aphrodisias to the locality called Kiphisos ‹and the Melas (Black)
river›, 35 stades.
188. (441) From the Melas river to Cape Kraunoi, 40 stades.
189. (442) From Kraunoi to Pisourgia, holding Krambousa on the left, 45 stades.
And from Aphrodisias to the Pisourgia, 120 stades.
190. (443) From Pisourgia to the bay of Bernike,122 50 stades.
191. (444) ‹From Bernike to Kelenderis, 50 stades.›
192. (445) From Kelenderis to Mandane, 100 stades.
193. (446) From Mandane to the promontory called Poseidion, 60 stades.
194. (447) From Mandane to the (Places of) Dionysophanes, 30 stades.
195. (448) From the (Places of) Dionysophanes to Rhygmanoi, 50 stades.
196. (449) From Rhygmanoi to Anemourion, 50 stades.
197. (450) From Anemourion to the nearest part of Cyprus on Cape Krommyon,
300 stades.
198. (451) And from Anemourion to Platanous, 350 (80) stades.
199. (452) From Platanous to the locality (called) Charadros, 350 (80) stades. Above
Charadros lies a great mountain called Androkos, 30 stades away.
200. (453) From Charadros to the locality called Kragos, 100 (70) stades.

120
This site is mentioned in Cyprus in §314 below.
121
i.e. Cancer. An unusual direction indicator: instead of the summer sunset or a NW wind, the
reference is to the place where a particular constellation sets, valid for all the year. In antiquity, Cancer
was the most northerly zodiacal constellation, so this is a reference to the NW horizon. Cf. §233.
122
Bernikes (sic) Kolpos, Barr.
 text • 875

201. (454) From Kragos to the locality (called) Nephelion-by-the-Sea,123 25 stades.

202. (455) From Nephelion to Cape Nesiazousa (Peninsular), 80 stades.
203. (456) From Cape Nesiazousa to Selinous, 100 stades.
204. (457) From Selinous to Akamas in Cyprus, 1,200 stades.
205. (458) From Selinous to Nauloi, 120 stades.
206. (459) From Nauloi to the locality called Laërtes-on-the-Sea,124 320 (20) stades.
207. (460) From Laërtes to Korakesion, 100 stades.
208. (461) From Korakesion to Aunesis, to the locality (called) Hamaxia, 80 stades.
209. (462) From Anaxia to the locality called Augai, 70 stades.
210. (463) From Augai to the promontory of Leukotheios,125 50 stades.
211. (464) From Leukotheios to Kyberna,126 50 stades.
212. (465) From Kyberna to the temple of Artemis,127 50 stades.
213. (466) From the temple of Artemis to the navigable river Melanos, 9 stades.
(467) So all the stades together from the Kilikian Gates as far as the Melas river
become 4,050.

[pamphylia follows]
214. (468) From the Melas river to Sidē, 50 stades.
215. (469) From Sidē to Attaleia,128 350 stades; from Attaleia to ‹Korykion›, a
­trading-place, 300 stades; from ‹the trading-place› of Korykion to Sidē, 50 (450) ­stades.
From Sidē to Akamas, 1,200 stades.
216. (470) From Sidē to Seleukeia, 80 stades.
217. (471) From Seleukeia to the navigable river called Eurymedon ‹and Kynosari-
on›, 100 stades.
[218.]129
219. (472) From Kynosarion to the river called Kestros, 60 stades; As you sail up the
river there is the city of Perge.
220. (473) ‹From› the Kestros to Rhouskopous, ‹— (35?) stades›.
221. (474) From Rhouskopous to Masoura and the Cataracts, 50 stades.
222. (475) From Masoura to Mygdale,130 70 (15) stades.
223. (476) From Mygdale to Attaleia, 10 stades.
224. (477) From Attaleia to the locality (called) Tenedos, 20 stades.
225. (478) From Tenedos to the Lyrnas locality, 60 stades.
226. (479) ‹From Lyrnas to Phaselis, [—] (170) stades.› Above the city lies a great
mountain.
227. (480) Out of Phaselis to Korykos, [—] (80) stades.

123
Nephelis, Barr.   124 Cebelires, Barr.   125 Leucolla Pr., Barr.
126
Kibyra Mikra, Barr.   127 Artemision, Barr.   128 Attalea, Barr.
129
§218 in Müller is a supplement, ‘From Eurymedon to Kynosarion, [—] stades.’ This is rejected by
Helm.
130
Magydos, Barr.
876 • 31 stadiasmos

228. (481) From Korykos to Phoinikous, 30 stades. Here lies a great and lofty
mountain called Olympos.
229. (482) ‹From Phoinikous to Krambousa, 50 stades.› And out of Phaselis straight
to Krambousa, 100 stades.
230. (483) From Krambousa to the territory of Posidarisous, 30 stades.
231. (484) From Posidarisous to the so-called Moron Hydor (Foolish Water), 30
stades.
232. (485) From Moron Hydor to Hiera Akra (Sacred Cape; Taslik Burnu)131 and the
island of Chelidonia, 50 stades.
(486) Together all the stades from the river Melas as far as Chelidoniai, as you sail
next to the land, are 500 (900). The short route through the straits to the Chelidoniai
is 600 stades.
233. (487) There is from Chelidoniai ‹to› Marios and the promontory of Akamas
in Cyprus, towards the rising of the Ram (Krios)132 with the most favourable westerly
wind, (a voyage of) 1,800 stades; and from Anemourion to the Chelidoniai islands,
1,200 (1,900) stades.

[‹lykia follows 133›]

234. (488) From Hiera Akra to Melanippe,134 30 stades.
235. (489) From Melanippe to Gagai (Mavikent),135 60 stades.
236. (490) From ‹Gagai› to the river Lamyros,136 60 stades. Above, 60 stades away,
lies the city called Lamyra.137
237. (491) From Melanippe to the tower called Isios,138 60 stades.
238. (492) From the tower of Isios to Adriake (Andraki),139 60 stades.
239. (493) From Adriake to Somena (Kale köy),140 4 (80) stades.
240. (494) From Somena to Aperlai,141 60 stades.
241. (495) ‹From Aperlai to the [—] promontory (Ulu Burun),142 (50) stades.›
242. (496) From the promontory to Antiphellos (Kaş),143 50 stades.
243. (497) From Antiphellos to the island of Megiste (‘Greatest’; Kastellórizo),144 50
stades.

131
Arnaud 2009, 178.
132
i.e. Aries. As at §185, a direction is here indicated with reference to a constellation. Aries rose in
the ENE in antiquity.
133
The MS has ‘Lycia follows’ at the top of the folio, even though Helm places it after §233 where it
occurs geographically.
134
Melanippion, Barr. Melanippe is a copyist’s error for Limyros. Leake 1824, 187.
135
Arnaud 2009, 178.
136
Limyra, Barr. (Yuvalilar, Arnaud 2009, 178–9.) Lamyros in the MS is a corruption of Limyros. See
Leake 1824, 186.
137
Also called Limyra (like the river), Barr.
138
Arnaud 2009, 179: Beymelek, or Pyrgo further W.    139 Arnaud 2009, 179.
140
Arnaud 2009, 179, with detailed discussion; Simena, Barr.   141 Aperlae, Barr.
142
So Arnaud 2009, 179; Akroterion, Barr.   143 So Barr.; Arnaud 2009, 179–80.
144
Discussion at Arnaud 2009, 180.
 text • 877

244. (498) From Megiste to the island of Rhoge (Agios Georgios),145 50 stades.
245. (499) From Rhoge to the islands of Xenagoras, 300 (80) stades.
246. (500) From the islands of Xenagoras to Patara,146 60 stades.
247. (501) From Patara to the navigable river ‹Xanthos›—the city Xanthos lies be-
yond—60 stades.
248. (502) From the river Xanthos direct to Pydnai,147 60 stades.
249. (503) From Pydnai as far as Hiera Akra (Sacred Cape; Kötü Burnu),148 80 stades.
250. (504) From Hiera Akra to Kalabantia (Sancaklı Liman),149 30 stades.
251. (505) From Kalabantiai to Perdikiai,150 50 stades.
252. (506) From Perdikiai to Kissidai,151 50 stades.
253. (507) From Kissidai to the island of Lagousa (Hare Island),152 80 stades.
254. (508) From Lagousai to Telemensos (Telmessos), 5 (15) stades.
(509) Together all the stades ‹from the Sacred Cape› as far as Telemensos become
1,500 (1,100).153

[karia follows]
255. (510) From Telemensos to Pedalion across from Rhopisa (island), 200 stades.
256. (511) Out of Telmensos to Daidala (inlice),154 50 stades.
257. (512) Out of Daidala to Kallimache, 50 stades.
258. (513) Out of Kallimache to Kroua (Taşyaka),155 60 stades.
259. (514) Out of Kroua to Kochlia (?),156 50 stades.
260. (515) Out of Klydai157 to the promontory of Pedalion,158 30 stades.
261. (516) From Pedalion to the bend of the ‹bay of› Glaukos,159 80 stades.
262. (517) From the bend to Panormos of the people of Kaunos,160 120 stades.

145
Arnaud 2009 180.
146
Rhode: discussion at Arnaud 2009 180. Patara: Arsinoe, Barr.; Arnaud 2009, 180, notes that if this
material derived from Timosthenes, we would expect to see the short-lived Ptolemaic name Arsinoë
rather than the more usual Patara.
147
Arnaud 2009, 180, discusses the coastal formation here, changed since antiquity.
148
Arnaud 2009, 180–1; Hiera Akra/Kragos? Barr.
149
Probably no more than a seasonal anchorage: Arnaud 2009, 181.
150
Again, probably not a town: Arnaud 2009, 181, discussing epigraphic evidence.
151
Unlocated: Arnaud 2009, 181.
152
One of two islets E of Telemessos, Kızıl Adası or Fethiye Adası: Arnaud 2009, 181–2.
153
Arnaud 2009, 182, notes the surprising absence from this Lykian passage of Mt Kragos, the city of
Myra, and Mt Chimaira.
154
Arnaud 2009, 182.
155
Arnaud 2009, 182–3; same as Krya in Artem. 142 (from Steph. Byz.). Arnaud suggests a link with
C. Kryassos, Ps.-Skyl. §99. 3, but the MS there has ‘Kragos’; see Shipley 2019 ad loc.
156
Lydai, Barr.; likewise Arnaud 2009, 183.
157
Presumably the name should be the same as the second in §259.
158
Uncertain; discussed by Arnaud 2009, 183.    159 Uncertain; discussed by Arnaud 2009, 184.
160
Panormos is tentatively identified as Pisilis, Barr.; Arnaud 2009, 183, locates this anchorage
­between Baba Adası (an island) and the mainland.
878 • 31 stadiasmos

263. (518) From Panormos to the (territory) called Kymaria (Kargıcık İskelesi?),161
50 stades.
264. (519) From Kymaria to Pasadan,162 60 stades.
265. (520) From Pasadan to Kaunos, 30 stades.
266. (521) From Kaunos to Rhopousa,163 15 (115?) stades.164
267. (522) From Rhopousa to the opposite shore, to Leukopagos, 40 stades; and
from Rhopousa to Samos (Amos),165 100 stades.
268. (523) From Samos (Amos) to ‹the› Poseidion,166 60 stades.
269. (524) From the Poseidion to ‹the› Phalaros†,167 50 stades.
270. (525) From the Phalaros† to the island called Elaousa,168 50 stades.
271. (526) From Elaousa to Rhodes, 150 stades.169
(Rhodes) makes (the distance) to Mallos 600 (4,600) stades, and to Hieron at Byz-
antion 600 (4,600) stades.170
272. (527) Out of Rhodes to Alexandria, 4,500 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Askalon, 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Kaisareia (Caesarea), 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Berytos (Beirut), 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Sidon, 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Byblos, 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Tripolis, 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Seleukeia, 3,600 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Kilikia, 1,500 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Korykos, 1,000 stades.
Out of Rhodes to western Cyprus towards the rising of Aries171 with the fairest west
wind, 2,800 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Patara, 700 stades.

161
So, tentatively, Barr.; Arnaud 2009, 184, suggests a lacuna before this, and speculates that Kymaria
may be a corruption of the city name Kalynda.
162
Pasanda, Barr.; discussion, Arnaud 2009, 184–5.
163
Probably the Rhodasa or Rhodousa of Pliny. 5. 35. 131.
164
Arnaud 2009, 184–5: the entries immediately after Kaunos are confused, omitting well-known
places and recording others unknown.
165
Amos: Flensted-Jensen 2004, no. 872.
166
Arnaud 2009, 185: the erroneous appearance of Samos led to the inclusion, here and in §269, of
transects to and from Poseidion (a place in E Samos) and Phanaia (the S point of Chios, concealed
within ‘Phalaros’); Ptolemy 5. 2. 30 has the same places in the reverse order.
167
See n. on §268.
168
Elaioussa (Barr. 56. D4), an islet near the city of Elaia in mainland Ionia. See n. on §268.
169
The distance is absurdly short if Ionian Elaioussa is meant. It appears that genuine place-names on
the Karian coast have been suppressed (Arnaud 2009, 185).
170
Arnaud 2009, 186: this out-of-place entry is a late interpolation, echoing §1 and reflecting an
attempt to make good the loss of a passage between the Karian narrative and the catalogue of distances
from Rhodes.
171
See n. on §233.
 text • 879

Out of Rhodes to Kaunos, 450 stades.

Out of Rhodes to the island of Rhopousa, 350 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Physkos, 450 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Hagne (Holy), 350 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Knidos, 750 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Nisyros, 820 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Tilos (i.e. Telos), 550 stades.
Out of Lepataleis172 to Poseidion on Karpasos (i.e. Karpathos), 420 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Kos, 850 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Chios, 3,000 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Myndos, 1,000 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Samos, 1,800 stades.
Out of Rhodes to Tenedos, 3,700 stades.
273. (528) ‹There are from Rhodes to Cape Skylaion in the Argolid, sailing with
a favourable wind, [—] stades.› You will sail holding on the left the islands of Nesy-
ros173 and Astypalaia, on the right Kos, Leros, Amourgos, Ios, Sikinos, Daphne, Dera,
Seriphos, and Kydnos (Kythnos). Further on, hold Donousa on the left, from where
Skylaion is seen.174
274. (529) From Knidos to Kos, 180 stades.
275. (530) From Kos to Halikarnassos, 180 stades.
276. (531) From Halikarnassos to Myndos, 220 stades.
277. (532) From Myndos to Leros, 350 stades.
278. (533) From Myndos to Kos, 140 stades.
279. (534) And from Kos to Leros, 350 stades.
From Kos to Delos, 1,300 stades.
From Kos to Samos [through the strait],175 1,000 stades.
280. (535) From Kos to Delos ‹through the strait›, one can sail ‹towards the setting
of› Aries176 with the most favourable east wind, 1,300 stades. You will sail to Kalyd-
na;177 then sailing back, holding on the right Hypsirisma, Kalydnai, [Keleris,] Leros,
and Patmos ‹and on the left› Kinara and Amourgos, and you will sail to Donoussa, 8
stades to your left; taking the Melanthioi on the right and Mykonos, you would put
in at Delos.

172
Lapethos/Lepethis Phoinikon, Barr.   173 Nisyrion Iss., Barr., W of Nisyros.
174
Müller emended the text to read as follows: ‘‹There is from Rhodes to Scylla Argolis sailing to the
west by a favourable east wind [—] stades.› You sail holding on the left the islands Nisyrion and Asty-
palaia, on the right Kos and Leros ‹and Kinara and Amorgos, and sailing to Donusa *5 stades›. The
remainder ‹from› Donousa holding on the left Ios and Sikinos and Siphnos ‹and Thera› and Seriphos
and Cydnus, where Skylla is seen.’
175
Helm believes that this phrase should be deleted here and added to the next line.
176
Cf. n. on §233. In this case, the direction indicated is WNW.    177 Kalymna, Barr.
map 31.3. Stadiasmos: southern Aegean.
 text • 881

281. (536) From Myndos ‹to [—]›, which is in Attica, 1,500 stades. You will sail via
the Korsiai (Phoúrnoi),178 Leros, and Kalydnos and keeping ‹on the right› Horbidai (?)
sail to Amourgiai (Amorgos); hold on the right Donoussa, Naxos, and Kydnos.
282. (537) If you wish to sail through the islands, you sail thus: from Kos to Lernos
(Leros), 250 (350) stades.
Out of Lernos to Lebinthos, 250 stades.
Out of Lebinthos to Kinaros, 500 (50) stades.
Out of Kinaros to the nearest (parts) of Amourgiai179 at the Kerata (Horns),180 85
stades. And the coastal sailing to181 ‹Minoa›, 85 stades.
From [Korsiai to] Minoa ‹to the Kereia› (territory of Keros), 85 stades.182 Out of the
Kereia, holding the Kereia on the left, to Panormos of the Naxians, 65 stades.
From Panormos to Delos, 420 stades.
283. (538) From Kos to Leros, 320 stades.
From Leros to Parthenion,183 60 stades.
From ‹ Parthenion on› Leros to Amazonion on Patmos, 200 stades.
From Amazonion to Korsia, 400 (100) stades.
From the arc (?)184 of Amazonion to Delos, 750 stades.
From Delos to Syros, 150 stades.
‹From Syros to Andros, [—] (150) stades.›
From Andros to the harbour of Gaurion, 80 stades.
From Gaurion to [—] (Paionios?)185 promontory, 50 stades.
From the promontory ‹to Geraistos›, nearest to the cape ‹of Euboia?›, 450 (150)
stades.
From Kregea†186 to Karystos, 120 stades.
Out of Rhegea to Petaleai, 100 stades.
284. (539) I return once more to the distances out of Delos to the following islands.
Out of Delos to Thera, 350 (550) stades.
Out of Delos to Amourgia, to Minoa, 650 stades.
Out of Delos to Anaphe, 100 (700) stades.
Out of Delos to Ios, 650 (450) stades.
Out of Delos to the Korsiai, 650 (750) stades.
Out of Delos to Kimolos, 800 (500?) stades.

178
The MS reads Korsikai.    179 Amorgos, Barr.
180
The MS has πέρατα–perata, perhaps meaning ‘limit’ or ‘boundary’ presented here, which Helm
replaces with Κέρατα.
181
The ‘coastal sailing’ is along Amorgos. The MS has Korsiaoi which Helm replaced with Minoa, a
city on Amorgos.
182
The MS has from ‘Korsiai to Minoa’ which Helm replaces with ‘from Minoa to Kereia’ (the territo-
ry of Keros, an island with a polis of the same name).
183
Artemis Parthenos, Barr.
184
The MS has ἅψης–hapsēs, possibly equivalent to ἅψις–hapsis, meaning any kind of circular object
or structure; possibly referring to the arch or door of a temple.
185
Andros, Barr.   186 i.e. Geraistos?
882 • 31 stadiasmos

Out of Delos to Siphnos, 640 (340) stades.

Out of Delos to Kydnos,187 350 (450?) stades.
Out of Delos to Tenos, 350 (150) stades.
Out of Delos to Naxos, 350 (150) stades.
Out of Delos to Donousa, 320 stades.
Out of Delos to Patmos, 850 stades.
Out of Delos to the Melanteoi Skopeloi (Dark Peaks), 180 stades.
Out of Delos to Keos, 300 (450) stades.
Out of Delos to Andros, 800 (400) stades.
Out of Delos to Paros, 400 (200) stades.
285. (540) I return once more to Myndos, from which I left. Out of Myndos to Pan-
ormos, 80 stades.
286. (541) Out of Myndos to Bargylia, 250 stades.
287. (542) From Panormos to Poseidion and Ankistron, 250 stades.
288. (543) From Bargylia to Iasos, 220 (40) stades.
289. (544) From Iasos to the Poseidion promontory, 120 stades.
290. (545) From Iasos to Akritas, 240 stades.
291. (546) Lying opposite ‹to Iasos› is the Passala spring, where one may depart to
Mylassa, 20 (80) stades.
292. (547) From Poseidion to Panormos, 40 stades.
293. (548) From Panormos to Miletos, 80 stades.
294. (549) I return again to Myndos through the strait. From Panormos to Miletos,
300 stades.
295. (550) From Pharmakousa to Miletos, 120 stades.
296. (551) From Miletos to Samos, 300 (200?) stades.
(552) All the stades from Telemensos as far as Miletos are 2,500.

[‹around cyprus›] 188

297. (553) From Akamas, holding Cyprus on the left, to Paphos,189 300 stades. It is a
city lying towards the south. It has a triple harbour for all winds and a sanctuary of
Aphrodite.
298. (554) From Paphos to Noumenion, which is an island that has a spring; the
voyage is short. When you near the islet, press towards the land on the right, [1]25 (55)
stades.
299. (555) From Noumenion to Palaipaphos, 25 stades.
300. (556) From Palaipaphos to Tretoi, which is a promontory, 50 stades.
301. (557) ‹From Tretoi to Kouriakon, [—] stades.›

187
Kythnos, Barr.
188
Not in the MS; Müller adds a heading ‘Circumnavigation of Cyprus’ here. Stad. performs an
anti-clockwise coastal circuit of Cyprus.
189
(Nea) Paphos, Barr.
 text • 883

302. (558) From Kouriakon190 to Amathous, 150 stades; it is a city without a har-
bour; make fast the ship at the locality.
303. (559) From Kouriakon to Karaia, 40 stades; it is a promontory which has a
harbour, a minor anchorage, and water.191 [—]
304. (560) From Pedalion to the islands, 80 stades. It is a deserted city, called Am-
mochostos (Famagusta); it has a harbour for all winds; it has a hog’s-back (rock) in the
landing; beware.
305. (561) From the islands to Salamen,192 50 stades; it is a city; it has a harbour.
305a. (562) From Salamen to Palaia, 120 stades; it is a village and, has a harbour and
water.
306. (563) From Palaia to Phileous, 300 stades.
307. (564) From Phileous to the Akra (Capes), 60 stades; there are two anchorages—
one is bluish grey, the other white—each of which has water. Lying above is a sanctuary
of Aphrodite. Also lying near are two islands, both of which have sailing channels.
308. (565) From Anemourion in Kilikia to Akamas in Cyprus, 700 stades.
309. (566) From Akamas, holding Cyprus on the right, to Arsinoë in Cyprus, 270
stades (70); it is a city; it has a deserted harbour, rough in the north wind.
310. (567) From Kromyakon to Melabron, 50 stades. It is a summer anchorage.
311. (568) From Melabron to Soloi, 300 stades. It is a city without a harbour.
312. (569) From Soloi to Kyrenaion (Keryneia), 350 stades. It is a city with a minor
anchorage.
313. (570) From Kyrenaion to Lapathos, 450 (50) stades. It is a city which has an
anchorage.
314. (571) From Lapathos to Karpaseia, 350 (50 or 550) stades. It is a city. It has a
harbour for small boats; it is rough in the north wind.
315. (572) From Karpaseia to the Akra, 100 stades. From there we crossed over to
Anemourion.193
(573) The entire circumnavigation of Cyprus is 1,250 stades (3,250).
316. (574) From the Kouriakon to Pelousion,194 1,300 (2,300) stades.
317. (575) From Kition in Cyprus to Askalon, 3,300 stades.

[circumnavigation of crete]
318. (576) From Kasios195 to Samonion in Crete, 500 (300) stades; it is a promontory of
Crete rising up high towards the north; there is a sanctuary of Athena. It has a minor
anchorage and water; other things have disappeared.
319. (577) From Samonion to Hiera Pydna,196 80 (480) stades; it is a city; it has an
anchorage; it also has an island called Chrysea; it has a harbour and water.

190
Marked in Barr. as the SW point of the island SE of the city of Kourion.
191
The MS breaks off and then returns to Cyprus.    192 Salamis, Barr.
193
In Kilikia.   194 In Egypt.
195
In Egypt. Stad. begins the coastal tour of Crete at its NE tip and proceeds clockwise (westwards
along the S coast, returning eastwards along the N coast).
196
Hierapytna, Barr.
map 31.4. Stadiasmos: Crete.
 text • 885

320. (578) From Hiera Pydna to Bienos,197 70 (170) stades. It is a little city at a dis-
tance from the sea.
321. (579) From Bienos to Lebena, 70 (270) stades. There is an islet lying next to it,
which is called Oxeia; it has water.
322. (580) From Lebena to Halai (Saltings), 20 (50) stades.
323. (581) From Halai to Matala,198 300 (80) stades. It is a city and has a harbour.
324. (582) From Matala to Soulia, 65 stades. It is a promontory rising up towards
the south. There is a harbour; it has good water.
325. (583) From Soulena to Psychea, 12 stades.199
326. (584) From Psychea to Lamon, 150 stades. It is a harbour and has a city and
water; from Pydna (Hierapytna) to Psychea, 350 (550) stades; (there is) a summer har-
bour, and it has water.
327. (585) From Psychea to Apollonias, 30 stades.
328. (586) From Apollonia to Phoinix, 100 stades. It is a city. It has a harbour and an
island. From Klaudia200 to Phoinike, 300 stades; it has a city and a harbour.
329. (587) From Phoinike to Tarrhon, 60 (160) stades. It is a small city and has an
anchorage.
330. (588) From Tarrhon to Poikilassos,201 60 stades. It is a city and has an anchor-
age and water.
331. (589) From Poikilassos to Sybas,202 50 stades. It is a city and has a good harbour.
332. (590) ‹From Suïa to Lissos, 30 stades›.
333. (591) From Lissos to Kalamyde, 250 (50) stades.
334. (592) From Kalamyde to Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow; C. Krios), 30 stades. It
is a high promontory; it has water and a minor anchorage.
335. (593) From Kriou Metopon there is a circumnavigation203 to Biennos, 12 stades.
It has a harbour and water.
336. (594) From Biennos to Phalansara (Phalasarna), 260 (160) stades.204 It is an
anchorage, trading-place, and an ancient city. The island of Iousagoura is 60 stades
away, looking towards the east; it has a harbour, and has a sanctuary of Apollo in the
harbour. There is another island 3 stades away called Mesē, and it has an anchorage.
The third is called Mylē; the waterway is deep; there is a market-place.
337. (595) From Mylē to Tretos, 50 stades. It is a pierced (tetrēmenon) promontory,
steep-sided and rugged, in Crete.
338. (596) From Tretos to Agneion, 50 stades. It is a harbour which has a sanctuary
of Apollo; there is an interior bay, which is called Myrtilos; and it has water.

197
Biannos, Barr.   198 Matalon, Barr.   199 Müller has §326 ‘from Pydna . . .’ here.
200
A line has clearly dropped out. Klaudia will be a copyist’s for ‘Gaudos’ (Arnaud 2017b, 719 n. 44).
201
Poikilasion, Barr.   202 Syia, Barr.
203
Müller gives the correct reading while Helm omits περίπλους seen in the MS.
204
Müller replaces σξ′ (260) with ρξ′ (160); Helm has οξ′ (meaningless), doubtless a misprint for one
or other value.
886 • 31 stadiasmos

339. (597) From Agneion to Kisamos, 80 stades. It is a city lying in the bay. It is a
harbour and has water.
340. (598) From Kisamos to Tyros, 25 stades. It is a high promontory, thickly wood-
ed; it faces towards the north.
341. (599) From Tyros to the Diktynnaion, 80 stades. It is an anchorage ‹and› beach.
342. (600) From the Diktynnaion to Koite, 170 stades. It is an island. It has an an-
chorage and water. It looks towards Crete towards the north.
343. (601) From Akoition205 to Kydonia, 60 stades. It is a city; it has a harbour, and
in the entrance it has shallows.
344. (602) From Kydonia to Aptera the circumnavigation is made in 150 stades,206
but on foot it is 120 miles. The place is called Mino; by it there are three islands which
are called the Leukai (White Is.).
345. (603) From Minos to Amphimatrios,207 150 stades. It is a river with a harbour
around it suitable for winter, and has a tower.
346. (604) From Amphimatrios to Hydramos,208 100 (30) stades. It is a city. It has a
beach. The city is called Eleuthera (Eleutherna). To go up by foot from Amphimatrios
is 50 miles.209
347. (605) From Amphimatrios to Astale, 30 stades. There is a harbour on the left.
It has water. [From there Eleuthera is 50 stades away.]
348. (606) From Astale to Herakleion, 100 (300) stades. It is a city. It has a harbour
and water. 20 stades away lies the city of Knosos. An island lies 40 stades away towards
the west; it is called Dios.210
349. (607) From Herakleion to the city of Cherronesos,211 30 (130) stades. It has
water and an island that has a tower and a harbour.
350. (608) From Cherronesos to Olous, 60 (260) stades. It is a cape. It has a minor
anchorage and good water. «An island» lies 20 stades from the land.
351. (609) From Olous to Kamara, 15 stades.
352. (610) From Kamara to Istros, 25 (45?) stades.
353. (611) From Istros to Cape Ketia, 15 (150) stades. It is a minor anchorage, but
lacks water.
354. (612) From Cape Ketia212 to Dionysias, 300 (80) stades. There are two islands,
each of which has a harbour and water.
355. (613) From Dionysias to Sammonion, where we started to go round Crete, 120
stades. Promontory . . .213

205
Koite/Akytos, Barr.   206 About 19 mi (27 km).    207 Amphimala, Barr.
208
Müller restores the text to read ‘From Amphimatrios to Hydramos ‹30 stadia, then to Rithymna,
100 stadia; then to Pantomatrios›, 100 stadia; it is a city; it has a beach. ‹Eleutherna lies there.› Walk-
ing from Amphimatrios is 50 stadia.’
209
The MS has milia or miles, but either the number is too large or milia should be replaced with
stadia as Müller suggests.
210
Dia, Barr.   211 Chersonasos, Barr.   212 Setaca, Barr.
213
The MS breaks off; the word is a catchword for the next folio as seen on folios 66v and 74v, indicat-
ing that the work continued.
 Part five
LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD
•
(c. ad 300–600)

Too daring he who first did breach

untrustworthy straits with fragile craft,
and looking back upon his homeland
handed his soul to the fleeting winds,
and cleaving the waters with route unsure
felt able to trust the lightweight wood,
with such a slender frontier drawn
between the roads of life and death.

No one yet knew the constellations,

no use was made of stars with which
the air is painted;
no craft was able yet to escape
the showery Hyades,
nor yet the lights of Amalthea’s goat,
nor yet the Arctic waggon which
the slow old man, Boötes, guides.
Nor yet did Boreas have a name,
nor Zephyrus. . . .

But now the main (pontus) has given way

and suffers laws.
No famous Argo, shaped by Pallas’
hand, carrying royal oarsmen home,
is needed now;
any skiff you like explores the deep.
 Every frontier displaced, cities
have planted walls in new-found land.
Nothing remains upon the site
where once it stood.
The Indian imbibes the icy Araxes,
Persians consume the Albis and Rhine.
An age shall come in later years
for Ocean to release the chains
of everything, Earth to lie open,
Tethys uncover new-found worlds,
and Thule be no longer Furthest.

Seneca the Younger, Medea, 311–17, 364–79 (my translation)

 32
AVIENUS (AVIENIUS), OR A MARITIMA
(THE SEA COAST)
(MID-4TH C. ad)
Ralph Morley*

INTRODUCTION
The incomplete Ora maritima (Sea Coast) by Avienus is a description in Latin iambic
trimeter verse of the coastline of Europe from Brittany (with a mention of Britain and
Ireland) southwards as far as Marseille. It sits within the context of renewed i­ nterest in
classical learning, sometimes expressed inexactly, in the 4th century ad. What justifies
its place in the present book is the fact that it is reliant, directly or indirectly, on much
earlier, lost Greek sources—the oldest of which, sometimes identified as the ‘Massal-
iote periplous’, likely dated from the 6th century bc—and so preserves for us some of
the very earliest Greek knowledge about western Europe.
The poem survives only in the editio princeps (first printed edition) of Avienus,
published by Victor Pisanus in 1488 and deriving from a now lost Carolingian manu-
script. A facsimile of the editio princeps may be found in Murphy’s edition.1
We can reconstruct something of the poet.2 ‘Avienus’ is the traditional rendering of
the signum (or additional name) of Postumius Rufius Festus. A 4th-century hexameter
verse inscription that he authored tells us that his family were from Volsinii in Etruria;
that he lived in Rome; that he was the author of many poems; and that he twice held
proconsular appointments.3 Two inscriptions offer clues to his proconsular career:
one, from Bulla Regia (in modern-day Tunisia), records a Postumius Rufius Festus
signo Abienius (sic) as proconsul;4 another, from the Athenian Acropolis, records the
thanks of the Areopagus for the services of a Rufius Festus as proconsul of Achaea.5
Although the identification of our poet with the Rufius Festus of these inscriptions
has been contested, it seems most likely; it also seems most likely that the spelling
Avienius, rather than Avienus, is his signum. (The present edition continues to refer to
Avienus, as the established English-language name.)

*
I am grateful to Brady Kiesling for introducing me to the puzzles of Avienus and to Graham Shipley for
his encouragement and patience. I am also indebted to the late Neil Hopkinson, Katherine Backler, Claire
Hall, Philip Hardie, Robert Machado, Katherine Olley, and Hanneke Salisbury.

1
J. P. Murphy, SJ 1977, 101–19.
2
The fullest analysis of the sources for A.’s life is in Dorfbauer 2012.
3
CIL VI 537 = ILS 2944 = CLE 1530.   4 AE 2002, 1676.    5 IG ii/iii 13274 = 422.
890 • 32 avienus

The inscriptions place Avienus’ political career in the 330s ad. His poetry—at least
the Ora—was the work of his later years, written when ‘far gone in my life’ (prolixa die,
Ora l. 7).
Four of Avienus’ poems survive apart from the inscription referred to above: (1) a
short verse epistle to a Flavianus Myrmecius, which appears to have been a preface to
an edition of the other three;6 (2) the Descriptio orbis terrae (Description of the Circle of
the Earth), a rendering into Latin hexameter verse of Dionysios Periegetes’ Periegesis
(Chapter 28 above); (3) the Ora maritima, translated below; and (4) the Aratea, a Latin
hexameter version of Aratos’ Phainomena (known to St Jerome, writing c. ad 386/7).7
Servius records a fifth, a rendering in iambics of the myths in Virgil.8
Together, the Descriptio, the Ora, and the Aratea form a programmatic attempt
to set in Latin verse prior (Greek) knowledge of the world, the sea, and the heavens
respectively. The Descriptio must predate the Ora, because Avienus refers to it in the
prologue to the latter poem (see ll. 71–3), and it is likely the earliest of the three poems.
The dating of the Aratea relative to the Ora is uncertain, but the explicit reference to
Avienus’ old age in the Ora (above), that poem’s unfinished nature, and its greater
freedom with its material may point to it being last of all.
Avienus tells us that he wrote the Ora in response to a query from one Probus (pos-
sibly Sextus Petronius Probus, see note to line 1 below) about the Sea of Azov, and that
he intended the Ora to be an account of the coast from the straits of Gibraltar through
to the Black Sea. The surviving work instead starts beyond the straits, describing the
Atlantic and then Mediterranean coast of Europe as far as Marseilles, at which point
the text breaks off. It is unclear how much of the Ora no longer survives.
The extant text largely deals with the places and peoples of the coast in order, work-
ing round from Oestrymnis (Finisterre in Brittany) in an anti-clockwise direction:
A. Prologue (1–79): Avienus dedicates the work to Probus, introduces his sources, and sets
out the structure of the poem
B. The Atlantic coast of Europe and the Pillars of Hercules (80–416): the Pillars of Hercules
are introduced; the Atlantic coast from Oestrymnis (Brittany) and outlying islands
(Britain and Ireland) down to Ophiussa (general area of NW Spain) (80–145); (in more
detail) Atlantic coast of Spain, including Tartessus/Gades, as far as the Pillars of Hercu-
les (146–318); extended discussion of the Pillars of Hercules (318–416)
C. The Mediterranean coast from the Pillars of Hercules to Massalia9 (417–713): (in detail)
the Mediterranean coast up to the Pyrenees (417–557); (in less detail) the coast from
the Pyrenees to Massalia (558–713), including a digression on the source and course of
the Rhône (631–99)

6
The name transmitted to us is Flavianus Myrmeicus, but Woudhuysen 2019 corrects the error.
7
Jerome, Tit. 1. 12. The Aratea is not mentioned by Firmicus Maternus, in a list of translations of the
Phainomena in his Mathesis, written c. ad 335: Math. 2, pr. 2.
8
Servius ad Aen. 10. 272.
9
I employ the standard Greek name Massalia in the introduction and notes, but follow Avienus’
Latin form Massilia in the translation.
 introduction • 891

As Avienus’ willingness to engage in extended discussions that interrupt (and some-

times reverse) the logical progression around the coast demonstrates, the Ora is a
poetic composition rather than a practical handbook. Its most striking feature is that
Avienus sets out the places and peoples of the coast as they had once been, while
showing no interest in the geography of his own day, even by way of explanation or to
assist his reader; a by-product of this archaizing perspective is that the majority of the
toponyms and ethnonyms he uses are not attested elsewhere.10 He does not advert to
this approach in the prologue.
In giving an account of the coast as it had been, the Ora is a poem reliant, some-
times unevenly, often uncritically (see, for example ll. 370–4 and note), on other
­sources. Avienus’ approach to his sources, where he names them, appears to have been
to mine later works for references to earlier writers. Save one reference to Dionysios
Periegetes at line 331, he does not mention by name sources later than the 1st century
bc. He lists several 6th- and 5th-century bc Greek writers in the prologue, not all of
whom ­subsequently appear in the surviving text, but all of whom seem to be culled
from a later source or sources such as Ephoros. Where he does cite an early source, he
does not seem to have had access to that source itself: for example, although he makes
repeated references to a periplous written by Himilco the Carthaginian, and stops to
comment that he has drawn this ‘deep from the ancient annals of the Carthaginians’
(ll. 414–15), his use of Himilco indicates he only had access to a fragment, again most
likely via an intermediary (see l. 117 and note).
Much of the focus of scholarship has been on trying to disentangle and date these
sources. Above all, two interrelated questions about Avienus’ use of sources arise:
(1) whether Avienus has simply translated an immediate Greek predecessor into Latin,
or has synthesized a treatment from a number of sources and (2) whether there is a
single underlying archaic source for the surviving material which (via one or more
intermediate stages, such as being turned into verse) forms the basis of any such Greek
predecessor and thus of the surviving portion of the Ora.
As to the first question, Avienus is not a mere translator, who has faithfully turned a
Greek model word-for-word into a Latin poem. Unlike the Aratea and the Descriptio,
Avienus does not claim in the Ora to be translating a Greek model; to the contrary,
insofar as he claims to be working off a text, it is Sallust’s prose treatment of the Black
Sea (see ll. 38–42), which he does not come to in the surviving text. Even if he were
claiming to translate a Greek text, we should expect him to have made some additions
and embellishments to the substantive content of the poem. By comparison, in the
Descriptio, he lengthened the Periegesis by some 200 lines beyond the Greek original.
There are certain passages of the Ora that suggest Avienus’ own work. In particular,
the two extended discussions that disrupt the logical progression around the coast

10
Guillaumin and Bernard 2021, xxxvi, identify 156 toponyms and ethnonyms, of which 79 are
wholly unattested elsewhere and 39 are unattested elsewhere in the form Avienus uses but may be
variants of names attested elsewhere, leaving 38 attested elsewhere.
892 • 32 avienus

(that concerning the Pillars of Hercules at ll. 318–416 and that concerning the Rhône
at ll. 631–99) are markedly different from the surrounding sections, and appear to be
Avienus’ original poetic composition (though possibly drawing considerably on a sin-
gle principal source for each). Both are demarcated (at ll. 416 and 631) by a reference to
Avienus’ ‘pen’ (stilus), drawing attention to the poet’s own selection and arrangement
of the material; they contain nearly all the express references to sources found in the
main body of the poem; Avienus shows a greater willingness to comment on his mater­
ial; and in the latter digression, he addresses Probus by name, evoking the prologue.11
These extended discussions aside, where Avienus’ own observations can be tenta-
tively identified, they are mostly book learning, marked by an interest in archaisms
and linguistic points. Only once does he tantalizingly claim that he has visited a place
he describes, namely Gades (see l. 274 and n.).
But nor does the fact that Avienus does not claim to be using a single source estab-
lish that the extant text is an original synthesis of individual points. Once the extended
discussions and Avienus’ own forays are stripped out, there is a consistent tenor to the
underlying content of the Ora, progressing largely in order, with distances indicated
by reference to duration,12 and proceeding by reference to features of maritime interest
(such as prevailing winds or unusual phenomena apparent to sailors),13 all with no
reference, direct or indirect, to any of the kinds of historical or poetic sources that we
might expect Avienus, as a well-read Roman aristocrat, to advert to if he were produc-
ing his own synthesis. That indicates that, just as, for the later sections of the poem,
Avienus intended to use Sallust as a base and elaborate on it, for the extant text, where
Sallust did not supply a base, Avienus similarly used an earlier single source as his
base, supplemented by his own additions.
It is not possible, without more information, to say what that source might be:
­Antonelli posits an iambic poem of Apollodoros dated to around the end of the 2nd
century bc,14 but Avienus need not have had a pre-existing poetic source and could
equally have used a prose text (given that he intended to use Sallust for the Black
Sea portion of the Ora). It is also likely that Avienus used different base sources in
­sequence for different stretches of coastline until Sallust took up the story: there is
more non-maritime material in the later, Mediterranean sections of the poem, which
may well be taken from a land-based itinerary from between the 4th and the 2nd cen-
tury bc, possibly interpolated with further excerpts from the text Avienus has used
for the remainder.15
As for the question of an underlying archaic source, in the late 19th century and ear-
ly 20th century Müllenhoff and then Schulten posited a Massaliote periplous (which

11
See l. 41 and n.
12
Notably, all references to numerical geographical distances—stades and miles—in the poem are in
Avienus’ discussion of the Pillars of Hercules. By contrast, distance is expressed in the main progres-
sion of the poem solely in duration (how many days’ journey it is from one place to another).
13
For prevailing winds, ll. 174–7, 238–40; for unusual phenomena, ll. 166–70, 185–91.
14
Antonelli 2013.   15 See n. to l. 565.
 introduction • 893

Schulten dated to the late 6th century bc) as a foundational archaic source.16 This is
attractive, and has often been followed, although it is not without its problems: the
details of Avienus’ treatment of Massalia itself may be questionable, which would un-
dermine this hypothesis, albeit that the ready answer would be that those details are
embellishments at a later stage, and that any such original periplous would have been a
more confined and less literary work. As an alternative, Antonelli suggests a Phokaian
source: Herodotos (1. 163) credits the Phokaians as the first Greeks to make long sea
voyages and the first to reach Tartessos.
A sceptical current in the scholarship, led by Berthelot, writing a decade or so after
Schulten, prefers to give Avienus more credit, suggesting that there is no intermediate
Greek base source and thus no underlying archaic source.17 But this, though strongly
argued in recent works, is not wholly persuasive. Aside from the features of the poem
that suggest Avienus used an intermediate base source (indicated above), the repeated
appearance (without explanation) of names of places and peoples not otherwise at-
tested, the sometimes sketchy treatment of places beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and
the focus on Tartessus—a pre-classical locality otherwise the stuff of myth—rather
than on the later Carthaginian Gades (although see the note to l. 85)—as the centre
for mining and trading precious metals all point to Avienus’ base source ultimately
deriving content from an archaic source, which likely dates to the latter part of the
6th century bc.
The Ora presents unique challenges among Avienus’ surviving longer poems. It
lacks an extant Greek comparandum to aid our analysis; his marshalling of his sourc-
es is sometimes confused; and his predilection for archaic names for peoples and
places without providing context can be tiresome, if not infuriating. Yet the glimpses
it affords of Greek knowledge of Britain, Ireland, and the Atlantic coast, of early
­stages of Iberia’s development otherwise lost to the written sources, and of a late
­antique desire, at a time of religious and social change, to preserve in verse prior
pagan learning all have continuing value.
This translation is a substantially updated and corrected edition of one first pro-
duced for the ToposText digital humanities project in 2018. For this edition, I have
generally used Antonelli’s edition of the text, but have dissented in a small number of
places, which are identified in the notes.
To try to achieve consistency with other contributions, I have striven to use the
same English translation for each Latin word by which Avienus designates a geograph-
ical feature (such as ‘sea’ or ‘mountain’); sometimes, where Avienus himself is using
different words interchangeably for the sake of poetic metre or effect, the effect may be
infelicitous, but it is intended to illuminate, rather than obscure the Latin.

16
Müllenhoff further suggested this was a Massaliote translation of a Carthaginian text: see Guil-
laumin and Bernard 2021, cxxii–cxxiii.
17
A. Berthelot 1934, González Ponce 1995, and Guillaumin and Bernard 2021 are the best examples.
894 • 32 avienus

selected further reading

Editions of Avienus
*Antonelli, L. (2013), ‘Avienus, Ora maritima (2009)’, in FGrH v. [Text, translation and de-
tailed commentary (in Italian).]
*Berthelot, A. (1934), Avienus, Ora maritima. Paris. [French, with very conservative text; the
commentary is the principal counterweight to Schulten.]
González Ponce, F. J. (1995), Avieno y el periplo. Ecija. [Text and Spanish trans., as appendix
to monograph.]
*Guillaumin, J.-B., and Bernard, G. (2021), Aviénus, Les Rivages maritimes. Paris. [‘Budé’ edi-
tion; appeared too late to take into account fully.]
*Murphy, J. P., SJ (1977), Rufus Festus Avienus, Ora Maritima: A Description of the Seacoast
from Brittany to Marseilles [Massilia]. Chicago. [Text, trans., commentary.]
Roller, D. W. (2022), Three Ancient Geographical Treatises in Translation: Hanno, the King
Nikomedes Periodos, and Avienus. Abingdon–New York. [Appeared too late to be taken
into account.]
*Schulten, A. (1922), Avieni Ora maritima (periplus Massiliensis saec. VI. a. C.) adiunctis
ceteris testimoniis anno 500 a. C. antiquioribus. Berlin. (Repr. as Ora marítima: junto con
los demás testimonios anteriores al año 500 a. de J.C., Barcelona, 1955.) [The major C20
study of Avienus.]

TE XT
Headings are added.

Preface

Probus,18 considering that you have often pondered

with heart and mind how the gulfs of the Tauric sea19
might be understood with reasonable confidence by those
whom the furthest expanses of the Earth separate,
I gladly entered upon this task so that what you
have longed for should become clear for you in song.
I did not think it right, now I am far gone in my life,
that that region’s outline should not lie within

18
Possibly Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus (c. ad 330–90), proconsul in Africa 357, consul 371.
Schulten identifies Probus with Anicius Petronius Probus, consul in 406 (and the son of the former),
but that sits less easily with the evidence for dating A.’s life to earlier in C4 ad (see introduction to
chapter).
19
The Black Sea. The name (not otherwise attested) is derived from the Tauri, who lived in the
Crimean peninsula (Taurica Chersonesus). A. has possibly chosen this name, rather than more usual
names such as Pontus Euxinus, because it identifies the sea by reference to the point furthest away, and
so sets the scene for his intention to cover the extremes of east and west.
 text • 895

the compass of your understanding—a region

10 I have learned about from very old texts and
my own private study, through every day of my life.
I think it is the mark of a coarse and uneducated man
to begrudge another what you possess without any expense.
To those observations I add this too, that you stand in place of a child
to me in my affections and in the bond of blood.
Nor would that be enough, if I did not know
that you had always avidly swallowed up
literature’s secrets, that you are of an open mind,
that you are capable in your understanding,
20 that your thirst for such things is yoked to your heart,
and that you beyond others remember what has been made known to you.
Why would I pour out mysteries in vain to someone who could not
  remember them?
Who would prattle20 about deep mysteries to someone who could not
  comprehend?
Yes, many things—many!—have driven me, Probus,
to finish for you what you have demanded of me.
Indeed, I also believed that this would be a parent’s task,
if my Muse were to make known to you what you long for
more amply and more abundantly.
  To give what has been asked for is the mark of a man who is not mean;
30 but to increase further the sum of the gift with new things
is the mark of a kindly and sufficiently generous mind.
You asked, if you remember, what the region
of the Maeotic sea21 is. I knew that Sallust
had reported this,22 and I could not deny that his words
are accepted by everyone to be of settled
authority. So, to his famous description,
where that writer, adept with his pen and truthful,
set out in elegant words the layout and appearance
of those places almost as though they were
40 before our sight, I have added many things
taken from the commentaries of very many authors.23

20
The word, ogganiat (strictly, ‘yelps’), is an old comic word. The effect is jarring against the backdrop
of A.’s treatment of his research as an initiation into secrets and mysteries, but its provenance may
have appealed to his antiquarian cast of mind: he makes a knowing reference to the comic poet Plau-
tus at l. 347 (see n.).
21
The Sea of Azov.    22 In book 3 of his Histories (frs 61–81 in Maurenbrecher 1891).
23
All the authors A. lists date from C6 or C5. Of them, the surviving text cites only Phileas (at
ll. 691–6); Scylax, i.e. Skylax (at ll. 372–4); Damastes (at ll. 370–2) and Euctemon (at ll. 350–69).
­Pausimachus and Bacoris are otherwise unknown.
896 • 32 avienus

Obviously, Hecataeus the Milesian will be found there,

Hellanicus of Lesbos, and Phileas
the Athenian, Scylax of Caryanda,
so too Pausimachus, whom ancient Samos bore,
and of course, Damastes, born in noble Sige,
Bacoris, sprung from Rhodes, Euctemon, too,
the citizen of Athens, Cleon the Sicilian,
Herodotus of Thurii himself, and then he who is
50 the great glory of oratory, the Athenian Thucydides.
  Here, Probus, half of my heart, you shall have in turn
whatever islands rise up in the waters—
I mean in those waters which, from the openings
of the world gaping wide from the Tartessian strait
and the waves of the Atlantic, push our sea24
right up to the land that lies far distant.
I shall tell of the curved gulfs and the headlands—
how the sloping shore stretches itself out,
how the mountain ridges entwine far off with the waves,
60 and how the noble cities are washed by the sea.
I shall tell you which sources pour forth the greatest rivers,
how the streams flow headlong into the flood of the sea,
how they then often surround islands
and how the harbours stretch out their sheltering reaches,
how the lagoons unfold, how the lakes lie,
how the high mountains lift up their rugged crest
and how the white wave of the flood laps the pastures.
But this will be the end of our work:
I shall explain in full the Scythian sea,25 the waters of the Euxine sea,
70 and any islands which crop up there on the main.
We have written further about the remainder
more fully in that volume which we wrote
about the shores and regions of the world.26
So that you should have an open declaration
of my sweat and my labour,
let us begin the narrative of this work a little further away.27

24
The prevailing current at the straits of Gibraltar is westerly, from the Atlantic, making it difficult to
exit the straits by sail.
25
The Sea of Azov again. The word Avienus uses for ‘sea’, profundum (‘deep’ or ‘deep sea’), is not well
chosen: the Sea of Azov is notoriously shallow.
26
The Descriptio orbis terrae, for which see the introduction to this chapter.
27
The Pillars of Hercules are one of the cardinal points of the world in A.’s Descriptio (for which
see Selter 2010). His comment that he is beginning the work ‘a little further away’ and the swift
 text • 897

You must store up in your innermost heart

what I have set forth, for I have sought
support far and wide, drawn from the authors.

The Atl antic Coast Beyond Iberia

80 The circle of the broad Earth is widely spread,

and waves surround the Earth.
But where the deep main wends its way
from the very Ocean, such that here the flood of our sea
extends far, there is the Atlantic gulf.
Here is the city of Gadir, previously called Tartessus;28
here are the pillars of unyielding Hercules,
Abila and Calpe:29 The latter is on the left bank of the land I have mentioned;
the former is next to Libya.30 They ring
with the harsh Septentrio,31 but hold fast to their place.
90 And here rises the far point of a projecting ridge.32
A more ancient age called it Oestrymnis,33
and the lofty bulk of the rocky outcrops
all turns towards the warm Notus.34
  Beyond the point of this headland,

move to discuss places far beyond the Pillars mark his intention in the Ora to go beyond the account
in the Descriptio.
28
A. here follows a long-established tradition in the sources of treating ‘Tartessus’ as an older name
for the Phoenician colony of Gadir (see e.g. Sallust Hist. 2 fr. 5 in Maurenbrecher 1891; Pliny 4. xxii.
120). The tradition is likely erroneous: the earliest Greek source (Stesichoros fr. 184 in Page and Davies
1991, at Strabo 3. 2. 11, C149) identifies Tartessus as the name of a river (the Guadalquivir); Herodotos
(1. 163; 4. 152), also relying on older traditions, similarly uses the name to mean an indigenous settle-
ment or territory around the Guadiana and Guadalquivir. The success of the Phoenician colonies and
diminished Greek contact with the west from C5 onwards accelerated the identification of Tartessus
with Gadir and later with Roman Gades. A. himself uses ‘Tartessus’ or ‘Tartessian’ elsewhere in the text
indiscriminately to designate a sea (l. 54), a river (ll. 225–6, 283–5), people (ll. 114–15, referring both
to Carthaginian colonists and, seemingly, the indigenous peoples; ll. 254–5), an estuary (ll. 265–7), and
a mountain (ll. 308–9), not always intending it as a synonym for ‘Gaditan’.
29
Calpe is the Rock of Gibraltar. There is no comparable obvious promontory on the African side;
Abila has been variously identified with Jebel Musa in Morocco and Monte Hacho in Ceuta. Strabo 3. 5.
5, C169–71, provides further debate on the origin of the Pillars.
30
In this context, A. means Africa.
31
The north wind. The prevailing winds at the straits of Gibraltar are in fact westerly (the Poniente)
and easterly (Levante). A. Berthelot 1934, 57, suggests that the reason the north wind is named is
because the Romans falsely believed the S coast of Spain ran directly W to E, placing Abila due W of
Gibraltar (with the result that they believed the Poniente was the north wind).
32
A. makes an abrupt transition from the Pillars of Hercules to Oestrymnis, in Brittany, while de-
scribing the latter as ‘here’ (hic), i.e. in the same region as the Pillars. Something has gone wrong here,
either in A.’s sources or in his handling of them.
33
In Finisterre in Brittany. Probably either Pointe Saint-Mathieu or Pointe du Raz.
34
The south wind.
898 • 32 avienus

the Oestrymnian gulf spreads open for its inhabitants,

in which the Oestrymnian islands35 spring up,
lying over a wide area and rich in deposits
of tin and lead. Great is the energy of the people here,
proud their character, pragmatic their skill.
100 All things are connected to affairs of business.
They cleave the tempestuous sea, and the flood
of the Ocean abounding in monsters, with woven boats.
In fact, these people do not know how to fashion keels with pine
and maple. They do not, as is usual, shape their boats from fir,
but—a miraculous thing—they always fit out
vessels by stitching hides together,
and often travel through the boundless swell in a skin.
  Then from here it is two days’ journey by boat
to the Holy Island—so the ancients called it.36
110 Amid the waves this island extends far in its fields,
and the people of the Hierni dwell all over it.
The island of the Albiones also lies nearby.37
It was the habit of the Tartessians to do business
among the furthest parts of the Oestrymnides.
The colonists from Carthage and the ordinary people, bearing on through
the pillars of Hercules, used to go to these waters.
Punic Himilco38 declared that they
could scarcely be crossed in four months—
as he reported that he himself proved by sailing all the way.
120 This is so because no breezes drive the ship,
and the sluggish liquid of the inert waters stands still.
He adds this comment too: among the floods,

35
Identified either with Britain (or islands off its coast) or with islands off the coast of Brittany. The
references to rich deposits of tin and lead (not found in the islands of Brittany), to a distinct people,
and to woven boats point to the identification of the islands with southern Britain. (Woven boats are
a peculiarly British skill in ancient authors: see Caes. BC 1. 54; Pliny 4. xvi. 104.) Against that, the
context requires that ‘Oestrymnian islands’ cannot mean ‘the British Isles’: A. subsequently refers to
Britain as ‘the island of the Albiones’ (112), indicating that he (or his sources) understand that Britain
is a single island; ‘Oestrymnian islands’ therefore does not reflect a belief in his sources that mainland
Britain comprised several islands. Hdt. 3. 115 doubts the existence of the ‘tin islands’, which makes A.’s
record of a Greek source especially important.
36
Ireland. This is A.’s rendering of a Greek false etymology connecting the Greek name for it, Iernē,
with hierē nēsos, ‘holy island’. This etymology is otherwise unattested.
37
See n. to l. 97 above.
38
This is the first of three references to the voyage of the Carthaginian Himilco, who was tasked by
Carthage with exploring the Ocean W of the Pillars of Hercules (Pliny 2. lxvii. 169); the others are
at 380–4 and 412–15. A. has probably obtained a single fragment via an intermediate source: see the
Introduction.
 text • 899

there is a lot of seaweed, and often it checks a ship

in the manner of a bush. He says that nonetheless here
the surface of the sea does not extend to a great depth,
and the seabed is scarcely covered with a little water.
Here and there sea creatures meet, and sea monsters
swim amid the slow ships sluggishly crawling along.
  If anyone dared to launch a light galley
130 into the waves from the Oestrymnian islands,
where the air grows stiff at Lycaon’s pole,39
he would come upon the land of the Ligurians,40
devoid of inhabitants. Its fields have been empty
for a long time because of frequent battles with the Celts:
the Ligurians were driven out, as fortune often drives out others,
and came to those haunts, which they possess amid plenty
of bristling bushes. Round about these places are abundant
rough stone, rugged cliffs and mountains threatening the sky.
This tribe, avoiding contact, for some time led its life
140 amid the narrow confines of the rocks far from the waves.
For they were afraid of the main, on account of the danger
they had experienced in ancient times. Later, since freedom from care
fortified their boldness, peace and an untroubled life
coaxed them to be led down from their high dwelling-places
and to come down to their present places by the sea.

The Atl antic Coast of Iberia, Including Tartessus

Then, after those places which we have set out above,

the great gulf of the open waters41 extends up
to Ophiussa.42 Then, from the shore of this place
to the inner waters, where the sea penetrates amid the land
150 (as I have said before), and which they call the sea of the Sardi,43

39
The northern sky. From the myth of Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, catasterized into the Great Bear;
her son by Zeus, Arcas, became the Little Bear. A. treats the Great Bear and the Little Bear in his rendi-
tion of Aratos at Aratea 105–37.
40
Likely somewhere on the North sea coast, possibly Jutland. The stock of the Ligurians who dwelt in
the Alps and N. Italy was unknown and a source of speculation (thus e.g. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1. 10).
Possible corroboration for northern Ligurians is found in Plutarch (Marius 19), who records that at the
battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 bc the (Italian) Ligurians recognized the tribal name of the opposing
Ambrones (which the Ambrones employed as their battle cry) and shouted it back, ‘Ambrones’ being
their own ancestral name.
41
The Bay of Biscay.
42
NW Spain, a name seemingly of Greek (possibly Phokaian) origin and connected (as the story A.
tells at ll. 156–7 relates) to ophis, ‘snake’.
43
The W portion of the Mediterranean, named for Sardinia’s importance to trading routes. Pliny 3. x.
75 says this is the name the C3 geographer Eratosthenes of Cyrene used.
map 32.1. Avienus, Ora maritima: principal places in Iberia.
 text • 901

the journey coming back is seven days.

Ophiussa extends its side to a distance
as far as you hear the isle of Pelops44 lies
in the land of the Greeks.45 Ophiussa was first called Oestrymnis,46
since the Oestrymni inhabited its regions and fields.
Some time later a serpent forced the inhabitants to flee47
and imposed on the empty land its name.
  From there the ridge of Venus48 extends into the floods,
and the main barks round two islands, which are inhospitable
160 because of the meanness of the land. Then the headland
of Aryium rises up in the harsh north.49
The journey from here for ships
as far as the pillars of powerful Hercules
is five days. After that there is a sea isle
abounding in grass and sacred to Saturn.50
But there is such great natural force in the island
that if anyone approaches it by sailing,
soon the sea in the region of the island is stirred up,
the island itself is shaken and all the Earth
170 leaps up, beginning to quake deeply.
Meanwhile, the rest of the open sea is still like a lagoon.
  Then the headland of Ophiussa51 rises up to the air.
From the ridge of Aryium to this place is a journey of two days.
But the gulf which then unfolds its broad waters,52 drawing back
from the sea, is not easy to sail with one wind:

44
That is, the Peloponnese.
45
The likely boundaries of Ophiussa are greater than those of the Peloponnese. The distance across
the Peloponnese is just over 125 mi (200 km); by way of illustration, from C. Ortegal to C. Silleiro,
creating a shallow triangle of which C. Finisterre is the apex, is c.155 mi (c.250 km).
46
A. here appears to be confused. He has previously identified Oestrymnis with Brittany, but here
treats it as a former name of NW Spain.
47
There are many parallels for this tale, collected by Marx 1895, 339, including Hdt. 4. 105, Pliny 3. v.
59; Serv. ad Aen. 10. 564.
48
There are several headlands on the N coast of Spain which could be the headland of Venus.
Schulten and Murphy identify the headland of Venus as C. Higuer, at Irun on the Franco-Spanish bor-
der, but that is likely too far E; Berthelot places it further W at C. Ortegal, which is more probable.
49
Likely either C. Ortegal (if the headland of Venus is identified as C. Higuer) or C. Silleiro (if the
headland of Venus is itself identified with Ortegal).
50
The Berlenga archipelago, which stands a few miles offshore. Antonelli cross-refers to a lush island
in Strabo 3. 3. 1, C152, but that island is described as situated in the upper estuary of the Tagus, not a
sea-isle, so Strabo and A. have different islands in mind (though the same tradition may have attached
to both).
51
C. Roca.
52
The Tagus estuary, the geography of which fits with the mariner’s need to have a westerly and a
southerly wind in succession to navigate up it.
902 • 32 avienus

you will never reach the middle with the Zephyrus53

carrying you; the remainder requires the Notus.
Then from there, if someone made for the shore
of the Tartessians on foot, he would come
180 to the end of the journey on just about the fourth day.
If anyone should direct his path to our sea and Malaca’s harbour,
it is a journey of five days.
  Then the Cepresican ridge54
looms large. Beneath it in turn lies the island
named by its inhabitants Achale.55 Scarcely
can one trust the tale, because it is miraculous,
but plenty of sources provide support enough:
they say that in the bounds of this island
there is nothing equal in appearance to the rest of the flood.
Everywhere there is brightness in the waves
190 like the sheen of glass, and through the deep
main there is a bluish appearance.
But the ancients relate that there the waters
are thick with foul mud, and stick fast
with the dirt, like streams full of sediment.
  The Cempsi and the Sefes56 inhabit the steep hills
in the country of Ophiussa. Nearby to these
the nimble Lusitanian and the offspring of the Draganes
had located their home beneath the snowy Septentrio.
Then, Poetanion is an island on the border of the Sefes,
200 and an accessible harbour.57 After that, the peoples
of the Cynetes58 lie next to the Cempsi. Then the ridge
of the Cynetes, looming on high where the starlight sets,
the furthest ridge of fertile Europe,
faces towards the main of the Ocean filled with monsters.

53
The west wind.
54
C. Espichel, just S of Lisbon.
55
Now unknown; likely to have been located in the Sado estuary and silted up to form part of the
mainland.
56
The Cempsi are otherwise known only from Dionysios Periegetes 338 (and A.’s own Descriptio
at 475). Dionysios, however, places them in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The Sefes are otherwise
unknown. ‘Nimble Lusitanian’: the text reads Lucis, likely a variant or corruption of a name for
­Lusitanians. Antonelli adopts Schrader’s Ligus, ‘Ligurian’; but there is no record of Ligurians in this
region. They are ‘nimble’ at Strabo 3. 3. 6, C154. The ‘offspring of the Draganes’ may be connected
(cf. Greek drakōn, ‘snake’) to the tale of snakes driving the Oestrymni from Ophiussa at 154–7.
57
The island is probably the present-day peninsula of Tróia opposite Setúbal at the mouth of the
Sado, SE of Lisbon; the river’s mouth is itself the port.
58
Inhabitants of the Algarve, described by Hdt. 2. 33 and 4. 49 as the most westerly people in Europe.
Unlike Hdt., A. does not mention the Celts in the same breath, which, Antonelli suggests, indicates
that his source material pre-dates Hdt. The ‘ridge of the Cynetes’ is C. St Vincent, the most south-west-
erly point of Portugal.
 text • 903

  There the river Anas59 runs through the Cynetes

and cleaves the soil. The gulf opens up
and the land stretches out in a curve to the south.
From the river I have told you about, twin streams
suddenly separate themselves and push on
210 their slow courses through the dense water of
the aforementioned gulf. This is because all the deep here
is thick with mud. Here the crests of two islands
rise up high.60 The smaller lacks a name.
Enduring tradition calls the other Agonis.
There a crag bristles with cliffs: it is sacred
to Saturn. The sea is struck against it and foams up.
The rocky shore stretches out over a wide area.
Here, the inhabitants’ shaggy she-goats and many male goats
wander constantly among the brambles of the meadow.
220 They grow long, thick hair suited to military
use and to sailors’ clothing.61
From here to the river I spoke about is a journey of one day.
Here too the tribe of the Cynetes have their border.
  The Tartessian region borders this,
and the river Tartessus flows through the country.62
Then there extends a mount sacred to the Zephyrus.63
In fact, the summit is called Zephyris.
The top of the peak rises high from the ridge.
Its great height reaches to the air, and something like
230 a mist sitting on top of it always covers its overcast tip.
From that point, all the country greatly abounds in grassy soil.
These inhabitants live on slopes that are always cloudy.
The upper air is denser, and the day more humid;
dew abounds, as though it were night. No breezes
blow through here, as is usual; no breath of wind
shakes the air upwards. A motionless mist sits on the land
and the earth is damp over a wide area.

59
The Guadiana.
60
Unknown. If the ‘crag . . . sacred to Saturn’ is identified with Sagres Point, the islands could be its
adjacent rocky islets: Strabo 3. 1. 4, C138, describing the ‘sacred promontory’ (usually taken to be C.
St Vincent, but the features are not consistent), relates that Artemidoros reported three small islands
nearby.
61
A. borrows directly from Virgil, Georgics 3. 313. Like Virgil, he uses velamina, a poetical word for
‘clothing’, but other ancient sources suggest goat hair was used for ship’s tackle rather than for sailors’
clothing: Varro, Rust. 2. 11. See Mynors 1994 on this difficulty in A.’s Virgilian model.
62
The Guadalquivir: see also n. to ll. 85–7 above.
63
The west wind. The mountain is likely to be Cerro de São Miguel (alias Monte Figo).
904 • 32 avienus

If anyone were to set out from the crest of Zephyris by ship

and be carried towards the flood of our sea,
240 he would immediately be borne along by the breezes of Favonius.64
  Next, there is a mount sacred to the goddess of the lower world,
a wealthy sanctuary in a concealed hollow
and a lightless inner chamber. There is a great marsh nearby,
called Erebea.65 In fact, the city of Herbi
is said to have stood in these parts in an ancient era;
this city, annihilated by the storms of battle,
left its reputation and its name to the salty ground.
From that place there flows the Hiberus river;66 its waters
make the region fertile. Many people say
250 that the Hiberi are named for this, and not from that river
which glides past the restless Vascones.
For whatever part of this people lies towards the
sunset from this river, they call Hiberian.
The eastern side in turn contains the Tartessians
and Cilbiceni. After that is the island of Cartare.67
The Cempsi held it for a long time: there is sufficient reason
to believe this. Afterwards, since they were driven out
because of war with their neighbours, they set out in search
of different places. From there, Mount Cassius rises:68
260 the Greek tongue formerly called tin cassiterum
because of it. Then there is a headland shrine,
and the high citadel of Geron, which retains its Greek name
from of old. We have come across the tradition

64
Another name for the west wind.
65
At the junction of the Odiel and Tinto rivers. Both ‘Erebea’ and ‘the city of Herbus’ (named at the
end of the line), unidentified and otherwise unknown, are likely to be Greek attempts to render local
place-names, which may well have become fused in the tradition with the similar-sounding Greek
Erebos, ‘underworld’. Together with the adjacent mountain sacred to Proserpina (the goddess of the
lower world), they point to a tradition identifying the places roundabout with a point of access to the
underworld.
66
The Odiel or the Tinto. The other Hiberus, which ‘glides past the restless Vascones’ (251) is the
Ebro. Antonelli suggests that use of the same name corresponds to a time prior to C5 in which increas-
ing Greek contact with the Iberian peninsula resulted in developing, but still imperfect, knowledge
of the geography. ‘Hiberus’, like ‘Erebea’ and ‘Herbus’, may also be a Greek rendering of a local place
name.
67
A name found only in A. It is likely an island between the Odiel and the Tinto. For the Cempsi, see
n. to l. 195.
68
The fossil dunes of Asperillo. The etymology of the name (again a name found only in A.) is false,
as tin was not mined in Tartessus but imported.
 text • 905

that Geryon was once named because of it.69

  Here are the wide-extending shores of the gulf of Tartessus.
From the river I have mentioned70 to this place is
a journey of a day. Here is the town of Gadir,
for the Carthaginian tongue used to call a place
that had been enclosed ‘Gadir’.71 It was previously named
270 Tartessus. It was a great and wealthy city
in ancient times. Now it is poor; now it is small;
now it is forsaken. Now it is a heap of ruins.
We saw nothing wonderful here, except
the festival of Hercules.72 But there was such power
in those rites, or such glory, in a former age
(if we believe the thing) that a proud king,
powerful beyond all those whom the Mauretanian
people chanced to have in that era,
most welcome to the emperor Octavian and always
280 applying himself to the study of literature—Juba73—
although separated by the waters which flow between,
believed he was more illustrious because he held
the duumvirate of that city. The river Tartessus
flows through the outlets from the Ligustine lake74
and winds round an island on all sides with its gliding course.

69
Possibly (after Berthelot) located at the site of the fort of Santa Catalina on the NW tip of Cádiz;
the shrine would be the temple of Saturn, mentioned by Strabo (3. 5. 3, C169). Geryon: a legendary
three-headed giant killed by Hercules. Antonelli suggests that the name Geron may instead derive
from a local custom of honouring old age, possibly associated with traditions about the longevity of
Arganthonius, the legendary king of Tartessus (for whom see Hdt. 1. 163). However, Hesiod relates
that Hercules killed Geryon in ‘Erythia, surrounded by sea’ (Hes. Th. 983), so the connection is of
considerable antiquity.
70
It is unclear whether A. means the Anas (ll. 205, 22) or the Hiberus (l. 248). Either is plausible.
71
This etymology is repeated in other sources (e.g. Pliny 4. xxii. 120) and appears to be true. For the
conflation of Gades and Tartessus, see n. to ll. 85–7 above.
72
A.’s (otherwise unexplained) visit to Gades is the only point in the poem where he claims to have seen
any of the places he describes. If he is to be identified with the proconsul commemorated at Bulla Regia
(see the introduction), he may well have visited Gades while travelling to or from Africa Proconsularis.
The festival of Hercules descends from worship of Melqart; Strabo 3. 5. 5, C169–70, relates the tradition
that Gades was founded in obedience to an oracle commanding the Tyrians to set up a colony at the
Pillars of Hercules, and that the temple to Hercules was founded with the city. In both the Ora and the
Descriptio (see introduction to this chapter), A.’s only claims to first-hand sight of the places he describes
relate to pagan religious rites: at Descriptio 603–4, A. refers to visiting the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.
73
Juba II (c.48 bc–ad 23), installed by Augustus as king of Mauretania and famed for his learning
(Pliny 5. i. 16). See Ch. 22 above. There is no other evidence for his appointment as duumvir of Gades,
but epigraphic evidence establishes that he was appointed duumvir of Carthago Nova (CIL II.3417).
However, he claimed descent from Hercules (Plut. Sert. 9), and may well have promoted a connection
with Gades to give colour to those dynastic claims and abet his intellectual and political projects (for
which, see Domínguez Monedero 2017).
74
Possibly the lagoon S of Coria on the Guadalquivir. There is no other evidence for Ligurian set-
tlement in this part of Spain (see n. to l. 195 above): either the text is corrupt or ‘Ligustine’ is a Greek
attempt to render a local place-name by assimilating it to the name of a people already known to them.
906 • 32 avienus

Nor does that river flow on by a single course,

or in one body cut through the ground that lies nearby.
In fact, it carries three mouths into the land
in the east of the country, and it washes
290 the southern parts of the city with a twice twin mouth.
  Mount Argentarius75 overhangs the marsh,
so named by the ancients from its appearance.
It shines upon its flanks with abundant tin,
and reflects more light into the air at a distance
when the sun beats down on the ridges with its glow from on high.
And the same river, its waves heavy with tin,
rolls fragments along and carries the rich metal
Down to the city walls. From here onwards, a great
expanse of territory76 recedes from the waters’ salty flood
300 through the middle of the land. The tribe of the Etmanes dwells here.
Then, after that, the Ileates spread themselves
up to the field of the Cempsi over the fruitful country,
but the Cilbiceni possess the coastal regions.
  The main in between separates the citadel of Geron
and the temple headland, as I have said above.77
The gulf curves inwards between the high points of the rocks.
By the next ridge a great river unfolds:
from here the mountain of the Tartessians rises on high,
shaded with woods. Then there is the island of Erythia78
310 spreading out its turf, once under the sway of Carthage,
since colonists of ancient Carthage first held it.
On the mainland side, Erythia is cut off
from the citadel by a channel five stades long.
Towards the sunset, the island is
consecrated to Venus of the Sea:79
there is a temple of Venus on it, a deep hollow and an oracle.

75
‘Silvery’. Strabo (3. 2. 10, C148) reports that the Guadalquivir rises in a ‘Silver Mountain’ near
Cazlona. As with Mt Cassius (259), the account of which may well have its origins in the same single
story about the Tartessus region, the description of Mt Argentarius with ‘abundant tin’ derives from
some long-standing confusion about the sources of the metals shipped from Tartessus.
76
The inland plain of the Guadalquivir. For the Cempsi and Cilbiceni see ll. 195–201, 255–7; the
Ileates may be identifiable with the Igleti of Asklepiades of Myrlea (according to Strabo 3. 4. 19, C166);
the Etmanes are not otherwise known.
77
A. returns to the features of Gades which he mentioned in 261–4. Antonelli sees in this and the
following lines another insertion which reflects A.’s first-hand sight of Gades.
78
The smallest of the three islands (the others being Cotinoussa and Antipolis) which made up the
Gaditan archipelago. Erythia and Cotinoussa are today one island.
79
Pliny 4. xxii. 120 reports that Timaeus and Silenus called Erythia ‘Aphrodisias’. Archaeological
evidence supports the possibility that a temple to Astarte (later identified with Venus) was located in
the W of Erythia.
 text • 907

The Pill ars of Hercules

Past that mountain—which I had told you bristles with woods

when you reach it—there lies a shelving shore soft with sands,
320 into which the Besilus and Cilbus rivers drive on
their streams.80 After that, towards the sunset,
the Sacred Ridge raises up its domineering rocks.81
This place the Greeks once called the Herma,
for Herma is a bulwark of earth,82 and on both sides
the place fortifies the strait that flows in between.
Others, however, call it the Way of Hercules:
Hercules, of course, is said to have smoothed over the seas,
so that an easy route would lie open for the herd he had captured.83
Many writers also relate that that Herma
330 was for a long time under Libya’s sway.
Nor should we reject Dionysius as a source:
he explains that Tartessus is the border of Libya.84
The headland, which I have mentioned is called
Sacred by the inhabitants, rises up in European soil.
A narrow strait flows between both places,
which is called Herma and the Way of Hercules.
Euctemon, an inhabitant of the city of Amphipolis,85 says that
it extends for no greater length than a distance of 108 miles,
340 and that the two of them are three miles apart.
  Here stand the Pillars of Hercules which, we have read,
are reckoned to be the boundary of each continent.
These are equally projecting rocks,86

80
The Barbate and the Salado de Conil.
81
This is either the ‘crag sacred to Saturn’ (ll. 215–16), which is C. St Vincent or Sagres Point (for
which see n. to l. 212), or else C. Trafalgar. Neither is perfect. C. Trafalgar is preferable, as it is W of
the Barbate, but it is E of the Salado de Conil. If the ‘crag sacred to Saturn’ were meant, the sudden shift
far to the W after the extended description of Gades would be jarring. Ps.-Skyl. §112. 2 describes reefs
extending from C. Hermaia in Libya to the ‘Hieron (Sacred) Promontory’.
82
In his effort to provide an etymology, A. has seemingly confused the Greek ‘herma’ (a reef, so Hdt.
7. 183 and Thuc. 7. 25) with ‘eruma’ (a fence or defence). The Herma will be shoals S of the Sacred
Ridge of 322; a shallow reef called Aceytera in fact lies off C. Trafalgar.
83
The herd of Geryon, which Hercules drove off (see also n. at l. 264 above). The tradition of
­Hercules crossing the Ocean appears in Hesiod (Th. 292), but not in the account of Hercules’ labours
in Apollodoros (2. 5. 10).
84
A. again runs together Tartessus and Gades. Dion. Peri. in fact says (at 176) that Libya ‘begins at
Gadeira’ (which A. accurately renders at Descriptio 22).
85
Otherwise unknown. It is unclear whether this is (as Murphy suggests) simply Euctemon the
Athenian (who appears at l. 350 and is mentioned in the prologue, see n. to l. 42) by another name,
reflecting a move to Amphipolis, or a different Euctemon. The source for these comments, and the
later comments of Euctemon the Athenian, is probably Ephoros.
86
Here I read paria ‘equal’, i.e. ‘equally projecting’, and so differ from Antonelli, who reads parva,
‘small’.
908 • 32 avienus

Abila and Calpe.87 Calpe is in Hispania;

Abila is in the land of the Mauretanians. For the Carthaginian race
calls ‘Abila’ what is a ‘high mountain’ in the barbarian tongue—
I mean of course the Latin tongue; the term is from Plautus.88
‘Calpe’, on the other hand, in Greek is the name of a type of water-pitcher,
hollow and smoothed in appearance.89
350 Euctemon the Athenian says, though,
that there are no rocks or peaks rising
on either side: he relates that two islands
lie between Africa’s soil and Europe’s shore.
He says that these are named the Pillars
of Hercules, and reports that thirty stades
separate these two; they bristle all over with woods,
and are always inhospitable for sailors. In fact,
he says that there are temples and altars to Hercules
on these islands, and that foreigners carried there by ship
360 make offerings to the god and depart with hastening sail;90
it is thought sinful to linger on the islands.
He relates that the shallow sea lying round about
these islands stands still over a wide expanse.
Laden ships are not able to approach the place
because of the shallow flood and the thick mud of the shore.
But if anyone’s will happens to impel him to approach
the temple, he hastens to direct his ship to the island
of the Moon,91 to remove the loads from his vessel,
and thus to be carried across the sea in a light craft.
370   But as to the heaving waves that flow between
the Pillars, Damastes says they are scarcely
seven stades across. Scylax of Caryanda maintains
that the flood flowing between the Pillars
is as wide as the swell of the Bosphorus.92

87
See n. to l. 88.
88
Plautus in several places refers to Latin as the ‘barbarian’ tongue: Asin. 11, Trin. 19, Mil. 2. 2. 58.
89
A.’s Greek is, as we would expect, correct.
90
‘Sail’ translates pes, lit. ‘foot’ but also ‘sheet’ in the sense of the rope controlling a sail.
91
See n. to l. 429.
92
For Damastes and Skylax, see n. to l. 41. The comparison between the strait of Gibraltar and the
Bosporus is puzzling, for two reasons. First, if the strait still known as the Bosporos in Istanbul is
meant, the comparison is grossly inaccurate: the straits of Gibraltar are c.8 mi (13 km) wide, whereas
the Bosporos is on average 1 mile (1.5 km) wide (tolerably close to 7 stades). Second, although Ps-Skyl.
§67. 8 does give the width of the Bosporos as 7 stades, that text does not draw the comparison A.
records, but says only that the Pillars are a day’s sail apart (§§1; 111. 7). Panchenko 2005 suggests that
the original, and correct, comparison may have been with the Kimmerian Bosporos (strait of Kerch),
which is c.9 mi (15 km) wide at its widest point. This is again an indicator of A.’s habit of referring
directly to earlier authors whom he knows only through later intermediaries.
 text • 909

Beyond these Pillars, on the European side,

inhabitants from Carthage once possessed the villages
and cities: it was their custom to build ships
with flatter keels by means of which a boat
wider in the beam could glide along the shallower bed
380 of the sea.93 Beyond, to the west, Himilco relates
that from the Pillars the flood is without end:94
the open sea extends wide, and the main is spread out.
No man has entered upon these seas; no man
has ever set ships on those waters, because
the deep lacks the winds to drive a ship along,
and no breath from heaven favours a ship.
From here on, because a mist clothes the air
with a kind of cloak, fog always conceals the deep
and lasts through the day, which is altogether thick with clouds.
390   That is the Ocean, which roars far off around
the vast Earth. That is the great open sea.95
This flood encircles the shores. This is the source
of the inner saltwater; this is the parent of our sea.
From the outside it stirs up almost every gulf,
and the power of the deep penetrates our world.
But let us tell you about the four greatest gulfs.
Now, the first narrow entry point of this Ocean
in between the dry land is the western swell and the Atlantic main;
then there are the Hyrcanian waves, the Caspian sea;
400 the Indian main, the spread of the Persian waves;
and the Arabian gulf96 beneath the south wind, already warm.
An old usage once called this the Ocean;
another custom called it the Atlantic sea.
The flood of this sea spreads out in a great circle,
and extends its wandering flank far and wide.
For the most part, in fact, that main is shallow:
it scarcely covers the sands which lie beneath it.
Thick seaweed dominates the flood,
and the swell here is checked by the marshy seabed.
410 Abundant sea creatures swim all through the open sea,
and great terror abides in the deep because of these creatures.
Punic Himilco reported that he had once seen these

93
For this custom, see also Silius Italicus, 3. 473.
94
The second mention of Himilco: see n. on l. 117.
95
At ll. 390–406, A. strays from his subject matter to describe the Ocean and the four greatest gulfs.
He has already done this at Descriptio 71–90 (a reworking of Dion. Peri. 43–55).
96
Mod. Red Sea.
910 • 32 avienus

creatures in the Ocean and proved their existence.97

We have made these things known to you, drawn deep
from the ancient annals of the Carthaginians.

