Strabo, Geography, Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator), 10.2.12

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[12] But this line seems to imply some contradiction;

it lies in the sea both low, and very high,¹

Od. ix. 25. for χθαμαλὴ is low, and depressed, but πανυπεοͅτάτη expresses great height, as he describes it in other passages, calling it Cranae, (or rugged,) and the road leading from the harbour, as,

a rocky way through a woody spot,²

Od. xiv. l. and again,

for there is not any island in the sea exposed to the western sun,³ and with good pastures, least of all Ithaca.⁴

The expression does imply contradictions, which admit however of some explanation. They do not understand χθαμαλὴ to signify in that place low, but its contiguity to the continent, to which it approaches very close; nor by πανυπεοͅτάτη great elevation, but the farthest advance towards darkness, ( ποͅὸς ζόφον,) that is, placed towards the north more than all the other islands, for this is what the poet means by towards darkness, the contrary to which is towards the south, ( ποͅὸς νότον,)

the rest far off ( ἄνευφε) towards the morning, and the sun.⁵

Od. ix. 26. For the word ἄνευθε denotes at a distance, and apart, as if the other islands lay to the south, and more distant from the continent, but Ithaca near the continent and towards the north. That the poet designates the southern part (of the heavens) in this manner appears from these words,

whether they go to the right hand, towards the morning and the sun, or to the left, towards cloudy darkness;⁶

and still more evidently in these lines,

my friends, we know not where darkness nor where morning lie, nor where sets nor where rises the sun which brings light to man.⁷

We may here understand the four climates,⁸ and suppose the morning to denote the southern part (of the heavens), and this has some probability; but it is better to consider what is near to the path of the sun to be opposite to the northern part (of the heavens). For the speech in Homer is intended to indicate some great change in the celestial appearances, not a mere obscuration of the climates. For this must happen during every cloudy season either by day or by night. Now the celestial appearances alter very much as we advance more or less towards the south, or the contrary; but this alteration does not prevent our observing the setting and rising of the sun, for in fine weather these phenomena are always visible whether in the south or the north. For the pole is the most northerly point: when this moves, and is sometimes over our heads and sometimes below the earth, the arctic circles change their position with it. Sometimes they disappear during these movements, so that you cannot discern the position of the northern climate, nor where it commences;⁹ and if this is so, neither can you distinguish the contrary climate.

The circuit of Ithaca is about 80¹⁰ stadia. So much then concerning Ithaca.

Geography. Strabo. Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator). London. 1854-1857.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Geography (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 10.2.12 focus

[12] καὶ τοῦτο δὲ δοκεῖ ὑπεναντιότητά τινα δηλοῦν

αὐτὴ δὲ χθαμαλὴ πανυπερτάτη εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖται.

¹χθαμαλὴ μὲν γὰρ ἡ ταπεινὴ καὶ χαμηλή, πανυπερτάτη δὲ ἡ ὑψηλή, οἵαν διὰ πλειόνων σημαίνει, Κραναὴν καλῶν· καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος

τρηχεῖαν ἀταρπὸν

χῶρον ἀνʼ ὑλήεντα

²καί

οὐ γάρ τις νήσων εὐδείελος, οὐδʼ εὐλείμων,

αἵ θʼ ἁλὶ κεκλίαται· Ἰθάκη δέ τε καὶ περὶ πασέων.

³ἔχει μὲν οὖν ἀπεμφάσεις τοιαύτας ἡ φράσις, ἐξηγοῦνται δὲ οὐ κακῶς· οὔτε γὰρ χθαμαλὴν δέχονται ταπεινὴν ἐνταῦθα, ἀλλὰ πρόσχωρον τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἐγγυτάτω οὖσαν αὐτῆς· οὔτε πανυπερτάτην ὑψηλοτάτην ἀλλὰ πανυπερτάτην πρὸς ζόφον, οἷον ὑπὲρ πάσας ἐσχάτην τετραμμένην πρὸς ἄρκτον· τοῦτο γὰρ βούλεται λέγειν τὸ πρὸς ζόφον, τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον πρὸς νότον

αἱ δέ τʼ ἄνευθε πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε.

⁴ τὸ γὰρ ἄνευθε πόρρω καὶ χωρὶς ἔστιν, ὡς τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πρὸς νότον κεκλιμένων καὶ ἀπωτέρω τῆς ἠπείρου, τῆς δʼ Ἰθάκης ἐγγύθεν καὶ πρὸς ἄρκτον. ὅτι δʼ οὕτω λέγει τὸ νότιον μέρος καὶ ἐν τοῖσδε φανερόν

εἴτʼ ἐπὶ δεξίʼ ἴωσι, πρὸς ἠῶ τʼ ἠέλιόν τε,

εἴτʼ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ τοί γε, ποτὶ ζόφον ἠερόεντα

⁵καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖσδε

ὦ φίλοι, οὐ γάρ τʼ ἴδμεν, ὅπη ζόφος, οὐδʼ ὅπη ἠώς,

οὐδʼ ὅπη ἠέλιος φαεσίμβροτος εἶσʼ ὑπὸ γαῖαν,

οὐδʼ ὅπη ἀννεῖται.

