Abaris
Abaris
Abaris
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THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 137
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138 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
Mr. Casson, following Gladisch afar off, the Sun and Moon in the 'Hyper-
inclines to, I personally would choose borean' lands, Illyria, Thrace (in the
Pelagonians, on the principles laid widest sense of Thrace), Macedon, and
down by Professor Shewan in the pages Thessaly, produced the Hyperborean
already cited. The Pelagonians, like legend; that it took shape in the lands
the wild peoples discussed by Professor this side the Bora, and that Bora is
Shewan, were called Titans and giants.' Bermion in particular, or the Balkan
And Almopia on the Bora and Pallene range in general. But I do not mean
are among the giant-lands. J. N. by this that the people who imagined
Svoronos has an interesting, though the Hyperboreans were the Hyper-
highly rationalistic, explanation of the boreans.
way in which the Titans came to be Now to take up Mr. Casson's view.
called Pelagones in his article in the He thinks that the' main problem at
Journal International Numismatique for issue' is to 'locate' the pre-Hellenic or
1913, entitled 'Numismatique de la non-Hellenic Hyperboreans. In his
P&onie et de la Mac6doine.' As Phere- endeavour to do this he follows Gladisch
nikos says2 that the Hyperboreans were and Tomaschek, though without re-
sprung from the blood of Titans, one peating all of their puerilities. Of such
might, if so inclined, make a genealogy attempts Daebritz4 remarks: ' (Darum)
from that. I am not arguing for that, hat man es im algemeinen aufgegeben
however, but for the general thesis that die H. zu lokalisiren.' Gladisch, in his
the Danubian peoples influenced, to a work on 'Hyperboreer und die alten
greater extent than is usually admitted, Schinesen,' brings forward such things
the religion and mythology of Greece. as the love of music in China and
M. Svoronos puts the case perhaps too among the Hyperboreans. The Hyper-
strongly when he says-' que la P6onie borean griffins he derives from the
greque et lePangee ... deviendront dans dragons of the Chinese flag. Mr. Casson
l'avenir le plus important centre et point refers to the celestial calm of the Chinese
de depart des nos connaissances numis- as perhaps faintly echoed by the Hyper-
matiques, historiques, et mythologiques.' borean bliss. That and the griffins are
The article on the 'Date of Hesiod,' by mentioned by him as indicating an
T. W. Allen (J.H.S. 35) shows clearly Asiatic home for the Hyperboreans.
the influence of the southern Thracians The celestial calm, the music, and the
on Greece proper; and Tomaschek, in Chinese flag may be dismissed. The
his well-known articles on 'Die Alten griffins offer ground for argument as to
Thraker,' discusses the culture of these whether they came to the Hyperborean
more civilised of the northern tribes worship from the Apollo worship at
and their contacts with Greece.3 These Delos and Delphi, or vice-versa. Like
' mountaineers, descending either in one the swans they are debateable, and both
flood or in various streams from the views have adherents. Daebritz con-
Haliacmon,' brought with them a form demns the method of Tomaschek and
of music, an art of healing, and many Gladisch : ' Es bedeutet doch ein
myths connected with their local wor- Riickkehr zu dem Rationalismus der
ships. In the article just cited Mr. T. W. Alten.' The theories of both have been
Allen writes: 'By Hesiod's time the generally discredited by recent scholars,
HIIepE9, southern Thracians-to Homer and rationalism has no doubt been
a mere landmark like Emathia between carried by them to an absurd degree.
Olympus and Athos-had sent their Yet it is difficult to escape the charge
muses, friends of Thamyris, southward.' of rationalism in the explanation of
And by Hesiod's time, too, as Mr. Allen myth, and many who use the term in
does not fail to note, the myth of the reproach are found guilty of it. Atlantis,
Hyperboreans had reached the south. the Phaeacians, and Elysium itself, had
My own position is that the cult of a 'rationalistic' element in their origin,
and my own theory of the Hyperboreans
1 Strabo 7,frag. 30, Callim. Hymn to Zeus 3. is open to that charge, as I connect
2 Schol. on Pindar Ol. 3, 28.
3 4 Pauly-W:ss.owa, 122, Sp. 279.