The Mediterranean Coast of Iberia

Now let my pen return to my prior subject.98

Opposite the African Pillar, as I have said,
there rises up another in European soil.
Here the river Chrysus99 enters the deep flood;
420 on this side and that four tribes dwell.
In this place are the fierce Libyphoenicians,100
the Massieni, and the kingdoms of the Cilbiceni
in fertile country, and the rich Tartessians,
who extend into the Calactic gulf.101
  Hard by these lie the Barbetian ridge102
and the river of Malaca, with the city of the same name,
which in an earlier age was called Menacē.103
There an island under the sway of the Tartessians
lies opposite the city, consecrated by the inhabitants
430 to Noctiluca a long time ago.104 On the island is a pool
and a safe harbour: the town of Menacē lies above it.
Where the region I speak of draws away from the waves,
Mount Silurus swells up with its lofty peak.105
There a great rock rises up and extends
into the deep sea. The pines which once
covered this gave it its name in the Greek tongue.106
The shore is downward sloping as far as the shrine of Venus

97
The third and final citation of Himilco: see n. on l. 117.
98
A. returns to the description of the coast which he left at l. 323.    99 The Guadiaro.
100
According to Livy (21. 22. 3) a people of mixed Carthaginian and Libyan descent. The Massieni in-
habited the territory up to Mastia (see n. to l. 449). ‘Cilbiceni’ is an amendment of the text by Schulten,
which accords with the prior description of the Cilbiceni as inhabiting the coastal regions at 303.
101
Unknown, though the name is likely to derive from the Greek kalē aktē (beautiful shore). A.
Berthelot 1934 suggests it may be a reference back to the bay of Huelva (which would make sense as
the locality of Tartessus), on the basis of a cognate place name Calathe in Hekataios.
102
C. Calaburras, at the W end of the gulf of Malaga.
103
A. (or his source) is wrong to conflate Malaca (mod. Malaga) with Menace/Mainakē. The latter
was the Phokaians’ most westerly colony. Strabo 3. 4. 2, C156, reports that it lay to the E of the Phoeni-
cian foundation of Malaga and that its ruins were distinctly visible.
104
The cult is otherwise undocumented. The island is possibly the same as the ‘Island of the Moon’ in
367, but the precise geography is difficult to reconstruct. The reference confirms that A. or his source
does not here have in mind Malaca, which did not have an island opposite the town.
105
The Sierra Nevada.
106
The ‘great rock’ is C. Sabinal, at the W of the gulf of Almeria. Its name in Greek was Pityoussa,
from pitys, ‘pine’. Murphy notes that the modern name Sabinal is similarly derived from the pine-trees.
 text • 911

and the ridge of Venus.107 There on that stretch

of coast stood numerous cities in times past,
440 and many Phoenicians dwelt in these places a long time ago.
Now the empty land offers inhospitable sand.
Bereft of farmers, the ground lies neglected.
From the aforementioned ridge of Venus
the African Herma is seen at a distance,108
as I have said before. Here again the shore lies bare,
now devoid of inhabitants, and the soil is degraded.
Here, too, stood very many cities in days of old,
and many peoples thronged these parts.
  Next the harbour of Namnatius curves in from the deep waters
450 in the vicinity of the city of the Massieni;109
in the innermost part of the gulf rises the Massienan
city with its high walls. After this, the ridge of Traete
rises up,110 and the small island of Strongyle111
stands nearby. On the edge of this island,
a marshy level extends its great flanks.112
There the Theodorus river oozes out;113
do not be puzzled that in this fierce place,
barbarian enough, you should hear the name of this river
in the Greek tongue. The Phoenicians formerly inhabited
460 those places. From here again the sands
of the shore spread themselves out, and three islands
surround this shore on all sides: here once stood
the boundary of the Tartessians. Here once was the city of Herna.114
The tribe of the Gymnetes had settled those places.
Now forsaken, and for a long time lacking inhabitants,
the river Alebus flows, burbling to itself.115
Next, the island of Gymnesia lies amidst the waves,116

107
C. Gata at the E end of the gulf of Almeria.
108
A. here means C. Tres Forcas in Morocco (adjacent to Melilla). His apparent identification of this
with the Herma of l. 322, W of the Pillars, is an error.
109
The city of the Massieni is Mastia (described as ‘Tartessian’ in Polyb. 3. 24. 1); Carthago Nova
(mod. Cartagena) was founded on the site by Hasdrubal in 228 bc.
110
C. Palos, E of Cartagena.
111
There are a number of small islands which could be Strongyle (Greek: ‘round’). The most obvious
are Isla Grosa and the Isla del Barón.
112
The ‘marshy level’ is the Mar Menor, a saltwater lagoon bounded by C. Palos.
113
The Segura. Theodoros is a Greek rendering of Tader, the indigenous name (used at Pliny 3. iii. 19).
114
Unknown; possibly La Fonteta near Guardamar.   115 The Vinalopo.
116
The Gymnesiae were Majorca and Menorca. A. does not appear to appreciate either that there was
more than one island or that ‘the broad backs of the Baleares’ (l. 471) encompass the same islands. The
Pityusae are Ibiza and Formentera.
912 • 32 avienus

which gave its old name to the population,

who dwell right up to the channel of the flowing Sicanus.117
470 There too the islands of Pityusae appear
and the broad backs of the Baleares islands.
  On the far side, the Iberi extend their sway right up
to the ridge of Pyrene, settled over a wide area
near the inner sea. Ilerda rises, the first of their cities:118
from here stretch out the barren sands of the shore:
Here, too, a long time ago the city of Hemeroscopium
was inhabited.119 Nowadays the ground, devoid
of inhabitants, is a stagnant swamp.
  Next, the city of Sicana rears its head,120
480 so named by the Iberians from the neighbouring river.
Not far from the fork in this river
the Tyrius river touches the town of Tyris.121
But where the land draws far back from the main,
there extends a wide region full of thickets.
There the Berybraces, a fierce and savage tribe,122
used to wander amid their herds of many cattle.
These people, feeding themselves hardily
with milk and fatty cheese, used to live
like wild beasts. Beyond that the ridge of Cabrasia
490 stretches on high,123 and the shores lie bare
right up to the boundary of the empty Cherronesus.124
  The marsh of the Naccarares spreads out along those shores.
Custom, in fact, gave this name to that marsh.
In the middle of the lagoon there also rises a small island
abounding in olives: for this reason, it is sacred to Minerva.

117
The Júcar. Thucydides 6. 2 suggests that the Sicani who inhabited Sicily originally lived along the
Iberian Sicanus and were expelled by the Ligyans.
118
Possibly Jávea.
119
i.e. ‘place for keeping day watch’, a Phokaian or Massaliote fort, mentioned by Strabo 3. 4. 6, C159,
who places it at Dianium, mod. Denia, but no definite Greek settlements have been found.
120
Possibly located on C. Cullera at the mouth of the Júcar.
121
The Tyrius is the modern river Turia, which would place Tyris at València (Roman Valentia).
122
A Celtic tribe, likely to be identified with the tribe elsewhere named as the ‘Bebrykes’ (e.g. Nik.
201) and sometimes in the same breath as a tribe of the same name living in Asia Minor.
123
Possibly Oropesa.
124
Identified variously as Peniscola or as the land around the Ebro delta. Both identifications are
problematic: if the former is accepted, it is not clear where the ‘marsh of the Naccarares’ is located (the
solution Schulten puts forward, that it is the Albufera de València, S of Saguntum, seems strained given
that the marsh must be ‘on these shores’); as for the latter, while the location is more logical and the
marsh would then evidently be in the region of the Ebro, Strabo 3. 4. 6, C159 identifies Cherronesus as
a city near Saguntum and before the crossing of the Ebro delta (where a different city, Dertosa, is situ-
ated). If the ‘marsh of the Naccarares’ is in Albufera, the island is to be identified with Palmar.
 text • 913

There were many cities nearby. It was here, in fact,

that Hylactes, Hystra, Sarna, and noble Tyrichae
stood.125 The town had an old name, and the inhabitants’
treasure was greatly renowned through all the lands
500 of the Earth since, quite apart from the richness
of the soil, by which the ground sustained cattle,
vines, and the gifts of flaxen Ceres,
foreign goods were carried up the Hiberus river.126
  Very near, the Sacred Mountain raises its proud peak127
and the Oleum river flows between the twin crests
of the ridges, dividing up the neighbouring country.128
Soon Sellus—this is the old name for the mountain—129
reaches as far as the heights of the clouds.
The city of Lebedontia130 stood near the mountain
510 in an earlier age; now the country, devoid of dwellings,
is home to the haunts and dens of wild beasts.
After these places lies a vast expanse of sand:131
amid these sands the town of Salauris once stood;
in them once lay ancient Callipolis.
That is the Callipolis which with the great height
of its walls and its lofty gables once drew near
to the winds; it used to touch on both sides, with the edge
of its great expanse of dwellings, a pool which was always
rich in fish.
  Then there is the town of Tarraco
520 and the charming seat of the wealthy Barcilones.132

125
Nothing is known of Hylactes, Hystra, and Sarna. Tyrichae could be an old name for Dertosa,
mod. Tortosa.
126
The Ebro.
127
If the Oleum is taken to be the Llastres (see next n.), this may be, as Berthelot suggests, the Coll
de Balaguer; if the Oleum is the Ebro, it is possibly in the Serra del Montsià range located just S of the
Ebro.
128
Sometimes taken to be the Ebro by another name, but that creates problems for reconciling the
subsequent settlements and mountains with the geography of the coastline immediately NE of the
Ebro, which (from the sea) is largely flat. An alternative candidate is the Llastres (anc. Subi), which
flows into the sea at L’Hospitalet de L’Infant. ‘Llastres’ derives from Oleastrum, which is also the name
of a settlement mentioned in Strabo 3. 4. 6, C159 (albeit, with Cherronesus, before the Ebro).
129
C. Salou or (if the Oleum is the Ebro) a hill inland from L’Ampolla (see next n.) such as Coll de l’Alba.
130
Unknown. Schulten places it in the vicinity of mod. L’ Ampolla, N of the Ebro, but the difficulty
with this location is that there is no obvious nearby height which could be Mt Sellus; the hills inland
that could be candidates are some way distant.
131
This is the sandy bight from C. Salou along to Tarragona. Salauris and Callipolis would be located
within the bight.
132
Tarragona and Barcelona. These places are later foundations: Pliny describes Tarraco as founded
by the Scipios (3. 3. 21), while Colonia Barcino was an Augustan foundation. Their mention appears to
be an insertion by A.
914 • 32 avienus

There a harbour spreads out its sheltering reaches,

and the land is always wet with pleasant water.
After that, the harsh Indigetes show themselves:
that tribe is hardy, a fierce tribe in hunting
and one which sticks to its haunts. Then the Celebandic
ridge133 extends its spine right up to salty Thetis.134
It is now only hearsay that here stood the city
of Cypsela: for the rugged land preserves
no traces of the earlier city.
530   There a harbour opens wide in a great gulf,
and the main laps the broad curve of the land.
After that, the shore of the Indigetes135 slopes down to the sea
As far as the peak of projecting Pyrene.
After that shore, which as I said slopes down
to the sea, Mount Malodes rears itself
amid the waves where two crags stand proud,
and the twin peak seeks the lofty clouds.136
Between these lies a large harbour137
and the waters are exposed to no breezes.
540 That is so because, since rocky outcrops lie in front of it,
the summits of the crags surround it on all sides
and the motionless gulf lies hidden between the rocks.
The waters lie still: shut in, the ocean is struck dumb.
  Then the lagoon of Tonon lies at the foot of the mountains,
and the ridge of the Tononian cliff rises:
through that region the roaring Anystus river whirls along
its foaming water and cuts through the main with its flow.
These places are near the waves and the salty deep.
All the countryside inland from the flood
550 the Ceretes and the hardy Ausoceretes
previously held.138 Now, under one name, the tribe

133
Tossa de Mar or C. Begur. The location of Cypsela is unknown: it could be San Feliu de Guixol, the
mouth of the Ter or Ullastret.
134
The mother of Achilles; hence the sea.    135 Also mentioned at Pliny 3. iii. 21.
136
Possibly Mt Montgó, at the S end of the gulf of Roses. This could be the ‘Mount of Jupiter’ identi-
fied by Pomponius Mela, 2. 634.
137
This is the gulf of Roses itself, which provides some protection against winds in all directions.
The lagoon of Tonon is to be identified with the marshes between the Fluvia and Muga rivers at the
NW point of the gulf (today Aiguamolls de l’Empordà); the Anystus is generally taken to be the Muga,
although (as Berthelot observes) A.’s comments about the river’s current are inapposite for the river’s
mouth.
138
Inland peoples to be identified with the Carretanians of Strabo 3. 4. 11, C162. Strabo praises these
people for their cured ham.
 text • 915

are the Hiberi. Then beyond that point the Sordan

people once lived among out-of-the-way places.
Spreading out right up to the inner sea,
where the pine-bearing crests of the Pyrenees stand
and bear down on the fields on all sides and the flood of the sea,
they lived their lives amid the haunts of beasts.

The Mediterranean Coast from the Pyrenees

to ­M assalia, Including the Rhône

On the border of the Sordicene land

on the flanks of Pyrene, a wealthy city
560 is said once to have stood.139 Here the inhabitants of Massilia
often used to engage in affairs of business.
  But to Pyrene from the Pillars of Hercules,
from the Atlantic flood and from the edge
of the western shore, is a journey of seven days
for a swift ship.140 After the Pyrenean range
there lie the sands of the Cynetic shore:141
the river Roschinus furrows them over a long distance.142
Here is the territory of the Sordiceni, as I have said.
Here, in fact, a lagoon and a swamp extend wide:143
570 the inhabitants give it the name of Sordice.
Beyond the rattling waters of its great flood—
for on account of the broad circumference of
its open border, it swells up with stormy winds—
from this very lagoon the river Sordus flows out.
575 From the mouths of this watercourse
. . . (text corrupt) . . .
578 it is penetrated by the sea, and through its own destruction
the earth is eroded; the waves creep more slowly,
580 and the great bulk of the flood is spread out.

139
Schulten identifies this as Emporion (‘trading station’, mod. Empúries).
140
This is the first sailing time given for the Mediterranean coast, and one of only two for the
Mediterranean, together with that at l. 699. This lends support to the theory that large parts of the
Mediterranean portions of the poem come from a different source from the Atlantic portions. Ugolini
and Olive suggest that this is to be dated to a C4–C2 land-based journey (Ugolini and Olive 1987).
141
Unknown. Something appears to have gone wrong: the Cynetes are named as the inhabitants of
the Algarve in l. 201 (see n.), but here we have crossed the Pyrenees. Either the text is corrupt or (as
Antonelli suggests) it is a clumsy misreading of the description of the Pyrenees, the Celts, and the
Cynetes in Hdt. 2. 33.
142
The Têt, which flows through Perpignan.
143
The Étang de Leucate; the river Sordus (l. 574) is the Agly.
916 • 32 avienus

Moreover, three islands of great size stand in it,

And the open sea flows amid the harsh rocks. Not far
from that place where the land is split apart,
another gulf opens up,144 which surrounds four islands—
an old tradition called these all the Piplae—
with the deep. Once, the tribe of the Elesyces
inhabited these parts,145 and the city of Narbo146
was the great capital of a warlike kingdom.
Here the river Attagus147 rushes into the salt waters
590 and adjacent here is the marsh of Helice.
An old tradition records that Besara stood next,148
but now in fact the Heledus and Orobus rivers149
wander through the empty fields and the mounds of ruins,
witnesses to its ancient loveliness.
595 Not far from those the Thyrius is borne into the deep sea
. . . Cinorus (text corrupt) . . .150
599 ‹such that› the eddies of the waters are never roused up,
600 and the halcyon calm always levels the flood.151
But the peak of this crag extends from this region
to that promontory which I have said is called
Candidum.152 Nearby is the island of Blasco,
and the land is eroded by the main to a smooth
shape. On the mainland, in between the tops
of the ridges that rise up, a plain of sandy soil
unfolds: these shores stretch out devoid of inhabitants.
  Then high, pine-bearing Mount Setius puffs up
its crest.153 The ridgeline of Setius stretches up
610 to Taurus, since its foot spreads over a wide area:
to explain, the local people call the marsh

144
The Étang de Bages-Sigean; Berthelot suggests that the Piplae are now silted up and part of the
mainland.
145
Hdt. 7. 165 lists this tribe among the Carthaginian allies at the battle of Himera in 480 bc.
146
Narbonne.
147
The Aude. Helice in the next line would then be the Étang de Vendres.
148
Béziers. This settlement was only founded in C6e. The description of it as having flourished and
then collapsed is another pointer to the later date of the source material for this section.
149
The Orobus is the Orb; the Heledus is possibly the Lirou, which joins the Orb at Béziers.
150
Thyrius and Cinorus are possibly the Libron and the Hérault respectively.
151
The myth of the halcyon days. As told in Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 410–748, Alcyone’s husband,
Ceyx, was drowned at sea. The gods transformed the couple into kingfishers and quietened the sea for
seven days in December while Alcyone brooded on her nest.
152
‘White’. Identified by Schulten with the Cap d’ Agde. A. must have referred to it in the corrupt
portion of the text. Blasco is Brescou, lying off the headland.
153
Mont St-Clair, behind Sète. The marsh called Taurus is the Étang de Thau.
 text • 917

next to the river Oraris ‘Taurus’.154 The Iberian land

and the rugged Ligyes are separated by the channel
of this river. Here is the city of Polygium,
a rather small town of slender means.
Then there are the village of Mansa and the town of Naustalo155
617 and the city . . . (text corrupt) . . .
621 . . . and the river Classius flows into its waters.156
  But the country of Cimenice157 extends far
from the salty current. The ground covers a wide area,
shaded with woods. The source of the name
is the mountain range with its lofty summits: the Rhodanus
touches the lowest foothills of this, and its waters
wend their way through the rugged mass of the overshadowing range.
  The Ligures stretch over a great distance158
up to the waves of the inner sea from the crest
630 of Setius and the crags of the rocky ridge.
  But the subject almost demands
that I should more fully explain to you
the flow of the Rhodanus.159 Probus, bear with this discussion
from my lingering pen. I shall speak of the source of the river,
the cascade of the immense flood, the tribes which it laps
with its waves, how great is the gain for the inhabitants
it waters, and the forks of its mouths.
  The Alps raise their snowy ridge to the sky
from the sunrise. The fields of the country of Gaul
are divided up by rocky outcrops,
640 and storm winds blow there all the time.160

154
I read, following Guillaumin and Bernard ad loc., Orari rather than Orani. Murphy suggests that
this is the Lez, but A. says that the marsh is next to the river, and the Lez flows into the sea at Montpell-
ier, which is too far E. Other candidates for the Oraris might be the Pallas and the Vène, streams which
empty into the Étang de Thau.
155
Berthelot offers for the locations of Polygium, Mansa, and Naustalo Bouzigues, Mèze, and Mague-
lone respectively.
156
Possibly either the Coulazou, a tributary of the Mosson, which feeds into the Lez, or one of the
rivers which flow into the Étang de l’Or, E of Montpellier.
157
The mountain region of Cévennes, which lies inland and to the W of the Rhône. The mountain
which is the ‘source of the name’ is called Cemmenus by Strabo 4. 1. 1, C177.
158
While later ‘Liguria’ came to be applied to the portion of N. Italy between Gaul and Etruria,
earlier authors conceived of the Ligurians as extending as far as the Rhône; so, for example, Aeschylus
imagined Hercules fighting Ligurians there, quoted at Strabo 4. 1. 6, C183.
159
At ll. 631–99, A. digresses to discuss the source, and course, of the Rhône. This is largely a more
original synthesis, marked by an antiquarian’s interest in using obscure names for tribes and places.
As in the prologue, A. addresses Probus directly and makes explicit reference to his ‘pen’, drawing
attention to the digression as A.’s particular composition.
160
The Mistral.
918 • 32 avienus

The river pours out bursting forth from the opening

of a cave,161 furrowing the Earth with savage force.
It is navigable at the source of its waters and at its very beginning.
The tribes name that flank of the rock
rising on high, which brings forth the river,
the Column of the Sun.162 That is because from so great
an outcrop its great summit reaches right up to the lofty
clouds, such that the midday sun cannot be seen
from the opposite ridge when it is about to bring back
650 the day and approaches the borders of the north.
You know that the Epicureans’ opinion
was of this sort:163 that the Sun is not brought down
at sunset—it enters no flood, is never hidden, but traverses
the world, runs through the corners of the sky,
gives life to the lands, and nurtures all the vaults
of heaven with the fodder of its light,
and in turn the white torch of Phoebus
657 is denied to the regions in a sure pattern.
. . . (text corrupt) . . .
662 When it has cut itself a southern track
and turned its light towards the Atlantic clime
to bring its fire to the Hyperboreans
and carry itself from its Achaemenian164 rising,
it is bent towards other parts of the sky by its curving
circuit, and crosses the turning-post. And when the Sun denies
its splendour to our sight, horrid night rushes down on the sky,
and blind darkness immediately covers our lands.
670 But then the bright day shines its light on those
who stand stiff beneath the Septentrio.
Then, when the shadow of night holds the northern regions,

161
The source of the Rhône is in fact the Rhône Glacier, which is not navigable. Sebastian Münster,
who visited in 1546, did not notice the Rhône bursting through a cave. (An ice grotto has been artifi-
cially created since the mid-C19 as a tourist attraction.)
162
This would be the Dammastock, the W side of which is covered by the Rhône Glacier (although,
as per the previous note, it is not clear to what extent A.’s account of the source is based on accurate
testimony). Antonelli notes that several peaks of the Western Alps (in which the Rhône rises) have
the name Sonnenhorn: such a peak may well have been identified, inaccurately, with the source of the
Rhône.
163
A digression from the digression to discuss the motion of the sun. As Murphy observes, A.’s
description has more in common with the pre-Socratic Ionian philosophers than with the Epicureans.
Contrary to what A. says, Lucretius (DRN 5. 650–65) in his exposition of Epicurean doctrine is, in fact,
prepared to consider the possibility that the sun sank underground at sunset and returned to the E
­beneath the land (DRN 5. 654 and 658) as one of his alternative explanations for the motions of the sun.
164
The Hyperboreans were mythical inhabitants of the far N; Achaemenian, i.e. Persian, refers to the E.
 text • 919

the whole of our race enjoys the shining day.

  Then the river passes from its source through the Tylagii,
the Daliterni, the fields of the Clahilcori,
and the Lemenican fields. The names are harsh enough,
and all are wounding when first heard,165 but you must not
fail to say them, on account of your enthusiasm
and my effort. From there it extends through ten
680 bends in the meandering of its floods, and then
it flows into a sluggish lagoon—many authors report this—
a huge marsh which an old Greek custom used to call
Accion.166 It drives its waters headlong through
the calm of the lagoon. Then, flowing out
and bending itself into the shape of a river, from there
it is borne into the floods of the Atlantic,
facing our sea and the west, and cuts
through the wide-spreading sands with its five mouths.167
There arises the city of Arelatus,168
690 called Theline in an earlier age, when the Greeks
inhabited it.
  Many things have compelled me
to treat the Rhodanus at length above.
But my mind is never taken with that
proposition that Europe and Africa are divided
by that river. Phileas may say, and it may be an old proposition,
that the inhabitants thought so:169 let such barbarian
ignorance be an object of scorn and derision.
. . . (text corrupt) . . .
  It is a journey of two days and two nights for a ship.170
700 From here lie the tribe of the Nearchi, the city of Bergine,171
the fierce Salyes, the ancient town of Mastrabala,

165
A. uses obscure or archaic names for Gallic or Germanic tribes. The Tylagii are possibly the
Tulingi mentioned by Caesar at BG 1. 5. 4; Daliterni has been proposed as a name for a tribe around
the Dala, a tributary of the Rhône; of the Clahilcori, nothing is known; and Lemenican (a correction of
Temenicum in the editio princeps: I differ from Antonelli on this point) would refer to the inhabitants
of the area around L. Geneva (which Caesar, BG 1. 8, calls Lake Lemannus).
166
The Plaine de Fourques betweens Arles and Tarascon, now dry land.
167
In this view, A. follows Timaeus, as detailed at Strabo 4. 1. 8, C183.
168
Arles. The Greek name of Theline is not otherwise attested in surviving texts.
169
On Phileas, see n. to 42. Antonelli suggests that Phileas posited the Rhône as the border of the
‘Ligyes’ and that this was misread as ‘Libyes’, from which the notion that Phileas thought the Rhône the
border of Europe and Africa may arise.
170
Berthelot suggests this journey is from the ‘wealthy city’ of l. 559 as far as the Rhône or Massalia.
The reference to distance is the first since ll. 564–5; see n. there.
171
Probably Berre, W of Massalia. Mastrabala is likely a settlement on the Étang de Berre.
920 • 32 avienus

the marshes, the peak with its projecting back

which the inhabitants call Cecylistrium.172
  And there is Massilia173 itself. The city’s layout is as follows:
the shore lies in front of it; a slender passage
lies amid the waves. The waters bathe the sides;
the lagoon laps the city, and waves extending on all sides
lap the settlement and its dwellings. The city is almost an island,
since to such an extent have men’s hands mingled water and land
710 but the careful labour a long time ago of the founders
overcame the shape of the place and the natural terrain
by skill. If at all it pleases you to translate
these old names into new ones [—]
(text breaks off)174

172
Berthelot suggests this is L’Estaque.   173 Marseille.
174
The surviving text breaks off midway through A.’s description of Massalia. It is not clear how ac-
curate his description is, or what the source for it is: Antonelli sets out the archaeological evidence. The
‘slender passage’ (l. 705) may refer to the narrow channel into the old port between Pointe du Pharo
and Fort St-Jean.
 33
EXPOSITIO TOTIUS MUNDI ET
­G ENTIUM (ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE
WORLD AND ITS PEOPLES) AND
­I UNIOR PHILOSOPHUS
(mid-4th c. ad)
Richard J. A. Talbert*

INTRODUCTION
There are many obvious questions to ask about this curious Latin work, but few definite
answers to them.1 With the title Expositio totius mundi et gentium (Account of the Whole
World and its Peoples), it survived—incomplete—in only one manuscript, which has
been lost since the 17th century. The scholar who found it at an unrecorded location
early in that century passed it to a fellow scholar, who passed it in turn to Jacques Go-
defroy (Jacobus Gothofredus) in Geneva, a formidable Swiss public figure and scholar.
His publication of it there in 1628 is painstaking to a fault.2 The text’s deplorable Latin
distressed him greatly. In his book he printed it to the right of the vertical line dividing
each right-hand page in two. Then to the left of that line he printed his own version in
polished Latin. Meantime the entire left-hand page was occupied (in larger type) by
his own further translation of the Latin into Greek, because he believed that the work
had originally been written in Greek. Loss of the manuscript has long since made it
impossible to check how accurately he reproduced its text. Moreover, while there are
reasons to suspect that the work as preserved is indeed a translation from another
language, which language that may have been remains uncertain; and there is equally
the possibility that it may not be a translation at all (see further below). The division of
the work into sections that continues standard today was made by Godefroy.
In 1830 the Vatican librarian Angelo Mai prolonged his visit to the library of the
Benedictine monastery at Cava, near Salerno (Italy), for an extra day because of
heavy rain, and then found there a 12th-century manuscript entitled Orbis descriptio
(Description of the Globe), the work of Iunior Philosophus. Mai published this the
f­ ollowing year.3 As he recognized, it amounts to little more than a précis of the Expo-
sitio (although in better Latin), but it does include four opening sections and a short

*
I acknowledge the advice of Raymond Davis.

1
Note the recent discussions by Grüll 2014; Lebreton 2017.   2 Gothofredus 1628.
3
In his Classicorum auctorum e Vaticanis codicibus editorum, vol. iii (Rome, 1831), 385–409.
922 • 33 expositio

­concluding one, all of which the manuscript of the Expositio had lacked. It has become
editors’ regular practice, therefore, to graft on these sections from the Descriptio when
presenting the Expositio,4 and this translation does the same. Nothing else is known of
the philosopher Iunior, but he was presumably not the author of the Expositio.
In his Geographi Graeci minores, Carl Müller presented both texts together for the
first time, the Descriptio at the top of the page, with the corresponding passage of the
Expositio below.5 He reprinted Godefroy’s ‘Prolegomena’, and was able to make use of
a second, better manuscript of the Descriptio, datable to the early 14th century; he had
found this himself in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
The Latin text of the Expositio translated here is that of Jean Rougé’s thoughtful,
painstaking edition (1966), which presents the corresponding passage of the Descriptio
below on each page. Rougé offers a lengthy introduction and notes, as well as a trans-
lation into French. He is also the first editor to take into account a third manuscript
of the Descriptio, one reckoned to be of 12th-century date, that had been found in the
Spanish national library in Madrid. For the Expositio, however, there is still nothing
more than Godefroy’s edition. The two existing English translations—Vassiliev (1936)
and Woodman (1964)—both predate Rougé’s edition, and are overdue for replace-
ment. A German translation by Peter Franz Mittag based on Rougé’s text with some
amendments appeared in 2011.6
Suspicion that the Expositio is a translation from another language stems from the
occurrence of many Greek words in one form or other, as well as of Greek and Semitic
grammatical constructions: consequently, Greek, Hebrew or Syriac could have been
the original language of the work. Yet the notion of a translation can equally well be
dismissed. In that event, while the author’s native language was no doubt Greek or Se-
mitic, he also had a working grasp of Latin and for whatever reason chose to write in
that language, even if still in a distinctly Greek or Semitic style.7 Either way, the Latin
has a gauche character, often ungrammatical, which (I confess) seems impossible to
replicate adequately. Readers should be cautioned, therefore, that the style and syntax
of the English being presented to them are of superior quality to the Latin prose from
which the translation derives. In particular, I offer a comprehensible formulation in
the many instances where the meaning of the Latin is unclear as a consequence of ei-
ther the author’s bad grammar or copyists’ slips, or both. However, such best guesses at
his meaning may not be invariably correct. By contrast, the sense of his repetitiveness,
as well as his limited vocabulary, can still be conveyed.
The Expositio can at least be dated approximately (or, if we have a translation made at
some later date, the original work can be). It must postdate Constantine’s refoundation

4
As did Alexander Riese in his Geographi Latini minores (Heilbronn, 1878), 104–26, who otherwise
omits the Descriptio from his collection.
5
GGM ii. 513–28, with ‘Prolegomena’ at pp. xliv–li.
6
FGH V, no. 2023 Iunior Philosophus.
7
Note that, at a much more elevated level, the easterner Ammianus Marcellinus opted to write his
lengthy history in Latin.
 introduction • 923

of Byzantium as Constantinople, and his major construction activity there (around

330), praised in §50. Then mention of Nisibis as a Roman city, celebrated for its suc-
cessful repulse of all Persian efforts to take it (§22), can fairly be reckoned to predate
its handover to Persia in 363 following Julian’s disastrous Mesopotamian campaign—a
loss bitterly lamented by the contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus (25. 7.
11). To date the Expositio to around the mid-4th century seems reasonable, therefore.
The author of the Expositio offers next to no clues to his identity, so his background
and profession, where he wrote, and with what audience in mind can only be inferred
from the work itself. At the start, he casts himself as a father attempting to advance
an unnamed son’s education and prospects, but this self-identification could simply
be a pose. By the same token, the confused mention of a half-dozen philosophers and
historians in §3 is presumably just name-dropping, because the tone of the work over-
all is far from learned, although it does often reflect some historical awareness. The
opening sentence promises ‘astonishing inquiries—some arising from autopsy, others
from accounts by experts that I have heard, and certain ones learned from reading’. Yet
to distinguish in what follows between these three types of source is hardly possible. In
particular, the ring of personal experience or engagement is persistently lacking. Rath-
er, platitudes abound, and the insights offered are shallow. Non-Romans and their be-
haviour are mostly disparaged for one reason or other, whereas the opinions expressed
of places and peoples within Roman territory are almost all laudatory. Altogether, the
author identifies strongly with Rome, Roman power, and Roman values, but without
elaboration; so, for example, no comment is made on why emperors should live where
they do, in Antiochia, Pannonia, and Triveris (§§32, 57–8). The author shows no spe-
cial concern for religion, but at least his remarks about deities, myths, and festivals
make it most unlikely that he was Christian or Jewish.8
In its coverage, and in the relative amount of attention given to the places and peo-
ples described, the work is preoccupied with the East far more than the West. Wheth-
er it follows therefore that the author was an easterner, rather than a westerner who
wanted to draw special attention to the East, is impossible to establish, although he has
commonly been identified as an easterner. The work begins with a succession of largely
fabulous peoples in the Far East, next advances rapidly through India and Persia, then
becomes fuller once ‘our’ (Roman) territory is reached in Mesopotamia, Osrhoene,
and Syria (§22). Because Syria and Palestine are the region of the empire in which the
most cities are mentioned (twenty in all), the natural inference has been drawn that it
was the author’s home region, but this too can only be plausible conjecture. In view of
the exceptionally favourable reference made with pride to the character and talents of
men from Pontus, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Galatia and their leading role at both

8
The translation omits a few passages that blatantly reflect a Christian outlook; these must be ad-
ditions made to the original at some stage. In a few further instances where editors have found cause
to suspect that a passage is a later addition to the original, the translation omits it if it adds little or
nothing of substance.
924 • 33 expositio

Western and Eastern imperial courts (§44), one could equally infer that the author
came from this part of Asia Minor.
The course which the work takes beyond Syria and Palestine—mostly by Roman
province or geographical region—reflects an interesting, yet puzzling, world-view on
the author’s part.9 He proceeds next to Egypt, which he states to be ‘on the left-hand
side of Syria’ (§34), and then to Arabia (‘to the right of Syria and above’, §38), thus
indicating a perspective oriented north. This is by no means the norm in antiquity, al-
though it happens to be shared by Ptolemy in his Geography and by the Peutinger Map.
Alexandria warrants special attention. Next come the regions of Asia Minor from Cili-
cia to Bithynia. Then come Thrace and the regions of Greece from Macedonia round
to Epeiros. Dalmatia gains token mention next, followed at once with similar brevity
by Calabria, Bruttium, Lucania, and Campania (§§53–4). ‘After it (Campania) is Italy’,
states the author curiously. Here the only region named is Tuscia; Rome warrants spe-
cial attention. Then he offers the briefest coverage of Moesia, Dacia, Pannonia (bor-
dered by the Danube river), and Noricum (categorized as a city), followed by mar-
ginally more attention to Gaul and Spain, although in neither is any region named,
let alone any river. From here, the author continues through Africa eastwards from
Mauretania back to Alexandria. Appended almost as an afterthought are brief, eclectic
references to ‘islands situated in the open sea’, again from east to west: Cyprus, the Cy-
clades and others in their vicinity, Crete, Cythera, Zacynthus, Cephalonia, Sicily, one
whose name is irrecoverable, Sardinia, and Britannia—this last described as briefly
and favourably as Sardinia (§§66–7).
It is natural to ask whether the author used a map or some comparable image, but
the means to determine with confidence whether or not he did so is lacking. On bal-
ance, the likelihood must surely be that he did not use one, especially given the typical
lack of interest in maps even among Romans far better educated than he seems to be.10
His was a mental map.11
The geographical grasp he assumes on his own part and that of his son or audience
is a related matter. Notably, he distinguishes between the regions east of the Roman
empire and those within it by stating the extent of each people’s territory in the for-
mer, expressed as the number of days’ journey required to traverse it—information
somehow at his disposal but, it seems, in his view unlikely to be familiar to others.
For regions within the empire, by contrast, he offers no such information. It is true
that Alexandria and Nicopolis are mentioned for their sea-fish, the Danube river as
separating Pannonia from the Sarmatians, and Spain as bordering the Ocean (§§35, 53,
57, 59). However, there is not even the most cursory reference to such major defining
physical features of the Roman world as the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Aegean, or Black
Seas, the Alps, Pyrenees, or Taurus mountains, or the Euphrates, Po, Rhine, or Rhône

9
For comparison with other geographic works, see Salway 2012, 214–17.
10
See, for example, Talbert 2017, 340–2, and references there.
11
Further discussion by Lebreton 2017, 282–5.
 introduction • 925

rivers. Yet presumably the author did not imagine that, for example, it was just a land
journey from Dyrrachium to Calabria and Bruttium (§53), or from Arelatus to Triveris
(§58). Even so, it remains an open question whether his grasp of the West was genu-
inely as sketchy as we may be tempted to infer, or whether his perfunctory coverage
of it towards the end is just the consequence of his deliberate effort to fix attention
primarily on the East while not ignoring the West altogether.
From our perspective, an unquestionably distinctive aspect of the work is the au-
thor’s interest in the crops, products, commerce, and manpower of provinces, regions,
and cities as well as in the cults, architecture, and entertainments of the latter. To be
sure, most of what he has to say on these topics is general, unremarkable, and uncrit-
ical. However, his repeated references to the production and trading of textiles, dyes,
and clothing in both East and West are striking. At the least they must reflect a special
interest of his, or of a source (written or oral) on which he opted to rely throughout.
Does it follow that he was himself involved professionally in these activities?12 Maybe,
although in that case he might be expected to mention even a few figures or details,
which he never does. Last but not least, the work offers no clear indication of what au-
dience its author had in mind for the work beyond himself and his son. Quite possibly
he never intended that it should circulate further.

selected further reading

Grüll, T. (2014), ‘Expositio totius mundi et gentium: a peculiar work on the commerce of
Roman empire from the mid-fourth century—compiled by a Syrian textile dealer?’, in Z.
Csabai (ed.), Studies in Economic and Social History of the Ancient Near East in Memory of
Péter Vargyas (Budapest), 629–42.
Lebreton, S. (2017), ‘Cartes et discours géographiques: à propos de l’Expositio totius mundi
et gentium’, in N. Bouloux et al. (eds), Orbis disciplinae: hommages en l’honneur de Patrick
Gautier Dalché, 281–309. Turnhout.
*Mittag, P. F. (2011), ‘Iunior Philosophus (2023)’, in FGrH v. [The main commentary, howev-
er, will be by Ruffing (below).]
*Rougé, J. (1966), Expositio totius mundi et gentium: introduction, texte critique, traduction,
notes et commentaire. Paris.
*Ruffing, K. (forthcoming), ‘Expositio totius mundi et gentium (2020)’, in FGrH v.
Salway, B. (2012), ‘Putting the world in order: mapping in Roman texts’, in R. J. A. Talbert
(ed.), Ancient Perspectives: Maps and their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome
(Chicago), 193–234.
Vassiliev, A. A. (1936), ‘Expositio totius mundi: an anonymous geographic treatise of the
fourth century ad’, Seminarium Kondakovianum, 8: 1–39.
Woodman, J. E. (1964), ‘The Expositio totius mundi et gentium: its geography and its lan-
guage.’ MA thesis, Ohio State University.

12
On the ‘hellenistic’ character of the author’s economic categories, see Ruffing 2004.
926 • 33 expositio

TE XT
Headings are added.

Preface

1. Dearest son, after all the sound recommendations I have given you for improving
your way of life, I now wish to begin telling you about a great number of astonishing
inquiries—some arising from autopsy, others from accounts by experts that I have
heard, and certain ones learned from reading. So, with a mental grasp of this material
not only will you learn much of value, but you will also succeed in enhancing your
knowledge thanks to the variety of such matters.
2. Intent as we are upon writing, we should state first the disposition of peoples
from the East all the way to the West; then how many types of barbarian there are,
then the entirety of Roman territory—the number of provinces worldwide, their re-
sources and strength; what cities are in each province, and what is of special note in
each individual province or city. This is a work that I consider to be well motivated
and scholarly.

Peoples of the East

3. So where else should we begin except with the Magi first? Those predecessors of
ours who tried to write about these matters were able to make some contribution; later,
information about provinces and periods was supplied by the Chaldaean philosopher
Berosus and his literary successor the Egyptian prophet Manethon, also Apollonius,
likewise an Egyptian philosopher. Otherwise, the Ephesian Menander and Herodotus
and Thucydides wrote comparable works, but not really about the distant past. So
much for their contributions. Now I for my part will try to summarize for you what
those I have just mentioned wrote.
4. The Camarini people are said to be located in eastern regions, where also, ac-
cording to reports, a really great river reaches its mouth. These are notably devout,
fine people, free of all vices, physical or mental. Should you want more definite in-
formation, accounts say that they don’t make use of normal bread like ours, let alone
comparable food or fuel like the fire we use. Instead, we are told, bread rains down on
them day-by-day, and they drink wild honey and pepper. Their fire is provided by the
sun and with such intensity13 that, as soon as it spreads over the earth from the sky,
they are all liable to be burnt up unless they quickly plunge into the river, where they
stay until this fire goes back again to where it belongs. 5. Evidently they are not sub-
jects, but autonomous. Their food is not like that of everyone else. This is because they
do not have our bodily defects. Among them, fleas, lice, bugs, and nits are not to be

13
Reading flagrantiae rather than fragrantiae.
 text • 927

found, nor any sickness of the body. Their clothes, too, are not like those of everyone
else. In fact so perfect is their clothing that it cannot be dirtied. Should that happen,
they clean it close to a fire, since it is improved by being heated. 6. They neither
sow nor reap. They have first-rate resources, a wide range of high-value ones such as
precious stones, namely in the mountains emeralds, pearls, jacinths, and carbuncles
and sapphires. These all emerge in the following way: the river in its course flows
along in the mountains day and night, and cuts away mountain-tops by flooding their
slopes with quantities of water. The people closest are ingenious enough to have found
a means of discovering what is produced as a result; by placing nets where the river
narrows, they collect whatever comes into these. 7. In such favourable circumstances
they neither work nor fall ill; uniquely, when they die, they know on what day that will
happen. They all die aged 118 and 120; an older person does not see a younger one die,
nor parents their sons. With advance knowledge of the day they will die, each indi-
vidual makes a coffin from a range of scented woods—they have plenty of these, of all
kinds—lies in it and awaits what removes their life. When the moment is impending,
they greet everyone, bid them all farewell, and calmly expire. I have given only a par-
tial account of this people’s good fortune; there is much that I could have said, but have
omitted. The territory they occupy is the length of a seventy-day journey.14
8. After this people, what else is there? Moving West, there is where the Braxm-
ani live. These people are not subjects; they manage their affairs well and maintain
their neighbours’ goodwill. The territory they occupy is the length of a five-day
­journey. 9. Next after them comes another region, that of the Euiltae. They too are not
subjects and live the life almost of gods. The territory they occupy is the length of a thir-
ty-two-day journey. 10. After them comes another people, whose name is Emer. They
do not live as subjects, and behave in a law-abiding way. The territory they occupy is the
length of a forty-seven-day journey. 11. After them is a region called Nebus, the first
one where there are despots; its rulers are elders. It is the length of a sixty-day journey.
12. From here onwards sowing and reaping occur. With the exception of the Cama-
rini, the people mentioned thus far live on fruit, pepper, and honey. Camarini receive
bread daily from heaven. Among them without exception, rage is unknown, nobody
brings a lawsuit, and there are no brawls; nor is there avarice or treachery or any wick-
ed behaviour.
13. The region next to the Nebus people is Disaph, whose inhabitants are governed
well, as are their neighbours. The territory they occupy is the length of a 240-day jour-
ney. 14. Next is a people called Choneum, a community whose way of life matches
that of their neighbours; hence they think it a good life because it is not different. The
territory they occupy is the length of a 120-day journey. 15. Then comes the Diua peo-
ple, ruled likewise by elders; the territory they occupy is the length of a 210-day jour-
ney. 16. Then comes Greater India, the source, we are told, of silk and every vital item.

14
Literally, from here through §18 a territory’s extent is reckoned in terms of how many overnight
stays at a mansio (stopping-place with lodging) would be required to traverse the distance.
928 • 33 expositio

The people here live like their neighbours and manage their affairs well. The ­territory
they occupy is a large, fine one, the length of a 210-day journey. 17. The region situat-
ed next is Exomia: its men are said to be brave, very energetic warriors, and altogeth-
er versatile. Lesser India, whenever under attack from Persians, seeks help from here.
They (Exomians) have everything in profusion. The territory they occupy is the length
of a 150-day journey. 18. After them is Lesser India, where the people are ruled by
elders; they have elephants beyond number, and for this reason Persians acquire their
elephants from them. The territory they occupy is the length of a fifteen-day journey.
19. After these are the Persians, the Romans’ neighbours. By all accounts they are
noted for every kind of wickedness and for being brave warriors. They are also said
to be perpetrators of major sacrilege. Without regard for what is naturally fitting, like
dumb creatures they sleep with their mothers and sisters, and behave profanely to-
wards the god who made them. Otherwise, however, they are said to have plenty of
everything; evidently this complete abundance stems from their ability to do business
with the peoples bordering their region.
20. Near them live the Sarraceni people, whose hope is to support themselves by
bowmanship and rape. Like Persians, they are sacrilegious perjurers, uncommitted to
any agreement they make on campaign or in any other dealing. It is further said that
their rulers are women.

Roman Provinces

21. So that is an inquirer’s report on the peoples mentioned thus far. With the need
now to cover our territory too—Roman, that is—I shall attempt to offer an account
that can be helpful to its readers. Let us begin therefore.

Mesopotamia and Osdroena

22. After these peoples it is our territory. Mesopotamia and Osdroena come first. Mes-
opotamia has many different cities, of which I want to mention the outstanding ones.
These are Nisibis and Edessa, whose men are the best in all respects, both very sharp
in matters of business and fine huntsmen. In particular, they are wealthy and have
a complete range of goods at their disposal. They import from the Persians and sell
throughout Rome’s entire territory; whatever they buy, they then trade again, except
for bronze and iron, because providing the enemy with bronze or iron is illegal. Thanks
to the wisdom of the gods and the emperor, their cities are always in good order, their
walls are celebrated, and in war the Persians just waste their worth on them. They are
energetic businessmen, and their relationship with the entire province is a good one.
Then Edessa itself in Osdroena is a splendid city.

Syria
23. Next the entire region of Syria is now divided into three Syrias: Punica and Pal-
estina and Coela. These have various superb great cities, and it will please my audience
 text • 929

if I mention some of them. First is Antiochia, a royal city, excellent in every respect,
the residence too of a world-ruler. This is a fine-looking city, renowned for its public
buildings; it draws masses of people from every direction, and can support them all.
Its resources are altogether plentiful.
24. Tyrus, like the other cities, throbs with trading activity of all kinds, and is ex-
ceptionally flourishing; probably no other city in the East is as densely populated; it
has wealthy businessmen of outstanding ability in all respects.
25. Next is Berytus, a really delightful city with its law-schools which ensure the
universal maintenance of Roman courts. Experts from here advise judges worldwide,
and with their legal knowledge protect the provinces; the texts of laws are sent to them.
26. Likewise delightful is the city of Caesarea, with everything plentiful there, and
a location for the city outstanding in many respects. Everyone has heard of its tetrapy-
lon, a unique and unusual sight.
27. Of all the other cities, the names of at least some should be mentioned because
they have notable individual points. So there is the fine city of Laodicia, a commercial
hub which exports to Antiochia and has rendered outstanding assistance to the mil-
itary.
28. Seleucia is likewise a first-rate city which offers all its imports to Antiochia, al-
ready mentioned, as well as taxes and private contributions. The emperor Constantine,
world-ruler, realizing its value to himself and his army, split a huge mountain, let in the
sea, and made a great, fine harbour (portus) where incoming ships might shelter and
the government’s cargoes escape loss.
29. Now for all the other cities. Ascalon and Gaza, superior cities and thriving
centres of commerce with plenty of everything, export to everywhere in Syria as well
as sending the finest wine to Egypt.
30. Neapolis is a glorious, thoroughly noble city. Tripolis and Scythopolis and By-
blus are bustling cities. Heliopolis next to Mount Libanus produces beautiful wom-
en—everyone calls them Libanitides (daughters of Lebanon)—and maintains a superb
cult of Venus; they claim that she resides there and bestows the gift of beauty on wom-
en. Further likewise outstanding cities are Sidon, Sarepta, Ptolemais and Eleutherop-
olis; so, too, is Damascus.
31. So, now that we have offered a partial description of the cities mentioned and
have stated … ‹text missing›15 Noted for their cloth are: Scythopolis, Laodicia, Byblus,
Tyrus, Berytus; they export cloth worldwide and stand out for their full range of re-
sources. A comparable reputation for genuine purple-dyed cloth is enjoyed by Sarepta,
Caesarea, and Neapolis, as well as by Lydda. All the cities mentioned are famous for
their bumper crops of grain, wine, and oil. In the Palestina region—at the location
actually called Jericho—they have the Nicolaus date, likewise the Damascus date and
another smaller one, as well as pistachios and every sort of fruit.

15
In the corresponding passage of the Descriptio the author moves on to say that he will now go into
detail about individual cities.
930 • 33 expositio

32. Since their distinctive features ought to be described, I must state what it is that
makes individual cities delightful. Take Antiochia with its wealth of every kind of de-
light, circuses above all. Why every kind? Because this is an emperor’s residence, and
for him there must be everything. To be sure, Laodicia, too, and Tyrus, Berytus, and
Caesarea have circuses. But Laodicia sends the best charioteers to other cities, Tyrus
and Berytus mimes, Caesarea pantomimes, and Heliopolis pipers—mainly because
the Muses on Mount Libanus inspire them with divine powers of expression. Some-
times too, Gaza has fine spokesmen and, so it is said, pancratists; also Ascalon has
athletic wrestlers, and Castabala trapeze-artists.
33. These cities all depend on their commerce, they have men gifted in every way,
including their speech, energy and valour. Their climate, too, is mild. This is as much
as I have to say about Syria. There is plenty we have omitted so as not to give the
impression of going on unseasonably, and to allow the chance to write about other
regions and cities too.

Egypt
34. So, on the left-hand side of Syria you have the regions of Egypt, Alexandria, and
the entire Thebais: these must now be described. You have the entire region of Egypt
garlanded by the river called the Nile, which advances to water the entire expanse of
land so that every kind of crop grows except olives—plenty of wheat, barley, vegetables,
and vines. Similarly, the men here are outstanding, in their worship of the gods espe-
cially. Nowhere else are the divine mysteries conducted like here right from antiquity
to the present; it is from here virtually that the whole world has learned how to worship
the gods. The Chaldaeans’ way is said to be better, but our admiration is for those we
have seen,16 and we claim that they are the best in all respects. We know, too, that gods
once lived there and even still do. According to some, letters were their (Egyptian)
invention, although others say it was a Chaldaean one, others still a Punic one, and
there are those who urge that Mercury was the one to invent letters. Amid these many
claims, no-one knows the truth or can be believed. This said, Egypt does have more
sages than anywhere else in the world. In its capital Alexandria you will find every
sort of philosopher and every type of learning. Thus at some point when there was
a competition organized between Egyptians and Greeks over which should have the
Museum, the Egyptians emerged as the sharper and more mature, so they won and the
Museum was awarded to them. On any topic you like it is impossible to find anyone as
expert as an Egyptian. This is why all the superior philosophers and experts on literary
culture have always stayed there. With them there is no pretentiousness. Rather, each
of them is the master of what he professes. Far from any claiming to be omniscient,
each minds his own business, striving to gain a polished grasp of his specialty.
35. Alexandria is definitely the largest city, with a superior layout and everything
in plenty, food especially. In fact, unlike in any other province, three types of fish are

16
i.e. the Egyptians.
 text • 931

eaten here—from river, lake, and sea. There is every kind of product here, including
spices and certain commodities acquired through trade with barbarians. Beyond the
border of Thebais the city has contact with the Indian people, and everything it im-
ports it then exports in all directions. Worship of the gods is very prominent, and the
temple of Serapis is here, in all the world a singular, unique, unusual sight. Nowhere
else on Earth is such a structure or temple layout or sacred space to be found. It seems
to be universally known that the Museum belongs here.
36. Amid all Alexandria’s resources, one is found only there and in its region,
something indispensable for managing courts and private business, indeed evidently
depended upon by almost the entire human race. And what is this that we are praising
so? It’s the sheets17 that the city itself manufactures and exports worldwide, demon-
strating its value to all. Despite being unique among all cities and provinces in having
this product, it includes it among its exports ungrudgingly. Again unlike any other
province, it has the Nile’s generosity—the Nile being a river that, as it flows down in
summertime, soaks the entire land and makes it ready for sowing. The people there
derive great benefit from this sowing: one measure yields 100 to 120 measures. And be-
cause the land is this productive every year, it is of service to other provinces too. Thus
Constantinople in Thrace is fed by it almost entirely, so also the regions of the East,
principally because of the emperor’s army and the war with the Persians, and because
the only province with sufficient capacity is divine Egypt. I term it so because I think
it receives particular favour from the gods, and, as already mentioned, its worshippers
render special service by so ably offering images of them. It has sacred sites and its
temples are fully decorated; there are numerous temple-guardians, priests, attendants,
diviners, and worshippers, as well as the best devotees. Everything, too, proceeds in
orderly fashion: so there you will find altars always glowing with fire, sacrifices, and
incense in plenty, also headbands, and divine fragrance wafting from censers filled
with spices.
37. You will also find it to be a city noted for disciplining governors; the readiness
with which the people of Alexandria show them disrespect is unique. This is a city that
governors enter with fear and trembling, because they fear the justice of a populace
which does not hesitate to let loose firebrands and stones on crooked governors. The
city and its region are altogether impossible to comprehend. Among the whole world’s
cities, there is almost no match for the amount of philosophical truth here, where so
many schools of philosophers are to be found. Hence Aesculapius willingly bestowed
on it the expertise in medicine which it has. He deigned to provide it with the best
doctors anywhere on Earth, so much so that this city is very widely acknowledged to
be the source of health for mankind. Its climate, too, is very mild. This is as much as I
have to say about the region and city above; to write a complete account is impossible.

17
i.e. of papyrus, the pith of a Nile marsh-plant, which was cut into strips to make the ancient equiv-
alent of paper today.
932 • 33 expositio

Arabia
38. Next to the right again of Syria and above you will find Arabia. Its greatest city is
Bostra, which is said to be a major commercial centre, as well as being near the Per-
sians and Saraceni, and having a tetrapylon which is much admired among its public
buildings.

Asia Minor
39. Next again is the region of Cilicia, which brings joy to other provinces with its
large-scale production of wine, and has a fine great city called Tarsus.
40. After this in an upper part is Cappadocia, with its outstanding men and Cae-
sarea its greatest city. The cold here is said to be really intense, such that for those with-
out local knowledge life here is impossible unless they show some ingenuity. Howev-
er, opportunities for trade here are excellent and exports apparently go everywhere,
including hare-fur clothing and beautiful specimens of ‘Babylonian’ hides and those
divine creatures.18
41. Next to be encountered is the fine, self-sufficient province of Galatia. It trades
clothing on a major scale, and periodically provides rulers with fine soldiers. Its great-
est city is called Ancyra, where apparently they consume quite remarkable divine
bread.
42. Then there is Phrygia, also a fine region whose men are brave according to
the writers of old, Homer, Vergil, and others, who describe the war between these
Phrygians and the Greeks. The greatest city is said to be Laodicia, which exports a
single-piece costume specifically called by the name Laodicene.
43. Next above here there is Lesser Armenia, which, we are told, provides cavalry-
men and archers fit for campaigns.
44. Then are Paphlagonia and Pontus, the home of wealthy men really distin-
guished for their learning and all their resources like Cappadocians and Galatians.
Their women are lovely too. By all accounts they are so lovely and so very pale that
the sight of them creates the impression they are goddesses. As for men, the prov-
inces and cities just mentioned—Pontus, Paphlagonia, Galatia, Cappadocia—produce
clever men too. Should you want confirmation of their cleverness, look to the two
courts of East and West, and there you will find more men from Pontus, Paphlagonia,
Cappadocia, and Galatia than from any other city or province. Hence the impression
is created that matters are handled by them on the emperors’ instructions. They are
very trustworthy, and they reckon Nature’s riches to be intrinsically good; hence they
are impelled to assist their superiors and their betters. At this point, however, I have
spoken enough about them, and shall begin on what is to be said next.
45. The regions concerned are inland. But there is the need to point out areas with
a seaboard, namely Cilicia and then Isauria, whose men evidently are brave; they also

18
Horses may be meant.
 text • 933

attempted brigandage periodically, even aiming to be hostile to the Romans, but they
were unable to beat their invincible name. After this is Pamphylia, a fine, self-sufficient
region whose extensive production of olive-oil serves other regions also. It has two
superb cities, Perge and Side.
46. After it is the self-sufficient region of Lycia. It has a truly massive mountain
called Caucasus; according to reports, this mass is unsurpassed anywhere else on
Earth.
47. After Lycia is Caria. So here we are in Asia, which stands out as the greatest of
all the provinces and has countless cities. These include very large ones and many on
the sea, two of which must be specified: Ephesus, which is said to have an exceptional
harbour, as well as the superb city of Smyrna. The entire region is vast, and productive
in every way, with different wines, oil, rice, fine purple and spelt. It really is marvellous,
and thus difficult to praise enough.
48. After this is the Hellespont, a productive region with an abundance of grain,
wine and oil. It has those ancient cities Troy and Ilium, and—larger than them—Cyzi-
cus, which exceeds all praise for its location, size, grandeur and loveliness. For it was
here that Venus, equipped with Cupid’s dart, opted to bestow beauty on women.
49. After the Hellespont one finds marvellous Bithynia, the greatest and finest (of
regions), which produces every kind of crop. It has the marvellous great cities Nicaea
and Nicomedia. Nicaea’s city-plan is one hard to find elsewhere; its uniformity and
loveliness make one think that it has been applied to the entire city with a ruler, and it
is altogether magnificent and permanent. Nicomedia, too, is superb, marvellous and
thoroughly prosperous. Its fine civic building is an ancient basilica, which is said to
have been ignited by divine fire coming down from the sky, and was subsequently re-
stored by Constantine. It has a circus, a specially fine structure for watching the circus
shows, which are a serious attraction.

Thrace to the Adriatic

50. Next after Bithynia is the province of Thrace, it too made wealthy by its crops,
and with outstanding men, brave warriors; for this reason, soldiers are often recruited
here. It has the superb cities Constantinople and Heraclea.19 At one time this Constan-
tinople used to be Byzantium, (but then) Constantine bestowed his name on the city
he founded. Heraclea’s excellent buildings are a theatre and a royal palace. Thanks to
Constantine, Constantinople has lots of outstanding things. What’s more, spectators
here watch the circus shows most passionately.
51. Moving on from Thrace you will encounter Macedonia which, with its full re-
sources, has an export trade in iron and feathers,20 also sometimes bacon and Darda-
nian cheese; Dardania is a neighbouring region. It has, too, the superb city of Thessa-
lonica, which ranks among the distinguished ones.

19
Named Perinthus prior to C3l ad.   20 For pillows.
934 • 33 expositio

52. After Macedonia there is Thessaly, which produces ample grain and for other
commodities is said to be self-sufficient. It has Mount Olympus, which according to
Homer is the home of the gods.
After Thessaly is the land of Achaia, Graecia, and Laconica, which has schools,
though otherwise is not self-sufficient, since it is confined and mountainous and has
only limited productive capacity. But it does yield oil from meagre resources as well as
Attic honey, yet it has more cause to take pride in learning and oratory, and nowhere
near as much in anything else. The cities it has are Corinth and Athens. Corinth is a
very thriving commercial city, and its amphitheatre a remarkable structure. Athens, in
addition to its schools and ancient literature, has something else that merits mention,
namely an arch which is a marvellous sight with many standing statues representing
a war of old. Laconica’s resources are reckoned to be limited to Crocinus stone, which
is called Lacedaemonian.
53. To be found next after Achaia are the regions of Epirus and the city which is
thus called Epirus; some call the province Epirus, others Aetolia. After this city, the city
of Nicopolis has so much fish caught from the sea that even the sight of a quantity of
them proves repellent. Next, a little further up, is Dalmatia, reckoned to be outstand-
ing for business. Three useful products that it has plenty of for export are Dalmatian
cheese, roofing-timber, and also iron. It has the superb city of Salona. A god destroyed
Dyrrachium because of its people’s vice, or more probably, according to the accounts,
it sank (into the sea) and disappeared.

Italy
Next, in order, are provinces: Calabria which, since it produces wheat, has everything
in plenty; then Bruttium, outstanding for its export trade in woollen clothing21 and a
large amount of outstanding wine; after Bruttium, Lucania, an outstanding region; it
too has everything in plenty, and exports bacon far and wide because in its mountains
there are all kinds of food for animals.
54. After this is the province of Campania; although not a specially large one, it
has wealthy men and is self-sufficient, as well as being a storeroom for Rome the ruler.
55. After it is Italy, which displays its glory when mentioned by just this word or
name. It has many different cities, all of them with ample resources, and Foresight is
its ruler. In Italy you will find many types of wine: Picene, Sabine, Tiburtine, Tuscan;
in fact Tuscia—whose loveliness we shall describe shortly—borders the province just
mentioned. So Italy with its incomparable prosperity also possesses this, the greatest of
resources: the greatest, most outstanding and royal city, which is called Rome, a name
that displays its strength.22 Romulus is said to have founded it as a boy. It is enormous

21
The rare Latin word here, byrrus, is used elsewhere of a woollen overcoat worn in Britain and Gaul:
see Grüll 2014, 635 n. 8.
22
Greeks were impressed by the coincidence that the name ‘Rome’ was their word for strength or
force.
 text • 935

and filled with quite divine buildings. All previous emperors, and the present ones too,
have wanted to leave their mark there in one way or other, and so each commissions a
construction-project named for himself. Should Antoninus be of interest to you, you
will find any number of his projects; consider too the forum named after Trajan, which
has a superb, famous basilica. There is also a well-sited circus much enhanced by bronze
(ornaments). In Rome are the seven virgins of free birth from senatorial families who
conduct ceremonies in honour of the gods for the city’s preservation, in accordance
with the practice of the ancients; they are called Vestal Virgins. Likewise it has the well-
known river Tiber, which is valuable to the city just mentioned; after passing through
there, it reaches the sea, and serves as the means by which everything imported from
abroad is conveyed as far as eighteen miles upstream. Hence the city has all resources
in plenty. It also has the greatest senate of wealthy men. Should you care to investigate
them individually, you will find that all were, or will be, governors, or have the potential
but are unwilling to exercise it because of a wish to live risk-free enjoying what they
have. The gods they worship are, for example, Jupiter, Sol, and others. They are said also
to perform rites for the Mother of the Gods; it is certain that they have diviners.
56. After this you come to the neighbouring region of Tuscia. Tuscia is quite the
greatest of names bestowed by the gods. It is said that the origin of divination is to be
found here, and this was said to be a benefit from the gods. It does have every resource
in plenty as well as, above all, marked capacity to divine the gods’ will: certainty in this
matter is said to be theirs. So much for Rome and Tuscia. Italy has other superb cities,
those called Aquileia and Mediolanum.

Danube lands
57. So after Italy we should mention provinces and cities omitted earlier. Moesia and
Dacia are self-sufficient provinces, but really cold ones; their major city is called Nais-
sus. Then there is the region of Pannonia, a land rich in all respects—crops, livestock
and commerce, some of it in slaves. It is also where emperors regularly live. It has two
major cities, Sirmium as well as Noricum, from which Norican clothing is said to be
exported. So much for the region of Pannonia. Bordering it across the river Danube is
a barbarian people, the Sarmatians.

Gaul
58. After Pannonia is the province of Gaul which, because of its immense size, is
in constant need of an emperor and has one of its own. It is amply supplied with
everything because he is here, but prices are very high. It is said to have a major city
called Triveris (Trier), an inland one, where they say a ruler resides. Equally, it has
another city which supports it (Triveris) in every way, on the coast, whose name is
Arelatus, which imports commodities from across the world and then exports them
to the city just mentioned. The entire region has brave, outstanding men; so in war
an army of Gauls is said to be very large and brave. In all respects it is an admirable
province. Bordering it is a barbarian people, the Goths.
936 • 33 expositio

Spain
59. From Gaul, next is Spain, a vast, very great, wealthy territory, provided with
educated men and altogether thriving commercially, as we can illustrate from such
exports—in sufficient quantities for the whole world—as oil, fish-sauce, clothing of
different types, bacon and livestock. Along with such complete resources, and all of
outstanding quality, it also has rope of quality unrivalled anywhere: this is a product
widely regarded as essential, because it secures every type of ship and thus affects all
commerce. Yet many do not agree, and regard (Spain) as a weak region.
After this is said to be the Ocean, a part of it which no human can describe. After
all, what can be there? It is, as they say, a waste, and it’s here that the world ends.

African provinces and beyond

60. Next, turning to southern land, you will find the land of Mauretania. Its inhab-
itants have the lifestyle and morals of barbarians, despite being Roman subjects. This
province trades in clothing and slaves, has plenty of grain, and the city of Caesarea.
After Mauretania, next is Numidia, a province of bumper crops and self-sufficient, also
commercially active in clothing of various types and top-quality animals.
61. After this province one finds Africa, a wealthy region in all respects; it is
provided with every resource, including crops and livestock, and almost on its own
it supplies oil for every people’s use. While it has many different cities, one called
Kartago is quite outstanding and marvellous; it was founded by a Tyrian woman
named Dido, who on coming to Libya purchased an area called Byrsa, as large as
a cow-hide could enclose, says Virgil.23 Its layout is quite magnificent, and it has a
harbour which makes an incomparably unusual sight and evidently provides—in
complete security—a calm briny24 that ships need not fear. You will also find a su-
perb civic structure there, a silversmiths’ quarter. For entertainment there is just
one type of show that the inhabitants insistently press for: gladiatorial games. Out-
standing, fine and wealthy the region of Africa may be, but its men are not worthy
of their homeland: they do not live up to the region’s many good things. The word
is that not a single one of them can be trusted—they say one thing, but do another.
It is hard to find a good man among them, although there may be a few good ones
among so many.
62. Next, bordering the entire region of Africa, is a vast desert land to the South;
according to reports, in a very small part of this desert live wretched barbarian people
called Mazices and Aethiopes. After them one finds the region of Pentapolis, which
is small, but has crops and livestock in plenty; it also has two ancient cities, Ptolemais
and Cyrene, which are said to have been royal once. After this there is another prov-
ince called Libyē, near Alexandria and west of it; no water falls from the sky here,

23
i.e. when the hide was cut into strips.
24
This poetic English word is an inadequate attempt to convey the tone of Neptunus (the god’s name
used of the sea itself) in the Latin here.
 text • 937

because it doesn’t rain year in year out. It has few men, although they are fine, devout,
clever. In my view their innate merit can only be a lesson from god. Then we are back
again in Alexandria, after this partial description which we have been able to make of
Roman and barbarian territory. Quite emphatically it has not been feasible to cover
everything. Even so, if some region has by chance escaped our notice, I do not think it
can amount to very much.

Islands
63. However, so as not to create the impression of overlooking one entire part of
these inquiries, I should end the account by also mentioning islands situated in the
open sea. So, from the East you have the following islands: first and largest is Cyprus,
which regularly builds ships. They say that for this ship-building there is nothing it
needs from another province. The island itself has everything required, namely: wood,
bronze, iron, pitch, as well as cloth for sails and what is needed for cables. According to
reports, there is no lack of other fine resources too. Next, the island of Euboea is said to
be outstanding. Then what are called the Cyclades, a very numerous group, fifty-three
islands, each with its own magistrate. Some must be mentioned by name. Thus there
is Rhodes, an island and major city which according to the Sibyl’s prophecy is going
to be destroyed by divine wrath. In the city itself there is the statue that everyone calls
a Colossus, a massively unusual sight; yet, according to the prophecy of the Sibyl just
mentioned, there was wickedness in it. Another island, Delos, located at the centre of
the Cyclades, is where Latona gave birth to Diana and Apollo. Then there is Tenedos,
Apollo’s island. Nearby you will find Imbrus; Imbrus is an island from which hare-skin
clothing is the major export because it has so much of this and plenty of those animals,
but really only a moderate amount of anything else. Then there is Lemnus, which is
self-sufficient; it produces plenty of wine, which it exports to the region of Macedonia
and Thrace.
64. After this is the island of Crete, distinguished for having 100 cities; in all re-
spects it is wealthy and admirable, and produces excellent wine. Its greatest city is
called Gortyna, one where there are said to be circus games; it has some rich and
learned men. Next Cythera, another island, then Zacynthus and Cephalonia, islands
that have all resources in plenty.
65. After all these islands Sicily is the best and largest, reckoned superior to all
other islands because of its dense soil. Sicily produces much of quality, and exports
quantities of useful commodities: wool and grain, similarly livestock. Also, it has men
who are wealthy and well-informed about all branches of philosophy, both Greek and
Latin. It has the superb cities of Syracuse and Catana, where fine circus games thrive.
Each city has fine, sturdy animals (horses), and in their rivalry they delight in the
animals’ strength. In this island there is also a mountain called Etna. The presence of
a divinity on this mountain seems quite credible, because day and night the moun-
tain-peak is ablaze, with smoke to be seen ascending. All around this mountain are
numerous vineyards which produce superb wine.
938 • 33 expositio

66. Then [—].25 After it is another island, one named Sardinia, very rich in crops
and livestock, and really quite splendid.
67. Then is another island, one named Britannia and—so those who have been
there tell—really superb. It has every resource in plenty, as well as brave fighting-men.

Conclusion

Here ends the Account of the Whole World and its Peoples.
68. This—so far as humanly possible—is my description. If there are provinces or
cities or islands which have escaped our notice, my sense is they are not numerous.
Any such escape reflects the fact that no mortal can possibly be omniscient; only the
god who created everything can be omniscient.

25
Name irrecoverable; perhaps Corsica, since ‘another island . . . Sardinia’ follows?
 34
MARKIANOS OF HERAKLEIA
(c. ad 390–410)
D. Graham J. Shipley
εὐτυχῶς Μαρκιανῷ1

fig. 34.1. End of the preserved portion of Markianos’ Periplous, p. 48 (detail).

INTRODUCTION
Markianos (often anglicized as ‘Marcian’), from Herakleia in the Black Sea, is a key
figure in the transmission of ancient Greek geographical writing: were it not for his
efforts, we would possess significantly fewer texts of the ‘minor’ authors. Working in
a Neoplatonic rather than a Christian tradition, probably at Constantinople, he com-
piled—perhaps partly on the basis of work by Menippos (Chapter 21 above)—the orig-
inal corpus of geographers of which substantial parts survive in the mid-13th-­century
manuscript D (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. b). His own works, in Greek, formed the first
part of that corpus.
If Markianos is correctly identified with the man of that name who was active at
Constantinople immediately before and after 400,2 he was a scholar with an estab-
lished reputation well before then. The city was an intellectual powerhouse already
under Theodosios I (r. 379–95, in Constantinople from 380) and Arkadios (r. 395–
408), and remained so under Theodosios II (sole r. 408–50).3 In a letter dated 401–5,
Synesios (c.370–c.415), future bishop of Ptolemaïs in Libya, lauds a certain Markianos
as an expert, advanced in years, whose lectures he used to hear in Constantinople
(B. 6 below on p. 977). If this is our Markianos,4 we have here a rare, perhaps unique,

1
See Chapter 11 n. 2.
2
This possible link is not mentioned by PLRE ii. 714, s.v. Marcianus 3.
3
See e.g. Traina 2013 for geography under Theodosios II.
4
Marcotte 2000b, xxxvii, approves this suggestion by the early modern editors of Markianos.
940 • 34 markianos

­ ersonal ­testimony to a geographer from another writer who knew him. In a letter
p
from 406, Synesios refers to a Markianos, presumably the same man, as a philosopher
and former governor of Paphlagonia (B. 8, on p. 977).
We know of several works, designated here by letters to indicate the relevant section
of this chapter:
A. Epitome of Artemidoros. The work of Markianos’ most frequently cited in the sources
is his Epitome of the 11-book Geographoumena of Artemidoros (often abbreviated to
Epit. Art.), which originally occupied most of the first 32 pages of manuscript D but is
now lost. It is referred to many times by Stephanos of Byzantion; 19 such citations will
be found in Chapter 18 above (also listed below as ‘Epitome of the Geographoumena
of Artemidoros’).
B. Circumnavigation (Periplous) of the Outer Sea. The first surviving part of manuscript D
contains most of Markianos’ abridgement of his own periplous in two books. It lacks its
opening as well as about one-quarter of the text at the end; but at around 13,000 words
it remains substantial, even in this truncated form.
C. Epitome of Menippos (Epit. Men.). Next in D (after 16 missing pages) we have (a) the
last few lines of a table of contents for Markianos’ abridgement of Menippos’ Periplous,
translated in Chapter 21 above; (b) Markianos’ introduction to that abridgement, which
amounts to a general history of geographical writing; then (c) the abridgement itself,
printed in Chapter 21 above. (b) makes reference to works A and B above, showing that
they are earlier.
D. Preface to (Pseudo)-Skylax. In the next part of manuscript D, we have the preface, al-
most certainly by Markianos, to the Periplous he attributes to Skylax of Karyanda; this
preface (represented by a ‘blind’ heading at IV below) is printed as no. 6 in Chapter 7
above. The acuity of his scholarly judgement has been noted in the introduction to that
chapter. We may note a verbal echo of Epit. Men. 3: in both prefaces, Markianos notes
the expansion of geographical knowledge brought about by Roman military power.
The Periplous (1. 11, 14, and 17; 2. 2 and 46), the Epitome of Menippos (§§4 and 6), and
the preface to Ps.-Skylax (§3) are linked together stylistically by the use of the unusual
adverb προσέτιγε (prosetige),5 for which the rendering ‘what is more’ is reserved in
these volumes.6
E. Distances from Rome. We have one apparent reference to a work of this name; see ‘F
Other sources’ below.

