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COMPENDIUM



O F



ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY



COMPENDIUM



OF



Ancient Geography,



BY MONSIEUR D'ANVILLE,

OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF INSCRIPTIONS AND BELLES LETTRES
AT PARIS, AND OF THAT OF SCIENCES AT PETERSBURG;

SECRETARY TO HIS SERENE HIGHNESS THE LATE DUKE OF ORLEANS.



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS,
Carefully reduced from thofe of the Paris Atlas, in Imperial Folio ;

WITH A MAP OF ROMAN BRITAIN,

FROM THE LEARNED JOHN HORSELY, M. A. F. R. S.
AND WITH PROLEGOMENA AND NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR.
Defigned for private Libraries, as well as for the Ufe of Schools.

PART I.



His eye might here command wherever ftood

City of old, or modern fame, the feat

Of mightieft empire ; from the deftin'd walls

Of CAMBALU, feat of Cathaian Khan,

And SAMARCHAND by Oxus, Temir's throne,

By AAGRA and LAHOR of Great Mogul,

Down to the GOLDEN CHERSONESE

And utmoft Indian Ifle TRAPOBANA.

PARAD. LOST, B. ix.

ORNARI RES IPSA NEGAT, CONTENTA DOCERI.



LONDON:

FRINTED FOR R. FAULDER, NEW BOND-STREET.



M.DCC.XCI.



6-



THE






TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE,



THE modes of Time and Place mingle fo intimately with
our perceptions of events, that the recording and defcrip-
tive parts of Chronology and Geography have been called by an
analogous metaphor the EYES of HISTORY. Without their
illuftration, the hiftoric Mufe, that " miirrefs of life, and mef-
fenger of antiquity," were degraded into a gofiip ; for the mat-
ter reported by her would be but as

" A woman's ftory at a winter's fire,
" Authoriz'd by her grandame." *

Why this illudration, which fo great a name as D'Anville has
furnimedto ancienthiftory, ihouldhave beenfolong withheld from
the mere Englifh reader, it is now of no great importance to dif-
cover. It is fufficient to remark that, with the affiftance of
this tranflation, the acquiiition of the French language will no
longer be previoufly neceffary to that more ufeful part of educa-
tion. The work publilhcd by Mr. Philip Morant, in 1742, on
the plan of Du Frefnoy's Method of Studying Geography, be-
ing confidered as too analytic and abrupt to make much im-
preffion on the memory : beiides, his maps being on the au-
thority of Celarius, are confequently obnoxious to the cenfure
which our author has palled on the works of that laborious com-
piler.

It is well known that the French geographers, like thofe of
Greece and Rome, take the liberty of writing the names of
countries, rivers, and places, in a manner different trom the
ufage of the natives of the refpe<5tive countries. This practice
I have endeavoured to correct in the tranflation, by obferving the
mode of fpellingof modern names in Spain, Italy, Germany, and
the Britifti ifles, of an Atlas published by Meflrs. Sayer and Bennet

a of



865072



II



THE TRANSLATOR'S



of Fleet Street. Rut in France, and in the reft of the world, I
have implicitly followed that of my author. In France this fcrupu-
lofity is obferved for an obvious reafon, and in countries more
remote, becaufe he feems there remarkably attentive to chaftife
the vulgar ufage to genuine orthography. It is a fubjecT: of
complaint with the compilers of geographic manuals and gazet-
teers, that the French writers exprefs towns of every rank by the
generic denomination of Ville. From this caufe of embarrafi-
mcnt 1 am in a great degree exempt ; as the ancient places noted
in the following work are for the molt part felected for their
eminence, and therefore properly ftyled Cities. Other geogra-
phical terms however are not without ambiguity. Marais, for
example, is ufed fometimes for a fen, and fometimes for a lake,
according to the interpretation of the Latin term Palus^ which
feems properly to denote a moor, or tracl: of low grounds covered
with water, though applied to the fea of Afow, the greateft gulf
of the Euxine. Lagune^ too, the author ufes to fignify as well
a. lake that has communication with the fea, as one that has not :
thus he calls the Tritcms Pains a lagune. The firft of thefe I
have rendered difcretionally ; and the fecomi, though more pre-
oifcly appropriated' to the Venetian inlets, I have ufed fpeciallw
to denote apiece of water of their defcription.

