[430] According to Herodotus, Sesostris _The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes

who ever reigned in Ethiopia. Pliny says he penetrated as far as the

promontory of Mosylon.

[431] Veneti.

[432] A small people of Thessaly, who latterly dwelt near Mount Œta,

which separated them from Ætolia and Phocis.

[433] A city and plain in Thessaly, near to Mount Ossa.

[434] A people of Macedon, at the time of Strabo dwelling north of the

river Peneius.

[435] Few nations have wandered so far and wide as the Galatæ. We meet

with them in Europe, Asia, and Africa, under the various names of

Galatæ, Galatians, Gauls, and Kelts. Galatia, in Asia Minor, was settled

by one of these hordes.

[436] There were many kings of Phrygia of this name.

[437] The text of Kramer follows most MSS. in reading “Kimmerians,” but

he points it out as a manifest error; and refers to Herodotus i. 103.

[438] By Hyperboreans are meant people who dwelt beyond the point from

whence the north wind proceeded: Hypernotii therefore should be those

who lived beyond the point of the procession of the south wind. The

remark of Herodotus will be found, lib. iv. § 36. It is simply this:

Supposing Hyperboreans, there ought likewise to be Hypernotii.

[439] Those who exult over the misfortunes of their neighbours.

[440] Those who rejoice in others’ prosperity.

[441] Gosselin observes, that what Strabo here says, is in accordance

with the geographical system of the ancients, who supposed that Africa

did not extend as far as the equator. As they distinguished the

continent situated in the northern from a continent which they believed

to exist in the southern hemisphere, and which they styled the

Antichthones, they called the wind, blowing from the neighbourhood of

the equator, in the direction of the two poles, a south wind for either

hemisphere. For example, if sailors should be brought to the equator by

a north wind, and that same wind should continue to waft them on their

course after having passed the line, it would no longer be called a

north, but a south wind.

[442] According to Gosselin, this does not allude to the size of the

whole earth, but merely that part of it which, according to the theory

of the ancients, was alone habitable.

[443] Most probably Gherri in Sennaar.

[444] Eratosthenes supposed that Meroe, Alexandria, the Hellespont, and

the mouth of the Borysthenes or Dnieper, were all under the same

meridian.

[445] The Dardanelles.

[446] Iceland.

[447] This Island of the Egyptians is the same which Strabo elsewhere

calls the Island of the Exiles, because it was inhabited by Egyptians

who had revolted from Psammeticus, and established themselves in the

island. Its exact situation is unknown.

[448] Ceylon.

[449] Ireland.

[450] France.

[451] Between the Rhine and Elbe.

[452] The latitudes of Marseilles and Constantinople differ by 2° 16’

21”. Gosselin enters into a lengthened explanation on this subject, i.

158.

[453] Ireland.

[454] The eastern mouth of the Ganges.

[455] Cape St. Vincent.

[456] In the opinion of Strabo and Eratosthenes, the narrowest portion

of India was measured by a line running direct from the eastern

embouchure of the Ganges to the sources of the Indus, that is, the

northern side of India bounded by the great chain of the Taurus.

[457] Cape Comorin is the farthest point on the eastern coast. Strabo

probably uses the plural to indicate the capes generally, not confining

himself to those which project a few leagues farther than the rest.

[458] The Euphrates at Thapsacus, the most frequented passage; _hod._

El-Der.

[459] The Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, now Thineh or Farameh.

[460] Close by Aboukir.

[461] Cape S. Mahé.

[462] Ushant.

[463] The text has τὸ πλέον, but we have followed the suggestions of the

commentators in reading τὸ μὴ πλέον.

[464] It is remarkable that this is the same idea which led Columbus to

the discovery of America, and gave to the islands off that continent the

name of the West Indies.

[465] We have followed Kramer in reading δι’ Ἄθηνῶν, instead of the διὰ

θινῶν of former editions.

[466] The Nile being thought to separate Africa from Asia, and the

Tanais, or Don, Europe.

[467] The Red Sea.

[468] The name of the mouth of the lake Sirbonis or Sebaket-Bardoil,

which opens into the Mediterranean. A line drawn from this embouchure to

the bottom of the Arabian Gulf, would give the boundary between Africa

and Asia.

[469] Places in Attica.

[470] Probably Thyros, a place situated close to the sea, just at the

boundary of the two countries.

[471] Oropo, on the confines of Attica and Bœotia.

[472] Aristotle was the giver of this sage counsel.

[473] A people of Asia.

[474] The Strait of Messina.

[475] The Gulf of Aïas. The town of Aïas has replaced Issus, at the

eastern extremity of the Mediterranean.

[476] The Mediterranean.

[477] That is, the Mediterranean on the coast of Syria.

[478] Strabo does not here mean the Caucasus or Balkan, but the

mountains which stretch from Persia to Cochin China. At a later period

the several chains were known to the Greeks by the names of Paropamisus,

Emodi Montes, Imaus, &c.

[479] Samsoun.

[480] Sinop.

[481] The great chain of the Taurus was supposed to occupy the whole

breadth of Asia Minor, a space of 3000 stadia. Eratosthenes is here

attempting to prove that these mountains occupy a like space in the

north of India.

[482] _Lit._ to the equinoctial rising.

[483] Another designation of the Caspian.

[484] Balk.

[485] Read 18,100 stadia.

[486] i. e. The breadth of India.

[487] Literally, “estimate at so much,” referring to the estimate at the

conclusion of § 2.

[488] Caucasus, in the north of India.

[489] By the term ἑῴα θάλαττα, rendered “eastern ocean,” we must

understand Strabo to mean the Bay of Bengal.

[490] The Alexandrian.

[491] Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus Soter.

[492] The length of India is its measurement from west to east.

[493] Not Allahabad, as supposed by D’Anville, but Patelputer, or

Pataliputra, near Patna.

[494] There would seem to be some omission here, although none of the

MSS. have any blank space left to indicate it. Groskurd has been at

considerable pains to supply what he thinks requisite to complete the

sense, but in a matter so doubtful we deemed it a surer course to follow

the Greek text as it stands.

[495] Thrace, now Roumelia.

[496] The situation of Illyria was on the eastern coast of the Gulf of

Venice.

[497] Read 18,100 stadia.

[498] The mouth of the Dnieper.

[499] Hipparchus stated 3800 stadia, not 3700.

[500] Gosselin remarks that these 3700, or rather 3800 stadia, on

proceeding from Marseilles, would reach the latitude of Paris, and that

of the coasts in the neighbourhood of Tréguier. Eratosthenes and

Hipparchus were out but 14’ and some seconds in their calculation of the

latitude of Marseilles; but Strabo’s error touching the same amounted to

3° 43’ 28”; he consequently fixed the northern coasts of France at 45°

17’ 18”, which is about the latitude of the mouth of the Garonne.

[501] These 8800 stadia, at 700 to a degree, amount to 12° 34’ 17” of

latitude. This would be about the middle of Abyssinia.

[502] Ireland.

[503] The island of Ceylon.

[504] Viz. between its southern extremity and that of India.

[505] Strabo and Eratosthenes supposed the extremity of India farther

south than Meroe; Hipparchus fixes it a little north of that city, at a

distance of 12,600 stadia from the equator.

[506] These 30,000 stadia, added to the 12,600 of the preceding note,

would place Bactria under 60° 51’ 26” north latitude, which is more than

24 degrees too far north.

[507] Both Aria and Margiana are in the present Khorasan.

[508] This portion of the Taurus is called by the Indians Hindou Kho.

[509] This was the principal Greek liquid measure, and was 3-4ths of the

medimnus, the chief dry measure. The Attic metretes was half as large

again as the Roman _Amphora quadrantal_, and contained a little less

than 7 gallons. _Smith._

[510] The medimnus contained nearly 12 imperial gallons, or 1½

bushel. This was the Attic medimnus; the Æginetan and Ptolemaic was half

as much again, or in the ratio of 3:2 to the Attic. _Smith._

[511] Matiana was a province of Media on the frontiers of the present

Kurdistan; Sacasena, a country of Armenia on the confines of Albania or

Schirvan; Araxena, a province traversed by the river Araxes.

[512] Mount Argæus still preserves the name of Ardgeh. The part of the

Taurus here alluded to is called Ardoxt Dag.

[513] Sinop.

[514] Samsoun.

[515] The Gihon of the oriental writers.

[516] The Caspian.

[517] Gosselin says, the Oxus, or Abi-amu, which now discharges itself

into Lake Aral, anciently communicated with the Caspian.—The vessels

carrying Indian merchandise used to come down the Oxus into the Caspian;

they then steered along the southern coasts till they reached the mouth

of the Cyrus; up this river they sailed to the sources of the Phasis,

(the Fasch,) and so descended into the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

About the middle of the 17th century the Russians endeavoured to re-open

this ancient route, but this effort was unsuccessful.

[518] The north of France.

[519] At the time of Strabo France was covered with forests and stagnant

water, which rendered its temperature damp and cold. It was not until

after considerable drainage about the fourth century that the vine began

to attain any perfection.

[520] The Crimea.

[521] The Strait of Zabache.

[522] Kertsch in the Crimea.

[523] Strabo is too fond of this kind of special pleading; before, in

order to controvert Hipparchus, he estimated this distance at 3000

stadia; now he adds an additional thousand stadia in order to get a

latitude which shall be the southern limit of the habitable earth.

[524] The Greek has Κιναμωμοφόρου Ἰνδικῆς. We have omitted the latter

word altogether from the translation, as being a slip of the pen. Strabo

certainly never supposed the Cinnamon Country to be any where in India.

[525] Ireland.

[526] Perhaps it may aid the reader in realizing these different

reasonings if we give a summary of them in figures.

Strabo supposes that Hipparchus, reckoning from the

equator to the limits of the inhabited earth, 8,800 stadia

should have fixed the southern extremity of India more

to the north by 4,000

and the northern extremity of India, according to the

measures of Deimachus, still more to the north by 30,000

——————

Total 42,800

Now, Strabo adds, following Hipparchus, the northern

shores of Keltica and the mouth of the Dnieper, are

distant from the equator 34,000

Ierne, in a climate almost uninhabitable, was, according

to Strabo’s own impression, situated to the north

of Keltica 5,000

—————

39,000

Then, according to Hipparchus, the habitable latitudes

would extend still farther than Ierne by 3,800

—————

Total 42,800

The great fertility of Bactriana, according to Strabo, appeared to be

inconsistent with a position so far towards the north. In this he was

correct.

[527] These 4000 stadia do not accord with the distances elsewhere

propounded by Strabo. Possibly he had before him various charts

constructed on different hypotheses, and made his computations not

always from the same.

[528] Viz. 3800.

[529] Ireland.

[530] France.

[531] The astronomical cubit of the ancients equalled 2 degrees. It

therefore follows that in the regions alluded to by Hipparchus, the sun

at the winter solstice rose no higher than 18 degrees above the horizon.

This would give a latitude of a little above 48 degrees. We afterwards

find that Hipparchus placed the mouth of the Dnieper, and that part of

France here alluded to, under 48° 29’ 19”, and we know that at this

latitude, which is only 20’ 56” different from that of Paris, there is

no real night during the longest days of the summer.

[532] Read 7700.

[533] Lit., during the winter days, but the winter solstice is evidently

intended.

[534] Read about 10,500. This correction is borne out by the

astronomical indications added by Hipparchus.

[535] Strabo supposed the latitude of Ireland to be 52° 25’ 42”.

