§ 10. We shall now speak of Greca-land or Greece, which lies south of the Danube. The Proponditis, or sea called Propontis, is eastward of Constantinople; to the north of that city, an arm of the sea issues from the Euxine, and flows westwards; to the north-west the mouths of the Danube empty themselves into the south-east part of the Euxine107. To the south and west of these mouths are the Maesi, a Greek nation; to the west are the Traci or Thracians, and to the east the Macedonians. To the south, on the southern arm of the Egean sea, are Athens and Corinth, and to the south-west of Corinth is Achaia, near the Mediterranean. All these countries are inhabited by the Greeks. To the west of Achaia is Dalmatia, along the Mediterranean; and on the north side of that sea, to the north of Dalmatia, is Bulgaria and Istria. To the south of Istria is the Adriatic, to the west the Alps, and to the north, that desert which is between Carendan108 and Bulgaria.
§ 11. Italy is of a great length from the north-west to the south-east and is surrounded by the Mediterranean on every side, except the north-west. At that end of it are the Alps, which begin from the Mediterranean, in the Narbonese country, and end in Dalmatia, to the east of the Adriatic sea. Opposite to the Alps, on the north, is Gallia-belgica, near which is the river Rhine, which discharges itself into the Britanisca sea, and to the north, on the other side of this sea, is Brittannia109. The land to the west of Ligore, Liguria, is AEquitania; to the south of which is some part of Narbonense, to the south-west is Spain. To the south of Narbonense is the Mediterranean, where the Rhone empties itself into that sea, to the north of the Profent110 sea. Opposite to the wastes is the nearer111 part of Spain, to the northwest Aquitania, and the Wascan112 to the north. The Profent sea hath to the north the Alps, to the south the Mediterranean, to the north-east the Burgundians, and to the West the Wascans or Gascons.
$ 12. Spain is triangular, being surrounded by the sea on three sides. The boundary to the south-west is opposite to the island of Gades, Cadiz; that to the east is opposite to the Narbonense, and the third, to the north– west, is opposite to Brigantia, a town of Gallia, as also to Scotland113, over an arm of the sea, and opposite to the mouth of the Scene or Seine. As for that division of Spain which is farthest114 from us, it has to the west the ocean, and the Mediterranean to the north, the south, and the east. This division of Spain has to the north Aquitania, to the north-east Narbonense, and to the south the Mediterranean.
§ 13. The island of Brittannia extends 800 miles in length to the north-east, and is 200 miles broad. To the south of it, on the other side of an arm of the sea, is Gallia-belgica. To the west of it, on the other side of another arm of the sea, is Ibernia or Ireland, and to the north Orcadus115. Igbernia, Ibernia, Hibernia, or Ireland, which we call Scotland, is surrounded on every side by the ocean; and because it is nearer the setting sun, the weather is milder than it is in Britain. To the north-west of Igbernia is the utmost land called Thila116, which is known to few, on account of its very great distance.
§ 14. Having mentioned the boundaries of Europe, I now proceed to state those of Africa. Our ancestors considered this as a third part of the world; not indeed that it contains so much land as the others, because the Mediterranean cuts it, as it were, in two, breaking in more upon the south part than on the north117. And because the heat is more intense in the south, than the cold in the north, and because every wight thrives better in cold than in heat, therefore is Africa inferior to Europe, both in the number of its people, and in the extent of its land118. The eastern part of Africa, as I said before, begins in the west of Egypt, at the river Nile, and the most eastern country of this continent is Lybia. Ciramacia119 is to the west of lower Egypt, having the Mediterranean on the north, Libia Ethiopica to the south, and Syrtes Major to the west. To the east of Libia Ethiopica is the farther Egypt, and the sea called Ethiopicum120. To the west of Rogathitus121 is the nation called Tribulitania122, and the nation called Syrtes Minores, to the north of whom is that part of the Mediterranean called the Hadriatic. To the west again of Bizantium, quite to the salt mere of the Arzuges123; this nation has to the east the Syrtes Majores, with the land of Rogathite; and to the south the Natabres, Geothulas, and Garamantes124, quite to the sea of Bizantium. The sea ports of these nations are Adrumetis and Zuges, and their largest town is Catharina. The country of Numidia has to the east the Syrtes Minores and the salt mere formerly mentioned, to the north the Mediterranean, to the west Mauritania, and to the south the hills of Uzera, and the mountains which extend to Ethiopia, one way, and the Mauritanian sea on the other side. To the east is Numidia, to the north the Mediterranean, to the west the river Malvarius, to the south Astryx, near the mountains which divide the fruitful country from the wild and barren sands which lie southwards towards the Mauritanian sea, by others called the Tingitanean. To the east is the river Malon125, to the north the hills of Abbenas and Calpri. Another mountain also closes the end of the Mediterranean sea, between the two hills to the west, where stand the pillars of Ercoles or Hercules. To the west again is Mount Atlas, quite to the sea; to the south the hills called AEsperos, and to the south again the nation called Ausolum126, which inhabits quite to the sea.