The maps that accompany this Englifh edition, though care-
fully reduced from the Parihan Atlas in Imperial folio, cannot
be expected to contain all that is comprehended in that ori-
ginal and truly magnificent work. In the folicitude to reconcile
cheapnefs with utility, it was found expedient to avoid all unne-
ccfiary repetitions. Thus in the general map of the world known
to the ancients, and in the two maps of the Roman Empire, the
countries only that do not re-nppear in particular maps, are
minutely detailed. And the inferior compartments that arc
obferved in thole of Gaul and Afia, in the Paris edition, arc
here omitted, to make room for more matter in the bodies of
thefe maps. But my author having obferved, as his reafon for
giving a particular map of Gaul, that the fubjecl is particularly
interciting to a Frenchman, I have fuperinduced one of Roman
Britain, from the learned John Horfcly, M. A.F. R. S. fuppofino-
this to be net lefs interefting to the poilcrity of the conquerors
of this province of the empire. To gratify the ingenious curi-
ciity of youth, for whofe ufe this Englifh edition is principally
ucfigncd, 1 have annexed etymologies of the Greek names that
it re not hilHcicntiy interpreted in the text; and, for the general
illuftrition ul the worf, I have irjfertcd fuch annotations as may

be



PREFACE. ill

be of ufe to fome readers of every age. Thofe marked with the
initial D. are by the author;

The Indices being an important part of a work of this nature,
the alteration made in the form of them requires a particular
explanation. Of thefe there are four in the original ; the firft
being intitled "A Nomenclature, ferving as a Supplement to
what is inferted in the body of the work," and containing the
names of thofe places which are found in the folio maps exclufive-
ly, with their modern names ; and references to the chapter cf
the work that treats of the country compriiing them. The fecond.
is intitled "A Table compofed of the Names of Countries." The
third is of " Chief Seas j" and the fourth, called Table du LocrJ
en detail, comprifes the names contained as well in the Nomen-
clature, and diftinguimed by the letter N, as thofe contained in
the text, and which refer to the volume and page; but without
the modern names. Thefe maffes I have endeavoured to render
lefs complicated by digerting them into three. The firil
table will be found to contain the names of countries, the fe-
cond thofe of the chief feas, and the third the names in the folio
maps diftinguifhed by an Italic character, with the fame refer-
ences as the original ; together with the names contained in the
body of the work. And to render this index a complete dictionary
of ancient geography, I have inferted the modern names of this
clafs alfo. To this edition moreover is prefixed a table of itine-
rary meafures reduced into Englifti yards and decimal parts.
This will be ufeful to the Englifti reader; until his country, in
concert with other nations, fhall eftablifh a common fcale of
meafures on an eternal and univerfal principle.

IT being proper that the ftudent of ancient geography fhould
have diftincl ideas of the ancient inhabitants of Europe', 1 (hall
fubjoin a brief account of the fubjecl, chiefly, but not implicitly,
from Pinkerton, a name not to be mentioned but with the re-
fpe due to an illuftrator of truth that has long been enveloped
in a mifc of error.

It is premifed then that all Europe, from the Baltic Sea to
the Euxine, was originally inhabited by a race of favages
known by the name of CELTS, or GAEL. Thefe were fubdivu<ed
into two races; the Cimbri^ Cymbri, or Cimmerii^ extending
along the eaftern frontier of the vaft fpace from the Cyrribrian
Cherfonefe to the Cimmerian Bofphorus ; and the Gael, or
Celts proper, who occupied the countries on this fide of the
Rhine and the Alps. Mr. Pinkerton doubts that thole little

