I. ON THE EARTH. The earth is placed in the middle region of the world, standing at an equal interval from all parts of the sky in the manner of a center; which, in the singular number, signifies the whole globe, but in the plural the individual parts. Its various names reason assigns; for it is called 'terra' (earth) from its upper part, by which it is trodden (teritur); 'humus' (ground) from its lower part, or moist earth (humida terra), as under the sea; 'tellus' (soil), because we take up (tollimus) its fruits; this is also called 'Ops,' because it brings help (opem fert) to the crops; the same is also called 'arva' (fields), named from plowing (arando) and cultivating. Properly, moreover, 'earth' (terra) is named 'dry land' (arida) for distinction from water, as Scripture says (Genesis 1,10): 'that God called the dry land Earth.' For dryness is the natural property of lands; for that it is moist, this it obtains by the affinity of the waters.
As for its movement, some say it is a wind in its hollows, which movement moves it. Sallust (Histories 2, fr. 28): 'The winds, broken loose through the hollows of the earth by their swift motion, several mountains and hillocks subsided.' Others say that a generative water is moved within the earth, and shakes it all together, like a vessel, as Lucretius says (6,555). Others hold the earth to be SPOGGOEIDES (sponge-like), whose largely hidden collapses shake all that is set upon them. A cleft of the earth, too, is made either by the movement of the water below, or by frequent thunders, or by winds bursting out from the hollows of the earth. II. ON THE GLOBE. The 'globe' (orbis) is so called from the roundness of a circle, because it is like a wheel (rota); whence too a small wheel is called a little disk (orbiculus). For the Ocean, flowing around everywhere, encircles its bounds in a circle.
It is divided, moreover, in three ways: of which one part is called Asia, the second Europe, the third Africa. These three parts of the globe the ancients did not divide equally. For Asia extends from the south, through the east, all the way to the north; Europe, however, from the north as far as the west; and thence Africa from the west as far as the south. Whence it is evident that two hold half the globe, Europe and Africa, but the other half Asia alone holds; but these two parts were made because between them the Great Sea enters from the Ocean, which cuts them apart. Wherefore, if you divide the globe into two parts, of east and west, Asia will be in one, but in the other Europe and Africa. III. ON ASIA.
Asia is named after a certain woman who among the ancients held the empire of the East. This, set in the third part of the globe, is bounded on the east by the rising of the sun, on the south by the Ocean, on the west by our sea, and on the north is terminated by the Maeotic lake and the river Tanais. It has, moreover, many provinces and regions, whose names and locations I shall briefly set forth, taking the beginning from Paradise. Paradise is a place set in the eastern parts, whose name is translated from Greek into Latin as 'garden' (hortus); further, in Hebrew it is called 'Eden,' which in our tongue is interpreted 'delights' (deliciae). The two joined together make 'garden of delights'; for it is planted with every kind of tree and fruit-bearing trees, having also the tree of life:
there is no cold there, no heat, but a perpetual temperateness of the air. From its midst a spring bursting forth waters the whole grove, and is divided into four rising rivers. The access to this place, after the sin of man, was shut off; for it is fenced about on every side by a flaming sword (romphea), that is, girt with a wall of fire, so that its blaze almost joins with the sky. The Cherubim also, that is, the garrison of angels, were appointed above the flaming of the sword to ward off evil spirits, so that angels might drive off men from the flames and evil angels, lest to any flesh or spirit of transgression the access of Paradise should lie open. India (India) is named from the river Indus, by which it is closed off on its western side.