Countries north of this he considered to be altogether uninhabitable on

account of their inclemency.

[536] Equinoctial hours.

[537] Read 10,500, as above.

[538] Ireland.

[539] The equinoctial line.

[540] There is no doubt that the expressions which Deimachus appears to

have used were correct. It seems that he wished to show that beyond the

Indus the coasts of India, instead of running in a direction almost due

east, as the Greeks imagined they did, sloped in a direction between the

south and the north-east, which is correct enough. As Deimachus had

resided at Palibothra, he had had an opportunity of obtaining more exact

information relative to the form of India than that which was current at

Alexandria. This seems the more certain, as Megasthenes, who had also

lived at Palibothra, stated that by measuring India from the Caucasus to

the southern extremity of the continent, you would obtain, not its

length, as the Greeks imagined, but its breadth. These correct accounts

were obstinately rejected by the speculative geographers of Alexandria,

because they imagined a certain uninhabitable zone, into which India

ought not to penetrate.

[541] The truth of these facts depends on the locality where the

observations are made. In the time of Alexander the most southern of the

seven principal stars which compose the Greater Bear had a declination

of about 61 degrees, so that for all latitudes above 29 degrees, the

Wain never set. Consequently if Deimachus were speaking of the aspect of

the heavens as seen from the northern provinces of India, the Punjaub

for instance, there was truth in his assertion, that the two Bears were

never seen to set there, nor the shadows to fall in contrary directions.

On the other hand, as Megasthenes appears to be speaking of the south of

India, that is, of the peninsula situated entirely south of the tropic,

it is certain that he was right in saying that the shadows cast by the

sun fell sometimes towards the north, at others towards the south, and

that accordingly, as we proceeded towards the south, the Bears would be

seen to set. The whole of Ursa Major at that time set at 29 degrees, and

our present polar star at 13 degrees. β of the Lesser Bear was at that

time the most northern of the seven principal stars of that

constellation, and set at 8° 45’. So that both Bears entirely

disappeared beneath the horizon of Cape Comorin.

[542] This would be at Syene under the tropic.

[543] Small zones parallel to the equator; they were placed at such a

distance from each other, that there might be half an hour’s difference

between each on the longest day of summer. So by taking an observation

on the longest day, you could determine the _clima_ and consequently the

position of a place. This was equivalent to observing the elevation of

the pole. At the end of this second book Strabo enters into a long

description of the _climata_.

[544] This observation, taken at the time of Hipparchus, would indicate

a latitude of 16° 48’ 34.”

[545] Nearchus in speaking of the southern extremity of India, near Cape

Comorin, was correct in the assertion that in his time the two Bears

were there seen to set.

[546] Hipparchus fixed the latitude of Meroe at 16° 51’ 25”, and the

extremity of India at 18°. In the time of Alexander, the Lesser Bear was

not observed to set for either of these latitudes. Strabo therefore drew

the conclusion, that if Hipparchus had adopted the opinion of Nearchus,

he would have fixed the extremity of India south of Meroe, instead of

north of that city.

[547] Now ruins, near Jerobolos, or Jerabees, the ancient Europus; not

Decr or Deir.

[548] Probably the present Barena, a branch of the Taurus.

[549] This is rather free, but the text could not well otherwise be

rendered intelligibly.

[550] σφραγίδας is the Greek word; for which _section_ is a poor

equivalent, but the best we believe the language affords.

[551] The name of a considerable portion of Asia.

[552] From Eratosthenes’ description of India, preserved by our author

in his 15th book, we gather that he conceived the country to be

something in the form of an irregular quadrilateral, having one right,

two obtuse, and one acute angle, consequently none of its sides parallel

to each other. On the whole Eratosthenes’ idea of the country was not

near so exact as that of Megasthenes.

[553] The Caspian Gates are now known as the Strait of Firouz Koh.

[554] The ruins of Babylon, still called Babil, are on the Euphrates,

near Hilleh. Susa is now Suz or Schuss, and not Schoster or Toster. The

ruins of Persepolis remain, and may be seen near Istakar, Tchilminar,

and Nakchi-Rustan.

[555] Between Thapsacus and Armenia.

[556] Karmelis.

[557] The Altun-Suyi, or River of Gold.

[558] Erbil.

[559] Hamedan.

[560] Viz. at the Gates of the Caspian.

[561] This ancient embouchure of the Euphrates is now known as

Khor-Abdillah.

[562] Read 3300.

[563] Thought by Col. Rawlinson to be the Chal-i-Nimrud, usually

supposed to mark the site of the Median wall of Xenophon.

[564] Situated on the Tigris.

[565] A line drawn from the frontiers of Carmania to Babylon would form

with the meridian an angle of about 50°. One from the Caspian Gates to

Thapsacus would form with the parallel merely an angle of about 30°.

[566] Namely, 1000 stadia, by the hypothesis of Hipparchus, or 800

according to Eratosthenes.

[567] Or second side.

[568] Hipparchus found by this operation that the distance from the

parallel of Babylon to that of the mountains of Armenia was 6795 stadia.

[569] See Humboldt, Cosmos ii. p. 556, note, Bohn’s edition.

[570] Eratosthenes estimated 252,000 stadia for the circumference of the

earth.

[571] Odyssey ix. 291; Iliad xxiv. 409.

[572] Strabo estimated the length of the continent at 70,000 stadia from

Cape St. Vincent to Cape Comorin, and 29,300 stadia as its breadth.

[573] The ancient geographers often speak of these kind of resemblances.

They have compared the whole habitable earth to a soldier’s cloak or

mantle, as also the town of Alexandria, which they styled χλαμυδοειδές.

Italy at one time to a leaf of parsley, at another to an oak-leaf.

Sardinia to a human foot-print. The isle of Naxos to a vine-leaf. Cyprus

to a sheep-skin; and the Black Sea to a Scythian bow, bent. The earliest

coins of Peloponnesus, struck about 750 years before the Christian era,

bear the impress of a tortoise, because that animal abounded on the

shores, and the divisions and height of its shell were thought to offer

some likeness to the territorial divisions of the little states of

Peloponnesus and the mountain-ridges which run through the middle of

that country. The Sicilians took for their symbol three thighs and legs,

arranged in such an order that the bended knees might resemble the three

capes of that island and its triangular form.

[574] The chain of the Taurus.

[575] The Indus.

[576] The Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.

[577] India.

[578] Viz. Indians.

[579] Ariana, or the nation of the Arians.

[580] By 800 stadia.

[581] Viz. of the Euphrates.

[582] Or Nineveh.

[583] Syria, properly so called, extended from the shores of the

Mediterranean to the Euphrates. Between the Euphrates and the Tigris lay

Mesopotamia, and beyond the Tigris, Assyria. The whole of these

countries formerly bore the name of Syria. The Hebrews denominated

Mesopotamia, Syria of the Rivers. The name Assyria seems to be nothing

more than Syria with the article prefixed. Nineveh stood on the eastern

bank of the Tigris.

[584] Mesene comprehends the low and sandy grounds traversed by the

Euphrates, immediately before it discharges itself into the Persian

Gulf.

[585] Tineh.

[586] Moadieh, near to Aboukir.

[587] Along the coasts of Egypt, past Palestine and Syria, to the recess

of the Gulf of Issus, where Cilicia commences.

[588] Canopus, near to Aboukir.

[589] It was a mistake common to Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Strabo,

to fancy that Rhodes and Alexandria were under the same meridian. The

longitude of the two cities differs by 2° 22’ 45”.

[590] Due east.

[591] The following is a _Resumé_ of the argument of Hipparchus, “The

hypotenuse of the supposed triangle, or the line drawn from Babylon to

the Caspian Gates being only 6700 stadia, would be necessarily shorter

than either of the other sides, since the line from Babylon to the

frontiers of Carmania is estimated by Eratosthenes at 9170, and that

from the frontiers of Carmania to the Caspian Gates above 9000 stadia.

The frontiers of Carmania would thus be east of the Caspian Gates, and

Persia would consequently be comprised, not in the third, but in the

second section of Eratosthenes, being east of the meridian of the

Caspian Gates, which was the boundary of the two sections.” Strabo, in

the text, points out the falsity of this argument.

[592] Viz. 6700 stadia.

[593] These two words, _continues Hipparchus_, are not in the text, but

the argument is undoubtedly his.

[594] Cape Comorin.

[595] 400 stadia, allowing 700 to a degree, would give 34’ 17” latitude.

According to present astronomical calculations, the distance between the

parallels of Rhodes and Athens is 1° 36’ 30”.

[596] Viz. 400 stadia, or 34’ 17” of latitude.

[597] The difference of latitude between Thapsacus and Pelusium is about

4° 27’.

[598] The text here is evidently corrupt.

[599] Gosselin makes some sensible remarks on this section; we have

endeavoured to render it accurately, but much fear that the true meaning

of Strabo is now obscured by corruptions in the text.

[600] Moadieh, the mouth of the river close to Aboukir.

[601] Certain little islets at the mouth of the canal of Constantinople,

in the Black Sea. These islands want about a degree and a quarter of

being under the same meridian as Moadieh.

[602] Gosselin remarks, that the defile intended by Strabo, was probably

the valley of the river Kur, or the ancient Cyrus, in Georgia; and by

Mount Caspius we are to understand the high mountains of Georgia, whence

the waters, which fall on one side into the Black Sea, and on the other

into the Caspian, take their rise.

[603] Gosselin also observes, that on our charts this distance is about

8100 stadia of 700 to a degree. Consequently the difference between the

meridian of Thapsacus and that of Mount Caspius is as much as 4° 45’, in

place of the 300 stadia, or from 25’ to 26’ supposed by Hipparchus.

[604] On the contrary, Mount Caspius is east of the meridian of

Thapsacus by about 2500 stadia, of 700 to a degree.

[605] Now Iskouriah. Dioscurias, however, is 800 stadia from the Phasis,

of 700 to a degree.

[606] According to our improved charts, the distance from the meridian

of the Cyaneæ to that of the Phasis is 6800 stadia, of 700 to a degree;

from the Cyaneæ to Mount Caspius, 8080.

[607] The meridian of Mount Caspius is about 2625 stadia nearer the

Caspian Gates than that of Thapsacus.

[608] μετὰ τὸν Πόντον, literally, after the Pontus.

[609] Gosselin observes, that Eratosthenes took a general view of the

salient points of land that jutted into the Mediterranean, as some of

the learned of our own time have done, when remarking that most of the

continents terminated in capes, extending towards the south. The first

promontory that Eratosthenes speaks of terminated in Cape Malea of the

Peloponnesus, and comprised the whole of Greece; the Italian promontory

likewise terminated Italy; the Ligurian promontory was reckoned to

include all Spain, it terminated at Cape Tarifa, near to the middle of

the Strait of Gibraltar. As the Ligurians had obtained possession of a

considerable portion of the coasts of France and Spain, that part of the

Mediterranean which washes the shores of those countries was named the

Ligurian Sea. It extended from the Arno to the Strait of Gibraltar. It

is in accordance with this nomenclature that Eratosthenes called Cape

Tarifa, which projects farthest into the Strait, the Ligurian

promontory.

[610] Cape Colonna.

[611] Cape Malio, or St. Angelo.

[612] Strabo means the Saronic Gulf, now the Bay of Engia.

[613] The peninsula of Gallipoli by the Dardanelles.

[614] πρὸς τὸ Σούνιον. Strabo’s meaning is, that the entire space of

sea, bounded on the north by the Thracian Chersonesus, and on the south

by Sunium, or Cape Colonna, forms a kind of large gulf.

