Environmental Determinism in Ancient Sources

Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu’na 65. Yaş Armağanı EUERGETES Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu zum 65. Geburtstag Suna - İnan Kıraç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu’na 65. Yaş Armağanı EUERGETES Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu zum 65. Geburtstag I. Cilt (Ayrıbasım/Offprint) Yayına Hazırlayanlar İnci DELEMEN Sedef ÇOKAY-KEPÇE Aşkım ÖZDİZBAY Özgür TURAK Suna - İnan Kıraç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations SUNA - İNAN KIRAÇ AKDENİZ MEDENİYETLERİ ARAŞTIRMA ENSTİTÜSÜ SUNA & İNAN KIRAÇ RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS Armağan Kitaplar Dizisi: 1 Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu’na 65. Yaş Armağanı EUERGETES Festschrift für Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu zum 65. Geburtstag I. Cilt Yayına Hazırlayanlar İnci DELEMEN Sedef ÇOK AY-KEPÇE Aşkım ÖZDİZBAY Özgür TUR AK ISBN 978-605-4018-00-0 © Suna - ‹nan K›raç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Enstitüsü, Antalya 2008 Bu kitapta yayınlanan bildirilerin yayım hakkı saklıdır. AKMED ve yazarlarının yazılı izni olmaksızın hiçbir yolla çoğaltılamaz, basılamaz, yayınlanamaz. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the AKMED and the authors. Yaz›ma Adresi / Mailing Address Barbaros Mah. Kocatepe Sok. No. 25 Kaleiçi 07100 ANTALYA – TÜRKİY E Tel: 0 (242) 243 42 74 • Fax: 0 (242) 243 80 13 [email protected] www.akmed.org.tr Yap›m / Production Zero Prodüksiyon Ltd. İçindekiler I. Cilt Suna - İnan Kıraç SUNUŞ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ XIII İnci Delemen – Sedef Çokay-Kepçe – Aşkım Özdizbay – Özgür Turak Pergeli bir Euergetes’e ................................................................................................................................................................................................... XV M. Taner Tarhan Anılar .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Özgen Acar Perge’de Pandora’nın Kutusu .................................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Mustafa Adak Winde am Pamphylischen Golf .............................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Hüsamettin Aksu “Satrap Lahdi”nin Transkripsiyonu ................................................................................................................................................................... 55 Yıldız Akyay Meriçboyu Akhaemenid’lerden Osmanlı’ya Üç Benek Motifi ......................................................................................................................... 61 N. Eda Akyürek Şahin Eine neue Ehrung für den Kaiser Domitian aus Bursa ............................................................................................................. 79 Güven Arsebük ~ M.S. 1492 Yılı Öncesi Dönemde Kuzey Amerika’da Tarihöncesi Toplumlar (Kızılderililer) .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 83 Sümer Atasoy Zonguldak - Filyos (Tios/Tieion/Tion/Tianos/Tieum) Kurtarma Kazısı ....................................................... 91 İ. Akan Atila 1993 Yılı Aksu Anadolu Öğretmen Lisesi Kazısı Ön Raporu ............................................................................................. 99 M. Nezih Aytaçlar The Collaboration of the Painters on Some South Ionian Orientalizing Vases .................................... 109 Martin Bachmann Lichtvolle Perspektiven. Ein Fensterglasfund aus Bau Z in Pergamon ............................................................. 117 Nur Balkan-Atlı Obsidiyenin Geçmişten Günümüze Yolcuğu. Yarı Bilimsel Yarı İçrek (Ezoterik) bir Yazı ....... 127 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 133 Cevat Başaran Parion’dan Persia’ya Yol Gider VI Daniş Baykan Assos Athena Tapınağı’nın Herakles-Kentauroslar Frizi için Yeni bir Tümleme Önerisi ......... 139 Oktay Belli Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi’nin En Eski ve Özgün Banyo Odası: Van-Yoncatepe Saray Banyosu ve Küveti .................................................................................................................................................. 145 Handan Bilici – Binnur Gürler Kaystros Ovasında Roma İmparatorluk İmajı: Buluntularla Kültür ve Kimliği Tanımlamak ..................................................................................................................................... 159 Jürgen Borchhardt – Erika Bleibtreu Von der Pferdedecke zum Sattel: Antike Reitkunst zwischen Ost und West ............................................. 167 Christine Bruns-Özgan „Notre âme est heureuse et notre coeur en joie!“ Zu einer neuen Stockwerkstele aus Harran ........................................................................................................................................ 217 Selma Bulgurlu Gün Die Nischen der Plancia Magna an der Aussenmauer der Palästra der Südthermen in Perge ...................................................................................................................................................... 233 Mustafa Büyükkolancı Side Dionysos Tapınağı’na ilişkin Yeni Bulgular .......................................................................................................................... 259 Hüseyin Cevizoğlu İonia’da Arınma Gereçleri: Louterion, Perirrhanterion, Asamynthos / Pyelos .................................... 283 ................................................................................................................................................. 309 Ayşe Çalık Ross Bir Kadın Portresi: Agrippina Maior (?) A. Vedat Çelgin Termessos’tan Sorunlu bir Agon’a Işık Tutan bir Agonistik Yazıt Fragmenti ............................................ 315 Nevzat Çevik Kitanaura: Doğu Likya’da bir Kent ................................................................................................................................................................ 327 Altan Çilingiroğlu Urartu Tapınakları Kutsal Odalarında Taht Var Mıdır? ..................................................................................................... 341 Sedef Çokay-Kepçe Saç İğnesi? Maryonet? Öreke? Perge’de Bulunmuş Aphrodite Betimli bir Eser üzerine Tanımlama Denemesi ................................. 347 ............................................................. 351 Özgü Çömezoğlu Demre (Myra) Aziz Nikolaos Kilisesi’nde Bulunan Cam Hacı Şişeleri Natalie de Chaisemartin Heros cavaliers et Eros chasseurs sur un sarcophage d’Aphrodisias .................................................................... 359 İnci Delemen Perge’den bir Yemek Sahnesinde Batı Yankıları ........................................................................................................................... 371 Ali Dinçol – Belkıs Dinçol Neue hethitische Siegelabdrücke aus den Ausgrabungen von Soli und aus der Privatsammlung Halûk Perk ..................................................................................................................... 383 Meltem Doğan-Alparslan Hititçe Metinlerde “Reverans Yapmak”: aruwai- ve hink- Fiilleri üzerine bir Deneme ................... 389 VII Şevket Dönmez Halûk Perk Müzesi’nden Orta-Kuzey Anadolu Kökenli bir Grup Metal Eser .......................................... 405 Turan Efe Demircihüyük ve Küllüoba İTÇ I-II Katlarında Ele Geçirilmiş Olan bir Grup Boyunlu Çömlek ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 413 Yılmaz Selim Erdal Perge’den bir Trepanasyon: Olası Nedenleri ................................................................................................................................... 421 Rifat Ergeç Gaziantep’te Geçmişten Bugüne Ölü Gömme Gelenekleri ............................................................................................ 435 Gürkan Ergin Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources: Some Remarks on Geopolitics and Environmental Determinism .......................................................................... 449 .................................................................................................. 463 ................................................................................................... 479 ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 505 Norbert Eschbach Eine ungewöhnliche Hydria von der Akropolis in Perge Axel Filges Die Münzbilder der Artemis Pergaia Bemerkungen zu Tradierung und Wandel von Motiven Turan Gökyıldırım Etenna Definesi (1991) Emre Güldoğan Aşıklı Höyük Sürtmetaş Endüstrisi Kesiciler ve Diğer Araç, Silah ve Aletler Grubu ......................... 