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╇ i

Ptolemy I
ii
╇ iii

Ptolemy I
King and Pharaoh of Egypt

I A N WORT H I NGTON

1
iv

1
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the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

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© Oxford University Press 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
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address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-​i n-​P ublication Data

Names: Worthington, Ian, author.
Title: Ptolemy I : king and pharaoh of Egypt / Ian Worthington.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016006550 (print) | LCCN 2016007840 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190202330 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190202347 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190202354 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Ptolemy I Soter, King of Egypt, –283 B.C. | Egypt—Kings and
rulers—Biography. | Pharaohs—Biography. |
Generals—Macedonia—Biography. | Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.–323 B.C.—
Friends and associates—Biography. | Egypt—History—332–30 B.C.
Classification: LCC DT92 .W67 2016 (print) | LCC DT92 (ebook) |
DDC 932/.021092 [B]—dc 3
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016006550

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
╇ v

CONTENTS

List of Maps and Figuresâ•… vii

Prefaceâ•… ix
Acknowledgmentsâ•… xi
Ancient Works and Abbreviationsâ•… xiii
Mapsâ•… xv

Introduction: From Cleopatra to Ptolemyâ•… 1

1. The Young Ptolemyâ•… 7

2. Invading Persia with Alexanderâ•… 27

3. The Campaign in Afghanistanâ•… 43

4. To India and Backâ•… 53

5. Ptolemy and the Rise of the Successorsâ•… 71

6. Securing Egyptâ•… 89

7. Taking on the Enemyâ•… 107

8. Alexander’s Corpseâ•… 129

9. From Satrap to Kingâ•… 147

10. First among Equalsâ•… 165

11. Ptolemy and Egyptâ•… 185

12. The End—╉and Beyondâ•… 201

v
vi

vi Contents

Appendix 1: Ptolemy’s History of Alexander 213

Appendix 2: The Sources of Information 221
Timeline 225
Bibliography 229
Index 245
╇ vii

LIST OF M A PS A N D FIGU R ES

Maps
1 Alexander’s Empireâ•… xv
2 Greece and Macedoniaâ•… xvi
3 The Hellenistic Worldâ•… xvii
4 Egypt and Syriaâ•… xviii

Figures
1.1 Head of Ptolemyâ•… 12
1.2 Temple relief of Ptolemy at Sharunaâ•… 13
1.3 Head of Ptolemy (statue)â•… 14
1.4 Reconstructed face of Philip IIâ•… 19
1.5 Macedonian phalanx formation carrying sarissasâ•… 21
1.6 Head of Alexander the Great (Pella)â•… 25
5.1 Portrait of Lysimachusâ•… 81
5.2 Portrait of Seleucusâ•… 82
6.1 Portrait of Demetrius Poliorcetesâ•… 102
6.2 Portrait of Cassanderâ•… 104
7.1 Coin portrait of Alexander wearing elephant scalpâ•… 108
7.2 Ptolemy and his wife Bereniceâ•… 114
7.3 The satrap steleâ•… 123
8.1 Alexander’s hearseâ•… 130
8.2 City plan of Alexandriaâ•… 137
8.3 The Pharos lighthouseâ•… 145
9.1 The helepolisâ•… 159
12.1 Portrait of Ptolemy II and his sister wife Arsinoe IIâ•… 206

vii
viii
ix

PR E FAC E

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, is a household name, largely because of how she

was said to have seduced the world’s most powerful men, Julius Caesar and
Mark Antony, in the dying years of the Roman Republic to keep Rome from
annexing her kingdom. In the end, her grand strategy was thwarted when she
and Antony were defeated at the battle of Actium in 31 bc. The following year,
they committed suicide, and Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus, made
Egypt part of the Roman Empire.
The story of Cleopatra, last of the Ptolemaic dynasty, is famous. Less so is
that of her ancestor, who first established the dynasty from which she came
almost 300 years before her own time. His name was Ptolemy. He was from
rugged Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus on the Greek mainland. He
marched with Alexander the Great when he invaded the Persian Empire, and
fought alongside him in his epic battles and sieges, which toppled that empire.
He became one of the king’s elite handpicked bodyguards, but he was never
entrusted with more than minor troop commands. As such, he seemed des-
tined to be one of the peripheral figures in Alexander’s invasion. But the king’s
death in Babylon in 323 bc changed all that. As his former commanders di-
vided up the vast Macedonian Empire from Greece to India among them-
selves, Ptolemy was quick to assert himself in their negotiations, and to take
over Egypt. It was a deliberate choice, showing a surprising cunning and ambi-
tion, which often cost his former comrades dearly.
Ptolemy was now 44 years old. He had opted for a country well away from
what would be the major hotspots of the wars that he knew were inevitable
between Alexander’s Successors, as his surviving senior staff are commonly
called. Sure enough, the Successors were soon waging a series of bloody wars
against each other, lasting for four decades. Ptolemy played his part in these
wars, slowly but surely building up his power base in Egypt, introducing admin-
istrative and economic reforms to make him one of the wealthiest individuals

ix
x

x Pr eface

of the time, and founding the great Library and Museum at Alexandria to make
that city the intellectual center of the entire Hellenistic age. He remained ruler
of Egypt, first as satrap and then as its king and Pharaoh, until he was in his
early eighties, dying in 283 bc. He established an Egyptian Empire, and even
launched an ambitious attempt to capture what all the Successors saw as the
jewel in the crown of possessions: Greece and Macedonia. He did not realize
his ambition to become another Alexander, but he proved to be as ruthless as
any of his opponents, while demonstrating a shrewdness and especially pa-
tience that they lacked. As a king, soldier, statesman, and intellectual, he was
one of a kind, but even as king of Egypt, he remained a Macedonian through
and through. From being one of Alexander’s boyhood friends and rising only
to the rank of bodyguard, Ptolemy surprised everyone by fighting off inva-
sions, invading opponents’ territories, and, against the odds, establishing the
longest lived of the Hellenistic dynasties, which fell with Cleopatra’s death in
30 bc. His achievements helped to shape not only Egypt’s history but also that
of the early Hellenistic world. Now it is time to bring him center stage in that
history.
Ian Worthington
University of Missouri
May 2016
xi

