A Commentary on George Coedès' Texts of Greek and Latin Authors of the Far East 9782503546025, 2503546021

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Commentary on George Coedès Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

STUDIA ANTIQUA AUSTRALIENSIA EDITORIAL BOARD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ANCIENT CULTURES RESEARCH CENTRE MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

Editors in Chief: Samuel Lieu, FAHA and Alanna Nobbs (Macquarie) Associate Editor in Chief: Paul McKechnie (Macquarie) Board Members: Pauline Allen, FAHA (Australian Catholic University) Brian Croke, FAHA (Sydney / Macquarie) John Davidson (Wellington) Andrew Gillett (Macquarie) Geoffrey Greatrex (Ottawa) Timothy Gregory (Ohio / Macquarie) Naguib Kanawati, FAHA (Macquarie) Neil McLynn (Oxford) Geoffrey Nathan (University of New South Wales) Boyo Ockinga (Macquarie) Tessa Rajak (Reading) Claudia Rapp (Vienna) Roger Scott, FAHA (Melbourne) Nicholas Sims-Williams, FBA (London / Cambridge) VOLUME 5

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ACADEMIES (UNION ACADÉMIQUE INTERNATIONALE)

Project 67. China and the Ancient Mediterranean World

¥]-^μ

COMMENTARY ON

George Coedès

TEXTS OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS ON THE FAR EAST ¥]-^μ

by

John Sheldon

F B REPOLS ANCIENT CULTURES RESEARCH CENTRE MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, NSW, AUSTRALIA

© 2012, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2012/0095/144 ISBN 978-2-503-54602-5 Printed on acid-free paper.

CONTENTS

Contents Series Foreword Preface Introduction Abbreviations Commentary Pseudo Ctesias Virgil Horace Propertius Ovid Strabo Seneca Pomponius Mela Pliny the Elder Flavius Josephus Lucan Silius Italicus Statius Juvenal Florus Chariton Periplus Maris Erythraei Claudius Ptolemy Dionysius the Periegete Rufus Festus A vienus Priscian Pausanias Lucian Galen Lucius Ampelius Bardesanes (Bardai~an)

v

viii lX

xi xvu 1

4 5 8 9 9 17

21 26 36 37 39 41 42 43

44

46 52 126 129 130 131 133 135 136 137 v

Contents

Recognitiones Pseudo-Clementinae (Ps.- )Bardai~an Acron Aelian Herodian Philostratus Origen Comm. Vet. in Mattheum Solinus Julius Valerius Arnobius Porphyrion Caesarius George the Monk (Hamartolus) Epiphanius Ammianus Marcellinus Ausonius Palladius (Latin Version of Ambrose) Claudian Expositio Totius Mundi et Gentium [Scriptores Historiae Augustae] Ethicus Julius Honorius Saint Jerome Vibius Sequester Orosius Heliodorus Marcellus Martianus Capella Philostorgius Hesychius Marcian of Heraclea Epitome Peripli Menippei Sidonius Apollinaris Boethius

138

139 140 141 141 142 144 145 146 149 151 153 153 154 155 157 176 178

186 187

189 199 201 204 205 206 207 211

216 217

218 219 220 223

224 224 vi

Contents

Ennodius Dracontius Avitus Procopius of Caesaria JohnLydus Stephanus Byzantinus Cosmas Indicopleustes Jordanes Isidore of Seville Theophylact Simocattes (Summary of Photius) Anonymus of Ravenna Guido Saint Boniface Theodulf Gesta Apollonii Milon Theophanes of Byzantium Photius Scholiast on Lucian Hrotsvit Michael Psellos Sextus Amarcius Theofrid Theophanes of Ceramea Theodoros Prodromos Eustathius Scholiast on Dionysius Periegetes Nicephorus Blemmydas Jacques de Vitry Anonymo Geographia Compendaria Nicephorus Gregoras Bibliography Index of Sources Select Index of Greek and Latin Place-Names

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225 227 228 228 230 231 234 238 240 242 251 252 271 272 272 273 275 276 277 278 278 279 279 280 280 281 281 284 285 286 287 288 290 311

317

SERIES FOREWORD The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre (now part of the Centre for Research in Ancient Cultures) was established in 1981 at Macquarie University under the direction of Professor Edwin Judge. Over the years it has become a major focus of research on epigraphy and papyrology, especially in ways in which both these disciplines contribute to the study of the background of the New Testament. Since 1981, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans) has been a flagship publication of the Centre. With the arrival of Professor Sam Lieu at Macquarie in 1996, the Centre participated actively in a new series, Silk Road Studies, published by Brepols of Turnhout. Work on both series has helped to develop facilities for the preparation and publication of a refereed text and monograph series on Antiquity which reflects the work of staff and graduate students based in the Southern Hemisphere. The Centre has also hosted many distinguished scholars who have contributed much to the research life both of the Centre and of the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie and the Series Editors are pleased that many of them have agreed to serve on the Editorial Board. The series is based at the the Centre for Research in Ancient Cultures at Macquarie University but many of its authors will be from other universities in Australia and New Zealand as well as from major centres for the study of Ancient History in other parts of the world. Professor Sam Lieu and Professor Alanna Nobbs - 2012 Cover Illustration: The front cover shows the map of ‘India intra Gangem’ from the Ulm edition of 1482 of the Cosmographia of Ptolemy published by Lienhart Holle. It is reproduced ‘with permission of the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College, England.’

viii

PREFACE ¥]-^μ This is the second of two volumes produced under the auspices of the “China and the Ancient Mediterranean World before the Tenth Century CE” Project of the International Union of Academies (Union Académique Internationale - UAI). Although, as indicated in the foreward to the first (i.e. text and translation) volume (p. x), it was originally intended that the commentary would be written jointly by Prof. Sam Lieu and Dr John Sheldon, constraints of time and place made this impracticable. The task therefore devolved upon the latter, particularly as this companion volume was always planned to appear within as short a time as possible after the first. Dr John Sheldon

ix

INTRODUCTION ¥]-^μ

GEORGES Coedès, the author of this collection, was born in Paris on August 10, 1886. He has been credited with Hungarian-Jewish ancestry, but the family was established in Strasbourg before 1740. In his early twenties his attainments in the field of classical education were already recognized, but his interest in things oriental was awakened especially by Paul Pelliot, the polyglot scholar, who led the French expedition to Central Asia (1906-1909) and brought back to Paris among other things his finds in the Cave of Ten Thousand Buddhas near Dunhuang. The following year Coedès published his collection to cater for the surge in demand for information about the Far East which might be already embodied in surviving Greek and Latin literature. Only five hundred copies were printed. Impetus for further Central Asian exploration was halted by the outbreak of the First World War. Thereafter these studies languished and passed from the mainstream. Coedès’s book was virtually forgotten. At the end of the war Coedès moved to Thailand, where he worked as director of the National Library in Bangkok, and then to Vietnam where he was appointed director of the École française d’Extrême-Orient in Hanoi. He returned to Paris in 1946 and died there in 1969. His collection was acquired by the National Library of Australia and forms part of its Far Eastern research library. He is best known for his ground-breaking research on the history of Indo-China, especially Cambodia. In the concluding paragraph to his original 1910 introduction to Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East George Coedès (henceforth C) threw out this challenge to future researchers on this subject: ‘The field lies open to research which will potentially be fruitful for the orientalist. This book will have achieved its goal if it can contribute to making it more easily accomplished.’ It is to be hoped that one hundred years later this new translation and commentary on the texts selected by C may, in a modest way, take this challenge one stage further. C set out his limited aims in publishing his collection in the original preface. It was to be a repository of sources not otherwise known or readily accessible for the use of orientalists. It was not to be seen as a contribution to the history of silk, much less an attempt to fathom the mysteries of the ancient geography

Introduction

of the Far East by a study of the frequently corrupt toponyms found in those writings. He did, however, with an appropriate disclaimer, include some identification of place names in his geographical index. Some of these remain valid, others have been replaced by identifications better founded through the efforts of subsequent scholarship. It has been one of the chief aims of this commentary to study these and provide references to what seem the most reliable conclusions about them. Although much remains unclear, we are now in a better position to expand our understanding of places referred to in these texts. The present volume attempts to provide the reader with what is needed to locate C’s texts in time and place and comment from time to time on the selection itself. There are nearly a hundred authors here and each one requires some introduction. Even those as familiar as Virgil and Strabo need something to be said about them in the context of the whole. There are many less well-known writers who need fuller treatment. Some require a new identification. There are even some like Theophanes of Ceramea who need to be renamed. In the case of more obscure authors reference to recent studies has seemed to be particularly important. In the case of many authors textual criticism has been necessary. C did not claim that his selection was exhaustive, though I believe that he included everything that he found in dictionary entries on Seres etc. that he thought relevant. If one compares his material drawn from Latin authors with the exhaustive Latin Sources on North-Eastern Eurasia by the Finnish scholars Pentti Aalto and Tuomo Pekkanen published in 1980 it is remarkable how little significant material can be added to C’s selection. I have noted at times omissions in C, but this is more for interest than for substance. In the translation volume C’s texts were presented unaltered. Here suggestions are sometimes made for an improved reading. These are mostly based on more recent editions, but at times they appear here for the first time. In the case of the many corrupt toponyms it has been thought worthwhile to give some philological attention to possible origins and reasons for distortion. This is especially so in cases where earlier names have been ‘normalized’ in the tradition by predominantly Greek scribes. A pattern emerges from this that can be used to explain many forms which have superficial plausibility but which, on closer examination, can be seen to have been distorted from an identifiable or at least a probable original xii

Introduction

name. At an earlier period when these place names found their way into the Greek language a different kind of distortion is apparent. Many of these names can be seen to have an underlying Indian form, often Sanskritic or Prakritic, for the reason that they were first known in Greek Alexandria from contact with sailors bringing them from further east. While identification of the original form of the name can rarely be made with certainty, it has seemed worthwhile to present the various possibilities without indulging in mere speculation. The field has engaged some of the finest oriental scholars, especially during the last century, and their findings are often worth reporting even when doubt or considerable reservation is expressed about them in the relevant notes. In the highly contentious geography of Ptolemy’s ‘Golden Chersonese’ there have recently emerged strong claims for its location in Borneo and Sumatra, rather than the conventional view that the Malay peninsula is principally involved. Since attempts to substantiate these claims have often been based on Sanskrit etymologies of the most questionable kind, some detailed discussion of this subject has been thought worthwhile. As C points out at the beginning of his introduction, the texts fall into two general categories. Some are literary allusions whose sole interest is the fact that the Far East is mentioned through the use of a word such as Seres or Sinai. It should be pointed out, however, that the majority of these passages refer to silk and Seres are only mentioned as part of a definition of this word. Although C said in his preface p xv that he had ‘disregarded the countless quotations in which the terms sericum (Lat.) or σηρικόν (Gr.) “silk” occur’, such phrases as vellera Serum are no more than poetical periphrases for sericum. As they became part of the language of poetry they may have had no more geographical resonance than ‘china’ does for us today when used for ‘crockery’. It is also manifestly not the case that he excluded direct references to silk, witness the two excerpts from Propertius given early in the collection among others. Of much greater importance, however, are the specifically historical or geographical texts purporting to give accurate information about the Far East. For these it is essential to situate them in place and time as much as possible before proceeding to a detailed analysis of their content. They are in themselves mostly secondary sources as the originals have been lost. They encompass many centuries and have been subjected to scribal mutilation before the Byzantine era in xiii

Introduction

which our first copies become available. They often draw from each other’s information or simply repeat and present it sometimes in a garbled form. At times we are fortunate enough to be able to check this through diachronically extant material. This emerges very clearly by comparing the careless writing of Solinus with his sources, as the notes make clear. Had C lived in the digital age a suitably programmed search engine would have saved him much labour in seeking out words such as Seres or Sinai and providing them with context. As it was he had to rely on entries in dictionaries and concordances. The commentary attempts to evaluate the contextual validity of these citations, some of extreme brevity. It is easy to dismiss some of the entries as mechanical reproduction of passages of no value in contributing to Far Eastern studies simply because they contain a single toponymic word. Respect for the scholarly integrity of C, however, requires an examination of each one, even when the result is consignment to the ‘Recycle Bin’. Some citations, unpromising at first sight, have yielded more than a tiny vein of gold. For example, the quotations from Roman poets of the Augustan Age raise interesting questions concerning the awareness, albeit very vague at times, about the distant orient, especially among the educated and literate classes. This justifies the extended treatment of these in the commentary and will not be found elsewhere. There can be little doubt that C made the best use of the scholarly works available to him at the time. As Lieu points out in his foreward to the translation volume p x, his book was written at a time when Central Asia had suddenly become the focus of intense scholarly interest. That C kept abreast of the new developments in scholarship resulting from the European exploratory expeditions is shown by the fact that one of his latest references is to Albert von le Coq’s seminal Mission Archéologique à Turfan which appeared in the Journal Asiatique of 1909. At the same time he deplores his inability to have access to Winstedt’s edition of The Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes which was published by the Cambridge University Press in 1909. The fact that few of the studies listed in the brief bibliography in C’s introduction find their way into the present work is no disparagement of the fine pioneering work which they embody. They form the solid foundation on which all subsequent investigation has been built. The present bibliography, it must be xiv

Introduction

understood, represents in the main only works cited here or consulted in the course of preparing the commentary. A word should be said here about C’s title which includes the words ‘From the Fourth Century BCE to the Fourteenth Century CE.’ This seems to be an oversight on his part. The only purportedly representative text from the Fourth Century BCE is the spurious passage of Pseudo-Ctesias which C himself labels as of doubtful authenticity. On p xx of his introduction he does not allude to his first extract, but acknowledges that ‘it was the poets of the Augustan Age who have brought to us the first exact information’ about the Seres. As is pointed out in the commentary’s note on Σῆρες in the first extract, the relationship between this and passages in Ptolemy almost certainly date it no earlier than the Second Century CE. The subtitle should have been ‘From the First Century BCE. to the Fourteenth Century C.E.’ C was aware that his collection was diffuse and was at pains to use his introduction to coordinate the data as much possible by going through the material chronologically, relating the various passages to one another and commenting on their relative significance. The reader is directed to this fine introduction, translated and published in the first volume. Many of its insights are incorporated in the notes here. Divergences from C’s views, whether because they are rendered obsolete by new information or, in a very few cases, where they are factually erroneous are noted in this commentary. All references, bibliographical and otherwise, are incorporated into the text of the commentary in the usual way. The names and publication dates of works cited are found in the bibliography. It is inevitable that with so many works under survey the notes in the commentary will be thick with cross-references. It is to be hoped that the usefulness of this for a reader interested in the work of a single author or the contents of a particular passage will outweigh the stylistic inelegance involved. In view of the uneven nature and value of these excerpts there must also be considerable imbalance in the amount of annotation deemed necessary. In the case of Ptolemy the importance of this author, stressed by C in his introduction, has required detailed exegesis of the mathematical and astronomical background to the geography. Space has been dedicated here and in other geographies to individual place names, as well as the general xv

Introduction

picture of the world which they portray. It has been thought worthwhile to expand on the context of many of the purely literary excerpts, especially the less familiar ones, because of their intrinsic interest, in addition to the way in which they contribute to the whole scheme of things presented by C. The following acknowledgements must be made: to the team at Macquarie University led by Professor Sam Lieu who first directed me to this field of research and guided me with unique skill through every step on the way; to Dr Gunner Mikkelson for his assistance with aspects of Chinese language; to Professor Edwin Judge for much illumination on the patristic writers; to Dr Greg Fox for his work on the Syriac text of Bardasenes; to Dr Raymond Mercier for his expert help with the cartographic and astronomical background to Ptolemy and to Katherine Browne for her patient proof-reading. The Department of Ancient History and its Documentary Research Centre (now part of the Ancient Cultures Research Centre) presided over by the tutelary genius of Professor Alanna Nobbs have provided an ideal environment in which to work. I must also express my gratitude to Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams, Professor Geoffrey Greatrex and Dr Hyun Jin Kim who read the commentary when submitted as a PhD thesis. Their suggestions and positive criticism on general matters and specific points have been of great value in preparing the work for publication. For the imperfections which will be found here I am solely responsible.

xvi

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE MAIN TEXT abl. ablative ad loc(c). at the appropriate place(s) ad fin. at or near the end adj. adjective C Coedès c about dat. dative et al. and others fem. feminine gender fl. floruit period in which known to be active ft. footnote gen. genitive Gk. Greek IE Indo-European Lat. Latin lit. literally masc. masculine gender ms. manuscript /mss. pl. n note neut. neuter gender (NL) nomen loquens, descriptive proper name nom. nominative pl. plural Skt. Sanskrit sing. singular qv see reference there vl. variant reading vel sim. or something similar

xvii

COMMENTARY

PSEUDO-CTESIAS

Ctesias from Cnidus in Caria was a physician who in 401 BCE accompanied Artaxerxes II (Memnon) in his campaign against his brother Cyrus the Younger recorded by Xenophon in the Anabasis. After Cyrus' death at Cunaxa and the dispersal of the Greek army, Ctesias continued to serve as physician to the Persian king until 397 BCE. See Jacoby RE XI 2032-36 and Drews 1973 p 103. On his return to Cnidos Ctesias used his experiences to write a lengthy history of Persia and a shorter work on India from which this excerpt purportedly comes. These, along with two minor works, are lost but substantial fragments, collected in FGrH, can be recovered from other authors. The passage attributed to Ctesias' Indica quoted by Coedes (hereafter C) is included in Muller's 1844 edition of the fragments in Dindorf' s edition of Herodotus and reproduced in the Paris Didot volume of 1884 as F75. In FGrH pp 486-487 it is consigned to the apparatus criticus. Lenfant 2004 p 222 includes it among the fragments of Ctesias, but in her commentary describes it as apocryphal. Lenfant 2004 pp 334-335 provides a useful discussion of the suspect provenance of these lines. The Fourteenth Century Codex Monacensis Graecus 287 contains among other things an inferior version of Photius' summary of the Indica. This is preceded by the paragraph quoted by C under the heading given there. C himself describes it as of doubtful authenticity but does not comment on it in his introduction. He gives tacit support to its authenticity by subtitling his book 'From the Fourth Century BC to the Fourteenth Century AD.' If the Indica passage is dubious, the first passage of undisputed relevance to C's theme is that from Virgil in the First Century BCE. Two parallel passages in Ptolemy are germane to the issue of authenticity. In Ptolemy VII 2 21 there is a description of the savage inhabitants of the Land of the Robbers: 811QL006EL~ 'tE elvm A.eyoum ... xal 'to 6EQ µa E)(.OV'tE~ JtaQa:rtAfimov rmi:mv mnaµ(mv, ch~ µT)

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

6Lax6mEa0m pEl..Emv '[many people] say that they are like wild beasts and have skins very like hippopotamuses so that they cannot be pierced with darts.' In the Indica fragment we have virtually the same words: 011QL006EL;, xal 'to MQµa :rtaQa:itl..f]moL i:rt:rto:rt0't6.µoL;, cb; µf] 6Lax6mEa0m peA.Emv 'like wild beasts and have skins very like hippopotamuses so that they cannot be pierced with darts.' The second passage is Ptolemy VII 2 30 where we read 'tau'ta; [vf]aou;] oi xa'texov'tE; oiJQa; EXELV A.Eyov'tm, 6oo(a; 6LayQ6.cj>oum 'ta; 'tmv l:a'tUQCOV 'those inhabiting these [islands] are said to have tails, like those described as belonging to Satyrs'. The Indica fragment has vf]aou cj>aal 'toil; evoLxofJv'ta; xaxE'L oiJQa; E)(ELV µEy(a'ta;, 6oo(a; 6LayQ6.cj>oum 'tmv l:a'tUQCOV '[in the gulf of a sea-girt] island they say that the inhabitants there have very big tails like those described as belonging to Satyrs.' The verbal similarities are beyond coincidence. It is highly probable that Ptolemy is the source of the Indica passage. A scintilla of doubt is raised by the possibility of a common source. Lenfant 2004 p 334 even allows for the possibility that Ptolemy may be copying Ctesias, although she regards the fragment as spurious. C's quotation is therefore better described as Pseudo-Ctesias. We can get a good idea of the Indica from the summary in Photius who is generally a reliable source. Dogheaded men are cited but not the Seres. Photius quotes Ctesias as saying that beyond India there are no countries inhabited by men, whereas the Seres are mentioned in C's fragment. The Indians almost outnumber the rest of the world according to the summary, but there is no mention of their being particularly tall as in the fragment. Their longevity is stressed in the summary ('They live 120, 130, 150, and some even 200 years') but this is more conservatively expressed than the 'in excess of 200 years' of the fragment. The summary has no references to the Gaitros River or the seagirt island or their theriomorphic inhabitants found in the fragment. For a positive view of Ctesias' Indica see Bigwood 1989 p 302 and Karttunen 1989 passim. ~f)QEc; If correctly attributed we have here the first appearance of the Seres in surviving western literature. Since, as has been shown above, the 'Ctesias' fragment contains material derived from Ptolemy or his (postCtesian) source and is unlikely therefore to be earlier than the Second

2

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

Century CE, the Virgil passage below deserves this honour. For the apparent inclusion of the Lt)QE~ among the peoples of India here see Wilson 1836 pp 10-11. Ctesias was especially interested in recording strange and wonderful details about peoples in the Indica. In this respect it is very like the fanciful descriptions of distant western people in the Chinese annals at this time. The longevity of the Seres is a topos found constantly in later references to them, as exemplified in C's collection; e.g. Pliny VII 27. See note on Strabo XV 1 37. Their excessive height is not part of the usual description of them in these sources, nor is it mentioned in Photius' summary of the Indica (see above). Seres is the usual Gk. and Lat. name for the inhabitants of North-Western China. Ser is usually thought to derive from Chinese si 'silk'. Hamilton 1995 pp 27-28 proposes a different opinion about the origin of the word which is worth quoting in extenso: 'Lat. serica was borrowed from Gk. O'l']QLXOV, just as Lat. Seres, 'China', was borrowed from Gk. Lt)QE~. Lt)QE~ probably goes back to at least the Second Century BCE and must have come from the name of the great Qin dynasty that founded the first Chinese Empire towards the end of the Third Century BCE. Indeed, at the time when the Chinese name Qin t- (Early Middle Chinese *dzin, *dzen) was borrowed into Gk. as Lt)QE~, the final n of Chinese must have sounded very much like the final -r of other languages, for it was then used regularly to transcribe a foreign -r. The word O'l']QL'X.OV may, however, not have been a derivative of Gk. Lf)QE~, but taken over directly from a word meaning 'silk', based of course on the same word for China, in a central Asian language such as Tocharian. The English word 'silk' seems also to derive ultimately from a word such as serica or OflQL'X.OV, likewise based on the name for China from Qin. The OE forms sioluc, seoluc, for earlier *siluc, corresponding to Old Norse and Icelandic silki and Scandinavian silke, are also represented by Old Slavic shelku, so that one may suppose that the change from -r to -l took place in some language through which a word such as serica or OflQL'X.OV passed into Slavic and thence into the early Baltic trade.' One may note in passing that English 'serge' (as early as Twelfth Century) derives from serica. 3tO'ta.µoi) l.Eyoµtvou ra.i'tQOU Gaitros is otherwise unknown. As the river

is in India it must be a mistake for rayyou Ganges. Ptolemy VII 2 21 which describes the 'Land of the Robbers' locates it in the Ganges region. 3

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

'Ev bt av'tfi ... l;a'tiJQOOV This information is not in Photius' summary, but is found in Ptolemy VII 2 30 (see introductory note). Compare note on l;a'tiJQOOV vfjaot in Ptolemy VII 2 30.

VIRGIL

Georgies Publius Virgilius Maro, (70-19 BCE), one of the greatest of Roman poets, composed the Georgics ('Works of Farmers') in Lat. hexameter verse in imitation of Hesiod's 'Works and Days' as a preparation for his major work, the epic Aeneid. Some three centuries and a half separate this excerpt from the historical date of Ctesias's Indica. As, however, the 'Ctesias' quotation probably postdates Ptolemy for reasons given above, this should be considered as the earliest known reference to Seres. C p xix dismisses earlier attempts to see Far Eastern peoples in Herodotus IV. He does, however, allow the faint possibility that the Median fabrics mentioned several times in that writer were silk, quoting two specific statements to support this from Procopius De Bello Persico I 20 9 and De Bello Vandalico II 6. He sounds an appropriate note of caution when he says (intro. p xx) that the Seres here 'are not necessarily the Chinese people, and that the name could have, both successively or even at the same time, been used for quite different demographic groupings.' II 121 Vellera ... Seres Apart from its intrinsic interest as the earliest surviving reference to silk as a production of the Seres, this line is almost certainly the model for numerous hexameter verses in C's collection which contain such a description using the same poetic vocabulary with minor variations. A near example is Silius Italicus Punica VI 4 quoted by C. The phrase vellera Serum 'Serian material' became a cliche of hexameter verse for 'silk'. The metrical shape of the phrase made it ideal for the end of the line. The implication of the rhetorical question is that Virgil's cultivated audience will certainly be familiar with such exotic nations and the things 4

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

for which they are famed, and the Seres are famed for silk. Vellus is commonly the sheep's 'fleece'. In poetical contexts, possibly first influenced by this passage, vellera become 'material' or 'fabrics'. Virgil dissociates the word from its primary meaning by describing the fleeces as tenuia 'thin-textured'. Other poets of the Augustan age, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid, have similar references to silk. Virgil does not use the word 'tree' in the line; this is implied by 'leaves' in a context of arboriculture. Was he thinking specifically of the mulberry tree? Ovid, Metamorphoses IV 88-90 in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe knows of the white mulberry, a species, we are told, unique to China. What Virgil does know, however, is that the Seres comb down their fabrics from leaves. The verb depectant clearly suggests that the leaves are still on the trees when the process takes place. While this line of Virgil is the first known mention of Seres in the west, it is not evidence for the earliest importation of silk. Nor is it the earliest information we have from Classical times about sericulture. That will be found in Aristotle's Historia Animalium V 19, but seems to have been forgotten in subsequent references to silk. Nevertheless the material associated with Seres is mentioned often enough in the poetry of the First Century BCE period to suggest that it was in common use. The commentary of Servius is not excerpted by C, but is worth quoting: sunt quidam in arboribus vermes, et bombyces appellantur, qui in aranearum morem tenuissima fila deducunt, unde et sericum 'There are certain worms in trees called bombyces (silkworms) which spin out very fine threads in the way spiders do, hence the word sericum (silk).' See note on A quibus ••• in Ammianus Marcellinus XXIII VI 6 67 and vellera ... vestifluus Ser in Ausonius X V 24.

HORACE

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65BCE-8CE) was part of the same Augustan literary circle as Virgil. His contribution was to give Lat. literature a collection of lyric poems (Odes) based on Gk. models as well as works in other genres. The Epodes, along with the First Book of the Satires, was his earliest published work. The Epodes are based on Gk. iambic models many of which are of a satirical character. 5

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

Epodes VIII 15

This invective poem is unpleasant and highly obscene and the full context of C's quotation is best left unexplored. Quid, quod ... amant? The contrast is drawn between asceticism and luxurious indulgence. Stoic books represent austere philosophical reading, while silken cushions typify the sort of easy living which those books deplore. A scholiast on this passage gives this somewhat confused explanation: Sive quia amicos habet Stoicos, ut eos amoris et coitus

notaret, sive quia libros ipsos legere consueverat, ut docta videretur. Quod ad ostentationem in Sericis pulvillis reponebat. 'Either because the man had Stoic friends and the poet wishes to stigmatize their love affairs and intercourse, or because the man was used to read such books themselves in order to appear learned and placed them ostentatiously on silken cushions.' In any case this is a reference to 'silk' rather than Seres. Odes I 12 53-57

The metre is Sapphic and the introductory model is Pindar's Second Olympian Ode which begins with words which Horace translates literally. The poem proceeds, though in reverse order to the Pindaric Ode, to praise famous gods, heroes and finally, in the section from which C's excerpt comes, Augustus. Parthos For the Romans these were their most redoubtable eastern foes. Their name was given to the people of the Persian Empire at this time. Their kings succeeded the Seleucids who ruled there after the Achaemenid Empire was brought to an end by Alexander the Great. Here Horace attributes Roman successes against them on their borders to Augustus, although the famous reverse at Carrhae in 53 BCE was no distant memory. For their ethnic and linguistic identity see Sheldon 2006 pp 5-17. 6

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

Seras et Indos No major Roman victories could be claimed over these people, but they are included just the same. Seras is the Gk. acc. pl. of ~fjQE~ as the metre shows. I 29 7-10

Addressed to one lccius who is about to join Aelius Gallus Prefect of Egypt in a campaign against Arabia Felix (25 BCE), this ode playfully contrasts the former quiet life of philosophy of its addressee with his new-found profession of war. Does Iccius now see himself as the possessor of captive slaves, including a Serian boy as cupbearer? Doctus sagittas tendere Sericas arcu paterno Sericas is simply a vague way of describing something exotic from the distant east and is not to be taken as a genuine suggestion that Iccius would take a Serian captive in Arabia Felix. The reference to archery for which the Parthians were a byword suggests that Horace might have written Parthicas had the metre permitted. See Scholia on this passage by Pseudo-Acron and Porphyrion later in this collection. III 29 25-28

One of the longest and grandest of the Odes, this poem is addressed to Horace's patron Maecenas, an intimate of Augustus' circle and the most famous promoter of its aim of literary creation. C's excerpt emphasizes Maecenas' concern for the welfare of Rome. Quid Seres et regnata Cyro Bactra parent Tanaisque discors Again this is poetic exoticism rather than factual contemporary history. The Seres have no designs on the Roman border; Bactria can only be considered as ruled by Cyrus five centuries previously and the Don (Tanais) is in a region not well known to the Romans.