a 2 menu-



i* THE TRANSLATOR'S

mountainous corners called Greece and Italy, were ever pof-
fefled by either the Cymbri or the Gael ; for that the extenfivc
plains of Germany and Gaul, affording more ample fcopetoapaf-
toral and erratic people, muft have been the principal feat of what
little population was then in Europe. But, whatever reluctance
I feel in differing on fuch a fubjecl from fo erudite and fagacious
an antiquarian, I cannot but think there are ftrong evidences
that the Latin is fundamentally a Celtic fpeech ; for words fignify-
ing things antecedent to human improvement, as the elements
of nature, &c. are the fame in the Latin and in the Celtic dia-
lects now fpoken in the northern and weftern extremities of this
ifland. The language of ancient Rome confefledly poflefles
many Gothic words, befides a numerous nomenclature of that
particular dialect of the Gothic called Greek ; but had it not
been radically a Celtic tongue, is it at all probable that it would
have fo far prevailed in Celtic countries, as is evident that it
has done from the modern ftate of the languages of thefe coun-
tries? The Romans only reduced and governed their provinces:
they did not depopulate and re-people them : and what effect
could fuch a conqueft have upon the indigenous fpeech, feeing
that Spain, though fucceflively overrun by Vifigoths and Arabs,
who were refpeclively more numerous than the Romans could
be fuppofed to have been, ftill poflefles a language that is only
a military or ruftic Latin ?

About 2160 years before the Chriftian aera, the Scythian
nomades from the north of Perfia pafled the river A raxes and
Mount Caucafus, and fettled round the (horcs of the Euxine.
This was the firft appearance in Europe of our anceftors, who
in fubfequent ages, and in diftant countries, feverally aflutned
the general names of GETES, GOTHS, and GERMANS, pro-
bably from their fuccefsful valour ; of ALEMANS, or All-men,
cither from a confederacy of tribes, or to cxprefs emphatically
their virility ; and of FRANCS or Freemen, to diftinguifh them-
fclves from the flaves whom they vanquifhed. About 360
\cars after this period they began to fettle Thrace, lllyricum,
Greece, and Afia Minor, under many denominations ; and in
300 years, or 1500 before Chrift, they had completed the fettle-
ment of thefe countries. They peopled Greece under the name
of IIEAASrOI, or Pclafgi. Our immediate anceftors then, the
Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, though thirteen hundred miles dif-
tant from thefe, being of the fame race, njuft have had an liomo-
gencal fpeech ; and it is curious to obferve the analogy pre-
ierved in. two fuch diflant languages, in defiance ef the influence

of



PREFACE. T

of time and place ; and the extremely diflimilar accidents that
each muft have encountered in its progrefs from elementary
rudenefs to refinement. This analogy however, at the clofe of
the eighteenth century, has betrayed claflical and philological
pedants into the puerile abfurdity of deriving pure Englifh
words, fuch as Man, Father, Mother, Fire, Moon, Earth, Water>
&c. &c. from Greek fountains ; never thinking that thefe, with
their correfpondent terms in the Greek, fhould be referred to a
common origin*.

The Scythians gradually advancing weftward, and driving
the Celts before them, had peopled all Germany and Scandina-
via, Pannonia and Noricum, and arrived at the Rhine and Alps
about 500 years before the Chriftian sera. In the confulfhip of
Metellus and Carbo happened the famous irruption of the Cim-
bri, and Teutones or Germans, which threatened the extinction
of the Roman republic. Thefe Cimbri, the inhabitants of Jut-
land and Denmark, Mr, Pinkerton takes to have been the origi-
nal Celtic natives of that peninfula, then expelled for the firft
time by the Scandinavian Goths, whofe pofterity ftill occupy it.
But I am rather inclined to the opinion of the learned tranflator
of Mallet, in believing them Germans, whofe anceftors had ex-
pelled the original Celts fome ages before : becaufe, had they
been Celts, it is not probable that they wo-ild have aflbciated
with the Tentones, the hereditary and implacable enemies of the
Celtic name; nor would they have obtained a free paffage through
Germany, to invade Gaul and Italy.

