A Porphyrogenitan Portulan Huxley, George Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1976; 17, 3; ProQuest pg. 295

A Porphyrogenitan Portulan 
George Huxley 

IN De Cerimoniis 2.45 a stadiodromikon is given at the end of the cata­
logue of ships and equipment gathered for the imperial expedition 
to Crete in 949.1 The text lists places on the way from Constanti­

nople to Crete, with the distances between them in miles. Some of the 
numbers given are obviously too large, but it is not possible to dis­
tinguish with certainty errors of the compiler from corruptions of his 
work, and since there is but one manuscript, there are no textual 
variants; the document can nonetheless be placed in its tenth-century 
historical context. 

E'TaOWOpOJLLKOV 

• A1To 'T~e OEoc/>vAaK'TOV 1TOAEwe EtC < HpaKAELav JLlALa g'. a1TO 

<n \' "n ' \', , n ' " paKI\HaC EWC POtKOV7lCCOV l},tl\. I" . aTT'O POtKOV7lCCOV EWC 

'Af3 I~ \ I , \ 'Af3 I~ " ", I \ f3' , \ VCOV JLL/\. p. a7TO VOOV EWC 1 a7TEVKLa JLLI\. L • a1TO 

15 '" '" ", I~ \ I , , ", I~ ., M " 1 a1TEVKLa Ewe 1 EVEOOV JLLI\. "1 . a1TO 1 EVE 00 V Ewe L'TVI\"1V1}e 
\ I • 'liS \ I ., X' \'" X' ., ~ , JLLI\. P • a1TO J.Ylt'TVI\"1V1}e Ewe tOV JLLI\. p • a1TO tOV Ewe 6.J aJLov 
\ , , , - ~, ., 'rn I , \' " , 

JLLI\. P • a7TO 77JC 6.J aJLov EWC 'TOVC '¥ovpJlove JLLI\. 1\ • a7TO 'TOve 
rn , "7\T (;' \,., 7\T~(;'" '" T ", '¥OVPJlOVC EWC Ha~tac JLLI\. 0 • a7TO H'-"bLac EWC 77JJI 10V JLLI\. 1\ • 

, , , "T" 'QI \ t.::'I 1 \ I , , \ 
a7TO 77JV 10Jl Ewe 77JJI It'J''1pav Kat It'J''1paCLaJl JLLI\. K • a1TO 'T"1J1 
Lli 'Ll ,., 'X I, " \ 'X I ltY"1pav KaL ltY"1paCLaJl EWC 'Ta pLC'TLaJla JLLI\. K • a7TO 'Ta pLC'TLaJla 

" - A , ", I - A , " K' 'f3' r -EWC 'T"1e "-I Lac JLLI\. 7T • a7TO 'T"1C "-I Lac EWC P"177JC JLLI\. L . OJLOV 

JLLAta "'~ f3' . 
15. r/ post /-1.1).., recentiori manu in cod. adscriptum, om. ed. 

The total number of miles is given as 792, but the intervals listed 
amount to 782. The arithmetical error comes from the stated interval 
between Ta7TEUKla (sic) and Tenedos: a second hand supplied "1' after 
JLLA. here, but L"1' should have been written, thirty miles (12+(1)8) 
being a fair estimate of the sailing distance from Abydos to Tenedos. 
The position of Ta IIwKla is not quite certain. Pefkhia according to 
Edrisi stood on a hill and was the first station after Abdo (Abydos).2 

1 Const.Porph. De eer. 1.678 (Bonn 1829). 
2 W. Tomaschek, "Zur historischen Topographie von Kleinasien im Mittelalter," 

SBWien 124 (1891) 16-17. 

