Pomponius Mela

An annotated translation of Pomponius Mela's De Chorographia (also known as Cosmographia or De Situ Orbis; ca AD 44), a description of the world as known to a first century Roman, in the form of an imaginary voyage first counterclockwise around the African, Asiatic, and European coasts of the Mediterranean, then clockwise around the "outer", oceanic coasts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, back to the Straits of Gibraltar. Northern Europe, northern and eastern Asia, and southern Africa being known to the Romans only by vague rumour, those sections tend to the fantastical. The bits about the Mediterranean lands are naturally far more accurate, but Mela's attitude is never that of a scientific geographer, but always that of a popularizer, putting down what every educated man ought know in as accessible and appealing format as he can. For the modern reader, the draw is the insight into how the Romans perceived their world.

Romer's annotations are mostly good, though occasionally he strays into an annoying didacticism: if I don't already agree that Mela's occasional dismissive remarks about "barbarian" peoples demonstrate cultural imperialism, the annotator telling me so isn't likely to change my mind. Mostly they deal with linguistic matters, or connections with other ancient writers on geography, especially Pliny and Strabo, or between different sections of Mela's work.… (mais)