He was
moreover encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of
assistance from the Nabatæans, who promised to co-operate with him in
everything.
moreover encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of
assistance from the Nabatæans, who promised to co-operate with him in
everything.
Strabo
The elephant is unable to rise, because its legs are formed of
one piece of bone which is inflexible; the hunters leap down from the
trees, kill it, and cut it in pieces. The Nomades call the hunters
Acatharti, or impure.
11. Above this nation is situated a small tribe the Struthophagi[736]
(or Bird-eaters), in whose country are birds of the size of deer, which
are unable to fly, but run with the swiftness of the ostrich. Some hunt
them with bows and arrows, others covered with the skins of birds. They
hide the right hand in the neck of the skin, and move it as the birds
move their necks. With the left hand they scatter grain from a bag
suspended to the side; they thus entice the birds, till they drive them
into pits, where the hunters despatch them with cudgels. The skins are
used both as clothes and as coverings for beds. The Ethiopians called
Simi are at war with these people, and use as weapons the horns of
antelopes.
12. Bordering on this people is a nation blacker in complexion than the
others,[737] shorter in stature, and very short-lived. They rarely live
beyond forty years; for the flesh [CAS. 772] of their bodies is eaten
up with worms. [738] Their food consists of locusts, which the south-west
and west winds, when they blow violently in the spring-time, drive in
bodies into the country. The inhabitants catch them by throwing into the
ravines materials which cause a great deal of smoke, and light them
gently. The locusts, as they fly across the smoke, are blinded and fall
down. They are pounded with salt, made into cakes, and eaten as food.
Above these people is situated a desert tract with extensive pastures.
It was abandoned in consequence of the multitudes of scorpions and
tarantulas, called tetragnathi (or four-jawed), which formerly abounded
to so great a degree as to occasion a complete desertion of the place
long since by its inhabitants.
13. Next to the harbour of Eumenes, as far as Deire and the straits
opposite the six islands,[739] live the Ichthyophagi, Creophagi, and
Colobi, who extend into the interior.
Many hunting-grounds for elephants, and obscure cities and islands, lie
in front of the coast.
The greater part are Nomades; husbandmen are few in number. In the
country occupied by some of these nations styrax grows in large
quantity. The Icthyophagi, on the ebbing of the tide, collect fish,
which they cast upon the rocks and dry in the sun. When they have well
broiled them, the bones are piled in heaps, and the flesh trodden with
the feet is made into cakes, which are again exposed to the sun and used
as food. In bad weather, when fish cannot be procured, the bones of
which they have made heaps are pounded, made into cakes and eaten, but
they suck the fresh bones. Some also live upon shell-fish, when they are
fattened, which is done by throwing them into holes and standing pools
of the sea, where they are supplied with small fish, and used as food
when other fish are scarce. They have various kinds of places for
preserving and feeding fish, from whence they derive their supply.
Some of the inhabitants of that part of the coast which is without water
go inland every five days, accompanied by all their families, with
songs and rejoicings, to the watering-places, where, throwing themselves
on their faces, they drink as beasts until their stomachs are distended
like a drum. They then return again to the sea-coast. They dwell in
caves or cabins, with roofs consisting of beams and rafters made of the
bones and spines of whales, and covered with branches of the olive tree.
14. The Chelonophagi (or Turtle-eaters) live under the cover of shells
(of turtles), which are large enough to be used as boats. Some make of
the sea-weed, which is thrown up in large quantities, lofty and
hill-like heaps, which are hollowed out, and underneath which they live.
They cast out the dead, which are carried away by the tide, as food for
fish.
There are three islands which follow in succession, the island of
Tortoises, the island of Seals, and the island of Hawks. Along the whole
coast there are plantations of palm trees, olive trees, and laurels, not
only within, but in a great part also without the straits.
There is also an island [called the island] of Philip, opposite to it
inland is situated the hunting-ground for elephants, called the chase of
Pythangelus; then follows Arsinoë, a city with a harbour; after these
places is Deire, and beyond them is a hunting-ground for elephants.
From Deire, the next country is that which bears aromatic plants. The
first produces myrrh, and belongs to the Icthyophagi and the Creophagi.
It bears also the persea, peach or Egyptian almond,[740] and the
Egyptian fig. Beyond is Licha, a hunting-ground for elephants. There are
also in many places standing pools of rain-water. When these are dried
up, the elephants, with their trunks and tusks, dig holes and find
water.
On this coast there are two very large lakes extending as far as the
promontory Pytholaus. [741] One of them contains salt water, and is
called a sea; the other, fresh water, and is the haunt of hippopotami
and crocodiles. On the margin grows the papyrus. The ibis is seen in the
neighbourhood of this place. The people who live near the promontory of
Pytholaus (and beginning from this place) do not [CAS. 774] undergo any
mutilation in any part of their body. Next is the country which produces
frankincense; it has a promontory and a temple with a grove of poplars.
In the inland parts is a tract along the banks of a river bearing the
name of Isis, and another that of Nilus,[742] both of which produce
myrrh and frankincense. Also a lagoon filled with water from the
mountains; next the watch-post of the Lion, and the port of Pythangelus.
The next tract bears the false cassia. There are many tracts in
succession on the sides of rivers on which frankincense grows, and
rivers extending to the cinnamon country. The river which bounds this
tract produces (phlous) rushes[743] in great abundance. Then follows
another river, and the port of Daphnus,[744] and a valley called
Apollo’s, which bears, besides frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon. The
latter is more abundant in places far in the interior.
Next is the mountain Elephas,[745] a mountain projecting into the sea,
and a creek; then follows the large harbour of Psygmus, a watering-place
called that of Cynocephali, and the last promontory of this coast,
Notu-ceras (or the Southern Horn). [746] After doubling this cape towards
the south, we have no more descriptions, he says, of harbours or
places, because nothing is known of the sea-coast beyond this
point. [747]
15. Along the coast there are both pillars and altars of Pytholaus,
Lichas, Pythangelus, Leon, and Charimortus, that is, along the known
coast from Deire as far as Notu-ceras; but the distance is not
determined. The country abounds with elephants and lions called myrmeces
(ants). [748] They have their genital organs reversed. Their skin is of a
golden colour, but they are more bare than the lions of Arabia.
It produces also leopards of great strength and courage, and the
rhinoceros. The rhinoceros is little inferior to the elephant; not,
according to Artemidorus, in length to the crest,[749] although he says
he had seen one at Alexandreia, but it is somewhat about [* * *
less][750] in height, judging at least from the one I saw. Nor is the
colour the pale yellow of box-wood, but like that of the elephant. [751]
It was of the size of a bull. Its shape approached very nearly to that
of the wild boar, and particularly the forehead; except the front, which
is furnished with a hooked horn, harder than any bone. It uses it as a
weapon, like the wild boar its tusks. It has also two hard welts, like
folds of serpents, encircling the body from the chine to the belly, one
on the withers, the other on the loins. This description is taken from
one which I myself saw. Artemidorus adds to his account of this animal,
that it is peculiarly inclined to dispute with the elephant for the
place of pasture; thrusting its forehead under the belly [of the
elephant] and ripping it up, unless prevented by the trunk and tusks of
his adversary.
16. Camel-leopards are bred in these parts, but they do not in any
respect resemble leopards, for their variegated skin is more like the
streaked and spotted skin of fallow deer. The [CAS. 775] hinder
quarters are so very much lower than the fore quarters, that it seems as
if the animal sat upon its rump, which is the height of an ox; the fore
legs are as long as those of the camel. The neck rises high and straight
up, but the head greatly exceeds in height that of the camel. From this
want of proportion, the speed of the animal is not so great, I think, as
it is described by Artemidorus, according to whom it is not to be
surpassed. It is not however a wild animal, but rather like a
domesticated beast; for it shows no signs of a savage disposition.
This country, continues Artemidorus, produces also sphinxes,[752]
cynocephali,[753] and cebi,[754] which have the face of a lion, and the
rest of the body like that of a panther; they are as large as deer.
There are wild bulls also, which are carnivorous, and greatly exceed
ours in size and swiftness. They are of a red colour. The crocuttas[755]
is, according to this author, the mixed progeny of a wolf and a dog.
What Metrodorus the Scepsian relates, in his book “on Custom,” is like
fable, and is to be disregarded.
Artemidorus mentions serpents also of thirty cubits in length, which can
master elephants and bulls: in this he does not exaggerate. [756] But the
Indian and African serpents are of a more fabulous size, and are said to
have grass growing on their backs.
17. The mode of life among the Troglodytæ is nomadic. Each tribe is
governed by tyrants. Their wives and children are common, except those
of the tyrants. The offence of corrupting the wife of a tyrant is
punished with the fine of a sheep.
The women carefully paint themselves with antimony. They wear about
their necks shells, as a protection against fascination by witchcraft.
In their quarrels, which are for pastures, they first push away each
other with their hands, they then use stones, or, if wounds are
inflicted, arrows and daggers. The women put an end to these disputes,
by going into the midst of the combatants and using prayers and
entreaties.
Their food consists of flesh and bones pounded together, wrapped up in
skins and then baked, or prepared after many other methods by the cooks,
who are called Acatharti, or impure. In this way they eat not only the
flesh, but the bones and skins also.
They use (as an ointment for the body? ) a mixture of blood and milk; the
drink of the people in general is an infusion of the paliurus
(buckthorn);[757] that of the tyrants is mead; the honey being expressed
from some kind of flower.
Their winter sets in when the Etesian winds begin to blow (for they have
rain), and the remaining season is summer.
They go naked, or wear skins only, and carry clubs. They deprive
themselves of the prepuce,[758] but some are circumcised like Egyptians.
The Ethiopian Megabari have their clubs armed with iron knobs. They use
spears and shields which are covered with raw hides. The other
Ethiopians use bows and lances. Some of the Troglodytæ, when they bury
their dead, bind the body from the neck to the legs with twigs of the
buckthorn. They then immediately throw stones over the body, at the same
time laughing and rejoicing, until they have covered the face. They then
place over it a ram’s horn, and go away.
They travel by night; the male cattle have bells fastened to them, in
order to drive away wild beasts with the sound. They use torches also
and arrows in repelling them. They watch during the night, on account of
their flocks, and sing some peculiar song around their fires.
18. Having given this account of the Troglodytæ and of the neighbouring
Ethiopians, Artemidorus returns to the Arabians. Beginning from
Poseidium, he first describes those who border upon the Arabian Gulf,
and are opposite to the Troglodytæ. He says that Poseidium is situated
within the bay of [Heroopolis],[759] and that contiguous to
Poseidium[760] is a grove of palm trees,[761] well supplied with water,
which is [CAS. 776] highly valued, because all the district around is
burnt up and is without water or shade. But there the fertility of the
palm is prodigious. A man and a woman are appointed by hereditary right
to the guardianship of the grove. They wear skins, and live on dates.
