Christian Topography 1 part 3/22

For by 'it circles round and round, and upon its circuits it returns,' he indicated, along with its course, also the turnings, expressing them in the plural;

for he does not say that the wind itself circles, but that the sun circles by means of the wind, that is, the air.

Moreover, the blessed Moses too, having been commanded to make the tabernacle on Mount Sinai according to the pattern which he had seen given from God, declared that the outer tabernacle became a type of this visible world.

The divine Apostle, interpreting in the Epistle to the Hebrews, [teaches] that the inner tabernacle beyond the veil is a type of the heavenly things, that is, of the kingdom of heaven, as it were of the state that is to come, taking the veil in place of the firmament, which also divides the tabernacle into two tabernacles, just as the firmament, mediating between heaven and earth, made two worlds, this one and the one to come, into which coming world Christ entered first as forerunner on our behalf, inaugurating for us a new and living way.

He also commands [that there be] around the table a twisted wave-molding in a circle, as it were the mass of waters, that is, the Ocean, and again around the wave-molding a border of a palm's breadth in a circle, that is, the land beyond and around the Ocean, where also to the east lies Paradise, where also the ends of heaven are joined to the ends of the earth.

Not only are we taught from this diagram concerning the luminaries and the stars, that most of them, in rising, run their course toward the south, but at the same time it also teaches concerning the earth, that outside itself it has the Ocean encircling it, and again that beyond the Ocean there exists land encircling the Ocean.

But also from the prophecy of Noah's father, Lamech, we are taught concerning this, namely that Noah, through the world-bearing ark, was about to bring men and irrational animals into this land, [Lamech] saying somewhere as follows:

"This one shall give us rest from our works and from the toils of our hands and from the earth which the Lord God has cursed." For this reason he also named him Noah, that is, "rest."

For since the first man had sinned and was cast out by God from Paradise into a thorny and rotten land, those ten generations were greatly burdened as they were disciplined, not being commanded, according to the sacred Text, to eat any longer from a fruit-bearing tree, because man had transgressed by the eating of a tree.

And very meager was the diet of those ten generations from Adam to Noah, neither eating oil, nor tasting wine, nor meat, but being commanded to eat only from seeds, and this while that land did not bear fruit abundantly, but they toiled continually:

"Cursed is the ground because of your works; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life;"

"it shall bring forth for you thorns and thistles, and you shall eat the herb of the field;"

"In the sweat of your face shall you eat your bread." Marginal note. It is evident concerning wine that after the flood, as it is written, [Noah], having cultivated the vine and pressed out from the fruit and drunk to excess of the new wine, not yet having experience of such things, became drunk.

Still more evident is it also concerning meats, that God taught him, saying:

"Behold, I have given you all things to eat, as the green herbs;"

"only flesh with its blood you shall not eat of it" — so that he means:

"Formerly I forbade you to eat of the many things, but now I command you to eat of all things and to eat meat."

"Sacrifice, therefore, and pour out the blood, and thus you shall eat the meat as [you would] green herbs."

But concerning oil: that it too is from a tree, from which they had not received permission to eat before the flood.

If it is true that they did not eat meat before the flood, how is it written:

"And Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and he brought of the firstborn and of their fat portions"? If they did not eat meat, why did they tend a flock? And how, in offering as a sacrifice, did he not slaughter? Such a truth-loving person shall hear that in the offering he offered living whole-burnt-offerings.

For this is also signified by one of the versions [of Scripture], which says:

"But upon Cain and upon his sacrifices he did not kindle fire" — as it is clear that the things offered were consumed by divine fire.

And they kept the flock for milk and wool, providing for themselves.

Whence, then, [came] to them, who did not eat meat, the notion of selecting the fat portions for sacrifice to God? Answer:

Because the fatty portions kindle the flame more when they are consumed by fire.

...to die once through untimely death rather than add [further] sins, but [that God might] bring the men and the irrational animals, [which exist] because of man, into this land, [a land] being better and nearly equal to Paradise — which indeed he accomplished, having commanded Noah after the flood, since he was in this land, to taste of everything, both of trees and of seeds, and having taught him to eat meat.

That he did not bring on the flood only for the purpose of killing those people is clear from the fact that the water prevailed for a longer time — for even one day, or even two, would have sufficed to destroy them all — but rather that the ark might also cross the Ocean and bring them into this land.

For the water prevailed for one hundred and fifty days without diminishing, until the ark should marvelously cross over into this land.

