052: Mapping the Oikoumene – Explorers & Exploration of The

052: Mapping the Oikoumene – Explorers & Exploration of the Hellenistic World The ancient Greeks always expressed a fascination for the things which lay beyond the periphery of the “inhabited world”. Places where reality and fantasy mixed and the blank spaces of the map were marked with “Here be Dragons”. These same motivations would drive the likes of Ibn Battuta, Ferdinand Magellan, and countless other people and groups, whether for God, Glory, or Gold, or some combination of the three. Throughout history, the Mediterranean was the pond around which the Greeks encircled, settling in colonies and on trade routes like frogs on lily pads. But the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great would for the first time provide the Greeks with unprecedented access to lands of Asia and Africa. The Successors of Alexander were now faced with the prospect of having to explore these new territories, as much of their kingdoms now lay outside of the previous conception of the inhabited world, the oikoumene. At the same time, the increased connectivity permitted those daring enough to set out for new opportunities to do so: surveyors, diplomats, traders, generals, all would set out on voyages and expeditions to help chart the uncharted, and redraw the map as they knew it. In this episode we are going to discuss the exploration of the Hellenistic world, tracing the development of the oikoumene as an idea, and primarily by focusing on the figures and expeditions who expanded the Greek’s understanding of the world beyond their own. The Greek conception of the world had been rapidly changing up to the time of the Hellenistic period, at least among thinkers and scholars. The general framework of a singular land mass surrounded by a vast body of water known as Ocean, lying flat upon a circular disc like a compass, had already been challenged by the 5th century BC. It was understood that the Earth itself was spherical in shape, but early cartographers presented the inhabited world (the oikoumene) as a two-dimensional plane.1 Usually it was conceptualized as a geometric shape like a rectangle or trapezoid, and there was a tendency to impose a “symmetrical order” upon it.2 For instance, the southern part of the Indian subcontinent was imagined as being on the same parallel as Libya in order to fit this geographic space.3 Alexander the Great and his entourage presumed that Europe and Asia were surrounded by one contiguous body of water which linked both the Nile and the Indus, based upon the observation that both rivers possessed similar flora and fauna like lotus plants and Crocodiles.4 There was an emphasis on simplified geographical landmarks like rivers or mountains in order to demarcate the boundaries, otherwise you would use peoples: the historian Ephorus created a map using groups to mark his borders, with the Scythians for the North, Indians for the East, Ethiopians for the South, and Celts for the West.5 The Greek-speaking world was often placed at the center of any map, a nucleus of order and civilization which gradually became less so as one moved past these boundaries.6 Case in point: Delphi, home to the 1 Aristotle, On the Heavens, 2.14; Gehrke, H.J. “The ‘Revolution’ of Alexander the Great: Old and New in the World’s View” in “Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition” Pg. 80 2 The ratios of the oikoumene varied, see Geus, K. “Space and Geography” in “A Companion to the Hellenistic World” Pg.233 3 Bianchetti, S. “The ‘Invention’ of Geography: Eratosthenes of Cyrene” in “Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition” Pg. 147 4 Arrian, Anabasis, 6.1.1 5 For a visual representation of Ephorus’ parallelogram, see Geus, K. “Space and Geography” in “A Companion to the Hellenistic World” Pg.234. 6 Geus, K. “Space and Geography” in “A Companion to the Hellenistic World” Pg. 234 famed oracle and a holy sanctuary, was often nicknamed the Omphalos, the navel of the world, much like Jerusalem in Jewish and Christian world-views.7 Since they were at the center of it all, those like Aristotle believed the Greeks to be well-balanced individuals due to living in a reasonable climate (that is, relative to the barbarians who lived in freezing or sweltering ones).8 The characteristics of those living on the periphery varied: sometimes you had savage barbarian tribes, the decadence and pomp of eastern courts, or perhaps even utopias in poorly understood areas like India.9 Even if they may have had negative conceptions about outsiders, there were many Greeks keenly interested in visiting foreign lands and observing the customs of its inhabitants. Herodotus is the most famous, having journeyed from Asia Minor to places like the Black Sea and Upper Egypt, and wrote about his finds in