But there are two other genera or races of men in Europe,
though little diftinguifhed by emigration or conqueft. The

'"' " It may be confidently aflferted that no perfon can thoroughly under*

" ftand the Engliih language who does not trace it up to the Greek: thus,

-' for inltance, every one knows the meaning of the following words, being

' part of a lady's drels, viz. her cap, handkerchief, apron, ruffles, lace,

'gown, zv\& faque ; or the following, being part of the furniture of her

' work-balket, rapper, filk, thread, fd/ars, needles, pins ..thus every one

' knows the meaning of thefe expreifioas, the deuce take it ; fuch a thing is

' fpick andfpun new: every one knows the meaning of thefe words, bridle ,

< faddle,jftirrup, 'whip, boots, f purs, and journey ; but docs every one know

' the derivation of thofe words, that all and each of them are Greek ?"

" But there are wordo in our language that continue to wear fo uncouth
' an appearance, as would require more than an Oedipus to develope and
' difentangle them from their prefent enigmatical diiguiles. Thus the
; exprclfions hot-cockles, f cratch-cradle, link-boy, boggle-boe, bout-gout, bon-
' mfjt, kick-jb&WS) Crutched -friars, and innumerable others, that can only
' be explained by their etymology ; every one of which is Greek. (Le-
txsiis Lnglifi Etymologies, Preface.)

a 3 iirft



vi THE TRANSLATOR'S

firft of thefe, called by the nncicnts SARMATA, are fuppofecl
to have been the original poffeilbrs of South-weft Tartary ; but
who, expelled by the Tartars about 1000 years A. C. have oo
cupicd all Siberia, Ruffia, Poland, and a territory between the
Save and the Danube. Thefe fpeak the Sclavonian, a language
es radically different from all the dialers of the Gothic as the
Celtic is. The fecond. and laft in the order here adopted, is
that of the IBERI, an African race, who, invading Spain before
the time of hiftory, fubdued its Celtic natives, and from fome
diftricts exterminated them. Part of the Iberian language remains
in the Gafcunir.n, or Bafque, and Mauretanic.

To return to the fubjedt of the Goths and their progrefs. We
fee that, not long before the time of Casfar, the Rhine proving
too feeble a barrier to reftrain thefe warlike nation-, they had
occupied the modern countries of Alface, Lorrain, and Flanders,
under the general denomination of GERMANS. But, with due
fubmiffion to his great authority, I think Pinkerton prefumes too
much, in affirming that all the Beiges of Gaul were Germans.
That the Belgians were a mixed people, may be inferred from
Crefar ; and from Tacitus, who fays explicitly, that the " Tre-
verians and Nervians (nations inhabiting Belgic Gaul) paflion-
ately afpired to the reputation of being descended from the
Germans, fince by the glory of this original they would efcape
all imputation of refembling the Gauls in pcrfon and effemi-
nacy :" and from the anecdote recorded by Suetonius of Cali-
gula ; that he caufed certain Gauls to be taught the German
language, by way of qualifying them to perfonate captives in
Jiis theatrical triumph.

About 300 years before our cera, the ifland of Britain was
peopled with G;iuls from the neighbouring continent, in confe-
quence of the Scythian preiTiire on the eafr. We find among
thcfe a powerful people occupying a confulcrable fecit on of the
ifland, and even fettling in Ireland, under the name of Btlga: ;
doubtlefs of the fame race, whatever it were, with the people of
the f-ime name on the continent. And Mr. Pinkcrton, afluming
;\s a poflulate that the Bclgae were Germans, concludes that
the foundation of the modern Englifh language was antecedent
to tiie arriv.il of the Saxons, and that it fhould be called Anglo-
JM-!.MC, iri!ic,i.i of Anglo-Saxon. About the lame period, this
autliiir d.itfs the arrival in North Hrit.iin cf the PICICS, a na-
tion of Scandinavian Goths from Norway; and thus fatisfac-
tonly accounts for the modern Scotifh being a dinlcot of the
fame lan^u.^x- wiih our u\vn. He Ihcws too that they were the

fame



PREFACE. vii

fame people with the Peuktni, towards the mouth of the Danube;
and that what we call the Highlanders, were a colony of Belgic
Irifh, under the name DALRIADS ; who by long refidence in
Ireland had adopted the Gaelic language and manners of the
more numerous natives. He derives withal the name of SCOT
from Scytb or Scythian^ in allufion to the Piks*.