This, stretched out from the southern sea all the way to the rising of the sun, and from the north extends as far as Mount Caucasus; having many peoples and towns, and also the island Taprobane (Ceylon), crammed with gems and elephants, Chryse and Argyre, fruitful in gold and silver, and Thule too, whose trees never lack foliage. It has also the rivers Ganges and Indus and Hypanis, ennobling the Indians. The land of India, most healthful by the breath of the west wind, reaps its crops twice in the year: in place of winter it endures the Etesian winds. It produces, moreover, men of a dyed color, huge elephants, the beast the monoceros (unicorn), the parrot bird, ebony wood too, and cinnamon and pepper and aromatic reed. It sends forth ivory too, and precious stones:
beryls, chrysoprases and the diamond, carbuncles, lychnites, pearls and unions, for which the ambition of noble women burns. There too are golden mountains, which it is impossible to approach on account of dragons and griffins and the monsters of huge men. Parthia is generally named from the borders of India all the way to Mesopotamia. For on account of the unconquered valor of the Parthians, both Assyria and the remaining neighboring regions passed over into its name. For in it are Aracusia, Parthia, Assyria, Media, and Persis, which regions, joined mutually to one another, take their beginning from the river Indus and are closed off by the Tigris, situated in mountainous and rather rugged places, having the rivers Hydaspes and Arbis.
For they are distinguished among themselves by their own boundaries, drawing their names from their own founders thus. Aracusia is named from its own town. The Parthians, coming from Scythia, occupied Parthia, and named it from their own name. On its south is the Red Sea, on its north the Hyrcanian brine (sea), on the region of the setting sun Media. There are eighteen kingdoms in it, stretched out from the Caspian shore all the way to the lands of the Scythians. Assyria is named from Assur, son of Shem, who first inhabited that region after the Flood. This touches India on the east, Media on the south, the Tigris on the west, and on the north Mount Caucasus, where the Caspian Gates are.
In this region the use of purple was first discovered; hence too the first ointments and perfumes for hair and body came forth, together with the scents by which the luxury of the Romans and Greeks poured itself out. Media and Persia were named after their kings Medus and Persus, who assailed those provinces in war. Of these, Media, stretching crosswise from the west, embraces the realms of Parthia, is encircled on the north by Armenia, looks upon the Caspians from the east, and upon Persia from the south. Its land brings forth the Median tree (the citron), which no other region produces at all. There are two Medias, the greater and the lesser. Persia, extending from the east as far as the Indians, has the Red Sea on the west, touches Media on the north, and Carmania on the south, which is joined to Persia; among these lies Susa, its most renowned town.
In Persia the magic art first arose, to which the giant Nimrod betook himself after the confusion of tongues, and there he taught the Persians to worship fire. For all in those parts worship the sun, which in their tongue is called El. Mesopotamia possesses a Greek etymology, because it is encircled by two rivers; for on the east it has the Tigris, on the west the Euphrates. It begins in the north between Mount Taurus and Caucasus; to the south of it follows Babylonia, then Chaldaea, and last of all Arabia Eudaemon (the Blessed). The chief city of the Babylonian region is the city of Babylon, from which it is also named, so noble that Chaldaea, Assyria, and Mesopotamia once passed over into its name. Arabia is so called, that is, 'sacred,' for this is what its interpretation is said to signify;
because it is a frankincense-bearing region, producing scents: hence the Greeks called it Eudaemon and our people 'the Blessed.' In its groves both myrrh and cinnamon are produced; there is born the phoenix bird, the gem sardonyx, and the iris, and there are found the molochites and the paederos. This too is Saba, named from the son of Cush who was called Saba. It extends by a narrow strip of land eastward toward the Persian Gulf; Chaldaea closes off its northern parts, and the Arabian Gulf its western. Syria is said to have been named by a certain Syrus, a native, from his own name. It is bounded on the east by the river Euphrates, on the west by our sea and Egypt, touching Armenia and Cappadocia on the north, and the Arabian Gulf on the south.
Its situation is stretched to an immense length but is narrower in breadth. It contains within it the provinces of Commagene, Phoenicia, and Palestine, of which Judaea is a part, besides the Saracens and the Nabateans. Commagene, the first province of Syria, is named from the city of Commaga, which was once held there as the metropolis. To its north is Armenia, on the east Mesopotamia, on the south Syria, on the west the Great Sea. Phoenix, brother of Cadmus, having set out from Egyptian Thebes into Syria, reigned at Sidon, and named that province Phoenicia from his own name. It is here that Tyre lies, to which Isaiah speaks (ch. 23). It has Arabia on the east and the Red Sea on the south.