ACK NOW L EDG M EN TS

It is a great pleasure once again to thank Stefan Vranka, my editor, for his will-
ingness to take on this project, his support throughout, and his comments
on the manuscript. I am still amazed he hasn’t severed ties with me yet. I also
thank everyone at Oxford University Press, especially Sarah Svendsen, who
helped guide the book through the production process.
To the anonymous referee who pointed out flaws but still said publish
it: thank you.
Joseph Roisman read the whole book in draft without grumbling too much.
My heartfelt thanks go to him for his many suggestions and catches, and also
to him and Hanna Roisman for their friendship and support over the years,
which mean a lot.
I am also very grateful to Christelle Fischer-​Bovet for her comments on the
chapter to do with Ptolemy and Egypt (11); only she and I know how much she
improved it, and I’m hoping she stays quiet.
My thanks go also to Aidan Dodson for supplying the photograph of the
Satrap Stele (fig. 7.3).
Finally, to my long suffering family, who still won’t accept that sitting in
front of a computer seven days a week writing this stuff is work: thank you for
letting me do what I do without complaining more than half the time.

xi
xii
╇ xiii

A NCI EN T WOR K S A N D A BBR E V I AT IONS

Quotations from Ptolemy’s History (as quoted and paraphrased by later writers),
Diodorus, and Justin are taken from these translations (those of other ancient
writers are by me or are referenced in the notes):

Ptolemy, History
C. A. Robinson, The History of Alexander the Great, vol. 1 (Providence, RI:
1953).

Diodorus
R. M. Geer, Diodorus Siculus 18 and 19.1–╉65, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 9
(Cambridge, MA: 1947).
R. M. Geer, Diodorus Siculus 19.66–╉110 and 20, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 10
(Cambridge, MA: 1954).
F. R. Walton, Diodorus Siculus 21–╉32, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 11
(Cambridge, MA: 1957).

Justin
R. Develin and W. Heckel, Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius
Trogus (Atlanta, GA: 1994).

xiii
xiv

xiv Ancient Works and Abbreviations

The following modern works are abbreviated in the notes to reduce repetition
of bibliographical information:
Austin M. M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the
Roman Conquest: A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation
(Cambridge: 1981).
BNJ Ian Worthington (editor-​in-​chief), Brill’s New Jacoby (Leiden: 2007–​).
FGrH F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der grieschischen Historiker (Berlin/​
Leiden: 1926–​).
Map 1 Alexander’s Empire
xvi

Map 2 Greece and Macedonia

Map 3 The Hellenistic World
xviii

Map 4 Egypt and Syria

╇ xix

Ptolemy I
xx
1

Introduction
From Cleopatra to Ptolemy

For her own person,

It beggared all description: she did lie
In her pavilion, cloth-​of-​gold of tissue,
O’erpicturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature.

So Shakespeare describes the most famous of the Egyptian queens, Cleopatra

(VII), in his Antony and Cleopatra (II.2.198–​202). His image of her is contin-
ued in the many movies and TV series in which she features: a femme fatale,
supposedly drop-​dead gorgeous, who ruled Egypt from 55 to 30 bc, a turbu-
lent time when Rome had annexed almost all of the Mediterranean and Near
East into its empire, leaving Egypt dangerously isolated. The Egypt she ruled
was wealthy, powerful, exotic, corrupt, and an intellectual jewel in the ancient
world thanks to the great Library and Museum at Alexandria. Cleopatra was
more than just Queen of Egypt, though: she was Egypt—​thus at the end of
the play Octavian tells a kneeling Cleopatra, “I pray you, rise; rise, Egypt”
(V.2.138).1
Cleopatra used her charms, the play leads us to believe, to seduce the two
most powerful men of the late Roman Republic, Julius Caesar and Mark
Antony. She had sons by them, and she and Antony even married and ruled
Egypt together from Alexandria. There they lived a life of luxury and sexual de-
bauchery. All that came to an end in 31 with the defeat of the Egyptian fleet at
the famous battle of Actium. The following year Octavian (the future emperor
Augustus) marched on Alexandria. To prevent capture, Antony committed

1
  The bibliography on Cleopatra is enormous: see, for example, Rice 1999; Walker and Higgs
2001; Burstein 2004; Ashton 2008; Roller 2010; more popular studies include Schiff 2010 and
Fletcher 2011.

