DOCSLIB.ORG

Monsters Al" the Edges of the World: Geography and Rhetoric Under The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Monsters Al Monsters al" the Edges ofthe World: Geography and Rhetoric under the Roman Empire. Félix Racine Department of History McGill University, Montréal October 12, 2003 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Félix Racine, 2003 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-612-98474-5 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-612-98474-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Résumé Les Romains représentaient les limites de leur monde d'après des préoccupations sociales et identitaires qu'ils entretenaient. Les géographes vulgarisateurs du début de l'Empire (Strabon, Méla et Pline), qui vécurent dans un monde récemment unifié par Rome, utilisèrent des descriptions de peuples fantastiques tels que les Hyperboréens utopiques, les Scythes cannibales et les Tête-de-Chiens monstrueux pour présenter à leurs lecteurs des coutumes radicalement non-romaines. Ces descriptions purement rhétoriques les aidèrent à mieux cerner une identité romaine au moyen d'exempla antithétiques. En comparaison, au cours des cinquième et sixième siècles, les auteurs de légendes rattachées à Saint Christophe étaient témoins d'une crise d'identité romaine née de l'infiltration de l'Empire par des 'barbares' et de la diffusion du christianisme (la foi Romaine) au-delà des frontières. Leur réponse fut d'éliminer la barrière mentale séparant le monde romain et les peuples fantastiques et d'annoncer la christianisation forcée de contrées lointaines. Summary Descriptions of the edges of the Roman world were shaped by social preoccupations and identity issues. Living in a newly unified Roman world, the popularizing geographers of the early Empire (Strabo, Mela, Pliny) used descriptions of fictional and remote people such as the utopian Hyperboreans, the cannibal Scythians and the monstrous Dog-Heads to present customs and behaviors that were utterly un­ Roman. These rhetorical descriptions helped define Roman identity through antithetical exempla. In contrast to this, the fifth and sixth centuries, the anonymous authors of legends surrounding the figure of Saint Christopher witnessed a crisis of Roman identity fostered by a new 'barbarian' presence within the Empire and by the expansion of the Christian (i.e. Roman) faith outside of the Empire. Their response was to tear down the imaginary barrier between the Roman world and fictional, remote people and to proclaim the forceful Christianization of distant lands. ii Table of contents Preface IV Abbreviations VU Introduction 1 1: Refusing to go 7 Geographical awareness under the Roman Empire 12 At the end ofthe Roman road 25 A golden age in a thousand pieces 32 Romans and monsters 40 We cannot go there (trust us) 50 II: Getting there 55 Apostles and cannibals 59 The new men in town 68 On the home front 77 Conclusion 86 Illustrations 91 Bibliography 97 iii Preface The real subject of fuis study is not monsters but Romans. How did they imagine the edges of their world and their exotic inhabitants? What kind of relation did they entertain with the se fictional nations? Such are the questions that drive my inquiry. 1 am less interested in the extent of geographical knowledge under the Roman Empire­ although this issue is inevitable-than in the way Romans articulated this knowledge in a meaningful way. My aim is to uncover links between descriptions of fictional people and issues of Roman identity, and to show how Romans shaped the world that surrounded them according to preoccupations at home. Although this basic goal has stayed the same since the beginning of my research, the format has changed somewhat. What was initially a comparison between two encyc1opedists, the EIder Pliny and Isidore of Seville, quickly became a comparison between geographical descriptions of the early Empire and late antique ones. Isidore was replaced by a heterogeneous corpus oftexts (apocryphal aets and saints'lives) while Pliny now shares the stage with Strabo and Mela. If some sense of neat symmetry has been lost along the way, 1 believe it is the small priee to pay to get a deeper analysis. This double focus yielded two ehapters of quite different format. One reason for thîs is the sources themselves: the works of Strabo and Pliny are well-known, weIl­ preserve<!, well-studied and lend themselves easily to a fuller development, while the late antique texts under consideration are sometimes patchy, usually of unknown authorship, have only caught the attention of a handful of scholars during the last century and must often be examined afresh. iv Sorne remarks concerning vocabulary are in order. Naming countries and regions is always a problem in studies of ancient geography: is it the Euxine or the Black Sea? In order to avoid bringing up modern images in my readers' minds, 1 have kept the ancient names as much as possible (thus Scythia and not Ukraine or Russia), except where a modern name is c1early the descendant of an ancient one (thus Britain and not Britannia). If it adds a touch of exoticism for non-specialists reading this text, so much the better. As for the names of fictional people, 1 have chosen to translate them in order to render their alien nature (thus Dog-Heads and not Cynocephali, Silk People and not Seres). 