⁶ἔστι μὲν γὰρ δέξασθαι τὰ τέτταρα κλίματα τὴν ἠῶ δεχομένους τὸ νότιον μέρος, ἔχει τέ τινα τοῦτʼ ἔμφασιν· ἀλλὰ βέλτιον τὸ κατὰ τὴν πάροδον τοῦ ἡλίου νοεῖν ἀντιτιθέμενον τῷ ἀρκτικῷ μέρει· ἐξάλλαξιν γάρ τινα τῶν οὐρανίων πολλὴν βούλεται σημαίνειν ὁ λόγος, οὐχὶ ψιλὴν ἐπίκρυψιν τῶν κλιμάτων. δεῖ γὰρ κατὰ πάντα συννεφῆ καιρόν, ἄν θʼ ἡμέρας ἄν τε νύκτωρ συμβῇ, παρακολουθεῖν· τὰ δʼ οὐράνια ἐξαλλάττει ἐπὶ πλέον τῷ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μᾶλλον ἢ ἧττον παραχωρεῖν ἡμᾶς ἢ εἰς τοὐναντίον. τοῦτο δὲ οὐ δύσεως καὶ ἀνατολῆς ἐγκαλύψεις ποιεῖ (καὶ γὰρ αἰθρίας οὔσης συμβαίνει), ἀλλὰ μεσημβρίας καὶ ἄρκτου. μάλιστα γὰρ ἀρκτικός ἐστιν ὁ πόλος· τούτου δὲ κινουμένου, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν κατὰ κορυφὴν ἡμῖν γινομένου ποτὲ δὲ ὑπὸ γῆς ὄντος, καὶ οἱ ἀρκτικοὶ συμμεταβάλλουσι, ποτὲ δὲ συνεκλείπουσι κατὰ τὰς τοιαύτας παραχωρήσεις, ὥστε οὐκ ἂν εἰδείης ὅπου ἐστὶ τὸ ἀρκτικὸν κλίμα, οὐδʼ εἰ ἀρχὴν ἐστίν· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, οὐδὲ τοὐναντίον ἂν γνοίης. κύκλος δὲ τῆς Ἰθάκης ἐστὶν ὡς ὀγδοήκοντα σταδίων. περὶ μὲν Ἰθάκης ταῦτα.

Translations (1)

Geography (Books 6-14) Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).) — 10.2.12 focus

[12] The following verse also is thought to disclose a sort of contradiction:

Now Ithaca itself lies chthamale, panypertate on the sea;

¹ for chthamale means “low,” or “on the ground,” whereas panypertate means “high up,” as Homer indicates in several places when he calls Ithaca “rugged.”² And so when he refers to the road that leads from the harbor as

rugged path up through the wooded place,

³and when he says

for not one of the islands which lean upon the sea is eudeielos⁴ or rich in meadows, and Ithaca surpasses them all.

⁵ Now although Homer’s phraseology presents incongruities of this kind, yet they are not poorly explained; for, in the first place, writers do not interpret chthamale as meaning “low-lying” here, but “lying near the mainland,” since it is very close to it, and, secondly, they do not interpret panypertate as meaning “highest,” but “highest towards the darkness,” that is, farthest removed towards the north beyond all the others; for this is what he means by “towards the darkness,” but the opposite by “towards the south,” as in

but the other islands lie aneuthe towards the dawn and the sun,

⁶for the word aneuthe is “at a distance,” or “apart,” implying that the other islands lie towards the south and farther away from the mainland, whereas Ithaca lies near the mainland and towards the north. That Homer refers in this way to the southerly region is clear also from these words,

whether they go to the right, towards the dawn and the sun, or yet to the left towards the misty darkness,

⁷and still more clear from these words,

my friends, lo, now we know not where is the place of darkness, nor of dawn, nor where the sun, that gives light to men, goes beneath the earth; nor where he rises.

⁸For it is indeed possible to interpret this as meaning the four “climata,”⁹ if we interpret “the dawn” as meaning the southerly region (and this has some plausibility), but it is better to conceive of the region which is along the path of the sun as set opposite to the northerly region, for the poetic words are intended to signify a considerable change in the celestial phenomena,¹⁰ not merely a temporary concealment of the “climata,” for necessarily concealment ensues every time the sky is clouded, whether by day or by night; but the celestial phenomena change to a greater extent as we travel farther and farther towards the south or in the opposite direction. Yet this travel causes a hiding, not of the western or eastern sky, but only of the southern or northern, and in fact this hiding takes place when the sky is clear; for the pole is the most northerly point of the sky, but since the pole moves and is sometimes at our zenith and sometimes below the earth, the arctic circles also change with it and in the course of such travels sometimes vanish with it,¹¹ so that you cannot know where the northern “clima” is, or even where it begins.¹² And if this is true, neither can you know the opposite “clima.” The circuit of Ithaca is about eighty stadia.¹³ So much for Ithaca.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. Od. ix. 25.

2. Od. xiv. l.

3. εὺδείελος is the reading of the text, but the reading in Homer is ἱππήλατος, adapted for horses, and thus translated by Horace, Epist. lib. I. vii. 41, Non est aptus equis Ithacae locus.

4. Od. iv. 607.

5. Od. ix. 26.

6. Il. xii. 239.

7. Od. x. 190.

8. For the explanation of climate, see book ii. ch. i. § 20, but in this passage the word has a different sense, and implies the division of the heavens into north, south, east, and west. The idea of Strabo seems to be that of a straight line drawn from east to west, dividing the celestial horizon into two parts, the one northern, (or arctic,) the other southern. The sun in its course from east to west continues always as regards us in the southern portion. Gossellin.

9. οὐδ’ ὅπον ἅρχή

10. So in the text, but there is manifestly an error.

Strabo Geography 10.2.12

Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator)

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