They sleep in huts built on trees, the place being infested with
multitudes of wild beasts.
Next is the island of Phocæ (Seals),[762] which has its name from those
animals, which abound there. Near it is a promontory,[763] which extends
towards Petra, of the Arabians called Nabatæi, and to the country of
Palestine, to this [island] the Minæi,[764] Gerrhæi, and all the
neighbouring nations repair with loads of aromatics.
Next is another tract of sea-coast, formerly called the coast of the
Maranitæ,[765] some of whom were husbandmen, others Scenitæ; but at
present it is occupied by Garindæi, who destroyed the former possessors
by treachery. They attacked those who were assembled to celebrate some
quinquennial festival, and put them to death; they then attacked and
exterminated the rest of the tribe. [766]
Next is the Ælanitic[767] Gulf and Nabatæa, a country well peopled, and
abounding in cattle. The islands which lie near, and opposite, are
inhabited by people who formerly lived without molesting others, but
latterly carried on a piratical warfare in rafts[768] against vessels on
their way from Egypt. But they suffered reprisals, when an armament was
sent out against them, which devastated their country.
Next is a plain, well wooded and well supplied with water; it abounds
with cattle of all kinds, and, among other animals, mules, wild camels,
harts, and hinds; lions also, leopards, and wolves are frequently to be
found. In front lies an island called Dia. Then follows a bay of about
500 stadia in extent, closed in by mountains, the entrance into which is
of difficult access. About it live people who are hunters of wild
animals.
Next are three desert islands, abounding with olive trees, not like
those in our own country, but an indigenous kind, which we call Ethiopic
olives, the tears (or gum) of which have a medicinal virtue.
Then follows a stony beach, which is succeeded by a rugged coast,[769]
not easily navigated by vessels, extending about 1000 stadia. It has few
harbours and anchorages, for a rugged and lofty mountain stretches
parallel to it; then the parts at its base, extending into the sea, form
rocks under water, which, during the blowing of the Etesian winds and
the storms of that period, present dangers, when no assistance can be
afforded to vessels.
Next is a bay in which are some scattered islands,[770] and continuous
with the bay, are three very lofty mounds[771] of black sand. After
these is Charmothas[772] a harbour, about 100 stadia in circumference,
with a narrow entrance very dangerous for all kinds of vessels. A river
empties itself into it. In the middle is a well-wooded island, adapted
for cultivation.
Then follows a rugged coast, and after that are some bays and a country
belonging to Nomades, who live by their camels. They fight from their
backs; they travel upon them, and subsist on their milk and flesh. A
river flows [CAS. 777] through their country, which brings down
gold-dust, but they are ignorant how to make any use of it. They are
called Debæ;[773] some of them are Nomades, others husbandmen.
I do not mention the greater part[774] of the names of these nations, on
account of the obscurity of the people, and because the pronunciation of
them is strange[775] [and uncouth].
Near these people is a nation more civilized, who inhabit a district
with a more temperate climate; for it is well watered, and has frequent
showers. [776] Fossil gold is found there, not in the form of dust, but
in lumps, which do not require much purification. The least pieces are
of the size of a nut, the middle size of a medlar, the largest of a
walnut. These are pierced and arranged alternately with transparent
stones strung on threads and formed into collars. They are worn round
the neck and wrists. They sell the gold to their neighbours at a cheap
rate, exchanging it for three times the quantity of brass, and double
the quantity of iron,[777] through ignorance of the mode of working the
gold, and the scarcity of the commodities received in exchange, which
are more necessary for the purposes of life.
19. The country of the Sabæi,[778] a very populous nation, is
contiguous, and is the most fertile of all, producing myrrh,
frankincense, and cinnamon. On the coast is found balsamum and another
kind of herb of a very fragrant smell, but which is soon dissipated.
There are also sweet-smelling palms and the calamus. There are snakes
also of a dark red colour, a span in length, which spring up as high as
a man’s waist, and whose bite is incurable.
On account of the abundance which the soil produces, the people are lazy
and indolent in their mode of life. The lower class of people live on
roots, and sleep on the trees.
The people who live near each other receive, in continued succession,
the loads [of perfumes] and deliver them to others, who convey them as
far as Syria and Mesopotamia. When the carriers become drowsy by the
odour of the aromatics, the drowsiness is removed by the fumes of
asphaltus and of goat’s beard.
Mariaba,[779] the capital of the Sabæans, is situated upon a mountain,
well wooded. A king resides there, who determines absolutely all
disputes and other matters; but he is forbidden to leave his palace, or
if he does so, the rabble immediately assail him with stones, according
to the direction of an oracle. He himself, and those about his person,
pass their lives in effeminate voluptuousness.
The people cultivate the ground, or follow the trade of dealing in
aromatics, both the indigenous sort and those brought from Ethiopia; in
order to procure them, they sail through the straits in vessels covered
with skins. There is such an abundance of these aromatics, that
cinnamon, cassia, and other spices are used by them instead of sticks
and firewood.
In the country of the Sabæans is found the larimnum, a most fragrant
perfume.
By the trade [in these aromatics] both the Sabæans and the Gerrhæi have
become the richest of all the tribes, and possess a great quantity of
wrought articles in gold and silver, [CAS. 778] as couches, tripods,
basins, drinking-vessels, to which we must add the costly magnificence
of their houses; for the doors, walls, and roofs are variegated with
inlaid ivory, gold, silver, and precious stones.
This is the account of Artemidorus. [780] The rest of the description is
partly similar to that of Eratosthenes, and partly derived from other
historians.
20. Some of these say, that the sea is red from the colour arising from
reflection either from the sun, which is vertical, or from the
mountains, which are red by being scorched with intense heat; for the
colour, it is supposed, may be produced by both these causes. Ctesias of
Cnidus speaks of a spring which discharges into the sea a red and
ochrous water. Agatharchides, his fellow-citizen, relates, on the
authority of a person of the name of Boxus, of Persian descent, that
when a troop of horses was driven by a lioness in heat as far as the
sea, and had passed over to an island, a Persian of the name of Erythras
constructed a raft, and was the first person who crossed the sea to it;
perceiving the island to be well adapted for inhabitants, he drove the
herd back to Persia, and sent out colonists both to this and the other
islands and to the coast. He [thus] gave his own name to the sea. But
according to others, it was Erythras the son of Perseus who was the king
of this country.
According to some writers, from the straits in the Arabian Gulf to the
extremity of the cinnamon country is a distance of 5000 stadia,[781]
without distinguishing whether (the direction is) to the south or to the
east.
It is said also that the emerald and the beryl are found in the gold
mines. According to Poseidonius, an odoriferous salt is found in Arabia.
21. The Nabatæans and Sabæans, situated above Syria, are the first
people who occupy Arabia Felix. They were frequently in the habit of
overrunning this country before the Romans became masters of it, but at
present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans.
The capital of the Nabatæans is called Petra. It is situated on a spot
which is surrounded and fortified by a smooth and level rock (petra),
which externally is abrupt and precipitous, but within there are
abundant springs of water both for domestic purposes and for watering
gardens. Beyond the enclosure the country is for the most part a desert,
particularly towards Judæa. Through this is the shortest road to
Jericho, a journey of three or four days, and five days to the Phœnicon
(or palm plantation). It is always governed by a king of the royal race.
The king has a minister who is one of the Companions, and is called
Brother. It has excellent laws for the administration of public affairs.
Athenodorus, a philosopher, and my friend, who had been at Petra, used
to relate with surprise, that he found many Romans and also many other
strangers residing there. He observed the strangers frequently engaged
in litigation, both with one another and with the natives; but the
natives had never any dispute amongst themselves, and lived together in
perfect harmony.
22. The late expedition[782] of the Romans against the Arabians, under
the command of Ælius Gallus, has made us acquainted with many
peculiarities of the country. Augustus Cæsar despatched this general to
explore the nature of these [CAS. 779] places and their inhabitants, as
well as those of Ethiopia; for he observed that Troglodytica, which is
contiguous to Egypt, bordered upon Ethiopia; and that the Arabian Gulf
was extremely narrow, where it separates the Arabians from the
Troglodytæ. It was his intention either to conciliate or subdue the
Arabians. He was also influenced by the report, which had prevailed from
all time, that this people were very wealthy, and exchanged their
aromatics and precious stones for silver and gold, but never expended
with foreigners any part of what they received in exchange. He hoped to
acquire either opulent friends, or to overcome opulent enemies.
He was
moreover encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of
assistance from the Nabatæans, who promised to co-operate with him in
everything.
23. Upon these inducements Gallus set out on the expedition. But he was
deceived by Syllæus, the [king’s] minister of the Nabatæans, who had
promised to be his guide on the march, and to assist him in the
execution of his design. Syllæus was however treacherous throughout; for
he neither guided them by a safe course by sea along the coast, nor by a
safe road for the army, as he promised, but exposed both the fleet and
the army to danger, by directing them where there was no road, or the
road was impracticable, where they were obliged to make long circuits,
or to pass through tracts of country destitute of everything; he led the
fleet along a rocky coast without harbours, or to places abounding with
rocks concealed under water, or with shallows. In places of this
description particularly, the flowing and ebbing of the tide did them
the most harm.
The first mistake consisted in building long vessels [of war] at a time
when there was no war, nor any likely to occur by sea. For the Arabians,
being mostly engaged in traffic and commerce, are not a very warlike
people even on land, much less so at sea. Gallus, notwithstanding, built
not less than eighty biremes and triremes and galleys (phaseli) at
Cleopatris,[783] near the old canal which leads from the Nile. When he
discovered his mistake, he constructed a hundred and thirty vessels of
burden, in which he embarked with about ten thousand infantry, collected
from Egypt, consisting of Romans and allies, among whom were five
hundred Jews and a thousand Nabatæans, under the command of Syllæus.
After enduring great hardships and distress, he arrived on the fifteenth
day at Leuce-Come, a large mart in the territory of the Nabatæans, with
the loss of many of his vessels, some with all their crews, in
consequence of the difficulty of the navigation, but by no opposition
from an enemy. These misfortunes were occasioned by the perfidy of
Syllæus, who insisted that there was no road for an army by land to
Leuce-Come, to which and from which place the camel-traders travel with
ease and in safety from Petra, and back to Petra, with so large a body
of men and camels as to differ in no respect from an army.
24. Another cause of the failure of the expedition was the fact of king
Obodas not paying much attention to public affairs, and especially to
those relative to war (as is the custom with all Arabian kings), but
placed everything in the power of Syllæus the minister. His whole
conduct in command of the army was perfidious, and his object was, as I
suppose, to examine as a spy the state of the country, and to destroy,
in concert with the Romans, certain cities and tribes: and when the
Romans should be consumed by famine, fatigue, and disease, and by all
the evils which he had treacherously contrived, to declare himself
master of the whole country.
