The �great lake� and the Autariatai in Pseudo-Skylax

• Autores: Marjeta Sasel Kos
• Localización: Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Antiquité, ISSN 0223-5102, Vol. 125, Nº. 1, 2013
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The disputed passage in the Periplous refers to the river Naron, the upper trading-town, distant 80 stades from the sea, and a great lake (with a large fertile island) inland from the emporium. The lake, from which the Naron flows, extends to the Autariatai, an Illyrian community. No lake exists upstream from the Naron (Neretva) River, merely some very large marshes. Three main hypotheses have been suggested to date to identify the �great lake�, ranging from the marshes of Mostarsko Blato to the west of Mostar, Hutovo Blato some 10 km to the east of Metkovic, and Lake Labeatis, the Lake of Scodra (Liqeni i Shkodrës/Skadarsko Jezero). The article explains why Hutovo Blato is the most plausible identification of Pseudo-Skylax�s �great lake�. These extensive marshes had once resembled a huge lake and it could be claimed that the Neretva does flow from them by way of its small tributary, the Krupa. The emporium could only be Narona, and there is no reason to reject the location of the Autariatai beyond the �great lake� off the Neretva River, as is written in the Periplous.