Chaps. 5-8.

Chap. 5. (5.)—Cyrenaica.

The region of Cyrenaica, also called Pentapolis [So called, as mentioned below, from its five principal cities.], is rendered famous by the oracle of Hammon [Where Jupiter Ammon or Hammon was worshiped under the form of a ram, the form he was said to have assumed when the deities were dispersed in the war with the Giants. Ancient Ammonium is the present oasis of Siwah in the Libyan Desert.], which is distant 400 miles from the city of Cyrene; also by the Fountain of the Sun [The same that has been already mentioned in B. ii. c.. It is mentioned by Herodotus and Pomponius Mela.] there, and five cities in especial, those of Berenice [Previously called Hesperis or Hesperides. It was the most westerly city of Cyrenaica, and stood just beyond the eastern extremity of the Greater Syrtis, on a promontory called Pseudopenias, and near the river Lethon. Its historical importance only dates from the times of the Ptolemies, when it was named Berenice, after the wife of Ptolemy III. or Euergetes. Having been greatly reduced, it was fortified anew by the Emperor Justinian. Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Ben Ghazi.], Arsinoë [So called from Arsinoë, the sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Its earlier name was Taucheira or Teucheira, which name, according to Marcus, it still retains.], Ptolemais [Its ruins may still be seen at Tolmeita or Tolometa. It was situate on the N.W. coast of Cyrenaica, and originally bore the name of Barca. From which of the Ptolemies it took its name is not known. Its splendid ruins are not less than four miles in circumference.], Apollonia [Its ruins are still to be seen, bespeaking its former splendour, at the modern Marsa Sousah. It was originally only the port of Cyrene, but under the Ptolemies it flourished to such an extent as to eclipse that city. It is pretty certain that it was the Sozusa of the later Greek writers. Eratosthenes was a native of this place.], and Cyrene [The chief city of Cyrenaica, and the most important Hellenic colony in Africa, the early settlers having extensively intermarried with wives of Libyan parentage. In its most prosperous times it maintained an extensive commerce with Greece and Egypt, especially in silphium or assafœtida, the plantations of which, as mentioned in the present chapter, extended for miles in its vicinity. Great quantities of this plant were also exported to Capua in Southern Italy, where it was extensively employed in the manufacture of perfumes. The scene of the ‘Rudens,’ the most picturesque (if we may use the term) of the plays of Plautus, is laid in the vicinity of Cyrene, and frequent reference is made in it to the extensive cultivation of silphium; a head of which plant also appears on the coins of the place. The philosophers Aristippus and Carneades were born here, as also the poet Callimachus. Its ruins, at the modern Ghrennah, are very extensive, and are indicative of its former splendour.] itself. Berenice is situate upon the outer promontory that bounds the Syrtis; it was formerly called the city of the Hesperides (previously mentioned [In C. of the present Book. It was only the poetical fancy of the Greeks that found the fabled gardens of the Hesperides in the fertile regions of Cyrenaica. Scylax distinctly mentions the gardens and the lake of the Hesperides in this vicinity, where we also find a people called Hesperidæ, or, as Herodotus names them, Euesperidæ. It