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Hanno the Navigator

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Icarus
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« on: April 21, 2007, 02:36:35 am »

Hanno the Navigator was a Carthaginian explorer who flourished c. 450 BCE.



Route of Hanno the Navigator
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Icarus
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« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2007, 02:38:10 am »

Etymology

This Hanno is called the Navigator to distinguish him from a number of other Carthaginians with this name, including the perhaps more prominent, though later, Hanno the Great. See Hanno for others of this name. The name Hanno (Annôn) means "merciful" or "mild" in Punic).


Expedition

As Warmington quotes (pp. 74-76) Carthage dispatched Hanno at the head of a fleet of sixty ships to explore and colonize the west coast of Africa. He sailed through the straits of Gibralter, founded or repopulated seven colonies along the African coast of Morocco, and explored significantly further along the Atlantic coast of the continent. He encountered various peoples on his journey and met with a variety of welcomes.

On the island which formed the terminus of his voyage the explorer found a number of what were described as hairy women. Attempts to capture the men failed, but three of the women were taken. These were so vicious they were killed. The interpreters called them Gorillas. It is thought this might describe an early encounter with a species of ape. Possibly these were indeed gorillas, though the name of that species is taken from this account, or possibly chimpanzees.


Inscribed Account

The primary source for the account of Hanno's expedition is a Greek translation, titled Periplus, of a tablet Hanno is reported to have hung up on his return to Carthage in the temple of Ba'al Hammon whom Greek writers identified with Chronos. The full title translated from Greek is The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Cathaginians, round the parts of Libya bryond the Pillars of Heracles, which he deposited in the temple of Chronos. This was known to Pliny the Elder and Arrian, who mentions it at the end of his Anabasis of Alexander VIII (Indica):

"Moreover, Hanno the Libyan started out from Carthage and passed the pillars of Heracles and sailed into the outer Ocean, with Libya on his port side, and he sailed on towards the east, five-and-thirty days all told. But when at last he turned southward, he fell in with every sort of difficulty, want of water, blazing heat, and fiery streams running into the sea."

This account's factual dependability has been both questioned and defended (see link). Both Harden (1962:163-168) and Warmington (1960:74-76) quote this account in English translation. Warminton (p. 76) suggests that difficulties in reconciling the account's specific details with present geographical understanding are consistent with Classical reports of Carthaginian determination to maintain sole control of trade into the Atlantic.

"This report was the object of criticism by some ancient writers, including the elder Pliny, and in modern times a whole literature of scholarship has grown up around it. The account is incoherent and at times certainly incorrect, and attempts to identify the various places mentioned on the basis of the sailing directions and distances almost all fail. Some scholars resort to textual emendations, justified in some cases; but it is probable that what we have before us is a report deliberately edited so that the places could not be identified by the competitors of Carthage. From everything we know about Carthaginian practice, the resolute determination to keep all knowledge of and access to the western markets from the Greeks, it is incredible that they would have allowed the publication of an accurate description of the voyage for all to read. What we have is an official version of the real report made by Hanno which conceals or falsifies vital information while at the same time gratifying the pride of the Carthaginians in their achievements. The very purpose of the voyage, the consolidation of the route to the gold market, is not even mentioned."
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Icarus
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« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2007, 02:42:39 am »

Modern Speculations on Hanno's Route

Harden (p. 168) states there's general consensus that the expedition reached at least as far as the Senegal. There seems some agreement that he could have reached the Gambia. However, Harden mentions lack of agreement as to precisely where to locate the furthest limit of Hanno's explorations: Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Gabon. He notes the description of the Cameroon Mountain, a 13,370 foot volcano, more closely matches Hanno's description than Guinea's 2,910 foot Mt. Kakulima. Warmington (p. 79) prefers Mt. Kakulima, considering Mt. Cameroon too far.


