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THE PERIPLUS OF HANNO
A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY DOWN THE WEST AFRICAN COAST,
BY A CARTHAGINIAN ADMIRAL OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B. C.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK
BY
WILFRED H. SCHOFF, a. m.
Secretary of the Commercial Museum, Philadelphia
M^ith explanatory passages quoted from numerous authors
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMERCIAL MUSEUM 1912
Copyright 1912 by the Commercial Museum Philadelphia
THE VOYAGE OF HANNO, KING OF THE
CARTHAGINIANS
To the Libyan regions of the earth beyond the Pillars of Hercules,
which he dedicated also in the Temple of Baal, affixing this
1. It pleased the Carthaginians that Hanno should voy-
age outside the Pillars of Hercules, and found cities of the
Libyphoenicians. And he set forth with sixty ships of fifty
oars, and a multitude of men and women, to the number of
thirty thousand, and with wheat and other provisions.
- After passing through the Pillars we went on and
sailed for two days’ journey beyond, where we founded the
first city, which we called Thymiaterium ; it lay in the midst
of a great plain.
- Sailing thence toward the west we came to Solois, a
promontory of Libya, bristling with trees.
- Having set up an altar here to Neptune, we proceeded
again, going toward the east for half the day, until we reached
a marsh lying no great way from the sea, thickly grown with
tall reeds. Here also were elephants and other wild beasts
feeding, in great numbers.
- Going beyond the marsh a day’s journey, we setded
cities by the sea, which we called Caricus Murus, Gytta, Acra,
Melitta and Arambys.
- Sailing thence we came to the Lixus, a great river
flowing from Libya. By it a wandering people, the Lixitas,
were pasturing their flocks; with whom we remained some
time, becoming friends.
- Above these folk lived unfriendly ^Ethiopians, dwelling
in a land full of wild beasts, and shut off by great mountains,
from which they say the Lixus flows, and on the mountains
live men of various shapes, cave-dwellers, who, so the Lixitse
say, are fleeter of foot than horses.
- Taking interpreters from them, we sailed twelve ‘\
‘ days toward the south along a desert, turning thence toward ‘
the east one day’s sail. There, within the recess of a bay we
found a small island, having a circuit of fifteen stadia; which
we settled, and called it Cerne. From our journey we judged
it to be situated opposite Carthage ; for the voyage from Car-
thage to the Pillars and thence to Cerne was the same.
- Thence, sailing by a great river whose name was
Chretes, we came to a lake, which had three islands, larger
than Cerne. Running a day’s sail beyond these, we came to
the end of the lake, above which rose great mountains, peo-
pled by savage men wearing skins of wild beasts, who threw
stones at us and prevented us from landing from our ships.
- Sailing thence, we came to another river, very great
and broad, which was full of crocodiles and hippopotami.
And then we turned about and went back to Cerne.
- Thence we sailed toward the south twelve days, fol-
lowing the shore, which was peopled by ^Ethiopians who fled
from us and would not wait. And their speech the Lixitse
who were with us could not understand.
1 2. But on the last day we came to great wooded mountains.
The wood of the trees was fragrant, and of various kinds.
- Sailing around these mountains for two days, we came
to an immense opening of the sea, from either side of which
there was level ground inland; from which at night we saw
iire leaping up on every side at intervals, now greater, now less.
- Having taken in water there, we sailed along the
shore for five days, until we came to a great bay, which our
interpreters said was called Horn of the West. In it there
was a large island, and within the island a lake of the sea, in
which there was another island. Landing there during the
day, we saw nothing but forests, but by night many burning
fires, and we heard the sound of pipes and cymbals, and the
noise of drums and a great uproar. Then fear possessed us,
and the soothsayers commanded us to leave the island.
- And then quickly sailing forth, we passed by a burn-
ing country full of fragrance, from which great torrents of fire
flowed down to the sea. But the land could not be come at
for the heat.
- And we sailed along with all speed, being stricken by
fear. After a journey of four days, we saw the land at night
covered with flames. And in the midst there was one lofty
fire, greater than the rest, which seemed to touch the stars.
By day this was seen to be a very high mountain, called
Chariot of the Gods.
- Thence, sailing along by the fiery torrents for three
days, we came to a bay, called Horn of the South.