Gallus however arrived at Leuce-Come, with the army labouring under
stomacacce and scelotyrbe, diseases of the country, the former affecting
the mouth, the other the legs, with a kind of paralysis, caused by the
water and the plants [which the soldiers had used in their food]. He was
therefore compelled to pass the summer and the winter there, for the
recovery of the sick.
Merchandise is conveyed from Leuce-Come to Petra, thence to Rhinocolura
in Phœnicia, near Egypt, and thence to other nations. But at present the
greater part is transported by the Nile to Alexandreia. It is brought
down from Arabia and India to Myus Hormus, it is then conveyed on camels
to Coptus[784] of the Thebaïs, situated on a canal of the Nile, and to
Alexandreia. Gallus, setting out again from Leuce-Come on his return
with his army, and through the treachery of his guide, traversed such
tracts of country, that the army was obliged to carry water with them
upon camels. After a [CAS. 781] march of many days, therefore, he came
to the territory of Aretas, who was related to Obodas. Aretas received
him in a friendly manner, and offered presents. But by the treachery of
Syllæus, Gallus was conducted by a difficult road through the country;
for he occupied thirty days in passing through it. It afforded barley, a
few palm trees, and butter instead of oil.
The next country to which he came belonged to Nomades, and was in great
part a complete desert. It was called Ararene. The king of the country
was Sabos. Gallus spent fifty days in passing through this territory,
for want of roads, and came to a city of the Negrani, and to a fertile
country peacefully disposed. The king had fled, and the city was taken
at the first onset. After a march of six days from thence, he came to
the river. Here the barbarians attacked the Romans, and lost about ten
thousand men; the Romans lost only two men. For the barbarians were
entirely inexperienced in war, and used their weapons unskilfully, which
were bows, spears, swords, and slings; but the greater part of them
wielded a double-edged axe. Immediately afterwards he took the city
called Asca, which had been abandoned by the king. He thence came to a
city Athrula, and took it without resistance; having placed a garrison
there, and collected provisions for the march, consisting of corn and
dates, he proceeded to a city Marsiaba, belonging to the nation of the
Rhammanitæ, who were subjects of Ilasarus. He assaulted and besieged it
for six days, but raised the siege in consequence of a scarcity of
water. He was two days’ march from the aromatic region, as he was
informed by his prisoners. He occupied in his marches a period of six
months, in consequence of the treachery of his guides. This he
discovered when he was returning; and although he was late in
discovering the design against him, he had time to take another road
back; for he arrived in nine days at Negrana, where the battle was
fought, and thence in eleven days he came to the “Seven Wells,” as the
place is called from the fact of their existing there. Thence he marched
through a desert country, and came to Chaalla a village, and then to
another called Malothas, situated on a river. His road then lay through
a desert country, which had only a few watering-places, as far as
Egra[785] a village. It belongs to the territory of Obodas, and is
situated upon the sea. He accomplished on his return the whole distance
in sixty days, in which, on his first journey, he had consumed six
months. From Negra he conducted his army in eleven days to Myus Hormus;
thence across the country to Coptus, and arrived at Alexandreia with so
much of his army could be saved. The remainder he lost, not by the
enemy, but by disease, fatigue, famine, and marches through bad roads;
for seven men only perished in battle. For these reasons this expedition
contributed little in extending our knowledge of the country. It was
however of some small service.
Syllæus, the author of these disasters, was punished for his treachery
at Rome. He affected friendship, but he was convicted of other offences,
besides perfidy in this instance, and was beheaded.
25. The aromatic country, as I have before said,[786] is divided into
four parts. Of aromatics, the frankincense and myrrh are said to be the
produce of trees, but cassia the growth of bushes; yet some writers say,
that the greater part (of the cassia) is brought from India, and that
the best frankincense is that from Persia.
According to another partition of the country, the whole of Arabia Felix
is divided into five kingdoms (or portions), one of which comprises the
fighting men, who fight for all the rest; another contains the
husbandmen, by whom the rest are supplied with food; another includes
those who work at mechanical trades. One division comprises the myrrh
region; another the frankincense region, although the same tracts
produce cassia, cinnamon, and nard. Trades are not changed from one
family to another, but each workman continues to exercise that of his
father.
The greater part of their wine is made from the palm.
A man’s brothers are held in more respect than his children. The
descendants of the royal family succeed as kings, and are invested with
other governments, according to primogeniture. Property is common among
all the relations. The eldest is the chief. There is one wife among them
all. He who enters [CAS. 783] the house before any of the rest, has
intercourse with her, having placed his staff at the door; for it is a
necessary custom, which every one is compelled to observe, to carry a
staff. The woman however passes the night with the eldest. Hence the
male children are all brothers. They have sexual intercourse also with
their mothers. Adultery is punished with death, but an adulterer must
belong to another family.
A daughter of one of the kings was of extraordinary beauty, and had
fifteen brothers, who were all in love with her, and were her unceasing
and successive visitors; she, being at last weary of their importunity,
is said to have employed the following device. She procured staves to be
made similar to those of her brothers; when one left the house, she
placed before the door a staff similar to the first, and a little time
afterwards another, and so on in succession, but making her calculation
so that the person who intended to visit her might not have one similar
to that at her door. On an occasion when the brothers were all of them
together at the market-place, one left it, and came to the door of the
house; seeing the staff there, and conjecturing some one to be in her
apartment, and having left all the other brothers at the market-place,
he suspected the person to be an adulterer; running therefore in haste
to his father, he brought him with him to the house, but it was proved
that he had falsely accused his sister.
26. The Nabatæans are prudent, and fond of accumulating property. The
community fine a person who has diminished his substance, and confer
honours on him who has increased it. They have few slaves, and are
served for the most part by their relations, or by one another, or each
person is his own servant; and this custom extends even to their kings.
They eat their meals in companies consisting of thirteen persons. Each
party is attended by two musicians. But the king gives many
entertainments in great buildings. No one drinks more than eleven
[appointed] cupfuls, from separate cups, each of gold.
The king courts popular favour so much, that he is not only his own
servant, but sometimes he himself ministers to others. He frequently
renders an account [of his administration] before the people, and
sometimes an inquiry is made into his mode of life.
The houses are sumptuous, and of stone. The cities are without walls, on
account of the peace [which prevails among them]. A great part of the
country is fertile, and produces everything except oil of olives;
[instead of it], the oil of sesamum is used. The sheep have white
fleeces, their oxen are large; but the country produces no horses. [787]
Camels are the substitute for horses, and perform the [same kind of]
labour. They wear no tunics, but have a girdle about the loins, and walk
abroad in sandals. [788] The dress of the kings is the same, but the
colour is purple.
Some merchandise is altogether imported into the country, others are not
altogether imports, especially as some articles are native products, as
gold and silver, and many of the aromatics; but brass and iron, purple
garments, styrax, saffron, and costus (or white cinnamon), pieces of
sculpture, paintings, statues, are not to be procured in the country.
They look upon the bodies of the dead as no better than dung, according
to the words of Heracleitus, “dead bodies more fit to be cast out than
dung;” wherefore they bury even their kings beside dung-heaps. They
worship the sun, and construct the altar on the top of a house, pouring
out libations and burning frankincense upon it every day.
27. When the poet says,
“I went to the country of the Ethiopians, Sidonians, and Erembi,”[789]
it is doubtful, what people he means by Sidonians, whether those who
lived near the Persian Gulf, a colony from which nation are the
Sidonians in our quarter (in the same manner as historians relate, that
some Tyrian islanders are found there, and Aradii, from whom the Aradii
in our country derive their origin), or whether the poet means actually
the Sidonians themselves.
But there is more doubt about the Erembi, whether we are to suppose that
he means the Troglodytæ, according to the opinion of those who, by a
forced etymology, derive the word Erembi from ἔραν ἐμβαίνειν, that is,
“entering into the earth,” or whether he means the Arabians. Zeno the
philosopher of our sect alters the reading in this manner,
“And Sidoni, and Arabes;”
[CAS. 784] but Poseidonius alters it with a small variation,
“And Sidonii, and Arambi,”
as if the poet gave the name Arambi to the present Arabians, from their
being so called by others in his time. He says also, that the situation
of these three nations close to one another indicates a descent from
some common stock, and that on this account they are called by names
having a resemblance to one another, as Armenii, Aramæi, Arambi. For as
we may suppose one nation to have been divided into three (according to
the differences of latitude [in which they lived], which successively
became more marked [in proceeding from one to the other]), so in like
manner we may suppose that several names were adopted in place of one.
The proposed change of reading to Eremni is not probable, for that name
is more applicable to the Ethiopians. The poet mentions also the Arimi,
whom Poseidonius says are meant here, and not a place in Syria or
Cilicia, or any other country, but Syria itself. For the Aramæi lived
there. Perhaps these are the people whom the Greeks called Arimæi or
Arimi. But the alterations of names, especially of barbarous nations,
are frequent, Thus Darius was called Darieces; Parysatis, Pharziris;
Athara, Atargata, whom Ctesias again calls Derceto. [790]
Alexander might be adduced to bear witness to the wealth of the
Arabians, for he intended, it is said, after his return from India, to
make Arabia the seat of empire. All his enterprises terminated with his
death, which happened suddenly; but certainly one of his projects was to
try whether the Arabians would receive him voluntarily, or resist him by
force of arms; for having found that they did not send ambassadors to
him, either before or after his expedition to India, he was beginning to
make preparations for war, as we have said in a former part of this
work.
BOOK XVII.
SUMMARY.
The Seventeenth Book contains the whole of Egypt and Africa.
CHAPTER I.
When we were describing Arabia, we included in the description the gulfs
which compress and make it a peninsula, namely the Gulfs of Arabia and
of Persis. We described at the same time some parts of Egypt, and those
of Ethiopia, inhabited by the Troglodytæ, and by the people situated
next to them, extending to the confines of the Cinnamon country. [791]
We are now to describe the remaining parts contiguous to these nations,
and situated about the Nile. We shall then give an account of Africa,
which remains to complete this treatise on Geography.
And here we must previously adduce the opinions of Eratosthenes.