5
Perhaps to be regarded as two words, προσέτι γε, but, if so, still distinctive.
6
Mark. is also fond of the verb τυγχάνω–tynchanō, using it 34 times in the surviving abridgement of
the Periplous (23 times in book 1, 11 times in book 2) and 3 times in Epit. Men. In Classical Greek its
meanings include the strong senses of ‘happen’ or ‘chance’, but also a weaker sense close to ‘be’ or ‘exist’
(LSJ s.v.) or, in the case of geographical features, ‘be set’ or ‘lie’ (CGL s.v.). However, (a) in Mark. it is
often combined with the participle ‘lying’ (keimenos), so ‘lie’ is not an option for the translator; and (b)
it may be intended to convey the idea that he is ‘observing’ phenomena by looking at a map. So I have
translated it as ‘happen’, which is adequately colloquial.
 introduction • 941

Like his epitome of Menippos, Markianos’ Periplous of the Outer Sea has undergone
abridgement between his compilation of the corpus and the making of the 13th-cen-
tury copy.7 Eight times in book 1 we read that a detailed description has been omitted;
this reflects subsequent editing. Citations by Stephanos of Byzantion (B. 2–40, includ-
ing what appear to be direct quotations of Markianos’ words at 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, and
40) indicate that regions were covered in the original whose descriptions are now lost.
Nevertheless it seems that Markianos was more interested in systematic enumeration
of numerical data than in ways of life, to judge from the more detailed sections we
have (e.g. B. 1. 26–30 on Karmania).
The chief sources for the Periplous were Artemidoros,8 Strabo, and Ptolemy; he
also four times (B. 1, book 1 §1; book 2 §§2, 5, 38) names Protagoras, thought to be a
successor of Ptolemy.9 Markianos’ aims, however, are more descriptive than mathe-
matical,10 and in general he bases his account chiefly on Greek writers of the hellenis-
tic period.11 The structure of the work is of his own devising. A very reflective writer,
he often pauses to discuss his working methods,12 including his and his predecessors’
handling of distance measurements (book 1 §2; book 2 §§5, 9). He says he aims to
cover the coasts of the world in double periplous format: book 1 will be a periplous of
‘the eastern and southern Ocean’, that is, the eastern and western parts of the Indian
Ocean; book 2 a periplous of ‘the western and northern Ocean’, that is, the Atlantic
coasts but also the Mediterranean. The main discussion is preceded by a prologue
whose first part (book 1 §§1–4) covers the form of ‘our sea’, that is, the Mediterranean.
In each main periplous, he also gives details of the most important island or group of
islands in each part of the Ocean: Taprobane (Sri Lanka) in the first, the British Isles
in the second.
In both books, Markianos is led by historical information rather than by the admin-
istrative realities of his own day, whether that be the 3rd, 4th, or 5th century ad—most
likely the end of the 4th, by which time there had been many rearrangements in prov-
inces and jurisdictions.13 Thus in the east he largely follows the historic kingdoms of
the Persian and post-Alexander empires, while in the west he operates with the Roman
provinces that had existed in the early Imperial or even the late Republican ­period. In

7
C16 copies of D remained in circulation while D itself was lost to public view; while they are not
an independent authority for the text, they can contribute to a reconstruction of M.’ s plan for the
geographical corpus (Altomare n.d.).
8
Pontani 2010 confirms M.’ s close reliance upon Artemidoros in 2. 2–7, for example.
9
Protagoras wrote a Geometry of the Inhabited World in C2/C3 ad, known only from references in
Photios and Tzetzes and the four citations by Mark. in his Periplous. See Dueck 2011 (misattributing
M.’ s citations to his epitome of Menippos).
10
In the case of Iberia at least, authors after Ptolemy reverted to a periplographic rather than
­scientific, geometric approach to cartography (Bianchetti 2008, esp. 50–2).
11
Altomare n.d. (project outline; I have not seen the related thesis, Altomare 2010).
12
The brief overview of the Periplous offered here is indebted to Altomare 2013 and especially
­Altomare 2014–15.
13
See e.g. Eutropius, Breviarium 9. 15, for the relocation of the population and name of Dacia from N
of the Danube to S of it.
942 • 34 markianos

this he is no doubt guided by Artemidoros (Chapter 18 above), as the citation of the

earlier author at 2. 19 suggests. The eastward limits of knowledge are, however, those
of Ptolemy, based on the trade contacts with South-east Asia and China already men-
tioned in PME (Chapter 25 above).14
Whereas Ptolemy in the 2nd century ad had structured his work by region, giving
within each region a list of places with their longitude and latitude, Markianos thus
envisages two independent periploi. Although our main source for his work is the
mid-13th-century manuscript D (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. b), it is likely that the red
initial letters and marginal signs, as well as the headings (retained in the translation
below), broadly reflect his own subdivisions of the work (such signposting was con-
ventional by the late antique period).15 The decisive role played by the periplous format
in his conception is confirmed by the fact that Stephanos of Byzantion does not cite
the Periplous by book number but by region, referring to each regional account as a
periplous or periodos; when he uses a form such as ‘in his first Circumnavigation’, as he
does four times, all with reference to Aithiopia (there are no references of the form ‘in
his second Circumnavigation’), this is probably not a book number but a reference to
the regional description that stood first.16
Each regional subsection of the Periplous as we have it (at least, each subsection that
appears complete) is introduced and closed by similar formulaic expressions and has a
standard structure, except where Markianos announces that he will give less than full
information (as at B. 1, book 1 §10; book 2 §§38, 46). Several times he implicitly refers
the reader to his epitome of Artemidoros (book 1 §§1, 3; book 2 §2).
The Periplous was probably accompanied by a map, such as Markianos may have
used as an aid to his lectures; since at least Ptolemy’s time, maps were a familiar ad-
junct to geographical texts.17 But the texture of his geography was different from that
of Ptolemy: more descriptive than mathematical.18 The example of his organization of
his material, and his use of a map, were followed by Greek and Roman geographers of
the succeeding generations.19 His descriptive approach was doubtless more engaging
than Ptolemy’s more technical exposition of scientific data.
The Periplous should be seen as one component of a larger project embodied in
Markianos’ ‘corpus’ (Introduction, §VIII. 2. b), and as designed to complement his
own and the other works therein.20 His coverage of the east coast of Africa is less

14
On China, see Dueck 2012, 62–3. Roman knowledge and understanding of SE Asia was not
necessarily any greater than at the end of the Republic: see Dionysios Periegetes 752–7 for a dismissive
mention of the ‘barbarian’ Seres. For a far more admiring portrayal from C4, see Ammianus Marcel-
linus 23. 6. 64–8, which includes an allusion to the Great Wall of China (64), mentions ten peoples
(gentes) and four major cities (66) including Sera (see n. on 1. 44 ‘mother-city’, below), and paints an
idyllic (idealized?) picture of a peaceful civilization (67–8).
15
Altomare 2014–15, 40.    16 Altomare 2014–15, 50–1.    17 Altomare 2013, 19–20.
18
Bianchetti 2008, esp. 50–2, argues that only Ptolemy picked up on the methods developed by
Eudoxos of Knidos, Pytheas, and Eratosthenes, and that later authors such as Mark. reverted to a
periplographic rather than geometric approach.
19
Altomare 2013, 20–1.    20 Altomare 2014–15, 37.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 943

­ etailed by design (1. 10; 2. 46); he may have covered it more fully in the Epitome of
d
­Artemidoros,21 though Stephanos finds enough material on Aithiopia to cite this miss-
ing part of the Periplous six times (B. 7, 9–10, 13, 37, 39).
Although there is as yet no full study of Markianos, scholars are now actively
starting to elucidate his aims and to recognize his talents more fully than before. The
version of the Periplous below necessarily follows the Greek of Müller and González
Ponce.22 I have rearranged Müller’s text, however, by removing his reconstructed table
of contents to book 1, and taking the quotations from Stephanos into their own section
(with those entries which Müller did not include).

selected further reading

Altomare, B. M. (2014–15), ‘Périples dans le Périple: notes sur la structure du Périple de

la Mer extérieure de Marcien d’Héraclée et sur sa tradition indirecte’, Revue des études
­tardo-antiques, 4: 35–53.
*—— (forthcoming), ‘Marciano di Eracleia (2027)’, in FGrH v.
Diller, A. (1952), The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geographers. Lancaster, Pa.–Oxford.
[Menippos epitome at pp. 147–64.]
*González Ponce, F. J. (2008b), Periplo de Hanón y autores de los siglos VI y V a.C. Zaragoza.
[Edition and translation of Epit. Men. 1–5 at pp. 50–69 (the Greek matches Müller’s).]
*Müller, GGM i, pp. cxxix–cxxxvii (addendum, cxlv), 515–76.
Schoff, W. H. (1927), Periplus of the Outer Sea: East and West, and of the Great Islands Therein,
by Marcian of Heraclea. Philadelphia. [A work of modest ambition, but included as one of
the few studies in English.]

A. EPITOM E OF THE GEOGR APHOUMENA

OF ­A RTEMIDOROS
Lost from the beginning of manuscript D (see introduction to this chapter, and the
Introduction, §VIII. 2. b). For citations of the Epitome, see Chapter 18 nos 10 (by
Markianos himself), 14, 16–17, 26, 48, 129, 131, 139, 141–4, 147–9, 151, 155–6, and 164.

B. PER IPLOUS OF THE OU TER OCEA N

1 Codex Parisinus supplément grec 443, pp. 1. 1–49. 3

Headings are original unless enclosed in angle brackets ‹ ›.

21
Altomare 2014–15, 48.
22
GGM i. 515–62; checked against passages quoted by Altomare 2014–15, who is preparing a new
critical edition.
944 • 34 markianos

bo ok 1 23

‹Preface›
1. [—] ‹Within the Pillars of Herakles› lies a sea whose western end is marked by
the Ocean surrounding the Earth, which makes its inflow at the so-called Herakleian
strait—the circumnavigation of this was composed by the geographer Artemidoros of
Ephesos, to the best of his ability, in the eleven books of the Geography.24 We, however,
leaving aside the superfluous digressions by the previously noted man in these books,
and also the Aithiopian cities of the barbarians, made the circumnavigation for our-
selves, in summary form,25 very clearly and with the precise addition of supplementary
discoveries, in order that nothing might be lacking that could contribute to perfect
clarity for those studying this aspect of geography.
For both Oceans, however, both eastern and western—knowledge of which, insofar
as it is attainable by human beings, has been rendered clear by the zeal and learning of
many—we preferred to compose the circumnavigation of these in two books, on the
basis of the geography of the most divine and most wise Ptolemy;26 of the measure-
ment of stades by Protagoras,27 which he has appended to his own books of geography;
and, moreover, of numerous other ancient men. (We cover) the eastern and southern
Ocean in the first of the two books, the western and northern in the second; as well as
the largest islands lying in them, and the so-called Taprobane, formerly called Palaisi-
moundou,28 and both the Prettanic (British) islands. The first of these is agreed to lie in
the very middle of the Indian open-sea (pelagos), the other two in the northern Ocean.

‹ measurement in stades ›
2. Knowing that others among the old authors zealously dealt with this subject—some
making certain partial expositions, others touching on several regions—I devoted
much consideration in order not to be seen as second to any of them, hoping that the
precision of what we are about to say might be a clear sign of our zeal in this matter.
Because of this, I deemed it necessary also to present to those who encounter my book
the cause of the disagreement concerning the measurement of stades.

23
At this point we are at the start of the first surviving quaternion (originally the third quaternion)
of MS D, where any list of contents—probably by Markianos himself—has been lost along with the
beginning of the Prologue (I have inverted the syntax of the first sentence to reflect the word order of
the original). Müller’s list of contents (GGM i. 515–16), not translated here, is only his reconstruction
of what may have stood here, on the analogy of the beginning of book 2.
24
Cf. similar statements at 1. 3; 2. 2.
25
Mark. here refers to his epitome of Artemidoros’ eleven books of Geographoumena; see Ch. 18,
including many citations of the epitome by Steph. Byz.
26
For Ptolemy’s major work, see Introduction, §VI. 1. e.
27
See n. 9 above.
28
For the variation Simoundou–Palaisimoundou, see Artem. 48; PME §61; 1. 8 and 1. 35 below; and
Hypotyposis §25.
map 34.1. Markianos, Circumnavigation, book 1. Locations east of the Ganges should be regarded as speculative.
946 • 34 markianos

For, since a subject of this kind has its precision not only in the locations of locali-
ties, cities, islands, and harbours but also, and above all, in the stades and the compu-
tation of places, I deem it consistent to give an account of it that will appear true even
to those who wish to contemplate, according to the nature of the matter, measurement
during the circumnavigation of the sea; although none of those who have devoted
themselves to these matters has observed this, but (all of them) have reported the num-
bers of the stades as if the sea had been measured with a cord. I declare, indeed, that is
not easy to discover, in all parts of the sea, the number of the stades with high accura-
cy; but if a particular coast happens to be straight, with no indentations or protrusions,
the measurement of the voyage beside it is generally easy. It is not, however, possible
to represent accurately the circumnavigation of the gulfs, and of the promontories or
peninsulas. For one does not, in the way that people make a journey by land using the
main roads, perform one’s voyage on the sea by way of recognized places.
Let us imagine, for the sake of example, a gulf drawn in outline as occupying 100
stades along the actual seashore. If one were to (sic) sail round this and keep close in
to the actual beach, one will (sic) find that the stades are fewer than will a man walking
along the same shore, but will not stray far from the truth. If, however, someone were
to sail round the same gulf further into the middle, he will find the stades to be fewer
than will the man who has sailed along beside the shore, and would find that the effect
was multiplied the more he shortened the circle of his circumnavigation. Similarly
with circumferences: if, after the outer line, one were to outline a second (segment of)
circumference inside it with the same extremities, and then another, and after that
another, the second circumference would be found to be less than the previous one,
and again the third than the second, and similarly the fourth than the third, and by
analogy they would be shown to be so if one did this successively. Thus with gulfs, as in
a drawing of circumferences, it is possible for those sailing round to make their voyage
in either more, or fewer, stades.
One could clearly establish this also in the case of direct voyages. For if one wished
not to sail round the gulf but to sail directly across, the crossing would be seen as very
short, so that in all likelihood the number of stades involved in the gulfs and promon-
tories would depend on the opinion of those making the circumnavigation. For this
reason it happens that some reckon one way and some another. The miscalculation
concerning what number of stades is observed is therefore forgivable—unless the er-
ror be a very great one—because one would mostly not find, among all the old authors
who have written circumnavigations (periploi), that in all the seas the number of the
stades is in harmony. The causes of such disagreement would take a long time to tell.
This being so, the maritime nations and cities and their dependent harbours [—]

‹ the oikoumenē ›
3 [— The Ocean . . .] the west [—] runs into [—], taking its inflow from the so-called At-
lantic open-sea (pelagos), and advances far into the land in an easterly direction up to
the Issic gulf, which is among the Kilikian nation. This entrance to our sea is n
­ arrowest
 b. periplous, book 1 • 947

at the so-called Pillars of Herakles or Herakleian strait, which occupies 80 stades; and
this is the mouth of this gulf, that is, of the sea: for one could not sail out from the
inner sea into the Ocean from any other point but via the said Herakleian strait. This
sea of ours also extends up to Egypt, which lies under the south so as to lie opposite the
Arabian gulf (Red Sea)—called by us the Egyptian open-sea (pelagos)—and so that a
great isthmus is formed by the land between the Arabian gulf and our sea at this point.
We have established clearly the circumnavigation of this sea with our epitome of the
eleven books of Artemidoros the geographer, as stated earlier; but as for the outer seas
or eastern and western Ocean, we have chosen to compose its circumnavigation by
submitting to the laborious task ourselves.
4. Eratosthenes of Kyrene says the greatest circumference of all the ‹known› Earth
is 259,200 stades.29 Dionysios son of Diogenes has measured it similarly. But the most
divine Ptolemy, senior in experience and true learning but younger in date than Era-
tosthenes, has proved that the (inhabited portion of the) Earth measures 180,000 stades
(sc. south to north), and has established that there are 80 meridional degrees (south to
north) in the breadth of the (inhabited portion of the) Earth and 180 in its length (west
to east).
In this measurement is contained the inhabited world, divided into three conti-
nents—into Asia, Libyē, and Europe—as is known to all. Europe is divided from Libyē
by the mouth of the Ocean located at Gadeira, which they called the Herakleian strait
and through which, as we have said before, the inflow of the Ocean into our sea takes
place. Again, the river Tanaïs (Don) similarly separates Europe from Asia in the north-
ern part, flowing out into Lake Maiotis, which discharges into the Pontos called Eux-
einos. Libyē, with Asia, is separated from Europe by the aforementioned Herakleian
strait, but from Asia by the so-called Kanobic mouth of the Nile. Asia is separated in
relation to Europe by the aforementioned river Tanaïs, and in relation to Libyē by the
above-mentioned Kanobic mouth of the Nile, as we have said before.
Now our sea, conjoining with the western Ocean via the Herakleian strait, outlines
the three continents in the following way.
5. Europe’s coastal territory, if its gulfs in our sea are sailed round, has its beginning
at the river Tanaïs and ceases at the Herakleian strait and the island of Gadeira; and the
whole circumnavigation is 69,000 stades.30
The circumnavigation of Libyē from the city of Tingis up to the Kanobic mouth of
the Nile is 30,280 stades.
The circumnavigation of Asia with Egypt, from the Kanobic mouth of the Nile up
to river Tanaïs, is 40,120 stades.

29
Given as 252,000 by Strabo (Eratosthenes 29 above; cf. Hipparchos 40a) and Pliny (Erat. 34); also
Hyp. §1. Though differing from the usual figure of 252,000, this may not be a MS error in Markianos
as it is divisible by 12. Dionysios is unknown (Roller 2010, 144).
30
This and the next two numbers (but not the total) have been edited by Müller.
948 • 34 markianos

Thus the complete coastal territory of our sea is, including Europe, Libyē, and Asia,
139,400 stades.
6. First among the continents in terms of size is Asia, second Libyē, and third Eu-
rope. Of the three seas, the first in size happens to be the one beside the Indian open-
sea (pelagos); second our sea between Libyē and Europe, beginning from Gadeira or
the Herakleian strait and running through up to Asia; and third the Hyrkanian (sea).
The size of the inhabited world, from east to west, has been measured at 78,545
stades; this is from the outlets of the river Ganges, the easternmost river among the
Indians, to the westernmost promontory of the whole inhabited world, which is called
Hieron (Sacred) Point and belongs to the Lousitanian nation in Iberia. This (prom-
ontory) happens to be further west than Gadeira or the Pillars of Herakles by 3,000
stades.31 The straight line of the breadth (of the inhabited world), at the point where it
happens to be widest, has been measured at 43,060 stades; this is from south to north,
as far as it is from the Aithiopian sea up to the island of Thoule.
7. Of the largest gulfs32 the first is the Gangetic,33 the second the Persian, the third
the one called by the name of Megas (Great),34 the fourth the Arabian, the fifth the
Aithiopic,35 the sixth that of the Pontos (Black Sea), the seventh that of the Aegean
open-sea (pelagos), the eighth that of Lake Maiotis (Sea of Azov), the ninth the Adriatic
or Ionian gulf, the tenth that of the Propontis.
8. Among the largest islands or peninsulas, those of the first class, the first is the
island of Taprobane, formerly called Palaisimoundou and now Salike; the second is Al-
bion, one of the Prettanic islands; the third the Chryse (Golden) Peninsula,36 the fourth
Iouernia (Hibernia, Ireland), one of the Prettanic islands, the fifth the Peloponnese, the
sixth Sicily, the seventh Sardo (Sardinia), the eighth Kyrnos (Corsica), the ninth Crete,
the tenth Cyprus. So much for these matters; we shall move on to the tasks before us.

31
9,000 in the MS; corrected by Müller.
32
Kolpos, the regular word for ‘gulf ’ or ‘bay’, is here used for (a) major indentations within the
divisions of the outer Ocean—thus the Gangetic and Megas gulfs are parts of the ‘Indian open-sea’ (cf.
1. 10); (b) enclosed bodies of water such as the Black Sea and Maiotis; (c) the Aegean as a ‘gulf ’ within
the Mediterranean.
33
The N part of the Bay of Bengal.
34
At 1. 16 the Megas gulf follows C. Chryse, plausibly part of the Malay peninsula. See, further, n.
on 1. 16 Chryse. (Thus I set aside the gulf of Thailand, proposed by Wheeler 1954, 172, using the older
name gulf of Siam.) Mark. here lists the Megas in 3rd place, smaller than the Persian gulf, so it cannot
be (in his conception) the major sea off China but should be a ‘gulf ’ within it. In any case, he regards
that major sea as the eastern part of the Indikon Pelagos (or Indike Thalassa), comprising the Prasodes
Thalassa (or part therefore; 1. 12 and 44 are ambiguous) and extending S to the ‘southern unknown
land’. Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006, ii. 733, on Ptol. 7. 3. 3, make the Megas the South China sea;
at 91 with n. 83 (on Ptol. 1. 13. 1; cf. their trans. of 7. 3. 1), they make the gulf of the Sinai (1. 44) the
gulf of Tonkin (in the NW part of the S. China sea), which indeed it should be if Kattigara (1. 46) is cor-
rectly located near Hanoi. They offer no location, however, for the Theriodes gulf (1. 45) between those
two; I propose the gulf of Thailand. (The name ‘Megas’ need not imply that the gulf of that name was
the largest gulf.) In fact, therefore, the Megas gulf, Theriodes gulf, and gulf of the Sinai are probably all
gulfs within the eastern Indikon Pelagos.
35
The eastern Atlantic—the great bight of west-central Africa.    36 See 1. 16 below.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 949

‹scope of book 1›
9. We shall begin the circumnavigation, as we have said before, from the Arabian
gulf and its head, the so-called Ailanites (gulf of Aqaba). Hereabouts, as has been said
above, is the narrowest part of the continent, which prevents it joining up with our
sea at the head of the Arabian. This head happens to adjoin Egypt and what is called
Petraia (Rocky) Arabia, which joins onto what is called Ioudaia (Judaea), in which
Palaistine is the nation lying beside our sea. For from the city of Gaza in Palaistine to
the head of the Arabian gulf ‹and› the aforementioned Aïla (Aqaba), if the journey is
on foot towards the south, it is 1,260 stades.
10. For the left-hand parts of Asia,37 that is, of Arabia Eudaimon (Arabia Felix) and
the Erythraian sea, and after it the Persian gulf and all the Indian open-sea (pelagos)38
as far as ‹the› nation of the Sinai39 and the extremity of the known Earth,40 we shall
construct the most accurate possible circumnavigation and reckoning of stades.
For the right-hand parts of Libyē,41 up to the so-called Prasos (Green) promonto-
ry and the island of Menouthias (Madagascar), we shall show the appellations of the
cities and the dependent harbours; moreover, we shall point out the namings of the
seas, gulfs, promontories, and islands; but only on the large scale shall we append to
distances the number of stades.
For some of these right-hand parts we have clarified their measurement in a cur-
sory fashion, purely for the sake of the position that the land and the sea occupy in
relation to the territory of Asia opposite them—that is, the land of the Arabs, Indians,
and other nations. For the left-hand parts, however, in accordance with our aforesaid
declaration, we have made the circumnavigation carefully.

Circumnavigation of the right-hand parts of the ‘Arabian gulf ’, ‘Erythraian sea’,

and ‘Indian sea’
11. So the position and outline of the right-hand parts of Libyē have this character; be-
fore the part-by-part (account) we must, of course, show its designation in g­ eneral and

37
i.e. the parts of Asia one passes on one’s left hand when sailing S from the head of the Arabian gulf
(mod. Red Sea).
38
For its eastward extent, see 1. 12.
39
Mark. returns to the Sinai at 1. 43–4 and 46. Ptol. 7. 5. 2 makes the Sinai and Serike the last ethnē
­before the eastern unknown lands. In the view of Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006, i. 91 n. 83 (on Ptol.
1. 31. 1), Ptolemy distinguishes the Sinai (approached from the sea) from the Seres (approached over-
land from the W) without realizing they are the same culture. Casson 1989, 238, accepts that the name
Sinai and that of their capital, Thina (1. 16 below), are (like ‘China’) derived via Sanskrit from name of
the Qin (Ch’in) dynasty (221–206 bc); for the same view in detail, see Bodde 1978, 20 and n. 2.
40
If we had only his abridged periplous but not Ptol., it would be tempting to set the E limit of M.’ s
geography at around Burma (Myanmar); but P. names so many intervening places, giving definite lon-
gitudes and latitudes (even if his ‘route’ mistakenly goes SE rather than NE from the Malay peninsula),
that a field of view extending well into China is likeliest. Roman artefacts of Imperial and late antique
date have been found on the Malay peninsula, in Vietnam (cf. n. on 1. 46 Kattigara), and now as far E
as Bali (Calo, Bellwood et al. 2020).
41
i.e. the parts of Africa to the right when one sails S from the head of the Arabian gulf (mod. Red
Sea).
950 • 34 markianos

the positions of the places. As one sails the Arabian gulf towards the south, deviating
slightly towards the east and keeping the mainland on the right, the first place is Egypt,
which in part adjoins the gulf; along this part live the Arab–Egyptian Ichthyophagoi
(Fish-eaters). After this Troglodytike extends very far; for it runs beside the Arabian
gulf itself, and beside the Erythraian sea; after the mouth of the Arabian gulf the Eryth-
raian sea (western Indian Ocean) is next. As one sails round the latter, likewise keeping
the land on one’s right, there is the Aualites gulf,42 which happens to be in the right-
hand parts of the Erythraian sea; the nations living beside it are the aforementioned
Troglodytai, the Aualitai, and, what is more, the Mossyloi.
12. After one has sailed out of the gulf and the Erythraian sea, which gradually nar-
rows at the promontory after the gulf, there is the Indian open-sea (pelagos), spreading
out wide (eastern Indian Ocean); in its length it goes towards the east and the risings
of the sun up to the nation of the Sinai, who happen to lie at the end of the inhabited
world beside the unknown land towards the east. In its breadth it spreads out very far
towards the south, continuing up to the other unknown land that exists at the south.
Beside this there extends the so-called Prasodes Thalassa (Green Sea), lying all beside
the southern unknown land up to the east, and occupying (part of) the Indian open-
sea (pelagos); it has taken its designation from its colour.
13. Now after the Erythraian sea, as one bends towards the south and likewise keeps
the land on the right, there happen to lie Mt Elephas (Ivory) and the Aromatopho-
ros (Spice-bearing) Land. After this there follows the nation named Barbarikon and
the so-called Barbarikon Pelagos (open-sea), in which there are several gulfs and the
sea-roads of the so-called Azania. The first of the notable places is the gulf in it called
Apokopa (Cut-off; El-Hazin?); next in order are the Mikros Aigialos (Small Shore) and
the Megas (Great); after these is another great gulf up to the promontory of Rhap-
ton (Stitched; C. Puna?). After these places is the so-called Bracheia (Short) sea (thal-
assa)43 and the extremely large gulf around it, which the barbarian Anthropophagoi
(Man-eaters) occupy. At the end of the gulf lies the very large promontory which is
called Prason Akron (Green Point),44 and the island of Menouthias (Madagascar),
which happens to be not far from the promontory.45
14. And the whole situation and outline of the right-hand parts of the Arabian gulf
and the Erythraian sea, and, what is more, the Indic open-sea (pelagos) which deviates
towards the south, has this character. The part-by-part character is as follows. (The
part-by-part (description) is omitted.)46

42
Cf. PME §7: the narrows of the Red Sea.
43
lit. ‘Short Sea’, i.e. shallow; identified with Menai Bay.
44
Schoff 1927, 47, suggests Kilwa or C. Delgado.
45
On Mediterranean contact with Madagascar, see Altomare 2014.
46
This and seven more such sentences are notes by the excerptor who altered M.’ s text between its
composition in the late antique period and the making of our C13 copy. Müller suggests we can recon-
struct the contents of the missing passage from Ptolemy book 4.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 951

Circumnavigation of the left-hand parts of both the Arabian gulf and the
Erythraian sea and all of the Indic open-sea (pelagos)
15. For the left-hand parts of Asia, the position of the continent and the seas is organ-
ized more or less in the following way. For here, too, before the part-by-part namings
we must show the general designations, and note the position of the places. So as one
sails out of47 the Arabian gulf and keeps the mainland on the left, the first place is so-
called Eudaimon Arabia (Arabia Felix), which runs through along all of the Arabian
gulf up to the above-mentioned Arabian Strait. After the narrows of the Arabian gulf
there follows the Erythraian sea; as one sails round this keeping the mainland on the
left, there follows the above-mentioned nation of the Arabs, living all along this main-
land. In this part of the sea, there also happens to exist the nation of the Homeritai,48
occupying (part of) the land of the Arabs and running through up to the beginning of
the Indian open-sea (pelagos).
Next after the Erythraian sea is the Indikon Pelagos. So, as one sails round the
left-hand parts of this as well, which are spread out towards the land of the Arabs
up to the mouth of the Persian gulf, there follows Mt Syagros (Ras Fartak?) and the
Sachalites gulf,49 which is very large and runs through as far as the mouth of the
Persian gulf.
After one has sailed into the Persian gulf and is circumnavigating this, keeping the
mainland on the left up to the outlets of the river Tigris, [—] In the Persian gulf itself,
the nation of Sousiane is next; but also Persis happens to lie after Sousiane, after which
is the largest part of Karmania as far as the narrows of the Persian gulf itself. The Per-
sian gulf lies opposite the Caspian sea (thalassa), also called the Hyrkanian; making
the land between them narrow, it forms the great isthmus of Asia.
16. After one has sailed out of the gulf and makes a voyage towards the east, likewise
keeping the mainland on the left, the next in sequence is the Indian open-sea (pelagos),
by which the remainder of the nation of Karmania lives. And after this there happens
to lie the nation of Gedrosia; next after them is the Indike (India) lying within the river
Ganges, opposite which, by the very centre of the continent, lies a very great island
called Taprobane (Sri Lanka).
After this50 is the other Indike, that outside (i.e. east of) the river Ganges, which
happens to be the boundary of both the Indian terrains.51 In Indike outside the Ganges

47
‹ ›
Reading ἐκ πλέοντι with Lucarini 2020, 224.
48
This and many other places named in the text are also the subject of entries in Steph. Byz. citing
Mark. Homeritai, for example, is at B. 33 below.
49
Schoff 1927, 47, notes that the ancients mistakenly believed there was a large bay in the Oceanic
coast of Arabia. He equates Sachalites with a stretch of coast, Es-Shehr.
50
After India ‘within the Ganges’, i.e. bounded by the R. Ganges (rather than after Taprobane).
51
i.e. between India within and outside the Ganges. ‘Terrain’ is chosen to represent the unusual word
γαιῶν–gaiōn (from gaia, a form of gē, ‘Earth’).
952 • 34 markianos

is the peninsula called Chryse (Golden),52 after which is the so-called Megas gulf.53 By
the very centre of this54 are the boundaries of Indike outside the Ganges and of the Si-
nai. Next in order is the nation of the Sinai55 and their mother-city, which is designated
Thinai;56 it happens to be the frontier of the known and ‹the›57 unknown land (gē).
17. And the overall position and outline of the places in the left-hand parts of
Asia—the Arabian gulf, the Erythraian sea, and, what is more, the Persian gulf and all
the ­Indian open-sea (pelagos)—have this character; but the part-by-part (account) is
somewhat as follows.58

circumnavigation of the left-hand parts of the arabian gulf

­b eside eudaimon arabia
Eudaimon Arabia is bounded on the north by the sides of Petraia (Rocky) Arabia and
Eremos (Desert) Arabia, and by the southern part of the Persian gulf up to the outlets
of the Tigris river; ‹on the west by the Arabian gulf; on the east by a part of the Persian
gulf›59 and a part of the Indian sea; on the south by the Erythraian sea; ‹and on the
west by the Arabian gulf›.
Its position is somewhat as follows: it projects very far towards the south into
the Erythraian sea and the Indian open-sea (pelagos), and like a very large penin-
sula attached by a very wide isthmus it is surrounded by the sea. On both parts of
this isthmus two gulfs are juxtaposed. Of these the one from the westward parts is
called the Arabian gulf, as already mentioned; but that inclined towards the east is
named the Persian gulf. The (parts) in between, from the head of the Arabian (gulf)
up to the aforementioned Persian gulf, the part at which the Tigris river makes
its outlets, can be sailed round; it happens to be peninsular in form, as has been
mentioned earlier. It contains very many large nations, of which those adjoining
the sea during the circumnavigation will be shown. The (places) around the neck
of Eudaimon Arabia, after Petraia and Desert Arabia, are occupied by the so-called
Sarakenoi (Saracens), who have many designations but possess much desert land.
These people are neighbours of Arabia Petraia, Desert Arabia, Palaistine, and Per-
sis, and then in sequence the aforementioned Eudaimon Arabia. (The part-by-part
(description) is omitted.)

52
At PME §63 Chryse is an island; by Ptolemy’s time, improved knowledge made it a peninsula,
probably one projecting from the Malay peninsula, e.g. the outflow of the R. Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady)
or the Phuket peninsula; the fact that at 1. 8 Mark. makes Chryse larger than Ireland favours the
former. Thus Megas Kolpos may be the Andaman sea or the Malacca strait. Ptol. distinguishes a region
called Chryse and a peninsula of the same name; at 7. 2. 5 he lists places in Chryse (including Maleou
kōlon) with latitudes straddling the Equator. See further Casson 1989, 235–6.
53
See n. on 1. 7 Megas Kolpos.    54 This detail reappears at 1. 50.    55 See n. on 1. 10 Sinai.
56
Cf. Thina at PME §64. Mark. returns to this region at 1. 46–8 below. It is called the Metropolis of the
Sinai by Ptol. 1. 14. 10; 1. 17. 5; Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006 do not propose a specific location.
57
‘the’ is plausibly added by Lucarini 2020, 224–5.
58
In this instance, the ‘part-by-part’ description has not been removed.
59
Müller’s reconstruction, modified by Lucarini 2020, 225.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 953

19.60 The length of Eudaimon Arabia is 11,700 stades; its breadth is 8,850 stades. It
contains 54 nations or satrapies, 164 notable cities and villages, 15 notable mountains,
4 notable rivers, 6 notable harbours, 5 notable gulfs, 2 large seashores, and 35 notable
islands previously mentioned in the circumnavigation. The total, from the promonto-
ry of Asabōn up to the Maisanites gulf, which happens to be beside Eudaimon Arabia,
is 5,140 stades.61
The grand total of the whole circumnavigation of the coast of the land of the Eudai-
mones Arabes (Fortunate Arabs), from the Ailanites head of the Arabian gulf up to the
Maisanites gulf and the extremity of the Persian gulf by Desert (Arabia), and also (up
to) the outlets of the river Tigris, is 38,150 stades.

‹ circumnavigation › of sousiane
20. Sousiane lies in the Persian gulf. It is bounded on the north by Assyria; on the west
by the aforementioned Babylonia, beside this part of the river Tigris as far as the sea;
on the east by Persis; and on the south by the Persian gulf from the outlets of the river
Tigris up to the outlets of the river Oroatis (Zoreh) into the Persian gulf. And the
overall outline of the territory is of this kind; but the part-by-part coastal sailing is
somewhat as follows.
21. From the eastern mouth of the river Tigris to Charax Spasinou62 is 80 stades. Be-
side this part lies the island called Apphana; some assign this to the circumnavigation
of Eudaimon Arabia, numbering it among the 35 islands.
From Charax of Pasinos (sic) to the outlets of the river Mogaios is 700 stades.
From the river Mogaios to the gulf called Pelodes (Muddy) is 400 stades. Beside this
gulf and the places around it live the Elymaioi, belonging to the territory of Sousiane.
By this gulf lies an island called Taxiana.
From the gulf to the outlets of the river Eulaios is 690 (?) stades. By this river, in the
interior, lies a city, the mother-city of Sousiane, Sousa.
From the river Eulaios to ‹Ammodes (Sandy)› Lagoon ‹is 110 stades.
From› Ammodes ‹Lagoon› to the outlets of the river Oroatis is ‹1›,450 stades.
22. The length of Sousiane is 3,500 stades; its breadth is 2,350 stades. It contains 6
nations or satrapies 6, 17 notable cities and villages, 4 notable rivers, the Pelodes gulf,
Sandy Lagoon, and the Pillars of Herakles.
The total of the coastal sailing of the territory of Sousiane, from the mouth of the
river Tigris up to the outlets of the river Oroatis, is 3,430.

coastal sailing beside persis

23. Persis itself also lies on the Persian gulf, and is bounded on the north by Media; on
the west by the aforementioned Sousiane; on the east by Karmania; and on the south
by the Persian gulf. It begins ‹from› the river Oroatis (and goes) up to the outlets of

60
§18 was a group of ‘fragments’ placed here by Müller.    61 Müller suggests 8,140.
62
‘Charax of Spasinos’ (‘Pasinos’ in the MS). For Charax, cf. Juba 20.
954 • 34 markianos

Bagradas,63 the river. And the overall outline of the territory is of this kind; but the
part-by-part circumnavigation has this character:
24. From the outlets of the river Oroatis to the cape called Taoke (Tawwaj?) is 500
stades.
From Cape Taoke to the outlets of the river Rhogomanis is 700 stades. On the
coastal sailing lies an island called Sophtha.
From the river Rhogomanis to Chersonesos is 500 stades. Beside this lies the so-
called Alexander’s Island.
From Chersonesos to the outlets of the river Brisoanas is 650 stades.
From the river Brisoanas to Ausinza (Sausinda) is 600 stades.
From Ausinza ‹to› the outlets of the river Bagradas is 450 stades. Here we have
mentioned previously that the boundaries of Persis come to their end.
25. The length of Persis is 4,000 stades; its breadth is 1,400. It contains 10 nations or
satrapies, 32 notable cities and villages, 3 notable rivers, 1 notable promontory, 1 nota-
ble peninsula, and 2 notable islands. The total of the coastal sailing of the territory of
the Persians, from the Oroatis up to the outlets of the river Bagradas, is 3,400 stades.

circumnavigation of karmania
26. Karmania lies in part by the Persian gulf, in part beside the Indian open-sea (pel-
agos) ‹that is› after the Persian gulf. It is bounded on the north by Eremos (Desert)
Karmania; on the west by the above-mentioned Persis and the aforementioned river
Bagradas, and also by the remaining part of the Persian gulf, called the Karmanic; on
the east by the nation of Gedrosia beside the Parsic mountains; and on the south, after
the narrows of the Persian gulf, by the Indian open-sea (pelagos). And the overall out-
line of the territory is of this kind; but the part-by-part circumnavigation is as follows.
27. From the outlets of the previously mentioned river Bagradas to the river Dara is
300 stades. Beside this the Kameloboskoi (Camel-herders), belonging to the territory
of Karmania.
From the river Dara to the outlets of the river Kathraps is 500 stades. ‹From the
river Kathraps› to the outlets of the river Korios is 700 stades. By these places lies an
island called Agedana, in which much red ochre occurs.
From the river Korios to the outlets of the river Achidana is 400 stades.
From the river Achidana to the outlets of the river Andanis64 is 500 stades. Beside
these places lies the island of Oörachtha.
From the river Andanis to the outlets of the river Saganos, 400 stades.
From the outlets of the river Saganos to the city of Armouza,65 200 stades.
From Armouza to the promontory called Armozōn (C. Hormuz),66 800 stades.

63
Unidentified, like several of the following places.    64 Near the narrows of the Persian gulf.
65
Called Harmouza at Ptolemy, Geography 6. 8. 5; 8. 22. 21.
66
Harmozon Akron, Ptolemy, Geography 6. 8. 5.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 955

From the Armozōn promontory to the promontory of Karpella, 750 stades. Beside
here lies the above-mentioned Strongylon Oros (Round Mountain) of Semiramis, op-
posite which, as we said, lie the mountain and promontory of Asabōn by Eudaimon
Arabia; these two mountains and promontories (i.e. Strongylon and Asabōn) form the
narrows of the Persian gulf.
The total of the circumnavigation of Karmania, which turns out to be along the Per-
sian gulf, from the river Bagradas up to the Round Mountain and Cape (sic) Karpella,
happens to be 4,250 stades.
The grand total of the whole circumnavigation of the Persian gulf, from Mt Asabōn
and the promontory of Asabōn up to the Round Mountain of Semiramis and the
promontory of Karpella, is ‹16,790 stades.67
28. After Cape Karpella› there follows the Indian open-sea (pelagos), extending
towards the east; beside it the remaining part of Karmania runs up to the land of the
Mousarnaioi. In fact there follows, after Cape Karpella, a very large gulf, the so-called
Paragōn, running through up to the promontory called Alambater and the island
called Zibe. The place-by-place (account) is as follows.
From Cape Karpella to the city of Kanthatis, 1,000 stades. Beside here live the peo-
ple called Pasargadai, being of the race of Karmanians.
From the city of Kanthatis to the city of Agrisa, 250 stades.
From the city of Agrisa to the trading-place of Ommana, one of the notable ones,
600 stades.
From Ommana to Rhogana, 150 stades.
From Rhogana to the outlets of the river Salaros, 150 stades.
From the river Salaros to Pasis, 200 stades.
From Pasis to the city of Samydake, 200 stades. Beside here live the Chelonophagoi
(Tortoise-eaters), who also happen to be in Karmania.
From the city of Samydake to the outlets of the river Samydakos, 500 stades.
From the river Samydakes to the city of Tesa, 400 stades.
From the city of Tesa to the outlets of the river Hydriakes, 200 stades.
From the outlets of the river Hydriakes to Cape Bagia (anc. Bagisara?), 400 stades.
From Cape Bagia to the harbour of Kyiza, 250 stades.
From the harbour of Kyiza to the promontory of Alambater, 400 stades. In these
parts lies a deep-sea (pelagia) island called Pola. Beside the promontory of ­Alambater
lies an island called Zibe. Here we have mentioned previously that the gulf called
P
­ aragōn ends.
The total circumnavigation thereof (of the gulf), from Cape Karpella to the promon-
tory of Alambater, is 4,700 stades.68

67
Müller prints ͵α Ϛψζʹ (16,707) within an insertion, but his translation gives 16,790, which Schoff
also prints; Mark. explains in a note, cross-referring to his n. on §51.
68
1,700 in the MS; corrected by Müller.
956 • 34 markianos

29. From the promontory of Alambater to Derenobilla, 250 stades. Beside here lies
an island called Karmina (Asthala?).
From Derenobilla to the harbour of Kophas, 250 stades.
From the harbour of Kophas to the outlets of the river Zorambos, 200 stades.
From the river Zorambos to Badara,69 250 stades.
From Badara to the city of Mousarna, 300 stades.
30. The length of Karmania is 7,000 stades; its breadth is 1,500. It contains 10 na-
tions or satrapies, 23 notable cities and villages, 3 notable mountains, 10 notable rivers,
3 notable promontories, and 5 notable harbours.
The total of the circumnavigation of the (part of) Karmania beside the Indian open-
sea (pelagos), from the promontory of Karpella up to the city of Mousarna, is 5,950
stades.70
The grand total of the circumnavigation of all the coast of the Karmanians, from the
river Bagrada up to the city of Mousarna, is 10,200 stades.

circumnavigation of gedrosia
31. Gedrosia is bounded on the north by Drangiane and Arachosia; on the west by the
aforementioned Karmania up to the sea; on the east by the part of Indike beside the
river Indos, up to the frontier of the previously noted Arachosia; and on the south by
the Indian open-sea (pelagos). And the overall outline is of this kind; but the part-by-
part (account) is as follows.
32. From the city of Mousarna to the outlets of the river Artabis, 1,300 stades. After
one has sailed up the river, a city lies on the right during the voyage upstream, called
Arbis; and still further up, and likewise on the right of the river, is the city of Parsis,
the mother-city of Gedrosia.
From the river Artabis to the city of Rhapraua, 550 stades.
From the city of Rhapraua to Gynaikōn Limen (Women’s Harbour; Morontobara),
500 stades. Here lie the villages of the Arabitai.
From Gynaikōn Limen to Koiamba, 400 stades. ‹From Koiamba to Rhizana, 1,100
stades.› Here begins the territory of Patalene (Sind), most of which the river Indos has
surrounded with its mouths; and it has come about that the mother-city itself, called
Patala, (now) lies after the third mouth of the river Indos as an island, as do numerous
other cities.
33. The length of Gedrosia is 6,600 stades; its breadth is 5,250 stades. It contains 8
nations or satrapies, 12 notable cities and villages, 1 very large mountain, 1 great river,
1 notable harbour, and 2 notable islands.
The total, from the city of Mousarna to Rhizana on the coast of the Gedrosians, is
3,850 stades.

69
Possibly the place also called Barna?    70
5,350 in MS; corrected by Müller.
 b. periplous, book 1 • 957

Circumnavigation of Indike within the river Ganges and the gulfs and islands
therein
34. Indike within the river Ganges71 is bounded on the north by Mt Imaos (Himalaya),
beside the Sogdianians and Sakai who lie beyond it; on the west, towards the sea, by
the aforementioned Gedrosia, but in the interior by Arachosia and further up by the
Paropanisadai; on the east by the river Ganges; and on the south by the Indian open-
sea (pelagos). And the overall outline is of this kind: ‹but the part-by-part (account) is
as follows. The part-by-part (description) is omitted.›
The total circumnavigation of the aforementioned part, Indike within the Ganges,
from the harbour of Naustathmos (Naval Station)72 up to the promontory of Kory (C.
Comorin/​Kanyakumari),73 is ‹2›1,725 stades.

circumnavigation of the island of taprobane

35. Opposite the promontory of Indike called Kory lies the promontory of the island
of Taprobane called Boreion (Northern). The island of Taprobane was formerly called
Palaisimoundou, but now Salike. This promontory of the island, the one lying opposite
Kory, which as we said is called Boreion Akron (Point), is distant from the eastern
horizon (i.e. limit of the oikoumenē) 26,460 stades; from the western horizon 61,626
stades; from the south and the equator, roughly to the north, 6,350 stades. (The part-
by-part (description) is omitted.)
36. After the promontory of Boreion, the overall outline and circumnavigation of
the island of Taprobane has this character: along its diameter, 9,500 stades in length
and 7,500 stades in breadth. It contains 13 nations or satrapies, 22 notable cities and
trading-places, 2 notable mountains, 5 notable rivers, 8 notable promontories, 4 nota-
ble harbours, 2 great gulfs, and 1 great seashore.
The total of the circumnavigation of the island of Taprobane is 26,385 stades.74
And concerning the island of Taprobane let so much be said; but we shall come
back to the coastal sailing of Indike within the Ganges. (The part-by-part (description)
is omitted.)

circumnavigation of the gangetic gulf

37. From this Apheterion (Departure Place) there follows the gulf called Gangetic,
which is extremely large. By its head the river Ganges discharges, making its outlet in
five mouths; as we have said, it is the frontier between Indike within the Ganges and
outside. (The part-by-part (description) is omitted.)

71
i.e. northern Indike, including mod. Bangladesh and Nepal.
72
Not mentioned up to now; presumably part of the details omitted at an earlier point, e.g. the end of
1. 18.
73
The S tip of India; not the point closest to Sri Lanka, despite the next sentence.
74
In reality c.833 mi (1,340 km, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sri-lanka/#geography),
which at 8 st. to the mile would make c.6,660 st.—almost exactly one-quarter of the figure in the MS.
958 • 34 markianos

38. The length of Indike within the Ganges, where it happens to be longest—from the
fifth mouth of the river Ganges, called Antibole, as far as the harbour of ­Naustathmos,
the one in the gulf of Kanthi75—is 18,290 stades. Its breadth, from the promontory
called Apheterion as far as the sources of the river Ganges, is 13,000 s­ tades. It con-
tains 54 nations or satrapies, 216 notable cities, villages, and trading-places, 6 notable
­mountains, 23 notable rivers, 2 notable promontories, 1 notable harbour, 5 notable
gulfs, 12 notable river mouths, 1 notable departure place, 10 notable river confluences,
and 9 notable islands.
39. The total of the circumnavigation of the region76 of the Gangetic gulf, from
Apheterion up to the fifth mouth of the river Ganges, the one called Antibole, is 5,660
stades.
The grand total of the circumnavigation of all of Indike within the Ganges, from the
harbour of Naustathmos as far as the fifth mouth of the river Ganges, which is called
Antibole, is 35,695 stades.

Circumnavigation of Indike outside the river Ganges and the gulfs therein
40. Indike outside the river Ganges is bounded on the north by the parts of Skythia
and Serike (Silk Land);77 on the west by the river Ganges itself; on the east by the Sinai78
up to the so-called Megas (Great) gulf and by the gulf itself;79 and on the south by
the Indian open-sea (pelagos) and a part of the Prasodes Thalassa (Green Sea) which,
beginning from the island of Menouthias (Madagascar), extends on a parallel line up
to the parts of the Great gulf lying opposite, as we have mentioned before.80 (The part-
by-part (description) is omitted.)
41. The length of Indike outside the Ganges, where it happens to be longest, is 11,650
stades; its breadth, where it is widest, is 19,000 stades.81 It contains 50 nations or sa-
trapies, 67 notable cities, villages, and trading-places, 18 notable mountains, 5 notable
promontories, 3 notable harbours, 1 very large gulf, and 30 notable islands.
42. The total of the circumnavigation of the part of the Great gulf that happens to
be beside Indike outside the Ganges, from the ‹Great› promontory up to the frontier
with the Sinai, is 12,550.
The grand total of the whole circumnavigation of the coast of Indike outside the
Ganges, from the fifth mouth of the river Ganges, which is called Antibole, up to the
boundaries with the nation of the Sinai, is 45,350 stades.82

75
Apparently near Bhuj in Gujarat.   76 Or possibly ‘of this part’.
77
The derivation of ‘Serike’ and ‘Seres’ (1. 17) from a word for silk is implicitly accepted by Stückel-
berger and Graßhoff 2006, ii. 743 n. 170 (to Ptol. 7. 5. 2).
78
See n. on 1. 10. Ptol. 1. 17. 5 locates the Seres N of the Sinai.    79 See n. on 1. 16.
80
For the relationship between the Prasiodes Thalassa and the Indikon Pelagos, see n. on 1. 12.
81
It does not seem possible to reconcile the different figures in 1. 41–2.
82
At 8 st. to the mile, this would be c.5,668¾ miles. Even allowing for coastal indentations, this is
several times the circuit of Indo-China including the elongated Malay peninsula; taken at face value,
the figure would imply knowledge of China at least as far as Taiwan or, in another direction, Bali (see
n. on 1. 7 Megas Kolpos).
 b. periplous, book 1 • 959

Circumnavigation of the Sinai and the gulfs among them

43. The nation of the Sinai is bounded on the north by a part of Serike; on the west by
Indike outside the Ganges, at the aforementioned frontier in the Megas (Great) gulf; on
the east by unknown land; and on the south by the southern sea and the southern un-
known land. And the overall outline has this character; ‹but the part-by-part ­(account)
is as follows›. (The part-by-part (description) is omitted.)
44. Here there begin to live beside (the sea), up to the southern unknown land,
the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eating) Sinai.83 For one must understand that there are two
unknown lands: that running through along the east, beside which we have stated that
the Sinai live, and that beside the south,84 which runs through beside all the Indike
Thalassa (Indian sea), also called the Prasodes, which is part of the Indike Thalassa;85
so that in joining together each of the unknown lands it (the southern one) forms a sort
of angle at the Sinōn kolpos (gulf of the Sinai).86 Beyond the Sinai lies the territory of
the Seres and their mother-city.87 The places further east than these are unknown land
containing marshy lakes, in which great reeds grow so thickly that people effect their
passage by holding onto them.

circumnavigation of the theriodes gulf

45. So as one sails beyond the Megas (Great) gulf and Notion Akron (South Point)88 in a
southerly direction, keeping the land of the Sinai and the east on the left, there follows
a gulf called Theriodes (Of Wild Animals),89 which runs through up to the promontory
called Satyrōn Akron (Satyrs’ Point).90 The total of the circumnavigation of the Theri-
odes gulf, from Notion Point up to the promontory of the Satyrs, is 10,503† stades.91

circumnavigation of the gulf of the sinai

46. From Satyrs’ Point there follows a very large gulf called Sinōn kolpos (gulf of the
Sinai).92 This runs along up to the southern unknown land where it joins the unknown
land in the east beside which, as we have mentioned, the Sinai live. So from the

83
Ptol. 7. 3. 3 locates ‘Fish-eating Aithiopes’ around the gulf of the Sinai.
84
A dim awareness of Borneo and islands beyond?
85
These phrases are not consistent; that one or other is an intrusive gloss seems a possibility.
86
Not mentioned by Mark. until now. The explanation probably reflects the ancient belief in a land
bridge from SE Asia to Africa; cf. Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006, ii. 733 n. 139; cf. Introduction,
§III. 3. g; but it remains confusing unless Mark. is thinking of the southern unknown land as joining
SE Asia about here.
87
Ptol. 1. 11. 4 calls it Sera. Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006, ii. 669 n. 229 (on Ptol. 6. 16. 8), note
that while the official Chinese view today is that Sera is Xi’an, the capital in Ptolemy’s day was Luoyang.
88
Not mentioned up to now; presumably details were omitted at the end of 1. 43. If Megas is the
­Andaman sea or the Malacca strait (see n. on 1. 7 Megas), then Notion Akron may be Singapore (c.1° N).
89
Gulf of Thailand? See n. on 1. 7 Megas.
90
If Theriodes is the gulf of Thailand, Satyron Akron should be Mui Ca Mao, the S extremity of Viet-
nam, though it at c.8° N whereas Ptol. 7. 3. 3 locates Satyron Akron on the Equator.
91
Müller suggests 4,550; but all reconstructed distances depend on what locations we assign to
named places and features.
92
Probably the gulf of Tonkin; see n. on 1. 7 Megas.
960 • 34 markianos

­ romontory of the Satyrs to the outlets of the river Kottiaris, which discharges in the
p
gulf of the Sinai, is 1,250 stades.
From the river Kottiaris there follows Kattigara,93 representing an anchorage (hor-
mos) of the Sinai but also the frontier of the known and inhabited land in the parts
towards the south. The number of stades in this circumnavigation it is not easy to
compute. It will not be easy for anyone other than some divine intelligence to show
clearly the subsequent circumnavigation, the one after the anchorage of the Sinai,
nor to render clear94 for people the parts towards the south that run along beside the
­unknown land, nor the unknown land beside the eastern (land) after the Sinai.
47. The greatest length of the (territory of the) Sinai is 3,000 stades; its greatest
breadth is 17,250 stades. It contains 5 nations or satrapies, 7 notable cities and villages, 1
notable mountain, 4 notable rivers, 2 notable gulfs, and 2 notable promontories. ‹Alto-
gether the cities and villages of the eastern Earth are 560.›
48. The total of the whole circumnavigation of the coast of the Sinai, from the fron-
tier in the Great gulf of the Sinai, lying towards Indike outside the Ganges, to the out-
lets of the river Kottiaris, is 12,650 stades.95

Recapitulation of all the aforementioned distances

49 (50 M.).96 It is established that the whole circumnavigation and outline of the mari-
time territory of (this) part of Asia—the Arabian gulf, the Erythraian sea, and also the
Persian gulf and the Indian open-sea (pelagos)—has this character.
The grand total of the distance, if all the gulfs are sailed round, from the Ailanites
head as far as the outlets of the river of Kottiaris that happens to be in the gulf of the
Sinai, is 153,295 stades.97 The part-by-part (account) of the coast of the left-hand parts
has this character:
50 (51 M.). From the Ailanites head, from which we made a start on the circum-
navigation of the left-hand parts of Asia, up to the narrows of the Arabian gulf, 11,670
stades.98
From the narrows of the Arabian gulf, the stades of the circumnavigation of the
Erythraian sea and a part of the Indian open-sea (pelagos) are 21,530.99
From the mouth of the Persian gulf back up to the same mouth again, the ‹stades›
of the circumnavigation of the whole Persian gulf are ‹16,790.

93
Probably near Hanoi (Stückelberger and Graßhoff 2006, e.g. 733 (on Ptol. 7. 3. 3); cf. their map at
i. 18. An earlier view identified Kottiara with Óc Eo (O Keo) in the Mekong delta (10° 15′ N, 105° 9′ E)).
For C2 ad Roman finds there, see Wheeler 1954, 172; Brentjes 2006b; cf. Calo, Bellwood et al. 2020,
111, 114, etc.; for trade in SE Asia during the Sasanid era (ad 224–651), Ritter 2011; and for R finds
further E, see n. on 1. 10 ‘the known Earth’.
94
Reading καταστῆσαι for καταστῆναι, with Lucarini 2020, 225.
95
This information is soon repeated in the overview at 1. 50.
96
There is no section 1. 49 in Müller.    97 123,395 in MS; corrected by Müller.
98
11,609 in MS; corrected by Müller.    99 10,530 in MS; Müller suggests 21,340.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 961

From the Persian gulf› up to the boundaries of the coast of the Karmanians, 5,950
stades.100
From the aforementioned boundaries of Karmania up to the city of Rhizana on the
coast of the Gedrosians, 3,850 stades.
From the above-mentioned boundaries of Gedrosia and also the first and western-
most mouth of the river Indos, called Sagapa, up to the fifth mouth of the river Ganges,
which is called Antibole, the stades of the coast of Indike within the Ganges are 35,695.
From the fifth mouth of the river Ganges, which is called Antibole, up to the bound-
aries with the Sinai, who happen to be in the very middle101 of the so-called Great gulf,
the stades of Indike outside the river Ganges are 45,350.102
From the frontier of the Sinai in the Great gulf to the outlets of the river Kottiaris
on the coast of the Sinai, 12,650 stades.
The total stades of the aforementioned total circumnavigation of the left-hand parts
of Asia, from the Ailanites head up to the nation of the Sinai and the outlets of the river
Kottiaris, are gathered together into 153,295.
51 (52 M.). Here, then, we shall make an end of our first book, after composing
the circumnavigation of all of the Arabian gulf, all of the Erythraian sea, not to men-
tion the Indian open-sea (pelagos) in both its right-hand and, moreover, its left-hand
parts—such as have become attainable by human diligence and scholarship—up to the
unknown land by both continents, the eastern and the southern. Now we shall begin
the circumnavigation of the western Ocean; for that was what we promised to do at
the beginning of the book.
Markianos of Herakleia in the Pontos, his Circumnavigation of the outer sea, east-
ern and western, and of the largest islands in it. Of the two books, the first (ends here).

bo ok 2 103

‹Contents of Book 2›
‹The following things are in Markianos’ 2nd Periplous of the eastern and western
Ocean.
Preface (prooimion).›
Circumnavigation of the parts of Iberia and Hispania beside the western and
northern Ocean. The part-by-part (account) is as follows: Circumnavigation of Baitike
from the parts around Kalpe up to the boundaries of Lousitania. Circumnavigation of
Lousitania. Circumnavigation of Tarrakonesia.
Circumnavigation of the so-called Keltogalatia. The part-by-part (account) is as fol-
lows: Circumnavigation of Akytania (Aquitania). Circumnavigation of Lougdounesia
(Lugdunensis). Circumnavigation of Belgike with upper and lower Germania.
Circumnavigation of Great Germania.

100
5,750 in MS; corrected by Müller.    101 The same location is indicated at 1. 16.
102
15,330 in MS; corrected by Müller.    103 Book 2 begins on p. 28 of codex D.
map 34.2. Markianos: Circumnavigation, book 2.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 963

Circumnavigation of the Sarmatia in Europe.

On the Prettanic (British) islands. Circumnavigation of the Prettanic island of
Iouernia (Hibernia). ‹Circumnavigation of the Prettanic island of Albion.›
Circumnavigation of the parts of Libyē beside the western and northern Ocean up
to Aithiopia. The part-by-part (account) is as follows: Circumnavigation of Mauritania
Tingitana. Circumnavigation of inner Libyē.104
On the distances from Rome to the notable cities of the inhabited world.105

‹Preface›
1. The second book will contain the whole circumnavigation from the Herakleian strait
along the western and northern Ocean up to the northernmost parts; and, moreover,
of the southern parts as far as the unidentified land in both continents. This (circum-
navigation) will be, first, of the right-hand parts along Iberia—which is also called
Hispania—(namely) the places in it that lie beside the Ocean; and moreover along
Akytania, Lougdounesia (Lugdunensis), and Belgike; and Great Germania up to the
(part of) Sarmatia that is in Europe, after which there follows the unknown land to-
wards the north. In addition to these, however, (it will also be a circumnavigation) of
the two islands lying in the northern Ocean that they commonly call (the) Prettanikai,
though one of them is called Iouernia and the other Albion; and of the left-hand parts
along Libyē and the western and southern Ocean, and the places adjoining these up
to the so-called Aithiopian Hypodromos (Run-in),106 where it is established that the
Ocean, spreading towards the south, has its end and the unknown land then follows.
2. The accurate circumnavigation of all the sea within the Pillars of Herakles, as we
have mentioned before, has been made accurately by us, we deem, in the summaries
of the eleven books by Artemidoros of Ephesos, the geographer, whom we believe has
made the most diligent circumnavigation of our sea in the (books) of his Geography.107
As for the outer sea, which is called Ocean by most (writers), even if the aforemen-
tioned Artemidoros has to some extent noted certain parts, nevertheless we, extract-
ing the most accurate circumnavigation of this (sea) from the Geography of the divine
Ptolemy and, what is more, from Protagoras and other ancient men—that is, of the
Arabian gulf and the Erythraian sea in both continents and, moreover, of the whole
Indian open-sea (pelagos) up to the eastern and unknown land—have gone through it
in our former book, as far as possible in sequence.
Now, however, we shall arrive at the parts around the western Ocean.
3. So we shall make a beginning of the circumnavigation of the outer sea from the
Herakleian strait. This strait divides the two continents: both Iberia, ‹which› they also
designate Hispania, and which represents a part of Europe, and Libyē, lying directly

104
The areas in this paragraph are lost from the end of the surviving text.
105
This may have been a separate work (F. 42 below).
106
Cf. Ptolemy, Geography, 4. 6. 7: ‘the hypodromos of Aithiopia’, following Mauretania and preceding
a list of mountains in Libyē.
107
Much of this paragraph repeats the statement at 1. 1.
964 • 34 markianos

opposite it. For as one sails out of the Herakleian strait and presses on towards the
Ocean, on one’s right is the nation of Baitike in Hispania, but on the left, in Libyē, are
the Mauritaniai, as they are called. The ‹open sea› (pelagos) between these ‹in the in-
ner sea is called› the Iberic. After one has sailed out through the Herakleian strait and
(past) the temple of Hera108—this lies on the right during the voyage out of the strait—
there follows the Ocean, opening out towards both continents, Iberia and Libyē, and
also extending westwards to a limitless and unknown magnitude.
4. The first place on the right happens to be the island of Gadeira, where it is es-
tablished that the Pillars of Herakles are. For those at Mt Kalpe, which lies inward
from the Herakleian narrows, say that this is the Pillars; but those at Gadeira (say
that) the island is, as does Artemidoros the geographer. But there is no obstacle to
making the circumnavigation of Iberia from Mt Kalpe, which most people would
like to be the Pillar of Herakles.
Kalpe is in the province called Baitike.109 The end and frontier of this nation is occu-
pied by the river Anas (Guadiana), making its outlets at the western Ocean. After this,
the subsequent nations of Hispania happen to lie by the outer sea and the Ocean.110 So
the circumnavigation will have its beginning from Kalpe in Iberia and from ‹this› part
of the province of Baitike.
5. Since many of those who have circumnavigated these parts made mistakes about
the number of stades—indeed, we have gone through the causes of such errors in our
previous book—nevertheless, for the sake of greater accuracy, we have generally cho-
sen to append the number of stades in double form, adding ‘not more than’ and ‘not
less than’ next to a line placed beneath. Thus the interval between both numbers will
be available,111 as a kind of definition of the truth, for those pursuing accuracy. Protag-
oras, too, by doing this in a clear manner in his Geography, seems to have avoided the
error with reference to the stades.

Circumnavigation of the parts of Iberia or Hispania beside the Ocean

6. Iberia, which is also called Hispania, begins from the Pyrenaian mountains and runs
very far, surrounded by both seas: the northern and western Ocean, and our sea. Mt
Pyrene, beginning from our sea, stretches up to the northern Ocean. One extremity
of the mountain projects into our sea; but its other extremity is thrust forth towards
the north and the northern Ocean. It disconnects and divides Iberia with respect to
the region that follows, namely Keltogalatia, so that Iberia appears to be a very large

108
Cf. 2. 3 above.
109
Hispania Baetica, created by Augustus when he reorganized the Spanish provinces (cf. 2. 7 below).
110
Not that they have only an Atlantic coast: Mark. refers below to the Mediterranean coasts of Baet-
ica and Tarraconensis.
111
‘The interval’ translates τὸ μεταξύ–to metaxý, literally ‘the between’. It does not seem that Mark. is
referring to the mean (average) of the two data; cf. Geus 2014 for the absence of averaging in ancient
geography.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 965

peninsula attached by the neck to Pyrene. The mountain curves somewhat towards
Hispania.
7. Formely Iberia has been divided by the Romans into two provinces, but now into
three: Hispania Baitike (Baetica), Hispania Lousitania (Lusitania), and Hispania Tar-
rakonesia (Tarraconensis). The majority of Baitike lies in front of our sea (and) within
the Pillars of Herakles, but part (lies) beside the western Ocean. Of the two remaining
nations, the whole of Lousitania happens to lie by the western Ocean; but Tarrakonesia
over its greatest part is adjacent to the northern Ocean, though in a certain part to our
sea: it runs through from the south to both seas, up to the Pyrenaean mountains. So
we shall write the circumnavigation of the parts of Iberia beside the Ocean; for this is
what we undertook to do.112

circumnavigation of baitike from the parts around kalpe up to the

boundaries of lousitania
8. Hispania Baitike is bounded on the north and west by Lousitania and part of the
province of Tarrakonesia; but on the east by the so-called Balearic open-sea (pelagos),
which is attached to the Iberian sea (thalassa); on the south, at the outer sea and the
Herakleian strait, by the western Ocean; but at the inner sea by the Iberian open-sea
(pelagos). And the overall outline is of this kind; but the part-by-part circumnavigation
has this character:
9. From the mountain and pillar of Kalpe—which is at the beginning of the inner
sea—as one sails out to the strait and the Ocean, keeping the mainland of Iberia on
the right, it is 50 stades to Karteia. Beside this lives the nation of ‹the› Bastouloi called
Poinoi (Punic).
From Karteia to Barbesola, 100 stades.
From Barbesola to Transducta (or Iulia Traducta), not more than 200 stades; not
less than 145 according to the line placed beneath.
From Transducta to Menralia (or Mellaria), not more than 115 stades;113 not less than
123 stades.
From Menralia to the city of Belon, not more than 140 stades; not less than 100
stades. Here begins the nation of the Tourdouloi.
From the city of Belon to the outlets of the river Belon, not more than 75 stades;114
not less than 50 stades.
From the outlets of the river Belon to the promontory at which lie the strait and the
temple of Hera, 200 stades/150 stades.
From here on, only the stades will adjoin (the text), and the first of the two numbers
will show the greatest, and the following (number) the lesser, so that we shall not write
‘more than’ and ‘less than’ before each instance.115

112
Quoted inaccurately by Steph. Byz. ι 19 ‘Iberiai: two’: see at end of chapter.
113
Müller suggests 155 st.
114
Müller translates as 75 and has evidently misprinted σε (205) for οε.
115
I use an oblique stroke (/) to join these double measurements.
966 • 34 markianos

From the promontory at which are the strait and the temple of Hera, as one sails
the Ocean northwards and similarly keeps the mainland on the right and the western
Ocean on the left, there follows Menestheos Limen (Menestheus’s Harbour).116 Up to it
there are 225 stades/160 stades.
By these places lies an island in the outer sea, Gadeira (Cádiz), on which is also a
city of the same name, Gadeira. From the promontory where the strait is to Gadeira,
the island, 270 stades/240 stades.
From Menestheos Limen to the estuary at Astan, 210 stades. From here the Tourde-
tanoi begin to live beside (the coast).
From the estuary at Astan to the more easterly mouth of the river Baitis (Gua-
dalquivir), 385 stades/285 stades. From the outlets of the river Baitis to the sources of
the same river, 3,350 stades/2,400 stades.
From the more easterly mouth of the river Baitis to Onoba Aistouria,117 420
s­ tades/300 stades.
From Onoba Aistouria to the outlets of the river Anas, 210 stades/150 stades. From
the outlets of the river Anas to the sources of the same river, 2,145 stades/1,550 stades.
This is the extremity of the part of Baitike Hispania that runs along beside both the
seas that happen to be in the area of the Herakleian strait: the one on our side and the
outer one, that is, the Ocean.
10. The length of the whole of Baitike begins from the outlets of the river Anas and
passes through as far as the sources of the same river Anas, so that the stades in its
length, via the greater line, are 3,709.
The breadth of Baitike begins from the sources of the same river, but terminates
towards the south in the direction of the aforementioned temple of Hera, or the city
of Belon or Portos Magnos (Portus Magnus), so that the stades in the distance of the
breadth, via the greater line, are 1,158.
The boundary circuit of inland Baitike is 6,709 stades/5,140 stades. It contains 5 na-
tions, 85 notable cities, 3 notable mountains, 5 notable rivers, 2 notable promontories,
and 1 notable harbour.
11. The total stades of the circumnavigation of the whole of Baitike are gathered
together into not more than 4,345 stades/‹not less than [—] stades›. Of this part of
Baitike whose circumnavigation we have made, from the mountain and pillar of Kalpe
up to the outlets of the river Anas on the same coast beside the Ocean, the stades are
not more than 2,380, not less than 1,245.118

circumnavigation of lousitania
12. Of the Hispanias, Lousitania is bounded on the north by Tarrakonesia Hispania,
along the western part of the river Dorion (Douro); on the east by the same Tarrako-
nesia; on the west by the western Ocean; on the south by the aforementioned Baitike,

116
Apparently at Cádiz.   117 Near Huelva. Probably the same as Ossonoba in 2. 11.
118
Müller suggests 1,745.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 967

‹which, as we stated, lies beside the western Ocean,› and by our sea. And the overall
outline has this character; but the part-by-part (account) is as follows.
13. From the outlets of the aforementioned river Anas to Balsa, 380 stades/‹. . .
240 (?) stades›. And beside these parts live the Tourdetanoi.
From Balsa to Ossonoba,119 340 stades/300 stades.
From Ossonoba to the Hieron (Sacred) Promontory (C. St Vincent?), 360 stades/260
stades. This projects far out into the Ocean, and is among the most famous (promon-
tories).
From Hieron Promontory to the outlets of the river Kalipous, 1,350 stades/950
s­ tades.
From the outlets of the river Kalipous to Salakra, 230 stades/210 stades.
From Salakra to Kaitobrix (Alentejo), 105 stades/90 stades.
From Kaitobrix to Barbarion Point,120 190 stades/160 stades.
From Barbarion Point to Oliosipon (Lisbon), 380 stades/250 stades.
From Oliosipon to the outlets of the river Tagos (Tagus), 155 stades/‹. . . 130 (?)
s­ tades›. To the sources of the same river, ‹. . . stades›.
From the outlets of the river Tagos to the Mountain and Point of Selene (the Moon),
there are 150 stades/120 stades. Beside here lies ‹an island› called Lanobris; and from
the promontory of Selene to this is 940 stades/670 stades. From Hieron Promontory
to this is 1,510 stades/1,130 stades.
From Mount Selene to the outlets of the river Monda, 150 stades/120 stades.
From the river Monda to the outlets of the Ouakos,121 380 stades/275 stades.
After the river Ouakos there follow the outlets of the river Dorion, at which it is
established that Lousitania Hispania has its end.
From the outlets of the river Dorion to the sources of the same river, 1,370 stades.
‹From the outlets of the Ouakos to the outlets of the river Dorion, . . . stades/. . .
stades.›
14. The length of Lousitania begins from the western side and the promontory of
Hieron and passes through towards the sources of the river Dorion, so that the stades
of its length, via the greatest line, are 3,335. The breadth of Lousitania begins from the
sea by the northern side at the outlets of the river Ouakos, and ceases in the direction
of the south at the city of Balsa, so that in addition the stades of the breadth, via the
greater line, are 1,793. The boundary circuit of Lousitania in the interior has a grand
total of 4,400 stades/4,000 stades. It contains 4 nations, 56 notable cities, 5 notable
mountains, 6 notable rivers, and 2 notable promontories.

Probably the same as Onoba in 2. 9.    120 Near Lisbon.

119

A number of names in book 2 begin with Ou-, similar to consonantal u in Latin. As such, they
121

may be pronounced as if spelled with w (in English), e.g. ‘Wakos’ in this case.
968 • 34 markianos

15. The total of the circumnavigation of the coast of Lousitania facing the Ocean,
from the outlets of the river Anas up to the outlets of the river Dorion, is not more
than 4,140 stades; not less than 3,265 stades.

circumnavigation of tarrakonesia
16. Of the Hispaniai, Tarrakonesia is bounded on the north by the Kantabrian ocean,
and this belongs to the northern parts; but in the direction of the summer sunrises
(north-east) by the whole of (Mt) Pyrene, from Oiasso (Irun), a promontory of Pyrene,
up to its other promontory lying beside our sea, upon which has been founded the
sanctuary of Aphrodite; ‹in the direction of the winter sunrises (south-east) by the
Baliaric (sic) open-sea (pelagos)›; on the south by the aforementioned Lousitania and
‹the (part of) Baitike lying upon› our sea; and on the west by the western Ocean. And
the overall outline has this character: ‹but the part-by-part (account) is as follows.›
17. The length of Tarrakonesia begins on the western side from the promontory of
Nerion (or Artabrum), but passes by the promontory of Pyrene in our sea, where the
sanctuary of Aphrodite is, so that the length of the province, via the section through
the middle, is 7,230 stades. The breadth of Tarrakonesia ‹begins by the northern side
from the Kantabrian ocean and the Pyrenaian mountain, and ceases in a southerly
direction at the northern parts of Lousitania› and Baitike, ‹and at the city of Ourke in
Baitike›, so that the distance of the breadth, via the greater line, is 4,250 stades.
Its boundary circuit by land is 4,500 stades/3,300 stades. It contains 55 nations, 273
notable cities, 5 notable mountains, 23 notable rivers, 8 notable promontories, and 2
notable harbours.
18. And the circumnavigation of Tarrakonesia, the parts lying towards the Ocean
on the western and northern side, has been told; but the remaining part of it, beside
the Baliaric (sic) open-sea (pelagos), beginning from the Pyrenaean mountain and its
promontory, on which, as we have mentioned before, lies the ‹sanctuary of› Aphro-
dite, and ceasing at Ourke, after which there follows the province of Baitike, whose
parts towards the Herakleian strait and western Ocean we went through at the start;
‹in the summary of Artemidoros’ Geography or Circumnavigation we went through it
clearly›.
The total of the circumnavigation of the coast of Tarrakonesia beside the Ocean,
from the outlets of the river Dorion to the promontory of Pyrene named Oiasso, is not
more than 10,327 stades/not less than 8,012 stades.
The grand total of the whole circumnavigation of Iberia lying beside the Ocean, from
Mt Kalpe lying by the Herakleian strait up to the promontory of Pyrene (named)
Oiasso, is not more than 16,845 stades/13,282 stades.122
Therefore the circumnavigation of Iberia that happens to be beside the western
and northern Ocean, from Mt Kalpe and the Herakleian strait up to Mt P ­ yrene and its

122
The MS has 16,045 and 13,286; corrected by Müller.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 969

northern extremity, ‹the promontory›123 called Oiasso, has this character; but we shall
proceed to the subsequent matters.

Circumnavigation of Keltogalatia
19. The so-called Keltogalatia goes through very far by land and ‹by› sea. It has been
divided into four provinces: Gallia Akytania, Gallia Lougdounesia (Lugdunensis), Gal-
lia Belgike (Belgica), and ‹Gallia› Narbonesia (Narbonensis). But the aforementioned
three provinces live towards the Ocean, turned towards the north, while Narbonesia
lies in our sea, the inner one, and looks towards the south.
So we shall tell the circumnavigation in sequence, beginning from the nations
of Akytania living beside the northern Ocean in Keltogalatia; for we undertook to
compose this circumnavigation. We have clearly expounded the circumnavigation of
Narbonesia in the epitome of Artemidoros’ Geography or Circumnavigation, even if
the aforementioned Artemidoros did not make the division between the provinces in
‹Keltogalatia and those in› Iberia.
circumnavigation of akytania
20. Akytania is bounded on the north by part of the succeeding province, Lougdou-
nesia, and by the northern Ocean after it; on the east, likewise, by the part of Loug-
dounesia at the river Liger (Loire) up to its sources, and by part of Narbonesia up to
its extremity towards Pyrene; on the west by the Akytanian ocean; on the south by the
part of Pyrene inclining towards the Ocean at the promontory of Oiasso, and by part
of the province of Narbonesia from the head of the Liger up to the aforementioned ex-
tremity at Pyrene. And the overall outline is of this kind; but the part-by-part (account)
of the coast at the Akytanian ocean is as follows.124
21. After Oiasso, the promontory of Pyrene, there follow the outlets of the river
Atouris; to this it is not more than 1,250 stades/not less than 785 stades.
From the outlets of the Atouris to the outlets of the river Signatis, 500 stades/450
‹stades›.
From the outlets of the river Signatis to the promontory of Kouriannon is 500 sta-
des/370 stades.
From Kouriannon to the outlets of the river Garounna (Garonne), which is 50 sta-
des in size (i.e. width), 600 stades/430 ‹stades›. From the outlets of the Garounna to
its sources, 900 stades/600 stades.
After one has sailed up the river Garounna, there lies a city in Akytania, Bourdigala
(Bordeaux). Beside here live the Santones, to whom belongs the city of Mediolanion
(Mediolanum Santonum; Saintes),125 lying upon the sea beside the river Garounna.
From the outlets of the river Garounna to the Santones’ Point, 475 stades/325 stades.

Added by Lucarini 2020, 225.    124 Cf. B. 4 below.

123

Müller comments on the inaccuracy of this, not denying the name of Mediolanion and giving its
125

modern name as Saintes, but saying it lies on the R. Charente.

970 • 34 markianos

From the Santones’ Point to the outlets of the river Kanentellos (Charente), 560
stades/550 (?) stades.
From the outlets of the river Kanentellos to Piktonion Point,126 210 stades/150 stades.
From Piktonion Point to the harbour of Sikor (Nantes?), 300 stades/290 stades.
From the harbour of Sikor to the river Liger (Loire), which happens to be very large
and has a size of ‹. . . stades (in width)›, 185 stades/155 stades. Beside the river live the
nation of the Samnitai.
22. The length of Akytania begins from the outlets of the river Atouris, passing on
to the city of Auarikon (Avaricum),127 so that via the longest line there are 1,408 stades.
The breadth of Akytania begins from its extremity towards Pyrene, and ceases at the
southward bend of the river Liger, so that the stades are 2,250. Its boundary circuit in
the interior is not more than 4,770 stades/not less than 3,370. It contains 16 nations, 16
notable cities, 5 notable rivers, 4 notable promontories, and 1 notable harbour.
23. The total circumnavigation of the coast of Akytania, from Oiasso, the promon-
tory of Pyrene, up to the outlets of the river Liger, is not more than 4,800 stades/not
less than 3,525 stades.

circumnavigation of lougdounesia
24. Lougdounesia Gallia is bounded on the north by the Prettanic ocean; on the east by
the province of Belgike at the river Sekoanos (Seine); but on the west by the Akytanian
ocean; and on the south by part of the province of Narbonesia. And the overall outline
of the nation has this character; ‹but the part-by-part (account) is as follows [—] . . .›
25. The length of Lougdounesia begins from the promontory of Gabaion and leaves
off by its eastern side where it is attached to Belgike at the river Sekoanos, so that the
stades of its length are 3,376. The breadth of Lougdounesia begins on the south from
the city of Kabyllinon, but ceases at the outlets of the river Sekoanos, so that the stades
of its breadth are 3,080. The circuit of the province by land is 7,290 stades/5,420 stades.
It contains 25 nations, 26 notable cities, 1 notable mountain, 4 notable rivers, 1 notable
promontory, and 3 notable harbours.
26. The total circumnavigation of the coast of Lougdounesia, from the outlets of the
river Liger up to the outlets of the river Sekoanos, is 3,370 stades/3,065 stades.

circumnavigation of belgike with upper and lower germania

27. Belgike with the two Germaniai is bounded on the north by the northern Ocean
that comes through beside Prettania (Britain); but on the east by the river Rhenos
(Rhine) beside Great Germania as far as the head of the river, and also by the mountain,
from its source to the Alps, that is called Adoulas; on the west by the province of
Lougdounesia and the aforementioned river Sekoanos; on the south by the remaining
part of Narbonesia. And the overall outline of the nation is roughly of this kind; ‹but
the part-by-part (account) is as follows.›

126
Near Nantes.   127 Near Bourges.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 971

28. For (the territory) from the sea up to the river Obrinka is called Lower Germa-
nia, but that from the river Obrinka (onwards) is called Upper Germania.
29. The length of Belgike, with the two Germaniai, begins from the outlets of the
river Phroudis and passes eastwards by the river Rhenos beside Great Germania as far
as the head of the river, so that the stades of the length are 2,685.
Its breadth begins from Mt Adoulas and the common extremity of the Alps, and
ceases at the western mouth of the Rhenos, so that the stades of the breadth become
4,375. The total boundary circuit by land of the province of Belgike ‹with the two
Germaniai› is 15,160 stades/12,300 stades. Belgike with the two Germaniai contains 24
nations, 38 notable cities, 2 notable mountains, 7 notable rivers, and 1 notable prom-
ontory.
30. The total of the whole circumnavigation of the coast of Belgike with Upper and
Lower Germania, from the river Sekoanos up to the river Rhenos—‹that is,› its so-
called western mouth—is not more than 3,850 stades/not less than 3,180 stades.

Circumnavigation of Great Germania128

31. Great Germania is bounded on the north by the so-called Germanic ocean; but on
the east by the Sarmatic mountains and ‹the part of Sarmatia› after the mountains ‹up
to› the head of the river Ouistoula (Vistula)129 and also by the river itself; on the south
by the western part of the river Danoubios (Danube),130 and on the west by the river
Rhenos. And the overall outline of the territory is as follows; but we shall (now) tell it
part by part.
32. From the outlets of the river Rhenos—that is, from its so-called western mouth—
to the outlets of the river Ouidros131 is 380 stades/‹. . . stades›.
From the river Ouidros to the harbour of Mararmanos, 350 stades/250 stades.
From the harbour of Mararmanos to the outlets of the river Amasios (or Amisia;
Ems), 655 stades/470 stades.
From the outlets of the river Amasios to the sources of the same river, 2,350
s­ tades/1,300 stades.
From the outlets of the river Amasios to the outlets of the river Ouisourgios (­Weser),
560 stades/‹. . . stades›.
From the outlets of the river Ouisourgios to the sources of the same river, 1,780
stades/1,600 stades.