was probably in consequence of this similarity of name, in a great degree, that the gardens of the Hesperides were assigned to this locality.]), according to the fables of the Greeks, which very often change their localities. Not far from the city, and running before it, is the river Lethon, and with it a sacred grove, where the gardens of the Hesperides are said to have formerly stood; this city is distant from Leptis 375 miles. From Berenice to Arsinoë, commonly called Teuchira, is forty-three miles; after which, at a distance of twenty-two, we come to Ptolemais, the ancient name of which was Barce; and at a distance of forty miles from this last the Promontory of Phycus [Now called Ras-Sem or Ras-El-Kazat. It is situate a little to the west of Apollonia and N.W. of Cyrene.], which extends far away into the Cretan Sea, being 350 miles distant from Tænarum [According to Ansart, 264 miles is the real distance between Capes Ras-Sem and Tænarum or Matapan], the promontory of Laconia, and from Crete 225. After passing this promontory we come to Cyrene, which stands at a distance of eleven miles from the sea. From Phycus to Apollonia [As already mentioned, Apollonia formed the harbour of Cyrene.] is twenty-four miles, and from thence to the Chersonesus [This was called the Chersonesus Magna, being so named in contradistinction to the Chersonesus Parva, on the coast of Egypt, about thirty-five miles west of Alexandria. It is now called Ras-El-Tin, or more commonly Raxatin.] eighty-eight; from which to Catabathmos [So called from the peculiar features of the locality, the Greek word καταβαθμὸς, signifying “a descent.” A deep valley, bounded east and west by ranges of high hills, runs from this spot to the frontiers of Egypt. It is again mentioned by Pliny at the end of the present Chapter. The spot is still known by a similar name, being called Marsa Sollern, or the “Port of the Ladder.” In earlier times the Egyptian territory ended at the Gulf of Plinthinethes, now Lago Segio, and did not extend so far as Catabathmos.] is a distance of 216 miles. The Marmaridæ [This name was unknown to Herodotus. As Marcus observes, it was probably of Phœnician origin, signifying “leading a wandering life,” like the term “nomad,” derived from the Greek.] inhabit this coast, extending from almost the region of Parætonium [Now called El Bareton or Marsa-Labeit. This city was of considerable importance, and belonged properly to Marmaria, but was included politically in the Nomos Libya of Egypt. It stood near the promontory of Artos or Pythis, now Ras-El-Hazeit.] to the Greater Syrtis; after them the Ararauceles, and then, upon the coasts of the Syrtis, the Nasamones [So called from the words Matâ-Ammon, “the tribe of Ammon,” according to Bochart. The Nasamones were a powerful but savage people of Libya, who dwelt originally on the shores of the Greater Syrtis, but were driven inland by the Greek settlers of Cyrenaica, and afterwards by the Romans.], whom the Greeks formerly called Mesammones, from the circumstance of their being located in the very midst of sands [From μεσὸς “the middle,” and ἄμμος “sand.”]. The territory of Cyrene, to a distance of fifteen miles from the shore, is said to abound in trees, while for the same distance beyond that district it is only suitable for the cultivation of corn: after which, a tract of land, thirty miles in breadth and 250 in length, is productive of nothing but laser [or silphium [See note in p. 396.]].

