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Ammianus Marcellinus on the Geography

of the Pontus Euxinus [1]

Jan Willem Drijers !Department of "istory# $niersityof Groningen%

"Das eitle Bemhen um Allwissenheit, wie es der Fluch aller encyclopdischen Bildungist, und vor allem der Fluch jener unseligen, auch auf dem geistigen Geiet, in der!rmmerwelt einer grssern #ergangenheit $mmerlich hausenden Generationen war,%eigt sich ei Ammian&&&auf diesem Geiet&&&"'()!his *uotation of more than a century ago y !heodor +ommsen epresses a harshverdict on Ammianus +arcellinus- ac*uaintance with the geography of the world as itwas $nown in his days .it is geographical $nowledge which is meant y "diesem

Geiet"/& 0n this field Ammianus had a "scheinhaftes Bescheidwissen" and empty wordshad to conceal his "1n$enntniss", according to the same +ommsen& +ommsen-s article,written in reaction to #& Gardthausen-sDie geographischen Quellen Ammians '2), whichepressed a more positive opinion, had a great impact& 3oon +ommsen-s unfavouraleview of Ammianus- $nowledge of geography was widely accepted '4)and has for a longtime not een seriously disputed&

!heRes Gestaeof the fourth5century historian Ammianus +arcellinus started where!acitus had left off, that is in the year 67 8&9& with the reign of :erva, and ended at theyear 2;oman history, namely the years from 2?2 to 2;

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As a historian, Ammianus wor$ed within the tradition of Gree$ and >omanhistoriography, and he followed in the footsteps of such authors as erodotus,!hucydides, olyius, 3allust, !acitus and others& But the classics of Catin literature 58icero, #ergil, vid, to name just a few 5 also left their imprint on Ammianus- wor$&+oreover, ancient historians, especially the Gree$ ones, did not only give a plain

narrative of political, military and other events, ut allowed themselves to include in theirhistorical accounts digressions on a great variety of topics& !hese $inds of discourses hadeen a characteristic feature of historiography from the time of erodotus, Father ofistory& Ammianus, too, enlivened hisRes Gestaewith a great many ecursuses& !heywere a means to supply information, eplanation or dramatic ac$ground& But they werealso a way for the author to epress his $nowledge and interests to his readers orlisteners, as well as to entertain and instruct those readers and listeners& ';)Ammianuswas evidently very fond of digressions& :ot only are there many of them in the ResGestae5 more than thirty 5 ut some of them are of a length which is *uite unparalleled inancient writing&'

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says that the emassies sent to @ulian from the remotest regions of the world, aout whichhe told his readers in the last paragraphs of the preceding chapter, provide a goodopportunity to emar$ upon an ecursus on the ontus 9uinus& '=()From this we mayalso infer that the digression was intended to honour @ulian and to demonstrate that hisinfluence went eyond the frontiers of the 9mpire& Ammianus does not deal merely with

the ontus 9uinus& e egins his digression with a description of the Aegean 3ea andfollowing the coastline of what is now north5western !ur$ey he arrives y way of theBosporus at the Blac$ 3ea&'=2)!he structure of the ecursus offers no great difficulties,as the following survey showsE

II =5< @ourney from the Aegean to the ontus 9uinus .9/II 65=2 !he 9-s geography in generalII =45=6 !he south coastII (5(6 From the river !hermodon to the river !anaisII 2527 Ca$e +aeotis .J 3ea of Asov/ and surroundingsII 2;54? !he .north5/western coast, in three parts, a/ its general shape .I 2;/, /

-eginning- .II 2

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.Nat. Hist.esp& B$s& 0# and #0/, the geographer tolemy, and the great historian Arrian,who wrote aPeriplus Ponti Eu!ini& !hat in Ammianus- own time and thereafter the Blac$3ea and the regions ordering on it were well $nown appears from a sith5centuryperipluscomposed y an Anonymus&'=7)Ammianus- geographical information is inglaring contrast with the achievements of these authors& is topographical information

leaves much to e desired, as for instance in the case of the cities ermonassa andhanagoras which he calls islands, or the naming of rivers and towns in the wrong order&'=;)From time to time, Ammianus gives the impression of not having any clear ideaaout the eact location of a town or region, as may e surmised from vague epressionsas "not far from there" .haud procul inde, ((&

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most, if not all, of his information on the Blac$ 3ea from oo$s&'(?)As an author livingin Cate Anti*uity, Ammianus could have chosen from many geographical wor$s for thepurpose of composing his digression on the Blac$ 3ea, since the tradition of geographicaldescriptions of this region went ac$ for some thousand years& owever, he does notseem to have used technical geographical treatises as the main sources for his ecursus on

the Blac$ 3ea littoral&

0t is in general very difficult and often even impossile to estalish which sources wereconsulted y Ammianus for the composition of hisRes Gestae& !his applies to thehistorical narrative as well as to the digressions& !he digression on the Blac$ 3ea isgenerally elieved to e a compilation of various sources, '(7)ut eactly which sourcesis hard to tell& ossily Ammianus had liny-sNatural Historyand 3olinus- Collectanearerum memora$iliumon his des$, as well as 3allust-sHistoriae&'(;)But considering hisgeographical errors and his wrong impression of the shape of the ontus 9uinus it ishighly unli$ely that he had consulted any serious geographical wor$s&'(

