We continue the study of old maps, which we started in the previous part.
Maps of Sarmatia
Consider the map of Sarmatia by the already mentioned author Nikolai Sanson:
Romani Imperii qua oriens est descriptio geographica, 1637 (Geographical description of the eastern part of the Roman Empire).
Inscriptions on the map, on the territory of present-day Russia: European Sarmatia, Asian Sarmatia, part of Scythia. The names of the seas and rivers are antediluvian. Also Colchis, Iberia and Albania in the Caucasus, Dacia instead of Romania. Further Illyria, Scythia and Thrace. The name "Greece" is present, but superimposed on top of Macedonia, Thessaly and Tea (? Chaia). All these states allegedly existed before our era. But why, in the 17th century, publish a map showing the situation 2,000 years ago? Why also republish and republish? So in 1703 the same map was published, supplemented with a description placed in the frame:
Romani Imperii qua oriens est descriptio geographica, 1703).
The description text is in Latin, so I cannot fully translate it. It says that the map was made by Guillaume Sanson, son of Nicholas Sanson, the author of the previous map. And the book of the French historian and geographer Michel Antoine Baudrand (1633-1700) "Geographie ordine litterarum disposite" is mentioned. Both volumes of this book are available on the Internet, published in 1682 and also in Latin. In the book, in alphabetical order, a decoding of all geographical and ethnic terms known at that time is given. Those. names of countries, settlements, geographical toponyms and peoples.
Promotional video:
Scythopolis
Scythia, Sarmatia, and Tartaria are present in this book. He also mentions the city of Scythopolis, located in Israel, now this city is called Beit Shean. I was interested in the name of the city, and I thought: is this name connected with the Scythians? It turned out to be related. Bodrant's book does not say this, but it is said in other books. For example, ENCYCLOPÉDIE MÉTHODIQUE. GÉOGRAPHIE ANCIENNE.: TOME SECOND, M. Mentelle (Methodical Encyclopedia. Ancient Geography, Volume 2), published in Paris in 1789.
Fragment of the book "Ancient Geography", volume 2.
And a short translation:
And one more mention to the book "Gentilia per epitomen" by Stephani Byzantini ("Russian biography" of Stephen of Byzantine), 1694.
His translation was more difficult for me: "The name Scythopolis comes from the Scythians (this story should be available)" And then something about Iphigenia (the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra according to ancient Greek myth), Foant and Scythia of Tauride according to George Kedrin, the Byzantine historian of the late XI or early XII century, the author of the Greek "Review of History".
This is what Skifopolis looks like now:
Panorama of ancient Scythopolis.
It is written about this city that it had an important geographical position. A trade route called the "Royal Road" passed through it. I already wrote about this royal road in the article "Ancient India and Beyond". The description of this road surprisingly coincides with the description of Marco Polo of the Tartar postal service with its pits and drivers.
Alans
Returning to Michel Baudrand's book, I want to draw the attention of readers to some fragments. In one short fragment of this book, Sarmatia, Scythia, and Tartaria are listed at once:
Fragment from the book "Geographie ordine litterarum disposite".
In my opinion, we are talking here about the Agaros River, which is also called Sagaris or Gipanis (for some reason, this name was borne by two rivers at once: the Southern Bug (Western Ukraine) and the Kuban (Krasnodar Territory, Russia), which flows through the European Sarmatia, then through European Scythia, and finally, through Tartary Perekop. So we are talking about the Southern Bug. And for some reason, the Google translator persistently translates “Sarmatia Europea” as “European Russia.” And then about the Alans:
Translation in short, as I could:
Alans, the people of Scythia, the Inner Imaum, living near the Carambicin River near the Alan Mountains (now the Azov Upland or Donetsk Ridge). And also the name "Alan" of the river in England. Coincidence? I think that the Himalayas are called Imaum here, which earlier were also called the Caucasus Mountains. And even earlier - Tavrom. It was believed that they divide the continent of Eurasia into almost two parts, which I already wrote about in the article "Ancient India and Beyond." An excerpt from that article:
Transfer:
Philip Kluver (1580-1623) was a German scientist who studied historical geography. The peoples listed here are all Sarmatian - Scythian.