After the Nasamones we come to the dwellings of the Asbystæ and the Macæ [Herodotus places this nation to the west of the Nasamones and on the river Cinyps, now called the Wadi-Quaham.], and beyond them, at eleven days’ journey to the west of the Greater Syrtis, the Amantes [In most of the editions they are called ‘Hammanientes.’ It has been suggested that they were so called from the Greek word ἄμμος “sand.”], a people also surrounded by sands in every direction. They find water however without any difficulty at a depth mostly of about two cubits, as their district receives the overflow of the waters of Mauritania. They build houses with blocks of salt [This story he borrows from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 158.], which they cut out of their mountains just as we do stone. From this nation to the Troglodytæ [From the Greek word τρωγλοδύται, “dwellers in caves.” Pliny has used the term already (B. iv. c.) in reference to the nations on the banks of the Danube. It was a general name applied by the Greek geographers to various uncivilized races who had no abodes but caves, and more especially to the inhabitants of the western coasts of the Red Sea, along the shores of Upper Egypt and Æthiopia.] the distance is seven days’ journey in a south-westerly direction, a people with whom our only intercourse is for the purpose of procuring from them the precious stone which we call the carbuncle, and which is brought from the interior of Æthiopia. Upon the road to this last people, but turning off towards the deserts of Africa, of which we have previously [At the beginning of C..] made mention as lying beyond the Lesser Syrtis, is the region of Phazania [Which gives name to the modern Fezzan.]; the nation of Phazanii, belonging to which, as well as the cities of Alele [Now called Tanet-Mellulen, or the station of Mellulen, on the route from Gadamez to Oserona.] and Cilliba [Zaouila or Zala, half way between Augyla and Mourzouk.], we have subdued by force of arms, as also Cydamus [Now Gadamez, which, according to Marcus, is situate almost under the same meridian as Old Tripoli, the ancient Sabrata.], which lies over against Sabrata. After passing these places a range of mountains extends in a prolonged chain from east to west: these have received from our people the name of the Black Mountains [According to Marcus this range still bears the name of Gibel-Assoud, which in the Arabic language means the “Black Mountain.”], either from the appearance which they naturally bear of having been exposed to the action of fire, or else from the fact that they have been scorched by the reflection of the sun’s rays. Beyond it [In a southerly direction. He alludes probably to the Desert of Bildulgerid.] is the desert, and then Talgæ, a city of the Garamantes, and Debris, at which place there is a spring [This spring is also mentioned by Pliny in B. ii. c.. Marcus suggests that the Debris of Pliny is the same as the Bedir of Ptolemy. He also remarks that the English traveller Oudney discovered caverns hewn out of the sides of the hills, evidently for the purposes of habitation, but of which the use is not known by the present people. These he considers to have been the abodes of the ancient Troglodytæ or “cave-dwellers.” In the Tibesti range of mountains, however, we find a race called the Rock Tibboos, from the circumstance of their dwelling in caves.], the waters of which, from noon to midnight, are at boiling heat, and then freeze for as many hours until the following noon; Garama too, that most famous capital of the Garamantes; all which places have been subdued by the Roman arms. It was on this occasion that Cornelius Balbus [Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus the Younger, who, upon his victories over the Garamantes, obtained a triumph in the year B.C. 19.] was honoured with a triumph, the only foreigner indeed that was ever honoured with the triumphal chariot, and presented with the rights of a Roman citizen; for, although by birth a native of Gades, the Roman citizenship was granted to him as well as to the elder Balbus [L. Cornelius Balbus the Elder, also a native of Gades. He obtained the consulship in B.C. 40, the first instance, as we find mentioned by Pliny, B. vii. c. 44, in which this honour had been conferred upon one who was not a Roman citizen.], his uncle by the father’s side. There is also this remarkable circumstance, that our writers have handed down to us the names of the cities above-mentioned as having been taken by Balbus, and have informed us that on the occasion of his triumph [On the occasion of a triumph by a Roman general, boards were carried aloft on “fercula,” on which were painted in large letters the names of vanquished nations and countries. Here too models were exhibited in ivory or wood of the cities and forts captured, and pictures of the mountains, rivers, and other great natural features of the subjugated region, with appropriate inscriptions. Marcus is of opinion that the names of the places here mentioned do not succeed in any geographical order, but solely according to their presumed importance as forming part of the conquest of Balbus. He also thinks that Balbus did not penetrate beyond the fifteenth degree of north latitude, and that his conquests did not extend so far south as the banks of Lake Tchad.], besides Cydamus and Garama [The site of Garama still bears the name of ‘Gherma,’ and presents very considerable remains of antiquity. It is four days’ journey north of Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan.], there were carried in the procession the names and models of all the other nations and cities, in the following order: the town of Tabudium [Now Tibesti, according to Marcus.], the nation of Niteris, the town of Nigligemella, the nation or town of Bubeium [Marcus suggests that this is probably the Febabo of modern geographers, to the N.E. of Belma and Tibesti.], the nation of Enipi, the town of Thuben, the mountain known as the Black Mountain, Nitibrum, the towns called Rapsa, the nation of Discera [Discera was the Im-Zerah of modern travellers, on the road from Sockna to Mourzouk, according to Marcus, who is of opinion that the places which follow were situate at the east and north-east of Thuben and the Black Mountain.], the town of Debris [Om-El-Abid, to the N.W. of Garama or Gherma, according to Marcus, and Oudney the traveller.], the river Nathabur [The same, Marcus thinks, as the modern Tessava in Fezzan.], the town of Thapsagum [Marcus suggests that this may be the modern Sana.], the nation of Nannagi, the town of Boin, the town of Pege [The town of Winega mentioned by Oudney, was probably the ancient Pega, according to Marcus.], the river Dasibari; and then the towns, in the following order, of Baracum, Buluba, Alasit, Galia, Balla, Maxalla [The modern Missolat, according to Marcus, on the route from Tripoli to Murmuck.], Zizama, and Mount Gyri [According to Marcus, this was the Mount Goriano of the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, where, confirming the statement here made by Pliny, they found quartz, jasper, onyx, agates, and cornelians.], which was preceded by an inscription stating that this was the place where precious stones were produced.

