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. 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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.