1
2

2 Ptolemy I

suicide, as did Cleopatra, succumbing, it was said, to the bite of a poisonous

asp smuggled to her by one of her ladies in waiting. Thus died two of history’s
greatest lovers, and the country became the Roman province Aegyptus, the
personal property of the emperor.
Reality was different. Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is most respon-
sible for projecting the romantic image we have of Cleopatra and her rela-
tionship with Antony. Busts of her show that she hardly surpassed Venus in
looks, and she was not the promiscuous seductress of legend. She used what
nature had generously given her to protect Egypt and its people from Rome
and to maintain the centuries-​long Ptolemaic dynasty. That was why at age
eighteen she became pregnant by Julius Caesar (then 53 years old) and had
his son, Ptolemy Caesar, who became her co-​r uler of Egypt. Likewise her
marriage to Antony, which also produced sons, ensured the continuity of
Ptolemaic rule. She certainly did not need a husband, because she followed
the Ptolemaic practice of incestuous marriages, having married her brothers
and co-​r ulers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV before assuming sole control
of Egypt.
Love of her country and its people—​shown by her being the only Ptolemaic
ruler to learn Egyptian—​and a determined stance to resist the tide of Roman
imperialism were at the heart of Cleopatra’s actions, both sexual and political,
making her one of her country’s greatest rulers.
In the end, her clever Machiavellian scheming did not succeed. Cleopatra’s
death brought with it the collapse of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the end of
Egyptian autonomy. We all know the story. But if that is how Ptolemaic Egypt
collapsed, how and why did it begin? Who founded this great, long-​lived dy-
nasty, and how different was Egypt in its early years from the splendor, power,
and corruption personified by the likes of Antony and Cleopatra? And even,
how did a dynasty that began with male rulers who had queens at their beck
and call evolve into one with queens as rulers, especially queens as powerful
and charismatic as Cleopatra?
To answer these questions, we go back almost 300 years from the battle of
Actium to the last half of the fourth century, with the rise and especially fall of
the Macedonian Empire under Philip II and Alexander the Great.2 At its zenith
that empire stretched from Greece to India, including Syria and Egypt. This
was a remarkable achievement, given that before Philip came to the throne
in 359 the kingdom was a backwater on the periphery of the Greek world.
Situated north of Mount Olympus, Macedonia was disunited, economically
weak, victim to invasion by the tribes on its borders, and prey to the meddling

2
  Most recently, see Worthington 2014.
3

Introduction 3

of Greek cities such as Athens and Thebes in its domestic politics. In a reign
of 23 years, Philip united the country; centralized the capital at Pella; created
an army that was second to none; stabilized his borders; exploited the natural
resources as never before; and embarked on an expansionist policy, which laid
the foundations for the great empire under Alexander. Philip was assassinated
in 336, at which time Macedonia controlled all Greece and Thrace as far as the
Hellespont; Macedonia was the superpower of the Classical world, and was
poised to put into action Philip’s grand plan of invading Asia.
After Philip’s death, his son Alexander came to power, and in 334 the new
king invaded Asia. When he died in Babylon in 323, his great empire was dis-
tributed among his various officers, whom we call Successors (Diadochoi).
They governed their areas as satraps, nominally loyal to the two kings who
followed Alexander, Philip III and Alexander IV. The Successors, however,
were soon at war with each other, always striving for a greater slice of the old
empire and more prestige, and they remained at war for almost forty years.
During this time Philip III and Alexander IV were ruthlessly executed, and
those of the Successors who had survived this long changed from satraps to
actual kings.
Enter Ptolemy, a Macedonian who befriended Alexander in his youth,
served on campaign with him in Asia, and was promoted to the exclusive
royal bodyguard, a hand-​picked body of seven men, who protected the king
at all times. 3 After Alexander’s death in Babylon in 323, Ptolemy, then about
44 years old, found himself suddenly pitted against Alexander’s generals and
satraps when crucial decisions had to be made about the future of the empire.
He had largely remained on the periphery of the king’s retinue in Asia, but if
the senior staff thought little of him because of his status they were mistaken.
In a clear sign of his ambition, he immediately asserted himself as a signifi-
cant player in the negotiations at Babylon over Alexander’s successor and the
empire. In the resulting settlement, he was appointed satrap of Egypt, eventu-
ally turning that office into a personal kingship. He established the Ptolemaic
dynasty, which ended with Cleopatra 300 years later, and he enabled Egypt
to become one of the great powers of the Greek world during those centuries.
He helped Alexandria, his capital, become the foremost city and intellectual
center of the Hellenistic period, thanks to the Library and the Museum he
founded. The Egypt he forged really did stand “at the crossroads of Egyptian
and Hellenistic history.”4

3
  On the royal bodyguard (“the seven”), see Heckel 1978, 1986, and 1992, pp. 237–​2 46,
257–​259.
4
  Vandorpe 2010, p. 160.
4

4 Ptolemy I

Ptolemy’s story is not one of rags to riches, nor is it one of single-​m inded
ambition from an early age. He was ambitious, but he bided his time be-
cause he knew from experience that Alexander’s generals hated each other
and would not be satisfied with the territories they received at Babylon.
They had carried out Alexander’s orders faithfully, but they were held to-
gether only by the sheer force of his personality. Once he was dead, their
dislike of each other was unchecked, and sure enough, as Ptolemy had ex-
pected, their personalities and aspirations led to their downfalls. Ptolemy,
who had chosen Egypt because of its location and security, was clever and
shrewd in how he went about ruling that country. He introduced policies
that benefited the economy, his army, and especially his own coffers, and
carefully negotiated the hazardous and treacherous sea of the Successors’
diplomatic and military relations. Only when he felt sufficiently secure did
he show himself to be no different from the others in wanting a greater share
of empire.
Unfortunately, there is much we do not know about the man or his rule,
thanks to the paucity of the ancient evidence (Appendix 2). 5 We are rea-
sonably well informed about the Macedonian invasion of Asia because
Alexander the Great captivated ancient writers. Indeed, Ptolemy himself
wrote a history of Alexander, which was used by ancient writers long after
Alexander was dead (see Appendix 1). The history of the Successors—​
and of Ptolemy—​is less well served. Our principal narrative account,
written by Diodorus of Sicily in the later first century bc, gives us good
details down to the pivotal battle of Ipsus in 301; after that, his narrative
is fragmented. Other major sources, such as Justin, do not focus wholly
on Ptolemy, and deal cursorily with his later reign. We have no life of
Ptolemy by Plutarch, a biographer of the first and second centuries ad,
who wrote a series of lives of prominent Greeks and Romans, including
Alexander and some other individuals of our period, such as Demetrius
Poliorcetes (“the besieger”) or Pyrrhus of Epirus. There are, then, big
gaps in Ptolemy’s life—​h is background and youth; what his relationship
was like with his wives and children; how he viewed himself; exactly why
he stole Alexander’s corpse or founded the Museum and the Library in
Alexandria; how he set out to bridge the divide between his Egyptian,
Greek, and Macedonian subjects; the extent to which he allowed himself
to be inf luenced by Alexander; and even what happened during the last
two or three years of his reign, to name only some.