Up to the present time it has been found impracticable to keep open the road that leads to the country of the Garamantes, as the predatory bands of that nation have filled up the wells with sand, which do not require to be dug for to any great depth, if you only have a knowledge of the locality. In the late war [Mentioned by Tacitus, B. iv. c. 50. The town of Œa has been alluded to by Pliny in C..] however, which, at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, the Romans carried on with the people of Œa, a short cut of only four days’ journey was discovered; this road is known as the “Præter Caput Saxi [“Past the head of the rock.” Marcus suggests that this is the Gibel-Gelat or Rock of Gelat spoken of by the English travellers Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, forming a portion of the chain of Guriano or Gyr. He says, that at the foot of this mountain travellers have to pass from Old and New Tripoli on their road to Missolat, the Maxala of Pliny, and thence to Gerama or Gherma, the ancient capital of Fezzan.].” The last place in the territory of Cyrenaica is Catabathmos, consisting of a town, and a valley with a sudden and steep descent. The length of Cyrenean Africa, up to this boundary from the Lesser Syrtis, is 1060 miles; and, so far as has been ascertained, it is 800 [As Marcus observes, this would not make it to extend so far south as the sixteenth degree of north latitude.] in breadth.

Chap. 6. (6.)—Libya Mareotis.

The region that follows is called Libya Mareotis [The Mareotis of the time of the Ptolemies extended from Alexandria to the Gulf of Plinthinethes; and Libya was properly that portion of territory which extended from that Gulf to Catabathmos. Pliny is in error here in confounding the two appellations, or rather, blending them into one. It includes the eastern portion of the modern Barca, and the western division of Lower Egypt. It most probably received its name from the Lake Mareotis, and not the lake from it.], and borders upon Egypt. It is held by the Marmaridæ, the Adyrmachidæ, and, after them, the Mareotæ. The distance from Catabathmos to Parætonium is eighty-six miles. In this district is Apis [This was a seaport town on the northern coast of Africa, probably about eleven or twelve miles west of Parætonium, sometimes spoken of as belonging to Egypt, sometimes to Marmorica. Scylax places it at the western boundary of Egypt, on the frontier of the Marmaridæ. Ptolemy, like Pliny, speaks of it as being in the Libyan Nomos. The distances given in the MSS. of Pliny of this place from Parætonium are seventy-two, sixty-two, and twelve miles; the latter is probably the correct reading, as Strabo, B. xvii., makes the distance 100 stadia. It is extremely doubtful whether the Apis mentioned by Herodotus, B. ii. c. 18, can be the same place: but there is little doubt, from the words of Pliny here, that it was dedicated to the worship of the Egyptian god Apis, who was represented under the form of a bull.], a place rendered famous by the religious belief of Egypt. From this town Parætonium is distant sixty-two miles, and from thence to Alexandria the distance is 200 miles, the breadth of the district being 169. Eratosthenes says that it is 525 miles by land from Cyrene to Alexandria; while Agrippa gives the length of the whole of Africa from the Atlantic Sea, and including Lower Egypt, as 3040 miles. Polybius and Eratosthenes, who are generally considered as remarkable for their extreme correctness, state the length to be, from the ocean to Great Carthage 1100 miles, and from Carthage to Canopus, the nearest mouth of the Nile, 1628 miles; while Isidorus speaks of the distance from Tingi to Canopus as being 3599 miles. Artemidorus makes this last distance forty miles less than Isidorus.

Chap. 7. (7.)—The Islands in the Vicinity of Africa.