J.H.S., 1914, P. 95. 121,
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THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 139
them with a highway of trade and drew871 as
they are.3 Suidas ascribes to
religion. The Chinese resemblances him and Icalappo.oq. His
Xpqa1opoq
seem particularly vague and meaning- magic arrow and his purity of life are
less, and Professor Shewan's articles the most striking points in the legend,
tend, I think, to show that such legends and these may well bring him into
are apt to arise, so to speak, a little connexion with the Thracian Sun-
nearer home-that is, about places 'just worship, which produced Orpheus. A
beyond knowledge.' wonderful picture of him is given by
It can neither be proved or disproved Himerius,4 "Apaptv &? 7T o'-obYv rvo(
that the word Hyperborean is, as Mr. ptv 'Trep/36pptov X'Y7ov0nt,tEXXqlva 876rv
Casson suggests, a corruption of a real Ical tElv adXpt
Olvov
name of a Chinese or Asiatic tribe. It KIal
70roX4 ,ye.yevl0oOat, His speech was
:~,lO)?
o-Xila'rov.
has, in that case, 'gone very wrong perfect as of the Academy or Lyceum.
indeed,' and it surely came to mean to With his bow and arrows, his chlamys,
the Greeks, 'Those living behind the his gold girdle and his trousers he was
North Wind.' Before that I believe it the perfect Scythian to look upon, in
meant, 'Living beyond Bora,' on the manners and morals the perfect Greek
Hyperborean Road. As for Bora or ideal of the fourth century A.D. sophist.
Sabora in Spain, the evidence for its Zalmoxis was also transformed into a
existence is, I believe, entirely numis- follower ob 745) ao-eveaTdrt) aooctary,
matic, and I have not been able to Pythagoras, according to information
examine it as yet. In any case I can- given to Herodotus by some Pontic
not believe that its rose-gardens played Greeks.
as large a part in Greek legend as those The name of Abaris has been re-
of Paeonia. Sappho's lines are signifi- garded as Thracian, and is explained
cant : by Crusius5 as perhaps connoting his
o yap
'reU4XeLrj66wv function in the Hyperborean rite. It is
7rV K HEIpltes. rather curious that in the three battles,
With Mr. Casson's treatment of the in Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, and in Virgil,
legends of Abaris I am utterly in dis- where a hero of this name is killed,
agreement, and here also I should be names elsewhere associated with Thrace
inclined to hurl that dangerous and so are in the neighbourhood-Rhoetus in
often recoiling epithet 'rationalistic.' both Valerius Flaccus and Virgil, and
Why should Mr. Casson derive from Phineus in Ovid. His father's name
Ovid, Met. V. 86, the information that is given as Seuthes by Suidas. The
the Abaris of the legends came from the Doliones of Valerius Flaccus are
Caucasus ? He could as well call him Thracian in origin. Mr. Casson's con-
a Rutulian from the occurrence of the clusion, that the whole story of the
name in an epic battle in Virgil,1 or a Hyperboreans originated at a time when
Dolionian from a similar episode in the scientific study of ethnology was
Valerius Flaccus.2 As Haupt remarks developing, and that the story was
on the passage in Ovid, these adjectives because of its vagueness relegated to
are only a device to give vividness to the realm of myth and religion, is un-
the epic narrative. In no one of the psychological and ignores the facts. As
three passages is there any reason Jacoby" says, Hecataeus of Abdera
to suppose that the legendary Greek 'hat, der Forderung der Zeit ent-
Scythian or Scythian Greek is the sprechend, dieses Volk aus der Un-
warrior in question. Mr. Casson con- bestimmtheit in eine feste geographische
siders Abaris a Greek traveller, con- Umgebung gebracht.' The course of
temporary with Aristeas. It is far the myth actually has been from the
more probable that he was a Sun-priest, poetic fancy of the early period to the
and like Zalmoxis and exact statements of the Euhemeristic
dvtpwworo8a4iwv,
in connexion with whom his
Orpheus,
name appears. He is master of the 3
Plato, Charmides, I58; Euripides, Cyclops,
646.
' Him. or. 25. 5
Roscher i. 2, 2831.
1 Aen. IX. 354. 2 III. 152. 6 Pauly-Wissowa, 7. 2756.
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140 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
period. Hecataeus did not hesitate to The island is described, though not
state that the land or island of the named, in the citations from Hecataeus
Hyperboreans still existed in his time, found in Diodorus 2. 47. In this well-
which was that of Alexander the Great known passage the island is said to be
and the first Ptolemy. He says that as large as Sicily, nv rotSg avmrEtpag
many Greeks had visited the island and KeXKrtc OKa-r Tov 'i2Kceav.
left precious gifts with Greek inscrip- r7F Diodorus alsorWOLr quotes Hecataeus and
tions. The place described by him so others as saying that the island v7brdpXELt
definitely and yet so romantically has araa -ragapicrov. Moreover, the Moon
often been identified with England. is at a very little distance from the
As for the Karambukai, a name which island, and earth-hills on it can be very
appears to Mr. Casson to be of an clearly seen.