2. He says, that the Nile is distant from the Arabian Gulf towards the
west 1000 stadia, and that it resembles (in its course) the letter N
reversed. For after flowing, he says, about 2700 stadia from Meroë
towards the north, it turns again to the south, and to the winter
sunset, continuing its course for about 3700 stadia, when it is almost
in the latitude of the places about Meroë. Then entering far into
Africa, and having made another bend, it flows towards the north, a
distance of 5300 stadia, to the great cataract;[792] and inclining a
little to the east, traverses a distance of 1200 stadia to the smaller
cataract at Syene,[793] and 5300 stadia more to the sea. [794]
[CAS. 786] Two rivers empty themselves into it, which issue out of
some lakes towards the east, and encircle Meroë, a considerable
island. [795] One of these rivers is called Astaboras,[796] flowing along
the eastern side of the island. The other is the Astapus, or, as some
call it, Astasobas. But the Astapus[797] is said to be another river,
which issues out of some lakes on the south, and that this river forms
nearly the body of the (stream of the) Nile which flows in a straight
line, and that it is filled by the summer rains; that above the
confluence of the Astaboras and the Nile, at the distance of 700 stadia,
is Meroë, a city having the same name as the island; and that there is
another island above Meroë, occupied by the fugitive Egyptians, who
revolted in the time of Psammitichus,[798] and are called Sembritæ, or
foreigners. Their sovereign is a queen, but they obey the king of Meroë.
The lower parts of the country on each side Meroë, along the Nile
towards the Red Sea, are occupied by Megabari and Blemmyes, who are
subject to the Ethiopians, and border upon the Egyptians; about the sea
are Troglodytæ. The Troglodytæ, in the latitude of Meroë, are distant
ten or twelve days’ journey from the Nile. On the left of the course of
the Nile live Nubæ in Libya, a populous nation. They begin [CAS. 787]
from Meroë, and extend as far as the bends (of the river). They are not
subject to the Ethiopians, but live independently, being distributed
into several sovereignties.
The extent of Egypt along the sea, from the Pelusiac to the Canobic
mouth, is 1300 stadia.
Such is the account of Eratosthenes.
3. We must, however, enter into a further detail of particulars. And
first, we must speak of the parts about Egypt, proceeding from those
that are better known to those which follow next in order.
The Nile produces some common effects in this and the contiguous tract
of country, namely, that of the Ethiopians above it, in watering them at
the time of its rise, and leaving those parts only habitable which have
been covered by the inundation; it intersects the higher lands, and all
the tract elevated above its current on both sides, which however are
uninhabited and a desert, from an absolute want of water. But the Nile
does not traverse the whole of Ethiopia, nor alone, nor in a straight
line, nor a country which is well inhabited. But Egypt it traverses both
alone and entirely, and in a straight line, from the lesser cataract
above Syene and Elephantina, (which are the boundaries of Egypt and
Ethiopia,) to the mouths by which it discharges itself into the sea. The
Ethiopians at present lead for the most part a wandering life, and are
destitute of the means of subsistence, on account of the barrenness of
the soil, the disadvantages of climate, and their great distance from
us.
Now the contrary is the case with the Egyptians in all these respects.
For they have lived from the first under a regular form of government,
they were a people of civilized manners, and were settled in a
well-known country; their institutions have been recorded and mentioned
in terms of praise, for they seemed to have availed themselves of the
fertility of their country in the best possible manner by the partition
of it (and by the classification of persons) which they adopted, and by
their general care.
When they had appointed a king, they divided the people into three
classes, into soldiers, husbandmen, and priests. The latter had the care
of everything relating to sacred things (of the gods), the others of
what related to man; some had the management of warlike affairs, others
attended to the concerns of peace, the cultivation of the ground, and
the practice of the arts, from which the king derived his revenue.
The priests devoted themselves to the study of philosophy and astronomy,
and were companions of the kings.
The country was at first divided into nomes. [799] The Thebaïs contained
ten, the Delta ten, and the intermediate tract sixteen. But according to
some writers, all the nomes together amounted to the number of chambers
in the Labyrinth. Now these were less than thirty [six]. The nomes were
again divided into other sections. The greater number of the nomes were
distributed into toparchies, and these again into other sections; the
smallest portions were the arouræ.
An exact and minute division of the country was required by the frequent
confusion of boundaries occasioned at the time of the rise of the Nile,
which takes away, adds, and alters the various shapes of the bounds, and
obliterates other marks by which the property of one person is
distinguished [CAS. 787] from that of another. It was consequently
necessary to measure the land repeatedly. Hence it is said geometry
originated here, as the art of keeping accounts and arithmetic
originated with the Phœnicians, in consequence of their commerce. [800]
As the whole population of the country, so the separate population in
each nome, was divided into three classes; the territory also was
divided into three equal portions.
The attention and care bestowed upon the Nile is so great to cause
industry to triumph over nature. The ground by nature, and still more by
being supplied with water, produces a great abundance of fruits. By
nature also a greater rise of the river irrigates a larger tract of
land; but industry has completely succeeded in rectifying the deficiency
of nature, so that in seasons when the rise of the river has been less
than usual, as large a portion of the country is irrigated by means of
canals and embankments, as in seasons when the rise of the river has
been greater.
Before the times of Petronius there was the greatest plenty, and the
rise of the river was the greatest when it rose to the height of
fourteen cubits; but when it rose to eight only, a famine ensued. During
the government of Petronius, however, when the Nile rose twelve cubits
only, there was a most abundant crop; and once when it mounted to eight
only, no famine followed. Such then is the nature of this provision for
the physical state of the country. We shall now proceed to the next
particulars.
4. The Nile, when it leaves the boundaries of Ethiopia, flows in a
straight line towards the north, to the tract called the Delta, then
“cloven at the head,” (according to the expression of Plato,) makes this
point the vertex, as it were, of a triangle, the sides of which are
formed by the streams, which separate on each side, and extend to the
sea, one on the right hand to Pelusium, the other on the left to Canobus
and the neighbouring Heracleium, as it is called; the base is the coast
lying between Pelusium and the Heracleium.
An island was therefore formed by the sea and by both streams of the
river, which is called Delta from the resemblance of its shape to the
letter (Δ) of that name. The spot at the vertex of the triangle has the
same appellation, because it is the beginning of the above-mentioned
triangular figure. The village, also, situated upon it is called Delta.
These then are two mouths of the Nile, one of which is called the
Pelusiac, the other the Canobic and Heracleiotic mouth. Between these
are five other outlets, some of which are considerable, but the greater
part are of inferior importance. For many others branch off from the
principal streams, and are distributed over the whole of the island of
the Delta, and form many streams and islands; so that the whole Delta is
accessible to boats, one canal succeeding another, and navigated with so
much ease, that some persons make use of rafts[801] floated on earthen
pots, to transport them from place to place.
The whole island is about 3000 stadia in circumference, and is called,
as also the lower country, with the land on the opposite sides of the
streams, the Delta.
But at the time of the rising of the Nile, the whole country is covered,
and resembles a sea, except the inhabited spots, which are situated upon
natural hills or mounds; and considerable cities and villages appear
like islands in the distant prospect.
The water, after having continued on the ground more than forty days in
summer, then subsides by degrees, in the same manner as it rose. In
sixty days the plain is entirely exposed to view, and dries up. The
sooner the land is dry, so much the sooner the ploughing and sowing are
accomplished, and it dries earlier in those parts where the heat is
greater.
The country above the Delta is irrigated in the same manner, except that
the river flows in a straight line to the distance of about 4000 stadia
in one channel, unless where some island intervenes, the most
considerable of which comprises the Heracleiotic Nome; or, where it is
diverted by a canal into a large lake, or a tract of country which it is
capable of irrigating, as the lake Mœris and the Arsinoïte Nome, or
where the canals discharge themselves into the Mareotis.
[CAS. 789] In short, Egypt, from the mountains of Ethiopia to the vertex
of the Delta, is merely a river tract on each side of the Nile, and
rarely if anywhere comprehends in one continued line a habitable
territory of 300 stadia in breadth. It resembles, except the frequent
diversions of its course, a bandage rolled out. [802]
The mountains on each side (of the Nile), which descend from the parts
about Syene to the Egyptian Sea,[803] give this shape to the river tract
of which I am speaking, and to the country. For in proportion as these
mountains extend along that tract, or recede from each other, in the
same degree is the river contracted or expanded, and they impart to the
habitable country its variety of shape. But the country beyond the
mountains is in a great measure uninhabited.
5. The ancients understood more by conjecture than otherwise, but
persons in later times learnt by experience as eye-witnesses, that the
Nile owes its rise to summer rains, which fall in great abundance in
Upper Ethiopia, particularly in the most distant mountains. On the rains
ceasing, the fulness of the river gradually subsides. This was
particularly observed by those who navigated the Arabian Gulf on their
way to the Cinnamon country, and by those who were sent out to hunt
elephants, or for such other purposes as induced the Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt, to despatch persons in that direction. These sovereigns had
directed their attention to objects of this kind, particularly Ptolemy
surnamed Philadelphus, who was a lover of science, and on account of
bodily infirmities always in search of some new diversion and amusement.
But the ancient kings paid little attention to such inquiries, although
both they and the priests, with whom they passed the greater part of
their lives, professed to be devoted to the study of philosophy. Their
ignorance therefore is more surprising, both on this account and because
Sesostris had traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the Cinnamon
country, of which expedition monuments exist even to the present day,
such as pillars and inscriptions. Cambyses also, when he was in
possession of Egypt, had advanced with the Egyptians as far even as
Meroë; and it is said that he gave this name both to the island and to
the city, because his sister, or according to some writers his wife,
Meroë died there. For this reason therefore he conferred the appellation
on the island, and in honour of a woman. It is surprising how, with such
opportunities of obtaining information, the history of these rains
should not have been clearly known to persons living in those times,
especially as the priests registered with the greatest diligence in the
sacred books all extraordinary facts, and preserved records of
everything which seemed to contribute to an increase of knowledge. And,
if this had been the case, would it be necessary to inquire what is even
still a question, what can possibly be the reason why rain falls in
summer, and not in winter, in the most southerly parts of the country,
but not in the Thebaïs, nor in the country about Syene? nor should we
have to examine whether the rise of the water of the Nile is occasioned
by rains, nor require such evidence for these facts as Poseidonius
adduces. For he says, that Callisthenes asserts that the cause of the
rise of the river is the rain of summer. This he borrows from Aristotle,
who borrowed it from Thrasyalces the Thasian (one of the ancient writers
on physics), Thrasyalces from some other person, and he from Homer, who
calls the Nile “heaven-descended:”
“back to Egypt’s heaven-descended stream. ”[804]
But I quit this subject, since it has been discussed by many writers,
among whom it will be sufficient to specify two, who have (each)
composed in our times a treatise on the Nile, Eudorus and Aristo the
Peripatetic philosopher. [They differ little from each other] except in
the order and disposition of the works, for the phraseology and
execution is the same in both writers. (I can speak with some confidence
in this matter), for when at a loss (for manuscripts) for the purpose of
comparison and copy, I collated both authors. [805] But which of them
surreptitiously substituted the other’s account as his own, we may
[CAS. 790] go to the temple of Ammon to be informed.
one piece of bone which is inflexible; the hunters leap down from the
trees, kill it, and cut it in pieces. The Nomades call the hunters
Acatharti, or impure.
