medieval-atlas/events-to-about-850/36

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Northern Britain according to Ptolemy This version of Ptolemy's Scotland is derived from the coordinates given in Ptolemy's Geography, Book n. Claudius Ptolemaeus, who worked in Alexandria before AD 150, and possibly used data collected by Marinus ofTyre subsequent to Agricola's campaigns in Scotland from about AD 78 to 83. The map provides a picture of north Britain which is instantly recognisable, but which has been turned through a right angle towards the East and which also keeps Scotland below 63° N, beyond which the Greeks believed habitation was impossible. Two classes of information are presented: coastal details, including headlands, river mouths and estuaries; and inland data, comprising pole is (literally, 'cities') and tribal names; the tribes are crudely located relative to each other and to the cities within some oftheir territories. 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Boundaries between tribal areas cannot be precisely delineated on Ptolemy's highly distorted map. However, Ptolemy's data, which, from its substantive character must have been derived from reliable maps of Roman military origin, has the prospect to be related directly to the actual map of Scotland and its later history as well as to the F1avian period that it portrays. Tacitus furnished the only account of the campaigns of Agricola in Scotland; however, from this record we have some difficulty in interpreting either the actual year or the operating zone of each campaign. Explicit archaeological evidence is still lacking to allow us to clarify this situation as well as to identify reliably many of Ptolemy's cities in Scotland. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 r---,----,---,----,---,----,----,----,---,,---,----,---,----,---,----,---,----,---,----,64 Ocean us Hyperboreus Aebudae I I $laiUS Ins 4-1---1-'_°-=-+ LONGITUDE (degrees) Ocean us Duecaledonius ~ , I "I~I ~;~cadeslnsulae (i) Q Dumna0~9 ~I !." c~!~cetil·lnsr-=T',---+---1-0 Q) ::::> Volas Sinus I- I Nabarus FI ...J BRIGANTES Tribes Trimontium Places Orcades Insulae Physical features Northern Britain according to Ptolemy AStr 36

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