Hanno the Carthaginian: Periplus or Circumnavigation of Africa

by M.C.J. Miller, Al N. Oikonomidēs

Greek text with facing English translation, commentary, notes and facsimile of Codex Palatinus Gr. 398, with extracts from W.H. Schoff, E.A. Bunbury and R. Harris, and the complete edition by C. Muller. First published 1977. New material added 1995.

Genres: History, Africa

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 501

Reviews

[Jayden Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty short read. It’s interesting to see the perspective of an ancient explorer/colonizer. While not entirely accurate, I think it shows how alien Africa was to the early Europeans. It’s funny to know that someone mistook gorillas for big silent humans at one point in history.

[Christina Bagni]

Mostly just a zoomed-out record of where they went and when, but it's fascinating to hear how casually he writes about setting up cities along the west African coast. A highlight is the discovery of gorillas, which he seems to think are a variant of humans. Quick and interesting read, and the earliest known account of an explorer. It makes one wonder how deeply this account affected the ancient Greek consciousness, in the way that stories like Lewis and Clark affect the modern American consciousness.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only peripherally interesting.

[Tomás · Rating 3 out of 5]

portugueses stay winning fizemos melhor

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to get a lot of information from this very short travelogue (18 paragraphs), but the fact that Hanno and his settlers travelled and established colonies on the shores of Morocco picked my interest - they reached apparently Sierra Leone and came back, having found difficulties.

Hanno talks about establishing new cities, namely Thymiaterium, Caricus Murus, Gytta, Acra, Melitta and Arambys. Of these last 5 the commentary says :

"The location of the five colonies mentioned in this paragraph is uncertain. Miiller places the first at the ruins of Agouz, 32 5 at the mouth of the Tensift River. The second perhaps at Mogador, 31° 30'. The third at Agadir, 30° 25'. The fourth at the mouth of the Messa River, 30° S'. The fifth, perhaps, at the mouth of the Gueder River, 29° 10', or at Araouas, 29°."

[Rita Vb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestamente isto é uma leitura tão interessante e mais interessante ainda é o debate científico por detrás do manuscrito. Os ziguezagues que este texto enfrentou para conseguir chegar até nós são inacreditáveis e é um puro golpe de sorte termos posse disto na actualidade.

As questões que o Périplo levanta são muitas: o relato é falso? É verdadeiro? A expedição é verídica mas foi recontada tantas vezes que se tornou fantástica? Se a navegação aconteceu, até onde se estendeu verdadeiramente?

Tudo isto é especialmente interessante porque nunca teremos respostas definitivas.

O texto definitivamente permite-nos dar corda à nossa imaginação e é fascinante tentar conceber a época original da sua escrita.

[Seif · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual translation of the periplus of Hanno is only 2 pages long. The rest is a commentary on the text, with explanations/theories on the different areas visited and people met.
Note that this was written more than 100 years ago, when Africa was still colonised.

You can find this book online if you search for "The Periplus of Hanno forgotten books"

[Cristobal Peña]

Somewhat interesting but very easy to read authentic ancient greek.