11. Above this nation is situated a small tribe the Struthophagi[736]
(or Bird-eaters), in whose country are birds of the size of deer, which
are unable to fly, but run with the swiftness of the ostrich. Some hunt
them with bows and arrows, others covered with the skins of birds. They
hide the right hand in the neck of the skin, and move it as the birds
move their necks. With the left hand they scatter grain from a bag
suspended to the side; they thus entice the birds, till they drive them
into pits, where the hunters despatch them with cudgels. The skins are
used both as clothes and as coverings for beds. The Ethiopians called
Simi are at war with these people, and use as weapons the horns of
antelopes.
12. Bordering on this people is a nation blacker in complexion than the
others,[737] shorter in stature, and very short-lived. They rarely live
beyond forty years; for the flesh [CAS. 772] of their bodies is eaten
up with worms. [738] Their food consists of locusts, which the south-west
and west winds, when they blow violently in the spring-time, drive in
bodies into the country. The inhabitants catch them by throwing into the
ravines materials which cause a great deal of smoke, and light them
gently. The locusts, as they fly across the smoke, are blinded and fall
down. They are pounded with salt, made into cakes, and eaten as food.
Above these people is situated a desert tract with extensive pastures.
It was abandoned in consequence of the multitudes of scorpions and
tarantulas, called tetragnathi (or four-jawed), which formerly abounded
to so great a degree as to occasion a complete desertion of the place
long since by its inhabitants.
13. Next to the harbour of Eumenes, as far as Deire and the straits
opposite the six islands,[739] live the Ichthyophagi, Creophagi, and
Colobi, who extend into the interior.
Many hunting-grounds for elephants, and obscure cities and islands, lie
in front of the coast.
The greater part are Nomades; husbandmen are few in number. In the
country occupied by some of these nations styrax grows in large
quantity. The Icthyophagi, on the ebbing of the tide, collect fish,
which they cast upon the rocks and dry in the sun. When they have well
broiled them, the bones are piled in heaps, and the flesh trodden with
the feet is made into cakes, which are again exposed to the sun and used
as food. In bad weather, when fish cannot be procured, the bones of
which they have made heaps are pounded, made into cakes and eaten, but
they suck the fresh bones. Some also live upon shell-fish, when they are
fattened, which is done by throwing them into holes and standing pools
of the sea, where they are supplied with small fish, and used as food
when other fish are scarce. They have various kinds of places for
preserving and feeding fish, from whence they derive their supply.
Some of the inhabitants of that part of the coast which is without water
go inland every five days, accompanied by all their families, with
songs and rejoicings, to the watering-places, where, throwing themselves
on their faces, they drink as beasts until their stomachs are distended
like a drum. They then return again to the sea-coast. They dwell in
caves or cabins, with roofs consisting of beams and rafters made of the
bones and spines of whales, and covered with branches of the olive tree.
14. The Chelonophagi (or Turtle-eaters) live under the cover of shells
(of turtles), which are large enough to be used as boats. Some make of
the sea-weed, which is thrown up in large quantities, lofty and
hill-like heaps, which are hollowed out, and underneath which they live.
They cast out the dead, which are carried away by the tide, as food for
fish.
There are three islands which follow in succession, the island of
Tortoises, the island of Seals, and the island of Hawks. Along the whole
coast there are plantations of palm trees, olive trees, and laurels, not
only within, but in a great part also without the straits.
There is also an island [called the island] of Philip, opposite to it
inland is situated the hunting-ground for elephants, called the chase of
Pythangelus; then follows Arsinoë, a city with a harbour; after these
places is Deire, and beyond them is a hunting-ground for elephants.
From Deire, the next country is that which bears aromatic plants. The
first produces myrrh, and belongs to the Icthyophagi and the Creophagi.
It bears also the persea, peach or Egyptian almond,[740] and the
Egyptian fig. Beyond is Licha, a hunting-ground for elephants. There are
also in many places standing pools of rain-water. When these are dried
up, the elephants, with their trunks and tusks, dig holes and find
water.
On this coast there are two very large lakes extending as far as the
promontory Pytholaus. [741] One of them contains salt water, and is
called a sea; the other, fresh water, and is the haunt of hippopotami
and crocodiles. On the margin grows the papyrus. The ibis is seen in the
neighbourhood of this place. The people who live near the promontory of
Pytholaus (and beginning from this place) do not [CAS. 774] undergo any
mutilation in any part of their body. Next is the country which produces
frankincense; it has a promontory and a temple with a grove of poplars.
In the inland parts is a tract along the banks of a river bearing the
name of Isis, and another that of Nilus,[742] both of which produce
myrrh and frankincense. Also a lagoon filled with water from the
mountains; next the watch-post of the Lion, and the port of Pythangelus.
The next tract bears the false cassia. There are many tracts in
succession on the sides of rivers on which frankincense grows, and
rivers extending to the cinnamon country. The river which bounds this
tract produces (phlous) rushes[743] in great abundance. Then follows
another river, and the port of Daphnus,[744] and a valley called
Apollo’s, which bears, besides frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon. The
latter is more abundant in places far in the interior.
Next is the mountain Elephas,[745] a mountain projecting into the sea,
and a creek; then follows the large harbour of Psygmus, a watering-place
called that of Cynocephali, and the last promontory of this coast,
Notu-ceras (or the Southern Horn). [746] After doubling this cape towards
the south, we have no more descriptions, he says, of harbours or
places, because nothing is known of the sea-coast beyond this
point. [747]
15. Along the coast there are both pillars and altars of Pytholaus,
Lichas, Pythangelus, Leon, and Charimortus, that is, along the known
coast from Deire as far as Notu-ceras; but the distance is not
determined. The country abounds with elephants and lions called myrmeces
(ants). [748] They have their genital organs reversed. Their skin is of a
golden colour, but they are more bare than the lions of Arabia.
It produces also leopards of great strength and courage, and the
rhinoceros. The rhinoceros is little inferior to the elephant; not,
according to Artemidorus, in length to the crest,[749] although he says
he had seen one at Alexandreia, but it is somewhat about [* * *
less][750] in height, judging at least from the one I saw. Nor is the
colour the pale yellow of box-wood, but like that of the elephant. [751]
It was of the size of a bull. Its shape approached very nearly to that
of the wild boar, and particularly the forehead; except the front, which
is furnished with a hooked horn, harder than any bone. It uses it as a
weapon, like the wild boar its tusks. It has also two hard welts, like
folds of serpents, encircling the body from the chine to the belly, one
on the withers, the other on the loins. This description is taken from
one which I myself saw. Artemidorus adds to his account of this animal,
that it is peculiarly inclined to dispute with the elephant for the
place of pasture; thrusting its forehead under the belly [of the
elephant] and ripping it up, unless prevented by the trunk and tusks of
his adversary.
16. Camel-leopards are bred in these parts, but they do not in any
respect resemble leopards, for their variegated skin is more like the
streaked and spotted skin of fallow deer. The [CAS. 775] hinder
quarters are so very much lower than the fore quarters, that it seems as
if the animal sat upon its rump, which is the height of an ox; the fore
legs are as long as those of the camel. The neck rises high and straight
up, but the head greatly exceeds in height that of the camel. From this
want of proportion, the speed of the animal is not so great, I think, as
it is described by Artemidorus, according to whom it is not to be
surpassed. It is not however a wild animal, but rather like a
domesticated beast; for it shows no signs of a savage disposition.
This country, continues Artemidorus, produces also sphinxes,[752]
cynocephali,[753] and cebi,[754] which have the face of a lion, and the
rest of the body like that of a panther; they are as large as deer.
There are wild bulls also, which are carnivorous, and greatly exceed
ours in size and swiftness. They are of a red colour. The crocuttas[755]
is, according to this author, the mixed progeny of a wolf and a dog.
What Metrodorus the Scepsian relates, in his book “on Custom,” is like
fable, and is to be disregarded.
Artemidorus mentions serpents also of thirty cubits in length, which can
master elephants and bulls: in this he does not exaggerate. [756] But the
Indian and African serpents are of a more fabulous size, and are said to
have grass growing on their backs.
17. The mode of life among the Troglodytæ is nomadic. Each tribe is
governed by tyrants. Their wives and children are common, except those
of the tyrants. The offence of corrupting the wife of a tyrant is
punished with the fine of a sheep.
The women carefully paint themselves with antimony. They wear about
their necks shells, as a protection against fascination by witchcraft.
In their quarrels, which are for pastures, they first push away each
other with their hands, they then use stones, or, if wounds are
inflicted, arrows and daggers. The women put an end to these disputes,
by going into the midst of the combatants and using prayers and
entreaties.
Their food consists of flesh and bones pounded together, wrapped up in
skins and then baked, or prepared after many other methods by the cooks,
who are called Acatharti, or impure. In this way they eat not only the
flesh, but the bones and skins also.
They use (as an ointment for the body? ) a mixture of blood and milk; the
drink of the people in general is an infusion of the paliurus
(buckthorn);[757] that of the tyrants is mead; the honey being expressed
from some kind of flower.
Their winter sets in when the Etesian winds begin to blow (for they have
rain), and the remaining season is summer.
They go naked, or wear skins only, and carry clubs. They deprive
themselves of the prepuce,[758] but some are circumcised like Egyptians.
The Ethiopian Megabari have their clubs armed with iron knobs. They use
spears and shields which are covered with raw hides. The other
Ethiopians use bows and lances. Some of the Troglodytæ, when they bury
their dead, bind the body from the neck to the legs with twigs of the
buckthorn. They then immediately throw stones over the body, at the same
time laughing and rejoicing, until they have covered the face. They then
place over it a ram’s horn, and go away.
They travel by night; the male cattle have bells fastened to them, in
order to drive away wild beasts with the sound. They use torches also
and arrows in repelling them. They watch during the night, on account of
their flocks, and sing some peculiar song around their fires.
18. Having given this account of the Troglodytæ and of the neighbouring
Ethiopians, Artemidorus returns to the Arabians. Beginning from
Poseidium, he first describes those who border upon the Arabian Gulf,
and are opposite to the Troglodytæ. He says that Poseidium is situated
within the bay of [Heroopolis],[759] and that contiguous to
Poseidium[760] is a grove of palm trees,[761] well supplied with water,
which is [CAS. 776] highly valued, because all the district around is
burnt up and is without water or shade. But there the fertility of the
palm is prodigious. A man and a woman are appointed by hereditary right
to the guardianship of the grove. They wear skins, and live on dates.
