In Northern Mists Volume I Part 6

The oldest known Latin geography, "De Chorographia," was written about 43 A.D. by an otherwise unknown Pomponius Mela, of Tingentera, in Spain.

With the strange mental poverty of Roman literature, Mela bases his work chiefly on older Greek sources (e.g., Herodotus and Eratosthenes) which are several centuries before his time; but in addition he gives much information not found elsewhere. Whether this is also for the most part taken from older writers it is impossible to say, as he nowhere gives his authorities. His descriptions, especially those of more distant regions, are sometimes made obscure and contradictory by his evidently having drawn upon different sources without combining them into a whole.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The world according to Mela]

He begins with these words of wisdom: "All this, whatever it is, to which we give the name of universe and heaven, is one and includes itself and everything in a circle ('ambitu'). In the middle of the universe floats the earth, which is surrounded on all sides by sea, and is divided by it from west to east [that is, by the equatorial sea, as in Crates of Mallus]

into two parts, which are called hemispheres." Whether one is to conclude from this that the earth in his opinion was a sphere or a round disc, he seems to leave the reader to determine. He divides the earth into the five zones of Parmenides. The two temperate or habitable zones seem, according to Mela, to coincide with the two ma.s.ses of land, while the uninhabitable ones, the torrid and the two frigid zones, are continuous sea. On the southern continent dwell the Antichthons, who are unknown, on account of the heat of the intervening region. On the northern one we dwell, and this is what he proposes to describe.

Europe is bounded on the west by the Atlantic, and on the north by the British Ocean. Asia has on the north the Scythian Ocean.

[iii. c. 5.] In proof of the continuity of these oceans he appeals not only to the physicists and Homer, but also to Cornelius Nepos, "who is more modern and trustworthy," and who confirms it and "cites Quintus Metellus Celer as witness thereto, and says that he has narrated the following: When he was governing Gaul as proconsul the king of the Boti[84] gave him some Indians," who "by stress of storm had been carried away from Indian waters, and after having traversed all the s.p.a.ce between, had finally reached the sh.o.r.es of Germania."

Mela has many ancient fables to tell of the peoples in the northern districts of Germania, Sarmatia and Scythia, which last was his name for what is now Russia and for the north of Asia. It appears that he too was of the opinion that a cold climate develops savagery and cruelty.

He says of Germania [iii. c. 3]: "The inhabitants are immense in soul and body; and besides their natural savagery they exercise both, their souls in warfare, their bodies by accustoming them to constant hards.h.i.+p, especially cold." "Might is right to such an extent that they are not even ashamed of robbery; only to their guests are they kind, and merciful towards suppliants." The people of Sarmatia were nomads. [iii. c. 4.] "They are alike warlike, free, unconstrained, and so savage and cruel that the women go to war together with the men. In order that they may be fitted thereto the right breast is burned off immediately after birth, whereby the hand which is drawn out [in drawing a bow] becomes adapted for shooting [by the breast not coming in the way or because the arm grew stronger] and the breast becomes manly.[85] To draw the bow, to ride and to hunt are employments for the young girls; when grown up it is their duty to fight the foe, so that it is held to be a shame not to have killed some one, and the punishment is that they are not allowed to marry."[86] It would appear that the northern countries, according to the view of Mela, had a tendency to "emanc.i.p.ate" women, even though he always regards it as a severe punishment for them to have to live as virgins.[86] Among the Xamati in his western Asia, at the mouth of the Tanais [i. c. 19], "the women engage in the same occupations as the men." "The men fight on foot and with arrows, the women on horseback, not using swords, but catching men in snares and killing them by dragging them along." Those who have not killed an enemy must live unmarried. Amongst other peoples the women do not confine themselves to this snaring of men; the Maeotides who dwell in the country of the Amazons are governed by women; and farthest north live the Amazons; but he does not tell us whether the latter could dispense with men altogether, and reproduce themselves like the women he tells us of on an island off the coast of Africa, who were hairy all over the body. "This is related by Hanno, and it seems worthy of credit, because he brought back the skin of some he had killed." [iii. c. 9.]