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IV 15 24 The last of the Odes is another in praise of Augustus, lauding him especially for bringing peace to the world. The peoples mentioned here are all outside the borders of the Roman Empire: the Danube and Rhine (where Horace seems to place the Getae later associated with Goths) formed its northern boundary; Persians were found directly to the east and Seres beyond them. The Don represents the north eastern frontier.

PROPERTIUS

Like Virgil and Horace, Sextus Propertius (50-15 BCE) was part of the literary circle of Maecenas. He seemed to have admired Virgil from a distance: he lays no claims to close friendship with him. Horace disliked his pretensions to be the Roman Callimachus. Elegy

I 1422 Like all the poems in Book I, this elegy tells of the poet's love for his mistress Cynthia. Here the youthful lover muses on what his lot would be if he were deserted by Venus and had to spend the night alone. The silken bedclothes would be cold comfort!

IV823 This poem in the last book of the Elegies describes a stormy scene in a tavern: the infidelity of both Propertius and Cynthia is vividly depicted. In this line Cynthia is imagined by the angry poet as she drives to the tavern along the Appian Way in the chariot of her current smooth-cheeked lover.

Serica carpenta 'Silk-lined chariot' is a poetic plural. This is a certain restoration of mss. confusion by Baehrens. C's footnote draws attention to the possibility of the word Sericas occurring in Elegy IV 3 9. This is also a 8

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good conjecture of Baehrens to replace other improbable adjectives appearing in the mss. Neuricas is adopted from the mss. by most editors. It refers to the tribe of the Neuri mentioned in Herodotus as living among the Scythians along the Rivers Bug and Dneiper. If Serica could be considered as an ethnonym here the resonances with the chariots of Central Asian peoples would be striking. See Beckwith 2009 pp 29-57. volsi nepotis The term nepos 'nephew' is used to emphasize the youth of

Cynthia's lover who is young enough to be her nephew. In the following lines he grimly foretells the boy's future when his beard has fully grown.

OVID

P. Ovidius Naso (43 BCE - 17 or 18 CE) is the most famous of the Roman elegiac poets, although it is not so much for his verses as for the notorious error which caused his banishment by Augustus to a remote town on the Black Sea. He wrote in various genres including the hexameter (Metamorphoses). Amores, which is an early work, is a miscellaneous collection of love poems many involving Ovid's literary mistress Corinna. Auwres I 14 5-6

Here Ovid complains that Corinna's attempt to dye her hair has been a disaster. Vela ... habent Ovid stresses that Corinna's hair is already as finely textured as the veils of the yellow-skinned Seres. The word colorati may simply be 'dark-skinned' here, although the more specific reference seems likely.

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STRABO

Strabo (c 64/3 BCE- 21 CE), whose name means 'squint-eyed' in Gk., is a near contemporary of Propertius and Ovid. Born in Amasea on the Black Sea, he wrote forty seven books of Historical Sketches which have not survived, but we have his Geography in seventeen books. For uncertainties concerning its date and method of composition see Dueck 1999. It was first edited and published by Isaac Casaubon in 1587. There is a Ninth Century ms. containing a Chrestomathy of Strabo and one of the Fourteenth Century containing an Epitome. Strabo claimed to have travelled more extensively than any preceeding geographer, but his first hand knowledge is combined with heavy indebtedness to earlier writers in particular Eratosthenes whom he presents as his basic model. Indeed, as Eratosthenes' works have not survived, Strabo is the chief source for our knowledge of him. Strabo relies little on Roman sources, though he does quote Julius Caesar. For discussion of the textual tradition see Diller 1975.

XI 111

... xa.i bi) xa.i . . . UQXi)V The context is a statement about the GraecoBactrian kingdoms which developed after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Strabo said that kings like Menander (Skt. Menadrasa Prakritic Milinda in Indian sources), who reigned 155-130 BCE according to Narain 1962 pl81, subdued even more tribes than Alexander himself, extending Gk. influence into the distant places mentioned here. For Gk. penetration east of Bactriane and Sogdiane see Narain 1962 pp 25-27. Here Strabo is quoting Apollodorus (of Artemita) who in the First Century BCE wrote a History of Parthia in at least four books, now unfortunately lost. See Chaumont 2000 pp 660-1. Strabo regards him as a generally, but by no means always, reliable source. See Narain 1962 pp 35-36. This passage of Strabo is much quoted in discussions about the lndo-Greeks evidence for whose kingdoms is mainly numismatic. Menander was clearly the most powerful of these rulers and it is possible that he extended his power even as far as Pataliputra, modem Patna. A chronologically composite Pali Buddhist text in the Theraveda canon dated from about thirty years after the death of Menander is eloquent in his praise. It credits him with much 10

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knowledge of philosophy, arithmetic, medicine, music, poetry etc. The Milindapanha or 'Questions of Menander' may have been written originally in Skt. or that particular form of it called Gandhan since Bailey 1946. See von Hinuber 2000 pp 83-35. The work relates a discussion in which the king puts questions to and receives answers from the Buddhist sage Nagasena. At the end Menander is converted to Buddhism. Although Nagasena is not an historical figure, the fact that Menander became a Buddhist is borne out by historical evidence.

i;11erov In this passage Cunningham 1884 pp 148-9 adopted the vl.

LVQWV

and equated it with Sule, the old Chinese name of Kashgar. Narain 1962 p 171 thinks this likely. 'It is not improbable therefore, that the name Seres first given to Kashgar was later applied to China.' On p 27 he says that the statement of Apollodorus 'here indicates only an exclusive rather than an inclusive limit.' This accords with the limit set by Maes to his eastward journey. Narain does not seem to take account of the other reading LTJQE~ which might be expected to have a different outcome to LVQOL in Chinese. Old Chinese pronunciation and its realization in equating toponyms found in Gk. and Lat. sources is notoriously difficult and uncertain despite much excellent work done in the last half century by scholars such as E.J .Pulleyblank.

Qaxoi:w;) who became the most powerful king of Northern India. Seleucus Nicator was defeated in battle by Chandragupta in 305 BCE. It is quite possible that Chandragupta knew or knew of Alexander. Plutarch and Justin have stories, now usually discredited, about actual encounters between the two. After this his ambassador Megasthenes resided at the court of Chandragupta in Pataliputra and gave a description of it in his Indika. This is now lost but its material is incorporated in Gk. writers, notably Strabo and Arrian. It is possible that the Graeco-Bactrian king Menander (ruled c 155-130 BCE) extended his power as far as this city. See note on ... xai bi) xai ... UQXlJV in Strabo XI 11 1. Professor Sims-Williams draws my attention to the occurrence of the name IlaA.apoi:Qo in the Bactrian Rabatak inscription, for which see note on xa#.:n; in Periplus 60. Aethiopes (NL) AL8(one; are mentioned in Homer and understood in Gk. as 'men with burned faces'. Herodotus III 23-5 gives a description of them. No other probable etymology has been suggested. The dark-skinned people who resemble them represent the Indians in a general way. See Romm 1992 pp 49-60, 78-78. It needs to be said as a general caveat throughout these sources that the words India and Indian need not always be taken literally to apply to the subcontinent and its inhabitants in the modem sense. It is true, however, that we use this vagueness when speaking of 'the (East and West) Indies'. Mayerson 1993 argues convincingly that the location of India had become vague in geographical writings after the Fourth Century CE. It can refer to sub-continental India but also to Ethiopia/Axum and Southern Arabia. For example, Palladius (c360-c430 CE) writes of meeting a petty 'Indian' king CBamA.Laxo; µLXQO~ i:wv 'Ivbwv) in Axum on the Red Sea. 'Indian' here almost certainly means an Axumite (i.e. Ethiopian) ruler. Rufinus (c345-410 CE), in speaking of the missions of Saints Matthew and Bartholomew, situates Ulterior India between Citerior India and Parthia longo interior tractu 'deep within the area'. Meyerson gives evidence that this India Citerior is Arabia Felix or Southern Arabia. Procopius (500-post 565 CE) can write of India as though it were Ethiopia saying 'the Nile river, flowing into Egypt from India divides that country into two lands as far as the sea.' Expositio Totius Mundi et Gentium (a Fourth Century CE work cited among these excerpts) 25

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refers to India Major (Exp XVI) which is clearly subcontinental India and India Minor (Exp XVII) which is more likely to be South Arabia or even Nubia. See note on 8Eocjn.J.o; o 'Ivbo; in the excerpt from Philostorgius (c363-439 CE). See further Weerakkody 1997 p24 who concludes: 'Around the Fourth Century AD the term "Indian" was often used as a blanket description of all the tribes east of Egypt; and even the "animals of India", whose description is promised in the title to the eleventh book of Cosmas, includes those of Africa as well as of India properly so-called.'

III 68 Tamum Some mss. read Cudum which has been adopted in a number of editions, but is obscure. If correct, it may give some support to McCrindle's view of Colis as variant form of Skt. koti 'tip, point'. But the promontory referred to is usually identified as Cape Negrais in Burma and is the same as T6.µaQOV in Strabo XI 7. See note ad Zoe. and Herrmann RE IV A 2 (1932) 2092-3.

III 70 Ad Tamum ... fabula est While the existence of the Islands of Gold and Silver may be said to be a topos in the geography of India from our earliest records onward, Pomponius is very vague about their location and the picture here is a very confused one. See note on 'Ia.pa.biov in Ptolemy VII 229. PLINY THE ELDER Natural History C. Plinius Secundus (23/24-79 CE) was probably born in Como in Gallia Transpadana. Novum Comum was founded by Julius Caesar in 59 BCE. Pliny was in Rome from a young age. His official career is presented in detail by Syme 1962. He wrote a number of historical and biographical works now lost, but his major achievement was the enormous encyclopaedic Natura/is Historia. He finished this in 77 CE two years before his death which occurred while he was going to the assistance of 26

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friends in Pompei during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. A moving first hand account of this event is given in one of the literary epistles of his nephew and heir, Pliny the Younger, (born C. Caecilius, lived 61 - c112 CE). The Natural History was a vast work of compilation and materials for it must have been collected over many years. According to his nephew, he employed a reader and a secretary to assist him with this work. From the same source we read of the Elder Pliny's work methods which left no available minute of the day unoccupied. The principal source for his geographical material is Varro, but Pomponius Mela is cited as an important authority. His work is also supplemented from the topographical commentaries of Agrippa which were part of Augustus' scheme to map the Roman Empire. The Teubner text of Mayhoff (1892-1906) used by C is still a standard edition.

Vl53 A Caspio ... ilia regio This material would derive from Pomponius either solely or among others. The two accounts are very close. It appears in garbled form in the corresponding Solinus excerpt in C. See note on Androphagoe in Pomponius Mela III 59. possidens would be a better reading, I think, than the semantically anomalous obsidens.

VI54 Primi sunt hominum ... traluceat This is the first direct reference to the origin of silk among C's excerpts. Pliny describes it as though it were a kind of natural down on the leaves of (silk) trees. When moistened it forms into strands like wool and is then woven in the same way as other stuffs. Pliny alludes discretely here to the semi-transparent quality of silk and the indecent use of garments made from it for displaying instead of concealing the body underneath. See Lucan X 141-143 in C and Tacitus Annales II 33 1. In other writers this becomes a subject for moral outrage. See, for example, Seneca's outburst in De Beneficiis VII 9: 'I see your Serie garments, if garments they can be called, in which there is nothing by which the body or modesty can be shielded from view. When she wears these a woman will swear that she is a little on display but not nude. These 27

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fabrics are acquired for immense sums from peoples not known to engage in trade so that our matrons show more of themselves in public than they show to their lovers in their bedrooms.' Several centuries later Abu Zaid speaks of the thin texture of Chinese silks compared to Arabian and gives as an example the fact that the scar on the chest of an officer in the imperial household was clearly visible to an Arab trader although the man was wearing five layers of silk on his upper body. For references to the practicality of silk clothing in warfare involving archery see Feltham 2009 plO. Yule 1915 p 197 n 2 debunks the idea that Greeks and Romans picked to pieces the rich silks to weave flimsy gauzes from them - a practice invented, according to Pliny XI 25ff by Pamphila of Cos. See Solinus L 1 and note on ad usus antehac nobilium . . . in Ammianus Marcellinus XXIII 6 67. It is interesting to find Tertullian De Cultu Feminino II 13 7 updating St Paul and using silk as a symbol of 'probity'. Vestite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, purpura pudicitiae. 'Clothe yourselves with the silk of an upright life, the fine linen of holiness and the purple dye of purity.'

Seres mites ... exspectant Pomponius' simple statement that the Seres are a just race and famous for their method of trade in which there is no human contact is given a somewhat less favourable slant by Pliny: they are mild mannered (no reference to 'just') and, because they are like wild animals, they shun human society; they are entirely passive traders. Psitharas ... Lanos Although the names of these rivers present an unfamiliar appearance, there can be little doubt that they represent the three rivers which are placed similarly as the first three in Sinai in Ptolemy VII 3 2. They appear there as Aa:n:LSQa (with variant Aam8aQa), Aµf3aa-tou and ~a(vou. It is easy enough to see how Aa:n:LSaQa could be corrupted to Psitharas. The fact that A.µf3aa-tou could be corrupted to Cambari and ~a(vou to Lanos shows the extent to which some names can be altered in this tradition. They defy normal paleographic explanation. promuntorium Chryse Since Pliny writes of a promontory rather than a peninsula, it is unlikely that this otherwise unknown toponym refers to the

28

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'Golden Chersonese' mentioned by Ptolemy. See note on Xgvai]v X£goov11oov in Ptolemy I 14 1.

Sinus Cirnaba Tomaschek RE IV 1943 thought it referred to the Gangetic Gulf and suggested derivation from Skt. kttia- 'scattered' with the suffix bha common in the formation of toponyms. Flumen Atianos This is more likely than the variant Alainos. Tomaschek RE II 2153-3 relates the Atianos river to the Ana~a in Ptolemy VII 2 5. Attacorum This is almost certainly a simple haplographic misprint for Attacororum. If it were the gen. pl. of Attacores, the form Attacoris as an abl. pl. further down would be incorrect. Not surprisingly the error is repeated in Solinus L II. This is the same word as Attarocori and is probably the same as Athagurae in Ammianus, in which case it may connect with Skt. uttarakuru, which is an ancient place name in Hindu and Buddhist mythology .The names Ottorokorai etc. in Ptolemy are clearly derived from this. See Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p 102. The same word appears as Ottorogorae in Ammianus. The description of the locality has suggested Assam to some scholars. Eadem, qua Hyperborei degunt, temperie This is strange, as the Hyperboreans traditionally lived in the extreme north where we would expect to hear about cold weather rather than sunny hills; but, of course, the very long summer days might have been known. This in turn might have given rise to the idea that a land of perpetual sunshine was a blissful place to be and the rest followed. Hyperboreans are mentioned as early as Hesiod and given prominence in Pindar Pythian X. These dwellers of the far north (hence their name) worshipped Apollo and according to Herodotus IV 33 sent offerings to the shrine at Delphi. The fact stated by him that they do not bring their gifts in person but that their offerings are conveyed from city to city has led some to believe that there is a reminiscence of the amber trade here. Compare Solinus L II. Amometus In the course of this work Pliny names over four hundred authorities, the majority Gk., and this is an example of one of the many 29

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whom time has obscured for us. His name means 'blameless' in Gk. It is surmised that he was a Gk. historian of the reign of Ptolemy I and II i.e. Fourth - Third Century BCE. Apart from references in Pliny, FGrH 645 prints testimonia for Amometus from Antigonus Hist. mir. 149, Paradoxogr. Florent. 18 and Aelian De Natura Animalium 17 6. From the first two of these we learn that he wrote about the Fountain of Isis as part of his treatment of a journey up from Memphis. See Pfeiffer p 333 where the excerpts from Antigonus are printed as deriving ultimately from the Pinakes of Callimachus, the catalogue of the Library of Alexandria. See Witty 1958 pp 132-136. The Aelian passage concerns priestly spells employed in hunting crocodiles in Libya. Phuni Variant readings are Phruri (also in Avienus), Chuni and Thuni which adds obscurity to the already obscure. Maenchen-Helfen 1973 p 444 notes that Chuni occurs instead of Thuni in the Codex Florentinus Ricciardianus which is typically full of many erratic readings. cf. Orosius I 2 45. «l>Qo'flvoL also occurs in Dionysius Periegetes 752. This ethnonym cannot be satisfactorily explained. It occurs as «l>Q'fJVOL and «l>QOUQLOL in mss. of Eustathius. Elsewhere there are variants Thuni, Thunni and Thimi which are close enough to Thinai, an alternative spelling of Sinai, to arouse suspicion of confusion. Cf. cl>QUVOL «l>a'flvm cl>QOUQOL in Strabo XI 11 1 and in C's excerpt from Nicephorus Blemmydas. Thocari It is tempting to see 'Tocharians' here, but the variants Phocari I Focari give us pause. It is geographically possible. It is even a possible distortion of Attacori since we find elsewhere Athagoroi. Athagurae appears in Ammianus XXIII 6 66 with variant Athagortae. Again we tum to a parallel passage in Dionysius Periegetes; in line 752 we have T6xaQOL where the term probably refers vaguely to the Scythian tribe so first designated among surviving writers by Strabo. This ethnonym is used to describe different people at different times. Other forms of the name are Takoraioi, Taguouraioi or Tachoroi located in Sogdiana. Strabo's T6xaQOL (in various spellings) are placed in Bactria and are involved in the destruction of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdoms. They have been equated to the Yuezhi. The 'Tocharian' languages recorded in the Sixth to Eighth Centuries were spoken by Indo-European inhabitants of cities along the 30

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Silk Road. The basis for applying the name Tocharian to these people is far from secure. The situation is well described in Pinault 1985 pp 16-19. For a lucid, witty and up-to-date discussion of the problem see Mallory and Mair 2000 pp 133-4 (with bibliography) and, with caution, Beckwith 2009 p 369 n 35. See note on ipsos .•. linguae in Pliny VI 88 and 9ayollQOV in Ptolemy VI 16 2. Casiri If this is Kashmir, the loss of m is paralleled in Modem Kashmiri forms eg. Kaszr. It is geographically possible. Ciconas These are a Thracian people known from the time of Homer Iliad II 846. See Ebeling 1885 p 795-6. They are listed among the Thracian tribes by Herodotus VII 110 and are said by him to live on the Hebrus. They often occur in the mythological tradition. The form in the text is probably Gk. acc. pl., hence nom. Cicones not Ciconae. They should not (pace C) be confused with the Caucones (see note on Caucones in Julius Valerius I 1). Solinus L II says of the Attacores: 'as Amometus affirms, their kind of life is on a par even with the Hyperboreans and the best informed have placed the Cicones between them and India.' Brisari The form is obscure, but one notes that Bistones are placed next to the Cicones among the Thracian tribes by Herodotus VII 109, 110. According to him, the Bistones lived near Abdera. In Gk. legend. Hercules' eighth labour was to capture the man-eating mares of Diomedes, king of the Bistones.

VI 80,88 The account of Taprobane which follows this excerpt is in two parts, the first of which (81-83) is based on earlier writings, specifically Onesicritus, Megasthenes and Eratosthenes. The second (84-91) tells of an embassy to Rome in the reign of Claudius of four ambassadors from Taprobane who supply information about their homeland which is corroborated by reports of those trading in the east.

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Taprobane This is always the name given to the island of Ceylon by Lat. writers. In Gk. we find another name, Palaisimoundou IIaA.mmµouve>ou which is almost certainly caused by failure to separate two words since variants of ~tµouve>ou occur without :rcaA.m- 'ancient'. ~aA.txri is a name for it in Ptolemy and Sieladipa is found in Cosmas Indicopleustes. It is worth noting with Weerakoddy 1997 p 20 that Pliny in discussing the embassy to Claudius gives the name of the capital city as Palaesimundum, which is also the name of a nearby river. In some of its occurrences a case has been made for Taprobane being Sumatra. See Weerakoddy 1997 pp 1820. The attempt to see Skt. tlimra 'copper-coloured' (tamba panni, tlimraparvi etc.) in the first part of this word is not wholly convincing, though it is part of the Sri Lankan historical tradition and still appears regularly in their scholarly writings. cf. Weerakoddy 1997 p 19. Another suggested Skt. etymology is dvzpa ravana 'Island of Ravana', a designation of Ceylon in Brahmanical writings. This has some plausibility. See Berthelot 1930 p 243. Winstedt 1909 p 352 regards the designation of Ceylon as Taprobane to be as early as Megasthenes. Weerakoddy 1997 p120, however, says, 'According to our evidence, the earliest writer to mention Taprobane in a Gk. text was Onesicritus of Astypalaea, whom Pliny introduces as an admiral (praefectus) of the fleet of Alexander the Great, and who appears to have written before the end of the Fourth Century BC.' As noted under Pomponius Mela inhabitants of Ceylon are antichthones in Pliny VI 22. See note on mxemu:iv'tm 'taii'tTI 'tfl vi)oqi ... av'tai; in Palladius I 5.

VISO extra ostium ... crediderim This may be usefully compared with Periplus 63 where gold mines are mentioned. Crocala It has been suggested that this may be the sandy island visited by Nearchus in Arrian Anabasis VIII 21. See Wecker RE XXII 1942. Bibaga According to Arrian Anabasis VIII 21 the island near Crocala is Bibacta. This should probably be read here. An Indian derivation cf. Skt. vibhakta 'set apart' is possible. More in Tomaschek RE III 390. 32

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Coralliba For this obscure island one might consider a Sanskritic form like *korudvzpa. Koru is familiar enough (see note on axero'tlJetoll xalt:i'tm Kroell in Ptolemy I 13 2) and Lat. names ending in -iba sometimes conceal Skt. dvzpa 'island'.

o

Vl88

Iidem narravere .. permutatio For a detailed account of the embassy to Claudius see Weerakoddy 1997 pp 51-63. There is no reason to doubt the reported words of the ambassadors given in this section. latus insulae . . . hiberno The distance of ten thousand stades is a greatly exaggerated figure.

ultra montes . . . commercio Seras has been eliminated from the text in some editions on the grounds that they are too far distant to fit this context. This has led to speculation that Hemodos here does not, as elsewhere, refer to the Himalayas, but mountains in Southern India. See Weerakoddy pp 7273. It may be that Herrmann 1938 p 27ff. and Tarn 1951 p 111 were correct to locate these Seres in the Tarim basin.

patrem Rachiae commeasse eo Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to identify a native name here (e.g. Skt. raja). The only one with any likelihood of probability is rafiya but this is a word for an administrative official, not a personal name. It seems clear, however, that Rachia's father was a merchant or much less probably a royal envoy. advenis ibi Seras occursare advenas is read by some and would give 'The Seres met the visitors there.' Seras has been suspected and Hardouin 1685 rather improbably suggested eliminating it by emending to advenas ibi feras occursare 'they met savage strangers there.' But the text and meaning are probably sound.

ipsos ... linguae C p xxii in referring to 'these red-headed men with bright eyes' says: 'The curious frescos recently discovered in Central Asia by the 33

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German Mission (cf. von le Coq 1909 p 323) marvellously illustrate this passage and give it particular prominence.' This description tallies almost exactly with the physical remains of the mummies found in the Tarim basin now housed in the Urumchi museum. See Mallory and Mair 2000 and Sheldon 2004. Although of later date, these people may be 'Tocharians', speakers of a non-Iranian Indo-European language with western affinities. See note on Thocari in Pliny VI 54. The presence of 'Tocharians' in central Asia in the period described here is possible, even likely, on linguistic grounds in view of the divergences between the two dialects of 'Tocharian' known as A and B. They have developed apart for some centuries, but nothing suggests significant geographical separation. In any case the Seres referred to here are most likely to be Central Asian traders, since the Chinese further east do not seem to have been in contact at that time with Roman traders. Henig 1935 90 (see Tam 1951 p 110) identified the blonde Seres of Pliny with the 'Tochari-Yuezhi' though an Iranian identity is favoured for them in modem scholarship. Tam commends the view of Herrmann that Pliny's Seres might be the Wusun, or that section of the Tochari-Yuezhi who had remained behind in the Wusun country.' See note in Strabo I 11 1. cetera ... negotiatores Pliny notes that the information of the ambassadors is supported by accounts from Roman traders. fluminis ... permutatio This is to be compared with VI 54 above. The assessment of Weerakoddy 1997 pp 73-4 is worth quoting in full. 'According to Pliny the envoys located the scene of silent barter away from their island. Martianus Capella, in his paraphrase of this passage, (VI, 697) transferred the description to the people of the island itself. On the other hand Fa-hsien (Faxian), in the early Fifth Century AD, associates Sri Lanka with the silent barter, but relegates it to prehistoric times, saying that it was the demons who originally inhabited the island that carried on this trade with foreign merchants. In the Eleventh Century al-Biruni also refers to this custom in connection with Sri Lanka, and records the belief of Arab mariners that these inhabitants were either demons or savages. However allusions to this method of trading are not unknown elsewhere in Gk. literature. Both Herodotus (IV 196) and Cosmas (11, 52) (Sixth Century 34

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AD) record the practice as existing at their respective dates in different parts of Africa (also Pomponius Mela III 60) and in the Fourth Century AD we find the Stone Tower, the meeting place of so many nations, itself associated with the silent mode of trade. (Ammianus XXIII 67-68)'.

VII27 Cyrnos Athenaeus Deipnosophistae 2 47a speaks of Cyrnii whose longevity he attributes to honey. Isogonus Isogonus of Nicea, classed as a naQa6osoyQ6.o~, is quoted elsewhere by Pliny and is referred to by Stephanus Byzantinus and Aulus Gellius. His dates are not known and the few fragments that remain have been collected in Westermann's IlaQa6osoyQ6.m and Giannini pp 1520. See Smith 1867 ad loc. annis centenis quadragenis Pliny VII 9-32 deals with strange and exotic races and depicts apparent abnormalities (excessive longevity etc.) found among them. Beagon 2005 pp 120-122 discusses this section and judiciously exculpates Pliny from the charge of credulity often raised against him. Macrobii This is Gk. 'long-lived'and seems more a descriptive adjective (NL) than the ethnonym of a particular group of Ethiopians. This is the usage in Herodotus III 23 where these people are described. See Beagon 2005 pll7 and Romm 1992 pp 49-60, 73-78.

XII2 Quo magis . . . quaeri Serian silk is here a typical example of a rare and precious substance. XII38 Eiusdem insulae This is Tylos which is the name given to Bahrain by the Greeks. It was discovered for them by Alexander's admiral Nearchus when sailing around the Arabian Gulf. It has been suggested that it may be a 35

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Hellenization of Semitic Tilmun from Dilmun. Others have seen a nominal connexion with Tyros (Tyre). See Rice 1994 p 20 and Salles in Rice and Crawford 2002 p 132. XII84 imperio nostro adimunt Literally 'remove from our empire' i.e. 'buy from us.' The use of this word implies criticism of the process. XIV22 Quintum genus ••• vestit In dealing with viniculture, Pliny notes the downy leaves of some vines; this suggests to him the leafy down which he earlier described on the silk-bearing trees of the Seres. Ex omnibus ••• mittunt It is worth noting that Pliny like other writers uses Seres in an imprecise way to designate several eastern nations. Pliny refers to palm iron in XXXIV 41which Yule 1915 p 17 n 3 sees as fine cast-iron. See C intro pp xxi-xxii.

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS

Antiquitates Judaicae Yosef Ben Matityahu (37 - clOO CE) was in Jerusalem in 70 CE when it was besieged by Titus. He claimed to have had a negotiating role in this. He returned to Rome with Titus, became a Roman citizen and, as a client of the imperial family, seems to have styled himself T. Josephus Flavius. He believed in the compatability of Judaic and Graeco-Roman thought. He wrote a work entitled The Jewish War which actually records Jewish history from the siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus IV in 164 BCE down to the siege of 70 CE. It was written in his native Aramaic but we only possess a later Gk. translation. Antiquitates Iudaicae was composed in Gk. in the reign of Domitian. Written for a gentile audience, it traces the history of the Jewish people beginning from the historical books of the Bible. It 36

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was in twenty volumes. See Rajak 2005 pp 79-98. Naber 1888-96 (Teubner) used by C is still a standard edition. VIII 6 4 (163)

A.vbQaQVXt« Reference to 'gold mines' is perhaps mistaken. Alluvial gold is known from the region but not mined gold. Compare note on extra ostium ... crediderim in Pliny VI 80. See Muller 1855 p 303.

xal'tt; This is the earliest reference to minted gold coins in India examples of which first appear in the Bactrian coinage of the Kushan king Vima Kadphises now dated to the First Century CE. See Bivar 1983 pp 200-201. Until the discovery of the Rabatak inscription in 1993 the earliest existing monuments in the Iranian Bactrian language were the Dasht-i Nawur and Surkh Kotal inscriptions. The latter was found in the 1950's and dates from the reign of Huvishka. The story of how the Rabatak stone was eventually tracked down in a store of the Department of Mines and Industry in Baghlan and flown from there to the Kabul Museum is a modem adventure story the excitement of which is somewhat tempered by the deeply disturbed condition of Afghanistan which its background reveals. The Rabatak inscription records Kanishka, son of Vima Kadphises, as reigning monarch. See Sims-Williams and Cribb 1995-6. Cunningham 1891 p49 suggested Malayalam kalutti to explain x6.A.'tL~ quoting Elliott 1886. No better suggestion has been made. 49

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XQ1'0f) Its location raises interesting possibilities; it may refer to the

'Golden Chersonese' or to the furthest country on the mainland. In Pomponius Mela and Pliny it is vaguely coupled with Argyre, an island of Silver. Casson 1989 pp 235-6, who quotes extensively from C's introduction, text and geographical index, comments, 'To the author of the Periplus ... an established trading area seems to lie as far east as current geographical knowledge extended; on land there was a Chryse region that marked the eastern edge of the continent, and in the sea there was a Chryse Island that marked the eastern edge of the inhabited world. By Ptolemy's time geographical knowledge had expanded: he knows a Chryse region, a Chryse Peninsula and lands beyond both. The same distinction between a "golden region" and a "golden island" appears in Indian writings as Suvan;iabhami and Suvan;iadvrpa. It is generally agreed that the region refers to Burma and the island to Malaya or Sumatra'. A new explanation of the 'Golden Chersonese' is given in the note on XQ1'af)V XEQOOVl)OOV in Ptolemy I 14 1.