They sleep in huts built on trees, the place being infested with
multitudes of wild beasts.
Next is the island of Phocæ (Seals),[762] which has its name from those
animals, which abound there. Near it is a promontory,[763] which extends
towards Petra, of the Arabians called Nabatæi, and to the country of
Palestine, to this [island] the Minæi,[764] Gerrhæi, and all the
neighbouring nations repair with loads of aromatics.
Next is another tract of sea-coast, formerly called the coast of the
Maranitæ,[765] some of whom were husbandmen, others Scenitæ; but at
present it is occupied by Garindæi, who destroyed the former possessors
by treachery. They attacked those who were assembled to celebrate some
quinquennial festival, and put them to death; they then attacked and
exterminated the rest of the tribe. [766]
Next is the Ælanitic[767] Gulf and Nabatæa, a country well peopled, and
abounding in cattle. The islands which lie near, and opposite, are
inhabited by people who formerly lived without molesting others, but
latterly carried on a piratical warfare in rafts[768] against vessels on
their way from Egypt. But they suffered reprisals, when an armament was
sent out against them, which devastated their country.
Next is a plain, well wooded and well supplied with water; it abounds
with cattle of all kinds, and, among other animals, mules, wild camels,
harts, and hinds; lions also, leopards, and wolves are frequently to be
found. In front lies an island called Dia. Then follows a bay of about
500 stadia in extent, closed in by mountains, the entrance into which is
of difficult access. About it live people who are hunters of wild
animals.
Next are three desert islands, abounding with olive trees, not like
those in our own country, but an indigenous kind, which we call Ethiopic
olives, the tears (or gum) of which have a medicinal virtue.
Then follows a stony beach, which is succeeded by a rugged coast,[769]
not easily navigated by vessels, extending about 1000 stadia. It has few
harbours and anchorages, for a rugged and lofty mountain stretches
parallel to it; then the parts at its base, extending into the sea, form
rocks under water, which, during the blowing of the Etesian winds and
the storms of that period, present dangers, when no assistance can be
afforded to vessels.
Next is a bay in which are some scattered islands,[770] and continuous
with the bay, are three very lofty mounds[771] of black sand. After
these is Charmothas[772] a harbour, about 100 stadia in circumference,
with a narrow entrance very dangerous for all kinds of vessels. A river
empties itself into it. In the middle is a well-wooded island, adapted
for cultivation.
Then follows a rugged coast, and after that are some bays and a country
belonging to Nomades, who live by their camels. They fight from their
backs; they travel upon them, and subsist on their milk and flesh. A
river flows [CAS. 777] through their country, which brings down
gold-dust, but they are ignorant how to make any use of it. They are
called Debæ;[773] some of them are Nomades, others husbandmen.
I do not mention the greater part[774] of the names of these nations, on
account of the obscurity of the people, and because the pronunciation of
them is strange[775] [and uncouth].
Near these people is a nation more civilized, who inhabit a district
with a more temperate climate; for it is well watered, and has frequent
showers. [776] Fossil gold is found there, not in the form of dust, but
in lumps, which do not require much purification. The least pieces are
of the size of a nut, the middle size of a medlar, the largest of a
walnut. These are pierced and arranged alternately with transparent
stones strung on threads and formed into collars. They are worn round
the neck and wrists. They sell the gold to their neighbours at a cheap
rate, exchanging it for three times the quantity of brass, and double
the quantity of iron,[777] through ignorance of the mode of working the
gold, and the scarcity of the commodities received in exchange, which
are more necessary for the purposes of life.
19. The country of the Sabæi,[778] a very populous nation, is
contiguous, and is the most fertile of all, producing myrrh,
frankincense, and cinnamon. On the coast is found balsamum and another
kind of herb of a very fragrant smell, but which is soon dissipated.
There are also sweet-smelling palms and the calamus. There are snakes
also of a dark red colour, a span in length, which spring up as high as
a man’s waist, and whose bite is incurable.
On account of the abundance which the soil produces, the people are lazy
and indolent in their mode of life. The lower class of people live on
roots, and sleep on the trees.
The people who live near each other receive, in continued succession,
the loads [of perfumes] and deliver them to others, who convey them as
far as Syria and Mesopotamia. When the carriers become drowsy by the
odour of the aromatics, the drowsiness is removed by the fumes of
asphaltus and of goat’s beard.
Mariaba,[779] the capital of the Sabæans, is situated upon a mountain,
well wooded. A king resides there, who determines absolutely all
disputes and other matters; but he is forbidden to leave his palace, or
if he does so, the rabble immediately assail him with stones, according
to the direction of an oracle. He himself, and those about his person,
pass their lives in effeminate voluptuousness.
The people cultivate the ground, or follow the trade of dealing in
aromatics, both the indigenous sort and those brought from Ethiopia; in
order to procure them, they sail through the straits in vessels covered
with skins. There is such an abundance of these aromatics, that
cinnamon, cassia, and other spices are used by them instead of sticks
and firewood.
In the country of the Sabæans is found the larimnum, a most fragrant
perfume.
By the trade [in these aromatics] both the Sabæans and the Gerrhæi have
become the richest of all the tribes, and possess a great quantity of
wrought articles in gold and silver, [CAS. 778] as couches, tripods,
basins, drinking-vessels, to which we must add the costly magnificence
of their houses; for the doors, walls, and roofs are variegated with
inlaid ivory, gold, silver, and precious stones.
This is the account of Artemidorus. [780] The rest of the description is
partly similar to that of Eratosthenes, and partly derived from other
historians.
20. Some of these say, that the sea is red from the colour arising from
reflection either from the sun, which is vertical, or from the
mountains, which are red by being scorched with intense heat; for the
colour, it is supposed, may be produced by both these causes. Ctesias of
Cnidus speaks of a spring which discharges into the sea a red and
ochrous water. Agatharchides, his fellow-citizen, relates, on the
authority of a person of the name of Boxus, of Persian descent, that
when a troop of horses was driven by a lioness in heat as far as the
sea, and had passed over to an island, a Persian of the name of Erythras
constructed a raft, and was the first person who crossed the sea to it;
perceiving the island to be well adapted for inhabitants, he drove the
herd back to Persia, and sent out colonists both to this and the other
islands and to the coast. He [thus] gave his own name to the sea. But
according to others, it was Erythras the son of Perseus who was the king
of this country.
According to some writers, from the straits in the Arabian Gulf to the
extremity of the cinnamon country is a distance of 5000 stadia,[781]
without distinguishing whether (the direction is) to the south or to the
east.
It is said also that the emerald and the beryl are found in the gold
mines. According to Poseidonius, an odoriferous salt is found in Arabia.
21. The Nabatæans and Sabæans, situated above Syria, are the first
people who occupy Arabia Felix. They were frequently in the habit of
overrunning this country before the Romans became masters of it, but at
present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans.
The capital of the Nabatæans is called Petra. It is situated on a spot
which is surrounded and fortified by a smooth and level rock (petra),
which externally is abrupt and precipitous, but within there are
abundant springs of water both for domestic purposes and for watering
gardens. Beyond the enclosure the country is for the most part a desert,
particularly towards Judæa. Through this is the shortest road to
Jericho, a journey of three or four days, and five days to the Phœnicon
(or palm plantation). It is always governed by a king of the royal race.
The king has a minister who is one of the Companions, and is called
Brother. It has excellent laws for the administration of public affairs.
Athenodorus, a philosopher, and my friend, who had been at Petra, used
to relate with surprise, that he found many Romans and also many other
strangers residing there. He observed the strangers frequently engaged
in litigation, both with one another and with the natives; but the
natives had never any dispute amongst themselves, and lived together in
perfect harmony.
22. The late expedition[782] of the Romans against the Arabians, under
the command of Ælius Gallus, has made us acquainted with many
peculiarities of the country. Augustus Cæsar despatched this general to
explore the nature of these [CAS. 779] places and their inhabitants, as
well as those of Ethiopia; for he observed that Troglodytica, which is
contiguous to Egypt, bordered upon Ethiopia; and that the Arabian Gulf
was extremely narrow, where it separates the Arabians from the
Troglodytæ. It was his intention either to conciliate or subdue the
Arabians. He was also influenced by the report, which had prevailed from
all time, that this people were very wealthy, and exchanged their
aromatics and precious stones for silver and gold, but never expended
with foreigners any part of what they received in exchange. He hoped to
acquire either opulent friends, or to overcome opulent enemies.
He was
moreover encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of
assistance from the Nabatæans, who promised to co-operate with him in
everything.
23. Upon these inducements Gallus set out on the expedition. But he was
deceived by Syllæus, the [king’s] minister of the Nabatæans, who had
promised to be his guide on the march, and to assist him in the
execution of his design. Syllæus was however treacherous throughout; for
he neither guided them by a safe course by sea along the coast, nor by a
safe road for the army, as he promised, but exposed both the fleet and
the army to danger, by directing them where there was no road, or the
road was impracticable, where they were obliged to make long circuits,
or to pass through tracts of country destitute of everything; he led the
fleet along a rocky coast without harbours, or to places abounding with
rocks concealed under water, or with shallows. In places of this
description particularly, the flowing and ebbing of the tide did them
the most harm.
The first mistake consisted in building long vessels [of war] at a time
when there was no war, nor any likely to occur by sea. For the Arabians,
being mostly engaged in traffic and commerce, are not a very warlike
people even on land, much less so at sea. Gallus, notwithstanding, built
not less than eighty biremes and triremes and galleys (phaseli) at
Cleopatris,[783] near the old canal which leads from the Nile. When he
discovered his mistake, he constructed a hundred and thirty vessels of
burden, in which he embarked with about ten thousand infantry, collected
from Egypt, consisting of Romans and allies, among whom were five
hundred Jews and a thousand Nabatæans, under the command of Syllæus.
After enduring great hardships and distress, he arrived on the fifteenth
day at Leuce-Come, a large mart in the territory of the Nabatæans, with
the loss of many of his vessels, some with all their crews, in
consequence of the difficulty of the navigation, but by no opposition
from an enemy. These misfortunes were occasioned by the perfidy of
Syllæus, who insisted that there was no road for an army by land to
Leuce-Come, to which and from which place the camel-traders travel with
ease and in safety from Petra, and back to Petra, with so large a body
of men and camels as to differ in no respect from an army.
24. Another cause of the failure of the expedition was the fact of king
Obodas not paying much attention to public affairs, and especially to
those relative to war (as is the custom with all Arabian kings), but
placed everything in the power of Syllæus the minister. His whole
conduct in command of the army was perfidious, and his object was, as I
suppose, to examine as a spy the state of the country, and to destroy,
in concert with the Romans, certain cities and tribes: and when the
Romans should be consumed by famine, fatigue, and disease, and by all
the evils which he had treacherously contrived, to declare himself
master of the whole country.