128
This ‘Great Germania’ is across the Rhine from the Roman provinces of Upper and Lower
­Germany just described.
129
Reaching the sea E of Gdańsk.
130
At this point, Müller plausibly brackets the following words as a marginal gloss: ‘the Danoubios
where it begins has a size (i.e. width) of 1 stade, then 2 stades, next 3 stades, and also changes its name,
being called Istros as well’.
131
Presumably one of the distributaries of the Rhine; perhaps the IJssel, which is slightly less than
halfway from the main Rhine outlet and the Ems.
972 • 34 markianos

From the river Ouisourgios to the outlets of the river Albis (Elbe), 625 stades/‹. . .
stades›.
From the outlets of the river Albis to the sources of the same river, 5,370 stades/3,300
stades. By this part lie the so-called Islands of the Saxones. To them from the outflow
of the river Albis is 750 stades/‹. . . stades›.
33. After the river Albis there follows the so-called Kimbric peninsula (Jutland),
which happens to be very great.
From the outlets of the river Albis to the peninsula’s first projection, the one lying
after the river Albis, there are 570 stades/400 stades.
From the peninsula’s first projection to the projection of the same peninsula that
lies next, 1,600 stades/1,100 stades.
From the peninsula’s second projection to the next and northernmost projection of
the same peninsula, 1,450 stades/1,150 stades.
From the northernmost projection of the peninsula to the first projection after its
bend, 650 stades/550 stades.
From the first projection after its bend to its easternmost part, 720 stades/520 ­stades.
From the easternmost part of the peninsula itself to its (projection) next beneath
‹this one›, 2,000 stades/1,500 stades.
From the (projection) next beneath its (projection) to its (the peninsula’s) eastward
bend, 1,600 stades/750 stades.
Here the circumnavigation of the Kimbric peninsula is completed; it runs a long
way into the Ocean and lies obliquely parallel to the eastward mainland, so that at the
river Suebos (Oder?) it creates a very large gulf that extends to its inner part. The total
circumnavigation of the peninsula is 8,050 stades/5,970 stades.
34. The neck of the peninsula is occupied by the nation called Axones,132 though
numerous nations occupy the peninsula itself. Beyond the peninsula lie three islands
called the Alokiai; from the peninsula to these is 550 stades/500 stades.
To the east of the peninsula lie the so-called Skandiai islands: three small ones, from
which to the middle of the peninsula there are 2,000 stades/1,700 stades; one very
large, the easternmost, and this is specifically called Skandia.133 It lies by the outlets
of the river Ouistoula, from which to it there are 1,600 stades/1,200 stades. The total
circumnavigation of Skandia is 2,500 stades/2,000 stades.
35. From the eastward bend of the peninsula to the ouflow of the river Suebos,134
1,260 stades/‹. . . stades›.
From the river Suebos to the outlets of the river Ouiados (Oder), 850 stades/‹. . .
stades›.

132
Not necessarily a corruption of Saxones (Müller ad loc.).
133
Presumably these are eastern islands of Denmark, including Fyn and Sjælland; the easternmost,
given the reference to the Vistula, might be Bornholm.
134
Perhaps the Peene or the Warnow in NE Germany, E of Rostock.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 973

From the outlets of the river Ouiados to the outlets of the river Ouistoula there are
700 stades/‹. . . stades›.
From the outlets of the river Ouistoula to the head of the same river there are 2,000
stades/1,850 stades.
36. The length of Germania begins from the west and the city of Askibourgion
(­ Asberg) and passing though to the outlets of the river Ouistoula, so that the total
length of the province is ‹. . . stades›/4,350 stades. Its breadth begins from the devi-
ation of the river flowing south which is called Arrhabon (Raab/​Rába), and ceases
towards the north, via the longer line: that is, at the Kimbric peninsula and its north-
ernmost projection, so that the stades of the breadth are 6,250.
The boundary circuit of Great Germania by land is 12,300 stades/11,250 stades. It
contains within itself 68 nations, 94 notable cities, 7 notable mountains, 14 notable
rivers, the Kimbric peninsula, ‹1›135 notable harbour, the Orkynios (Hercynian) forest,
the wood of Gabretas.
37. The total circumnavigation of the coast of Great Germania, from the river Rhe-
nos—that is, from its so-called western mouth up to the outlets of the river Ouistou-
la—is 13,400 stades/10,300 stades.

Circumnavigation of the Sarmatia in Europe

38. The Sarmatia in Europe is bounded on the north by the Sarmatic ocean at the
Ouendic gulf,136 and by part of the unknown land; on the east by the isthmus ‹begin-
ning at the river Karkinites›137 and Lake Byke,138 and by part of Lake Maiotis (Sea of
Azov) up to the river Tanaïs (Don), and subsequently by ‹the› river Tanaïs itself, and
also by its ‹southern part› from the sources of the river Tanaïs up to the unknown land;
on the west by the river Ouistoula and Great Germania after the Sarmatic mountains,
and by the mountains themselves; on the south by the Metanastai (Migrant) Iazyges
from the southern extremity of the Sarmatic mountains up to the beginning of Mt
Karpathos (Carpathian Mts), and also by Dakia (Dacia) up to the outlets of the river
Borysthenes, and by the coastal district of the Euxeinos Pontos from this (river) up to
the head of the Karkinitic gulf.
And the overall outline is of this kind; but we have arranged the part-by-part (ac-
count) of Sarmatia in a more summary fashion, not appending the number of the
stades, for the reason that the exact circumnavigation of this northern Ocean happens
to be almost unknown: for it (the Ocean) approaches in the north the unknown land
that lies beyond Lake Maiotis, and this land is not easily comprehended by the great
majority of people, especially given that even Protagoras appears to have left to one

135
Numeral added by Lucarini 2020, 226.
136
If this is reference to the Veneti or Venedi, who turn up in different parts of N. Europe, their ‘gulf ’
may be the eastern Baltic. Schoff 1927, 55, suggests the ‘Gulf of Danzig’, now Bay of Gdańsk; but the
mention at 2. 39 suggests a larger body of water (including this bay), e.g. SE Baltic as a whole.
137
In the northern Black Sea; see Arrian §19. 5.
138
Cf. the R. Byk, a tributary of the Dnieper in E. Ukraine.
974 • 34 markianos

side the number of the stades. And the outline of the places will be expressed purely
by the outlets of rivers, for the same reasons.
39. After the outlets of the river Ouistoula, there follows the outlets of the river
Chronos (Pregolya). From the river Chronos the next thing is the outlets of the river
Rhoudon (Neman). These rivers discharge into the Ouendic gulf, which begins from
the river Ouistoula and runs along very far. From the river Rhoudon the next thing is
the outlets of the river Tourountes;139 and from the river Tourountes there follows the
river Chesynos (Daugava?) and its outlets.
After the river Chesynos, the next thing is the unknown Hyperborean ocean,140
connecting with the Hyperborean unknown land. Beside the river Chesynos lives the
nation of the Agathoursoi, belonging to the Sarmatia in Europe. The river Chesynos
and the Tourountes run down from the mountains lying beyond, which are called the
Rhipaian mountains and lie in the interior between Lake Maiotis and the Sarmatic
ocean.
The river Rhoudon runs from Mt Alanos. Over a long distance there live beside the
mountain and this territory the nation of the Alanian Sarmatai,141 beside whom the
sources of the river Borysthenes, which comes out into the Pontos, happens to be. Be-
side the territory around the Borysthenes, after the Alanoi, live the so-called Chounoi,
the ones in Europe.
40. The length of Sarmatia is 7,700 stades; its breadth is 7,650 stades. It contains 56
nations, 53 notable cities, 9 notable mountains, 4 notable rivers, 3 notable promonto-
ries, 3 notable harbours, 4 notable gulfs, and the previously mentioned Ouendic gulf
and 3 others.
We have now, as we undertook to do, made the circumnavigation of the right-hand
parts of Europe with appropriate diligence. We shall now cross over to the Prettanic
islands.

On the Prettanic Islands

41. The Prettanic islands are two: the so-called Albion, and Iouernia (Ireland). But
Albion happens to be much larger;142 it lies opposite Keltogalatia, extending beside
Lougdounesia and Belgike up to Great Germania. For it is not compact like the other
islands, but rather divided and scattered; it runs in large part into the northern Ocean,
having two particularly long isthmuses almost like feet; the larger of these runs ‹up
to the Kimbric peninsula›, the shorter to Akytania. The other island, Iouernia, lies
beyond it and happens to be further west; it is lesser in size and has the same position

139
Barr. 2 H2 places this tentatively in Latvia.
140
Possibly the White sea (around 65½° N, 38° E), where the Barents sea projects into NW Russia, E
of Murmansk.
141
Or Alanoi, a people W of the Caspian between 43° and 45° N (Barr. 85 B3; 88 C1). On the evi-
dence for the Sarmatai, see now Grumeza 2021.
142
Cf. B. 5 below.
 b. periplous, book 2 • 975

as the aforementioned one. So we shall compose the circumnavigation of this one first;
then we shall come to the greater.

circumnavigation of the prettanic island of iouernia

42. The Prettanic island of Iouernia is bounded on the north by the so-called Hyper-
borean ocean lying beyond it; but on the east by the so-called Iouernian ocean; on the
west by the western Ocean; on the south by the so-called Ouergiouian ocean. And the
overall position of the island has this character; ‹but the part-by-part (account) is as
follows›.
43. The greatest length of the Prettanic island of Iouernia in Prettanike begins from
Notion (Southern) Promontory and ceasing at Rhobogdion Point,143 so that the length
of the island is 2,170 stades.144 Its breadth begins from Hieron (Sacred) Point and passes
through to Rhobogdion Point, so that the breadth of the island is 1,834 stades.
The distances between its extremities and the horizons (of the Earth) have the fol-
lowing character: its northern point is 14,250 stades from the northern horizon; but
its western point ‹is [—] stades from the western horizon; its southern point› is 38,317
­stades from the equator; its eastern 40,317 from the east. It contains 16 nations, 11 no-
table cities, 15 notable rivers, 5 notable promontories, and 6 notable islands. The total
of the circumnavigation of Iouernia is not more than 9,085 stades/not less than 6,845
stades.

circumnavigation of the prettanic island of albion

44. In sequence, we shall now expound the circumnavigation of the island of Albion.
The Prettanic island of Albion is bounded on the north by the Ocean called Douekale-
donian; on the east by the Germanic ocean; on the west by the Iouernian ocean, after
which is the island of Iouernia, and also by the Ouergiouian ocean (Celtic sea);145 on
the south by the Prettanic ocean and the aforementioned mainlands (sic) and nations
of Gallia. And the overall outline of the island has this character; ‹but the part-by-part
(account) is as follows›.
45. The length of the island of Albion in Prettanike begins from the western hori-
zon at Damnonion Point, also called Okrion (The Lizard), and passing through as far
as Tarouedounon, also known as Cape Orkas (Dunnet Head), so that the stades of its
greatest length are 5,225. Its breadth begins at Damnonion Point, also called Okrion,
and ceases at the peninsula of the Neouantai146 and the promontory of the same name,
so that the stades of its breadth, via the longest line, are 3,083.147
It contains within itself 33 nations, 59 notable cities, 40 notable rivers, 14 notable
promontories, 1 notable peninsula, 5 notable gulfs, and 3 notable harbours. The total

143
Marked E of Ballycastle by Pleiades.    144 Müller suggests 3,170.
145
That is, the sea S of Ireland.
146
Presumably the Novantae of SW Scotland; though one expects an eastward extremity of Great
Britain.
147
Müller doubts both figures.
976 • 34 markianos

of the complete circumnavigation of Albion is not more than 28,604 stades/not less
than 20,526 stades.

‹Summary of the above›

46. And the circumnavigation of the western and northern Ocean, the parts beside
Europe, and of the Prettanic islands in it, has its end here.
Just as in the previous book on the parts of the Arabian gulf and Erythraian sea next
to Libyē, and on the Indian Ocean (sic) looking to the south, we made the circumnav-
igation in summary—rendering the number of the stades only at intervals for the sake
of clarity—but composed accurately the circumnavigation of all the left-hand parts
beside Asia, up to the nation of the Sinai and the unknown land, noting the stades of
all the distances: so too, here, we have made to the best of our powers the circumnav-
igation of the right-hand parts of the Ocean that is beside Europe, from the Pillars of
Herakles up to the unknown land, the Sarmatic ocean that terminates beside it, and,
what is more, the Prettanic islands; also adding ‹the› number of stades.
Of the left-hand parts of Libyē on the western [—] (text breaks off)148

citations of the periplous by stephanos of byz antion

For Stephanos of Byzantion’s citations of Epit. Art. and Epit. Men., see Chapters 18 and 21
above. The 39 further extracts included here are arranged in the order of Stephanos’ text,
which usually follows Greek alphabetical order. Müller distributes them through his text of
the Periplous, apart from twelve which we add here for the first time: 3–4, 11, 14–15, 21–2, 29,
31, 34, 36, and 39. All but the last two are clearly from book 2.

2 Stephanos of Byzantion α 56
Adaroupolis: a Persian city, as Markianos (says) in Periplous of the Persian Gulf.
3 Stephanos of Byzantion α 90
Aiboudai: five islands in Prettanike, as Markianos (says) in Periplous.
4 Stephanos of Byzantion α 180
Akytania: a province in Keltogalatia, one of the four. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of
it.149
5 Stephanos of Byzantion α 197
Albiōn: a Prettanic island. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it.150

148
Müller reconstructs a hypothetical closing sentence here by analogy with that in book 1. The next
quaternion (no. 7) is lost; it contained the substantial end of Markianos’ periplous of the Outer Ocean,
namely the Atlantic coast of Libyē, and the beginning of his table of contents for his précis of Menip-
pos (see Ch. 21).
149
Cf. Peripl. 2. 20.    150 Cf. Peripl. 2. 41.
 b. periplous: citations • 977

6 Stephanos of Byzantion α 360

Apokopa, neuter: a gulf at the head of the Barbaric gulf. Markianos, in Periplous.151
7 Stephanos of Byzantion α 468
Aroma: a city of Aithiopes, as Markianos (says).
8 Stephanos of Byzantion α 478
Askitai: a nation living beside the Indic gulf and sailing upon askoi (skins), as Marki-
anos (says) in the Periplous of it: ‘There lives beside ‹the Sachalitic gulf› a nation, itself
called that of the Sachalitai; indeed, there is another nation, that of the Askitai.’ So in
parallel to askos we have Askites, as to astos (townsman) astitēs (town-dweller),152 and
to mesos (middle) mesitēs (mediator).153
9 Stephanos of Byzantion α 485
Aspis: . . . There is also a promontory in the (part of) Aithiopia by Egypt, as Markianos
(says), first (book) of Periodoi (Circuits).
10 Stephanos of Byzantion α 499
Astarte: an island in Aithiopia. Markianos, in Periplous, 1st (book): ‘Here begins the
(part of) Aithiopia beyond Egypt; after Bazion Point (akron) follows Mt Prionoton
(Sawn, ‘jagged’); by this is the island of Astarte.’
11 Stephanos of Byzantion β 1
Babai: a city in Libyē. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it (the region).
12 Stephanos of Byzantion β 169
Brettia: . . . Others (write it) as follows, using a pi: ‘Pretanides islands’, as Markianos
and Ptolemy (do).
13 Stephanos of Byzantion γ 121
Gypseïs: an island in Aithiopia, as Markianos (says) in Periplous, 1st (book).
14 Stephanos of Byzantion ζ 5
Zadrame: kingdom of the Kinaidokolpitai.154 . . . They are a nation of Eudaimon Arabia.
Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it (the region): ‘Zadramitai of (the) Kinaidokolpitai’.
The ethnic is Zadramaios.
15 Stephanos of Byzantion ι 4
Iazyges: a European nation, as Markianos (says) in Periplous.155

151
Cf. Peripl. 1. 13.    152 The two terms are really synonymous; the second rare.
153
‘Circumnavigation’ here is a descriptive term for a passage in a work, not the title of a separate
work.
154
No explanation is available for this apparently derogatory name (kinaidos ‘sodomite’, kolpos ‘gulf ’),
also used by Ptol. Geog. 6. 7. 5; the entry referred to is lost.
155
Cf. Peripl. 2. 38.
978 • 34 markianos

16 Stephanos of Byzantion ι 19a (Constantine Porphyrogennetos, De administrando

imperio, 23)156
Iberiai (Iberias), two: . . . Iberia used to be divided into two ‹provinces›, but now into
three, as Markianos (says) in (the) Periplous of it: ‘Formely Iberia was divided into two
‹provinces› by the Romans, but now into three: Baitike, Lousitania, and Tarrakone-
sia.’157
17 Stephanos of Byzantion ι 113
Istriana: a city beside the Persian sea (thalassa; Persian gulf), as Markianos (says) in
(the) Periplous of it (the gulf).
18 Stephanos of Byzantion κ 112
Kassanitai: a nation on the coast of the Erythraian sea. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of
it: ‘Here follows the nation of the Kassanitai.’
19 Stephanos of Byzantion κ 168
Koromane: a city beside the Persian gulf. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it (the gulf).
20 Stephanos of Byzantion κ 240
Ktesiphon: a city in Assyria. Markianos, in Periplous.
21 Stephanos of Byzantion λ 13
Ladisakites Kolpos: a gulf in the Persian sea (thalassa). Markianos, in (the) Periplous
of it.
22 Stephanos of Byzantion λ 72
Lindonion:158 a city in Brettania. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it (the island).
23 Stephanos of Byzantion λ 89
Lousitania: bordering upon Baitike. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it.159
24 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 39
Mallada: a Persian city. Markianos, in Periplous of the Persian Gulf.
25 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 64
Margana: a city in Indike. Markianos, in Periplous. It is also Marganai, plural.
26 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 100
Mauritaniai: there are two. One is Tingitane, the other Kaisaresia (sic), as Markianos
(says) in the Periplous.160
27 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 152
Mesanites Kolpos; Markianos, in Periplous of the Persian Sea (thalassa).161

156
Cf. Artem. 23 and 31.    157 Almost a verbatim quotation from Peripl. 2. 8.
158
Evidently ‘Londinion’ (Lat. Londinium) is meant.    159 Cf. Peripl. 2. 8 and 12.
160
Cf. Peripl. 2. 3.    161 Schoff 1927, 47, suggests the area of Maisan near Basra.
 b. periplous: citations • 979

28 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 191

Minaioi: a nation on the coast of the Erythraian sea. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it.
29 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 213
Mosylon: a promontory and trading-place in Aithiopia. Markianos, in (the) 1st (book)
of Periodos (Circuit).162
30 Stephanos of Byzantion μ 247
Myrike: an island in the Erythraian sea. Markianos, in (the) Periplous of it.
31 Stephanos of Byzantion ν 13
Narbōn: a trading-place and Keltic city. . . . But Markianos refers to it as Narbonesia.163
32 Stephanos of Byzantion ν 59
Nikopolis: a city in Epeiros, as Markianos (says).
33 Stephanos of Byzantion ο 66
Homeritai: a nation [—] Aithiopes.164 Markianos, in (the) 1st Periplous.165
34 Stephanos of Byzantion ο 73
Onne: a trading-post in Eudaimon Arabia. Markianos, in Periplous.
35 Stephanos of Byzantion σ 126
Siagathourgoi: a nation of which Markianos speaks in Periplous of Sarmatia.
36 Stephanos of Byzantion σ 151
Sithenoi: a nation lying beside the Erythraian sea, as Markianos (says in) Periplous.
37 Stephanos of Byzantion σ 165
Sinai: the capital city of the Sinai, of whom Markianos speaks in Periploi (sic).166
38 Stephanos of Byzantion τ 121
Tingis: a city in Maurousia. . . . But Markianos calls it (the region) Mauritania.167
39 Stephanos of Byzantion χ 3
Chadramotitai: a nation around the Indian gulf, living beside the river Prion, as Marki-
anos (says) ‹in (the) Periplous of it› (the gulf).168

162
Cf. Mossyloi, the people, at Peripl. 1. 11. ‘First Circumnavigation’ means book 1 of his
­Circumnavigation.
163
Not so: Mark. uses Narbonesia for the province, not the city, at Peripl. 2. 19.
164
A word such as ‘near’ has dropped out (Billerbeck).
165
Cf. Peripl. 1. 15. The Greek is ἐν περίπλῳ α′; one expects ἐν περίπλου α′, ‘in (the) 1st (book) of
Periplous’.
166
Periploi is the plural of periplous. Mark. in fact calls the city Thinai: Peripl. 1. 16.
167
Cf. Peripl. 2. 3.
168
The words in angle brackets are supplied from the complementary version in manuscript N
­(Billerbeck 2006–17, v. 65 n. 1).
980 • 34 markianos

40 Stephanos of Byzantion χ 57
Chryse: . . . There is also another (Chryse), a peninsula in Indike. Markianos, in
Periplous: ‘In the (part of) Indike outside the Ganges (is) a peninsula called Chryse.’169

C . PR EFACE TO THE EPITOME OF MENIPPOS

For the surviving part of Markianos’ epitome of Menippos, see Chapter 21. Here we print
Markianos’ preface to that epitome (translated by J. Brian Campbell).170

41 Codex Parisinus supplément grec 443, pp. 49. 4–56.15

1. Markianos to his friend Amphithalios, greetings.
Those who read the works of the ancients uncritically, or who do not understand
how to work out the value of the argument or follow the train of thought, provide
considerable license, so it seems, for those who want to write loosely and superficial-
ly.171 I leave the rest (of these) to be examined by others, who through careful training
know how to do this more effectively than (I could) by my judgement. But those who
have written periploi carelessly and, wishing to convince their readers, run through
the names of locations and the number of stades, and all this in respect of barbarian
places or peoples, the names of which no one could even pronounce, seem to me to
have surpassed even Antiphanes of Berge himself in mendacity.172 Now, in the case of
those who produce particular descriptions of periploi, where they know the locations
clearly and understand something of the measurement of distance by sea, and have
thoroughly examined the cities, harbours, and distances between them, these men
seem to have written everything, or nearly everything, as truthfully as possible. But in
the case of those who, either putting their trust in what others have reported without
having seen it, or following those who wrote about something without having accu-
rately found out the facts, have selected some of the periploi of the inhabited world,
it is clear that they have not only deceived themselves but also those who trust what
they have written.
2. I write this having encountered many periploi and having spent a lot of time acquir-
ing knowledge of these topics. It is essential in the case of those who have acquired deep
learning to examine this kind of knowledge, so as not to trust carelessly their words,
or place our own uncertain opinion in opposition to their considered views. Therefore
we will examine these (writers) more carefully. Those who in my view have investigated
these matters intelligently are Timosthenes of Rhodes, who was chief helmsman of
the second Ptolemy; and after him Eratosthenes, whom the o ­ fficials of the Mouseion

169
Cf. Peripl. 1. 8 and 16.
170
A revised Greek text of M.’ s prologue, with Spanish translation, is at González Ponce 2008b, 50–69.
171
The present passage can be seen as a polemical response to the unknown author of the Stadiasmos
(Arnaud 2017b, 707).
172
Antiphanes collected fantastical stories about distant places and was criticized by Strabo (2. 3. 5,
C102) for indulging in deliberate fabrications.
 c. preface to menippos • 981

(at Alexandria) called Beta (Number Two); in addition to these Pytheas of Massalia,
Isidoros of Charax, Sosandros the helmsman, who wrote about Indian matters, and
Simmeas, who composed a circumnavigation of the entire world (oikoumenē). Then
there are Apellas of Kyrene, Euthymenes of Massalia, Phileas of Athens, Androsthenes
of Thasos, Kleon of Sicily, Eudoxos of Rhodes,173 and Hanno of Carthage. Some wrote
about the circumnavigation of individual parts, some of the entire inner sea, others of
the external sea. Then again there are Skylax of Karyanda and Botthaios:174 for both of
these men used the daily sailings, not the stades, to show the sea distances. And there
are many more whom I consider it superfluous to ­enumerate.175
3. Next to most of these writers, Artemidoros of Ephesos the geographer, and Stra-
bo, who combined geography and circumnavigation, and Menippos of Pergamon,
who wrote about sea crossings (diaploi), are in my view more accurate than all those
mentioned above. I have to discuss these authors so that those who have an interest in
this aspect of geography are not left in ignorance of anything.
For Timosthenes, when most parts of the sea were still unknown, since the Romans
had not yet conquered them in war, wrote treatises On Harbours, in which he did not
deal accurately with all the nations living round our sea. Of course, in the European
area his periplous of the Tyrrhenic (Etruscan) open-sea (pelagos) was incomplete, and
he was unable to obtain knowledge of the area around the strait of Herakles (straits
of Gibraltar), in respect of either our sea or the outer sea. In respect of Libyē he en-
countered the same problem, in that he was ignorant of all the places beyond Carthage
and round the outer sea.176 From these ten books, an epitome in one book has been
made. Furthermore, he also wrote a summary of the so-called stade distances (stadias-
moi) in another, single book. In all these works, however, he has failed to convey any-
thing completely or clearly. But Eratosthenes of Kyrene—I don’t know what possessed
him—transcribed Timosthenes’ book, adding a few items but in such a way that he
did not even keep his hands off the prologue of the author mentioned, but placed that
at the start of his book in those very words. Others have done the same thing, offering
obscure and unfocused accounts.
Artemidoros of Ephesos the geographer, who lived around the 169th Olympiad
(104–100 bc), sailed out round the largest part of the inner sea and our sea, and saw
the island of Gadeira and some parts of the external sea, which they call Ocean. It

173
Probably E. of Knidos.
174
Müller speculates that the name of a geographer has fallen out of the text and that Bottiaios
referred to his origin in a district in Macedonia; but Nenci 1953 emends to ‘Hekataios’ and is followed
by Orth 2011a.
175
Of writers who are known, Timosthenes, Eratosthenes, Pytheas, Isidoros, Hanno, and Skylax
(i.e. Ps.-Skylax) are treated in these volumes (Chs 10, 12, 8, 23, 4, and 7 respectively). Euthymenes of
Massalia, probably C6, sailed along the coast of NW Africa and wrote an account of his travels; Phileas
of Athens, C5, is attested as a geographer; Androsthenes of Thasos sailed in the fleet of Alexander
the Great, explored the Persian gulf, and wrote an account of his voyage; Kleon of Sicily, according to
Steph. Byz., wrote a work on harbours; Eudoxos of Rhodes (i.e. Knidos) is described as an historian by
Diogenes Laërtios (8. 90).
176
Excising ‘around the strait of Herakles and the outer sea’, with Lucarini 2020, 226.
982 • 34 markianos

falls short of an accurate geographical description; but in eleven books he covered

with proper diligence the circumnavigation of the sea within the strait of Herakles
and the measurement of this, and so seems to have written very clearly and accurately
the circumnavigation of our sea. Menippos of Pergamon,177 ‹who› himself treated the
circumnavigation of the inner sea in three books, produced an account combining
history and geography.
4. Now, I placed Artemidoros of Ephesos ahead of all those mentioned, and I
made an epitome of his eleven books, adding from other old writers material that was
lacking, while keeping the arrangement of the eleven books, so as to produce a rea-
sonable geographical account but a complete periplous. When I saw that the majority
of old writers either did not mention the outer sea at all or only to a limited degree,
and since even this description was obscure and not in harmony with the truth, I
gave my own scrutiny to the entire eastern and southern ocean of both continents,
Africa and Asia, from the Arabian gulf as far as the nation of the Sinai. I also included
in two books the periplous of the western and northern ocean and the parts of both
Europe and Africa. Since I learned that Menippos too offered a reasonable account
to his readers from his own volumes, but had not carefully explained everything,
I appended a great deal of material that had been left out, and furthermore added
clarity in respect of places and descriptions of peoples, which usually provide a com-
plete understanding for readers, and made an account in three volumes. However,
I did not take away the author’s paternity from this work, nor did I claim for myself
someone else’s work, just as I did not suppress the name of Artemidoros when he set
out everything carefully, but I wrote the names of these authors in the books so that
I should seem to have done nothing wrong in respect of the gods of writing, giving
the epitomes of these works and corrections which resulted from my own efforts a
clear designation, so that those who read them cannot fail to recognize what was
written by those authors and the material added by me or thought worthy of careful
correction.
5. The discrepancy in the measurement of the number of stades was already dis-
cussed in my previous book, in which I have dealt with the circumnavigation of the
entire eastern ocean, but there is nothing to prevent me from now setting out the main
points. More or less all those who have written circumnavigations in respect of cities,
places (chōria), harbours, and islands either differ not at all or in a few details easily
capable of correction. But in respect of the number of stades between these same cities,
‹settlements (chōria)›,178 islands, and harbours, they differ widely. In the case of bays
and promontories the discrepancy can easily be explained. For some circumnavigated
the bay and promontories closer to the mainland, others further away, and therefore
the circumnavigation covered more or fewer stades. In the case of a direct voyage one

177
For Menippos’ date see Introduction to Ch. 21.    178
Added by Lucarini 2020, 226–7.
 e. distances from rome • 983

could not easily explain the reason for a different calculation, unless one wished to
attribute the mistake to the speed or slowness of the vessel. It is agreed that a ship with
a following wind can cover 700 stades in one day, but one might find that a ship could
even cover 900 stades by picking up speed from the skill of its construction, while
another could scarcely manage 500 because of opposing features in its construction.
Nevertheless, we should accept that errors of this kind should be pardoned. For they
were not establishing the measurement for some places on the mainland, but on water
and the open seas (pelagē), making the calculation of stades more from customary
practice than from any other skill.
6. Menippos has divided up the circumnavigation of the three continents, Asia,
Europe, and Libyē (Africa), in the following way. He withheld and dealt with in a
separate circumnavigation the Hellespont and Propontis, with the Thracian Bos-
poros and furthermore the Euxeinos Pontos on both continents, Asia and Europe:
first the Pontos, after that the Thracian Bosporos and the Propontis along with the
Hellespont. He made the start of the circumnavigation of both continents from the
sanctuary called Zeus Ourios,179 which is situated right at the mouth of the Pontos.
After this, starting from the remaining parts of Europe he circumnavigates all of
it up to the strait of Herakles and the island of Gadeira (Cádiz). Then, crossing to
the mainland opposite at the strait of Herakles, that is, to Libyē, he sails round this
area too and adds to it the circumnavigation of Asia up to the Hellespont, which I
mentioned above. The entire arrangement of the circumnavigation has the following
plan: it will go through each part in turn and receive correction to make it clearer, as
mentioned above.
(For §§7–10 of the Epitome of Menippos, see Chapter 21 section A above.)

D. PR EFACE TO PSEUDO-SK Y LA X
See Chapter 7, no. B. 6.

E . DISTA NCES FROM ROME TO THE NOTABLE CITIES

OF THE INHABITED WOR LD (?)

42 Stephanos of Byzantion α 271

Amisa: a city in Germania. Markianos, in the ‹Distances› from Rome to the Important
Cities.180

179
The settlement was called Hieron: see §7 of this Preface at Ch. 21 above, no. A. 1.
180
See also the end of the table of contents to Periplous, book 2, above.
984 • 34 markianos

F. OTHER SOURCES

43 Synesios, Letter 101, To Pylaimenes (ad 401–2 or 405)181

Address yourself very warmly from me to the most venerable Markianos. If I had
adopted the style of (Aelius) Aristeides and said ‘that the image of Hermes, that master
of language, had appeared among humankind’, I should hardly have hit the mark of his
value, in that he is more than the image. Though desirous of appending a letter direct
to him, I grew numb and so cannot make myself answerable to the encyclopaedic men
who would try to polish my words; for there is no little danger of the letter being read
at the Panhellenion. For thus I refer to that place in which I was often anxious with
weighty anxieties182 as the eloquent men from all over the world gather to hear the old
man’s sacred voice as it hunts down narratives (diēgēmata) old and new.
44 Synesios, Letter 119, To Tryphon (ad 406)
Address yourself from me to the philosopher Markianos, who has governed the
Paphlagonians; and if he has any power—as I reckon he does—let him prevent my
relative, a very close cousin, from becoming material for sycophantic complainants,
the common scourges of the land.
45 Priscian of Lydia, Solutions to Chosroës, p. 42 lines 8–14 Bywater
We have also used what is useful in Strabo’s Geography . . . and Ptolemy’s Geography
on latitudinal zones, . . . and Marcianus’ Periegesis, and the Heavenly Phenomena of
Arrian.

181
Synesios of Cyrene (c.370–c.413), Neoplatonist philosopher and active member of his city’s aris-
tocracy, represented Cyrene’s interests at Constantinople for three years around 400 (399–402, Garzya
1989, 10–11; either 397–400 or 399–402, Rist 2006). This letter is written soon after he returned to
Cyrene. It is not certain that the Markianos to whom he refers is the geographical writer, but c.400 is a
plausible date for Mark.
182
The echo is in the Greek.
 35
HYPOTYPŌSIS TĒS GEŌGR APHIAS EN
EPITOMĒI (OUTLINE OF GEOGR APHY
IN SUMMARY)
(after ad 565)
D. Graham J. Shipley

fig. 35.1. Opening of the anonymous Hypotyposis, fo. 1ʳ (detail).

INTRODUCTION
This late antique Outline of Geography in Summary (Hypotypōsis tēs geōgraphias en
epitomēi),1 a Greek text of mixed quality, survives near the beginning of the Vatopedi
codex (B).2 From the table of contents in the manuscript,3 it stood first in what we
call corpus A of the geographers, before the similarly titled work of Agathemeros
(Chapter 29 above). The work was, like Agathemeros and the still later Diagnosis
(see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a), an addition to the front of the corpus: in this case, to
make good the absence of information from Ptolemy in Agathemeros’ treatise.4 The
unknown author may be the same as the compiler of the Pseudo-Arrianic Periplous
of the Euxine (Eux., Chapter 36).5
The treatise opens by defining the size of the Earth and its inhabited part (§§1–2), a
topic to which the author returns later (§39). Next come the names and boundaries of

1
The same name, hypotypōsis, is given to the text of Agathemeros (Chapter 29 above).
2
More precisely, on the first of the detached pages now in London. It is missing from the Heidelberg
MS of the same corpus, whose front sections are lost.
3
The so-called Pinax (Table) to the Hypotyposis, not actually part of Hyp. but standing immediately
before it, is a list of the entire contents of corpus A of the geographers as they were when complete. See
Diller 1952, 6–7, 12. Mittenhuber 2011c (FGrH 2021a) is a critical edition of the Pinax.
4
Mittenhuber 2011b, ‘Quellenautoren’.
5
Marcotte 2000b, cxxxv, would attribute Hyp. and Eux. to the same author; at cxxx he dates Hyp.
later than the reign of Justinian (i.e. post-565). For the interpretation of Hyp., I have drawn in various
ways upon Mittenhuber 2011b, though my interpretation does not always coincide with his.
986 • 35 hypotyposis

the continents (§§3–4), another subject that recurs (§46). There follows a brief state-
ment of aims (§5): to outline the nations (ethnē) of each continent and the seas within
those continents—an incomplete description of what actually follows: in particular, it
ignores §§27–39 on islands, mountains, rivers, the ‘Great Sea’, winds, and the dimen-
sions of the oikoumenē. Furthermore, although the author here says that no picture
(eikōn) is needed to understand his account, much of what follows suggests he is work-
ing with a visual counterpart such as a map,6 which would explain his use of relational
terms such as ‘above’ and ‘below’. Furthermore, the ‘nations’ in the three continents are
geographical areas, not human populations.
Europe is treated first (§§6–14), from the Hispaniai in the west to Greece in the east,
with the British Isles and the major Mediterranean islands appended.7 Libyē comes
next (§§15–18), from the Mauritaniai8 in the west to eastern Africa in the east, the
many ‘nations’ of the latter being covered from north to south. Asia is then described
(§§19–25), from Sarmatia in the north via Asia Minor to Mesopotamia, Arabia, and
the rest of western Asia eastwards as far as the Sinai—the western Chinese9—and
ending with India and Sri Lanka (here called Salike). Regional names, where applic­
able, are those of Roman provinces rather than ethnographic units. The continents are
then compared in size (§26, first part) and prosperity; on the latter criterion Europe is
ranked first, ahead of those parts of Asia under ‘Roman’ rule and the maritime parts of
Libyē. The ‘largest’ nations in each continent are listed (§26, second part), followed by
the largest islands (§27), mountains (§28), and rivers (§§29–31).
Next, the gulfs of the outer Ocean are briefly characterized from east to west (§§32–
6), ending with the Erythraian sea. A more theoretical perspective is briefly readopted
with an account of the wind rose (§§37–8), here in Timosthenes’ twelvefold version
but with each wind occupying an equal portion of the compass circle (that is, 30 de-
grees in our terms).10 This is illustrated by a sketch in the manuscript that may derive
from an original drawing. The author then returns to the geometrical form of the
oikoumenē and its dimensions in degrees and stades (§39).

6
Mittenhuber 2011b observes that the enumeration of regions and peoples (§§5–25) is broadly
cartographic rather than following a traditional periplous or periodos format: sometimes the author
appears to conceive of a two-dimensional representation: e.g. §19 ‘the meridian dividing the Caspian
sea into two lengthways’; §39, where if not using a map directly he must be imagining a cartographic
view similar to that implied in Ptolemy’s prescription for mapmaking.
7
The heading before §5, referring to Europe, would better stand before §6.
8
The spelling of this name appears to have changed from Mauretania to Mauritania around C4.
9
Cf. PME §§64, 66. For Sinai or Thinai in Greek and Roman sources (probably derived from the
name of the Qin dynasty, 221–206 bc), Brentjes 2006a, or perhaps more likely from the much earlier
and long-lasting Qin state in western China, whose people were also known to the Greeks and Romans
as Seres (Silk People) who traded with the Mediterranean world via India, Brentjes 2006b. Zhang 2004
argues (contra Kordosis 1999) that Kosmas Indikopleustes, slightly earlier than Hyp., has a relatively
clear notion of China’s extent (he calls it Tzinitza or Tzinista).
10
In Timosthenes (Ch. 10 above) the cardinal and ordinal winds were supplemented with the four
that separate each polar direction from its ordinal neighbours (i.e. omitting ENE, ESE, WSW, and
WNW), implying a division into 16 parts of which 4 have no name.
 introduction • 987

The treatise closes with a focus on bodies of water, as promised in §5, beginning
with the dimensions of the Mediterranean (§40), the Black Sea (§41), the Caspian
(§42), and some gulfs of the Ocean (§§43–4). Then the author tells us, schematically,
of the three latitudinal divisions of the Ocean (northern, southern, and southernmost)
and their respective subdivisions (defined longitudinally, so to speak, as eastern and
western in each case; §45).
The text now returns to the question of continental boundaries, giving the usual
two versions of the Europe–Asia division, either at the Tanaïs or at the Phasis (§46);
then turns to dimensions. The length of the Mediterranean is given in stades, followed
by the shorter distances that make it up, from east to west (§47); then its breadth (§48,
first part) and all its divisions from west to east, ending with the Propontis (§§49–51).
The treatise ends with the form and coastal dimensions of the Black Sea (§§51–3). Af-
ter the memorable comparison of the latter to a drawn bow (§53),11 the text concludes
abruptly with the circumference of Lake Maiotis (Sea of Azov) and the name of its
entrance.
Multiple sources have been used in the compilation of the text, as shown by incon-
sistencies in the spelling of names and the rendering of distances, which are some-
times converted from stades into miles at the rate of 8 : 1 (§2) but sometimes at 7½ : 1
(§40 onwards).12 Much of the material is derived from Strabo and Ptolemy, such as
the figure for the circumference of the world (§1; cf. e.g. Eratosthenes 27); but the au-
thor often modifies his sources or adds to them. For example, his citation of the river
Ganges as one end of the central parallel of the oikoumenē, in the same passage, is
not in the equivalent passage of Strabo (1. 4. 5, C64); while his ‘1,000 less than 30,000
stades’ (§1) for the breadth of the oikoumenē is more precise than Strabo’s ‘a little less
than 30,000’ (2. 4. 3). For some material, an oral source seems likely (e.g. at §33). In
the central part of the work (§§5–25), the sequence of regions is mostly the same as in
books 3–7 of Ptolemy’s Geography, but the British Isles and Mediterranean islands are
held back to the end, perhaps in order to bring together a special category of landmass.
There are echoes of Dionysios Periegetes, such as the Frozen Sea (§45; cf. Dionysios
lines 32, 316), but for the most part the account of the constituent seas of the Mediter-
ranean and the Black Sea (§§47–53) reflects Strabo in a very condensed form (2. 4. 3;
2. 5. 19–26). Markianos, too, appears: the beginning of §36, for example, echoes almost
verbatim the first sentence of book 1 §9 of his Periplous, probably written over a cen-
tury before the Hypotyposis.
A strictly topological focus is maintained for the most part, though occasionally the
author varies his material: for example, with the briefest discussions of the Nile flood
(§31), the unusual characteristics of the southernmost parts of the Ocean (§§32–3),
and—the longest ‘digression’, this—the cause of the red colour of the ‘Arabian gulf ’

11
Also seen at Hekataios 59; Eratosthenes 107; Dionysios Periegetes ll. 157–62.
12
Arnaud 1993, 241.
988 • 35 hypotyposis

(mod. Red Sea; §36), a favourite topic of ancient geography.13 The overall tone, how-
ever, is severely scientific rather than literary, making it suitable as a preface to the
corpus and a complement to the pre-Ptolemaic treatise by Agathemeros. As such, we
would not expect it to have had an influence upon later works; its legacy is limited to
six extracts preserved in certain manuscripts of the De thematibus by Constantine VII
Porphyrogennetos in the 9th century.14
The Greek text translated is that of Mittenhuber.

selected further reading

Diller, A. (1952), The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geographers. Lancaster, Pa.–Oxford.
[Pp. 6–7, 12.]
Marcotte, D. (2000), Introduction générale; Ps.-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre. Paris. [‘Budé’
­edition.] [Pp. xl–xlii.]
*Mittenhuber, F. (2011), ‘Hypotyposis (2021)’, in FGrH v.

TE XT
The headings are in the manuscript, and probably original.

measurement of the whole earth

1. The circumference of the whole Earth has been handed down as 252,000 stades.15
The length of the inhabited world from east to west has been measured at 70,000
stades; and this is from the outlet of the river Ganges, the easternmost among the In-
dians, to the westernmost promontory of the whole inhabited world, which is called
Hieron (Sacred) and is a cape in Lysitania; this is further west than the Pillars of Her-
akles by some 3,000 stades.
This is the length of the whole inhabited world; but the breadth, where it happens to
be broadest, is measured at 1,000 less than 30,000 stades, from the south to the north.
2. The 36 degrees from the Arctic pole to the Arctic Circle are all uninhabited on
account of the cold; but they amount to 25,200 stades.16 Also uninhabited are the parts
up to 8‹,800› stades from the equator, where we have supposed the beginning of our
inhabited world to be; and likewise, in the northern region, the parts directly after the
Arctic Circle. Thus the total uninhabited stades of this surface are 34,000.

13
Cf. Agatharchides 2a–5b; Artemidoros 100.    14 Diller 1952, 42–3.
15
Cf. Erat. 29 and 34; Hipparchos 40a; slightly different figures at Dikaiarchos 8 (Kleomedes); Marki-
anos, Peripl. (Ch. 34 above), 1. 4. §§1–2, probably derive from Strabo apart from the brief character-
ization of the mouths of the Ganges, which differs from that at Strabo 15. 1. 11, C689 (Mittenhuber
2011b).
16
i.e. 1/10 of 360° and 1/10 of Eratosthenes’ figure of 252,000 st. for the circumference of the Earth. The
author here works with a value of 700 st. to the degree, but in later chapters he uses 500.
 text • 989

There remains, therefore, a habitable distance falling under the temperate (part)
of 29,000 stades, which is 3,625 miles,17 or a little over 900 schoinoi of 30 stades each;
which is also the breadth of our inhabited world.

on the division of the inhabited world

3. The whole inhabited world is divided into three continents: Asia, Libyē, and Europe.
The division is by isthmuses or straits (porthmoi). The boundaries of the continents
are these: of Europe with Libyē, the Pillars and the Herakleian Strait by which our sea
flows in; but of Asia with Europe, the isthmus that goes through from the head of Lake
Maiotis (Sea of Azov) to the sea towards the north; the Tanaïs (Don) flows through this
isthmus. Asia, too, is separated from Libyē by a narrow isthmus again: this is formed
by the line that goes up from the sea at Pelousion to the head of the Arabian gulf. The
old writers, however, called Libyē and Europe, as if they were one (continent), both by
the sole and single name of Europe.

what relation the three continents have to the horizon of

the inhabited circle
4. Again, of the three continents Europe is all towards the north and west, Libyē to-
wards the south and west, while Asia, lying towards the east, extends alongside the
other two continents: for it stretches from the northernmost to the southernmost parts
of the known world.

on the nations in europe

5. These things have been set out, we shall trace in full, in the most summary fashion,
the nations in each continent and the seas contained within them, so that one may
most easily survey the whole inhabited world in one’s mind through their relation to
one another, needing no picture (eikōn).18
6. Thus, to give the principal ones, the nations in Europe are the following. The
three Hispaniai (Spains), which were formerly called Iberiai. These have the sea flow-
ing round them in the manner of a peninsula, with a very narrow isthmus upon which
are the Pyrenaia mountains separating the Galliai (Gauls) from them. Lysitania is by
the western Ocean, but Baitike by the inner sea (Mediterranean), also including a little
of the land outside the Strait (of Gibraltar); and Tarrakonesia (Tarraconensis) extends
from the Ocean, or outer sea, to the inner sea.
7. Of the Galliai, which people used formerly to call Galatiai and which lie next,
Akouitania (Gallia Aquitania), Lougdounesia (Gallia Lugdunensis), and Belgike (Gal-
lia Belgica), in the last of which are the two Germaniai, are oriented towards the out-
er sea; but they include quite a large part of the interior, especially Lougdounesia.
Towards the inner sea, extending alongside these, lies Narbonesia. 8. Again, after

17
At 8 st. to the mile.
18
The long enumeration of regions and their peoples (§§5–25) is based on Ptolemy, with variations
in sequence (see introduction to chapter).
990 • 35 hypotyposis

Belgike Germania19 reaches a fair distance eastwards, and like the others is oriented
towards the outer sea. After Narbonesia is Italia, surrounded by two seas. Germania
is bounded by the river Rhenos (Rhine), which rises from the mountains beyond the
Alps and discharges into the outer sea.
Towards Narbonesia, Italia is bounded by the coastal Alps; these rise up to the
north, then turning towards the east they also separate the rest of Italia from the na-
tions lying beyond. 9. Not much further on from the sources of the Rhenos, the
Istros (Danube) has its beginnings. As far as the city of Nouiodounon (Noviodunum)
they call it the Danoubis. It bounds Germania in the direction of the nations lying
below: Rhaitia (Rhaetia), Ouindelikia (Vindelicia), and Norikon (Noricum), which lie
beyond the Alps and Italy; and outside the Alps the two Pannonias, below which is
‹Illyris, which› in its eastern parts is called Dalmatia.
10. Next to Germania, after the river Ouistoula (Vistula) there follows Sarma-
tia; it includes much land and many nations, has a share in the next continent, and
bounds Europe somewhere beside Lake Maiotis. Next, after the isthmus of the Taurike
C
­ hersonesos (Crimea)—which juts out and makes a strait towards Asia, the so-called
Kimmerian Bosporos—it (Sarmatia) includes the parts of the Pontos up to the river
Borysthenes (Dnieper).
11. Below the westernmost parts of Sarmatia, a region descends to the south after
the Iazyges (called) Metanastai (Migrants). This is Dakia (Dacia); it, too, is bounded
by the Istros. Below the remaining parts and to the east is placed Lower Mysia (i.e.
Moesia); this, too, includes a fair amount of the land beyond the Istros, and occupies
all the coast that lies between the Borysthenes and the city of Mesembria. 12. Below
Dakia, too, and after the Istros lies Upper Mysia (i.e. Moesia), which on its east joins
Lower Mysia and on its west Dalmatia. Below20 Dalmatia and part of Upper Mysia is
Macedonia; and below the remainder of that and the Lower (Mysia) is Thrace. Next to
this is the Chersonese specially called by that name. To the south of Macedonia lie, on
the west, Epeiros and, on the east, Thessaly. Below these lies Hellas, which beside the
isthmus in the Krisaian gulf forms the Peloponnese.
13. The notable islands of this continent21 are, in the outer sea, the two Brettani-
kai, Iouernia (Hibernia, Ireland) and Alouion22 (Albion, Great Britain); but Iouernia
is in the westernmost position, extending some way opposite Hispania. Alouion, in
which the military camps have been founded, is the largest and most elongated; for
beginning from the north it reaches ‹west to the› middle parts of Tarrakonesia, and
east almost to the middle of Germania. Also notable would be Thoule23 and the great

19
i.e. ‘greater Germania’, E of the two provinces (Mittenhuber ad loc.).
20
One of the indications that the author is consulting a map, presumably with N at the top.
21
The author returns to islands at §27.
22
As in book 2 of Mark. Periplous, it may be helpful to think of the diphthong ou as a w, as if ‘Iwernia’
and ‘Alwion’ stood here.
23
Probably the Shetland Is., as in Ptolemy (Breeze and Wilkins 2018). Cf. Erat. 29; Pytheas 6–7, 13,
23, 26, 28.
 text • 991

Skandeia (Sweden) which lies below24 the Kimbric peninsula (Jutland); for it projects
from Germania, mostly towards the north and the ocean of the former.25 14. In the
inner sea, below the more westerly parts of Italia, is Kyrnos, also called Korsike, which
has Sardonia (sic) below it. Below the more easterly parts (of Italia) and towards the
strait (of Herakles) is Sicily; and beside Attica and the Peloponnese is Crete, extending
to the east; and beside Achaia26 is Euboia.

on the nations in libyē

15. In Libyē, as it begins from the Pillars of Herakles, are the two Mauritaniai: the
western being Tingitana, but following this (to the east) Kaisarensia (Caesariensis).
After the latter is Afrike, next Kyrenaïke (Cyrenaica) Pentapolis, ‹next› Marmarike
(Marmarica), next Egypt. Below the Mauritaniai is Gaitoulia (Gaetulia); below Afrike
and the Pentapolis is the rainless and completely sandy land. This desert is located so
as to extend up to the beginning of Egypt.
16. ‹The nations of Inner Libyē›, in the west, are the following: the Daradai, Peror-
soi, Odrangidai, Mimakes, Noubai (Nubians), Garamantes, Derbikai, Melanogaitouloi
(Black Gaitouloi), Girrhoi, Nigritai, Afrikerones, and Leukaithiopes (White Ethiopi-
ans).27
17. In the Aithiopia below Egypt, the whole region beside the sea that runs from
Beronike (sic)28 up to the narrows of the Arabian gulf (Red Sea) is called Troglodyt-
ike. Inward from this lies Azania, in which are all kinds of elephants, and the Spice-­
bearing (Aromatophoros) Land. 18. And after the Great Cataract, to the west of the
Nile, are the Euonymitai,29 Sebridai, and Katoipoi; and beside Meroë Island the Mem-
nones, after whom are the Elephant-eating Aithiopes. Next the Pesendarai and the
Cinnamon-bearing Land; and further west than these is Phazania. To the east (of the
Nile) are the Koloboi (Mutilated), Atteroi, other Noubai, Blemmyes, Strouthophagoi
(­ Ostrich-eaters), and the Myrrh-bearing Land.
The remaining, most southerly region, after which is the unknown region, is oc-
cupied, beside the so-called Aithiopes, by the Horse-eating (Hippophagoi) Aithiopes.
Further south than the latter are the people commonly called the Western (Hesperioi;
sc. Aithiopes).30 Further east than these are the Athakai, and in the area round the
gulf of the Bracheia (Short) sea31 the Anthropophagoi (Man-eating) Aithiopes. To the
east and south of these, and approaching the unknown land, is the wide land called
Agisymba.

24
Here, perhaps, in the nautical sense of ‘beyond’.    25 i.e. of Germania; the North Sea.
26
The Roman province of that name, embracing all of mainland Greece.
27
The sequence differs from Ptolemy’s text, suggesting that the author is consulting a map (Mittenhu-
ber 2011b on §16).
28
i.e. Berenike, Benghazi.   29 Left-handers? Auspicious People?
30
An example of the persistent belief that a swathe of Africa, from the W coast to the E, was occupied
by Aithiopes.
31
i.e. Shallow Sea; probably the same as Ptolemy’s ‘Green Sea’, part of the Indian Ocean; cf. Mark.
Peripl. 1. 10, 12, and 40. See §33 & n. below.
992 • 35 hypotyposis

on the nations in asia

19. The nations in Asia are as follows. For after the isthmus and the Tanaïs, Sarmatia,
extending in the aforementioned way, is limited by the meridian dividing the Caspian
sea into two lengthways; but then, coming round Lake Maiotis and the parts of the
Pontos up to its inner end, it arrives at the Caspian via the interior. It (Sarmatia) is
followed on the east by Skythia. Around its beginning it does not have a great breadth,
but around its eastern part it is very wide; for it is not far short of joining up with
Indike. After the whole of Skythia is Serike, which in its easternmost part terminates
the known world.
20. Below Sarmatia on the Pontic side lies Kolchike, but on the Caspian side Alba-
nia; between them lies Iberia. The next place in the continent after the Propontis and
the straits is the projection called Pontobithynia, also called Inner Pontos, alongside
which is Paphlagonia. Below Pontobithynia, advancing up to Mt Dindymos, is Asia,32
after which are Lykia and ‹Pamphylia›. Between Pamphylia and Pontos lies Galatia.
Enfolding this section and going up to the north beside Kolchis is Kappadokia, be-
low which is Kilikia, lying beside the Tauros. The mainland (ēpeiros) containing the
aforementioned nations itself resembles a peninsula with a broad neck, which would
extend from the gulf of Issos to the city of Trapezous lying in Pontos.
21. Again, below Iberia and a part of Albania is Armenia, separated from Kappa-
dokia by the Euphrates. Below this lies Mesopotamia, which has Syria further west.
Below Syria is Ioudaia (Judaea). This lying southwards, there extends opposite and
beside it the Arabia around Petra, up to the head of the Arabian gulf. The (land) be-
tween the aforementioned nations and the western side of the Persian gulf is called the
Desert (Eremos, i.e. Arabia Deserta); it, too, contains Arabian nations. The mainland
(ēpeiros) drawn around the southernmost part of the Desert, Arabia Petraia, the Ara-
bian gulf and Erythraian sea, and part of the Persian gulf, is called Arabia Eudaimon
(Arabia Felix, Fortunate Arabia) and is very great in size.
22. Below the Caspian sea and after the frontiers of Armenia is Media. Below this,
to the east of the Tigris, is Assyria, in which is Ktesiphon. After the confluence of the
Euphrates and Tigris, Babylonia descends to the sea with the Desert on its west. Below
Assyria lies Sousiane up to the sea; likewise below Media Persis. To the east of Media
lies Hyrkania, beside the sea of the same name; and below this Parthia. Below this is
placed Empty (i.e. Desert) Karmania, after which lies True Karmania up to the sea.
23. Again, below the Skythia that runs up to Mt Imaos (Himalaya?) there lie, begin-
ning from the west, Margiane, next Sogdiane, next Sakia. Below Margiane and east of
Parthia lies Aria; below Sogdiane is placed Baktria; next, below Aria, which is oblong,
lies Drangiane, and below Baktria the Paropanisadai (or Paropamisadai). Below them
is Arachosia, which has the western (or eastern?) parts of Gedrosia lying below it,
which in turn has (below it) Karmania, below which lies Drangiane.

32
i.e. the Roman province, only part of Asia Minor.
 text • 993

24. All the remainder of the continent up to the Thinai, being very great and occu-
pied by many nations, is ruled by the Indians and [—] being bounded on the east by
the Sinai (Chinese), but on the west by Gedrosia, and on the north by the Paropanisa-
dai and Arachosia, by the Sogdians and Sakai, and by Skythia and Serike.
25. Also belonging to this continent, in the Indian open-sea (pelagos) (Indian
Ocean), is a very large island, the one called Simounda of old but now Salike (Sri
Lanka).33 In it, they say, all things grow that are useful for life, and it has mines of all
kinds, and the men occupying it have their heads bound in feminine tresses. And in
our sea is Cyprus.

comparison of the three continents

26. When the three continents are compared with one another, the greatest would
appear to be Asia, then Libyē, but last Europe. Again, in terms of well-being and pros-
perity, and in terms of the constitution of the winds, the universal availability of water,
and the varied abundance of plants, one would conclude from the records that the one
that is pre-eminent over the others is, by a long way, Europe; next, out of all of Asia,
almost exclusively the parts under the Romans; and of Libyē, the parts by the sea.
Of the nations in them, in Europe the largest34 are Hispania and Italia, also Ger-
mania and Sarmatia; of those in Libyē Afrike and Egypt; and of the Asians above all
Indike especially, though also very large are Skythia, Serike, and Eudaimon (Arabia
Felix).

on the largest islands

27. Among the particularly large islands, in comparison with all those in the inhabited
world, the one in the first rank is Salike (Sri Lanka); but in second place is Alouion
(Albion); and the third prize would be taken by Iouernia (Hibernia). Again, of the
others that are large but lesser compared with those mentioned, the one placed first
will be Sicily, the second Sardonia, the third Cyprus, the fourth Crete, and the fifth
Euboia. Of the remainder, occupying as it were the third class in size, the first would
be Korsike, also called Kyrnos, the second Lesbos, and the third Rhodos.35

on the largest mountains

28. The greatest mountains are (as follows): in Asia Imaos, the Emoda (plural), and the
Kaukasia (plural); they say that these, and the Rhipaia, are the highest in comparison
with all others. A very great mountain, too, is Paropanisos (Hindu Kush), as is Tauros
and the majority of those in India. Of the Libyan ones, the highest are the great Atlas
and Theon Ochema (Chariot of the Gods),36 but the Aithiopian ones are great, and

33
Cf. Palaisimoundou, PME 61; Markian, Periplous, 1. 1; 1. 8; 1. 35. The longer name may have been
misunderstood as two words: palai means ‘of old’ in Greek.
34
sc. in terms of population.
35
For §§27–9, the author appears to have made his own list and rankings, rather than draw directly
on Ptolemy (Mittenhuber 2011b ad loc.).
36
Possibly Mt Cameroon; cf. Hanno §16.
994 • 35 hypotyposis

are the longest: for beginning from the border with Egypt they descend to the south,
extending equally as far as the course of the Nile.
In Europe they say the largest are the Sarmatika and the Alps, if one were to take
them in combination. Also high, they say, are the Pyrenaia and Idoubaida (Sistema
Ibérico)37 in Hispania, the Macedonian Olympos, Athos, and the Akrokeraunia in
Epeiros; the last, they say, can even be seen from Kanysion (Canusium).

on the largest rivers

29. Of the rivers in the inhabited world the largest are, to begin with Asia where there
are many, the Ganges and Indos above all; for these, arising from the northernmost
parts of the inhabited world and taking in (the water of) nearly all the notable ones
that flow through the whole of Indike—these, too, are numerous—they discharge into
the southern sea. Of the remaining rivers in Asia, [—] and flowing into different seas,
the Iaxartes (Syr Darya), Oxos, Rhymmos (Ural?), Rhas (Volga?), Kyros (Kura), and
Araxes (Aras) make for the Caspian sea, but the Phāsis (Rioni?), Thermodon (Terme
Çay), and Sangaris (Sakarya) for the Pontos. These have their outlets almost in the
same places as their sources.
30. Of those in Europe the one that might be in first place is probably the Istros,
which, running from the places to the west and passing through so many nations and
places, discharges into the Pontos. Next, very large, are the Borysthenes (Dnieper),
Ouistoulas (Vistula), Tanaïs (Don), and Rhenos (Rhine). There are other rivers that are
large in respect of their outlets, especially the Eridanos (Po), Iber (Ebro), Baitis (Gua-
dalquivir), Sekoanos (Saône), Dorias (Douro), and those around the Rhenos.
31. In Libyē the largest is the Nile; for after rising from the parts beyond the equator
in the depth of the southern regions, it issues into our sea, drawing a curve, as seems
likely, which is a characteristic of rivers [—] as is probable that it is by the rains that
occur there during our summer, rather than by the formation of snow, that its flood-
ing at the same time each year is caused. The Bagradas,38 too, flowing in the area of
Carthage, and the Kinyps39 appear to come from the southernmost parts. Of those
flowing through Inner Aithiopia and having both their sources and their ends within
the continent, the largest is the Gir, together with the Nigir.40

on the great sea

32. Within the Greatest Sea,41 the one towards the east, its southernmost parts towards
the unknown land are called the Prasodes (Leek-green) sea;42 for it is said to be some-
thing like that in colour, and to contain an enormous quantity of very large seaweed
similar to the leek (prason), from which its leek-green appearance probably derives.

37
The range running SE across NE Spain to the area of València.
38
Unidentified; see n. on Mark. Peripl. 1. 23.    39 Cf. Ps.-Skylax §109. 4 & n.
40
For these two, cf. Juba 4.
41
The Indian Ocean as a whole, not the outer Ocean (called ‘Great Sea’ at §45).
42
Part of the Indian Ocean; cf. Mark. Peripl. 1. 12 and 44.
 text • 995

33. After this, roughly to the north, lies the Bracheia sea, which has gained this
name not because of shortness of size43—for it is very large—but because of the brachē
(shallows) within it. For the ebb-tides are (said to be) very large there: they do not
change within the same day, but the water withdraws over a very long period, and
after its withdrawal the rocky shores dry out, so that sailors, if they ever fall into this
misfortune, may underprop the boat and climb off as if onto the mainland.44
34. Beyond this sea lies the remaining one, which is beside the continent (of Asia).
The largest part of this is the Indian open-sea (pelagos), in which there are very large
peninsulas and gulfs: the Theriodes (Of Wild Animals), the Megas (Great), and the
Gangetic.45
35. But the Indian open-sea (pelagos) is followed by the Karmanian, projecting
roughly westwards; and this is followed by the Erythraian sea. At the confluence of
these lies the mouth of the Persian gulf. This gulf is enclosed on the east and south by
Karmania; on the north, for those travelling west, by Persis, Sousiane, and Babylonia;
and on the west by Empty (Erēmos) Arabia (Arabia Deserta),46 and then again on the
south by Eudaimon Arabia (Arabia Felix).
36. From the Erythraian sea as far as Egypt is the Arabian gulf. At about this point
lies the narrowest part of the continent (of Asia), the part that prevents (the gulf) from
joining onto our sea. They say it47 does not take its red colour, as people sketchily
assert, from the adjacent mountains, which are red ‹and from which› an influence in-
fluences (sic) the water when it is calm and creates the image of redness: rather—since
this open sea (pelagos) is usually calm because the winds that occur there, so the story
goes, are neither great nor continuous—when the sun is close to the zenith accumula-
tions of watery clouds accumulate (sic), and the rays of the sun which fall upon these
colour them; just as in our region the parts along the horizon are usually affected when
the sun is rising or has already set, so that the sea receives the colours when it has a
smooth surface.48 After the Arabian gulf and the remainder of the Erythraian sea is the
Aithiopic sea by Barbaria.49

on the winds of the inhabited world

37. The positions of the winds and airs around the inhabited world, and the parts
from which each arises and through which each passes, are as follows. 38. Let a
very large circle be conceived,50 containing the known world and divided into twelve
equal parts by six diameters, so that two of those that are at right angles to each other

43
The adjective brachys, of which bracheia is the feminine form, means ‘short’.
44
This account is unique in ancient literature and may derive from sailors’ tales (Mittenhuber 2011b,
on §33). Cf. §§18 and 43.
45
Cf. e.g. Mark. Peripl. 1. 45, 40, and 7 respectively.    46 Cf. §21.   47 The Erythraian sea.
48
For discussion of the redness or otherwise of the Erythraian sea, cf. Agatharch. 2–5; Artem. 100 §2.
49
Cf. PME §2.
50
Not a ‘great circle’ round the whole Earth, but a line circumscribing the oikoumenē on part of its
surface.
996 • 35 hypotyposis

form the equator and the meridian.51 Along the equator towards the east these define
the Apeliotes, but towards the west the Zephyros; and again along the meridian to the
north the Aparktias, but to the south the Notos. Next, on each side of the Apeliotes, to
the south is the Euros, to the north the Kaikias; but again to the east of the Aparktias
the Boreas, and to the west the Thraskias or Mesē (Middle Wind); and to the south
of the Zephyros the Lips, but to the north the Iapyx or Argestes; and to the east of the
Notos the Euronotos, but to the west the Libonotos. And there are those diametrically
opposed, blowing against each other: Apeliotes against Zephyros, but Kaikias against
Lips, and Boreas against Libonotos; then again Aparktias against Notos, but Thraskias
against Euronotos, and Iapyx against Euros.

on the length and breadth of the whole inhabited world

39. It is also necessary to state the length and breadth of the whole inhabited world.
So we shall grasp the length of it, not as the (length) that follows the form of a
parallelogram, but as (that which follows) a certain segment of a circle and is greater
than all the others that run through its whole length. For it has been shown that the
(area lying) on the equator and falling away from it (on each side, and extending)
from west to east, is similar (in shape) to the known world, and is much more
prominent than the parts further south or north than this (the equator).52 Let the
(size) of that which is distant from the equator to its north be 23 degrees and a half
plus one-third (23° 50′). This differs from ‹the› greatest ‹circle by one hour and a
half (in the length of the longest day), and has a length of› 82,336 ‹stades›. Thus the
length via the great circle enclosing the known world is almost 90,000 stades. The
breadth upon the meridian drawn through the Hippic mountains of Sarmatia is
32,500 stades or 4,333 miles.

on the length and breadth of the seas in the inhabited world

40. The lengths and breadths of the seas of the inhabited world have the following
character.53 The parts of our sea from Kotes, the extremity of Mauritania Tingitana, up
to Issos measure 25,400 stades or 3,386 miles. Its breadth from Massilia (sic)—since it
is here that the Gallic sea54 is most greatly indented towards the north—to the colony
of Igilgilis in Mauritania, is 5,500 stades or 733 miles.
41. The Pontos has a length, from Tomis at the outlets of the Phasis, of 6,200 stades
or 826 miles. Its breadth from the Phanagoria in the Bosporos to the outlets of the
Halys, where the Pontos is also widest, is 2,400 stades or 320 miles.

51
This is similar to Timosthenes’ scheme but not identical: see introduction to chapter.
52
This section returns to the discussion in §1. The thought is not expressed with perfect clarity; but
Mittenhuber notes that the second half of §39 depends on Ptolemy’s conic projection.
53
Mittenhuber, commentary on §39, notes that the sizes of seas in §§40–4 appear to have been read
off a map, since they depend on knowing that lines of longitude converge away from the equator.
54
Called ‘Galatic’ at 48–9 below.
 text • 997

42. The Caspian sea has a length, from the outlets of the Kyros, which comes down
from Armenia, to the outlets of the Iaxartes, of 8,200 stades or 1,094 miles, and a great-
est breadth of 2,500 stades, 334 miles.
43. (The length) of the Bracheia (Short, i.e. Shallow) sea55 in the Indian open-sea
(pelagos)—since this in comparison to the others extends furthest to east and west—
from the trading-post of Esinau in Barbaria,56 or (from) the capital of the Rhaptoi,57 to
the river Kottiaris58 among the Sinai, is 52,500 stades or 7,000 miles. Its breadth from
the head of the Great gulf to the unknown land is 10,500 stades or 1,400 miles.
44. (The length of) the Arabian gulf, which inclines eastwards in the parts up to the
narrows, is not less than 10,000 stades, which is 1,333⅓ miles.59
45. This Great Sea flowing round the whole inhabited world is called by the name
Okeanos, but has different appellations corresponding to latitudinal zones. The
(Ocean) under the north (arktoi) is said to be the Arktikos or Boreios (both mean-
ing Northern), but its more easterly part the Skythian ocean, and the more westerly
is called the Germanic or Bretannic. The same one in its entirety is also named the
Kronian open-sea (pelagos), the Pepegos (Solid, i.e. Frozen), or the Nekron (Corpse or
‘Dead’).60 But the whole (Ocean) below the south is called the Mesembrinos or No-
tios (both meaning Southern) Ocean; again, its more easterly part is designated the
Erythraian sea, but the more westerly as the Aithiopic ocean. The eastward part of the
remaining two latitudinal zones is the Heōos (Eastern) open-sea (pelagos) or Indian
Ocean; but the westward, from which our own sea is filled, is designated the Hesperios
(Western) Ocean or most properly the Atlantic open-sea (pelagos).
46. The Earth round which these flow is distributed three ways by those who
­divide the inhabited world in the best way: into Europe, Asia, and Libyē.61 The bound-
aries of Europe with Libyē are the strait at the Pillars of Herakles and the Middle
(­Mediterranean) open-sea (pelagos) that is filled up eastwards through it, up to the
Kanopic mouth of the Nile. Those of Asia with Libyē are the very same mouth of the
Nile and the straight course of that river towards the south, but that with Europe is
the river Tanaïs discharging into Lake Maiotis; this runs out into the Euxeinos Pontos,
this (in turn) into the Propontis, and this into the Hellespont, after which the ­Aegean
open-sea (pelagos) likewise unfolds to the south. But some divide the preceding conti-
nents by isthmuses: Europe from Asia by that between the Caspian sea and the Pontos,
Libyē (from Asia) by that between the Arabian gulf and the sea at Pelousion.
47. Such are the complete sections of the inhabited world. The (length) of the
open seas (pelagē) contained within it, extending eastwards from the Iberian capes in
the west as far as the Issic gulf by Kilikia, is 29,000 stades or ‹3,867› miles. For from
the ­Issic gulf up to Rhodian (territory) 5,000 (stades) are counted, or 667 miles; from
here to the eastern promontory of Crete, which is called Samonion, is 1,000 stades or

55
Cf. §18 and n. to §33 above.    56 Cf. §36.   57 Cf. PME §16; Mark. Peripl. 1. 13.
58
Cf. Mark. Peripl. 1. 46.    59 At 7½: 1.
60
These names are a clear echo of Dion. Peri. 29–33.
61
This is not a digression; it leads to the enumeration of component bodies of water.
998 • 35 hypotyposis

133 miles; from Samonion to Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow; C. Krios), the other, west-
ern promontory of Crete, is 1,500 (stades), which is also the length of the island. The
passage from here to Pachynos Point, the extremity of Sicily, is 4,500, which is also
the length of the Sicilian open-sea (pelagos). From Pachynos to the strait is more than
1,000; the passage from here to the Pillars is 13,000. From the Pillars to the Hieron
(Sacred) Promontory, 3,000. This, then, is the length.62
48. But the breadth of the (Mediterranean) open-sea (pelagos) is, at its largest,
5,000 stades, from the Galatic (Gallic) gulf between Narbo and Massalia to the part of
Libyē directly opposite. The whole of it has names corresponding to different places.
For the mouth of the open sea (pelagos) is itself called the Strait beside the Pillars of
Herakles; this is 120 stades in length, or 16 miles; and where it is narrowest, 70 stades.
But to those who have sailed into this strait, our sea is at once revealed. The part of it
beside Libyē, up to Egypt, is called the Libykon Pelagos (Libyan Open-sea), in which
two gulfs exist, the ones designated the Syrteis. Of these the lesser, lying further west
than the other, has a circumference of 1,600 stades or ‹213› miles, while the greater is
5,000. The depth of the latter is 1,500, which is also the size of its mouth.
49. The open sea (pelagos) beside Europe has several appellations. The first from
the west is called the Iberic; after that is the Galatic gulf beside Massalia and Nar-
bo. Next, by the beginning of what is now Italia, there follows the Ligystic (Ligurian)
open-sea (pelagos); after this the Sardoan; succeeding this is the Tyrrhenic (Etruscan);
next the Sicilian. The last arrives at Pachynos towards the south, at the extremities of
Crete towards the east, and at Iapygia in a northerly direction. After this the Adriatic
spreads a long way towards the north, then deviates to the west; it has a length of 6,000
stades or ‹800› miles, and a breadth where it is widest of 1,200. The parts ‹on the
right› of this are Illyris, those on the left Italia as far as the head of the sea by Akouileia
(­ Aquileia) and Polai.
50. After the Sicilian open-sea (pelagos) there follows the Cretan, with which the
Egyptian connects, after which is the Phoenician. Next it inclines towards the north,
grazing upper Syria and Kilikia. After this it turns away towards the west and is des-
ignated the Pamphylian open-sea (pelagos) up to the Chelidoniai islands and Cape
­Lykiake. From the Chelidoniai there unfolds the Aegean to the north, having a length
towards the north of 4,000 stades or 533 miles, and a breadth where it is widest of
2,000. Afterwards the Hellespont is drawn together into a narrow place, having a
width of 7 stades by Sestos and Abydos.
51. Next after this the Propontis broadens out, having a length from the Troad to
Byzantion of 1,500 stades or ‹200› miles, and being roughly equal in breadth. After the
Propontis, the mouth of the Pontos narrows again to a four-stades distance, which is
called the Thracian Bosporos.

62
§§48–53 are closely based on various passages of Strabo, but in §50 the author varies from Strabo’s
sequence (Mittenhuber 2011b).
 text • 999

From here the Pontos itself now opens up, being in a certain sense a double sea:
for in the middle of it two capes project, about 2,500 stades distant from one another.
The one extending north from Asia is called Karambis; the one (extending) south from
­Europe is designated Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow). 52. Also the left-hand parts of
the Pontos, which are towards the west, have a length from Byzantion up to the outlets
of the Borysthenes of 3,800 stades, ‹507› miles, and a breadth of 2,000. The eastern
part, which is also on the right hand for those sailing in, has a length of 5,000, or a little
more, from the mouth to the head of the sea at Dioskourias, and a breadth of 3,000.
53. The circumference of the whole Pontos is 25,000 stades, similar to a Skythian bow:
for the right-hand parts resemble the string, for it is everywhere straight except for
the projecting Karambis; the remainder all (resembles) the horn of the bow, having its
curve in double form so that two gulfs exist, of which the western is generally more
rounded than the more easterly. To the north of this and beyond lies Lake Maiotis,
with a circumference of 9,000 stades;63 its mouth is called the Kimmerian Bosporos.
Such, then, is the nature of our sea.

63
As at Eux. §121.
 36
PSEUDO-ARRIAN,
­ IRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EUXINE
C
(‘eux.’)
(after ad 565)
D. Graham J. Shipley

fig. 36.1. Opening of Pseudo-Arrian, Circumnavigation of the Black Sea, fo. 4ʳ (detail).

INTRODUCTION
If we accept the title in the main manuscript at face value,1 this treatise in Greek (often
known as Eux. for short) masquerades as Arrian’s Periplous of the Euxeinos Pontos
(Chapter 27 above), reproducing part of his introductory salutation to the emperor
Hadrian and even extensive passages of his text. Its real author is unknown, though
possibly he is the same as the author of the Hypotyposis (Chapter 35), which would
place it in the late 6th century ad.2 The structure of its narrative of the Black Sea,
however, is quite different from that of Arrian’s: it proceeds anti-clockwise like his, but
in one complete circuit beginning at the Thracian Bosporos and returning there,3 as
opposed to Arrian’s three stages of which one is a ‘flashback’. The anonymous periplous
stands immediately before that by Arrian in the main manuscript; but internal evi-
dence shows that it postdates it by several centuries: sometimes echoing the language
of Procopius (who worked in Byzantion in the mid-6th century), sometimes referring

1
The work is preserved complete only in pp. 8ʳ–11ᵛ of the Vatopedi codex, B (pp. 4ʳ–7ᵛ of those now
in London), with parts in two other MSS (see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a).
2
See n. 5 to Chapter 35 above.
3
What Diller 1952, 102–17, repeatedly calls a tour ‘to the right’, referring to the direction in which
one turns upon entering the Black Sea.
 introduction • 1001

to place-names not otherwise attested before that time, notably Danapris for the river
Borysthenes (mod. Dnieper; §87).4
At first sight, the work may appear to be no more than a patchwork of cut-outs:
extracts not only from Arrian (c.31 per cent of the text, comprising roughly half of
Arrian’s original words) but also from three authors much earlier than Arrian: in des-
cending order, the Nikomedean Periodos at c.26 per cent, Menippos at c.18 per cent,
and Pseudo-Skylax at less than 1 per cent; in addition, there are 17 short passages,
adding up to a few hundred words, where Eux. has concocted statements about the
‘nations’ (ethnē) along the shores of the sea by blending information from Ps.-Skylax
and the others.5 With their aid the author has attempted to augment Arrian’s, in places
jejune, account—the new periplous is roughly two-thirds longer than Arrian’s original.
Less than one-quarter of the text is new; closer examination, however, reveals much
of interest and value. He surely had access to a major library or book collection, and
exercised considerable scholarly acumen in interweaving four sources—two of them,
Ps.-Skylax and the Nikomedean Periodos, ‘travelling’ in the opposite direction to the
others—as well as deploying new information.
At some points, however, the compiler’s adaptation of Arrian and Ps.-Skylax has
perpetuated or created inaccuracy; this is less the case with reference to Menippos’
detailed prose.6 For example, the author fails (§71) to correct the misunderstanding by
Arrian (19. 1) which makes the Tanaïs emerge from Lake Maiotis into the main Black
Sea (rather than into Maiotis itself, which then debouches into the sea). He is some-
times confused about the identification of features with alternative names, at one point
(§86) falsely equating the Danapris (or Borysthenes; Dnieper) with the Istros (Dan-
ube). When using an extract from one of the two clockwise sources, he sometimes
forgets to invert the local order of places: Pantikapaion, for example, is called the last
place in Europe rather than the first, as it should be (§78; the author here follows Nik.).
In several cases he defines the homeland of a people in relation to adjacent places in
such a way as to betray the clockwise progression of his source (e.g. §§37, 42–3, 49, 58,
60, 62, 64, 66, 74, 83).7
Despite these failings, however, the work’s marginalization in scholarship is unjus-
tified. On the positive side, its arrangement as a single circuit is an improvement on
­Arrian’s (see above). They both proceed anti-clockwise,8 but Arrian begins at ­Trapezous
in the south-east, proceeds north as far as Dioskourias (chs 1–11), then jumps back to
insert the first part of the circuit (the north coast of Asia Minor as far as Trapezous,
chs 12–16) before resuming, in less detail, from Dioskourias (chs 18–25).