These seas contain not so very many islands. The most famous among them is Meninx [Now called Zerbi and Jerba, derived from the name of Girba, which even in the time of Aurelius Victor, had supplanted that of Meninx. It is situate in the Gulf of Cabes. According to Solinus, C. Marius lay in concealment here for some time. It was famous for its purple. See B. ix. c. 60.], twenty-five miles in length and twenty-two in breadth: by Eratosthenes it is called Lotophagitis. This island has two towns, Meninx on the side which faces Africa, and Troas on the other; it is situate off the promontory which lies on the right-hand side of the Lesser Syrtis, at a distance of a mile and a half. One hundred miles from this island, and opposite the promontory that lies on the left, is the free island of Cercina [Now called Kerkéni, Karkenah, or Ramlah.], with a city of the same name. It is twenty-five miles long, and half that breadth at the place where it is the widest, but not more than five miles across at the extremity: the diminutive island of Cercinitis [Now Gherba. It was reckoned as a mere appendage to Cercina, to which it was joined by a mole, and which is found often mentioned in history.], which looks towards Carthage, is united to it by a bridge. At a distance of nearly fifty miles from these is the island of Lopadusa [Still called Lampedusa, off the coast of Tunis. This island, with Gaulos and Galata, has been already mentioned among the islands off Sicily; see B. iii. c..], six miles in length; and beyond it Gaulos and Galata, the soil of which kills the scorpion, that noxious reptile of Africa. It is also said that the scorpion will not live at Clypea; opposite to which place lies the island of Cosyra [Now Pantellaria. See B. iii. c..], with a town of the same name. Opposite to the Gulf of Carthage are the two islands known as the Ægimuri [A lofty island surrounded by dangerous cliffs, now called Zowamour or Zembra.]; the Altars [In the former editions the word “Aræ” is taken to refer to the Ægimuri, as meaning the same islands. Sillig is however of opinion that totally distinct groups are meant, and punctuates accordingly. The “Aræ” were probably mere rocks lying out at sea, which received their name from their fancied resemblance to altars. They are mentioned by Virgil in the Æneid, B. i. l. 113, upon which lines Servius says, that they were so called because there the Romans and the people of Africa on one occasion made a treaty.], which are rather rocks than islands, lie more between Sicily and Sardinia. There are some authors who state that these rocks were once inhabited, but that they have gradually subsided in the sea.

Chap. 8. (8.)—Countries on the Other Side of Africa.

If we pass through the interior of Africa in a southerly direction, beyond the Gætuli, after having traversed the intervening deserts, we shall find, first of all the Liby-Egyptians [The greater portion of this Chapter is extracted almost verbatim from the account given by Mela. Ptolemy seems to place the Liby-Egyptians to the south of the Greater and Lesser Oasis, on the route thence to Darfour.], and then the country where the Leucæthiopians [Or “White Æthiopians,” men though of dark complexion, not negroes. Marcus is of opinion that the words “intervenientibus desertis” refer to the tract of desert country lying between the Leucæthiopians and the Liby-Egyptians, and not to that between the Gætulians on the one hand and the Liby-Egyptians and the Leucæthiopians on the other.] dwell. Beyond [Meaning to the south and the south-east of these three nations, according to Marcus. Rennel takes the Leucæthiopians to be the present Mandingos of higher Senegambia: Marcus however thinks that they are the Azanaghis, who dwell on the edge of the Great Desert, and are not of so black a complexion as the Mandingos.] these are the Nigritæ [Probably the people of the present Nigritia or Soudan.], nations of Æthiopia, so called from the river Nigris [Marcus is of opinion that Pliny does not here refer to the Joliba of Park and other travellers, as other commentators have supposed; but that he speaks of the river called Zis by the modern geographers, and which Jackson speaks of as flowing from the south-east towards north-west. The whole subject of the Niger is however enwrapped in almost impenetrable obscurity, and as the most recent inquirers have not come to any conclusion on the subject, it would be little more than a waste of time and space to enter upon an investigation of the notions which Pliny and Mela entertained on the subject.], which has been previously mentioned, the Gymnetes [From γυμνὸς, “naked.”], surnamed Pharusii, and, on the very margin of the ocean, the Perorsi [Mentioned in C. of the present Book.], whom we have already spoken of as lying on the boundaries of Mauritania. After passing all these peoples, there are vast deserts towards the east until we come to the Garamantes, the Augylæ, and the Troglodytæ; the opinion of those being exceedingly well founded who place two Æthiopias beyond the deserts of Africa, and more particularly that expressed by Homer [He refers to the words in the Odyssey, B. i. l. 23, 24.— Αἰθίοπας τοὶ δίχθα δεδαιάται, ἔσχατοι ἄνδρων· Οἱ μὲν δυσομένου Ὑπερίονος, οἱ δ’ ἀνιόντος. “The Æthiopians, the most remote of mankind, are divided into two parts, the one at the setting of Hyperion, the other at his rising.”], who tells us that the Æthiopians are divided into two nations, those of the east and those of the west. The river Nigris has the same characteristics as the Nile; it produces the calamus, the papyrus, and just the same animals, and it rises at the same seasons of the year. Its source is between the Tarrælian Æthiopians and the Œcalicæ. Magium, the city of the latter people, has been placed by some writers amid the deserts, and, next to them the Atlantes; then the Ægipani, half men, half beasts, the Blemmyæ [A tribe of Æthiopia, whose position varied considerably at different epochs of history. Their predatory and savage habits caused the most extraordinary reports to be spread of their appearance and ferocity. The more ancient geographers bring them as far westward as the region beyond the Libyan Desert, and into the vicinity of the Oases. In the time however of the Antonines, when Ptolemy was composing his description of Africa, they appear to the south and east of Egypt, in the wide and almost unknown tract which lay between the rivers Astapus and Astobores.], the Gamphasantes, the Satyri, and the Himantopodes.