1 left the original name only when they did not have any etymological meaning. Finally, contrary to standard English practice, 1 wrote 'Ocean' instead of 'the Ocean', with the hope of evoking the mighty, godIike presence that surrounded the Romans' world. AH translations from Latin and Greek are my own; as for other ancient languages, 1 indicated in the footnotes and the bibliography the translations 1 used. McGill University regulations require me to dec1are the extent to which various people have helped me complete this thesis. No coercion is needed here for it is my great pleasure to finally have the occasion to thank those who have not oniy made this study possible but aIso worthwhile. At McGill, Elizabeth Digeser has been an indefatigable supervisor who not only provided me with invaluable support throughout this whole enterprise but aIso accomplished the feat of keeping me on track, while Nancy Partner's advice and encouragement have been crucial to deepening my inquiry. 1 owe much to the various scholars who commented on my work during conferences and in other settings.1 Among them, Hal Drake (UCSB), Claudia Rapp (UCLA) and Richard 1 A shorter version of chapter I, deaIing exc1usively with Pliny's monsters, was presented at the Classics and Near-Eastern Studies graduate conference of the University of British Columbia in May 2002. v Talbert (UNC - Chapel Hill) especially deserve my warmest thanks. A chance meeting with John Lewis Gaddis at Yale made me realize that 1 should be explicit about how the Romans saw the world and learned about it. If my preliminary remarks on 'geographical awareness' can make my whole argument clearer, he is the one to thank for it. If not, my own inexperience is to blame. Among fellow students, Olivier Dufault, Éric Fournier and Ariane Magny have given me valuable advice on portions of this thesis. Alexandre- Sébastien Cousineau scanned the illustrations and saved my computer from many viral infections. The members of my family have helped me in more ways than 1 can possibly acknowledge. My parents gave me an unwavering support and were even, from time to time, genuinely interested in my work, which made it all the more worthwhile. Iris not only helped me revise my English prose but ruso firmly believed that 1 could complete this thesis without too many bruises. 1 must concede that she was right. * * * The titles of the two chapters are from Lindsey Davis' The Iron Hand of Mars. 1 apologize to the author for looting her punchy lines. Different versions of chapter II have peen presented at a meeting of the North American Patristics Society in Chicago in May 2002, at the Classics graduate conference at McMaster University in September 2002, at the American Society for ChurchHistory annual meeting at Chicago in January 2003 and at the Shifting Frontfers V: Violence, Victims, and Vindication in Late Antiquity conference at the University of Santa Barbara in March 2003; the fust three papers dealt with St.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Monsters Al" the Edges of the World
    Monsters al" the Edges ofthe World: Geography and Rhetoric under the Roman Empire. Félix Racine Department of History McGill University, Montréal October 12, 2003 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Félix Racine, 2003 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-612-98474-5 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-612-98474-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions 20 1.1 the Great Steppe
    The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 General Editors Florin Curta and Dušan Zupka volume 74 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ecee The Pechenegs: Nomads in the Political and Cultural Landscape of Medieval Europe By Aleksander Paroń Translated by Thomas Anessi LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Publication of the presented monograph has been subsidized by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the National Programme for the Development of Humanities, Modul Universalia 2.1. Research grant no. 0046/NPRH/H21/84/2017. National Programme for the Development of Humanities Cover illustration: Pechenegs slaughter prince Sviatoslav Igorevich and his “Scythians”. The Madrid manuscript of the Synopsis of Histories by John Skylitzes. Miniature 445, 175r, top. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Proofreading by Philip E. Steele The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov LC record available at http://catalog.loc.gov/2021015848 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”.