4
Diller 1952, 110–12. At p. 113 Diller dates the work no earlier than ad 550–600.
5
All between §31 and §79; see Diller 1952, 107–9. These ‘ethnographic’ passages are marked e by
Diller and in our translation.
6
Diller 1952, 112.   7 Podossinov 2011, n. on §10; GGM i, p. cxvii.
8
Or ‘to the left’ in Diller’s terminology.
1002 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

The periplous is important, moreover, for the material from Nik. and Menippos
which it preserves, including evidently most of the Black Sea passage of Nik.9 The
author also supplies abundant factual details, chiefly new place-names, to update the
text for ­geopolitics of his day. He adds value, too, to the information he has gathered:
as well as place-names, he supplies conversions of stades into miles, and gives new
summative distances (e.g. §§69, 79, 85, 92, and in a sustained sequence at §§120–1,
though a close examination suggests some use of Menippos in these passages).10 A par-
ticular cluster of new pieces of information, of unknown origin, occurs in the sections
describing the coast below the Caucasus (§§62–4): this passage and Procopius (the
two being independent of one another) are the only sources for a migration of Gothic
peoples east of the Kimmerian Bosporos in the mid-6th century ad (Procopius, On
the Wars, 8. 4. 12; 8. 18. 22).11
Indeed, a prime difference between Arrian’s periplous and Eux. is the much greater
level of detail—albeit with some new errors—in the later work, especially about the
western Black Sea, where Arrian’s verbal journey (17. 2–25. 4) is a relative sprint. Here
Eux. supplements the information mainly with data from Menippos’ obviously much
fuller account. At §87 he avoids Arrian’s confusion (20. 1, 21. 1) about the peninsula
known as Achilles’ Racetrack, only to repeat at §93 the error of Arrian 21. 1, who trans-
fers the name to Leuke, Achilles’ Island.12
In light of these features, we may consider Eux. an improvement on Arrian in some
respects. None of the additional details is such as to prove that the author knew the
coasts of the Black Sea at first hand, but the work is a serious attempt to update and
enrich Arrian’s letter to Hadrian; the opening reproduced from Arrian may not be in-
tended to deceive but, on the contrary, to attribute the new, greatly enlarged edition
of the work to its original author; perhaps thereby to give it credibility. Revision must
have been a laborious task for its compiler—who surely had access to a library of im-
perial quality—as it entailed checking at least four source texts, updating numerous
details, and converting stades to miles at a ratio of 7½ : 1 (except in one case, which
may be accidental).13 By coincidence, he has preserved substantial material from lost
geographers.
The translation follows Diller’s transcription (taking into account his apparatus
criticus and commentary),14 with occasional changes. The text published by Müller in
GGM i (1855) had 92 sections, comprising §§1–42 from manuscript V (which ­preserves

9
Given the character of Nik. as we have it, it is apparent that there was little that Eux. would have
had to omit: Diller 1952, 106. Müller, GGM i. 226–9, reconstructs 234 additional lines of Nik., many
forming continuous extracts; Diller 1952, 165–76, no fewer than 279 lines.
10
Diller 1952, 105.   11 Diller 1952, 111.   12 On this confusion, see Braund 2000, 351.
13
See §74, where it is 8 to the mile if the MS is correct. At §15 the distance from Herakleia to
Amastris is given as 90 mi; there is no stade figure in manuscript B, but the relevant shorter distances
in §§12–15 add up to 630, suggesting that the author ‘must have converted carelessly at the rate of 7’
(Diller 1952, 105).
14
Diller 1952 prints the MS text without emendations, but it is vastly superior to those of Müller
(GGM i. 402–23; FHG v. 174–87). Podossinov 2011 also follows Diller’s text.
 introduction • 1003

only this part of the Periplous)15 and §§43–92 from the Heidelberg manuscript, A
(which preserves only this final part).16 Fifteen years later, Müller published the central
portion of the work from the London pages of manuscript B (which had come to light
in 1853 and contains the whole Periplous), dividing it into 29 subsections numbered
‘§42. 1–29’ since this passage stands between the original §§42 and 43;17 Diller later
renumbered these subsections as 1B–29B. Podossinov’s recent edition, more conven-
iently, continues the numeration after §42, designating this passage §§43–71 and the
final part of the work §§72–121 (rather than §§43–92). We adopt his numeration, but
give Diller’s earlier numbers in parentheses where they differ.

Note on the Tr ansl ation

Locators of the forms A12.1, M7, and PS90 indicate corresponding passages in Arrian,
­Menippos, and Ps.-Skylax respectively.
Additionally, words drawn from Arrian or Menippos, or (from §29 onwards) attrib-
uted to Menippos by Diller in his bold reconstruction of that author’s lost passages,
are marked a or m unless immediately preceded by one of the above subscript locators.
Words taken from Arrian will normally match the translation in Chapter 27. Lines of
the surviving portion of Nik. (the Nikomedean Periodos, Chapter 17) are marked in the
form N747, fragments in the form Nf38. As in Chapter 17, metrical phrases or lines attrib-
uted to Nik. are in double quotation marks “ ” with line breaks marked |. In 17 places
between §31 and §79, e marks words that Diller identifies as blending material from
Ps.-Skylax and the other sources (see introduction, above).18
Italics within parentheses ( ), as elsewhere in the volumes, are editorial explanations
such as modern place-names. Italics not in parentheses are text apparently originated
by the compiler of Eux., not taken from one of his four sources. Where such words
interrupt text marked a or m, the subsequent resumption of the text taken from Arrian
or Menippos is not normally marked.
Headings, unless placed in angle brackets ‹ ›, are in the manuscripts and may be
original.

selected further reading

*Diller, A. (1952), The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geographers. Lancaster, Pa.–Oxford. [Ch.
4 (pp. 102–46) with Greek transcription; map opp. p. 176.]
*Podossinov, A. V. (2011), ‘Anonymi Periplus Ponti Euxini (2037)’, in FGrH v.
[The first edition (2022) of Brodersen 2023a appeared too late to be taken into account.]

15
V = codex Vaticanus graecus 143 in Rome (dated C15). Diktyon no. 66774.
16
For manuscript A, see Introduction, §VIII. 2. a.
17
FHG v. 1. 174–87 (with corrections to the previously published passages at pp. xix–xxiii).
18
See Diller 1952, 107–9.
1004 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

TE XT
a
Arrian’s Circumnavigation of the Euxeinos Pontos, M7of both continents, of the places
both along Asia and along Europe, thus: (a) circumnavigation of the (part of) Bithynia
beside the Pontos, (b) circumnavigation of Paphlagonia, (c) circumnavigation of the
two Pontoses, (d) circumnavigation of the parts of the Pontos in Europe, (e) circum-
navigation of mthe (part of) Thrace beside the Pontos.19
1. A.prefaceTo the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Sebastos (Augustus), Arrian (sends
greetings).20 M7Near the Thracian Bosporos and the mouth of the Euxeinos Pontos in
the right-hand parts of Asia, which belongs to the nation of the Bithynians, lies a set-
tlement called Hieron (Sanctuary), in which is a temple designated that of Zeus Ou-
rios. This place is the point of departure for those sailing into the Pontos. As one sails
into the Pontos, holding Asia on the right side and circumnavigating the remaining
part of the nation of the Bithynians that lies towards the Pontos, the circumnavigation
is somewhat as follows.
2. A12.1The sanctuary (Hieron) of Zeus Ourios is 120 stades from Byzantion, and it is
here that the so-called mouth of the Pontos is narrowest, where it enters the Propontis.

m
first (part): circumnavigation of the part of
­b ithynia towards the p ontos

3. M8aAs one sails mfrom the sanctuary (Hieron) of Zeus Ourios aon the right side, mit
is 90 stades, 12 miles towards the river Rhibas (Riva Kalesi). From the river Rhibas
to Cape Melaina (Black; Kara Burunu), now called Kalē (Good), 150 stades, 20 miles.
From Cape Kalē to the river Artanas (or Artana; Kuzgun) and the settlement there, 150
stades, 20 miles. aThere is an anchorage (hormos) for small vessels near the sanctuary
of Aphrodite; mand an islet lies nearby which shelters the harbour.
4. mFrom the river Artanos (or Artanon) ato the river mand settlement of aPsilis
(Gök Su), 150 stades, 20 miles. And small boats might be anchored near the rock that
emerges not far from the outlet of the river.
5. From the river Psilis to the harbour mand river aof Kalpes (Kerpe Limani) is 210
stades, 28 miles. mThis is a trading-place of the Herakleians. aOf Kalpes Limen, of the
nature of the place and of its anchorage; of the spring there of cold, pure water; and of
the forest, infested with wild beasts, of shipbuilding wood near the sea, Xenophon the
Elder spoke.21
6. A13.1From Kalpes Limen to the Rhoë (Stream; Kumkagız Dere), in which there is
an anchorage for small ships, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles. From Rhoë to the small island of

19
In the main MS, this paragraph is in red and the five phrases are numbered using the letters αβγδε.
At each of (c)–(e) MS B omits ‘circumnavigation’.
20
Here the MS changes to black ink for normal text (apart from the large initial letter, which is in
red).
21
Xen. Anab. 6. 4. 3–5.
map 36.1. Pseudo-Arrian, Euxine: principal places. Includes names altered since the time of Arrian.
1006 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

Apollonia (Kefken Adası), now called Daphnousia, a short distance from the mainland,
in which is a harbour at the bottom of the islet, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles. This Apollonia
Nf38
has within it a city called Thynias, a colony of the Herakleiots. From the island of
Apollonia or Daphnousia ato Chelai, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles. This is the one still also called
Chele of the Medianoi.
7. From Chelai mto the Sangarios (Sakarya), a navigable (plōtos) river, a180 stades,
24 miles. Nf37(The river Sangarios), running from the land about the Thynoi and from
Phrygia, debouches through the Thynian territory.
8. mFrom the river Sangarios to the river Hypios (Büyuk Melen Çayı), 180 stades, 24
miles. Nf36This river has upon it an inland city called Prousias.
9. mFrom the river Hypios to the city of Dia, in which there is also an anchorage for
small ships, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From the city of Dia ato the trading-place of Lilaion (Akçakoca), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Lilaion mto the trading-place of Elaion (Aftun Deresı?) and the river, a60 sta-
des, 8 miles.
m
From Elaion to the river Kalēs (Alaplı) and its trading-place, 120 stades, 16 miles.
m
From the river Kalēs ato the river Lykos (Gülüç Çay?), 80 stades, 10⅔ miles.
From the river Lykos to the city of Herakleia (Ereğli), a Hellenic, Dorian one and a
colony of the Megarians, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles.
10. Nf35Herakleia is “a foundation of the Boiotians | and Megarians; they are found-
ing this within | the Kyaneai, starting out from Hellas | at the times when Cyrus took
control of Media”.
11. mAltogether, from Hieron as far as Herakleia, 1,550 stades, 206⅔ miles; but to
someone sailing directly, 1,200 stades, 160 miles.
From Herakleia to the city of Apollonia in Europe, lying opposite in the Thracian
nation, and now called Sozopolis, 1,000 stades, 123⅓ miles.22
12. A13.3From the city of Herakleia to the so-called Metroön, now called Aulia, 80
stades, 10⅔ miles.
From the Metroön to the Posideon now called Potistia, 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From the Posideon to Todaridai (i.e. Tyndaridai), now called Kyrsaïta, 45 stades,23
6 miles.
From Todaridai to the Nymphaion, 15 stades, 2 miles.24
From the Nymphaion to the river Oxinas (Ilık Su), 30 stades, 4 miles.
13. From the river Oxinas to Sindarache (Zonguldak), in which is an anchorage for
ships, m40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Sindarache to Krenides (Kilimli), in which is an anchorage for small ships, 20
stades, 2⅔ miles.

22
This distance is a temporary interruption of the eastward progress: it looks back west, past the
Bosporos, to a city on the W shore.
23
The first distance in stades that is not a multiple of 10.
24
The four places just named were probably local sanctuaries.
 text • 1007

From Krenides to the settlement of Psylla (Çatal Ağzi), a30 stades, 4 miles.
From Psylla to Tios (Filyos/​Hisarönü), a Hellenic, Ionian city built on the sea, an-
other colony of the Milesians, 90 stades, 12 miles.
From Tios to the river Billaios (Filyos Çayı/​Yenice Ç.), 20 stades, 2⅔ miles. mThis
river Billaios, some say, forms the boundary of Bithynia. Beyond this belongs to
Paphlagonia. Some, however, wish the river Parthenios (Bartin Çayı) to be the bound-
ary between Bithynia and Paphlagonia.

second (part): ‹circumnavigation of paphl agonia ›

a
From the river Billaios mto the river Psilis, now called Papanios, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From the river Psilis, also Papanios, to the river Parthenios, 70 stades, 8⅓
miles. 14. Nf34This river Parthenios is navigable, descending with a very quiet current.
In it, so the story goes, “there is a very famous bath of Artemis”.
15. M9 A14. 1mFrom the river Parthenios to Amastris (Amasra), aa Hellenic city that
also has ma river, PS90formerly called Sesamos, m90 stades, 12 miles. From Herakleia to
Amastris, 90 miles.25 16. Nf33(The city of Amastris:) “they say Phineas ruled over these
places, | son of Phoinix the Tyrian”. In later times an expedition of Milesians came
from Ionia and founded these cities, “which Amastris later brought together | into
Amastris, a city of this name she founded | upon this site. She is reported as | the
Persian Oxathres’ daughter, the story goes, | and Herakleian” tyrant Dionysios’ wife.
17. aFrom Amastris to Chele Erythinoi (by Çakraz Burunu), 90 stades, 12 miles.
From Chele Erythinoi to mthe settlement of aKromna (Korç Şile/​Tekeönü), 90 stades,
12 miles.
m
From Kromna to the trading-post of Kytoros (Kidros), an anchorage for ships, 90
stades, 12 miles.
A14.2
From Kytoroi26 to the settlement of Aigialos (Karaagaç Limanı), 60 stades, 8 miles.
m
From Aigialos to the village of Klimax, 30 stades, 4 miles.
From Klimax to the settlement of Timolaion, 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Timolaion ato Thymina (Timne), 20 stades, 2⅔ miles.
A14.3
From Thymina mto the promontory of Karambis (C. Kerempe), which is lofty
and huge, a120 stades, 16 miles.
18. mOpposite Karambis, in Europe, lies Nf32a high mountain falling steeply into the
sea, the so-called Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow), distant from Karambis the voyage of
a night and a day.
19. mFrom Karambis to the village of Kallistratis, also (called) Marsylla, 20 stades,
2⅔ miles.27
From Kallistratis ato Zephyrion (near Doganyurt), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Zephyrion mto the settlement of Garion, 30 stades, 4 miles.

25
Sic; no distance in stades is given in the MS.    26 Or Kytora; here plural.
27
For its location, see Dana 2018, attributing hitherto unidentified amphora stamps to it.
1008 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

From the settlement of Garion to the city of Abonou Teichos (Inebolu), called Ion-
oupolis, 120 stades, 16 miles. aThe anchorage is not secure for ships; though they could
ride at anchor (saleuoien) without harm, unless a large storm occurred.
20. mFrom Ionoupolis mto the small town and river of Aiginetes (Hacıveli Burunu),
120 stades, 16 miles.
From Aiginetes to the village of Kimolis (Ginoğlu), acalled Kinolis,28 60 stades, 8
miles. At Kinolis ships could ride at anchor in season; mand it has a minor anchorage
in the so-called Antikinolis.
A14.4
From Kinolis mto the village and harbour of Stephane (Usta Burunu), a180 sta-
des, 24 miles. From Stephane mto the settlement of Potamoi,29 150 stades, 20 miles.
m
From Potamoi to Syrias, a narrow cape,30 120 stades, 16 miles. After Syrias, the narrow
cape, there follows a gulf; someone sailing into it comes to the village of Armene (Ak
Limanı) and a large harbour; a60 stades, 8 miles. mBeside the harbour is a river called
Ochthomanes.
21. A14.5mFrom Armene to the city of Sinope (Sinop), aa colony of the Milesians, 40
stades, 5⅓ miles. mThere is situated at the outskirts an islet called Skopelos (Crag); it
has a way through for smaller ships, but bigger ships must sail round it and in this way
reach the city. For those who sail round the island, there is an additional distance of 40
stades, 5⅓ miles. 22. Nf31Sinope is named after one of the Amazons living nearby who
occupied it of old; they were kindred of the Syroi. “After that, it is said, those Hellenes
who came over | against the Amazons, Autolykos and Phlogios, | who followed Deïle-
on and were Thessalians”. Next Abron (i.e. Habron?), by race a Milesian; he appears to
have been killed by Kimmerians. “After the Kimmerians in turn, Kretines of Kos”, and
those who had become exiles from the Milesians. This people are founding it when the
army of the Kimmerians overran Asia.
23. mFrom Sinope to the river Euarchos, also called Euēchos, 80 stades, 10⅔ miles;
this river Euarchos forms the boundary of Paphlagonia and neighbouring Kappadokia.
For the ancient (writers) wish Kappadokia to stretch right to the Euxeinos Pontos; but
some called them Leukosyroi (White Syrians). Now, after Paphlagonia, the land up to
the frontier of the barbarian regions is properly called Pontos. It is divided into two
provinces.

third (part): circumnavigation of the t wo p ontoses

24. M10From the river Euarchos to the trading-post of Karousa (Gerze), with a harbour
in winds from the west, formerly named Polichnion (Little Town), 70 stades, 8⅓ miles.
From Karousai (sic) to Gourzoubathe, 60 stades, 8 miles.

28
The first name is perhaps from a false association with the Aegean island of Kimolos.
29
‘Rivers’; by Cebelit Burunu.
30
Or, as in Arr. §14. 4, Lepte Akra, ‘Narrow Cape’ (İnce Burunu), perhaps another name for Syrias;
or perhaps a word such as ētoi (‘also’) has dropped out. One MS reads akron (‘point’) instead of akran
(‘cape’).
 text • 1009

From Gourzoubathe to the settlement of Zagora (Çayağzi), also called Kallipous,

a
150 stades, 20 miles.
a
From Zagoron (sic) mto the river Zalikos and the village, which has no harbour, 90
stades, 12 miles.
From the river Zalikos to the navigable river Halys (Kızıl Irmak), 210 stades, 28
miles. 25. A15.1This river was of old the boundary between the kingdoms of Kroisos
(Croesus) and of the Persians, and now flows under Roman rule—not from the south,
as Herodotos says, but from the rising sun. And there, where it flows into the Pontos,
it separates the territories of the Sinopeans and the Amisenians. Nf30 Being 300 stades
distant from Amisos, running between the Syroi31 and Paphlagonians it debouches
into the Pontos.
26. A15.2From the river Halys to Naustathmos (Ship Station), in which is also a har-
bour (or ‘lake’), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From the harbour of Naustathmos to Konopion (Mosquito Place),32 a lake (or ‘har-
bour’), 50 stades, 6⅔ miles.
From Lake Konopion to Eusene, also called Dagalis, 120 stades, 16 miles.
From Eusene to the city of Amisos (Samsun), 160 stades, 20⅔ miles. 27. A15.3Am-
isos, a Hellenic city and a colony of the Athenians, is built on the sea, Nf29lying in the
land of the Leukosyroi, a colony of the Phokaians: for being settled four years earlier
than Herakleia it received an Ionian founding; and by this city is the neck of Asia that
is almost the narrowest, “passing through | to the Issic gulf (gulf of Issos) and Alexan-
droupolis, | founded by the Macedonian; it has a road | of seven days in total to Kilikia”.
For it is said that the most isthmus-like part of Asia “draws together into the corner
around it (the city); | but Herodotos seems not to know it, saying | that a straight road
of five days exists | from Kilikia, as he reports in his writing”, to Sinope, a city further
on.33 “The peninsula, comprising almost the best locations | in Asia, has fifteen races,
three Hellenic: | the Aiolic, next the Ionic, and the Doric”; but otherwise the rest of
the mixed peoples are barbarian. “There live here Kilikians, Lykians, and in addition |
Karians and maritime Mariandynoi | and Paphlagonians and Pamphylians; | Chalybes
in the interior, Kappadokians near them, | and those that hold Pisidia, and Lydians, |
and in addition Mysians and Phrygians.”
28. mFrom Amisos to the river Lykastos, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles.
From the river Lykastos to the village and river of Chadisios, 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.34
From the river Chadisios ato Ankon’s harbour, into which the river Iris (Yeşil Irmak)
pours, m100 stades, 13⅓ miles.

Sic, not ‘Syrians’.

31

This, like Eusene, is not definitely identified, though the mosquitoes fit the marshy area E of the
32

Halys.
33
Hdt. 2. 34. See n. on Ps.-Skylax §102. 2.
34
The surviving fragment of Menippos breaks off here.
1010 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

29. From the river Iris to the sanctuary and promontory of Herakleia (at Caltı Bu-
runu), a360 stades, 48 miles; mhere is a large harbour, the one called Lamyron; athere is
anchorage for ships, and water for an expedition.
From Herakleia to the river Thermodon (Terme Suyu), accessible for ships (naus-
iporos), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles. This Thermodon is in the (area) in which, they say, the
Amazons lived. mIt also has by its outlet a city called Themiskyra;35 and the river Ther-
modon flows through it.
A16.1
From the river Thermodon to the river Beris (Miliç Suyu), 60 stades, 8 miles.
From the river Beris to the river Thoaris (Zindan Dere), 90 stades, 12 miles.
30. From the river Thoaris mto the river Oinios (Ünye Dere) in the Pontos, in which
there is also a minor anchorage for ships, a30 stades, 4 miles.
From the river Oinios ato the river Phigamous (Yevis Dere?), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From the river Phigamous mto the location (called) Amylitos, 20 stades, 2⅔ miles.
From the location (called) Amylitos ato Phidasane (Fatsa) mor Phadissa, 130 stades,
17⅓ miles; mhere is a harbour and a city nearby called Polemonion.36
A16.2
m
From Phadissa ato the city of Polemonion, 10 stades, 1⅓ miles.
31. From Polemonion nearly37 as far as the banks of the river Thermodon was former-
e

ly settled by the nation of the Chalybes.

32. From Polemonion to the promontory called Iasonion (Yasun Burunu), 130 sta-
des, 17⅓ miles.
From Iasonion to the island of Kilikos (Hoynat Kale), 15 stades, 2 miles.
A16.3
From the island of Kilikos mto the river Genepos, 55 stades, 7⅓ miles.
From the river Genepos to the promontory and land of Boön (Persembe/​Vona), ‹20
stades, 2⅔ miles›; here is a harbour in all winds aand an anchorage for ships.
From Boön to Kotyoros (Ordu), 90 stades, 12 miles. Of this Kotyoros Xenophon,38
the Pylades,39 made mention, and says that it was a colony of the Sinopeans; now it is a
village, and not a large one.
33. eFrom Kotyoros nearly as far as Polemonion40 there lived formerly the nation of
the Tibarenoi, Nf28sharing space [—] “to play, loving to laugh in every fashion”, having
judged that this is the greatest blessing.
34. mFrom Kotyoros a gulf follows; when one sails into it, (the voyage) to the river
Melanthios (Melet Irmak) is 60 stades, 8 miles.
From Kotyoros, if one does not sail round the gulf but sails straight across the
mouth of the gulf, to the settlement of Hermonassa (Akçaabat) of the Trapezountians
(is) 300 stades, 40 miles.

35
Not located.   36 See n. on Arr. §16. 2.
37
Diller 1952, 142, explains the Greek here.    38 Cf. Xen. Anab. 5. 5. 3.
39
Pylades was the best friend of the hero Orestes (son of Agamemnon); Diller 1952, 142, reports
Müller’s suggestion that Arrian referred to Xenophon of Athens, his literary hero, as his Pylades. (The
author of Eux. may have introduced the idea.)
40
One of a number of places where the author has, perhaps inadvertently, not inverted the local order
of a source text.
 text • 1011

From the river Melanthios to the river Pharmantos (Bazar Suyu), called Pharman-
a

tinos, 140 stades, 20 miles.

From the river Pharmantinos to Pharnakia (Giresun), called Pharnakion, 120 stades,
16 miles. A16.4This Pharnakeia used to be called Kerasous, and was another colony of the
Sinopeans, Nf27founded †by which an empty place is lying, opposite which† extends an
island called Ares’ Isle.
35. eFrom Pharnakia, which used to be Kerasous, nearly as far as Kotyoros 41 there
lived formerly Nf26the nation called the Mosynoikoi (Hut-dwellers), with harsh customs,
most barbaric in their deeds; “for, it is said, they all reside in lofty | towers of wood, but
everything they do | is always done in public; while their king, | bound and shut away
within a tower, | watches with care—his tower is the one | with the highest roof of all—
but those who guard him | ensure that all of his commands are lawful; | if he trans-
gresses, he receives a punishment”—the greatest, they say, as they give him no food.
36. aFrom Pharnakia to the island of Aristias,42 which has a minor anchorage against
the winds from the west, 30 stades, 4 miles; this island of Aristias is called Ardous, also
Areonesos.43
m
From the island of Aristias to the settlement of Zephyrion (Çam Burunu), a120
stades, 16 miles; there is an anchorage (Zefre Liman) for ships.
From the settlement of Zephyrion to Tripolis (Tirebolu), 90 stades, 12 miles.
From Tripolis to Argyria44 20 stades, 2⅔ miles.
A16.5
From Argyria to Philokaleia, 90 stades, 12 miles.
From Philokaleia to Koralla, 100 stades, 13⅓ miles.
From Koralla mto the city and river of Kerasous, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From Kerasous to Hieron Oros (Sacred Mountain; Yoros Burunu), in which is a city
and a minor anchorage, 90 stades, 12 miles.
From Hieron Oros to the settlement of Kordylion (near Akçakale), ain which is also
an anchorage, 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
A16.6
From Kordyle mto the settlement of aHermonassa (Akçaabat), in which is also an
anchorage, 45 stades, 6 miles.
From Hermonassa to the city of Trapezous (Trabzon), min which is an anchorage
called Daphnous, a60 stades, 8 miles. A1.1Trapezous is a Hellenic city, a colony of the
Sinopeans, founded on the sea.
37. eSo from Trapezous as far as the island of Aristias or ‹Pharnakia›, which used
to be Kerasous, there lived formerly Nf25the nation called the Makrones (Long Men) or
Makrokephaloi (Long-heads).
38. A7.1From Trapezous to the Hyssou Limen, now called Sousourmena (Arak-
lıçarşışı/​Sürmene), 180 stades, 24 miles.

41
Another reverse direction.    42 ‘Aretias’, Arr. §16. 4.
43
Ares Isle was already mentioned at §34.
44
i.e. ‘the argyria’, silver-mines (at Halkavala), as at Arr. §16. 4, end.
1012 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

From Sousourmena mto the river Ophious (Of), in which there is a moderately sized
roadstead (salos) for ships, 90 stades, 12 miles. This river Ophious aseparates the terri-
tory of the Kolchoi from Thianitike. eSo (the land) from the Ophious river as far as the
Trapezountes (sic) was formerly occupied by the nation called Becheires, but now Kolchoi
occupy it. mSo up to the river Ophious are the nations of the two Pontoi, but the ones
after it are of different barbarian nations.
39. A7.2From the river Ophious ato the river called Psychros (Cold; Baltacı Dere), 30
stades, 4 miles.
From the river Psychros to the river Kalos,45 now called Kalē Parembolē (Good
Camp), is 30 stades, 4 miles.
From Kalē Parembolē to the river Thrizeos mor Rhizeos (Rize), and a harbour, a120
stades, 16 miles.
A7.3
From the Rhizeos to the river Askourna (Taşlı Dere), 30 stades, 4 miles.
From the river Askournos (sic) to the river mAdinaios (Kanlü Dere/Kıbledağı Dere),
a
also called Adienos, 60 stades, 8 miles; mand it has a moderately sized roadstead for
ships.
From the river Adinaios to the settlement of Kordyle, 100 stades, 13⅓ miles.
From Kordyle to the settlement of Athenai, 80 stades, 10⅔ miles; here is an anchor-
age for ships. A4.1For there is in the Euxeinos Pontos a land called Athenai (Athens),46
in which is also a Hellenic sanctuary of Athena, from which I imagine the place got
that name, and also an abandoned fort. A4.2The anchorage at the right time of year can
accommodate only a few ships and shelters them from the south wind, and even the
east; it may also save ships that are anchoring from the Boreas (NNE wind), but not
from the Aparktias (north wind), nor from the wind called the Thraskios (NNW wind)
in the Pontos, and the Skiros (i.e. Skiron) in Hellas.
40. A7.3From Athenai to the river Zangales (Pazar Dere/​Susa D.), 7½ stades,47 1 mile.
From the river Zangales, or Athenai, to the river Pyrtanes,48 40 stades, 5⅓ miles,
where Anchialos’ palace is.
From the river Pyrtanes mto the location (called) Armene, 24 stades, 3⅓ miles.49
A7.4
From the settlement of Armene ato the river Pyxites (Piskala Dere?), 66 stades,
8⅔ miles.50
From the river Pyxites to the river Archabis (Arhavi), 90 stades, 12 miles.
From the river Archabis to the river Apsaros (Gonio), 60 stades, 8 miles. 41. A6.3And
it is said that the settlement of Apsaros was long ago called Apsyrtos; for it was there
that Apsyrtos was killed by Medea, and the tomb of Apsyrtos is pointed out. The name
was subsequently corrupted by the barbarians who live around there, just as many

45
Good; İyi Dere/​Kalopotamos.   46 See n. on Arr. §4. 1.
47
The first distance in stades that is not a multiple of 5.
48
i.e. Prytanes? Prytanis would mean ‘Chief ’. Büyük Dere/​Furtuna Dere.
49
The first distance in stades that is not a multiple of 2½, which is one-third of a mile at the ratio of
7½ to 1 which Eux. employs. 3⅓ miles would actually be 25 st.
50
Incorrect, like the preceding calculation: should be 65 st.
 text • 1013

­ thers were corrupted too; A6.4since they say that Tyana in Kappadokia was named
o
Thoana after Thoas, king of the Tauroi, who, they claim, while pursuing Orestes and
Pylades, came as far as this region and died here of a disease.
42. eSo from the river Archabis as far as the river Ophious51 was formerly occupied
by the nation named Ekecheirieis, but is now occupied by the Machelones and Henio-
choi. 43. (1B). And from the river Apsaros as far as the river Archabis was formerly
occupied by the nation called Bouseres, but is now occupied by the Zydritai.
44. (2B). A7.4From the river Apsaros to the Anakampsis (Çoruh), a river accessible
to ships, 15 stades, 2 miles.
A7.5
From the river Anakampsis to the river Bathys (Deep; Qorolistsqali), 75 stades, 10
miles.
From the river Bathys to the river Kinasos (Kintrish?),52 90 stades, 12 miles.
From the river Kinasos to the Isis (Natanebi), a river accessible to ships, 90 stades, 12
miles. Being accessible to ships, both the Akampsis and the Isis send out strong winds
in the morning.
From the river Isis to the Mogros (Supsa), ‹a river› accessible to ships, malso called
Nygros, anavigable, 90 stades, 12 miles.
A8.1
‹From the river Mogros to the river Phasis (Rioni?), 90 stades, 12 miles.› 45. (3B).
This river Phasis Nf24has a current “that runs down out of Armenia, near which | Iberi-
ans live who once were relocated | from Iberia to Armenia. As one goes into” a river “to
the left of the Phasis”, there lies beside it a Hellenic city of the Milesians, called Phasis,
into which it is said sixty nations come down, all using different tongues, “among
whom they say that some from India” and Baktria have come together, both barbarian.
Between these the Koraxic land is barbarian; the places following it are the so-called
Kolike, the nation of Melanchlainoi, and that of the Kolchoi. 46. (4B). PS81The river
admits upstream sailing (for) 180 stades, 24 miles; in it is a great city called Aia, from
where Medea came. 47. (5B). A8.2The Phasis, having avery light water, floats on the
sea, not mixing with it, A8.3and just below the surface it is very fresh to draw up, but
if one sinks the cup deeper, it is salty. Moreover, the whole Pontos has much fresher
water than the sea outside it; the reason for this is its rivers, being so many and so
great in volume. A8.4The proof of this freshness—if proof of perceptible phenomena be
necessary—is that those who live next to the sea lead all their cattle down and water
them from this; they drink happily, and the opinion is it is more beneficial to them
than fresh water is. A8.5The colour of the Phasis is strange, like that of water that has
been tainted with lead or tin; but, being left to stand, it becomes extremely clear. Fur-
thermore, those who sail into it are traditionally forbidden from importing water into
the Phasis, and as soon as they enter its stream they are ordered to pour out all water
that is on the ships; and if they do not, it is said, they will not sail on favourably. And

51
In the reverse direction.    52
Akinases at Arr. §7. 5.
1014 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

the water of the Phasis does not stagnate, but remains unchanged for upwards of ten
years—if anything, it becomes fresher.
48. (6B). A10.1From the river Phasis to the Charieis (Khobi), a river accessible to
ships, 90 stades, 12 miles.
From the river Charieis to the Chobos (Inguri), a river accessible to ships, 90 stades,
12 miles.
A10.2
From the river Chobos to the river Segame (Galizga), malso called Zeganis, 210
stades, 28 miles.
a
From the river Zeganis to the river Tarsouras (Tanoush), mcalled Moche, 120 ­stades,
16 miles.
a
From the river Tarsouras to the river Hippos (Horse), now called Lagoumpsa, 150
stades, 20 miles.
A10.3
From the river Hippos mto the river Atelaphos,53 now called Euripos—there is a
way in to the ferry-point 54—30 stades, 4 miles. A10.4From the river Atelaphos to the city
of Dioskourias, which has a lake55 aand is now called Sebastoupolis (Sukhumi), a colo-
ny of the Milesians, m135 stades, 18 miles.
49. (7B). eSo from Dioskourias Sebastoupolis as far as the river Apsaros was for-
merly occupied by the nation called Kolchoi, the ones who were renamed Lazoi. 50.
(8B). A11.1We passed the following nations. The Kolchoi border on the Trapezuntines,
just as Xenophon says.56 And the people he records57 as being most warlike A11.2and
hostile towards the Trapezountines, he calls Drillai, but I think they are actually the
Sannoi. For they too are very warlike, even to this day, and are extremely hostile to
the Trapezountines, live in fortified places, and as a nation without a king they were
formerly liable for tribute to the Romans, although, being pirates, they are not anx-
ious to pay their tribute. After the Kolchoi come the Machelones and Heniochoi; their
king is Anchialos. 51. (9B). Nf23The nation of the Heniochoi (Charioteers) hates for-
eigners. Some say these people were called Heniochoi after Amphitos and Telchis, the
charioteers of Polydeukes (Pollux) and Kastor. “These men appear” to have arrived in
the expedition with Jason, but “to have settled around these places | after being left be-
hind, so the myth says”. Beyond the Heniochoi and inland lies the Kaspia, “as the sea
is called, which has living around it | horse-eating (hippophaga) races of barbarians; |
the frontiers of the Medes are close to it”. 52. (10B). aComing after the Machelones
and Heniochoi are the Zydritai; these are subject to the Pharesmanoi. Coming after
the Zydritai are the Lazoi; the king of the Lazoi is Malassas, who has his kingdom
from you. A11.3Following the Lazoi are the Apselai; the king of the Apselai is Ioulianos

53
Both branches of the Kodor?
54
This phrase, eisplous porthmiōi, is slightly elliptical; it is a parenthetical remark of the kind seen in
Stadiasmos (Chapter 31 above).
55
Müller in a note suggests limena ‘harbour’ in place of limnēn ‘lake’; both are features Eux. mentions
elsewhere, and he sometimes says a settlement ‘has a harbour’ or does not; but certainty is impossible,
as at §26 (twice).
56
Xen. Anab. 4. 8. 22.    57 Xen. Anab. 5. 2.
 text • 1015

(Julian); he holds his kingdom from your father. Bordering on the Apselai are the
Abasgoi; the king of the Abasgoi is Rhimagas, and he holds his kingdom from you.
Following the Abasgoi come the Sannitai, in which area Sebastoupolis was founded:
the king of the Sanigai is Spadagas, who holds his kingdom from you.58
53. (11B). A11.4As far as Apsaros we were sailing towards the east and the eastern,
right-hand part of the Pontos; and Apsaros seemed to me to be the limit of the length
of the Pontos; for from there our voyage was northwards to the Chobos ‹river, and
beyond the Chobos› to the Sigames. From the Sigames we veered towards the left-
hand flank of the Pontos to the river Hippos. From the river Hippos in the direction of
Atelaphos and Dioskouris (sic) we clearly sailed directly towards the left of the Pontos,
and our voyage was into the setting sun; then, turning under the Astelephos towards
Dioskouris, we saw the Caucasus mountain, which is just as high as the Keltic Alps.
And one summit of the Caucasus—the summit called Strobilos—was pointed out,
where, legend has it, Prometheus was hung up by Hephaistos, as instructed by Zeus.59
54. (12B). A17.2Thus, then, is the voyage sailing to the right from Byzantion to Diosk-
ourias (sic), the camp which is the limit of Roman control when one now sails to the
right of the Pontos. A17.3But when I heard that Kotys, king of the so-called Kimmerian
Bosporos, had died, I decided that it was my duty to explain the voyage as far as the
Kimmerian Bosporos to you, so that, if you are planning something with regard to the
Bosporos, you would be able to make the plan without being ignorant of the voyage.
55. (13B). . . . e†the places up to Sebastoupolis and Abasgia, fulfilling thus the remain-
ing places as follows†.60 A18.1For those who have ‹started out›61 from Dioskourias Sebas-
toupolis, the first anchorage would be at Pityous (Pitzunda). So from Sebastopolis (sic)
m
‹to Pityous›, where is an anchorage for ships, 350 stades, 46⅔ miles. 56. (14B). Up
to this place is the Pontic kingdom of the barbarians and the places around Tibara-
nion, Sannike, and Kolchis; but the places following them belong to the autonomous
barbarians.
57. (15B). From Pityous ato the land of Stennitike (Gagra?),62 once also called Tri-
glites, 150 stades, 20 miles; in it a Skythian tribe used to live of old, of whom the writer
Herodotos makes mention;63 A18.2he says that they are the eaters of fir-cones (or ‘lice’);
and still people hold that opinion concerning them.
From Stennitike to the river Abaskos, 90 stades, 12 miles.
From the river Abaskos to the river Mozygos,64 now called Brouchon,65 120 stades,
16 miles.

58
See n. on §11. 3.    59 See n. on Arr. §11. 5.
60
Diller 143 regards this passage as ‘corrupt and unintelligible’.
61
hormistheisin . . . ek, ‘having anchored . . . from’, a patent error for Arrian’s hormētheisin . . . ek,
­‘having started out from’.
62
‘Nitike’, Arr. §18. 1.    63 Diller cites 4. 109.
64
‘Borgys’, Arr. §18. 2; unlocated.
65
Probably related to the Brouchoi people of the Caucasus: Procopius 8. 4. 1 (Podossinov 2011, on
§57).
1016 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

From the Brouchon to the river Nesis, in which is Cape Herakleion (C. Adler?), the
one called Pyxites, 60 stades, 8 miles.
A18.3
From the river Nesis to the river Masetikes (Matsesta), 90 stades, 12 miles.
From the river Masetikes to the river Achaious (Sochi), into which there is a voyage
for ferry-boats, 60 stades, 8 miles; this river Achaious is called Basis, and separates the
Zichoi and Sanichai. The king of the Zichoi is Stachemphlas, and he holds his kingdom
from you.
58. (16B). eSo from the river Achaious as far as the river Abaskos, dwell the Saniches.66
59. (17B). From the river Achaious to the promontory of Herakleion (Mys Kod-
osh?), now called Ta Erēma (The Deserted Places), 150 stades, 20 miles.
From the promontory of Herakleion to a cape (Mys Gryaznova?) on which is now
said to be the castle of Bagas, 10 stades, 1⅓ miles.
From ‹the cape› to a cape at which there is shelter from the Thraskios (NNW wind)
and the north wind, (and) at which Laiai is now said (to lie), 80 stades, 10⅔ miles.
A18.4
From Laiai to Palaia (Old) Lazike, as it is named, in which has been founded the
so-called Nikopsis, near which is the so-called river Psachapsis, 120 stades, 16 miles.
From Old Lazike to Palaia (Old) Achaia,67 in which is the river now called Topsidas,
a
150 stades, 20 miles.
60. (18B). eSo from Palaia Achaia as far as Palaia Lazike, and beyond as far as the
river Achaious, was formerly occupied by the nations called Heniochoi, Koraxoi and Ko-
rikoi, Melanchlainoi, Machelones, Kolchoi, and Lazoi, but is now occupied by the Zichoi.
61. (19B). From Palaia Achaia to Pagras Limen (Harbour of Pagra; Gelendzhik?),
now called Heptalos’s Harbour, 350 stades, 46⅔ miles.
62. (20B). eFrom Pagras’s harbour as far as Palaia Achaia was formerly occupied by
the nations called the Achaioi (Achaians), but is now occupied by the Zichoi.
63. (21B). From Heptalos’s Harbour ato Hiera Limen (Sacred Harbour; Novorossisk),
now called Hierios’s (Harbour) or Nikaxis, a180 stades, 24 miles.
From the Sacred Harbour or Nikaxis to Sindike68 mor Sindikos Harbour, but now
called Eudousia,69 a300 stades, 40 miles.
64. (22B). eFrom Sindikos Harbour as far as Pagras Limen was formerly occupied by
the nations called Kerketai or Toxitai, but is now occupied by the so-called Eudousianoi,
using the Gothic and Tauric language.70
65. (23B). mAfter the harbour of Sindikon there follows the village called Korokon-
dame, lying on an isthmus or ‘narrow’ of (i.e. between) the lake and the sea, after which
is Lake Korokondamitis, now called Opissas, making a quite large gulf; 630 stades, 84
miles. As one sails into this lake and sails round it, (the distance) to the city of Hermo-
nassa (is) 440 stades (sic), 58⅔ miles.

66
‘Sanigai’, Arr. §18. 3.    67 For Palaia Lazike and Palaia Achaia, see n. on Arr. §18. 4.
68
Sindike is probably a region.    69 ‘Eulysia’ in Procopius 8. 4 7 (Diller 1952, 111, citing Müller).
70
On the significance of this for Gothic history, see the chapter introduction.
 text • 1017

66. (24B). eSo from Hermonassa as far as Sindikos Harbour, Nf22certain Maiotai live
alongside, called the nation of the Sindoi, after whom Sindike is named. These Sindoi
are barbarians, but civilized in their customs. After the Sindoi are the Kerketai called
Toritai, a just and reasonable nation, very dedicated to nautical matters. After the Ker-
ketai, the land bordering on these is held by Achaians, “whom they say, being Hellenes
by race”, are called the Barbarized Achaians. For they say that once the Orchomenian
host “of Ialmenos, and the Minyans, sailing | in full strength from Ilion, by the breaths”
of the wind of the Tanaïs “came perforce into the Pontic area, | barbarian land; thus
forced into exile, | they are outside the law and, in their customs, | strongly malevolent
towards the Hellenes”. Many of the Achaians are enemies of the Kerketai.
67. (25B). mSailing from Hermonassa into the gulf upon the mouth of Lake Maiotis
and the village of Achilleion, 515 stades, 68⅔ miles. 68. (26B). A19.1mSailing straight
a
from Sindike ‹to the Bosporos› called Kimmerion and the city of Pantikapaion
(Kerch) on the Bosporos, 540 stades, 72 miles.
69. (27B). Altogether, sailing round from Hieron as far as the mouth of Lake Maiotis
or the village of Achilleion, 12,487 stades, 1,653⅓ miles.71
70. (28B). mFrom the village of Achilleion, which is lying at the end of Asia and of
the channel at the mouth of Lake Maiotis or the Tanaïs, to the village lying oppo-
site at the end of Europe, called Porthmios (Ferry), which similarly lies upon the
channel at the mouth of Lake Maiotis, the voyage across the mouth is 20 stades, 2⅔
miles. 71. (29B). aThis river Tanaïs is said to divide Europe from Asia. And it starts
from the Maiotis lake, and flows into the sea of the Euxeinos Pontos. A19.2Aeschylus,
however, in Prometheus Unbound, makes the Phasis the boundary of Europe and Asia.
In his play the Titans, at any rate, tell Prometheus, ‘We have come, Prometheus, to
witness | Your struggle, and your torment in chains’.72 72. (43). Then they recount
the lands they have come through: ‘Where the soils of Europe and Asia | have a twin
limit in the great river Phasis’. A19.3It is said that the circumnavigation round the Maiotis
lake is about 9,000 stades, 1,200 miles. 73. (44). PS68.5Lake Maiotis is said to be half
(the size) of the Pontos. 74. (45). Nf19The river Tanaïs, which is the frontier of Asia,
cutting each continent apart, is possessed, first, by Sarmatai, continuing for 2,000
stades, which becomes 250 miles;73 next after the Sarmatai is the race of Maiotai called
Iazamatai, as Demetrios has said, after whom lake Maiotis is called; but as Ephoros
calls it, the nation of the Sauromatai. The Amazons mingled with these “Sauromatai,
they say, when once they came” from the battle that took place around the Thermodon;
after them the Sauromatai were surnamed Gynaikokratoumenoi (Woman-ruled).

71
Should be 1,664.93 (1,664 14/15) miles. See §92 for the same figure correctly converted (albeit with
rounding).
72
MS A begins at ‘Your’.
73
This figure is converted at the rate of 8 stades to the mile, unlike others.
1018 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

75. (46). PS72Next is Phanagoras’s city, (or) the city of Kepos (Garden).74 76. (47).
Nf21
“Next is Hermonassa, and Phanagoreia, | which they say the Teians founded at some
date; | and Sindikos Harbour, having for its founders | Hellenes who came out from
nearby places. | These cities have their sites enclosed within” an island (i.e. peninsula)
“beside Maiotis as far as the Bosporos; | it occupies a large amount of plain-land, | in
part impassable by reason of marshes | and rivulets, by lagoons in the further part, |
which form within the sea and in the lake”.
77. ‹48›75 Nf20“As you sail out of the mouth, the city of Kimmeris (or Kimmerikon),76 |
called after the barbarian Kimmerioi”; it is a foundation by the tyrants of the Bosporos;
“and Kepos (or Kepoi),77 colonized by Milesians”. And these are in the Asiatic part.

fourth (part). ‹circumnavigation of the

european parts of the p ontos ›78

78. (49). Nf17The last place in Europe, on the very mouth of Lake Maiotis, is Panti-
kapaion (Kerch), named a royal residence by the people of the Bosporos. Above these
people, Skythike is barbarian; “it is bordering upon the unlived-in land, | and is a land
unknown to all the Hellenes. | The first people by the Istros are the Karpides, | says
Ephoros; the Aroteres” (Ploughmen) are “further off, | and the Neuroutai, as far as the
empty, frozen land. | Towards the east, when one leaves the Borysthenes” (Dnieper)
river, they say that in so-called Hylaia “the inhabitants are Skythai; then the Georgoi
(Farmers) follow above these, | then again emptiness over a wide place, | and beyond
this the nation of the Anthropophagoi (Man-eating) Skythai”, and beyond these again
a desert follows. “Across the Pantikapes, the nation of the Limnaioi (Lake-men) | and
several others not having their own names | but with the surname Nomadic, very
pious; | none of them would be unjust to a living person; | house-carriers, it has been
said, they feed | upon the milk” from the Skythian milk-mares, “their way of life in-
volves declaring property | and social relations to be common to all. | They say wise
Anacharsis was born of those | Nomadics that are by far the most pious of all”.
Nf18
(Ephoros has said that) “some also came to Asia | and settled in it, whom in fact
they call | Sakai”;79 and he says the most conspicuous (race) is that of the Sauromatai,
(then) the Gelones, “and third | the race of the Agathyrsoi, as they are named”. Taking
its name from the Maiotai, “lying next is the Maiotis lake” into which the Tanaïs (Don),
“taking the current from the river Araxes, | is mingled, as Hekataios of Teos80 said, |
or, as Ephoros reports, from a certain lake | whose limit is unstated. It (the Tanaïs)

74
Not named by Arrian where one would expect it, at 19. 1 or 19. 3.
75
Müller and Diller do not mark a section 48; Podossinov places the break here.
76
On the Taman peninsula.   77 On the gulf of Taman.   78 i.e. as far as the Istros.
79
The MSS have ‘Sabakai’, which would not fit the metre of Nik., from which the words are quoted,
as only two syllables are wanted. Marcotte 2000b, 140 (his fr. 15b = our fr. 18) and 250 (commentary)
accepts Holsten’s emendation to ‘Sakai’, a known Skythian people.
80
A mistake (by the poet of Nik.?) for either Miletos (see Hekataios 61) or Abdera.
 text • 1019

­ ebouches, | with double-mouthed stream, into the so-called Maiotis | and (then) into
d
the Kimmerian Bosporos”. 79. (50). The mouth of the lake is called Bosporos.
m
From the settlement of Porthmios (Ferry), or the mouth of Lake Maiotis, to the
small city called Myrmekion, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From Myrmekion to the distinguished city of Pantikapaion in the Bosporos, 25
stades, 3⅓ miles; it has a large harbour and shipsheds.
As one sails straight from the Bosporos into the mouth of Lake Maiotis, or of the
Tanaïs, a60 stades, 8 miles.
From the city of Pantikapaion to the city of Tyristake, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From the city of Tyristake to the city of Nymphaion, 25 stades, 3⅓ miles.
From Nymphaion to the small village of Akrai (The Capes), 65 stades, 8⅔ miles.
From Akrai to the city of Kytai, PS68.3formerly called Kydeakai†, m30 stades, 4 miles.
e
So from Athenaiōn up to Kytai the Skythians occupy it. After these is the Kimmerian
Bosporos.
From Kytai to the city of the Kimmerikoi, 60 stades, 8 miles; here is an anchorage
for ships from the winds from the west. Nf16Opposite in the sea are rocky islands, not
very large, two in number, a little distant from the mainland.
Altogether, from the mouth of Lake Maiotis as far as the Kimmerikos (sc. Bosporos?),
300 stades, 40 miles. From the city of Pantikapaion ‹as far as› the Kimmerikos, 240
stades, 32 miles.
80. (51). A19.3From the Kimmerikos ato the village of Kazeka (Katschik), built on the sea,
m
180 stades, 24 miles.
a
From Kazeka to the city of Theudosia (Feodosiya), a deserted city mthat has a har-
bour, a280 stades, 37⅓ miles. A19.4It used to be a Hellenic city, a colony of the Milesians,
and there is a mention of it in many works. Now Theudosia is called, in the Alanic or
Tauric dialect, Ardabda: that is, Seven Gods. In this Theudosia, Nf15it is said, exiles from
the people of the Bosporos, too, once settled.
81. (52). mFrom Theudosia to the harbour of Athēnaiōn (Sudak), also known as
a
Harbour of the Skythotauroi, a deserted one, 200 stades, 26⅔ miles; mhere is an a­ nchorage
without waves for ships. eSo from Athenaiōn ‹up to Kalos Limen the Tauroi occupy it.
From› the harbour of ‹Athēnaiōn›, aalso known as Skythotauroi, to Lampas (Biyuk
Lambat), 600 stades, 80 miles; mhere is an anchorage for ships.
A19.5
m
From Lampades (sic) to Kriou Metopon (Ram’s Brow), PS68.2the promontory of
Taurike mand a high mountain, 220 stades, 29⅓ miles. 82. (53). Nf14In this land in Tau-
rike “some say that after her abduction” Iphigeneia came here from Aulis; the Tauroi
are dense with crowds of people, “and are devoted to a life on the land, a pastoral one,
| but in cruelty they are barbarians, murderers, | placating the divinities with their
impieties. | 83. (54). The so-called Taurike Chersonesos | is attached to these, and
has a Hellenic city | which Herakleiots and Delians colonized | after an oracle came
to the Herakleiots | who lived in Asia within the Kyaneai” that they should settle the
Chersonese together with the Delians.
1020 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

84. (55). A19.5mFrom Kriou Metopon to Euboulos’s Harbour, aanother Tauric one,
also known as Symboulon,81 m300 stades, 40 miles; here is a harbour without waves.
a
From the harbour of Symboulon mto the city of Cherronesos, aalso known as Tau-
rike Chersonesos, ma colony of the Herakleians in the Pontos, a180 stades, 24 miles;
m
here is an anchorage and good harbours.
85. (56). A coastal sailing is involved by the boundaries of Taurike, from the har-
bour of Athēnaiōn up to Kalos Limen (Good Harbour; Chernomorskoye), of 2,600 sta-
des, 346⅔ miles.
From the village of Porthmitis (Ferry) at the end of Europe, lying in the mouth of Lake
Maiotis or the Tanaïs, as far as Cherson, 2,260 stades, 301⅓ miles.
Altogether, from the city of Bosporos, also known as Pantikapaion, as far as Cherson,
2,200 stades, 293⅓ miles.
86. (57). From Cherson mto Koronitis, aalso called Kerkinitis (near Evpatoria), 600
stades, 80 miles.
m
From Koronitis, aalso known as Kerkinitis, to the Skythian Kalos Limen of Cher-
sonitis, 700 stades, 93⅓ miles. eSo from Kalos Limen up to the river Istros, also called
Danapris, again the Skythians occupy it.
A20.1
m
From Kalos Limen a gulf follows, called Karkinites, passing through the Ta-
myriakoi; the gulf is 2,250 stades, 300 miles. If one does not sail round but sails straight
for the isthmus, the stades are 300, 40 miles. aWithin the (land of) Tamyriake is a lake,
which is not large.
87. (58). mFrom the promontory, nf13the Achilleios Dromos (Achillean Racetrack),
which is a beach, that is, a shore, is truly long and narrow, mpasses by the Tamyriakoi,
passing through the channel for 1,200 stades, 160 miles, with a width of 4 plethra (c.400
feet); its extremities form islands, and it is separated from the mainland by 60 stades, 8
miles. In the middle of it a neck in the form of an isthmus, that is, of narrow form, joins
the mainland, in other words the land, for 40 stades, 5⅓ miles in length.
From Tamyriake, indeed, if one sails the aforesaid course (dromos) towards the oth-
er promontory of Dromos Achilleos (Racetrack of Achilles),82 which is called the Hier-
on Alsos (Sacred Grove) of Hekate, the aforesaid stades are 1,200, 160 miles.
From the Sacred Grove of Hekate to the Borysthenes, a river accessible to ships, now
called Danapris, 200 stades, 26⅔ miles. 88. (59). Nf12This river Borysthenes “is the
most serviceable of all, | bearing many great monsters and the crops | that grow here
and pastures for herd animals. | They say the flow of its stream is navigable | for forty
days; though in its upper parts | it is unnavigable” and not passable, “for it is blocked by
snow and frosts”. 89. (60). At the confluence on (sic) the Hypanis and Borysthenes
†with their two rivers† a city was founded, formerly called Olbia but after that again
called Borysthenes by Hellenes. The Milesians are founding this during the Median

81
In the bay of Balaklava.   
82
Oller Guzmán 2021 equates the Dromos with the Tendra peninsula.
 text • 1021

empire. It has an upstream voyage of 240 stades from the sea, by the river Borysthenes,
the one now called Danapris; the distance is 32 miles.
90. (61). A20.2From the Borysthenes to a very small island, deserted and nameless, is
60 stades, 8 miles.
From the very small island, deserted and nameless (Berezan), to Odessos,83 80 stades,
10½ (sic) miles.
From Odessos mto the settlement of Skopeloi (Reefs), 160 stades, 21⅓ miles.
From Skopeloi ato the harbour of the Istrianoi (Luzanovka?), 90 stades, 12 miles.
A20.3
From the Harbour of the Istrianoi ato the harbour of Iako (Odessa?),84 90 stades,
12 miles.
From the harbour of Iako mto the settlement of Nikonion, 300 stades, 40 miles.
From the settlement of Nikonion to the Tyras (Dniester), a river accessible to ships,
30 stades, 4 miles. 91. (62). Nf11This river Tyras, being deep and nourishing in pas-
tures for flocks, “has resources for traders” in fish | “and for cargo ships it offers a safe
voyage upstream. | A city sharing its name with the river lies here, | Tyras”, said to be
a colony of the Milesians.
92. (63). Altogether, from the river Borysthenes as far as the river Tyras, 810 stades,
108 miles; and from Cherson to the river Tyras, 4,110 stades, 548 miles.
m
Artemidoros the geographer writes that from the city of Cherson up to the river
Tyras, with the circumnavigation of the gulf of Karkinitis, is 4,420 stades, 589⅓ miles.
From the river Tyras to the area of Neoptolemos, 120 stades, 16 miles.
From Neoptolemos to Kremniskoi, 120 stades, 16 miles. Artemidoros the geograph-
er says that from the river Tyras to Kremniskoi is 480 stades, 64 miles.
From Kremniskoi as far as the (Places) of Antiphilos, 330 stades, 44 miles.
From Antiphilos ato the mouth of the river Istros called Psilon, 300 stades, 40 miles.
Nf10
These people are Thracians and immigrant Bastarnai.
93. (64). A21.1Just about opposite this mouth of the Istros, Psilon—straight across the
open sea (pelagos), especially when you sail with the Aparktias wind—lies an island
in front, which some call Achilles’ Island (Zmiinyi),85 others Dromos Achilleos,86 and
others still Leuke (White) because of its colour. 94. (65). Nf9It “has also a tame mul-
titude of birds”, a sacred sight to people who arrive. From this it is not possible to see
land, even though it is distant from land 400 stades, 53⅓ miles, as indeed Demetrios
(of Kallatis) writes. 95. (66). aThetis is said to have set up this island for her son,
and that Achilles lived there. And there is a temple of Achilles there, and a wooden
image (xoanon), that is, a statue, of ancient workmanship. A21.2The island is deserted
of humans, but a few goats live there—they say that those who from time to time put
in there dedicate one to Achilles—and there are many other votive offerings set up in
the temple—bowls and rings and rather costly stones. These are all thank-offerings to

83
Unlocated; see n. on Arr. §20. 3.    84 ‘Harbour of the Isiakoi’, Arr. §20. 3.
85
See n. on Ps.-Skyl. §68. 4.    86 See §87 for the actual location of Achilles’ Racetrack.
1022 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

Achilles. Also laid up are inscribed items, some in the Roman fashion (i.e. in Latin),
some in the Greek, in one metre or another, praising Achilles.
96. (67). A24.1From the mouth of the Istros (Danube) called Psilon to the second
mouth is 60 stades, 8 miles.
From the second mouth to the mouth called Kalon (Good), 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
And from Kalon to Arakos, as they call the fourth mouth of the Istros, 60 stades, 8
miles.
A24.2
From Arakos mto the Hieron (Sacred) mouth, athe fifth mouth of the Istros, 120
stades, 16 miles.
m
From here the parts of Thrace facing the Pontos are succeeded by the borders of
the Thracians, and the former nations are barbarian.

fifth (part): ‹circumnavigation of the part

of thrace towards the p ontos ›

97. (68). This river Istros, also called Danoubis, Nf8comes down from the western places
“making its outflow in five mouths”; but splitting into two it also flows into the Adri-
atic. It is also “recognized”, actually, as far as “Keltike, | and persists all the time, even
in summer; | for in the winter it is increased and filled | by the rains that occur” †and
by the snow, as they say, taking the inflows of the generated frosts, but in summer†
“it emits a stream that is exactly equal; | and it also has islands lying within itself, |
numerous and of great size, so the story goes, | of which the one that lies between
the sea | and the mouths” is no lesser in size than Rhodes. It is called Peuke because
of the multitude of pines there; then immediately after it, lying in the open sea, is the
aforementioned Achilles’ Island.
98. (69). mFrom the Hieron (Sacred) mouth of the river Istros to the city of Istros
(near Istria), a500 stades, 66⅔ miles. 99. (70). Nf7(The city of Istros) took its name from
the river; and this city “the Milesians are founding when the army | of the barbarian
Skythai crossed into Asia, | pursuing the Kimmerians from the Bosporos”.
100. (71). mFrom the city of Istros to the city of Tomeas (Tomis; Costanţa), which
has a minor anchorage, a300 stades, 40 miles. 101. (72). Nf6Tomeoi, “being a colony of
the Milesians, | was settled by Skythai” †in a circle round about†.
102. (73). A24.3From Tomeoi (sic) to the city of Kalatis (Mangalia), which has an
anchorage for ships, 300 stades, 40 miles. 103. (74). Nf5Kallatis, a colony of the Her-
akleotai that came into being according to an oracle: “and they founded this when |
Amyntas took over the rule of the Macedonians”.
104. (75). aFrom Kalatis to Karōn Limen,87 180 stades, 24 miles. And the land in a
circle around the harbour is washed over. †Karai is now called Kareai†.

87
‘Karians’ Harbour’, Nos Shabla.
 text • 1023

From Karōn Limen to Tetrisias (Nos Kaliakra), malso called Tirizanakros†, which
also has a minor anchorage against the winds from the west and is now called Akra,
a
120 stades, 16 miles.
From Tetrisias or Akra mto the small city of Bizone,88 in which there is a roadstead,
a
60 stades, 8 miles. 105. (76). This small city, Nf4some say, is barbarian, “others that it
came into being as a colony of Mesembria”.
106. (77). A24.4From Bizone to Dionysospolis (Balchik), 80 stades, 10⅔ miles. 107.
(78). Nf3This Dionysopolis “was first named | Krounoi through the outflow of the near-
by waters”; next it was renamed Matiopolis; and next the statue of Dionysos having
fallen from the sea onto the place “they say it was in turn called Dionysopolis”. | Lying
“on the frontier of the land of the Krobyzoi and Skythai, | it has mixed Hellenic set-
tlers”.
108. (79). aFrom Dionysopolis to the city of Odessos (Varna), in which is an anchor-
age for ships, 200 stades, 26⅔ miles. 109. (80). Nf1The Milesians are founding Odessos
when Astyages ruled Media; and in a circle around it, it has the Thracian Krobyzoi.
110. (81). aFrom Odessos to the foothills of Haimos,89 which fall right down to the
Pontos, and in which is an anchorage for ships, 260 stades, 34⅔ miles. 111. (82). N743–7“A
mighty mountain rises above it, Haimos, | comparable to Cilician Tauros in size | and in
extension of the places lengthwise; | for from the Krobyzoi and the Pontic boundaries |
it projects as far as the Adriatic places.”
112. (83). A24.5From Haimos to the city of Mesembria (Nesebur), 90 stades, 12
miles. 113. (84). N738–42This city of Mesembria, “at the feet of the mountain known as
Haimos . . ., | bordering on the Thrakian and Getic land; | Kalchedonians and Megar-
ians settled this | when Darius sent his force against the Skythai.”
114. (85). aFrom Mesembria to the city of Anchialos, mwhich also has a harbour
against the winds from the west, 70 stades, 9⅓ miles.
From Anchialos to the city of Apollonia, now called Sozopolis (Sozopol), which also
has two large harbours, a180 stades, 24 miles. 115. (86). N731–7This city of Apollonia’s
“founders . . ., some fifty years | before the reign of Cyrus, were Milesians | after their
arrival at this place. | For they sent many colonies from Ionia | to the Pontos, which
was previously called Axenos (Friendless) | because of the attacks by the barbarians, |
but they caused it to take a new name, Euxeinos (Friendly).”
116. (87). A24.6This is all of the Hellenic cities founded in Skythia, on the left-hand
side as one sails into the Pontos.
From Apollonia, also (known as) Sozopolis, to Cherronesos,90 in which is an anchorage
for ships, 60 stades, 8 miles.
From Cherronesos to Aulaiou Teichos (Aulaios’s Fort; Akhtopol), mcalled the Settle-
ment of Therai (Hunts?), in which is also a minor anchorage, a250 stades, 33⅓ miles.

88
See n. on Arr. §24. 4.    89
See n. on Arr. §24. 4.    90
See n. on Arr. §24. 6.
1024 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

m
From here the parts belonging to the Byzantines follow, (but) the previous parts
are in the (part of) Thrace that extends to the Pontos.91
From the Settlement of Therai, acalled Aulaiou Teichos, to Thynias (C. Tuna; Kora
Burunu), ma promontory and aheadland min which is also an anchorage for ships, a120
stades, 16 miles. N728–9Thynias is “a cape with a good harbour . . . the furthest place in
Astic Thrace”.
117. (88). A25.1mFrom Thynias to Halmydissos (or Salymdessos; Midye), a200 stades,
36⅔ miles. Xenophon the Elder92 makes mention of this place: it was to here, he says,
that the Greek army of the Hellenes came which he led when he campaigned for the
last time with Seuthes the Thracian. And he wrote much concerning the place’s lack
of harbours, the fleet’s shipwreck when forced by a storm, and the neighbouring Thra-
cians’ fighting among themselves over the wreckage.93 118. (89). N724–7“Then a certain
shore called Salmydessos | extends for 700 stades; very marshy, | difficult to anchor on,
and wholly | harbourless, a place most hostile to ships”.
119. (90). A25.3mFrom Halmydissos ato the (Cape) Phrygia malso called Philia (Friend-
ship; Kara Burunu), a place and apromontory mof the Byzantines, a310 stades, 41⅓ miles.
From Phrygia mor Philea (sic) ato Kyaneai, also known as Kylai, 320 stades, 42⅔
miles. These Kyaneai are those (rocks) that the poets say once used to wander, and
through which the first ship to pass was the Argo when it carried Jason to Kolchis.
A25.4
From the Kyaneai to the Sanctuary (Hieron) of Zeus Ourios, at which lies the
mouth of the Pontos, is 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Hieron to the harbour of Daphne Mainomene (The Mad), now called Sosthe-
nes,94 40 stades, 5⅓ miles.
From Sosthenes to Byzantion, 80 stades, 10⅔ miles.
These, then, are the things from the so-called Kimmerian Bosporos to Thrace and
Byzantion.
120. (91). Altogether, from the Hieron (Sacred) mouth of the river Istros as far as the
sanctuary of Zeus Ourios, or the mouth of the Pontos, 3,640 stades, 485⅓ miles.
From the river Borysthenes, also called Danapris, as far as the sanctuary (Hieron) of
Zeus Ourios, 5,600 stades, 746⅔ miles.
From Cherson as far as the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios, 8,900 stades, 1,186⅔ miles.
From the village of Porthmia (Ferry) at the end of Europe in the Pontos region, lying
in the mouth of Lake Maiotis or Kimmerian Bosporos, as far as the sanctuary of Zeus
Ourios, 11,100 stades, 1,480 miles.
It is said that the circumnavigation of Europe is the same as the circumnavigation of
the Pontic part of the Asian region.95

91
Diller makes a paragraph here; the preceding paragraph ends with words he excises as unintelligible
and duplicated, which appear to be a form of heading introducing a new section of the periplous.
92
See Xen. Anab. 7. 5. 12–14.    93 See Xen. Hell. 7. 5. 13.
94
See n. on Dionysios of Byzantion §95 ‘Insana Laurus’.
95
i.e. the European and Asian coasts of the Black Sea are of the same length. Cf. Diller 1952, 107,
who rejects Müller’s ascription of these words to Ps.-Skylax.
 appendix: anametresis of the oikoumenē and perimetros of the pontos • 1025

121. (92). From the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as Amisos, 4,660 stades, 621⅓
miles.
From Amisos as far as the river Phasis, 3,802 stades, 507 miles.96
From the river Phasis as far as the mouth of Lake Maiotis, or the village of Achilleion,
4,025 stades, 536⅔ miles.
So from the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as the mouth of Lake Maiotis is 12,487
stades, 1,665 miles.97
Altogether, the whole circumnavigation of the Euxine Pontos, both the right-hand
parts of the Pontos, beside Asia, and the left-hand parts of the Pontos, beside Europe,
from the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as the same sanctuary of Zeus Ourios again, is
23,587 stades, 3,145 miles.98
And the circumnavigation of Lake Maiotis is 9,000 stades, 1,200 miles.

A PPENDI X: A NA METR ESIS OF THE OIKOUMENĒ

A ND PER IMETROS OF THE PONTOS
A work partly related to Eux. is this short and unreliable text known by the cumber-
some title Anametresis (Mensuration) of the Inhabited World and Perimetros (Circum-
ference) of the Black Sea, preserved in a 14th- or 15th-century MS in Copenhagen but
probably late antique in origin. It begins with a note on Eratosthenes (also printed as
Eratosthenes 41 in Chapter 12 above), and continues with some 250 words inaccurately
drawn from Eux. and adding nothing to our knowledge of that work. It closes with
inaccurate notes on measures of distance.
Section numbers are modern.99
One must realize that the whole Earth’s circumference in stades is 2,035† myriads; the length
of our inhabited (part) from the mouth of the Ganges as far as Gadeira is 8,308†; the width
from the Ethiopian sea as far as the river Tanaïs (Don) is 3,500† stades; and the part between
the Euphrates and the Tigris river, called Mesopotamon, has a dimension of 3,000 stades. This
calculation (anametrēsis) was made by Eratosthenes, the most mathematical of the ancients.100
(2) From Byzantion to Sosthenion: 80 stades, 10½ miles.
From Sosthenion to Hieron (The Sanctuary): 40 stades, 5½ miles. Total: 16 miles.
From the Hieron of Zeus Ourios, that is, the mouth of the Pontos, as far as the sacred
mouth of the river Istros (Danube): 3,640 stades, 485½ miles.

96
Actually 506.93 (506 14/15).
97
Actually 1,664.93 (1,664 14/15). The same figure of 12,487 is at §27B, where it is wrongly converted
to 1,653⅓ mi.
98
Actually 3,144.93 (3,144 14/15).
99
Diller 1952, 39–40, prints the MS text unaltered, which is preferable to the heavily corrected text at
GGM i. 424–6.
100
2,035 myriads = 20,350,000, which at 7½ st. to the mile is 271,333⅓ miles (c.437,000 km), about
ten times too large. Müller, GGM i. 424–6 emends this and the preceding two numbers to match other
sources (8,308 to 83,800; 3,500 to 35,000).
1026 • 36 pseudo-arrian, euxine

(3) From the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as the river Bosphoros† (i.e. Borysthenes),
also called Anapris† (i.e. Danapris, mod. Dniepr): 5,670† stades,101 746½ miles.
From the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as the city of Porthmia at the European end of
the Pontic area ‹at the mouth of› Lake Maiotis, also called the Kimmerian Bosporos: 1,100
stades, 480 miles.102
The circumnavigation of Pontic Europe is said to be equal to the circumnavigation of the
Asian parts (sc. of the Pontos).
(4) From the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as Amisos: 4,660 stades, 621½ miles.
From Amisos as far as the river Baphis† (i.e. Phasis): 3,820103 stades, 507 miles.
From the river Basis† (i.e. Phasis) to the mouth of Lake Maiotis, ‹that is, as far as the vil-
lage of Achilleion: 4,025 stades, 536½ miles.
So the figure from the sanctuary of Zeus Ourios as far as the mouth of Lake Maiotis is›
1,487 stades, 665½ miles.104
(5) Together the circumnavigation of the Euxine Pontos, both the right-hand parts along
Asia and the left-hand parts along Europe, from the sanctuary ‹of Zeus Ourios, is 23,587
stades›, 3,145 miles.
The circumnavigation of Lake Maiotis is ‹9,000 stades,› 3,003105 miles.
(6) On the stade. The stade (stadion) contains 400 cubits, 800 feet, (or) 133½ fathoms.106
(7) On the mile. The mile (milion) contains 7½ stades, 3,000 cubits, (or) 6,000 feet.
(8) On the year. A whole one contains 8,706107 hours (or) 365¼ days.

101
5,600, Müller.   
102
Müller emends the figures to 11,000 and 1,480 respectively.    103
3,802, Müller.
104
Müller emends the figures to 12,487 and 1,665½ respectively.    105
1,200, Müller.
106
The figure should be 133⅓.   107 8,766, Müller.
 ἑπτάλοφον ποτὶ ἄστυ Γαδειρόθεν, ἕκτον ὁδοῖο
Βαίτιος εὐμύκους ἄχρις ἐς ἠιόνας·
κεῖθεν δ’ αὖ πέμπτον Πυλάδου μετὰ Φώκιον οὖδας·
Ταύρη χθὼν, βοέης οὔνομ’ ἀπ’ εὐετίης·
Πυρήνην δέ τοι ἔνθεν ἐπ’ ὀρθόκραιρον ἰόντι
ὄγδοον ἠδὲ μιῆς δωδέκατον δεκάτης.
Πυρήνης δὲ μεσηγὺ καὶ Ἄλπιος ὑψικαρήνου
τέτρατον· Αὐσονίης αἶψα δυωδέκατον
ἀρχομένης ἤλεκτρα φαείνεται Ἠριδανοῖο.
ὦ μάκαρ, ὃς δισσὰς ἤνυσα χιλιάδας,
πρὸς δ’ ἔτι πέντ’ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἑκατοντάδας ἔνθεν ἐλαύνων·
ἡ γὰρ Ταρπείη μέμβλετ’ ἀνακτορίη.

To seven-hilled city from Gadeira, one-sixth of the road

is all the way to the shores of the lowing Baitis.1
Next, from there one-fifth towards Pylades’ Phokian ground
is Taurē the land, named for a bountiful bovine season.2
5 Thence—mark well!—as you go to straight-horned Pyrene,
one-eighth, plus one-twelfth of a single tenth.
Betwixt Pyrene and the high-headed Alp,
one-fourth. In a twelfth, Ausonia suddenly
beginning, Eridanos’ amber pieces shine out.3
10   O blessed am I, who completed a double thousand,
as well as five hundreds above them, voyaging hence:4
for imperial Tarpeia had been my concern.5

Metrodoros (C3s ad or later),

in Anthologia Graeca, 14. 121 (my translation)

1
The banks of the R. Guadalquivir, with cattle.
2
See Eux. §36 & n.; Massalia was founded from Phokaia, a name often interchanged with Phokis in
legend (Kubitschek 1933, 175). Taurē, from tauros ‘bull’, may be a play upon Tarraco (Tarragona) or
upon the Vaccaei (cf. Lat. vacca ‘cow’), a Hispanic people.
3
Ausonia is Italy, Eridanos the river Po.
4
‘hence’: from the Eridanos to Rome. Stades, rather than miles, are to be understood. The fractions
as far as l. 9 total 5/6 of the journey; since the remaining 1/6 is defined as 2,500 st., the total distance is
15,000 st. or 1,875 miles. The riddle is elucidated by M. Schmidt 2011; see also Kubitschek 1933, 174.
I translate the text of Beckby 1965, iv, p. 232 (with nn. at 538).
5
The Tarpeian rock was a prominent cliff in Rome.
 Sources of Extracts (Selected)
Where an extract (such as a testimonium or a fragment) comes from a text or author
that is the subject of a chapter in the present work readers will find context and further
information about scholarly publications in that chapter. Below is a selective list of
editions that will enable readers to explore further the original texts of source-authors
(and some others), together with a selection of translations into modern languages
where they exist (including at least one in English when there is one that is known
to me and can be recommended). Many of the older works listed are available for
download at Internet Archive and elsewhere.
Within each section, modern works are listed by date. Series titles are included
only selectively, and serial numbers generally omitted as are some subtitles. Places of
publication, and Latin forms of modern names, are anglicized.

