Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, John C. Rolfe (Translator), 22.15.31

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[31] Then comes Syene,¹ where at the solstice, to which the sun extends its summer course, its rays surround all upright bodies and do not allow their shadows to extend beyond the bodies themselves.² At that time if one fixes a stake upright in the earth, or looks at a man or a tree standing anywhere, he will observe that the shadows are lost in the outer circumference of the figures. The same thing is said to happen at Meroë, a part of Aethiopia lying next to the equinoctial circle, where for ninety days the shadows fall on the side opposite to ours, for which reason those who dwell there are called Antiscii.³

Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

History (English) (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Res Gestae Perseus (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).) — 22.15.31 focus

[31] Dein Syene, in qua solstitii tempore, quo sol aestivum cursum extendit, recta omnia ambientes radii excedere ipsis corporibus umbras non sinunt. Inde si¹ stipitem quisquam fixerit rectum, vel hominem aut arborem viderit stantem, circa lineamentorum ipsas extremitates contemplabitur umbras absumi, sicut apud Meroen, Aethiopiae partem aequinoctiali circulo proximam, dicitur evenire, ubi per nonaginta dies umbrae nostris in² contrarium cadunt, unde Antiscios eius incolas vocant.

Notes on the current edition

History

1. Modern Assouan.

2. That is, they cast no shadows. Macrobius, Somn. Scip. ii. 7, 15, limits this to

eo die quo sol certain parter ingreditur Cancri, hora dies sexta

; Strabo also limits the time to midday (xvii. 1, 48; L.C.L., viii. p. 129).

3. From ἀντί, against, opposite, and σκιά, shadow. Ammianus means that the locality is so far south that the sun for a time casts shadows southwards; cf. Pliny, N.H. ii. 183,

per eos dies xc in meridiem umbras iaci

, the shadows are turned towards the south.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 22.15.31

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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