THE progrefs of the Goths after the ChrifHan sra belongs
ftrictly to the geography of the middle ages. But that I may not
interrupt the continuity of the ferics, 1 fhall give the principal
events of it here.

A. D. 250. the Getae, or parental Goths, pafTed the Tyras
or Dneifter ; and, after ravaging the Dacia of Trajan, parted
the Danube into Thrace. About the year 260 the Caufi, Che-
rufci, and Catti, with many fmaller nations, forming a great league
under the general name of FRANCS, conquered Gaul. In the
beginning of the fifth century, the Oftrogoths or eaflern Getae,
Langobards, and other Suevian nations, feizcd upon Italy; and
the Vifigoths or Weftern Getae, and Vandals, upon Spain. But
the numbers of thefe nations refpeclively being inconfiderable,
when compared with the inhabitants of the ieveral countries
that they conquered, the language and manners of the van-
quimed have in a great degree prevailed, as in all fimilar cafes
they have ever done.

In the year 449 the Jutes, the principal nation of the Cim-
brian Cherfonefe, arrived in Britain ; foon after them came the
Saxons; and the Angles laft of all. Thefe, combined, reduced
their compatriots the Belgse (if fuch they were) to a fervile con-
dition ; they being the Villani and Coloni of the Doomfday Book,
according to Pinkerton. However this be, it is certain that
they cut to pieces nil the remaining inhabitants between the
Tweed, the Severn, and the boundary of Cornwall ; and, by
fubftituting their ov/n language for the Britifli, impofed the laft
and moft awful memorial of cenqueft and defolation. In the
mountains of Wales, as we call it, it is well known that the

t: The reader \vill perceive that this account of the Piks and Scots con-
travenes in fome degree the notes extracted from the Macpherfons, to illnf-
tratc the fubjcct. The truth is, that the fneet-s containing them were printed
off before the expediency of this preliminary expofition iuggeftcd itfelf.
But, as moft controverfy promotes the cauie of truth, it is hoped that bv this
apparent contradiction the ftudent will be induced to confult the principal au-
thors here cited, if he be not already acquainted with them ; having in mind
that whatever is worth confidering, is worth inveftigating ; for fuipcnle
is an uneafy ftate, but the miad repofes with confidence in the certainty of
Xruth.

a 4 Celts 3



Viti THE TRANSLATOR'S

Celts, or rather a fragment of that divifion of them called Gym*
bri) ftill retain with their ancir nt manners, their language, which
they call Cymraieg ; denominating the Englifti nation SaJJeneah,
or Saxon, and its language SajJ'neag. The face of nature in
Cornwall, more favourable to commerce and communication
of every kind than that of Wales, aftbrded entrance to the
Englifh language, which, after thirteen ages of gradual progrefs,
has at length prevailed, almoft to the extinction of the native
tongue. Fugitives from the fouthern (hores of Britain found
an afylum on the oppofite coaft of the continent ; calling their
colony by the name of the ifland which they had abandoned.
And the poftcrity of thele Bretons are ftill diftinguiflied from
their mixed neighbours as well by originality of language as
by characteriftic manners.

The next remarkable expedition of the Goths was from Nor-
way, under Rollo ; who, to efcape the tyranny of Harold Har-
fagre, the kin^, embarked with his followers; and after making
an unfuccefsful attempt on England, invaded Neuftria, as it
v/as then called, ravaged the north of France, befieged Paris, and,
after various fuccefs, finally cftablifhed himfelf in the dukedom of
Normandie, or the country of Northern-Men, having his pof-
fefTion ratified by treaty in the year 9 12. Thefe Normans were
Piks, according to Pinkerton ; who thus accounts for the name
of Pikardie, which was one of their conquefts.

