Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/343

 1084 HISPANIA- to the Pb. Sacrum *f aod the foarth side hy the W. coast, extending N. and S., between the two head- huids named, paroUel to the Pyrenees. (Stnb. iiL p. 137; comp. Justin, xliv. 1.) When others call it triangular they probablr reckon the whde N. side, along the Pyrenees ana N. coast, as one, which is more accurate. (Oros. L 2 ; Aeth. Ister. Cotmog. p. 43, ed. Simler.) Its true form may be regarded, by a by lines drawn from the C Cretu to C. Finitterrey on the N.; from C. Fmisterre to C & Ftncenty on the W. : from C. S. Vincent toC.de Goto, on the S.; ' and from C. de Gata to C. CreuSj on the E. : but, by drawing intermediate lines from headland to head* land, the number of sides might be considerably varied. 2. Boundaries. — No country which is not insular lias its boundaries so well defined as Spain : namely, on the E. and part of the S. side (the S. side of Strabo and other ancient writers), the MediUrranean [Mabb Internum] ; on the rest of the S., the W., and part of the N. sides, the Atlantic [Atlanticum Mare] ; and on the remainder of the N.side (the £. side of Strabo and other ancient writers),the Pyrenees [Pyrenaei M.]. Different names were applied to the seas which washed the coasts (the bays will be mentioned presently), as follows: the part of the Mediterranean on the S. coast wits called Baleari- CUM Mare and Ibericum Mare; the part along the S. coast. Internum Mare specifically; then came the Straits of Gades or Hercnles [Gaditanum Frbtum] ; the part of the ocean along the S. side was called Gaditanus Ocbanus, and that along the N. coast Cantabricum Mare. 3. Size. — The Spanish peninsula lies between 36^ r and 43° 45' N. lat., and between long. 3° 20' £. and 9° 21' W. Its greatest length from N. to S. is about 460 miles, and its greatest breadth from £. to W. about 570 miles; its surface, including the •Balearic isles, about 171,300 square miles. As might naturally be expected, the numbers given by the ancients vary greatly from these figures and from one another.! Eratosthenes made tlie distance from the Gades to the Sacred Cape 5 days' sail (Strab. iii. p. 148), and otherwise, from the Sacred Cape to the Pillars, 3000, and thence to the Py- renees 3000 stadia ; and therefore the greatest length 9000 stadia (Strab. i. p. 64, ii. p. 106). Artemi- dorus reckoned 1700 stadia from the Sacred Cape to the Pillars. (Stiub. iii. p. 148.) Polybius gives the distance from the Pillars to the Pyrenees as some- what less than 8000 stadia, as follows: from the Pillars to New Carthage, 3000 stadia; thence to the Iberus, 2600 stadia; thence to Emporium, 1600 stadia (Polyb. iii. 39; Strab. iL p. 106): tlie re- maining distance, to the Pyrenees, he does not specify, but it is manifestly so much too great that, for this and other reasons, Ukert proposes to change the last- mentioned number from 1600 to 2000, or 2200, which would make the total from the Pillars to Emporium 7800 stadia (Ukert, vol. ii. pt 1. p. 256 b. If this emendation be sound, we may account for the error as made by a copyist to agree with the 1 600 stadia given by Strabo 'from the Ebro to the Py- renees). Strabo makes the length from the Pjrrenees to the W. coast, in a straight 2tne, 6000 stadia, and he also calls this expressly the greatest length: else* coast end at Calpe, Gibraltar, f N.B. 10 stadias] geog. mile. HISPAKIA. where he assigns the same length to Ihat part ef the & coast which lay within the Straits as fiiHows : from Calpe to New Carthage, 2200 stadis; tbeooe to the Iberus,aboat the same; thence to the Pyreoeet»1600: the greatest breadth, namely, along the W. coast, he makes 5000 stadia; the lost, namdy akng the Pyrenees, 3000 stadia. (Strah. iL pp. 106, IS7, 128, iii. pp. 137, 156.) Pliny quotes various statements, according to which the length varied from 1200 to 1500 M. P., the breadth from 900 to 1 100, and the wfade dr- cnit of the coast from 2600 to 3000 M. P. (Plin. iii. 1. 8. 2, 3. s. 4 ; iv. 21. s. 35> Ptolemy places Hispania between 3^ and 9^ long, and 36° and 46^ lat (iL 4). In all these statements, it is importaat to observe' that the geographers founded thor esti- mates of the distances almost endrely on the itin- emry measurements. 4. Outline of the Coasts Promontories, emd Bays. — A glance at the map of Spain will shofw at once tadvt salient points in the outline of the coast, besides some others of secondary importance. The first, beginning at the N. end of the £. coast, is that formed by the K extremity of the F^reofees, Pyrbnbs Pbom. (t& rqs 'HvfAumfi ixpa^y or Veneris Prom, or Pyrbnaea Venus (t^ 'Afpp- iifftov, Up6¥ T^s TlvpniPttias *A<^fio!ii'nis), a mooa* tainous headland, projecting far into the sea, and dividing the gulf of Cebvabia {Cervera) or Pob- Tus Venebis on the N. from that of Bhoda and Emporiab {Bay of Rosa£) on the S.; its naine being obtained from a temple of Venus which stood upon it (Liv. xxvL 19 ; Strab. iv. pp. 178, 181 ; Mek, ii. 5. § 8 ; Plin. iii. 3. s. 4.) Frooa the & side of the Bay of Rosas the coast preserves s pretty even direction, about SW. to a little S. of Barcino (^Barodonii)y whence it forms a veij lai^ bay, which is terminated on the S. by the headland of DiANiUM (C S. Martin), running far out to the east. In the upper part of thi^ large bay are Tarraco and the delta of the Ibbrus ; its knrer part, from about 40^^ N. lat., forms the Sucboken- BIS Sinus {G. of Valencia), &cing the esoL To the SSW. of the Dianium Pr. and £. of Carthago Nova lies the almost equally conspicuous headland of Saturni Pr. (C €2e Pahs); and the bay between them was called Iixicftanus Sinus (J9. of Ali- cante). Proceeding SW. from the Saturni Pr. we come to the Charidebu Pr. {C. de Gata), run- ning out far to the S. and forming the tnimD^ point fcpm the E. to the S. coast : between this and the former lay the Massienus Sccus, which has no specific modem name. These axe the four great headUnds and the three large bays of the E. coast. Doubling the Charidemi Pr. and passing by the comparatively small Urcttanus Sinus (^G.of Almeria)^ upon which the boundary between Tar« raoonensis and Baetica comes down to the coasty the coast pursues almost a straight line to Malaga {Malaga), which forms the E. extremity (as the M. of the Baetu forms the western) of the base of the great trianguhv projection of the S. coast which runs out to meet a similar projection of the African coast, leaving between them only the narrow pas- sage called the Gaditanum or Hebculeum Frb- tum (Straits of Gibraltar). The £. end of the Strait is guarded by the two rocky headlands calkd the Pillars of Hercules [Hebcuus Columnab], of which the me on the European side, so cdebrated under the names of Calpe and Gibraitar, fonns
 * rough process of estimation, as a trapezium contained
 * Elsewhere, however (ii. p. 128), he makes the S.