The Egypt Climata
The following is a chapter (by the same name) in the book 'The Bible Betrayed.' It defined Egypt's 'Climata' which is the straight-line co-ordinate and was indeed the precursor of the meridians of today. Herodotus, who may be said to be the first person who devised such a system, whereby the position of a place can be located on a geographical map, had indeed marked the position of Egypt on a map with as many as five still-identifiable landmark pointers!
“If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes.” So said Alexander the Great of the philosopher Diogenes, the Cynic of Sinope. Well, these great men have long gone, yet the ancient city of Sinope, continues on and has even cynically retained its name, perhaps as a tribute to its lone illustrious son. Abbreviated to ‘Sinop’ having lost merely an ‘e’ to all those long and turbulent years, it is still right where it always was: on a slight promontory jutting out into the Black Sea, though now presumably in modern fineries, flashing neon signs and breathing noxious fumes, laced no doubt with that odd bit of radioactive fallout. Yet unknown to itself, Sinop anchors more that its insignificant self.
Consider the following extract:Egypt lies almost exactly opposite the mountainous portion of Cilicia, whence a lightly-equipped traveler may reach Sinope on the Euxine in five days by the direct route. Sinope lies opposite the place where the Ister falls into the sea. [Herodotus 2.34]
Now, Herodotus mentions four easily identifiable landmarks to anchor ancient Egypt on a yet to be identified coastline. The landmarks that include the above-mentioned Sinop are: the Euxine, the Ister and the mountainous portion of Cilicia. Now Sinop lies on a promontory that juts into the Black Sea (or Euxine). Any map will confirm this. What is more, its position wholly agrees with the statement, that it lies “opposite the place where the Ister enters the sea.” The River Ister, now renamed the Danube, enters the Black Sea from the Romanian coast at a point that is roughly opposite to the location of Sinop.
Both are easily identifiable, regardless of their change in names. There is no mystery here; this triangulation of the recognizable landmarks is accurate.
Now, the mountainous portion of Cilicia is an unambiguous reference to the Taurus Mountains (Toros daglari), that fringes the Gulf of Iskendrun on its northwestern side. From here, apparently, a lightly equipped traveler could reach Sinope by the direct route in five days.
This is conceivable and does accurately represent the distance between the Taurus Mountains and Sinop. The name Cilicia is no longer in use, yet any number of ancient world maps will identify the region by this name. Modern maps, at any rate, will identify the ‘Cilician Gates’ in this region, which should serve as an accurate pointer.
Opposite the Cilician Mountains lies the coastline of modern Syria, including a small portion of Turkey. According to conventional history, this coastline was occupied in ancient times by an assortment of Syrian tribes of little significance. As mentioned earlier, none of the above descriptions by Herodotus contains any mystery whatsoever. If anything, you idly wonder how little the world has changed even after so many years and give full marks to Herodotus for accurately establishing the position of a number of recognizable landmarks, in some manner of triangulation, with a view it seems, to anchor the Egyptian coastline.
What comes next rudely snaps you out of your reverie. Herodotus observers too jump up and decide that the man needs careful watching after all. As for the Egyptologists peering over his shoulders, why, they are foaming in the mouth with righteous anger! For, according to Herodotus, opposite the Cilician Mountains on the Turkish-Syrian coastline, lay not Syrian tribes of little significance, but ancient Egypt! That is right. Egypt the commercial hub of the ancient world was located on the Turkish-Syrian coastline roughly where Samandagi is currently situated.
However preposterous this information may seem, let us give Herodotus some leeway and try to make sense of his innocent but incredible claim. He has, after all, given us the Canaan-Ethiopia similarity.
Now, Herodotus had a keen scientific mind. Keeping this in mind, I re-examined the anchor points given for Egypt and made a startling discovery. All the anchor points given, fall in a straight-line! The mouth of the Ister, Sinope, the mountainous portion of Cilicia and the Syrian coastline opposite the mountains, all appear to form the straight-line coordinate of Egypt!
After further reading, I realized that these straight-line coordinates proffered by Herodotus are possibly the precursor of the ‘climata’ that Strabo, Ptolemy and others used at a much later date. In other words, Ister, Sinope, the mountainous portion of Cilicia is the straight-line Climata of Egypt, which I have taken the liberty to call the ‘Egypt Climata.’
Climata, in turn, after further refinement, went on to become the latitudes and longitudes of today. Thus, what we have here is a first! This indeed is the very first instance wherein the ideology of using a number of points, all falling in a straight-line, anchor a kingdom (in this case, Egypt) on a map.
There is absolutely no ambiguity here. If Egypt was on this coast, one definitely has to concede that the statement made by Herodotus, ‘Egypt lies exactly opposite the mountainous portion of Cilicia,’ is accurate, and highly original!
Take a closer look at this coastline. You will soon note that we have been directed to look long and hard in an area acknowledged even by modern experts to be the very cradle of ancient civilizations! Herodotus could not have chosen a better site even if he were speculating!
It is here on this coastal belt that archaeologists have found the presence of a juggernaut commercial empire ‘where none was thought to exist.’ The Ras Shamra ruins and numerous others in this region speak of an advanced civilization that has been described by archaeologists as ‘larger and infinitely more advanced than Mesopotamia.’ This region also holds the distinction of having evolved the first modern script, which according to Herodotus, was yet another fine Egyptian achievement.
Admittedly, truly spectacular architectural accomplishments are somewhat lacking here. But then again, that too is in keeping, for according to Herodotus, the Egyptians were in fact poor builders. Ports, sweatshops, warehouses, evolved script and snatches of Bible stories are all it embarrassingly tosses up. Yet, these indeed—and not pyramids—are the crown jewels of a mature nation.
Herodotus was of course merely documenting. Meaning, there was no need for him to speculate, ferret out information, and reconstruct a scenario and so on, for Egypt was still very much around. Yet, with unbelievable foresight, he hammers in a good many tacks to anchor ancient Egypt on this coastline. A good thing too. For, Egypt is now truly lost. Indeed, in a bizarre twist of fate, another has taken its place. True Egypt, the superpower of the ancient world, stands forlorn and forgotten—no doubt paying the karma price for its former, unbridled glory.
Diagram: Egypt’s Straight-line Co-ordinate or the ‘Egypt Climata.’ Herodotus often set a straight-line co-ordinate of a place by identifying a series of places that were in line with it. Using this ideology, he fixed the position of Egypt by using: the mouth of the Ester, Sinope, and the mountainous portion of Cilicia, as its straight-line anchor-points. As can be seen, this firmly places Egypt in Syria.
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