Earlier Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa

Herodotus recorded a circumnavigation of "Libya", by an expedition of Phoenicians sent out by "the Egyptian king" Necho (606-593 BCE), one of two seventh-century kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty


"with orders to sail west about and return to Egypt and the Mediterranean by way of the Straits of Gibraltar. The Phoenicians sailed from the Arabian gulf into the southern ocean, and every autumn put in at some convenient spot on the Libyan coast, sowed a patch of ground, and waited for next year's harvest..." [1]
Herodotus himself discounted this story on account of the assertion that the Phoenicians had the sun to the north of them as they passed along the southern part of the continent. As Harden (p. 162) comments, this very claim has most modern scholars accepting that Phoenicians did circumnavigate Africa.

Trivia

The notorious epigrapher Barry Fell once claimed that Hanno had crossed the Atlantic and explored North America (see: Bourne Stone)

Bibliography

Donald Harden, The Phoenicians, (Penguin, Harmondsworth) 1971 (1962)
Herodotus, transl. Aubrey de Selincourt, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1968 (1954)
B. H. Warmington, Carthage, (Penguin, Harmondsworth) 1964 (1960)

External links


Periplus in English.
Hanno, a Carthaginian navigator from Charles Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
Carthaginian Exploration: The Voyages of Hanno and Himilco
Annotated commentary on Hanno's Periplus by Jona Lendering.
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Icarus
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« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2007, 02:44:50 am »

The original text of Periplus (in Greek)

Άννωνος Περίπλους
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Ἅννωνος Περίπλους

Hannonis periplus

Ἅννων ὁ Καρχηδονίος



Κώδικες Palatinus Graecus 398 (9ου ή 10ου αι.) και Vatopedinus 655 (14ου αι.)

Α' Κριτική Ἔκδοσις: C. Müller, Geographi Graeci Minores I, Paris 1855

Ἅννωνος Καρχηδονίων βασιλέως περίπλους τῶν ὑπὲρ τὰς Ἡρακλέους Στήλας Λιβυκῶν τῆς γῆς μέρων, ὃν καὶ ἀνέθηκεν ἐν τῷ τοῦ Κρόνου τεμένει, δηλοῦντα τάδε·


[1 ]ἔδοξε Καρχηδονίοις Ἅννωνα πλεῖν ἔξω Στηλῶν Ἡρακλείων καὶ πόλεις κτίζειν Λιβυφοινίκων. καὶ ἔπλευσε πεντηκοντόρους ἑξήκοντα ἄγων, καὶ πλῆθος ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν εἰς ἀριθμὸν μυριάδων τριῶν καὶ σῖτα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην παρασκευήν.

[2 ]ὡς δ᾽ ἀναχθέντες τὰς Στήλας παρημείψαμεν καὶ ἔξω πλοῦν δυοῖν ἡμερῶν ἐπλεύσαμεν, ἐκτίσαμεν πρώτην πόλιν, ἥντινα ὠνομάσαμεν Θυμιατήριον· πεδίον δ᾽ αὐτῇ μέγα ὑπῆν.

[3 ]κἄπειτα πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἀναχθέντες ἐπὶ Σολόεντα, Λιβυκὸν ἀκρωτήριον λάσιον δένδρεσι, συνήλθομεν. ἔνθα Ποσειδῶνος ἱερὸν ἱδρυσάμενοι πάλιν ἐπέβημεν πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ἡμέρας ἥμισυ, ἄχρι ἐκομίσθημεν εἰς λίμνην οὐ πόρρω τῆς θαλάττης κειμένην, καλάμου μεστὴν πολλοῦ καὶ μεγάλου· ἐνῆσαν δὲ καὶ ἐλέφαντες καὶ τἆλλα θηρία νεμόμενα πάμπολλα.

[4 ]τήν τε λίμνην παραλλάξαντες ὅσον ἡμέρας πλοῦν, κατῳκίσαμεν πόλεις πρὸς τῇ θαλάττῇ καλουμένας Καρικόν τε τεῖχος καὶ Γύττην καὶ Ἄκραν καὶ Μέλιτταν καὶ Ἄραμβυν.