521 Ahmet Güleç İ.Ü. Rektörlüğü Mercan Kapısı Çeşmelerinde Koruma Uygulamaları .............................................................. 531 Reha Günay Side Antik Tiyatrosu Sahne Binası 1992-2006 Yılları Çalışmaları Sonucu Ön Rapor ...................... 541 Bilge Hürmüzlü Remarks on Local Imitations of Import Pottery in the Sixth Century B.C.: Clazomenian Chalices .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 557 Fahri Işık Mopsos Mitosu ve Bilimsel Gerçekler: Perge ve Karatepe’nin Kuruluşu üzerine ................................ 571 Gül Işın Patara’dan Terrakotta bir Portre-Büst ........................................................................................................................................................ 587 Zühre İndirkaş Gustave Moreau Tarihselci Resim ve “Oidipus ve Sfenks” üzerine İkonografik Yorumlar ........................................................ 601 II. Cilt Kaan İren The Necropolis of Kyme Unveiled: Some Observations on the New Finds ........................................................................................................................................................ 613 Havva İşkan Patara’dan bir “Demos” Kabartması ............................................................................................................................................................. 639 Ülkü İzmirligil Tarihi Süreç içinde Koruma ve Güncel Sorunlar ......................................................................................................................... 649 Deniz Kaptan Sketches on the Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire in Western Turkey ....................................... 653 Şehrazat Karagöz Travma Tarihi (Travmalogos) .............................................................................................................................................................................. 661 Ute Kelp „Darüber wachen Verderben und Schrecken und Todeslos“ Erinyen als Grabwächter: Zum Eunuchengrab in Anazarbos (Kilikien) ................................................................................................................................... 675 Zeynep Koçel Erdem İmparator Hadrianus Dönemi Mimari Süslemeleri: Sütun Yivleri arasındaki Vazo Benzeri Motifler .............................................................................................................................. 699 Wolf Koenigs Die Erscheinung des Bauwerks. Aspekte klassischer und hellenistischer Oberflächen ............... 711 Taner Korkut Adak Sunaklar Işığında Likya’da Artemis Kültü ............................................................................................................................ 727 R. Eser Kortanoğlu Phrygia’da Makedonia Kalkan Bezemeleri ile Süslenmiş bir Kaya Mezarı ve Mezar Sahibinin Kökeni Üzerine ..................................................................................................................................................................... 735 Veli Köse Dionysos – Felicitas – Bereket Küçük Asya Taş Ustalarının Roma Mimarlık Süslemelerine Katkısına bir Örnek: Kıvrımlı Sarmaşık Dalı ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 747 Hasan Kuruyazıcı İstanbul’da Beyazıt Meydanı: Oluşumu – Gelişimi – Değişimi .................................................................................... 759 ....................................................................................................................................... 773 Ingrid Laube Eine frühkaiserzeitliche Büste in Tübingen Wolfram Martini Perge und seine Akropolis: Zur Funktion der Akropolis in der frühen und mittleren Kaiserzeit .................................................................. 779 Friederike Naumann-Steckner Eine glückbringende Pressblechfibel im Römisch-Germanischen Museum der Stadt Köln .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 799 E. Emine Naza-Dönmez İznik Yeşil Camii ve Türk Mimarisindeki Yeri ................................................................................................................................... 807 Mihriban Özbaşaran 9000 Yıllık Bezemeli Kireçtaşları ....................................................................................................................................................................... 833 Aşkım Özdizbay Pamphylia - Perge Tarihi ve Roma İmparatorluk Dönemi Öncesi Perge’nin Gelişimi: Güncel Araştırmalar Işığında Genel bir Değerlendirme .................................................................................................... 839 Eylem Özdoğan Trakya’da bir Tümülüs Mezarlığı: Dokuzhöyük ............................................................................................................................ 873 Mehmet Özdoğan Kırklareli Aşağı Pınar Kazısında Bulunan Arkaik Döneme ait bir Zar ............................................................... 883 Ramazan Özgan Adana Arkeoloji Müzesi’nde Bulunan Klasik Çağ Sonlarına ait bir Mezar Taşı .................................... 891 Hüseyin Murat Özgen Latmos Dağları’nda bir Sınır Yerleşimi: Güzeltepe ................................................................................................................... 899 Mehmet Özhanlı Alanya Müzesi’ndeki Kilikya Kaynaklı Tunç Çağı Pişmiş Toprak Figürinleri ........................................... 911 Mehmet Özsait – Nesrin Özsait – H. Işıl Özsait Kocabaş Senitli Stelleri ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 923 Hatice Pamir Antakya (Antiocheia ad Orontes)’daki Bazı Hamam Yapılarının Yeniden Değerlendirilmesi F Hamamı, Narlıca Hamamı ve Çekmece Hamamı .................................................................................................................. 945 David Parrish A Selection of Late Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaics from Constantinople-Istanbul: A Prelude to the Corpus of the Mosaics of Turkey .................................................................................................................... 963 Urs Peschlow Das Südtor von Perge ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 971 Felix Pirson Akzidentelle Unfertigkeit oder Bossen-Stil? Überlegungen zur siebten Basis der Ostfront des Apollontempels von Didyma ................................. 989 Jeroen Poblome – Markku Corremans – Philip Bes – Kerlijne Romanus – Patrick Degryse It is never too late… The Late Roman Initiation of Amphora Production in the Territory of Sagalassos ..................... 1001 Richard Posamentir Ohne Mass und Ziel? Bemerkungen zur Säulenstrasse von Anazarbos im Ebenen Kilikien ............................................................. 1013 Friedhelm Prayon Ein Felsdenkmal in Kappadokien ................................................................................................................................................................. 1035 Wolfgang Radt Ein ungewöhnliches Pfeilerkapitell in Pergamon .................................................................................................................... 1045 Wulf Raeck Ein attischer Skyphos mit Perserdarstellung ................................................................................................................................... 1051 Matthias Recke Zwei parische Sphingen aus Kleinasien: Eine archaische Doppelweihung an Artemis Pergaia .......................................................................................................... 1057 Frank Rumscheid Ein in situ entdecktes Kohlenbecken aus dem Haus des Lampon in Priene: Neues zur Verwendung, Chronologie, Typologie und technischen Entwicklung hellenistischer Kohlenbecken ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1077 Turgut Saner Karaman-Başdağ’da Hellenistik(?) Yapı Grubu II .................................................................................................................... 1091 Mustafa H. Sayar Karasis Kalesi’nin (Kozan, Adana) Tarihlenmesi ve İşlevi üzerine Düşünceler .................................. 1097 Hakan Sivas Eskişehir Karatuzla Nekropolü ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1105 M. Baha Tanman Anadolu Türk Mimarlığında Kullanılmış bir Silme Türünün Kökeni ve Gelişimi hakkında ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1123 Mete Tapan Yapı Boyutunda Koruma ve Uygarlık İlişkisi üzerine ........................................................................................................... 1135 Oğuz Tekin A Small Hoard of Drachms of Ariobarzanes I and II from Tire Museum .................................................. 