Symbols and Series Abbreviations

¶ original text plus English translation

† English translation without original text
‡ original text plus non-English translation
Budé = Collection des universités de France (Paris: Les Belles Lettres/Association
Guillaume Budé), text, French translation.
Loeb = Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.), text, English translation.
OCT = Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford)
OWC = Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford), English translation
Teubner = Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana (Stuttgart,
Leipzig, or Berlin)
Tusculum = Sammlung Tusculum (Munich, Zürich, etc.), text, German translation

Achilles Tatius, I­ ntroduction E. Maaß, Commentariorum in Aratum reliquiae

to Aratos’ Phainomena ­(Berlin, 1898), 27–75
Aelian, On the Nature of R. Hercher, Claudii Aeliani De natura animalium
­Animals libri XVII; Varia historia; Epistolae; Fragmenta,
i (Leipzig, 1864)
¶ A. F. Scholfield, Aelian, On Animals, 3 vols (Loeb)
(1958–9)
M. García Valdés et al., Claudius Aelianus, De natura
animalium (Teubner) (2009)1

1
Extracts are numbered according to this edition; where the traditional numeration differs, it is in
parentheses.
 sources of extracts • 1029

Aelius Aristeides B. Keil, Aelii Aristidis Smyrnaei quae supersunt omnia,

ii (Berlin, 1898) [Orations 17–52; vol. i not pub-
lished]
Aëtios, De placitis (On ‘De placitis reliquiae’, in H. Diels, Doxographi Graeci
­Acceptable Opinions) (Berlin, 1879), 275–443
Ammianus Marcellinus ¶ J. C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 3 vols
(Loeb) (1939–50)
W. Seyfarth et al., Ammianus Marcellinus, 2 vols
(­ Teubner) (1999)
Ammonios K. Nickau, Ammonii qui dicitur liber De adfinium
vocabulorum differentia (Teubner) (1966)
Anametresis tes oikoumenes A. Diller, The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geogra-
phers (Lancaster, Pa., 1952), 39–40
Anthologia Graeca ‡ H. Beckby, Anthologia Graeca, 4 vols (Tusculum)
(Munich, ²1965)
¶ W. R. Paton, The Greek Anthology, 5 vols (Loeb)
(1916–18; vol. i ²2014)
Antigonos of Karystos see Pseudo-Antigonos of Karystos
Apollonios Paradoxog- A. Giannini, Paradoxographorum Graecorum reliqu­
raphos, Stories about iae (Classici greci e latini: testi e commenti, 3;
Wonders Milan, 1965), 120–42
Aristotle (see also Pseudo-Aristotle)
Meteorologica ¶ H. D. P. Lee, Aristotle, Meteorologica (Loeb) (1952)
Politics W. D. Ross, Aristotelis Politica (OCT) (1957)
† E. Barker–R. F. Stalley, Aristotle, Politics (OWC)
(1995)
Arnobius C. Marchesi, Arnobii adversus nationes libri VII
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‡ J. Champeaux, Arnobe, Contre les gentils (Contre les
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Arrian, Anabasis and Indike (see also Pseudo-Arrian, bis)
A. G. Roos–G. Wirth, Flavii Arriani quae exstant
omnia, 2 vols (Teubner) (1976)
¶ P. A. Brunt, Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander (Loeb)
(1976–83)
Athenaios ¶ S. D. Olson, Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, 8
vols (Loeb) (2007–12)
Caesar, Gallic War W. Hering, C. Iulii Caesaris Commentarii rerum
­gestarum, i: Bellum Gallicum (Teubner) (1987)
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Aulus Hirtius (OWC) (2008)
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Catalogus codicum astrolo­ F. Cumont–F. Boll, Catalogus codicum astrologorum

gorum Graecorum Graecorum, 12 vols (Brussels, 1898–1953)
Cicero, Letters to Atticus ¶ D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero’s Letters to Atticus, 7
vols (Cambridge, 1965–70)
¶ —— Cicero, Letters to Atticus, 4 vols (Loeb) (1999)
Clement of Alexandria ¶ G. W. Butterworth, Clement of Alexandria (Loeb)
(1919)
M. Marcovich, Clementis Alexandrini Protrepticus
(Leiden, 1995)
Cleomedes see Kleomedes
Constantine VII Porphyro-
gennetos
De administrando imperio ¶ G. Moravcsik–R. J. H. Jenkins, Constantine Porphy-
rogenitus, De administrando imperio (Washington,
De thematibus DC, ²1967)
A. Pertusi, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De themati-
bus (Vatican City, 1952)
Didymos, On Demosthenes ¶ P. E. Harding, Didymos on Demosthenes: Introduc-
tion, Text, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford,
2006)
Diodoros, book 3 ¶ C. H. Oldfather, Diodorus of Sicily, ii: Books II 35–IV
58 (Loeb) (1935)
‡ B. Bommelaer, Diodore de Sicile, Bibliothèque his-
torique, iii: Livre III (Budé) (1989)
Diogenes Laërtios ¶ R. D. Hicks, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, i–ii
(Loeb) (1925)
T. Dorandi, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Phi-
losophers (Cambridge, 2013)
† P. Mensch–J. Miller, Lives of the Eminent Philos-
ophers, Diogenes Laertius (Oxford–New York,
2018)
† S. A. White, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Phi-
losophers: An Edited Translation (Cambridge–New
York, 2021) [not taken into account in the present
work]
Diogenianos E. L. von Leutsch–F. G. Schneidewin, Corpus paroe­
miographorum Graecorum, i (Göttingen, 1839),
177–320
Dionysios of Halikarnassos, ¶ S. G. Usher, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Critical
On Thucydides Essays, i (Loeb) (1974), 456–633
Dioskorides see Pedanios Dioskorides
 sources of extracts • 1031

Epimerismoi Homerikoi A. R. Dyck, Epimerismi Homerici, ii: Epimerismos

continens qui ordine alphabetico traditi sunt . . .
(Berlin, 1995)
Eustathios
On Dionysios Periegetes ‘Εὐσταθίου Παρεκβολαί—Eustathii Commentarii’,
Müller, GGM ii. 201–407
On Homer, Iliad M. van der Valk, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessaloni-
censis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes,
4 vols (Leiden, 1971–87)
On Homer, Odyssey J. G. Stallbaum, Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessaloni-
censis commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, 2 vols
(Leipzig, 1825–6)
Fulgentius, Mythologiae; R. Helm with J. Préaux, Fabii Planciadis Fulgentii V. C.
Expositio sermonum opera: accedunt Fabii Claudiani Gordiani Fulgentii
antiquorum V. C. De aetatibus mundi et hominis, et S. Fulgentii
episcopi Super Thebaiden (Teubner) (1898, repr.
with addenda 1970), 3–80, 111–26
Galen, On Compound Drugs C. G. Kühn, Claudii Galeni tomus XIII (Medicorum
according to Places (De Graecorum opera quae exstant, 13; Leipzig, 1827),
compositione medicamen- 1–361
torum secundum locos) ‡ G. Santana Henríquez, Galen, Sobre la composición
de los medicamentos según los lugares libros II (Las
Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2005) [not a critical edi-
tion; uses Kühn’s text]2
Geminos ‡ G. Aujac, Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes
(Budé) (1975)
† J. Evans–J. L. Berggren, Geminos’s Introduction to
the Phenomena (Princeton, 2006)
Harpokration W. Dindorf, Harpocrationis Lexicon in decem oratores
Atticos, i (Oxford, 1853)
J. J. Keaney, Harpocration, Lexeis of the Ten Orators
(Amsterdam, 1991)
Herodian, General Prosody; A. Lentz, Herodiani Technici reliquiae (Grammatici
On the Unique Word Graeci, 3. 2; Leipzig, 1867–70), i. 1–547; ii. 908–52
H. Hunger, ‘Palimpsest-Fragmente aus Herodians
Καθολικὴ προσῳδία, Buch 5–7: Cod. Vindob. Hist.
Gr. 10’, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinis-
chen Gesellschaft, 16 (1967), 1–33

2
See Petit 2007.
1032 • sources of extracts

Herodotos N. G. Wilson, Herodoti Historiae (OCT) (2015)

† R. Waterfield, Herodotus, The Histories (OWC)
(1998)
Hesychios K. Latte et al., Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon (Copen-
hagen/Berlin, 1953–)
Hipparchos, On Aratos and C. Manitius, Ἱππάρχου τῶν Ἀράτου καὶ Εὐδόξου
Eudoxos Φαινομένων ἐξηγήσεως βιβλία τρία—Hipparchi
in Arati et Eudoxi Phaenomena commentariorum
libri tres (Leipzig, 1894)
Iohannes Lydos, On the R. Wünsch, Ioannis Lydi liber de mensibus (Teubner)
Months (1898)
Josephus B. Niese, Flavii Iosephi Opera, 7 vols (Berlin, 1885–95)
S. A. Naber, Flavii Iosephi Opera omnia, 6 vols (Teu-
bner) (1888–96)
¶ H. St. J. Thackeray, Josephus, The Life; Against Apion
(Loeb) (1926)
¶ —— et al., Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (Loeb)
(1930–65)
Julian of Ascalon J. Geiger, ‘Julian of Ascalon’, Journal of Hellenic Studies
112 (1992), 31–43
Kleomedes R. B. Todd, Cleomedes, Caelestia (Μετέωρα) (Teub-
ner) (1990)3
† A. C. Bowen–R. B. Todd, Cleomedes’ Lectures on
Astronomy (Berkeley, 2004)
Kosmas Indikopleustes ‡ W. Wolska-Conus, Cosmas Indicopleustès, Topogra-
phie chrétienne, 3 vols (Paris, 1968–73)
Longinus see Pseudo-Longinus
Lucian M. D. Macleod, Luciani opera (OCT) (1972–87)
¶ A. M. Harmon et al., Lucian, 8 vols (Loeb) (1913–67)
Martianus Capella J. Willis, Martianus Capella (Teubner) (Leipzig, 1983)
‡ B. Ferré, Martianus Capella, Les Noces de Philologie
et de Mercure, vi: Livre VI. La Géometrie (Budé)
(2007)
‡ L. Cristante et al., Martiani Capellae De nuptiis phil-
ologiae et Mercurii, Libri I–II (Hildesheim, 2011)
Maximus of Tyre M. B. Trapp, Maximus Tyrius, Dissertationes (Teub-
ner) (1994)

3
Numbers in extracts are those of lines in Todd’s text.
 sources of extracts • 1033

Natalis Comes (Natale Natalis Comes, Mythologiae, sive explicationis fabu-

Conti) larum, libri decem (Geneva, 1651; repr. 1653; origi-
nally Venice, 1568)
† J. Mulryan–S. Brown, Natale Conti’s Mythologiae, 2
vols (Tempe, Ariz., 2006)
P. Oxy. B. P. Grenfell, et al., Oxyrhynchus Papyri (London,
1896–)
Palaiphatos N. Festa, Palaephati Περὶ ἀπίστων: Heracliti qui fer-
tur libellus Peri apiston; excerpta Vaticana (vulgo
Anonymus De incredibilibus) (Leipzig, 1902)
¶ J. Stern, Palaephatus, On Unbelievable Tales (Wau-
conda, Ill., 1996)
‡ A. Santoni, Palefato, Storie incredibili (Pisa, 2000)
‡ K. Brodersen, Die Wahrheit über die griechischen
Mythen: Palaiphatos’ ‘Unglaubliche Geschichten’
(Stuttgart, 2002)
Pedanios Dioskorides M. Wellmann, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De ma-
teria medica libri quinque, 3 vols (Berlin, 1906–14)
† L. Y. Beck, Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, De
materia medica (Hildesheim, 2005)
Perimetros tou Pontou A. Diller, The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geogra-
phers (Lancaster, Pa., 1952), 39–40
Philostratos ¶ C. P. Jones, Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of
Tyana, 2 vols (Loeb) (²2005)
G. Boter, Philostratus, Vita Apollonii Tyanei (Teub-
ner) (Berlin, 2022) [not taken into account in the
present work]
Photios
Lexikon C. Theodoridis, Photii Patriarchae Lexicon (Berlin,
1982–2013)
Library ‡ R. Henry, Photius, Bibliothèque, iii: Codices 186–222
(Budé) (1962)
‡ —— Photius, Bibliothèque, vii: Codices 246–256
(Budé) (1974)
† N. G. Wilson, Photius, The Bibliotheca (London,
1994) [selection]
‡ L. Canfora et al., Fozio, Biblioteca (Pisa, ²2019)
Pliny the Elder ¶ H. Rackham et al., Pliny, Natural History (Loeb)
(1938–80)
‡ A. Ernout et al., Pline l’Ancien, Histoire naturelle
(Budé) (1947–)
1034 • sources of extracts

‡ R. König et al., C. Plinius Secundus d. Ä., Naturkunde,

lateinisch–deutsch (Sammlung Tusculum) (Mu-
nich–Zurich, 1979–2007)
† B. Turner–R. J. A. Talbert, Pliny the Elder’s World:
Natural History, Books 2–6 (Cambridge, 2022) [not
taken into account in the present work]
Plutarch (see also Pseudo-Plutarch)
Isis and Osiris; The Oracles ¶ F. C. Babbitt, Plutarch, Moralia, v (Loeb) (1936),
at Delphi 3–191; 256–345
Quaestiones convivales ¶ P. A. Clement–H. B. Hoffleit, Plutarch, Moralia, viii:
Table-talk, Books 1–6 (Loeb) (1969)
That it is Not Possible to ¶ B. Einarson–P. H. De Lacy, Plutarch, Moralia, xiv
Live Contentedly while (Loeb) (1967), 2–149
Following Epicurus
Polybios T. Büttner-Wobst, Polybius, Historiae, 5 vols (Teub-
ner) (1882–1904)
¶ W. R. Paton, rev. F. W. Walbank–C. Habicht, Poly-
bius, Histories, 6 vols (Loeb) (2010–12)
Pomponius Mela ‡ A. Silberman, Pomponius Mela, Chorographie
(Budé) (1988)
‡ K. Brodersen, Pomponius Mela, Kreuzfahrt durch
die alte Welt (Darmstadt, 1994)
† F. E. Romer, Pomponius Mela’s Description of the
World (Ann Arbor, 1998)
Porphyrius R. M. van Goens, Πορφυρίου περὶ τοῦ ἐν τῇ Ὀδυσσείᾳ
De antro Nympharum τῶν Νυμφῶν ἄντρου—Porphyrius De antro Nym-
pharum (Utrecht, 1765)
¶ Seminar Classics 609 (J. M. Duffy et al.), Porphyry,
The Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey (Buffalo,
NY, 1969)
† R. Lamberton, Porphyry on the Cave of the Nymphs
(Barrytown, NY, 1983)
T. Dorandi (ed.), Porphyre, L’Antre des Nymphes dans
l’Odyssée (Paris, 2019) [not taken into account in
the present work]
Vita Pythagorae ‡ É. Des Places, Porphyre, Vie de Pythagore; Lettre à
Marcella (Budé) (1982)
Priscianus Lydus, Solutions I. Bywater, Prisciani Lydi quae extant, Metaphrasis in
for Chosroës Theophrastum et Solutionum ad Chosroem Liber
(Berlin, 1886)
 sources of extracts • 1035

Proclus E. Diehl, Procli Diadochi in Platonis Timaeum com-

On the Timaios mentaria, i–iii (Teubner) (1903–6)
On Hesiod, Works & Days T. Gaisford, Poetae minores Graeci (Leipzig, 1823), ii.
3–447
A. Pertusi, Scholia vetera in Hesiodi Opera et dies
(Milan, 1955), 1–259
P. Marzillo, Der Kommentar des Proklos zu Hesiods
‘Werken und Tagen’ (Classica Monacensia, 33;
Tübingen, 2010)
Proverb in Bodleian manu- T. Gaisford, ‘Παροιμίαι δημώδεις κατὰ στοιχεῖον’, in
script his Paroemiographi Graeci (Oxford, 1836), 1–120
Pseudo-Antigonos O. Musso, [Antigonus Carystius], Rerum mirabilium
collectio (Naples, 1986)
‡ D. Eleftheriou, Pseudo-Antigonos de Carystos,
Collection d’histoires curieuses, 2 vols (diss. Paris
Nanterre, 2018)
Pseudo-Aristotle, On ¶ W. S. Hett, Aristotle, Minor Works (Loeb) (1936)
Miraculous Things
Heard (De mirabilibus
­auscultationibus)
Pseudo-Longinus ¶ W. H. Fyfe–D. A. Russell, ‘Longinus, On the Sub-
lime’, in S. Halliwell et al., Aristotle, Poetics; Long-
inus, On the Sublime; Demetrius, On Style (Loeb)
(²1995), 145–305
Pseudo-Lucian see Lucian
Ptolemy of Alexandria P. Kunitzsch, Der Almagest: die Syntaxis mathematica
des Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch-lateinischer
Überlieferung (Wiesbaden, 1974)
† J. L. Berggren–A. Jones, Ptolemy’s Geography: An
Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters
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‡ A. Stückelberger–G. Graßhoff, Ptolemaios, Hand-
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scholia to Aeschylus, Persians O. Dähnhardt, Scholia in Aeschyli Persas (Leizpig,
1894)
scholia to Apollonios of C. Wendel, Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera
Rhodes (Berlin, 1935)
scholia to Dionysios Müller, GGM ii. 427–57
Periegetes
scholia to Dionysios Thrax A. Hilgard, Scholia in Dionysii Thracis Artem gram-
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1036 • sources of extracts

scholia to Euripides E. Schwarz, Scholia in Euripidem, 2 vols (Berlin,

1887–91)
scholia to Homer H. Erbse, Scholia in Iliadem (scholia vetera), 7 vols
(Berlin, 1969–88)
W. Dindorf, Scholia graeca in Homeri Odysseam, 2
vols (Oxford, 1855)
scholia to Lucan H. Usener, M. Annaei Lucani Commenta Bernensia
(Scholia in Lucani Bellum civile, 1; Leipzig, 1869)
scholia to Lucian H. Rabe, Scholia in Lucianum (Leipzig, 1906)
scholia to Pindar A. G. Drachmann, Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina,
3 vols, i: Scholia in Olympionicas (1902); ii: Scholia
in Pythionicas (Teubner) (1910)
scholia to Ptolemy, V. I. Tsiotras, Ἡ ἐξηγητικὴ παράδοση τῆς Γεωγραφικῆς
­Geography ὑφηγήσεως τοῦ Κλαυδίου Πτολεμαίου: οἱ ἐπώνυμοι
σχολιαστές (Athens, 2006)
—— ‘The oldest anonymous scholia on Ptolemy’s
Geography’, in R. Ceceña (ed.), Claudio Ptolomeo,
Geografía: capítulos teóricos (Mexico City, 2018),
251–79 (texts, 272–4)
scholia to Theokritos C. Wendel, Scholia in Theocritum vetera (Teubner)
(Leipzig, 1914)
Seneca the Younger, Natural ¶ T. H. Corcoran, Seneca, Natural Questions, 2 vols
Questions (Loeb) (1971–2)
† H. M. Hine, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Natural Ques-
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—— Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Naturalium quaestionum
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Servius, On Vergil, Georgics G. Thilo, Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii
Bucolica et Georgica commentarii (Leipzig, 1887)
Sextus Empiricus
Against the Professors ¶ R. G. Bury, Sextus Empiricus, iv (Loeb) (1949)
Outlines of Pyrrhonism ¶ —— Sextus Empiricus, i (Loeb) (1933)
Solinus T. Mommsen, C. Iulii Solini Collectanea rerum mem-
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‡ K. Brodersen, Solinus, Wunder der Welt (Darmstadt,
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Stephanos of Byzantion W. Dindorf, Stephanus Byzantinus, 4 vols (Leipzig,
1825)
‡ M. Billerbeck, Stephani Byzantii Ethnica, 6 vols
(Berlin, 2006–17)
Stobaeus C. Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo
priores, i: Anthologii librum primum continens
(Berlin, 1884)
 sources of extracts • 1037

Strabo ¶ H. L. Jones, The Geography of Strabo, 8 vols (Loeb)

(1917–32)
‡ S. L. Radt, Strabons Geographika (Göttingen,
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† D. W. Roller, The Geography of Strabo (Cambridge,
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† D. M. Whitehead et al., Suda On Line (www.stoa.
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Symeon Seth, On the ‘Περὶ χρείας τῶν οὐρανίων σωμάτων’, in A. Delatte,
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Synesios N. Terzaghi, Opuscula (Synesii Cyrenensis hymni et
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Theon of Smyrna E. Hiller, Theonis Smyrnaei philosophi Platonici
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 Concordances

A BBR EV IATIONS
In these Concordances, abbreviations follow the Oxford Classical Dictionary, with
these additions:

Agatharch. Agatharchides
Agathem. Agathemeros
[Antig. Car.] Ps.-Antigonos of Karystos
Artemid. Artemidoros
Avien. OM Avienus, Ora maritima
Const. Porph. Constantine Porphyrogennetos
Adm. imp. De administrando imperio
Them. De thematibus
Dikaiarch. Dikaiarchos
Dion. Kall. Dionysios son of Kalliphon
Eratosth. Eratosthenes
Eux. Ps.-Arrian, Periplous of the Euxine
Hekat. Hekataios
Herakl. Krit. Herakleides Kritikos
Hipparch. Hipparchos
Markian. Markianos
Mart. Cap. Martianus Capella
Menipp. Menippos
Nik. the Nikomedean Periodos [‘Ps.-Skymnos’]
Poseidon. Poseidonios
Ps.-Skyl. Pseudo-Skylax
Σ scholion, scholia
Str. Strabo
Timosth. Timosthenes
1096 • concordances

I. CONCOR DA NCE OF E XTR ACTS BY CH A PTER

Includes displayed quotations found in the Introduction. Where a reference locator
stands with blank cells to its left, understand the locator in the first column to be the
same as in the row above (see e.g. Artemidoros 44b).
‡ = not yet published (in FGrH)

before Introduction
Anth. Gr. 9. 144 (Anyte)
Introduction
§VI. 1. e Ptol. Geog. 3. 17. 1–2
§VI. 2. a Hdt. 4. 85. 2–86. 3
§VI. 2. c Xen. Anab. 4. 4. 1–3
§VI. 2. c Xen. Anab. 4. 8. 1
§VI. 2. e Str. 1. 2. 8, C34 (Eudoxos)
§VI. 2. g Polyb. 3. 39. 6–11
§VI. 2. g Polyb. 3. 47. 9
§VI. 2. g Polyb. 3. 48. 10–12
§VI. 4. c Str. 13. 1. 36, C599
(Hestiaia)
§III. 3. m Phot. Bibl. cod. 72. 49b
39–50a 4 (Ktesias)
§III. 3. n Plin. HN 37. lxxvii. 201–2
§V. 3 Arist. Mete. 2. 6, 363a
25–b 1

before Prologue
Hom. Od. 11. 121–34

1 Aristeas of Prokonnesos BNJ² 35 Bolton

1 Hdt. 4. 13 F2 F1
1 Hdt. 4. 13–14 T 12
1 Hdt. 4. 13–15 T2
1 Hdt. 4. 16 F2
2 [Longinus] 10. 4 F7 F7
3 Maximus of Tyre, T 1b T 19
Dissertatio 10. 2
4 Maximus of Tyre, T 1a T 20
Dissertatio 38. 3
5 Suda α 3900 Aristeas T1 T 11
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1097

6 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 678–84 F4 T3

6 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 678–9 F4 F3
6 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 680–2 F4 F4
6 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 683–4 F4 F5

2 Skylax of Karyanda BNJ² 709

1 Hdt. 4. 44 T 3; F 1
2 Arist. Pol. 7. 13, 1332b F5
12–27
3 Str. 12. 4. 8, C566 F 11
4 Str. 13. 1. 4, C583 F 12
5 Str. 14. 2. 20, C658 T 2a
6 Harp. s.v. hypo gēn F6
oikountes
7 Ath. 2. 82, 70a–c FF 3–4
8 Philostr. VA 3. 47 F 7a
9 Markian. pref. to T 4; F 2 FGrH 2046
Ps.-Skyl. T6
10 Markian. Epit. Men. 2 T6
11 Steph. Byz. κ 102 T 2b
Karyanda
12 Const. Porph. Them. 1. 2 F 13 FGrH 2046
T7
13 Suda σ 710 Skylax of T1 FGrH 1000
Karyanda T 1; 2046
T8
14 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 621–36 F 7b

3 Hekataios of Miletos BNJ 1 Fowler

1 Hdt. 2. 143. 1 T4 T4
2 Agatharch. 64 T 14
3 Dion. Hal. Thuc. 5 T 17a T 17a
4 Str. 1. 1. 1, C1 T 11a T 11a
5 Str. 1. 1. 11, C7 T 11b T 11b
6 Str. 7. 3. 6, C298–9 T 13 T 13
7 Plin. HN 1. 4 T 25a T 25a
7 Plin. HN 1. 5 T 25b T 25b
7 Plin. HN 1. 18 T 25c T 25c
8 Aët. Placita 2. 20. 6 F 302d
1098 • concordances

9 Agathem. 1. 1 T 12a T 12
10 Σ Dionys. Per. p. 428, col. T 12b
i. 7–9
11 Ath. 2. 82, 70a–b T 15a
12 Ath. 9. 79, 410e T 15b T 15b
13 Avien. OM 32–42 T 23 T 23
14 Suda ε 360 Hekataios T1 T 1a
15 Σ Hom. Od. 10. 139 F 35c F 35A
16 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 551 a F2 F2
17 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 257–62 b F 18a F 18a
18 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 282–91 b F 18b F 18b
19 Steph. Byz. α 288 F3 F3
Amphanai
20 Steph. Byz. ο 25 Oine F4 F4
21 Steph. Byz. φ 12 Phalanna F5 F5
22 Str. 8. 3. 9, C341 F 25
23 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 998–1000 F 7b F 7b
24 Steph. Byz. χ 2 Chadisia F 7a F 7a
25 Steph. Byz. ψ 21 Psophis F6 F6
26 Natalis Comes 7. 2 F 35b
27 Natalis Comes 9. 9 F 6b
28 Ath. 4. 31, 148f F9 F9
29 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 946–54 c F 34 F 34
30 Steph. Byz. μ 126 Melia F 11 F 11
31 Steph. Byz. μ 227 F 12 F 12
Mygissos
32 Steph. Byz. τ 178 Tremile F 10 F 10
33 Harp. s.v. rhodōniá F 37
34 Steph. Byz. ε 55 Elibyrge F 38
35 Steph. Byz. υ 30 Hyops F 48
36 Steph. Byz. κ 138 F 84
Kaulonia
37 Steph. Byz. α 65 Adria F 90
38 Str. 7. 5. 8, C316 F 102b
39 Steph. Byz. χ 22 Chaonia F 105
40 Steph. Byz. δ 52 Dexaroi F 103
41 Steph. Byz. ω 15 Orikos F 106
42 Str. 6. 2. 4, C271 F 102c
43 Steph. Byz. χ 7 Chalaion F 113a
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1099

44 Steph. Byz. χ 6 Chai- F 116

roneia
45 Steph. Byz. γ 68 Gephyra F 118
46 Steph. Byz. χ 17 Chalkis F 129
47 Ath. 10. 67, 447d F 154
48 Steph. Byz. χ 8 Chalastra F 146
49 Hdn. General Prosody 5 F 145a
fr. 34 Hunger
50 Steph. Byz. μ 81 Maroneia F 159
51 Steph. Byz. χ 40 F 163
Cherronesos
52 Steph. Byz. λ 46 Lemnos F 138a
53 Steph. Byz. τ 91 Tenedos F 139
54 Steph. Byz. μ 262 F 140
Mytilene
55 Steph. Byz. χ 44 Chios F 141
56 Hdn. On the Unique F 166
Word 2. 31. 26 (937.
10–11 Lentz)
57 Steph. Byz. μ 119 F 185
Melanchlainoi
58 Plin. HN 4. xiii. 94 F 370
59 Epimerismi Homerici s.v. F 196
memetreatai
60 Amm. Marc. 22. 8. 10–13 F 197 T 12A
61 Eux. 49 (Nik. 865 ff.) F 195
62 Steph. Byz. ε 123 F 208
Hermonassa
63 Steph. Byz. χ 47 Choi F 207
64 Steph. Byz. χ 48 F 204
Choirades
65 Steph. Byz. χ 19 Chalybes F 203
66 Str. 12. 3. 25, C552–3 F 199 T 25B
(Eust. Il. 2. 852)
67 Str. 12. 3. 22, C550–1 F 217 T 25C
68 Steph. Byz. α 4 Abarnos F 220
69 Steph. Byz. μ 249 F 222
Myrikous
70 Steph. Byz. α 245 F 226
Amazoneion
1100 • concordances

71 Steph. Byz. κ 313 Korykos F 231

72 Steph. Byz. μ 125 F 227
Meleteios kolpos
73 Hdn. On the Unique F 234
Word 1. 13. 19–20 (920.
7–8 Lentz)
74 Str. 14. 1. 8, C635 F 239
75 Steph. Byz. ξ 2 Xanthos F 255
76 Steph. Byz. ι 29 Idyros F 260
77 Steph. Byz. ν 3 Nagidos F 266
78 Steph. Byz. σ 143 Side F 262
79 Steph. Byz. χ 24 F 265
Charadros
80 Steph. Byz. κ 313 Korykos F 267
81 Steph. Byz. δ 150 Doros F 275
82 Steph. Byz. κ 287 Kyre F 281
83 Steph. Byz. π 49 Parikane F 282
84 Harp. s.v. kypassis F 284
85 Steph. Byz. υ 57 Hyope F 287
86 Steph. Byz. μ 232 Mykoi F 289
87 Ath. 2. 82, 70a F 291 T 15a
88 Ath. 2. 82, 70b F 292a
89 Ath. 2. 82, 70b F 296
90 Steph. Byz. γ 31 Gandarai F 294a
91 Steph. Byz. ω 13 Opiai F 299
92 Arr. Anab. 5. 6. 5 F 301 T 15c
93 Steph. Byz. φ 8 Phakousa F 303
94 Steph. Byz. α 79 F 304
Atharrhabis
95 Steph. Byz. χ 39 F 305
Chemmis
96 Hdn. On the Unique F 307
Word 2. 36. 29–31 (942.
11–13 Lentz)
97 Aelius Aristeides, F 308
Oration 36. 108
98 Steph. Byz. ε 43 Heleneios F 309
99 Steph. Byz. ε 179 Ephesos F 310
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1101

100 Ath. 10. 67, 447c F 323a

101 Ath. 10. 13, 418e F 323b
102 Steph. Byz. υ 49 Hysaeïs F 326
103 Steph. Byz. σ 204 F 327
Skiapodes
104 Ath. 9. 79, 410e F 358 T 15b
105 Steph. Byz. μ 86 F 333
Maskotos
106 Steph. Byz. φ 86 F 278
Phoinikoussai
107 Steph. Byz. μ 108 Megasa F 335
108 Steph. Byz. κ 246 Kybos F 343
109 Steph. Byz. θ 60 Thrinke F 356
110 Hdn. On the Unique F 355
Word 2. 31. 25–6 (937.
9–10 Lentz)
111 Steph. Byz. μ 131 Melissa F 357

before chapter 4
Anth. Gr. 7. 256 (Plato)

4 Hanno of Carthage BNJ 673 FGrH 2208

a cod. Heidelbergensis 398, F1
55ʳ–56ʳ
b1 Palaiphatos 31 F4
b2 Ps.-Arist. Mir. ausc. 37 F6
b3 Pomponius Mela 3. F 24 FF 5a, 7a
89–99
b4 Plin. HN 2. lxvii. 169 T 2b
b5 Plin. HN 5. i. 8 T3
b6 Plin. HN 6. xxxvi. 200 T 5b
b7 Arr. Ind. 43. 11–12 F2
b8 Ath. 3. 25, 83c T7
b9 Markian. Epit. Men. 2 T4

Pfeiffer,
Elefthe-
6 Eudoxos of Knidos Lasserre (fr.) Kallima-
riou (fr.)
chos (fr.)
1 Str. 1. 1. 1 273b
1102 • concordances

2 Plut. Non posse suaviter 272

vivere secundum
Epicurum, 10 (Mor.
1093b–c)
3 Agathem. 1. 1 273a
4 Agathem. 1. 2 276a
5 Tzetz. Chil. 7. 633–8 274
6 [Antig. Car.] 123 337 A20.8
7 [Antig. Car.] 162 333 407 XXXIV B05.5
8 Ps.-Arist. Mir. ausc. 173 338
9 Str. 12. 3. 42, C562–3 329, 335
10 Str. 13. 1. 4, C582 336
11 Zen. Proverbs 5. 56 284b
12 Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. hypot. 278b
1. 152
13 Ath. 9. 47, 392d–e 284a
14 Diogenes Laërtios 8. 8. 339
90
15 Diogenes Laërtios 9. 278a
11. 83
16 Steph. Byz. α 437 279
Armenia
17 Steph. Byz. α 476 285
Askalon
18 Steph. Byz. μ 212 Mossyn- 281
oikoi
19 Steph. Byz. σ 237 277
Syrmatai
20 Steph. Byz. χ 1 Chab- 283
arenoi
21 Steph. Byz. χ 19 Chalybes 282
22 Str. 11. 7. 5, C510 344a
23 Aët. Placita 4. 1. 7 288
24 Plut. De Is. et Os. 6 (Mor. 300
353a–c)
25 Plut. De Is. et Os. 21 (Mor. 291
359c)
26 Plut. De Is. et Os. 64 298
(Mor. 377a)
27 Ael. NA 10. 16 301
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1103

28 Proclus, In Ti. 1. 31f (on 302

22b), i. 102 Diehl
29 Steph. Byz. α 472 Asdynis 286
30 Σ Hom. Od. 4. 477 epqht 287
31 Plin. HN 7. ii. 24 340 [FGrH
2206 Eudoxos
of Kyzikos F3]
32 [Antig. Car.] 129 347 407 I B01.1
33 [Antig. Car.] 147 331 407 XIX B03.11
34 Str. 7, fr. 21a 306
35 Str. 12. 3. 21, C550 345
36 Clem. Al. Protrept. 5. 64. 303
5 (5. 56 Butterworth)
37 Steph. Byz. α 6 Abdera 307
38 Steph. Byz. κ 26 Kale 370
Akte
39 Steph. Byz. σ 174 Sintia 308
40 Steph. Byz. σ 229 304
Skymniadai
41 Steph. Byz. φ 77 Phlegra 310
42 Steph. Byz. χ 17 Chalkis 309
43 Phot. Lexikon s.v. 346
Haimon
44 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 922 305
45 Σ Hom. Od. 11. 239 hqt 349
[rather than Il. 2. 158]
46 [Antig. Car.] 138 355 407 X B03.02
47 [Antig. Car.] 148 351 407 XX 12
48 Str. 9. 1. 1, C390–1 350
49 Str. 9. 2. 35, C413 353
50 Plut. De Pyth. or. 17 352
(Mor. 402d)
51 Proclus, In Hesiodi Opera 354
640
52 Steph. Byz. κ 119 356
Kastanaia
53 Steph. Byz. π 176 Plataiai 311
54 [Antig. Car.] 153 368 407 XXV B04.4
55 Apollonius, Mir. 38 323
56 Str. 8. 6. 21, C378–9 357
1104 • concordances

57 Plin. HN 31. xiii. 16 314

58 Ath. 7. 31, 288c 318
59 Steph. Byz. α 21 Agathe 359
60 Steph. Byz. α 71 Azania 313
61 Steph. Byz. α 108 Aigion 317
62 Steph. Byz. α 475 Asine 316
63 Steph. Byz. ζ 30 Zygantis 322
64 Steph. Byz. κ 211 312
Kremmyon
65 Steph. Byz. ο 79 Opikoi 321
66 Steph. Byz. σ 227 320
Skylletion
67 Steph. Byz. σ 263 Spina 358
68 Steph. Byz. φ 46 319
Phelessaioi
69 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 263–4 b 315
70 Σ Eur. Tro. 221 360
71 [Antig. Car.] 129 362 407 I B01.1
72 [Antig. Car.] 161 363 407 XXXIII B05.4
73 [Antig. Car.] 163 366 407 XXXV B05.6
74 Str. 10. 4. 2, C474 365
75 Plin. HN 6. xxxvi. 198 369 [FGrH
2206 Eudoxos
of Kyzikos
F 2]
76 Plin. HN 31. ix. 13 364
77 Harp. s.v. Lipara 326
78 Porph. Life of Pythagoras, 325
7
79 Hsch. s.v. bous Kyprios 361a

7 Ps.-Skylax BNJ² 709 FGrH 2046

1 Str. 13. 1. 4, C583 F 12 T1
2 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 1177–8 a F 10 T2
3 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 1215 F9 T3
4 Avien. OM 32–44 T5 T4
5 Avien. OM 370–4 F8 T5
6 Markian. pref. to T 4; F 2 T6
Ps.-Skylax
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1105

7 Const. Porph. Them. 1. 2 F 13 T7

8 Pytheas of Massalia (FGrH 2215‡) Roseman Bianchetti

1 Hipparch. Arat. 1. 4. 1 F1 F1
2 Str. 1. 4. 2, C62–3 F2 F 7a+8a+18a
2 Str. 1. 4. 3, C63 F 3; T 1a F 7a+8a+18a
2 Str. 1. 4. 4, C63–4 T2 F 7a+8a+18a
2 Str. 1. 4. 5, C64 T 3; F 4 F 6a
3 Str. 2. 1. 12, C71–2 T4 F 8b
4 Str. 2. 1. 18, C75 T5 F 11
5 Str. 2. 3. 5, C102 T6 F 20
6 Str. 2. 4. 1–2, C104 TT 7–8; F 5 F 7b+8d+21
7 Str. 2. 5. 7–8, C114–15 T 9; F 6 F 8c
8 Str. 2. 5. 43, C136 T 10 F 14
9 Str. 3. 2. 11, C148 T 11 F4
10 Str. 3. 4. 4, C157–8 T 12 F 22
11 Str. 4. 2. 1, C190 T 13 F5
12 Str. 4. 4. 1, C195 T 14 F 6b
13 Str. 4. 5. 5, C201 T 15; F 7 F 8e
14 Str. 7. 3. 1, C295 T 16 F 8g
15 Geminos 6. 8–9 F8 F 13a
16 Plin. HN 1. 2 T 17 F 3+10
17 Plin. HN 1. 4 T 20 F 7d
18 Plin. HN 1. 37 T 24 F 17
19 Plin. HN 2. lxxvii. 186–7 T 18a F 9a
20 Plin. HN 2. xcix. 217 T 19 F 7e
21 Plin. HN 4. xiii. 95 T 21 F 16?
22 Plin. HN 4. xvi. 102 T 22 F 7c
23 Plin. HN 4. xvi. 104 T 23 F 8f
24 Plin. HN 37. xi. 35–6 T 25 F 15
25 Aët. Placita 3. 17. 3 T 26 F 2a–b
26 Kleomedes 1. 4. 208–10 T 27 F 12a
Todd (1. 7. 37 Ziegler)
27 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 761–5 a T 30 F 19
28 Markian. Epit. Men. 2 T 28 F 23
29 Mart. Cap. 6. 595 T 18b F 9b
1106 • concordances

30 Mart. Cap. 6. 608–9 T 29 F 12b

31 Kosmas Indikopleustes F9 F 13b
11. 80. 6–9
32 Steph. Byz. ω 21 Ostiones T 1b F 18b

before chapter 9
Kallimachos, Epigrams,
18

9 Dikaiarchos of Messana (FGrH 1400 Mirhady Wehrli

and 2015‡)
1 Cic. Att. 6. 2. 3 (Letter 116 F 79 F 20
Shackleton Bailey)
2 Geminos 17. 5 F 119 F 106
3 Str. 1. 1. 1, C1–2 F 117 F 104
4 Str. 2. 4. 1–3, C104–5 F 124 F 111
5 Str. 3. 5. 5, C170 F 125 F 112
6 Plin. HN 1. 2; 1. 4; 1. 5; 1. 6 F 116 F 116
7 Plin. HN 2. lxv. 162 F 118 F 105
8 Kleomedes 1. 5. 57–75 Keyser pp.
Todd (1. 8. 42–3 361–2
Ziegler)
9 Theon of Smyrna 3. 3 F 120 F 107
10 Agathem. 1. 2 F 122 F 109
11 Agathem. 1. 5 F 123 F 110
12 Mart. Cap. 6. 590–1 F 121 F 108
13 Stob. Flor. 1. 38. 2 F 127 (mis- F 114
numbered 128
by Keyser p.
368)
14 Ioannes Lydus, Mens. 4. F 126 F 113
107 Wünsch
15 Suda δ 1062 Dikaiarchos F2 F1

10 Timosthenes of Rhodes FGrH 2051 Roller Wagner

1 Nik. 109–20 T9 F5
2 Didymos, Dem. Phil. 11. F 12 F 18
11. 28–37
3 Str. 1. 2. 21, C29 (BNJ 87 F4 F7 F6
F 74)
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1107

4 Str. 2. 1. 40, C92 T7 F3 F2

5 Str. 2. 1. 41, C93 T5 F 31 F 18
6 Str. 2. 1. 41, C94 T8 F4 F4
7 Str. 3. 1. 7, C139–40 F 16 F 34 F 19
8 Str. 9. 3. 10, C421–2 T3 F 37 p. 52
9 Str. 13. 2. 5, C618 F 24 F 22 F 35
10 Str. 17. 3. 6, C827 F 29 F 33 FF 20+11
11 Plin. HN 1. 4 T 10a F 38
11 Plin. HN 1. 5 T 10c
11 Plin. HN 1. 6 T 10b
12 Plin. HN 5. ix. 47 F2 F 15 F 30
13 Plin. HN 5. xxxv. 129 F 23 F 16 F 36
14 Plin. HN 6. v. 15 F 11 F 27 F 25
15 Plin. HN 6. xxxiii. 163 F 21 F 13 F9
16 Plin. HN 6. xxxv. 183 F 19 FF 12–13? F 37
17 Plin. HN 6. xxxvi. 198 F 22 F 14 F 10
18 Agathem. 2. 6–7 F3 F6 F 6+13
19 Agathem. 5. 20 F 27 F 30 F 15+22+23
20 Ptol. Geog. 1. 15. 3 F 28 F 29 F 14
21 Ptol. Geog. 1. 15. 5 F 20 F 11 F 16
22 Harp. s.v. eph’ hieron F9 F 24 F 27
23 Markian. Epit. Men. 2 T1 F 1 init. F1
23 Markian. Epit. Men. 3. T 4; F 15 F 2 init. FF
10–21 5+12+21?
23 Markian. Epit. Men. 3. T2 F 2 med. p. 5
21–4
23 Markian. Epit. Men. 3. T6 F 2 fin. F3
24–7
24 Steph. Byz. α 21 Agathe F 17 F 32 F 38
25 Steph. Byz. α 200 F6 F 21 F 34
Alexandreiai
26 Steph. Byz. α 357 Apia F7 F 20 F 33
27 Steph. Byz. α 457 Artake F8 F 23 F 31
28 Steph. Byz. χ 13 Chalkeia F 30 F 35
29 Σ Aesch. Per. 303 F 13 F 19 F 40
30 Σ Theoc. 13. 22–3 ab F 25 F 26 F 26
31 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 296–7 b F 14 F 28 F 39
32 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 498–527 q F 31 F9 F 42
1108 • concordances

33 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 498–527 v F5 F8 F7

34 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 531–2 F 10 F 25 F 28
35 Σ Ap. Rhod. 3. 846–7 a F 18 F 36 F 41?
36 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 1712 F 26 F 17 F 24
37 Σ Lucan 9. 411 F1 F 10 F8
38 Aristotle, Mete. 2. 6. 363a
21–365a 14
intr. Theophr. On Winds, 62:
Ch. 10 n.3

11 Herakleides Kritikos (FGrH 2022) BNJ²

1 cod. Par. suppl. gr. 443, 369a F 1
pp. 114. 13–121. 23
(Herakl. Krit.)
2 cod. Par. gr. 571, fos. 369a F 2
417–30
3 cod. Par. suppl. gr. 443, 369a F 3
pp. 121. 24–123. 19
(Herakl. Krit.)
4 Apollonius. Mir. 19 369a T 1
5 P. Hawara 80–1 (Anony- 369 1–2
mus Periegetes)

12 Eratosthenes of Cyrene (BNJ 241; Roller Berger (frs)

FGrH 2109‡)
epigraph Anth. Gr. 7. 78 (Dionysios
of Kyzikos)
1 Str. 1. 1. 1, C1–2 F1 IA 1
2 Str. 1. 1. 11, C7 F 12 IB 5
3 Str. 1. 2. 3, C15–17 F2 IA 14+19+21
4 Str. 1. 2. 7, C18 F3 IA 11
5 Str. 1. 2. 11–14, C21–3 F6 IA 2+12, IB
3, IIIB 115
6 Str. 1. 2. 15, C24 F5 IA 16
7 Str. 1. 2. 17, C25 F4 IA 17
8 Str. 1. 2. 18–19, C26 F7 IA 14
9 Str. 1. 2. 20–4, C28–30 FF 10–11 IA 7–8, IB 1
10 Str. 1. 2. 31, C38 F 17 IB 18
11 Str. 1. 2. 37, C44 F9 IA 3
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1109

12 Str. 1. 3. 1–2, C47–8 F 13 IB 6+8,

IIA 9, IIIB
93+114
13 Str. 1. 3. 3–4, C48–50 F 15 IB 7, IIIB
1+96
14 Str. 1. 3. 11–15, C54–7 F 16 IA 8 + IB
16+19+20
15 Str. 1. 3. 22, C61–2 F 20 IB 21
16 Str. 1. 3. 23–1. 4. 1, C62 F 19 IB 22
17 Str. 2. 1. 9, C70 F 22 IB 23
18 Str. 2. 4. 1–2, C104 F 14 IB 7+1+96
19 Str. 7. 3. 6–7, C298–300 F8 IA 5–6, IB 4
20 Str. 11. 7. 4, C509–10 F 24 IC 23
21 Str. 15. 1. 7, C687 F 21 IB 23
22 Str. 16. 2. 44, C764 F 18 IB 17
23 Arr. Anab. 5. 3. 1–4 F 23 IB 24
24 Str. 1. 1. 8–9, C5–6 F 39 IIA 13
25 Str. 1. 4. 1–2, C62–3 F 25 IIA 1
25 Str. 1. 4. 1–2, C62–3 F 35 IIC 2
26 Str. 1. 4. 6–8, C64–6 F 33 IIA 6
26 Str. 1. 4. 6–8, C64–6 F 37 IIC 18
27 Str. 2. 1. 20, C77 F 40 IIB 36
28 Str. 2. 3. 2, C97 F 45 IIA 5
29 Str. 2. 5. 5–9, C112–16 F 30 IIB 27
29 Str. 2. 5. 5–9, C112–16 F 34 IIB 15+23,
IIIA 39
30 Str. 2. 5. 13, C118 F 31 IIA 7
31 Str. 2. 5. 42, C135 F 36 IIC 5
32 Geminos 15 F 44 IIB 26
33 Plin. HN 2. lxxv. 183– F 41 IIB 38
lxxvi. 185
34 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 247–8 F 28 IIB 39
35 Plin. HN 6. xxxiv. 171 F 42 IIB 37
36 Plin. HN 12. xxx. 53 F 27 IIB 43
37 Agathem. 1. 2 F 32 IIC 1
38 Theon of Alexandria pp. F 26 IIA 2
394–5
39 Amm. Marc. 22. 15. 31 F 43 IIB 40
40 Markian. Peripl. 1. 4 F 29 IIB 12
1110 • concordances

41 Anametresis/Perimetros 1 F 38 IIC 19
42 Nik., ll. 405–12 F 146 IIIB 113
43 Caes. BGall. 6. 24 F 150 IIIB 118
44 Vita Arati 1 F 138 IIIB 102
45 Str. 1. 2. 20, C28 F 136 IIIB 100
46 Str. 1. 4. 9, C66 F 155 IIC 24
47 Str. 2. 1. 1–3, C67–8 F 47 IIIA 2
48 Str. 2. 1. 5, C69 F 50 IIIA 8
49 Str. 2. 1. 7, C69 F 73 IIC 21
50 Str. 2. 1. 10–11, C70–1 F 51 IIIA 11+35
51 Str. 2. 1. 16, C74 F 61 IIIA 13
52 Str. 2. 1. 19, C76 F 67 IIIA 9
52 Str. 2. 1. 20, C77 F 40 IIB 36
52 Str. 2. 1. 20, C77 F 68 IIIA 10
52 Str. 2. 1. 21, C77–8 IIB 29
52 Str. 2. 1. 22, C78 F 66 IIIB 2+5
52 Str. 2. 1. 22, C78 F 79 IIIB 19
52 Str. 2. 1. 23–6, C78–80 F 83 IIIB 25
52 Str. 2. 1. 27, C81 F 84 IIIB 26
52 Str. 2. 1. 28, C81 F 80 IIIA 30
52 Str. 2. 1. 29, C82–3 F 63 IIB 17, IIIA
31, IIIB 30
52 Str. 2. 1. 30, C83–4
52 Str. 2. 1. 31, C84 F 49 IIIB 3+7
52 Str. 2. 1. 31, C84 F 82
52 Str. 2. 1. 32, C85 F 92 IIIA 29
52 Str. 2. 1. 33, C85–6 F 56 IIIA 46
52 Str. 2. 1. 34, C86 F 85 IIIB 27
52 Str. 2. 1. 34, C86–7 F 64 IIIA 27,
IIIB 11
52 Str. 2. 1. 35, C87–8 F 54 IIIA 15
52 Str. 2. 1. 36, C88–9 F 62 IIA 32, IIIA
28+33, IIIB
47
52 Str. 2. 1. 37, C89–90 F 55 IIIA 16
52 Str. 2. 1. 38, C90–1
52 Str. 2. 1. 39, C91–2 F 52 IIIA 14+34,
IIIB 65
52 Str. 2. 1. 40, C92 F 134 IIIB 97
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1111

52 Str. 2. 1. 40, C92–3 F 65 IIIA 40

52 Str. 2. 1. 40, C92–3 F 102 IIIB 54
52 Str. 2. 1. 41, C93–4 F 131 IIIB 66+96
53 Str. 2. 2. 2, C95 F 58 IIB 22
54 Str. 2. 4. 2, C104 F 132 IIIB 96
55 Str. 2. 4. 4, C106–7 F 133 IIIB 110+123+119
56 Str. 2. 4. 8, C108 F 135 IIIB 97
57 Str. 2. 5. 14, C118–19 F 53 IIIA 12
58 Str. 2. 5. 16, C120 F 46 IIIA 24
59 Str. 2. 5. 20, C123 F 104 IIIB 56
60 Str. 2. 5. 24, C125–6 F 128 IIB 28
61 Str. 2. 5. 35, C132–3 F 57 IIIA 17
61 Str. 2. 5. 36, C133 F 59 IIIA 18–19
61 Str. 2. 5. 38–41, C133–4 F 60 IIIA 20–2
62 Str. 3. 2. 11, C148 F 153 IIIB 122
63 Str. 3. 4. 7, C159 F 152 IIIB 120
64 Str. 3. 5. 5, C170 F 106 IIIB 58
65 Str. 5. 2. 6, C224 F 151 IIIB 116
66 Str. 8. 7. 2, C384 F 139 IIIB 103
67 Str. 8. 8. 4, C389 F 140 IIIB 105
68 Str. 10. 4. 5, C475 F 129 IIIB 94
69 Str. 11. 2. 15, C497 F 113 IIIB 73
70 Str. 11. 6. 1, C506–7 F 110 IIIB 68
71 Str. 11. 7. 3, C509 F 109 IIIB 67
72 Str. 11. 8. 8–9, C513–14 F 108 IIIB 20+63
73 Str. 11. 12. 4–5, C522 F 48 IIIA 23
74 Str. 11. 14. 7, C529 F 119 IIIB 84
74 Str. 11. 14. 8, C529 F 89 IIIB 32
75 Str. 14. 2. 29, C663–4 F 88
76 Str. 14. 6. 4–5, C683–4 F 130 IIIB 91
77 Str. 15. 1. 10–11, C688–9 F 69 IIIB 6
78 Str. 15. 1. 13–14, C690 F 74 IIIB 12
79 Str. 15. 1. 20, C693 F 75 IIIB 17
80 Str. 15. 2. 1, C720 F 77 IIIB 22
81 Str. 15. 2. 8–9, C723–4 F 78 IIIB 20+23
82 Str. 15. 2. 14, C726 F 81 IIIB 240
83 Str. 15. 3. 1, C727 F 86 IIIB 34
1112 • concordances

84 Str. 16. 1. 12, C741 F 96 IIIB 36

85 Str. 16. 1. 15, C743 F 90 IIIB 37
86 Str. 16. 1. 21–2, C746–7 F 87 IIIB 38+31
87 Str. 16. 3. 2–6, C765–7 F 94 IIIB 39
88 Str. 16. 4. 2–4, C767–9 F 95 IIIB 48
89 Str. 17. 1. 1–2, C785–6 F 98 IIIB 51
90 Str. 17. 1. 19, C802 F 154 IB 9
91 Str. 17. 3. 1–2, C824 F 100 IIIB 59
92 Str. 17. 3. 8, C829 F 107 IIIB 60
93 Plin. HN 3. v. 75 F 127 IIIB 92
94 Plin. HN 5. vi. 39 F 101 IIIB 53
95 Plin. HN 5. vi. 40 F 103 IIC 20
96 Plin. HN 5. vii. 41–2 F 105 IIIB 57
97 Plin. HN 5. ix. 47 F 116 IIIB 77
98 Plin. HN 5. xxxiii. 127 F 126 IIIB 85
99 Plin. HN 6. i. 3 F 115 IIIB 78
100 Plin. HN 6. xv. 36 F 111 IIIB 71
101 Plin. HN 6. xxi. 56 F 70 IIIB 8
102 Plin. HN 6. xxiv. 81 F 76 IIIB 18
103 Plin. HN 6. xxviii. 108 F 93 IIIB 41
104 Plin. HN 6. xxxiii. 163 F 97 IIIB 50
105 Arr. Anab. 5. 6. 2–3 F 71 IIIB 9
106 Arr. Ind. 3. 1–5 F 72 IIIB 10
107 Amm. Marc. 22. 8. 10–13 F 114 IIIB 79
108 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 399–401 a F 120 IIIB 75
109 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 1247 a F 112 IIIB 72
110 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 131–5 b F 121 IIIB 76
111 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 282–91 b F 149 IIIB 99
112 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 310 F 148 IIIB 98
113 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 1215 F 145 IIIB 112
114 Σ Eurip. Med. 2 F 117 IIIB 80
115 Procl. In Ti. 1. 37b (on F 99 IIIB 52
22e), i. 120 Diehl
116 Steph. Byz. α 44 Agraioi F 142 IIIB 108
117 Steph. Byz. α 254 Amaxa F 123 IIIB 87
118 Steph. Byz. α 493 Assyria F 91 IIIB 35
119 Steph. Byz. α 547 F 144 IIIB 111
Autariatai
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1113

120 Steph. Byz. γ 8 Gangra F 122 IIIB 86

121 Steph. Byz. δ 143 F 143 IIIB 109
Dyrrhachion
122 Steph. Byz. ι 123 Ichnai F 137 IIIB 101
123 Steph. Byz. τ 39 Tarsos F 124 IIIB 88
124 Steph. Byz. τ 52 Tauriskoi F 147 IIIB 117
125 Tzetzes (Isaak/Ioannes), F 118 IIIB 82
On Lycophron 1285
126 Eust. Dionys. Per. 867 F 125 IIIB 89
127 Eust. Il. 2. 612 F 141 IIIB 106

13 Mnaseas of Patara (FGrH 2031‡) Cappelletto

(fr.)
1 Harp. s.v. Hippia Athena 2
2 Fulg. Myth. 2. 16 1
3 Ath. 4. 47, 158c 3
4 Ath. 7. 47, 296b–c 4
5 Ath. 12. 40, 530c 5
6 Steph. Byz. ε 6 Engelanes 6
7 Hdn. General Prosody 7 10
fr. 42 Hunger
8 Ael. NA 17. 44 (46) 7
9 Ammonius 333 8
10 Fulg. Explanation 2 9
11 Phot. Lexikon s.v. 12
Praxidike
12 Σ Theoc. 1. 64 c 11
13 Zen. Proverbs 2. 67 29
14 Ath. 8. 3, 331d 14
15 Arnobius, Against the 13
Nations, 3. 37
16 Steph. Byz. α 151 26
Akanthos
17 Steph. Byz. δ 146 Dodone 16
18 Steph. Byz. δ 151 Dotion 27
19 Phot. Lexikon s.v. 28
Zamolxis
20 Epimerismi Homerici s.v. 15
Mousa
1114 • concordances

21 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 916–18 b 17

22 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 675 18
23 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 1052–7 a 19
24 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 263–4 b 20
25 Σ Eur. Phoen. 651 21
26 Σ Eur. Rhes. 36 22
27 Σ Hom. Od. 18. 85 b 23
28 Σ Pind. Ol. 10. 34 g 24
29 Σ Pind. Pyth. 4. 106 a 25
30 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 1126–31 b 30
31 Ath. 8. 37, 346d–e 31
32 Joseph. AJ 1. 93 33
33 Joseph. Ap. 1. 216–17 34
34 Joseph. Ap. 2. 112 35
35 Zen. Proverbs 2. 106 42
36 Harp. s.v. Saboi 32
37 Steph. Byz. δ 18 Dardanos 41
38 Σ Ap. Rhod. 1. 131 36
39 Σ Hom. Il. 19. 291–2 37
40 Σ Hom. Il. 20. 234 d 38
41 Σ Luc. Iupp. Trag. 6 39
42 Σ Theoc. 13. 75c 40
43 Hsch. s.v. Barkaiois 43
ochois
44 Plin. HN 37. xi. 38 44
45 Zen. Proverbs 3. 25 46
46 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 498–527 a 45
47 Phot. Lexikon s.v. pythou 47
chelidonos
48 Plut. De Is. et Os. 37 50
(Mor. 365f)
49 Hdn. General Prosody 11 49
(263. 35–264. 1 Lentz)
50 Ath. 7. 62, 301d 48
51 Σ Aesch. Per. 747 51
52 Σ Dionysios Thrax 6 52
53 Σ Hom. Il. 15. 336 c 53
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1115

14 Skymnos of Chios FGrH 2047 Gisinger

1 Hdn. On the Unique F9 F1
Word 1. 19 (Hdn. 925.
5–8 Lentz)
2 Steph. Byz. α 413 Areos F8 F2
nesos
3 Steph. Byz. ε 123 F6 F4
Hermonassa
4 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 277–8 a F7 F3
5 Apollonius, Mir. 15 F5 F9
6 Steph. Byz. α 21 Agathe F1 F8
7 Steph. Byz. π 56 Paros F2 F6
8 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 282–91 b F3 F7
(1st part)
8 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 282–91 b F4 F5
(2nd part)

15 Agatharchides of Knidos (FGrH Burstein Müller

2001‡) (1989) (1855)
1 Phot. Bibl. cod. 250. 441b
16–445b 36
2 Diod. 3. 11. 4–48. 5
2 Phot. Bibl. cod. 250. 445b
36–460b 16
2 Phot. Bibl. cod. 250. 460b
3–16 (BNJ 86 T 3)
3 Str. 16. 4. 13–15, C772–4
3 Str. 16. 4. 5, C769 fr. II.2
3 Str. 16. 4. 7–10, C770–1 fr. II.3
4 Plin. HN 8. viii. 24–5 fr. II.1
5 Plut. Quaest. conv. 8. 9 fr. I.1 fr. 113
(Mor. 733b 5–c 1)
6 Ael. NA 5. 27. 6 fr. 79 fr. 79a
7 Ael. NA 17. 41 (43) fr. 71b
8 Phot. Bibl. cod. 213. 171a
6–b 17 (BNJ 86 T 2)

16 Hipparchos of Nikaia (FGrH 2112‡) Dicks (fr.)

1 Cic. Att. 2. 6 D
2 Str. 1. 2. 1–2, C14–15 E
1116 • concordances

3 Str. 2. 1. 41, C93–4 F

4 Str. 8. 1. 1, C332 G
5 Str. 12. 4. 9, C566 B
6 Plin. HN 2. ix. 53 H
7 Plin. HN 2. xxiv. 95 I
8 Sext. Emp. Math. 5 L
9 Ael. NA 7. 8 C
10 Cat. Cod. Astr. Gr. 5. 1, K
p. 205
11 Servius in Verg. Geo. 1. J
137
12 Suda ι 521 Hipparchos A
13 Str. 1. 1. 2, C2 1
14 Str. 1. 1. 9, C5–6 4
15 Str. 1. 1. 12, C7 11
16 Str. 1. 2. 3, C16 2
17 Str. 1. 2. 20, C27 3
18 Str. 1. 3. 12, C55 6
19 Str. 1. 3. 13–15, C55–7 8–10
20 Pomponius Mela 3. 7. 7 5
21 Eust. Dionys. Per. 473 7
22 Str. 2. 1. 4, C68–9 12
23 Str. 2. 1. 7, C69–70 13
24 Str. 2. 1. 11–12, C71 14–15
25 Str. 2. 1. 19–20, C76–7 16–17
26 Str. 2. 1. 21–2, C77–8 19
27 Str. 2. 1. 27, C80–1 21
28 Str. 2. 1. 29, C81–2 22
29 Str. 2. 1. 34–5, C86–7 23–5
30 Str. 2. 1. 36, C88–9 20, 26–7
31 Str. 2. 1. 38–40, C90–2 28–32
32 Str. 2. 1. 41, C94 33–4
33 Str. 1. 1. 21, C12 40
34 Str. 1. 4. 1, C62 35
35 Str. 1. 4. 4, C63 53
36 Str. 2. 1. 12–13, C71–2 55, 59, 44
37 Str. 2. 1. 18, C75 58,61
38 Str. 2. 5. 7, C113 36
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1117

39 Str. 2. 5. 8, C115 54
40 Str. 2. 5. 34, C131–2 39
40 Str. 2. 5. 35, C132 43
40 Str. 2. 5. 36, C133 46–7
40 Str. 2. 5. 38, C133 48
40 Str. 2. 5. 39, C134 49–50
40 Str. 2. 5. 40, C134 51
40 Str. 2. 5. 41, C134 52, 56
40 Str. 2. 5. 42, C134–5 57
40 Str. 2. 5. 42, C135 60, 62
41 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 247 38
42 Ptol. Geog. 1. 7. 4 45
43 Ptol. Geog. 1. 7. 9 42
44 Ptol. Syntaxis Mathemat- 41
ica 1. 67. 22–68. 6
45 Σ Ptol. Geog. 1. 3. 3 37
46 Synesios, Letter 331b 63

17 Nikomedean Periodos [‘Ps.-Skym- Diller Diller

FGrH 2048 Marcotte
nos’] (‘Eux.’) (‘Nic.’)
fr. lines 1–747 T1
1 Eux. 109 Podossinov F1 F1 §80 748–50
2 Steph. Byz. δ 90 F 2a F 2a 751–7
Dionysou polis
3 Eux. 107 Podossinov F 2b F 2b §78 751–7
4 Eux. 105 Podossinov F3 F3 §76 758–9
5 Eux. 103 Podossinov F4 F4 §74 760–3
6 Eux. 101 Podossinov F5 F5 §72 764–5
7 Eux. 99 Podossinov F6 F6 §70 766–70
8 Eux. 97 Podossinov F 7a F 7a §68 771–88
9 Eux. 94 Podossinov F 7b F 7b §65 788–93
10 Eux. 92 Podossinov F8 F8 §63 794
11 Eux. 91 Podossinov F9 F9 §62 795–800
12 Eux. 88–9 Podossinov F 10 F 10 §59–60 801–17
13 Eux. 87 Podossinov F 11 F 11 §58 818–19
14 Eux. 82–3 Podossinov F 12 F 12 §53–4 820–31
15 Eux. 80 Podossinov F 13 F 13 §51 832–3
16 Eux. 79 Podossinov F 14 F 14 §50 834–6
1118 • concordances

17 Eux. 78 Podossinov end F 15a F 15a §49 end 837–60

18 Eux. 78 Podossinov beg. F 15b F 15b §49 beg. 861–74
19 Eux. 74 Podossinov F 16 F 16 §45 885–94
20 Eux. 77 Podossinov F 17a F 17a §47 end 875–84
21 Eux. 76 Podossinov F 17b F 17b §47 beg. 895–8
22 Eux. 66 Podossinov F 18 F 18 §24B 899–913
23 Eux. 51 Podossinov F 19 F 19 §9B 914–24
24 Eux. 45 Podossinov F 20 F 20 §3B 925–37
25 Eux. 37 F 21 F 21 938
26 Eux. 35 F 22 F 22 939–49
27 Eux. 34 F 23 F 23 950–2
28 Eux. 33 F 24 F 24 953–5
29 Eux. 27 F 25 F 25 956–81
30 Eux. 25 F 26 F 26 982–5
31 Eux. 22 F 27 F 27 986–97
32 Eux. 18 F 28 F 28 998–
1000
33 Eux. 16 F 29 F 29 1001–11
34 Eux. 14 F 30 F 30 1012–15
35 Eux. 10 F 31 F 31 1016–19
36 Eux. 8 F 32 F 32 1020–1
37 Eux. 7 F 33 F 33 1022–4
38 Eux. 6 F 34 F 34 1025–6

18 Artemidoros of Ephesos (FGrH

Hoffmann Stiehle Schiano
2008‡)
1 Str. 4. 1. 4–5, C179–80 F 11
2 Str. 4. 1. 8, C183 F1 F 22 F 15
3 Str. 4. 1. 11, C185 F2 F 32 F 13
4 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 242–6 pp. 273–5 F1 F 1a
5 Plin. HN 4. xxxvii. 121 Epit. 18 F8 F 2a
6 Plin. HN 5. vi. 40 F 70 F 86 F 4a
7 Plin. HN 5. ix. 47 Epit. 17 F 81 F 3a
8 Agathem. 3. 10 p. 277 F 2b
8 Agathem. 3. 10 p. 277 F 3b
8 Agathem. 3. 10 p. 277 F 4b
8 Agathem. 4. 15–19 pp. 277–9 F 1b
8 Agathem. 5. 20 pp. 279–80 F 9b
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1119

9 P. Oxy. 24. 2694v. 18–32 F 9a

10 Markian. Peripl. 2. 19 F 18
11 Steph. Byz. β 148 p. 269 F2 F 19
Bounnos
12 Steph. Byz. γ 50 Genoa F 36 F 40 F5
13 Steph. Byz. δ 45 Dekieton p. 283 F 41 F7
14 Steph. Byz. δ 58 Derton Epit. 3 Epit. 4 F6
15 Steph. Byz. κ 4 Kabellion F5 F4 F 14
16 Steph. Byz. λ 61 Ligyres Epit. 2 Epit. 3 F8
17 Steph. Byz. μ 94 Epit. 1 Epit. 2 F 12
Mastramele
18 Steph. Byz. ν 13 Narbon F 17
19 Steph. Byz. σ 116 F4 F5 F 16
Sekoanos
20 Steph. Byz. τ 53 Tauroëis F6 F3 F 10
21 Steph. Byz. α 6 Abdera F 17 F 15
22 Steph. Byz. η 13 Hemer- F 18 F 19
oskopeion
23 Steph. Byz. ι 19a Iberiai F 19 F 21
24 Steph. Byz. κ 81 Karthaia F 16 F 17
25 Steph. Byz. κ 92 Karnos p. 284 F 29
26 Steph. Byz. μ 35 Malake Epit. 4 p. 243
27 Steph. Byz. ν 37 Nestos p. 269 F 27
28 Steph. Byz. τ 208 Tropis F 22 F 30
29 Steph. Byz. ψ 1 p. 284 F 28
­Psamathous
30 Steph. Byz. ω 16 Orisia/ F 15 F 18
Oria
31 Const. Porph. Adm. F 19 F 21–2
imp. 23
32 Steph. Byz. β 62 Belitanoi F 23 F 31
33 Steph. Byz. κ 118 Kastalon F 24
34 Steph. Byz. τ 20 Tanos F 28 F 53
35 Steph. Byz. τ 63 Teanon F 27 F 39
36 Steph. Byz. τ 120 Tibyris F 26 F 38
37 Steph. Byz. φ 107 F 25 F 37
Phrourentanoi
38 Porph. De antr. Nymph. F 46 F 55
p. 57 (§4 Davis et al.)
1120 • concordances

39 Steph. Byz. φ 10 Phalakrai p. 284 F 54

40 Steph. Byz. π 43 p. 285 F 68
Parthenios
41 Steph. Byz. ε 129 Erythra F 54 F 71
42 Steph. Byz. ι 84 Hippon- F 53 F 72
esos
43 Steph. Byz. λ 85 Lopa- F 55 F 73
doussa
44a Str. 17. 2. 1–5, C821–4
44b Diod. 3. 5. 1–11. 2 (BNJ 86 F 82 (3. 11.
F 1 (3. 11. 1–3) 1–2)
F 92 (3.
1–11)
45 Steph. Byz. ψ 2 Psebo p. 286 F 93
46 Steph. Byz. ψ 3 Psenako p. 285 F 83
47 Steph. Byz. ψ 22 F 62 F 84
Psochemmis
48 Steph. Byz. δ 150 Doros F 75 Epit. 15; F
111
49 Steph. Byz. τ 26 F 77 F 106
Taprobane
50 Steph. Byz. υ 51 Hysia F 76 F 109a
51 Steph. Byz. ψ 7 Pseu- F 74 F 113
dokorasion
52 Ath. 8. 8, 333f–334a F 82 F 121
53 Steph. Byz. ι 69 Ixiai F 83 F 123
54 Steph. Byz. κ 90 Karne p. 287 F 112
55 Steph. Byz. τ 79 Telm- F 81 F 120
essos
56 Steph. Byz. κ 167 F 93 F 137
Korokondame
57 Steph. Byz. χ 18 Chalkitis F 92 F 133
58 Str. 3. 1. 4, C137–8 F8 F 13
59 Str. 3. 1. 5, C138 F9 F 12
60 Str. 3. 2. 11, C148 F 10 F 11
61 Str. 3. 4. 3, C157 F 11 F 16
62 Str. 3. 4. 3, C157 F 56 F 77. 2
63 Str. 3. 4. 7, C159 F 12 F 26
64 Str. 3. 4. 17, C164 F 13 F 23
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1121

65 Str. 3. 5. 1, C167 F 20 F 25
66 Str. 3. 5. 5, C170 F 59 F 10
67 Str. 3. 5. 7, C172 F 14 F 14
68 Str. 4. 4. 6, C198 F3 F 36
69 Str. 5. 2. 6, C224 F 34 F 48
70 Str. 5. 4. 6, C245 F 30 F 43
71 Str. 6. 1. 11, C261–2 F 31 F 44
72 Str. 6. 2. 1, C267 F 33 F 49
73 Str. 6. 3. 9–10, C283–5 incl. F 32 F 45–6
74 Str. 7, fr. 22a F 66
75 Str. 8. 2. 1, C335 F 37 F 59
76 Str. 8. 6. 1, C367 F 39
77 Str. 8. 8. 5, C389 F 38 F 59a
78 Str. 9. 5. 8, C433 F 42 F 63
79 Str. 9. 5. 15, C436 F 40 F 64
80 Str. 10. 2. 21, C459–60 F 41 F 57
81 Str. 10. 3. 5, C465
82 Str. 10. 4. 3, C474–5 F 62
83 Str. 10. 5. 3, C485 F 44 F 60
84 Str. 11. 2. 14, C496–7 F 94 F 138
85 Str. 12. 7. 2, C570 F 87 F 119
86 Str. 12. 8. 1, C571 F 89 F 131
87 Str. 13. 3. 5, C622 F 129
88 Str. 14. 1. 22–3, C640–1 F 126
89 Str. 14. 1. 26, C642 F 88 F 127
90 Str. 14. 2. 10, C655 F 124
91 Str. 14. 1. 29, C663 F 84 F 125
92 Str. 14. 3. 3, C665 F 86 F 122
93 Str. 14. 5. 3, C670 F 85. 1 F 116 (?)
94 Str. 14. 5. 16, C675 F 115
95 Str. 14. 5. 22, C677 F 114
96 Str. 15. 1. 72, C719 F 79 F 109
97 Str. 16. 2. 33, C760 F 85. 2 F 116
98 Str. 16. 4. 5, C769–70 F 65 F 96
98 Str. 16. 4. 5–20, C769–79 F 65 F 96–102
98 Str. 16. 4. 15, C774–5 F 65 F 97
98 Str. 16. 4. 16, C775 F 65 F 98
98 Str. 16. 4. 17, C775–6 F 65 F 99
1122 • concordances

98 Str. 16. 4. 18, C776–8 F 65 F 100

98 Str. 16. 4. 19, C778–9 F 65 F 101
98 Str. 16. 4. 20, C779 F 65 F 102
99 Str. 17. 1. 18, C801 F 63 F 87
100 Str. 17. 1. 24, C803–4 F 64 F 88
101 Str. 17. 3. 2, C825 F 58 F 76
102 Str. 17. 3. 8, C829 F 57 F 77. 1
103 Str. 17. 3. 10, C830 F 61 F 79
104 Plin. HN 1. 2
104 Plin. HN 1. 3
104 Plin. HN 1. 4
104 Plin. HN 1. 5
104 Plin. HN 1. 6
104 Plin. HN 1. 7
104 Plin. HN 1. 36
105 Plin. HN 4. xii. 77 F 70
106 Plin. HN 5. x. 59 F 68
107 Plin. HN 5. xxxv. 129 F 91 F 117
108 Plin. HN 6. xv. 36–7 F 110
109 Plin. HN 6. xxii. 70 F 80 F 108
110 Plin. HN 6. xxxii. 156 F 72
111 Plin. HN 6. xxxiii. 163–4 F 71 F 103
112 Plin. HN 6. xxxv. 183 F 69 F 94
113 Plin. HN 7. ii. 30 F 78 F 107
114 Plin. HN 36. xvii. 79 F 67 F 91
115 Ath. 3. 76, 111d (BNJ² 438
F 1)
116 Harp. s.v. Ganion kai F 65
Ganiada
117 Hsch. s.v. Skyria dikē F 43
118 Hsch. s.v. Talantion p. 273 F 52
119 Markian. Epit. Men. 3–4
120 Markian. Peripl. 1. 1 FF 7, 95
121 Markian. Peripl. 2. 4 F9
122 Eux. 92 F 95 F 67
123 Steph. Byz. α 4 Abarnos p. 288 F 132
124 Steph. Byz. α 36 Ankon p. 284 F 47
125 Steph. Byz. α 39 Agnotes F 21 F 35
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1123

126 Steph. Byz. α 92 Aiga p. 287 F 130

127 Steph. Byz. α 239 Alonis p. 284 F5
128 Steph. Byz. α 462 p. 285 F 56
Artemita
129 Steph. Byz. α 496 Astai p. 288 Epit. 10
130 Steph. Byz. α 522 p. 286 F 104
Atramitai
131 Steph. Byz. α 579 Epit. 8 Epit. 6
Apsyrtides
132 Steph. Byz. β 59 Belbina F 52
133 Steph. Byz. β 144 pp. 269–70 F 51
Boulinoi
134 Steph. Byz. γ 18 Gaitouloi p. 285 F 75
135 Steph. Byz. γ 75 Gigonos F 50 F 78
136 Steph. Byz. γ 119 pp. 285–6 F 85
Gynaikospolis
137 Steph. Byz. δ 77 Didyme p. 287 F 61
138 Steph. Byz. ε 161 Eupalia F 49 F 58
Müller
139 Steph. Byz. θ 22 Them- Epit. 15 F 21
isonion
140 Steph. Byz. ι 115 Istros F 90 F 62 bis
141 Steph. Byz. κ 307 Kothon Epit. 9 F 12
142 Steph. Byz. κ 234 Krya Epit. 16 Epit. 1
143 Steph. Byz. λ 36 Laoda- Epit. 13 F 17
manteia
144 Steph. Byz. λ 119 Los Epit. 10 F 13
145 Steph. Byz. μ 243 F 48 F 128
Myonesos
146 Steph. Byz. μ 253 F 51 + p. 288 F 69
Myrmekion
147 Steph. Byz. ξ 12 Xouches Epit. 12 F 17
148 Steph. Byz. π 7 Paltos Epit. 14 Epit. 16
149 Steph. Byz. σ 242 Solkoi Epit. 5 Epit. 5
150 Steph. Byz. σ 263 Spina F 35 F 42
151 Steph. Byz. τ 66 Tegestra Epit. 7 Epit. 8
152 Steph. Byz. τ 159 F7 F 20
Tourdetania
153 Steph. Byz. τ 233 Tyros p. 287 F 105
1124 • concordances

154 Steph. Byz. φ 36 F 60 F 74

Pharousioi
155 Steph. Byz. φ 69 Philippoi Epit. 11 Epit. 9
156 Steph. Byz. φ 76 Phlanon Epit. 6 Epit. 7
157 Steph. Byz. ω 21 Ostiones p. 282 F 34
158 Const. Porph. Them. 1. F 130
42. 9
159 Tzetzes (Isaak/Ioannes), F 24
On Lycophron 633
160 Epimerismi Homerici s.v. F 29 F 80
cheiros
161 Proverbia e cod. Bodl. F 45
162 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 946–54 b F 134
163 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 963–5 a F 135
164 Σ Ap. Rhod. 3. 854–9 c pp. 272–3 Epit. 18
165 Σ Ap. Rhod. 4. 257–62 b F 136
166 Σ Dionys. Per. 14 F 47
167 P. Artemid.
168 Codex Monacensis 287. F 66 F 90
161ᵛ–162ʳ

19 Poseidonios of Apameia (FGrH

Kidd BNJ 87
2041‡)
1 Str. 1. 1. 1, C1–2 T 75 —
2 Str. 2. 2. 1, C94 T 76a T 15a
2 Str. 2. 2. 1–2. 3. 8, F 49 T 19c
C94–104
2 Str. 2. 3. 8, C104 T 76b T 15b
2 Str. 2. 3. 8, C104 T 85 T 15b
3 Str. 2. 5. 14, C119 F 204 F 99
4 Str. 2. 5. 43, C135–6 F 208 F 76
5 Str. 8. 1. 1, C332 T 77 T 14
6 Str. 10. 3. 5, C465 T 78 T 16
7 Str. 11. 1. 5–6, C491–2 F 206 F 101a
8 Str. 17. 1. 21, C803 F 207 F 101b
9 Plin. HN 6. xxi. 57–8 F 212 F 100
10 Kleomedes 1. 4. 90–131 F 210 F 78
Todd (1. 6. 31–3 Ziegler)
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1125

11 Kleomedes 1. 7. 1–50 F 202 F 97

Todd (1. 10. 50–2
Ziegler)
12 Agathem. 1. 2 F 200a F 98a
13 Achilles Tatius, Intro- F 209 F 77
duction to Aratos’
Phainomena, 31
14 Solin. Collectanea 52. 1–2 F 213 —
15 Eust. Il. 7. 446 F 200b —
16 Eust. Dionys. Per. 1 F 201 F 98b
17 Procl. In Ti. 4. 277d–e F 205 —
(on 40a–b), iii. 124–5
Diehl
18 Julian of Ascalon F 203 —
19 Symeon Seth, On the F 211 —
Usefulness of the
Heavenly Bodies, 44
20 Str. 1. 3. 16, C58 F 231 F 87
21 Str. 3. 2. 9, C146–7 F 239 —
22 Str. 6. 2. 3, C268–9 F 234 F 92
23 Str. 7. 5. 8, C316 F 235 F 93
24 Str. 11. 9. 1, C514 F 233 F 87a
25 Str. 13. 1. 67, C614–15 F 237 F 95
26 Str. 16. 1. 15, C743 F 236 F 94
27 Str. 16. 2. 42–3, C764 F 279 F 70
28 Str. 16. 4. 20, C779 F 238 F 96
29 Sen. QNat. 6. 21. 2 F 230 —
30 Sen. QNat. 6. 24. 6 F 232 —
31 Ath. 6. 23–5, 233d–234c F 240a F 48
32 Eust. Od. 4. 89 F 240b —
33 Str. 1. 1. 7, C4 F 216 F 83
34 Str. 1. 1. 8–9, C5–6 F 214 F 82a
34 Str. 1. 1. 8–9, C5–6 T 79a —
35 Str. 1. 3. 9, C53–4 F 221 F 91
36 Str. 1. 3. 12, C55 F 215 F 82b
36 Str. 1. 3. 12, C55 T 79b —
37 Str. 3. 3. 3, C153 F 220 F 84
37 Str. 3. 3. 4, C153 F 224 F 49
38 Str. 3. 5. 7–8, C172–4 F 217 F 85
1126 • concordances

38 Str. 3. 5. 9, C174–5 F 218 F 86

39 Str. 4. 1. 7, C182–3 F 229 F 90
40 Str. 5. 1. 8, C214–15 F 225 F 89
41 Str. 6. 2. 11, C277 F 227 F 88
42 Str. 17. 1. 5, C790 F 222 F 79
43 Str. 17. 3. 10, C830 F 223 F 80
44 Sen. QNat. 2. 26. 4–7 F 228 —
45 Ath. 8. 7, 333b–d F 226 F 29
46 Priscianus Lydus, F 219 —
Solutions to Chosroës, 6
47 Str. 3. 1. 5, C138 F 119 F 45
48 Str. 3. 4. 3, C157 F 247 F 50
49 Str. 3. 4. 15, C163 F 243 F 52
50 Str. 3. 5. 5, C169–70 F 246 F 53
51 Str. 3. 5. 10, C175 F 241 F 54
52 Str. 4. 1. 14, C188 F 248 F 34
53 Str. 6. 2. 1, C265–6 F 249 F 63
54 Str. 6. 2. 7, C273 F 250 F 64
55 Str. 16. 2. 4, C749–50 F 251 F 65
56 Str. 16. 2. 17, C755 F 244 F 66
57 Str. 17. 3. 4, C827 F 245 F 73
58 Ath. 1. 51, 28d F 242 F 68
59 Ath. 14. 61, 649d F 55a F3
60 Ath. 6. 84, 263c–d F 60 F8
61 Ath. 5. 46, 210e–f F 62b F 10
62 Ath. 4. 36–7, 151e–152f F 67 F 15
63 Ath. 9. 8, 369c–d F 70 F 19
64 Ath. 4. 39, 153e F 73 F 22
65 Str. 1. 2. 34, C41–2 F 280 F 105a
66 Str. 3. 4. 13, C162–3 F 271 F 51
67 Str. 3. 4. 17, C165 F 269 F 58a
68 Str. 5. 2. 1, C218 F 268 F 57a
69 Str. 7. 2. 1–2, C292–4 F 272 F 31
(extended)
70 Str. 7. 3. 2–4, C295–7 and F 277a F 104
7. 3. 7, C300
71 Str. 16. 4. 27, C784–5 F 281a F 105b
72 Ath. 2. 24, 45f F 283 F 72
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1127

73 Eust. Il. 2. 782 F 281b —

74 Eust. Il. 13. 6 F 277b —
75 Σ Ap. Rhod. 2. 675 F 270 F 103

21 Menippos of Pergamon (FGrH

2029‡)
1 Markian. Epit. Men.
1 Markian. pref. to Epit.
Men.
2 Anthologia Graeca 9. 559
(Krinagoras)
3 Agathem. 5. 20
4 Steph. Byz. ε 123
Hermonassa
5 Steph. Byz. ν 13 Narbon
6 Steph. Byz. ν 59 Nikopolis
7 Steph. Byz. χ 9 Chaldia
8 Steph. Byz. χ 15 Chalke-
don
9 Const. Porph. Them. 10. 9
9 Steph. Byz. σ 155 Sikelia
10 Const. Porph. Them. 1. 2 BNJ² 709 F 13 FGrH 2046
T7

before Chapter 22
Cicero, De re publica, 6.
21–2

22 Juba II of Mauretania BNJ² 275

1 Plin. HN 6. xxx. 124 F 29
2 Ath. 3. 25, 83a–c F6
3 Plin. HN 5. i. 14–16 F 42
4 Plin. HN 5. x. 51–5 F 38a
5 Plin. HN 5. x. 59 F 39
6 Plin. HN 6. xxxiv. 175– F 35
xxxv. 179
7 Plin. HN 6. xxxvi. 201 F 43
8 Plin. HN 6. xxxvii. 202–5 F 44
1128 • concordances

9 Plin. HN 8. iv. 7 F 47a

10 Plin. HN 8. xlv. 107 F 57
11 Plin. HN 10. lxi. 126–7 F 60
12 Plin. HN 13. lii. 142 F 67
13 Plin. HN 37. xviii. 69 F 77
14 Plin. HN 37. xxxv. 114 F 79
15 Philostr. VA 2. 13 F 47b
16 Amm. Marc. 22. 15. 8 F 38b
17 Plin. HN 8. xiii. 35 F 58
18 Plin. HN 9. lvi. 115 F 71
19 Plin. HN 31. xv. 18 F 40–1
20 Plin. HN 6. xxxvi. 96–100 F 28
21 Plin. HN 6. xxxi. 136–41 F1
22 Plin. HN 6. xxxii. 149–56 F 30–3
23 Plin. HN 6. xxxiii. 165–70 F 34
24 Plin. HN 12. xxi. 38–xxii. F 62
39
25 Plin. HN 12. xxxi. 56 F2
26 Plin. HN 12. xxxii. 60 F 63
27 Plin. HN 12. xxxiv. 67 F 64
28 Plin. HN 12. xxxviii. F 65
78–xl. 80
29 Plin. HN 13. vii. 34 F 66
30 Plin. HN 15. xxviii. 99 F 68
31 Plin. HN 25. v. 14 F 69
32 Plin. HN 32. iv. 10 F3
33 Plin. HN 33. xl. 118 F 72
34 Plin. HN 35. xxii. 39 F 74
35 Plin. HN 36. xlvi. 163 F 73
36 Plin. HN 37. ix. 24 F 76
37 Plin. HN 37. xviii. 73 F 78
38 Plin. HN 37. xxxii. 107–8 F 75
39 Ael. NA 15. 8 F 70
40 Hsch. s.v. Terebinthos F 45
41 Plin. HN 25. xxxviii. 77–9 F7
42 Dioskorides 3. 82. 1–2 F 8b
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1129

43 Galen, De compositione F 8a
medicamentorum
secundum locos, 9, p.
271

23 Isidoros of Charax BNJ² 781

1 Stathmoi Parthikoi F2
2 Plin. HN 1. 2 T 3a–b
2 Plin. HN 1. 3 T 3a–b
2 Plin. HN 1. 4 T 3a–b
2 Plin. HN 1. 5 T 3a–b
2 Plin. HN 1. 6 T 3a–b
3 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 242 F6
4 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 245 F 7 beg.
5 Plin. HN 2. cxii. 246 F 7 end
6 Plin. HN 4. iv. 9 F 12
7 Plin. HN 4. xvi. 102 F 11
8 Plin. HN 4. xxiii. 121 F8
9 Plin. HN 5. vi. 40 F9
10 Plin. HN 5. ix. 47 F 10
11 Plin. HN 5. xxxiii. 127 F 19
12 Plin. HN 5. xxxv. 129 F 13
13 Plin. HN 5. xxxvi. 132 F 14
14 Plin. HN 5. xxxvii. 135 F 15
15 Plin. HN 5. xxxviii. 136 F 16
16 Plin. HN 5. xxxix. 140 F 17
17 Plin. HN 5. xliii. 150 F 18
18 Plin. HN 6. xxxi. 141 T1
19 [Luc.] Makrobioi, 15 and F 3–4
17
20 Ath. 3. 46, 93d–94b F1
21 Markian. Epit. Men. 2 T2
22 Hsch. s.v. Dousaren F5

before Chapter 32
Seneca the Younger,
Medea, 311–17; 364–79
1130 • concordances

34 Markianos (FGrH 2027‡)

1 Periplous
2 Steph. Byz. α 56
Adaroupolis
3 Steph. Byz. α 90
Aiboudai
4 Steph. Byz. α 180
Akytania
5 Steph. Byz. α 197 Albion
6 Steph. Byz. α 360
Apokopa
7 Steph. Byz. α 468 Aroma
8 Steph. Byz. α 478 Askitai
9 Steph. Byz. α 485 Aspis
10 Steph. Byz. α 499 Astarte
11 Steph. Byz. β 1 Babai
12 Steph. Byz. β 169 Brettia
13 Steph. Byz. γ 121 Gypseïs
14 Steph. Byz. ζ 5 Zadrame
15 Steph. Byz. ι 4 Iazyges
16 Const. Porph. Adm.
imp. 23
16 Steph. Byz. ι 19a Ibēriai
17 Steph. Byz. ι 113 Istriana
18 Steph. Byz. κ 112
Kassanitai
19 Steph. Byz. κ 168
Koromane
20 Steph. Byz. κ 240
Ktesiphon
21 Steph. Byz. λ 13 Ladisak-
ites kolpos
22 Steph. Byz. λ 72 Lindo-
nion
23 Steph. Byz. λ 89 Lousi-
tania
24 Steph. Byz. μ 39 Mallada
25 Steph. Byz. μ 64 Margana
26 Steph. Byz. μ 100
Mauritaniai
 i. concordance of extracts by chapter • 1131

27 Steph. Byz. μ 152

Mesanites kolpos
28 Steph. Byz. μ 191 Minaioi
29 Steph. Byz. μ 213 Mosylon
30 Steph. Byz. μ 247 Myrike
31 Steph. Byz. ν 13 Narbon
32 Steph. Byz. ν 59 Nikopolis
33 Steph. Byz. ο 66
Homeritai
34 Steph. Byz. ο 73 Onne
35 Steph. Byz. σ 126
Siagathourgoi
36 Steph. Byz. σ 151 Sithenoi
37 Steph. Byz. σ 165 Sinai
38 Steph. Byz. τ 121 Tingis
39 Steph. Byz. χ 3 Chadram-
otitai
40 Steph. Byz. χ 57 Chrysē
41 Markian. pref. to Epit.
Men.
42 Steph. Byz. α 271 Amisa
43 Synesios, Letter 101
44 Synesios, Letter 119
45 Priscianus Lydus,
Solutions to Chosroës,
42. 8–14

after Chapter 36
Anth. Gr. 14. 121
(Metrodoros)
1132 • concordances

II. CONCOR DA NCE OF E XTR ACTS BY SOURCE AU THOR

Also includes authors of epigraphs, as well as authors of continuous text who are the
subject of a chapter, if extracts from their text also appear as extracts of another author
(a fortiori, this will be an earlier author). Includes sources more than once if they
appear in two or more places in the volumes. Where a reference locator stands with
blank cells to its left, understand the locator in the first column to be the same as in the
row above (see e.g. Agathemeros 1. 1).

