mail: Bill Thayer

Aiuto

previous chapter

next chapter

Book IV, Chapter 1

Location of Mauritania Tingitana
(from the First Map of Libya)

My notes on the Map: No information has been added to Ptolemy's text as I have it; there is little topographic information, and the courses of the rivers remain unmapped. The relative congestion of towns in the North remains a feature of modern Morocco: the south is desert. Madeira and the Canary Islands are more or less in the right places. The really interesting trait of this map, however, is that the N coast is substantially accurate in its orientation while the W coast appears rotated by about 50° counterclockwise, although accurate enough with respect to itself. The active traffic in the Mediterranean provided cross-checks, as did the nearby coast of Spain, that were lacking for the Atlantic coast.

The western side of Mauritania Tingitana is bounded by a part of the Outer sea, which we call the Western Ocean; it extends from the Hercules strait to the Greater Atlas mountains, and is thus described:

The northern side is terminated by the strait, on which, after the promontory are the following:

and by the Iberic sea coast on which are the following:

The eastern side is bordered by Mauritania Caesariensis which extends southward from the mouth of the Malva river to

The south side moreover is terminated by the bordering races of Interior Libya along the line joining the termini, which we have mentioned.

The Metagonitae inhabit the parts of this province which extend along the strait; the Socossi the parts which extend along the Iberic sea, and below these are the Verves; then below the Metagonites region are the Mazices; then the Verbices, below whom are the Salinsae and the Cauni; then the Bacuatae; below whom are the Macanitae; below the Verves are the Volubiliani; then the Iangaucani; below whom are the Nectiberes; and next is

Below these are the Zegrenses; then the Baniubae and the Vacuatae. Moreover the Maurenses and a part of the Herpeditani inhabit the entire east side.

The noted mountains in this land are those which are called the Diur,

then the Phocra mountains which extend from the Lesser Atlas to the Ussadium promontory along the coast, and

The following towns are in the interior region of Mauritania Tingitana:

The islands adjacent to this province toward the west in the Outer ocean are

---

Thayer's Note:

a 35*45 in the 1932 edition, a modern typo; for what, is not easy to determine. 34*45 and 34*55 seemed the most likely possibilities. Since the Mediterranean coast is quite substantially accurate, but the medieval map shows a deep inlet (where there is none, in fact), I've opted for the simple emendation to 34*45, providing a bit of an inlet and bringing out the promontory E of Taenia Longa.

UP TO:	Geography: Book IV	The Geography: homepage	Topographia Antiqua	Roman Gazetteer	LacusCurtius	Home
			SEE ALSO:	al‑Idrisi: 2d Climate, § 1	OFF SITE:	Mauritania in 380 AD
A page or image on this site is in the public domain ONLY if its URL has a total of one *asterisk. If the URL has two **asterisks, the item is copyright someone else, and used by permission or fair use. If the URL has none the item is © Bill Thayer. See my copyright page for details and contact information.