1137 .......................................................................................................................................... 1143 Recai Tekoğlu On the Epichoric Inscription from Perge Veysel Tolun Assos Nekropolü’nden Tahtta Oturan Kadın Heykelcikleri ....................................................................................... 1147 Özgür Turak Perge Batı Nekropolisi’nden bir Mezar: Artemon’un Kenotaphionu ............................................................ 1157 Taciser Tüfekçi Sivas Karakaya Frig Kaya Mezarı ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1169 Füsun Tülek Kilikya Aşk Öyküleri: Mozaikte İmgelenmiş Antik Yazın ................................................................................................. 1177 Müjde Türkmen Perge Aşağı Şehir Surları ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 1187 Mükerrem Usman Anabolu Tokat Müzesi’ndeki Mermer Trophaion Tasviri ........................................................................................................................ 1201 Burhan Varkıvanç Antalya Kaleiçi’nde Taş Mimarideki Teknik Sürekliliğe ilişkin bir Gözlem ............................................ 1205 Remzi Yağcı A Grave at Soli Höyük from the Hittite Imperial Period ................................................................................................. 1217 Oya Yağız Tekirdağ Arkeoloji Müzesi’ndeki Ainos ve Maroneia Sikkeleri .............................................................................. 1227 Levent Zoroğlu Kelenderis ve Karaçallı Nekropolleri: Klasik Çağa ait İki Mezarlık hakkında Düşünceler .................................................................................................................. 1235 Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources: Some Remarks on Geopolitics and Environmental Determinism Gürkan Ergin* This paper is a brief survey of ancient authors with an aim to reveal their thoughts on geopolitics and particularly on environmental determinism, and show discrepancies where possible. Although they are modern terms, ancient authors and philosophers frequently draw attention to the impact of geography on people, human characteristics, regimes etc. They also stress the importance of geographical knowledge in founding cities, political and military actions, or writing history. Their views were considerably influential on Classical studies and seen as the underlying cause of the “Greek miracle”. Today, as the world becomes an “island” full of conflicts and intersecting interests, “geopolitics” as a discipline is mentioned frequently in political affairs and discussions. The two terms that constitute the word “geopolitics” are very wide in terms of the issues they cover. A useful definition was given by Oyving Osterud1: “Geopolitics traditionally indicates the links and causal relationships between political power and geographic space; in concrete terms it is often seen as a body of thought assaying specific strategic prescriptions based on the relative importance of land power and sea power in world history... The geopolitical tradition had some consistent concerns, like the geopolitical correlates of power in world politics, the identification of international core areas, and the relationships between naval and terrestrial capabilities.” Although the concept of geopolitics first appeared in the early 20th century in the works of German geographer Friedrich Ratzel, the term proper was first used by the Swedish politician Rudolf Kjellen. According to him, the state was a living organism and it would defend its territory and thereafter seek opportunities for expansion2. Thus, he saw geopolitics as the political process of states’ territorial expansion. Accompanying the notion of geopolitics are ethno-politics, economy-politics, social-politics and regimental-politics, which usually failed to attract the scholars’ attention contrary to geopolitics. The study of geopolitics was mostly developed by the AngloSaxon academicians, but abused by the Germans, who used the term for racist and expansionist purposes in the first half of the 20th century. It was also severely criticized because it was thought * A.Gör. Gürkan Ergin, M.A., Ordu Cad. Beyazıt 34134 İstanbul - Türkiye. I would like to thank Prof. M. Taner Tarhan for sharing his views and Prof. İnci Delemen for her suggestions and corrections in the text. 1 Osterud 1998: 191. 2 Ferrari 2003: 2 et seq. 450 Gürkan Ergin to lack a clear scientific purpose and a framework of study and remained forgotten for nearly three decades. Nevertheless, the concept was revived in the early 1970s as “critical geopolitics”, which emphasizes and tries to reveal the hidden geographical intentions in foreign policies of the states. The ancient historians, philosophers and politicians frequently mentioned the relationship between the policy of a state and the geographical conditions. There is a sharp distinction, however, between the views of philosophers like Plato and Aristotle and of the historians, especially Thucydides and Polybius. Plato and Aristotle are concerned with creating an ideal city and, as we will see below, they ignore (though Aristotle gives several actual examples) the realities of the political and social dynamics by placing their city inland without any neighbouring cities. Isolated, the city would not be contaminated by the negative and degrading effects of the sea and would be safe. Thucydides, on the other hand, is concerned with the facts and outcomes of the events. It is worth noting that in the Laws or the Republic, Plato seldom refers to the political and social issues of his day, and although he emphasizes the role of geography in the creation of the ideal city, he does not come to a conclusion, as he fails to support his ideas with actual examples. Environmental (or geographic/climatic) determinism is, like geopolitics, a modern term, which holds that the physical environment determines the culture, human characteristics, political structure and language. Its principal advocates are Carl Ritter, Ellen Churchill Semple, Thomas Griffith Taylor, and Jared Diamond. The concept became prominent in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was established as the central theory by the discipline of geography. The main argument behind environmental determinism is the view that the aspects of physical geography have a crucial effect on the individuals’ minds, behaviours and actions. For instance, tropical climates cause laziness and relaxed attitudes, while temperate zones generate ethically correct and hardworking people, who have the ability to master the abstract and natural sciences. This view first appears in the works of Hippocrates, which will be mentioned below, and then echoes in Montesquieu, who asserted that the human variety and ethnic diversity was the result of climate3 and that the climate can explain the difference of cultures and institutions. This approach of geographical determinism inevitably served the interests of the adherents of racism and imperialism, but today it is mostly ignored despite some attempts of revival especially by the American geographical researcher Ellsworth Huntington (1876-1947), who assumed that the climatic conditions determine the race and the level of cultural development4. Climatic determinism theories were invariably Eurocentric, in which the European civilizations were presented, directly or indirectly, as the driving force behind the global development, due to their location in the temperate zone. But, we should also remember that that these views were not confined to the scholarly circles of Europe, but were also discussed by Islamic scholars. One and the most remarkable of them is Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), the great Islamic historiographer and philosopher, who in his Muqaddimah dealt with these subjects. The influence of the Classical authors is evident in the chapters that were reserved for geographical information on earth and the effect of climate on the people. In the second prefatory discussion of Chapter I, Ibn Khaldun defines seven climatic zones on the earth, a division borrowed mostly from the Geography of Ptolemy. We know of similar divisions by Eratosthenes, Polybius, Poseidonius and Parmenides from Strabo’s second book of Geography. After a description of these zones Ibn Khaldun concludes that “Civilization is impossible in the area between the sixty fourth and the ninetieth degrees, for no admixture of heat and cold occurs there because of the great time interval between them. Generation (of anything), therefore, does not take place.” 