GAGW ch. extract

Achilles Tatius
Introduction to the Phainomena of Aratos, 31 Poseidon. 13

Aelian, NA
5. 27. 6 Agatharch. 7
7. 8 Hipparch. 9
10. 16 Eudoxos 27
15. 8 Juba 39
17. 41 (43) Agatharch. 8
17. 44 (46) Mnaseas 8

Aelius Aristeides
Orat. 36. 108 Hekat. 97

Aëtios, Placita
2. 20. 6 Hekat. 8
3. 17. 3 Pytheas 25
4. 1. 7 Eudoxos 23

Agatharchides of Knidos
64 Hekat. 2

Agathemeros son of Orthon

1. 1 Hekat. 9
Eudoxos 3
1. 2 Eudoxos 4
Dikaiarch. 10
Eratosth. 37
Poseidon. 12
1. 5 Dikaiarch. 11
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1133

GAGW ch. extract

2. 6–7 Timosth. 18
3. 10 Artemid. 8
4. 15–19 Artemid. 8
5. 20 Timosth. 19
Artemid. 8
Menipp. 3

Ammianus Marcellinus
22. 8. 10–13 Hekat. 60
Eratosth. 107
22. 15. 31 Eratosth. 39
22. 15. 8 Juba 16

Ammonius
333 Mnaseas 9

Anametresis/ Perimetros
1 Eratosth. 41

Anthologia Graeca
7. 78 (Dionysios of Kyzikos) epigraph to Ch. 12
7. 256 (Plato) before Ch. 4
9. 144 (Anyte) before Introduction
9. 559 (Krinagoras) Menipp. 2
14. 121 (Metrodoros) after Ch. 36

Anyte of Tegea
Anth. Gr. 9. 144 before Introduction

Apollonios Paradoxographos
15 Skymnos 5
19 Herakl. Krit. 4
38 Eudoxos 55

Aristotle (see also Pseudo-Aristotle)

Mete. 2. 6, 363a 21–365a 14 Timosth. 38
Mete. 2. 6, 363a 25–b 1 Introduction §V. 3
Pol. 7. 13, 1332b 12–27 Skylax 2
1134 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Arnobius
Against the Nations, 3. 37 Mnaseas 15

Arrian
Anab. 5. 3. 1–4 Eratosth. 23
Anab. 5. 6. 2–3 Eratosth. 105
Anab. 5. 6. 5 Hekat. 92
Ind. 3. 1–5 Eratosth. 106
Ind. 43. 11–12 Hanno 7

Athenaios
1. 51, 28d Poseidon. 58
2. 24, 45f Poseidon. 72
2. 82, 70a Hekat. 87
2. 82, 70a–b Hekat. 11
2. 82, 70a–c Skylax 7
2. 82, 70b Hekat. 88
Hekat. 89
3. 25, 83a–c Juba 2
3. 25, 83c Hanno 8
3. 46, 93d–94b Isidoros 20
3. 76, 111d Artemid. 115
4. 31, 148f Hekat. 28
4. 36–7, 151e–152f Poseidon. 62
4. 39, 153e Poseidon. 64
4. 47, 158c Mnaseas 3
5. 46, 210e–f Poseidon. 61
6. 23–5, 233d–234c Poseidon. 31
6. 84, 263c–d Poseidon. 60
7. 31, 288c Eudoxos 58
7. 47, 296b–c Mnaseas 4
7. 62, 301d Mnaseas 50
8. 3, 331d Mnaseas 14
8. 7, 333b–d Poseidon. 45
8. 8, 333f–334a Artemid. 52
8. 37, 346d–e Mnaseas 31
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1135

GAGW ch. extract

9. 8, 369c–d Poseidon. 63
9. 47, 392d–e Eudoxos 13
9. 79, 410e Hekat. 12
Hekat. 104
10. 13, 418e Hekat. 101
10. 67, 447c Hekat. 100
10. 67, 447d Hekat. 47
12. 40, 530c Mnaseas 5
14. 61, 649d Poseidon. 59

Avienus, Ora maritima

32–42 Hekat. 13
32–44 Ps.-Skyl. 4
370–4 Ps.-Skyl. 5

Caesar
BG 6. 24 Eratosth. 43

Cat. Cod. Astr. Gr.

5. 1, p. 205 Hipparch. 10

Cicero
Att. 2. 6 Hipparch. 1
Att. 6. 2. 3 Dikaiarch. 1
De re publica, 6. 21–2 before Ch. 22

Clement of Alexandria
Protreptikos 5. 64. 5 (5. 56 Butterworth) Eudoxos 36

codex Heidelbergensis 398, 55ʳ–56ʳ (Hanno) Hanno 0

codex Monacensis 287, 161ᵛ–162ʳ Artemid. 168

codex Parisinus graecus 571, fos. 417–30 Herakl. Krit. 2

codex Parisinus suppl. gr. 443

pp. 62. 1–106. 11 (Ps.-Skyl.) Ps.-Skyl. 0
1136 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

pp. 111. 10–114. 13 Dion. Kall. 1
pp. 114. 13–121. 23 Herakl. Krit. 1
pp. 121. 24–123. 19 Herakl. Krit. 3
pp. 123. 20–124. 25 Dion. Kall. 2

Constantine Porphyrogennetos
De adm. imp. 23 Artemid. 31
Markian. 16
Them. 1. 2 Skylax 12
Ps.-Skyl. 7
Menipp. 10
Them. 1. 42. 9 Artemid. 158
Them. 10. 9 Menipp. 9

Didymos
Dem. Phil. 11. 11. 28–37 Timosth. 2

Diodoros Sikeliotes
3. 5. 1–11. 2 Artemid. 44
3. 11. 4–48. 5 Agatharch. 6

Diogenes Laërtios
8. 8. 90 Eudoxos 14
9. 11. 83 Eudoxos 15

Dionysios of Halikarnassos
Thuc. 5 Hekat. 3

Dionysios of Kyzikos
Anth. Gr. 7. 78 before Ch. 12

Dioskorides
3. 82. 1–2 Juba 42

Epimerismi Homerici
s.v. cheiros Artemid. 160
s.v. memetreatai Hekat. 59
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1137

GAGW ch. extract

s.v. Mousa Mnaseas 20

Eustathios
Dion. Peri. 1 Poseidon. 16
Dion. Peri. 473 Hipparch. 21
Dion. Peri. 867 Eratosth. 126
Il. 2. 612 Eratosth. 127
Il. 2. 782 Poseidon. 73
Il. 7. 446 Poseidon. 15
Il. 13. 6 Poseidon. 74
Od. 4. 89 Poseidon. 32

Eux.
6 Nik. 38
7 Nik. 37
8 Nik. 36
10 Nik. 35
14 Nik. 34
16 Nik. 33
18 Nik. 32
22 Nik. 31
25 Nik. 30
27 Nik. 29
33 Nik. 28
34 Nik. 27
35 Nik. 26
37 Nik. 25
45 Nik. 24
51 Nik. 23
66 Nik. 22
74 Nik. 19
76 Nik. 21
77 Nik. 20
78 Hekat. 61
Nik. 17–18
79 Nik. 16
80 Nik. 15
1138 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

82–3 Nik. 14
87 Nik. 13
88–9 Nik. 12
91 Nik. 11
92 Nik. 10
Artemid. 122
94 Nik. 9
97 Nik. 8
99 Nik. 7
101 Nik. 6
103 Nik. 5
105 Nik. 4
107 Nik. 3
109 Nik. 1

Fulgentius
Explanation 2 Mnaseas 10
Mythologies 2. 16 Mnaseas 2

Galen
De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos, Juba 43
9, p. 271

Geminos
6. 8–9 Pytheas 15
15 Eratosth. 32
17. 5 Dikaiarch. 2

Harpokration
s.v. eph’ hieron Timosth. 22
s.v. Ganion kai Ganiada Artemid. 116
s.v. Hippia Athena Mnaseas 1
s.v. hypo gēn oikountes Skylax 6
s.v. kypassis Hekat. 84
s.v. Lipara Eudoxos 77
s.v. rhodōniá Hekat. 33
s.v. Saboi Mnaseas 36
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1139

GAGW ch. extract

Herodian
General Prosody 5 fr. 34 Hunger Hekat. 49
General Prosody 7 fr. 42 Hunger Mnaseas 7
General Prosody 11 (263. 35–264. 1 Lentz) Mnaseas 49
On the Unique Word 1. 13. 19–20 (920. 7–8 Lentz) Hekat. 73
On the Unique Word 1. 19 Skymnos 1
On the Unique Word 2. 31. 25–6 (937. 9–10 Lentz) Hekat. 110
On the Unique Word 2. 31. 26 (937. 10–11 Lentz) Hekat. 56
On the Unique Word 2. 36. 29–31 (942. 11–13 Lentz) Hekat. 96

Herodotos
2. 143. 1 Hekat. 1
4. 13–15 Aristeas 1
4. 16 Aristeas 1
4. 44 Skylax 1
4. 85. 2–86. 3 Introduction §VI. 2. a

Hesychios
s.v. Barkaiois ochois Mnaseas 43
s.v. bous Kyprios Eudoxos 79
s.v. Dousaren Isidoros 22
s.v. Skyria dikē Artemid. 117
s.v. Talantion Artemid. 118
s.v. Terebinthos Juba 40

Hipparchos
Arat. 1. 4. 1 Pytheas 1

Homer
Od. 11. 121–34 before Prologue

Ioannes Lydus
Mens. 4. 107 Wünsch Dikaiarch. 14

Josephus
AJ 1. 93 Mnaseas 32
1140 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Ap. 1. 216–17 Mnaseas 33
Ap. 2. 112 Mnaseas 34

Julian of Ascalon Poseidon. 18

Kallimachos
Epigrams, 18 before Ch. 9

Kleomedes, Meteora
1. 4. 90–131 Todd Poseidon. 10
1. 4. 208–10 Todd Pytheas 26
1. 5. 57–75 Todd Dikaiarch. 8
1. 7. 1–50 Todd Poseidon. 11

Kosmas Indikopleustes
11. 80. 6–9 Pytheas 30

Krinagoras
Anth. Gr. 9. 559 Menippos 2

Markianos of Herakleia
Epit. Men. 2 Hanno 9
Skylax 10
Pytheas 31
Timosth. 23
Isidoros 21
Epit. Men. 3. 10–27 Timosth. 23
Epit. Men. 3–4 Artemid. 119
Epit. Men. Menipp. 1
Peripl. 1. 1 Artemid. 120
Peripl. 1. 4 Eratosth. 40
Peripl. 2. 4 Artemid. 121
Peripl. 2. 19 Artemid. 10
pref. to Epit. Men. Menipp. 1
Markian. 41
pref. to Ps.-Skyl. Skylax 9
Ps.-Skyl. 6
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1141

GAGW ch. extract

Martianus Capella
6. 590–1 Dikaiarch. 12
6. 595 Pytheas 28
6. 608–9 Pytheas 29

Maximus of Tyre
Dissertatio 10. 2 Aristeas 3
Dissertatio 38. 3 Aristeas 4

Metrodoros
Anth. Gr. 14. 121 after Ch. 36

Natalis Comes
7. 2 Hekat. 26
9. 9 Hekat. 27

Nikomedean Periodos [‘Ps.-Skymnos’]

lines 109–20 Timosth. 1
lines 405–12 Eratosth. 42

P. Artemid. Artemid. 167

P. Hawara 80–1 (Anonymus Periegetes) Herakl. Krit. 5

P. Oxy. 24. 2694ᵛ. 18–32 Artemid. 9

Palaiphatos
31 Hanno 1

Philostratos
VA 2. 13 Juba 15
VA 3. 47 Skylax 8

Photios
Bibl. cod. 72. 49b 39–50a 4 (Ktesias) Introduction §III. 3. m
Bibl. cod. 213. 171a 6–b 17 Agatharch. 1
1142 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Bibl. cod. 250. 441b 16–445b 36 Agatharch. 2
Bibl. cod. 250. 445b 36–460b 16 Agatharch. 6
Bibl. cod. 250. 460b 3–16 Agatharch. 6
Lexikon s.v. Haimon Eudoxos 43
Lexikon s.v. Praxidike Mnaseas 11
Lexikon s.v. pythou chelidonos Mnaseas 47
Lexikon s.v. Zamolxis Mnaseas 19

Plato
Anth. Gr. 7. 256 before Ch. 4

Pliny the Elder

1. 2 Pytheas 16
Dikaiarch. 6
Artemid. 104
Isidoros 2
1. 3 Artemid. 104
Isidoros 2
1. 4 Hekat. 7
Pytheas 17
Dikaiarch. 6
Timosth. 11
Artemid. 104
Isidoros 2
1. 5 Hekat. 7
Dikaiarch. 6
Timosth. 11
Artemid. 104
Isidoros 2
1. 6 Hekat. 7
Timosth. 11
Dikaiarch. 6
Artemid. 104
Isidoros 2
1. 7 Artemid. 104
1. 18 Hekat. 7
1. 36 Artemid. 104
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1143

GAGW ch. extract

1. 37 Pytheas 18
2. ix. 53 Hipparch. 6
2. xxiv. 95 Hipparch. 7
2. lxv. 162 Dikaiarch. 7
2. lxvii. 169 Hanno 4
2. lxxv. 183–lxxvi. 185 Eratosth. 33
2. lxxvii. 186–7 Pytheas 19
2. xci. 217 Pytheas 20
2. cxii. 242 Isidoros 3
2. cxii. 242–6 Artemid. 4
2. cxii. 245 Isidoros 4
2. cxii. 246 Isidoros 5
2. cxii. 247 Hipparch. 41
2. cxii. 247–8 Eratosth. 34
3. v. 75 Eratosth. 93
4. iv. 9 Isidoros 6
4. xii. 77 Artemid. 105
4. xiii. 94 Hekat. 58
4. xiii. 95 Pytheas 21
4. xvi. 102 Pytheas 22
Isidoros 7
4. xvi. 104 Pytheas 23
4. xxiii. 121 Isidoros 8
4. xxxvii. 121 Artemid. 5
5. i. 14–16 Juba 3
5. i. 8 Hanno 5
5. vi. 39 Eratosth. 94
5. vi. 40 Eratosth. 95
Artemid. 6
Isidoros 9
5. vii. 41–2 Eratosth. 96
5. ix. 47 Timosth. 12
Eratosth. 97
Artemid. 7
Isidoros 10
5. x. 51–5 Juba 4
5. x. 59 Artemid. 106
Juba 5
1144 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

5. xxxiii. 127 Eratosth. 98
Isidoros 11
5. xxxv. 129 Timosth. 13
Artemid. 107
Isidoros 12
5. xxxvi. 132 Isidoros 13
5. xxxvii. 135 Isidoros 14
5. xxxviii. 136 Isidoros 15
5. xxxix. 140 Isidoros 16
5. xliii. 150 Isidoros 17
6. i. 3 Eratosth. 99
6. v. 15 Timosth. 14
6. xv. 36 Eratosth. 100
6. xv. 36–7 Artemid. 108
6. xxi. 56 Eratosth. 101
6. xxi. 57–8 Poseidon. 9
6. xxii. 70 Artemid. 109
6. xxiv. 81 Eratosth. 102
6. xxvi. 96–100 Juba 20
6. xxviii. 108 Eratosth. 103
6. xxx. 124 Juba 1
6. xxxi. 136–41 Juba 21
6. xxxi. 141 Isidoros 18
6. xxxii. 149–56 Juba 22
6. xxxii. 156 Artemid. 110
6. xxxiii. 163 Timosth. 15
Eratosth. 104
6. xxxiii. 163–4 Artemid. 111
6. xxxiii. 165–70 Juba 23
6. xxxiv. 171 Eratosth. 35
6. xxxiv. 175–xxxv. 179 Juba 6
6. xxxv. 183 Timosth. 16
Artemid. 112
6. xxxvi. 198 Eudoxos 75
Timosth. 17
6. xxxvi. 200 Hanno 6
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1145

GAGW ch. extract

6. xxxvi. 201 Juba 7
6. xxxvii. 202–5 Juba 8
7. ii. 24 Eudoxos 31
7. ii. 30 Artemid. 113
8. iv. 7 Juba 9
8. viii. 24–5 Agatharch. 3
8. xiii. 35 Juba 17
8. xlv. 107 Juba 10
9. lvi. 115 Juba 18
10. lxi. 126–7 Juba 11
12. xxi. 38–xxii. 39 Juba 24
12. xxx. 53 Eratosth. 36
12. xxxi. 56 Juba 25
12. xxxii. 60 Juba 26
12. xxxiv. 67 Juba 27
12. xxxviii. 78–xl. 80 Juba 28
13. vii. 34 Juba 29
13. lii. 142 Juba 12
15. xxviii. 99 Juba 30
25. v. 14 Juba 31
25. xxxviii. 77–9 Juba 41
31. ix. 13 Eudoxos 76
31. xiii. 16 Eudoxos 57
31. xv. 18 Juba 19
32. iv. 10 Juba 32
33. xl. 118 Juba 33
35. xxii. 39 Juba 34
36. xvii. 79 Artemid. 114
36. xlvi. 163 Juba 35
37. ix. 24 Juba 36
37. xi. 35–6 Pytheas 24
37. xi. 38 Mnaseas 44
37. xviii. 69 Juba 13
37. xviii. 73 Juba 37
37. xxxii. 107–8 Juba 38
37. xxxv. 114 Juba 14
37. lxxvii. 201–2 Introduction §III. 3. n
1146 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Plutarch
De Is. et Os. 6 (Mor. 353a–c) Eudoxos 24
De Is. et Os. 21 (Mor. 359c) Eudoxos 25
De Is. et Os. 37 (Mor. 365f) Mnaseas 48
De Is. et Os. 64 (Mor. 377a) Eudoxos 26
De Pyth. or. 17 (Mor. 402d) Eudoxos 50
Non posse suaviter vivere secundum Epicurum, 10 Eudoxos 2
(Mor. 1093b–c)
Quaest. conv. 8. 9 (Mor. 733b 5–c 1) Agatharch. 5

Polybios
3. 39. 6–11 Introduction §VI. 2. g
3. 47. 9 Introduction §VI. 2. g
3. 48. 10–12 Introduction §VI. 2. g

Pomponius Mela
3. 7. 7 Hipparch. 20
3. 89–99 Hanno 3

Porphyrius
De antro Nymph. p. 57 (§4 Davis et al.) Artemid. 38
Life of Pythagoras, 7 Eudoxos 78

Priscianus Lydus
Solutions to Chosroës, 6 Poseidon. 46
Solutions to Chosroës, 42. 8–14 Markian. 45

Proclus
In Hes. Op. 640 Eudoxos 51
In Ti. 1. 31f (on 22b), i. 102 Diehl Eudoxos 28
In Ti. 1. 37b (on 22e), i. 120 Diehl Eratosth. 115
In Ti. 4. 277d–e (on 40a–b), iii. 124–5 Diehl Poseidon. 17

Proverbia e cod. Bodl. Artemid. 161

 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1147

GAGW ch. extract

Ps.-Antigonos of Karystos
123 Eudoxos 6
129 Eudoxos 32
Eudoxos 71
138 Eudoxos 46
147 Eudoxos 33
148 Eudoxos 47
153 Eudoxos 54
161 Eudoxos 72
162 Eudoxos 7
163 Eudoxos 73

Ps.-Arist. Mir. ausc.

37, 833a 9–12 Hanno 2
173, 847a 5–7 Eudoxos 8

Ps.-Longinus
10. 4 Aristeas 2

Ps.-Lucian
Makrobioi, 15 and 17 Isidoros 19

Ptolemy of Alexandria
Geog. 1. 15. 3 Timosth. 20
Geog. 1. 15. 5 Timosth. 21
Geog. 1. 7. 4 Hipparch. 42
Geog. 1. 7. 9 Hipparch. 43
Geog. 3. 17. 1–2 Introduction §VI. 1. e
Synt. Math. 1. 67. 22–68. 6 Hipparch. 44

scholia to Aeschylus
Per. 303 Timosth. 29
Per. 747 Mnaseas 51

scholia to Ap. Rhod.

1. 131 Mnaseas 38
1. 551 a Hekat. 16
1. 916–18 b Mnaseas 21
1148 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

1. 922 Eudoxos 44
1. 1126–31 b Mnaseas 30
1. 1177–8 a Ps.-Skyl. 2
2. 296–7 b Timosth. 31
2. 399–401 a Eratosth. 108
2. 498–527 a Mnaseas 46
2. 498–527 q Timosth. 32
2. 498–527 v Timosth. 33
2. 531–2 Timosth. 34
2. 675 Mnaseas 22
Poseidon. 75
2. 946–54 b Artemid. 162
2. 946–54 c Hekat. 29
2. 963–5 a Artemid. 163
2. 998–1000 Hekat. 23
2. 1052–7 a Mnaseas 23
2. 1247 a Eratosth. 109
3. 846–7 a Timosth. 35
3. 854–9 c Artemid. 164
4. 131–5 b Eratosth. 110
4. 257–62 b Hekat. 17
Artemid. 165
4. 263–4 b Mnaseas 24
4. 263–4 b Eudoxos 69
4. 277–8 a Skymnos 4
4. 282–91 b Hekat. 18
Eratosth. 111
Skymnos 8
4. 310 Eratosth. 112
4. 761–5 a Pytheas 27
4. 1215 Ps.-Skyl. 3
Eratosth. 113
4. 1712 Timosth. 36

scholia to Dionysios Periegetes

p. 428, col. i. 7–9 Hekat. 10
l. 14 Artemid. 166
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1149

GAGW ch. extract

scholia to Dionysios Thrax

6 Mnaseas 52

scholia to Euripides
Med. 2 Eratosth. 114
Phoen. 651 Mnaseas 25
Rhes. 36 Mnaseas 26
Tro. 221 Eudoxos 70

scholia to Homer
Il. 15. 336 c Mnaseas 53
Il. 19. 291–2 Mnaseas 39
Il. 20. 234 d Mnaseas 40
Od. 4. 477 epqht Eudoxos 30
Od. 10. 139 Hekat. 15
Od. 11. 239 hqt Eudoxos 45
Od. 18. 85 b Mnaseas 27

scholia to Lucan
9. 411 Timosth. 37

scholia to Lucian
Iuppiter Tragoedus 6 Mnaseas 41

scholia to Pindar
Ol. 10. 34 g Mnaseas 28
Pyth. 4. 106 a Mnaseas 29

scholia to Ptolemy
Geog. 1. 3. 3 Hipparch. 45

scholia to Theokritos
1. 64 c Mnaseas 12
13. 22–3 ab Timosth. 30
13. 75 c Mnaseas 42
1150 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Seneca the Younger
Medea 311–17; 364–79 before Ch. 32
NQ 2. 26. 4–7 Poseidon. 44
NQ 6. 21. 2 Poseidon. 29
NQ 6. 24. 6 Poseidon. 30

Servius
In Verg. Geo. 1. 137 Hipparch. 11

Sextus Empiricus
Against the Professors, 5. 1 Hipparch. 8
Pyrrh. hypot. 1. 152 Eudoxos 12

Solinus
Collectanea 52. 1–2 Poseidon. 14

Stephanos of Byzantion
α 4 Abarnos Hekat. 68
Artemid. 123
α 6 Abdera Artemid. 21
Eudoxos 37
α 21 Agathe Eudoxos 59
Timosth. 24
Skymnos 6
α 36 Ankon Artemid. 124
α 39 Agnotes Artemid. 125
α 44 Agraioi Eratosth. 116
α 56 Adaroupolis Markian. 2
α 65 Adria Hekat. 37
α 71 Azania Eudoxos 60
α 79 Atharrhabis Hekat. 94
α 90 Aiboudai Markian. 3
α 92 Aiga Artemid. 126
α 108 Aigion Eudoxos 61
α 151 Akanthos Mnaseas 16
α 180 Akytania Markian. 4
α 197 Albion Markian. 5
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1151

GAGW ch. extract

α 200 Alexandreiai Timosth. 25
α 239 Alonis Artemid. 127
α 245 Amazoneion Hekat. 70
α 254 Amaxa Eratosth. 117
α 271 Amisa Markian. 42
α 288 Amphanai Hekat. 19
α 357 Apia Timosth. 26
α 360 Apokopa Markian. 6
α 413 Areos nesos Skymnos 2
α 437 Armenia Eudoxos 16
α 457 Artake Timosth. 27
α 462 Artemita Artemid. 128
α 468 Aroma Markian. 7
α 472 Asdynis Eudoxos 29
α 475 Asine Eudoxos 62
α 476 Askalon Eudoxos 17
α 478 Askitai Markian. 8
α 485 Aspis Markian. 9
α 493 Assyria Eratosth. 118
α 496 Astai Artemid. 129
α 499 Astarte Markian. 10
α 522 Atramitai Artemid. 130
α 547 Autariatai Eratosth. 119
α 579 Apsyrtides Artemid. 131
β 1 Babai Markian. 11
β 59 Belbina Artemid. 132
β 62 Belitanoi Artemid. 32
β 144 Boulinoi Artemid. 133
β 148 Bounnos Artemid. 11
β 169 Brettia Markian. 12
γ 8 Gangra Eratosth. 120
γ 18 Gaitouloi Artemid. 134
γ 31 Gandarai Hekat. 90
γ 50 Genoa Artemid. 12
γ 68 Gephyra Hekat. 45
γ 75 Gigonos Artemid. 135
γ 119 Gynaikospolis Artemid. 136
1152 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

γ 121 Gypseïs Markian. 13
δ 18 Dardanos Mnaseas 37
δ 45 Dekieton Artemid. 13
δ 52 Dexaroi Hekat. 40
δ 58 Derton Artemid. 14
δ 77 Didyme Artemid. 137
δ 90 Dionysou polis Nik. 2
δ 143 Dyrrhachion Eratosth. 121
δ 146 Dodone Mnaseas 17
δ 150 Doros Hekat. 81
Artemid. 48
δ 151 Dotion Mnaseas 18
ε 6 Engelanes Mnaseas 6
ε 43 Heleneios Hekat. 98
ε 55 Elibyrge Hekat. 34
ε 123 Hermonassa Hekat. 62
Skymnos 3
Menipp. 4
ε 129 Erythra Artemid. 41
ε 161 Eupalia Artemid. 138
ε 179 Ephesos Hekat. 99
ζ 5 Zadrame Markian. 14
ζ 30 Zygantis Eudoxos 63
η 13 Hemeroskopeion Artemid. 22
θ 22 Themisonion Artemid. 139
θ 60 Thrinke Hekat. 109
ι 4 Iazyges Markian. 15
ι 19a Iberiai Artemid. 23
Markian. 16
ι 29 Idyros Hekat. 76
ι 69 Ixiai Artemid. 53
ι 84 Hipponesos Artemid. 42
ι 113 Istriana Markian. 17
ι 115 Istros Artemid. 140
ι 123 Ichnai Eratosth. 122
κ 4 Kabellion Artemid. 15
κ 26 Kale Akte Eudoxos 38
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1153

GAGW ch. extract

κ 81 Karthaia Artemid. 24
κ 90 Karne Artemid. 54
κ 92 Karnos Artemid. 25
κ 102 Karyanda Skylax 11
κ 112 Kassanitai Markian. 18
κ 118 Kastalon Artemid. 33
κ 119 Kastanaia Eudoxos 52
κ 138 Kaulonia Hekat. 36
κ 167 Korokondame Artemid. 56
κ 168 Koromane Markian. 19
κ 211 Kremmyon Eudoxos 64
κ 234 Krya Artemid. 142
κ 240 Ktesiphon Markian. 20
κ 246 Kybos Hekat. 108
κ 287 Kyre Hekat. 82
κ 307 Kothon Artemid. 141
κ 313 Korykos Hekat. 71
Hekat. 80
λ 13 Ladisakites kolpos Markian. 21
λ 36 Laodamanteia Artemid. 143
λ 46 Lemnos Hekat. 52
λ 61 Ligyres Artemid. 16
λ 72 Lindonion Markian. 22
λ 85 Lopadoussa Artemid. 43
λ 89 Lousitania Markian. 23
λ 119 Los Artemid. 144
μ 35 Malake Artemid. 26
μ 39 Mallada Markian. 24
μ 64 Margana Markian. 25
μ 81 Maroneia Hekat. 50
μ 86 Maskotos Hekat. 105
μ 94 Mastramele Artemid. 17
μ 100 Mauritaniai Markian. 26
μ 108 Megasa Hekat. 107
μ 119 Melanchlainoi Hekat. 57
μ 125 Meleteios kolpos Hekat. 72
μ 126 Melia Hekat. 30
1154 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

μ 131 Melissa Hekat. 111
μ 152 Mesanites kolpos Markian. 27
μ 191 Minaioi Markian. 28
μ 212 Mossynoikoi Eudoxos 18
μ 213 Mosylon Markian. 29
μ 227 Mygissos Hekat. 31
μ 232 Mykoi Hekat. 86
μ 243 Myonesos Artemid. 145
μ 247 Myrike Markian. 30
μ 249 Myrikous Hekat. 69
μ 253 Myrmekion Artemid. 146
μ 262 Mytilene Hekat. 54
ν 3 Nagidos Hekat. 77
ν 13 Narbon Artemid. 18
Menipp. 5
Markian. 31
ν 37 Nestos Artemid. 27
ν 59 Nikopolis Menipp. 6
Markian. 32
ξ 2 Xanthos Hekat. 75
ξ 12 Xouches Artemid. 147
ο 25 Oine Hekat. 20
ο 66 Homeritai Markian. 33
ο 73 Onne Markian. 34
ο 79 Opikoi Eudoxos 65
π 7 Paltos Artemid. 148
π 43 Parthenios Artemid. 40
π 49 Parikane Hekat. 83
π 56 Paros Skymnos 7
π 176 Plataiai Eudoxos 53
σ 116 Sekoanos Artemid. 19
σ 126 Siagathourgoi Markian. 35
σ 143 Side Hekat. 78
σ 151 Sithenoi Markian. 36
σ 155 Sikelia Menipp. 9
σ 165 Sinai Markian. 37
σ 174 Sintia Eudoxos 39
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1155

GAGW ch. extract

σ 204 Skiapodes Hekat. 103
σ 227 Skylletion Eudoxos 66
σ 229 Skymniadai Eudoxos 40
σ 237 Syrmatai Eudoxos 19
σ 242 Solkoi Artemid. 149
σ 263 Spina Eudoxos 67
Artemid. 150
τ 20 Tanos Artemid. 34
τ 26 Taprobane Artemid. 49
τ 39 Tarsos Eratosth. 123
τ 52 Tauriskoi Eratosth. 124
τ 53 Tauroëis Artemid. 20
τ 63 Teanon Artemid. 35
τ 66 Tegestra Artemid. 151
τ 79 Telmessos Artemid. 55
τ 91 Tenedos Hekat. 53
τ 120 Tibyris Artemid. 36
τ 121 Tingis Markian. 38
τ 159 Tourdetania Artemid. 152
τ 178 Tremile Hekat. 32
τ 208 Tropis Artemid. 28
τ 233 Tyros Artemid. 153
υ 30 Hyops Hekat. 35
υ 49 Hysaeïs Hekat. 102
υ 51 Hysia Artemid. 50
υ 57 Hyope Hekat. 85
φ 8 Phakousa Hekat. 93
φ 10 Phalakrai Artemid. 39
φ 12 Phalanna Hekat. 21
φ 36 Pharousioi Artemid. 154
φ 46 Phelessaioi Eudoxos 68
φ 69 Philippoi Artemid. 155
φ 76 Phlanon Artemid. 156
φ 77 Phlegra Eudoxos 41
φ 86 Phoinikoussai Hekat. 106
φ 107 Phrourentanoi Artemid. 37
χ 1 Chabarenoi Eudoxos 20
1156 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

χ 2 Chadisia Hekat. 24
χ 3 Chadramotitai Markian. 39
χ 6 Chaironeia Hekat. 44
χ 7 Chalaion Hekat. 43
χ 8 Chalastra Hekat. 48
χ 9 Chaldia Menipp. 7
χ 13 Chalkeia Timosth. 28
χ 15 Chalkedon Menipp. 8
χ 17 Chalkis Hekat. 46
Eudoxos 42
χ 18 Chalkitis Artemid. 57
χ 19 Chalybes Hekat. 65
Eudoxos 21
χ 22 Chaonia Hekat. 39
χ 24 Charadros Hekat. 79
χ 39 Chemmis Hekat. 95
χ 40 Cherronesos Hekat. 51
χ 44 Chios Hekat. 55
χ 47 Choi Hekat. 63
χ 48 Choirades Hekat. 64
χ 57 Chrysē Markian. 40
ψ 1 Psamathous Artemid. 29
ψ 2 Psebo Artemid. 45
ψ 3 Psenako Artemid. 46
ψ 7 Pseudokorasion Artemid. 51
ψ 21 Psophis Hekat. 25
ψ 22 Psochemmis Artemid. 47
ω 13 Opiai Hekat. 91
ω 15 Orikos Hekat. 41
ω 16 Orisia/Oria Artemid. 30
ω 21 Ostiones Pytheas 32
Artemid. 157

Stobaios
Anth. 1. 38. 2 Dikaiarch. 13
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1157

GAGW ch. extract

Strabo
1. 1. 1 Eudoxos 1
1. 1. 1, C1 Hekat. 4
1. 1. 1, C1–2 Dikaiarch. 3
Eratosth. 1
Poseidon. 1
1. 1. 2, C2 Hipparch. 13
1. 1. 7, C4 Poseidon. 33
1. 1. 8–9, C5–6 Eratosth. 24
Poseidon. 34
1. 1. 9, C5–6 Hipparch. 14
1. 1. 11, C7 Hekat. 5
Eratosth. 2
1. 1. 12, C7 Hipparch. 15
1. 1. 21, C12 Hipparch. 33
1. 2. 1–2, C14–15 Hipparch. 2
1. 2. 3, C15–17 Eratosth. 3
1. 2. 3, C16 Hipparch. 16
1. 2. 7, C18 Eratosth. 4
1. 2. 11–14, C21–3 Eratosth. 5
1. 2. 15, C24 Eratosth. 6
1. 2. 17, C25 Eratosth. 7
1. 2. 18–19, C26 Eratosth. 8
1. 2. 20, C27 Hipparch. 17
1. 2. 20, C28 Eratosth. 45
1. 2. 20–4, C28–30 Eratosth. 9
1. 2. 21, C29 Timosth. 3
1. 2. 28, C34 (Ephoros) Introduction §VI. 2. e
1. 2. 31, C38 Eratosth. 10
1. 2. 34, C41–2 Poseidon. 65
1. 2. 37, C44 Eratosth. 11
1. 3. 1–2, C47–8 Eratosth. 12
1. 3. 3–4, C48–50 Eratosth. 13
1. 3. 9, C53–4 Poseidon. 35
1. 3. 11–15, C54–7 Eratosth. 14
1. 3. 12, C55 Hipparch. 18
Poseidon. 36
1. 3. 13–15, C55–7 Hipparch. 19
1158 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

1. 3. 16, C58 Poseidon. 20
1. 3. 22, C61–2 Eratosth. 15
1. 3. 23–1. 4. 1, C62 Eratosth. 16
1. 4. 1, C62 Hipparch. 34
1. 4. 1–2, C62–3 Pytheas 2
Eratosth. 25
1. 4. 3, C63 Pytheas 2
Hipparch. 35
1. 4. 4, C63–4 Pytheas 2
1. 4. 5, C64 Pytheas 2
1. 4. 6–8, C64–6 Eratosth. 26
1. 4. 9, C66 Eratosth. 46
2. 1. 1–3, C67–8 Eratosth. 47
2. 1. 4, C68–9 Hipparch. 22
2. 1. 5, C69 Eratosth. 48
2. 1. 7, C69 Eratosth. 49
2. 1. 7, C69–70 Hipparch. 23
2. 1. 9, C70 Eratosth. 17
2. 1. 10–11, C70–1 Eratosth. 50
2. 1. 11–12, C71 Hipparch. 24
2. 1. 12, C71–2 Pytheas 3
2. 1. 12–13, C71–2 Hipparch. 36
2. 1. 16, C74 Eratosth. 51
2. 1. 18, C75 Pytheas 4
Hipparch. 37
2. 1. 19, C76 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 19–20, C76–7 Hipparch. 25
2. 1. 20, C77 Eratosth. 27
Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 21, C77–8 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 21–2, C77–8 Hipparch. 26
2. 1. 22, C78 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 23–6, C78–80 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 27, C80–1 Hipparch. 27
2. 1. 27, C81 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 28, C81 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 29, C81–2 Hipparch. 28
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1159

GAGW ch. extract

2. 1. 29, C82–3 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 30, C83–4 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 31, C84 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 32, C85 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 33, C85–6 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 34, C86 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 34, C86–7 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 34–5, C86–7 Hipparch. 29
2. 1. 35, C87–8 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 36, C88–9 Eratosth. 52
Hipparch. 30
2. 1. 37, C89–90 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 38, C90–1 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 38–40, C90–2 Hipparch. 31
2. 1. 39, C91–2 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 40, C92 Timosth. 4
2. 1. 40, C92–3 Eratosth. 52
2. 1. 41, C93 Timosth. 5
2. 1. 41, C93–4 Eratosth. 52
Hipparch. 3
2. 1. 41, C94 Timosth. 6
2. 2. 1–2. 3. 8, C94–104 Poseidon. 2
2. 2. 2, C95 Eratosth. 53
2. 3. 2, C97 Eratosth. 28
2. 3. 5, C102 Pytheas 5
2. 4. 1–2, C104 Pytheas 6
Eratosth. 18
2. 4. 1–3, C104–5 Dikaiarch. 4
2. 4. 2, C104 Eratosth. 54
2. 4. 4, C106–7 Eratosth. 55
2. 4. 8, C108 Eratosth. 56
2. 5. 5–9, C112–16 Eratosth. 29
2. 5. 7, C113 Hipparch. 38
2. 5. 7–8, C114–15 Pytheas 7
2. 5. 8, C115 Hipparch. 39
2. 5. 13, C118 Eratosth. 30
2. 5. 14, C118–19 Eratosth. 57
1160 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

2. 5. 14, C119 Poseidon. 3
2. 5. 16, C120 Eratosth. 58
2. 5. 20, C123 Eratosth. 59
2. 5. 24, C125–6 Eratosth. 60
2. 5. 34, C131–2 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 35, C132 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 35, C132–3 Eratosth. 61
2. 5. 36, C133 Eratosth. 61
Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 38–41, C133–4 Eratosth. 61
2. 5. 39, C134 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 40, C134 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 41, C134 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 42, C134–5 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 42, C135 Eratosth. 31
Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 43, C135 Hipparch. 40
2. 5. 43, C135–6 Poseidon. 4
2. 5. 43, C136 Pytheas 8
3. 1. 4, C137–8 Artemid. 58
3. 1. 5, C138 Artemid. 59
Poseidon. 47
3. 1. 7, C139–40 Timosth. 7
3. 2. 9, C146–7 Poseidon. 21
3. 2. 11, C148 Pytheas 9
Eratosth. 62
Artemid. 60
3. 3. 3–4, C153 Poseidon. 37
3. 4. 3, C157 Artemid. 61
Artemid. 62
Poseidon. 48
3. 4. 4, C157–8 Pytheas 10
3. 4. 7, C159 Eratosth. 63
Artemid. 63
3. 4. 13, C162–3 Poseidon. 66
3. 4. 15, C163 Poseidon. 49
3. 4. 17, C164 Artemid. 64
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1161

GAGW ch. extract

3. 4. 17, C165 Poseidon. 67
3. 5. 1, C167 Artemid. 65
3. 5. 5, C169–70 Poseidon. 50
3. 5. 5, C170 Dikaiarch. 5
Eratosth. 64
Artemid. 66
3. 5. 7, C172 Artemid. 67
3. 5. 7–9, C172–5 Poseidon. 38
3. 5. 10, C175 Poseidon. 51
4. 1. 4–5, C179–80 Artemid. 1
4. 1. 7, C182–3 Poseidon. 39
4. 1. 8, C183 Artemid. 2
4. 1. 11, C185 Artemid. 3
4. 1. 14, C188 Poseidon. 52
4. 2. 1, C190 Pytheas 11
4. 4. 1, C195 Pytheas 12
4. 4. 6, C198 Artemid. 68
4. 5. 5, C201 Pytheas 13
5. 1. 8, C214–15 Poseidon. 40
5. 2. 1, C218 Poseidon. 68
5. 2. 6, C224 Eratosth. 65
Artemid. 69
5. 4. 6, C245 Artemid. 70
6. 1. 11, C261–2 Artemid. 71
6. 2. 1, C265–6 Poseidon. 53
6. 2. 1, C267 Artemid. 72
6. 2. 3, C268–9 Poseidon. 22
6. 2. 4, C271 Hekat. 42
6. 2. 7, C273 Poseidon. 54
6. 2. 11, C277 Poseidon. 41
6. 3. 9–10, C283–5 Artemid. 73
7. 2. 1–2, C292–4 Poseidon. 69
7. 3. 1, C295 Pytheas 14
7. 3. 2–4, C295–7 Poseidon. 70
7. 3. 6, C298–9 Hekat. 6
7. 3. 6–7, C298–300 Eratosth. 19
7. 3. 7, C300 Poseidon. 70
1162 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

7. 5. 8, C316 Hekat. 38
Poseidon. 23
7, fr. 21a Eudoxos 34
7. fr. 22a Artemid. 74
8. 1. 1, C332 Hipparch. 4
Poseidon. 5
8. 2. 1, C335 Artemid. 75
8. 3. 9, C341 Hekat. 22
8. 6. 1, C367 Artemid. 76
8. 6. 21, C378–9 Eudoxos 56
8. 7. 2, C384 Eratosth. 66
8. 8. 4, C389 Eratosth. 67
8. 8. 5, C389 Artemid. 77
9. 1. 1, C390–1 Eudoxos 48
9. 2. 35, C413 Eudoxos 49
9. 3. 10, C421–2 Timosth. 8
9. 5. 8, C433 Artemid. 78
9. 5. 15, C436 Artemid. 79
10. 2. 21, C459–60 Artemid. 80
10. 3. 5, C465 Artemid. 81
Poseidon. 6
10. 4. 2, C474 Eudoxos 74
10. 4. 3, C474–5 Artemid. 82
10. 4. 5, C475 Eratosth. 68
10. 5. 3, C485 Artemid. 83
11. 1. 5–6, C491–2 Poseidon. 7
11. 2. 14, C496–7 Artemid. 84
11. 2. 15, C497 Eratosth. 69
11. 6. 1, C506–7 Eratosth. 70
11. 7. 3, C509 Eratosth. 71
11. 7. 4, C509–10 Eratosth. 20
11. 7. 5, C510 Eudoxos 22
11. 8. 8–9, C513–14 Eratosth. 72
11. 9. 1, C514 Poseidon. 24
11. 12. 4–5, C522 Eratosth. 73
11. 14. 7, C529 Eratosth. 74
11. 14. 8, C529 Eratosth. 74
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1163

GAGW ch. extract

12. 3. 21, C550 Eudoxos 35
12. 3. 22, C550–1 Hekat. 67
12. 3. 25, C552–3 Hekat. 66
12. 3. 42, C562–3 Eudoxos 9
12. 4. 8, C566 Skylax 3
12. 4. 9, C566 Hipparch. 5
12. 7. 2, C570 Artemid. 85
12. 8. 1, C571 Artemid. 86
13. 1. 4, C582 Eudoxos 10
13. 1. 4, C583 Skylax 4
Ps.-Skyl. 1
13. 1. 36, C599 (Hestiaia) Introduction §VI. 4. c
13. 1. 67, C614–15 Poseidon. 25
13. 2. 5, C618 Timosth. 9
13. 3. 5, C622 Artemid. 87
14. 1. 8, C635 Hekat. 74
14. 1. 22–3, C640–1 Artemid. 88
14. 1. 26, C642 Artemid. 89
14. 1. 29, C663 Artemid. 91
14. 2. 10, C655 Artemid. 90
14. 2. 20, C658 Skylax 5
14. 2. 29, C663–4 Eratosth. 75
14. 3. 3, C665 Artemid. 92
14. 5. 3, C670 Artemid. 93
14. 5. 16, C675 Artemid. 94
14. 5. 22, C677 Artemid. 95
14. 6. 4–5, C683–4 Eratosth. 76
15. 1. 7, C687 Eratosth. 21
15. 1. 10–11, C688–9 Eratosth. 77
15. 1. 13–14, C690 Eratosth. 78
15. 1. 20, C693 Eratosth. 79
15. 1. 72, C719 Artemid. 96
15. 2. 1, C720 Eratosth. 80
15. 2. 8–9, C723–4 Eratosth. 81
15. 2. 14, C726 Eratosth. 82
15. 3. 1, C727 Eratosth. 83
16. 1. 12, C741 Eratosth. 84
1164 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

16. 1. 15, C743 Eratosth. 85
Poseidon. 26
16. 1. 21–2, C746–7 Eratosth. 86
16. 2. 4, C749–50 Poseidon. 55
16. 2. 17, C755 Poseidon. 56
16. 2. 33, C760 Artemid. 97
16. 2. 42–3, C764 Poseidon. 27
16. 2. 44, C764 Eratosth. 22
16. 3. 2–6, C765–7 Eratosth. 87
16. 4. 2–4, C767–9 Eratosth. 88
16. 4. 5, C769 Agatharch. 4
16. 4. 5, C769–70 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 5–20, C769–79 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 7–10, C770–1 Agatharch. 4
16. 4. 13–15, C772–4 Agatharch. 4
16. 4. 15, C774–5 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 16, C775 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 17, C775–6 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 18, C776–8 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 19, C778–9 Artemid. 98
16. 4. 20, C779 Artemid. 98
Poseidon. 28
16. 4. 27, C784–5 Poseidon. 71
17. 1. 1–2, C785–6 Eratosth. 89
17. 1. 5, C790 Poseidon. 42
17. 1. 18, C801 Artemid. 99
17. 1. 19, C802 Eratosth. 90
17. 1. 21, C803 Poseidon. 8
17. 1. 24, C803–4 Artemid. 100
17. 2. 1–5, C821–4 Artemid. 44
17. 3. 1–2, C824 Eratosth. 91
17. 3. 2, C825 Artemid. 101
17. 3. 4, C827 Poseidon. 57
17. 3. 6, C827 Timosth. 10
17. 3. 8, C829 Eratosth. 92
Artemid. 102
17. 3. 10, C830 Artemid. 103
Poseidon. 43
 ii. concordance of extracts by source author • 1165

GAGW ch. extract

Suda
α 3900 Aristeas Aristeas 5
δ 1062 Dikaiarchos Dikaiarch. 15
ε 360 Hekataios Hekat. 14
ι 521 Hipparchos Hipparch. 12
σ 710 Skylax of Karyanda Skylax 13

Symeon Seth
On the Usefulness of the Heavenly Bodies, 44 Poseidon. 19

Synesios
Letter 101 Markian. 43
Letter 119 Markian. 44
Epist. ad Paeonium 331b Hipparch. 46

Theon of Alexandria
pp. 394–5 Eratosth. 38

Theon of Smyrna
3. 3 Dikaiarch. 9

Theophrastos
On Winds, 62 Timosth. Intr.

Tzetzes (Ioannes), Chiliades

7. 621–36 Skylax 14
7. 633–8 Eudoxos 5
7. 678–84 Aristeas 6
7. 678–9 Aristeas 6
7. 680–2 Aristeas 6
7. 683–4 Aristeas 6

Tzetzes (Isaak/ Ioannes), On Lykophron

633 Artemid. 159
1285 Eratosth. 125
1166 • concordances

GAGW ch. extract

Vita Arati
1 Eratosth. 44

Xenophon
Anab. 4. 4. 1–13 Introduction §VI. 2. c
Anab. 4. 8. 1 Introduction §VI. 2. c

Zenobios, Proverbs
2. 67 Mnaseas 13
2. 106 Mnaseas 35
3. 25 Mnaseas 45
5. 56 Eudoxos 11
 Selective Index
D. Graham J. Shipley

Space forbids a complete name index, which would multiply the length of this one
many times over. There are entries corresponding to most extracts (‘fragments’) and to
most sections of continuous texts, but only a smaller proportion of the briefest entries
are indexed (e.g. quotations from Stephanos of Byzantion). Some ethnic group names
and place-names (especially of regions) may be combined in one form or another.
Topics covered in chapter introductions are not normally indexed if they are already
indexed from the translated texts.
Locators referring to texts rather than subjects are normally grouped at the start of an
entry (or sub-entry) in date order (e.g. CS, then ArP, then SK, etc.).
Subsections (but not line numbers of verse) are in subscript type.
A locator giving an extent (e.g. 2–4) does not necessarily mean continuous discussion
across the locations to which it refers.
§ marks a section of the Introduction to the book, ‘intr.’ the introduction to a specific
chapter. In citations of the main Introduction, spaces are closed up here (e.g. §VI.2.a),
unlike in the rest of the book.
Special abbreviations are used for the chapter texts:

Agc = Agatharchides Hip = Hipparchos

Agm = Agathemeros HK = Herakleides Kritikos
ArP = Aristeas of Prokonnesos Hyp = Hypotyposis
Arr = Arrian, Periplous Isi = Isidoros
Art = Artemidoros Jub = Juba
Avi = Avienus, OM Mkn = Markianos
AWP = Airs, Water, & Places Mna = Mnaseas
CS = Catalogue of Ships Mnp = Menippos
DB = Dionysios of Byzantion Nik = Nikomedean Periodos (vulgo ‘Ps.-
Dik = Dikaiarchos Skymnos’)
DK = Dionysios s. Kalliphon PME = Periplus maris Erythraei
DM = Ps.-Aristotle, De mundo Pos = Poseidonios
DP = Dionysios Periegetes PS = Ps.-Skylax
Era = Eratosthenes PsP = Ps.-Plutarch
Eud = Eudoxos of Knidos Pyt = Pytheas
Eux = Ps.-Arrian, Euxine SC = Skymnos of Chios
Exp = Expositio SK = Skylax of Karyanda
Han = Hanno Sta = Stadiasmos
Hek = Hekataios Tim = Timosthenes
1168 • selective index

Abdera (in Iberia), Art 21, 61 Art 44a1–3; in Morocco, PS 1125–12; peoples,
Achaia (Peloponnese), PS 42 Art 44b8, Jub 6176–9; southern, Hyp 18; west-
Achaia Phthiotis, PS 63 ern, Han 7, Nik 157, Hyp 18
Achaians (Black Sea), Eux 66 Aithiopia: emeralds, Jub 13; mantichoras, Jub 10
Achale I., Avi 184 ‘Aithiopian’ (fish), Agc 111
Acheloös, R., origin of name, PsP 22 Aitolia, CS 638–44, PS 35, Nik 473–9, DK
Achilles: Art 117; patron of sailors, Arr 231–2 57–63
Achilles’ I. (Leuke I.): PS 684, Nik b 9, Arr Akarnania: DK 47–57; places in, Art 25
21–3, DP 543–8, Eux 93–5, 97 Akathartos gulf, Agc 84, Art 985
Achilles’ Racetrack: Arr 211, Eux 87 bis, 116 Akridophagoi, Agc 59, Art 9812
Achilles’ Village, Eux 121 Akytania: coastal distances, Mkn b 221–3; de-
acrostics: DK 1–23, DP 109–34, 307–11, fined, Mkn b 220
513–32, 681–5, & endnote; on translating, Albion, Avi 112, Mkn b 244
§X.4 Alexander the Great: Era 20, 23, PME 41, 47;
Adouli: port, PME 4; village, PME 4 and Arabia, Agc 105; and limits of world,
Adriatic: Hek 37, PS 15–27, Nik 369–414, DP §III.3.k; and progress of geography, §II.1;
481–97; E side, DP 384–97; islands, Nik and Thebes, Agc 21; meets heffalump, PsP
426–33; Agm 23; peoples, Era 113 15; successors, PME 47
advancement of knowledge, §II.1 Alexandria: DP 254–9; distance from Kyrene,
Adyrmachidai, PS 1071 Era 94; economy & society, Exp 35–7
Aegean sea (see also under islands): dimen- Alexis, on islands, DM 33 n.
sions, Hyp 50; distances, PS 113; islands, alluviation: §III.4.d, PS 343, DB 23; of Tigris,
CS 653–80, Hek 51–4, PS 48, 58, Tim 9, 36, Jub 21
Nik 550–8, 579–86, 643–5, 659–63, 679–95, aloe, traded, PME 28
Agm 25, 26 Alpheios: ‘loveliest of rivers’, DP 410; origin of
Aelanites gulf (see Ailanites g.; Laeanitae g.) name, PsP 19
Aeschylus: on marvels, §III.3.m; quoted, Pos Alps, Avi 637
39, Arr 192, Eux 71 altars: in Bosporos, DB 8, 16, 24, 28, 46, 71, 74,
aether, DM 23 86; to Hadrian, Arr 12
Aetheria (or Egeria), §VI.1.f Amantia, PS 261–2
Aethiopia, see Aithiopia Amastris, Arr 141, Eux 15
Africa (see also Libyē): circumnavigation, Pos Amazons, Hek 29
23–4; length: Art 6 amber, Pyt 18, 24, Mna 44, Nik 391–7
Africa (province): Exp 61 Ambrakia, PS 331, PS 34, DK 24, 32, 40
Agatharchides of Knidos: Ch. 15; literary Amisos, Arr 153, Eux 26
style, Agc b 8; on his own work, Agc 65, Anacharsis, §VI.4.a
112; source for Artemidoros, Art 9820; style, analogies, and divine power, DM 63–13
Agc 63; transmission, §VIII.3; writings, Agc Anametresis of the Pontos, ch. 36 appendix
b8 Anaximandros, §V.2
Agathemeros son of Orthon, Ch. 29 anchor, of Argo, Arr 92
Agrioi, Agc 61, Art 9810 anchorages, §X.3.a
Agrippa, M. Vipsanius, §VI.1.f, §V.4 animals (see also wild a.): Arabian gulf, Agc
Ailanites gulf (see also Laeanitae g.), Agc 90, 68–71, Art 9815–16; Trogodytike, Agc 73–7
Art 110, Mkn b 19 Annales history, §II.1
Aiolian Is., Pyt 27, Nik 257–63 Anonymi Cosmographia, §VI.1.f
Aiolis, PS 96, Art 87 anonymous texts, §VII.4
airs: nature of, DM 25; variation, Agc 66 Anthedon, HK 123–4
Airs, Waters, & Places, Ch. 5 anti-clockwise organization (see also clockwise
Aischines, praised, Agc 21 o.), §VI.1.b
Aithiopes: at war, Agc 19–20, Art 44b8, 10; Antinoös, implicit tribute, Arr 234
blackness not frightening, Agc 16; customs, Antiochos III, Jub 21
 selective index • 1169

Antonine Itinerary, §VI.1.f Aristotle (see also Pseudo-Aristotle): Mete-

Anyte of Tegea, epigraph before Introduction orologika, 2. 6, Ch. 10 appendix, see also
Aornis, DP 1151 §VI.2.f; on diagrams, §V.3
Apameia, Isi a 11 Arkadia: CS 603–14, Eud 57, 60, 69, PS 44,
apes, in N. Africa, Pos 57 Dik 1, Nik 525–34; diet, Hek 28; headgear,
Aphrodites Hormos, Agc 83, Art 985 Era 127; legends, Hek 25; mythology, Mna
Apollodoros of Athens: §VI.4.c, Nik intr.; 23–4; rivers, Era 67, Mna 14
unnamed, Nik 19–46 Arkadians, older than Moon, Mna 24
Apollodotos (king), PME 47 Armenia: Eud 16; in Xenophon, §VI.2.c
Apollonia (Sozopolis), Eux 114 Armenia, Lesser, Exp 43
Apollonios of Rhodes; §VI.3; and Timosthe- army, Roman, in Black Sea, Arr 31, 62, 93–5, 103
nes, Tim intr. aromatic plants, Agc 99, 101, 103
Apsaros, Arr 61–3, 74, Eux 40, 53 aromatics, traded, PME 7–8, 10, 12–13
Apsyrtos, Arr 63, Eux 40 Arrian of Nikomedeia (see also Pseudo-Arrian
Apulia, Art 73 bis): §VI.2.h; Periplous of the Euxine, Ch.
Aqaba, gulf of: see Ailanites g.; Laeanitae g. 27; his geographical corpus, §VIII.2.a
Aquitania, see Akytania Artemidoros of Ephesos: Ch. 18 (see also next
Arabes: Jub 6 176–8; customs, Art 9818 entry): career, Art 119–20; commended,
Arabia: PS 105, PME 20, DP 923–61, Exp 38; Mkn c 3 bis; criticized, Art 102; diplomatic
aromatics, Jub 25–9; described, Era 88, Art role, Art 89; work described, Mkn c 3
9818, Jub 22149–52, 154–6; islands, Jub 22; peo- Artemidoros Papyrus, Art 167
ples, Agc 90–2, 94–8, Mkn b 117; size, Agm Artemis (see also next entry), at Ephesos, Art
14; structure, Mkn b 115 1, 88
Arabia Eudaimon, Agc 99 Artemis Diktynna, DB 56
Arabian gulf (see also Red Sea): PME 7; ani- artichokes, SK 7, Hek 87–9
mals, Agc 68–71; colour, Hyp 36; dimen- Asia (see also Western A.): PS 70–106, Mna
sions, Era 104, Art 111, Agm 14, Hyp 44; E 30–42, DP 620–1165; and Europe, AWP
side, Agc 87–112; entrance, PME 25; form, 12, 16, 23; as ideal, §III.3.n bis, AWP 122–6;
Agc 81, Agm 14; islands, Agc 93; peoples, coastal length, Agm 10, Mkn b 150–2; dimen-
Agc 30–9; sailing conditions, Agc 84–5; W sions, PS 1064, Art 7; divisions, Era 105–6;
side, Agc 81–6 eastern, DP 1080–127; extent, Era 97;
Arachosia, Isi a 119 form, DP 620–6, 887–96; gulfs, DP 630–5;
Arar, origin of name, PsP 6 peoples, DP 650–1165, Hyp 19–24 (former
Arausio Cadaster, §V.4 p., Isi b 11)
Araxes, origin of name, PsP 23 Asia Minor: Hek 63–80, PS 93–102, Art
archaeology, of gold mines, Agc 29 85–95; coasts, DP 799–880; distances, Art
archaic period, geographers, §VI.4.a 91, Sta 154–254; isthmus, Nik b 25, 29,
archery (see also bows): Kynegetai, Agc 53; Art 95, DP 861–5, Eux 27–8; N part, DP
Skythia, AWP 20; Trogodytike, Art 989, 10 783–6; regions, Exp 39–47; S coast, DP
arctic circles, local, Hip 4035–6 839–80; W coast, DP 799–838
Argo: anchor, Arr 92; ship, Hek 16–18 Asians, majority unmanly, AWP 16
Argolis, CS 559–80, PS 49–54 asphalt, Era 85, Pos 27
Argonauts (see also Jason): Hek 21, Tim 34, Assyria (in Asia Minor), DP 970–5
DB 24, 46, Eux 119; route, Hek 17–18, SC Assyria (in Black Sea), PS 89, Art 162
8, Art 165 astrology, and astronomy, Hip 8, 10
Ariake, PME 41 astronomy: and astrology, Hip 8, 10; and geog-
Ariane, form, Era 5222, 28–9, 31, Era 80–1 raphy, Hip 33, 40, 42–3
Arimaspians, ArP 1 Athenai (Black Sea), Arr 34–44, Eux 39
Aristagoras of Miletos, §V.2 Athenai (Euboia), Era 44
Aristeas of Prokonnesos, Ch. 1 Athenaion Limen (Black Sea), Eux 81
Aristophanes, Clouds, on maps, §V.2 Athenians, self-image, AWP intr.
1170 • selective index

Athens: CS 546–56, HK 11–7, Nik 559–66, Exp Black Sea: PS 679–685, 70–92, SC 2–4, Nik
52; as ideal, §III.3.n 718–47, b 1–34; Bithynian coast, Arr 12–13,
Atlantic: Pyt 9–10, Era 12, 24, Avi (55), 82–4, Eux 3–13; circumference, Era 99–100, 107,
114–29, 398, 403–15; and Mediterranean, Agm 11, Eux 121; dimensions, §VI.2.a, Hek
§III.4.c; and Nile, Dik 14; beginning, Jub 6; 59–61, Hyp 41–53; distances, Art 105, 122,
two parts, Era 248 Mnp a 8–10 (interim summations, Eux
Atlas, Mt., Jub 2 11, 69, 79, 85, 92, 120–1); E limit, Arr 114;
atlases, modern, §XI.4 E part, Tim 14; N coast, Arr 20 (?); NW
Attica: CS 546–58, PS 57; topography, Tim 29 coast, Eux 78–119; NE coast, Arr 172–20,
Aualites gulf, PME 7 Eux 37–77; W coast, Arr 24–5; form, DP
Augustus (see also Octavian): and progress of 146–69, DB 2; in Europe, Hek 56–7; Kappa-
geography, §II.1; expedition to East, Jub 21, dokian coast, Arr 1–12; limit, Eux 53; limit
Isi b 18 of Roman control, Eux 54; names, Era 196–7;
Ausonia, synonym for Italy, DP 333, 339, 383 nations, DB 2; Paphlagonian coast, Arr
Avien(i)us, Ora maritima, Ch. 32 14–171, Eux 13–23; peoples, Hek 57, 63–5,
Azania, PME 15–18 Eud 12, 15, 18, 20–1, PS 70–92, Era 197, Nik
Azov, Sea of, see Maiotis b 17–20, Art 84, Arr 11, DP 652–786, Eux
22, 35, 50–3, 66, 74, 76, 78, 82; Thracian
baboons, Agc 75 coast, Eux 97–118
Babylon, DP 1005–13 boats, sewn, PME 14–15, 36
Bacchus, see Bakchos bodies of water, technical terms, §X.3.a
Baitike: Mkn b 24; breadth, Mkn b 210; coastal Boïdion (concubine), DB 110
distances, Mkn b 29–11; defined, Mkn b 28; Boiotia: CS 494–516, Hek 44–5, Eud 49, 51,
temple in, Pos 48 53, PS 38, 59, HK 18–25, Nik 488–501, Art 50,
Bakare, PME 55–6 DK 82–107; extent, DK 102–4
Bakchos (see also Dionysos), in India, DP Bordeaux Itinerary, §VI.1.f
1152–65 Borysthenes, R., Nik b 12, Eux 87–9
Balearic Is., Art 65, Avi 471 Bosporios, C., origin of name, DB 7
Baltic, Pyt 21 Bosporos, Kimmerian, see Kimmerian B.
Barake gulf, PME 40 Bosporos, Thracian (see also under currents):
barbarians: Era 46; in Black Sea, DB 2 Tim 22, 30, Hip 18, 21, Eux 2; character, DB
Barbarikon (city), PME 38–9 1; width, Agm 11, DB 4; Hyp 51
Barbaroi, beyond Egypt, PME 2 boundaries: of continents (see also ‘divisions’
Barygaza, PME 40–6, 50–2, 57, 64 under continents): Tim 12, Era 20, 267, Nik
Bathykolpos, DB 71 b 16, Arr 192, Agm 3, Avi 331–2, 693–7,
Batmizomaneis, territory of, Agc 92 Hyp 3, 46; local, Era 268
beacons, §III.3.j Bous, C. (in Bosporos), DB 110
beer, Hek 47 bows, Skythian, Black Sea resembles: Hek 60,
Belgike: coastal distances, Mkn b 2 29–30; de- Era 107, DP 157–62, Hyp 53
fined, Mkn b 227 Bracheia sea: Hyp 33; dimensions, Hyp 43
Belitanoi, Art 32 brass, traded, PME 6
bematists, §IV.1, PS intr. Braudel, F., §II.1
Berenike (city), Jub 23, PME 2–4 Braxmani, Exp 8
Berytus, Exp 25 bread, Ionian, Art 115
birds: in Egypt, Art 44a4; of Diomedes, Jub 11; Brettanike (see also Britain), Pyt 22, 6
on Achilles’ I. (Leuke), Nik b 9, Arr 213–4, bricks, Pos 25
Eux 94 bridges, of Darius, DB 57
Bithynia: SK 3, PS 921, Exp 49; distances, Mnp Britain (see also Albion): Pyt 22, 24; circum-
a8 ference, SC 5, Isi b 7; flora, SC 5; size, Era 18
bitumen, Eud 32, Pos 23 Britannia, Exp 67
black (skin colour), not frightening, Agc 16 British Library MS Add. 19391, §VIII.2.a
 selective index • 1171

Brittany, Pyt 25, 12, 32 Celtiberians, see Keltiberians

buffaloes (?), Agc 77 Celts, see Keltoi
bulls, flesh-eating, Agc 77, Art 9816 central Greece, CS 494–558, 638–44, 681–760,
burial customs: Agc 45, 64; Aithiopian, Art PS 34–9, 56–65, HK 1–3, Nik 439–63,
44b9.3, Trogodytai, Art 9817 473–510, 559–66, 587–617, Art 78–80, DK
Bythmaneis, their fauna, Agc 91 57–107, DP 423–7, 430–46
Byzantion: Eux 119; character, DB 7–16; foun- central parallel, of oikoumene, Era 5233, 58, 75,
dation, DB 8–9, 23, 24, 34, 49, 53; origin of DP 10–11
name, DB 24; situation, DB 6; war v. Philip central position, as ideal: §III.3.n; of Asia,
(V?), DB 65 AWP 122–6; of Earth, DM 21 of Hellas, Dik
Byzas, DB 24 10, Agm 2; of oikoumenē, DM 31
Chalkidike, Hek 49
Caesar, Julius, PME 26 Chalkis (Aitolian), Art 80
Caesarea (in Syria), Exp 26 Chalkis (Euboia), HK 126–30
calendar, Egyptian, Eud 28 Chalkis (singer), DB 42
Camarini, way of life, Exp 4–7, 12 change (see also under land): and permanence,
camelopards, Art 9816 DM 54–5; geographical response to, §III.4;
Campanians, PS 10, Art 70 geological, Era 133, 22; in seas, Era 10, 14,
canals: §III.4.c; Era 1411; Ptolemy II’s, Jub 23 134
Canaria I., Jub 205 channels, manmade, PS 341
cannibals, alleged, PME 62 Chaones, PS 28
canoes, PME 15, 60 Charakene, Jub 21136–7
Canopus: elevation, Pos 17; observed at Gadei- Charax Spaosinou, Jub 21138–41
ra, Pos 3 Chares of Athens, DB 110
Cape of Spices, PME 12 Charmo(u)thas (harbour), Agc 95, Art 9818
capital punishment, in Aithiopia, Art 44b5 Chelonophagoi, Agc 47b, Art 9814
Cappadocia, DP 970–4, Exp 40 Cherson, Eux 85–6
cardoons, see artichokes China, Mkn nn. 14, 39–40, 82; Hyp n. 9;
Caria, Exp 47 see also Seres; Sinai; Thina; Thinai
carrots, in Dalmatia, Pos 63 chlamys, form of oikoumenē, Era 296, 57
Carthage: PS 1111, Exp 61; islands, Hek 106; chōrographia, §III.1.d
territory, PS 1101–1119 Christian periods, geographers, §VI.1.f
Carthaginian explorers, see Hanno; Himilco Chryseia (Chryse), DP 589–90
cartographic perspective, §V.7–8 Chrysopolis, DB 109
cartography, modern, §XI.4 Cicero, epigraph before Ch. 22
Caspian sea: Era 70, Art 164, DP 706–25; Cilicia, see Kilikia
caves, Eud 22; dimensions, Art 108, Agm Cimbrian migrations, Pos 23.6
13, Hyp 42; peoples beyond, DP 726–61 cinnabar, Jub 33, PME 30
Cassiterides Is., see Oestrymnides, and next Cinnamon-bearing Land, Era 25, 57, 61
entry circumcision: Agc 62; Arabia, Agc b 35, Art
Cassius (Mt), and tin, Avi 259–61 985; Egypt, Art 44a5; Trogodytike, Art 989, 17
Catalogue of Ships, see Prologue (preceding circumference, of Earth, Era 34–5, 40–1, Hip
Ch. 1) 34, 38, 4034, 41, 45
Cataracts, of Nile, Jub 454 circumpolar stars, Pyt 26, 30, Era 6136, 38, Agc
cattle, white, Agc 105 106, Hip 25, 4035–6, Jub 2098
Caucasus: Era 109, Arr 115, Eux 53; implied cities: layouts, HK 11, 12, 23, 27–8; orientation,
as continental boundary, DP 20–2; location AWP 3–6
adjusted, Era 23; name, Era 69; origin of citron, Jub 2
name, PsP 53; peoples, DP 680–91, 695–705 Clashing Rocks, see Kyaneai, Symplegadai
cavalry, Roman, Arr 31 Classical period: geographers, §VI.4.b; maps,
caves (see also sea-caves), Eud 6, 22 §V.3
1172 • selective index

client kings, Eux 52, 58, Arr 112–3, 173, 183 coral, PME 28
climate: and physiology, AWP passim; Corinth: PS 40, 55, Exp 52; topography, Eud
extremes, Agc 66–7; instability, §III.4.e; 56, 64
seasonal, Eud 23 corpora, of geographical texts, §VIII.2
climatic zones, §III.3.f Corsica (see also Kyrnos), PS 6
cloak, form of oikoumene, Era 296, 57 cosmology, early, §VII.1.b
clockwise organization (see also anti-clockwise cosmos (see also kosmos): DM 21–2, 61; com-
o.), Hek intr., §VI.1.d, §III.1.a, §III.3.g posed of opposites, DM 51–3
coastal description, §III.1.b courage, AWP 16
coastal sailing, Mkn b 12 Crete: CS 645–52, PS 47, Nik 535–49, DK
codices: A, §VIII.2.a; B, §VIII.2.a; D, §VIII.2.b 110–29, Exp 64; circumference, Art 82;
coins: old, in market, PME 47; traded, PME 6, coastal distances, Sta 318–55; dimensions,
8, 24, 28, 39, 56, 63 Agm 26; extent, DK 111–15; in Ptolemy,
colonies: Aithiopian, Nik 150–8; beyond con- §VI.1.e; mythology, Mna 30; peoples, DK
tinuous Hellas, Nik 628–742 passim; Black 114–18; places in, Art 34
Sea, DB 2; Carthaginian, Han 2, 5, b 5, Nik criticism, textual, §VII.2
159–62, 196–8, 298–9; Greek, ArP intr., (in crocodiles: Eud 33; hunted, PME 15; in Cae-
West) Nik 147–9, 201–63 passim, 303–40 sarea, Jub 451
passim, 407–14, 435–43, 453–63 passim, (in cultural prestige, and geographical writing,
Sicily, Nik 270–99 passim); in Black Sea, Nik §VII.1.e
b 1–38 passim; in Greece, DK 25, 114–15; currents: changing, Era 1412; in Bosporos, DB
Paphlagonian, in Italy, Nik 387–90; Phoe- 1, 3–6, 49, 53, 57–8
nician, in Morocco, Era 92; within Greece, Cyaneae (see also Kyaneai), DB 87, 89
Nik 474–617 passim Cyclades: PS 48, 581–2, DK 130–44, 146–8, Exp
Columns, see Pillars of Herakles 63; listed, Art 83
comedies, quoted, HK 15–6, 11, 22, 25, 30, 37 Cynetae, Avi 200–6
comets, DM 25 Cyprus: PS 103, Era 76, Exp 63; circumference,
commerce (see also trade), as motivation Isi b 12; coastal distances, Sta 297–315;
towards geography, §II.1 crossings from Asia Minor, Sta 178, 186,
common sense geography, §III.2.c 197, 204, 233, 316–17; diet (?), Eud 79;
conjonctures, §II.1 dimensions, Tim 13, Art 107, Agm 26
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos: §VI.1.f; Cyrenaica: Exp 62; distance from Peloponnese,
and Steph. Byz., §VI.2.j; consults MS D, Era 69; distances, Sta 53–84
§VIII.2.b
Constantinople: Exp 50; Markianos lectures at, Dachinabades, region, PME 50–1
Mkn f 43 Dalmatia, crops, Pos 63
constellations (see also stars, circumpolar): and Damascus, vines, Pos 58
seasons, Agc 106, Hip 40, 43; catalogued, Damastes of Sigeion, §VI.4.b
Hip 7, 11 Damirica, see Limyrike
continents (see also Asia; boundaries; Europe; Danapris (see also Borysthenes), Eux 87
Libyē): Era 91, Nik 76–7, DP 7–9; coastal Danube, see Istros
lengths, Mkn b 15; divisions, §III.3.g, AWP Danubian provinces, Exp 57, Hyp 11–12
13, Era 267, Pos 23.7, Mnp a 6, DM 36, DP Darius I: SK 1; bridges Bosporos, DB 57
10–26, Mkn b 14, Mkn c 6, Eux 71, 72; data, treatment by geographers, §IV.c
number, Tim 37, Hyp 3; origin, DM 31; ori- dates (fruit), traded, PME 36–7
gins of names, Agm 4; ranked, Hyp 26–31; Daunitai, PS 15
relative positions, Hyp 4; sizes, Mkn b 16 day-marks, in navigation, §III.3.j
continuous Hellas, PS 332, 652, Nik 470–2, DK days: and nights, Pyt 4, 19, 23, 28; length, Pyt
24, 31–8 15–16, 19, 28, Era 6136, 38–41, Hip 24, 37,
continuous texts, §VIII.1, §IX 4036–42, Art 59, Avi 651–73; of sailing, Mkn
copper, Nik 166, PME 6, 24, 28, 36, 49, 56 c5
 selective index • 1173