But this increasing savagery towards the north had a limit, as in the early Greek idea, after which things became better again; for beyond the country of the Amazons [i. c. 19] and other wild races, like the Thyssagetae and Turcae who inhabited immense forests and lived by hunting,[87] there extended, apparently towards the north-east (?), a "great desert and rugged tract, full of mountains, as far as the Aremphaeans, who had very just customs and were looked upon as holy."[88]

"Beyond them rise the Rhipaean Mountains and behind them lies the region that borders on the Ocean." In addition, the happy "Hyperboreans" dwelt in the north. In his description of Scythia he says of them [iii. c. 5]: "Then [i.e., after Sarmatia] come the neighbouring parts of Asia [or the parts bordering on Asia ?]. Except where continual winter and unbearable cold reigns, the Scythian people dwell there, almost all known by the name of 'Belcae' (?). On the sh.o.r.e of Asia come first the Hyperboreans, beyond the north wind and the Rhipaean Mountains under the very pivot of the stars" [i.e., the pole]. In their country the sun rose at the vernal equinox and set at the autumnal equinox, so that they had six months day and six months night. "This narrow [or holy ?] sunny land is in itself fertile." He goes on to give a description of the happy life of the Hyperboreans, taken from Greek sources.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Europe according to the description of Mela]

On north-western Europe Mela has much information which is not met with in earlier authors. The tin-islands, the Ca.s.siterides, lay off the north-west of Spain, where the "Celtici" lived [iii. c. 6]. "Beyond ('super') Britain is Juverna [Ireland], nearly as large, with a climate unfavourable to the ripening of corn, but with such excellent pastures that if the cattle are allowed to graze for more than a small part of the day, they burst in pieces. The inhabitants are rude and more ignorant than other peoples of all kinds of virtue. Religion is altogether unknown to them."

"The Orcades are thirty in number, divided from each other by narrow straits; the Haemodae seven, drawn towards Germany" ("septem Haemodae contra Germaniam vectae"). This is the first time, so far as is known, that these two groups of islands are mentioned in literature. Diodorus, it is true, had already spoken of "Orkan" or "Orkas," but not as a group of islands.

As this name is probably derived from Pytheas, it is likely that the other, "Haemodae," is also his. Possibly the groups were re-discovered under the emperor Claudius (about 43 A.D.) or more definite information may have been received about them; but on the other hand, Mela says that the knowledge of Britain that was acquired during this campaign would be brought back by Claudius himself in his triumph. It will be most reasonable to suppose that Mela's thirty Orcades are the Orkneys--the number is approximately correct--and not the Orkneys and Shetlands together. The seven Haemodae, on the other hand, must be the latter, and can hardly be the Hebrides, as many would believe, since Mela mentions the islands off the west coast of Europe in a definite order, and he names first "Juverna," then the "Orcades," and next the "Haemodae," which are "carried ('vectae') towards Germany"[89] (cf. also Pliny later).

In his description of Germania [iii. c. 3] Mela says:

"Beyond ('super') Albis is an immense bay, Coda.n.u.s, full of many great and small islands. Here the sea which is received in the bosom of the sh.o.r.e is nowhere broad and nowhere like a sea, but as the waters everywhere flow between and often go over [i.e., over the tongues of land or shallows which connect the islands] it is split up into the appearance of rivers, which are undefined and widely separated; where the sea touches the sh.o.r.es [of the mainland], since it is held in by the sh.o.r.es of the islands which are not far from each other, and since nearly everywhere it is not large [i.e., broad], it runs in a narrow channel and like a strait ('fretum'), and turning with the sh.o.r.e it is curved like a long eyebrow. In this [sea] dwell the Cimbri and the Teutons, and beyond [the sea, or the Cimbri and Teutons ?] the extreme people of Germania, namely the Hermiones."

