Maps, Greece and History

By Jason C. Mavrovitis

Continued from previous page
The region to the left of Tanaitae is named Gynaeccocratumeni, which means, in Greek, controlled by or governed by women. It is a small leap to the notion that Ortelius had identified this region as that held by the Amazons. He would have based his conclusion on the story told by Herodotus about the defeat and capture by the Greeks of three shiploads of Amazons at the battle of Thermodon. He goes on to tell how the Amazons overcame and killed their captors, but then, not experienced with the use of rudders, sails, and oars, drifted north to Lake Maeotis (the Sea of Azov) and landed in the country inhabited by Scythians.

The Amazons went ashore there and made their way to inhabited territory. The first thing they came across was a herd of horses, which they promptly seized, and then they began to ride about on these horses robbing the Scythians of their property.8
Just below the word Gynaeccocratumeni in the map is an elliptical island in the middle of the Tanais. The red dot in the center of the island identifies it as a colony. The text beneath the island is:
Tanais, commune emporium Europeorum et Asiaticorum.

Translated: Tanais, a European and Asiatic emporium (or trading station).

Ortelius here most probably obtained his information from Strabo, the first century geographer who was born in Pontic Amasia. Strabo described Ta nais as the:

…common emporium, partly of the Asiatic and the European nomads, and partly of those who navigated the lake from the Bosphorus, the former bringing slaves, hides and such other things as nomads possess, and the latter giving in exchange clothing, wine and the other things that belong to civilized life.
One map after another has found its way to a place on the wall of our entry way, living room, staircase, or hallway. And, from time to time, each is taken down to be studied for an hour, or two, or more, as I explore the Greek world as it was known at the time that the mapmaker created his woodcut block, or copper or steel engraving. Additional interest and pleasure come from learning about the technical aspects of mapmaking, and the search for the next map to add to my collection.


8 Herodotus, Robin Waterfield, and Carolyn Dewald, The Histories. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 4:110.


First Page: Introduction
Previous Page: Mapping the Argonauts

(Posted August 2003)

For more information about the author, see his biographical sketch under the Contributing Authors' section of HCS, or visit the author's website at http://www.goldenfleecepublishing.com. Mr. Mavrovitis has written a number of fine articles for HCS which readers can browse or read at the URL http://www.helleniccomserve.com/archivemavrovitis.html.

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