In The Year A.D. 170, He Was
Appointed Governor Of Pontus, By Adrian, For The Special Purpose Of
Opposing The Alani, Who Were Invading That Part Of The Empire.
His
situation and opportunities as governor, enabled him to derive the most
accurate and particular information respecting the Euxine
Sea, which he
addressed in a letter to Adrian; this Periplus, as it is called, "contains
whatever the governor of Pontus had seen, from Trebizond to Dioscurias;
whatever he had heard from Dioscurias to the Danube and whatever he knew
from the Danube to Trebizond."
The letter begins with the arrival of Arrian at Trebizond, at which place,
the artificial port already noticed was then forming. At Trebizond he
embarked, and surveyed the eastern coast of the Euxine Sea, visiting every
where the Roman garrisons. His course led him past the mouth of the Phasis,
the waters of which, he remarks, floated a long time on those of the sea,
by reason of their superior lightness. A strong garrison was stationed at
the mouth of this river, to protect this part of the country against the
Barbarians; he adds, however, in his letter, that the new suburbs which had
been built by the merchants and veterans, required some additional defence,
and that he had, accordingly, for the greater security of the place,
strengthened it with a new ditch: he ended his voyage at Sebastapolis, the
most distant city garrisoned by the Romans. The description of the coasts
of Asia, from Byzantium to Trebizond, and another of the interior, from
Sebastapolis to the Bosphorus Cimmerius, and thence to Byzantium, is added
to his voyage. The great object of this minute and accurate survey was to
enable the emperor to take what measures he might deem proper, in case he
designed to interfere in the affairs of the Bosphorus, as well as to point
out the means of defence against the Alani, and other enemies of the Roman
power.
We have contented ourselves with this short abstract of the Periplus of the
Euxine, because we have already given all the important information it
contains on the subject of the commerce of this sea. It is very inferior in
merit to the Periplus of the Euxine, which has also been attributed to this
Arrian, though Dr. Vincent, we think, has proved that it is the work of an
earlier writer, and of a merchant.
As the Roman conquests extended, their geographical knowledge of course
increased. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, their armies had forced a
passage much further north in Britain than they had ever ventured before.
One of the results of this success was a maritime survey, or rather two
partial surveys of the north part of Britain, from which the geography of
that part of the island was compiled by Ptolemy.
The maritime laws of the Rhodians, or those which passed under their name,
seem to have been the basis and authority of the Roman maritime laws at
this period; for we are told, that when a merchant complained to the
emperor that he had been plundered by the imperial officers at the
Cyclades, where he had been shipwrecked, the latter replied, that he indeed
was lord of the earth, but that the sea was governed by the Rhodian laws,
and that from them he would obtain redress. This part of the Rhodian law,
however, had been but lately adopted by the Romans; for Antoninus is
expressly mentioned as having enacted, among other laws, that shipwrecked
merchandize should be the entire property of the lawful owners, without any
interference or participation of the officers of the exchequer, and that
those who were guilty of plundering wrecks should be severely punished.
One of the most important and complete surveys of the Roman empire (the
idea of which, as has been already stated, was first formed by Julius
Caesar) was begun and finished in the reign of Antoninus, and is well known
under the appellation of his Itinerary. It has, indeed, been objected to
this date of the Itinerary, that it contains places which were not known in
the time of Antonine, and names of places which they did not bear till
after his reign; thus mention is made of the province of Arcadia in Egypt,
and of Honorius in Pontus, so styled in honor of the sons of the emperor
Theodosius. But the fact seems to be that alterations and additions were
made to the Itinerary, and that occasionally, or perhaps under each
subsequent emperor, new editions of it were published. From the maritime
part of this Itinerary of Antoninus we derive a clear idea of the timidity
or want of skill and enterprise of the Mediterranean seamen in their
commercial voyages. All the ports which it was prudent or necessary, for
the safety of the voyage, to touch at, in sailing from Achaia to Africa are
enumerated; and of these there are no fewer than twenty, some of them at
the heads of bays on the coasts of Greece, Epirus, and Italy, and within
the Straits of Sicily as far as Messina. Their course was then to be
directed along the east and south coasts of Sicily to the west point of it;
from an island off this point they took their departure for the coast of
Africa, a distance of about ninety miles.
These Itineraries undoubtedly were drawn up in as accurate a manner as
possible; but till the time of Ptolemy they were of little service to
geography or commerce, as, for a private individual to have one in his
possession was deemed a crime little short of high treason. Geography as a
science, therefore, had hitherto made little advances; indeed the discovery
and example of Hipparchus, of reducing it to astronomical basis, seems to
have been forgotten or neglected till the middle of the second century. The
first after him, who attempted to fix geography on the base of science was
Marinus, of Tyre, who lived a short time before Ptolemy; of his work we
have only extracts given by this geographer.
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