Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/130

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
116
STRABO.
BOOK II.

rather more than 4000 stadia.[1] This being added to the number[2] of stadia north of Ierne[p 1] above-mentioned, will give us the whole amount of uninhabitable land from Ierne northward 7800 stadia, and even omitting the 4000 stadia altogether, those parts of Bactriana next the Caucasus will still be 3800 stadia farther north than Ierne, and 8800 farther north than Keltica,[p 2] and [the mouth] of the Dnieper.

18. Hipparchus narrates that at the Dnieper and [the north of] Keltica, during the whole of the summer nights there is one continued twilight from sun-set to sun-rise, but at the winter solstice the sun never rises more than nine cubits above the horizon.[3] He adds that this phenomenon is yet more remarkable in regions 6300[4] stadia north of Marseilles, (these regions he supposes to be peopled by Kelts, but I believe are inhabited by Britons, and 2500 stadia north of Keltica,) where the sun at the winter solstice[5] rises only six cubits above the horizon. That at 9100[6] stadia north of Marseilles it only rises four cubits, and not so much as three in the countries beyond, and which I consider much farther north than Ierne.[7] However, Hipparchus, on the authority of Pytheas, places them south of Britain, and says that the longest day there consists only of 19 hours;[8] while in countries where the sun rises but four cubits above the horizon, and which are situated 9100[9]

  1. ↑ These 4000 stadia do not accord with the distances elsewhere propounded by Strabo. Possibly he had before him various charts constructed on different hypotheses, and made his computations not always from the same.
  2. ↑ Viz. 3800.
  3. ↑ The astronomical cubit of the ancients equalled 2 degrees. It therefore follows that in the regions alluded to by Hipparchus, the sun at the winter solstice rose no higher than 18 degrees above the horizon. This would give a latitude of a little above 48 degrees. We afterwards find that Hipparchus placed the mouth of the Dnieper, and that part of France here alluded to, under 48° 29′ 19″, and we know that at this latitude, which is only 20′ 56″ different from that of Paris, there is no real night during the longest days of the summer.
  4. ↑ Read 7700.
  5. ↑ Lit., during the winter days, but the winter solstice is evidently intended.
  6. ↑ Read about 10,500. This correction is borne out by the astronomical indications added by Hipparchus.
  7. ↑ Strabo supposed the latitude of Ireland to be 52° 25′ 42″. Countries north of this he considered to be altogether uninhabitable on account of their inclemency.
  8. ↑ Equinoctial hours.
  9. ↑ Read 10,500, as above.
  1. ↑ Ireland.
  2. ↑ France.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.