But also that the water rose fifteen cubits above the high mountains, it is quite evident that, on account of the measure of the submerged part of the ark, so that the ark might settle down upon the mountains, he arranged for it to happen so.

For half of the height of the ark was submerged, that is, fifteen cubits;

for its total height was thirty cubits.

It is possible, then, also from this, and from the prophecy of Lamech, and from the construction of the table in the tabernacle, to learn that beyond the Ocean there exists land encircling the Ocean.

But also Moses, the hierophant, says thus in Deuteronomy:

"And you, Israel, hear the commandment which I give you this day"

"Do not say in your heart:"

"Who shall go up into heaven to bring it down to us? Or who shall cross to the other side of the sea to bring it to us? The word is near you, in your mouth" — meaning by this that:

"Do not say [that you must] go up into heaven to bring down the divine ordinances, or cross to the other side of the sea to bring them, for behold, they are near you, in your mouth and in your heart" — thereby teaching at the same time both things: that beyond the Ocean there exists land or a place, and that it is impossible to cross the Ocean, just as it is [impossible] for us, still being mortal, to ascend into heaven.

But also Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah the prophet, in his own epistle, giving counsel concerning wisdom, and having also been taught the laws of Moses, utters the same things as Moses and says:

"Who has gone up into heaven and taken it and brought it down from the clouds? Who has crossed to the other side of the sea and found it?" — as though both were impossible.

For "the other side of the sea" does not refer to those gulfs that are sailed — for it is possible to cross these — but concerning the Ocean itself.

Moreover, since men, desiring to learn many things and to inquire curiously, if indeed Paradise were in this land, many would not have hesitated to reach as far as those very places.

For if, for the sake of silk, some do not hesitate to travel to the ends of the earth for the sake of a wretched trade, how would they have hesitated to journey for the sight of Paradise itself? Now this country of silk is in the innermost of all India, on the left-hand side as one enters the Indian sea, much beyond the Persian Gulf and the island called by the Indians Selediba, but by the Greeks Taprobane — [the country] called Tzinista, being again encircled on the left by the Ocean, just as Barbaria too is encircled on the right by it.

And the Indians, the philosophers called Brahmans, say that if you were to stretch a cord from Tzinista, passing through Persia, as far as Romania, as if by a rule, that would be the very middle of the world — and perhaps they speak truly.

For it lies far to the left, so that in a short time, loads of silk come from those parts, through succession of other nations, into Persia by way of land, whereas by way of sea it is very many stages removed from Persia.

He who comes by the road from Tzinista to Persia thus cuts across many stages, whence also a great quantity of silk is always to be found reaching Persia.

But beyond Tzinista, there is neither navigation nor habitation.

From Tzinista, then, as by a cord, measuring straight toward the west the distances of the length of the earth, one will find, more or less, four hundred stations of thirty miles [each].

from Tzinista to the beginning of Persia, the whole [land of] the Huns, and India, and the country of the Bactrians, are about one hundred fifty stations, if not more — certainly not fewer;

and the whole country of the Persians is eighty stations;

and from Nisibis to Seleucia is thirteen stations;

and from Seleucia to Rome, and Gaul, and Iberia — those now called the Spaniards — as far as Gades, out to the Ocean, is one hundred fifty stations and more, so that the whole comes to about four hundred stations, more or less.

But its breadth, from the hyperborean regions to Byzantium, is not more than fifty stations;

for from the Caspian Sea, which flows in from the Ocean, it is possible to estimate both the uninhabited and the inhabited parts of those regions;

and again from Byzantium to Alexandria is fifty stations;

and from Alexandria to the Cataracts is thirty stations;

and from the Cataracts to Axum is thirty stations;

and from Axum to the ends of Ethiopia, the frankincense-bearing land called Barbaria — which lies adjacent to the Ocean, not nearby, but having far off the country of Sasu, the furthest land of the Ethiopians — is forty stations, more or less, so that the whole comes to about two hundred stations, more or less; so that in this respect too the divine Scripture speaks truly, positing that the length of the earth is double its breadth:

"For you shall make the table," it says, "as it were the depiction of the earth, two cubits in length and one cubit in breadth." Marginal note. Now the frankincense-bearing land is at the ends of Ethiopia, being inland, but having the Ocean beyond it; whence also those who inhabit Barbaria, being near at hand, go up into the inland regions and, trading, bring from there most of the spices — frankincense, cassia, cinnamon-reed, and many other things — and these again they carry by sea to Adulis, and to Homerite [land], and to inner India, and to Persia.

