Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Liber De Mensura Orbis Terrae (Author: Dicuil)

Book 1

¶1] In the fifteenth year of his reign the emperor Theodosius ordered his envoys to measure the longitude and latitude of the provinces of the earth.

¶2] The earth is divided into three sections, named Europe, Asia, and Libya; and this the deified Augustus was first to exhibit by means of his world map.

¶3] All my work takes its beginning then from the strait of Europe, which place the Greeks name the Columns of Hercules. The three Spanish provinces therefore stretch from there to the Pyrenees over a


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distance of nine hundred miles in longitude. There is the same distance in latitude in the south, but at its narrowest, close to the Pyrenees on this side, the latitude is given as three hundred miles.

¶4] The first province, then, that of Cordova, called Baetica, is bounded on the east by the mountains of Cartagena and by Oretania, on the west by the ocean, on the north by the Guadiana, and on the south by the Celtiberian sea.

¶5] The province of Lusitania, together with Asturia and Galicia, is bounded on the east by Noeca Asturum, which is on the ocean, and thence in a straight line to the south, on the west by the Atlantic, on the north by the ocean, and on the south by the Guadiana. It extends four hundred and eighty miles in longitude and four hundred and fifty in latitude.
Hither Spain is bounded on the east by the Pyrenees, on the west by Noeca, which is towards the ocean, and from there in a straight line to Cartagena, on the north by the ocean, and on the south by the Celtiberian sea. Its longitude extends five hundred miles, its latitude two hundred.

¶6] Gallia Comata, together with the Brittanic islands, is bounded on the east by the Rhine, on the west by the Pyrenees, on the north by the ocean, on the south by the Rhône and the Cevennes. Its longitude is nine hundred and twenty-eight miles, its latitude three hundred and sixty-three. According to Plinius Secundus in his fourth book, the longitude is nine hundred and twenty, the latitude three hundred and eight miles.

¶7] The province of Narbonensis is bounded on the east by the Alps, on the west by the Pyrenees, on the north by the territory of Vienne and the Cevennes, on the south by the Gallic sea. Its longitude is three hundred and thirty-four, its latitude one hundred and eighty-nine miles. According to Plinius Secundus in the same book, Agrippa gave the longitude of the Narbonese province as three hundred and seventy, the latitude as three hundred and forty-eight miles.


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¶8] Italy is bounded on the east by the Ionian sea, on the west by the Alps and the river Varus, on the north by the Adriatic and the river Arsia, on the south by the Tyrrhenian sea. Its longitude is one thousand miles, its latitude four hundred and twenty, but only sixty at the narrowest point.

¶9] According to Plinius Secundus in the same book: Italy then, and first in it Liguria, then Etruria, Umbria, and Latium; there are the Tiber mouths and Rome, the head of the world, distant sixteen miles from the sea. Then comes the Volscian coast and Campania; then the land of the Picentini, Lucania, and Bruttium, where Italy projects furthest into the sea towards the south from the nearly moon-shaped ridges of the Alps. Then come the Greek coastal towns, and afterwards the Salentini, Peduculi, Apulii, Peligni, Frentani, Marrucini, Vestini, Sabini, Picentes, Galli, Umbri, Tusci, Veneti, Carni, Iapudes, Histri, and Liburni.

¶10] Plinius, shortly afterwards: The longitude of Italy is one thousand and twenty miles. The distance would be much greater as far as Lacinium, only that the line would seem to go obliquely to one side. The latitude varies, being four hundred and ten miles between the two seas, lower and upper, that is, between the rivers Varus and Arsia.

¶11] Rhaetia minor, Noricum, Pannonia, Illyricum, Dalmatia, Liburnia are bounded on the east by Dardania, on the west by the Rhine, on the north by the Danube, on the south by the Adriatic. Their longitude is six hundred and thirty-three miles, their latitude three hundred and twenty-one.

¶12] Epirus, Achaia, Attica, Thessalia are bounded on the east by the Aegaean, on the west by the Adriatic, on the north by Mts. Cercetius, Olympus, and Pelion, on the south by the Aegaeotuscan sea. Their longitude extends four hundred and ten miles, their latitude three hundred and seventy-five. According to Plinius Secundus in his fifth book the longitude is four hundred and thirty miles, the latitude three hundred and eighty-seven.


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¶13] Macedonia, Thrace, the Hellespont and the left side of the Black Sea are bounded on the east by the Black Sea, on the west by the deserts of Dardania, on the north by the river Danube. Their longitude is seven hundred and twenty miles, their latitude three hundred and eighty-one.

¶14] According to Plinius Secundus in the same book: The gulf of the Golden Horn, on which stands the free city of Byzantium, previously called Lygos, is seven hundred and eleven miles distant from Durazzo. This is the longitude of the lands between the Adriatic and the Sea of Marmara.

¶15] Germany as a whole and Gothia are bounded on the east by the river Vistula, on the west by the Rhine, on the north by the ocean, on the south by the Danube. The longitude is about eight hundred miles, the latitude three hundred and eighty-four.

¶16] Dacia and Alania are bounded on the east by the deserts of Sarmatia, on the west by the river Vistula, on the north by the ocean, on the south by the Danube. The longitude is one thousand miles, the latitude, so far as it is known, three hundred and eighty-six.

¶17] According to Plinius Secundus in his second book: Agrippa gave the whole distance from the Danube to the ocean as twelve hundred miles in longitude, and three hundred and ninety-six in latitude, from the deserts of Sarmatia to the river Vistula.

¶18] Sarmatia and Scythia Taurica are bounded on the east by the ranges of the Caucasus and the Caspian sea, on the west by the river Dnieper, on the north by the ocean, on the south by the province of Pontus. The longitude is nine hundred and eighty miles, the latitude seven hundred and fifteen.

¶19] Greater Armenia and the peoples which are about the Caspian sea towards the ocean are bounded on the east by the ocean of China, on the west by the range of the Caucasus and the Caspian sea, on the north by the ocean, and on the south by the Taurus mountains. The longitude is four hundred and eighty miles, the latitude two hundred and eighty.


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