The image of Ireland and the Irish in the classical and late antique Roman sources

Résumé du document

Classical Antiquity is a broad term referring to artistic civilization with its existence over a considerable length of time. Classical Antiquity pertains primarily to cultural history and is centered along the Mediterranean Sea. This evolution along the Mediterranean Sea dates back to the earliest recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC) and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD). The term ?Late Antiquity' suggests that the social and cultural priorities of Classical Antiquity endured throughout Europe and proceeded into the advent of the middle ages (700/800 AD). If one does reflect on the origin and history of geography and the expansion of knowledge through conquest and exploration, the first impression one assumes is to focus attention on the Mediterranean world. Another interesting fact to recapitulate is that the island of Ireland was never formally incorporated into the Roman Empire. Hence, Ireland was free from Roman influence and existed as a relatively isolated corner of Celtic culture.

Extraits

[...] As for the island of Ireland, ancient accounts of the Irish will have been influenced by a conception of remoteness as an indicator of savagery. Symmachus, a prominent member of the Roman nobility at the close of the fourth century, makes an allusion to Irish dogs, Scottici canes, used for public amusements: as has been shown by the offering of seven Irish dogs; which on the day of the prelude so astonished Rome that it was thought they must have been brought in iron cages”. [...]

[...] It may derive from the Latin term hibernus that translates as wintry. However cold the island is said to be, the Romans thought that Ireland was located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, between Britain and Spain. Caius Julius Caesar published a series of notes on his military achievements, Commentarii de bello Gallico 58-50 BC). He makes a reference to Ireland in the section devoted to Britain: second [side of Britain] looks towards Spain and the west. In this direction is Hibernia, smaller by half, as is thought, than Britain, but at the same distance as the passage from Gaul to Britain”. [...]

[...] & Byrne, J.F., A New History of Ireland, Vol. VIII, A chronology of Irish history to 1976: a companion to Irish history, pp. 12-71, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Clarke, K. (2001), Island Nation: Re-Reading Tacitus' The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol pp. 94-112. Johnson, J., Hibernia. Available from: http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/pir/hibernia.htm [accessed 10/02/2006]. Kenney, James F. [...]

[...] The climate of Ireland was supposed to be particularly severe, but, despite the cold, the grazing was so tasty and lush that cattle exploded if allowed to eat unchecked. Pomponius Mela was the first Latin geographer. His work (De situ orbis libri tres) is, for the most part, a mere compendium of earlier writings in Greek, but it is evident that he knew the west better than his predecessors. He gives a somewhat fabulous account of Ireland 43 climate is unfavourable for the ripening of grain, but so luxuriant is the herbage, in quality both nutritious and savoury, that the cattle eat their fill in a small part of the day, and, if they were not restrained from feeding, would, by eating too long, burst”. [...]

[...] (1979), The sources for the early history of Ireland: Ecclesiastical, Pádraic Ó Táilliúir, Dublin. Kileen, J. F. (1976), “Ireland in the Greek and Roman writers”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 76C, pp. 207-215. Koch, J. T. (1995), The Celtic Heroic Age Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales, Celtic Studies Publications, Andover. [...]