eastern type, there is more to hold it to I wish to propose a derivation for the
the Black Sea and European Scythia name of the island, which seems to me
and 'Celtica.' Plinyl mentions a so obvious that I cannot believe that it
Carambucis river in connexion with has not been suggested before. How-
the Celtic promontory Lytharmis. The ever, I have not seen it. To make
passage is as follows: 'ab extremo my point clear I will first quote from
aquilone ad initium orientis aestivi Kiessling's article on the Rhipean
Scythae sunt. extra eos ultraque Mountains a part of his discussion of
aquilonie initia Hyperboreos aliqui arctic and antarctic poles. 'Wenn die
posuere, pluribus in Europa dictos, Geographen dazu kamen, die Rhipaen
Primum inde noscitur promonturium auf den Polarkreis der Erdkugel zu
Celticae Lytharmis, fluvius Caram- zu lokalisiren, so muss ihnen dieser
bucis.' This is evidently the part of einmal fuir den Barenkreis gegolten
the world where Celtica and Scythia haben. Auch Aristoteles konnte die
meet. Compare Strabo 7: v 86 T( Lage unten der Bairin nur auf die
7rCa
av- V
rrVKX;9I
dic"XwTSt olocovlfry,
O eOV/JUe1q rph aplcrv
wpog lipicrov Deklinationsparallele des grossen Bairen
r)V vora~vov ErL rT?79, $cvlla9 ?7 ~7~' und die dadurch bestimmte geograph-
KeXTrKI~c.Diodorus2 also tells of an ische Breite beziehen. Aber ftir Herak-
island of the sea near the ocean, Trm leit und die ionischen Meteorologen lag
KcvOia bri7rpFaXaTtag. Cf. also Pliny's das astronomische Nordgebirge unter
island Baunonia3 in the North Sea, over der Projection des Bdirengestirns auf
against Scythia. die Erdscheibe. Hinter dem Gebirge
There is a promontory in Paphla- war darum der Bezirk der Bairin den
gonia, often mentioned, Carambis, and die Sonne unkreist um vom Untergang
for the last part of the word there is zum Aufgang zurtickzukehren, cum re-
the river Buces,4 which flows into the laturus diem septentrionum accesserit
Maiotis, identified by Tomaschek as the confinia, sagt Avien. ora marit. 649f.'
Nogaika. For the meaning of Buces In the Hellenistic period the name
see Minns, Scythians and Greeks, p. 17. Helice was given to both the Great and
In speaking of the tradition which the Little Bear. The name is very
identified the Hyperboreans with extra- frequent among later writers. The
Scythic tribes of the Far East of the word evidently has to do with Agt and
ancient world, Mr. Casson remarks that JXlao-w. Both of these words are used
Hecataeus of Abdera appears to have of the movements of the Sun and the
travelled in the very regions where this stars. The verb is used in the Iliad for
tradition places the Hyperboreans. He turning the horses of the chariot around
then writes: 'Hecataeus mentions an the 7r-pCta. The name Helixoia of the
island called Helixoia, and its inhabi- island Iara rah apIcrovq, which con-
tants the Kapap,/IcKat.' I do not know stellations in this period had the name
whether I am justified in inferring Helice, might have been invented for
from this that the writer of it supposes the place where the Sun turns his steed
Hecataeus to have visited Helixoia. around this northern '-pta.5 Heracleitus
1 N.H. 6. 5 According to Pherecydes (ap. Athenaeum
34.
3
2 Diodorus V. 23. N.H. 4. 94. 11. 38) the Sun descends with his chariot
Pauly-Wissowa PL'rraLa 888. ei~ rb ras 8 abrbCTYv
.p6pet ov Tirot3.
"ra7s
spyt, Xp6oateov
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THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 141
speaks of the Bear as the r-'pta of Dawn Hyperboreans, folk behind the mountain,
and Dark. 7o04 Kaal o-7rrptl9Tr'p/tJaTa were, in the more naive time of peasant
apK7ro-. It may be that the name fancy, thought of as nearer than in the
Helice for the Bear constellations had time of geographical and astronomical
the same origin, though various others knowledge. As fanciful at first as the
are offered. inhabitants of a haunted forest or lake
I think that Mr. Casson is decidedly they were shifted farther and farther
on the wrong track in seeking the away as geographical knowledge in-
Hyperboreans so far east as China. creased.1
Rather in the place of which Virgil I am sorry that my previohs article
speaks: lent itself to any misunderstanding of
mundus,ut ad ScythiamRhipaeasquearduus my views. I had no intention of giving
arces my Hyperboreans any fixed home as
consurgit. long as they stayed in the realms of
Even this is, in Kiessling's words, to myth. After that, when they got into
look at the myth of the Hyperboreans the hands of the geographers, they were
with the eye of the geographer. But pushed up ;rr' air'vr v &pc'rov.
that is just the contamination of the GRACE H. MACURDY.
earthly Bora with the heavenly of which Vassar College.
Miss Harrison speaks.
I believe that it is true that these 1 How and Wells, Herodotus, 4. 34.
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