[615] Or Black Gulf; the Gulf of Saros.

[616] The Gulfs of Contessa, Monte-Santo, Cassandra, and Salonica.

[617] Durazzo, on the coast of Albania.

[618] The Gulf of Salonica.

[619] Read 13,500 stadia.

[620] It was an error alike shared in by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and

Strabo, that Alexandria and Rhodes were under the same meridian,

notwithstanding the former of these cities is 2° 22’ 45” east of the

latter.

[621] This is an error peculiar to Eratosthenes. The meridians of

Carthage and the Strait of Messina differ by 5° 45’.

[622] The Strait of Messina.

[623] Spain and France.

[624] The Getæ occupied the east of Moldavia and Bessarabia, between the

Danube and the Dniester. The Bastarnæ inhabited the north of Moldavia

and a part of the Ukraine.

[625] The Greek has simply, κατὰ τὴν ἠπειρῶτιν, _in the continent_, but

Strabo, by this expression, only meant to designate those parts of the

continent best known and nearest to the Greeks. The other countries, in

regard to which he pleads for some indulgence to be shown to

Eratosthenes, are equally in the same continent. Kramer and other

editors suspect an error in the text here.

[626] According to Plutarch, both Thales and Pythagoras had divided the

earth into five zones. Since Parmenides lived one hundred and fifty

years after the first of these philosophers, he cannot be considered the

author of this division. As Posidonius and Strabo estimated the breadth

of the torrid zone at 8800 stadia, and Parmenides is said to have nearly

doubled it, this would give 17,600 stadia, or 25° 8’ 34”, taking this

at 25° it would appear that Parmenides extended the torrid zone one

degree beyond the tropics.

[627] The Arctic Circles of the ancients were not the same as ours, but

varied for every latitude. Aristotle limited the temperate zone to those

countries which had the constellation of the crown in their Arctic

Circle, the brilliant star of that constellation in his time had a

northern declination of about 36° 30’, consequently he did not reckon

that the temperate zone reached farther north or south than 53° and a

half. We shall see that Strabo adopted much the same opinion, fixing the

northern bounds of the habitable earth at 54° 25’ 42”. Gosselin.

[628] For the circumference.

[629] Viz. none for those who dwell under the equator, or at the poles.

[630] Strabo’s argument seems to be this. It matters but little that

there may not be Arctic Circles for every latitude, since for the

inhabitants of the temperate zone they do certainly exist, and these are

the only people of whom we have any knowledge. But at the same time the

objection is unanswerable, that as these circles differ in respect to

various countries, it is quite impossible that they can fix uniformly

the limits of the temperate zone.

[631] The polar circles, where the shadow, in the summer season, travels

all round in the twenty-four hours.

[632] Those who live north and south of the tropics, or in the temperate

zones, and at noon have a shadow only falling one way.

[633] Having at mid-day in alternate seasons the shadow falling north

and south.

[634] Viz. Posidonius allowed for each of these small zones a breadth of

about 30’, or 350 stadia, of 700 to a degree.

[635] A plant, the juice of which was used in food and medicine. Bentley

supposes it to be the asa-fœtida, still much eaten as a relish in the

East.

[636] Posidonius was here mistaken; witness the Niger, the Senegal, the

Gambia, &c.

[637] The expression of Strabo is so concise as to leave it extremely

doubtful whether or not he meant to include the human race in his

statement. Looking at this passage, however, in connexion with another

in the 15th Book, we are inclined to answer the question in the

affirmative.

[638] Or _living on fish_, a name given by the Greek geographers to

various tribes of barbarians; but it seems most frequently to a people

of Gedrosia on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. It is probably to these

that Strabo refers.

[639] Viz. the Heteroscii, or inhabitants of the temperate zones.

[640] The ancients named the people of southern Africa, Ethiopians;

those of the north of Asia and Europe, Scythians; and those of the

north-west of Europe, Kelts.

[641] That is, by arctic circles which differed in respect to various

latitudes. See Book ii. chap. ii. § 2, p. 144.

[642] Viz. the partition of the earth into two hemispheres, by means of

the equator.

[643] Gosselin concludes from this that Eratosthenes and Polybius gave

to the earth the form of a spheroid flattened at the poles. Other

philosophers supposed it was elongated at the poles, and flattened at

the equator.

[644] Gosselin justly observes that this passage, which is so concise as

to appear doubtful to some, is properly explained by a quotation from

Geminus, which states the arguments adduced by Polybius for believing

that there was a temperate region within the torrid zones.

[645] Strabo seems to confound the account (Herodotus iv. 44) of the

expedition sent by Darius round southern Persia and Arabia with the

circumnavigation of Libya, (Herod. iv. 42,) which Necho II. confided to

the Phœnicians about 600 B. C., commanding them distinctly “to return to

Egypt through the passage of the Pillars of Hercules.” See Humboldt’s

Cosmos, ii. 488, note, Bohn’s edition.

[646] Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, flourished towards the end of the fifth

century before Christ.

[647] The ruins of this city still preserve the name of Cyzik. It was

situated on the peninsula of Artaki, on the south of the Sea of Marmora.

[648] Games in honour of Proserpine, or Cora.

[649] Ptolemy VII., king of Egypt, also styled Euergetes II.; he is more

commonly known by the surname of Physcon. His reign commenced B. C. 170.

[650] The ancients believed that crystals consisted of water which had

been frozen by excessive cold, and remained congealed for centuries.

Vide Pliny, lib. xxxvii. c. 9.

[651] Cleopatra, besides being the wife, was also the niece of Ptolemy,

being the offspring of his former wife, whom he had divorced, by her

former marriage with Philometor.

[652] Ptolemy VIII. was nominally king, but his mother Cleopatra still

held most of the real authority in her hands.

[653] Cadiz.

[654] Western Mauritania, the modern kingdom of Fez.

[655] This river is now named Lucos, and its mouth, which is about 30

leagues distant from Cadiz, is called Larais or Larache.

[656] Humboldt, Cosmos ii. 489, note, mentions the remains of a ship of

the Red Sea having been brought to the coast of Crete by westerly

currents.

[657] Pozzuolo, close by Naples.

[658] Gosselin observes, that this steady westerly wind, so far from

carrying him towards India, would be entirely adverse to him in coasting

along Africa, and doubling Cape Bojador; and infers from hence that

Eudoxus never really went that expedition, and that Strabo himself was

ignorant of the true position of Africa.

[659] A name common to many sovereigns of the different parts of

Mauritania; the king Bogus, or Bocchus, here spoken of, governed the

kingdom of Fez.

[660] Round Africa.

[661] A term by which incredible narrations were designated. It owes its

origin to Antiphanes, a writer born at Bergè, a city of Thrace, and

famous for trumping up false and auld-world stories. Βεργαΐζειν, was a

proverbial and polite term for lying.

[662] The wall mentioned in Iliad, vii. 436, _et seq._ Gosselin says

that in the time of Aristotle the commentators of the Iliad, having

vainly sought for the ruins or other traces of the wall, the Philosopher

came to the conclusion that the wall was altogether a fiction of

Homer’s. Strabo speaks further on this subject in the 13th Book.

[663] As the above assertion is at variance with the statement of

Strabo, in his 7th Book, concerning Posidonius’s views on this subject,

it seems probable that the passage as it stands is corrupt. It is more

likely Strabo wrote, “It is the opinion of Posidonius that the

emigration of the Cimbrians and other kindred races from their native

territory was _not_ occasioned by an inundation of the sea, since their

departure took place at various times.”

[664] Odyssey i. 23.

[665] Aratus, who lived about B. C. 270, was the author of two Greek

astronomical poems, called Φαινόμενα and Διοσημεία. It is from the

former of these that the above quotation is taken. Aratus, Phænom. v.

61.

[666] Evemerus, or Euhemerus, a Sicilian author of the time of Alexander

the Great and his immediate successors, and a native of Messina. He is

said to have sailed down the Red Sea and round the southern coasts of

Asia to a very great distance, until he came to an island called

Panchæa. After his return from this voyage, he wrote a work entitled

Ἱερὰ Ἀναγραφή, which consisted of at least nine books. The title of this

“Sacred History,” as we may call it, was taken from the ἀναγραφαί, or

the inscriptions on columns and walls, which existed in great numbers in

the temples of Greece; and Euhemerus chose it, because he pretended to

have derived his information from public documents of that kind, which

he had discovered in his travels, especially in the island of Panchæa.

The work contained accounts of the several gods, whom Euhemerus

represented as having originally been men who had distinguished

themselves either as warriors, kings, inventors, or benefactors of

mankind, and who, after their death, were worshipped as gods by the

grateful people. This book, which seems to have been written in a

popular style, must have been very attractive; for all the fables of

mythology were dressed up in it as so many true narratives; and many of

the subsequent historians adopted his mode of dealing with myths, or at

least followed in his track, as we find to be the case with Polybius and

Dionysius. Vide Smith.

[667] Every one will observe, that this criticism of Strabo is entirely

gratuitous and captious. Polybius cites Dicæarchus as a most credulous

writer, but states that even he would not believe Pytheas: how then

could so distinguished a writer as Eratosthenes put faith in his

nonsense?

[668] On the contrary, the distance in a right line from Cape Tenarum,

off the Peloponnesus, to the recess of the Adriatic Gulf, is only about

half the distance from the Peloponnesus to the Pillars of Hercules. This

mistake of Dicæarchus is a proof of the very slight acquaintance the

Greeks could have had with the western portions of the Mediterranean in

his time, about 320 years before the Christian era.

[669] Literally, “He assigns 3000 to the interval which stretches

towards the Pillars as far as the Strait, and 7000 from the Strait to

the Pillars.” The distance from Cape Tenarum to the Strait of Messina is

in proportion to the distance from the Strait of Messina to Gibraltar,

about 3 to 10, not 3 to 7, as given by Dicæarchus.

[670] That part of the Mediterranean which lies on the coast of Italy,

from the mouth of the Arno to Naples.

[671] The sea which washes the western coast of Sardinia.

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

[673] Santa Maura, an island in the Ionian Sea.

[674] Corfu.

[675] The mountains of Chimera, forming the Cape della Linguetta on the

coast of Albania.

[676] The maritime portion of Liburnia, comprised between the coasts of

Dalmatia and Istria. It is now comprehended in the district of Murlaka.

[677] In all 8250 stadia.

[678] Issus, now Aïas, a town of Cilicia on the confines of Syria,

famous for the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius, in

consequence of which it was called Nicopolis.

[679] Salamoni.

[680] Cape Krio.

[681] Cape Passaro.

[682] Cape St. Vincent.

[683] Total 28,500 stadia.

[684] Spoken of by Polybius.

[685] The Gulf of Genoa.

[686] These measures are taken along the coast, in stadia of 700 to a

degree. Of these, from Marseilles to Gibraltar there are 9300, and from

the ancient promontory of Pyrenæum to Gibraltar 7380. Consequently the

corrections of Polybius were neither inaccurate nor uncalled for.

[687] These 6000 stadia, taken in a direct line, are just the distance

from Cape St. Vincent to the chain of the Pyrenees.

[688] Kelts.

[689] The rising of the sun in summer.

[690] The east.

[691] This is an error into which Strabo fell with most of the ancient

geographers. The course of the Don certainly begins from the north, but

afterwards it turns eastward, and then suddenly shifts to the west. So

that its entire course as known in the time of Strabo, differed from the

Palus Mæotis and Sea of Azof by about 9 degrees of longitude. Polybius

is here more exact than Strabo.