Vindelicia (Latin Vindelicia) is the name of the ancient Roman region that covered northern Switzerland and southern Germany. The Fokunates are an ancient Alpine people.
Sarmatians in Europe
In search of the meaning "Alaunorum pars" came up with the name "Lure" (a French commune located in the Alps region), and there is this information about this place:
"Prefect of the Sarmatians in Gaul" - I mean this source: "Praefectus Sarmatarum gentilium, per tractum Rodunensem et Alaunorum", Noticia dignitatum utriusque imperri (c. 400)."
And through this source she went further to barks:
And another interpretation:
And from there: Prefectures of the Sarmatian peoples in Italy and France:
I think that the Sarmatian warriors-archers were not prisoners of war, and they were not barbarians either. They lived in their territories, and guarded the roads not only in Western Europe, but throughout the Eurasian continent.
Antique road map of Eurasia continent
I recently discovered a map showing all these Roman (?) Roads. It is called the Tabula Peutingeriana. The map consists of 11 parchment sheets. Overall, the map is 6.75 m long and 0.34 m wide. Fragment 12, i.e. the very first one, which was supposed to depict Spain, is lost. You can see the whole map here, and to see it, you need to scroll. The map is so long that it is impossible to show it in full in good resolution. To simplify the understanding of the map, there is such a scheme:
Map of Tabula Peutingeriana.
The total length of the roads shown on the map is about 200 thousand km. The ladders seem to show post stations, the distances between them are indicated in stages. I will give here a few fragments showing Sarmatia and Scythia. I highlighted these names in red.
This is a section of Western Europe. Almost all the names do not correspond to the modern ones, but by the location of Rome, one can roughly understand what part of Europe is depicted here: Europe is above, in the middle - Italy (named differently on the map), below - Africa. Sarmatia is shown at the top of the map. Further:
This is a continuation of the previous snippet. Also above - Europe, in the middle - the end of the Iberian Peninsula, and the island of Sicily, below - Africa. There are a lot of roads in Africa. And in general there are many roads … Sarmatia is again at the top of the map. The year of creation of this map is unknown, but it was discovered in 1494 by the German scientist Konrad Keltes. In 1508, he handed over to Konrad Peitingur, a German humanist and antiquarian in Augsburg, therefore the map became known as the Peitinger Tablet. The Peitinger family held the card for over two hundred years, and sold it in 1714. How many old maps I have already come across, not a single one is said that its existence has been known since time immemorial. All cards were discovered quite by accident around the 15th and 16th centuries. But this, of course, does not mean that all these cards were created at this time,and have nothing to do with reality, but are only the fruit of the wild imagination of their authors. As some comrades say. To me such a statement seems absurd. Next snippet:
Here is still the same Western Europe, only in the middle is the Balkan Peninsula. “Macedonia” is written in large letters, the name “Greece” is not yet available. The name "Sarmatia" is at the top of the map. And the continuation of Sarmatia:
Antioch
This fragment depicts the city of Antioch, which is now called Antakya. It is located not very far from the already considered Skifopolis - 630 km.
There is something else of note in this ancient city. The province in which it was located is called Hatay. And there was such a wall in the city:
The fortress wall of Antioch, ascending the mountain.
The wall protected the city not from the invasion of wild barbarians, but from quite civilized crusaders. And it has not survived to this day as the Chinese (Kataiskaya?). What's left of the wall now:
The modern view of the fortress wall of Antioch.
And the last, 12th fragment of the map, which shows Scythia. The names Scythia and India are highlighted in red.
Fragment of the map of Tabula Peutingeriana.
