Note 2911 — PORTUS ITIUS

Cf. R. Schneider, Portus Itius, p. 10. No doubt the ancients did commonly overestimate distances; but any one who had time to go through Strabo could pick out exceptions. Thus he tells us (i, 4, §4) that the distance from Massilia to ‘the middle of Britain’ (εἰς μέσην τὴν Βρεττανικήν) is 5,000 stades, and (ii, 1, §40) that the distance from Carthage to Massilia is not more than 9,000. The latter, in a straight line, is about 10,500: the former, measured only as far as Portsmouth Harbour, about 5,200.