64

de;

[l;l)QOOV] ·nva 'to3t0v As C points out in his footnote, the presence of

Seres here depends on a conjecture. It is safest to assume that Seres are not mentioned by this name in the Periplus. Old editions conjecture E>Lv6~ as the supplement, taking E>'Lv or E>(~ as a toponym equivalent to E>'Lvm. If E>Lv6~ is correct it is more likely to be the gen. sing. of the common noun 8(~ 'beach'; this would give the translation 'where the sea comes to an end into some region of beach.' This is not a happy outcome! 9ivm This is the first occurrence of the name in this form. Phonologically it is legitimate to equate it with Sinai and may have been transmitted to the Greeks through intermediate languages not possessing the sound 'ch'. Ptolemy VII 3 6 refers to 'l;ivm or 9ivm the metropolis' but elsewhere it is the name of a country (roughly Southern China). It has been suggested that it is derived via Skt. from name of the Qin dynasty. For the related Tzinista see note on T~tVt't~a in Cosmas Indicopleustes I, (137).

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'to 't' EQLOV ... l;l)QLXOV Casson 1989 translates 'silk floss, yam and cloth'.

His accompanying note explains what he sees as the subtle distinction between 'silk' and 'silk floss'.

d; 'ta Ba.Qilya.~a. . . . :iro'taµoil This silk route takes us overland to Bactria, south to Barygaza, eastwards down the Ganges to a port on the coast, then by ship to Limyrike via the tip of the Indian Peninsula. Barygaza seems generally agreed to be Baruch, the present-day Broach in the Gulf of Cambay, Gujarat. From early times this was a trading post known to the Greeks. Wheatley 1961 p 179 rightly compares Skt. Bharukaccha as in Jataka tales. Bay6sri is found in Strabo XV 720. XEi'tm ... 01Jva.va.atoµoil'tm As in the later maps China's western border is imagined to march with the coast of the Caspian and Black Seas. Lake Maeotis is the Sea of Azov, which lies parallel to the Caspian Sea in this geography and with it debouches into the circumambient ocean of which the Caspian is a gulf. See diagrams in Casson 1989 p 240.

65 B11oa'ta.; The variant reading in C is ~riofrtrn;. Ptolemy VII 2 15 has

Brioeibm; other variants include Besadai, Bisadai, Bisades, Begadai, Besatae, Sesatae, Saesadai and Tiladae. Eggermont 1943 argues that the Basanarae Besyngeitai are the same people. The physical descriptions seem to match. He believes that Saesadai (Besatae) was a nick-name applying equally to the Takoroioi, Korandakaloi, Passadai and Piladai who all showed the same corporeal characteristics. Here may be a distortion of Skt. vi$ada 'with drooping gait'suggested by Lassen 1844-68 III pp 37 ff. A compound vrddhi formation vai$ada 'poison-eating' from vi$a- 'poison' and ad- 'eat' is less likely though not impossible. Wheatley 1961 p158 makes the same identification. This could be the humorous invention of Greek merchants and sailors who went to India. There are abundant toponyms in the Periplus which are clearly Gk. descriptions in the parlance of mariners. In Alexandria, Eggermont says, Bes was 'a popular shabby, broad-faced dwarf' and 'Sons of Bes' would be a good joke. He preferred the reading Brio6:tm here. Yule 1915 p134 n 3 thought that if Besatai is 51

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correct these may be the Bisades, gatherers of pepper, mentioned in Palladius De Brachmanibus in Pseudo-Callisthenes III 8, noting the similarity of the descriptions. See note on Ptolemy VII 2 15.

'toil; #..Eyoµtvov; 3tt'tQOll; Not, as in Gk., 'stones' but from Skt. pattra 'leaf'. µaJ..cipaOQOV This is Cinnamomum Tamala. malabathrum is probably derived from Skt. tamalapattram 'dark-tree leaf' the ta being the Gk. definite article. One must also consider a possible though unattested Skt. compound malapattram 'garland-leaf' or even a geographical Malapattram 'leaf of Mala', name of a district west of Bengal. See MonierWilliams 1899 p 813. Cinnamon (or cassia) is made from the bark of a tree similar to the one from whose leaves µaA.aBa9QOV was made. Not mentioned before the reign of Augustus, it was used in various ways as a spice for food and medicinally. It is well known in the pharmacopia as µaA.aBa9QOV. See Casson 1989 p 242. PTOLEMY

Geographia

An Alexandrian Greek. (c90 -168 CE), his name Claudius Ptolemaeus shows that he was a Roman citizen. He was an astronomer and mathematician, as well as a geographer. His Syntaxis Mathematica, better known by its Arabic title Almagest, is the only surviving comprehensive astronomical treatise to survive from ancient times. The Arabic title almj§ty no doubt derives from Greek Ti µey(ot"r] (sc. txl) ucj>fiyrim~ literally means 'Map-drawing Guide'. We do not know whether his work was actually accompanied by maps, though it is likely. See SG p 19 n 51. our earliest Ptolemaic maps are not found until the Thirteenth Century. Two of our mss. provide sixty eight examples and three, which appear to be older, contain twenty seven. The value of these is best judged by the accuracy in numbers in the coordinates not by the toponyms which they contain. For these maps see Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 45-50 and Berthelot 1930 pp 111-112. The Alexandria where Ptolemy lived would have provided the largest repository of geographical material existing in the ancient world. This accounts for the fact that he includes in his work over eight thousand toponyms, many no doubt as obscure to him as they are to us. A comparison with Strabo reveals how much the horizons of the known world have widened. Since the time of the earlier writers many new facts had emerged through reports of voyages, official itineraries, administrative documents and also astronomical observations. All of this was uniquely available to Ptolemy whose immense industry amassed it in his comprehensive Geographia. His achievement won the admiration of the ancients who appreciated the vastness of his task. Marcian of Heraclea, for example, calls him 'the last of the good Classical geographers'. While the Periplus Maris Erythraei is a precious guide for checking Ptolemy, a comparison with Marcian in passages dealing with the same geography shows the considerable extent to which continual use has modified the textual transmission of the earlier writer. We must therefore at all times remind ourselves that what we read in the Byzantine mss. are not necessarily the ipsissima verba of the author in any particular instance. See Berthelot 1930 p 117. It is worth noting that Leo Bagrow 1945 proposed that what we have in our mss. is a compilation by an anonymous Byzantine scholar of the Tenth or Eleventh Century based on the principles set out by Ptolemy and incorporating some of the original text. This has been accepted by some scholars including Paul Wheatley in his influential writings on the 'Golden Chersonese'. There is no complete edition of Ptolemy which satisfies modern critical standards. Incredible as it may seem, Nobbe 1843-5 was still needed for the text from VII 5 onwards until the publication of SG in 2006. The text used by C for Book I

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is that of Muller and Fischer 1893. For Book VI he uses Wilberg 1838-45 and, of course, Nobbe 1843-5 for the rest. I 11

IlEQi 'tv ••• btt#.d.oyu1µ.£vrov Instead of measuring distances in stades and schoeni (axotvm), Ptolemy followed Maes and Marinus in using a sort of dead reckoning based on the time taken in journeys between locations. He assigned coordinates to known places on a grid spanning the whole world which he envisaged as a sphere. In this way he attempted to improve projections. Marinus had published his research using latitude and longitude. The former was based on the 'diaphragm' or great central parallel through Rhodes devised by Dicaearchus, a pupil of Aristotle. This method had been used by Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Strabo. See Berthelot 1930 p 115 and Thomson 1948 p 153-4. Map projections were in existence in the Third Century BCE. For a discussion of Ptolemy's map projections see Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 31-34. Although Eratosthenes had calculated 250,000 stades for the circumference of the earth, Ptolemy used Poseidonius' less accurate estimate of 180,000 stades which led to his underestimating distances especially at the outer or eastern extremities and reducing the length of a degree at the equator from 600 to 500 stades. At this point it is worth mentioning that the exact measurement of a stade is not certainly established. In rough calculation 1 stade equals 0.15 km. On the two-sphere (celestial and terrestrial) model used by Ptolemy in the daily rotation of the sky from east to west the stars trace out parallel circles of which the largest is the equator. For the horizon, latitude, longitude, the ecliptic and climatic zones in Ptolemy's scheme see Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 7-14. Marinus of Tyre (c 70 - 130 CE), who came from the Roman province of Syria, is thought at some stage to have lived in Rhodes. Little is known about him, but he is cited by the later Arab geographer alMasudi, as well as by Ptolemy, although it is possible that this citation was from Ptolemy's text rather than from the original of Marinus. Various conclusions about his life and work are drawn from Ptolemy's references to him. His work, which is quoted with the same title (fEmyQacpLXTJ iJcpfJcprim~) as Ptolemy's Geography, was almost certainly accompanied by maps. It seems to have been unfinished. Marinus' belts of latitude were 54

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called xA.(µa-ra, but for longitude he used hour intervals. He probably coined the word 'Antarctic' which he uses to describe his 'south pole'. See Honigmann RE XIV 2 (1930) pp 1767-1796 and Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 23-27. The first part of his name may be the Semitic title mar 'lord'.

I 111

£:1ti :ltOaov •.• Ka:t't1.yaQmV Marinus is the first geographer known to have used parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. His zero meridian passed through the 'Isles of the Blest' (Canary Islands) and in his scheme latitude was measured from the parallel through Rhodes (36°). His most northern parallel was through Thule (Shetland Islands?) (63°) and that farthest to the south was through Agisymba (see entry below). He assigns the easternmost meridian to Serai, Sinai and Kattigara. Ptolemy believes that this eastern extension is exaggerated. Marinus had achieved this by converting the stages of a land journey from Syrian Hierapolis to Sera Metropolis to a distance in stades measured along the parallel of Rhodes i.e. 36° north of the equator. This journey could be roughly described as the later 'Silk Road'. Isidore of Charax (First Century CE) in his Mansiones Parthicae (see Schoff 1914) gives a list of stopping places along the 'Royal Roads' traversing the Parthian Empire. Marinus seems to use a similar list in adding up the distances of his given route, which he puts more or less in a straight line as far as the Stone Tower beyond which stade distances were no longer available to him. For the divergences between the route given in Isidore and Marinus see Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 150-151. Stein 1928 vol 2 pp 848-850 and 893-894 imagines the route as going north west crossing the Oxus near Termez in Uzbekistan then turning south east past Dushanbe in Tajikistan then north east to the Stone Tower (AL8Lvo~ Il'UQYO~ see note below). For the version of the route given in Lerner 1998 p 15 see note on Bax-rQa in I 2 7. Ka't't1.yaQmV The toponym Kattigara still remains something of a mystery, although SG p 967 definitely locate the city near Hanoi. This assumes, probably correctly, that the Great Gulf is the Gulf of Tonkin. Yule 1882 pp 658-659 favoured Ji-nan with its chief port Kiau-chi. Instead of looking for Kattigara in the north east, according to Berthelot 1930 p

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150, Ptolemy, when he describes its position at VII 3 3, places it in accordance with his re-alignment of the littoral 26° latitude towards the South. Ptolemy makes it plain that he has used information from sailors who have sailed from the Golden Chersonese to Kattigara and based his calculations on these. In his assessment of the final stage of the trade route Berthelot 1930 p 415 prefers to follow the details given by Marcian of Heraclea whom he believes to have corrected Ptolemy from better, more up-to-date, information. He concludes that Kattigara is in the Bay of Amoy, now Xiamen, at the estuary of the Jiulong River which he equates with Ptolemy's Kottiaris at VII 3 3. It is therefore, according to him, in the Fujian Province of south east China opposite Taiwan. Coedes 1968 p 38 said that Kattigara must be looked for on the west coast of the Gulf of Thailand in the ancient kingdom of Funan. Dihle 1964 p 30 specifically suggested Oc Eo, a Funan site excavated by Louis Malleret on the Mekong delta in Vietnam. See Malleret 1959-63 vol III pp 451-454. In the scheme of van der Meulen 1975 it is in south west Borneo. Berggren and Jones 2000 p 155 point out that the final journey from Zabai to Kattigara according to Marinus' source Alexandros would locate Kattigara in Indonesia. The direction is thought erroneous since Kattigara is called the port of Sinai and its position should be sought on the Vietnamese or Chinese mainland, hence the likelihood of Hanoi being correct. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 11, 13-14, 17, 23. Suarez 1999 p 90 traces the later cartographic history of Kattigara. Suggested Skt. etymologies are kirtinagara 'famous city' and kottinagara 'strong city', but they have little probability in this context. The name 'Cathay' is close enough to warrant investigation, but there is no link. This name derives from the seminomadic Khitan people who conquered northern China in the Tenth Century. The Arabic-Persian form of their name (Khita) became known to the West as Cathay. William of Rubruck, a French Franciscan monk who travelled to the Mongol court at Qaraqorum in March 1254 CE, was the first European to identify the 'Cataians' with the Seres. See Jackson 1990 pp 9-10 and Lieu 2009 p 238 n 43.

Maxcl.QmV vl]arov Known as Mak:aronesia in some modern geographers, the Isles of the Blest are accepted as lying on the westernmost (i.e. zero) meridian. They must be the Canary rather than the Cape Verde Islands. For 56

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identification see SG p 11. We may think of it as the Greenwich of ancient maps. The islands are shown on Ptolemy's map 7 1 11-12, 14, 7 5. All references to Ptolemy's map in what follows are those given in Berggren and Jones 2000.

'lt:Qcl.31'.0ltv Gk. 'Sacred City' has been identified as Bambyce (Gk.) i.e. Membij (Syriac) in Syria situated south west of the confluence of the Sajur and the Euphrates and north east of Aleppo. Berggren and Jones 2000 p 150 note that Hierapolis was actually to the west of the river but there were other crossing places nearby e.g. the bridge at Zeugma. It is shown on Ptolemy's maps 5 and 7, 111-12.

buk 'ti); 'Pobia.; 3W.Qa.J.J.i)J.ov When giving latitudes Ptolemy sometimes describes places as t,La i:f]~ 3taQaA.A.f]A.ou 'along the parallel' at other times as imo i:fl mxQaA.A.f]A.cp 'under the parallel'. In the first case he refers to the terrestrial parallel, in the latter the celestial parallel as given in the Almagest. It would appear from this that by the time he was writing the Geographia the two seemed interchangeable to him for this type of description. I 113 AtOtvou UuQyou AL8Lvo~ H6Qyo~ in Gk. is 'Stone Tower'. This was the furthest point reached by the expedition of the Macedonian Maes Titianus whose caravan itinerary was used by Marinus of Tyre.The amount of ink spilt on possible modern identifications of this site is enormous. See, for example, the list in Lerner 1998 p 19 note 32.The fact that A.Leo~ 'stone' is tash in Turkish has spawned many suggestions of places roughly in the area with this Turkish prefix. For example there is Tashkurgan, which became the capital of the Pamir kingdom of Sarikol. This is the identification given by SG p 1003. Tashkent was proposed by the Eleventh Century Arab writer Al-Biruni and has had some followers. Berggren and Jones 2000 p151-152 revive Aurel Stein's suggestion for a position close to the Irkeshtam Pass in modern Kyrgyzstan which is still a border post on the road to Kashgar. Shiratori 1957 p 6 made out a case for Osh in the same region with its Chalsatoon rock precipice still used as a meeting place for 57

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caravans. This places it in a very strategic location in relation to Samarkand, Tashkent, Kashgar and the Oxus River. Berthelot 1930 pp 2067 raises the possibility of two locations, since the coordinates in Ptolemy are different when the Stone Tower is mentioned in Books I and VI; he believes that in Book I Ptolemy was simply following Marinus in order to refute him and that the location in Book VI is based on his own careful research. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 111-12 17.

Ei)Q« Here described as the capital city of the Seres, it is more likely to be a city on the Silk Road such as Kashgar rather than somewhere further east in China. Later, in reference to the position of the Sakai in VI 13 1, Ptolemy speaks of 'the guard post on Mount Imaus which is situated at 140° 43' which belongs to the merchants travelling into Sera. This has been identified with Luoyang, the Han capital of China in Ptolemy's time. This is possible but far from certain. See Miller 1969 pp129 ff. There were speculative early attempts to locate it in India (Srinagar, Seringapatam etc.) based on the letters of the word. These may be safely abandoned. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 111-12. 'taii; ail'taii; a#..oyi.mi; Marinus' erroneous calculations were based on the

mistake that a journey through difficult terrain could be made at the same speed as one through normal country. 'The initial calculation that Agisymba was 24,680 stades south of the equator was recognized by Marinus as impossible.' Berggren and Jones 2000 p71 n43. f «Q«µavtrov They have been described as a Saharan Berber speaking people from Fezzan or further south well-known in Gk. and Lat. writers from Herodotus onward. Daniels 1970 limits their tribal area: their heartland was the Wadi el Agial and their capital Garama I Genna. See Warmington's review of Daniels 1970 in Classical Review March 1973 pp77-8. In I 8 Ptolemy deals with the land journey from Garame to the Ethiopians as described in Marinus' account of the campaigns of Septimius Flaccus and Julius Matemus. Agisymba is called the country of the Ethiopians which is not an ethnonym here but a descriptive term 'darkfaced, dark-skinned'. It is also, he tells us, where the rhinoceros congregate. Nothing is known otherwise about these expeditions which 58

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were placed by Desanges 1978 pp197-213 in the reigns of Titus and Domitian. See Berggren and Jones 2000 pp145-147. See also note on farvos Garamantas in Arnobius VI 5.

Ayi.auµfla See above note on ra~aµav'trov. This region is on Marinus' southernmost parallel of latitude. Its exact location is unclear but must be in the south part of then-known Africa in or next to Ethiopia. It may be the basin of Lake Chad. Ptolemy IV 8 5 describes it as a very large mountainous area. It is shown on map 7 1 7-12, 7 5. The latter part of the name is tantalizingly like Skt. simha 'lion'.

I 114 Kcixd ... obov Ptolemy's method throughout this section is to modify Marinus' geography by taking account of the variations in time caused by the vicissitudes of travel. I 115

AV'tt) ... tyvroaOt) The journey of Julius Maternus described by Marinus was made in company with the king of Garame who was making an expedition against the Ethiopians and is described in I 8. (see note on ragaµclvi:mv). For more on the expedition see Desanges 1978 pp197-213. For commerce as the motivation of the journey and its connection with the Sogdians and the 'Silk Road' see de la Vassiere 2004 p 184. I 116 ~l)~a; This passage is our sole source of information about this merchant whose written itinerary of a journey east of Bactriane to the Stone Tower is the basis of Marinus'geography, hence Ptolemy's source. It is stated that Maes' agents proceeded further east, although he himself did not do so. The report of these agents was therefore the source for the journey from the Stone Tower to Sera Metropolis used by Maes. Lerner 1998 14-15 speculates that Maes' agents may not have completed the journey to Sera Metropolis, but brought back information which they picked up at some

Mat)V ...

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trading post on the way there. He thinks that Serian traders would have been loathe to encourage their western counterparts for fear of jeopardizing their livelihood and cites, as a reverse example, an exploratory mission to the west sent by Ban Chao in 97 CE which was frustrated by the unwillingness of traders it encountered presumably on the frontiers of the eastern Roman provinces. For Gk. penetration east of Bactriane and Sogdiane see Narain 1962 pp 25-27. EVMQOV The easy correction eil:rt6QO'U is better Gk. and better sense. It would mean 'from a merchant father'.

I 117 "EoLXE ••• µiixo; The last sentence may be rendered: 'in this case, the fact

that nothing else in the seven-month journey seemed worthy of any record or mention makes it clear that we are in the realm of "tall stories".' Ptolemy shares Marinus' scepticism about travellers' tales which exaggerate distances. The net result is that Marinus' calculations are cut by half to forty five and a half degrees or 18,100 stades. See Lerner 1998 p 11 and Bunbury 1959 II pp 556-7, 570-571. cJ>1.l..1]µovo; Philemon is also quoted by Pliny in reference to the North Sea and Baltic regions. Nothing is known of him otherwise; the name is quite common in Gk. and well-known from the New Testament. 'lovEQVta.; v'l]aov The spelling with ou for b reflects the common phonetic phenomenon of a voiced fricative stop passing through a bilabial fricative stage to become a labial semivowel. A well known modem example is the variety of pronunciations of vino 'wine' etc. in dialects of Spanish. Related changes took place in the history of Greek. This name for Ireland has been derived from Phoenician Ibernae 'farthest habitation', but may, of course, be native Irish.

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I 122 xai yaQ li:tmrov ... 'tQOm>V Ptolemy appeals to honest logic in claiming

that the difficulty in transporting animals from their native habitats should not be used to differentiate between the time taken on the two journeys he mentions here. The journey from Agisymba in Central Africa is from south to north which involves a considerable climate change; the 'silk route' does not involve as much change in latitude. Where his argument fails, of course, is that the latter route is mountainous and involves changes in altitude, hence temperature. EL µT] x.m;acj>ffiQO~ fomw in our translation would be better rendered 'unless he were were about to be shown up as a thief'. In other words, it is necessary to correct the data by logical reasoning. To fail to do so would be like a philosopher persisting in a process of thought which he knew to be wrong solely for the reason that he did not fear the exposure of his error. The reference to transportation of exotic animals, which might include the rhinoceros mentioned in I 8 (see above note on raQaµav'trov), could refer to Domitian's lavish Roman games in 90 CE.

I 125 raQaµairov These people are identified as inhabitants of Bet Garme described as a region and province in North East Iraq named possibly after a Persian tribe mentioned by Ptolemy. In Middle Persian we find glmykc'n {Npi 4 (61)} and glmykn{Npi 4 (76)} on the Paikuli inscription of Narseh. See Gignoux 1972 p 22 who does not assign meanings. The etymology would probably be from Iranian gara- 'mountain'. 'Ex(la'tava The summer residence of the Persian kings at the foot of

Mount Alvand, Ecbatana was previously the capital of Astyages and, as Herodotus recounts, it was taken by Cyrus the Great in 549 BCE. It is the modem Ramadan. The Old Persian form would be Hangmatana which can easily be derived to mean 'meeting place'. See hanjagmana and hanjamana in AIW col 1770 and Gershevitch 1979 pp 147-148 n 35.

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Kamda; Ilul..a; The Caspian Gates are described by Hansman 2002 p 61 as 'a ground-level pass running east west through the Alborz Mountains in north central Iran.' It is possibly Tang-e Sar-e Darra. See Jackson 1911 pp 127-137. In the ancient geographers it cannot be located with such precision. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 6 1 15. See also Treidler RE XXII 322-3. 'Exa'toµ3tUl..ov A number of cities bear this name. It is also an epithet with other names as in Egyptian Thebes. In Gk. it means 'with one hundred gates'. The city named here should possibly be located between modem Shahrud and Damghan. It may be, as suggested by Hansman in JRAS (1968) pp 111-139, the old Parthian capital in West Khorasan now called Shahr-e Qumis. Berggren and Jones 2000 p172 suggest Jajarm. See also Fontaine 1977 2 p 93, Kiessling RE II 2790-2797, Yule 1915 pp 189-190 n 3 and Berthelot 1930 p 170. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 112.

I 126 'yQX«Vt«v The land of Hyrcania refers to the area encompassed by the Persian satrapy located between the Caspian Sea in the north and the Alborz mountains in the south and east. It was fertile and open to the steppes of Central Asia and its nomadic people on the north east. It was part of the Seleucid Empire and one of its towns was used as a summer residence by Arsacid kings. It may be roughly equated with modem Golestan, Manzandaran, Gilan and part of Turkmenistan. The capital city of Golestan province is Gorgan which preserves the ancient word for 'wolf' in the toponym Hyrcania. See note on 'yQX«Vt«; Oal..a't'tl); Strabo XI II 7. The city mentioned here may well be its ancestor. The sea is the Caspian. In Lat. literature it was tigers not wolves for which Hyrcania was renowned. cf. Pomponius Mela III 43, Pliny VIII 7-8, Solinus XVII 4 ff and Ammianus XXIII VI 50. The Caspian tiger panthera tigris virgata has not been found in the area since the early 1970's. See Berthelot 1930 pp 167-173 for a detailed discussion of Hyrcania in Ptolemy's Geography which is shown on map 8 1 12. See also Fontaine 1977 2 p 98, Kiessling REIX 454-526 and Marquart 1901pp72-74.

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I 127

M«Qyuxvi)v l\.vnoxdav Margiana is the satrapy Margu of the Achaemenid empire. It is recorded on the Behistun inscription. See AIW col 1147. The city was refounded by the Seleucid king Antiochus I. It is now Marv or Merv in Turkmenistan. AQd«; See note on Strabo Chrestomathy XV 1. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 12 and discussed by Berthelot 1930 pp 176-180. BaX'tQ« The ancient city Bactra is now Ballffi in Afghanistan. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 12 and Berthelot 1930 pp 181-189 has a detailed discussion of Bactriane. The region of Bactria occurs as Baxtri on the Behistun inscription. See AIW col 953. Speculation has associated it with the Vedic toponym Bhakri and some Bulgarian scholars have sought to connect their ethnonym to this word. Lerner 1998 p 15 traces the journey thus: 'It begins at Baktra Basileion in the west and continues to the Komedai ravine, the Stone Tower, Hormeterion, Chaurana and Orosana. At Orosana, however, the route divides into two parts, each of which leads to Sera Metropolis. Together they form a northern and southern route. The former passes through Abragana, Paliana, Aspakora, Thogara, Daxta, and Sera Metropolis, while the latter includes Ottorokora, Solana, a pass through the Ottorokoras mountains, and Sera Metropolis.' Lerner 1998 pp 19-24 deals with the two routes in detail concluding that Maes'expedition dates from c73 or 81 - 128 CE and writes 'Thus in his description of the lands east of Baktriane Ptolemy has, perhaps unbeknownst to himself, recorded the first formal account of the main arteries of the Silk Road in classical literature.' See also Brunner 1983 p 771.

Koµ11bmv C and most writers regard this as an ethnonym. Berthelot 1930 154 and 208 identifies these people as nomads of the Pamirs whose name remained until the middle ages in the district of Wakhan or Surhab between Pandj and the country of Karategin. They are associated by Cunningham 1891 (followed by Stein 1907) with the Jumituo mentioned in Chinese sources. Arabic writers refer to Kumedh. Eitel 1870 describes it as 'an ancient kingdom on the Beloortagh to the north of Badakhstan: the vallis 63

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Comedorum of Ptolemy.' Berggren and Jones 2000 p 174 treat the name as a toponym for a mountain range Koµ11ba( (sic). Based on Ptolemy map 8 1 12 they locate it in the Pamirs in the country of the Sakai. 'The "gorge" leading to the Stone Tower was evidently one of the high valleys that characterize the region.' See Treidler RE XXIV 1963.

3tQOc; vo'tov Lit. 'towards the south wind.' This alternative way of indicating direction is not uncommon among ancient geographers. It is often used when the route of a journey is by sea. For this purpose twelve winds are named; the direction indicated is that from which they blow. The cardinal points N.S.E.W. are designated by Aparktias, Notus, Apeliotes and Zephyrus respectively. The other eight winds are spaced at 30° intervals between them. In this part of Ptolemy's work there are references to Boreas, the NNE wind, and Eurus, the ESE wind.

I 128 '1EV't1JXOV'tcIO'XOLVLOV The axotvo~ was an Egyptian unit of land

measurement which Ptolemy takes to be equivalent to thirty stades. The noun means 'reed', hence 'rope plaited from reeds'. Using lengths of rope is an obvious way of measuring land. IlalLvfl68QmV See note Palibothri on Pomponius Mela III 67.

I 1210 Berggren and Jones p 153-154 provide a table showing the longitudes listed here as intervals expressed in degrees and as fractions of an hourinterval (15°). As most of Marinus's degrees can be expressed in round fractions as hour-intervals, this may have been his usual method of calculating longitudes. Earlier in this book Ptolemy had expressed his preference for data drawn from simultaneous lunar eclipses observed in places on the same meridian, but notes with regret that such data are very scarce. A comparison of Ptolemy's longitudes is also given in the table which indicates a close correspondence with Marinus' s cartography. The authors conclude: 'Marinus' stade figures evidently reflect the same state 64

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of Geographical knowledge as Strabo's, and their total is only about 20 percent in excess of the true distance. Expressed in degrees, however, the interval from the Sacred Cape to Issos is about 50 percent too large (67° instead of the correct 45°) because of the error in Marinus's assumption that 1° at the equator equals 400 stades.' For Ptolemy it was 500 stades.

'IEQOil chcQID't1)Qtoll 'ti); 'Immvl.a; Called by Roman writers Sacrum Promontorium, this is Cape St Vincent, now in Portugal. It was regarded as the westernmost point of the world's physical landmass. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 1 12. Bal.no; The Guadalquiver (Baetis) is the second longest and only great navigable river in Spain. Tartessus (qv) was thought to have stood at its mouth. See Tartessiaco in note on Silius Italicus VI 1-4. The Arabic alWadi al-Kabfr 'the great valley' gives the modern name of the river. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 1 12,14. 'tov lloQOµov The Strait is, of course, the Straits of Hercules, our Straits of Gibraltar. It was such a well-known feature of the Mediterranean that IloQ8µ6~ was sufficient to describe it, just as XEQOOVTJOO~ would be taken to refer to the Thracian Chersonese. See note on xa'ta l;'ti)la; in Strabo XI 11 7.

