Group 25: the circumnavigation of Scotland

Lano	Portmahomock?	10758
Maulion	Helmsdale?	10758
Demerosesa	Castletown?	1081
Cindocellum	Cape Wrath	1081
Cerma	The Caereni	1082
Veromo	Ullapool?	1082
Matouion	Rhoshven?	1083
Vgrulentum	Oban?	1083
Rauatonium	Southend (Kintyre)?	1084
Iberran	Ireland	1084

This group ends with what is probably a mistaken mention of Hibernia, Ireland, whilst its apparent mentions of the Caereni (<Cerma>) and (Portus) Trucculensis (in the corrupt form <Ugrulentum>) place it firmly in north-western and northern Scotland. Moreover, as the main source of such information must have come from the circumnavigation of Scotland mentioned by Tacitus (Agricola 38), it has been possible to argue that this list derives from information collected on that very voyage (e.g. by Reed 1971, 148, although his argument about the ordering of names is in direct contradiction to that put forward here).

Hind (1974, 285) is of the opinion that ‘there seems little to recommend an identification of Ugrulentum with Trucculensis.’ It is true that the ending -entum in the Cosmography is superficially hard to reconcile with Tacitus’s form, but Hind’s hypothesis involving an impossible form *Tun(n)ocelum for the name *Itunocelum (the <Iuliocenon> of the Cosmography 107₃₁, Beckermet?) cannot stand. The Cosmographer was certainly capable of misrepresenting -ensem as -entum.

The point of departure is unknown, but it is perhaps logical to assume that since the next section begins with *Pinnata (Castra) the Pterwton Stratopedon of Ptolemy (Geography II.3,8), the most distant place listed by him in Scotland, the section under discussion here begins with the next name to the north. Placenames will have been collected as the fleet stopped periodically for supplies; if this was the case, we may argue that the list of places given here ties in with the geographical features and tribal names listed by Ptolemy, these having been discovered in the same way at the same time. Ptolemy was interested most by topographic features, the Cosmographer by toponymy. Their lists of names are therefore different but complementary. The results of a comparison between the two are tabulated below.

Ptolemy’s coastal feature	Identification	Ptolemy’s tribe	Cosmography
’Όχθη ‘υψηλή	Tarbat Ness	Δεκάνται	Lano
Ιλα ποταμου εκβολαι	River Helmsdale	Λουγοι	*Maualium
Ταρουεδουμ ακρον	Dunnet Head	Κορναουιοι	*Demerosessa
Ναβαρου ποταμου εκβολαι	River Naver	Σμερται	*Cintocellum
Ουλας κολπος	Loch Broom	Καιρενοι	*Cerini, *Veromago
Ειτιος ποταμου εκβολαι	Loch Ailort ?	Καρνονακαι	Matouium
Λογγου ποταμου εκβολαι	Loch Linnhe	Κρεωνες	*Trucculentum
Επιδιον ακρον	Kintyre	Επιδιοι	Rauatonium

Ptolemy and the Cosmography compared

The number of names is identical if we discount the tribal name of the Caereni which the Cosmographer provides, probably in error, and ignore the mention of Hibernia; if this is a coincidence, it is a remarkable one. By accepting the remaining equations, we can begin to suggest locations for the names in the Cosmography. Lano should be a beaching point near Tarbat Ness (’Όχθη ‘υψηλή), perhaps in the vicinity of Portmahomock; neither Richmond & Crawford (1949, 36) nor Rivet & Smith (1979, 383) have taken account of what is undoubtedly the correct form of the name in the Vatican Manuscript, hitherto misread as <Iano>. *Maualium (meaning ‘lively’ or some such word) should be at the mouth of the River Helmsdale (Ila potamou ekbolai), an appropriate enough name if it refers to the river. *Demerosessa (‘the dark hill’: Rivet & Smith 1979, 333) may be Castletown.

*Cintocellum(‘the chief promontory’) must surely be Cape Wrath, otherwise ignored by Ptolemy. It is difficult to see what other topographic feature could be regarded as the ‘chief promontory’ in this part of Britain, but it is not at all clear why Ptolemy does not list it. *Veromago (Richmond & Crawford 1949, 49) should be on Loch Broom (Ουλας κολπος), perhaps near Ullapool. Matouium could be on Loch Ailort (Ειτιος ποταμου εκβολαι), possibly near Rhoshven.

The next name, which we can emend *Trucculentum to agree with the portum Trucculensis of Tacitus (Agricola 38), should therefore be on Loch Linnhe (Λογγου ποταμου εκβολαι), and is perhaps Oban, an identification not previously suggested for this long-standing toponymic problem. If, as Rivet and Smith (1979, 49) suggest, this was the most distant point reached on a long voyage (as implied by Tacitus Agricola 10), it is possible to see why Oban should be a stopping-point: having travelled north through the Sound of Jura into the Firth of Lorn, the commander of the fleet may well have decided not to risk the high seas in the tangle of islands beyond Ardnamurchan Point and turned back. Rauatonium would then be a beaching point somewhere on Kintyre (Επιδιον ακρον), perhaps near Southend, as the final place in this section is probably Iuernia, Ireland.