Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 3 -- Roman Encyclopedists
As noted earlier in this chapter, both Strabo and Pliny spoke of the subterranean Timavo River.
So does the Aeneid. From Edward Fairfax Taylor's translation
Safe could Antenor pass the Illyrian shore
Through Danaan hosts, and realms Liburnian gain,
And climb Timavus and her springs explore,
Where through nine mouths, with roaring surge, the main
Bursts from the sounding rocks and deluges the plain.
We will wait until Chapter 72, however, Underground and Balkanized, to pull the Roman accounts
into geographical relationship.
In the manner of the table in Chapter 1,
Odyssey (c. 855 BC)
Author Homer Virgil
Protagonist Odysseus Aeneas
Setting Mythical Mediterranean, mythical times
Opening
Characters
Rivers
Tell me, O muse, of that
ingenious hero who travelled
far and wide after he had
sacked the famous town of
Troy.
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Aeneid (19 BC)
Arms, and the man I sing,
who, forc'd by fate, and
haughty Juno's unrelenting
hate, Expell'd and exil'd, left
the Trojan shore.
Lotus Eaters
Cyclops Odyssey survivor’s tale
Sirens
Acheron
Cocytus
To deep Acheron they take
their way, whose troubled
eddies, thick with ooze and
clay, are whirl'd aloft, and in
Cocytus lost.
Styx Between the living and dead.
Lethe On the far side, Aeneas’
Pyriphlegethon
descendants
By the late third century, Rome was intellectually spent, the Empire having spun itself into two
segments, the western half to be the foundation for the European Middle Ages and the eastern
half to become the Byzantine Empire.
But before advancing to Chapters 4-6 to see what became of the Greco-Roman legacy, let's
summarize our journey to this point.
Greek mythology laid down a rich lore of underground rivers.
Greek philosophers molded the tales into explanatory patterns based on reason.
Roman encyclopedists dutifully cataloged numerous instances of such waters.
One might think that the topic of underground rivers is now resolved, but the Greeks and Romans
were just feeding our curiosities.
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