Note 348 — Chapter VI · THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS.
Reading edition
Footnote 348: The story is discredited by Mannert, Geographie der Griechen und Römer, bd. i. pp. 19-26; Gossellin, Recherches sur la géographie des Anciens, tom. i. p. 149; Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, pp. 508-515; Vincent, Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, vol. i. pp. 303-311, vol. ii. pp. 13-15; Leake, Disputed Questions of Ancient Geography, pp. 1-8. It is defended by Heeren, Ideen über die Politik, den Verkehr, etc., 3e aufl., Göttingen, 1815, bd. i. abth. ii. pp. 87-93; Rennell, Geography of Herodotus, pp. 672-714; Grote, History of Greece, vol. iii. pp. 377-385. The case is ably presented in Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography, vol. i. pp. 289-296, where it is concluded that the story "cannot be disproved or pronounced to be absolutely impossible; but the difficulties and improbabilities attending it are so great that they cannot reasonably be set aside without better evidence than the mere statement of Herodotus, upon the authority of unknown informants." Mr. Bunbury (vol. i. p. 317) says that he has reasons for believing that Mr. Grote afterwards changed his opinion and came to agree with Sir George Lewis.[Back to Main Text]