[692] Palus Mæotis.

[693] This was the opinion of Theophanes of Mytilene, who followed

Pompey in his expeditions to the East. The Caucasus here mentioned is

that which bounds Georgia in the north, and from whence the modern river

Kuban (the Vardanus of Pompey) takes its rise. This river does incline

slightly to the north, and afterwards turns westward in its course to

the Palus Mæotis. It is possible that some confusion between this river

and the Don gave occasion to the belief that the latter rose in the

Caucasus.

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

[695] Cape Malio. Gosselin is of opinion that some omission has occurred

in this passage, and proposes to substitute the following: “The two

former of these Polybius describes in the same manner as Eratosthenes,

but he subdivides the third. He comprehends within Cape Malea all the

Peloponnesus; within Cape Sunium the whole of Greece, Illyria, and a

part of Thrace.”

[696] Cape Colonna.

[697] The Strait of the Dardanelles.

[698] The Rock of Gibraltar.

[699] Cape St. Vincent.

[700] Cadiz.

[701] The Italian Promontory.

[702] The Gulf of Venice.

[703] Capo di Leuca.

[704] ἡ δὲ φυσικὴ ἀρετή τις. We learn from the work entitled De Placitis

Philosophorum, commonly attributed to Plutarch, that the Stoics

dignified with the name of ἀρεταὶ, the three sciences of Physics,

Ethics, and Logic, Φυσικὴ, Ἠθικὴ, Λογικὴ. The exact meaning of ἀρετὴ in

these instances it is impossible to give, and Strabo’s own explanation

is perhaps the best that can be had; we have here rendered it, “perfect

science,” for want of a better phrase.

[705] Φυσικοὶ.

[706] We have followed the suggestion of Gosselin in reading τῷ ὅλῳ,

_the whole_, instead of τῷ πόλῳ, _the pole_, as in the text. Strabo

having just previously stated that the _axis_ of the earth was

_stationary_, it does not seem probable that he would immediately after

speak of the _motion_ of the _pole_.

[707] Odyssey xi. 156, 157.

[708] From this point Strabo, strictly speaking, commences his

exposition of the principles of Geography.

[709] Strabo supposed this circle at a distance of 38,100 stadia from

the equator, or 54° 25’ 42” of latitude.

[710] The whole of what follows to the end of the section is extremely

embarrassing in the original; we must therefore claim the indulgence of

the reader for any obscurity he may find in the translation.

[711] The Greeks, besides the division of the equator into 360 degrees,

had also another method of dividing it into sixty portions or degrees.

[712] These 21,800 stadia would give to Alexandria a latitude of 31° 8’

34”; according to modern calculation it is 31° 11’ 20” of latitude.

The following presents Strabo’s calculations of the latitude of the

preceding places in a tabular form.

+-------------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------+

| | | | |

+-------------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------+

| Equator | 0 | 0 | 0° 0’ 0” |

| Limits of the habitable earth | 8800 | 8800 | 12° 34’ 17” |

| Meroe | 3000 | 11800 | 16° 51’ 25” |

| Syene and the Tropic | 5000 | 16800 | 24° 0’ 0” |

| Alexandria | 5000 | 21800 | 31° 8’ 34” |

+-------------------------------+-----------+----------+-------------+

[713] Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Strabo, all believed that the

longitude of Rhodes was the same as that of Alexandria, although

actually it is 2° 22’ 45” west of that place. The coasts of Caria,

Ionia, and the Troad incline considerably to the west, while Byzantium

is about 3° east of the Troad, and the mouth of the Dnieper is above 3°

46’ east of Byzantium.

[714] The Roxolani inhabited the Ukraine. It has been thought that from

these people the Russians derived their name.

[715] Strabo here alludes to Ireland, which he placed north of England,

and believed to be the most northerly region fitted for the habitation

of man. He gave it a latitude of 36,700 stadia, equivalent to 52° 25’

42”, which answers to the southern portions of that island.

[716] The Sauromatæ, or Sarmatians, occupied the lands north of the sea

of Azof on either side of the Don.

[717] The Scythians here spoken of dwelt between the Don and the Wolga;

east of this last river were the Eastern Scythians, who were thought to

occupy the whole north of Asia.

[718] The tropic being placed at 24° from the equator by Strabo, and

most probably by Pytheas also, the latitude of Thule, according to the

observation of this traveller, would be fixed at 66°, which corresponds

with the north of Iceland.

[719] Hipparchus.

[720] Hipparchus placed Marseilles and Byzantium at 30,142 stadia, or

43° 3’ 38” of latitude, and estimated the parallel for the centre of

Britain at 33,942 stadia, or 48° 29’ 19”. Whereas Strabo only allowed

for this latter 32,700 stadia, or 46° 42’ 51”.

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

The Pillars of Hercules, or Strait of Gibraltar, 36°.

The Strait of Messina, 38° 12’.

Athens, 38° 5’.

The middle of the Isle of Rhodes, 36° 18’; and the city, 36° 28’ 30”.

[722] This mistake of Strabo caused the derangement in his chart of the

whole contour of this portion of the Mediterranean, and falsifies the

position of the surrounding districts.

[723] Strabo having allowed 25,400 stadia, or 36° 17’ 8”, for the

latitude of Rhodes and the Strait of Messina, determined the latitude of

Marseilles at 27,700 stadia, or 39° 34’ 17”; its real latitude being 43°

17’ 45”, as exactly stated by Pytheas.

[724] Or about 7°. The actual difference in latitude between Rhodes and

Byzantium is 4° 32’ 54”.

[725] On the contrary, Marseilles is 2° 16’ 21” north of Byzantium.

[726] 3800 stadia, or 5° 25’ 43”.

[727] The following is a tabular form of the latitudes as stated by

Strabo:

Stadia. Latitude.

From the equator to Alexandria 21,800 31° 8’ 34”

From Alexandria to Rhodes, he computes in this

instance 3600 stadia 25,400 36° 17’ 8”

From the parallel of Rhodes to Marseilles, about

2300 stadia 27,700 39° 34’ 17”

From the parallel of Rhodes to the bottom of the

Galatic Gulf, 2500 stadia 27,900 39° 51’ 25”

From Marseilles to the northern extremity of Gaul,

or the southern extremity of Britain,

3800 stadia 31,500 45° 0’ 0”

From Marseilles to the middle of Britain,

5000 stadia 32,700 46° 42’ 51”

From the northern extremity of Gaul to the

parallel of the northern extremity of Britain,

2500 stadia 34,000 48° 34’ 17”

From the northern extremity of Gaul to Ierne,

5000 stadia 36,500 52° 8’ 34”

From the northern extremity of Britain to the

limits of the habitable earth, 4000 stadia 38,000 54° 17’ 9”

[728] Namely, 29,300.

Stadia.

From Rhodes to Byzantium Strabo estimated 4900

From Byzantium to the Dnieper 3800

————

8700

From the Dnieper to the northern limits of the habitable

earth 4000

————

12,700

From Rhodes to the southern limits of the habitable earth 16,600

——————

Total 29,300

[729] The artificial globe of 10 ft. diameter.

[730] Tuscany.

[731] Strabo was of Amasea, a city of Pontus, close to the Euxine. He

travelled through Egypt and reached Philæ, which is about 100 stadia

above Syene, the commencement of Ethiopia.

[732] The Getæ occupied a portion of present Moldavia; the Tyrigetæ were

those of the Getæ who dwelt along the banks of the Tyras or Dniester.

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

[734] The Georgians of the present day.

[735] Corcan.

[736] The precise time when this writer lived is unknown. The work here

referred to is also mentioned by Athenæus, xv. p. 682.

[737] Prefect of Egypt in the reign of Augustus. This expedition into

Arabia completely failed, through the treachery of the guide, a Roman

named Syllæus. A long account of it is given by Strabo in the 16th book.

“It would be extremely interesting,” says Professor Schmitz, “to trace

this expedition of Ælius Gallus into Arabia, but our knowledge of that

country is as yet too scanty to enable us to identify the route as

described by Strabo, who derived most of his information about Arabia

from his friend Ælius Gallus.”

[738] Red Sea.

[739] Myos-hormos, _Mouse’s Harbour_, a sea-port of Egypt on the coast

of the Red Sea. Arrian says that it was one of the most celebrated ports

on this sea. It was chosen by Ptolemy Philadelphus for the convenience

of commerce, in preference to Arsinoë or _Suez_, on account of the

difficulty of navigating the western extremity of the gulf. It was

called also Aphroditis Portus, or the Port of Venus. Its modern name is

Suffange-el-Bahri, or “Sponge of the Sea.” _Lemprière._

[740] Humboldt commends Strabo’s zeal in prosecuting his gigantic work,

Cosmos ii. 557.

[741] The Gulf of Aïas.

[742] The Bay of Bengal.

[743] Strabo seems here to confound the parallel of Ierna with that of

the northern limits of the habitable earth, although a little above, as

we have seen, he determines these limits at 15,000 stadia north of

Ierna.

[744] These narrowed extremities of the continent are, Spain on the

west, terminated by Cape St. Vincent, and on the east the peninsula of

India, terminated by Cape Comorin. This cape Strabo supposed was

continued in an easterly direction, and thus formed the most eastern

portion of Asia.

[745] The island of Ceylon.

[746] Strabo supposed the Hyrcanian or Caspian Sea communicated with the

northern ocean.

[747] Cape St. Vincent.

[748] Cape St. Vincent is north of Cadiz by 30’ 30”, north of the Strait

of Gibraltar, or Pillars of Hercules, by 1° 2’, south of the Strait of

Messina by 1° 10’, and north of Rhodes by 33’ 30”.

[749] Casaubon conjectures that the words τὸν Κάνωβον originally

occupied the space of the lacuna. The passage would then stand thus—From

the coast of Cadiz and Iberia the star Canopus is said to have been

formerly observed. Groskurd rejects this, and proposes to read τοὺς

πλησιαιτάτους τοῦ Κανώβου ἀστέρας, “the stars nearest to Canopus.” But

this too is not certain, and the passage is otherwise evidently corrupt.

[750] The most southern.

[751] Cape St. Vincent.

[752] The Artabri inhabited the country around Cape Finisterre.

[753] Principally contained in the modern kingdom of Portugal.

[754] The Scilly Islands off the Cornwall coast.

[755] We have long had the custom of tracing on every map the parallels

of latitude and longitude at every degree, or every five or ten degrees,

as the case may be. By means of these lines drawn at equal distances,

the eye at once recognises the relative position of any place in the

map. This method was not in use when Strabo wrote: at that time it was

customary to draw a meridian or longitude, and a parallel of latitude,

for every important place of which the position was considered as

determined. This was certainly an obscure way of dividing the globe;

nevertheless it is requisite to keep it in mind, in order that we may

the more readily understand the general language of our geographer, who

instead of simply stating the latitude and longitude of places, says

such a place is situated under the same latitude, or about the same

latitude, as such another place, &c. Ptolemy seems to have been the

first who freed the study of geography from the confusion inseparable

from the ancient method. He substituted tables easy of construction and

amendment; where the position of each place was marked by isolated

numbers, which denoted the exact latitude and longitude.

[756] Demosthenes, Philipp. III. edit. Reisk. t. i. p. 117, l.

