CHAPTER XL
GEOGRAPHY AS PROMOTED BY THE ROMAN CONQUESTS,
Exploration of Unknown Lands by the Greeks and by the Romans—Oppor-
tunity afforded by the Mithridatic War—Campaigns of Lucullus in
Armenia and Mesopotamia—Pompey in Iberia and Albania—Narrative
of Theophanes—His Description of the Caucasus, of the Cyrus and
Araxes, and of the Tribes-The Iberi—The Albani—The Tribes
bordering on the Euxine—Expedition of Balbus against the Garamantes,
of Petrbnius in Aethiopia—The 'Atlantic Islands1 (Madeira)—Fortunatae
Insulae (The Canaries)—Progressive Conquest of Spain by the Romans-
Southern and Eastern Provinces—Lusitania—Central Districts—Tribes
of the North-West—Formation of the Roman Province in Gaul-
Caesar's Conquest of Gaul—His Ethnographical and Geographical
Notices—Transference to Towns of Names of Tribes—Caesar's Descrip-
tion of the Country of the Veneti—His Expeditions into Britain—
His Information about it—Acquaintance of the Romans with Germany—
Campaigns of Drusus and of Tiberius—Conquest of Rhaetia, Vindelicia,
and Noricura—Of Pannonia—Importance to Geography of the Roman
Roads—Careful Measurement of Distances—The Wall-map of Agrippa—
Itineraries derived from it.
WE have now reached the period when the progress of geo-
graphical knowledge was mainly due to the advance
of the Roman arms- Hitherto we have seen that
*ts Development was caused almost entirely by the
enterprise and enquiring spirit of the Greeks, and
by the spread of their commerce, which brought them into com-
munication with distant peoples. At an early stage in their
history the wide diffusion of their colonies along the shores of the
Mediterranean and the Euxine brought in a vast fund of informa-
tion with regard to the countries in the neighbourhood of those
seas j together with intimations, in many cases vague and inexact,
concerning the races inhabiting the lands which lay behind
them. After a while the extension of the Persian empire in the
direction of the Aegean, and the wars with the Greeks in which
that power was involved, opened out to view a wide tract of
Western Asia; and the same thing took place, though on a