5
  The sources on Ptolemy are cited and discussed by Seibert 1969, pp. 52–​83; most of his book
is anchored in a very careful analysis of the ancient sources.
5

Introduction 5

Nevertheless, we can still bring him out of the shadows of Alexander’s

retinue and into the spotlight of ancient history. Although other Successors
carved kingdoms that were larger than that of Ptolemy, none had the lon-
gevity of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Nor, thanks to Cleopatra’s relations with
Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, did any other Hellenistic power so polarize
Roman society, and play a role in the wars of the second triumvirate that
ended the Roman Republic and ushered in rule by emperor. And Ptolemy
started it all.
Ptolemy’s rise to power was part of the complex and lengthy Wars of the
Successors, which broke out soon after Alexander’s death in 323 and did not
end until 281. A lot happened in those forty years. While I discuss these wars
as they pertain to Ptolemy and his dealings with the individuals who inter-
sected with him, this book is not a history of the Successors, nor should it be.
Those who want to read about these wars in detail should consult the works
I cite in the notes.
Throughout this book I use the term “Hellenistic” to talk about the
world after the death of Alexander, but a word of caution on the term is
needed. Alexander’s death in 323 brought to an end the Classical period in
Greek history (478–​323) and ushered in a new era, the so-​c alled Hellenistic
age. This lasted for a little under 300 years until 30, when the Romans
annexed Egypt, and so completed their absorption of the entire eastern
Mediterranean world into their empire. Alexander’s death really was a
turning point in ancient history; his conquests had shown the Greeks that
they belonged to a world far larger than the Mediterranean, and he opened
up all manner of contacts between West and East, which increased in this
new world.
The phrase “Hellenistic period” was not used by those who lived at the
time, but is a modern one, first coined by the German historian Johann Gustav
Droysen in his Geschichte der Diadochen (History of the Successors), which was
published in 1836; it had become accepted by the time of his Geschichte der
Hellenismus (History of Hellenism) in 1877. Droysen took the name from the
Greek verbs hellenizo (“I am Greek”) and hellenizontes (“going Greek”) be-
cause of the spread of Greek language and culture—​Hellenism—as far east
as India, which he believed was the inherent defining feature of those three
centuries.
Droysen’s definition, and hence the term, has been challenged because
there were other important and defining features of this period (not least in
the intellectual and cultural spheres), not to mention that focusing on regions
that adopted Greek excludes the people who were a major driving force: the
Greeks themselves. Instead of “Hellenistic period,” the term “Macedonian
Centuries” has been suggested, given that it was Alexander’s invasion of Asia
Exploring the Variety of Random
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are the remains of many hut-circles and barrows, and near to the
circle is a curious wide and deep trench, running down the hillside,
which may have been a tin stream-work. This circle has been
generally overlooked by antiquaries. Lukis and Borlase do not refer
to it, and Mr. A. L. Lewis appears to be the only one who has ever
mentioned it,8 but he has not published any plan. He calls attention
to the positions of three hills which rise to the eastward, 1
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xlix. 136 ; Journ. Anthrof. Inst. (Aug. 1895). 392
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accurate

A. L. LEWIS, I88I-+. KING ARTHUR'S HALL, Near St.

Breward, Cornwall. To face fage 392.
The text on this page is estimated to be only 27.85%
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STONE CIRCLES Butter Tor (N. 58° E.), Catshole Tor (N.
69° E.), and Tolborough Tor (N. 85° E.), and which were, he
suggests, associated in the minds of the circle builders with the
sunrise. He also points out the alignment of Trippet Stones, Leaze,
and Row Tor (N. I2°E.), Trippet Stones being invisible from Leaze.
KING ARTHUR'S HALL On King Arthur's Downs, about 800 yards
north-west of Leaze, stands the curious enclosure known as King
Arthur's Hall. It may be described as a rectangular enclosure 1 59 ft.
long by 66 ft. across, formed by a solid bank of earth from 1 2 ft. to
20 ft. wide and 7 ft. to 5 ft. high ; this bank is kept in position within
by a retaining wall of large stones set on end and embedded in the
bank. About forty of these are now erect and in place, sixteen have
fallen, and probably a large number have been removed ; they are
far from being uniform in size, the largest is 5 ft. 8 in. high and
others approach this in bulk. The axis of the enclosure is N. 5° W. A
depression in the centre usually holds a pool of water, a feature of
very old standing, and when this exceeds its bounds, as well it may
in winter on these wet moors, it finds an exit by the south-western
corner. The earliest reference that we find to this curious enclosure
is by John Norden, who visited it about 1584 and wrote his work,
Speculi Britanniae Pars, in 1610, though it was not published till
1728. He says : * Arthures Hall, d. 14. A place so called, and by
tradition helde to be a place whereunto that famous K. Arthure
resorted. It is a square plott about 60 foote longe and about 35
foote broad, situate on a playne Mountayne, wroughte some 3 foote
into the grounde ; and by reason of the depression of the place, ther
standeth a stange or Poole of water, the place sett rounde aboute
with flatt stones in this manner.' Then follows an illustration showing
it to have been very much as it is now, with the pool in the middle.
Mr. A. L. Lewis has described it in the beforementioned paper,1 and
the plan which illustrates it is, by his kind permission and that of the
secretary of the Anthropological Institute, reproduced for the use of
this volume. Many are the conjectures as to the origin of Arthur's
Hall. It has been called ' a great cattle pound, a place of assembly,
or an earthwork occupied by a small detachment of Roman troops.'
3 To this should be added a suggestion by Mr. A. L. Lewis that it may
have been a place for cremation.3 Enclosures of a similar shape
were found in Brittany, which showed unmistakable signs of burning
on specially prepared granite pyres and which yielded fragments of
pottery and flint flakes. These rectangular enclosures are 110 ft. by
50 ft. and 120 ft. by 40 ft. respectively, and into the walls are built
menhirs.* There are also, near the city of Guatemala, rectangular
enclosures which bear a superficial resemblance to this, and which
are associated with burial mounds and sacrificial stones.6 After three
visits to the spot the present writer is 1 Jount. Anthrop. Init., Aug.
1895. * Rev. W. Jago, Journ. Roy. Inst. of Cornwall, 1895. s Loc. cit.
4 Rear-Admiral Tremlett, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. (November, 1885). 5
Report ofSmithtmian Inst., 1876 ; A. L. Lewis, Journ. Roy. Inst. of
Cornwall, 1896. I 393 50
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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL inclined to regard it as a cattle