    [Show full text]
  • HERODOTUS I I I 1 IV I I BOOKS VIII-IX I I I I L I I I I I I 1 I 1 I L I 1 I 1 I I I I L G Translated by I a D
    I I 1 I 1 OEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY I i I 1 I I I m HERODOTUS I i I 1 IV i I BOOKS VIII-IX I i i I l I I I I i i 1 I 1 i l i 1 i 1 I I i I l g Translated by i A D. GODLEY i i I 1 I I iN Complete list of Lock titles can be V*o Jound at the end of each volume the historian HERODOTUS grc-at Greek was born about 484 B.C., at Halicar- nassus in Caria, Asia Minor, when it was subject to the Persians. He travelled in of Asia widely most Minor, Egypt (as as far Assuan), North Africa, Syria, the country north of the Black Sea, and many parts of the Aegean Sea and the mainland of Greece. He lived, it seems, for some time in Athens, and in 443 went with other colonists to the new city Thurii (in he died about South Italy) where 430 B.C. He was 'the prose correlative of the bard, a narrator of the deeds of real men, and a describer of foreign places' (Murray). His famous history of warfare between the Greeks and the Persians has an epic enhances his dignity which delightful style. It includes the rise of the Persian power and an account of the Persian the empire ; description of Egypt fills one book; because Darius attacked Scythia, the geography and customs of that land are also even in the later books on the given ; the Persians attacks of against Greece there are digressions.o All is most entertainingo a After and produces grand unity.
    [Show full text]
  • “I Laid My Hands on a Gorgeous Cannibal Woman”: Anthropophagy in the Imperial Imagination, 1492 – 1763
    “I LAID MY HANDS ON A GORGEOUS CANNIBAL WOMAN:” ANTHROPOPHAGY IN THE IMPERIAL IMAGINATION, 1492-1763 Kelly Lea Watson A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2010 Committee: Andrew Schocket, Advisor Laura Landry-Meyer Graduate Faculty Representative Amilcar Challu Susana Peña © 2010 Kelly Lea Watson All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Andrew Schocket, Advisor This dissertation examines European writings about cannibalism in North America from 1492 until 1763, uncovering insights into the establishment and maintenance of imperial power. It contributes to existing scholarship about cannibalism, empire, gender history, and the history of sexuality. Imperial power depended upon the assertion of European superiority and the assumption of Indian inferiority, and the discourse of cannibalism played a key role in the establishment of these hierarchical determinations. Because imperial expansion always involved the conquering of bodies in addition to land and resources, it is imperative to acknowledge and scrutinize the way that conquered bodies were gendered. Cannibalism is an embodied act, and an investigation of the discourse of anthropophagy illuminates the development of early modern ideas about savagery, civilization, gender, and sexuality. Situated at the crossroads of history and cultural studies, this dissertation employs discourse analysis in order to reveal new insights into historical documents and to re- center gender in the study of the discourse of cannibalism. This comparative project traces the discourse of cannibalism in the context of Caribbean exploration, the Spanish empire in Mexico, the French empire in Canada, and the English empire in Atlantic North America, in order to develop an understanding of the ways in which the discourse of cannibalism changed across empires, time-periods, and geographic locations.
    [Show full text]
  • Forbidden History of Europe Page Stamp.Qxd
    The Forbidden History of Europe - The Chronicles and Testament of the Aryan 101 “politically correct” flavour. Nonetheless I am basically in agreement with many of her major reconstructions. So, despite Gimbutas’ clearly “feminist” undertones, which she allowed to intrude into her studies, it is still possible that her conclusions are sound, and this civilisation of “Old Europe” was stomped into the ground by the “patriarchal” Aryan Kurgan invaders, and so came to an abrupt end. For a long time now studies in Indo-European history have concentrated on Vedic analogies when attempting to identify the cultural background and lifestyle of the Indo-Europeans. While there is an amazing and sizeable collection of archaeological data on the Indo-Europeans which shows such Vedic ritualism as the horse sacrifice, it also reveals funerary practices that were considered unacceptable in the Vedic texts, namely defleshing. Therefore, it is possible that the Indo-Europeans were a Magian race who had been influenced by Vedic teachings. We find evidence of such a hybridised Vedic-Avestan religion in the book Dinkard IX. Zoroaster was famous for his tireless, and what would have been for some controversial, preaching against the Aryan Vedic customs and rites which captivated preceding generations of Iranians and Indians. Their ethos held that Daevas were the supreme gods, whereas in Zoroaster’s words, and the words of the luminous Ahura Mazda, these deities were really demons who deceived mankind into following the way of destruction. Zoroaster might have succeeded in convincing the Iranians to pay homage to the Ahuras and renounce the Daevas, but it appears that he was not wholly successful in this venture, and Vedic Aryanism continued to remain popular within Iranian society.