Looking at this map, one gets the impression that the extent of Sarmatia is much greater than the extent of Scythia. But this is not the case. It's just that on the map, the European part of the mainland is elongated, and the Asian part is reduced. And if you look from the satellite, it looks like this:
Returning to Antioch, I also wanted to say that Bodrand, in his book on geography, mentions a people who were called "Aniochi". The difference from Antioch is only one letter. Accident? The fact is that a lot of such accidents with a difference in one letter have already accumulated. Tartars - Tatars, Cossacks - Kazakhs, Mughals - Mongols. Isn't this one from the same series? Here's what he writes about aniochs:
These Aniochs-Geniokhs lived on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. There, nearby, not far from them, was the city of Derbent, which was formerly called the "Iron Gates". Because next to the city, there was a high wall, allegedly built by Alexander the Great (by the way, Antioch was founded by one of his commanders), separating Persia from Scythia or Tartary, and it ended in Derbent with an iron gate:
Read more about this in the article "The Great Caucasian Wall - Dam of Gog and Magog, Part 2" Antioch also had its own iron gates. Rather, a whole iron bridge. The bridge was actually made of stone, with a 9-span arched bridge, across the Orontes River, 20 km from Antioch. It went down in history thanks to a major battle that took place at this bridge between the Muslim Arabs and the army of the Sassadin Empire in 634 AD. The battle is called "Battle of the Iron Bridge". This bridge had an iron gate, according to some sources. But most likely this is an incorrect translation of the original text. Because according to other sources, there was no gate in this bridge, but its two arched spans were upholstered with iron. In English, for example, a span, a passage and a gate are written in one word: "gate". Be that as it may, for some reason they confused the Chinese Wall with the Caucasian Wall,calling it "Dam of Gog and Magog". And this confusion, as I understood, occurred precisely because of the iron gates. And the iron bridge of Antioch was located in the provinces of Hatay, which is so consonant with the province of Katay … Here, for me personally, the reason for this confusion became clearer. Although it is still far from a complete understanding of this historical intricacies.
NEW map of Sarmatia
But back to the cards, perhaps capable of shedding light on our true history. The next map we are considering is called “A New Map of Sarmatia Europaea Pannonia and Dacia Shewing the Principal Divisions, People, Cities, Towns,… & c. Dedicated to His Highness William Duke of Gloucester "(New map of European Sarmatia, Pannonia and Dacia, showing the main parts, peoples, cities and towns. Dedicated to His Highness William Duke of Gloucester):
New map of European Sarmatia, Edward Wells, 1700.
The map was drawn by the English mathematician, geographer and scientist Edward Wells (1667-1727) for his student William of Denmark, Duke of Gloucester.
William of Dates, Duke of Gloster, son of Princess Anne, later Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland since 1702, and her husband, Prince George, Duke of Cumberland. But why is the card called NEW? If it depicts a situation 1000 years ago? According to official data, Sarmatia existed until the 8th century AD, Pannonia and Dacia, also Slavic states, until the 10th century AD. So, after all, the cartographers of the 17th century depicted not the ancient situation on their maps, but the real one at that time? The map, however, depicts the antediluvian situation of the Black Sea coast of the Crimea and the Caucasus, which I already wrote about in the previous part. The Arctic Ocean was called the Hyperborean and Scythian seas.
Ancient Asia map
The following map is taken from Nikolai Sanson's atlas. This is a map of Asia called "Ancient Asia". By the way, we are used to saying "Asia", but in Latin, many words of which (most of them?) Come from Old Russian words, according to Vikoslovar, this word is spelled "Asia". So it sounds accordingly - Asia. For the Russian ear, this word acquires a completely different sound. Just one letter - and such a difference. But I have already spoken about this one-letter difference in words.
Asia vetus, N. Sanson, 1667.
The map is presented on the Internet in very high resolution. All the inscriptions are clearly visible on it. The map is divided into countries or regions, regions, the borders of which are highlighted in different colors. In blue, I marked the names of large regions: Sarmatia, Scythia, Bactriana, India, Serika, Sina, Libya, Egypt, Asia Minor, Arabia, Persian and Parforum empires. Red and green are smaller regions. In Sarmatia, these are European Sarmatia, Asian Sarmatia, as well as Hyperborean Sarmatia (North, you must understand), and another Sarmatia - Hyppopha or Hyppophagi, could not translate. Hippophagia is the eating of horse meat. In Scythia - the uppermost region is called the Land of the Northern Unknown, then - Hyperborean Scythia, Scythia of the Inner Imaum and Scythia of the Outer Imaum. In Persia - Assyria, Media, Parthia, Karmania, Aria.
Again, from the name of the map it follows that the author depicted some kind of ancient situation that no longer exists in reality. But how old? And why did the making of such ancient (?) Maps become relevant in the 17th century?
Continued: Part 3