2»4s.vli34,July24.'58.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY U. 1868. 



ON THE SUPPOSED CIECUMNAVIGATION OF AFRICA 

 IN ANTIQUITY. 



The views of those who maintain the probability 

 of voyages by the Phoenicians to distant lands — 

 wiio suppose them to have sailed to the amber- 

 coast of the Baltic, and even hint at their having 

 reached America — receive some confirmation from 

 the accounts, preserved by the ancients, of the 

 circumnavigation of Africa. These accounts lie 

 within a small compass, and deserve a separate 

 examination. 



The accurate knowledge of the Greeks re- 

 specting Egypt began with the reign of Psam- 

 mitichus (Herod, ii. 154.), and we arc able to fix 

 an authentic chronology for the Egyptian kings 

 from his reign to that of Psammenitus, who was 

 deposed by Cambyses ; being a period of 145 

 years ending at 525 b. c. 



B. c. 

 Psammitichus reigned - 670 — 616 



Neco - - - - 616—600 



Psammis ... 600—595 



Apries ... 595—570 



Amasis - - - 570—526 



Psammenitus - - - 526 — 525 



We learn from Herodotus that Neco began to 

 dig a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea ; 

 and that 120,000 men had perished in its form- 

 ation, when he desisted from the work, in con- 

 sequence of the admonition of an oracle. He 

 afterwards turned his attention to military af- 

 fairs ; he built vessels of war both in the Red Sea 

 and in the Mediterranean ; and he invaded Syria 

 (ii. 158—9.; Diod. i. 33.; Plin. vi. 29.) But 

 soon after the abandonment of the canal, and 

 with a view, as it appears, of accomplishing the 

 same object by different means, he sent some 

 vessels, navigated by Phoenicians, to circumnavi- 

 gate Africa, ordering them to commence their 

 voyage from the Red Sea, and so reach Egypt 

 by the Pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean. 

 If this voyage could be effected, a ship would sail 

 between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean * ; 

 to connect which was the object of the canal. 

 Herodotus proceeds to state that the Phoenicians, 

 starting as they were ordered, sailed along the 

 Southern Sea ; and, whatever part of Africa tliey 

 had reached, when autumn arrived, they landed, 

 sowed the ground, and awaited the harvest ; and 

 having gathered the corn, they then continued 

 their voyage: that having thus consumed two 

 years, in the third year they passed the Pillars of 



* It may be observed that Herodotus bere calk tbe 

 Mediterranean the /Jopnil floAeurcro, as opposed to the vorCi) 

 iikaaira, the sea to lUe soutb of Libya, ii. 158., iv. 42. 



Hercules, and returned to Egypt. " The account 

 which they gave," says Herodotus, " which others 

 may, if they think fit, believe, but which to me is 

 incredible, is that when they were sailing round 

 Africa, they had the sun on their right hand." 

 Herodotus adds that the Carthaginians at a later 

 period maintained that Africa could be circum- 

 navigated ; and he subjoins a story of Sataspes, a 

 Persian nobleman, who, in the reign of Xerxes 

 (485 — 465 B. c.) was relieved from a sentence of 

 crucifixion, upon the singular condition that he 

 should circumnavigate Africa. Herodotus tells 

 us that Sataspes obtained a ship and sailors in 

 Egypt ; passed the Pillars of Hercules, and having 

 rounded the western promontoi-y of Africa, called 

 Soloeis, pursued his voyage to the south ; but 

 after sailing many months, and finding that he 

 was still far from the Red Sea, he turned back, 

 and came agaiii to Egypt. The account which 

 he gave to Xerxes on his i-eturu was that, at the 

 extremity of his voyage he sailed by little men, 

 dressed in purple, who, when he landed, left the 

 towns and fled to the mountains ; that his crew 

 used to take nothing, except some sheep ; and 

 that the reason why he did not proceed further 

 was, that the ship stuck fast, and would not 

 move. Xerxes did not believe this story, and, 

 as Sataspes had not fulfilled the required condi- 

 tion, ordered him to be crucified. Herodotus 

 adds that an eunuch of Sataspes, when he heard 

 of his master's death, fled to Samos with a large 

 sum of money ; and that this money was dis- 

 honestly retained by a Samian, with whom it had 

 doubtless been deposited. " I know the name of 

 this Samian " (says Herodotus), " but suppress 

 it out of regard for his memory." (iv. 42, 43.) 

 It will be observed that Herodotus resided at 

 Samos during the early part of his life, and thus 

 might have had an opportunity of becoming ac- 

 quainted with a circumstance which must have 

 occurred within his lifetime. 



The next reference to this subject occurs in 

 Strabo. This geographer quotes Posid^ius as 

 treating of the circumnavigation of Africa, and as 

 referring to the expedition mentioned by Hero- 

 dotus (which is by an error of memory attributed 

 to Darius instead of Neco), as well as to a certain 

 Magus who was represented by Heraclides Pon- 

 ticus to have assured Gelo (485 — 478 b. c.) that 

 he had performed this voyage. Posidonius de- 

 clared that these voyages were unauthenticated 

 by credible testimony ; but he related the fol- 

 lowing story of a certain Eudoxus, who lived in 

 the second century before Christ, as deserving of 

 belief. Eudoxus of Cyzicus (he said), being in 

 Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes the 

 Second (170 — 117 B.C.), accompanied this king 

 in voyages up the Nile ; on one of these occasions, 

 an Indian was brought to I'tolemy by the guards 

 of the Red Sea, who said that they had found him 



