Pseudo-Scylax, Circumnavigation of the Inhabited World 104
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/222

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Pseudo-Scylax, Circumnavigation of the Inhabited World 104. This passage was written ca. 338-337 B.C.E. possibly in Athens. An important treatise from the Late Classical Greek world records sites and distances in the coastal voyage, or “circumnavigation” (περίπλους), of the Mediterranean and Black Seas around from Gibraltar. It was written as a geographical survey most likely by an Athenian scholar in the years immediately before the death of Philip II of Macedon and the start of Alexander’s eastern campaign. Marcianus of Heracleia, incorrectly attributing it to the shadowy Late Archaic explorer Scylax of Caryanda, included the work in his 6th-century collection of geographical texts, which survives in a manuscript of the late 13th century at Paris. The section that covers Syria and Phoenicia records the major ports and natural features from Cilicia to Ascalon, mentioning only Dor before Jaffa. Both Lipiński and Shipley underline this gap of ca. 70 km without ports to stop-over. We assume that this gap reflects the non-existence of Strato’s Tower in the late second third of the 4th century B.C., if not also the author’s decision to omit an existing settlement e.g. at Apollonia (Arsuf).

{Συρίας καὶ Φοινίκη.} Ἔστι μετὰ Κιλικίαν ἔθνος Σύροι. Ἐν δὲ τῇ Συρίᾳ οἰκοῦσι τὰ παρὰ θάλατταν Φοίνικες ἔθνος, ἐπὶ στενὸν ἔλαττον ἢ ἐπὶ τετταράκοντα σταδίους ἀπὸ θαλάττης, ἐνιαχῆ δὲ οὐδὲ ἐπὶ σταδίους ιʹ τὸ πλάτος. Ἀπὸ δὲ Θαψάκου ποταμοῦ ἐστὶ Τρίπολις Φοινίκων, Ἄραδος νῆσος καὶ λιμὴν, βασίλεια Τύρου καὶ λιμὴν ὅσον ηʹ στάδια ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐν τῇ χερρονήσῳ ἑτέρα πόλις Τρίπολις· αὕτη ἐστὶν Ἀράδου καὶ Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος· ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τρεῖς πόλεις, καὶ περίβολον ἑκάστῃ τοῦ τείχους ἴδιον ἔχει. καὶ ὄρος Θεοῦ Πρόσωπον, Τριήρης ⟨πόλις⟩ καὶ λιμὴν. Βηρυτὸς πόλις καὶ λιμὴν Βοστρηνὸς ⟨ποταμός⟩. Πορφυρεὼν πόλις· ⟨Λεόντων πόλις·⟩ Σιδὼν πόλις καὶ λιμὴν κλειστός. Ὀρνίθων πόλις. Σιδωνίων ἀπὸ Λεόντων πόλεως μέχρι Ὀρνίθων πόλεως. Τυρίων πόλις Σάραπτα. [ἄλλη] πόλις Τύρος λιμένα ἔχουσα ἐντὸς τείχους· αὕτη δὲ ἡ νῆσος βασίλεια Τυρίων, καὶ ἀπέχει στάδια ἀπὸ θαλάττης γʹ· Παλαίτυρος πόλις καὶ ποταμὸς διὰ μέσης ῥεῖ. καὶ πόλις Τ[υρίων Ἐκδίππα] καὶ ποταμός. καὶ Ἄκη πόλις, Ἐξώπη πόλις Τυ[ρίων. Κάρμηλος] ὄρος ἱερὸν Διός. Ἄραδος πόλις Σιδωνίων. [Μάγδολος πόλις] καὶ ποταμὸς Τυρίων. Δῶρος πόλις Σιδωνίων, κ[αὶ Ἰόππη πόλις· ἐκτε]θῆναί φασιν ἐνταῦθα τὴν Ἀνδρομ[έδαν τῷ κήτει. Ἀσκά]λων πόλις Τυρίων καὶ βασίλεια. Ἐνταῦ[θα ὅρος ἐστὶ τῆς Κοίλης] Συρίας. Παράπλους Κοίλης Συρίας [ἀπὸ Θαψάκου ποταμοῦ μέχρι] Ἀσκάλωνος στάδια ͵βψʹ.

[Ed. Shipley 2020] [Codex Parisinus, supplément grec 443 (Italian, late 13th century)]

{Syria and Phoenicia.} There is after Cilicia the community of the Syroi. And in Syria there live, in the seaward part, the Phoinikes, a community, on a narrow plain less than up to 40 stades from the sea, and in some places not even up to 10 stades in width. And past the River Thrapsakos is Tripolis of the Phoinikes. Arados island with a harbor, a royal seat of Tyros with a harbor roughly 8 stades from the shore. And on the peninsula is a second city of Tripolis: this belongs to Arados, Tyros, and Sidon; in the same place are three cities, and each has its own circuit of the enclosure wall. And a mountain, Theou Prosopon. Trieres, ⟨a city⟩ with a harbor. Berytos, a city with a harbor. ⟨The river⟩ Bostrenos. Porphyreon, a city. ⟨Leonton Polis.⟩ Sidon, a city with an enclosed harbor. Ornithon Polis. Belonging to the Sidonioi (is the area) from Leonton Polis as far as Ornithon Polis. Belonging to the Tyrioi is the city of Sarapta. The city of Tyros, possessing a harbor within a fort; and this island is a royal seat of the Tyrioi, and it is 3 stades from the sea. Palaityros, a city, and a river that flows through the middle. And a city of the Tyrioi, ⟨Ekdippa,⟩ with a river. Αnd Αke, a city. Exope, a city of the Ty⟨rioi. Karmelos⟩, a mountain sacred to Zeus. Arados, a city of the Sidonioi. ⟨Magdolos, a city⟩ and river of the Tyrioi. Doros, a city of the Sidonioi. ⟨Ioppe, a city;⟩ they say it was here that Androm⟨eda⟩ was ⟨ex⟩posed ⟨to the sea monster. Aska⟩lon, a city of the Tyrioi and a royal seat. Her⟨e is the border of Koile⟩ Syria. Coastal voyage down Koile Syria ⟨from the River Thrapsakos as far as⟩ Askalon: 2,700 stades.

[Rev. Shipley 2020] [Bostrenos is a toponym suggested by Müller (1855, p. cxxxviii) and given by Shipley (2020, pp. 81, 187).]

Works Cited

[...] 80-81 104
[...] 80-81 104

Additional Bibliography

[...]
[...]

[Marcianus of Heracleia, FGrH 2046 T 6

Suda σ 510]

[Ake

Arados

Askalon

Berytos (Beirut)

Bostrenos, River

Cilicia

Dor

Ekdippoi (Ecdippa)

Exope

Ioppe

Karmelos, Mount

Koile Syria

Leonton Polis

Ornithon Polis

Palaityros

Phoenicia

Porphyreon

Sidon

Theou Prosopon, Mount

Thrapsakos, River

Trieres

Tripolis

Tyros]

[Alexander the Great

Andromeda

Marcianus of Heracleia

Philip II of Macedon

Zeus]

[Classical History

Geography

Government

Maritime Activity

Military

Paganism

Travel]