3 Stehr – von Storch 2003: 38. 4 Stehr – von Storch 2003: 40. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 451 Like the Greek authors before him, Ibn Khaldun believes that the zones play a crucial role in shaping the human character, to which he devoted the third and fourth prefatory discussions of Chapter I: Now, Negroes live in the hot zone (of the earth). Heat dominates their temperament and formation… In comparison with the spirits of the inhabitants of the fourth zone, theirs are hotter and, consequently, more expanded. As a result, they are more quickly moved to joy and gladness, and they are merrier. Excitability is the direct consequence. In the same way, the inhabitants of coastal regions are somewhat similar to the inhabitants of the south. The air in which they live is very much hotter because of the reflection of the light and the rays of (the sun from) the surface of the sea. Therefore, their share in the qualities resulting from heat, that is, joy and levity, is larger than that of the (inhabitants of) cold and hilly or mountainous countries…Another example is furnished by the Egyptians. They are dominated by joyfulness, levity, and disregard for the future… The sciences, the crafts, the buildings, the clothing, the foodstuffs, the fruits, even the animals, and everything that comes into being in the three middle zones are distinguished by their temperate character. The human inhabitants of these zones are more temperate in their bodies, colour, character qualities, and general conditions… They avoid intemperance quite generally in all their conditions. Such are the inhabitants of the Maghrib, of Syria, the two ‘Iraqs, Western India (as-Sind), and China, as well as of Spain; also the European Christians nearby, the Galicians, and all those who live together with these peoples or near them in the three temperate zones… The inhabitants of the middle zones are temperate in their physique and character and in their ways of life. They have all the natural conditions necessary for a civilized life, such as ways of making a living, dwellings, crafts, sciences, political leadership, and royal authority. They thus have had (various manifestations of) prophecy, religious groups, dynasties, religious laws, sciences, countries, cities, buildings, horticulture, splendid crafts, and everything else that is temperate.” It is interesting to see that the notion of environmental determinism of the Greeks was adopted by an Islamic scholar, but Ibn Khaldun’s explanation for these variations of human character is religious in the final analysis: “God guides whomever He wants to guide.” From the middle of the fifth century B.C. onwards, we encounter accounts of an almost universally accepted environmental determinism. It was first discussed extensively and explicitly in the medical treatise Airs, Waters, Places attributed to Hippocrates, dating to the second half of the fifth century B.C.5 The ancient view of geographic determinism was not very different from its modern interpretations: The people were the product of their physical environment; their bodily and mental abilities as well as their acts and behaviours were shaped by climate and geography, not by their individual choices and characteristics. The Roman authors took these ideas, presenting themselves as the ideal rulers, but replaced the comparison and superiority of Europe and Asia, which was favoured by the Greeks, with the North and East6. To these may be added several other concepts, which are closely related and serve each other on the basis of the theories they embody. All of these concepts borrow ideas from geopolitics and environmental determinism in one way or another. To use Isaac’s terminology they can be summarized as follows7: The Heredity of Acquired Characters: In antiquity, it was generally accepted that the individuals inherit the characters and appearance of their parents. In Chapter 14 of Airs, Waters, Places Hippocrates mentions a people who artificially elongate the skull of their children. He thinks that this deformation becomes hereditary after a number of generations. Strabo thought that the 5 Hippoc. Aer. 12-14. 6 Isaac 2003: 3. 7 Isaac 2003: 5 et seq. 452 Gürkan Ergin cause of the skin colour and other physical features of the Ethiopians and other peoples were the result of seminal communication which caused the children look like their parents8. But genetics teaches us that the acquired characteristics are not conveyed to the next generations. According to Hippocrates, the climate can show its effects even during impregnation or pregnancy, since “it is natural to realise that generation too varies in the coagulation of the seed, and is not same for the same seed in summer as in winter nor in rain as drought. It is for this reason I think that the physique of Europeans varies more then that of Asiatics… For there arise more corruptions in the coagulation of the seed when changes of the seasons are frequent than when they are similar or alike.”9 The role of the climate on the embryo is also stressed by Galen10: “the seed having been cast into the womb…a great number of parts become constituted in the substance, which is being generated; these differ as regards moisture, dryness, coldness and warmth.” Combination of Environmental Determinism and Heredity of Acquired Characters: These two concepts were generally associated with one another in the ancient sources. Isaac picks a definitive passage of Livy, in which Cn. Manlius addresses his troops in the eve of the battle against the Celts in 189 B.C.11.:“These (the Celts) are now degenerate, of mixed stock and really Gallogrecians, as they are called; just as in the case of crops and animals, the seed are not as good in preserving their natural quality as the character of the soil and the climate in which they grow have the power to change it.” Livy sees Celts in Asia Minor as degenerated because they left their homeland and mixed with a foreign population. But, for instance, Tacitus regards Germans indigenous, as they live in their own homeland and are not mixed through intermarriage as the Celts did12. The word “Gallogrecian” is worth noting in this respect; since it appears that the mixing of two indigenous people does not create a perfect race in the eyes of the Romans, since both the Celts and the Anatolian Greeks are not in their homelands. Thus, Livy possibly has the Asiatic Greeks in mind, who were also the victims of their environment. Greeks in Anatolia are described by Hippocrates as “milder and gentle”, living in a region where the climatic conditions prevent them from being courageous and enduring, and where industry and high spirit cannot arise13. He even treats the locals and the immigrant Greeks alike, so that even a great race like the Greeks can become impure by geographical and climatic conditions. Autochthony and Pure Lineage: The best known example of this theory is the Athenians’ claim of their unmixed lineage. According to the myth, Erichthonius, the first king of Athens, was born from the Earth, impregnated by Hephaistus’ semen, which jerked onto the soil in his pursuit of Athena. Thus, the Athenians held that they were the only legitimate rulers of their land. As they descended from the earth itself, they regarded themselves uncontaminated by foreigners, which made them superior to other nations of the world. This claim was not novel; the Thebans and Arcadians had their own autochthony myths, but the scale of the Athenian propaganda was so great that it was widely recognized by the Greek world. Athens used this weapon wisely against Spartans, who were of Dorian origin14. Athenians also made use of the idea that theirs was the “mother-city” of the Ionian cities in Asia Minor, as it was Athens that had colonized Ionia. However, even this kinship was not strong enough to keep Asian Greeks from degenerating. “Io8 Strab. 15.1.24. 9 Hippoc. Aer. 13. 10 Gal. Nat. Fac. 1.3; 1.6 11 Liv. 38.17.9-10. 12 Tac. Germ. 1.4. 13 Hippoc. Aer. 12. 14 Hornblower 20023: 128. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 453 nianism”, like autochthony, served as a propaganda tool against Sparta. But Athenian boast of its Ionian origins was just a political manoeuvre, it seems, since Herodotus reports that the Ionians were the weakest and least regarded, and earlier, Athenians did not want to be called Ionians15. As one can easily see, geopolitics and geographical determinism are closely connected and can be used effectively in favour of one another. The Greeks and Romans had no words that correspond either to these terms or to other related words such as “racism”, “apartheid” or “eugenics”. Likewise, geopolitics and environmental determinism are essentially modern disciplines and cannot be fully integrated to ancient history. Nevertheless, the ancient philosophers and writers were well aware of the close relationship between geography, politics, and historical writing. This awareness is meticulously described in Polybius, who holds that an author that attempts to write political history cannot be successful by just sitting at a desk and moving his pen; he must get acquainted with the places where the historical events occurred16: “In the same way the science of genuine history is threefold: first, the dealing with written documents and the arrangement of the material thus obtained; second, topography, the appearance of cities and localities, the description of rivers and harbours, and, speaking generally, the peculiar features of seas and countries and their relative distances; thirdly, political affairs. Here the historian stresses the importance of knowing the geographical aspects of historical events and then, in the same passage, especially personal knowledge of the cities or places: “Again, in the topography of cities and localities, when such men attempt to go into detail, being entirely without personal knowledge, they must in a similar manner necessarily pass over many points of importance; while they waste words on many that are not worth the trouble.” This was, according to Polybius, one of the weakest points of Timaeus, who, “spent fifty continuous years at Athens as an alien, and never took part in any military service, or went to inspect the localities.” Of course, Polybius was advantageous in this respect, since he had accompanied Scipio Africanus in his African campaign against Carthage and witnessed the destruction of the city in 146 B.C. A similar but much wider and learned treatment of the role of geography in historical writing is given by Strabo in his first book17: “ …It is clear that geography is essential to all the transactions of the statesman, informing us, as it does, of the position of the continents, seas, and oceans of the whole habitable earth. Information of especial interest to those who are concerned to know the exact truth of such particulars, and whether the places have been explored or not: for government will certainly be better administered where the size and position of the country, its own peculiarities, and those of the surrounding districts, are understood.” He also thinks that politics and geography complement each other18: “If, therefore, political philosophy is advantageous to the ruler, and geography in the actual government of the country, this latter seems to possess some little superiority. This superiority is most observable in real service.” That the geographical characteristics dictate the policy, regime and foreign relations was stressed by Plato19: “It would be absurd to suppose that the element of high spirit was not derived in states from the private citizens who are reputed to have this quality as the populations of the Thracian and Scythian lands and generally of northern regions; or the quality of love of knowledge, which would chiefly be attributed to the region where we dwell, 15 Hdt. 1.143. 16 Polyb.12. 25. His views in Book 12 aim especially at Timaeus, whose historical writings were heavily criticized by Polybius. Timaeus was the first Greek historian who wrote a comprehensive history of Rome and the most important historian in the period between Ephorus and Polybius. 17 Strab. 1.1.10. 18 Strab. 1.1.18. 19 Pl. Rep. 435d-e. 454 Gürkan Ergin or the love of money which we might say is not least likely to be found in Phoenicians and the population of Egypt.” Two Scythians, Skyles and Anacharsis, mentioned by Herodotus are interesting examples regarding Plato’s statements. Both of them lived in Greek cities and got familiar with the Greek political life and customs. Skyles was walking in the agora dressed like a Greek20 and was killed by his own citizens after he had crossed over to “the land of the Scythians”. The Greek cities and the Scythians indeed share the same geography, but for the Greek city, the real boundaries are not the geographical ones; they are the city walls as the symbol of Greekness both politically and culturally21. But what is interesting in Plato’s above-mentioned passage is the association of “the love of knowledge” with the geography, i.e. the geography of Greece. This relationship echoes in the romantic views about the “Greek miracle” in the 18th century. According to Kristophe August Heumann, one of the founders of the University of Göttingen, philosophy arose in Greece, because it could not develop in the climates too hot or cold; the most suitable candidates were Greece, Italy, France, England and Germany where the climate was temperate22. Convenient climatic conditions could help philosophy flourish, but fertile soil could invite invaders: “…and the territory, I presume, that was then sufficient to feed the then population, from being adequate will become too small… Then we shall have to cut out a cantle of our neighbour’s land if we are to have enough for pasture and ploughing.”23 Plato’s views are repeated in Thucydides, who thinks that “the richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters… the goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion”24. If you have a fertile and adequate land, the next thing to do would be founding a city. The essentials of this process were of interest to philosophers and authors alike. First step is to choose the most suitable area, which is essential, according to Vitruvius25, for an organized city and healthy citizens. The city must be built on an elevated land, free from fog, frost and marshes, and must possess a temperate climate. We learn from Vitruvius that the Romans also performed some interesting rituals in order to determine the quality of the soil26. Vitruvius’ suggestions in his first book of De Architectura are essentially technical, but philosophers like Plato thought hard to create an ideal state complete with its constitutions, social tiers, buildings etc. An ideal state must be founded on an ideal land, and Plato reveals his ideas on the subject in the Laws27. He imagines a city circular in form placed on a high hill for defensive and hygienic reasons. Then, he diverts from the traditional Greek city plan and suggests two arrangements: The ideal city will not have walls, because citizens hiding behind city walls become cowards. Secondly, it will be an inland settlement, some 12-14 km away from the sea. A coastal settlement bears many problems: One of them is the degenerating effects of the sea trade, since the ships with their cargo and passengers will bring foreign customs, religious ideas etc. to the 20 Hdt. 4.78. 21 Hartog 1997: 80. 22 Bernal 19912: 216. 23 Pl. Rep. 2.373d. 24 Thuc. 1.2. 25 Vitr. 1.4.1. 26 Vitr. 1.4.12. 27 Pl. Leg 779b et. seq. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 455 ideal city. The other disadvantage is the inevitable presence of a sea fleet, which will increase the power of the people and cause a shift to democracy as well as the multiplication of coward people who will board ships and flee instead of fighting on land. Thus, the city should be founded not on a fertile, but self-sufficient land which will prevent citizens from getting rich and the economy must be based on farming. Plato also aims to isolate his city, without any neighbouring settlements nearby. Plato’s principles can indeed be described as involving geopolitical concerns. The geopolitical position of the ideal city functions in several ways: securing the continuity of the state (no neighbouring cities that may cause hostility); shaping the characters of the citizens (sea makes people coward); managing economy (self-sufficient land and farming economy) and protecting the regime (sea fleet can give way to the rise of democracy). Despite Plato’s negative thoughts about the cities by the sea, the Mediterranean was at the centre of ancient life. Goods, people, and ideas were carried by ships, and Strabo testifies to this by writing “we must add knowledge of all that pertain to the sea; for in a sense we are amphibious, and belong no more to the land than to the sea.”28 Yet, the backbone of the ancient economy was agriculture. Thus, Columella, who wrote the most systematic Roman agricultural manual in A.D. 60-65, cannot understand what drives a man to sailing in the sea; man’s chief attention must be the land29: “…or, to those who detest war, can the hazard of the sea and of trade be more desirable, that man, a terrestrial being, violating the law of nature and exposing