Kalm)v This is Gibraltar (Arabic label Tarfg). A Phoenician origin for the name KaA.mi is probable and various Semitic words have been connected. If the name is of extreme antiquity I note that Kalpe is said to mean 'beneath the rock' in Basque. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 112. K«QclAAEro; Karallis is now Cagliari, the capital city of Sardinia. It was the Phoenician colony of Karalis. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 112. A1.J..1'flmov Lilybaeum was an important coastal city and was the site of a famous sea battle at the beginning of the Second Punic War in 218 BCE in which the Romans managed to thwart Carthaginian attempts to occupy Sicily. Its site is now occupied by Marsala of wine-producing fame. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 112. 65

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Ilal"VOV Pachynus, Cape Passero, which Italian speakers might think of as 'Cape Swallow' (passero), is the most southeasterly point of Sicily. It is the third of the promontaries which gave the Island its ancient name Trinacria. Mentioned by Livy XXIV 27 etc. as a station for the Roman fleet during the Second Punic War, it is most famous as the site of the great 'Battle of Cape Passero' between the Spanish and British fleets in 1718.There is now a town and commune of Pachino in that part of Sicily. IIa:x.uvov is shown on Ptolemy's map 5 1 12,15. TatVCIQOV Taenarum, now Cape Tenaron or Matapan, is the southernmost point of Continental Greece. Gk. mythology located an entrance to the underworld here. This was where Hercules attempted his last labour, the capture of Cerberus. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 6 112.

'Iaaov See note on Strabo XI 11 7. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 6 112.

d; Eilcj>QU't1JV No doubt Ptolemy means Hierapolis on the Euphrates. I 132

Kolxtxov SG p 969 definitely identify this as the Gulf of Mannar. The gulf in question can be identified on Ptolemy's map 8 1 13-14 as the bay formed by the mainland coast on the Palk Strait separating India and Ceylon (Palk Bay). The Pamban Bridge now links Rameswaram (Pamban) Island with the mainland at this point. Palk Bay lies between the Bay of Bengal to the north east and the gulf of Mannar to the south west. KoA.:x.Lx6v may be a distortion of an original KWQLXOV which would match the nearby KooQU promontory. It is significant, however, that Ptolemy VII 1 11 has KooQU UXQOV t'O xat KaAALyLx6v 'Kory Peninsula also called Kalligikon.' It is more likely from this that Kalligikon stood originally as the toponym in earlier geography. It is not difficult to see how KaAALyLx6v could be corrupted into KoA.:x.Lxov. As in many of these words, account must be taken of the scribal habit of normalization. An unfamiliar word is replaced by a familiar one. The error is more likely to be in a Lat. source where Colis vel sim. might suggest the familiar Colchis. In Lat. the acc. sing. form Colidem (Colida) is like Colchidem (Colchida). One might 66

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hazard other guesses about a mistake like this in our transmission. Such errors are common, but geographical probability is a better guide than a transmitted form in many cases. In the same set of names we find Coru(m)bantaci, Coropatina and Corucara. Skt. kula 'hill' is a possible etymon. McCrindle thought that it was a variant form of Skt. koti 'tip, point'. See note on Pomponius Mela I 11. Huntingford 1980 p 156 derives Coromandel from Cholamandalam. The third Dravidian kingdom along the east side of India was called Chola. See Wecker in RE XXII 1440-1 for links to variant UXQOV KaA.A.LyLx6v and Promontorium Coliacum in Pliny VI86.

o

UXQro'tl)QLO\J xal.d'tm KroQtJ SG p 965 definitely equate this with present-day Rameswaram. Cape Koru is here defined as the promontory between the Gulf of 'Colchis' and the Argaric Gulf. It faces the Palk Strait separating India from Ceylon. See previous note. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 113-14. AQY«QtXOV xol.m>v Its position is clear enough on the southern coast of

India facing the Palk Strait. The name is not otherwise known and one is tempted to read AQYUQLXOV suggested perhaps by other 'silver' toponyms (Argyre Island etc.) On the other hand it must be remembered that Anonymus of Ravenna II 1 lists Agaris and Paloris (Paloura) among the cities of India Dimirica. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 13. See Tomaschek RE II 685. KoilQOtJA« Its position on the Palk Strait suggests that it may be near today's Adiramapattinam. It may be Kouroura vel sim and contain Koru as its first element and, as its second part, Dravidian ur 'city'. But this is mere speculation. See note on Strabo XI 11 7. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 13.

am> PoQEotJ Here and at I 13 4 this taken literally means 'from the north east wind' but may simply mean 'in a northerly direction from.' 'tfl µE'tal.aµpavoµtvn yrov(~ In mathematical terms this is the subtended

angle. McCrindle 1885 p 23 n 19 has this observation: 'By the intercepted 67

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

angle is meant the angle contained by two straight lines drawn from Kory, one running north-east to Kouroula and the other parallel to the Equator. In Ptolemy's map Kouroula is so placed that the distance in a straight line from Kory is about double the distance between the meridians of those two places.'

bta 'to 'toil; xa'ta 'toil'tov ... xilxlov Because the latitude is close to the equator (the great circle) its degrees differ little from those on the equator. In other words the circumference of the circle at this latitude is only slightly less than the circumference of the equatorial circle (the maximum for latitudes). I 13 4

XEtµEQtva; ava'tola; 'The winter risings' refer to the fact that the sun rises in the east-southeast and that the journey at this point is in that direction.

IlaloilQmV Zieseniss RE XVIII 287 discusses three Palouras in Ptolemy of which this is the second. He locates it on the Gangetic Gulf a little south of the embarkation point for further east (ci.cj>T]tf]QLOV). Levy 1925 pp 46-47 brilliantly develops a theory connecting this place with Dantapura 'Tooth City' mentioned in the southern recension of the Mahabharata. A Dravidian version of this can be seen from pallu 'tooth' and ur 'city'. Pliny VI 72 has Dandagula on the foothills of Callingon (Gk. KaA.J...(yymv gen. plur. of KalJ... (yya). The tooth concerned was a famous Buddhist relic. Berggren and Jones 2000 p 176 follow Casson 1989 p 232 in suggesting the modern Machilipatnam (or Masulipatam) which is roughly half way between Chenai and Orissa. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 113. I 13 S

xai 'tOV'tmv bt 'to EX'tOV ... i)µiaov; Berggren and Jones 2000 p 75 note: 'Ptolemy probably took the direction to be simply 30 degrees from due east regardless of one's latitude, and his deduction of one sixth is also likely to be a rough schematic correction, adequate given the crudeness of the data.' 68

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I 13 6

x6J.m>v 'tOV rayy£nxov Here we may easily recognize in general terms the Bay of Bengal. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 113, 7 5. ~abav

The variant ~av6av strengthens the possibility that, situated as it is across the bay from Paloura in Arakan (Argyre?), it may be Sandoway in Burma. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 113. See note on Zaba in VII 2 3.

µ,ueirov 'teurxtl.irov me; ~oc; i.aµ,£etvl]v civa'tol.i)v The distance of the voyage from Paloura to Sada is 13,000 stades in the direction of equinoctial sunrise i.e. due east. The sun rises due east on the morning of the equinox in every place on earth because its centre is in the same plane as the equator owing to the fact that the tilt of the earth's axis is inclined neither towards nor away from the sun at that time. I 137

Taµ,aJ.ac; There is a variant TEµclA.rn;. Rawlinson 1916 believed it to be near Cape Negrais in Burma. Both this location and that of Bassein are strongly refuted by Berthelot 1930 pp 380-381. This is followed by Berggren and Jones 2000 p 179 who locate it near the mouth of the Irrawaddy River in Burma. Berthelot argued for Martaban now supplanted by Moulmein. For him the Sabarakos is the Gulf of Martaban. van der Meulen, in keeping with his general thesis that the 'Golden Chersonese' includes Sumatra, suggests Chetamala on Little Andaman Island. The former is highly likely, the latter cannot be sustained despite the linguistic similarity. For a general critique of van der Meulen's work see Wheatley 1982 pp 25-26. TriµclA.a is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 13. See note on T11µ,aJ.a in VII 2 3. I 13 8

btaneaµ,a This can simply be 'the crossing' but Berggren and Jones 2000 p75 n 51 point out that 6Lan€Qaµa is an unusual word and does not

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occur elsewhere in Ptolemy in the Geography. They take it to mean 'a crossing of a narrow neck of sea or land.'

I 141 XQ1'0f)v XEQOO'Vt)OOV Greek information about sailing routes east of Transgangetic India were vague and based on reports which came from Indian sources. From these they gleaned that this area comprised a Golden Land and a Golden Island. Early Skt. texts describe them as Suvan;abhumi 'Gold Land' and Suvan:iadvrpa 'Gold Island'. This is faithfully preserved in the Periplus Maris Erythraei 63 which knows this much and says no more. Sailing along the east coast of India one reaches the Ganges and Chryse (Golden Land) the furthest point of the mainland to the east. In the text 3T£QL au't'T]v cannot mean around the Ganges which would be 3T£QL aim)v. It probably refers back to avawA.T]v and simply means in the east. Below the Ganges the last part of the inhabited world in the east is an island in the ocean called Chryse (Golden Island). Ptolemy's text has combined these in the Chryse Chersonnesos uniquely mentioned in his geography. This may be a toponymic corruption of a type frequently found in ancient sources. If '.XQ'UO"T]V'r]OO~ was read as '.)(EQOOV'f]OO~, the resulting toponym would seem incomplete, suggesting probably the Thracian Chersonese, and the obvious remedy would be to add '.)(Q'UO'fl, hence the island was lost and replaced by a peninsula. Whether Ptolemy made this correction himself or whether it already existed in his sources cannot be known. In the unlikely event that Pliny's Promuntorium Chryse is a mistake for Peninsula Chryse this would incline the balance in favour of the latter theory. See note on Promuntorium Chryse in Pliny VI 54. Ptolemy's easternmost map shows that he envisioned the land beyond the Ganges stretching down in a peninsula. With this configuration in mind he assembled his other data (calculation of coordinates, place names from trading itineraries etc.) to form the map. Had his text retained the original Golden Island as well as the Golden Mainland he would have drawn a different picture. It is important to note that, when giving a summary of significant islands at VII 5 11, he places Tabrobane (Ceylon) first on the list and the Golden Chersonese as third. It may well be that Ptolemy's source for this section regarded this third entity as a true island and not a

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peninsula and that at some stage Golden Island was corrected to Golden Chersonese for the palaeographic reasons given above. Wheatley, who in treating of the historical geography of the Malay Peninsula is very cautious and sometimes very sceptical in his use of Ptolemy, takes it as indisputable that Ptolemy, our only Gk. source for details about for this region, reflects Gk. geography as describing a true peninsula. Hence he excludes any possibility that this geography contains information about Sumatra or Borneo. If the proposal made here is accepted, the analyses of other writers such as van der Meulen which include Sumatra and Borneo may be viewed seriously. Wheatley's second reason for the equation of the Golden Chersonese with the Malay Peninsula is the name Golden. His attempt to see Malaya as an important source of gold is questionable. The same objection does not apply to Sumatra or Borneo. Wheatley 1961 is a comprehensive and reliable history of the geography of the Malay Peninsula from earliest times to 1500 CE which contains texts of the Greek, Indian, Chinese and Arabic sources and commentary on them. His section on Ptolemy is based on a series of articles by Dato Sir Roland Braddell in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Singapore) between 1934 and 1965. See the bibliography in Wheatley 1961 pp 336-337. van der Meulen 1974 and 1975 provide a much more detailed analysis of the Ptolemaic material. These two articles are very well researched and contain much that is illuminating and probably valid. They are marred, however, by the author's determination to plot an exact route based on identification of all toponyms. This involves a series of highly speculative and often manifestly impossible Skt. etymologies. Berggren and Jones 2000 p 172 are too cautious, I think, to say that from Ptolemy's description the name 'Golden Chersonese' only applied to the part of the peninsula south of Takala (unidentified) on its west coast and the Bay of Perimoula (Gulf of Thailand) on its east coast. There is much more that can be reconstructed as I hope to show in the notes that follow. Nevertheless we are now dealing with a part of the world virtually unknown to Ptolemy and little reliance can be placed on the names as they appear in our text. Many of them have come to Ptolemy in a distorted form and have been further distorted by inaccurate copying in the transmission. This serious caveat applies to all that follows, but does not preclude genuine attempts to

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identify and analyse toponyms and locate them with some degree of geographical plausibility. AJ.t;avbQOV This Alexander is otherwise unknown as are his credentials for making the statement.

Za(Jac; There is a variant ZaBav which accords less well with the following gen. pl. ZaBmv (the accent is wrong in C's text). It seems that Zabai is situated at the southern extremity of Vietnam. The identification of this as Champa is based on Skt. Champa. This implies that it may have been named after the homonymous city in India. The Zin Ptolemy's name may represent Ts. Tsam is often found as a variant of Cham. See Berggren and Jones 2000 pp 155-156. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 8 1 14. On the other hand, it is located across the Menam (Tachin) River a little west of Bangkok on Berthelot's map facing p 376. Herrmann had an interesting theory reported by Treidler RE XVIII (1967) 2197-9 that the first western travellers to this place may have been Sabaeans and may have left this trace of their name. I 142

'ttvac; .qµ£Q«c; Ptolemy is correct to say that 'some days' can in certain contexts, as in English, mean 'many days' and in others 'few days'. The conclusions which he draws from this seem valid. At6axoQOV One of the many sources named by Ptolemy who cannot now be identified.

'Pa3ttrov (NL) Better accented 'Pammv from 'Pama, the name is Gk. for 'things stitched together'. According to Periplus 16 the name originates from boats' being stitched together there; it is the last market of Azania on the east African coast; its inhabitants have large bodies and piratical habits. It is usually located on the coast of Tanzania near Dar es Salaam. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 7 1 9, 14, 17, 23. It is interesting that the next two place names, Prason and Aromata, also appear to be Gk. words. Compare

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Rhappha in VII 2 13. See Desanges 1967 p149. For 'stitched' boats see note on Ma.vtolm on in VII 2 31.

IIQcIO'OV (NL?) In Gk. it is 'leek, green' which might conceivably reflect 'seaweed' in mariners' language. It might also be a distortion of Skt. pracya 'downward' i.e. 'south'. Ptolemy situates it at the extreme southern boundary of the east coast of Africa and the Portuguese assume that it is Mozambique. Camoens uses Prason for Mozambique in his epic The Lusiads. Cape Delgado on the border of Tanzania and Mozambique is the most probable site. SG 965 definitely so identify it. See Vogel 1948 p 80 and Desanges 1978 pp 332-333. It is shown on Ptolemy's map 7 1 7-10, 14, 17, 2 1. See also note on IIQ«.O'robov; in VII 2 1. I 143 AQroµ.a.'ta. (NL) Gk. 'spices' is a suitable name for a trading post in this part of the world. It is generally accepted to be Cape Guardafui, now in Somalia. It is shown on Ptolemy's maps 6 and 7 1 9, 14-15, 17. In IV 7 Ptolemy gives its latitude as 6° north. The discrepancy may reflect different sources imperfectly reconciled. It is unlikely to be manipulation of facts to suit a theory as Berggren and Jones 2000 p 76 n 50 suggest. See Miller 1969 for general information about the ancient spice trade. 8Eotlov Like Dioscorus we know nothing of him beyond this reference. I 144

The parallel argument developed here about the distances between Rhapta and Prason situated in the known geography of Africa and those between the uncertain locations of the Golden Chersonese and Kattigara based on Marinus' information has a hint of desperation about it. I 146 'to 'tQi.'tov ... tyxli.aEro; As Berggren and Jones 2000 p 76 n 54 point out, 'Subtraction of one third would correspond to an angle of about 48° i.e. 73

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roughly 45°, between due east and the direction of sail. For the present calculation, Ptolemy evidently interprets "in the direction of the Notos wind and rather more to the left" as halfway between due south and due east.'

I 147 03reQ avtLXEi'tm 'tQµT]tf]QLOV with Bugur is accepted, it follows that that the Abii Scyths can be placed on the banks of the Biya and the Hippophagi Scyths on that of the Black Irtych. Auzakites is Jungaria. See Berthelot p1930 p 232.

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A.fltot l;xiJOm They are mentioned in Homer Iliad XIII 4-6 along with the 'milk-drinking Hippemolgoi'. Polybius X 48 1 places them between the Oxus and the Tanais. A.amxm6:x.a~ (corrected from A.Qaxmi:ou~) are found in Strabo XI 8 8. Daffina 1965 pp 54-57 argues for connexion with other ethnonyms: Pasi(a)cae, Pasiani and A.aoomm (corrected from A.·rramm in Strabo XI 8 8). See Ammianus XXIII 6 62. On the Tabula Peutingeriana they appear as Abyoschythae and are the northernmost people of known Asia. A tribe of Apa Saka 'Water-Sakas' is postulated by Tomashek in RE I 2670. Any Iranian etymology (e.g. from ab 'water') is doubted by Schmitt 2001pp151-152. The passage in Homer is: v6acj>Lv Ecj>' Lruto:rt6A.mv E>Qnxmv xa8oQchµtovo~ alav Muamv 't' ayxLµaymv' AB(mv 't'E bLXaLO'tcl'tWV av8QW:7t(1)V

'(casting his eyes) far away to the land of the horse-handling Thracians and to the land the Mysians who fight hand to hand and to that of the doughty Hippemolgoi who drink milk and to that of the Abioi, justest of mankind.' (Iliad XIII 4-6). In Homer the Hippemolgoi are to be thought of as a nomadic Scythian tribe across the Danube like the Massagetai whom Herodotus I 216 describes as 'milk-drinking'. Earlier Hesiod Cat 150 15 and 151 called the Scythians 'mare-milkers' and refers to 'milk-consumers who live in waggons'. In all cases the milk is probably coagulated like the koumiss of the Tartars. The Alexandrian scholiast Aristarchus Ap. Soph. 3 .16 applied the whole of line 6 y/...axi:ocj>aymv, A.~(mv 't'E bLxmo'ta'tmv av8Qmn:mv to the Hippemolgoi taking aBLoL not as an ethnonym but as an adjective meaning 'with no (settled) livelihood' i.e. nomads. It is possible, I suggest, that Homer is doing a little etymologizing of his own here, thinking of privative a- and ~(a i.e. 'without violence'. Another scholiast Nicanor, who specialized in the punctuation of Homer, applied 'the justest of mankind' to all the peoples mentioned in these lines where Zeus, tired of watching the progress of the Trojan War, turns his eyes to the peoples of the North. See Janko 1992 pp 42-3 and Fontaine 1977 2 p108 n 242. 'Milkconsuming Scyths' are found in Strabo VII 3 7. As a curiosity I add that Ctesias Frg. 46 (from Aelian De Natura Animalium XVI 31) mentions 80

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KuvaµoA.yo( 'dog milkers' in his Indica. These nomads are invaded by wild herds of cattle from the summer solstice until mid winter. They breed their dogs especially to kill the cattle for meat. At other times they use the dogs for hunting and at all times drink the milk of the bitches. See also Lindegger 1979-1993 fasc. 14 pp 67-8. 'Iruroaym Exil6m Although given a different location to the Abioi Scyths the generic description 'horse-eating' is too vague to link them to other named tribes. Horse-eating and mare-milking are typical nomadic activities. Av~axin;

vl. Avsaxi:n; The suffix -ztzs provides a geographical

adjective. See note on Av~axi.rov in VI 15 2.

Xai'tm ExiJOm Other readings given by C are Xa:tm and Xarm'Lm. The latter does not appear in the apparatus criticus of Rumbach and Ziegler 1998. Xa'L·taL suggests Gk. )(UL'tf] 'long hair' in a context where other descriptive epithets are used as ethnonyms. On the Behistun inscription the Sakai are divided into 4 tribes: paradraya I taradraya 'beyond the sea', tigraxauda 'with pointed hats', haumavarga 'Haoma-consuming (worshipping?)' (Gk. A.µilQyLm) and para sugudam 'beyond Sogdia'. See AIW cols 640, 651, 1735 and 1554. I note that in his list of peoples living inland beyond Scythia Pomponius Mela I 13 refers to Pharmacotrophi 'Drug-subsisting' which is strongly suggestive of haumavarga.

Axaaa There is a variant A.yxaaa which is incorrectly given as A.vxaaa in Vaticanus Graecus 191 according to Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p198 and which has equal probability. Berthelot 1930 p 233 locates it in the general vicinity of Kashgar. Xav~avaim

Exil6m Chaurana is listed in the next paragraph as a city. See Chauriana in Ammianus XXIII 6 63. There can be no certainty about this name but Fontaine 1977 2 ad Zoe. equates it with Khotan. This is followed by Erdosy Map 6 1997. Tomaschek RE III 2203 thinks that the name Chaurana may have a Tibetan derivation connected with with (s )kor 'gold district' . 81

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VI 154 'IaatJbrov l;xlJOLxi) Issedones (more usually Essedones in Roman writers) are mentioned in the lost Arimaspeia of Aristeas according to Herodotus IV 16-25 and in later classical writers. Earlier we find Essedones in the fragments of the Spartan poet Aleman (c 654-611 BCE) which may also be derived from the Arimaspeia. See Bolton 1962 p 5. They have been equated with Chinese Wusun. For their identity and location see Herrmann RE IX 2235-2246 which is assessed and expanded in Bolton 1962 pp 106118. Ptolemy distinguishes two cities - Scythian Issedon and Serican Issedon. The former was identified as Kucha, the latter as Kashgar by Herrmann 1938. Scythian Issedon has also been thought to be Khotan. However, modem scholarship (e.g Mair and Skjrerv!ZI 2002 pp 463-469) places Scythian Issedon in the vicinity of Kashgar and Serican Issedon near Kroraina (Lop-Nor). See note on 'Iaari6mv ~flQLXfJ in VI 16 6 and Pekkanen 1986 p177. l;oi't« A less likely variant ~6'ta is also read. Fontaine 1977 2 p 237 equates it with Yarkand, which is followed by Erdosy Map 6 1997. The modem Chinese name for Yarkand is Shache; in the Han period it was Suoju. Herrmann 1938 thought that Soita was the sixth oasis of Turkestan in the Han Annals and a powerful independent kingdom at the beginning of our era. In Ammianus XXIII 6 63 three cities Aspabota, Chauriana and Saga are mentioned. Can the third mentioned be the same as Soita? One is reminded of Avestan soiOra 'land'(AIW col 1708) and related forms in Iranian and its Skt. equivalent k$etra, although the Khotanese Saka form k$1ra shows loss oft. See Bailey 1979 p 68. Vl16 This section deals with Serike which is a broad area not to be equated with any particular country or nation. It extends to the Yenisei River in western Mongolia which Ptolemy would not have thought of as a separate country any more than he would have considered the area between the Yenisei and the Huanghe (Yellow River) as belonging to a separate kingdom with Sera Metropolis as its capital. He completely separates the people of northern 82

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China (included in the term Seres) from those of the south (Sinai). He knows that silk is transported to the west by both land and sea routes. His information about the Seres derives from the former; the Sinai are known to him from mariners' itineraries. He does not make the connexion. He was, no doubt, unsure and he is not attempting to write political geography here. His political geography based on knowledge of countries within the Roman Empire does not extend into the unexplored country of the east where it is based on mathematical calculations and travellers' tales. We must not be misled by his use of the same style of presentation in these sections.

VI 161

90\!J.11; Ultima Thule, well-known in Lat. verse, is proverbially a land in the far north. For Ptolemy it lies on the northernmost parallel of latitude and probably refers to the Shetland Islands. VI 162 lht~roxt:v (vl. 3tt:eLt~roxt:) 'encircled' implies that the country is, as it were, walled or enclosed by the mountain ranges mentioned here. Compare Ammianus XXIII 6 64 where encircling mountains, if not actual walls, are described.

A.vv1.pa The variant Anniva in some mss. of Ammianus - and on the map on the cover of this volume - is simply phonetic. See note on 'Iovt:evia; vi]uov in I 11 7. Berthelot 1930 p 240 uses the coordinates to identify these mountains as the Sayan which comprise the western rim of of the 'amphitheatre' of Irkutsk and form a border between Siberia and China between the Yenisei and the Selanga Rivers in Mongolia. They form the northern perimeter of Ptolemy's circle of mountains. See Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p 102. Ai.l~ax{rov

Like other mountain ranges which are spurs of the Imaus these are detached by Ptolemy. Berthelot 1930 p241 equates them with Tannu-

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ola, KhangaI and Altai which command the sources of the Selanga on one side and the Irtych on the other. See note on Ail~axtrov in VI 15 2. Aaµ{Qm« These are the Asmira mountains in Ammianus XXIII 6 64 etc. The toponym is obscure but one thinks of Iranian asman 'stone' and the use of such a prefix in other places. I note that Seyfarth 1979 on Ammianus ad Zoe. has 'Steinhaufen'. Long ago d' Anville 1918 identified them as the Hami or Kumul mountains in Xinjiang. Berthelot 1930 p 241 describes them as a prolongation of the Altai across Mongolia which rim to the south the basin of the Selanga and Orchon rivers and gives them a name DoulanKhara based on Nineteenth Century maps. See Timk:owsky 1827 vol 2 p 228 and Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p 102. 9ayollQOV Berthelot 1930 p 242 uses his identification of Sera Metropolis as Xi'an to locate this by the relative coordinates as the Alashan Mountains (in Chinese, the Helan Mountains) which rise to 3200 metres. Although usually reluctant to attach much importance to similarities of name he notes that the desert nearby is still called Tyngeri. Vogel 1952 p 79 ft. 3 associates this mountain with the Thagouroi people located by Ptolemy in Gansu. He notes that the same people probably appear in Ptolemaic disguise in the Takoraioi north of the Imaus, the Taguouraioi near Issykkul, the Tachoroi in Sogdiana and the Tocharoi in Bactria. He points out that the name Tiagoura renders Skt. Cakora, the name of a people and a mountain. The Tapuraioi living on the north eastern side of the Tapura mountain range (Ptolemy VI 14 7) are brought into this discussion by Seyfarth 1978 p 232 n120 who suggests that Tapuraioi might be a miswriting of Thagouraioi, itself a distortion of Tocharoi. See note on Thocari in Pliny VI 54 and Rumbach and Ziegler 1998 p 202 for 'ISayoiJQ and similar variants which are all likely to be misspellings. See Athagurae in Ammianus Marcellinus XXIII 6 66 and Herrmann REV A I 1184. 'OtoQOXO~Q~ Berthelot 1930 p 244 sees here the Qinling and Daba Mountains which form the western limit of the Han river. This range completes Ptolemy's circle on the south east. The name must be associated with the city Ottorokorrha and the river Ottorogorras. The same ethnonym is probably disguised in the Attacori of Pliny VI 54 and Athagurae in

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Ammianus XXIII 66. See Oporocorra in Ammianus XXIII 6 64, Herrmann 1938 p 74 and Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p 102.

VI 163 Ba:frttaoc; This is the Huanghe or Yellow River. Bod is Tibet in some forms of the speech of that country and Indian forms of the word are Bhota, Bhauta and Bauta, as noted by Stein 1922. The name of the modem kingdom of Bhutan must derives from this. Hence the belief that the Bautai and this river may have related names. Though this may well be so, the river should not be placed in Tibet which is beyond the range of Ptolemy's geography and it should not, as some have done, be equated with the Tsangpo, its main river. See Ammianus XXIII 65 and See Rumbach and Ziegler 2002 p 102 and Lindegger 1979-1995 fasc. 22 p 89.

VI 164 avO~ro:iroayrov (NL?) Gk. 'man-eaters' may conceal an ethnonym or it may be used here as a more generic description. Berthelot 1930 p 246 hazards a guess that we might be dealing with the Siberian Ostyaks, though their alleged cannibalism is much disputed. See note on Anthropophagi in Ammianus XXIII 6 65.

A.vvtPot This race is located on the northern slopes of the homonymous mountain which can in broad terms be identified as the Altai range, the traditional place of origin of Turkic peoples. See note on A.vvtP« in VI 16 2. They are thus inhabitants of Northern Mongolia (Berthelot 1930 p 246). Their location is described as on the northern slopes of the eastern Tien Shan (Tomaschek RE I 2258-9). See Ammianus XXIII 6 65 Annibi. l:t~llj'E

The simple metathetic correction of this to ~a~aQaxq.> removes an anomaly and brings it into line with the next mentioned city and related toponyms. It occurs in this spelling in some mss. and should be restored in the text. Berthelot 1930 p 381 equates Sahara city with Martaban (twin city of Moulmein) and the gulf with the Gulf of Martaban. This is followed by SG p 995 who call it 'Sabarakischer Golf'. There is a river not mentioned by Ptolemy which is linguistically connected; its Pali name is Saravari, itself an importation of Skt. Sarasvatl. This must be the ultimate derivation of these toponyms. See also Wheatley 1961pp151-152 and note on Ta.µcl.J..a. in I 13 7.