But the oppreflion of Harold Harfagre was productive of
other effects than wars and conquefts. In the year 874, a co r
]ony under the conduct of a hero named Ingulph, braving the
utmoft rigour of the elements, fettled in the uninhabited and
vulcanic ifland of Iceland ; and thereby exhibited an example
the moft admirable upon record of what human genius, courage,
and perfeverance, can achieve. For, in a land fcarcdy habitable
through the eternal conflict between Fire and Ice, they digeftcd
a wife and equ."l government; and became not more diiiinguithed
for an implacable enmity to tyrants, than for the fuccefbful cul-
tivation of every fpecivs of po'ite literature.

Having thus conducted our anccflors from their primitive
feats to their final eftabiiihments in the weft, it remains for me
to give fo.-r.c intimation of the erroneous opinions on the fubject
that have hitherto been adopted bv the learned.

The dreams of Jo. nnmles, and other authors of his benighted
age, that find in Scandinavia the hive of the Gothic nations,
have been for fome time fo fully exploded as to render further
refutation inept. But we have not been without dreamers in

the



PREFACE. ix

the noon of the eighteenth century. Peloutier, a French writer,
and the firft I believe who treated the matter in a modern lan-
guage, takes it for granted that there were but two original
races in Europe, CELTS and SARMATIANS. The ancient
Germans, the memory of whofe manners Tacitus has im-
mortalized, he miftakes for the fir ft ; and the Franks, who
communicated their name to his country, for the fecond. The
miftakes of an author of great name will propagate miftakes aU
moft without end : accordingly we fee Mallet, a citizen of Ge-
neva, one of tiie preceptors of the prince of Denmark, and mem-
ber of many academies, in his work on northern antiquities,
confounding- the ancient Scandinavians with th-e Celts through-
out. But this is lefs to be wondered at, as he is convicted by
his tranflator of ignorance in the language of the people v/hofe
antiquities he difcufles. But thefe are inftances of ciifcretion,
compared to Memoires de la Langue Celtique^ par Monf. BULLET,
Befancon, 1754, 3 vols. folio ; where this egregious etymologist
traces Englifn names -f places compounded of fuch appellative
words as lard, It o;k, murfn, we!/, high, north, hill, dale, %VQcd,ford,
Jtrect, bridge^ &c. &c. to Celtic roots ; a conduct of which the
flightert acquaintance with the vocabulary of the Englifh. lan-
guage would have taught him the abfurdity*. When an opi-
nion flatters the vanity of men, it is the practice rather to pro-
mote than to examine it. It is not therefore furprifmg to fee
this error of the univerfality of the Celtic origins, as it was
adopted by fuch rcfpectable v/riters as the two Macpherfons,
miflead the dunces of the Celtic fchool in Wales and Ireland.
The mention made by fome of the ancient authors of the Teu-
tonic and Sarmatian nations fometimes afting in concert, may
feave induced thofe modern writers to confound them in one.



'*' Examples : " ACTON (Oak -Town), from Ac, a river, and Ton, an
habitation. ASTON (Eaft-Town), from As, a river, and Ton, an habita-
tion. AUKLAXD (Oak-Land), from Oc, a little hill, Lan n river, and D,
or Dj, two. DICI-I-MARSH, D'fb from. DlcJ:lud. borne, and Mar,
water, (quafi) land borne up by water. HICHAM (High-home), from
/, a river, and Cam in compofition Gam, a bending. NORTHAMPTON
(North-home-town), from Nor, the mouth (of a river), Tan, a river, and
Ton, an habitatien. NORTH ILL, (North-hill) from Nor, the mouth, and
Tyle, an habitation. RING WOOD, from Ren, a divifion, C-iv, a river, and
lied, a foreft. STANFORD, (Stone or Stony ford) from Stan, the mouth
of a river, and Vor, pronounced Fcr, near. STRATTOX, (Street-Town)