- In the recess of this bay there was an island, like the
former one, having a lake, in which there was another island,
full of savage men. There were women, too, in even greater
number. They had hairy bodies, and the interpreters called
them Gorillie. When we pursued them we were unable to
take any of the men ; for they all escaped, by climbing the
steep places and defending themselves with stones; but we
took three of the women, who bit and scratched their leaders,
and would not follow us. So we killed them and flayed them,
and brought their skins to Carthage. For we did not voyage
further, provisions failing us.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE VOYAGE OF HANNO
The Carthaginian colonies mentioned in this text can be iden-
tified only in the most general way with any existing settlement.
They were destroyed and abandoned so many centuries ago that no
traces are likely to remain, although the unsettled condition of the
country, which has remained to the present time, has prevented any
exploration of the interior or even of the coast itself.
- 1. The Pillars of Hercules are, of course, the Straits of
Gibraltar.
- 2. The first city, called in the text Thymiaterium, is identi-
fied by Miiller as Mehedia at the mouth of the Sbou River at about
34° 20′ N. The name of this city as we have it is a Greek corrup-
tion and to the eyes of various commentators suggests Dumathir—^i
ground, or city of the plain.
- 3. The Promontory of Solois is probably the same as Cape
Cantin at 32° 30′ N.
- 4. The section of marshy ground is probably reached on
both sides of Cape Safi, 32° 20′ N.
- 5. The location of the five colonies mentioned in this para-
graph 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°.
- 6. The Lixus River is quite certainly the modern Wadi
Draa, emptying into the ocean at 28 30 .
- 8. The island of Cerne, lying in the recess of a bay, is iden-
tified with the modern Heme Island within the mouth of the Rio de
Oro at about 23° 45′ N. The relative distances as mentioned in this
paragraph from the Straits of Gibraltar to Carthage and to Heme
Island respectively, are very nearly correct.
- 9. The Chretes River Miiller identifies with the modern
St. Jean at 19° 25′, at the mouth of which the three islands exist
as the text describes.
- 10, The great river full of crocodiles and hippopotami is
identified with the Senegal at about 16° 30′ N.
- § 12 and 13. These great wooded mountains around which the
expedition sailed, can be nothing but Cape Verde, and the immense
opening of the sea is the mouth of the Gambia River at 13° 30′ N.
- 14. The bay called Horn of the West reaches from 12° to
to 11° N. and the islands are the modern Bissagos.
- 16. The high mountain called Chariot of the Gods, Miiller
identifies with Mt. Kakulima at 9° 30′ N.
- § 17 and 18. The island enclosed within the bay called Horn
of the South, it is now agreed by all commentators, is the modern
Sherboro Sound in the British colony of Sierra Leone, about 7° 30′ N.
This identification of the places named in the text extends
Hanno’ s voyage about 29 degrees of latitude along the West African
coast, or a total length outside of Gibraltar, following the direction of
the shore line, of about 2600 miles.
EDITIONS OF THE PERIPLUS OF HANNO
(From Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, I, 332-3)
The narrative of Hanno was certainly extant in Greek at an early
period. It is cited in the work ascribed to Aristotle on Marvellous
Narratives (§ 37) which belongs to the 3d century B. C. ; as well as
by Mela, Pliny, and many later writers; and Pliny expressly speaks
of it as the source whence many Greek and Roman writers had
derived their information, including, as he considered, many fables.
C Pliny, H. N., V. 8.)
The authenticity of the work may be considered as unquestion-
able. The internal evidence is conclusive upon that point. There
is considerable doubt as to the date of the voyage. On this point the
narrative itself gives no information, and the name Hanno was very
common at Carthage. (See Smith’s Diet, of Bios., Art. Hanno).
But it has been generally agreed that this Hanno was either the father
or the son of the Hamilcar who led the great Carthaginian expedition
to Sicily in B. C. 480. In the former case the Periplus may be prob-
ably assigned to a date about B. C. 520; in the latter it must be
brought down to about B. C. 470. This last view is that adopted by
- Miiller in his edition of the Periplus iGeographi Graci Minores, I,
xxi-xxiv), where the whole subject is fully discussed; but as between
him and his grandfather, the choice is hardly more than conjectural.
- Vivien de St. Martin, however, prefers the date of B. C. 570,
which had been previously adopted by Bougainville {Memoires
de I Acad’emie des Inscriptions, xxviii, 287).
“The Periplus of Hanno was first published at Basle in 1533 (as
an appendix to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea j , from a manuscript in
the Heidelberg library i^Cod. Pal. Grcec, 398), the only one in vv^hich
it is found. There have been numerous subsequent editions; of these
the one by Falconer, 8vo, 1797, and Kluge, 8vo, Leipzig, 1829, are
the most valuable. The treatise is also included in the editions of the
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