On the Ocean: The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500 by Sir Barry Cunliffe

Author:Sir Barry Cunliffe [Cunliffe, Sir Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2017-09-28T22:00:00+00:00

9.7 Two cognitive geographies of western Europe: (a) Strabo’s view in the late first century BC; (b) Ptolemy’s more accurate view in the second century ad

Meanwhile in Africa

Following the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC the core of Carthaginian North Africa became a Roman province. Immediately to the west lay the kingdom of Numidia, and beyond that, stretching along the Mediterranean coast and down the west coast of Africa, roughly coincident with modern Algeria and Morocco, was the more diffuse kingdom of Mauretania. One of the Mauretanian kings, Bocchus I, had shown his suspicion of foreign adventurers by trying to restrict the activities of Eudoxus of Kyzikos about 100 BC, but for the most part friendly relations were maintained with the Roman world. A later ruler, Bogudes II, showed some interest in exploration, having sent an expedition to the tropics, but in 33 BC he decided to abdicate in favour of a more adventurous life in the entourage of Marcus Antonius, then fighting his Roman rivals in the east. When, out of this mêlée, Octavian (Augustus) emerged triumphant, he found that north-west Africa was without effective leadership, and to establish a degree of control he installed the heir of the Numidian kingdom, Juba II, as king of Mauretania in 25 BC. It was a sensible move. The Numidian kingdom had been absorbed into the Roman empire by Julius Caesar in 46 BC and the young Juba II taken to Rome to be brought up as a Roman citizen as part of a policy of educating the heirs to foreign thrones in Roman values and manners—a good investment should they be returned to take their thrones. In Rome, Juba met and married another royal exile, Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra. By sending Juba and his bride to rule Mauretania, Augustus was ensuring that the kingdom was likely to remain loyal to Rome and thus would need no military investment.

Juba II had an academic interest in Africa. In Rome he had been given access to books from the captured library of Carthage, among them a full account of Hanno’s voyage, which in all probability included some mention of the offshore islands we know as the Canaries. As an educated man he will have been well aware of the Greek myths about the Isles of the Blest and the garden of the Hesperides and his curiosity was stirred. Sometime soon after his arrival in 25 BC he sent out an expedition to explore and himself took part. All seven of the major islands were given names based on their distinctive characteristics. One of them, because of its large population of dogs, was called Canaria, which now gives its name to the archipelago. The islands were said to be uninhabited, but traces of previous occupation were noted. On Junonia was what were thought to be the remains of a temple, and ruined buildings were seen on Canaria. In addition, the feral dogs and goats reflected earlier human habitation. In spite of

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