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The Cruel Sea? Ocean as Boundary Marker and Transgressor in Pliny's Roman Geography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2015

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Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.

Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges

showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges

where weeds hang to the simple blue from green.

Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under,

drawing it unperturbed around itself?

Along the fine tan sandy shelf

is the land tugging at the sea from under?

Elizabeth Bishop ‘The Map’ (1946)

Roman mapping can seem a mystifying process. What could any reader garner from an itinerary or a periplus – a list of successive towns and geographical features reeled off in order? The itinerary has been compared to directions given to a stranger: in both written and graphic form, it simplifies, and gives a route with a definite aim, states what is near or comes after along the route, but does not attempt to give any extraneous information about the landscape which surrounds the single route. There is no overview, no aspirations to comprehensiveness or universality.

Type
Research Article
Information
Antichthon , Volume 39 , 2005 , pp. 105 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for Classical Studies 2005

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References

1 The most famous surviving graphic itinerary is the ‘Peutinger Table’, which is a 12th century copy of a 4th century CE map, but is thought to have its origins in the 1st century CE or earlier, on the basis that Pompeii and Herculaneum appear on it (Levi, 1967; Dilke, 1985: 113-114). But written itineraries also survive, such as the 2nd or early 3rd century ‘Antonine Itinerary’, a document which seems to preserve the routes of imperial tours (Dilke, 1985: 125-128).

2 The Greek, probably 1st century CE, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea survives, and describes two trade route voyages, from the Red Sea to India and to East Africa (Dilke, 1985: 138-140).

3 On the periplus formula and its history, see Dilke, 1985: 130-144. On Pliny's use of it, see Nicolet, 1991: 173-174. Murphy comments on Pliny's twin ‘parallel journeys’ as he makes his periplus around the world (2004: 135). Stahl (1962: 86) criticises Pliny for using outdated and unscientfic methodology: instead of writing an up-to-date geography of the Roman Empire, which should concentrate on areas of contemporary military importance, like the interior of Asia and Europe, especially Germany, Pliny reproduces, in large scale, the periplus style of 4th century Greeks, developed, according to Stahl, because of the nautical nature of Greek society (and therefore, it is implied, suitable for Greek, but not for Roman, geographers). See Evans, 1999: 54-5, on traditional views of Roman geographies.

4 On mental or cognitive mapping, see Gould and White, 1986; Downs and Stea, 1977. On reassessments of ancient geographies and itineraries, see Bertrand, 1997; Purcell, 1991; Bekker-Nielsen, 1988;Janni, 1984.

5 All quotations of the Historia Naturalis follow the Teubner text, ed. Mayhoff, (Stuttgart, 1996)Google Scholar. All translations are my own.

6 Caes, . BG 5.8.2Google Scholar: during the second invasion the tide carries the fleet too far east, and past Britain. Earlier the surprising action of the tides threatens to strand Caesar and his men in Britain (4.29) as lack of knowledge of the English Channel's tides leads to the warships being filled with water while anchored off southern Britain, and several of them are wrecked.

7 The folly and dangers of seafaring are found as early as Hesiod, and throughout Greek and Roman writings: Hes, . WD 236Google Scholar, Aratus, Phaen. 110-1Google Scholar, Virg, . Ecl. 4.31-6Google Scholar, Hor, . Epod. 16.57Google Scholar, Prop. 1.17.13-4, 1.8.18, 3.7, Momus fr. xxiii, Ov, . Am. 2.11.1–6Google Scholar. The practice is frequently seen as a sign of modern decline (Lucr. 5.1002-6, Tib. 1.3.35-40) or an inversion of what is natural (Antiphilus of Byzantium Anth. Pal. 9.29).

8 See Edwards, 1993: 147-148.

9 Duncan Jones, 1982: 368. See also Bekker-Nielsen (1988) on perceptions of distance and directness in the Roman world, for the additional idea that an ‘itinerary mentality’ might lead to the use of routes which were not objectively faster or cheaper.

