Texts
Cosmographia of Aethicus Ister
Incoming data
The catalogue entry for this text has not been published as yet. Until then, a selection of data is made available below.
An early medieval Latin work of cosmography, geography and ethnography, datable to the first half of the eighth century, which purports to be an epitome of a work by a Scythian philosopher named Aethicus (Ister) and which spuriously attributes its redaction and running commentary to St Jerome. Aethicus is described as a pagan (gentilis) who lived before the birth of Christ and travelled the four corners of the earth, although the chronology of peoples and events is regularly disturbed.
Manuscript witnesses
MS
London, British Library, MS Harley 3859
rubric: Incipit liber Ethici, translatus, philosophico editus oraculo, ab Ieronimo presbytero delatus ex cosmografia, id est mundi scriptura. Edicta Ethici philosophi cosmographi incipit: Philosophorum scedulas sagaci indagatione
f. 253r–
MS
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 4126
rubric: Incipit Cosmografia Prisciani
f. 14r–
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] [tr.] Herren, Michael W., The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister. Edition, translation, and commentary, Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 8, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011.
Edition, with English translation, introduction and commentary, of the Cosmographia attributed to Aethicus Ister
abstract:
One of the most skilful forgeries of the Middle Ages, the Cosmography of Aethicus Ister has puzzled scholars for over 150 years, not least because of its challenging Latinity. Written at a western centre in the first part of the eighth century, the work purports to be a heavily censored epitome made by St. Jerome of a “cosmography” by an Istrian philosopher named Aethicus. This writer, who is otherwise unknown, describes a flat-earth universe resembling that of Cosmas Indicopleustes, then gives an eye-witness account of his travels to the “isles of the gentiles” in the North and East. There he encounters not only savage races, but also monsters, Amazons, and other figures of mythology. Alexander the Great also figures prominently by immuring the “unclean races,” who will escape to ravage the world at the coming of the Anti-Christ. Not all is fiction. The author’s observations on volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis will interest the scientific reader. The last part deals in coded fashion with contemporary events in the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, and may provide a clue to the author’s origins. The present volume offers a new critical text, the first translation, and a detailed commentary covering every aspect of the work.
(source: Brepols)
[ed.] Prinz, Otto, Die Kosmographie des Aethicus Ister, MGH Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 14, Munich: MGH, 1993.
[ed.] Wuttke, Heinrich, Aethici Istrici Cosmographia ab Hieronymo: ex Graeco Latinum breviarium redacta, secundum codicem Lipsiensem, Leipzig: Dyk'sche Buchhandlung, 1854.
Internet Archive: <link>