Bilga.pm Berthelot 1930 p 383 calls this Beroba and uses land measurements to site it midway between the Tavoy and the north point of Phuket ('Junk Ceylon' corrupted from Malay Ujung Selang) in Thailand which he identifies as the cape which follows it in the list. This is at the entrance to the Malacca Straits. For a connection to Skt. Verapatha see note on B11Qa~6vva in VII 2 3. VIl25

TaxroJ..a. This is the first place specifically designated by Ptolemy in his 'Golden Chersonese', which at this point seems to correspond with the Malay Peninsula. This has been identified as Takua Pa, a city in Southern Thailand. Wheatley 1961 is sceptical. It certainly looks like a Skt. name. As Wheatley 1982 p 24 points out, Takola is mentioned in the Mahanidde.§a also in the Melindapafiha, the former an early Buddhist sacred text written in Pali, the latter a Buddhist Skt./Prakrit work written in the early Christian era and translated into Pali in Ceylon about 400 CE. Takola may also be found in Chinese sources. 'It is possibly ko-ku-lo in Chia-Tan's itinerary' (pace Bethelot 1930 p 384). Skt. takkola is an aromatic plant, as is Skt. kakkola which is probably a variant of the same word. qaqullah is 'cardamom' in Arabic. The name Talaittakolam appears in an inscription of 1030/31 CE listing the conquests of Rajendra Cola. 94

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talai is Tamil for 'head' or 'chief'. See Wheatley 1961 pp 269-272 and compare Herrmann RE IV A 2 (1932) 2057 who believes that it is identical with 0ay6Qa in VII 2 7. He describes it as today's Takuwalung and is the ko-ku-lo mentioned above. XQtmoava The hydrography is confused. As Wheatley 1961 p 147 points out, Ptolemy's geography describes a large river branching into three before debouching into the sea. This suggested the distributaries of a delta and earlier scholars sought to find such a system among the great rivers of Burma. This ignores the common origin of the rivers. On the other hand there is no such river system found in the Malay Peninsula and identification of the 'Golden Chersonese' rivers involves considerable manipulation of and divergence from Ptolemy's text. Wheatley avoids the problem by suggesting that Ptolemy's coordinates be abandoned; he thinks that we have here reference to a 'trans-peninsular riverine route. The upper Palandas would then represent the upper Pahang and Jelai rivers, while the Khrysoanas and Attabas would represent respectively the Muar and lower Pahang rivers.' The name XQuaoava has no doubt been 'normalized' to give it a Gk. appearance influenced by its location in 'XQUOfJ XeQOOVTJOO~.' It could easily translate an Indian form e.g. Skt. suvan;avaha 'Gold-conveying'. Wheatley 1961 p 171 implies this when he writes that it is 'natural for a Western cartographer to depict as the chief rivers those which featured in the (gold) trade with the Malay Peninsula.' Berthelot 1930 p 385 had identified it as the Perak River south of Penang. He says that one of its affluents is still called Soungei Jarum and that sungei is a local word for 'gold' no doubt ultimately derived from Skt. suvarna. Wheatley 1961 p 147 corrects this. Sungei is the Malay word for 'river' not 'gold'. van der Meulen 1974 p 40 abandons all attempt to rationalize the river system: 'If he (Ptolemy) had known anything about the region he was charting, he would have seen that any such assumption was quite absurd in relation to any part of Southeast Asia, even those parts which can boast of a large main river with a mighty delta.' His own scheme (pp 29-32) places the rivers in the southern half of Sumatra, but despite its ingenuity it cannot, it seems to me, be in any way reconciled with Ptolemy's pattern. The Chrysoana is one of two tributaries of the Palandas at VII 2 12. The other is the Attabas. 95

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l;aflava This should be corrected to the better variant ~apaQa according to Wheatley 1961 p 151 n 2. Berthelot 1930 p 384 after much deliberation between Gerbi and Trang opts for the latter. It is on the Straits of Malacca north of Singapore.

Ilalavbou The nom. sing. is probably IIaA.av6a rather than IIaA.av6o(;. This is surely not Skt. palandu 'onion' (pace van der Meulen 1974 p 31). Wheatley 1961 p171 opts for the Upper Pahang and Jelai Rivers, but concedes that the whole of the Johore River might be involved. See note on XQuooava above. Berthelot 1930 p 385 sees it as one of the two channels of the Johore River estuary. The Chrysoana and Attabas are its tributaries VII 2 12. Note the city Palanda at VII 2 25. MalEoiJ xrolov The modem toponym Malaya may be fairly safely connected to this. Whatever its original form Gk. normalization has taken place in our text to produce 'limb (bend or point) of Maleas'. We may propose Skt. *Malaioukoura or *Malaiououra with some degree of certainty. The word Malaya is probably from some such Skt.-Tamil toponym as *Malaioura 'hill town' and MaAEoiJ in our text is probably an erroneous spelling of MaAELou or MaA.mou. Herrmann 1913 and RE XIV 898 opts for Cape Labuan in Kelantan. Berthelot 1930 p 385 places it at Point Penyabong in Singapore. Wheatley 1961 p154 is content to say that it is 'somewhere on the south-east coast of Malaya.' A't'tafla Wheatley 1961 171 proposes the Lower Pahang River which coincides with Berthelot's location on his map facing p 376. For relation to Arrian's Ambastae see Eggermont 1966 p 88. van der Meulen's 1974 p 31 Skt. attambllas 'without water' is hardly credible, though of course not impossible, as a hydronym. He places it in southeastern Sumatra. The Attabas is one of two tributaries of the Palandas at VII 2 12. The other is the Chrysoana. Tomaschek RE II 2153-3 relates this to the Atianos river in Pliny VI 54.

Kro#.1. Berthelot 1930 p 387 tentatively assigns it a position near Tandjong Panounyout. It is put on the equatorial parallel by Ptolemy. The name may belong to the group connected to Skt. kula 'hill'. See Wheatley 1961 pp 96

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152-153 who is only prepared to say that it may be on the North-East coast of Malaya.

IlEQiµ.ovla. SG p 989 definitely call the Perimulic Gulf the Gulf of Thailand. Stein RE XIX 799-801 contains an excellent summary of the best of the earlier scholarship on this toponym. Berthelot 1930 map facing p 376 places it north of the Pahang on the east coast of the peninsula at the western opening of his Perimulic Gulf. Wheatley 1961 p155 believes that it is incapable of identification other than somewhere on the north-east coast of the Malay Peninsula. This is not the Perimula of Pliny VI 20 and IX 34 which is a promontory on the west coast of India, an important centre of trade with a pearl fishery. It may be an imported toponym here. VIl26 An(J'trov xroQa.~ 'The land of Robbers' (AncnaL) is either another Gk. normalization of a native ethnonym or a nickname deriving from nautical folklore. For the possibility that it may be the same description of a race of people as Kira.ta see note on AtQQcibrov in VII 2 2. The area involved stretches from the Perimulic Gulf to the beginning of the Great Gulf (the Gulf of Thailand). It is described in VII 2 21as a mountainous region inhabited by tigers and elephants and thick-skinned men who resemble wild beasts and live in caves. van der Meulen 1974 pp 37-38 sees here the Kubu tribes and makes an ingenious though far-fetched attempt to connect to Skt. lestas 'slight' cf. Monier-Williams 1899 p 903. ~a.µ.a.Qab11 Gerini 1909, who believed that he had found the name on Eleventh Century Champa inscriptions, took Samarade to be derived from Skt. Samarattha. Berthelot 1930 pp 388-390 refutes Gerini by pointing out that his geography at this point envisages a route no longer along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand but what can only be a sea crossing from Chumphon to Ha Tien in Vietnam along the 10th parallel of latitude. He proposes Nakon Sritamara (also called Lacon or Ligur) as a possible site for ~aµaQaC>l]. If it is derived from Srf Dharmarlijli, which seems quite likely, it suggests an Indian religious background, Buddhist, possibly even Hindu. Herrmann RE I A 2102 follows Yule 1882 p 654 in suggesting

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Samalan near Cape Tong-Ian, noting that the oldest Buddhist monument at Ligor is just south of this. It is perhaps worth adding that the name 'Siam' (Thailand) may conceivably derive from Skt. syama 'dark, brown'.

IlayQaaa This has the variant Ila-tQaaa. Herrmann RE XVIII 2317 explains the geographical distortions in this section by suggesting that what we find in Ptolemy is a conflation of two sources: the one an Indian itinerary from Takola (Takuwatung) to Kattigara (Hanoi), the other the lost Periplus of the Alexander who sailed to Kattigara. The latter is cited in I 14 1 and I 14 3. No useful identification is possible. van der Meulen 1974 p 36 saw in the variant Ila'tQcXOa a floundering attempt 'to reproduce Skt. prataptasa "gold dust"'. A most unlikely etymology. ~ropavov This cannot be located with certainty, but the name might conceal Skt. fobhana 'splendid'. Kretschmer RE III A I (1927) 5 suggested Supan in Western Thailand in the delta of the Menam. In the scheme of van der Meulen 1974 p 36 it is the Sumatran Batang Marangin.

IltOrovopam11 Yule 1915 identified it with Bangplasoi in Thailand. Stein RE XX 1848-9 summarizes the early attempts at identification. It may be a miswriting of E>LrcLvopaa'tTJ, a variant in some mss., and the first element may conceal Skt. dvzpa 'island'. van der Meulen 1974 p 37 locates it in the complicated Sumatran inland river route which he creates for this section. He suggests derivation from Skt. dvzpinz- 'riverine'. AxabQa Gerini 1909 identified it as Ha Tien in Vietnam. See note on ~aµaQQUXOV'tE~ lit. 'sharp-eyed' (NL). Like Anthropophagi etc., this is a descriptive term which has become an ethnonym. It has been recognized as a Gk. normalization of Skt. k$udraka in Monier-Williams 1899 p 331. These are a warlike people in Mahabharata II 1871. This is supported by L'UbQaxm, a variant of 'O;uC>QUXOV'tE~ in Arrian. As Stein ('O;vC>Qaxm) RE XVI 2024-2032 points out, they are coupled in reports from the time of Alexander the Great with the Malloi. A dvandva compound k$udramalava links the two people in Pataiijali's Mahabhasya VI 2 45 lff., which may be as early as the Second Century BCE. No actual identification has been made. Caucones On the evidence of Herodotus and others they are thought to be inhabitants of that part of Anatolia later occupied by the Indo-European speaking Bithynians from Thrace. They are listed among Trojan allies by Dolon in Iliad X and the disguised Athena claims that she must visit the Caucones to collect a debt owed by them to her in the third book of the Odyssey. There are references also to Cicones in Homer who were regarded 150

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as a different people; they were probably a Southern Thracian tribe. C equates Caucones with Cicones in his geographical index. See above under Pliny VI 54. StraboVII 7 2 says that the Caucones can no longer be identified. Hiberos This can be lberos. According to Suny1994 p 4 'Eastern Georgia was called Iberia (Hiberia) by the classical world.' Peter the Iberian (c411491 CE) is a Georgian Orthodox saint. Agriophagos: (NL) A.yQLocpaym 'eating wild animals' is a descriptive ethnonym of a type frequently found in these geographers cf. yaA.mc:tocpaym 'milk-consumers', Lx8uocpaym 'fish-eaters' and xeA.wvocpaym chelonophagi 'turtle-eaters' in Solinus L v 1. A YQLOcpaym who live on the African coast in the hinterland between Berenice and Ptolemais are mentioned in Periplus 2. Of the same people we read in Pliny VI 195: occidentem versus Agriophagi tenent, qui solas pantherarum et leonum carnes edunt - 'the Agriophagi occupy the area towards the west; they only eat the flesh of panthers and lions'. See Pietschmann in RE I 869. Eunomitas These are most likely to be the African people mentioned in the report from Nero's African expedition sent in 61 CE to discover the sources of the Nile: 'The distance from Syene to Meroe is 871 miles. The following are the stages: from Syene to Riera Sycaminos 54 miles; from there to Tama 72 miles through the country of the Aethiopian Eunomites, 120 miles to Primis .. .' See Burstein 2000 p 82. The name looks Gk. 'possessing good laws, well-governed, law-abiding' etc. It may, however, be a Gk. sounding approximation of a native name.

ARNOBIUS

Contra Paganos This work is called Adversus Gentes by St Jerome and Adversus Nationes in our sole ms. which dates from the Ninth Century. Amobius of Sicca who died about 330 CE was an African convert to Christianity. This his only 151

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extant work is in seven books and is a defence of monotheistic religion. It sets out to expound the civilizing influence of Christianity. It ridicules pagan idolatry. Jerome Ep 70 5 names Lactantius as one of Arnobius' pupils. Reifferscheid 1875 used by C is still highly regarded. II 12 Enumerari enim possunt ... The list of nations given in this passage is undistinguished apart from the reference to Seres. It works roughly from east to west in the usual manner of Christian geography. Constituamus enim ... Amobius is as ever in search of pagan gods from wide-ranging countries, here casting his net from the Canary Islands in the far west, to the Seres in the far east and to the Garamantes in the far south. Seras ... Garamantas As so often the forms are Gk. acc. pl. furvos Garamantas The epithet 'dark-skinned' suggests native Africans and these Garamantes may be a Libyan tribe whose heart-land was the Wadi of el Agial centred on Garama/Germa. See note on raf}aµav'trov in Ptolemy I 11 3. Herodotus IV 174-5 describes the Garamantes as living inland and to the south of the Nasamones in Libya. They avoid contact with other men, have no warlike weapons and do not have any means of defence. Speaking of people called Gamphasantes (which must be a corruption of Garamantes since the latter name is used in a similar context in Eustathius and Stephanus Byzantinus), Pliny V 44-5 describes them as nudi proeliorumque expertes, nulli externo congregantur, 'naked (or unarmed) and unwarlike, they make contact with no men beyond themselves'. This account, as well as that in Pomponius Mela I 47, must ultimately derive from Herodotus. How and Wells 1912 vol. 1 p 358 believe that the name has been wrongly introduced here and confused with the very different Garamantes living further inland mentioned in Herodotus IV 183. These people, we are told, are a great nation who pursue the Troglodyte Ethiopians in their four-horse chariots. The latter run faster than any other known race, live on reptiles and speak a language which sounds like the squeaking of bats. Daniels 1970 traces a culture which may 152

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reasonably be called Garamantian from the beginning of the first millennium BCE. The occupation of the classical site in the wadi began some time in the Fifth Century BCE and the archaeological evidence reveals extensive irrigation channels indicating widespread cultivation which continued into Roman times. R.H.Warmington in his review of Daniels 1970 in Classical Review March 1973 p 77 notes that 'little was added to Herodotus between the Fifth and the First Century, but the Romans seem to have had no curiosity about the desert fringes.' He praises Daniels for having 'nothing to do with the wilder theories based upon a few lines of tortured nomenclature in Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy' which serves as a caveat to the present writer! Daniels himself alluding to geographical theories speaks of the field 'of speculation unencumbered by facts or tangible remains.' We may safely exclude here a reference to the Garamaioi. See Pliny I 12 5.

PORPHYRION

Commentary on Horace Odes 1 29 9 Pomponius Porphyion (Second or Third Century CE) was possibly a native of North Africa. His scholia, which are found in the medieval mss. of Horace, were published separately by G. Meyer in 1874 (C's source) and A. Holder in 1894. Porphyrion equates Serian and Parthian. See earlier note on Scholia on Horace Odes I 29 9. CAESARIUS Dialogues Caesarius of Nazianzus (c331-368 CE) was the younger brother of Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus and a physician and politician. A saint of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, his biography is well established. The Dialogues (also nua'tEL~ Quaestiones) containing 197 questions and answers is no longer thought to be his work. Its authenticity is doubted because of the fact that it is ignored by both St Gregory and St Jerome, that 153

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Photius is vague about its authorship and that, most importantly, it refers to Maximus, who belongs to the following century. See Smith and Wace 1877-1887 cols 330-368/9. This is confirmed by Riedinger 1989. The work, which should be properly ascribed to Pseudo-Caesarius, belongs to the well-known and popular Christian genre of 'EQCO'taOOXQLOEL~ 'Questions and Answers'. See Volgers and Zamagni 2004. C's excerpt using the text of Migne 1858 is the reply to a question put by the interrogator: how can a man control his impulses seeing that they are governed by stellar influences? The answer is that a Christian does not admit such influences. The point made is similar to that found in Bardasenes, hence Eusebius and the Pseudoclementine Recognitions. Pseudo-Caesarius uses the example of the unwarlike and non-violent nature of a people like the Seres who are unaffected by the malevolent influence of the planet Mars. Likewise their moral purity in sexual matters is unaffected by the stellar conjunction of the planets Venus and Mars. The Seres typify those who have no written law, but whose customs have the force of law. Their ancestral 'ethos' forbids crimes of prostitution, robbery, adultery and forms of idolatry. II 109 Oi. 'to iiXQOV 'tfl; XEQOO'V oi,xo'Ov't£; This means literally 'inhabiting the tip of the dry land' i.e. before the ocean beyond which nothing is known or exists. The rest is basically a paraphrase of the communis opinio first attested in Bardesanes and has no independent value as evidence.

GEORGE THE MONK Xu6vi:;eov Ivvroµov Chronicle This Ninth Century monk from Constantinople styled himself AµaQ'tCOA6~ 'Sinner'. He wrote a history of the world (XQ6vLxov ~uvwµov) from the creation to 842 CE, the beginning of the reign of Michael III (842-867 CE). He draws on earlier now lost Byzantine historians. He was strongly against 154

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the iconoclastic movement. The Slavic translation of his work was widely disseminated in Russia. C provides this text as an addendum to Caesarius. The passage quoted here comes from a most inaccurate and fanciful brief biography of Alexander the Great which George includes at this point. It adds nothing to what we find in the source passage in Caesarius. de Boor 1904, used by C, has been updated in the Teubner series by de Boor with Wirth 1978. EPIPHANIUS

Adversus Haereses

Epiphanius (310/20-403 CE) was a bishop of Cypriote Salamis who sought out heresies after the First Council of Nicea convoked by Constantine in 325 CE. Regarded as one of the early Christian fathers, his biography is well established. He compiled a compendium (Adversus Haereses) of eighty heresies which were known up to his time. The original title seems to have been IlavaQLOV. This is the Lat. word panarium lit. 'bread basket' and has nothing to do rtav yfi at VI 169

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16 1. This is probably right though not certainly so, since nivosae 1s preferable palaeographically. ab occidentali latere ... Gangem: This is a fairly accurate description of the position of China in relation to its western and southern boundaries. Its unknown northern and eastern boundaries are left vague - a snowy waste. What follows is based on Strabo, Ptolemy etc. with the usual distortion in the spellings of the proper nouns and has no independent value. Compare Ptolemy VI 15 for all these names. appellantur ... montes As pointed out by Fontaine 1977 2 p 111, we have here five of the eight oronyms given by Ptolemy VI 16 2 in the same order. Anniba The mss. give variant Anniva (cf. Annibi below). The word is obscure, but Seyfarth 1979 p 233 n 124 opines: 'called after the Anniboi, a people in the north of the Silk Road describing Huns or Turks who received their names from their unlovely appearance.' They are the Sayan mountains in the South of Siberia west of Irkutsk in Fontaine 1977 2 p 111 n 239; this attribution is based on Berthelot 1930 p 240. Ford' Anville they were simply the Altai. Compare Ptolemy VI 16 2. This may connect to Annibi in XXIII 6 62. Auzacium Mss. Nazavicium is a miswriting, probably first of anza- for auza- and then naza- for anza- (so Fontaine 1977 2 p 111). This is not recognized by Seyfarth who in his text and translation gives Nazavicium and, although Auzacium does not appear even as a conjecture in his apparatus, states that this probably means the Auzakia mountains. This is in keeping with well-known scribal errors. The form in Ptolemy VI 16 2 is gen. plur. of a neuter nom. pl. AutaxLa and the Lat. neuter sing. is clearly a mistake made through automatic copying without regard for the proper morphology. These mountains have been identified as the Mongolian Altai, the Tanu-Ola and the Khangai west of Ulan-Bator (Fontaine 1977 2 111 based on Berthelot 1930 p 241). The variant Auxacium is typical of many confusions in the mss. between zeta and xi in Gk. transferred to Lat. spellings. The zeta seems to be original in all cases of which I am aware. Compare Ptolemy VI 16 2.

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Asmira The Asmiraia mountains are located by Berthelot 1930 p 241 in central Mongolia. Compare Ptolemy VI 16 5. Emodum See note on 'Iµfuov in Strabo XI 11 7. Berthelot 1930 pp 242-4 animadverts on the confusion caused by attempts to reconcile Ptolemy's orography with that of earlier writers. Strabo gives a different orographic scheme probably derived from Eratosthenes, putting Emodon in the Taurus (or Caucasus) between the Paropanisidae and the lmaus and locating the Punjab in the kingdom of Porns. Pliny V 27 2 and VI 21 1, 5 seems to have had the same view, putting it in northern India. Oporocorra This is a mss. distortion of 'OwQox.6(>gm in Ptolemy VI 16 3,5. Fontaine 1977 1 prints Ottorocorra. He identifies these mountains as the Qinling Shan between Shanxi and the Sichuan following Berthelot 1930 pp. 240ff. Skt uttarakuru lies behind these various forms. See note on Attacorum Pliny VI 54. Oechardes Mss. et chartis is an easy paleographical slip from Latinized Echardes vel sim. See Oi.xaebotJ in Ptolemy VI 15 2. Seyfarth notes 'Oechartis, correctly Oichardes is the Chinese Tarim River (Chinese Ho).' Fontaine 1977 2 p 111 n 240, following many earlier interpretations including that of Mannert, identifies it as the Upper Yenisei which rises in the western Mongolia, its other branch being the present-day Selanga. Berthelot 1930 p 245 is the source for this. Pelliot 1959 saw possibilities for Yenisei, Selanga and Orkhon. Ptolemy gives it two sources, one in the Auzacians, the other in the Asmiraia. Bautis Perhaps it would be better to read Bautisus as in Ptolemy. Seyfarth 1979 p 233 has: 'It takes its name from Iranian Bauta people settled on its upper course; it is the Huang-he (Huanghe), the Yellow River, in whose region was Sera Metropolis.' Its source, according to Ptolemy VI 16 3, is in the Kasia Mountains. See Tomaschek RE III 175 and notes on Ba.u·narn; in Ptolemy VI 16 3 and on Baetae below. variae gentes Fontaine 1977 2 p 112 n 241 suggests that this may be an example of what Herrmann RE II 1680 called Ammianus' 'Fantasy' in 171

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amplifying Ptolemy and goes on to compare Virgil's Georgics I-III and Aeneid I 531 (potens armis atque ubere glaebae) for idyllic pictures of agriculture. Ammianus' list contains six of the nine people mentioned by Ptolemy from north to south. Anthropophagi The mss. read Alitro fagi i.e. Alitrophagi which would mean 'eating sinfully', a perfectly possible description of cannibals. It seems to be translated in alimenta nefanda in XXXI 2 15 (qv.) Anthropophagi has been adopted into the received text on the basis of its occurrence in Ptolemy VI 16 4. Fontaine 1977 2 p 112 n 242, however, chooses to print Androphagi from Av6Qocp6.ym in Herodotus. Palaeographically this is an improvement and is probably right. That said, the ms. reading is lectio dif.ficilior and must remain a possibility. In Ptolemy VI 16 4 it is a description not an ethnonym. Gk. 'man-eaters' (av8Qro:itocj>6.ym) seems to be used here as the general description of a number of tribes. Seyfarth 1979 p 233 describes them as 'lndogermanen'. Compare Solinus XV 4. Annibi Mss. also have Anibi. Anibus appears in later mss. cited by C in his apparatus. Montes Anubii can be seen on the map on the cover of our first volume. They have been placed variously in Northern Mongolia (Berthelot 1930 p 246) and on the northern slopes of the eastern Tian Chan (Tomaschek RE I 2258-9). Sizyges There are mss. alternatives Syzyges and Sigyzyges which look like attempts at 'normalization' to Gk. cru~vye~ 'yoked together'. Seyfarth 1979 p 233 identifies them as Pamir dwelling Sakas; so also Herrmann RE III A 1 (1927) 419-423 vii 2 2. Berthelot 1930 p 246 has them living between Sayan Mountains and the Altai. Yule 1915 195 n 2 suggests that this may be a descriptive epithet referring to drivers of chariots. See note on l;i~llYE~ in Ptolemy VI 16 4. Chardi This should corrected to Oechardi from Ptolemy. See note on Oechardes above. Rabannai Compare note on 'Papavm in Ptolemy I 12 5 (cf. Ptolemy VI 16 5) and see note above. The ethnonym remains obscure: 'Mongols of the 172

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north and northwestern fringes of the Gobi desert' according to Seyfarth 1979 p 233. Berthelot 1930 p 246 has them 'living in the basin of the Selanga River.' Asmirae This is changed by Fontaine 1977 1 to Asmiraei. Seyfarth 1979 p 233 has 'Steinhaufen' though he does not mention any connexion to Iranian asman 'rock, stone' which might be implied. He locates the tribe in the Asmiraea Mountains at the east end of Tienshan and more to the south east towards Ulan Bator. d' Anville 1791 has Hami or Khamil. Essedones This is changed by Fontaine 1977 1 to Issedones, an unneccessary change as Essedones is the normal form of the same word in Lat. and is what Ammianus would probably have written. Here they are described as 'the most splendid of all.' They are placed in the Gobi Desert by Berthelot 1930 p 246 and in the Tarim Basin by Herrmann RE IX 22352246. See note on 'Imrl)brov ~xv6txi) in Ptolemy VI 15 4. XXIII666 Athagurae The mss. also spell it Athagorae. Fontaine 1977 1 prints Ithaguri from Ptolemy. But the text of Ptolemy has variants '18ayoilQ A.8ayo'ClQOL and E>ayoQOL, the later adopted by C and probably correct. I suspect that Athagurae is a 'ghost' word and we should read Thagurae here. See note on 8«.yollQOV in Ptolemy VI 16 2. They have been located in the Ala-shan region on the left bank of the middle Huanghe. Aspacarae There is a variant Asparata given by C. See note on Aa:itaxcl.Qa.t in Ptolemy VI 16 6. Fontaine 1977 2 p 112 n 243, following Berthelot 1930, locates them in the mountains of the upper Huanghe between the mountain chains of Nanshan and Baga-Kara-Ula. Aspasuggests Iranian 'horse'. Tomaschek RE II 1709 tries to find the second element in -kara- 'dealer' or -cara 'herder'. These forms are closer to Indian than Iranian, but the truth may be concealed somewhere in them. Baetae We should read Bautae; a scribe may have been thinking of Baetica in Spain. mss. Beatae is an even more blatant 'normalization'. See note on 173

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Bautis above. It must be admitted that modem attempts at localization of Aspacarae and Bautae tend to be unsatisfactory, for they do not accord with Ammianus' situating them to the west of the previously mentioned people. To quote Fontaine 1977 2 pp 112-113: 'The Bautae are placed by Ptolemy between the Aspacarae and the Ottorocores. The latter have the name of "Hyperborean (Northern)" Indians, the Uttara-kuru to be located in the region of Changdu (in Tibet) and the high Sichuan in S .W. China; therefore the Bautae of Ptolemy and Ammianus must be located further south in the Sino-Tibetan watersheds of the large rivers of S.E.Asia.' See note on BaiJ'ttao; in Ptolemy VI 16 3.

Asmira It is better to read Asmiraea from Ptolemy as in Fontaine 1977 1. See note on Asmirae above. Essedon Fontaine 1977 1 reads /ssedon from Ptolemy. This is /ssedon Serica. For possible identification see note on 'Imrqbrov ~l)~txiJ in Ptolemy VI 16 7. Aspacara mss. Asparata is a mistake. The word is connected to the Aspacarae people mentioned above. It is placed south of the Richthofen Mountains, and may be possibly Xining between Kokonor and the middle reaches of the Huanghe according to Tomaschek RE II 1709. Sera mss. fera is a mistake. This is Sera Metropolis and there have been many suggestions for its location. See note on ~iJ~a M1J't~o3to#..t; in Ptolemy VI 16 7.

XXIIl667 agunt . .. quietius Pliny VI 54 and Solinus 50 lff in C have similar descriptions of Seres as people in a land of bliss and silk manufacture. The latter in particular seems to be a direct or indirect source for Ammianus here. A quibus . .. Silk manufacure is described in terms used of wool and weaving - softening, combing and twining. For the second operation 174

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reliance is placed here on Solinus. As Fontaine 1977 2 p 115 n 246 points out, Ammianus seems not to have known the tradition represented by Servius on Virgil Georgics II 121: sunt quidam in arboribus vermes, et bombyces appellantur, qui in aranearum morem tenuissima fila deducunt, unde et sericum 'There are certain worms in trees called bombyces (silkworms) which spin out very fine threads in the way spiders do, hence the word sericum (silk).' See note on Vellera ... Seres in Virgil Georgics (94). molientes A better translation than 'working'would be 'softening' as in Ovid Metamorphoses II 411 mollire lanam trahendo 'to soften wool by drawing it out'. Fontaine 1977 2 p 115 n 246 also notes that Ammianus uses mollire elsewhere in a figurative sense. See Herrmann RE II 16781683 and Kadar 1967 pp 89-98. ad usus antehac nobilium ••• Whereas much is found elsewhere (e.g. Solinus LI 3) about the effeminate, degrading and even immoral use of silk clothing, Ammianus does not touch on this aspect, but concentrates on the social issue. Wearing silk was once a mark of the upper classes, now it is everyday attire. Fontaine 1977 2 pl 15 n 247 goes too far in censuring Ammianus for snobbery here. The statement is purely factual. What is more telling is the fact that he does NOT take the opportunity to reproduce the moralizing on this subject which he found in his sources. See note on Primi sunt hominum ••• traluceat in Pliny VI 54.

XXIII 6 68 ipsi praeter alios frugalissimi ••. The brief description of the peaceful and retiring ways of the Seres is exemplified, as elsewhere, by their method of silent trade. Compare Herodotus IV 196 et alibi and note on commercio ... notisssimum in Pomponius Mela III 60. Ammianus derives his material directly or indirectly from Solinus who in turn had a tradition of such descriptions to use dating back, it may well be, to Maes Titianos. Fontaine 1977 2 p 116 n 248 sees Ammianus taking the opportunity here to sound a Stoic note of approval at the 'abstinence, self-restraint' of the Seres and observes with what justication I do not know that the Seres would have 175

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preferred to receive payment in hard cash! He refers to Raschke 1978 pp 604ff and also identifies the river mentioned here as the Huanghe at the mountains on whose right bank the western merchants travelling east would have stopped.