295 



296 A PORPHYROGENITAN PORTULAN 

No doubt the pine trees which gave to the place its name were a 
prominent sailing-mark. Tomaschek3 suggested: HDer ans Vfer 
tretende Hiigelzug zwischen dem Kodza-cai und Deirmen-deresi trug 
wahrscheinlich einige Fichten, Merkzeichen flir die Segler" (Fichten' 
here means 'pines', not 'spruces'); but by any fair reckoning of mile­
lengths, the Degirmen Deresi4 comes down to the coast less than 
twelve miles from Abydos. A passage along the coast of the Troad of 
twelve miles from Abydos would bring a ship to the neighbourhood 
of Ophryneion. The country is still heavily wooded hereabouts, and 
traces of Byzantine settlement, together with coins, have been found 
in the vicinity of the anchorage.5 From the Ophryneion site a ship 
could travel along the coast towards Kum Kale (the promontory north 
of Sigeion) and then head for the northeastern coast of Tenedos, the 
sailing distance being about eighteen miles in all. We can therefore 
accept the interval Abydos-Ta flEvKta, 12 miles, and the corrected 
interval Ta flEvKta-Tenedos, < 1)8 miles.6 

The estimate of sixty-miles from Constantinople to Herakleia 
(Perinthos) is satisfactory, and the sailing-distance from Herakleia to 
Prokonnesos is close to forty (the spelling fl potK6vv1]coc is also found 
in Byzantine texts)7; but Abydos is far less than 100 miles from 
Prokonnesos. To the nearest ten miles the distance is 70, and it may 
well be that p' has replaced 0', an easy corruption. The estimate of 100 
miles from Tenedos to any part of Lesbos (= Mytilene) is also exces­
sive: a voyage of about seventy miles would bring a fleet from Tene­
dos past Sigeion to the fine natural haven of Kallone in the south of 
Lesbos-so pi may again have displaced 0'. To more northerly parts 
of Lesbos the interval is of course less; Pliny (NH 5.39.140) gives 56 
miles, from Tenedos to Lesbos. 

Pliny reckons 65 miles from Lesbos to Chios (NH 5.39.139), and a 
late mediaeval or sixteenth-century portulan gives fifty, due north-to-

h 'H M " \. X' Q' '" I sout : tTVI\1]VT} fLE TOV wv tJI\E1TOVVTat OCTpta TpEfLovVTava 

3 See n.Z supra. 
4 For this river valley see J. M. Cook, The Troad (Oxford 1973) Z90. 
5 Cook, op.cit. (supra nA) 74-77 and plate Z(b). 
8 Ramon Muntaner. Cronica VI p.Z09,ZI (II p.39, Barcelona 1951), mentions Passaquia 

in his account of the straits. In the Barcelona edition Passaquia is said to be Lampsakos, but 
Paffaquia (i.e. 'T«X nWKla) may be meant (see Tomaschek, op.cit. [supra n.Z] 16-17, who also 
notes other mediaeval spellings of the place name). 

? A. M. Mansel, Kl. Pauly 4 (1972) 1163. 



GEORGE HUXLEY 297 

ILlAta V'.8 SO the entry in the Porphyrogenitan portulan 0:7T0 MtroA7}V7]C 

€WC Xlov I1-tA. p' can hardly be correct, and it may well be that p' 

has yet again displaced 0'. Pliny (NH 5.38.136) gives 94 miles as the 
distance from Samos to Chios, but even if the interval from Samos 
town to Chios town is closer to 90 than to 100 miles, p' should be kept, 
since we cannot be sure that p' is a corruption off' or?' (90). 

For the distance from Samos town in the southeast of the island to 
the Korseai islands9 (mediaeval Phournoi) thirty miles (N) is a just 
estimate, as is the reckoning seventy miles to Naxos town (Naxia). 
Thirty miles thence to los (Nios) are generous but not excessive; 
Pliny's estimate (NH 4.12.69), los a Naxo XVIII mil. pass. has been cor­
rupted or is insufficient. The twenty miles from los to Thera and 
Therasia given in the stadiodromikon can be compared with Pliny's 
statement, distat los a Thera xxv mil. pass. (NH 4.12.70). 