And in [the book of] Kingdoms you will find it written that the Queen of Sheba, that is, of the Homerite [land], whom the Lord again calls in the Gospels the Queen of the South, brought to Solomon spices from Barbaria itself, since she was neighboring it across [the strait], and ebony rods, and monkeys, and gold from Ethiopia, since she bordered on all of Ethiopia across the Arabian Gulf.

It is possible, then, again also from the words of the Lord to observe that he calls these very places "the ends of the earth," saying thus:

"The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon." For the Homerite [land] is not far from Barbaria, the sea lying between them, a journey of two days by sea, beyond which, further still, is the Ocean, [in the region] called Zingium.

Now the [land] called Sasu also lies near the Ocean, just as the Ocean is also near the frankincense-bearing land, [Sasu] having many gold mines.

Every other year, the king of the Axumites, through the governor of Agau, sends his own men there for the business of gold.

And many others go out together with them to trade jointly, so that they number more than five hundred men.

And they carry there oxen, and salt, and iron.

And when they come near to the country, they make a halt at [each] place.

And bringing a mass of thorns, they make a great fence and pass their time inside; and they slaughter the oxen, and cut them into pieces, and lay these out upon the thorns, along with the salt and the iron.

And those natives come, bringing gold [in pieces] like lupin-beans, called "tancharas," and each one places one lupin-bean, or two, or more, upon whichever piece [of meat] pleases him, or upon the salt, or upon the iron, and stands off at a distance.

...the meat, or the salt, or the iron;

But if it did not please him, he leaves the gold, and that other one comes, seeing that he did not take it, and either he adds more, or he takes back his own gold and departs.

Such is the manner of exchange of the people there, since they are of a different tongue and are especially in want of many interpreters.

And they spend, at each place, about five days, more or less, in that country, entering it step by step and trading, until they have finished their trading business.

And when returning again, they return armed, all together, because there are certain people in the midst of that region who molest them and wish to take away their gold from them.

Doing thus, they conduct their trade over six months in going and returning, walking more slowly on the outward journey, especially on account of the pack animals, but returning more hastily, lest the storms and the rains overtake them on the road.

For it is around there that the source of the river Nile is, and during the winter, because of the many rains, many rivers form from it across the road.

Now the winter there corresponds to our summer, from the beginning of the Egyptian month Epiphi until the end of Thoth, raining very violently for these three months, so as to produce a multitude of rivers, and all of them pour out into the Nile.

These things I have written, some having received them by sight, others having heard them from those who trade there precisely themselves.

I wish also to relate another account to your piety, one that contributes to the present subject.

In the city of the Ethiopians called Adulis, which is a coastal city about two miles inland, being a port of the Aksumite nation, where we who trade from Alexandria and from Aela do our commerce, there stands a chair at the entrance of the city on the western side, facing the road to Axum — a marble chair, belonging to one of the Ptolemies who once reigned here, made of tested white marble like that of which the white tables are made, though not Proconnesian marble. It has a square base and four small slender columns at the four corners and one thicker one in the middle, carved with cable-fluting; and above the columns is the seat, and the back-rest behind the throne, and the sides on either hand, right and left. The whole chair — the base, the five columns, the seat, the back-rest, and the sides on either hand — is entirely one carved stone, measuring in all about two and a half cubits, like the seats which we call cathedrae.

Behind this chair stands another stele of touchstone (basanite), about three cubits high, square, whose top has its middle pointed upward while the sides on either hand are a little lower, in the shape of the letter lambda, while the whole body is square.

Now this stele lies fallen behind the chair, its very lowest part having been broken off and lost, but the whole marble, and the chair as well, is filled with Greek letters.

So when I was present in those places, about twenty-five years before these present times, more or less, at the beginning of the reign of Justin, emperor of the Romans, the then king of the Aksumites, Ellatzbaas, being about to go out to war against the Homerites across the sea, wrote to the governor of Adulis to take a copy of what was written on the Ptolemaic chair and the stele, and to send it to him.

Then the governor at that time, named Asbas, calling me and another merchant named Menas — who, having become a monk at Raithou, departed this life not long ago — bade us go and take down what was written.

Having taken it down, we gave it to the governor, keeping copies for ourselves, which I shall now also set down in this treatise, contributing to our knowledge of the places, and of the inhabitants, and of the distances.

