DOI: 10.30842/alp23065737181302320
In the article I publish a Greek poetic epigram of seven verses from Ptolemy's “Geography”, written in hexameter and most likely going back to ancient times; I also give a verse translation into Russian. The main part of the article is devoted to commenting on the content of this epigram. Its author rather primitively described the essence of the great work of Ptolemy. Having already called his work “Chorography”, he distorted the sense of the efforts of the Geographer, who at the very beginning of his “Geography” discusses the difference between chorography and geography and intends to create the latter. The commentary aims to clarify the realities of the text, as well as to contextualize the epigram with regard to cartographic representations of Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. These are the texts of Maximus Planudes, Aurelius Cassiodorus, Divisio orbis terrarum and Eumenius, which give descriptions of the maps. The article also examines the ancient usus to present the oikumene through the enumeration of the peoples inhabiting its outskirts, presented in the published epigram. These are Ethiopians in the south, Germans in the west, Sauromatae and Scythians in the north, Indians and Chinese in the east. In the article I analyze the texts of Ephoros, Strabo and Timosthenes of Rhodos, concerning this usus, and show the development of this tradition. In the commentary an attempt is made to determine the origin and meaning of the epithets applied to the names of peoples in the epigram: the author calls the Ethiopians 'idle' (ἀδραμεῖς), the Germanic tribes - 'unfortunate' (δύσμορα), the Sauromates - 'similar to pigs' (χοίροισιν ἐοικόται), as well as 'the harsh tribe of unfortunate Scythia' (αἰνομόρου Σκυθίας χαλεπὸν γένος). The texts of Homer, Herodotus, Pseudo-Scymnos, Pomponius Mela, Propertius, Strabo, Statius, Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Plutarch, Agathemerus, Cosmas Indicopleustes help to understand these epithets - sometimes quite unexpected, and also to establish the geographical localization of the peoples mentioned.
Authors:
Podossinov A. V.
Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia);
Institute for World History of RAS (Moscow, Russia)
podossinov@mail.ru
A. V. Podossinov
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18 (2022) 1
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