10 Ocean is depicted on the outer edge of Achilles' shield (Il. 18.607-8Google Scholar). On the tradition, see Dilke, 1985: 55-57, 132-144.

11 Hes, . Theog. 133.Google Scholar

12 RE s.v. ‘Okeanos’, 2327.

13 Pliny uses this or a similar phrase to describe activities which cover huge areas or simply to mean ‘everywhere’, e.g. the migration of birds at HN 10.64Google Scholar; the ubiquity of locusts at HN 11.104Google Scholar; see also HN 12.5, 16.219, 17.1, 18.247, 18.270, 18.310, 19.2, 35.161Google Scholar. The formulation is common, and is famously used by Augustus in the Res Gestae twice to define the extent of his conquests (RG 1) and of the outbreaks of peace which justified the closing of the gates of Janus (RG 2; similarly at Suet, . Aug. 22.1Google Scholar and Livy 1.19.3).

14 Caesar could easily be seen as an overly ambitious conqueror, who transgressed the bounds of exploration: see Romm, 1992: 135, 152-155.

15 The first Latin usage occurs in Caes, . BG 5.1.2Google Scholar (comparing the English Channel with the Mediterranean, in anticipation of the second expedition to Britain). The phrase recurs in sources as diverse as Livy (25.11.17) and Juvenal (Sat. 5.94Google Scholar), and is used most often in Pomponius Mela's Chorographia (1.25, 2.1, 2.8, 2.86). The Greek equivalent is used by Strabo (Geog. 1.3.13Google Scholar, 4.1.2 etc.).

16 Mary Beagon argues that this distinction was disappearing in 1st century CE, precisely because of Roman conquest to the north (1992: 186-187). Caesar's claim to conquest of the northern Ocean, and Claudius' actual victory over Britain, may have gone some way towards familiarising Romans with the idea that Ocean could be part of their world, but, as stated above, Oceanus regularly referred to the Atlantic, rather than the North Sea, and this remained very much a region of obscurity: see Romm, 1992: 156-171.

17 Oceanus … Europam vel maxime recessibus crebris excavans, sed in quattuor praecipuos sinus (‘The Ocean … especially hollowing out Europe in successive niches, but in four main bays’, HN 3.5Google Scholar).

18 See n. 3 above.

19 See Murphy, 2004: 132-133, on viewing from above and its associations with conquest.

20 This explanation is put forward to account for all the known inland seas of Asia. E.g. the Caspian or Hyrcanian Sea is created when Ocean breaks into the land it surrounds: nam et inrumpit e Scythico oceano in aversa Asiae (‘For it even breaks into the back of Asia from the Scythian Ocean’, HN 6.36Google Scholar). Pliny explains that this sea is freshwater because of the number of rivers flowing into it (HN 6.51Google Scholar). Also HN 2.168Google Scholar: one explanation for the Maeotic marsh (palus Maeotica) is that it is an inlet of Ocean (illius oceani sinus).

21 See OLD s.v. irrumpo 1b, 2a, 2b.

22 HN 3.3, 74Google Scholar; 4.9, 19, 75; 6.1, 36, 38, 107.

23 HN 3.12Google Scholar, the Singilis (Xenil) in Baetica, as it encroaches upon the River Baetis; HN 5.84Google Scholar, the Omma (upper Euphrates) which forces its way through the Tarsus range. I do not have space here to discuss the interaction between rivers and landforms, or the symbolism of rivers, for which see Murphy, 2004: 139-148.