We found also, carved on the back of the chair, Heracles and Hermes, whom the late Menas, who was with me, said that Heracles was a symbol of strength, and Hermes, of wealth.

But it is rather to be taken that Hermes is a symbol of reason (logos).

For thus it is written in the Acts, that:

'They called Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the leader in speech.' These, then, are the things written on the stele:

The great king Ptolemy, son of king Ptolemy and queen Arsinoe, the sibling gods, descendant of king Ptolemy and queen Berenice, the savior gods — on his father's side from Heracles son of Zeus, and on his mother's side from Dionysus son of Zeus — having received from his father the kingship of Egypt and Libya and Syria and Phoenicia and Cyprus and Lycia and Caria and the Cycladic islands, marched out into Asia with a force of infantry and cavalry and a naval fleet, and Troglodytic and Ethiopian elephants, which he and his father were the first to hunt from these regions, and, bringing them down into Egypt, fitted them out for military use.

And having become master of all the land within the Euphrates, and of Cilicia and Pamphylia and Ionia and the Hellespont and Thrace, and of all the forces in these lands, and of Indian elephants, and having made all the monarchs in those places subject, he crossed the river Euphrates, and, having brought Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Susiana and Persis and Media and all the rest as far as Bactriana under himself, and having sought out all the sacred objects that had been carried out of Egypt by the Persians, and having brought them back to Egypt together with the other treasure from those places, he sent forces through the dug rivers (canals).

These things, then, were written on the stele, which we also managed to preserve:

But few were the things lost, for the broken-off part of it was not large.

Then, as if in continuation, on the chair also it was written thus:

After these things, having shown valor, and having ordered the nations nearest to my kingdom to live in peace, I made war upon and subdued in battles the nations written below:

I made war on the nation of Gaze; then, having conquered Agame and Sigyene, I took for myself half of all that was theirs, and of themselves.

Aua and Zingabene and Angabe and Tiamaa and Athagaus and Kalaa and the nation of Samene, dwelling beyond the Nile in mountains hard to traverse and full of snow, in which there are continually snowstorms and frosts and deep snows, so that a man sinks in up to his knees — these I subdued, crossing the river; then Lasine and Zaa and Gabala, dwelling by a mountain gushing with hot waters and flowing down.

Having subdued Atalmo and Bega and all the nations of the Tangaites together with them, dwelling as far as the borders of Egypt, I made the road passable on foot from the places of my kingdom as far as Egypt; then Annene and Metine, dwelling in precipitous mountains.

I made war on the nation of Sesea, who, having ascended a very great and most impassable mountain, I surrounded and brought down, and I selected for myself their young men and women and children and virgins, and all their existing possessions.

I subdued the Rauso nations, inland peoples of frankincense-bearing barbarians, dwelling within great waterless plains, and the nation of Solate, whom I also ordered to guard the shores of the sea.

All these nations, though guarded by strong mountains, I myself, being present in the battles, conquered and subdued, and I granted to them all their lands upon condition of tribute.

And very many other nations submitted to me willingly, becoming tributary.

And the Arabitae and Kinaidokolpitae, who dwell beyond the Red Sea — having sent across a naval and infantry force, and having subdued their kings — I ordered them to pay the tribute of the land and to allow the country to be travelled in peace and sailed; and I made war from Leuke Kome as far as the country of the Sabaeans.

Having made the whole world subject to me, I came down to Adulis to sacrifice to Zeus and Ares and Poseidon on behalf of those who go to sea.

And having gathered my armies together and united them into one, I set up this chair in this place, and made it a votive offering to Ares, in the twenty-seventh year of my reign.

These, then, are the things written on the chair.

And up to this present day, in that place where the chair stands, they execute condemned criminals in front of it.

Whether this is a custom that has prevailed from ancient times, from the time of Ptolemy, I am not able to say.

I have set these things down, wishing to show that he himself accurately knows the extremity of Ethiopia, Sasu and Barbaria, having subdued all those nations and lands, most of which we ourselves have seen, and the rest we have learned accurately, being close to those places.

For most of the slaves who come to us are from these very nations, slaves who are even now found among those who trade there.

Moreover, Samene also, where he says the snows and frosts occur, is the place to which the king of the Aksumites banishes people, whenever he condemns someone to be sent into exile.