Dead Sea, asphalt, Pos 27 diseases (see also plagues), AWP passim
death, of Aithiopian kings, Art 44b6 distances: across Mediterranean, Tim 20–1; in
Debai, Agc 97, Art 9818 Iberia, Art 167; long, Dik 4, Era 25–6, Art
declinations, of stars, Hip 42 74, Isi b 5, 8–10, 17, Pyt 2, 6; ­measurement
dedications: to Achilles & Patroklos, Arr 212–3, of, §IV, Mkn c 5
221–2; to Achilles, Eux 94 divers (birds), Jub 11
deforestation, Era 76 diversity: of geographical writing, §III.2.b; of
degrees (divisions of circle), Hip 4034 oikoumene, Agc 66–7
Deimachos, errors of, Era 5219 divine, the, DM 6
Delos, distances from, Sta 284 divine power, DM 62
Delphi: Eud 50, DP 441–6; and Timosthenes, dogheads, Agc 75, Art 9816
Tim 8; centre of Greece, Agm 2 Dog-milkers, Agc 61, Art 9810
Delta (Nile): Hek 96; topography, Art dogs, giant, Jub 8
99–100 dolphins, musical, DB 42
Demetrius, general of Philip (V?), DB 65 domestic animals, Egypt, Eud 27
dēmos, translation of, §X.3.c Dorians, Nik 592–6
Demosthenes (orator), praised, Agc 21 bis Doros, Art 48
‘descriptive geography’, §II.2 dress: Aithiopian, Art 44b8.5; Egyptian (?), Hek
deserts, of N. Africa, Exp 62 104; Keltiberian, Art 64; Persian, Hek 84
Diagnosis of Geography, §VIII.2.a Dromos Achilleos, Arr 211, Eux87 bis, 116
diagrams, in text, §V.3 Duo Korakes, Art 68
diaplous, PME intr. dwellings, of Fish-eaters, Agc 43–4
Dicaea, C., DB 70 dyes, traded, PME 39
Dicks, D. R., quoted, §IV Dyrrachion, Era 121
didactic geography, §VII.1.d
diet: Aithiopia, Art 44a2; Aithiopia, Art 44b8.6; Earth: as geographical topic, §III.3.a; cen-
Arkadia, Hek 28; Cyprus (?), Eud 79; Egypt, trality, DM 21; circumference, §III.3.a, Era
Hek 100–1; Egypt, Art 44a5; Germans, Pos 34–5, 40–1, Hip 34, 38, 4034, 41, 45, Pos 11,
64; Ichthyophagoi, Agc 38, 40; Trogodytai, Mkn b 14, Hyp 1; dimensions, Dik 8; form,
Art 9817 Era 13–14, DP 170–4; sphericity (see also
Dikaiarchos of Messana: Ch. 9: and spherical Earth), Dik 12
Ps.-Skylax, PS intr., Dik intr.; appraised, earthquakes, §III.4.b, Pos 20, 29, DM 49
Dik 4; writings, Dik 15 ebony, traded, PME 36
dimensions, see under oikoumenē economic change, §III.4.f
Diomedean birds, Jub 11 eels, Eud 58
Diomedes’ I., DP 483 Egeria, pilgrim, §VI.1.f
Dionysios of Byzantion, Ch. 30 Egypt: Hek 89–104, AWP 127, Eud 24–30,
Dionysios of Kyzikos, epigraph to Ch. 12 PS 1061–5; as continent, Tim 37; authors’
Dionysios Periegetes, Ch. 28 treatment, Art 44b11; boundaries, Agc 10,
Dionysios son of Kalliphon: Ch. 20; Athenian PME 1; culture, Exp 34; customs, Art 44a3;
(?), DK intr. details, Art 45–7; diet, Hek 100–1; distanc-
Dionysodoros, on size of Earth, Era 34 es, W of Alexandria, Sta 1–52; economy &
Dionysos, DP 939–49, 1152–65 society, Exp 34–7; exports, PME 6; extent,
dioptras, Dik 9, Era 37, 52 Tim 16; fauna & flora, Art 44a4; nomes, Agc
Dioskourias: Arr 104, 115, 171–2, 181, Eux 48, 22; southern tribes, Agc 30
55; limit of Roman control, Eux 54; popula- Egyptians: DP 232–68; fighting Aithiopes, Art
tion, Tim 14 44b102–3; inhospitable, Era 90
Dioskourides’ I., PME 30–1 Eirinon gulf, PME 40
directions, translation of, §X.3.b Elephant-eaters, Agc 54–6, Art 9810
discovery (see also exploration), as geographi- elephant-hunting (see also Ptolemaïs Ther-
cal ambition, §III.2.c on): Agc b 35–14 passim, Art 985–15 passim;
1174 • selective index

­Aithiopes, Agc 54–6; Ptolemaic, Agc 1, 57, b etymology, see names; words
4; a thing of the past, Era 6135 Euboia, CS 536–45, Hek 46, Era 44, Nik
Elephantophagoi, Agc 54–6, Art 9810 566–78
elephants: Aithiopia, Art 44b102–6; behaviour, Eudaimon Arabia: Agc 99, PME 26, Mkn b
Agc b 314, Art 9814; distribution, Agc 9; NW 115, b 117; circuit, Mkn b 119, b 121; structure,
Africa, Jub 3; on ships, Agc 84, 85; oracular, Mkn b 119
PsP 15; tusks, Jub 9, 15 Eudoxos of Knidos: Ch. 6; and Pytheas, Pyt
Elephas (Mt), Agc b 314, Art 9814 intr.; reliable, Eud 5; writings, Eud 3
Elis, CS 591–2 (?), 615–24, PS 43 Eudoxos of Kyzikos, §VI.4.c, Pos 23.4–5
elites, and geography, §II.2 Euesperides, PS 1082
emeralds, Jub 13, 37 Eumedes (explorer), Art 987, Agc b 37
Empedokles, quoted, DM 610 euphorbia: discovery, Jub 41–3; processing,
Encheleis, PS 25 Jub 41–2
Enetoi (Veneti), PS 19 Euphrates: DP 976–82; origin of name, PsP 20
entertainment, and geographical writing, Euripides, quoted, HK 33
§VII.1.e, §III.2.b Europe: Hek 33–57, Mna 1–29, DP 270–619;
environment: and lifestyle, Pos 61; and physi- and Asia, AWP 12, 16, 23–4; as ideal land,
ology, AWP passim §III.3.n bis; Black Sea coast, Eux 78–119;
Epeiros, Hek 39–40, Nik 444–52 boundary with Libya, Avi 331–2, 693–7;
Ephesos: Art 88; and Romans, Art 89; Artemi- breadth, Art 5; coastal length, Agm 10;
doros and, Art 1 dimensions, PS 69; eastern peoples, DP
Ephoros of Kyme: §VI.2.e; quoted, Eux 74, 78 330–4; form, Era 56, DP 270–80; islands,
bis Hyp 13; length, Art 810, Isi b 8; long distanc-
epigrams, quoted, Era 51 es, Art 74; northern peoples, DP 302–29;
epigraphy, see inscriptions peoples, DP 281–446; provinces, Hyp 6–8,
Epirus, Exp 53 10–12; rivers, Hyp 9–10; the far NE, Hek
epitaphs, cited, DB 110 & n. 23; western coastal length, Mkn b 21, b 246;
epitomes, construction of, Mnp a 4, Mkn c 4 western peoples, DP 281–301
equatorial zone, breadth, Hip 44 Europeans, variable character, AWP 231–246
equilibrium, in cosmos, DM 5 Eurotas, origin of name, PsP 17
Eratosthenes of Cyrene: Ch. 12; and Pytheas, Eusebios of Caesarea, §VI.1.f
Era 18; criticized, Era 3, 5–10, 12, 26, 5229–31, euthanasia, Agc 64
33–41
, 54–5, 65, Mkn c 3; mistrust of myths, Euthymenes of Massalia, §VI.4.a, Pyt intr.
Era 21; quoted (?), Pos 23.5 Eux., Ch. 36
Erembians, Pos 65, 71, 73, DP 963–8 Euxeinos Pontos (see also Black Sea),
Eretrians, epigraph before Ch. 4 form, DB 2
erosion, coastal, DB 19, 49 événements, §II.1
Erytheia: Avi 309; as Fortunate Island, Pyt 9, experience, underlying geography, §II.2
Era 62, Art 60 exploration (see also discovery and next
Erythra (C.), Art 41 entry): §VII.1.a; by Ptolemies, Agc 41b;
Erythraian sea: PME 1, Hyp 35; dimensions, of world limits, §III.3.k
Agm 13–14; divisions, Era 103; level, Hip ‘exploratory geography’ (see also preceding
19; name, Agc 2–5, Art 9820; peoples, Agc entry), §II.2
30–49 exports, from Egypt to Berbers, PME 6
Etesian winds, Tim 33 Expositio totius mundi . . ., Ch. 33
ethnika, defined, §VI.2.j extant works, §VIII.1
ethnography: in geographical writing, extremities, of world, §III.3.k
§VII.1.e; of S. Egypt, Agc 30–48
ethnos, translation of, §X.3.c Fanum (see also Hieron), on E side of
Etna, Pos 22 ­Bosporos, DB 92–3
Etruscans (see also Tuscia; Tyrrhenoi), PS 5, 17 fate, DM 75
 selective index • 1175

fathoms, §IV.2 Garden of the Hesperides, PS 1084

fauna, Iberia, Pos 49 Garindaneis, at war, Agc 901–2
feasting, in E. Africa, Agc 38 Gasandoi, land of, Agc 98b
feminization, of men, Agc 103 Gaul (see also Keltike): PS 3–4, Pyt 11–12, Era
fennel, Jub 8 43, Art 2–3, Avi 565–713, Exp 58; isthmus,
fish (see ‘Aithiopian’; oysters): Bosporos, Pos 52
(abundance) DB 1, 5–6, 16–17, 21, 28, 50, gazetteers, Hip 23
60, 68, 76, 97–8, (dearth) DB 3, 30, (migra- Gedrosia, Mkn b 131–3
tion) DB 5, 18, 30, 71, 102, Lykia, Art 52, gemstones (see also precious stones), of India,
Nile, Art 44a4, 5; not to be eaten, Agc 111 DP 1118–22
Fish-eaters, see Ichthyophagoi generic composition, §III.2.a
fishers, in E. Indian Ocean, Agc 50 genos, translation of, §X.3.c
fishing: Barygaza, PME 44; Bosporos, DB 5, genre: and periploi, §III.1.b; in Classical litera-
16–17, 21, 23, 30, 50, 60, 68; dangers, DB ture, §III.2.a
50; Erythraian sea, Agc 32–5; Menuthias, geographers, early, Hek 2, 4–6
PME 15; Red Sea, Art 9813 geōgraphia, definition, §II.1
flat Earth theory, §VI.1.f, §III.3.a geographical writing: classification, §III.1;
floods, §III.4.b motives, §II.2, §III.2.c; social settings, §II.2;
foreign parts, in geographical writing, topics, §III.3
§III.3k–l geography (see also under Homer): ancient,
foreign peoples, §III.2.c (classification) §II.2, (development of
forests, in Gaul, Era 43 tradition), §II.2; and historiography, §II.2;
Forma Urbis Romae, §V.4 benefits, Nik 92–102; ‘common sense’,
fortifications, Arr 93–5 §III.2.c; definitions, §II.1; ‘descriptive’, §II.2
Fortunate Island(s), Pyt 9, Era 62, Art 60, Jub 8 init., §III.2 init.; development, §VII.1, Mkn
fragmentary sources: §VI.4, §VIII.1, §VIII.3; c 3; early, Eud 1, Era 1–3; ‘exploratory’, §II.2
defined, §VII.3; presentation, §IX init., §III.2 init.; history of, Mkn c 2; human
frankincense: Jub 25–6, 28, PME 8, 10–12, v. environmental, Pos 23.7–8; humanistic,
27–30, 32, 36, 39; harvesting, PME 29 §II.1; in general, Pos 34; manipulation, Era
Frankincense-bearing Land, Art 9814, Agc b 20, 23; ‘mathematical’, §II.2 init., §III.2 init.;
314, PME 27, 29, 31 Mediterranean, modern writings, §XI.3;
fresh water, AWP 7 modern editions, §XI.2; modern overviews,
friends, of Aithiopian kings, Art 44b7 §XI.1; nature of, Pos 1; of Pos, scientific
frigid zones, Pyt 8, Era 321, Hip 4043 not descriptive, Pos 5; progress of, Art 81;
frogs, plagues of, PS 22. 2, Agc 60 progressive correction, Pos 6; theory and
Frozen Sea, Pyt 23, DP 32, 316, Hyp 45 practice, Art 167
fully reasoned geography, §III.2.c geometrical forms: and India, Era 77; as
functional purposes, and geographical writing, descriptors, §V.7; criticized, Era 5230; use,
§II.2 Era 5231
geometry, spherical, Hip 45
Gadeira (see also next 2 entries): Art 59–60, Germania (see also next 2 entries), Era 43
67, Pos 50; and Seleukos of Babylon, Pos 38; Germania, Great: coastal distances, Mkn b
wells, Pos 38 232–6; defined, Mkn b 231; dimensions, Mkn
Gades, Avi 85, 269 b 236
Gadir, name, Avi 267 Germaniai: Hyp 7; coastal distances, Mkn b
Gaius Caesar, Jub 32 229–30; defined, Mkn b 227–8
Galatia, Exp 41 Germans: diet, Pos 64; habits, Pos 74
Gallipoli peninsula, see Thracian Chersonese Geron Halios, DB 49
Ganges: Era 78, Art 96, PME 63, Mkn b 137, b Gerrhaioi, Agc 89, 104
139; origin of name, PsP 4 gēs periodos: as form of writing, §III.1.a,
Gangetic gulf, Mkn b 137–9 §III.2.a
1176 • selective index

ghee, traded, PME 14, 41 Hebros, origin of name, PsP 3

Gibraltar, see Pillars of Herakles; strait of Hegesias, criticized, Agc 21
Gibraltar Heidelberg codex, §VIII.2.a
giraffes, Agc 73, Art 9816 Hekataios of Miletos: Ch. 3: alleged short-
glass, traded, PME 6–7, 17, 39, 49, 56 comings, Hek 67; cosmology, Hek 8; life,
gnomons: Pos 4; their shadows, Hip 4038, 41 Hek 14; travels, Hek 1; use of maps, §V.2;
god, the: and cosmos, DM 6; names, DM 71–3; writings, Hek 11–12
powers, DM 74–5; unity, DM 76 Heleioi, Art 989
gods, created the lands, DP 1168–79 heliacal settings and risings, Agc 106
gold (see also next entry): corrupting effect, Helike, disappearance, §III.4.b, Era 66
Pos 31–2; fluvial, PsP 72; in Arabia, Agc 104; Hellas (Greece): DP 398–446; as ideal land,
mining, Agc 24–9, DP 1114–17; processing, §III.3.n; continuous, PS 332, 652, Nik 470–2,
Agc 26–8; sand similar to, DB 76; trade, Nik DK 24, 31–8; extent, HK 31, 6–8
166, PME 6, 8, 24, 36, 49, 63 Hellas (region of Thessaly), HK 36
gold-dust, Arabia, Agc 97, 98 hellebore, PS 37
Gorgades Is. (see also next 2 entries), Han b Hellenes: manly, AWP 165; v.barbarians, Era 46
399, b 6 Hellenistic period: geographers, §VI.4.c; maps,
Gorgons (?) (see also gorillas), Han 18 §V.3
gorillas (?) (see also preceding 2 entries), Han Hellespont: Hek 68, Tim 34, Art 123; conti-
18, b 393, b 6 nental boundary, DP 17; region, Exp 48;
Gracchus, Ti. Sempronius, §V.4 width, Hyp 50
grain, traded, PME 7, 14, 17, 24, 31–2, 41, 56 Hemeroskopeion, Art 22
Great Britain, see Britain hemispheres, of Earth: N, Era 295; S, Era 15
Great Sea: divisions, Hyp 32–6; names, Hyp 45 Heniochoi, Eux 51
Greece: as ideal land, §III.3.n; central, DK Heracleots, subjection, Pos 60
57–107; length, Art 77; mainland, Hek Herakleia Pontike, Arr 123, Eux 9–11
38–45; southern, Exp 52 west-central, DK Herakleides Kritikos, Ch. 11
24–57 Herakleides Lembos, Agc b 8
Greek culture, and Roman, §III.1 init. Herakles: Eud 11, 13, Mna 8, 29; labours, Hek
Greeks, in Black Sea, DB 2 22, 24–5, 27
guinea fowl, PS 1121, Mna 44, Agc 83, Art 985 Hermes, statue of, Arr 21–2
guinea worms, Agc 59, b 5 Hermesianax (of Kolophon?), criticized, Agc
gulf of Aqaba, see Ailanites g.; Laeanitae g. 21
gulf of Corinth, Nik 508–10 Hermolaos, epitomator of Steph. Byz., §VI.2.j
gulf of Sinai, Mkn b 146–8 Herodotos of Halikarnassos: §VI.2.a; on Black
Gymnesiai Is., Art 63, 65, 159 Sea, §VI.1.a; on Egypt, Art 44a5; on sailing
Gynaikospolis, Art 136 times, §IV.b
Heroes’ I., see Achilles’ I.
Hadrian, Arr 1–2, Eux 1 Hesperides (Euesperides, city), PS 1082
Haimos, Mt: Eux 110; origin of name, PsP 113 Hesperides (Garden of), PS 1084
Hair of Isis (plant), Jub 12 Hesperou Keras, Han 14
Halymdessos (Sal-), Eux 117 Hestiai, in Bosporos, DB 53
Halys, R., Eux 24, Nik b 30, Arr 145–151 Hestiaia, female geographer, §VI.4.c
Hannibal, route, §VI.2.g Hiberi, Avi 250, 472, 552
Hanno of Carthage: Ch. 4, Jub 2; and Polybi- Hiberia, Avi 253, 613
os, §VI.2.g Hiberni, see Hierni
harbours: Tim intr.; built, Arr 166; ‘closed’, PS Hibernia (see also Ierne), Mkn b 242–3
§29 & n.; technical terms, §X.3.a Hiberus (river), Avi 248, 503
harmony, in cosmos, DM 610–11 hides, traded, PME 39
hats, Arkadian, Era 127 Hierni, Avi 108–12
health, and environment, AWP passim Hierokles, §VI.1.f
 selective index • 1177

Hieron (Iberian cape), Art 58–9, Avi 333–4 Hylloi, Era 42

Hieron of Zeus Ourios (Bosporos): Tim 22, Hylophagoi, Agc 52
30, DB 75, Arr 122, 25, Mkn c 6, Eux 1–3, Hyperboreans, ArP 1, 4–5, Mna 22, Pos 75
11, 69, 119–20; as ‘Fanum’, DB 75; departure hyphormoi, see minor anchorages
point, Mnp a 7 Hypotyposis of Geography, Ch. 35
Himilco of Carthage, §VI.4.a, Avi 117–19, Hyrkania, rivers, Era 71
380, 412 Hyrkanian sea, see Caspian s.
Hippalos (pilot), discoveries, §VI.4.c, PME 57 Hyssou Limen, Arr 31, Eux 38
Hipparchos of Nikaia: Ch. 16: and Pytheas,
Hip 37; criticized, Hip 24–31; criticizes Iambics to King Nikomedes, Ch. 17
Eratosthenes, Hip 25–32; on maps, §V.3 Iapyges, PS 14
Hippokrates of Kos (?), Airs, Waters, & Iberes, PS 2–3, Avi 98–109, 480
Places, Ch. 5 Iberia: Hek 34–5, PS 1–2, Pyt 9, Era 62–3, Nik
Hispania (see also Hispaniai; Spania): defined, 139–66, Art 10, 24, 63, Avi 85–713 passim;
Mkn b 26–7; size, Art 4 defined, Mkn b 26–7; dimensions, Era 55;
Hispaniai, Hyp 7 divisions, Art 23; fauna, Pos 49; in Artemi-
historians, see style doros Papyrus, Art 167; places in, Art 21–2,
historical geography, §II.1 24, 26, 30–2; places in, Art 26; provinces,
historiography (see also style), and geography, Art 31
§II.2 Iberians, see Iberes
history: of geography, §II.1; and myth, Agc Ichthyophagoi: Agc 84, Art 987; 3rd group, Agc
7–8 43; 4th group, Agc 44–7; 5th group, Agc 48;
hodological space, §V.8 beyond Red Sea, Agc 40–2; happy, Agc 49;
homeland, in geographical writing, §III.3.n, in Red Sea, Agc 31–9
§II.1 Ida, origin of name, PsP 133
Homer (see also next entry): and geography, Ierne (see also Hierni), Pyt 78, Era 298
§VI.3, Hek 4–5, Era 1–9, 11, 19, Hip 16–17; illiteracy, Agc 41a
and Mysians, Pos 70; and Okeanos, Pos 33; Illyria (see also next entry): PS b 3, Mna 6, 17,
and tides, Pos 33; emendations, Eud 35; Nik 415–25; places in, Art 11, 28
quoted, DM 611 bis, Arr 82, and epigraph Illyrioi, PS 22–6
before Prologue immigration, at Dioskourias, Tim 14
Homeric Catalogue of Ships, see prologue Imperial Roman period, geographers, §VI.1.f
(preceding Ch. 1) inaccessible peoples, Agc 46
honey: Eud 55, 63; in myth, Mna 29 Inachos, origin of name, PsP 18
Horden, J. N. P. B., §II.1 incense, traded, PME 9–12
Horn of the South (Trogodytike), Art 9814, Agc incest, PsP 11, 31, 71, 141, 171, 211, 221
b 314, 15 increase of knowledge, §II.1
Horn of the South (West Africa), Han 17 India (see also Indike): SK 1–2, 7 (?), DP
Horn of the West, Han 14 1107–65; climate, Pos 9, 14; dimensions,
horses, traded, PME 24 Era 5219, 101, Hip 23, Art 109; exports,
human geography, §II.1 PME 6; fertility, Era 7813, 79; flora, Hek
humanistic geography, §II.1 89; form, Era 48, 5222, 77, Hip 29, DP
humour, and geographical writing, §VII.1.e, 1127–34; Greater, Exp 16; latitude, Era
§III.2.b 5220–1, Hip 25, 27; Lesser, Exp 17–18;
Hunter Folk, Agc 53 location, Era 47, 5219–22; orientation, Pos 9,
hunting (see also elephant-h.; h.-stations), 14; peoples, Hek 90–1; rivers, Era 78, DP
Aithiopian, Art 44b10 1137–48; size, Era 106
hunting-stations (see also elephant-hunting), Indian Ocean: eastern (see also next entry),
Agc b 38–10, 14, Art 988–10, 14 Agc 50; western, see Erythraian sea
Hydaspes, origin of name, PsP 1 Indian sea: Mkn b 116; divisions, Mkn b 113, b
hyenas (?), Agc 78, Art 9816 116; form, Mkn b 112; peoples, Mkn b 112
1178 • selective index

Indike (see also India): outside Ganges, Mkn b Istroi, PS 20

116, 40–2; within Ganges, Mkn b 116, 34, 38–9 Istros (city), Nik b 7–8, Eux 98
Indikon Pelagos, Hyp 34 Istros (river): Nik b 7–8, Eux 92–3, 96–9;
Indos, R.: SK 1, Era 78, DP 1088–94, 1132, course, SC 8, Hyp 9; island within, Era
1137; mouths, PME 38; origin of name, PsP 111–12; mouths, Arr 203, 241, Eux 96–7;
25 sources, Hip 19, Nik 194–5
infertility, Skythian, AWP 221–11 Italia (Magna Graecia), Nik 300–60
Insana Laurus, DB 95 Italy: Hek 36–7, Eud 65–8, PS 5–12, 14–19,
inscriptions: Hip 19; ‘barbarian’, Agc 93b; DP 98–102, Exp 53–6, Hyp 8; as ideal land,
cited, Hip 1915, DB 110 & n.; Greek & Latin, §III.3.n ter; form, DP 339–44; peoples, DP
on Leuke I., Eux 95, Arr 212–3; to Hadrian, 345–83; places in, Art 13; topography, Art
Arr 12 73
‘insensitive’ Fish-eaters, Agc 41 Itanos (?), Art 34
intellectual culture, §II.2 Ithaca, Art 38
intuitive geography, §III.2.c itineraria, §VI.1.f
inundations, §III.4.b Itinerarium Burdigalense, §VI.1.f
Io, DB 7, 24 Ityke (Utica), PS 1115
Ionia: DP 821–38; as ideal land, §III.3.n; coast- Iunior Philosophus, Ch. 33
al length, Art 91; distances, Sta 293–6 ivory, traded, PME 4, 6–7, 10, 16–17, 49, 56
Ionian islands, CS 625–37, Nik 446, 464–9, Art
38, DK 48–52, Agm 23 Jacoby, F.: project, §VII.3; continuation,
Ionian Renaissance, Hek intr. §VII.3, §II.2
Ionians, etymology, Hek 33 Jason, Arr 92, 253, DB 24, 46, 49, 75, Eux 51,
Iouernia, see Ierne 119
Ireland, see Ierne jewels: in Arabia, Agc 104; traded, PME 56
iron, traded, PME 6, 8, 10 Jews, Mna 34–5
Isauria, Art 51, Exp 45 Juba II of Mauretania, Ch. 22
Isidoros of Charax, Ch. 23 Julian of Ascalon, on distances, §IV.c
Isis’ hair (sea plant), Agc 110, Jub 12 Junior Philosophus, see Iunior P.
islands (see also Ionian i.; see also under Aege-
an): Eud 71–5, Nik 87–8, 372–3; Adriatic, Kaikos, origin of name, PsP 21
Nik 426–33; Aithiopian, Hek 102; Arabian Kalatis (Kallatis), Eux 102
gulf, Agc 93; Black Sea, Sk 2, DP 541–53; Kallimachos, epigraph before Ch. 9
Bosporos, DB 86; catalogued, Avi 51–6; Kalpes Limen, Arr 124–5, Eux 5
Europe, Hyp 13–14; Greece, DP 498–505, Kampanoi (Campanians), PS 10
511–38; in oikoumenē, DP 447–619; in Red Kanobos, continental boundary, DP 11–13
Sea, Art 9814, Jub 23; Indian Ocean, Tim Kappadokia, DP 970–4
17; Mediterranean, DP 447–553, Exp 63–6; Karambis, C., Arr 143, Eux 17
Nile, Hek 99; Ocean, DM 35, DP 554–611; Karandas (dolphin-killer), DB 42
off Carthage, Hek 106; off Etruria, Art 159; Karia: PS 991–2; coastal length, Art 91; distanc-
off Iberia, Art 63, 65; off Libyē, Era 96; off es, Sta 255–92; places in, Art 55
Massalia, Art 9; sizes, Tim 19, Art 820, DM Karmania, Era 82, Pos 72, Jub 2098, 22, 25, 33,
33 & n., (circumferences) Isi b 7, 12–16, Mkn b 126–30
Agm 20–3, (greatest) PS 114, Mkn b 18, Kartago, see Carthage
(ranked) Hyp 27 Karyanda, SK 5, 11
Ismenos, origin of name, PsP 2 Kasandreis, land of, Agc 98a
isolation, of Fish-eaters, Agc 46 Kassiterides, Pyt intr.
Issedones (Issedoi), ArP 1, 6 Kassopia, PS 31
isthmuses: Pos 7–8; of Asia Minor, PS 102; of kēboi (or kēpoi, a quadruped), Agc 74a, 76,
Asia Minor, Nik b 29, Art 95; of continents, Art 9816
DP 20–5; of Gaul, Pos 52 Keltiberians, Art 64, Pos 66
 selective index • 1179

Keltike (see also Gaul): Nik 167–94, Art 17–18, Ktesias of Knidos: §VI.2.d; on marvels,
20; access to, Art 60; places, Art 127 §III.3.m
Keltogalatia: Art 10; defined, Mkn b 219 Kyaneai (see also Cyaneae): Tim 30, Eux 119
Keltoi: SC 6; ethnography, Pos 62; Hellenic Kyllene (Mt.), measured, Dik 2
customs, Nik 183–5; in Italy, PS 18 Kynamolgoi, Agc 61, Art 9810
Kephallenia, Art 38 kynara, SK 7, Hek 87–9
Kepos, in Bosporos, DB 18 Kynegetai, or Kynegoi, Agc 53
Keras, of Bosporos, DB 5, 6, 32 kynokephaloi, Art 9816
Kerkyra, Art 39 Kyrene: PS 1083; distance from Alexandria,
Kerne, Han 8–10, b 1, PS 1125–7 Era 94
Keys, of Pontos, DB 69 Kyrnos: PS 6; visibility, Era 65, Art 69
Kilikia: PS 102, Exp 39, 45; distances, Sta
154–83; places, Art 93–4 Laconia (see also Lakedaimon; Lakonike): Exp
Kimbric peninsula (Jutland?), Mkn b 233–4 52; cities, Art 76
Kimmerian Bosporos: Hek 62, Mnp b 4, Arr Lactantius, §VI.1.f
191, Eux 54, 68, 79; king, Arr 173; places in, Laeanitae/Laeanites gulf (see also Ailanites),
Art 57 Agc 904, Art 110, Jub 22156
kings (see also client k.; kingship): Indian, SK Lakedaimon (see also Laconia), CS 581–90,
2, of Mosynoikoi, Eux 35, of Sabaioi, Agc PS 46
102 lakes: Arabia, Era 84; marvellous, Eud 54, 57,
kingship (see also preceding entry): Aithiopian, Jub 19
Art 44a2, 44b5–7, 9; Persian, DM 63–5; princi- Lakonike (see also Laconia), places in, Art 29
ples, Agc 11–18 land: distances, measurement of, §IV.a; that
Kithairon (Mt), origin of name, PsP 22–3 was formerly sea, §III.4.d, Eud 9, Era 134,
Kleides (Kleithra) of Pontos, DB 69 1413, 15, Hip 19
kleistos, PS §29 & n. landscape, political interpretation, §III.2.b
klimata (see also zones of latitude), §III.3.f, Laodicia, Exp 27
Pos 4 Laon (comic poet), quoted, HK 122
knowledge: advancement of, §II.1; systemati- late antique period: geographers, §VI.1.f;
zation of, Hek intr. maps, §V.5
Koile Syria, monsters, Pos 56 late Roman period, see preceding entry
Kolchians, PS 81, Era 5011, 108, Mna 42, SC 2, Latinoi, PS 8
4, NP 24, Arr 71, 111, DP 489, 689, 762–3, latitude: §VI.1.e, §III.3.c, Pyt 2–4, 7, Era 27–8;
1029–38, Eux 38, 50 accuracy, Era 50–1; beginnings, Eud 48; dif-
Kolchis, Era 473, 48, 5239, Hip 3239, Pos 7, Arr ficulties, Era 5233, 35, 37–9; measurement, Hip
253, Hyp 20 24–31, 34–6, 39, 45; of stars, Hip 42
Koloboi, Art 9810, 13, Agc b 310, 13 Laurel, Manic, DB 95
Korkyra (Corfù), PS 29 lead, traded, PME 49, 56
Kosmos Indikopleustes, §VI.1.f leadership, and cosmos, DM 63–5
kosmos (see also cosmos): DM 21–2; as good leopards, Agc b 7, Agc 71
order, DM 54 Lepreon, Dik 1
Kossinoi (Ostiones), Art 157 Leptiminus, PS 1107–8
Kotys (king), Arr 173, Eux 54 Lesbos, PS 97
Kreophagoi, Art 989, 13, 14 = Agc b 39, 13, 14 Leukanoi, PS 12
Krinagoras, epigram, Mnp b 2 Leuke (Achilles’ I.; Zmiinyi), PS 684, Arr 21–3,
Kriou Metopon (Black Sea), PS 682–4, Nik b 32, DP 543–8, Eux 93
Art 84, Mnp a 9, PsP 144, Hyp 51, Eux 18, Leuke Akte (Egypt), Sta 14
81, 84 Leukosyroi, Art 162–3
Kriou Metopon (Crete), PS 471, 3, Era 68, Sta levels, of Earth, changes, Pos 23.6
334–5, Hyp 47 Libya (province), Exp 62
kroko(u)ttai, Agc 78, Art 9816 Libyans, eastern limit, Art 44a3
1180 • selective index

Libyē (see also Africa): AWP 127, Eud 55, 63, Lysippos (comic poet), quoted, HK 15
PS 107–11, Tim 28, Mna 43–6; boundary Lysitania, see Lousitania
with Europe, Avi 331–2, 693–7; beyond
Pillars, Hek 110; coastal length, Agm 10; Macedonia: PS 66, Nik 618–42, 646–58, DP
described, Era 91; dimensions, PS 1118; 427, Exp 51; whether in Hellas, DK 35–8
eastern, peoples, Mkn b 1; except Egypt, machaira (stone), Eud 8
Hek 105–11; form, Era 89, 91, DP 174–5; Madagascar, see Menouthias
length, Isi b 9; nations, Hyp 16–18; outside Maeander, origin of name, PsP 9
Pillars, Han 1, PS 112; peoples, DP 176–269; Maeotis, see Maiotis
places in, Art 41–3, 143, 147, 154; provinc- Magi, Exp 3
es, Hyp 15; rivers, Pos 43; structure, Mkn b Magna Graecia, Nik 300–60
1; western, Tim 10 Maiotis (Lake): circumference, PS 685, Hek 61,
Libyrnoi, PS 21 Era 20, Nik b 15b–16, Avi 32–6, Eux 49, 69–
lice, or guinea worm, Agc 59 74, 75, 78; and Tanaïs, Arr 191; boundary
lighthouses: §III.3.j; in Bosporos, DB 78 of Europe & Asia, AWP 131; circumference,
Liguria: PS 3–4, Tim 24, SC 6, Pos 67–8, Avi Arr 193, Hyp 53, Eux 121; connected to
129–45, 628–30; places in, Art 12, 14, 16 Ocean, PME 64; connected to R. Phasis, PsP
Ligy(r)es, see Liguria 52; continential division, PS 922; described,
limits, of oikoumene, §III.3.k DB 2; dimensions, Pyt 7; latitude, Hip 4042,
Limyrike, PME 31–2, 47, 51, 53, 56–7, 60, 64 Pos 75; limit of known lands, DM 35; misun-
lions, Agc 51, 69–70 derstood, Era 20; ‘Mother of the Pontos’, DP
literary writing, §VII.5, §VII.1.e, §III.1.b 163–8, DB 2; N limit of oikoumene, Agc 67;
Lixos (city), PS 1123, Era 92, Art 101–2 peoples, DP 652–60; size, Eux 73
Lixos (river), Han 6, Lixos (river), PS 1123 Makai (people), PS 1092–3
lizards, Jub 8, PME 30 Makrokephaloi, AWP 14
Locust-eaters, Agc 59, Art 98 Malaca, Avi 181
locusts, Agc 59, Art 98 Malaca, R., Avi 426
Lokris, CS 527–35, Hek 43, PS 36, 60, Nik Malaō, PME 8
480–4, 587–91, DK 64–71 Maleai (C.), Art 77
London manuscript, §VIII.2.a Malieis, PS 622
longitude: §VI.1.e, §III.3.d; accuracy, Era 50; Manic Laurel, DB 95
difficulties, Era 5237–9, 58; measurement, Hip manliness, see masculinity
27–31, 34, 36 mantichora, Jub 10
long-term change, §III.4.d manuscripts: principal geographical corpora,
longue durée, §II.1, §III.4.d §VIII.2.a–b; tradition, §VII.2
Lopadoussa, Art 43 maps: Hek 9–10; accuracy, Era 5011;
lost works: see fragments; quotations ­Classical period, §V.3; display pieces,
Lotophagoi, PS 1101 §V.6; ­Hellenistic period, §V.3; invention,
Lotus-eaters, Art 62, Art 102, DP 205–6 §V.2; late antique, §V.5; limits of use, §V.6;
Lougdounesia: coastal distances, Mkn b 225–6, ­modern, §XI.4; Roman period, §V.4; use of,
defined, Mkn b 2 §V.1
Lougdounon (Lyon), origin of name, PsP 64 Maranitai, at war, Agc 901–2
Lousitania: Art 32, Pos 37; coastal distances, marble: green (?), Jub 37; traded, PME 24
Mkn b 213–15, defined, Mkn b 2 Mare Concretum, Pyt 23
Lycia, see Lykia Mariandynians, subjection, Pos 60
Lydia: PS 98, DP 837–46; history, Mna 31 Marinos of Tyre, §VI.1.e
Lykia: Hek 32, PS 100, Exp 46; cities, Art 92; maritime space, control, §III.3.j
distances, Sta 233–54; places in, Art 55; Markianos of Herakleia: Ch. 34; preface to
springs, 52 Epit. Men., Mnp a 3–6 (part), Mkn c 41
Lykormas, origin of name, PsP 8 (whole); his geographical corpus, §VIII.2.b;
Lyon, see Lougdounon lectures at Constantinople (?), Mkn f 43; on
 selective index • 1181

sea distances, §IV.c; provincial governor (?), Mkn c 41 (whole); structure of work, Mkn
Mkn f 44; research methods, Mkn c 1–2 c 6; transmission, Mnp b 9–10
Marmaridai, PS 1081 Menouthias, PME 15
Marmarike, distances, Sta 34–52 mental mapping, §V.8
marshes, AWP 7 merides, of oikoumenē, Hip 27, 30
Marsh-folk, Art 989 meridians (see also parallels; prime m.), Era 25
Marsyas, origin of name, PsP 10 Meroë: Era 53, Agc b 38, Art 988, PME 2;
marvels: Eud 6–8, 22, 31–2, 46–7, 54–5, 60, described, Era 89, Art 44a2; kingship, Art
71–3, 76, Era 16–17, 19, Mna 14; bizarre 44b5–7, 9; latitude, Era 28, 33, 53, 61, Hip 25;
peoples, SK 8, 14; in geographical writing, location, Art 112; peoples, Agc 51
§III.3.m Mesopotamia: DP 992–1015, Exp 22;
masculinity, AWP 16, 211, 221–11, Agc 103 ­distances, Isi a 11, Jub 1; form, Era 5223–7,
Massagetai, DP 740–5 34, 86
Massalia, Art 1, 15, Avi 560, 704 Messene (region), PS 45
‘Massaliote periplous’, §VI.4.a, Pyt intr., Avi Messenia (unnamed), CS 591–602
intr. metals: from India, PME 6, in Spain, Pos 21
Massilia, see Massalia meteors, DM 2, 4
‘mathematical geography’, §II.2 Metrodoros, epigraph after Ch. 36
Mauretania: Exp 60; islands, Hub 7 Midakritos, explorer, Pyt intr.
measurement (see also observational data): in migration (see also colonies; immigration),
geography, §III.3.e; of distance, §IV Cimbrian, Pos 23.6, Pos 69
measuring instruments, Dik 9, Era 37, 52, Hip minerals (see also precious stones), in Egypt,
7, 24, 45–6 Agc 23
Meat-eaters, Art 989, 13, 14, Agc b 39, 13, 14 mining (see also gold m.), techniques, Agc
Medea, DP 1021–8, DB 51, 68, 88 25–6
Medes, DP 1016–19 minium, Jub 33
Media, Isi a 14–7 Mnaseas of Patara, Ch. 13
medicine, see euphorbia; health; hellebore; models, see genre
plants Molottia, PS 32, Nik 447–52
Mediterranean: and Atlantic, Mkn b 13; monsters (see also sea-m.), in Koile Syria, Pos
breadth, Hyp 48; central parts, DP 92–111; 56
coastal length, Mkn b 15; divisions, Era 93, Moon: DM 24; and tides, Pyt 25
DM 34, DP 69–94, 104–37, Agm 9, Hyp Moscha, PME 32
48–50; E parts, DP 112–45; extent, Mkn mosquitoes, Agc 51
b 13; filling of, §III.4.c; length, Era 95, Mosyllon, PME 10
Hyp 40, Hyp 47; level, Hip 19; W parts, Mosynoikoi, Nik b 26, Eux 35
DP 69–91 motivations, in geographical writing, §II.2, 3.c
Megara, Nik 502–7 Moundou, PME 9
Megarid, PS 39, 56, DK 108a–109b mountains (see also Pelion): Eud 42; heights,
Mela, Pomponius, §VI.1.b Dik 2, 7, 9, Era 37; in cult, HK 28; in
Meleagrid birds (guinea fowl), PS 1121, Mna navigation, Tim 27, 31; names, PsP passim;
44, Agc 83, Art 985 ranked, Hyp 28; red, Agc 83
Melieis, PS 621 Mouza, PME 7, 16–17, 21, 24
Mellapokopsas, C., DB 20 mules, traded, PME 24
men, see masculinity Muses, Mna 20
Menace (Mainake?), Avi 427, 431 music, by Timosthenes, Tim 8
Menandros (king), PME 47 mussels, in Arabia, Jub 32
Menippos of Pergamon: Ch. 21: commended, Mutilated (people), Art 9810, 13 = Agc b 310, 13
Mkn c 3; Epitome (by Markianos), Mnp a Mykenai (Mt), origin of name, PsP 186
7–10; his geographical corpus, §VIII.2.b; Myos Hormos, Agc 83, Art 985, PME 1, 19
Markianos’ appraisal, Mnp a 3–6 (part), myrrh: Jub 27; traded, PME 7–8, 10, 24
1182 • selective index

Mysia, PS 93, b 2, Art 86 Notou Keras (or Keros), Han 17, Agc b 314, 15,
Mysians, and the Iliad, Pos 70 Art 9814
mythical peoples, SK 14, Hek 100 novas, Hip 7
mythology: Mna 1–4, 11–12, 15, 20, 23–30, Nubia, and Ptolemy (II?), Agc 11–18
34–40, 46, 48, 50, 52–3; falsity, Agc 7–8 numbers, treatment by geographers, §IV.c

Nabataeans, Art 9818, PME 19 observational data (see also measurement), in

names: Mna 9, SC 1; of mountains & rivers, geography, §II.2
PsP passim; rendering, §X.2 observational geography, §VII.1.c
naphtha, Era 85, Pos 26 obsidian, PME 5
Narbōn, Art 18 Ocean (see also Atlantic; Indian Ocean; seas):
Narbonese Gaul, Art 10 Pyt 14, Era 24, Avi 82–4, 102, 204, 390–5,
nard, traded, PME 39, 48–9, 56, 63 402; a waste, Exp 59; and Mediterranean
Naro, i.e. Narbo, Avi 587 §III.4.c; divisions, Avi 396–401; in geo-
Nasamones, PS 1092, DP 208–9 graphical writing, §III.3.h; scope of Posei-
nations (see also peoples; races), ranked, Hyp donios’ work, Pos 22.1, 3.8; variation within,
26 Hip 14
Nature, violence of, §III.4.b ochre, Jub 34
navigation: aids, §III.3.j, using mountains, Tim Octavian (see also Augustus), Avi 279
27, 31, using stars (?), Tim 32 Oestrymnic gulf, Avi 95
navy, Roman, in Black Sea, Arr 51–2, 62, 95 Oestrymnici, Avi 155
Nearchos, voyage, Jub 2096 Oestrymnides (islands), Avi 96, 130
Nelkynda, PME 54–6 Oestrymnides (people; see also Ostidiaioi),
Nicaea (in Bithynia), Exp 49 Avi 113
Nicomedia (in Bithynia), Exp 49 Oestrymnis (Portugal?), Avi 91, 154–7
nights (see also under days), length, Pyt 15, 19, oikoumenē: breadth, Era 47–8, 53, Hip 22,
23, 28, 30 Art 4245–6, 7, 818–19, Agm 2, 18–19, Mkn b 16,
Nikomedean Periodos, Ch. 17 Hyp 39; centrality, DM 31; coastal length,
Nikomedes, king of Pergamon, Nik 2 Agm 10; created by gods, DP 1168–79;
Nile: Hek 92, Art 168, Pos 42, DP 220–31, Exp dimensions, PS 113, Pyt 2–3, Dik 4, 10, 11,
34, 36; as boundary, DP 230–1; cataracts, Era 25–6, 298–9, 31, 37, 41, Isi b 3–4, Mkn b
Jub 454; cause of its rise, Eud 30, Dik 14, Era 14, Hyp 1–2; diversity, Agc 66–7; divisions,
115; course, Agc 23, Jub 452–4, 169–10; Delta, Hip 26–31; extent, Era 15, 24, 26, 29, 31,
Hek 96; described, Era 89; distances, Art 41; form, §III.3.b, Eud 4, Era 295–7, 30, 38,
106; names, Jub 453–4; origin of name, PsP 47, 57–8, DP 4–7, Agm 2; length, Art 4242–4,
16; search for source, §III.3.k; sources, Jub 815–17, Pos 23.6, Agm 2, 15–17, Mkn b 16, Hyp
451, 168; tributaries, Agc b 38, Art 988 39; N–S extent, Agc 67; W limit, Exp 59
nilios, Jub 14 Okeanos: DM 34, DP 3–4; and Homer, Pos 33;
Nomades (see also nomads), AWP 182–4, Agc by Asia, DP 628–35; divisions, DM 35, DP
62b1, Art 987 26–57; N parts, Hyp 45; S parts, Hyp 45;
nomads (see also Nomades): in E. Africa, Agc western, Mkn b 22–3
37; Trogodytai, Art 9817 Okelis, PME 7, 25–6
non-violence, among Fish-eaters, Agc 41 Olbia, Eux 89
North Africa, apes, Pos 57 Old Man of the Sea, DB 49
North Pole, Pyt 1 olive oil, traded, PME 6, 32
northern hemisphere, Era 295 olives, traded, PME 7
North-west Greece, PS 28–33 olive-trees, and tides, Agc 110
Notitiae, various, §VI.1.f n. Olynthos, and Philip II, Agc 21
Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, §VI.1.f n., Ombrikoi (Umbrians), PS 16
DB intr. Onesikritos, voyage, Jub 2096
 selective index • 1183

Ophiodes I., Agc 84, Art 986 Patrokles, criticized, Era 48–9, Hip 23
Ophiussa, Avi 148, 152, 172, 196 Patroklos: patron of sailors, Arr 233; votives to,
Opone, PME 13 Arr 213
opposites, and similars, DM 51–3 patronage, and geographical writing, §VII.1.e,
oppression, by Ptolemaic empire, §III.4.f §II.2, Nik 1–64, 103–8
oracles: of Achilles, Arr 223; quoted, DB 23 & Paulinus (Suetonius), expedition, Jub 3
n. Pausanias of Antioch, §VI.4.c, Nik intr.
orientation, of cities, AWP 3–6 Pausanias of Damascus, §VI.4.c, Nik intr.
origins, of river & mountain names, PsP Pausanias of Magnesia, §VI.1.d
passim pearl-fishing, Isi b 20, PME 35
Orikoi, PS 27 pearls: Jub 18, 39; traded, PME 56, 59, 61, 63
Oropos, HK 16–7 Pelion (Mt), HK 21–11, 4
Orosius, §VI.1.f Peloponnese: CS 559–624, Eud 55–8, 60–2,
orpiment, traded, PME 56 64, PS 40–6, 49–55, Dik 1, Nik 511–34, DP
Osdroena, Exp 22 403–22, Exp 52; beginning of Hellas, HK 31;
Osismioi, Pyt 12 circumference, Art 75, Isi b 6; dimensions,
Ostidiaioi (see also Oestrymnides), Pyt 25, 12 Agm 24, Avi 152–4; distance to Africa, Era
Ostiones, Art 157 69
Ostrich-eaters, Agc 58, Art 9811 Peneios, R., DK 33
ostriches, Agc 58 peninsulas, largest, Mkn b 18
Other, the: ancient response, §III.2.c; not peoples (see also nations; races): bizarre, SK
frightening, Agc 16; tolerance of, Era 46 8, 14, Hek 103, Eud 31; disappearing, Isi b
Outer sea, western, Mkn b 22–3 11; extinct, Era 98; foreign, §III.2.c; in geo-
Ouxisame (Ushant), Pyt 25 graphical writing, §III.3.l; mythical, SK 14,
oysters, in Bosporos, DB 37 Hek 100, Era 17, 196; on Earth, DP 1166–79
Ozene, PME 48–9 pepper, traded, PME 49, 56
peraia, of Rhodes, Art 91
Pagasai, gulf of, Art 79 perfumes, in Arabia, Agc 99, 101, 103
Paionia, Hek 47 Pergamon, kings, Nik 2, 16–18, 48–64
Paktolos, origin of name, PsP 7 periēgēsis: as form of writing, §III.1.c, §III.2.a;
Palaisimoundou, PME 61 defined, §III.1
Palatinus Heidelbergensis 398, §VIII.2.a Perimetros of the Pontos, ch. 36 appendix
palm fruits, Jub 29 periodos, defined, §III.1
Pamphylia: PS 101; distances, Sta 214–32 periodos gēs, as form of writing, §III.1.a,
Pangaios, origin of name, PsP 34 §III.2.a
Pannonia, Exp 57 ‘periplographic genre’, §II3.a
Pantikapaion, Eux 67, 78 bis periploi: as group of texts, Mnp a 3, Mkn c
Paphlagonia: PS 90, Exp 44; distances, Mnp a 2–3; functional, §III.1.b; literary, §III.1.b;
9; Markianos as governor, Mkn f 44 variable quality, Mkn c 1–2
papyrus, from Alexandria, Exp 36 periplous: as form of writing, §III.1.b, §III.2.a;
parallels: dividing oikoumenē, Agm 5; through defined, §III.1; structure, Mkn b 110
Mediterranean, Dik 11, Era 47, 50, Hip 24; Periplous of the Euxine, see Arrian;
beginnings, Eud 48; of latitude, Era 26, 29, ­Pseudo-Arrian
61; of longitude, Pyt 2, 7 Periplus maris Erythraei, Ch. 25
paraplous, as form of writing, §III.1.b permanence (see also change): DM 54–5; divine
parasangs, Pos 18 basis, DM 6
Parisinus supplément grec 443, §VIII.2.b Perse, wife of Helios, Hek 15
Parisinus supplément grec 443a, §VIII.2.a Persia, DP 1053–79
Parthians, DP 1039–52 Persian empire: Hek 81–8, DM 6; and progress
past, the, in geographical writing, §II.2 of geography, §II.1
1184 • selective index

Persian gulf: PME 35–6, Mkn b 115, Hyp 35; Piraeus: HK, appendix; anonymous descrip-
described, Era 87; rivers, Jub 2099; size, Agm tion, §VI.4.c
12 pirates, Jub 6, 38, PME 16, 20, 53
Persian kings, exploration under, §III.3.k Pisidia, Art 85
Persian sea, see Persian gulf pistachios, Pos 59
Persians: as Other (?), AWP intr.; customs, Exp pitch, Eud 54
19; name, Agc 6–7 place, sense of, DB 1
Persis, Era 83, Mkn b 123–5 place-names (see also under names), origins,
Peutinger Map, §VI.1.f DM 3, PsP passim, Agm 4, DB 7, 24, 60
Pharmacias, DB 68 plagues: of animals, Agc 60, 91; of insects, Agc
Pharo, in Bosporos, DB 78 51, 60
Phasis (city), Arr 9 plains, stony, Pos 39
Phasis (region), AWP 15 planets, DM 23–4
Phasis (river): PS 81, Era 108, Nik b 24, Art plants, medicinal/magical, HK 23–6, 4, Jub 31,
165, DP 691–4, Eux 44–7; as boundary, Arr PsP 1, 3–5, 7–8, 10, 13–14, 17–25
192, Eux 72; origin of name, PsP 5; proper- Plataiai, HK 111
ties of water, Arr 8 Plato, epigraph before Ch. 4
Pherekrates (comic poet), quoted, HK 125 Pliny the Elder: §VI.1.c; as source, §VIII.3
Phidalia, DB 59 PME, Ch. 25
Philae, location, Jub 5 poetic genres, §III.2.a
Philainou Bomoi, PS 1093 poetry: §VII.5.b, §VI.3; quoted (see also under
Phileas of Athens: §VI.4.b; on Macedonia & Empedokles; epigrams; Homer; tragedies;
Hellas, DK 35–8 Xenon), HK 15–6, 11, 17, 22, 25, 30, 33, 7, Era 51, DB
Philesios, statue of, Arr 21–2 23 & n.
Philip II of Macedonia: Art 161, DB 27, 65; poles, Pyt 1, Hip 40, 42, DM 21
and Olynthos, Agc 21 political change, §III.4.f
Philip V of Macedonia, war v. Byzantion, DB Polybios of Megalopolis: as geographer,
65 §VI.2.g; and Hanno’s text, Han intr.; on
Philiskos (comic poet), quoted, HK 130 Eratosthenes, Era 6, 55; on Hannibal’s route,
philosophy: and geographical writing, §VI.2.g; on Pytheas, Pyt 6, 11, Era 18
§VII.1.e; early, ArP intr., Eud 37 Pomponius Mela, §VI.1.b
Phoenicia: PS 1042–3; distances, Art 97; places Ponērōn Polis, Art 161
in, Art 54 Pontos Euxeinos (see also Black Sea): circum-
Phoenicians: DP 905–22; at Kerne, PS 1127–11; ference, Agm 11; dimensions, Hyp 41, 51–3;
in W. Libyē, Era 92 form, DB 2
Phoinikōn, in Arabia, Agc 87–8 Pontus (provinces), Eux 23
Phokaians, and Massalia, Art 1 Pontus (region), Exp 44
Phokis, CS 517–26, PS 37, 61, Nik 485–7, DK ‘popular’ geography, §II.2
72–81 Portus Mulierum, origin of name, DB 60
Photios I: Bibliotheke, §VI.2.k; on Ktesias, Poseidippos (comic poet), quoted, HK 111, 37
§III.3.m Poseidon, temple, DB 9
Phrourentanoi, Art 37 Poseidonios of Apameia, Ch. 19
Phrygia, PS 94, Tim 27, Exp 42 power, of the god, DM 62
phylon, translation of, §X.3.c precious stones: PME 10, DP 1075–7, 1102–7,
physical geography, §II.1 1118–22; traded, PME 56, 61
pigs, horned, Agc b 6 precipitation: causes, DM 42; varieties, DM 42
Pillars of Herakles (see also strait of Gibraltar): preservation, of geographical writings, §VII.2,
PS 1116, 1121, b 5, Tim 7, Era 10, Art 66, Pos §VIII
50, DM 34, DP 64–8, 72–3, 335–6, Avi 86–9, Prettanikai Is., Mkn b 241–9
341–74, 417–18, Mkn b 13; location, Dik 5, priests, Aithiopian, Art 44a3 fin.
Era 64, Art 121, Mkn b 24 prime meridian, Era 53, 58, 61
 selective index • 1185

printed editions, early, §VIII.2.a Pythian Melody, Tim 8

professions, and geographical writing, §II.2 pythons, Agc 80, Art 9816
progress, in geography, relation to empires,
§II.1 quotations: of lost works, §VIII.3; of verse, see
Prometheus, Era 23, Mna 52, Pos 39, PsP 53, under Ephoros; Eratosthenes; poetry
Arr 115, 192, Eux 53, 71
Propontis: Nik 713–16; dimensions, Hyp 51; races (see also nations; peoples), on Earth, DP
distances, Art 74 1166–79
prose genres, §III.2.a rainbows, DM 47
prose writing, §VII.5.a, §VI.1 rainwater, AWP 8–9
prosperity, of Sabaioi & Gerrhaioi, Agc 104 rape, PsP 31, 41, 71, 81, 171, 181, 201, 11, 241, 25
Provence, cities, Art 2 bis, Exp 20
proverbs, explained, Mna 13, 47 Ravenna Cosmography, §VI.1.f
Pseudo-, meaning, §VII.4 ravens, Art 68
Pseudo-Aristotle, De mundo, Ch. 24 realgar, Jub 34
Pseudo-Arrian, Periplous of the Erythraian Red Sea (see also Arabian gulf; Erythraian s.),
sea (PME), Ch. 25 Pos 46, Tim 15; islands, Art 9814, Jub 23; W
Pseudo-Arrian, Periplous of the Euxine coast, Jub 23
(Eux.), Ch. 36 regions, in geographical writing, §III.3.l
Pseudo-Hippolytos (?), Stadiasmos, Ch. 31 religion: Aithiopian, Art 44a3, 44b9.1–2; Brettan-
pseudonymous texts, §VII.4 ic, Art 68; Egypt, Eud 24–6, Exp 34, 35; in
Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers . . ., Ch. 26 early Greece, ArP intr.; in Etruria, Exp 56; at
Pseudo-Skylax: Ch. 7; as source, PS b 4, 7 Rome, Exp 55
‘Pseudo-Skymnos’, Ch. 17 revolutions, of heavenly bodies, DM 67
Psophis, foundation, Hek 25 Rhagai, Pos 24
Ptolemaic empire, oppressive, §III.4.c Rhapta, PME 16
Ptolemaïs Theron, Agc 86, b 37, Art 987, PME 3 rhinoceroses: Agc 72, Art 9815, PME 4; horn,
Ptolemy II Philadelphos: Agc 1, 20, b 35, 7, traded, PME 6, 17
Art 985, 7; and a snake, Agc 80b; and ele- Rhizophagoi, Agc 51, Art 989
phant-hunting (?), Agc 57; temple, DB 41; Rhodanus (Rhône): Avi 626–8, 631–50,
urged to attack Nubia (?), Agc 11–18 674–88, 691–7; not boundary of Europe &
Ptolemy III Euergetes, Agc 41b Libya, Avi 693–7
Ptolemy of Alexandria: §VI.1.e; on Crete, Rhodes: CS 653–70, PS 993, Exp 63; circum-
§VI.1.e ference, Art 90, Isi b 13; distances from, Sta
Punica, distances in, Sta 113–24 272; etymology, Hek 33; in Eratosthenes,
punishment, capital, in Aithiopia, Art 44b5 Era 60; peraia, Art 53
Purcell, N., §II.1 Rhodope (Mt), origin of name, PsP 113
purple, in islands, Jub 7 Rhône, Art 2
Purpurarii Is., Jub 8 rice, traded, PME 14, 31, 37, 41
Pygmaioi, invented, Art 44a1 rivers: Hek 38, 42, 49, Eud 45; Arkadia, Mna
Pyramids, Art 114 14; Black Sea, Nik b 7–8, 11–12, 24, 30, 34,
Pyrene/Pyrenees, Avi 473, 533, 555, 559, 562, 36–7; greatest in Europe, PS 69; Hyrkania,
565 Era 71; India, Era 78, DP 1137–48; Libyē,
Pyrrhias Cyon, DB 57 Art 103, Pos 43; mythology, Hek 26; names,
Pythagoras, Eud 78 SC 1, PsP passim; Persian gulf, Jub 2099;
Pythagoreanism, ArP intr. ranked, Hyp 29–31; underground, Era 67;
Pytheas of Massalia: Ch. 8: and Eratos- variation, Agc 66; western Asia, Era 71, 74
thenes, Era 18; and Eudoxos, Pyt intr.; roadsteads: Levant, Sta 128; N. Africa, Sta 3, 7,
and ­Hipparchos, Hip 37; denounced by 9, 30, 51, 99, 126
Polybios, §VI.2.g; impugned, Pyt 2, 5–6, 78, rock crystal, Jub 35–6
9–11, 14 rock pythons, Agc 80
1186 • selective index

Rogues’ City, Art 161 science, evolution of, §VII.1.b

Roman culture, and Greek, §III.1 init. scientific aims, §III.1.b
Roman empire, and progress of geography, scorpions, Agc 60
§II.1 sea, the (see also Ocean; seas): in geographical
Rome: PS 5, Exp 55; as ideal land, §III.3.n writing, §III.3.j; changed into land, §III.4.d
Root-eaters, Agc 51, Art 989 sea-caves, Agc 95
roses, and etymology, Hek 33 sea distances: SK 10; Aegean, PS 113; Black
rounding, of numbers, §IV.c Sea, Hek 59–60; measurement, §IV.b
Rutilius Namatianus, §VI.1.f sea levels, §III.4.c, Era 14, Hip 19
seals: coexisting with people, Agc 42; in Red
Sabaioi: Art 9819; kings, Agc 102; land, Agc 99, Sea, Agc 89b
102–4 sealstones, Eratosthenes’ theory, Era 5222–9,
Sabaites ethnos, PME 23 31–2, 34–6, Hip 26–8
Sacred Aithiopes (or Western?), PS 1125–12 ‘sea lung’, Pyt 6
sacrifices, to Achilles, Arr 222–4 sea-monsters, Agc 85, Jub 2099, Jub 32, DP
saffron, traded, PME 24 596–602
Sagaris, origin of name, PsP 12 Sea of Azov, see Maiotis
sailing seasons, PME 14, 24 seas: connexions, Hip 19; depth, §III.3.f, Era
sailing times, §IV.b 134, Pos 35; dimensions, Era 12–14, Agm
Salamis, CS 557–8 8, Mkn b 17, Hyp 40–4; individual, in geo-
Salike, Art 49, Mkn b 18, 135, Hyp 25, 27; graphical writing, §III.3.l
see also Taprobane seasons: and climate, Eud 23; and health, AWP
Salmydessos, Eux 117 10–11, 13, 24
saloi, see roadsteads seaweed, Agc 85, Hyp 32
salt, aromatic, Pos 28 Sebastopolis (see also Dioskourias), Arr 103–4,
Samnites, PS 11 171, Eux 48, 55
Samothrake, Nik 679–95 Second Sophistic, §VI.1.d
sanctuaries (see also altars; temples): Asia Seed-eaters, Agc 52, Art 989
Minor, Sta 154; Bosporos, DB 12–13, 26, Sekoanos, Art 19
34, 36, 52, 56, 75; Crete, Sta 318, 336, 338; Seleucia, Exp 28
Cyprus, Sta 297, 307; N. Africa, Sta 4, 14, Seleukis, organization, Pos 55
38, 49 Seleukos of Babylon, Pos 38
sandarach, Jub 34 semi-precious stones, traded, PME 39, 48–9,
Sannoi, Eux 50 56
Saône, Art 19 Semos of Delos, Nik intr.
Sapra Thalassa, DB 23 Semystra (nymph), DB 24
Sarapis’s I., PME 33 Seneca the Younger, epigraph before Ch. 32
Sardinia, see Sardo sense of place, DB 1
Sardinian sea: Pos 35; coasts, Nik 196–263 Seres (see also next entry), Jub 24, DP 752–7,
Sardo (Sardinia): PS 7; visibility, Era 65, Art 69 Mkn b 144
Sarmatia (see also Sauromatai), Mkn b 238–40, Serike, end of known world, Hyp 19
Hyp 10, Eux 74 sesame oil, traded, PME 14, 41
Sarraceni, Exp 20 Sesatai, PME 65
Satyros (explorer), Agc b 35, Art 985 shamanism, possible, ArP intr.
Saubatha, PME 27 shape of oikoumenē, Pos 12, 15–16
Saunitai (Samnites), PS 11 shells: Jub 18; traded, PME 17
Sauromatai (see also Sarmatia; Syrmatai): ships, speed, Mkn c 5
AWP 17, Eux 74 shipwrecks: Agc 84–5; at Barygaza, PME 46; in
schoinoi: Art 100; distances in, Isi a 1; length, Black Sea, Arr 51–2
Era 36 Sicily: PS 7, 13, Nik 264–82, DP 467–76, Exp
scholarship, modern, §XI.1–3 65; dimensions, Tim 19; distances from, Art
 selective index • 1187

72; form, Pos 53; legends, Mnp b 9; mythol- Spania, Exp 59

ogy, Mna 27; strongholds, Pos 54 Spate, O. H. K., quoted, before §I
sickness, see health Spermatophagoi, Agc 52, Art 989
Sidon, Pos 30 spherical Earth, §III.3.a, Dik 12, Era 295
Sikyon, PS 41 spherical geometry, Hip 45
silk (see also Seres): from Tylos, Jub 24; traded, sphinxes, Agc 74
PME 56, 64 sphragides, see sealstones
silphium, PS 1082 spices: Agc 89, 99, 103; traded, PME 10
silver: corrupting effect, Pos 31–2; in Arabia, spiders, Agc 60
Agc 104; traded, PME 6, 8, 10, 24, 28, 49 spindle whorl, form of oikoumenē, Era 296, 30
similars, and opposites, DM 51–3 spondylos, see spindle whorl
similes, and divine power, DM 63–13 Sporades, Nik 579–86, DK 144–50
Simmias, Ptolemaic explorer, Agc 41b springs: AWP 7; at Gadeira, Art 67; hot, Agc
Simoi, Agc 58, Art 9811 82, Art 985; magical, Eud 46–7, 60, 71–2, 76
Simounda (see also Taprobane), Hyp 25 Sri Lanka, see Salike; Taprobane
Sinai (people) (see also gulf of Sinai): Mkn b stade: as unit of distance, §IV.a; disagreements
112, 16, 43–4, Hyp 24; territory, Mkn b 147 over, Mkn b 12; length, Era 36; problems of,
Sinope, Nik b 31, Arr 145, DP 775–9, Eux 21 Mnp a 5, Mkn b 25, c 5
Sipylon, origin of name, PsP 94 Stadiasmos (Pseudo-Hippolytos?), Ch. 31
Sirius, rising, Hip 43 stagnant water, AWP 7
Skamandros, origin of name, PsP 13 stars: catalogued, Hip 11; circumpolar, Pyt 26,
Skandiai Is., Mkn b 234 30; fixed, DM 23; for navigation, Tim 32 (?),
Skylax of Karyanda: Ch. 2 (see also Agc 106; new, Hip 7
Pseudo-Skylax): identity, SK 9; scope, statues: of boy, in Bosporos, DB 93; of Hadri-
SK 12; voyage, SK 1; writings, SK 13 an, Arr 12; traded, PME 28
Skymnos of Chios, Ch. 14 Stephanos of Byzantion: §VI.2.j; as source,
Skyros, Art 117 §VIII.3; translation of, §X.1
Skythia: Hek 58, PS 681–3, Nik b 15a; Black Sea Stoma, see Bosporos
coast, Eux 89–116 stones, magical, Eud 8, PsP 1, 6–7, 9–14, 17–25
Skythian bows, see bows storms, Black Sea, Arr 33–4, 43–4
Skythians (see also Sauromatai): ArP 1, AWP Strabo: §VI.1.a; as source, §VIII.3; as universal
17–22, Era 197; customs, Eud 36 geographer, §II.1; commended, Mkn c 3
Skythike, see Skythia strait of Gibraltar (see also Pillars of Herakles):
slaves: in Skythia, AWP 213; traded, PME 8, 13, PS b 5, Tim 7, Nik 139–47; length, Hyp 48
31 (female), 36, 49 (m. and f.) Straton, on depths of seas, Era 134
snakes (see also guinea worms): Agc 84, Art Strouthophagoi, Agc 58, Art 9811
986, 16, PME 38, 40, 55; Aithiopia, Art Strymon, origin of name, PsP 11
44b105–6; crested, Jub 17; giant, Agc 80, style, literary: ArP 5, Hek 3, Eud 2, Agc 21, b
Jub 17, 19; in Iberia, Avi 156–7; poisonous, 8, Nik 33–44; of Ps.-Skylax, PS b 6
Agc 100 subterranean people, SK 6
Snub-nosed (people), Agc 58, Art 9811 Suda, §VI.2.l
social change, §III.4.f Suetonius Paulinus, expedition, Jub 3
solstices: Hip 40; summer, Era 33, 35 sufferings, of gold-miners, Agc 24
Sophokles, quoted, HK 117 sugar (cane), traded, PME 14
Sousiane, Mkn b 120–2 suicide, PsP 1–9, 11–14, 16–23, 25
southern hemisphere, Era 15 Suidas, see Suda
Sozopolis (Apollonia), Eux 114 Sun: DM 24; and tides, Pyt 20, Dik 13; appear-
space: in geographical writing, §VI.2 init.; ance in tropics, Agc 107; maximum eleva-
maritime, control of, §III.3.j tion, Pyt 3; where it sleeps, Pyt 15, 30
Spain (see also Hispania; Iberia): Pos 37, Exp sunsets: at Gadeira, Art 59; at sea, Pos 47
59; flora, Pos 51; metals, Pos 21 surveyors, §IV.a
1188 • selective index

surviving works, §VIII.1 temperate zones: AWP 12, Dik 11, Era 28,
Syagros, PME 30 322, 4, Hip 36
Sybaris, fate of, Nik 337–60 temples (see also altars; sanctuaries): of Achil-
Syene: Era 53, Art 106; latitude, Era 29, 33, 35 les, Arr 21; of Artemis, at Ephesos, Art 88;
(?), 39, 53, 61; location, Art 112, Jub 5 to Achilles, Eux 95; in Bosporos, DB 9, 14,
Symplegadai (-es) (see also Kyaneai), Era 114, 41, 56–7, 62–3, 75, 92; to Hadrian, Arr 22
125, DB 3 testimonia: defined, §VII.3; presentation, §IX
Syria: Eud 17, PS 1041, Pos 45, DP 897–926; textiles, PME 6–8, 14, 24, 28, 31–2, 36, 39, 41,
cities, Exp 23–33; distances, Sta 128–53; 48–50, 56, 61, 63–4, Exp 31
economy & society, Exp 31 textual criticism, §VII.2
Syrians, lifestyle, Pos 61 Thapsakos, Era 5229, 36
Syrmatai (see also Sauromatai), Eud 19, PS Thebes (Boiotia): HK 112–22; and Alexander,
68. 5 Agc 21; mythology, Mna 25
Syrteis: DM 34, Era 59, DP 104–8, 198–203, Theodosius (pilgrim), §VI.1.f
477–80 theology, and geographical writing, §VII.1.e
Syrtis Major: PS 109; distances, Sta 85–99 Theon Ochema, Han 16
Syrtis Minor: PS 1108; distances, Sta 100–12 Theophanes of Hermopolis, §VI.1.f
systematization of knowledge, Hek intr. Theriodes gulf, Mkn b 145
Thermodon: DP 772–82; origin of name, PsP
Tabula Peutingeriana, §VI.1.f 15
Tanagra, HK 18–10, 125 Thespiai, HK 125
Tanaïs: DP 659–79; and Maiotis, Arr 191, Eux Thesprotoi, PS 30
78; as boundary, Arr 191, DP 14–17, 661–3, Thessaly: CS 681–759 (unnamed), PS 64–5,
DB 2, Eux 70–1, 74; mouths, Art 166; origin HK 21, Mna 17–18, Nik 592–617, DK 40,
of name, PsP 14 Exp 52; relationship to Hellas, HK 31, 36–8
Tanos (Itanos?), Art 34 Theudosia, Eux 80
Taprobane (see also Palaisimoundou; Salike; Thina, PME 64–5
Simounda): Era 7814, Hip 20, Art 49, DP Thinai, Mkn b 116, Hyp 24
591–6, Mkn b 135–6; location, Era 57; people, Thoule (see also Thyle): Pyt 22, 6–7, 13, 23, 26,
Art 113; size, Era 102 29, Era 29, Isi b 5, DP 580–6, Hyp 13; search
Taras, gulf of, Art 71 for, §III.3.k
Tarrakōn (Tarraco), Art 63, Avi 519 Thrace: Hek 48, 50–1, PS 67, Era 45, Mna 16,
Tarrakonesia: coastal distances, Mkn b 218; Nik 664–78, 696–712, 729, DP 429–30, Exp
defined, Mkn b 216; dimensions, Mkn b 217 50; Black Sea coast, Eux 97–118; places, Art
Tartessians, Avi 113–14, 179, 254, 423–4, 428, 116
463 Thracian Bosporos, see Bosporos
Tartessiorum Mons, Avi 308 Thracian Chersonese, PS 675–6, Nik 698–712
Tartessos (-is, -us): Pyt 9, Era 62, Nik 161–3, Thracians: Era 197; of Bithynia, Arr 125
198–9, Art 60, DP 337, Avi 54, 85, 223, 269; Thucydides of Athens, §VI.2.b
end of Libya, Avi 331–2; gulf of, Avi 265; thunderstorms, DM 46
river, Avi 225, 284 Thyle (see also Thoule), Art 4
Taulantioi, PS 261 tides: §III.4.e, Pyt 16, Era 1411, Art 60, Pos
Taurike Chersonesos, Nik b 14 34, 36, DM 410; and Homer, Pos 33; and
Taurike, Eux 81–5 Moon, Pyt 25; and Sun, Pyt 20, Dik 13; at
Tauroëis, Art 20 Barygaza, PME 45–6; ebb and flow, Pos 36;
Tauroi (mountains in Red Sea), Art 987 in Bracheia sea, Hyp 33; in geographical
Tauros (range in Asia), DP 638–49 writing, §III.3.h; in India, PME 45; in In-
Taÿgetos (Mt), origin of name, PsP 173 dian Ocean, Agc 50; theories of, Agc 109–10
teak, traded, PME 36 Tigris: DP 983–91; alluviation, Jub 21; origin
technical terms, translation of, §X.3 of name, PsP 24
Telmessos, Art 55 Timaea (tower), DB 77
 selective index • 1189

Timagetos, on harbours, Tim intr. tropics, distance between, Hip 44

Timavus, R., Pos 40 Troy, plain of, §VI.4.c fin.
timber, traded, PME 36 tsunamis, §III.4.b, DM 410 (?)
time: in geographical writing, §VI.2 init.; Tuan, Y.-F., §II.1
influence of, Agc 67 turnips, in Dalmatia, Pos 63
Timosthenes of Rhodes: Ch. 10; criticized, Turtle-eaters, Agc 47b, Art 9814
Tim 4–6, 23, Mkn c 3 turtle-hunting, Agc 47
tin: Avi 98, 259–61, 293, 296; deposits, Nik Tuscia, Exp 56
399–400; trade, Nik 165; and Mt Cassius, Two Ravens (harbour), Art 68
Avi 259–61; traded, PME 7, 28, 49, 56 Tylos, Jub 24
Tmolos (Mt), origin of name, PsP 75 Tyras (river), Nik b 11, Eux 90–2
Tomeas (Tomis), Eux 100–1 Tyre, Exp 24
tools, traded, PME 6, 17 Tyrrhenoi (Etruscans), PS 5, 17
topaz, Agc 84, Art 986, Jub 36, 38
torrid zones, Era 323, Hip 36, Pos 10, 19 Umbrians, PS 16
tortoises, PME 3, 30 underground people, SK 6
tortoiseshell, PME 4, 7, 10, 13, 16–17, 30–1, unedo (fruit), Jub 30
33, 56, 61, 63 unguents, traded, PME 24, 49
towers (see also lighthouses; Timaea): Asia units of measurement, §IV
Minor, Sta 185, 237–8; Black Sea, Nik b 26, unknown lands: Mkn b 112, 16, 43–4, 46,
Eux 35; Bosporos, DB 12, 77, 88; Crete, Sta ­beyond Azania, PME 18; of Thinai,
345, 349; Iberia, Art 167iv; N. Africa, Sta 13, PME 66
38, 41, 78, 96, 100–2, 124 Utica, PS 1115
town planning, HK 11, 12, 23, 27–8
trade: Arabia, Exp 38; as motivation towards Varro, on maps, §V.4
geography, §II.1; Asia Minor, Exp 39–42, 45, Vatopedinus 655, §VIII.2.a
47–9; at Kerne, PS 1127; Crete, Exp 63; Cy- Veneti, PS 19
prus, Exp 63; Danube lands, Exp 57; Egypt, verse writing, §VII.5.b, §VI.3
Exp 35–6; Gaul, Exp 58; Italy, Exp 53–5; vessels (utensils), traded, PME 6, 8
North Africa, Exp 60–1; Sicily, Exp 63; Vicarello cups, §VI.1.f
Spain, Exp 59; Syria, Exp 24, 27–33 passim; vines, at Damascus, Pos 58
Thrace, Exp 50–3 violets, and etymology, Hek 33
tragedies, quoted (see also under Aeschylus), visibility, at sea, Art 69
HK 117, 33 volcanoes, §III.4.b, Han 14 n., 15–16, b 2, b
translations, presentation, §X 395, b 7, Pyt 27, Nik 257–61, Pos 41, 44, DM
transliteration, of Greek, §X.1 48
transmission: of geographical writings, §VII.2, Volsci, PS 9
§VIII votives, on Achilles’ I., Arr 212–3, 221–2, Eux 95
Trapezous, Arr 11, Eux 36 vulcanism, §III.4.b
trees, in Spain, Pos 51
tribute, paid to Rome, Arr 112 waters: AWP 7–9, 194; variation, Agc 66
trigonometry, spherical, Hip 45 wealth: of Sabaioi, Art 9819; of Sabaioi & Ger-
Trinakria, name for Sicily, DP 467 rhaioi, Agc 104
Troad, SK 4, Hek 69, Eud 10, PS 95, PS b 1, weapons: Aithiopian, Art 44b84; traded, PME
Tim 25–6, Mna 41 17; fire-hardened, PS 1129, Agc 53b2
Trogodytai: SK 6, Han 7, Jub 6; customs, Agc weather: causes, Tim 38364b 21–365a 5, DM 26, 41, 11;
62–4, 66–7, 84, Art 9817; pirates, Jub 38 forecasting, Hip 9; violent, §III.4.b
Trogodytes’ Is., Jub 12 wells: Eud 7, Era 33183; at Gadeira, Pos 38
Trogodytike: Agc 86b, b 35, Art 985–14, Jub 19, Western Aithiopes, PS 1125–12, Nik 157
23; animals, Agc 73–7 Western Asia: Isi b 10, Hek 81–8; distances,
Trojan war, Hek 66, Mna 41 Era 729, Hip 31–2, Isi a 1; peoples, Era 72,
1190 • selective index

81, 83, Exp 3–15; regions, Era 73, 75, 82, 83, 184; of Paphlagonia & Pontus, Exp 44; of
DP 897–1079; rivers, Era 71, 74 Sauromatai, AWP 172–3; rulers, Agc b 38, Art
western central Greece, DK 24–57 988, Exp 20; Skythian, AWP 202, 212–3; see
Western Sea (Ocean), DP 58–68 also Portus Mulierum
wild animals, PME 38, 40, 50, 55 wonders, in geographical writing, §III.3.m
Wild Men, Agc 61, Art 9810 Wood-eaters, Agc 52
wind rose: monumentalized (?), Tim intr.; of words (see also etymology), notable, Mna 10
eight, Agm 6; of twelve, Agm 7
winds: AWP 3–6, 192, Tim 18, 33, 38, Era 9; Xenon (unknown poet), quoted, HK 16
Aristotle on, ch. 10 app.; causes, DM 43; Xenophon of Athens: §VI.2.c, Arr 11, 23, 125,
dangers, Arr 32–53; in Black Sea, Eux 39, 93; Eux 5, 32, 50, 117; cited, Arr 125, 163; expe-
in tropics, Agc 107b–108; morning, Eux 44; dition, Arr 125
names, Tim 3, 18, DM 44, Arr 42–3, 61, 21,
Agm 6–7, Hyp 37–8; offshore in morning, Zeugma, Isi a 11
Arr 32; peoples in direction of each, Agm Zeus: titles, DM 71–3; see also god, the; and next
7; seasonal, DM 45; translation of names, entry
§X.3.b; violent, DM 46 Zeus Ourios (Hieron), Arr 122, 25, Eux 1–3,
wine, traded, PME 6–7, 17, 24, 36–7, 39, 49, 56 119–21
Woman’s City, Art 136 Zmiinyi I., see Leuke
women: Aithiopian, Art 44a3; at Thebes, HK zodiac, DM 23–4
117–19; dress, Art 64; health, AWP 33, 44, 76, zones, of latitude: §III.3.f, Era 28–9, 32, Hip
8, 103–6, 12; geographers, §VI.4.c fin.; in gold 15, 136, 44, Pos 22.1–3.4, 4, Hyp 2; number,
mines, Agc 26; of Heliopolis (Syria), Exp 30; Pos 13; see also frigid z.; temperate z.;
of Hellespont, Exp 48; of Nomades, AWP torrid z.