The meaning of this description, which seems to be as involved as the many sounds he is talking about, must probably be that in the immense bay of Coda.n.u.s there are a number of islands with many narrow straits between them, like rivers. Along the sh.o.r.e of the mainland there is formed, by the almost continuous line of islands lying outside, a long curving strait, which is nearly everywhere of the same narrowness. In this sea--that is to say, on the peninsulas and islands in this bay--dwell the Cimbri and Teutons, and farther away in Germania the Hermiones.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Island with Hippopod or horse-footed man (from the Hereford map)]

In his account of the islands along the coast of Europe, Mela says further [iii. c. 6]:

[Sidenote: Coda.n.u.s]

"In the bay which we have called Coda.n.u.s is amongst the islands Codanovia, which is still inhabited by the Teutons, and it surpa.s.ses the others both in size and in fertility. The part which lies towards the Sarmatians seems sometimes to be islands and sometimes connected land, on account of the backward and forward flow of the sea, and because the interval which separates them is now covered by the waves, now bare. Upon these it is a.s.serted that the neans dwell, who live entirely on the eggs of fen-fowl and on oats, the Hippopods with horses' feet, and the Sa.n.a.lians, who have such long ears that they cover the whole body with them instead of clothes, since they otherwise go naked. For these things, besides what is told in fables, I find also authorities whom I think I may follow. Towards the coast of the Belgae[90] lies Thule, famous in Greek poems and in our own; there the nights in any case are short, since the sun, when it has long been about to set, rises up; but in the winter the nights are dark as elsewhere.... But at the summer solstice there is no night at all, because the sun then is already clearer, and not only shows its reflection, but also the greater part of itself."

Thus we see here, as in so many of the cla.s.sical authors, and later in Pliny, old legends and more trustworthy information hopelessly mixed together. The legends, whose Greek origin is disclosed by the form of the names, may be old skippers' tales, or the romances of merchants who went northward from the Black Sea, but they may also in part be derived from Pytheas. A fable like that of the long-eared Sa.n.a.li (otherwise called Panoti) originally came from India and is later than his time. The statement about the neae, or, doubtless more correctly, onae (i.e., egg-eaters), who live on eggs and oats, may, on the other hand, have reached him from the north, where the eggs both of fen-fowl (plovers'

eggs, for example) and of sea-birds were eaten from time immemorial. Caesar had heard or read of people who lived on birds' eggs and fish on the islands at the mouth of the Rhine, but he may indeed have derived his knowledge from Greek sources [cf. Mullenhoff, i., 1870, p. 492].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Island with long-eared man (from the Hereford map)]

What Mela says about Thule probably comes from Pytheas, as already mentioned (p. 90), and it is very possible that the remarkable statements about the immense bay of Coda.n.u.s are likewise derived from him, although they may also be ascribed to the circ.u.mnavigation of the Skaw under Augustus, or to other voyages in these waters of which we have no knowledge.

[Sidenote: Codanovia]

Whether Codanovia (which is not found in any other known author) is the same name as the later Scadinavia in Pliny, must be regarded as uncertain.

It is the first time that such an island or that the bay of Coda.n.u.s is mentioned in literature. This "immense bay" must certainly be the Cattegat with the southern part of the Baltic; and the numerous islands which close it in to a curved strait or sound must be for the most part the Danish islands and perhaps southern Sweden. Whence the name is derived we do not know for certain.[91]

Ptolemy mentions three peoples in southern Jutland, and calls the easternmost of them "Kobandoi." It is not likely that three peoples can have lived side by side in this narrowest part of the peninsula, and we must believe that some of them lived among the Danish islands, where Ptolemy does not give the name of any people. The "Kobandoi"

would then be on the easternmost island, Sealand [cf. Much, 1893, pp.

198 f.]. Now it will easily be supposed that "Coda.n.u.s" and "Kobandoi"

have some connection or other; the latter might be a corruption of the name of a people, "Kodanoi" or "Kodanioi." But as precisely these islands and the south of Sweden were inhabited by tribes of the Danes--of whom several are mentioned in literature: South Danes, North Danes, Sea Danes, Island Danes, etc.--it may be further supposed that "Kodanioi" is composed of "ko" or cow[92] and "Daner" (that is, Cow-Danes), and means a tribe of the latter who were remarkable for the number of their cows, which would be probable enough for a people in fertile Sealand (or in Skne).[93] In this case "Coda.n.u.s" must be derived from the name of this people, just as most of the names of seas and bays in these regions were taken from the names of peoples (e.g., "Ocea.n.u.s Germanicus," "Mare Suebic.u.m," "Sinus Venedic.u.m,"