XXXI215 Melanchlaenas et Anthropophagos (NL) These are certainly correct restorations from mss. melan chinas et antropofagos and are nomina loquentia 'Black-cloaks and Man-eaters.' The Scythian MEA.ayxA.mvm mentioned in Herodotus IV 20 are obviously a different people, but those mentioned in Periplus 79, Pomponius Mela I 110 and Pliny VI 15 may be the race mentioned by Ammianus. See Herrmann RE XV 407. alimenta nefanda 'Sinful diet' is strongly reminiscent of, indeed virtually translates, the variant Alitrofagi found at XXIII 6 66 (qv). oriente aestivo As in Pliny, this is the side of summer morning sunrise. cf. similar expressions oriens brumalis, occidens aestivus and occidens hibernus. AUSONIUS

Poems

Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born in Bordeaux in about 310 CE. His father was a Gk. physician and his mother an aristocratic Gallo-Roman. Ausonius became a teacher of rhetoric and was called to the imperial court of Valentinian as tutor to Gratian who, upon becoming emperor, promoted him to high office. He died about 395 CE in Bordeaux. Technopaegnion (A Game of Art) from which the first two of C's excerpts are taken is one of his twenty Idyllia of which Mosella 'The River Moselle' is the most famous. This Idyllion comprises poems in which every line ends in a monosyllable, in this case Ser. See di Giovine 1996. Peiper 1886 used by C has been replaced by Prete 1978 in the Teubner series.

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Technopaegnion (A Game of Art)

XV24 vellera .•. vestifluus Ser Ausonius neatly combines in one line allusion to the flowing silk garments of the Seres and their production of silk in their forests, ending with the mandated monosyllable. Is the epithet a creation of Ausonius? The literary congener is Virgil Georgics II 121. XIV6 volitat ••. vestifluus Ser Here is the same line ending, but this time Ausonius alludes to the merchant Ser 'flying' across the ocean for purposes of trade. Elsewhere Serie trade has been mute and on a Central Asian river bank. Is this poetic license or actual knowledge of Serie commercial seafaring? This line, which is omitted in one important mss., is bracketed by Evelyn-White 1919 who believes that it might be compounded by a later hand from phrases found in X 24 and XII 13. It is an open question. Epigrammata de Diversis Rebus (Epigrams on Different Subjects)

The third of C's excerpts is from Ausonius' collection of about 120 epigrams on different subjects in the general tradition of the Greek Anthology (from which there are some translations) and of Lat. epigrammatists like Martial. XVI is written to 'A Rich Degenerate Basely Born.' 'His father was not known and his mother surely is a bitch' is the last line as translated by Evelyn-White 1919. This social climber wishes to associate himself with old aristocratic families and does this by having images of Mars, Remus and Romulus woven into his silken garments, engraved on his cups and plates and so on. hos ... iubet hos are the gods depicted on his personal belongings. The mention of silk adds a touch of pretension and possible decadence to Ausonius' portrait of this unattractive figure. Note that Serum loses ethnic significance when used as a synonym for Serica 'silk'; metrical

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considerations must also be borne in mind when such expressions appear in verse.

PALLADIUS De Brachmanibus This work is often called De Gentibus Indiae et De Bragmanibus and is found in Pseudo-Callisthenes III 7. For reasons which are given below a better title would be Palladii Commonitorium in De Brachminibus. Recent editions are Derrett 1960 and Berghoff 1967. Bragmanibus is the more usual Lat. spelling. See Winstedt 1909 pp lOff. Pseudo-Callisthenes is a name which arose from early misattribution of the authorship of the The Greek Alexander Romance to Callisthenes of Olynthus (360-328 BCE) who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Asian expedition and wrote its history; Callisthenes fell out of favour with the king and died in prison. His work is lost but frequently quoted in extant literature. cf. Julius Valerius. The Greek Alexander Romance or Historia Alexandri Magni is a composite work of many layers found in three major recensions, the earliest and latest of which contain De Brachmanibus. Palladius, Bishop of Hellenopolis in Egypt, born in Galatia in 368 CE and died probably before 431 CE, wrote Historica Lausiaca which was dedicated to Lausus, chamberlain of Theodosius II (408-450 CE). It concerns Egyptian monks and became popular among Egyptian monastic communities. It contains anecdotes and digressions. De Brachmanibus has been traditionally attributed to him, but this attribution is by no means certain. Recent support for this attribution will be found in Berg 1974 and Brunel 1978. See also Hansen 1965 and Desanges 1969. The mss. of Palladius, which are of poor quality and contain a more or less interpolated version of his writing expanded by scribes, have been studied by Derrett 1960 who distinguished two recensions. A Lat. version bearing the name Ambrosius is shorter and better than the Gk. This text, which was used by C, appears in the appendix to the edition of Arrian by Diibner and Muller 1846. See Yankowski 1962. De Brachmanibus is divided into two parts of which the first, the so-called Commonitorium Palladii, contains the text excerpted by C. In this the author (Palladius?) assembles all the information he can find about India 178

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and the Brahmans naming Museus, Bishop of the Adulites, and a certain oxoA.aonx6~ (Scholasticus or a scholasticus 'lawyer?') as witnesses. The second part is attributed by the author himself to Arrian. This attribution has been excluded by recent scholarship, though no plausible substitute has been proposed. See Willis and Maresch1988 pp 61-63. Internal evidence suggests that the first part (Commonitorium Palladii) may well be the genuine writing of Palladius; it quotes recent material from Christian witnesses. It has been attached to the second part at an unknown time, either by Palladius himself or later, to form De Brachmanibus which existed as a self-standing work when it was translated by Ambrosius. Chronology and other considerations exclude, in my view, the identification of this Ambrosius with St Ambrose, although this is often assumed in writings on this subject. St Ambrose died in 397 CE and De Brachmanibus has been speculatively dated to c 408-9 CE. More cogent is the intrinsic improbability of the bishop's turning his hand to this. Such a composition would be unique among the voluminous works ascribed to him which are of an entirely different character - dogmatic, exegetical, homiletic, theological etc. See Stoneman 1994 p 501 for a summary of the relevant content of Derrett's Versio Ornatior of Palladius. The same author describes the second part of De Brachmanibus as 'the part interpolated in the Romance', but surely Commonitorium Palladii is also in the Romance? It is printed as part of it by Diibner and Muller 1846. 'The version of Palladius is introduced, in the mss. of Palladius himself, as distinct from those of The Alexander Romance, by a short general account of the Brahmans which the author sends to an unnamed friend.' (Stoneman 1994 p 500). This Commonitorium Palladii describes lands around the Ganges based on information from a Theban 'scholasticus' who was imprisoned there for six years and made to work in a flour mill. Then the holy life of the Brahmans is described in detail- no farming, iron, houses, bread, wine, clothing and even very restricted access to their wives who live on the western side of the Ganges. For a recent discussion of Brahmans and Gymnosophists see Parker 2008 pp 272-278.

BQ«XµdvE; Lat. Bragmanes (Skt. brahmal)a-) were known to Hellenistic Greece in the aftermath of Alexander's conquests. The name BQaxµLa-ta( 'Naked Sophists' in his Life of Alexander, and the two terms are used virtually synonymously in other places. Compare Strabo XV 1 60 and XVI 2 39. The same is reflected in Christian writings e.g. Tertullian Apol 42 1 neque enim Brachmanae aut Indorum gymnosophistae sumus, sylvicolae et exules vitae 'for we are not Brahmans or Indian Gymnosophists, forest dwellers and exiles from life.' In the Dionysiaca of Nonnos, a source rightly avoided in scholarly work on India because of its fantastic invention, there are two passages worth quoting in this discussion, though evaluation of their value is problematic. In the first (XXXVI 344-346) the Indian king Deriades is challenging Dionysus to come out and fight:

af...f...a aocj>oiJ~ BQa)(µi']va~ a-ceuxfo~ et~ ae 'itOQiJaaoo· yuµvol yaQ yeyaaCJL, 0EO'itATJ'tOL~ b' e:n:ambai.~ JtOAAa'itL~ i)eQ6cj>OL'tOV oµo(LOV a~UYL 'tUUQcp, OUQav60ev xa-cayovw~ acj>aQµcl;avw Le'A.fivriv 'But I am arming the wise and weaponless Brahmans against you. Although they go naked, they have often with their religious chants beguiled Selene, the Moon Goddess, like an unyoked bull; they have brought her down from heaven and unseated her from her chariot'. In this mishmash with its allusion to Aristophanes Nubes 749-750 there may be perceived also some dim knowledge of Brahman magical incantations found commonly in the Atharvaveda. A reader unfamiliar with the hexameters of Nonnos will note the late incidence of stress accent corresponding to earlier pitch accent which is a unique feature of his work. In the second passage (XXXIX 357-360) the Indian princely warrior Morrheus has received a wound which is healed by a Brahman doctor: Ocj>Qa µEv ev0eov EA'itO~ 0 µLv A.axe, 6mµov(ri xelQ AlJOUtOVOlJ BQaxµi']vo~ axtaaaw cI>m~a6L 'tE)(VTJ, 8emrea(11 f...af...ov uµvov U:rtO'tQU~OV'tO~ am6fl, -c6cj>Qa 6e 6uaµeveemv e:rtfxQae AiJ6LO~ AQ'fl~·

'While with the skill of Phoebus Apollo the supernatural hand of the painassuaging Brahman, who was mumbling his muttered hymn with religious 180

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intonation, was healing the god-inflicted wound which Morrheus had received, Lydian Ares dealt with his enemies.' Again it is possible that dim knowledge of one of the many healing charms found in the Atharvaveda may lie in the background. The 'Indian' names found copiously in this curious work have almost totally defied identification, but one cannot resist the temptation to think of Skt. Maurya, one of the best known Indian dynasties, in this Morrheus. In the Hindu caste system, whose origins may even precede Vedic times, the Brahmans occupied the highest place. They were concerned with all that pertained to the divine and spiritual and ranked in popular estimation even above the royal warrior caste, the Ksatriyas. Compare Benveniste 1973 p 228. Ammianus VI 32 speaks of a journey of Zoroaster to India where he met Brahmans in a solitary woodland place and learned their lore which he transmitted in his own religion. This garbled account seems to confuse among other things Zoroaster and Buddha, whose period of forest hermitage reflects the third stage of a Brahman's life called vanaprastha (Monier-Williams 1899 p 917). I argue below that the raQµdvec; mentioned in Strabo XV 1 60 and described as 'YA.6BwL, are in fact BQaxµdvec; since 'YA.6BwL exactly translates vanaprastha. Tertullian's sylvicolae (Lat. for 'yJ..6BLm) derives from the Strabo tradition. See Parker 2008 p 227 and Fontaine 1977 2 pp 83-84. Henning 1944 pp 108-118 proposed an etymological connection of Vedic brahman with Old Persian brazman which he deduced from brzmniy on the Xerxes Daiva inscription (XPh) 41 ff and which he saw as having reflexes in Middle Persian and Parthian brahm. The oft-disputed connexion to Lat.flamen should now be rejected. See also Benveniste 1973 pp 231-2. For a discussion of perceptions of the Brahmans in early European writings see Hahn 1978. 11

'ta axero'ti)Qm µovov £cj>Oaaa 'ti)~ 'Ivbtxi)~ The writer claims to have only reached the extremities of India in company with the Bishop of the Adulites. He found the climate intolerable informing us that iced water when collected in jars quickly reached boiling point in the heat.

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Mrovatro;

•toil bttaxo3t0v 'trov Abovlt'trov Adulis was a port of the ancient kingdom of Aksum (Axoume Au~ouµri) on the Red Sea. It is now an archaeological site in Eritrea. Pliny VI 6 34, who is first to mention it, popularly etymologizes the name from aC>ouA.- 'non-slave' and fancifully attributes its foundation to runaway Egyptian slaves. The name of the bishop would be Moses rather than Mouaat.oc; and Moses is a better rendering than Museus (or Musaeus in the Lat. of Ambrosius) to avoid ambiguity.

a.u'to; ... £Oa.aEv The writer with disregard for history quotes Bishop Moses' speculations on the extent of Alexander's journey into India which take him even beyond the Ganges into Serice which in Ptol VI 16 1 is roughly western Xinjiang. For proof Moses claimed to have seen a stone column inscribed by the conqueror to mark his penetration to this eastern region. Strabo, Diodorus, Curtius Rufus, Pliny, Plutarch, Arrian and Justin tell of twelve altars built by Alexander on the Hyphasis to mark the place of his easternmost penetration of India. In Philostratus Vita Apollonii II 43 reference is made to an inscribed bronze tablet serving the same purpose in the same region. See Cracco Ruggini 1965 p 25. There may have been a folk legend that Alexander reached the Ganges. This may account for the statement that he did so in Periplus 47, though there is some doubt about the text there; Alexander may be a mistake for Menander. Ambrosius, as often, is fuller and clearer. See also note on Ta.i.l't1JV bi) 'tlJV Tavyam ... Pa.eP«erov in Theophylactus Simocatta VII 9 6. 15

3W.Qa.xdvm 'ta.v'tn 'tfl vi)aq> ... a.u'ta; See note in Pliny VI 80,88 and Pliny VII 4 11. Taprobane and its archipelago (called here Maniolai islands) are more precisely located here than in other contemporary descriptions. According to Weerakkody 1997 p 129 'Palladius, whether through confusion or ignorance, has applied to this island chain Ptolemy's name, and the description of the Bisadae to what appears to be a tribe belonging to the Malabar coast.' He adds with less justification: 'in both cases this mixing of different accounts appears to have been effected with a view to enhancing the sensational element of the narrative.' 182

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EO'tL ... xa:teoxeva.oµeva. Strabo XV 1 15 quotes Alexander's admiral Onesicritus for evidence of such boat construction: xa"tEm:rtoQLm, as is usual in itineraries, considers the distances separating the countries - a process which allows the writer to add geographical notes of interest and distinguish between land and sea routes. A strong link between the texts is the state of bliss in the distant lands agriculture begins after Nebus in Expositio and after Evilath in 'OC>m:rtoQLm.' The jury must remain out as to whether this is a case of horizontal transmission or of derivation from a common source. All recent commentators on Expositio regard it as a composite work falling into two parts (1-21 and 21ff) of which the first concerns us here. This part is a description of areas outside the Roman Empire incorporating much traditional and mythical material. The second part is set within the boundaries of the Roman Empire. The first part concludes with the significant words Et haec quidem de praedictis gentibus historicus ait 'And the historian has this to say about the aforementioned peoples.' The first edition of the previously unknown text was that of Godefroy 1628. See Rouge 1966 p 89. It was made from a copy of a lost ms. The itinerary which follows is from east to west and may be compared to the Red Sea to Malabar Coast trade route in Palladius in reverse. It ostensibly starts further east (Cambodia?), but the geography is vague.

4 Gentes ... revertatur Rouge 1966 pp 12lff. regards this section which is only found in Descriptio as heavily interpolated. He brackets cuius terram .. .descripsit, et dividi ... Euphrates and qui praedictam terram habitant.

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Camarinorum ... 'OC>m:rtoQLm has Max.aQLVOL, a most unlikely formation; one would expect Max.aQLOL. Desanges 1966 p 144 directs attention to the raQµd.VE~ in the fragments of Megasthenes FGrH II pp 436-7. The original source passage in Strabo XV 1 60 tells us that the most esteemed of the raQµd.VE~ are called 'YA.6PLoL 'those of forest life'. This is an exact Gk. translation of Skt. vanaprashta, the well-known third stage of a Brahman's life. This strongly suggests that raQµd.VE~ conceals an original word, surely BQaxµdvE~, transliterating Skt. brahma1)a- and is of only limited relevance here. See introductory paragraph in Palladius. The Georgian version of the 'OC>oL3toQLm equates the Max.aQLVOL to the rvµvoaocj>LO'ta( 'who live in partibus orientis.' See Pigulevskaya 1951 p 116. Max.aQLVOL must be a metathetic corruption of KaµaQLVOL which, in the likely case that it is itself corrupted from the already corrupt raQµd.VE~, refers to Brahmans. In summary and at the risk of oversimplication we may see a hypothetical development from BQaxµd.vE~ through raQµd.VE~ to *Garmanes, *Carmanes, *Carmanini and *Camarini. The last two two links in the chain are of course speculative, but the result, I believe, carries conviction. The Expositio is, in all likelihood, older than the 'OC>m:rtoQLm and it describes the Camarini as pious men living lives of genuine bliss. Other possibilities of derivation are less convincing but cannot be excluded. Arabic records refer to the land of the Khmer not only as Qimar and Qamar, but also as Qamarftn. This may be the result of confusion with another toponym, namely that for a region in Assam. Among Islamic writers is lbn Khordadbeh (c820-912 CE), a Persian geographer holding the position of 'Director of Posts and Intelligence' under Abbasid Caliph al-Mutammid (ruled 869-885 CE). His Kitab al Masalik w'al Mamalik (The Book of Roads and Kingdoms) contains maps and descriptions of the South East Asian coast as far as Brahmaputra, the Andaman Islands, Peninsular Malaya and Java. There are also references to Tang China, Unified Silla (Korea) and Japan. Another Arabic source is Muhammad-al-Idrisi (1100-1165/6 CE), called Dreses in Lat., who was an Andalusian geographer of Moroccan ancestry. He was attached to the Norman court of Roger II in Sicily. To him we owe the Tabula Rogeriana, a map of the Eurasian continent drawn in 1154 CE. It is lacking in details for the Hom of Africa and South East Asia. It was inscribed on a massive dish of solid silver two metres in diameter. See 191

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Houben 2002 pp102-104. His geographical text has the romantic title Nuzhatul Mushtak (Kitab Nuzhat al-Mushtak) meaning something like 'A diversion for a man longing to travel to far-off places'. Its Lat. title Opus Geographicum does not do this justice! Idrisi refers to a ruler of the island of Tioman, near the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, as Qfunrfin. Wheatley 1961 p 229 thought that this title may have derived from Old Khmer kurung 'king'. The Arabic authors also underscore the high moral standards of the Khmer, as a result of which they resemble the mythical Camarini: 'The rulers of India and its denizens deem adultery permissable, but they forbid wine - except for the ruler of Qimar, who forbids both adultery and wine' See lbn Khordadbeh 1986 p 80 and Braginsky 1998 p 367. Tomaschek RE III 1452 placed the Camarini in the south of IndoChina. He treats the ethnonym as genuine and says that the source historian was aware that Brahmans lived in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. Rouge subtly suggests dislocation by association; the Camarini live a life of or similar to Brahmans hence they are made neighbours. One may compare the Cambari river in Pliny VI 53. Evilat, the next country, has been paired with the Evilat of Genesis by the author of '060L1t0Qtm. Rouge, interestingly but perhaps too literally, does not wish to associate this with the Evilat of the Ravenna Cosmographer and Cosmas Indicopleustes, since these place it north west of India. Moyses Eden . . . Euphrates This is a later interpolation in Descriptio which defies geography by equating the land of the Camarini with the Eden of Genesis II 10-15 and quoting from there the division of its great river into four others: 'The garden was watered by a river; it came out of Eden, and went on to divide into four branches. One is called Phison; it is the river which surrounds all the country of (H)evilath (Havilah), a goldproducing country; no gold is better; bdellium is found there too, and the onyx stone. The second river is called Gehon, and is the river which surrounds the whole country of Ethiopia. The third river, which flows past the Assyrians, is called Tigris, and the fourth is the river Euphrates.' (Knox translation). The Hebrew word Eden is translated 'delight' as NL. If it is a genuine toponym it may derive from Sumerian EDIN 'wilderness, desert' or from the Semitic root dn 'lush, abundant'. Mention of the Tigris and Euphrates place Eden in Mesopotamia. If the other two rivers are to be 192

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located there, the Gehon may be the Al-Qurnah in present-day Iraq, the Phison the Kuwait River. Most modem exegesis of this passage assumes a traditional explanation that the Phison is the Indus and that the Gehon is the Nile. The Islamic four rivers of Paradise are the Syr Darya (Jaxartes), the Amu Darya (Oxus), the Euphrates and the Nile. It seems to me that the biblical writer is basing his geography on knowledge of two existing rivers and describing the more distant ones in terms more appropriate to seas. As Evilath is India in many sources and the writer knows it as famous for gold, the Phison is more likely to be a vague reference to the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. A part of the latter would seem appropriate for the Gehon 'surrounding' Ethiopia. In the Christian Liber Generationis, which divides the world among the sons of Noah, the list of the forty one great rivers in 37 begins Indos qui et Fison, Nilus qui et Geon ... sc. appellant ' The Indus which some call the Fison, the Geon which some call the Nile ... ' See Riese 1878 p 170. In Cosmas Indicopeustes I (137) which is not in C's excerpt we fmd :1tacrav M 'tTJV 'IvC>LxT)v xat 'tTJV Ouvv(av C>LmQei 6 e(crwv :7tO'taµ6~ 'the River Phison divides India and Hunnia'. See note on 3UlQab£1.ao; in Cosmas I (137). Jacques de Vitry LXXXV 30-32 introduces the Ganges instead of the Indus: we read Nam Phison qui et Ganges ex quodam monte Indie scaturiens, iterum incipit super terram cursum summi ostendere aperte defluendo. 'For the Phison, which is the Ganges, gushing forth from a certain mountain of India, again starts above ground to display its surface course by flowing in plain view of all.' He goes on to equate the 'Gyson' with the Nile. Philostorgius Hist. Eccl. III 10 equates the Phison with the Hyphasis.

o

valde pii et boni Again we have the familiar 'noble savage' motif and may compare e.g. Ammianus XXIII 6 62. The Camarini typify Juvenal's mens sana in corpore sano. utantur I suspect that this is a misprint for utuntur since a subjunctive would be unlikely after quod. panem quidem eis plui per singulos dies Here we may have an allusion to the manna in the desert of Exodus. Rouge 1966 p 50 and p 217 is not of this opinion and does not excise this passage, citing Aelian De Natura 193

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Animalium XVI 7 'The land of the Indians is watered in spring by honeyed rain.' bibere de agresti melle et pipere Rouge 1966 p 217 tries to find an actual beverage here. This is lost labour. The information here and hereabouts is a conflation of the use of pepper in eastern cooking and the diet of wild honey which could be a reminiscence of desert survival ; compare St John the Baptist's regimen in the Gospels. See note on hinc seminatio et messio ... accipiunt in 12 for possibly dittography. ignis . . . revertatur For the burning sun of India and escape from it in water compare Herodotus III 104 COO'tE EV ue>an /...6yo~ ai.n:ou~ EO'tL ~QEX,E08m tflVLX.afrm 'at such time they are said to drench themselves with water.' Strabo XVII 822 has something similar to say about people living in Africa. sine imperio, se regentes Godefroy's editio princeps reads Sere gentes and from this modem word division some have taken this as a new subject and read Serae gentes. This is without warrant. se regentes is ambiguous, as it could mean autonomous and independent of the rule of other nations or without their own system of government (i.e. privately self-regulating and not subject to public laws). I incline to the latter interpretation as it is in keeping with what is said elsewhere (e.g. by Bardesanes) of the absence of law among the Seres. Escam ... communem 'Food common to all' is ambiguous, as it could mean that their food is different to that of all other people or that they do not eat together i.e. have common meals. The former interpretation is to be preferred since we find in 5 vestimenta . . . omnibus communia which clearly means that their clothing is unique. Compare Ammianus XXIII 5 (not in C). neque malitiam corporis nostri Compare nulla malitia invenitur neque corporis in 4 above. The repetition is suspicious and suggests conflation of two texts. Further repetition is found below: in corpore aliquid tnfirmum.

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The idea of the healthy oriental is found inter alia in C's Pseudo-Ctesias excerpt and Pliny VII 22. vestimenta ... omnibus communia Rouge's commentary on this passage compares the clothing of Brahmans described in Philostratus Vita Apollonii III 15 which is made of a supple white wool generated from the soil and exuding an oily grease. Pliny XIX 19 testifies to its ability to be cleansed by fire. per ignis gladium Descriptio has per ignem solis which is apparently clearer and better. The 'fiery sword' has not been explained and it is tempting to emend to solis radium vel sim. In favour of the textus receptus is the observation of Kordosis 1991 pp 167-168 that the use of 'asbestos' cloth by the Seres is a motif repeated by almost all Chinese dynastic histories about the inhabitants of Ta-Ch'in. In Chinese sources there is a type of cloth which is thrown into the fire to be cleansed. See for example Lieu 2009 p 238 where asbestos cloth is listed among the utopian perquisites of the Chinese empire described in the Chinese section of the bilingual (Chinese and Syriac) Nestorian monument in Xi'an. It may therefore be that Expositio preserves the truth and that, not understanding it, has given an easier expanation. neque seminant neque metunt The resonance with the 'lilies in the field' in Luke 12 24 is unavoidable. It is a reasonable thing to say about steppe nomads. It is less clear why it is explained by the presence of precious metals in the country, which is an additional fact rather than a reason for the absence of agriculture. This must have led Hahn 1978 p 8 to take species in the sense of negotium here (see following note). species excellentes This means 'outstanding products' not 'objects of barter'. fluvius exiens ••• cingitur Rouge indulges in radical emendation of this difficult text: magis vero abscidet cacumina montium in multitudine aquae cingit 'wears away the mountain peaks and carries away (cingit?) the debris in the mass of its water.' The Descriptio has a much 195

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better and clearer text: Decurrens enim fluvius diebus ac noctibus montem abscidit et illius crusta aquarum impetu trahit. 'As the river flows down by day and night it erodes the mountain and carries off its debris with the force of its waters.' We have here a good description of the collection of alluvial metals especially familiar in an Australian context, although the nets need to be replaced by pans. Nets imply larger fragments than the gold sand and pebbles sought by more recent prospectors.

7

cum tanta vero felicitate . . . aegrotant As early as Pindar's poetic description of the blessed race of the Hyperboreans (Pythian X 41-44) the theme of longevity is coupled with that of a carefree and happy life. This commonplace is applied here to the mysterious and exotic Camarini. scientes et diem mortis suae Rouge sees here reference to the voluntary death of sages, but it is more likely that the foreknowledge of death here is simply a corollary of the fact that they are aware that they all live to be 120 years old. 8 Brachmani They are treated here as a nation here rather than a religious caste. The Oxford Latin Dictionary (1968) p 241 lists only the spellings Bracmani and Bragmanae. A third declension form in -es is needed. cf. De Bragmanibus. detinent vicinorum bonitatem This is ambiguous as it could either be 'they retain the good will of their neighbours' or 'they retain the good life of (i.e. they have the same good life as) their neighbours.' The former is to be preferred and is the more natural translation of Descriptio: vicinorum bonitatem tenentes feliciter vivunt.

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9 Eviltarum This must be connected to Evilat, a name for India. The name is subjected to word-play in Philo of Alexandria Allegorical Interpretation I 66 who etymologizes it as eiJ(A.a-tm 'propitious'. Simplicius may consider it a nomen loquens when he describes the Eviltae as paene deorum vitam viventes. 'After that '06mJtoQLm and the Georgian itinerary embark the voyager at Euilat (Aelana, Akaha, Evlath/Evlam according to the Georgian version) for 'EA.6.vri (which could be 'EA.6.va cf. Ptolemy V 16 1 the same town under a different name).' (Desanges 1967 p 145) 10 Erner This is written 'IEµf)Q in '06mJtoQLm which is equally obscure. It seems to be taken as meaning 'the country of darkness'. Compare Ammianus XXIII 6 67 for the unwritten laws which maintain the integrity of the Seres. Desanges 1967 p 146 notes that the Geographer of Ravenna attributes to Athanasius of Alexandria, a contemporary of Constantine, the belief that paradise was situated east of Evilat and supposes that the 'country of darkness' might have its origin in the Alexander legends. 11

Nebusa This should probably be read as Nebus a qua cf. Nebus in Descriptio. Obscurity is added to the already obscure when we find Nexou~ in '06oLJtoQ(m and Ieneco according to the Georgian version. We are dealing with deep seated textual corruption and attempt at elucidation is lost labour here. tyrannorum initium The correct explanation depends no doubt on the translation of Gk. UQXTJ which can mean 'beginning' or 'rule' i.e. principium or imperium. It is clear, however, that the distinction is being drawn between places further east without government and places from this point westward where there are rulers (tyranni). 'Nebus' is ruled by 'elders'.

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12 hinc seminatio et messio ... accipiunt cf. neque seminant neque metunt in 6. There seems to be some dittography here. The diet of pepper and honey is mentioned before in connexion with the Camarini at 4 above. Here poma ('fruit' rather than 'apples') are added and attributed not to the Camarini, but to the other aforementioned people. The Camarini are excluded from this and are said to exist solely on the bread of heaven cf. 4 above. mella is a misprint in C for melle. inter eos This probably refers to the Camarini, as eas would be better for the praedictae gentes, but this is not conclusive. Confusion arises also from the fact that Camerinae is found as a variant in some mss. In any case, we have a repetition of the noble savage motif found elsewhere. 13 Disaph This name appears in '06oL:itOQLm as ~Lmµavet~. In the Georgian version we find Dypsap which is watered by the river Phison (which is the Hyphasis according to Philostorgius Hist. Eccl. III 10). All this is obscure and very likely corrupt. There are variants Dypsap, Disap and Dipsap. Godefroy prints Nisaph pro Nisaei raising the possibility of a corruption of Nisa here. Tomaschek REV 1170-1 goes to Syriac sources to little avail. 14 Ioneum Rouge adopts the variant Choneum for his text. The variants present a picture of unlimited confusion: Chonei (Exp .C) or Xrovm with variant Sovveov in '06oL:itoQ(m Hunev, Hunia etc. in the Georgian version. Godefroy thinks that this conceals Imaeum. I think that the ethnonym of the Huns (Xiongnu) may be concealed here. Desanges 1967 attempts valiantly to make some sense of this, but concludes that this is very shaky ground and no proper solution is possible. See note on 'Iovvi.a I Ouvvm in Cosmas Indicopleustes I (137). See also Maenchen-Helfen 1973 pp 447 ff.

