Mersouion

Location of Mersouion on Ptolemy's map

Mersouion , in Latin Mersuium ( Greek ?? Μερσούιον ) is a place name in the Geographia of Claudius Ptolemaios as one of the places ( π Germanλεις ) lying further north in the interior of Germania with 35 ° 30 'longitude ( Ptolemaic longitudes ) and 53 ° 45' latitude or 53 ° 50 'latitude is specified. According to Ptolemy, Mersouion is between Louppia and Aregelia . Because of the age of the source, the existence of the place around 150 AD can be assumed.

So far the place could not be located safely. An interdisciplinary research team led by Andreas Kleineberg, who re-examined the information provided by Ptolemy, is currently locating Mersouion in the area of today's Burg (near Magdeburg) in Saxony-Anhalt . Here the Hellweg - one of the most important east-west routes in the Germania magna - crossed the Elbe .

Remarks

^ Ptolemy, Geographia ( 2, 11, 13 )
↑ See Hermann Reichert : Mersouion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 605-606. ( chargeable via GAO , De Gruyter Online)
↑ See Andreas Kleineberg, Christian Marx, Eberhard Knobloch, Dieter Lelgemann : Germania and the island of Thule. The decryption of Ptolemy's "Atlas of the Oikumene". Scientific Buchgesell., Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-24525-3 , pp. 48-49.

literature

Hermann Reichert : Mersouion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 605-606. ( chargeable via GAO , De Gruyter Online)
Hermann Reichert : Ptolemaeus. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 23, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017535-5 , pp. 567-597. ( chargeable via GAO , De Gruyter Online)
Alfred Stückelberger, Gerd Graßhoff (ed.): Ptolemaios, Handbook of Geography (Greek-German) . Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2006, ISBN 3-7965-2148-7 (work in 2 half-volumes, with CD-ROM).
Corinna Scheungraber, Friedrich E. Grünzweig: The old Germanic toponyms as well as non-Germanic toponyms of Germania. A handbook on its etymology using a bibliography by Robert Nedoma. Published by Hermann Reichert (= Philologica Germanica 34). Fassbaender, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902575-62-3 , pp. 238-239.

Web links

Edition of Geographike Hyphegesis with translation and map of Germania magna , accessed on November 16, 2016
Google Earth in ancient times. In: Der Spiegel. 39/2010, accessed November 16, 2016

[1] Ptolemy, Geographia ( 2, 11, 13 )

[rga-2] See Hermann Reichert : Mersouion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 605-606. ( chargeable via GAO , De Gruyter Online)

[3] See Andreas Kleineberg, Christian Marx, Eberhard Knobloch, Dieter Lelgemann : Germania and the island of Thule. The decryption of Ptolemy's "Atlas of the Oikumene". Scientific Buchgesell., Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-24525-3 , pp. 48-49.