Gallus however arrived at Leuce-Come, with the army labouring under
stomacacce and scelotyrbe, diseases of the country, the former affecting
the mouth, the other the legs, with a kind of paralysis, caused by the
water and the plants [which the soldiers had used in their food]. He was
therefore compelled to pass the summer and the winter there, for the
recovery of the sick.
Merchandise is conveyed from Leuce-Come to Petra, thence to Rhinocolura
in Phœnicia, near Egypt, and thence to other nations. But at present the
greater part is transported by the Nile to Alexandreia. It is brought
down from Arabia and India to Myus Hormus, it is then conveyed on camels
to Coptus[784] of the Thebaïs, situated on a canal of the Nile, and to
Alexandreia. Gallus, setting out again from Leuce-Come on his return
with his army, and through the treachery of his guide, traversed such
tracts of country, that the army was obliged to carry water with them
upon camels. After a [CAS. 781] march of many days, therefore, he came
to the territory of Aretas, who was related to Obodas. Aretas received
him in a friendly manner, and offered presents. But by the treachery of
Syllæus, Gallus was conducted by a difficult road through the country;
for he occupied thirty days in passing through it. It afforded barley, a
few palm trees, and butter instead of oil.
The next country to which he came belonged to Nomades, and was in great
part a complete desert. It was called Ararene. The king of the country
was Sabos. Gallus spent fifty days in passing through this territory,
for want of roads, and came to a city of the Negrani, and to a fertile
country peacefully disposed. The king had fled, and the city was taken
at the first onset. After a march of six days from thence, he came to
the river. Here the barbarians attacked the Romans, and lost about ten
thousand men; the Romans lost only two men. For the barbarians were
entirely inexperienced in war, and used their weapons unskilfully, which
were bows, spears, swords, and slings; but the greater part of them
wielded a double-edged axe. Immediately afterwards he took the city
called Asca, which had been abandoned by the king. He thence came to a
city Athrula, and took it without resistance; having placed a garrison
there, and collected provisions for the march, consisting of corn and
dates, he proceeded to a city Marsiaba, belonging to the nation of the
Rhammanitæ, who were subjects of Ilasarus. He assaulted and besieged it
for six days, but raised the siege in consequence of a scarcity of
water. He was two days’ march from the aromatic region, as he was
informed by his prisoners. He occupied in his marches a period of six
months, in consequence of the treachery of his guides. This he
discovered when he was returning; and although he was late in
discovering the design against him, he had time to take another road
back; for he arrived in nine days at Negrana, where the battle was
fought, and thence in eleven days he came to the “Seven Wells,” as the
place is called from the fact of their existing there. Thence he marched
through a desert country, and came to Chaalla a village, and then to
another called Malothas, situated on a river. His road then lay through
a desert country, which had only a few watering-places, as far as
Egra[785] a village. It belongs to the territory of Obodas, and is
situated upon the sea. He accomplished on his return the whole distance
in sixty days, in which, on his first journey, he had consumed six
months. From Negra he conducted his army in eleven days to Myus Hormus;
thence across the country to Coptus, and arrived at Alexandreia with so
much of his army could be saved. The remainder he lost, not by the
enemy, but by disease, fatigue, famine, and marches through bad roads;
for seven men only perished in battle. For these reasons this expedition
contributed little in extending our knowledge of the country. It was
however of some small service.
Syllæus, the author of these disasters, was punished for his treachery
at Rome. He affected friendship, but he was convicted of other offences,
besides perfidy in this instance, and was beheaded.
25. The aromatic country, as I have before said,[786] is divided into
four parts. Of aromatics, the frankincense and myrrh are said to be the
produce of trees, but cassia the growth of bushes; yet some writers say,
that the greater part (of the cassia) is brought from India, and that
the best frankincense is that from Persia.
According to another partition of the country, the whole of Arabia Felix
is divided into five kingdoms (or portions), one of which comprises the
fighting men, who fight for all the rest; another contains the
husbandmen, by whom the rest are supplied with food; another includes
those who work at mechanical trades. One division comprises the myrrh
region; another the frankincense region, although the same tracts
produce cassia, cinnamon, and nard. Trades are not changed from one
family to another, but each workman continues to exercise that of his
father.
The greater part of their wine is made from the palm.
A man’s brothers are held in more respect than his children. The
descendants of the royal family succeed as kings, and are invested with
other governments, according to primogeniture. Property is common among
all the relations. The eldest is the chief. There is one wife among them
all. He who enters [CAS. 783] the house before any of the rest, has
intercourse with her, having placed his staff at the door; for it is a
necessary custom, which every one is compelled to observe, to carry a
staff. The woman however passes the night with the eldest. Hence the
male children are all brothers. They have sexual intercourse also with
their mothers. Adultery is punished with death, but an adulterer must
belong to another family.
A daughter of one of the kings was of extraordinary beauty, and had
fifteen brothers, who were all in love with her, and were her unceasing
and successive visitors; she, being at last weary of their importunity,
is said to have employed the following device. She procured staves to be
made similar to those of her brothers; when one left the house, she
placed before the door a staff similar to the first, and a little time
afterwards another, and so on in succession, but making her calculation
so that the person who intended to visit her might not have one similar
to that at her door. On an occasion when the brothers were all of them
together at the market-place, one left it, and came to the door of the
house; seeing the staff there, and conjecturing some one to be in her
apartment, and having left all the other brothers at the market-place,
he suspected the person to be an adulterer; running therefore in haste
to his father, he brought him with him to the house, but it was proved
that he had falsely accused his sister.
26. The Nabatæans are prudent, and fond of accumulating property. The
community fine a person who has diminished his substance, and confer
honours on him who has increased it. They have few slaves, and are
served for the most part by their relations, or by one another, or each
person is his own servant; and this custom extends even to their kings.
They eat their meals in companies consisting of thirteen persons. Each
party is attended by two musicians. But the king gives many
entertainments in great buildings. No one drinks more than eleven
[appointed] cupfuls, from separate cups, each of gold.
The king courts popular favour so much, that he is not only his own
servant, but sometimes he himself ministers to others. He frequently
renders an account [of his administration] before the people, and
sometimes an inquiry is made into his mode of life.
The houses are sumptuous, and of stone. The cities are without walls, on
account of the peace [which prevails among them]. A great part of the
country is fertile, and produces everything except oil of olives;
[instead of it], the oil of sesamum is used. The sheep have white
fleeces, their oxen are large; but the country produces no horses. [787]
Camels are the substitute for horses, and perform the [same kind of]
labour. They wear no tunics, but have a girdle about the loins, and walk
abroad in sandals. [788] The dress of the kings is the same, but the
colour is purple.
Some merchandise is altogether imported into the country, others are not
altogether imports, especially as some articles are native products, as
gold and silver, and many of the aromatics; but brass and iron, purple
garments, styrax, saffron, and costus (or white cinnamon), pieces of
sculpture, paintings, statues, are not to be procured in the country.
They look upon the bodies of the dead as no better than dung, according
to the words of Heracleitus, “dead bodies more fit to be cast out than
dung;” wherefore they bury even their kings beside dung-heaps. They
worship the sun, and construct the altar on the top of a house, pouring
out libations and burning frankincense upon it every day.
27. When the poet says,
“I went to the country of the Ethiopians, Sidonians, and Erembi,”[789]
it is doubtful, what people he means by Sidonians, whether those who
lived near the Persian Gulf, a colony from which nation are the
Sidonians in our quarter (in the same manner as historians relate, that
some Tyrian islanders are found there, and Aradii, from whom the Aradii
in our country derive their origin), or whether the poet means actually
the Sidonians themselves.
But there is more doubt about the Erembi, whether we are to suppose that
he means the Troglodytæ, according to the opinion of those who, by a
forced etymology, derive the word Erembi from ἔραν ἐμβαίνειν, that is,
“entering into the earth,” or whether he means the Arabians. Zeno the
philosopher of our sect alters the reading in this manner,
“And Sidoni, and Arabes;”
[CAS. 784] but Poseidonius alters it with a small variation,
“And Sidonii, and Arambi,”
as if the poet gave the name Arambi to the present Arabians, from their
being so called by others in his time. He says also, that the situation
of these three nations close to one another indicates a descent from
some common stock, and that on this account they are called by names
having a resemblance to one another, as Armenii, Aramæi, Arambi. For as
we may suppose one nation to have been divided into three (according to
the differences of latitude [in which they lived], which successively
became more marked [in proceeding from one to the other]), so in like
manner we may suppose that several names were adopted in place of one.
The proposed change of reading to Eremni is not probable, for that name
is more applicable to the Ethiopians. The poet mentions also the Arimi,
whom Poseidonius says are meant here, and not a place in Syria or
Cilicia, or any other country, but Syria itself. For the Aramæi lived
there. Perhaps these are the people whom the Greeks called Arimæi or
Arimi. But the alterations of names, especially of barbarous nations,
are frequent, Thus Darius was called Darieces; Parysatis, Pharziris;
Athara, Atargata, whom Ctesias again calls Derceto. [790]
Alexander might be adduced to bear witness to the wealth of the
Arabians, for he intended, it is said, after his return from India, to
make Arabia the seat of empire. All his enterprises terminated with his
death, which happened suddenly; but certainly one of his projects was to
try whether the Arabians would receive him voluntarily, or resist him by
force of arms; for having found that they did not send ambassadors to
him, either before or after his expedition to India, he was beginning to
make preparations for war, as we have said in a former part of this
work.
BOOK XVII.
SUMMARY.
The Seventeenth Book contains the whole of Egypt and Africa.
CHAPTER I.
When we were describing Arabia, we included in the description the gulfs
which compress and make it a peninsula, namely the Gulfs of Arabia and
of Persis. We described at the same time some parts of Egypt, and those
of Ethiopia, inhabited by the Troglodytæ, and by the people situated
next to them, extending to the confines of the Cinnamon country. [791]
We are now to describe the remaining parts contiguous to these nations,
and situated about the Nile. We shall then give an account of Africa,
which remains to complete this treatise on Geography.
And here we must previously adduce the opinions of Eratosthenes.
