Cosmas Indicopleustes
(Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes)
by Robert K. Harding
The Christian Topography was written by Cosmas Indicopleustes
who lived in the first half of the sixth century A.D. He was a merchant,
possibly a trader in spices, who may have become a monk in the city of
Alexandria. Internal evidence shows the Topography was written
during the 540s, and may be associated with theological controversies
concerning the nature of Christ. Cosmas was a Nestorian, believing Christ
to have two separate natures (human and divine). But the East was dominated
by Monophysites, who believed in his single nature. Nestorianism was condemned
at the Council of Constantinople in 553. It is probably this debate that
caused the writer to sign himself "a Christian" and so protect
his identity. "Cosmas" only appears in manuscripts from the
eleventh century onwards. A writer of the late sixth century attributes
the Topography to a Constantine of Antioch, and this is the only
clue to his name.
The purpose of the Christian Topography is to prove that the universe
is shaped like a cube. Cosmas took literally the passage in Hebrews referring
to the Tabernacle of Moses and its vessels as the patterns and figures
of this world (9.23-24), and elaborated the idea into a complete system.
The earth is rectangular, and is surrounded by ocean, which is in turn
surrounded by the paradise of Adam. The sun is approximately two-thirds
the size of the Mediterranean, and revolves around a mountain. The reason
for varying lengths of the day through the year is that it revolves around
the peak during summer and the base during winter. Cosmas was keen to
attack the "pagan" belief in a spherical world, and also the
idea of heavenly spheres. The universe only had two parts, the heavens
and the earth, just as the tabernacle was divided into two by a veil.
Reaction to Cosmas’ system has generally consisted of amusement
and scorn. However, it has always been mingled with appreciation of his
observational skills. Cosmas claims to have sailed in the Mediterranean,
the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (II.30). He may also have travelled as
far as India, or at least to Sri Lanka (the Greek Taprobane). A number
of commentators have dismissed this, but he does refer to being on a voyage
to India (II.30), and while describing Sri Lanka claims his account is
a combination of what he had heard, but also of what he saw (XI.21).
He describes a number of ports along the Indian coast that are also mentioned
by the Periplus and by the geographer Ptolemy. They range from
the mouth of the Indus in modern Pakistan to sites along the eastern shore
of modern Andhra Pradesh (XI.16). Sri Lanka is described as being divided
into two kingdoms, with the southern state possessing the main port and
most of the trade (XI.13). The island’s central position meant that
it was a vital point in the sea routes linking India, Persia, Ethiopia
and China (XI.15). He describes China (which he calls Tzinitza) as being
important for silk. However, he claims silk was more economically transported
overland than by sea, which is why Persia had so much of it (II.46). According
to Cosmas the island marked the most easterly extent of Christianity at
that time, with churches existing there and on the Malabar coast. It seems
Persian (Nestorian) missionaries were largely responsible for founding
them. So Cosmas is testament to strong trading and cultural contacts in
the sixth century and of Sri Lanka’s importance to this network.
He also travelled in what is now Ethiopia, to the kingdom of Axum and
its main port Adulis. It was in Adulis that he recorded two inscriptions
in the early 520s, one on a marble chair or throne, the other on an adjacent
basalt stela. The latter was by an Egyptian king, Ptolemy Euergetes, and
must date to the mid-third century B.C. (II.58-59). The other, which Cosmas
mistakenly believed was also by Ptolemy, records campaigns both in Ethiopia
and in Arabia, on the other side of the Red Sea (II.60-63). Its date is
difficult to pinpoint, but it might relate to the foundation of the Axumite
kingdom or to the establishment in Axum of a dynasty from Yemen. Either
way, it shows intimate contact between the two coasts of the Red Sea,
and both inscriptions are important records of Axumite history and topography.
Finally, Cosmas also included a number of drawings in his manuscript,
including animals and plants that he saw, biblical subjects and the oldest
known Christian maps. They are important not only for the study of sixth
century art, but show the relationship between Christian and Jewish iconography.
Cosmas has not been a well-studied figure, and his work has been taken
to be outlandish, ridiculous and a symbol of the suppression of science
by dogma. But his acute observations, his care to distinguish what he
had seen from what he had heard and certain modern touches (such as his
insistence on men and women having equal natures [III.47]) suggest that
he be taken more seriously. His was an important voice in the revival
of ancient geography in the Alexandria of the fifth and sixth centuries.
| |
Cosmas Indicopleustes's Journey
|