From the eastern shore of the great haven of Thera southwestwards 
to the islets of 'T(X Xptcnav& the distance is approximately twenty 
miles. ,..£lA. 7]' is therefore to be kept. The islets served as a useful 
sailing mark not only to those making for Crete, but also on the 
journey from Thera to the channel between Crete and K ythera: 
• , , 'r' , " ,,, R' , r '\ " a7TO T7]V ",aVTOptV7JV EtC TOV 7TOVVEVTE EXEt tJ v7]cta T':Jtl1-apOl\a KOVTa TO 

" , \ "\ \ , \' , X ", , " Eva EtC TO al\l\ov Kat I\EyOVV Ta ptCTtava. Kat TOTE 7T7]yatVOVTa EtC TOV 
, , 'K' "K (J ,,, \ '\ \ 

7TOVVEVTE I1-Eca T7]V P7]T7]V Kat T7]V v Ovptav EXEt V7]CtV I1-Eyal\ov Kat 

Alyovv TO EtKEMovc 10 (Aigilia). 
Almost due south of Ttl XpLCnava lies the isle of Dia. The stadio­

dromikon gives the distance as 80 miles, but the estimate is excessive. 
Sixty is close to the truth, but we are not entitled to emend, in view 
of the greater difficulty of estimating distances on the open sea. The 
incorrect figure may already have stood in the documents from which 

8 A. Delatte, us Portulans grees (Paris 1947), Portulan III, p.Z76,I-Z. On the occidental 
origin of this use of pAl-trOp-aL see M. Cortelazzo, "L'Elemento romanzo nei Portolani greci," 
Bol. dell'Atlante linguistieo mediterraneo 1 (1959) Z15-Z1, at p.ZI9. 

• First mentioned in Hekataios (FGrRist 1 F 143=Steph.Byz. s.v. Kopcmt). Various forms of 
the name are found: Pliny, NR 4.1Z.69 has Corassiae, but in 5.37.135 Corseae. The Stad.Mar. 
Mag. has ETT~ n}v Kopclav (GGM 1.499 §Z83) and ETT~ T«lC Kopclac (GGM 1.500 §Z84). Agatheme­
ros gives ETTtKopclac (GGM 2.479 and A. Diller, GRBS 16 [1975] 74 § 18). Forthe harbour town 
see J. T. Bent,]RS 7 (1886) 143-44, and for the island group Philippson, op.cit. (infra n.lO) 
268-69. See also D. Dunst, "Die Inschriften von Korsiai," in Melanges helleniques offerts Ii 
Georges Daux (Paris 1974) 115-37. 

10 Delatte, op.cit. (supra n.8), Portulan I, p.87,8-11. Christhini (Leia) is separated by a 
t km. channel from Askania; thence a third island, Eschate, is It km, distant (A. Philippson 
Die gr. Landschaften IV [Frankfurt am Main 1959] 185). 



298 A PORPHYROGENITAN PORT ULAN 

the stadiodromikon was compiled. Dia (1j LJta, 1j N·rla) had two good 
havens, each of which was known in the later middle ages as a KaAOc 
ALILLovac.ll The value of Dia to naval commanders engaged in opera­
tions against Crete is evident from the story of Photeinos, who, 
having been defeated by the Cretan Saracens, was able to escape 
thither.l2 Dia is less than twelve miles from the nearest point on the 
Cretan mainland, but the compiler of the stadiodromikon may well 
have envisaged a landfall not at Amnisos or at Chandax (Herakleion) 
but, for example, at Chersonesos. 

Since some of the estimates of distance are greatly in error and 
others are corrupt, it is not possible to use the total 792 to estimate 
the length of mile assumed in the sources of the list.13 More signifi­
cant than the distances-exact, corrupted or conjectured-is the route 
envisaged. Obviously important staging posts or naval a7TA7JKTa are 
Abydos, which gave its name to the maritime officials called Aby­
dikoi,u and Samos, from which the naval administration (}lILa E&ILOV 
was named-though the cTpaT7JYoc of the thema had his seat of govern­
ment (7TpaL'TCVpLoV) at Smyrna.15 Of least significance are those places 
where there were no permanent naval installations: such, we may 
suppose, were TeX XpLcnav& and Dia. Some places had a great value 
as natural havens where fleets could be concentrated: Thera is an 
example of such anavTocPvEC OPIL7Jrr7PLOV.16 Here crews could be rested 
or allowed to go ashore to eat, favourable winds could be awaited 
and weather-signs be studied. Such T07TOL cKaAwILaToc are accordingly 
given close attention in Byzantine naval handbooks.!' A particular 
significance attached to Tenedos, where it was necessary to await 
favourable winds before attempting to enter the Hellespontine 

11 Delatte, op.cit. (supra n.8) Portulan I. p.68. 
11 Theopha11£s Continuatus pp. 76,22-77,1 (Bonn 1838). 
13 According to H. Antoniadis-Bibicou. Etudes d'histoire maritime de Byzance (Paris 1966) 27 

n.4. C. Alexandris. 'H 8a>.accla BUval"C ~lc ~II icToplall riic fJlI'allTwijc a?n-oKpaToplac (Athens 
1957) 78 n.l (non vidi). claimed that the mile was taken in the stadiodromikon to be the 
equivalent of about 1500 metres. 