$ 15. Having thus stated the boundaries of Africa, we shall now speak of the islands in the Mediterranean: Cyprus lies opposite to Cilicia, and Isauria on that arm of the sea called Mesicos, being 170 miles long, and 122 miles broad. The island of Crete is opposite to the sea called Artatium, northwest is the sea of Crete, and west is the Sicilian or Adriatic sea. It is 100 miles long, and 150 miles broad. There are fifty-three of the islands called the Cyclades. To the east of them is the Risca Sea, to the south the Cretisca or Cretan, to the north the Egisca or Egean, and to the west the Adriatic. The island of Sicily is triangular, and at each end there are towns. The northern is Petores127, near which is the town of Messina; the south angle is Lilitem128, near which is a town of the same name. The island is 157 miles long from east to west, and 70 broad to the eastward. To the north-east is that part of the Mediterranean called the Adriatic, to the south the Apiscan sea, to the west the Tyrrhene sea, and to the north the129 sea, all of which are narrow and liable to storms. Opposite to Italy, a small arm of the sea divides Sardinia from Corsica, which strait is twenty-two miles broad. To the east of it is that part of the Mediterranean called the Tyrrhenian sea, into which the river Tiber empties itself. To the south is the sea which lies opposite to Numidia. To the west the Balearic islands, and to the north Corsica. The island of Corsica lies directly west from the city of Rome. To the south of Corsica is Sardinia, and Tuscany is to the north. It is sixteen miles long, and nine broad130. Africa is to the south of the Balearic islands, Gades to the west, and Spain to the north. Thus I have shortly described the situation of the islands in the Mediterranean.
107
Either the original or the translation is here erroneous; it ought to run thus: "The Propontis is westward of Constantinople; to the north-east of that city, the arm of the sea issues from the Euxine, and flows south-west; to the north the mouths of the Danube empty themselves into the north-west parts of the Euxine." –E.
108
Carinthia. The desert has been formerly mentioned as occasioned by the almost utter extirpation of the Avari by Charlemain, and was afterwards occupied by the Madschiari or Magiars, the ancestors of the present Hungarians. –Forst.
109
Very considerable freedoms have been taken with this sentence; as in Barrington's translation it is quite unintelligible. –E.
110
Profent and Profent sea, from the Provincia Gallica, now Provence. –Forst.
111
Probably in relation to Rome, the residence of Orosius. –E.
112
Gascony, called Wascan in the Teutonic or Saxon orthography and pronunciation. Thus the Saxons changed Gauls to Wales, and the Gauls changed War-men into Guer-men, hence our modern English, Germans. –Forst.
113
Scotland is here assuredly used to denote Ireland. –E.
114
Probably in relation to Rome, the residence of Orosius. –E.
115
Alfred includes the whole island, now called Great Britain, under one denomination of Brittannia, taking no notice whatever of any of its divisions. Orcadus is unquestionably Orcades, or the islands of Orkney and Shetland. –E.
116
The Thila or Thule of Alfred, from its direction in respect of Ireland, and its great distance, is obviously Iceland. –E.
117
This seems to have some obscure reference to an idea, that the sea had disjoined Europe and Africa. But the sense is extremely perplexed and even unintelligible. –E.
118
It must be noticed, that Alfred was unacquainted with any more of Africa than its northern coast, along the Mediterranean, which explains this erroneous idea of its size being inferior to Europe. –E.
119
Syrenaica. –E.
120
The Red Sea, or Ethiopic Gulf. In this part of the geography of Alfred, his translator has left the sense often obscure or contradictory, especially in the directions, which, in this version, have been attempted to be corrected. This may have been owing to errors in the Anglo-Saxon MS. which Barrington professes to have translated literally, and he disclaims any responsibility for the errors of his author. –E.
121
Probably some corruption of Syrtes Majores, or of Syrenaica. –E.
122
Tripolitana, now Tripoli. –E.
123
I can make nothing of this salt lake of the Arzuges, unless it be the lake of Lawdeah, between Tunis and Tripoli. The Getulians and Garamantes are well known ancient inhabitants of the interior of northern Africa; the Natabres are unknown. –E.
124
The Garamantes are a well known people of the interior of Africa, in ancient geography; of the Natabres I can make nothing; the Geothulas are evidently the Getulians. –E.
125
Probably the same called just before the Malvarius, and now the Malul. But the geographical description of Africa by Alfred, is so desultory and unarranged as to defy criticism. –E.
126
Alfred may possibly have heard of the Monselmines who inhabit the north-western extremity of the Sahara, or great African desert, and extend to the Atlantic. –E.
127
Faro.
128
Lillibeum.
129
The name of this sea is omitted in the MS. –Barr.
130
These measures are incorrigibly erroneous, or must have been transposed from some other place, having no possible reference to Corsica. –E.