"Quaensae"). The name "Daner" is one of those names of peoples that are so ancient that their derivation must be obscure.[94] Procopius uses it as a common name for many nations ("ethne"), in the same way as he names the "ethne" of the Slavs (see later, p. 146). It is also used in the early Middle Ages as a common name for the people of the North, like Eruli, and later Normans. It is therefore natural that there should have been special names for the tribes, like Sea-Danes, Cow-Danes, etc. "Kodan-ovia" ("ovia," equivalent to Old High German "ouwa" or "ouwia") for island, Gothic "avi," Old Norse "ey" [cf.

Grimm, 1888, p. 505], must be the island on which this tribe lived, and this might then be Sealand (though Skne is also possible).

That the Cimbri lived in Coda.n.u.s suits very well, as their home was Jutland;[95] on the other hand, we know less about the country inhabited by the Teutons. They must have been called in Germanic "*eodonez" (Gothic "*iudans" means properly kings), and the name has been connected with Old Norse "iod," now Thy (Old Danish "Thythesyssel") with its capital Thisted, and the island Thyholm, in north-western Jutland [cf. Much, 1893, pp. 7 ff.; 1905, p. 100].

Whether the Vistula had its outlet into Coda.n.u.s or farther east Mela does not say, nor does he tell us whether Sarmatia was bounded by this gulf; but this is not impossible, although Coda.n.u.s is described at the end of the chapter on Germania. Strangely enough, he says, according to the MSS.

[iii. c. 4], that "Sarmatia is separated from the following [i.e., Scythia] by the Vistula"; it would thus lie on the western side of the river, which seems curious. It might be possible that the islands off the coast of Sarmatia are among the many which lay in Coda.n.u.s (?). As Sarmatia lay to the east of Germania, these islands would in any case be as far east as the Baltic, if not farther; but there is no ebb and flood there by which the connecting land between them might be alternately covered and left dry; on the other hand, the description suits the German North Sea coast. Either Mela's authority has heard of the low-lying lands--the Frische Nehrung and the Kurische Nehrung, for instance--off the coast of the amber country, and has added the tidal phenomena from the North Sea coast, or, what is more probable, the Frisian islands, for example, may by a misunderstanding have been moved eastwards into Sarmatia, since older writers, who as yet made no distinction between Germania, Sarmatia and Scythia, described them as lying far east, off the Scythian coast (perhaps taken from the voyage of Pytheas).[96]

[Sidenote: Voyage to Samland, circa 60 A.D.]

The emperor Nero's (54-68 A.D.) love of show led, according to Pliny [Nat.

Hist., x.x.xvii. 45], to the amber coast of the Baltic becoming "first known through a Roman knight, whom Julia.n.u.s sent to purchase amber, when he was to arrange a gladiatorial combat for the emperor Nero. This knight visited the markets and the coasts and brought thence such a quant.i.ty that the nets which were hung up to keep the wild beasts away from the imperial tribune had a piece of amber in every mesh; indeed the weapons, the biers, and the whole apparatus of a day's festival were heavy with amber. The largest piece weighed thirteen pounds." This journey must have followed an undoubtedly ancient trade-route from the Adriatic to Carnuntum (in Pannonia), the modern Petronell on the Danube, where the latter is joined by the March, and from whence Pliny expressly says that the distance was 600,000 paces to the amber coast, which agrees almost exactly with the distance in a straight line to Samland. From Carnuntum the route lay along the river March, thence overland to the upper Vistula, and so down this river to Samland. It may easily be understood that much fresh knowledge reached Rome as a result of this journey.

[Sidenote: Pliny 23-79 A.D.]

