Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T15:27:44.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

32 - Avienus (Avienius), Ora maritima (The Sea Coast)

from PART V: - Late Antique Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2024

D. Graham J. Shipley
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
Get access

Summary

This chapter presents a new, annotated translation of the Ora maritima, a poem in Latin iambics preserved incompletely under the name of Avienus (or rather Avienius), who can be identified with a Roman aristocrat of the mid-4th century AD. The translation approximates a metrical form. The extant portion of the poem describes the coast from Brittany to Massalia, citing early sources (not necessarily consulted at first hand) including Himilco of Carthage. The chapter introduction examines the identification of the author with a known aristocrat, and sees the Ora as part of a systematic exposition of the earth, sea, and heavens; it is, furthermore, not a translation but a development of the available material. Avienus adds observations from his reading, or in one place from autopsy, but seems usually to be working off one earlier source, perhaps Apollodoros of Athens (2nd century BC) or the archaic ‘Massaliote periplous’ whose existence has been deduced. If this be the case, the poem preserves valuable knowledge of the Atlantic coasts in early times. A new map shows the principal locations in Iberia that are named in the poem.

Type
Chapter
Information
Geographers of the Ancient Greek World
Selected Texts in Translation
, pp. 889 - 920
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×