The province of Palestine had as its metropolis the city Philistim, which is now called Ascalon, and from this city the whole region around it was named Palestine. On the east the Red Sea meets it, on the southern side it is bordered by Judah, on the northern quarter it is closed off by the boundaries of the Tyrians, and on the west it is limited by the Egyptian frontier. The region of Judaea, a part of Palestine, is named from the name of Judah, from whose tribe it had its kings. It was formerly called Canaan, after the son of Ham, or from the ten Canaanite peoples, after whose expulsion the Jews took possession of that same land. Its length in extent runs from the village of Arfa as far as the village of Julias, in which is a settlement shared alike by Jews and Tyrians.
Its breadth extends from Mount Lebanon as far as the Lake of Tiberias. In the middle of Judaea lies the city of Jerusalem, as it were the navel of the whole region. Its land is rich in various riches, fertile in crops, made bright with waters, abounding in balsam. Hence, according to the favor of the elements, the Jews reckoned it to be the land promised to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, whereas here God was pledging to them the prerogative of the resurrection. Samaria, a region of Palestine, took its name from a certain town called Samaria, once a royal city in Israel, which is now called Sebaste from the name of Augustus. This region lies midway between Judaea and Galilee, beginning at a village whose name is Eleas and ending in the land of Agrabatha.
Its situation is of a like nature and differs in nothing from Judaea. Galilee, a region of Palestine, is so called because it produces fairer-skinned people than Palestine. It is twofold, upper and lower, yet joined together, adjoining Syria and Phoenicia. Their land is rich and fruitful and quite fertile in produce. The Pentapolis is a region set on the border of Arabia and Palestine, named from the five cities of the ungodly which were consumed by fire from heaven. This land, once most fertile beyond that around Jerusalem, is now deserted and burnt up; for on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants a fire came down from heaven which dissolved that region into everlasting ashes. Some shadow and appearance of this is still seen even now in the embers and in the very trees.
For there grow fruits, green under so great an appearance of ripeness that they beget a desire to eat; but if you pluck them, they crumble and dissolve into ash, and breathe out smoke as though they were still burning. The Nabatean region is named from Nabeth, son of Ishmael. It lies between Judaea and Arabia, and, rising from the Euphrates, extends to the Red Sea, and is a part of Arabia. Egypt, which was formerly called Aeria, received its name from Aegyptus, brother of Danaus, who afterward reigned there. It is joined on the east to Syria and the Red Sea, on the west it has Libya, on the north the Great Sea, and on the south it recedes inland, reaching as far as the Ethiopians; a region unaccustomed to showers from heaven and ignorant of rains.
The Nile alone, flowing round it, irrigates it and makes it fruitful with its flooding; whence, being fertile in crops, it feeds a great part of the world with grain; and it is likewise so abundant in other kinds of trade that it fills even the whole earth with necessary wares. The boundary of Egypt is Canopus, named from Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus, buried on that island which forms the beginning of Libya and the mouth of the Nile. Seres is a town of the East, from which both the Seric fabric (silk) and the region are named. This bends from the Scythian Ocean and the Caspian Sea to the eastern Ocean, fertile in noble foliage, from which fleeces are plucked, which the Seres sell to other nations for the use of clothing. The proper river of the Bactrian region, the Bactros, gave it its name.
Its parts that lie behind are surrounded by the ridges of the Paropanisus; those that face them are bounded by the sources of the river Indus; the rest is enclosed by the river Ochus. Bactria sends forth the strongest camels, which never wear down their feet. Scythia, like Gothia, is said to be named from Magog, son of Japheth. Its land was once vast; for on the east it stretched to India, on the north through the Maeotic marshes between the Danube and the Ocean as far as the borders of Germany. But afterward, being made smaller, from the right-hand part of the east, where the Seric Ocean extends, as far as the Caspian Sea, which is to the west;
thence from the south it is drawn down as far as the ridge of Caucasus, beneath which lies Hyrcania on the west, having likewise many peoples who, on account of the barrenness of their lands, wander far and wide. Of these, some cultivate fields, some are monstrous and savage, living on human flesh and their blood. Many of the lands of Scythia are wealthy, yet more are uninhabitable; for while in very many places they abound in gold and gems, the approach of men is rare because of the ferocity of the griffins. This land is the homeland of the finest emeralds; the dark-blue stone too and the purest crystal belong to Scythia. It also has the great rivers of the Moschi, the Phasis and the Araxes.