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9219027 Herodotus’ use of animals: A literary, ethnographic, and zoological study Smith, Stephen Michael, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1992 Copyright ©1992 by Smith, Stephen Michael.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacralization of Landscape and Sacred Places
    ZBORNIK INSTITUTA ZA SERTA INSTITUTI KNJIGA ARHEOLOGIJU ARCHAEOLOGICI VOLUME 10 Sacralization of Landscape and Sacred Places Edited by Juraj Belaj, Marijana Belaj, Siniša Krznar, Tajana Sekelj Ivančan and Tatjana Tkalčec INSTITUT ZA ARHEOLOGIJU INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY SACRALIZATION OF LANDSCAPE AND SACRED PLACES Proceedings of the 3rd International Scientific Conference of Mediaeval Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology Zagreb, 2nd and 3rd June 2016 Zagreb, 2018 ZBORNIK INSTITUTA ZA ARHEOLOGIJU SERTA INSTITUTI ARCHAEOLOGICI KNJIGA / VOLUME 10 PUBLISHER Institut za arheologiju / Institute of Archaeology Zagreb, Croatia EDITORS-IN-CHIEF AND MANAGING EDITORS Juraj Belaj Marijana Belaj Siniša Krznar Tajana Sekelj Ivančan Tatjana Tkalčec REVIEWERS Ana Azinović Bebek Katja Hrobat Virloget Luka Šešo TRANSLATIONS AND TEXT EDITING Signed below the text or translated/edited by the authors DESIGN AND LAYOUT Hrvoje Jambrek PRINTED BY Tiskara Zelina d.d., Sv. I. Zelina CIRCULATION 200 COVER PHOTO BY Karlo Lolić Financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia ©Institut za arheologiju u Zagrebu. Sva prava pridržana ©Institute of Archaeology Zagreb. All rights reserved. CIP zapis dostupan u računalnom katalogu Nacionalne i sveučilišne knjižnice u Zagrebu pod brojem 001012819 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available in the Online Catalogue of the National and University Library in Zagreb as 001012819 ISBN 978-953-6064-36-6 FOREWORD 4 Andrej Pleterski Mythical Landscape. What is it? 5 Mia Čujkević-Plečko,
    [Show full text]
  • Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions
    chapter 1 Black Sea-Caspian Steppe: Natural Conditions I shall begin with a description of the natural conditions of the Black Sea- Caspian steppe for reasons other than merely fulfilling expectations about what a typical academic monograph should contain. Geographical factors have been determinants in the development of all human societies – both those in the past and those of today – and steppe-dwellers are certainly no exception. This does not mean, however, that I promote the notion of geographical deter- minism or assume that the history of a particular community is a priori deter- mined by the natural conditions of the area(s) where it resides. Yet in this respect the case of nomads of the steppes of Northern Eurasia is a special one. Their existence was closely linked to a unique geographical envi- ronment, and it was changes to this environment caused by anthropogenic fac- tors that resulted in the disappearance of nomadic communities in Europe in the early 19th century. From at least the beginning of the first millennium BCE, up until the late eighteenth century, when the western extremes of the Great Steppe came under the political domination of the Russian Empire, this region was the shared home of often quite diverse nomadic communities. Today, the term ‘steppe’ applies to the lands north of the Black and Caspian Seas more in historical terms than in relation to their physical geography. This region’s steppe and forest steppe zones have been subjected to the most far-reaching anthropogenic change of all the biomes in Northern Eurasia. It is estimated that more than 60 percent of the steppe area in Europe has been converted into arable land.
    [Show full text]
  • Sophist Kings Also Available from Bloomsbury
    Sophist Kings Also available from Bloomsbury Aesthetic Themes in Pagan and Christian Neoplatonism, Daniele Iozzia Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy as a Product of Late Antiquity, Antonio Donato Solon the Thinker, John David Lewis Sophist Kings Persians as Other in Herodotus Vernon L. Provencal Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 © Vernon L. Provencal, 2015 Vernon L. Provencal has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978-1-78093-613-0 ePDF: 978-1-78093-534-8 ePub: 978-1-78093-816-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN To my wife, Tammy-Lynn, our children, Rachel, Roland, Spencer, Taylor and Vanessa, our grandchildren, Caden, Chloe and Sophia and our extended families of Tiberts and Dawsons.
    [Show full text]