22.—Demosthenes is here alluding to the cities which different Grecian

colonies had founded in the maritime districts of Thrace. The principal

of these was the opulent and populous city of Olynthus, which, together

with others, was taken, and razed to its foundations, by Philip of

Macedon. Olynthus has become famous through the three orations of

Demosthenes, urging the Athenians to its succour.

[757] The Mediterranean.

[758] The entrance to the Arabian Gulf is about six or seven marine

leagues, that of the Mediterranean two and three-fourths. The entrance

to the Persian Gulf is seven or eight leagues in extent; while the

Caspian, being a lake, has of course no outlet whatever.

[759] Mediterranean.

[760] Strabo here means the countries bordering the Mediterranean.

[761] Viz. the Mediterranean.

[762] The state of Genoa.

[763] The Gulf of Genoa.

[764] Vide Humboldt’s Cosmos, ii. 480.

[765] Corsica.

[766] Vento Tiene.

[767] Ponza.

[768] Elba.

[769] Saint Honorat.

[770] Ischia.

[771] Procida.

[772] Capri.

[773] A small island off the Capo della Licosa.

[774] The western side.

[775] Majorca and Minorca.

[776] Iviça.

[777] The island of Pantalaria.

[778] Al Djamur, at the entrance of the Gulf of Tunis.

[779] The Strait of Messina, and the strait separating Sicily and Cape

Bona on the African coast.

[780] Of which Cyrene, now Curen, was the capital.

[781] The Gulf of Cabes.

[782] The Island of Gerbi.

[783] The Island of Kerkeni.

[784] Sidra, or Zalscho.

[785] Hesperides is the same city which the sovereigns of Alexandria

afterwards called Berenice. It is the modern Bernic or Bengazi.

[786] Automala appears to have been situated on the most northern point

of the Greater Syrtes, on the confines of a small gulf, near to a place

called Tine, or the Marsh.

[787] Now Reggio, on the Strait of Messina, which was also sometimes

called the Strait of Rhegium.

[788] These were the Epizephyrian Locrians, or dwellers near the

promontory of Zephyrium. They were situated towards the extremity of

Italy, near Rhegium. Traces of their city are seen at Motta di Bourzano

on the eastern coast of Ulterior Calabria.

[789] Messina.

[790] Syragusa.

[791] Cape Passaro.

[792] The Gulf of Lepanto.

[793] Cape Leuca or Finisterre.

[794] The lower part of the Adriatic was designated the Ionian Gulf.

[795] The portion of Greece opposite Corfu.

[796] The Gulf of Arta.

[797] The Gulf of Venice.

[798] The Islands of Cherso and Ossero.

[799] Apparently the Curicta of Pliny and Ptolemy, corresponding to the

island of Veglia.

[800] The Libyrnides are the islands of Arbo, Pago, Isola Longa,

Coronata, &c., which border the coasts of ancient Liburnia, now Murlaka.

[801] Lissa.

[802] The Island of Traw.

[803] Curzola.

[804] Lesina.

[805] The Islands of Tremiti.

[806] From Cape Pachynus or Passaro to Cape Krio, the ancient

Criu-metopon, on the western extremity of the Island of Crete, measures

4516 stadia of 700 to a degree.

[807] Corfu.

[808] Sibota, Sajades; certain small islands between Epirus and Corcyra.

[809] Cefalonia.

[810] Zante.

[811] The Curzolari Islands at the mouth of the Aspro-Potamo.

[812] The Gulf of Engia.

[813] A district of the Peloponnesus.

[814] A part of the modern Livadia.

[815] Cerigo.

[816] Poro, or Poros, near the little Island of Damala, and connected to

it by a sand-bank.

[817] Egina or Engia.

[818] Koluri.

[819] Islands surrounding Delos.

[820] Egio-Pelago.

[821] The Gulf of Saros.

[822] The Dardanelles.

[823] The sea surrounding the Islands of Icaria and Carpathos, now

Nikaria and Scarpanto.

[824] Stanko.

[825] Samo.

[826] Skio.

[827] Mytileni.

[828] Tenedo.

[829] Egripo, or Negropont.

[830] Skyro.

[831] Probably Piperi; others suppose it to be Skopelo or Pelagonesi.

[832] Stalimene.

[833] Thaso.

[834] Imbro.

[835] Samothraki.

[836] The distance from the southern coast of Crete to the northern

shores of the Ægæan is just 4200 stadia, or 120 marine leagues.

[837] This is just the distance from Cape Colonna to Rhodes.

[838] Cape Colonna.

[839] The Gulf of Salonica.

[840] Those of Kassandra, Monte-Santo, and Contessa.

[841] The peninsula of Gallipoli.

[842] Semenik, or according to others, Jalowa.

[843] Maïto, or according to others, Avido.

[844] Sea of Marmora.

[845] Karadje-Burun, the southern point of the Crimea.

[846] Kerempi-Burun.

[847] We should here read 1500 stadia. See French Translation, vol. i.

p. 344, n. 3.

[848] The Euxine.

[849] Also called the Island of Achilles, and the Island of the Blessed,

now Ilan-Adassi.

[850] The Strait of Zabache.

[851] The Sea of Marmora.

[852] The Island of Cyzicus was joined to the mainland by Alexander, and

thus formed a peninsula, notwithstanding Strabo describes it as an

island. Its present name is Artaki.

[853] The extent of the Ægæan amongst the ancients was the same as the

Egio-Pelago, or Archipelago, with us. It was comprehended between the

southern coasts of Crete, the western coasts of Peloponnesus, the

southern coasts of Macedonia and Thrace, and the western borders of Asia

Minor. Strabo however, in his description, seems to comprise under the

name of the Ægæan not only those parts of the Mediterranean south of the

meridian of Cape Matapan, but also the Propontis and the Euxine, as far

as the mouth of the river Halys, now Kizil-Irmak. In this however he

seems to be unique.

[854] This is just the distance, says Gosselin, from the northern part

of Rhodes to Alexandria, but the route, instead of being from north to

south, as supposed by the ancients, is S. S. W.

[855] Tarsus.

[856] Samsoun.

[857] Themiscyra, a town of Cappadocia at the mouth of the Thermodon,

(now the Termeh,) belonging to the kingdom of the Amazons. The

territories around it bore the same name. The plain is now comprehended

in the modern Djanik.

[858] Kizil-Irmak.

[859] _Lit._ the before-mentioned parts of the sea on either side.

[860] Asia Minor, or Anadoli.

[861] The Sidra of the moderns.

[862] Iskouriah.

[863] The Gulf of Aïas.

[864] Samsoun.

[865] The ruins of this city are said to be called by the modern Greeks

Φερνάκη or Πλατένα indiscriminately.

[866] _Dwellers in waggons_, or huts fixed on wheels for the purpose of

transportation from one pasturage to another, as necessity might

require.

[867] From Cape Gata in Granada to the borders of Asturias the distance

is about 5000 stadia. But the greatest breadth of Spain is from Cape

Gata to Cape Belem in Gallicia, which equals 5890 stadia of 700 to a

degree.

[868] The Gulf of Lyon.

[869] The Gulf of Aquitaine or Gascony.

[870] The Cevennes.

[871] This ridge commences at the eastern part of the Pyrenees. Its

ramifications extend to about Dijon.

[872] Genoa.

[873] The Romans gave to the whole of this country, which was peopled by

a race of Keltic extraction, the name of Cisalpine Gaul, because

situated on this side the Alps, with respect to them. France was

designated Transalpine Gaul.

[874] The Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Sea commenced about the mouth of the

Arno, and extended as far as Naples. The Ligurian Sea is the Gulf of

Genoa. The Ausonian Sea, afterwards called the Sea of Sicily, washes the

southern parts of Italy. The Adriatic Gulf, is the Gulf of Venice.

[875] The Getæ inhabited Moldavia. The Tyrigetæ, or Getæ of Tyras or the

Dniester, dwelt on the banks of that river. The Bastarnæ inhabited the

Ukraine. The Sarmatians, or Sauromatians, extended along either bank of

the Don and the environs of the Sea of Azof, the ancient Palus Mæotis.

[876] Thrace and Macedonia form part of the modern Roumelia: Illyria

comprehended Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia, &c.

[877] Cadiz.

[878] The Scilly Isles.

[879] Majorca and Minorca.

[880] Iviça, Formentera, Spalmador, &c. They were called Phœnician

Islands, because the Carthaginians had sent out a colony thither 160

years after the founding of their city.

[881] Namely all the islands of the Ionian and Ægæan Seas, from Corfu to

the Dardanelles.

[882] The Sea of Azof.

[883] The Bay of Bengal.

[884] The North.

[885] The Northern Ocean.

[886] The south.

[887] The Bay of Bengal.

[888] Sarmatian Mæotæ in the Greek text, but apparently incorrect.

[889] Inhabitants of Georgia.

[890] Inhabitants of Shirvan.

[891] The Scythians here alluded to are the Tartars of Kuban; the

Achæans and Zygi are the modern Ziketi; the Heniochi are the Abkazeti.

[892] East of the Caspian.

[893] These Scythians are the Tartars of the Kharasm. The Hyrcanians are

the inhabitants of Daghistan and the Corcan. The Parthians occupied the

north of Khorasan; the Bactrians the country of Balk. The Sogdians

inhabited Bukaria, where are Samarcand and the valley of Al-Sogd.

[894] Mingrelia.

[895] Cappadocia comprehended a portion of the modern Roum and Karamania

between the Euphrates and the river Halys.

[896] Under this name Strabo included a portion of the kingdom of Pontus

and other small tribes as far as Colchis.

[897] Now the Kizil-Irmak.

[898] The northern and western portions of Phrygia.

[899] Probably an interpolation.

[900] The mountaineers of Paropamisus were those who inhabited the

mountains which separate Bactriana from India. The Parthians occupied

the mountains north of the modern Khorasan. Under the name of Medians

Strabo comprehends the various nations who inhabited the mountainous

country between Parthia and Armenia. The Cilicians inhabited Aladeuli;

the Lycaonian mountaineers the mountains which separate Karaman from

Itch-iili; and the Pisidians the country of Hamid.

[901] The Bay of Bengal.

[902] Ceylon.

[903] The Arians inhabited Sigistan and a part of modern Persia. Strabo

gave the name of Arians to all the people who occupied the portions of

Asia comprised between the Indus and Persia, and between the chain of

the Taurus and Gedrosia and Carmania. In after-times the designation of

Arians was restricted to the inhabitants of the modern Khorasan.

Gedrosia is Mekran; Carmania yet preserves the name of Kerman.

[904] Ancient Persia is the modern province of Fars, Pars, or Paras; our

Persia being much more extensive than the ancient country designated by

the same name.

[905] The Susians inhabited the modern Khosistan.

[906] The Babylonians occupied the present Irak-Arabi.

[907] Now al-Djezira.

[908] Viz. the Ethiopians occupying the territory from Syene to

Abyssinia.

[909] The Troglodyte Arabians.

[910] The Cilicians occupied the modern Itch-iili and Aladeuli; the

Trachiotæ or mountaineers, the former of these countries.

[911] Pamphylia is the modern Tekieh.

[912] Or Oases, according to the common spelling.

[913] That is to say, from Tunis to Gibraltar. The Maurusians, called by

the Latins Mauritanians, occupied the present Algiers and Fez.

[914] Probably asa-fœtida.

[915] The Troglodytic extended along the western coast of the Arabian

Gulf.

[916] The Ichthyophagi of Gedrosia inhabited the barren coasts of

Mekran.

