33. In what places the shadows or days are equal
TRANSLATION
the location of all the stars which take their courses beneath the di¡erent regions of the pole. Indeed, it is because of this same sphericity of the Earth that many of the most brilliant stars of the southern region are never seen by us. On the other hand, our northern stars are to a large degree concealed from them. Hence, the Trogodyte and his Egyptian neighbour do not see those polar stars which are straight over our heads, and which never set.286 In fact, not only we in Britain, but even the Italians cannot see their brightest star Canopus, which once was worshipped under the name of a god. This is not because the light of the stars is withdrawn by gradually fading, and fails entirely for those at a greater distance, but because the mass of the Earth standing in the way prevents our seeing. All this can easily be proved by any very large mountain with settlements all around it.
33. IN WHAT PLACES THE SHADOWS OR DAYS ARE
EQUAL Because we demonstrated earlier on, through the statements of Pliny, the di¡erence in the solstitial days for peoples which dwell far from one another to the north or to the south, /382/ it seems appropriate that we state these matters at greater length in the words of the same man, and also [discuss how] the days correspond for those who dwell in any part of the world that lies beneath the same east-west line.
Writing on this subject in the sixth book of the Natural History, he says: The world has a number of segments, which our writers call 'circles' and the Greeks 'parallels'. The ¢rst runs from southern India through Arabia and the neighbourhood of the Red Sea. In it are contained the Gedrosi, the Carmani, the Persians, the Elamites, the Parthians, Naria,
Susiana, Mesopotamia, Babylonian Seleucia, Arabia up to the rocks, Syria Coele, Pelusium, lower Egypt (called Chora), Alexandria, coastal
Africa, all of the towns of Cyrene, Thapsus, Hadrumentum, Clupea, Carthage, Utica, both Hippos, Numidia, both Mauritanias, the Atlantic
Ocean and the Pillars of Hercules. Under this belt of the heavens, the pin of a sundial (called a gnomon) which is seven feet long casts a shadow no more than four feet long at noon on the equinox. The longest night and the longest day have fourteen equinoctial hours; on the other hand, the shortest ones have ten. The next circle begins from western India, and 286 Pliny, HN 2.71.178 (1.310); cf. ch. 31.
THE RECKONING OF TIME
travels through the Medes and the Persians, Persepolis, the part of Persia closest to us, hither Arabia, /383/ Judaea, and the vicinity of the mountains of Lebanon; it includes Babylon, Idumea, Samaria, Jerusalem,
Ascalon, Joppa, Caesarea, Phoenicia, Ptolemais, Sidon, Tyre, Beirut, Botris, Tripoli, Byblos, Antioch, Laodicea, Seleucia, coastal Cilicia, southern Cyprus, Crete, Lilybaeum in Sicily, and the northern parts of Africa and Numidia. At the equinox a pin 35 feet long casts a shadow of 23 feet.287 The longest day and night are 14 equinoctial hours plus two- ¢fths of one hour. The third circle starts from the part of the Indies nearest the Himalaya mountains. It extends over the region of the Caspian, the hither part of Media, Cataonia, Cappadocia, Taurus, the Amanus range, Issus, the Cilician Gates, Soli, Tarsus, Cyprus, Pisidia,
Pamphylia, Sida, Lycaonia, Lycia, Patara, Xanthus, Caunus, Rhodes, Cos, Halicarnassus, Cnidos, the Doric towns, Chios, Delos, the central
Cyclades, Cythnos [=Gythium], Malea, Argos, Laconia, Elis, Olympia, Messana [=Messenia] in the Peloponnese, Syracuse, Catanina, central
Sicily, southern Sardinia, Carteia and Cadiz. All cast a shadow on the sundial of 38 inches.288 The longest day is 141
2 equinoctial hours plus the thirtieth part of an hour. /384/ Those lands lie under the fourth circle which are onthe otherside ofthe Himalayan range: southern Cappadocia,
Galatia, Mysia, Sardis, Smyrna, Sipulus, Mount Imolus [=Tmolus], Lydia, Caria, Ionia, Trallis, Colophon, Ephesus, Miletus, Chios, Samos, the Icarian Sea, the northern Cyclades, Athens, Megara, Corinth,
Sicyon, Achaia, Patras, the Isthmus, Epirus, northern Sicily, the eastern part of Narbonese Gaul, coastal Spain from New Carthage, and thence westward. Shadows of 16 feet correspond to a gnomon of 21 feet. The longest day has 14 2 3 equinoctial hours. In the ¢fth segment are included, beginning from the entrance of the Caspian Sea, the Bactri, Hiberia
[=Georgia], Armenia, Mysia, Phrygia, the Hellespont, Troas, Tenedos, Ab<d>ios, <S>Cepsis, Ilium, Mount Ida, Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Sinope,
Amisus, Heraclea in Pontus, Paphlagonia, Lemnos, Imbros, Thasos, Cassandria, Thessaly, Macedonia, Larissa, Amphipolis, Thessalonica,
Pella, Edesus, Beroea, Pharsalia, Carystum [belonging to] Euboea, 287 ''23 feet'' is the reading in all codices save Karlsruhe, Landesbibliothek Augiensis 167 (Reichenau, s. IX1), which reads ''24 feet'' (BOD 383). This latter is the reading of Rackham's critical edition, 2.496^497.
