THE KASSITEROS PROJECT

Primary source · AD 825

Dicuil — De Mensura Orbis Terrae

Dicuil is a witness to the medieval survival and recombination of classical geographical authorities. The anthology is interested in his use of Pliny and Pythean material, including island distances and the transmission of names associated with the far north-western ocean.

An illuminated page from the medieval Book of Kells.
Page from the Book of Kells, used here as a public-domain visual witness to the insular manuscript tradition. Wikimedia Commons · source · Public domain / PDM 1.0

Why this source matters

Dicuil is a witness to the medieval survival and recombination of classical geographical authorities. The anthology is interested in his use of Pliny and Pythean material, including island distances and the transmission of names associated with the far north-western ocean.

Primary-source dossier

The excerpts below are reproduced from the Ictis Anthology — a working paper produced during research for the project. Some of the results were spun off into New Perspectives on the Ictis of Pytheas of Massalia.

Pytheas of Marseilles writes that this occurs in the island of Thule, 6 days’ voyage N. from Britain1

Interestingly the trope of “6 day’s sail from Britain” is invoked by Pliny in book 4, but only once: in the description of Mictis:

Timaeus the historian says that an island called Mictis is within six days’ sail of Britannia2

Could Dicuil be confusing the two quotes and therefore be aware of Pliny’s information on Ictis?

Dicuil again quotes Pytheas via Pliny in 8.24 when he says in Pliny’s 3rd book he discusses the tides of Britain; this is a correct quotation but incorrect reference, the actual section not being book 3 but 2.217.

Latin (7.7)

Source: Parthey, G. (1870) Dicvili Liber de Mensvra Orbis Terrae. Berlin: F. Nicolai.

“Plinius Secundus in quarto libro edocet is quod Pytheas Masiliensis sex dierum navigatione in septentrionem a Brittania Thilen distantem narrat.”

English (7.7)

Source: Tierney, J.J. (1967) Dicuili Liber de Mensura Orbis Terrae. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advances Studies. p.75

Plinius Secundus in his fourth book informs us that Pytheas of Marseilles states that Thule lies six days’ sail to the north of Britain.

  1. NH 2.187 Topostext.org

    ↩︎

  2. NH 4.104 Topostext.org

    ↩︎

Bibliography and editions

Critical editions and further reading

Rights boundary. Ancient texts and public-domain images are not relicensed by Kassiteros. Modern editions and translations retain their own rights. Only Kassiteros-authored commentary and original project metadata are intended to fall under the project’s CC BY 4.0 policy.