The Atlantes [Mela speaks of this race as situate farthest to the west. The description of them here given is from Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183-185, who speaks of them under the name of “Atarantes.”], if we believe what is said, have lost all characteristics of humanity; for there is no mode of distinguishing each other among them by names, and as they look upon the rising and the setting sun, they give utterance to direful imprecations against it, as being deadly to themselves and their lands; nor are they visited with dreams [The people who are visited by no dreams, are called Atlantes by Herodotus, the same name by which Pliny calls them. He says that their territory is ten days’ journey from that of the Atarantes.], like the rest of mortals. The Troglodytæ make excavations in the earth, which serve them for dwellings; the flesh of serpents is their food; they have no articulate voice, but only utter a kind of squeaking noise [This also is borrowed from Herodotus. As some confirmation of this account, it is worthy of remark, that the Rock Tibboos of the present day, who, like the ancient Troglodytæ, dwell in caves, have so peculiar a kind of speech, that it is compared by the people of Aujelah to nothing but the whistling of birds. The Troglodytæ of Fezzan are here referred to, not those of the coasts of the Red Sea.]; and thus are they utterly destitute of all means of communication by language. The Garamantes have no institution of marriage among them, and live in promiscuous concubinage with their women. The Augylæ worship no deities [Mela says that they look upon the Manes or spirits of the departed as their only deities.] but the gods of the infernal regions. The Gamphasantes, who go naked, and are unacquainted with war [This is said, in almost the same words, of the Garamantes, by Herodotus. The mistake was probably made by Mela in copying from Herodotus, and continued by Pliny when borrowing from him.], hold no intercourse whatever with strangers. The Blemmyæ are said to have no heads, their mouths and eyes being seated in their breasts. The Satyri [So called from their supposed resemblance in form to the Satyrs of the ancient mythology, who were represented as little hairy men with horns, long ears, and tails. They were probably monkeys, which had been mistaken for men.], beyond their figure, have nothing in common with the manners of the human race, and the form of the Ægipani [Half goat, half man. See the Note relative to Ægipan, in C. 1 of the present Book, p..] is such as is commonly represented in paintings. The Himantopodes [Evidently intended to be derived from the Greek ἱμὰς “a thong,” and πόδες “the feet.” It is most probable that the name of a savage people in the interior bore a fancied resemblance to this word, upon which the marvellous story here stated was coined for the purpose of tallying with the name. From a statement in the Æthiopica of Heliodorus, B. x., Marcus suggests that the story as to the Blemmyæ having no heads arose from the circumstance, that on the invasion of the Persians they were in the habit of falling on one knee and bowing the head to the breast, by which means, without injury to themselves, they afforded a passage to the horses of the enemy.] are a race of people with feet resembling thongs, upon which they move along by nature with a serpentine, crawling kind of gait. The Pharusii, descended from the ancient Persians, are said to have been the companions of Hercules when on his expedition to the Hesperides. Beyond the above, I have met with nothing relative to Africa [It must be remembered, as already mentioned, that the ancients looked upon Egypt as forming part of Asia, not of Africa. It seems impossible to say how this supposition arose, when the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez form so natural and so palpable a frontier between Asia and Africa.] worthy of mention.