The Periplus of the Euxine Sea by Arrian – Part 3

In this last part of the Periplus, Arrian takes us from Dioscuras/Sebastopolis to Byzantium. 

He starts his story where he left off at the conclusion of part 1, i.e., in Sebastopolis (see: Tour of Colchis: From Trapezus to Sebastopolis). This section, the Cimmerian Bosporus, was not controlled directly by Rome but by a so-called client king. In Hadrian’s day, that was Cotys II, in full Tiberius Julius Cotys, who ruled from 123/4 AD until he died in 131/2 AD. His appointment was made for life and his successor needed to be officially recognized by Rome. 

At the news of his death, Arrian decided that Hadrian would be interested in having the latest information about the Bosporan Kingdom since it supplied a great deal of wheat, clothing, wine, and slaves. His territory also was an important buffer zone with the warlike Alans living to the north. 

Arrian sailed along the mountainous coastline below the Caucasus to Pityus, some 65 kilometers away. These lands were occupied by the Zilchi ruled by a certain Stachemphax, also recognized as a king by Hadrian. Follows a list of cities, harbors, and rivers including the distances between them, from Crimea to the mouth of the Danube River. More familiar are the Greek cities on the south coast of Crimea, such as Panticapaeum (Kerch), Theodosia, Cercinitis, and Chersonesus (Kherson). Panticapaeum which lies only 11 kilometers from the Tanais River (modern Don River) and flows into Maeotis Lake (Sea of Azov) was seen as the place where Europe ended and Asia started. 

Sailing further west, Arrian stops at the Greek city of Olbia at the mouth of today’s Dnieper River. Next, he heads for the harbor of Odessos, a trading post founded by the Greeks from Istria. From here, he continues to the wide delta of the Ister River (Danube) where he reaches the Island of Achilles or Leuke (possibly Snake Island in Ukraine). Legend has it that Thetis gave it to her son. The island was known for its Temple of Achilles which held a wooden statue of the hero, as well as Greek and Latin inscriptions in honor of Achilles and his dear Patroclus. Arrian speaks of many offerings that were made, including sacrifices of animals. Those who sail by the island may “see” Achilles in their dreams or hallucinations. 

Proceeding further down the coast of the Black Sea, Arrian arrives at Tomis, a colony founded by the Greeks where Emperor Augustus banished the poet Ovid. The next port was Callatis, established by the Carians, followed by Odessos (another harbor by that name) where he entered Thracia. 

Passing the eastern end of the Haemus Mountains (in central Bulgaria), Arrian reaches Miletus’ colony of Apollonia which once held a colossal statue of the god Apollo. From here, he sailed to the not-so-good harbor of Salmydessus (roughly 150 km east of Hadrianopolis, modern Edirne) where Xenophon helped Seuthes II to become King of Thracia. 

By now, Arrian has landed at the Thracian side of the Bosporus. This area is reputed for the Cyanean Islands or Symplegades (also Clashing Rocks), a pair of rocks that clash together when a ship sails through. In Greek mythology, the rocks were defeated by Jason on his way to Colchis on board his ship, the Argo. 

Byzantium is Arrian’s final destination. He concludes by mentioning the local Temple of Zeus Ourios (who grants favorable winds) where Jason and the Argonauts erected an altar to the Twelve Olympian Gods on their return from Colchis. 

In our modern days of traveling by plane and high-speed trains, it is hard to imagine the pace in antiquity when people and armies moved on foot. Ships and barges were a comfortable alternative although winds and currents were not always reliable. Travelers could never predict the duration of a trip or the time of arrival, but in those days time was not so much of the essence as it is today. 

Though Arrian wrote his Periplus 130-131 AD, we don’t know how many months or weeks he actually was at sea. Considering that the circumference of the Black Sea is over 4,000 kilometers, it may be safe to speculate he spent most of those two years “on the road”. Quite an achievement!

[For the locations, please consult this map]

Planetarium of Archimedes?

A fragment from a complex mechanism was discovered by chance near Olbia, Sardinia, and it soon became clear that the dented gear wheel showed similarities with the mechanism of Anticythera. This fragment, however, was made of a brass alloy unknown otherwise at the time. 

[Kircher's reconstruction of the sphere of Archimedes]

Thanks to the detailed writings of Cicero in the 1^st century BC, we know that Archimedes constructed a Planetarium (Orrery). The celestial globe is mentioned by Ovid in the 1^st century BC and by Claudian, a 4^th-century Latin poet associated with the court of Emperor Honorius in Mediolanum (Milan). 

When, in 212 BC, the Romans sacked Syracuse, Consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus brought to Rome a device that was built by the famous mathematician. It represented the motion of the Sun, Moon, and the planets reproduced on a sphere. In short, a modern Planetarium. 

It was Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, who reported the story as he had seen the object personally and knew how to operate it. Cicero was amazed that Archimedes had been able to generate the motion of the individual planets starting from a single rotation. The Planetarium was placed inside a glass sphere. This corresponds to what Archimedes wrote in a now-lost treatise On Sphere-Making detailing the construction of the Planetarium. 

Livy, who died in 17 AD, wrote that before the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Gallus, an astronomer himself, used the Planetarium to predict a lunar eclipse on the night before the battle. The news was shared with his Roman legionnaires to prevent them from panicking, but the Macedonians freaked out. 

A first reconstruction based on the section of the gear wheel found near Olbia revealed that it counted 55 dents in total. Noteworthy is the shape of the dents, which is not triangular as in the case of the Anticythera mechanism but slightly curved as used in our modern gear wheels. This shape proves to be more efficient and allows a higher precision. In antiquity, these wheels were created manually and the craftsmen had to do without the use of our modern measuring and cutting tools, which emerged only a few centuries ago. 