The elder Pliny's (23-79 A.D.) statements about the North, in his great work "Naturalis Historia" (in thirty-seven books), are somewhat obscure and confused, and so far are no advance upon Mela; but we remark nevertheless that fresh knowledge has been acquired, and it is as though we get a clearer vision of the new countries and seas through the northern mists. He himself says, moreover, that he "has received information of immense islands which have recently been discovered from Germania." His work is in great part the fruit of an unusually extensive acquaintance with older writers, mostly Greek, but also Latin. He repeats a good deal of what Mela says, or draws from the same sources, probably Greek.

His information about the North must have been obtained, so far as I can see, mainly in three different ways: (1) Directly through the Romans'

connection with Germania and through their expeditions to its northern coasts (under Augustus and Nero, for example). Pliny himself lived in Germania for several years (45-52 A.D.) as a Roman cavalry commander, and may then have collected much information. (2) He has drawn extensively from Greek sources, whose statements about the North may have come partly by sea, chiefly through Pytheas (perhaps also through later trading voyages); partly also by land, especially through commercial intercourse between the Black Sea and the Baltic.[97] (3) Finally he received information from Britain about the regions to the north. This may be derived partly from Greek sources, partly also from later Roman connection with Britain. Mela expressly says of this country that new facts will soon be known about it, "for the greatest prince [the Emperor Claudius] is now opening up this country, which has so long been closed ... he has striven by war to obtain personal knowledge of these things, and will spread this knowledge at his triumph." The information obtained by Pliny through these different channels is often used by him uncritically, without remarking that different statements apply to the same countries and seas.

His theory of the universe was the usual one, that the universe was a hollow sphere which revolved in twenty-four hours with indescribable rapidity. "Whether by the continual revolution of such a great ma.s.s there is produced an immense noise, exceeding all powers of hearing, I am no more able to a.s.sert than that the sound produced by the stars circulating about one another and revolving in their orbits, is a lovely and incredibly graceful harmony." The earth stood in the centre of the universe and had the form of a sphere. The land was everywhere surrounded by sea, which covers the greater part of the globe.

In his description of the North [iv. 12, 88 f.] Pliny begins at the east, and relies here entirely on Greek authorities.

Far north in Scythia, beyond the Arimaspians, "we come to the 'Ripaean'

Mountains and to the district which on account of the ever-falling snow, resembling feathers, is called Pterophorus. This part of the world is accursed by nature and shrouded in thick darkness; it produces nothing else but frost and is the chilly hiding-place of the north wind. By these mountains and beyond the north wind dwells, if we are willing to believe it, a happy people, the Hyperboreans, who have long life and are famous for many marvels which border on the fabulous. There, it is said, are the pivots of the world, and the uttermost revolution of the constellations." The sun s.h.i.+nes there for six months; but strangely enough it rises at the summer solstice and sets at the winter solstice, which shows Pliny's ignorance of astronomy. The climate is magnificent and without cold winds. As the sun s.h.i.+nes for half the year, "the Hyperboreans sow in the morning, harvest at midday, gather the fruit from the trees at evening, and spend the night in caves. The existence of this people is not to be doubted, since so many authors tell us about them."

Having then mentioned several districts bordering on the Black Sea, Pliny continues [iv. 13, 94 f.]:

"We will now acquaint ourselves with the outer parts of Europe, and turn, after having gone over the Ripaean Mountains, towards the left to the coast of the northern ocean, until we arrive again at Gades. Along this line many nameless islands are recorded. Timaeus mentions that among them there is one off Scythia called Baunonia, a day's sail distant, upon which the waves cast up amber in the spring. The remaining coasts are only known from doubtful rumours. Here is the northern ocean. Hecataeus calls it Amalcium, from the river Parapanisus[98] onwards and as far as it washes the coast of Scythia, which name [i.e., Amalcium] in the language of the natives means frozen.[99] Philemon[100] says that it was called by the Cimbri Morimarusa, that is, the dead sea; from thence and as far as the promontory Rusbeas, farther out, it is called Cronium. Xenophon of Lampsacus says that three days' sail from the Scythian coast is an island, Balcia, of enormous size; Pytheas calls it Basilia." He goes on to mention the onae, Hippopods, and Long-eared men in almost the same terms as Mela.