[5 ]κἀκεῖθεν δ᾽ ἀναχθέντες ἤλθομεν ἐπὶ μέγαν ποταμὸν Λίξον, ἀπὸ τῆς Λιβύης ῥέοντα. παρὰ δ᾽ αὐτὸν νομάδες ἄνθρωποι Λιξῖται βοσκήματ᾽ ἔνεμον, παρ᾽ οἷς ἐμείναμεν ἄχρι τινὸς φίλοι γενόμενοι.

[6 ]τούτων δὲ καθύπερθεν Αἰθίοπες ᾤκουν ἄξενοι, γῆν νεμόμενοι θηριώδη, διειλημμένην ὄρεσι μεγάλοις, ἐξ ὧν ῥεῖν φασι τὸν Λίξον, περὶ δὲ τὰ ὄρη κατοικεῖν ἀνθρώπους ἀλλοιομόρφους, Τρωγλοδύτας· οὓς ταχυτέρος ἵππων ἐν δρόμοις ἔφραζον οἱ Λιξῖται.

[7 ]λαβόντες δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἑρμηνέας, παρεπλέομεν τὴν ἐρήμην πρὸς μεσημβρίαν δύο ἡμέρας· ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πάλιν πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ἡμέρας δρόμον.

[8 ]ἔνθα εὕρομεν ἐν μυχῷ τινος κόλπου νῆσον μικράν, κύκλον ἔχουσαν σταδίων πέντε· ἣν κατῳκίσαμεν, Κέρνην ὀνομάσαντες. ἐτεκμαιρόμεθα δ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐκ τοῦ περίπλου κατ᾽ εὐθὺ κεῖσθαι Καρχηδόνος· ἐῴκει γὰρ ὁ πλοῦς ἔκ τε Καρχηδόνος ἐπὶ Στήλας κἀκεῖθεν ἐπὶ Κέρνην.

[9 ]τοὐντεῦθεν εἰς λίμνην ἀφικόμεθα, διά τινος ποταμοῦ μεγάλου διαπλεύσαντες, ᾧ ὄνομα Χρέτης. εἶχε δὲ νήσους ἡ λίμνη τρεῖς μείζους τῆς Κέρνης. ἀφ᾽ ὧν ἡμερήσιον πλοῦν κατανύσαντες εἰς τὸν μυχὸν τῆς λίμνης ἤλθομεν, ὑπὲρ ἣν ὄρη μέγιστα ὑπερέτεινε, μεστὰ ἀνθρώπων ἀγρίων, δέρματα θήρεια ἐνημμένων, οἳ πέτροις βάλλοντες ἀπήραξαν ἡμᾶς, κωλύοντες ἐκβῆναι.

[10 ]ἐκεῖθεν πλέοντες εἰς ἕτερον ἤλθομεν ποταμὸν μέγαν καὶ πλατύν, γέμοντα κροκοδείλων καὶ ἵππων ποταμίων. ὅθεν δὴ πάλιν ἀποστρέψαντες εἰς Κέρνην ἐπανήλθομεν.

[11 ]ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν ἐπλεύσαμεν δώδεκα ἡμέρας, τὴν γῆν παραλεγόμενοι, ἣν πᾶσαν κατῴκουν Αἰθίοπες φεύγοντες ἡμᾶς καὶ οὐχ ὑπομένοντες· ἀσύνετα δ᾽ ἐφθέγγοντο καὶ τοῖς μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν Λιξίταις. τῇ δ᾽ οὖν τελευταίᾳ ἡμέρᾳ προσωρμίσθημεν ὄρεσι μεγάλοις δασέσιν. ἦν δὲ τὰ τῶν δένδρων ξύλα εὐώδη τε καὶ ποικίλα.