[917] The term of Ethiopians was a generic name given by the Greeks and

Romans to the most southern inhabitants of Africa they at any time

happened to be acquainted with; consequently the position of this

country frequently shifted.

[918] The Garamantæ inhabited the Kawan; Garama, their capital, is now

named Gherma. The Pharusians and Nigritæ dwelt south of the present

kingdom of Morocco.

[919] The Marmaridæ extended west from Egypt, as far as Catabathmus,

near the present Cape Luco.

[920] Viz. to the south and west.

[921] The Gulfs of Sydra and Cabes.

[922] The Psylli and Nasamones inhabited the eastern parts of the

present kingdom of Tripoli, above the Greater Syrtes and the desert of

Barca.

[923] The Asbystæ were a people of Libya above Cyrene, where the temple

of Ammon stood; Jupiter is sometimes called on that account Asbysteus.

[924] The Byzacii occupied the southern parts of the kingdom of Tunis.

[925] Greek, Nomades, or wandering shepherds, from which the Latins

formed the name Numidæ. These people inhabited Algiers.

[926] Carthage extended as far west as the promontory of Tretum, now

Sebta-Ras or the Seven Heads. From thence the Masylies inhabited as far

as Cape Carbon; and from thence the Masæsylii possessed the country as

far as the river Molochath, now the Maluia, beyond which were the

Maurusians extending to the Atlantic.

[927] Numidæ.

[928] The climata are zones parallel to the equator. The ancients

generally reckoned seven climata, which in the time of Hipparchus

terminated at 48° 30’ 35”, where the longest day consisted of sixteen

hours. He however multiplied these divisions and extended them farther

towards the poles. It is a great pity that Strabo has not noted all of

them.

[929] According to Strabo, 12° 34’ 17”.

[930] According to Strabo, 52° 25’ 42”.

[931] Now Gherri, on the banks of the Nile.

[932] i. e. they are the most southern of those for whom, &c.

[933] Bab-el-Mandeb, The Gate of Tears.

[934] The east.

[935] The west.

[936] This passage proves that in Strabo’s opinion the continent of

Africa did not extend so far south as the equator.

[937] This town was sometimes called Ptolemais Epitheras, having been

built by Eumedes in the reign of Philadelphus for the chase of elephants

and other wild animals.

[938] On the west.

[939] The east.

[940] About Cape Comorin.

[941] The east.

[942] The west.

[943] Kramer follows Gosselin in proposing to substitute τρία in place

of ἑπτά.

[944] The west side.

[945] Algiers and Fez.

[946] The eastern side.

[947] Lower Egypt is intended.

[948] Khosistan.

[949] The modern province of Fars.

[950] Kerman.

[951] Upper Mekran.

[952] S. Jean d’Acre.

[953] Seide.

[954] Tsur.

[955] Eksenide.

[956] Siragusa.

[957] Caria occupied the southern and western parts of Anadoli, near the

Island of Rhodes. Lycaonia formed a part of the modern Karaman. Cataonia

was comprised in Aladeuli. Media is now Irak-Adjami. The Caspian Gates

are the defiles of Firouz-Koh.

[958] Eski-Stambul.

[959] Emboli or Jamboli.

[960] Polina.

[961] Isnik.

[962] Eksemil.

[963] Karasi in Anadoli.

[964] Sinop.

[965] Corcan and Daghistan.

[966] Balk.

[967] To the north.

[968] Or 17° 30’. This would indicate a latitude of 48° 38’ 40”.

[969] The astronomical cubit was equal to two degrees.

[970] Read 23,100.

[971] The northern extremity of the Hellespont.

[972] Κόσμος, the universe.

[973] The pole of the ecliptic.

[974] The neck, &c.

[975] The Pyrenees, on the contrary, range from east to west, with a

slight inclination towards the north. This error gives occasion to

several of the mistakes made by Strabo respecting the course of certain

of the rivers in France.

[976] France.

[977] The Gulfs of Lyons and Gascony.

[978] Gosselin remarks that the distance between S. Jean de Luz and

Tarragona, is rather less than that between Bayonne and Narbonne.

[979] The Atlantic.

[980] Cape St. Vincent.

[981] Cape Finisterre.

[982] Africa.

[983] The Mauritanians.

[984] Cape St. Vincent.

[985] Cape St. Vincent is about 1600 stadia west of Cape Spartel in

Africa. Strabo imagined that beyond this cape the African coast inclined

to the south-east. In reality it advances eleven degrees and a half

farther west to Cape Verd, which is 8° 29’ west of Cape St. Vincent.

[986] Herodotus is the first who speaks of a people of Iberia, to whom

he gives the name of Κυνήσιοι or Κύνητες: he describes them as

inhabiting the most western part of Europe, beyond the Pillars of

Hercules.

[987] This passage of Strabo relative to the rocking-stones has

occasioned much perplexity to the critics. We have attempted to render

the Greek words as near as possible. Many curious facts relative to

rocking and amber stones have been collected, by Jabez Allies, F. S. A.,

in his work on the Antiquities of Worcestershire, now in the press.

[988] We extract the following notice on this passage from Humboldt

(Cosmos, vol. iii. 54, Bohn’s edition). “This passage has recently been

pronounced corrupt, (Kramer i. 211,) and δι’ ὑάλων (through glass

spheres) substituted for δι’ αὐλῶν (Schneider, Eclog. Phys. ii. 273).

The magnifying power of hollow glass spheres, filled with water, (Seneca

i. 6,) was, indeed, as familiar to the ancients as the action of burning

glasses or crystals, (Aristoph. Nub. v. 765,) and that of Nero’s emerald

(Plin. xxxvii. 5); but these spheres most assuredly could not have been

employed as astronomical measuring instruments. (Compare Cosmos i. p.

619.) Solar altitudes taken through thin light clouds, or through

volcanic vapours, exhibit no trace of the influence of refraction.”

[989] Cadiz.

[990] Cape St. Vincent.

[991] Ἄνας.

[992] The Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquiver, pursue a course

nearly parallel to each other, and all incline towards the south before

discharging themselves into the sea; the inclination of the Tagus is not

equal to that of the other rivers.

[993] Lusitania occupied the greater part of the present kingdom of

Portugal. It was from the countries north of the Tagus that the Romans

caused certain of the inhabitants to emigrate to the south side of that

river.

[994] The Carpetani occupied a portion of New Castile, where the cities

of Madrid, Toledo, &c. are now situated.

[995] These people inhabited the southern portions of New Castile, now

occupied by the cities of Calatrava, Ciudad-real, Alcaraz, &c. They also

possessed a part of the Sierra-Morena.

[996] The Vettones inhabited that part of Estremadura, where the cities

of Alcantara, Truxillo, &c. are now situated.

[997] Bætis.

[998] Anas.

[999] The course of the Guadiana is longer than that of the

Guadalquiver.

[1000] Viz. Turdetania.

[1001] The mountainous country in which the Guadalquiver takes its

source.

[1002] The rock of Gibraltar.

[1003] This Timosthenes was the admiral of Ptolemy II. Strabo mentions

him repeatedly.

[1004] The place on which this town formerly stood is now designated

_Val de Vacca_.

[1005] Rio Barbate.

[1006] Now Azzila.

[1007] Called by Pliny and Ptolemy _Julia Transducta_. It appears to

have been situated at the western entrance of the Bay of Gibraltar, at

the place now called Al-Gesira.

[1008] Cadiz.

[1009] An Athenian king, who led the Athenians against Troy. The port of

Menestheus is now Puerto Sta. Maria.

[1010] _Hodie_ Lebrixa.

[1011] Bætis.

[1012] At or near the port of Menestheus, just mentioned.

[1013] Quintus Servilius Cæpio, a famous Roman general. Vide lib. iv. c.

i. § 13.

[1014] This city is not to be confounded with others of the same name in

Spain.

[1015] Strabo is the only writer who speaks of this temple of

Phosphorus. It was no doubt a temple to Diana, who was named Ἄρτεμις

Φωσφόρος. This temple, according to the Spanish authors quoted by Lopez

in his translation of Strabo, corresponds to the present San-Lucar de

Barrameda.

[1016] Strabo here gives the Latin _Lucem dubiam_ in Greek characters,

Λοῦκεμ δουβίαν.

[1017] The Guadiana at the present day has but one mouth.

[1018] Cape St. Vincent.

[1019] Cadiz.

[1020] Anas.

[1021] Bætis.

[1022] Cordova, situated on the Guadalquiver in Andalusia. We do not

know whether it were founded by the Marcellus who was prætor in Thither

Iberia, and created consul in the year of Rome 601, or Marcellus who

joined Pompey’s party against Cæsar. This city served for the winter

quarters of the Romans, who during summer made war on the inhabitants of

the western and northern parts of Spain. It was the native place of the

two Senecas and Lucan, and the chief emporium of Iberia. We may form

some idea of the amount of its population from the number of those who

perished when taken by Cæsar, as narrated by Hirtius, Spanish War, § 34.

But the period in which Cordova’s glory was at its zenith was during the

empire of the Moors, in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, when it

numbered 300,000 inhabitants.

[1023] Cadiz.

[1024] Seville. This city was surnamed Julia Romulensis. It was founded

by Cæsar, and regarded as the second city of the province, although, as

we see, in the time of Strabo it was only third-rate.

[1025] Strabo is the only writer who mentions this city of Bætis.

Casaubon and others are inclined to the opinion that the MSS. are

corrupted, and that formerly another name stood here.

[1026] This city, the native place of the emperors Trajan and Adrian,

and the poet Silius Italicus, was founded by Publius Scipio in the

second Punic war, who placed here the soldiers incapacitated from the

performance of military service. It is supposed to correspond to Sevilla

la Vieja, about a league distant from Seville.

[1027] The Ilipa Ilia of Pliny and Illipula Magna of Ptolemy. Its exact

position is not determined.

[1028] _Hodie_ Ecija on the Xenil.

[1029] Carmona.

[1030] Monda, seven leagues west of Malaga.

[1031] Osuna.

[1032] _Hodie_ Martos, Pliny gave it the surname of Augusta Gemella.

[1033] The Itucci of Pliny, to which he gives the surname Virtus Julia.

[1034] We should probably read 430.

[1035] Kramer, using the criticism of Lachmann, observes that this is a

misreading for Midaium, and that a like mistake occurs in Appian.

[1036] Furnius and Titius.

[1037] In Lusitania.

[1038] About the spot where this city is supposed to have stood, between

Xerez and Tribugena, there is still a place called Mesa de Asta.

[1039] Strabo uses ὁλκάσιν ἀξιολόγοις, but the English hulk would not

bear the same import in this place as the Greek.

[1040] Bætis.

[1041] Cotillas, or perhaps Constantina near Almaden.

[1042] Anas.

[1043] Experience does not seem to warrant this conclusion.

[1044] Cape St. Vincent.

[1045] Of Gibraltar.

[1046] Cape St. Vincent.

[1047] The text here is evidently corrupt, but it is not easy to

determine to what extent the overflow reached at the time Strabo wrote.

[1048] Lebrixa.

[1049] Gibraleon.

[1050] Spain.

[1051] οἱ Εὖροι.

[1052] Majorca and Minorca.

[1053] In his third book, Strabo, speaking of Campania, regards the oil

of Venafrum as superior to any other. In this he agrees with Pliny, who

places in the second class the oils of Bætica and Istria. Pausanias

considers these two oils, both for beauty of colour and excellence of

flavour, inferior to that produced at Tithorea in Phocis, and which was

sent to Rome for the service of the emperor’s table.