his “Histories”. In some sense, the act of exploration or investigation is also a way to “civilize” the uncharted world. Many mythological figures were often repurposed into world travelers by Greek writers and observers, and the demigod Heracles was the most prolific. His twelve labors took him to the ends of the earth: he imposed geographical markers such as the “Pillars of Heracles” of the modern Strait of Gibraltar, fathered sons in Celtic Gaul and fought against the Amazons in Scythia.10 Dionysus was said to have journeyed to India and conquered it, leaving behind ivy plants as a calling card for those like Alexander to come across centuries later.11 It could be argued that as the Greeks established colonies across the Mediterranean and Asia, these immigrants attempted to find or impose characteristics upon new landscapes that are shared with their original homelands. Like any sort of modern diaspora, people often cling to any indications of “home” for comfort; perhaps these stories could also be rationalizations to either make sense of previously unknown regions or to incorporate them within the boundary of the inhabited world. From the 4th century onwards, we see a rapid departure from the original understanding of the oikoumene. Due to the Earth’s spherical nature, and by following the logic of mathematics, Greek thinkers soon came to the conclusion that the world could potentially carry other peoples in places that they had no knowledge of.12 Though it may be obvious to us, this was stepping out of the comfort zone for those who barely understood their immediate non-Greek neighbors to begin with. The expansion of the Greek world into Asia, Africa and Western Europe through the Macedonian conquests would soon reaffirm this potentially frightening thought. At the same time though, there are clear signs that the Greeks were quickly coming to terms with the new conception of the world, in often radical ways. In the 3rd century, a brilliant scientist named Eratosthenes would pioneer the concept of Geography while working in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Among his more famous feats was the innovation of a geographic coordination system using latitude and longitude, and the 2nd century astronomer Hipparchus would 7 The omphalos was a large stone swaddled in a blanket by the Titaness Rhea to deceive her husband Cronos, who consumed each of her newly born children out of fear of being overthrown. Delphi was said to possess this stone (or at least a symbolic representation of it). 8 Aristotle, Politics, 7.1327b 9 Stoneman, R. “The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks” Pgs. 238-253 10 Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5.24.1-3; For a detailed discussion on Heracles’ role as a colonizer and trailblazer, see “Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization” Pgs. 96-101 11 Arrian, Anabasis, 5.1.1-2.2 12 Geus, K. “Space and Geography” in “A Companion to the Hellenistic World” Pg.233 build upon Eratosthenes’ work to make it even more accurate.13 Maps began to focus on cities and more complex geographical locations rather than broad generalizations regarding ethnicity or simplified landmarks.14 With their expanded perspectives, funded by royal patronage, and likely aided by the past knowledge of the indigenous peoples like the Egyptians and Babylonians, the scientists and thinkers of the Hellenistic period were radically transforming and advancing the science of geography. Because I have a good amount of material to present without overstaying my welcome, I am going to save the bulk of our discussions on the specific details and figures of Hellenistic geography when I get to my episodes on science and technology. Most of these scientists, with one very notable exception, would rely upon data collected in the field for their work though. Throughout the rest of this episode, we are going to talk about the explorers who helped make all of it happen. -------------------------- The campaigns of Alexander the Great were of immense importance to the Greek understanding of Asia. Certainly, there were a few named explorers who travelled into the Persian Empire and beyond, like Scylax of Caryanda who was commissioned by Darius I to discover the source of the Indus River around the turn of the 6th century.15 Famously, Xenophon and the 10,000 marched through the western satrapies, circling counterclockwise from southern Asia Minor into Mesopotamia before returning via the Black Sea coast, and recorded it in his Anabasis during the early 4th century. It is very possible that Alexander had used it as a guide during the initial part of his campaigns, but beyond the cities of Babylon and Ecbatana, the Upper Satrapies were by-and-large unknown.16 To help

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