U For them see H. Ahrweiler. "L'Escale dans Ie Monde byzantin" in us grandes Escales. 
Receuils de la Sociire Jean Bodin 32 (1974) 175. and H. Antoniadis-Bibicou. Recherches sur les 
doua11£s d Byzance (Paris 1963) 179-81. 

15 Const.Porph. De Them. 1.16 (p.149 Pertusi). See also A. J. Toynbee. Constanti11£ Por­
phyrogenitus and his Age (London 1973) 261. 

It For this category of place see H. Ahrweiler. Byz:ance et la mer (Paris 1966) 421 (=Etudes 
sur les structures administratives et sociales de Byz:ance [London 1971] XVI. 421). 

17 For example, Nikephoros Ouranos, Taktika 6.28-30 and 7.123.9 (ed. A. Dain, Naumachia 
[Paris 1943] 77-78 and 104). 



GEORGE HUXLEY 299 

straits. Before the loss of Egypt to the Arabs, the island also played a 
vital part in the economy of Constantinople, since a granary had been 
constructed there at the command of the Emperor Justinian to enable 
grain ships to be unloaded without having to wait for favourable 
winds to take them all the way to the city.ls 

The absence ofPhygela from the stadiodromikon is noteworthy, since 
this town had been a place of assembly during the preparations for the 
unsuccessful expedition to Crete in 911,19 and it was from Phygela that 
Nikephoros Phokas departed to reconquer Crete.20 Nor does the 
stadiodromikon mention Kepoi, beside the river Maeander; this was 
the place whence Bardas had hoped in 866 to set sail for Crete before 
his murder put a stop to the expedition.21 Evidently the compiler of 
the stadiodromikon is not concerned with the marshalling of troops 
and ships in the Thrakesian thema; his interest is in the movement of 
units of the imperial fleet based at Constantinople from their home 
waters to Crete by easy stages of not more than 100 miles each. The 
compiler had so imperfect an idea of the intermediate distances that 
we may think of him not as a practical mariner but as a bureaucratic 
landlubber. The presence of the document at the end of the musters 
for the expedition of 949 suggests that he may have worked in the 
entourage of Gongylios the patrikios, whose ineffectiveness as a 

, military commander was a prime cause of the failure of the armada.22 

There is also reason to think that Constantine Porphyrogenitus him­
self took part in preparing documentation for the task force. A 
meteorological treatise for sailors has been convincingly connected 
with his naval studies prior to the campaign of 949,23 and Constan­
tine's concern with such topics is plain from his own reference in an 
Appendix to De Cerimoniis24 to a work by his own hand: /3£/3Atov TO 

, I. ~ , I ~ I r '\ t ~ I , ~ 
7T€P£€XOV 7T€P£ €vo€ UtC KClt X€£f-Lwvoc KClt <:,a,,'7c, V€TOV T€ Ka£ aCTpa7Twv 

IQ ~ '" ',I.. ~ I , Q \' I 
Ka£ fJPOVTWV Ka£ aV€f-Lwv €7T£'!'opac. 7TPOC TOVTO£C fJPOVTO"OYWV Ka£ C€£Cf-L0 -
\1 \ ~" .... C' \ I t I ~\ f1 

"oywv, Ka£ €T€pa, oca 7TapaT'7poVVTa£ o£ 7T,,€VCT£KO£. £CT€OV o€, OT£ 

18 Procop. Aed. 5.1.7-16 (4.150-52 ed. Haury). 
It De Cer. 2.44 (1.658 Bonn). 
20 Theoph.Cont. 6.10 (p.475, 21 Bonn). Ps.-Symeon p.758, 24 Bonn. 
21 Geo.Mon.Cont. p.830, 1 Bonn. See also J. B. Bury, A History of the Eastern Roman Empire 

(London 1912) 171. 
22 On Gongylios see Skylitzes pp.245-46 ed. J. Thurn. 
23 Text: Venet.Marc. 335, ff. 420r-423v, published by S. Lambros in Nloc 'EM'r}volLv-t7lLwv 9 

(1912) 162-72, and discussed, with translation, by R. H. <M.) Dolley in The Mariner's Mirror 
37 (1951) 5-16. 