[1054] _Coccus tinctorius_, used to dye scarlet.

[1055] Sinop, still a Turkish city of importance.

[1056] A people inhabiting the western parts of the Caucasus.

[1057] This name occurs only in Strabo: of the various conjectures which

have been hazarded on the subject, one of the most probable seems to be

that we should read Saltigetæ, a people of Bastetania, mentioned by

Ptolemy.

[1058] These were evidently rabbits.

[1059] Spain.

[1060] Majorca and Minorca.

[1061] According to Pliny, (lib. viii. c. 55,) this deputation was sent

to Augustus to demand of him a military force, apparently for the

purpose of assisting the inhabitants in destroying the rabbits. The same

writer has brought together a variety of instances in which cities have

been abandoned or destroyed through similar causes. Vide lib. viii. c.

29. The inhabitants of Abdera in Thrace were forced to quit their city

on account of the rats and frogs, and settled on the frontiers of

Macedonia. (Justin. lib. xv. c. 2.)

[1062] Ferrets.

[1063] Pozzuolo.

[1064] We have here followed Gosselin’s suggestion of λιμνασίαν instead

of γυμνασίαν, the reading of MSS.

[1065] A kind of whale, mentioned also by Aristotle, but which does not

seem to have been identified.

[1066] The Mediterranean.

[1067] A kind of shell-fish with a wreathed shell, which might be used

as a sort of trumpet. It is mentioned by Aristotle.

[1068] The cotyla held about three-fourths of a pint.

[1069] This weight equalled 15 oz. 83¾ grs.

[1070] The Euboic or Attic talent, which is here meant, equalled almost

57 lb.

[1071] A kind of cuttle-fish or squid.

[1072] Sardinia.

[1073] Turdetania.

[1074] The mineral riches of Spain are lauded in equal terms by

Herodotus, Aristotle, Pliny, and many other writers. We can only remark,

that at the present day the mineral wealth of that country scarcely

justifies such descriptions.

[1075] The Cevennes.

[1076] Pliny, (lib. xxxiii. c. 4,) writing on the same subject, says,

“Inveniuntur ita massæ; necnon in puteis etiam _denas_ excedentes

libras. _Palacras_ Hispani, alii _palacranas_, iidem quod minutum est

_balucem_ vocant.”

[1077] This passage is evidently corrupt, nor do any of the readings

which have been proposed seem to clear up the difficulties which it

presents.

[1078] Archimedes’ Screw. It was called the Egyptian screw because

invented by Archimedes when in Egypt, and also because it was much

employed by the Egyptians in raising water from the Nile for the

irrigation of their lands.

[1079] We read τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν, according to Kramer’s suggestion.

[1080] The following is the enigma alluded to. We have extracted it from

Mackenzie’s Translation of the Life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus of

Halicarnassius. While the sailors and the towns-people of the Isle of Ios

(Nio) were speaking with Homer, some fishermen’s children ran their

vessel on shore, and descending to the sands, addressed these words to

the assembled persons: “Hear us, strangers, explain our riddle if ye

can.” Then some of those who were present ordered them to speak. “We

leave,” say they, “what we take, and we carry with us that we cannot

take.” No one being able to solve the enigma, they thus expounded it.

“Having had an unproductive fishery,” say they in explanation, “we sat

down on the sand, and being annoyed by the vermin, left the fish we had

taken on the shore, taking with us the vermin we could not catch.”

[1081] These people inhabited the province of Gallicia in Spain.

[1082] Carthagena.

[1083] Caslona.

[1084] Bætis.

[1085] The Sierra Cazorla.

[1086] Anas.

[1087] These 900 stadia are equal to from 25 to 26 leagues, which is

exactly the distance from the sources of the Guadalquiver near to

Cazorla to the lagoons named Ojos de Guadiana, adjacent to Villa-Harta.

[1088] Cadiz.

[1089] A Greek poet born at Himera in Sicily, and who flourished about

B. C. 570: he lived in the time of Phalaris, and was contemporary with

Sappho, Alcæus, and Pittacus.

[1090] The rock of Gibraltar.

[1091] Cape St. Vincent.

[1092] Cadiz.

[1093] This is exactly the distance from Cadiz to Cape St. Vincent,

following the coasts. It is from 48 to 49 leagues.

[1094] Gaul.

[1095] The bright light of the sun fell into the ocean, drawing dark

night over the fruitful earth. Iliad viii. 485.

[1096] Wandering rocks.

[1097] Entwining or conflicting rocks. Euripides, Medea, verse 2, gives

them the title of Symplegades.

[1098] Gibraltar.

[1099] The Strait of Messina.

[1100] Ulisipo or Lisbon.

[1101] A proverbial expression by which the Greeks described a victory

equally prejudicial to the victors and the vanquished.

[1102] But still it would be disgraceful to remain here so long, and to

return home without fitting booty. Iliad ii. 298.

[1103] We should probably here read Menestheus.

[1104] But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the

boundaries of the earth, where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus; there of a

truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow nor long winter,

nor ever a shower, but ever does the ocean send forth the gently blowing

breezes of the west wind to refresh men. Odyssey iv. 563.

[1105] There then I beheld Minos, the illustrious son of Jove, having a

golden sceptre, giving laws to the dead. Odyssey xi. 567. Bohn’s

edition.

[1106] The Canary Islands.

[1107] Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal.

[1108] We have preferred, in common with the French translation, and the

manuscript cited by Xylander, to read φιάλαις, instead of φάτναις,

thinking it probable that Strabo referred in the first instance to the

drinking vessels, and afterwards to the wine barrels, as being made of

silver.

[1109] Herodotus, who wrote about a century after the time of Anacreon,

expressly tells us that Arganthonius reigned during eighty years, and

lived one hundred and twenty (l. i. c. 163). Cicero, Valerius Maximus,

and Pliny report the same, apparently on the testimony of Herodotus.

Lucian, Phlegon, and Appian however state the life of Arganthonius at

one hundred and fifty years; and what is remarkable, the two former,

Lucian and Phlegon, cite as their authority Anacreon and Herodotus.

Pliny, citing Anacreon, has taken the _reign_ of one hundred and fifty

years, mentioned by the poet, as a _life_ of that duration. The passage

of Strabo is evidently changed from its original form.

[1110] Of the number are Pomponius Mela and Pliny.

[1111] Bætis.

[1112] That is, been admitted to all the privileges of Roman

citizenship. Pliny tells us that in Bætica alone there were thirty

cities enjoying this distinction.

[1113] Beja in Alentejo: others, with less show of probability, say

Badajoz the capital of Estremadura.

[1114] Merida.

[1115] Saragossa.

[1116] Cape St. Vincent.

[1117] Cape Espichel.

[1118] Coray reads two hundred and ten stadia, Groskurd and the French

translators adopt 200; but the whole passage is so manifestly corrupt,

that it scarcely seemed safe to hazard the correction.

[1119] The text is here very corrupt, and the explanations of the

editors and translators unsatisfactory.

[1120] A city of Lusitania, _hod._ Al-Merim.

[1121] Literally towards the sunset at the equinox.

[1122] Anas.

[1123] Bætis.

[1124] Durius.

[1125] This city is not mentioned elsewhere in Strabo.

[1126] Caslona.

[1127] Oreto.

[1128] μυρίων καὶ τρισχιλίων, in text, but plainly the result of some

error.

[1129] We have followed the suggestion of Kramer in the rendering of

this passage, the Greek text being evidently corrupt.

[1130] Munda.

[1131] Vacua.

[1132] Durius.

[1133] A city situated near Soria in Old Castile.

[1134] Now the Lima.

[1135] Xylander and many of the commentators propose to read Ὀβλιουιῶνα,

or Oblivion, in place of Βελιῶνα. The conjecture seems extremely

probable.

[1136] The Minho of the present day.

[1137] The Minho is far surpassed in size, both by the Duero and the

Tagus.

[1138] The text here is evidently incorrect. In the first place, the καὶ

αὐτὸν, which we have rendered _this too_, evidently sustained some

relation, no longer subsisting, to what preceded; and in the second, the

sources of the Minho were not in Cantabria, but Gallicia.

[1139] Strabo here appears to confound the mouth of the Minho with a

small bay about five leagues distant, near to the city of Bayona in

Gallicia, and before which there is still the small island of Bayona.

[1140] Cape Finisterre.

[1141] Anas.

[1142] Limæa.

[1143] Or the river of Oblivion, apparently because they forgot to

return to their own country.

[1144] A few of the MSS. read fifty, which number seems to be

countenanced by the statement of Pliny, that forty-six nations inhabited

Lusitania: but then the limits he set to the country were more extended

than those allowed by Strabo.

[1145] The κούφος of the text signifies also a volatile disposition.

[1146] Some part of the sentence seems here to be wanting. It probably

contained a description of the kind of sword made use of.

[1147] Durius.

[1148] This reminds one of the _glibs_ the Irish used to wear down to a

recent period.

[1149] This passage is not found in any of the odes of Pindar now

remaining.

[1150] The French translators observe, that we should probably

understand this passage as follows, They exercise themselves as

light-armed infantry, heavy-armed infantry, cavalry, &c.

[1151] Xenophon describes this, or one very similar, as the Persian

dance: Τέλος δὲ τὸ Περσικὸν ὠρχεῖτο, κροτῶν τὰς πέλτας· καὶ ὤκλαζε, καὶ

ἐξανίστατο. “Last of all he danced the Persian dance, clashing his

bucklers, and in dancing fell on his knees, then sprang up again.” Xen.

Anab. b. vi. c. 1, 10.

[1152] This is said to distinguish them from their neighbours, the

inhabitants of Majorca and Minorca, whose peculiar marriage ceremonies

are thus described by Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 18: Παράδοξον δέ τι

καὶ κατὰ τοὺς γάμους νόμιμον παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἐστιν· ἐν γὰρ ταῖς κατὰ τοὺς

γάμους εὐωχίαις, οἰκείων τε καὶ φίλων κατὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ὁ πρῶτος ἀεὶ καὶ

ὁ δεύτερος, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ κατὰ τὸ ἑξῆς, μίσγονται ταῖς νύμφαις ἀνὰ

μέρος, ἐσχάτου τοῦ νυμφίου τυγχάνοντος ταύτης τῆς τιμῆς.

[1153] The mention of Egyptians here seems surprising, inasmuch as no

writer appears to have recorded this as one of their customs. Of the

Assyrians it is stated, both by Herodotus, i. 197, and also by Strabo

himself, xvi. cap. i. 746. It seems therefore most probable that

Assyrians are intended, Egyptians being merely an error of the

transcriber.

[1154] Inhabitants of Biscay.

[1155] People of Navarre.

[1156] Who the Pleutauri were, we do not know. The Bardyetæ appear to be

the same people whom Strabo afterwards speaks of as Bardyiti, or

Bardyali, who occupied a narrow slip of land between the east of Alava

and the west of Navarre. The Allotriges Casaubon supposes to be the same

as the Autrigones, who occupied the coast from Laredo to the Gulf of

Bilboa.

[1157] Inhabitants of Biscay.

[1158] Iberus.

[1159] πλὴν Τουίσοι: these words are manifestly corrupt, but none of the

various conjectural readings seem at all probable.

[1160] From the Pillars to the Sacred Promontory, or Cape St. Vincent.

[1161] The rock of Gibraltar.

[1162] Carthagena.