And by the Arabitae and Kinaidokolpitae across the sea, and the country of the Sabaeans, he means the Homerites.

It is possible, then, also from this account to estimate accurately that the breadth of the earth from the hyperborean regions as far as Sasu and frankincense-bearing Barbaria is not more than two hundred stations.

For, knowing accurately, and not erring much from the truth, having in part sailed and travelled there ourselves, and in part learned accurately from others, we have set it down in writing; so that in this respect too, divine Scripture speaks truly, while those outside speak falsely, rather conjecturing and sophistically fabricating falsehoods, and relating old wives' tales for the support of their own vanity, and fashioning another zone, more southerly than the torrid zone, similar to the zone inhabited by us.

But this zone no one has ever seen nor heard of.

For how could that which does not truly subsist in perceptible reality be seen or heard? Therefore their nonsensical babble is not to be accepted.

For such things happen to be the sophistries of certain moderns, and not of the ancients, moderns who by plausible sophisms have seemed to overturn the ancients who lived before them, attempting things impossible — just as in the discourse before this one we made our refutation, briefly, as it were.

Marginal note on Ptolemy. This Ptolemy is one of the Ptolemies who reigned after Alexander the Macedonian, concerning whom the prophet Daniel prophesies in various ways, but especially in the dream of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar and the vision of the four beasts rising up from the sea, which Daniel himself saw — in the statue, a head of gold, and in the vision, a lioness — signifying the rule of the Babylonians, that is, Nebuchadnezzar.

Then, in the statue, breast and arms of silver, and in the vision, a bear, meaning the rule of the Medes, which is inferior to that of the Babylonians, that is, Darius the Mede.

Then next, in the statue, belly and thighs of bronze, and in the vision, a leopard, signifying the rule of the Persians, that is, Cyrus, which became brilliant and renowned, not less than that of the Babylonians.

Then again, in the statue, legs of iron, and in the vision, a beast astonishing and terrible, having claws of bronze and teeth of iron, signifies the Macedonian rule, that is, Alexander, crushing to pieces and subduing the kingdoms.

Then again, in the statue, feet and toes, part of them iron and part of them clay, and in the vision, ten horns equal in number to the toes — he speaks of a divided kingdom, that after Alexander, which also in the vision of the ram and the he-goat he shows to have been divided into the four winds of heaven.

For when Alexander was dying, he divided his kingdom among his four friends:

And the one reigned over Europe, that is, Greece; and the other over Asia; and another over Syria and Babylonia; and the fourth over Egypt and Libya and the southern parts.

Of these four, then, after them their sons, having become more numerous, reigned, and multiplied evils upon the earth, just as is also written in the Maccabees.

And the little horn which spoke great things, in the midst of the ten horns, signifies Antiochus Epiphanes, who made war on the Jews in the time of the Maccabees.

All these, then, he calls part iron and part clay, as conquering and being conquered by one another, and not mingling, in the way that iron does not mingle with clay.

Then again, he says, in the statue:

'A stone cut out of a mountain without hands'; and in the vision:

'The Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven.' Here he signifies, in each part, the Lord Christ, coming from Abraham and from the Virgin without the seed of man.

For here too he said 'without hands,' so as to mean:

'without the seed of man'; and there, 'upon the clouds of heaven' means the clouds which, without human hands, as from a womb, bear and bring forth the rains.

Then again, concerning the statue:

'And it struck the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver, the gold, and they became like the dust from a summer threshing-floor, and the abundance of the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them.' And in the vision:

'I watched until the beast was slain and destroyed, and its body was given to be burned with fire; and as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, and length of life was given to them for a season' — signifying the same thing in each case, that when the Lord Christ comes, all these kingdoms will be destroyed, both that of the Babylonians and that of the Medes and that of the Persians and that of the Macedonians, and as many as arose from it by division, and they shall no longer be reckoned as anything — which indeed also came to pass in the time of Christ:

For neither did that of the Babylonians stand, nor that of the Medes, nor that of the Persians, nor that of the Macedonians, but all were dissolved.

Then again, in the statue, it says:

'And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed forever, and his kingdom shall not be left to another people, and it shall stand forever.'

'And he came even to the Ancient of Days, and was brought near before him.'

'And to him was given dominion and honor and kingship, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him.'

'His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed' — again saying the same thing in both visions, that when the Lord Christ comes, those other kingdoms shall pass away and be dissolved, but his kingdom shall be indestructible and everlasting.