pen or pound, with an entrance at the south-west corner, now partly
choked by the settlement of the banks. FERNACRE No. Height
Length Breadth Thickness No. Height Length Breadth Thickness ft.
in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. I Ill 2 2 0 8 42 2 5 2 O
o 9 6 4 6 2 6 i 6 51 2 0 2 IO o 7 7 leans in 2 O 3 3 o 9 63 3 o 2 0 o
9 H 3 9 3 6 I 2 65 fallen 6 10 2 6 I 2 16 i 6 leans out 2 5 o 8 66
leans in 2 4 2 9 o 8 21 2 9 leans in i 6 o 9 67 3 o — 2 8 1 3 32 3 6
— 2 8 O II 68 fallen 3 o I 9 o 8 34 3 ° — 3 8 I O 69 2 4 leans out 2
2 0 II The next two circles belong to quite a different class from
those already described, one of considerable area, irregular outline,
and a large number of stones in the ring, many of them small.
Fernacre Circle lies under the southern slope of Row Tor, 5 miles
south-east of the town of Camelford, and takes its name from the
nearest farm ; it is situated in St. Breward parish and the landowner
is Sir W. Onslow. In diameter alone it is one of the largest in
Cornwall, being about 146 ft. across, but the irregularity and small
size of the stones reduce it to quite an inferior rank ; it appears to
correspond closely with W. C. Borlase's definition of a ' ring barrow,'
so many of the stones are set on edge and close together, although
not touching, but there is no tumulus in the centre. Out of the sixty-
nine stones shown in the plan thirtyeight are standing, ten fallen,
fourteen are buried, and seven have sunk so far into the peaty soil
that only their tops are visible. The tallest standing stone (6) is but 4
ft. 6 in. high, and the largest fallen one (65) measures 6 ft. 10 in. in
length. All are of granite. The table of dimensions includes only the
more important stones, the great majority being quite insignificant.
About 1 60 ft. away, eastwards, in line with the highest point of
Brown Willy, is a small erect stone. Row Tor rises due north of the
circle, Garrow due south, and in line with these two hills and the
circle there lie, out of sight on the south as already mentioned,
Stripple Stones, on the slope of Hawk's Tor. On the east is Brown
Willy, the highest hill in Cornwall, and on the west, over the shoulder
of Louden Hill, is another circle, Stannon. Thus we have two lines
crossing Fernacre at right angles, or nearly so, for as a matter of fact
the eastern line formed by Brown Willy, Fernacre, and Stannon is 2°
out. If, as might appear probable, this very exact alignment, north
and south, east and west, was intentional and part of a plan, and
Fernacre was the pivot of the whole, it is a curious feature that the
three circles mentioned should have been so effectually hidden from
each other by intervening hills. Mr. A. L. Lewis has suggested that
the diameters of these circles and their distances apart bear certain
fixed ratios to each other, expressed 394
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V '£> STA N N O N C J I • If. .'it.. /?PLANS OF FERNACRE

AND STANNON. 394
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STONE CIRCLES in terms of a unit of 25-1 in., an Egyptian