[12 ]περιπλεύσαντες δὲ ταῦτα ἡμέρας δύο ἐγινόμεθα ἐν θαλάττης χάσματι ἀμετρήτῳ, ἧς ἐπὶ θάτερα πρὸς τῇ γῇ πεδίον ἦν. ὅθεν νυκτὸς ἀφεωρῶμεν πῦρ ἀναφερόμενον πανταχόθεν κατ᾽ ἀποστάσεις, τὸ μὲν πλέον, τὸ δ᾽ ἔλλατον.

[13 ]ὑδρευσάμενοι δ᾽ ἐκεῖθεν ἐπλέομεν εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν ἡμέρας πέντε παρὰ γῆν, ἄχρι ἤλθομεν εἰς μέγαν κόλπον, ὃν ἔφασαν οἱ ἑρμηνέες καλεῖσθαι Ἑσπέρου Κέρας. ἐν δὲ τούτῳ νῆσος ἦν μεγάλη καὶ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ λίμνη θαλασσώδης, ἐν δὲ ταύτῃ νῆσος ἑτέρα, εἰς ἣν ἀποβάντες ἡμέρας μὲν οὐδὲν ἀφεωρῶμεν ὅτι μὴ ὕλην, νυκτὸς δὲ πυρά τε πολλὰ καιόμενα, καὶ φωνὴν αὐλῶν ἠκούομεν κυμβάλων τε καὶ τυμπάνων πάταγον καὶ κραυγὴν μυρίαν. φόβος οὖν ἔλαβεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ οἱ μάντεις ἐκέλευον ἐκλείπειν τὴν νῆσον.

[14 ]ταχὺ δ᾽ ἐκπλεύσαντες παρημειβόμεθα χώραν διάπυρον θυμιαμάτων μεστήν· μέγιστοι δ᾽ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς πυρώδεις ῥύακες ἐνέβαλλον εἰς τὴν θάλατταν. ἡ γῆ δ᾽ ὑπὸ θέρμης ἄβατος ἦν. ταχύ οὖν κἀκεῖθεν φοβηθέντες ἀπεπλεύσαμεν.

[15 ]τέτταρας δ᾽ ἡμερας φερόμενοι νυκτὸς τὴν γῆν ἀφεωρῶμεν φλογὸς μεστήν· ἐν μέσῳ δ᾽ ἦν ἠλίβατόν τι πῦρ, τῶν ἄλλων μεῖζον, ἁπτόμενον ὡς ἐδόκει τῶν ἄστρων. τοῦτο δ᾽ ἡμέρας ὄρος ἐφαίνετο μέγιστον, Θεῶν Ὄχημα καλούμενον.

[16 ]τριταῖοι δ᾽ ἐκεῖθεν πυρώδεις ῥύακας παραπλεύσαντες ἀφικόμεθα εἰς κόλπον Νότου Κέρας λεγόμενον. ἐν δὲ τῷ μυχῷ νῆσος ἦν, ἐοικυῖα τῇ πρώτῃ, λίμνην ἔχουσα· καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ νῆσος ἦν ἑτέρα, μεστὴ ἀνθρώπων ἀγρίων. πολὺ δὲ πλείους ἦσαν γυναῖκες, δασεῖαι τοῖς σώμασιν, ἃς οἱ ἑρμηνέες ἐκάλουν Γορίλλας. διώκοντες δὲ ἄνδρας μὲν συλλαβεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν, ἀλλὰ πάντες μὲν ἐξέφυγον, κρημνοβάται ὄντες καὶ τοῖς πέτροις ἀμυνόμενοι, γυναῖκας δὲ τρεῖς, αἳ δάκνουσαί τε καὶ σπαράττουσαι τοὺς ἄγοντας οὐκ ἤθελον ἕπεσθαι. ἀποκτείναντες μέντοι αὐτὰς ἐξεδείραμεν καὶ τὰς δορὰς ἐκομίσαμεν εἰς Καρχηδόνα.

[17 ]οὐ γὰρ ἔτι ἐπλεύσαμεν προσωτέρω, τῶν σίτων ἡμᾶς ἐπιλιπόντων.
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