Hyrcania is named from the Hyrcanian forest, which lies beneath Scythia, having on the east the Caspian Sea, on the south Armenia, on the north Albania, on the west Iberia. It is rough with forests, abounding in huge wild beasts, tigers and panthers and leopards. Of it Virgil says (Aeneid 4.367): 'And the Hyrcanian tigresses gave you suck.' Albania is named from the color of its people, because they are born with white hair. This, rising on the east beneath the Caspian Sea, extends along the shores of the northern Ocean as far as the Maeotic marshes, through deserts and untilled lands. This land has huge dogs, of such ferocity that they crush bulls and slay lions.
Armenia is named from Armenus, a companion of Jason of Thessaly, who, having lost his king Jason, gathered the multitude of his followers who were wandering here and there, took Armenia, and named it from his own name. It is situated between Taurus and Caucasus, stretched from Cappadocia as far as the Caspian Sea, having on the north the Ceraunian mountains, from whose hills the river Tigris rises, and on whose mountains the ark is said to have settled after the flood. Armenia is twofold, upper and lower, like the two Pannonias. Iberia is a region of Asia, near Pontus, joined to Armenia. In it grow herbs useful for dyeing. Cappadocia took its name from its own city.
Situated at the head of Syria, it touches Armenia on the east, Asia Minor on the west, on the north the Cimmerian Sea and the plains of Themiscyra, which the Amazons held; and on the south Mount Taurus, beneath which lie Cilicia and Isauria as far as the Cilician Gulf, which faces the island of Cyprus. Its land is a nurse of horses beyond all others. The river Halys flows through it, which once separated the realms of Lydia from the Persians. Asia Minor is girded on the east by Cappadocia, and on the other sides it is surrounded on every hand by the sea; for on the north it has the Euxine Sea, on the west the Propontis, on the south the Egyptian Sea. It has the provinces of Bithynia, Phrygia, Galatia, Lydia, Caria, Pamphylia, Isauria, Lycia, and Cilicia.
The first of Asia Minor, Bithynia, lies at the beginning of Pontus, toward the part of the rising sun, opposite Thrace, and was called by many names before. For it was first called Bebrycia, then Mygdonia, and soon Bithynia from King Bithynus. This is also Greater Phrygia. In it is the city Nicomedia, where Hannibal, fleeing, breathed out his life by a draught of poison. Galatia is named from the ancient peoples of the Gauls, by whom it was occupied. For the Gauls, summoned to his aid by the king of Bithynia, divided the kingdom with him when victory was won, and thus afterward, mingled with the Greeks, were first called Gallograeci, and now, from the ancient name of the Gauls, are called Galatians; and their region is named Galatia. Phrygia is named from Phrygia, daughter of Europs. This is also called Dardania, from Dardanus, son of Jupiter.
Of whom Homer says (cf. Iliad 20.215): 'Whom Jupiter first begot from his heavenly citadel.' For this man, setting out from the city of Corytus, first came into Phrygia. This region lies above the Troad on the northern side of Galatia; on the south it is near Lycaonia; on the east it adjoins Lydia; on the west it is bounded by the Hellespont sea. Its region is Troy, which Tros, king of the Trojans and father of Ganymede, named from his own name. There are two Phrygias, greater and lesser. Greater Phrygia has Smyrna, but the lesser has Ilium. The river Hermus divides Lycaonia and Caria from Phrygia. Lydia is an ancient seat of kingdoms, which the wave of the Pactolus raised into riches by its golden torrents.