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indifferens enim ad eos vita This means that they live the same sort of life as their neighbours.

15 Diva We have ~La~a for this in 'OC>mnoQ(m and Dava/Davi in the Georgian version. According to the former this was as far as Alexander travelled by land, continuing his journey by boat. Desanges 1967 pp 145146 has a useful and detailed discussion of this at the end of which he opts for an island (Skt. dvzpa) near the mouth of the Indus off Gedrosia (Baluchistan) or some part of the coast of Arabia.

16 deinde est India major, a qua triticum et omnia necessaria exire dicuntur triticum 'grain' should be replaced by the better reading sericum 'silk' in Descriptio. India was never described as grain-producing, but was known to be a source of silk which would have come there from trade from further east. C gives sericum and sinicum as variae lectiones. It is surprising that he does not adopt the latter, as his selections are founded on the presence of words connected with Seres in the texts. There is no other such reference in his lengthy quotation of this work, if we exclude the incorrect reading Sere gentes I Serae gentes for se regentes in 5.

SCRIPTORES HISTORIAE AUGUSTAE

The name Historia Augusta was given to this collection of biographies by Isaac Casaubon when he published his edition in 1603. Beginning with the reign of Hadrian (117 CE), it deals with the lives of the emperors and other related figures concluding in 284 C.E. It is incomplete, as a number of reigns are omitted. Some have seen it as an attempt to continue Suetonius, although it does not deal with the reigns of Nerva and Trajan. There is much uncertainty about its genesis and about its six named authors. Sir Ronald Syme dated the work about 395 C.E. Gibbon used it as a prime source. Recent historians have treated its history with considerable caution. 199

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The name Flavius Vopiscus, the last of the Scriptores, is attached to the Life of Aurelian. C shows appropriate caution in placing a question mark after his name. The text of Peter 1884 used by Chas been replaced by Hohl 1927 in the Teubner series.

Vita Aureliani 4110 Saraceni They are first mentioned by Ptolemy VI 7 28 as ~aQUXTJVOL a people living in north western Arabia. He also locates ~aQUXTJVfJ (VI 7 3) as a region in the northern Sinai named after a town ~6.Qaxa (VI 7 41). The name was later used to describe all Muslim people including those of non-Arab ethnicity. It has been connected with Arabic sharqiyyin 'eastern people'. Blemmyes They are a nomadic Nubian tribe who came into conflict with the Romans in Africa. Strabo mentions them in XVII 12 and XVII 1 53 and calls them a peaceful people living in the eastern desert near Meroe. The present-day Beja have been thought to be the same people. In Nonnos Dionysiaca XVII 385 B/...EµlJ(; ou/...ox6.QTJVO~ 'wooly-haired Blemys' is the chief of the 'Red Sea Indians'. Later the name was given to headless monsters with eyes and mouths on their chests. A popular etymology with Gk. ~Mµµa I ~AEJt(l) 'sight I see' might have suggested the strange position of their eyes. See note on BlEµµiJrov in Heliodorus IX 16 3. Axomitae These are the people of the Red Sea port of Axoume. Hiberi, Albani, Armenii The Iberi and Albani are given extensive treatment in Strabo in XI 3 and XI 4 respectively. The first two are located on Ptolemy's Third Map between the Black and Caspian Seas with Armenia to their south. The Albani are the Alani i.e. Alans. See Julius Valerius I 1 . populi etiam Indorum 'The presence of Axumites, Bactrians and Indians in Aurelian's triumph seems quite unlikely, and it is clear that the author has gathered names found in earlier descriptions of triumphs combined with reports of visiting embassies ... Like the Blemmyes and the Axumites 200

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they (Arabes Eudaemones) here give a special performance coming directly out of Heliodorus' novel Aethiopica, written about A.D. 350.' (Retso 2003 p 465). See note on BJ..t:µp.ti.!rov in Heliodorus IX 16 3.

ETHICUS Cosmographia

There is much uncertainty about the dating and authorship of this cosmography. It is most commonly attributed to Aethicus Ister. A summary of relevant matters will be found in Riese 1878 rep. 1964 pp xxvii-xxix. Riese dates the work to the Fifth Century CE not long after the times of Honorius and Orosius from whose writing he believes it partially derives. He is not flattering, describing it as a very copious but useless hotchpotch. See also the beginning of the text in Riese 1878 p 72 and his Prolegomena pp vii-xvii. In his introduction pp xxxii - iii C connects this work and those of Honorius and Orosius with a geographical census of the Roman Empire instituted by Julius Caesar and completed by Augustus. The same tradition is reflected in the Peutinger Table (and the Expositio). 'The configuration that they give to the countries of the Far East does not discemably differ from what we have found in Pliny and Pomponius Mela - new proof that their works represent an ancient tradition, earlier in every respect than the system of Ptolemy.' Weerakkody 1997 p 149 provides this assessment: 'The Cosmography of Aethicus is a composite work consisting of two parts. The first part, which is called Expositio, is a list of place-names which has very much in common with the geography of Julius Honorius. The second part, which is called Descriptio, is almost identical with the geographical section of Orosius' history.' He adds: 'The author combines the two methods of geographical division current among Christian writers, namely the fourfold division according to the cardinal points, which is followed by Julius Honorius, and the threefold division associated with the three sons of Noah, which is followed by Orosius.' C took his text from Riese 1878. The most recent edition is Prinz 1993.

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16 Oceani orientalis In 1 3 the Eastern Ocean is described as having eight seas: Caspian, Persian, Tiberias, Asphaltenes, Red, Arabian (called Arabian Gulf), Carpathian and Dead. The Dead Sea is equated with mare Asphaltitis and the Arabian Gulf with mare Arabicum in Excerpta eius Sphaerae vel Contientia in Riese 1878 p 24. Seres magnum The sequence in this long list is ... Hierusalem, Antiocia, Seres magnum, Nicia, Thessalonica, Teriodes, Sigoton, Palibotra etc. One supposes that Seres magnum is an abbreviation of Seres magnum oppidum cf. Julius Honorius 6 where Seres oppidum has the variant Seres magnum. Compare ~f)Qa Mrrrg6noAL~ in Ptolemy VI 16 8 noting that Ptolemy uses Sera for the chief city of the country and ~'l']QL'X.fJ for the country itself. Teriodes This is a Lat. phonetic writing of Theriodes. Compare the E>'l']QLOOC>'I']~ x6A.no~ of Ptolemy VII 3 1. It may be a nomen loquens E>'l']QLOOC>'I']~ 'infested by wild beasts' or normalization of a native name. 17

Fluvius Theriodes It comes first in the list of twenty two rivers of the Eastern Ocean. It is followed by Exos (Oxos in the corresponding passage in Honorius), Fygoton and Ganges. See next note. campis Scythicis The location of the river in the Scythian plains, its proximity to the Exos (Oxus) and its embouchement into the Caspian preclude any connection to E>'l']QLOOC>'I']~ in Ptolemy and confirm it as a nomen loquens for one of the north east Iranian rivers which must be the Jaxartes (Syr Darya). 138

Oceanus septentrionalis The peoples of the Northern Ocean comprise a list of thirty beginning with the Scyths. The Seres are preceded by Fosfulgoritas, Scythei Cumi, Dervicas, Rasicas and followed by Terimodes 202

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(Theriodes is C's translation of this - he prints Terimodes in his text and obviously regards the correction as self-evident), Anartices, Corasmias, Massagetas, Bactrianos etc. They are therefore located among the Iranian tribes. The equivalent list in Honorius 13 omits the Seres altogether and runs Scythae Anthropophagi, Sigotani, Pasicae, Scythae Thuni, Derbiccae, Parosimi (?),Anartacae, Chorasmii, Bactriani. See Riese 1878 pp 31-2.

oceano Eoo At 1 45 the Southern Ocean is described as having two rivers, the Nile and the Bagradas. No definition is given of the Eastern Ocean which comprises among other waterways the Indian and Serie Oceans as mentioned here. Compare the same passage in Orosius and more generally Strabo XI 11 7. promuntorium Caligardam Variants Caligardamina (Caligardamana) are found in Orosius 5 which Riese 1878 p 57 in apparatu critico compares with Ka"tLX6.Q6aµa/Ka·tL'x.6.g6aµva, KaQLX6.Q6aµa (Ptolemy VII 1 16, 80) and Koogu liXQOV "to xal KaA.A.LyLx6v (Ptolemy VII 1 11). This is obscure but reminiscent of Colis and Tabis elsewhere; the latter Tabis seems to be very similarly described and located. See note on Kol.xud>V in Ptolemy I 13 2. a dextra ... appellatur This refers to Asia; its central frontage has been said to comprise the Ganges Delta and the southern promontory below this which is north of Ceylon; to the west of this the ocean is called Indian. Now the right hand frontage is described in vaguer terms: the Pamirs and Himalayas, another promontory, another river mouth where the Serie Ocean begins. ex quo oceanus Sericus appellatur 'From which the Serie ocean is named' are also the ipsissima verba in Orosius I 2 13-14. The meaning would seem at first sight to be that the river was the origin of the name; a comparison with a related sentence in Orosius I 44-47 suggests a misunderstanding: et (a) dextra orientis parte, qua oceanus Sericus tenditur 'and from the right side where the Serie ocean extends'. As Riese 1878 p 61 points out, this section of Orosius has a much clearer and fuller description of this geography: 'Therefore from Mount Imavus, that is from 203

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the foothills of the Caucasus, and from the right side where the Serie ocean extends, up to the Boreum promontory and the Boreus river, from there as far as the Scythian sea which is to the west, and then right as far as the extended ridge of Caucasus, which is to the south, are the Hyrcanian and Scythian tribes, forty two in number, who range widely owing to the unfertile tracts of this terrain. It is worth noting that the ocean is Syricus in [Hieronymi Presbyteri] Dimensuratio Provinciarum' (Riese 1878 p 9). Samara This is uncertain but one may compare LU~Qa and LaµaQa6ri in Ptolemy VI 2 3 and 6, KaµclQa in Periplus 60, TaµaQOV in Strabo XI 519 2, also Tamus. See notes ad locc.

Octogordes They are Ottorogorras in Orosius. Compare Ptolemy VI 16 2 and Oporocorra in Ammianus XXIII 6 64. Ortogordomaris occurs in Strabo. See McCrindle 1885 p 93.

JULIUS HONORIUS

Cosuwgraphia This work belongs to the cycle of Julian and Augustan geographical literature. It is, according to its author, the fruits of a survey of the whole world undertaken by four learned men. It was much in use among Christian writers (e.g. Cassiodorus, Div. Leet. 25). No biographical detail is known about Julius Honorius. He should possibly be dated to the Fifth Century CE. See Harley and Woodward 1987 p 244. We cannot go much beyond the vague assessment by Amory 1997 p 136 that he was 'perhaps a Latinspeaker in an eastern province'. See Riese 1878 Prol xix-xxii. C's excerpt comes from Excerpta Eius Sphaerae Vel Continentia and corresponds to the list in Ethicus I 6. Riese 1878 is still cited for the text of this author.

7 Theriodes fluvius ••• DCCCXLII The numeral has been altered in the transmission, otherwise the only interest is in the variety of expression. 204

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Honorius is clearer and more concise. Scythicis has been added here by Riese 1878. Compare the the version in Ethicus 1 7. 38

Seres ... gens The sequence here is ... Dahae gens, Scythae Anthropophagi gens, Derbiccae gens, Pasicae gens, Seres gens, Theriodes gens, Anartacae gens, Chorasmii gens, Massagetae gens, Bactriani gens, Paropanisidae gens etc. ST JEROME Latin Translation of Ethicus

Although this work is attributed to St Jerome on the basis of the fact that its author is said to be a priest called Jerome, the famous saint of that name is far removed from the sort of barbarous Latinity found here. There is no passage in Ethicus in Riese 1878 corresponding to this excerpt of C who uses d'Avezac 1852. IVS 1 munitionem This is unlikely to be correct. It strains the meaning 'fortification' to take it metaphorically as a 'a well-fortified place'. Yet the following words imply that the mountains and gorges provide natural defence. At some remove compare note on aggerum in Ammianus XXIII 6

64. Letters

These belong to the transmitted corpus of the generally accepted authentic writings of the saint. Laeta writes to Jerome from Rome asking how best to arrange her infant daughter's education as a virgin dedicated to Christ. Jerome advises that she should be withdrawn from the corrupting influence of Rome and be sent to a nunnery in Bethlehem. The advice was followed and the girl, who was also called Paula, eventually became the head of the nunnery. C's text is from Migne 1845 vol. 22. 205

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CVIllO Spernat ... lentescens Jerome's advice is that one dedicated to virginity like Paula must be shielded from all worldly temptations and live a life of extreme austerity. In this section she is encouraged to learn to spin clothes for herself from simple materials. Her clothes should be designed 'to keep out the cold and not expose the body which it professes to cover.' Hence silk is to be spumed. Once again we have the theme of the immodesty of wearing semi-transparent garments made from silk. See note on Pliny VI 54. bombycum telas Literally this means 'weavings of the silk-worm'. Here it is synonymous with Serum vellera 'fleeces of the Seres.'

VIBIUS SEQUESTER

All we know of Vibius Sequester is that he was the author of a list of geographical names occurring in Roman poets, especially Virgil, Ovid and Lucan. See Riese 1878 Prol xxxiii-iv. The work is entitled De Fluminibus Fontibus Lacubus Nemoribus Paludibus Montibus Gentibus Per Litteras. 'Rivers, Springs, Lakes, Groves, Marshes and Peoples in Literature.' It is in the form of a letter to his son Virgilianus who will find such a 'companion to literature' 'necessary for his profession' (cum professioni tuae sit necessarium Riese 1878 p145). It is an alphabetical glossary of proper names listed under each category in the title. C's passage taken from Riese 1878 pp 145-159 is from the final category Gentes. There are two modem editions which appeared within a couple of years of each other: Parroni 1965 and the Teubner Gelsomino 1967. E.J.Kenny reviews both in Classical Review XIX 2 1969 and comments with some humour that 'the current decade is thus the most productive in this field for four and a half centuries', suggesting that two such serviceable editions of such an 'absurd' author was an embarras de richesses!

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PAULUS OROSIUS

Historiae contra Paganos 'Anti-pagan Researches' Orosius (c 375-418 CE) was a Spanish priest and a student of St Augustine from Gallaecia. He was probably sent to Jerusalem by Augustine to assist Jerome and others there in the Pelagian controversy. He seems to have taken part in the synod of 415 CE. The Historiae contra Paganos, which is dedicated to Augustine and may have been written at his suggestion, is of an overtly didactic nature. It purports to show the civilizing influence of Christianity and dwells by contrast on the sorry state of the world before its coming. It is firmly in the cartographic tradition and his geography is basically that found in Christian sources like Expositio Totius Mundi et Gentium and of the Tabula Peutingeriana with the world beginning in the east with Asia as described in this extract. Here C does not use the text in Riese 1878 but the Teubner of Zangemeister 1889. C's first passage = Riese 1878 5 (pp 57-8); his second passage= Riese 1878 17-18 (pp 61-2). Fear 2010 provides an up-to-date translation and Arnaud-Lindet 1990 a new edition. See also Janvier 1982. I 213-14 Asia •. • appellatur This is a very close version of Ethicus II 5. promuntarium is a misprint for promonturium as above. I 2 44-47 Paropanisadae See note on Paropanisadae in Ammianus Marcellinus XXIII 614. Chunos Scythas et Gandaridas These are two peoples rather than three, since in Honorius 13 we have Scythae Thuni contrasted with Scythae. There are variants Hunnos etc. here and a variety of forms including cumi in mss. of Honorius. Maenchen-Helfen 1973 p 445 gives a variant Funos for which a later hand wrote Hunos. Cf. Pliny VI 55 and Jordanes V 30. An 207

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identification of Huns as Scyths is not out of the question. See note on 'lo'U'Uta. in Cosmas Indicopleustes I 137.

Gandaridae Skt. Gandhara Old Iranian Gandara was a province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and occurs in Indian texts as the name of a north west Indian people located along the Indus around Taxila. It was in the region around present day Peshawar. The name occurs in Vedic and in the grammar of P3.J;tini who was himself possibly a Gandharan. On the Behistun inscription Old Persian Gandara is replaced by the equivalent of Parapomisadae in the Akkadian and Elamite versions. See note on Paropamisadae in Ammiamus XXIII 6 14. The Gandharan delegates to the Persian court are depicted in loincloths on the Persepolis reliefs suggesting Indian ethnicity. Gandharan art flourished in the early CE period. It combined native and Hellenistic elements. The name Gandharz was coined for the Prakrit dialect of this region of north west India by H.W.Bailey in a ground-breaking study in 1946. A version of the important Buddhist Dharmapada was found in Khotan in 1892. It is written in the Gandharz language and is in Kharoshti script. See Brough 1962 whose introduction explains how the work became dispersed by the early explorers and the degree to which he was able to assemble material for his edition. inter Eoas et Passyadras The Eoae are clearly ghosts created by misreading eos ; the text should be amended to read inter eos et Passyadras - 'between them (aforementioned tribes) and the Passyadrae'. A scribe might have been thinking of 'Eastern'. Passyadras There is the variant Passiadras; cf. Strabo II 8 2 IlamavoL. Speaking of the Scyths, Strabo says, µaA.a( 'Heads', we may suppose that its counterpart is also a Gk. word sc. 'north'. Hyrcani See note on 'yQX«via; 6a#..a't't1); in Strabo XI 11 7. Hyrcania can be equated with the the valleys of the Gurgan and the Atrek in modem terms. In the time of Alexander the Great its capital was Zadracarta. The Hyrcanians belonged to the Median empire according to the Behistun inscription and followed the imposter Pseudo-Xsa8rita in the revolt against Darius.

III 2311 Taxiles Taxiles is the name given by Gk. writers to Ambhi (Gk "Oµcj>L;) a Fourth Century BCE king who ruled over territory in the Punjab between the Hydaspes and Indus. The name is taken from his capital city Taxila. He is part of the history of Alexander the Great as told by Arrian et al. Does this mean that he affirms that the Seres live in his own area? This section is not in Riese 1878.

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Hydaspes This is now called the Jhelum. The site of the famous battle between Alexander and the Indian king Porns (Skt. Paurava) on the banks of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE is usually located near present-day Bhera in Pakistan.

VI 132 Quamobrem . . . oneraretur This describes an episode in the Parthian campaign of Crassus which culminated in the defeat of the Roman army and the death of Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BCE. About 58 BCE (H)orodes had succeeded to the throne of Parthia, banishing his brother Mithradates, who later marched into Mesopotamia with some assistance from Gabinius, Roman proconsul of Syria. The pretender occupied Seleucia but was besieged there in 54 BCE by Surenas, general of (H)orodes. When Crassus succeeded Gabinius as governor he moved against the Parthian king in order to support Mithradates. Plutarch who narrates these events in his Crassus is critical of the proconsul for wasting precious time. In the passage quoted here ambassadors come to Crassus from (H)orodes to reproach him for his aggression. The proud Roman says that he will make his reply to them in Seleucia. The eldest among the Parthians then held out his palm and said ominously, 'Hair will grow here before you see Seleucia.' auro Parthico Serico ferro This is a stylish chiasmus. Parthian gold implies that Crassus, who was almost certainly the wealthiest man in Rome at this time, was expecting to be richly rewarded if he succeeded in bringing Mithradates to the throne. One may well ask why he describes as Serie and not Parthian the iron for the chains with which he would be loaded in place of gold after the predicted defeat.

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HELIODORUS

Aethiopica 'Ethiopic Tales' Heliodorus of Emesa (probably Third Century CE) wrote the Aethiopica, otherwise known as Theagenes and Chariclea, a novel in ten books.The colophon at the end of Book X gives us all the information which we have about the author: 'tOL6v6e nEQa; eoxe 'to ouv'tayµa 'tc'Ov n:EQL 8eayEVTJV xal, XaQLXAELav AL8LOmxc'Ov· o OlJVE'ta~e avT]Q o(vL~ 'Eµeof]vo;, 'tc'Ov acj>' 'HA.(ou yevo;, 8eo6oo(ou :rta'L; 'HA.L66c.oQo;. 'This is the end of the Ethiopian Story of Theagenes and Chariclea which was composed by Heliodorus, son of Theodosius, a Phoenician of Emesa, in the line of descent of Helios.' Aethiopica is the model for Rhodanthe and Dosicles, the poem of Theodoros Prodromos from which C gives an excerpt. First printed in Basel in 1534 from a manuscript looted from the library of Matthias Corvinus after the sack of Buda by the Turks, Aethiopica quickly acquired fame and popularity, being translated into English by Thomas Underdowne whose second and improved edition appeared in 1587. Plepelits 1976 provides a new edited translation. This novel stands head and shoulders above the other ancient novels in the subtlety and power of its narrative, in its ingenious and intricate structure and its true-to-life depiction of character. Set in Greece, Egypt and Ethiopia, it brings these places vividly before the eyes of the reader with detail often worthy of that indefatigable antiquary Sir Walter Scott. It is also remarkable for its excellent use of 'flashback' technique. The next two centuries saw further English translations. Like other ancient romances, it is the story of two young lovers who undergo many life-threatening adventures involving capture, separation, shipwreck, imprisonment and especially assaults on their virtue. It is notably free from the explicit licentiousness found in other works of the erotic genre; indeed the pre-marital chastity of the hero and heroine is a principal theme of the book, which has nevertheless a sensuous quality, especially in descriptions of the appearance and clothing of the protagonists and the effects that these have on their observers. I note that C has not included in his selection three interesting passages in the Aethiopica in which silk is mentioned. The first occurs at I, 211

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3 where, in the brilliantly conceived opening of the story, the readers share the amazement of some brigands who look down upon a beach at one of the Nile's mouths and see a girl and a youth surrounded by all the evidence of an orgy of drunkenness which had resulted in a fatal brawl; dead and dying bodies lie among the remains of a feast, while a ship fully laden lies at anchor nearby. The brigands proceed to plunder the ship 'each one bringing away as much as he could carry of gold, silver, precious stones and silk clothing' :XQVaaµEV'I'], YQmQ&V exacrto;, ayEQlO'.)(.OV 'tL xat cratlJQL'KOV crx(Q'tf]µa A.uy(~oµevo; xal xaµm6µevo; xal wt; tot; ea-reµµtvo;, a:rtO yuµvofJ 'tOU crmµaw; wt; evav-r(m; Ecj>LT]atV' ou6ev m6f]QOlJ :rtQO; ti]v aL:x.µT]v 6e6µevov. 'They bind their heads with a sort of wreath and stick their missiles into the circlet. When they wear this armed headdress, they can fire out their barbs like rays. To ready himself for the fight each man plucks them out as if from a quiver, twisting and bending in a highspirited sort of satyric prancing. Needing no steel against his enemies' spears and crowned only with arrows, he shoots them from his naked body at his adversaries.' See note on l;a.t1'QmV vf)om in Ptolemy VII 2 30. On 214

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the other hand they may be from Arabia Felix, since ambassadors from there are mentioned in X 26 bringing 'sweet-smelling leaves and cassia and cinnamon and the other plants with which Arabia is scented.' (cpuA.A.ou 'tE 'tofJ 8uro6ow; xal xaa(a~ xal xLvvaµffiµou xal 'trov aA.A.rov oI~ ii AQa~(a yfj µuQ(sE'tm).

IX172 'ta 3tQO'tE't«yµtva ... X«'t«ALmlV'tt:c; The subject is the Blemmyes who 'set about the tasks assigned to them by Hydaspes and left behind the Seres to

be as it were an obstacle and to hold their shields in front of the elephants.' It would seem from this that the Blemmyes were to sustain the main charge of the Persian cavalry, while Seres served in a subordinate but equally

dangerous role.

IX 183 "Oam b' U'tQOO'tmc; •• • 'trov Blt:µµilrov In this vivid and detailed

description the Blemmyes crouch down and stab the armed Persian horses from below. The riders are thrown from their horses and, encased in their mail, are unable to move. The Blemmyes attack the unprotected thighs of the fallen Persian cavalrymen, while those of them who escaped unharmed rode towards the Seres who retired behind the elephants. Upon each of these beasts were mounted six archers: their thick hides were further protected by plates of iron. In the ensuing bloody rout the few Persians who escaped were attacked by the Seres and Blemmyes who emerged from behind their elephant bulwark.

X258 µt:'ta b£ 'toiltrov ... :itQOO'Xoµl,~ovtt:c; As the novel draws to its conclusion, the victorious Hydaspes celebrates his victory in Meroe. Theagenes and Chariclea are set aside as sacrificial victims. The people beg for their release. At first the king is not convinced that Chariclea is his own daughter and even after accepting the truth hesitates to abandon the sacrifice demanded by the laws. Meanwhile he gives audience to a number of 215

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ambassadors, among whom are the Seres with gifts of silk. The timely appearance of Charicles, foster father of Chariclea, together with the pronouncement of Sisimithres, the leading Gymnosophist, resolves the king's doubts and the inevitable happy ending ensues with the marriage of the young lovers. a~axvuov vi)µ«'t« The substitution of spiders for silkworms may be compared with Pausanias VI 26 7. Here the allies of the king bring him tribute characteristic of their individual countries: silk from the Seres, spices from Arabia Felix, gold from the ant hills of the Troglodytes, arrowbearing wreathes from the Blemmyes. The latter were elsewhere associated with the men of the 'cinnamon country'. See note on ~1J~rov in IX 16 3. On receiving the gifts, the king agreed to release some of the Seres whom he had been holding in captivity for a long time. xat i:ofrtwv i:&v i>WQWV

il:rto6ex8evi:wv xat acj>e8f)vm UU'tOL\; 'tWV mA.m 'tLVcl\; EV 6eaµw't'f'IQLcp xai:axQhwv 6.sLwaavi:wv, e:rtLveuaavi:o~ i:o'U pamA.ew~ ... 'When he

had received their gifts and agreed to release to them, some of their men who had been for a long time under sentence in prison .. .' (X 26 1).

MARCELLUS

De Medicamentis The author was a contemporary of Galen who wrote a treatise on medicine drawn from many scientific writings in forty two books of hexameter verse. He is sometimes identified with the Magister Officiorum of that name under Theodosius I. He is also called Marcellus Empiricus and Marcellus of Bordeaux. De Medicamentis has a popular flavour including many herbal and magic remedies. Linguistically it is of interest to students of Gallic as well as Vulgar Latin. Helmreich 1889, used by C, has been replaced by Niedermann 1916 which is vol V of the Teubner Corpus Medicorum Latinorum. divesque Sabaeus For the 'augmented triad' here see note on Dionysius Periegetes line 752. 216

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vicino sub sole These eastern countries are neighbours.

MARTIANUS CAPELLA

Satiricon or De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii et de SeptemArtibus Liberalibus Libri N ovem 'Satiricon or The marriage of Philology and Mercury and the Seven Liberal Arts in Nine Books' According to Cassiodorus, Martianus Minnaeus Felix Capella came from Madaura in Africa, the native city of Apuleius, and practised as a lawyer in Carthage. This work is a didactic allegory written in a mixture of prose and verse in the genre of Varro' s Menippean satire, hence the name Satiricon (likewise Petronius). Mercury represents the practical, useful and intelligent man who, having failed in his attempts to woo Wisdom, Divination and Soul is finally wedded to the maiden Philology who represents a love of literature and the arts. The seven liberal arts which form Philology's dowry are Dialectic, Rhetoric, Geometry (who gives the summary of geography), Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music. This work was a popular educational tool in the Middle Ages. Pliny and Solinus are among the sources. See Weerakkody 1997 p 82. The lunar crater Capella is named after this author. C used Eyssenhardt 1866 which has been replaced by Willis 1983 in the Teubner series.

Vl693 Anthropophagae The reference is typical of the geographical information in this book derived from multiple sources and presented in resume form. See e.g. Solinus XV 4 et al. Seres .•• admitti This is a poorly understood reference to silk-farming. lanugo here has its usual meaning of 'down', originally on the human cheek but often transferred to parts of plants with a downy appearance.

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lanugo derives from Zana 'wool' used elsewhere for silk, but that meaning is not relevant here. The 'down'is produced by moistening the leaves.

sine colloquio Here is yet another citation of the Serian silent trade topos. Attagenus sinus This is the Attacenus sinus of Solinus LI 1 and, like it, should be amended to Atianus or Attanus. See note on Attacenus sinus in Solinus LI which is clearly the most likely source for this and the Hyperboreans and the Gold and Silver Isles in VI 694.

PHILOSTORGIUS Ecclesiastical History Philostorgius (c363-439 CE) wrote an account of the Arian controversy with this title. It survives only in an epitome by Photius. His biography is set out in detail in Lieu and Montserrat 1996 pp 37-8 which contains an assessment of his work. A new translation is Amidon 2007. 1114

8El)(jnl..oc; o 'Ivboc; Philostorgius tells us that Theophilus the Indian was born on the island of ALpou~ and that he came as a young hostage to Rome in the time of Constantine. Here he describes Theophilus as one of the leaders of an embassy sent by Constantius about 356 CE to those Indians formerly called Sabaeans but now called Homerites i.e to Arabia Magna and Arabia Felix. Philostorgius sees this as a continuation of the mission of St Bartholomew in 'Innermost India'. There Theophilus performed miracles and made some converts. See Mayerson 1993 p 172 and note on Aethiopes in Pomponius Mela III 67. The text in Migne vol 65 used by C has been updated in Amidon 2007. A1.P11vrov The name is no doubt invented for the people of ALPofJ~ Lat. Divus. See note on Divis et Serendivis in Expositio 15. Professor SimsWilliams adds that the prophet Mani seems to have arrived in India at a

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port called Deb and cites Sundermann Manichaica Iranica 1 (Rome 2001) p202.