This mention of lands and seas in the North is of great interest. But in attempting to identify any of them in Pliny's description we must always remember that to him and his Greek authorities, and to all writers even in much later times, all land north of the coasts of Scythia, Sarmatia and Germania was nothing but islands in the northern ocean. Further, it must be remembered that the ancient Greeks did not know the name Germania, which was not introduced until about 80 B.C. To them Scythia and Celtica (Gaul) were conterminous, and their Scythian coast might therefore lie either on the Baltic or the North Sea.

It has not been possible to decide where the name "Rusbeas" (called by Solinus "Rubeas") comes from;[101] but it is best understood if we take it to be southern Norway or Lindesnes. As the description begins at the east on the Scythian coast, it follows that "Amalcium" is the Baltic as far as the Danish islands and the land of the Cimbri. "Morimarusa,"[102] which extends from Amalcium to Lindesnes, will be the Cattegat (in part, at any rate) and the Skagerak. Cronium will be the North Sea and the Northern Ocean beyond Lindesnes.[103] We must believe that Philemon has obtained his information about the Cimbri (at the Skaw), about Morimarusa, and about Rusbeas either from Pytheas--whose mention thereof we must then suppose to have been accidentally omitted by other authors--or else from later Greek merchants. In the same way Xenophon must have got his Balcia, which is here named for the first time in literature. As these two Greek authors (probably of about 100 B.C.) are expressly mentioned as authorities, the statements cannot be derived from the circ.u.mnavigation of the Skaw in the time of Augustus, nor from any other Roman expedition. It is clear enough that Pliny himself did not know where Rusbeas and Balcia were, but simply repeated uncritically what he had read. On the other hand, he knew from another source that the sea he calls Cronium lay far north of Britain, and must therefore be sought for to the north-west of the Scythian coast.

Balcia must be looked for most probably in the Baltic. As already mentioned (p. 72) it may be Jutland; but as it is described as an island of immense size and three days' sail from the Scythian coast, it suits southern Sweden better, although Pliny has also the name Scadinavia for this from another source.

After these doubtful statements about the north coast of Scythia, taken from Greek sources and interwoven with fables, Pliny reaches firmer ground in Germania, when he continues [iv. 13, 96]:

"We have more certain information concerning the Ingaevones people who are the first [that is, the most north-eastern] in Germania. There is the immense mountain Saevo, not less than the Riphaean range, and it forms a vast bay which goes to the Cimbrian Promontory [i.e., Jutland], which bay is called Coda.n.u.s and is full of islands, amongst which the most celebrated is Scatinavia, of unknown size; a part of it is inhabited, as far as is known by the Hilleviones, in 500 cantons ('pagis'), who call it [i.e., the island] the second earth. aeningia is supposed to be not less in size. Some say that these regions extend as far as the Vistula and are inhabited by Sarmatians [i.e., probably Slavs], Venedi [Wends], Scirri, and Hirri; the bay is called Cylipenus, and at its mouth lies the island Latris. Not far from thence is another bay, Lagnus, which borders on the Cimbri. The Cimbrian Promontory runs far out into the sea and forms a peninsula called Tastris." Then follows a list of twenty-three islands which are clearly off the North Sea coast of Sleswick and Germany. Among them is one called by the soldiers "Glaesaria" on account of the amber ("glesum"),[104] but by the barbarians "Austeravia" [i.e., the eastern island], or "Actania."

Here are a number of new names and pieces of information. The form of some of the names shows that here too Pliny has borrowed to some extent from Greek authors; but his information must also partly be derived from Roman sources, and from Germany itself. His "Coda.n.u.s" must be the same as that of Mela, and is the sea adjacent to the country of the Cimbri, which is here for the first time clearly referred to as a promontory (promunturium). It is the Cattegat, and, in part at any rate, the Skagerak. The enormous mountain "Saevo" will then be most probably the mountains of Scandinavia, especially southern Norway, which forms the bay of Coda.n.u.s in such a way that the latter is bounded on the other side by the Cimbrian Promontory.[105] It will then be in the same mountainous country that we should look for the promontory of Rusbeas (see above).

[Sidenote: Scandinavia]