himself to the wrath of wind and sea, should hang on the waves and always wander over an unknown world in the manner of birds, a stranger on a distant shore?” Similarly, Cicero praises Romulus’ choice of land for Rome for its remoteness from the shore and then lists the problems that a city may encounter if built near the sea30: “…he made an incredibly wise choice. For he did not build it by the sea… with remarkable foresight our founder perceived that a site on the sea coast is not the most desirable of the cities founded in the hope of long life and extended dominion, primarily because maritime cities are exposed to dangers which are both manifold and impossible to foresee. For the mainland gives warning of the coming of the foeman whether this be unexpected or expected, by means of many signs…but a seafaring, ship borne enemy can arrive before anyone is able to suspect that he is coming, and when he arrives he does not disclose who is or whence he comes or even what his intentions are.” Like Plato, he is hostile to sea and sees almost no advantage in sea-borne activities31: “Maritime cities also suffer a certain corruption and degeneration of morals; for they receive a mixture of strange languages and customs, and import foreign goods, so that none of their ancestral institutions can possibly remain unchanged. Even their inhabitants do not stick to their dwelling places, but are constantly being tempted far from home by soaring hopes and dreams; and even when their bodies stay at home, their thoughts nevertheless fare abroad and go wandering.” Aristotle’s geographical concerns about the ideal city are close to Plato’s. The area covered by the city should be large enough to support a way of life that is suited best to a free citizen without spending time for labour32. The settlement, wholly visible at a glance, should be founded on a fertile land in order to maintain economical independence. But contrary to Plato, Aristotle does not go so far as to suggest an inland settlement. Sea provides good protection and is the best means to import raw materials. In addition, a sea fleet would do no harm to the regime; this issue can easily be solved by depriving the ship crews and rowers of citizenship. 28 Strab. 1.1.16. 29 Colum. 1.1.8 30 Cic. Resp. 2.3. 31 Cic. Resp. 2.4-6. 32 Arist. Pol. 7.5. 456 Gürkan Ergin Aristotle’s view of how the geography affects the political regime is remarkable: “acropolis is best suited to oligarchy and monarchy, while plain land to democracy.”33 When discussing the relationship between emergence of oligarchy and the knights, he describes the countries that are prone to oligarchy are “the ones that are suitable for horse breeding. They help the oligarchies survive, because it is the knights who protect the citizens and horse breeding can only be done by the major land holders.”34 Another point on which Aristotle agrees with Plato is the fact that climatic conditions and geographical positions play a dominant role on the characteristics of the people. Thus, according to him, “people living in colder places and Europe are filled with courage and ambition, but their skills and mental abilities are limited. This is why, although capable of maintaining their independency, they cannot form a political unity or govern the others. The Asians, on the other hand, have both brains and skills, but they lack courage and will; thus they are doomed to slavery. The Hellenes, being geographically in the middle, had their share from both of them. Thus, they own the best political institutions and are able to maintain their independence.” Aelius Aristides, the Greek orator writing in the second century A.D., emphasizes the geographical advantages of Athens and Attica in general, which should be cited at some length because of its remarkable content35: “…just as its own territory is adjacent to a city, so the whole Greece is adjacent to Attica. For this reason it alone has assured the appearance of an unblemished Greek people and is to the greatest degree racially distinct from the barbarians. For the extent that it is separated by the nature of its geography, it is also removed from the barbarians in the customs of its men. For it neither shares any common river not does it have a boundary line, which can both separate and join a land. But as if to the bearing of a shield, all things Greek from every extreme are directed to this centrally located land and on all sides Greeks encircle its territory, some form the sea, some from the mainland, as is meet for common hearth of the race… For these causes, it has always provided its people with pure and uncorrupted customs, and it also introduced, as a model for Greek speech, a dialect which is clear, pure and pleasant.” Here, we once more come across the view that the geography dictates the characteristics of the people. What makes the Greeks superior to other nations is their location. The geographical determinism of races based on these Platonic and Aristotelian ideas became influential in the 18th-century France36. Montesquieu built an image of Europe as the scientifically leading continent, because of its temperate climate. Even Rousseau, in his Social Contract, believed the role of geography was the dominant factor in the formation of people’s behaviours and their political regimes. Aristides follows Plato and Aristotle in the above-mentioned passage, but adds a new aspect: the impact of geography on language. The Greek language owes its purity and power to the absence of neighbouring barbarian countries, thus isolating it and preventing it from being contaminated by foreign influences. The renowned historian Ernst Curtius, who was a professor at Göttingen from 1856 to 1868, was not different from Aristides in this respect37: “One class of sounds is wont to predominate on the hills, another in the valleys, and again another on the plains.” The language of Greeks must have been formed in the mountainous lands of the north before its introduction to Greece proper, since, in his opinion, it could reach purity only in these “isolated” regions. The Greek language must have completed its formation before it descended Greece, 33 Arist. Pol. 7 .11. 34 Arist. Pol. 6.6. 35 Aristid. Panath. 14-16. 36 Bernal 19912: 204. 37 Bernal 19912: 335. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 457 because it was impossible that such a pure language could develop in the Mediterranean, where there is a danger of mixing with the Semitic and Egyptian38. The racist implications aside, Curtius’s views obviously imply the dangers of the sea as Aristides’ did some 1600 years ago. Writing before Curtius, Hegel (1770-1831) had had a wholly different view about the Greek way. According to him, Greeks did not owe their “beautiful and truly free life” to racial purity or climate; they developed themselves from “a confluence of the most various nations and the beginnings of their cultural development are connected with the advent of foreigners in Greece.”39 Cicero, on the other hand, is not impressed with the linguistic purity and geographical advantages of Greece as Aristides did; indeed, according to him40: “…no other influence did move to bring about the final overthrow of Cartage and Corinth, though they had long been tottering than this scattering and dispersion of the their citizens, due to the fact that lust for trafficking and sailing the seas had caused them to abandon agriculture and pursuit of arms. Many things too that cause ruin to states as being incitements to luxury are supplied by the sea, entering either by capture or imports… and what I said of Corinth may perhaps said with truth of the whole of the Greece, for even the Peloponnese is almost in its entire extent close to the sea… Indeed it seems as if the lands of the barbarians had been bordered round with a Greek sea coast, for none of the barbarians themselves were sea faring peoples except the Etruscans and the Phoenicians… Clearly, the course of the evils and revolutions to which the Greece has been subject is to be traced in these disadvantages which I have just mentioned briefly as peculiar to maritime cities”. He then goes on to list the advantages of Rome; it was built not by the sea coast but near Tiber, so that the city uses the advantages of the sea by means of river transport while remaining as an inland settlement. This is a surprisingly naïve statement from Cicero, for it is obvious that being only 25 km away from the sea, Rome was not really far from it and ironically enough, in Cicero’s time it was already under the heavy influence of his subject, Greece. From the third century on, as Greece and the Greek East came under