HESYCHIUS

Lexicon The work of a Fifth Century CE Alexandrian grammarian, this lexicon containing 51,000 entries is one of the greatest treasures for students of Gk. and other languages to have survived into the Renaissance. It is contained in a single Fifteenth Century ms. in the library of St Mark's Venice. Schmidt 1858-68 used by C proved serviceable for a century and a half. A modem edition under the auspices of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts was begun in 1953 and was completed in 2009. See Latte and Hansen 2005, 2009. ~roa. vi)Oov'ta. µt'ta.;a.v Pausanias VI 26 6 illustrates the use of LTJQ to designate the silkworm. µEta~a is a late word for 'silk' of unknown etymology (no entry in Frisk 1960) surviving in Modem Gk. in the diminutive µkta~L. See note on a:rtO U3W.Q'ti.O'V in Cosmas Indicopleustes 1 (137).

oi..oui)QtXOV 'Pure silk' is known only from this entry in Hesychius. The word is a compound of 61..o- of a typical kind. Compare compounds in

:rtav-. 1;1JQ6'>V The entry seems redundant as it only displays the previous entry in

the gen. pl.

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MARCIAN OF HERACLEA

Periplus Maris Exteri 'Navigation of the Outer Sea' Marcian of Heraclea (mid Sixth Century CE) was a Gk. geographer who seems to mine Ptolemy and has little independent value apart from the fact that where his text differs from Ptolemy he may preserve a better tradition. Book I describes the coast of the Eastern Sea i.e. the Asiatic coast of the Indian Ocean. Book 2 describes the coasts west of the Mediterranean including Britain. Muller 1855 p cxxx lists three other works which he attributes to Marcian, the first being an epitome of the eleven books of the Geography of Artemidorus of Ephesus. He believes that our text of Marcian's IlEQ(A.tlou~ i:f)~ SaA.aaym l;ivm See note on 'lxOvocj>aym Ai.Oio3Uc; in Ptolemy VII 3

3.

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J.(µvaa£1.l.Lniv The shaving of the head and the wearing of black garments are familiar symbols of mourning from many cultures. 250

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They are well known in Gk. writings from the famous section in Herodotus' treatment of the subject in Egypt. There is no compulsion therefore to see with Boodberg 1938 p 243 reference to refuge for these widows in Buddhist monasteries.

at b£ 'tOV'troV oxOm ... XU'tUVEVOV'tat The two rivers would be the Wei and the Feng. Although Chinese sources can be cited for willows lining the banks of rivers in this region, Boodberg 1938 p 242 n 59 laments the lack of references to cypresses to confirm this statement. VII 910 'E#.tcj>av'tec; ... 3Ucj>'Vxtvm The e8vo~ referred to here must be the inhabitants of Taugast and nearby Khubdan in Westem China; hence they may be identified as trading with Indians. As it is the latter that possess many elephants there is good ground to see further dislocation of the text here. If the text is sound, these elephants could only be those found south of the Yellow River which is an area not covered by Turkish information given throughout this section. It is more likely that Indians are the possessors of many elephants, just as those of them dwelling in the north of the country have paler complexions than those in the south.

VII 911 Ot b£ axro#.11xec; ... P«~Pa~ot This paragraph on Chinese sericulture is accurate. The description of the skin of the worms as crinkled and dappled is certainly apt. Summary of Photius

Photius was Patriarch of Constantinople 858-67 CE and again 877-86 CE. He was involved in the Councils of Constantinople, the fi,lioque controversy and the Great Schism. See notes on Pseudo-Ctesias and later entries on Theophanes of Byzantium and Photius Lexicon. The summary is found in Cod. LXV.

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ANONYMUSOFRAVENNA Cosmography

Also called Cosmographer of Ravenna, the author was a cleric in Ravenna writing about 700 CE. His cosmography uses Roman maps of which the Tabula Peutingeriana is a typical specimen. It contains material cited from Castorius. The Tabula Peutingeriana is a map of itinerary of Roman public roads in Europe, Persia, India and Africa and has a vague indication of China. It was discovered in a library in Worms and was bequeathed by its fmder to Konrad Peutinger in 1508. It is now housed in the Austrian National Library in the Hofburg in Vienna. The original map of which this is a unique copy was made in the Fourth or early Fifth Century CE. See Pigulevskaya 1969 pp 91-100. It is typical of Christian geography that the description of places is given from east to west. Primacy is given to the extreme orient where the biblical garden of Eden 'Paradise' was thought to lie. The division into Books and Chapters in the Berlin Nicolai 1860 edition of Pinder and Parthay used by C is the work of Placide Porcheron who produced the first edition of Anonymus in Paris in 1688. II 1 Dimirica Evilat This roughly describes South West India (Tamil Country). Compare Eviltarum in Expositio 9 and Cosmas lndicopeustes I (137) where the monk expounds the Genesis passage in which Evilath is equated with India. Among Christian cosmographers Evilat (Hebrew Havilah etc.) is used as a name for India. Dimyrike and Limyrike (in many spelling variations) is descriptive of it. ' ...the mss. habitually read ALµUQL'itTJ for the Tamil coast, while Ptolemy reads 6LµUQL'itTJ. Now Dimirike, or Damirica as Schoff 1912 puts it, is undoubtedly the true name.' (Kennedy reviewing Rawlinson 1916 in JRAS 4 1916 p 852). In fact Ptolemy VII 1 8 and 85 has ALµUQL'itTJ and at I 7 6, citing Diodorus the Samian, distinguishes it from India further north, speaking of 'those sailing from Indice to Limyrice' oL µtv a:rtO 'tf)~ 'IvbL'itfJ~ et~ 'tfJV ALµUQL'itfJV :rtA.fov-re~ in a passage related to navigation. There may be genuine linguistic variants here. For example the writing of initial d for l is very common in Middle Iranian cf. Bactrian 252

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A.aµLyo cf. Mod Persian daxmag 'place for exposure of the dead' or A.Lpo 'document' cf. Old Persian dipi- 'writing' and Skt. lipi - 'drawing'. (SimsWilliams 2000a pp 200-201, Monier-Williams 1899 p 902). Tamil scholars have their own view of this. 'The Periplus gives a clearer indication of the border (of the Tamil country) as it states that Limurike (Dimirike) or Tamilakam commenced immediately south of the Island Leuke (white). Ptolemy says that just past the boundary of Arakya of the Pirates on the West Coast we come to the region of Dimirike. Their country is called Tamil Aham (homeland) in early Tamil literature.' (Kanakasabhai 1904 p 17). The equation of Dimirica with Tamilaham is explained by seeing it as a Skt. name Dramidika. Kiessling RE VII 747-750 gives a detailed discussion of the topography. Schnetz 1942 is a critical edition in the Teubner series which adds little to our understanding of the geography in Anonymus of Ravenna. In the section quoted by C it cannot be said to be an advance on Pinder and Parthey 1860. In the following lists only toponyms with some measure of credibility are listed. TP = Tabula Peutingeriana. PP= Pinder and Parthey 1860, the text used by C. Sinna This is possibly Sinda Sinos Sinai or Thinnae. Bonogaris Tomaschek RE III 570 ingeniously sees the possibility of a name of mixed origin here suggesting an original word for an amalgamation of four towns cf. Pentapolis for five towns. This is based on bon 'four' in Annamese and an Indian word for 'town' cf. Skt. nagara-. Sainpam Compare Sainos River and Selampura. Moduram Mo6oiJQa is a name for various Indian cities in Ptolemy. Mo6oiJQa Ti t'WV 8ewv in Ptolemy VII 1 50 is in the region of the Vindya Mountains: it may be the same as Methora in Pliny VI 69; Mathura on the Jumna is the birthplace of Krishna. In Ptolemy VII 1 89, VIII 26 17 we have Mo6oiJQa Bao(A.eLov Ilav6(ovo~ which Herrmann RE XV 2334 says is modem Madura on the River V aigai in Southem India. Samar Compare Samarade and Sambra.

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Corubantaci Although it looks like one of many toponyms with Kor- as first element, it may be connected to Orubicaria which is wrongly written as Crubicaria in II 2. The scribe may have been influenced by the well known KoQiJBav'tE~, Phrygian priests of Cybele. This word is probably of Phrygian origin and for its formation Frisk 1960 p 924 compares 'Apav'tE~, aA.Cpav'tE~ etc. It may be worth adding that among those of the Tenth Satrapy paying tribute to Darius in Herodotus III 92 are 'OQ0ox.oQuBav'tLOL. How and Wells 1912 vol 1 p 284 say they are 'otherwise unknown' but that some have explained the name as 'dwellers in the mountains'. This would be more appropriate for 'OQEOX.OQupavnm, a simple correction. Saotis Compare ~o'L'ta in Ptolemy VI 15 4. Cosimbiae Kooaaµa occurs in Ptolemy VII 1 17. See Tomaschek RE IV 1971. Schnetz 1942 p 15 prefers to read Cosimba on palaeographical grounds. Indavadara 'Ive>apaQa occurs in Ptolemy VII I 49 but it is a long way from Indavadara. The word looks Sanskritic. Absadistiappa PP suggest this may be two words Absa Distiappa. This is followed by Schnetz 1942. Opidium This is possibly Lat. oppidum. On TP Ochinea xx is on the Ganges Road in Media on the road from Alexandria Boucephalos to Bestia Deselutia crossing the Indus. Brunner 1983 p 777 sees Bestia Deselutia as possibly the area of Sib or Murt on the Mnashkel. His description of this geography is: 'The road continued north along the Indus and Hydaspes to its terminus at Alexandria Bucephala (Jhelum or Jalapur). Ptolemy's six cities of Northern Gedrosia seem to belong to Turan. TP gives two stations along the Stakh-Quzdar road, which followed the valley of the Rakhshan river. The road entered the province after *Puhl-pahrag (Patrazene), which apparently belonged to Pardan in the Seleucid period. The route proceeded to the station Hestia Deselutia.'

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Scobarum PP with some plausability suggest Oppidum Scobarum, which is preferred but not printed by Schnetz 1942 p 15. It is possibly Ascobarum with familiar first element ask-. On TP Scobaru is on the road from Aspacora towards the Ganges. Tomaschek RE 1896 1709 describes it as a station on the road from Parthona to Aris on TP - 'i.e. on the road from Kabul to Zarang' 15 parasangs from Parthona. He gives as etymology Afghan aspah 'stallion' and kOr 'station, resting-place.' and as location 'the high horse-pastures of Ghor at the springs of the Hirmand.' as remains in Pashto as the word for 'horse'. See Morgenstieme 2003 p 10. Antiochia This is an ubiquitous toponym recalling Alexander's general Antiochus and the succeeding Seleucid rulers of that name. Tarmata This is possibly Tamala Temala Tomors. On TP Thimara is at the SE end before Calippe. Dosara There is a variant Dosora. Tomaschek RE V 1595-6 refers to .l'.\oooaQ'l']VTJ, a source of ivory, located in Gangetic territory in Periplus 62. Coropatina If correctly transmitted this is one of many toponyms with Kor- as first element. KoUQU:rtoQLVa is a city on the Ganges in Ptolemy VII 1 54. Tomaschek RE IV 1217 refers to Koropattana at the mouth of the Adamas River south of Pippali. It is shown on early Portuguese naval maps as Condilipattam. The spelling of Koropattana with double cerebralized t indicates Dravidian pronunciation. Garafana This is likely to be a corruption of 'OQeocpavta in Ptolemy VII 1 73. See Kiessling RE VII 749-50. Colophissindorum It is possibly Colchis Indorum (Porcheron 1688) or Colchidis Indorum. See Colis in Pomponius Mela III 59. On TP Colcisindorum is at the SE end between the rivers Paleris and Aunes. Calippa On TP Calippe is at the SE end preceded by Thimara eccl.

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Pitinna Compare IIL'tuvC>Qa/IlL'tuvC>a is in Ptolemy VII 1 93 and VIII 26 19. On TP there is Pirata is at the SE end near Blinca, Cotiara and Patinnae. Camagora Kaµ(yaQa and KavvayaQa are in PtolemyVII 161and16. Paloris possibly Paloura cf. Pa/eris River. Agaris 'AyaQa and 'AyaQOV UXQOV are in Ptolemy VII 1 67 and III 5 13. Blinca On TP Blinca is at the SE end below Cotiara. Coziara This is a misspelling for Cotiara. Its position on TP makes equation with Cattigara/Kattigara a virtual certainty. It is at the south east end of the map near Blinca. Compare Cottiaris River. Kon(aQa is in Ptolemy VII 1 9. Cotiziaris This is surely a distorted dittography of Coziara (Cotiara) and may derive from the Cottiaris River. See Herrmann RE IV 1542. Claminia The form is reminiscent of a typical Lat. name e.g. Flaminia/Tarquinia etc. and scribal normalization has surely been at work. Maziris There seems to be some contamination with Muziris and other related Semitic names for Egypt. On TP Muziris appears as a separate country roughly corresponding to the position of Egypt. If Mu~tQ(~ is the correct reading at Ptolemy VII 1 8 and VIII 26 4 it is probably Cranganur as SG II p 980 suggest. See also Herrmann RE XVI 989. Ceta See note on Antiochia in II 3 below. Elima This may be read from Aima. TP has Elymaive. See note on Elamitis in II 2 below. Nilcinna Nincildae is a possible reading on TP. Arrian has N eA.xuvC>a and Ptolemy VII 1 9 has MeA.xuvC>a. 256

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

Patinnae On TP there is Patinae at the SE end near Blinca and Cotiara. Arvata Compare AQO'Ue~rov OQO~ in Ptolemy VII 1 25. The form may be decapitated Skt. parvata 'mountain'. Cetis See note on Ceta above. There are other -a -is doublets on the list. Corucara This is another coru- word. KoQouyxaA.a is in PtolemyVII 1 93. Compare also Karkhos and Korankaloi. Tomaschek RE IV 1662 refers to Dravidian kotju 'horn' and kara 'coast', which seems rather wide of the mark. Patitana This probably is the same place as Patinnae and Pitinna. Ptolemy VII 1 64 has Ilmfo'taµa. On TP Pantyene x.xx is located immediately to the west of Arciotis xx to the west of Caumatis. Rana On TP Rana xx is on the river Indus at the border of the land of the lchthyophagi. Brunner 1983 p 777 writes: 'The easterly highway continued to Rana (Rainna) in the area of the Rhamnae people (at or near Panjgur) and to Quzdar .' Bestigia Daselenga This is a distortion of TP Bestia Deselutia where the second word looks adjectival as it is not written with the usual initial capital letter. From Rana the road goes south to Bestia Deselutia. The fact that Bestia Deselutia on TP can be corrupted to Bestigia Daselenga in Anonymus indicates the scale of corruption pervading this shadowland. Rainna This is clearly a distorted dittography of Rana (qv.) PP read Bainna for which there seems to be no justification. Bauterna On TP Bauterna xx is before Rana on road from Alexandria Boucephalos to Bestia Deselutia crossing the Indus. Brunner 1983 p 776 writes: 'The main city and stronghold of the province (Turgistan) was Bautema (Quzdar). This city was the province's principal station on the north easterly road from Makran to Pardan which continued to Hind.' 257

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Compare Bautai and Bautisos. Tomaschek RE III 175 tentatively proposed a background Skt. bahum;a 'thick grassland' which is a possibility. See Monier-Williams 1899 pp. 724-5. Alexandria Achirea I regard this as one place although Achirea appears as a separate entry. The ubiquitous toponym named after Alexander is followed here as usual by an adjective to localize it. On TP we have, for example, Alexandria Bucephalos (qv .) Nevertheless on TP Ochirea is a place on this road between Phara and Cortica which indicates confusion. Binnagar BLvayaQa is in Ptolemy VII 1 61. Brunner 1983 p 776 speaking of the north easterly road from Makran to Pardan which continued to Hind, writes 'The road crossed the Indus to Phara, which must also have connected downstream with the Saka-Parthian capital of Hind, Minnagara (Binnagar).' Parazene On TP Parazene xx is on the southern ocean road just to the west of Bestia Deselutia. See note on Cameza. Compare Parisara. Aradarum On TP Aradarum xx it is located immediately to the west of Parazene. See note on Cameza. The first element suggests Lat. ara 'altar'which forms toponyms. cf. Tomaschek RE II 370. Hora Hora is a Latinized contamination of Ora. On TP Ora xv is on the road from Alexandria Boucephalos to Bestia Deselutia crossing the Indus. Caumatis On TP Caumatis x is located immediately to the west of Aradarum. PP note the confusion in the order of names here. Alexandria Bucephalos On TP, like all big towns, it is marked with two houses. It is located on the Ganges and joined by road to Tahona lxx which is also marked with two houses. Spatura is midway between them. Cunningham 1871 situated it near Jalapur on the right bank of the Hydaspes. See Tomaschek RE I 1390. Albi Alexandri Compare Alaba. 258

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Aunes On TP this river is clearly shown below the river Paleris. Tomaschek RE II 2543 suggests with considerable probability that the Aunes might be the Tuva~ in Ptolemy VII 1 14. Aunes could be a Dravidian name or a simple scribal corruption. Paridis On TP this river is clearly shown between the Ganges and the Aunes.

Il2 Secunda autem est patria quae dicitur India major, quae Thermantica atque Elatis appellatur Our text should be emended to include the words Thermantica atque. Chas footnote Corriger (sic): Elamitis. In Guido 120 Elamitem is acc. sing. of Elamis. Elamitis is probably a back formation. TP does not help. Elamis should be read here. Thermantica may be a Graecized form suggesting the heat of India. PP note that it is a city on TP. Elamis may by a scribal reflection of Elam, the old civilization of south west Iran whose capital was Susa (Shush). Here it is placed to the right (east?) of Dimirica Evilat. Khuzistan is equated with Parthian Susiana and Elymais by Brunner 1983 p 753. In tracing Iran's principal highway in Sassanian times, Brunner 1983 p 767 says that beyond the important road junction at Ramadan an easterly branch ran to Sava (*Sevacina) and Qum which he identifies with Thermantica on TP. Mouvastica vl. Mououastica. Compare Mo6oµaa-nx.f] Ptolemy VI 6 2. Brunner 1983 p 772 writes; 'Other desert tracks presumably joined Kuhbanan, Bacinora and Arate with Tabas and the southern district of Abarshahr called Modomastica.' Pictis On TP Pyctis xxvii is west of Ange. This is Pustis for Brunner 1983 p 753 and he equates it with Ardistan. Cameza This may be a distortion of Caumatis. Brunner 1983 p 773 writes: 'The highway continued to Archiotis (Jiruft) and through the Rudbar district on to the Bampur river. Two stations, Caumatis and Aradarum, lay 259

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

on this route, which continued into Paradene (IlaQa611vfi Ptolemy VI 21 4) (Patazene in Ravennas Anonymus), the Sassanian Pardan.' See note on Parazene. Stalec This is the fragment of a word or words. PP are almost certainly correct to suggest that Stalec should be joined to the following Antopolis and rightly draw attention to Hecantopolis on TP. Schnetz 1942 p 16 proposed Stal or Stai followed by Ecantopolis based on TP, which is only a partial solution. Gobdie Possibly PP are right to correct to Gobdia. On TP Gobdi xxiiiii is on the road leading from the Taurus Mountains to Nicea Nialia with 2 houses where the north and east branches of 'Ganges' converge. Brunner 1983 p 762 thought that Nicea Nialia could be Barza, 'where the road to the Gadir valley and Urmiya diverged.' Belfra This is clearly a misreading of Beltra viiii which on TP is on the road from Ecbatanis Parthorum with 2 houses to Nagae with 2 houses on the Taurus range. Brunner 1983 p 752 equates Ecbatanis Parthorum with Stakhr (Ahmadan/Hamadan). Weissbach RE III 264 points to an error in TP in this location. Crubicaria This is a misreading of Orubicaria xviii on TP west of Pyctis. Brunner 1983 p 752 equates Orubicaria with Kashan. Divina Ms. variant Duuna looks more original, but, as Schnetz 1942 p 16 points out, the ms. orthography is deficient. Divina is a natural scribal mistake with Lat. in mind. Sostrate Brunner 1983 p 753 equates it with Shostar where an important dam was built in Sassanian times. Weissbach RE III A 11199 compares Sostra in Pliny XII 78 and draws attention to the suggestion of Noldeke that the form could be based on a misreading in Gk. of LWO'tQU 'tE. The form as transmitted by Anonymus may conceal a name beginning with Skt. su- 'well, good' found elsewhere, but it is more likely to connect to the

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Iranian srws- 'obedience' and and its hypostases. A Hellenophone scribe might easily normalize to ~OOO'tQU'tfl the familiar women's proper name.

Porrepa PP correctly identify this with Portipa xii on TP which is on the coast road from Ecbatanis Parthorum to Persepolis ... Mercium Persarum with 2 houses. It is immediately to the west of Nisaci xii which follows on the list. Nessaci On TP this is Nisaci xii. See Porrepa above. Aspada PP emend to Aspado. The first element suggests Iranian aspa 'horse' etc. Ptolemy has A.ame>ava VI 4 4, }\mm VI 5 3 and A.a3Ul8L~ VII 1 71. Mardane PP emend to Anardane, but MaQC>rivfJ with variant MaQC>ouvfJ is found at Ptolemy VI 4 3. Compare MaQofJvC>m in Ptolemy VII 2 14. Thermantica According to Brunner 1983 p 767 Thermantica is present day Qum (Qom) which is 156 km. south of Teheran and is one of the holiest sites of Shi'a Islam. On TP Thermantica xx is west of Orubicaria xviii. The road continues through what is possibly possibly Sava (*Sevacina) to Anarus Ariarus xx ending at Ecbatnis Parthorum (Ramadan) with 2 houses. The map needs to be rotated 90 degrees so that west-east becomes north-south. PP read this name as Termantica wherever it occurs. Aris On TP Aris with 2 houses is north of Mons Paropamisos. Tomaschek RE II 846 equates it with Zarang. He also draws attention to OOALV IlaQLV in the Parthian Stations of Isidore of Charax 17 which suggests that this may be decapitated Paris. Muller had thought of 'Ztlris. Bacesia This may be Bacinora xx on TP between Cetrora xxx and Arate on the road from Tahona with 2 houses to Aris with 2 houses. Bacinora is equated with Ravar by Brunner 1983 p 772 where he writes 'A road crossed the northern districts from the frontier of Mah and Parthau at Yazd.

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Its probable route to Nih and Zrang in Sagistan was via Kuhbanan, Bacinora (Ravar), and across the desert through Pharca (Dih-i Salm).' Elamitis Elamitis is probably a back formation. In Guido 120 Elamitem is acc. sing. of Elamis. Elamis should be read here. See note on Secunda autem ... Elatis appellatur above. River Vinenora This cannot be identified and is not on TP. Can the Indus be concealed here? River Oridis PP with no apparent justification emend to Oreo is. A toponymic connection with 'QQEl:tm in Strabo XV 2 1 is worth considering although geographical connexion is vague, to say the least. The observation of Brunner p 1983 p 777 is worth quoting: 'The Province of Makuran (Makran) comprised Iranian indigenous fish-eaters and Indians such as Arbies and Oreitae (Strabo XV 2 1 'QQEhm) cf. Oridis in Anonymus Ravennas ... along the Makran route to India lay the stations Rhana (Rana, again after Rhamnae?), and Alcon. The lower Indus was reached at Paricea (perhaps Ptolemy's district Parisina VI 21 43 IlaQLOLTJVfJ) ... at or near later Bela, the Oreite village Rhambacia had been refounded as an Alexandria - this may be Ptolemy's Arbis or Parsis Metropolis (after the Parsirae people); ... it cannot be the station Rhana but must have been on the Makran-lndia route.'

Il3 Terta item sinistrae partis ... Serica Bactrianis Bactria is located north of Dimirica (i.e. S W India) which is correct but very vague. It seems to be confused with the land of the Brahmans possibly because of verbal similarity. Aspagora On TP Aspacora with 2 houses is on the road west of Aris with 2 houses. Thybrassene Iii is about mid way between the two. Brunner 1893 p 771 locates it thus: 'The route from Balkh to Kabul followed the river of Bactria to Bamiyan. From this pasture district (hence its name Aspacora in TP) one road crossed the Shibar pass to the Ghurband river and 262

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

*Parshistan.' See note on i\.amtXUQat in Ptolemy VI 16 5 and on Aspacarae in Ammianus XXIII 6 66. Eggermont 1961 pp 89-90 sees Aspagora here as a late variant reading of Kaspatyrus which is not recorded by C. Herodotus III 102 and IV 44 refer to Indians in the neighbourhood of Kaspatyrus and the country of Paktiaka, who in their mode of life resemble the Bactrians. Eggermont further claims that Spatura (variant of Simtura) on the Peutinger Table is the same place and that Aspagora, Kaspatyrus and Spatura are one and the same. He takes Kaspatyrus to be Skt. Kapisf-pura which he says is present-day Bagram in Afghanistan. Thibrasene This seems to correspond with TQLPa~(va in Ptolemy VI 17 8. In charting the routes in Sagistan Brunner 1983 p 774 writes: 'From Harev, Zrang was reached through Propasta. This city's district, Anauon, formed part of Parthian Harev (Aria) and apparently extended to the north shore of the Hamun. The road passed through Juvain (*Gabiana reconstructed from ms. La.biana). The Kirman northern road, coming from Nia (Nih;

Ptolemy's VI 19 4 "Ivva?), merged with the Harev road. The highway continued to Zrang through Coroc/Carcoe/Karkuya.' To the north east lay the Bamiyan road which proceeded up the Khwash river through the town of Kwash (Cosata Casta) ... a road from Bust presumably joined it at the station Thubrassene.' Aris See Aris above. Ola Compare Ora in II 1. Ganges On TP the river is shown bending north and dividing. rayyri pao(f..eLov is in Ptolemy VII 1 81. Indovar Compare Indovarium and Indovadara. Parcha For Brunner 1983 p 772 it is Dih-i Salm. On TP Pharca xxv is shown south west of Aris with 2 houses east of Arate xvii; Parthona follows Aspacora; Parthe Ix.xv is between Palitas xv and Propasta xxv below Mons Imaeus on the road to Aris with 2 houses; Phara xx is on the 263

Commentary on Texts of Greek and Latin Authors on the Far East

road from Alexandria Boucephalos to Bestia Deselutia crossing the Indus. PP emend to Pertha noting that ptha is the reading here of ms. B. Tomaschek (Aspacora) RE II 1709 equates Parthona with Kabul, replacing his earlier suggestion (1885 p 206) of Parwan, at the juncture of the Ghurband and Panjshir. cf. IlaQO'Layougov 84 E>TJQLffi()eL I E>TJQLffi()ri; (sc.x6A.oo;) 114 0i.vm50 E>oilATJ£ I E>oiiA.ri 83 E>goava99 E>g6avm86 ·rapa()(ou (vl. :fo~a()(ou) 112 'IegaJTOALV I 'IegaJTOAL£ 57 'Iegou axgwtT)Q(ou tfj; 'Ianav(a; I 'Iegov axgwtf]QLOV tfj; 'Ianav(a; 65 'Iµiuov 12 'Iv()aJJ:Qd8m 105 'Iv()ol.; I 'Iv()o( 141 'Iouegv(a; vf]aou I 'Iouegv(a vfjao; 60 'Iouu(a (vl. Ouvv(a) 237 'l:7T3tOaym LxiJem 81 'Iaori()cbv LXU8Lxi] 82 'Iamxou x6A.oou I 'Iamxo; x6A.oo; 13 Kaxopm 105 KaA:JtrJV I KaA:JtrJ 65 Kaµ6.ga47 Kav6yLl;a 106 KaQ6.AAE0>£ I K6.QaAAL£ 65 Kaa(wv I Kaaia 78 Kaan(a; IIiJA.a; I KaanLm IIiJA.m 62 KaanLov rriA.ayo; 12 Kaaa(()a 107 Kmapf]()a 91 KattLyagwv I KattLyaga 55 KL(>(>a()(av 104 Koxxovayaga 110, 117 K6A.oov tOV rayyetLXOV I 0 rayyetLXO£ x6A.oo; 69 K6A.mp Lagapaxcp I x6A.oo; LaQa~ax.6;94

KoA.x;Lxov 66 KoµriM>v I Koµri()o( 63 KogayxaA.m 104 Kogta8a99 KottLUQLO£ 116 KoilgouA.a 67 KWAL96

Kwgu 67 Anmwv xwga; I Anmwv xwgm 97 AL8(vou IliJQyou I Al8Lvo; IliJQyo; 57 ALA.il~mov 65 ALµUQLX'fj£ I ALµUQLXfj 47 Ma(av()go; 101 MmawA.(a; 89 Maxagwv vf]awv I Maxagwv vfjam 56 MaA.wfJ x&A.ov 96 Mav(oA.m 113 MagyLavi]v A VtLox;e(av I MagyLavi] A VtLOXELa 63 Magouv()m 103 Mtya axgwtf]QLOV 98 MeyaA.ou K6A.oou I Mtya; K6A.oo; 90 Mevou8LMo; I Mevou8La£ 90 NayyaA.6ym 105 NOtLOV ax.gov 116 OLx;ag()ou I OLx;ag()ri; 79 'OgµT)tT)QLOU I 'OgµT)tf]QLOV 77 'Otogox6(>(>