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tet was widely $nown in the fourth century, Ammianus- own time& 0t was translated.rather freely/ into Catin y >ufius Festus Avienus .Descriptio &r$is 'errarum/, and we$now that the famous fourth5century orator !hemistius was ac*uainted with the wor$.&r& 2&=oughly spea$ing, verses 7?(5

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'=) !his paper is an elaoration of the material in the commentary y @& den Boeft, @&L&Drijvers, D& den engst, &8& !eitler,Philological and Historical Commentary onAmmianus #arcellinus (()) .Groningen =66?/ &8& Bloc$ley,Ammianus #arcellinus. A *tudy of hisHistoriography and Political 'hought.Brussels =6;?/ G& 3aah, Cam0thode d1Ammien#arcellin. Recherches sur la construction du discours historiue dans les Res Gestae

.aris =6;osen,Ammianus #arcellinus, 9rtrge der Forschung Bd& =

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section on the +agi in the digression on the ersian provinces .(2&7&2(527/& '>eturn totet)

'6) 3ee D& den engst, "!he scientific digressions in Ammianus- Res Gestae", inE @& denBoeft, D& den engst, &8& !eitler .eds&/,Cognitio Gestorum9 'he Historiographic Art of

Ammianus #arcellinus.Amsterdam =66(/ 26547& '>eturn to tet)

'=) Besides the wor$s of Gardthausen and +ommsen referred to in notes ( and 2, 0mention hereE A& +alotet,De Ammiani #arcellini digressioni$us uae ad e!ternasgentes pertinant.aris =eturn to tet)

'=?) For 3trao on the ontus 9uinus, see B$s& #00, Q0 and Q00& '>eturn to tet)

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'=7) For the the tet of thisPeriplus Ponti Eu!ini, see A& Diller,'he 'radition of the#inor Gree% Geographers .Amsterdam =6eturn to tet)

'(4) 3ee for this especially !& Be$$er5:ielsen, "!erra 0ncognitaE the 3ujectiveGeography of the >oman 9mpire", inE*tudies in Ancient History and Numismatics

presented to Rudi 'homsen .Aarhus =6

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9mpire& e was in Gaul campaigning with the then 8aesar @ulian against the invadingGerman tries, he visited e&g& !hrace, Greece, 9gypt, the eastern provinces of the >oman9mpire and ersia& 8ontrary to 3undwall,Ammianus Geographicus.as in n& (4/ 7(757(;,0 consider it very unli$ely that Ammianus- travel eperiences and his own authorityplayed an important role with regard to the contents of the geographical digressions in

fact, his description of the Blac$ 3ea littoral shows no sign at all of personal eperience&'>eturn to tet)

'(7) 3ee on Ammianus- sources for his geographical digressionsE Gardthausen, "Diegeographischen Nuellen Ammians" .as in n& 2/ Gualandri, "Fonti geografiche" .as in n&((/& Fontaine,Ammien #arcellin.as in n& (2/ n& 74 ad ((&9 3uppl& 6 .=67(/

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'22) !he tet was also later $nown and regularly referred to, for instance y 8assiodorusand 3tephanos of By%antion& !he latter *uotes it regularly in hisEthni%a, anencyclopaedia of geographical names& !he wor$ is also *uoted in the well5$nownBy%antine encyclopaedia entitledEtymologicum Genuinum& 0ts popularity in the +iddleAges is proved y the eistence of more than =2 mss& :ot only was the poem

appreciated for its literary *ualities, ut Dionysius himself was considered an epert ongeography& '>eturn to tet)

'24) Although recently other places have een suggested as Ammianus- native city, 0 stillthin$ that Antioch is the most li$ely option see @ohn +atthews, "!he rigin ofAmmianus", Classical Quarterly44 .=664/ (?(5(76&'>eturn to tet)

'2?) ((&ichter, "Die Fun$tion der Digressionen" .as in n& ?/ (=65((=, and 8altaiano,"0l carattere delle digressioni" .as in n& ?/ (6(5(64 are right in arguing that theinformative aspect of the digressions was of great importance for Ammianus& 0f this wasso, Ammianus would surely have presented more correct information& '>eturn to tet)

'4) 0 am grateful to Dr David unt for the revision of my 9nglish& !he 03!3 editorwas @ohn +oles& '>eturn to tet)

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