Ireland and the Classical World

by Philip Freeman

Overview

On the boundary of what the ancient Greeks and Romans considered the habitable world, Ireland was a land of myth and mystery in classical times. Classical authors frequently portrayed its people as savages—even as cannibals and devotees of incest—and evinced occasional uncertainty as to the island's shape, size, and actual location. Unlike neighboring Britain, Ireland never knew Roman occupation, yet literary and archaeological evidence prove that Iuverna was more than simply terra incognita in classical antiquity.

In this book, Philip Freeman explores the relations between ancient Ireland and the classical world through a comprehensive survey of all Greek and Latin literary sources that mention Ireland. He analyzes passages (given in both the original language and English) from over thirty authors, including Julius Caesar, Strabo, Tacitus, Ptolemy, and St. Jerome. To amplify the literary sources, he also briefly reviews the archaeological and linguistic evidence for contact between Ireland and the Mediterranean world.

Freeman's analysis of all these sources reveals that Ireland was known to the Greeks and Romans for hundreds of years and that Mediterranean goods and even travelers found their way to Ireland, while the Irish at least occasionally visited, traded, and raided in Roman lands. Everyone interested in ancient Irish history or Classics, whether scholar or enthusiast, will learn much from this pioneering book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292718753
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	12/01/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Philip Freeman is Professor of Classics at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Introduction
• 1. The Archaeology of Roman Material in Ireland
  • Pre-Roman Material
  • First-Century Material
  • Second-Century Material
  • Third-Century Material
  • Fourth- and Early-Fifth-Century Material
• 2. Language: The Influence Of Latin In Pre-Patrician Ireland
  • Latin Loan-Words in Early Irish
  • The Ogam Alphabet and the Latin Grammatical Tradition
• 3. Ancient Authors
  • Rufius Festus Avienus
    • Sources for Ora maritima
  • The Hellenistic Geographers
  • Diodorus Siculus
  • Julius Caesar
  • Strabo
  • Isidorus
  • Pomponius Mela
  • Pliny the Elder
  • Pseudo-Aristotle
  • Tacitus
  • Juvenal
  • Dionysius Periegetes
  • Ptolemy
  • Apuleius
  • Herodian
  • Solinus
  • Unattributed Works
    • Panegyric on Constantius Caesar
    • Maritime Itinerary of Antonius Augustus
    • Panegyric on Constantine Augustus
    • Nomina provinciarum omnium
    • Orphic Argonautica
  • Pacatus
  • Ammianus Marcellinus
  • Unattributed Work
    • Historia Augusta
  • Pseudo-Hegesippus
  • Jerome
  • Prudentius
  • Symmachus
  • Servius
  • Claudian
  • Marcianus
  • Stobaeus
  • Orosius
  • Pseudo-Agathemerus
  • Stephanus of Byzantium
• Appendix One: The Greek Alphabet
• Appendix Two: Classical References to Ireland
• Appendix Three: The Names of Ireland
• References
• Index