or Royal Persian cubit ;' but space will not allow of its adequate
discussion here. Fernacre, like other monuments on these moors,
has escaped notice, and the only published plan seems to be that of
Lukis and Borlase, who include it in their work on Prehistoric
Monuments.1 They admit however that bad weather greatly
interfered with their survey, and it is therefore not surprising that it
has been necessary in the accompanying plan to correct and add to
theirs in several particulars. A very large number of ruined huts and
enclosures and some barrows are to be found on the hills near by,
especially under the south and west faces of Row Tor ; if all these
dwellings were inhabited at one time they must have accommodated
a considerable population of tinstreamers and cattle-owners. Did the
people who lived in these huts put up and use the circle ? STANNON
No. Height Length Breadth Thickness No. Height Length Breadth
Thickness ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. I fallen, 3
° I O 37 2 3 2 7 o 8 half buried 38 i 4 2 6 1 3 2 1 7 leans in 3 2 0 IO
39 i 9 2 5 on 3 2 2 — 3 o I O 40 i 8 leans in 2 O o 8 4 I 8 — 2 5 o 9
4i leans out, 3 i 2 8 1 3 5 fallen 5 o 2 7 — nearly 6 » 4 6 3 o —
buried 8 I 2 — i 8 o 5 42 i 6 — 2 6 o 7 9 fallen, 5 o 3 " O IO 43
fallen 3 9 2 2 — half buried 44 » 4 8 2 O — 10 I 8 — I IO 1 3 45
buried 4 o — 12 2 2 — 2 O O II 49 3 7 — 4 6 O IO IS III — 2 3 o 9
5° fallen 4 3 2 9 — 17 I 5 — I II o 8 5i 4 2 — 1 7 i 4 18 i 4 — i 6 o 8
52 fallen 4 o covered by furze '9 i 7 leans in in o 7 53 3 9 — i 4 I O
20 fallen in 4 3 i 1 1 — 54 1 7 — 2 7 o 8 21 1 4 partly 2 IO O I I 55
fallen out covered by 2 6 — buried furze 22 I IO leans out III O IO
56 2 0 — i 4 o 9 23 i 4 — I IO o 9 57 fallen, 2 9 2 0 — 24 I 2 leans
in 2 9 on half buried 25 2 8 » 3 7 0 I I 58 4 o leans out 4 5 O IO 27 i
5 — 2 O o 5 59 2 4 — 2 0 o 9 29 2 O thin 2 5 — 61 I IO — 2 IO o 9
3° fallen in 3 I i 8 O I I 62 2 3 — 2 5 i 7 31 2 2 2 9 O IO 63 2 8 — 2
9 i 9 32 fallen in 2 5 i 4 — 66 2 8 — 2 O 1 3 33 I IO leans in 2 2 o 6
67 2 4 — 2 6 o 9 34 2 3 — 2 O O IO 68 i 5 — 2 6 O IO 35 2 6 — 2 7
o 9 69 i 8 — 2 6 on 36 fallen 5 5 i 6 70 2 4 — 3 9 I O 1 1 Journ.
Anthrop. last. (Aug. 1895) and Proc. Soc. Antij. (1892). PP- 3> 3°,
395
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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL Stannon Circle takes its name

from the farm near by and is in the parish of St. Breward, south-east
of Camelford and 4 miles by road from that town ; Sir W. Onslow,
bart., is the landowner. This circle and Fernacre belong, as has
already been said, to a class apart, of large area, irregular outline
and small stones set near together, but with no barrow in the
middle. The stones here are perhaps rather larger and more
uniform. The ring is so flattened on the north side as to make it
quite unsymmetrical, and it is curious to note how many stone
circles are thus irregular, although it would have been easy, with a
stake for centre and a rope of some sort for radius, to have traced
out an exact circle. ' Long Meg and her Daughters,' a circle in
Cumberland with an average diameter of 332 ft., has the same
flattening of the northern limb. The average diameter of this one is
about 138 ft. ; there are seventy stones in the ring, forty-one of
which are erect and the rest fallen, some buried. The stones are
small, as the above table will show, and the largest now standing
(58) is 4ft. high and 4ft. 5 in. wide; all are of granite. Viewed from
the circle, the great hills which dominate these moors, Row Tor and
Brown Willy, are conspicuous objects. The summit of Row Tor lies N.
68° E. from here and shows such a curious cleft that the question
arises whether at any special season the sun would rise just behind
this notch in the hill-top. Actual observation on the spot would
decide, but the sunrise on Mayday would be about N. 7i°E., three
degrees farther south than the cleft. Brown Willy is less conspicuous,
although its several points show up in a striking manner, due east, or
nearly so, just over the slope of Louden Hill, Fernacre lying out of
sight between. On Stannon farm are the remains of several hut-
circles ; a few are to be seen on the moor near by and many more
on Louden Hill. Lukis and Borlase do not mention this monument,
but Mr. A. L. Lewis has described it in the paper so often referred to
and has illustrated it by a plan.1 NINE STONES No. Remarks Height
Breadth Thicknets No. Remarks Height Breadth Thickness ft. in. ft.
in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. I leans out 3 8 3 ii 0 8 6 3 8 i 6 I O 2 3 7
i 7 I I 7 3 10 I IO 0 10 3 3 7 2 IO o 9 8 4 2 2 0 I 2 4 3 10 I IO o 8 9
Centre 3 9 I 2 o 9 5 3 3 2 4 o 7 stone, Stone at 2 6 2 0 looks
combase of long paratively No. 5 modern This circle has apparently
never been 'figured or described by any Cornish antiquary and yet it
is of a type unusual in the county, from 1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst. (Aug.
1895). 396
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STONE CIRCLES its small diameter and small number of

