Les circonférences de la mer Noire et de la mer d’Azov: un argument pour la deuxième dimension de l’espace des Anciens - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Mediterraneo Antico. Economie Società Culture Année : 2023

Les circonférences de la mer Noire et de la mer d’Azov: un argument pour la deuxième dimension de l’espace des Anciens

Résumé

The most ancient estimations of the circumference of the Euxine Pontus and of the Palus Maeotis were not measured during real voyages. They were calculated as perimeters of simple geometric shapes, in relationship with one another. According to the Epimerismi Homerici and to Ammianus Marcellinus, Hecataeus of Miletus was the source of Herodotus’ length and width of the Black Sea as well as of its 23 000 stadia circumference. This paper shows that all these values were related, the periplous being probably calculated as the perimeter of a rhombus within an ellipse. We cannot identify the source of every information, but we show that the reason for the overestimation of the Pontic measures is the confusion between two Phasis rivers: The Kuban River, which flew in the Cimmerian Bosporus, and the Rioni River, in Colchis. Originally, the length of 11 100 stadia could have been a periplous between the Thracian Bosporus and the mouth of the Kuban, representing half of a Black Sea perimeter of 22 000 stadia. By replacing the Kuban with the Rioni, the same distance became the great axis of the rhombus with a perimeter of 23 000 stadia. The nine days and eight nights represented either a theoretical direct crossing between the two Bosporus, or a more realistic travel time from the Thracian Bosporus to Colchis; as such, it could have been the axis of a 20 000 stadia rhombus. Closer to reality, this perimeter was seen as the double of that of the Maiotis. Altogether, these numbers prove that periplous and maps are interdependent and cannot be explained as steps of a chronological progress in the human spatial thinking.
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hal-04460833 , version 1 (15-02-2024)

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Anca Dan. Les circonférences de la mer Noire et de la mer d’Azov: un argument pour la deuxième dimension de l’espace des Anciens. Mediterraneo Antico. Economie Società Culture, 2023, 26 (1-2), pp.47-72. ⟨10.19272/202304402005⟩. ⟨hal-04460833⟩
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