Aethicus Ister

Aethicus Ister (Aethicus of Histria, Aethicus Histricus, Aethicus Donares) was a philosopher, geographer, and explorer, who would have lived between 421-500 A.D. He was born in Histria and initially embraced the military career, working for a period in the county of Scythia Minor, at Durostor. As a result of his military skills, he took part in the battle on Catalauns Fields in 451 A.D. against the Huns. In the maritime city-citadel Histria, he perfected the techniques of travelling becoming a good sailer. Aethicus left this place on 21st March 461 when the day time equals night. He was in charge of the ships and together with his 101 companions, he had a leading role in advancing the ships. His travel took place between 461 and 465, about 5 years on dozens of seas, bays, straits and four oceans-Atlantic, Frozen North, Pacific and Indian.He wrote Aethici Cosmographia in 466 A.D. This famous work was issued in more than 40 copies. It was written in the Greek language and it included several volumes. Being a genuine encyclopedia, “Cosmographia”, is also translated in Latin. The Public Library of the Leipzig University in Germany has a manuscript belonging to the 8th century which is written in Latin. The book describes the travels of Aethicus around the world, and includes descriptions of foreign peoples in usually less than favourable terms. There are also numerous passages which deal directly with the legends of Alexander the Great.[1]

Sources

In terms of sources, the Bible and Isidore of Seville (d. 636) form the lion's share of Pseudo-Jerome's allusions. It was once argued that Hieronymus work had provided source material for Isidore, but this was disproven by Dalche (1984). These sources, and the others, are presented in a very paraphrased form and are rarely made reference to directly. The work is also filled with many fictional sources, which makes Hieronymus similar to Virgilius Maro Grammaticus, an Irish pseudo-grammarian of the 7th century. Whether there is any relationship between the two has been considered by Herren (1994) but the evidence is not conclusive in proving a certain, direct connexion between the authors.

The title "Aethici Cosmographia" was first incorrectly given a work published 1575 by Josias Simmler and later by Grovonis 1696. The text has some identical geographic observations but the framing is completely different, in this case more of name in lists. It has been supposed that the writer is Julius Honores (even later called Psudeo-Aethicus) mentioned by Cassiodorus in "Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum(25)" as Julius Honorius Crator.

Criticisms

The Latin of the work is sometimes vulgar and facile, other times cryptic and opaque, owing in part to Hieronymus's extremely difficult vocabulary of Graecisms and Latin/Greek compounds. (See Herren, 2001). Anagram games, and etymological 'jokes' (e.g. using the verb 'monstrare' followed by the noun 'monstrum', then the verb 'demonstrare') and other ludic elements are found throughout. The Latin spelling of the work seems to suggest also that the author was a Merovingian Frank (Prinz, 1993), but the idea of "Merovingian" spellings has recently been attacked as an unreliable measure of origin. Furthermore, only one manuscript of the work appears to have been written in Tours, while the majority can been traced to centres in what is now Germany (Prinz, 1993).

Hieronymus may have been associated with the Frankish translator of Pseudo-Methodius (Petrus Monachus). There are several passages which seem to be borrowed one way or another, suggesting perhaps a parallel relationship rather than one of dependence. Nevertheless, Hieronymus' knowledge of Greek (a rare feat in Western Europe at the time) may indicate an association with the Canterbury school of Archbishop Theodore in the late 7th century. See a recent article by Michael Herren (in Nova de Veteribus) on a possible Anglo-Saxon connection for Hieronymus. What seems clear is that Hieronymus was not limited to a single locale throughout his working lifetime.

Bibliography

Editions

Studies

References

  1. ↑ See A. Anderson, Alexander's gate, Gog and Magog, and the enclosed nations (Cambridge MA: 1932)
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