This was formerly called Maeonia, which, since for its smallness it could not bear the two brother-kings Lydus and Tyrrhenus, from here Tyrrhenus, chosen by lot, set out with a great multitude, occupied the lands of Gaul (Italy), and named it Tyrrhenia. But Lydia was named after Lydus, the king's brother, who had remained in the province. It is joined on the west to Lesser Phrygia, and on the east it has the city Smyrna, which the river Helles encircles; whose plains the Pactolus and the Hermus flow around, most rich in golden sands. Pamphylia. Isauria is said to be named from the situation of the place, because on every side it lies open to the blowings of the breezes. It has Seleucia as its metropolis.
Cilicia drew its name from a certain Cilix, whom they say was sprung from Phoenix, and assert to have been older than Jupiter. It lies mostly in plains, receiving on the west Lycia, on the south the Issican Sea, and at its back the ridges of Mount Taurus. The river Cydnus cuts through it. It has as mother of its cities Tarsus. In it too is the town Corycus, from which comes very much and very fine saffron, of a more fragrant breath and a more golden color. Lycia is so called because on the east it is joined to Cilicia. For it has Cilicia on the east, the sea on the west and south, and Caria on the north. There is Mount Chimaera, which by night breathes out fire in its heats: just as in Sicily Etna and Vesuvius in Campania. IV. ON EUROPE. After Asia the pen must be turned to Europe.
Europa indeed was the daughter of Agenor, king of Libya, whom Jupiter, having carried her off from Africa, brought to Crete, and named the third part of the world from her name. This Agenor was the son of Libya, from whom also Libya, that is Africa, is said to be named; whence it appears that Libya received its name first, and Europe afterward. Europe, divided into the third part of the world, begins at the river Tanais, descending westward through the northern Ocean as far as the borders of Spain; its eastern and southern part, rising from Pontus, is wholly joined to the Great Sea, and ends at the islands of Gades. The first region of Europe is Lower Scythia, which, beginning from the Maeotic marshes, extends between the Danube and the northern Ocean as far as Germany;
which land is generally called Barbaria, on account of the barbarous peoples by whom it is inhabited. Its first part is Alania, which reaches to the Maeotic marshes; after this Dacia, where Gothia also is; then Germania, where the Suebi have inhabited the greatest part. Germany, after Lower Scythia, enclosed by the Danube between the river Rhine and the Ocean, is girded on the north and west by the Ocean, on the east by the Danube, and is divided on the south by the river Rhine. It is a land rich in men and in numerous and huge peoples; whence too, on account of its fruitfulness in begetting peoples, it is called Germania (from 'germinare,' to sprout). It produces the Hyrcanian birds, whose feathers shine by night; it also brings forth bison and wild oxen and elks.
It also sends forth gems, crystal and amber, the green callaica too, and the white ceraunium. There are two Germanies: the upper, near the northern Ocean, and the lower, around the Rhine. Now the provinces which the Danube shuts off from Barbaria toward the Mediterranean Sea: the first is Moesia, named from the yield of harvests; whence too the ancients called it the granary of Ceres. It is joined on the east to the mouths of the Danube, on the southeast to Thrace, on the south to Macedonia, and on the west it is coupled with Istria. After Moesia is Pannonia. Thence the Norican territory, cold and rather sparingly fruitful. After it the Raetian, fertile in crops, which borders Belgic Gaul. Thiras, son of Japheth, coming there, is said to have given his name to Thrace;
others have said that Thrace was named from the savagery of its inhabitants. On its east lie the Propontis and the city Constantinople opposite; on the north the Ister stretches before it; on the south it adjoins the Aegean Sea; on the west Macedonia lies beneath it. Its region was once inhabited by the people of the Bessi, the Massagetae, the Sarmatians, the Scythians, and very many other nations; for it is ample, and therefore held very many peoples. Thrace pours forth the river Hebrus, which also touches very many barbarian peoples. Greece is named from King Graecus, who inhabited that whole region with his realm. There are seven provinces of Greece:
of which the first from the west is Dalmatia, then Epirus, then Hellas, then Thessaly, then Macedonia, then Achaia, and two in the sea, Crete and the Cyclades. But Illyricum is generally all Greece. Dalmatia is thought to have drawn its name from Delminium, the greatest city of that same province. It adjoins Macedonia on the east, Moesia on the north, is bounded by Istria on the west, and closed on the south by the Adriatic gulf. Epirus is named from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. A part of it is Chaonia, which was formerly called Molossia, from Molossus, son of Pyrrhus, whom he had by Andromache. But after Pyrrhus was slain by the treachery of Orestes, Helenus took Andromache and held the kingdom of his stepson who had succeeded his father;
from whom a part of Epirus was called Molossia, which Helenus afterward named Chaonia from his brother Chaon, whom he is said to have killed through ignorance while hunting, as if for the consolation of his slain brother. Hellas is named from King Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, from whom also the Greeks were formerly called Hellenes. This is also the Attic land, formerly called Acte. For there was a certain Granus, a native of Greece, from whose daughter, by the name of Attis, the Attic land was called. It lies midway between Macedonia and Achaia, joined to Arcadia on the northern side. This is also the true Greece, where was the city of Athens, mother of the liberal arts and nurse of philosophers, than which Greece had nothing more famous and noble.
In it too is the plain of Marathon, once most bloody in the reputation of its battle. There are two provinces of Hellas: Boeotia and the Peloponnese. Now Boeotia is so called for this cause. When Cadmus, son of Agenor, was seeking his sister Europa, carried off by Jupiter, by his father's command, and could not find her, dreading his father's wrath, with resolved mind he chose exile. For, having followed the tracks of an ox that he happened to catch sight of, he embraced as his seat the place where it had lain down, and thus named the place Boeotia from the name of the ox (bos); where too he built the city of Thebes, in which civil wars once thundered, and where were born Apollo and the greater Hercules, that Theban. The same is called Aonia, from a certain spring consecrated to Apollo and the Muses, which is in that same Boeotia.
The Peloponnese, the second part of Hellas, was ruled over and named by Pelops. Thessaly is named from King Thessalus, and is joined to the southern quarter of Macedonia, at whose back is Pieria. There are many rivers in Thessaly, and cities and towns, among which especially Thessalonica: there too is Mount Parnassus, once consecrated to Apollo. Thessaly was the homeland of Achilles and the origin of the Lapiths, of whom it is told that they first tamed horses with bridles, whence too they were called Centaurs. In Thessaly the solid gold coins were first made, and the use of taming horses was there first discovered.
Macedonia at its beginning had the name of Emathia, from King Emathius, but Macedo, the maternal grandson of Deucalion, after he had received the principate there, changed the name and called it Macedonia from his own name. It borders on the east the Aegean Sea, on the south Achaia, on the west Dalmatia, on the north Moesia; the homeland of Alexander the Great, and a region rich in golden and silver veins. It produces the stone which they call paeanites. Mount Olympus is in it, which rises so great with its lofty peak that on its summit neither clouds nor winds are felt. Achaia is named as both a city and a province from King Achaeus. It is almost an island; for except on the northern side, where it is joined to Macedonia, it is on every side hemmed in by the sea.
For on the east it has the Myrtoan Sea, on the southeast the Cretan, on the south the Ionian, on the southwest and west the Cassiopian islands, and only on the northern side is it joined to the land of Macedonia or Attica. Its capital is the city Corinth, the ornament of Greece. The Inachus is a river of Achaia. Arcadia, however, is a gulf of Achaia, set out like a plane-tree leaf between the Ionian and the Aegean sea, which Arcas, son of Jupiter and Callisto, after the Pelasgians were brought under his sway, named Arcadia from his own name. This is also Sicyonia, from King Sicyon, from whom the kingdom of the Sicyonians is also named. Arcadia has the great river Erymanthus; also the stone asbestos, which, once kindled, is never extinguished: there too are born the whitest blackbirds.