stones. It stands on Nine Stones Down, half in the parish of Altarnun
and half in that of North Hill, about a£ miles from Altarnun church-
town ; like most of the circles in East Cornwall it lies high, 900 ft.
above the sea, with a wide panorama of hills and open country. The
diameter is 49 ft. ; there are eight stones in the ring and one near
the centre, and a flat triangular stone lies at the base of No. 5 ; the
stones are of granite, none are large, the tallest (8) being 4 ft. 2 in.
above ground. The spacing is rather irregular and there is a large
gap of over 40 ft. on the north which may have held, and probably
did hold, another stone ; if, as seems likely, the central stone is a
late addition, the extra stone would merely complete the ring and
still justify the name of Nine Stones, now more truly applicable to
this circle than to most of the numerous families of Nine Maidens. If
the gap was intentional we still have warrant for that in several
British circles, possibly at Boscawen-un and Dawns Men, and very
probably at Whitemoorstone, Dartmoor. The number ' nine ' is not
uncommon in stone circles, and Mr. W. C. Borlase has mentioned
several instances.1 He says : ' Near Schonermark and at
Standelchen [Germany] were several of nine stones. In most cases
the number of stones was seven.' The 'Steintanz' already referred to
consisted of three circles with nine stones each, and at St. Pau,
south of the Garonne, ' there was a circle of nine stones called Las
Naou Peyros, . . . nine enormous unhewn blocks, near which stands
a menhir.' The boundary of the two parishes of Altarnun and North
Hill is marked by a line of stones running east-north-east (N. 63°E.)
from the circle in one direction and south-west in the other. The
centre stone very probably belongs to this boundary line and not to
the circle. Some of the stones, but not all, have the appearance of
great age, lending colour to the theory that we may have here a
genuine stone row in connexion with the circle, such as is found on
Dartmoor, but which has been added to and utilized as a parish
boundary. The flat stone at the base of No. 5 appears to be
purposely so placed and yet to have no part in propping or
supporting the standing stone. Stannon has several such prostrate
stones, and it is a nice point whether or not they may have had
some significance in the original scheme. On the Ridge close at hand
are various barrows, and on the east side of the circle and on Fox
Tor are a number of hut-circles, but complying with the general rule
they have been kept at a distance. THE HURLERS Leaving the circles
on the Bodmin moors we go south as far as the Cheesewring Hill, on
the south-west of which is a group of three circles known as the
Hurlers. They are situated in the two parishes of Linkinhorne and St.
Cleer, on the open down 5 miles north '- * Tht Dolmens of Ireland
(1897), ii. 502, 534, 584. 397
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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL of Liskeard. In a description of

these circles and a survey of their history very little can be added to
the paper by Mr. C. W. Dymond, F.S.A., in the "Journal of the British
Archaeological Association (30 September, 1879), and it is with his
kind permission that this article is illustrated by his admirably drawn
plan, which though made in 1877 is still (1902) a correct
representation of the monument. The three circles lie north-north-
east and south-south-west, but not in line, for we may put it that the
northern circle is slightly east of the axis of the other two. The
diameters are: N., 114 feet; middle, 140 feet; S., 108 feet. The
following stones remain: N., 6 standing, 6 fallen ; middle, 8 standing,
5 fallen ; S., 2 standing, 9 fallen ; and in addition several of the so-
called erect stones are leaning. The ground within the circles is rent
and torn by numerous trial-pits dug in search of tin or copper, and
by the removal of masses of moorstone lying on or near the surface.
Besides this many stones have been removed from the rings
themselves. Without the line of circles, 386 ft. west of the centre of
the middle one, are two large stones so placed that a line drawn
through both and produced would be tangential to the southern limb
of the middle circle. These two stones are both leaning and look as if
they might fall before long. What they were for, or what their
relation to the Hurlers, it is impossible to say. They may have formed
part of another circle or of a stone row or avenue. The moors
around, like the Bodmin moors, furnish many examples of early
habitation. On the Cheesewring Hill is an ancient hill-fortress; several
barrows are found in the neighbourhood, from one of which came a
most interesting gold cup, found in 1818 j1 further north are
numerous hut-circles. A suggestive parallel may be established
between these circles and those at Stanton Drew in Somersetshire ;
2 in each case there are three circles lying in a north-north-westerly
direction, not quite in line, but deviating in the same way ; in each
case the central ring is the largest ; in each case there are two
outlying stones. There are considerable discrepancies also which
may be noted : (a) the Somersetshire circles and the individual
stones which compose them are on a much larger scale ; (b) the
northern circle is there the smallest ; (c) the outlying stones at
Stanton Drew, the ' cove and a monolith are aligned with the centres
in a remarkable manner' ; (a1) there are two short avenues attached
to the circles. It is nevertheless curious that these two prehistoric
monuments, so far apart geographically, should yet have so much in
common. Why stone circles should be grouped in twos and threes is
a mystery, and greatly complicates the problem of their origin and
object. Whereas on the Bodmin moors we had to deplore the
absence of records of the past state of the various circles, we are
met here by a literary embarras de richesse, a crowd of
commentators, more or less un1 Ntfnia Cornubitf, pp. 37-41. 1 C. W.
Dymond, The Ancient Remains at S.'anton Drew (1896). 393
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THE HURLERS: THREE STONE CIRCLES. He. NEAR ST C L E

El R . CORNWALL < MEMORANDA I M fLAM, H^f tm ftjtrj irt tritfi
t/art Jturttt/ twttpni . r*» ttott+d . f-'nnn 'T,.r,r --t r * c*rr/t j*S'. **l
trrr nrf it.
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. * 1 1 i I! * ! !» y J, * i. • H -t u • * — S. 8 •• V _ _ *. ' r. s
_ _ I ^ /. * - 7 .„ f _ _ rf. * t,ti _ _ " f A* /. a ." i S. ,f 2.J AM y- n
Between pages 598,
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STONE CIRCLES intelligent, from the sixteenth century