2C 1.467,9-15 Bonn. 



300 A PORPHYROGENITAN PORTULAN 

TOtDVTOV {1L{1AlOV iCPLAo7TOVfJOTJ Kat iK 7TOAAwv {1L{1AlWV fJpavlcOTJ 7Tap' iJLov 
IT " X A Q \ A , 'A Q \ , <0 ' H .n.WVCTaVTLVov EV pLCTCfJ fJaCLI\EL aLWVLCfJ fJaCLI\EWC rWJLaLWV. OW 

much the Emperor yearned for reconquest is evident from the al­
lusion to Crete he added to the Continuator's account of Ooryphas' 
campaigns against the islands in Theophanes Continuatus Book II :25 

, ~ \ < " , ••• 1. ,< A , \ \ \ \ \ \, A (} A 

TaVTTJV OE WC EOLKEV, 7TapE7TE,...,.EV ELC TJJLac. al\l\a Ta JLEV 7TEpL aVTTJC f£qJ 

7T(XVTWC JLf£AfJCf£L, JLEAfJCEL 8€ Kat ~JLLV TOLC VVKTWP Kat JLf£O' ~JL'pav T~V 
"'VX~V 8a7TavwCLv fJ7TEP aVTijc. 

It is not possible to prove, though it seems very likely, that the 
stadiodromikon is one of the items oca 7TapaTTJpovVTaL oi 7TAEVCTLKOl 

gathered by the Porphyrogenitus himself, but if the compiler worked 
in the imperial bureaucracy at a time when Constantine and Gon.gy­
lios were planning the expedition of 949, there is no difficulty in the 
presence of the text in the De Cerimoniis. The Emperor simply added 
it to the E~67TALCLC of the forces without checking its accuracy. Although 
the text is called a stadiodromikon, the distances, as usual in Byzantine 
times, are in miles; the term stadiodromikon comes down from a time 
when portulans or stadiasmoi regularly gave distances in stades.26 

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST 

April, 1976 

16 p.81,12-15 Bonn. 
U For the equivalent 10 stades=1 nautical mile, see L. Casson, Ships and Seamanship 

in the Ancient World (Princeton 1971) 288 n.81. The term Diaphragma also deserves a men­
tion, since the meaning is nO£ given in LSJ or the Supplement. Two 8wtj,ptfyp.aTa appear at 
the end of the Periplous of Ps.-Skylax (GGM 1.95-96); one gives distances in stades all the 
way from the Euripos at Chalkis to Samos and Mykale (§ 112), and the other lists the 
stages, with stades, Malea-Kythera-Aigilia-Crete-the length of Crete-Karpathos-Rhodes­
Asia. In both &atj,p&yp.aTa reckoning by distances is combined with reckoning by time: for 
example, § 113,3 £lc AlYlAlav 1T'\OVc 1Tpoapt.CTl8toc, the meaning being that Aigilia can be 
reached from Kythera before the first meal of the day is taken (the statement assumes a 
favourable wind); compare Xen. Hell. 1.1.13-Alkibiades sailed all night up to breakfast 
from Parion to Prokonnesos (very likely against current and wind: Casson, op.dt. '292 n.96). 

I acknowledge with gratitude help given to me by Professor J. M. Cook of Bristol and by 
Professor Michael Dolley of Belfast during the writing of this article. I have also benefite d 
from advice about Italian nautical terms given by my colleague Ralph Millner Q.c. That 
fifteenth and sixteenth-century Greek and Turkish portulans had Italian models is shown 
by N. Svoronos, REG 42 (1949) 237-40.