Roman rule Rome was gradually “conquered by her conquests”. Cicero is in the league of “sea-haters” like Plato and Aristotle, but significantly, he is straight in criticizing Plato for his “unreal” city41: “… for that eminent Greek (i.e. Plato) whose works have never been surpassed, began with the assumption of an unoccupied land, so that he might build a state upon it to suit himself. His state may perhaps be an excellent one, but it is quite unsuited to men’s actual lives and habits.” These words perfectly reflect the Roman habit of acting on the basis of well-tried realities of life on which the Roman constitutions, laws, and politics were based. Thucydides, with his rigorous and methodological style, prefers a more down-to-earth approach and takes a very different path from the previous philosophers, which is strikingly “modern” in understanding the realities of the world he is living in42: “(speaking of migrating peoples in Greece)…without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land… thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness.” This is a passage we can expect from a “scientific” historian as modern scholars call it, for Thucydides neither injects mythological accounts nor exaggerates his narrative, but simply describes the events that occurred long before his time and he does this by arguing against each of Plato’s 38 Bernal 19912: 335. 39 McCarney 2003: 2. But see Bernasconi 2003: 6 for contrary view. 40 Cic. Resp. 2.4-6. 41 Cic. Resp. 2.11. 42 Thuc. 1.2. 458 Gürkan Ergin statements. Contrary to the philosopher, he sees the lack of commerce, insufficient maritime communication and under-cultivation of the land as the primary causes of continuous migration. The key of this passage is “shifting of habitation”, i.e. man’s shaping and use of geography for his needs. It emphasizes the active role that must be taken by people in order to establish large cities. Plato and Aristotle, on the other hand, require more passive citizens in this respect. In fact, they do not trust the citizens and rely on the geographical features of the land, which will effortlessly shape the citizens for the benefit of the greater good, i.e. the well-being of the state, instead of the other way around. There is another effect of geography that requires a more detailed discussion, that is, its impact on the political regimes and constitutions. We have already noted how Plato and Aristotle associate geography with the formation of regimes. Several ancient sources share the same views with the philosophers. An example is Pliny the Elder43: “In the middle of the earth there is a salutary mixture of the two (i.e. hot and cold regions)… the manners of the people are gentle, the intellect clear, and genius, fertile and capable of comprehending every part of nature. They have formed empires, which has never been done by the remote nations; yet these latter have never been subjected by the former, being severed from them and remaining solitary, from the effect produced on them by their savage nature.” Strabo thought it was natural that the Europeans, Greeks, Macedonians, and Romans in particular, possess the governing abilities and are skilful in both maintaining peace and conducting wars due to their location in the temperate zone, while the other people are destined to be governed for they live in a rocky and isolated geography without any harbours44: “Take the case of the Greeks: though occupying mountains and rocks, they used to live happily, because they took forethought for good government, for the arts, and in general for the science of living. The Romans, too, took over many nations that were naturally savage owing to the regions they inhabited, because those regions were either rocky or without harbours or cold or for some other reason ill-suited to habitation by many, and thus not only brought into communication with each other peoples who had been isolated, but also taught the more savage how to live under forms of government. But all of Europe that is level and has a temperate climate has nature to cooperate with her toward these results; for while in a country that is blessed by nature everything tends to peace, in a disagreeable country everything tends to make men warlike and courageous; and so both kinds of country receive benefits from each other, for the latter helps with arms, the former with products of the soil, with arts, and with character-building. But the harm that they receive from each other, if they are not mutually helpful, is also apparent; and the might of those who are accustomed to carry arms will have some advantage unless it be controlled by the majority. However, this continent has a natural advantage to meet this condition also; for the whole of it is diversified with plains and mountains, so that throughout its entire extent the agricultural and civilised element dwells side by side with the warlike element; but of the two elements the one that is peace-loving is more numerous and therefore keeps control over the whole body; and the leading nations, too — formerly the Greeks and later the Macedonians and the Romans — have taken hold and helped. And for this reason Europe is most independent of other countries as regards both peace and war; for the warlike population which she possesses is abundant and also that which tills her soils and holds her cities secure.” In Isocrates Greeks are presented as the bringers of democracy, arts, education, and institutions. Moreover, it is implied that the Phoenicians do not possess necessary qualities to found a city, when speaking of the achievements of the Cypriote king Evagoras (ca. 435-374/3 B.C.)45: “After he had taken over the government of the city, which had been reduced to a state of barbarism and, 43 Plin. 2.80. 44 Strab. 2.5.26. 45 Isoc. Evagoras 9.47-49. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 459 because it was ruled by Phoenicians, was neither hospitable to the Greeks nor acquainted with the arts, nor possessed of a trading-port or harbour, Evagoras remedied all these defects and, besides, acquired much additional territory, surrounded it all with new walls and built triremes, and with other construction so increased the city that it was inferior to none of the cities of Greece… Before Evagoras gained the throne the inhabitants were so hostile to strangers and fierce that they considered the best rulers to be those who treated the Greeks in the most cruel fashion. At present, however, they have undergone so great a change that they strive with one another to see who shall be regarded as most friendly to the Greeks, and the majority of them take their wives from us and from them beget children, and they have greater pleasure in owning Greek possessions and observing Greek institutions than in their own, and more of those who occupy themselves with the liberal arts and with education in general now dwell in these regions than in the communities in which they formerly used to live.” It is only with the rule of Evagoras, a supporter of Hellenism on the island, that the Cypriote people were saved from barbarism, and taste the pleasures of life by adopting the Greek way of life. This is yet another text that accepts the Greeks as the natural masters of governing, founding cities, and performing arts. Hippocrates is more interesting when contrasting the Greeks with their kinsmen in Asia Minor46: “With regard to the lack of spirit and of courage among the inhabitants, the chief reason why Asiatics are less warlike and more gentle in character than Europeans is the uniformity of the seasons, which show no violent changes either towards heat or towards cold, but are equable. …For these reasons, I think, Asiatics are feeble. Their institutions are a contributory cause, the greater part of Asia being governed by the kings. Now, where men are not their own masters and independent, but are ruled by despots, they are not keen on military efficiency but not appearing war-like.” Asiatics, i.e. the Greeks in Asia are subject to slavery and despotic rule because of their geographical setting. A similar, but this time an anti-Greek view, is put into Cyrus’ mouth by Herodotus, when his men insist on settling new lands, leaving their rugged country47: “Go ahead and do this. But if you do so, be prepared no longer to be rulers but rather subjects. Soft lands breed soft men; wondrous fruits of the earth and valiant warriors grow not from the same soil.” It is not clear from the passage, however, whether Cyrus refers to western Asia Minor in particular or Greece proper, but it should be the latter that the king is referring to, because earlier in the text the Persian Empire is told to be ruling over whole Asia, which probably includes Ionia. This is an example of how ambiguous the notion of geographical determinism is, and Herodotus even writes that homosexuality was introduced to Persians by the Greeks48, a claim that obviously contradicts the above-mentioned ideas of the Greek superiority49. And in the last chapter of his Cyropaedia, Xenophon comments on the deterioration of the Persians, and thinks that the Persians are getting more effeminate due to the customs they adopted from the Medes50; he makes no mention of geography or climate. Eratosthenes seems to have adopted a different criterion for the distinction of the people, to judge by a quotation by Strabo. His treatment of barbarians is arguably more objective –as far as we can deduce from Strabo’s account- than the other writers we have dealt with. The passage in 46 Hippoc. Aer. 16. 