onwards. The first to mention the Hurlers is John Norden, who
visited them about 1584 : — The Hurlers, c. 1 6, certayne stones
raysed and sett in the grounde of some 6 foote high and 2 foote
square ; some bigger, some lesser, and are fixed in suche straglinge
manner as these Countrye men doe in performinge that pastime
Hurlinge. . . . This monumente seemeth to impor'te an intention of
the memoriall of some matter done in this kinde of exercise, thowgh
time haue worne out the maner.1 The illustration which accompanies
this paragraph shows that he was unaware that the stones were
arranged in circles. The next in order of date is William Camden,
who says that — the neighbours call them Hurlers, persuaded by a
pious error that they were men changed into stones because they
had profaned the Lord's day by throwing a ball. Others will have
them to be, as it were, a trophy in memory of some battle, and
some believe them to be placed as boundaries.2 It will be seen that
the legend of the Hurlers is very similar to that of Dawns Men and
other Cornish and some German circles, only the game of 'hurling' is
here pressed into service. Richard Carew (1605) mentions also ' that
a redoubled numbring neuer eueneth with the first.' 3 Mr. Dymond
quotes from a History of the Parish of Linkinhorne (written by the
Rev. W. Harvey, vicar of the parish, in 1727 and published in 1876)
an extract from a Latin account of the district, published in
Amsterdam (1661), which repeats the legend. Mr. Harvey himself,
however, manages to be original, for, after relating the usual
traditional story, he adds : — But the truth of the story is, — it was a
burying place of the Britons, before the calling in of the heathen
sexton into this kingdom. And this fable, invented by the Britons,
was to prevent the ripping up of the bones of their ancestors, and so
called by the name of The Hurlers to this day. Mr. Harvey's tally of
remaining stones agrees very nearly with a drawing by Dr. Borlase
(1769),* which depicts in the northern circle nine stones standing,
seven fallen ; in the middle one eight standing and nine fallen ; in
the southern circle three standing and nine fallen. A reference to the
plan and table will show that there has been little alteration since
that date, but that some of the fallen stones have been taken away.
Several other writers, such as Hals, Thomas Bond of Looe, Britton
and Brayley, C. S. Gilbert and John Allen, mention these circles, but
contribute neither to our knowledge nor amusement. Next to Mr.
Dymond's monograph the best description and plan yet published
are those of Lukis and Borlase (1885).' DULOE Duloe Circle, in the
parish of that name, is 4 miles north of Looe and near to Duloe
church, the cluster of houses close by being called 1 Sfeculi
Britannite Pars, Cornwall, p. 94. 3 ' Hurlers vicini vocant, pio persuasi
errore homines fuisse in saxa transformatos qu6d pila iactanda diem
Dominicum profanjlssent,' etc. (Britannia, ed. of 1607, p. 139). 3
Survey of Cornwall (ed. of 1605), p. 129. * Ant. o/Corniv.(ed. z),pp.
198-9, pi. xvii. 5 Prehistoric Monuments, pp. 4, 3 1 and pis. x. xi. xii.
399
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A HISTORY OF CORNWALL Stonetown in honour of the

circle. This is the smallest circle in Cornwall and stands in other ways
in a class by itself. The diameters are 37 ft. and 39 ft., so the circle is
undoubtedly small, and the large and for the most part shapeless
masses of stone seem greatly out of proportion to the size of the
ring. The stones are of quartz rock ; seven are standing and one is
fallen and broken. Quartz is rarely used in these megalithic
monuments, and its use here is probably attributable to the distance
from the granite and the still more brittle nature of the local stone,
clay slate ; while the friability of the quartz will account for the
dimensions of the stones used and the absence of any attempt at
symmetry. N 10 f O S&a-U «{ Put DuLOE ClRCH. Mr. C. W. Dymond,
to whom we are indebted for the loan of the accompanying plan and
sketches, has very fully described this circle in the "Journal of the
British Archceological Association (February, 1882). There is no very
early reference known, the first being by Britton and Brayley in 1801
: — Within a furlong north-east of the church is a small Druidual
Circle, that has not hitherto been noticed. It consists of seven or
eight stones, one of which is about nine feet in height : four are
upright ; the others are either broken or concealed by a hedge,
which divides the circle ; part being in an orchard and part in an
adjoining field.1 1 Beauties of England and Waks, ii. 400-1. 400
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STONE CIRCLES Three other writers who follow content

themselves with reproducing this description: Bond's Looe (1823),
Penaluna's Survey of Cornwall (1838) and Allen's Liskeard (1856) ;
but Murray's Handbook for Devon and Cornwall (1856) goes into
detail and is more accurate. The writer says : — A hedge bisects it,
one stone lies prostrate in the ditch, five only stand upright, and
three appear to be wanting to complete the circle. The stones, which
are rough and unhewn, are principally composed of white quartz,
and one is about 9 ft. in height. The hedge referred to crossed the
circle between Nos. 5 and 6, i and 8 (see plan) ; Nos. i, 5, 7 and 9
were prostrate ; No. 3 leaned ; Nos. 4, 6 and 8 were erect. About
the year 1858 the hedge was removed, and in 1 86 1 (or 1863) the
fallen stones were set up, all but the largest (No. i), which was
broken in the process. When digging to raise this stone the workmen
discovered, at about 3 feet deep, a small cinerary urn, buried in
loose earth by the side of the stone, and containing human bones,
some entire and 3 inches long, which crumbled to dust on exposure
to the air.1 The urn itself was broken by the workmen and only one
small portion was preserved, which passed into the possession of
the landowner, the late Rev. T. A. Bewes of Plymouth, and is shown
in Mr. Dymond's sketch. W. C. Borlase thought that it corresponded
with an urn found by him in a barrow on Morvah Hill, with which was
found a coin, a 'middle brass' of Constantine the Great. Mr. E. H. W.
Dunkin, who has published a description of the circle, says : — On
my recent visit to the circle I was informed that a considerable
quantity of charcoal was found within the enclosure when the
bisecting hedge was removed, and that much still remains beneath
the turf.2 Mr. Dymond had occasion to remove some of the earth
round the fallen stone and found no trace of charcoal ; it may have
been absent from that spot, or Mr. Dunkin's informant may have
mistaken the black peaty earth for charcoal. In addition to the
before-mentioned works, Lukis and Borlase have published
description, plan, and sketches of this circle.8 There can be little
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