[1163] Viz. from Carthagena.

[1164] Malaga.

[1165] Cadiz.

[1166] Pomponius Mela gives this city the name of Hexi, or Ex, according

to another reading; Pliny names it Sexi, with the surname of Firmum

Julium; and Ptolemy, Sex. This is merely a difference relative to the

aspiration of the word, which was sometimes omitted, at other times

expressed by the letters H or S indifferently.

[1167] Mentioned by Pliny, Athenæus, Galen, and also by Martial, lib.

vii. Epigramm. 78,

Cum Saxetani ponatur cauda lacerti;

Et bene si cœnas, conchis inuncta tibi est;

Sumen, aprum, leporem, boletos, ostrea, mullos,

Mittis: habes nec cor, Papile, nec genium.

[1168] Adra.

[1169] Lisbon.

[1170] Asclepiades of Myrlea, a city of Bithynia, was a grammarian, and

disciple of the celebrated grammarian, Apollonius. According to Suidas

he taught literature at Rome, under Pompey the Great. And it is probable

that it was with Pompey he afterwards passed into Spain.

[1171] Teucer, the son of Telamon, king of the island of Salamis, being

driven out of the country by his father, founded in Cyprus the city of

Salamis. Justin adds, that after the death of his father he returned to

the island of Salamis; but being prevented by the son of Ajax, his

brother, from debarking, he went into Iberia, and took up his abode on

the spot where Carthagena was afterwards built: that subsequently he

removed into the country of the Gallicians, and settled amongst them.

[1172] The Hellenes derived their name from Hellen the son of Deucalion

and Pyrrha. This name, which at first designated only a small people of

Thessaly, became afterwards the general appellation of the inhabitants

of the whole of Greece.

[1173] Amphilochus, on his return from Troy, founded with Mopsus the

city of Mallos in Cilicia. He afterwards retired to Argos, but not being

contented there he rejoined Mopsus, who however would no longer divide

with him the government of their common colony. This dispute resulted in

a remarkable combat, which cost the life of both. (Compare Strabo. l.

xiv. c. 4.) Sophocles and other tragic poets have taken advantage of

this tradition. Herodotus likewise speaks of the voyages of Amphilochus

into Cilicia, and of the city of Posideium which he founded there, but

he tells us nothing of his death. Thucydides merely says that

Amphilochus on his return home after the Trojan war, being discontented

with his compatriots, founded in the Gulf of Ambracia a city which he

named after his fatherland, Argos. None of these traditions mention a

voyage to Iberia.

[1174] Siebenkees suspects that this name should be read Ocella. The

Ocelenses in Lusitania are commended by Pliny.

[1175] Some MSS. read Opsicella.

[1176] Strabo, or rather Artemidorus, seems to have confused the two

kinds of lotus mentioned by the ancients. That whereof they ate the

roots and the grain is the lotus of the Nile, and a plant of the species

_nymphæa_. The lotus alluded to in this instance is a shrub, (the

_rhamnus lotus_ of Linnæus,) named _seedra_ by the inhabitants of

Barbary, with whom the fruit is an article of food. Herodotus mentions

both kinds, (lib. ii. c. 92, and iv. c. 177,) and Polybius describes the

second, as an eye-witness.

[1177] The Island of Zerbi.

[1178] The Gulf of Cabes.

[1179] A celebrated stoic philosopher and grammarian contemporary with

Aristarchus. He was of Mallos, a city of Cilicia, and surnamed the

Critic and the Homeric, on account of the corrections, explanations, and

remarks which he composed in nine books on the poems of Homer.

[1180] Sertorius, on the return of Sylla to Rome, took refuge in Spain,

where he put himself at the head of the Romans who had revolted against

the republic; he was assassinated by one of his officers.

[1181] Adra.

[1182] Carthagena.

[1183] Sucro.

[1184] That is, the ancient name, Sucro.

[1185] Malaga.

[1186] Denia or Artemus.

[1187] Denia.

[1188] Isola Plana.

[1189] S. Pola.

[1190] Islote.

[1191] A sauce so named from the _garus_, a small fish, from which

originally it was prepared. Afterwards it was made with mackerel and

other fish. Vide Pliny l. xxxi. c. 7, 8.

[1192] Peniscola.

[1193] Tortosa.

[1194] Tarragona.

[1195] New Carthage, or Carthagena, is intended.

[1196] Sent from Rome.

[1197] Majorca and Minorca.

[1198] Iviça.

[1199] Ampurias.

[1200] The text is here manifestly corrupt. Various other numbers, from

4 to 400, have been conjectured as the true reading. Gosselin and

Groskurd are in favour of 200.

[1201] Sic text. Siebenkees and Coray propose to read Ῥόδος, and

Casaubon also Ῥόδη, now Rosas.

[1202] Marseilles.

[1203] Probably the river Fluvia, the Alba of the ancients.

[1204] Iberia, or Spain, was anciently divided into two grand divisions,

to which the Romans gave the names of _Citerior_ and _Ulterior_ Iberia.

Augustus subdivided this latter into the two provinces of Bætica and

Lusitania, giving the name of Tarraco to Citerior Iberia. Nevertheless

the ancient names of Citerior and Ulterior continued in use long after

this division.

[1205] Tarragona.

[1206] We are not exactly acquainted with this place, it is probably

Vidreras; though others suppose it to be Colonia Sagerra.

[1207] Tortosa.

[1208] Murviedro.

[1209] Xativa.

[1210] The cordage of the famous vessel built by Hiero of Syracuse was

formed from the spartum of Iberia. Vid. Athenæus, lib. v. p. 206.

[1211] Yniesta.

[1212] Caslona.

[1213] Porcuna.

[1214] Cordova and Cadiz.

[1215] Fought against Pompey.

[1216] The mountains of Burgos and Cuença, the Sierras of Oca, Lorenzo,

and Moncayo.

[1217] Carthagena.

[1218] Malaga.

[1219] The Sierra de Toledo.

[1220] Saragossa.

[1221] Xelsa.

[1222] They occupied the northern half of Catalonia.

[1223] Lerida.

[1224] Huesca.

[1225] Calahorra.

[1226] Tarragona.

[1227] Denia.

[1228] ὑπὸ Καίσαρος τοῦ θεοῦ, by the deified Cæsar. We have adopted the

Latin divus as the most suitable epithet for the emperor in an English

version.

[1229] Gosselin here labours to reconcile these distances with the

actual topography of those parts, but it is useless to attempt to make

all the loose statements furnished by Strabo tally with the exact

distances of the places he mentions by supposing the stadia to be so

continually varied.

[1230] Pampeluna.

[1231] Gosselin is of opinion that this Œaso, is not Ojarço near

Fontarabia, but thinks it probable that Ea near Cape Machicaco is the

site where it stood.

[1232] People of Biscay.

[1233] The ancient Anas.

[1234] The ruins of Numantia are seen a little to the north of Soria.

[1235] Bætis.

[1236] Probably the small village of Varea, about half a league from

Logroño; D’Anville supposes it to be Logroño itself.

[1237] _Aliter_ Bardyali.

[1238] Kramer has altered the text into Ἐδητανῶν, all MSS. having

διττανῶν. There is little doubt they are the same people mentioned in

section 14 as Sidetani.

[1239] Palencia.

[1240] Saragossa.

[1241] Baubola.

[1242] Sasamo, west of Briviesca.

[1243] Allusion is here made to the custom of the Roman generals, who

caused to be carried at their triumphs, representations in painting or

sculpture, not only of the kings or generals of the enemy, who had been

slain, but likewise of the forts, cities, mountains, lakes, rivers, and

even seas, conquered from the enemy. This usage explains the words of

Cicero, “portari in triumpho Massiliam vidimus.” Appian, on occasion of

the triumph of Scipio, says, Πύργοι τε παραφέρονται μιμήματα τῶν

εἰλημμένων πόλεων.

[1244] Sucro, _now_ Xucar.

[1245] The same people as the Edetani, mentioned in section 12.

[1246] Carthagena.

[1247] Malaga.

[1248] At the present day the best castor comes from Russia, but the

greater part of that found in shops is the produce of Canada. It is

denominated a stimulant and antispasmodic. Formerly it was much used in

spasmodic diseases, as hysteria and epilepsy. It is now considered

almost inert, and is seldom employed. After this description, it is

scarcely necessary to warn the reader against the vulgar error of

confusing castor with castor oil, which is extracted from the seeds of

the Ricinus communis or castor oil plant, a shrub growing in the West

Indies.

[1249] Apuleius, Catullus, and Diodorus Siculus all speak of this

singular custom.

[1250] A note in the French edition says, “This surprise of the Vettones

is nothing extraordinary. Amongst all barbarous nations, savages

especially, the promenade is an unknown exercise. When roused by

necessity or passion, they will even kill themselves with fatigue; at

other times they remain in the most perfect inaction. The first thing

which strikes a Turk on coming to any of the polished nations of Europe,

is to see men promenading without any other aim but that of pleasure or

health.”

[1251] Head-dress shaped like a drum.

[1252] At the present day in Bilboa, the capital of Biscay, the women

work far more than the men; they load and unload vessels, and carry on

their heads burdens which require two men to place there.

[1253] We must remark that so far from the dowry given by men to their

wives being an evidence of civilization, it is a custom common amongst

barbarous people, and indicative of nothing so much as the despotic

power of the man over the wife. These dowries were generally a sum of

money from the husband to the father of his intended, on the payment of

which he acquired the same power over her as over a slave. Aristotle,

speaking of the ancient Greeks, tells us expressly that they bought

their wives, (Polit. ii. c. 8,) and observing that amongst barbarous

nations women were always regarded in the same light as slaves, he cites

the example of the Cyclopes, who exercised, according to Homer,

sovereign authority over their families (Odyss. l. ix. 114). This custom

was so well established amongst the Greeks at the time of the poet, that

he does not hesitate to introduce it amongst the gods (Odyss. viii.

318). It was not unknown among the Jews, and Strabo, in his fifteenth

book, tells us that the Indians bought their wives.

[1254] Cæsar and Athenæus attribute this custom to the Gauls, and

Valerius Maximus to the Keltiberians. Those men who attached themselves

to the interests of any prince or famous personage, and who espoused all

his quarrels, even devoting themselves to death on his account, are

named by Athenæus σιλοδοῦροι, and by Cæsar _soldurii_. Speaking of 600

soldiers devoted in this manner to a Gaulish prince, named Adcantuannus,

Cæsar (l. iii. c. 22) says, “Sibi mortem consciscant; neque adhuc

hominum memoriâ repertus est quisquam, qui, eo interfecto cujus se

amicitiæ devovisset, mori recusaret.” Plutarch tells us that Sertorius

had in his suite many thousand Iberians devoted to him. The following

epitaph of these men, who, after the death of Sertorius, sacrificed

themselves, being unwilling to survive him, was extracted by Swinburne

from the Annals of Catalonia.

Hic multæ quæ se manibus

Q. Sertorii turmæ, et terræ

Mortalium omnium parenti

Devovere, dum, eo sublato,

Superesse tæderet, et fortiter

Pugnando invicem cecidere,

Morte ad præsens optata jacent.

Valete posteri.

For the appalling means they adopted to hold out the city of Calaguris

to the last, see Valerius Maximus, lib. vii. cap. vi.

[1255] The country between the Ebro and the Pyrenees.

The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes · 第 8 / 10 章

[430] According to Herodotus, Sesostris was the only Egyptian monarch