288 Bede's copy of Pliny seems corrupt here: Pliny says that on this parallel, a 100inch gnomon casts a shadow 77 inches long: 6.39.214 (2.496).
TRANSLATION
Boeotia, Chalcis, Delphi, Acarnania, Aetolia, Apollonia, Brindisi, Tarentum, Thuri, Locri, Reggio, the Lucani,289 Naples, Puteoli, the Tuscan Sea, Corsica, the Balearic Islands and central Spain. A gnomon of 7 feet casts a shadow of 6 [feet].The extentofthelongest day is15equinoctial hours. The sixth band, in which the city of Rome is contained, includes the Caspian races, /385/ the Caucasus, northern Armenia, Apollonia on the Rhyndacus, Nicomedia, Nicaea, Chalcedon, Byzantium,
Lysimachea, the Cheronese, the gulf of Melas, Abdera, Samothrace, Maronea, the Aenus River, Bessi<c>a, Thrace, Maedica, Paeonia, the Illyrians, Durazzo, Canosa, the borders of Apulia, Campania, Etruria,
Pisa, Luna, Lucca, Genoa, Liguria, Antibes, Marseille, Narbonne,Tarragona, central Tarragonean Spain and hence through Lusitania [=Portugal]. A gnomon of 9 feet casts a shadow of 8 [feet]. The longest day is 151 9 hours, or as Nigidius would have it, 151
5. The seventh division begins on the far shore of the Caspian Sea, and extends over Callatis, the Bosphorus, the Dnieper, Stomos [=Tomos], the northern [literally:
''rear''] part of Thrace, the Trivalli, the rest of Illyria, the Adriatic Sea, Aquileia, Altino, Venice, Nicetia [=Vicenza], Padua, Verona, Cremona,
Ravenna, Ancona, the Picenum, the territory of the Marsi, the Peligni, and the Sabines, Umbria, Rimini, Bologna, Piacenza, Milan and everything from the Apennine range, and beyond the Alps, Gaul, Aquitaine,
Vienne, the Pyrenees and Celtiberia. A sundial pin of 35 [feet] casts a shadow of 36, although in parts of the Veneto the shadow is equal to the gnomon. The longest day is 153 5 hours. /386/ Hitherto we have recorded the measurements of the ancients. The most assiduous of those who have followed them divide what remains of the Earth into three segments: from the Don, through Lake Meotius [=Sea of Azov] and the Sarmatians up to the Dnieper, and thence through the Dacias and part of Germany, and Gaul on the shores of the encircling Ocean, which has 16 hours [on its longest day], and a second through the Hyperboreans and Britain which has 17. The last one [goes through] Scythia from the Riphean Mountains into Thule where, as we said, there are alternating periods of continuous day and night. Also, they place two circles before the point where we began: the ¢rst through the island of Meroe and Ptolemais on the Red
Sea, constructed for the elephant hunt, where the longest day is greater by
2 hour than 12 hours; the second running through Syene in Egypt, which 289 A people of southern Italy.