The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought: Geography, Exploration and Fiction by James S. Romm

by James Romm

For the Greeks and Romans the earth's furthest perimeter was a realm radically different from what they perceived as central and human. The alien qualities of these "edges of the earth" became the basis of a literary tradition that endured throughout antiquity and into the Renaissance, despite the growing challenges of emerging scientific perspectives. Here James S. Romm surveys this tradition, revealing that the Greeks, and to a somewhat lesser extent the Romans, saw geography not as a branch of physical science but as an important literary genre. The tradition described by Romm emerged in Homer and Hesiod, whose imaginative geography defined the earth by giving it boundaries - the river Ocean, the Pillars of Heracles, and other mythic forms of circumscription. Other Greek authors developed exotic literary landscapes by filling these "limits" with idealized human societies and bizarre or monstrous animal life, while the Romans adapted the concept of perimeters to goals of imperial conquest. As Hellenistic and Roman voyages of exploration failed to confirm the fancied landscapes, the tradition came to be seen as one in which invented narratives had masqueraded as truths. As a result some of late antiquity's most daring innovators seized on geography as a theme for prose fiction, and the explorer's log became an important antecedent of the early modern novel.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Geography, Ancient History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I did wait until the 2023 reading challenge came through to put this up as read, but in my defence, it was already 2023 in the UK when I finished it, so I would class that as allowed.
I read this book as part of my preparation for a module I am taking this coming semester (in my fourth and final year of my degree - terrifying, I know). The module examines displacement and empire in Latin literature, considering how displacement is a key aspect of the formation of Roman identity both in general (Aeneas as a refugee), in relation to imperialism / colonialism (Ennius, Vergil, Lucan), and in relation to exile (Seneca, Ovid, etc). You can see why I wanted to take it.
What surprised me about this book was the fact that it was on the reading list, when it is, honestly, quite Hellenocentric. Now, this makes sense - as Roman geography was somewhat derivative from the Greek - but is surprising for its presence in a Latin module. It doesn't seem entirely relevant to the subject matter of the module, as it examines the ancient attitude to the edges of the earth. The most helpful parts by far were those that discussed ethnocentrism (which may have led to such a strong connection of the Romans to their city) and those that examined the Othering depictions of other races (particularly India and Africa), and the legacy of Alexander the Great's explorations upon Roman conceptions of the places which he reached (particularly beyond the Indus river - impinging upon Julius Caesar's own presentation as the 'Alexander of his time').
Generally, this book is chock-full of interesting information, and is extremely enlightening. I think it has to stick at a three for me, though, because it doesn't feel precisely relevant to what I was hoping to get out of it. There could have done with a little more focus on the way in which Roman authors responded to banishment from Rome (especially those moulded by ethnocentric views), although this may have been beyond the remit of the text!

[Ryan Denson · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Romm examines an often overlooked, yet fascinating set of beliefs: the Greco-Roman ideas concerning places near or beyond what they perceived as the οἰκουμένη (inhabited world). Many Greek and Latin texts contain rumors, legends and references to bizarre phenomena in far-flung areas. This encompasses a wide range of concepts such as exotic civilizations, monstrous creatures, mysterious islands, and dog-headed humanoids.

Romm does excellent work managing and presenting this diverse range of information. This is an especially complex topic as there is no general consensus on what Greeks and Romans believed about these areas. Tales and legends can have many variations between different texts. Likewise, what one ancient writer believes as manifestly true, may be abjectly absurd to another. There were certainly plenty of ‘true believers’ as well as intellectuals debating such topics. Moreover, much of it became satirized, as we see most prominently in Lucian’s A True Story. Romm puts in the effort to sort out the confusion as to where the differences lie. He presents and analyses each topic in a manner that is fairly easy to comprehend. Each of the chapters and sections is essentially a stand-alone essay, which also makes this study an excellent reference work for any of the topics covered.

I hope readers, especially those who are not also classicists, will be able take away from this book the diverse nature of beliefs that existed in the ancient world. Few ideas can be said to be held by all individuals in antiquity and these are certainly no different. Furthermore, I hope it helps to see past the antiquated notions that Greco-Roman civilization was overly ‘superstitious.’ False and bizarre ideas have existed in every culture (as we see also in our present society) and tracing their origins and mutations can only serve to tell us more about the beliefs and limits of a given culture’s imagination.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is yet another highly specific niche-craft book that I picked up over the years solely on the merit of its title and attractive cover, demonstrating my academic shallowness. I'll confess to misperceiving the work, though, enjoyable as my brief flirtation with it was: I thought it covered the entire "ancient world" but that is apparently a temporanym that only applies to the Mediterranean. Despite my stupidity, it seems to be a work well worth the slog, if your Latin is up to par and you care about such things.
I can't fault it for anything, honestly, since it was utterly out of my league.

[Othy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting discussion but unfortunately one that becomes increasingly weighed down by the author's interpretive method. Interestingly Romm gets caught between telling the stories and interpreting them, never doing a fair job in either area. Many of his discussions unfortunately delve too deeply into "colonial" (and thus post-colonial) interpretations, taking away from them the real power that they must have held for those who read and wrote them. Still, many of the connections that Romm points out are interesting and pertinent to the stories and history themselves.

[Kevin Nobel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would give a higher rating if it succeeded in being as open to non specialists as it claimed. But otherwise it's a fantastic compilation of evidence from a range of familiar and unfamiliar texts, which gives a much broader view of the questions of the book than otherwise