47 Hdt. 9.122. 48 Hdt. 1.135. 49 One may object to this view, arguing that the hostility toward homosexuality is a modern attitude, and it was natural and legitimate in ancient Greece, not a weakness. But judicial cases and some sources imply that it was not wholly approved: there existed a fear that the “junior partner may not make transition to adult masculinity, becoming a lifelong pleasure-mad effeminate despicable person”. See Skinner 2005: 118 et seq. 50 Xen. Cyr. 8.8. 460 Gürkan Ergin question does not make a distinction of Greeks and the “others” by geography or climate, but by their qualities51: “Now, towards the end of his treatise — after withholding praise from those who divide the whole multitude of mankind into two groups, namely, Greeks and Barbarians, and also from those who advised Alexander to treat the Greeks as friends but the Barbarians as enemies — Eratosthenes goes on to say that it would be better to make such divisions according to good qualities and bad qualities; for not only are many of the Greeks bad, but many of the Barbarians are refined — Indians and Arians, for example, and, further, Romans and Carthaginians, who carry on their governments so admirably.” The passage does contain a Greek versus barbarian distinction in its essence, but it is defined by Eratosthenes not on geographical and climatic grounds but by merits and morality. Thus, even the barbarians can have admirable political systems, and the Greeks can be as “bad” as the barbarians. A similar treatment that ignores geographical explanations was suggested by the Cynics, especially by Diogenes, who put forward a distinction between the ignorant and the intellectual. He defined himself as a citizen of the world52, a statement which totally rejects geographical boundaries. These ideas inevitably force us to see the other side of the medallion, ancient slavery. It is a very wide subject which cannot be fully discussed here, but I find it necessary to mention some aspects of ancient slavery, since it has roots in environmental determinism. While Plato simply accepts slavery as a natural constitution without any discussion, Aristotle tries hard to justify its existence53. He believes that slavery is a natural phenomenon, and that Asians are prone to be slaves because of their geographical background. Thus, geography and climate are the factors that determine who is a slave or who is not. According to Aristotle, since slaves are not capable of controlling themselves, let alone governing others, it is to their advantage that they enter the rule of the others. It is obvious that nature defined the bodies of slaves and free men from the start; one is made strong for menial service, while the other is gifted for operating both in war and peace54. The captives in war, on the other hand, are a different matter, because at this point the matter shifts to the question: “Which war is legitimate?” Legitimate wars are fought to subjugate rebellious people, who are indeed slaves by nature. Illegitimate ones, on the other hand, are against people to whom freedom is granted by the nature55. Aristotle’s main purpose in showing slavery as a natural fact is to make use of the slaves for the benefit of the citizens, so that the citizens will not be occupied with soul-degrading tasks, instead they will devote themselves to politics and philosophy. Thus, environmental determinism is an instrument in Aristotle’s hands to justify his view on slavery. One last question remains to be considered regarding environmental determinism: its effect on the religion of the people. It seems that this is an issue not particularly handled by the ancient authors, but Ibn Khaldun does comment briefly on the subject in the third prefatory discussion of Chapter I: “…The reason for this is that their (i.e. of the Slavs) remoteness from being temperate produces in them a disposition and character similar to those of the dumb animals, and they become correspondingly remote from humanity. The same also applies to their religious conditions. They are ignorant of prophecy and do not have a religious law, except for the small minority that lives near the temperate regions… In the north, there are those Slav, European Christian, and Turkish nations that have adopted Christianity. All the other inhabitants of the intemperate zones in the south and in the north are ignorant of all religion. Religious 51 Strab. 1.4.9. 52 Diog. Laert. 6.63. 53 Şenel 1970: 435. 54 Arist Pol. 1.5. 55 Arist. Pol. 1. 6. Geography-Human Relationships in Ancient Sources 461 scholarship is lacking among them. All their conditions are remote from those of human beings and close to those of wild animals.” It is easy to see that the argument emerges from the fact that all the prophets and major religions were born in the Near East, which is categorized by Ibn Khaldun as a temperate zone, populated by Arabs, Israelites and Persians. The Greeks are also in this zone despite their polytheistic religion. Herodotus’ identification of the major Egyptian deities with the Greek ones seems to imply that geographical characteristics are not of great importance. The effect of geography on peoples’ beliefs is obvious, however, in Tertullian’s treatise against the Christian sect Marcionism. Established by Marcion in Pontus, it supports the view of dualism, which sees the god of the Jews as an inferior creator to the god of the Christians, the source of evil (a demiurge) in the material world. According to Tertullian, it is not surprising that this heresy was born in Pontus, since the same rude nature of its inhabitants is seen in its climate and geography.56 Was it their geographical setting and climatic conditions that made Greeks, or for that matter Romans, so distinct in world history? Ancient authors and modern defenders of environmental determinism generalize their theories, which are short of quantitative analysis. Greeks and Romans considered Eastern Greeks, Persians or Phoenicians as inferior to themselves, but they also saw each other as degenerate people. We have seen that Cicero, for instance, regards Greeks as degenerate. The Romans, on the other hand, had previously been ridiculed by Mithridates, since “their founders, according to their report, were suckled by the teats of a wolf, so the whole race had the disposition of wolves, being insatiable of blood and tyranny, and eager and hungry after riches.”57 It must be stated that the term “barbarian” was not a racial distinction as we understand it today, but rather a way of mentioning the cultural and military differences between the Greeks and the others. The cultural exclusivity of the Greeks began to dissolve in the Hellenistic period, as it spread over a wide area among the non-Greek communities. And it is worth noting that the Hellenistic literature does not as prominently stress the Greek superiority over the barbarians as the Classical did, perhaps because they were no longer considered as a threat58. We may regard Aristotle’s anti-barbarian views in Politics as a reaction to the political shortcomings of Athens, in a time when Athens -and actually the polis as a constitution in general- faced with new threats. Otherwise, Greeks had long been, and was in contact with Asia Minor, Black Sea, and of course the Near East. One may get the impression from the above-mentioned texts that the Greeks saw themselves living on a Hellenic island surrounded by a sea of barbarians, but this was to change with the new political and cultural milieu of the Hellenistic period. Herodotus described the Egyptians as a nation un-Greek in every way, but in Roman times Plutarch and Juvenal were talking of the integration of the Egyptians to their cultures59. 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