2. He says, that the Nile is distant from the Arabian Gulf towards the
west 1000 stadia, and that it resembles (in its course) the letter N
reversed. For after flowing, he says, about 2700 stadia from Meroë
towards the north, it turns again to the south, and to the winter
sunset, continuing its course for about 3700 stadia, when it is almost
in the latitude of the places about Meroë. Then entering far into
Africa, and having made another bend, it flows towards the north, a
distance of 5300 stadia, to the great cataract;[792] and inclining a
little to the east, traverses a distance of 1200 stadia to the smaller
cataract at Syene,[793] and 5300 stadia more to the sea. [794]
[CAS. 786] Two rivers empty themselves into it, which issue out of
some lakes towards the east, and encircle Meroë, a considerable
island. [795] One of these rivers is called Astaboras,[796] flowing along
the eastern side of the island. The other is the Astapus, or, as some
call it, Astasobas. But the Astapus[797] is said to be another river,
which issues out of some lakes on the south, and that this river forms
nearly the body of the (stream of the) Nile which flows in a straight
line, and that it is filled by the summer rains; that above the
confluence of the Astaboras and the Nile, at the distance of 700 stadia,
is Meroë, a city having the same name as the island; and that there is
another island above Meroë, occupied by the fugitive Egyptians, who
revolted in the time of Psammitichus,[798] and are called Sembritæ, or
foreigners. Their sovereign is a queen, but they obey the king of Meroë.
The lower parts of the country on each side Meroë, along the Nile
towards the Red Sea, are occupied by Megabari and Blemmyes, who are
subject to the Ethiopians, and border upon the Egyptians; about the sea
are Troglodytæ. The Troglodytæ, in the latitude of Meroë, are distant
ten or twelve days’ journey from the Nile. On the left of the course of
the Nile live Nubæ in Libya, a populous nation. They begin [CAS. 787]
from Meroë, and extend as far as the bends (of the river). They are not
subject to the Ethiopians, but live independently, being distributed
into several sovereignties.
The extent of Egypt along the sea, from the Pelusiac to the Canobic
mouth, is 1300 stadia.
Such is the account of Eratosthenes.
3. We must, however, enter into a further detail of particulars. And
first, we must speak of the parts about Egypt, proceeding from those
that are better known to those which follow next in order.
The Nile produces some common effects in this and the contiguous tract
of country, namely, that of the Ethiopians above it, in watering them at
the time of its rise, and leaving those parts only habitable which have
been covered by the inundation; it intersects the higher lands, and all
the tract elevated above its current on both sides, which however are
uninhabited and a desert, from an absolute want of water. But the Nile
does not traverse the whole of Ethiopia, nor alone, nor in a straight
line, nor a country which is well inhabited. But Egypt it traverses both
alone and entirely, and in a straight line, from the lesser cataract
above Syene and Elephantina, (which are the boundaries of Egypt and
Ethiopia,) to the mouths by which it discharges itself into the sea. The
Ethiopians at present lead for the most part a wandering life, and are
destitute of the means of subsistence, on account of the barrenness of
the soil, the disadvantages of climate, and their great distance from
us.
Now the contrary is the case with the Egyptians in all these respects.
For they have lived from the first under a regular form of government,
they were a people of civilized manners, and were settled in a
well-known country; their institutions have been recorded and mentioned
in terms of praise, for they seemed to have availed themselves of the
fertility of their country in the best possible manner by the partition
of it (and by the classification of persons) which they adopted, and by
their general care.
When they had appointed a king, they divided the people into three
classes, into soldiers, husbandmen, and priests. The latter had the care
of everything relating to sacred things (of the gods), the others of
what related to man; some had the management of warlike affairs, others
attended to the concerns of peace, the cultivation of the ground, and
the practice of the arts, from which the king derived his revenue.
The priests devoted themselves to the study of philosophy and astronomy,
and were companions of the kings.
The country was at first divided into nomes. [799] The Thebaïs contained
ten, the Delta ten, and the intermediate tract sixteen. But according to
some writers, all the nomes together amounted to the number of chambers
in the Labyrinth. Now these were less than thirty [six]. The nomes were
again divided into other sections. The greater number of the nomes were
distributed into toparchies, and these again into other sections; the
smallest portions were the arouræ.
An exact and minute division of the country was required by the frequent
confusion of boundaries occasioned at the time of the rise of the Nile,
which takes away, adds, and alters the various shapes of the bounds, and
obliterates other marks by which the property of one person is
distinguished [CAS. 787] from that of another. It was consequently
necessary to measure the land repeatedly. Hence it is said geometry
originated here, as the art of keeping accounts and arithmetic
originated with the Phœnicians, in consequence of their commerce. [800]
As the whole population of the country, so the separate population in
each nome, was divided into three classes; the territory also was
divided into three equal portions.
The attention and care bestowed upon the Nile is so great to cause
industry to triumph over nature. The ground by nature, and still more by
being supplied with water, produces a great abundance of fruits. By
nature also a greater rise of the river irrigates a larger tract of
land; but industry has completely succeeded in rectifying the deficiency
of nature, so that in seasons when the rise of the river has been less
than usual, as large a portion of the country is irrigated by means of
canals and embankments, as in seasons when the rise of the river has
been greater.
Before the times of Petronius there was the greatest plenty, and the
rise of the river was the greatest when it rose to the height of
fourteen cubits; but when it rose to eight only, a famine ensued. During
the government of Petronius, however, when the Nile rose twelve cubits
only, there was a most abundant crop; and once when it mounted to eight
only, no famine followed. Such then is the nature of this provision for
the physical state of the country. We shall now proceed to the next
particulars.
4. The Nile, when it leaves the boundaries of Ethiopia, flows in a
straight line towards the north, to the tract called the Delta, then
“cloven at the head,” (according to the expression of Plato,) makes this
point the vertex, as it were, of a triangle, the sides of which are
formed by the streams, which separate on each side, and extend to the
sea, one on the right hand to Pelusium, the other on the left to Canobus
and the neighbouring Heracleium, as it is called; the base is the coast
lying between Pelusium and the Heracleium.
An island was therefore formed by the sea and by both streams of the
river, which is called Delta from the resemblance of its shape to the
letter (Δ) of that name. The spot at the vertex of the triangle has the
same appellation, because it is the beginning of the above-mentioned
triangular figure. The village, also, situated upon it is called Delta.
These then are two mouths of the Nile, one of which is called the
Pelusiac, the other the Canobic and Heracleiotic mouth. Between these
are five other outlets, some of which are considerable, but the greater
part are of inferior importance. For many others branch off from the
principal streams, and are distributed over the whole of the island of
the Delta, and form many streams and islands; so that the whole Delta is
accessible to boats, one canal succeeding another, and navigated with so
much ease, that some persons make use of rafts[801] floated on earthen
pots, to transport them from place to place.
The whole island is about 3000 stadia in circumference, and is called,
as also the lower country, with the land on the opposite sides of the
streams, the Delta.
But at the time of the rising of the Nile, the whole country is covered,
and resembles a sea, except the inhabited spots, which are situated upon
natural hills or mounds; and considerable cities and villages appear
like islands in the distant prospect.
The water, after having continued on the ground more than forty days in
summer, then subsides by degrees, in the same manner as it rose. In
sixty days the plain is entirely exposed to view, and dries up. The
sooner the land is dry, so much the sooner the ploughing and sowing are
accomplished, and it dries earlier in those parts where the heat is
greater.
The country above the Delta is irrigated in the same manner, except that
the river flows in a straight line to the distance of about 4000 stadia
in one channel, unless where some island intervenes, the most
considerable of which comprises the Heracleiotic Nome; or, where it is
diverted by a canal into a large lake, or a tract of country which it is
capable of irrigating, as the lake Mœris and the Arsinoïte Nome, or
where the canals discharge themselves into the Mareotis.
[CAS. 789] In short, Egypt, from the mountains of Ethiopia to the vertex
of the Delta, is merely a river tract on each side of the Nile, and
rarely if anywhere comprehends in one continued line a habitable
territory of 300 stadia in breadth. It resembles, except the frequent
diversions of its course, a bandage rolled out. [802]
The mountains on each side (of the Nile), which descend from the parts
about Syene to the Egyptian Sea,[803] give this shape to the river tract
of which I am speaking, and to the country. For in proportion as these
mountains extend along that tract, or recede from each other, in the
same degree is the river contracted or expanded, and they impart to the
habitable country its variety of shape. But the country beyond the
mountains is in a great measure uninhabited.
5. The ancients understood more by conjecture than otherwise, but
persons in later times learnt by experience as eye-witnesses, that the
Nile owes its rise to summer rains, which fall in great abundance in
Upper Ethiopia, particularly in the most distant mountains. On the rains
ceasing, the fulness of the river gradually subsides. This was
particularly observed by those who navigated the Arabian Gulf on their
way to the Cinnamon country, and by those who were sent out to hunt
elephants, or for such other purposes as induced the Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt, to despatch persons in that direction. These sovereigns had
directed their attention to objects of this kind, particularly Ptolemy
surnamed Philadelphus, who was a lover of science, and on account of
bodily infirmities always in search of some new diversion and amusement.
But the ancient kings paid little attention to such inquiries, although
both they and the priests, with whom they passed the greater part of
their lives, professed to be devoted to the study of philosophy. Their
ignorance therefore is more surprising, both on this account and because
Sesostris had traversed the whole of Ethiopia as far as the Cinnamon
country, of which expedition monuments exist even to the present day,
such as pillars and inscriptions. Cambyses also, when he was in
possession of Egypt, had advanced with the Egyptians as far even as
Meroë; and it is said that he gave this name both to the island and to
the city, because his sister, or according to some writers his wife,
Meroë died there. For this reason therefore he conferred the appellation
on the island, and in honour of a woman. It is surprising how, with such
opportunities of obtaining information, the history of these rains
should not have been clearly known to persons living in those times,
especially as the priests registered with the greatest diligence in the
sacred books all extraordinary facts, and preserved records of
everything which seemed to contribute to an increase of knowledge. And,
if this had been the case, would it be necessary to inquire what is even
still a question, what can possibly be the reason why rain falls in
summer, and not in winter, in the most southerly parts of the country,
but not in the Thebaïs, nor in the country about Syene? nor should we
have to examine whether the rise of the water of the Nile is occasioned
by rains, nor require such evidence for these facts as Poseidonius
adduces. For he says, that Callisthenes asserts that the cause of the
rise of the river is the rain of summer. This he borrows from Aristotle,
who borrowed it from Thrasyalces the Thasian (one of the ancient writers
on physics), Thrasyalces from some other person, and he from Homer, who
calls the Nile “heaven-descended:”
“back to Egypt’s heaven-descended stream. ”[804]
But I quit this subject, since it has been discussed by many writers,
among whom it will be sufficient to specify two, who have (each)
composed in our times a treatise on the Nile, Eudorus and Aristo the
Peripatetic philosopher. [They differ little from each other] except in
the order and disposition of the works, for the phraseology and
execution is the same in both writers. (I can speak with some confidence
in this matter), for when at a loss (for manuscripts) for the purpose of
comparison and copy, I collated both authors. [805] But which of them
surreptitiously substituted the other’s account as his own, we may
[CAS. 790] go to the temple of Ammon to be informed.