Marcus Claudius Marcellus, owner of the Planetarium, was sent off to Spain to fight the Iberic Celts in 152 BC. It is reasonable to assume that Marcellus took the Planetarium with him – a sign of his status – and that his ship was wrecked in the region of Olbia, crashing the Planetarium. 

The Planetarium has been dated between the end of the 3^rd century BC and the mid-2^nd century BC. It thus predates the Anticythera mechanism from the 1^st century BC generally ascribed to Archimedes. However, the analog computer may well have been reproduced based on Archimedes’ description.

It must have been one of the marvels from Hellenistic times, many of which still remain to be discovered!

[the section found near Olbia is thoroughly discussed in this YouTube]

Letoon, sister-city of Xanthos

In every ancient city, the gods are never far away, and sooner or later, we stumble upon their temples and sanctuaries, but I never felt their presence as explicitly as here in Letoon at the southern end of the fertile Xanthos Valley.

Letoon was the most important sanctuary of Lycia, dedicated to its three deities: Leto, who was the family goddess and guardian of the tomb, and her twin children, Apollo and Artemis. The city was administered by nearby Xanthos (only 4 km away), closely linked together and often seen as a kind of double-city, although the term “city” may not really apply to Letoon because no major settlement was ever found. Letoon was a sacred cult center and the spiritual heart of Lycia.

According to the legend mentioned by the Latin poet, Ovid, Zeus fell in love with the nymph Leto, who gave birth to twins, Apollo and Artemis, on the island of Delos. Hera, Zeus’ wife, was very jealous of this relationship and chased Leto and her twins away to Anatolia. That is how they arrived here at Letoon. Leto came to quench her thirst at this spring, but local shepherds tried to prevent her from drinking, which annoyed her immensely; she became so fed up with them that she turned them into frogs (which still are croaking here today).

        

2. The theatre

3. Porticoes

4. Temple of Apollo

5. Temple of Artemis

6. Temple of Leto

7. Nymphaeum

8. Byzantine basilica

Based on an inscription found at Letoon, we know that monthly and annual sacrifices took place and that those who dared offend the goddess were found guilty before Leto, her children, and the Nymphs. This custom may go back to the earlier cult of Eni Mahanahi, a Lycian deity known from the 7th to the 5th century BC. This Lycian cult of the mother goddess was one of the many such influences that originated in Anatolia and spread throughout the ancient world. So it is not surprising to hear that, because of this connection with the matriarchal customs of Anatolia, even a woman was allowed to preside over the annual autumn assembly at Letoon.

What brought me here is a legend about Alexander. The story goes that when he visited the Sacred Spring, a bronze tablet emerged from the water carrying an inscription in ancient writing, which, when translated, announced that the Persian Empire would be destroyed by a Greek. The news obviously pleased Alexander and his entourage, and all rejoiced at the idea that the King’s campaign was favored by the gods.

Since ancient times, the Lycians have used this Nymphaeum for their meetings, during which the Sacred Spring occupied a very special place. During excavations, the well has produced hundreds of terracotta votive statues dating from the early Hellenistic days to the Roman times. It is lovely to see that even today, the area around this well is very marshy and the remains are often submerged. It creates a very lively picture of the Hellenistic Nymphaeum that once stood here and to which the Romans added a semi-circular pool whose outlines are still visible. In those days, the sanctuary was surrounded by large porticoes where pilgrims and believers could stroll around and rest. Unfortunately, a large part of this building has not yet been excavated, although it is known that in Byzantine times a Basilica was erected on the altar’s terrace, which ended up being flooded as well. 

The main features at Letoon are, of course, the three temples standing on a podium, which is customary for Lycia. The most obvious one is the Temple of Leto from the 5th century BC, which is basically Ionic and has been partially restored. Its particularity is that the inside Corinthian columns were integrated into the wall. It does not show at first glance, but this temple is said to be one of the best preserved Greek temples and a most exceptional example of Greek architecture. Secondly, there is the Temple of Apollo from the 4th century BC in Doric style, where a marvelous mosaic was retrieved showing a rose motive in its center and Apollo’s bow and arrows on one side and his lyre on the other – the god’s personal symbols. A copy now replaces the original that has been moved to the Museum of Fethiye. Thirdly, we find an Ionic Temple between the two previous ones. This one, the smallest one and showing only its foundations, is dedicated to Artemis and also dates from the 4th century BC. Nothing much remains of the last two temples since over the centuries their limestone has fueled the then-popular lime-kilns.

The pilgrims must have been awed by the spectacular view of these temples as they approached from the Sacred Road. With a little imagination, one can almost grasp that feeling when walking over these ancient marble slabs.

Near the Temple of Apollo, an important stela was found bearing an inscription in three languages: Greek, Lycian, and Aramaic. This decree authorizes the cult of the deities and establishes the provisions for its officers. They are not verbatim translations, but each version contains some information that is not mentioned in the other two. The Aramaic inscription with its 27 lines contains the most condensed text, as opposed to the Lycian language needing 41 lines and the Greek 35. Useless to point out that this stela helped to decipher the peculiar Lycian language. This unique document can be seen at the Fethiye Museum.

Another most attractive building at Letoon is the theater with imposing vaulted entrances on either side. Above the south vault, we find a series of masks separated by triglyphs. It definitely is a Greek theater that has been transformed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. What makes it so special is that it was carved from the natural bedrock except for the aisles. It stood at the end of the road coming from Xanthos and is said to be one of the finest in Turkey!

[Click here to see all the pictures of Letoon]