24 Tree disease: HN 17.22Google Scholar, aut enim in pedes, hoc est radices, inrumpit vis morbi, aut in articulos (‘For the force of the sickness attacks either the feet, that is the roots, or the limbs’); sea monsters: HN 9.13Google Scholar, killer whales (orcae) which attack the lairs of other whales (balenae): inrumpunt ergo in secreta ac vitulos earum aut felas vel etiamnum gravidas lancinant morsu, incursuque ceu Liburnicarum rostrisfodiunt (‘So they break into the hiding places and tear to pieces their calves, or females who have just given birth or are still pregnant, with a bite, and they pierce them like the prows of warships in attack’). The orcae are described as terrifying creatures, savage teeth in amass of flesh, HN 9.12Google Scholar: infestam his beluam et cuius imago nulla repraesentatione exprimi possit alia quam carnis inmensae dentibus truculentae (‘A dangerous monster, and its appearance could be conveyed by no description other than that of immeasurable flesh, ferocious with teeth’).

25 Fidenae: Romulus frondea coronavit Hostum Hostilium, quod Fidenam primus inrupisset (‘Romulus crowned Hpstus Hostilius with leaves, because he was the first to break into Fidenae’, HN 16.11Google Scholar); Carthage: L. Hostilius Mancinus, qui primus Carthaginem inruperat (‘Lucius Hostilius Mancinus, who had been the first to break into Carthage’, HN 35.23Google Scholar).

26 Whereas earlier (HN 6.1Google Scholar) Pliny characterised the sea as a representative of natura invidiosa, here it is the land that is protected by the agency of Nature: indicio sunt tot angustiae atque tam parva naturae repugnantis intervalla (‘The proofs [of the land's unwillingness] are the number of narrows and the smallness of the gaps left by Nature's resistance’). The persistent usage of inrumpo to refer to the sea's action upon the land suggests the sea is generally perceived as a force outside Nature, but there is some confusion and overlap here.

27 Beagon, 1996: 291, discusses HN 3.41Google Scholar, which places Italy, as a peninsula, in a natural position for commerce.

28 Rome, via its engineering prowess, is a prime mover in resisting the violence of flood waters: aliquando Tiberis retro infusus recipitur, pugnantque diversi aquarum impet tamen obnixa firmitas resistit. trahuntur moles supeme tantae non succumben operis (‘Sometimes the flow of the Tiber pours backwards and floods [the sewers]. Then the violent motion of the waters battles within the sewers, and even so the unyielding strength resists the strain. Above, massive blocks of stone are dragged along, and yet the tunnels do not cave in’, HN 36.105–106Google Scholar).

29 Similar fantastical peoples appear in Pomponius Mela's account of Africa. See Evans, 1999: 61-66.

30 Most of Pliny's information on outlandish peoples in Africa is taken from Pomponius Mela (1.23, 37, 48, 3.89-103). Mela, by contrast, lavishes a large proportion of his short Chorographia on the geography and ethnography of Africa, framing his work with information about this continent, and reflecting a paradoxographical tradition.

31 Africans do reappear in non-geographical Books, usually as extraordinary figures, at the edge of humanity, e.g. HN 7.15Google Scholar: the Machlyes, beyond the Nasamones, who are androgynous; HN 7.16Google Scholar: African tribes who practise sorcery and possess the Evil Eye. Even African animals are known to be more libidinous and aggressive, because of the lack of water in the region (HN 8.42Google Scholar, on lions).

32 On the Augustan administrative and name changes in Gaul, see Drinkwater, 1983: 20–21.

33 See also Strabo, Geog. 3.4.1Google Scholar.

34 Ocean itself is a microcosm of larger Nature: Beagon finds in Pliny a picture of Nature which is total and ambivalent (1992: 50): the origin of all creation, it is also responsible for devastating and chaotic destruction.

35 Similarly Tac, . Germ. 46.3–5Google Scholar on the Fenni, an outer (and doubtful) German tribe (who may in fact be Sarmatian).

36 Murphy, 2004: 166, 170-1, comments that Pliny's treatment of the Chauci is distinct from any other extant ethnographer's. Murphy sees the Chauci's location as ambivalent – they live in neither land nor sea (2004: 171-2) but on ‘the edge of the world, the line between the ordered world of Natura and the chaos of Ocean’ (2004: 172). My interpretation of Ocean, as in some ways analogous to Roman power, obviously reads their liminal position rather differently.