The Adriatic Islands in the Periegesis of Pseudo-Scymnus: Two Remarks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15291/misc.1318Keywords:
Pseudo Skymnos’ Periegesis, Greek navigation in the Adriatic, Hyllis, Timaios, Diomedes’ IslandAbstract
This paper deals with two issues: (1) sequence of the central Dalmatian islands in the Periegesis which is different than in most other ancient sources, and (2) interpretation and evaluation of allegedly exceptional location of the island of Diomedes in the Periegesis.Comparative analyses indicate to special association of the island of Vis (Issa) with the Hyllaean Peninsula (Perieg. 413), confirmed to a certain extent by Apollonius Rhodius (Argonaut. 4.565): Vis appears as the first of the central Dalmatian islands from the north-west. Since the Periegesis explicitely mentions Timaeus (Perieg. 412), this author was most probably the first not only to mention and introduce the Hylleis and their peninusula to geographic knowledge of the time but also to emphasize connections of this peninsula with Vis which seems to be a reflection of visual connections important for ancient sailors. We can also find analogous sequence with Vis in the first place (but without the Hyllaean Peninsula) in Strabo (2.5.20; 7.5.5).
The second issue relates to the island of Diomedes in the Periegesis (431 – 433) mentioned in quite unexpected context according to certain opinions: it was mentioned after Lake Lychnidos (Ohrid), which was a basis for hypothesis about the cult on the islet in Lake Prespa, far from the Adriatic. However more extensive analysis of the “Illyrian” passage indicates that all relational spatial designations refer to Illyris i.e. Illyrians meaning that there is no reason to look for the island of Diomedes outside the Adriatic (Palagruža). This work focuses on the geographical association of the island of Diomedes with the Illyrian land as the actual “anomaly” of the Periegesis, while all other sources associate the island with the nearest part of Italy, Apulia.
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